Here we go again, yet another spring with scarce opportunities to watch the Dodgers play Spring Training games. This despite the fact the team has an $8 billion dollar broadcasting deal, a 24-hour channel available, and all the equipment and people in place to show it.
Today the Dodgers’ ace, the man whom some refer to as the best pitcher on the planet, Clayton Kershaw, will go up against the Dodgers hated rivals, the San Francisco Giants. Never mind it’s early March and the later innings will probably be contested by single and double AA players.
It’s the Dodgers against the freakin’ Giants!
Both fan bases care who wins, and plenty of baseball fans, whether wearing Dodger blue or not, are very interested in watching Mr. Kershaw work.
But that’s not going to happen. The Dodgers, in their infinite baseball marketing wisdom, have decided it’s not worth their time and efforts to offer the game via television. I guess they figure Dodger fans would rather watch, and sponsors would rather pay for ads on the umpteenth airing of “Backstage Dodgers” or some other thousandth-time rerun, instead of live baseball action. Go figure.
Baseball just kicked a hundred years of gameplay and tradition to the curb by eliminating the four-pitch walk in a ridiculous effort to snare new baseball fans and keep the ones they already have from leaving (as if true baseball fans would rather watch cricket).
Well, I’ve got news for MLB…that rule change is not going to convert a single person on the planet into a baseball fan, and it’s going to sour a lot of purists. If there’s any sport with a claim on purists, it’s baseball.
You know what does create fans? Access to the darn games!
The ability to watch our favorite players is what keeps fans invested in a team. Sharing the game with our children and friends is what creates new generations of fans – not a silly high sign from a manager in a dugout calling for an intentional walk.
I just don’t get it. All of the infrastructure is already in place. The lights, cameras, wires and broadcast personnel are already there. It’s a home game, against the Giants…and Kershaw’s on the mound!
No matter. The Spring will not be televised.
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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Yeah, no excitement there………FO is loony tunes……oh, it is not on the Giant network either.
i have not been to a dodger game since i can not watch it now going on 4 yrs..and i will never go to one again till the gave me something to watch.and i wish you rich idiots would do the same.that why soccer is getting all the young kids..if you cant watch it who can you get into it..
F Soccer! And if you don’t think it costs a ton of money to have your kids in soccer clubs too you’re sadly mistaken.
I love football (i.e. Soccer). And FAZ baseball is slowly pushing me into it.
I still love baseball. But greedy millionaires somehow make it unpalatable sometime.
Soccer is the most boring sport on the face of the planet. Right up there with golf and tiddly winks.
You forgot hockey, which is just soccer on ice. Soccer is the third world trying to pull us down to their level…
Is car racing a sport? Oval track, 500 miles, most boring event I ever paid to see.
The reason Soccer is so popular around the world, is because you only need a soccer ball, to play.
Kids can make there own borders and make a place to score a goal.
And that is why Soccer is so popular.
It is amazing what some of those kids in the DR use for gloves and balls, and probably bats, to play baseball.
You just have to work the system, claim more dependents, get a check. Get food stamps (emt card?) I’m not sure about all of the scams to steal taxpayers money, but I am in construction. I hear things about scamming the government, insurance companies, etc. (I presume to get Dodger tickets). Sometimes it does cross my mind “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em”. Where does my tax money go? Not to the citizens, or the roads, that makes too much sense. They’re quibbling over billions(media giants), and we’re (us citizens) wondering how to pay for Dodger tickets. You can bet your bottom dollar that there are a whole lot of non citizens in those stands who are financed by guess who.( And they have every channel, in every language. and a nicer car and truck than you)
I can’t get excited at all about trying to scrounge (steal?) money to buy over-priced tickets to watch over-paid millionaires play a child’s game. Anybody who buys a ticket is a fool. No matter how much money he has…
Where does your tax money go?
It does go to the citizens silly man. That and Eisenhower’s Military/Industrial complex.
900m to Medicare
870m to Social Security
550m to the Military
If we take your fiction as non-fiction though, you shouldn’t be upset even then.
If someone spent their money on every cable channel, nice baseball tickets and a nicer car or truck than you, then they are contributing to the economy.
Probably, on a percentage basis, at a much higher rate than someone in a much higher tax bracket.
But please do go on trying to making the poor your enemy. Somebody has to be the bad guy.
That would make me my own enemy. I cannot control how tax money is spent, neither can you. I just think choosing to give it away to people who so obviously don’t need it is not the way to change things for the better.
Bluto
Nice response!
Excuse me. but I paid into Social Security and so did my employers, that is my money not the tax payers. The fact that funds have been mismanaged by the government is not my fault. Social Security is not an entitlement. I earned it.
Michael, you’re right. But, by definition it IS an entitlement BECAUSE you are entitled to it! We paid into all these programs, some of us for 50 years!
MJ, I learned in curriculum finance class that a school could suit up an entire soccer team for what it costs to suit up one football player. That was in ’78. Don’t know if it’s still true.
Melton, jealous of your landscapers truck? That’s sad. The guys who work in my hood all drive nice trucks, and work their asses off doing things nobody else will do. Some make $25 an hour, some make more, a few less, but most work 48 hour weeks. Good guys all. Nobody here asks for their papers and I’m not jealous of any of their rides.
Badger
This guy doesn’t understand that these people, are not eligible for those social services.
If they have children in the US, the kids can get help, but that is it.
And most of them, are afraid to do something like that, because they don’t want to have to go back.
Perhaps Melton has just experienced this situation. It isn’t ALL illegals, but the “under the table” economy is sucking honest above board workers dry.
You have two families: “Joe Legal” and “Jose Illegal.” Both families have two parents, two children, and live in California . . .
Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.
Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash “under the table”.
Ready? Now pay attention . . .
Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000 per week, or $52,000 per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe Legal now has $31,231.
Jose Illegal: $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600 per week, or $31,200 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has $31,200.
Joe Legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600 per month, or $7,200 per year. Joe Legal now has $24,031.
Jose Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the state and local clinics and emergency hospitals at a cost of $0 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.
Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. Joe Legal pays $500 per month for food, or $6,000 per year. Joe Legal now has $18,031.
Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps, WIC and welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.
Joe Legal pays rent of $1,200 per month, or $14,400 per year. Joe Legal now has $9,631.
Jose Illegal receives a $500 per month Federal Rent Subsidy. Jose Illegal pays out that $500 per month, or $6,000 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.
Joe Legal pays $200 per month, or $2,400 for car insurance. Some of that is uninsured motorist insurance. Joe Legal now has $7,231.
Jose Illegal says, “We don’t need no stinkin’ insurance!” and still has $31,200.
Joe Legal has to make his $7,231 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.
Jose Illegal has to make his $31,200 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month.
Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work.
Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.
Joe Legal’s and Jose Illegal’s children both attend the same elementary school. Joe Legal pays for his children’s lunches while Jose Illegal’s children get a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal’s children have an after school ESL program. Joe Legal’s children go home.
Now, when they reach college age, Joe Legal’s kids may not get into a state school and may not qualify for scholarships, grants or other tuition help, even though Joe has been paying for state schools through his taxes, while Jose Illegal’s kids “go to the head of the class” because they are a minority.
Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.
You get the picture?
Are you done?
My bet is you don’t know 1 Jose “Illegal” that you refer to here. Therefore you not only don’t know who you’re talking about you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Mark is 100% right about you! MORON!!
Ah, it’s a good story, but totally unaware.
Let’s review together, OK? Pay attention:
YOU WROTE:
Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number, and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted. Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security and gets paid $15.00 cash “under the table.” Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or $52,000 per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe Legal now has $31,231.00.
REALITY:
1. A lot of illegals use a fake SS number (and those that do are paying money into our Social Security system that they will never collect.) Further, a lot (that means many) of legals get paid without taxes, we call them contractors or sub-contractors depending on your POV.
2. Your tax rates are beyond ridiculous. A single woman/man with that income, with no dependent children will pay less than 20% in taxes, AND THAT INCLUES including Social Security and Medicare. Reality would be leaving Joe Legal with $41,600.
3. The idea of illegals being paid tax-free. First, as stated above many of them are being taxed. Second, many of the jobs where they can be paid in cash/tax-free are jobs that legal citizens do not take. House-cleaner, farm worker.
YOU WROTE:
Joe Legal Pays Medical and Dental Insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $24,031.00. Joe Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through state and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
REALITY:
Worst case it’s totally fiction, best case it’s hyperbole to try to make your point. As already proven, your math tax is wrongo as Joe Legal has $34,400.00. Then, let’s say you are talking about illegals who are not insured (as I’m sure you know there are multi-millions who work for employers with benefits) Those people are in the same boat as the legal uninsured, they live unhealthily with poor quality of living. They don’t get health care for viruses, or colds. They do get emergency treatment in the ER, but that’s because we are a civilization. Have I mentioned the ERs they frequent are generally over-crowded and of poor quality?
YOU WROTE:
Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. Joe Legal pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6000.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $18,031.00. Actually, Joe Legal now has $28,400.00.
Joe Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps and welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
REALITY:
Wow. This could not be farther from the reality you actually live in:
Both welfare and food stamp programs require a VERIFIED valid Social Security ID.
When you realize this then Jose Illegal now has $25,200 after food expenses.
YOU WROTE:
Joe Legal pays rent of $1200.00 per month, or $14,400 per year. Joe Legal now has $9,631.00. Jose Illegal pays out that $500.00 per month for rent, or $6000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
REALITY:
There are so many problems at this point that it’s turning into farce.
Where to being?
Well.
Let’s leave outside the continuing problem that your tax math is totally wrong, what’s the point? Many Illegals own or rent their homes, so they pay a mortgage/rent as well. And, because they don’t have a SS then they can’t get the Federal Rent Subsidy. Further, why would Jose Illegal pays any less rent than the average “Joe Legal”? If we want to keep the ledger going, Jose Illegal’s now REALLY has $10,800 after rent expense.
YOU WROTE:
Joe Legal pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 per year for insurance. Jose Illegal says “We don’t need no stinkin’ insurance!” and still has $31,200.00.
REALITY:
Legal status is no guarantee that someone will buy insurance – this was proven even in health care when Obama implemented the mandate. BTW, and on the side, the current “conservative” legislation doesn’t even have that.
As for Jose’s insurance predicament? It’s not his fault implicitly its also the fault of the people who don’t let them have Drivers Licenses? Otherwise they could and would.
YOU WROTE:
Joe Legal has to make his $7,231 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc. Actually, it is $11,600.00. Jose Illegal has to make his $31,200.00 (Editr’s note: the correct number is $10,800) stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month. Jose Illegal can do whatever he wants with his money.
REALITY:
Yes, he sure does have to make it stretch. That’s called life! And everything he buys (including the fruit picked by Jose Illegal, or the car washing services performed by Mrs. Illegal) and orders contributes to the greater economy (remember this part of my reply to the ninny Melton?) Everyone should want Joe Legal and Jose Illegal to spend money! And spend money here!
YOU WROTE:
Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work. Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.
REALITY:
By working overtime Joe Legal is getting ahead! Your Jose depiction is so ridiculous and slanted it barely deserves my next sentence. In reality Jose is more likely to be standing on a corner waiting for any job at $10.00 per hour, hoping that the guy that picks him up will pay him.
YOU WROTE:
Joe Legal’s and Jose Illegal’s children both attend the same school. Joe Legal pays for his children’s lunches while Jose Illegal’s children get a government sponsored lunch Jose Illegal’s children have an after school ESL program. Joe Legal’s children go home.
REALITY:
More times than not discriminatory selling and leasing patterns have Jose and his kids in a worse neighborhood with worse schools.
YOU WROTE:
Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire services, Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.
REALITY:
In many states police and fire services are funded through local sales and property taxes. If Jose had lived in the warm and welcoming state of Texas he would have paid his share. Now, ponder this my friend: If Jose had lived in Arizona, how likely is it that Jose Illegal will call the police when he is the victim of a crime? He is afraid to report the crime as he knows he is subject to deportation! You know what happens then? Those same vagrants are around to commit crimes on Poor Joe Legal and his possessions.
Damn. Well done sir.
My pov is simply all the money going to these guys is recirculated, most of it locally. They are doing work nobody else will do. I haven’t seen any young white laborers in quite a while. The men I know around here are family men, respectful, reliable, and have their own tools. The contractors are even bonded. If any of them are breaking any laws then I would be fine with calling them on it. But I have NO problem paying talented hard working skilled laborers to do jobs I no longer want to do and others won’t do. We should be grateful we have them. I know I am.
And catbox, I could not care less what that creep Timmons thinks of me. I know who, and what he is. You can have him.
Bluto
Good response, to so much rhetoric.
It is to bad that facts are not the rule of the day, with some.
Well done, Bluto. A very big point which CatBox carefully doesn’t mention is where Jose Illegal gets all of those under the table jobs. That would be his Republican friend business owners. So however much blame you put on Jose Illegal, most of it slid right off him and onto the wealthy business owners who are cheating Jose Illegal, the Government (tax man), and Americans in general. You have upgraded Jose Illegal’s life and pleasures far more they actually are, actually he’d trade places with you or Melton or almost anyone else in the country and thank God for the gift. Finally, unless you are a full blooded Native American, at least some of your ancestors came here from another country, like Jose Illegal, and persevered at miserable jobs and poor living conditions, to eventually produce…You. You dishonor them with your attitude. I hope your children didn’t retain that attitude, it’s going to be a very different world they are going to have to deal with.
Fantastic response! Worthy of being printed on a major news website.
If I can add my two miserable cents:
I believe “illegal immigration” does negatively impact the earnings of natives at the bottom of the economic ladder. Please read:
http://cis.org/immigration-and-the-american-worker-review-academic-literature
Aside from that, the economists take is:
“Only 5% of the economists surveyed believe the U.S. should spend more to deport illegal immigrants…
Countries prosper when they a) have more workers and b) have more productive workers. The U.S. fertility rate just hit the lowest level on record in 2016, meaning U.S. population growth is slowing. That’s why many economists think the U.S. needs more immigration, not less, to make up for fewer American families having children.”
This is taken from http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/06/news/economy/donald-trump-immigration/
Thanks
Any issues with the redistribution of benefits should be taken up at the state level. In CA the massive public school and public health bureaucracies are a giant part of the problem when we are talking about quality of health and a quality K-12 education
Wait a minute most all Jose illegals are getting from 1 20 to 200 a day cash. On top of that their wives are cleaning houses. A lot of them are making $100 a day. Also as a contractor a licensed contractor with the insurance and everything else I have to compete against these fellows as they are passing themselves off as licensed contractors. Not only that, but they get government assistance because they live in a cash world.
Was that coherent English?
Were you trying to make or refute a point?
Do you have something against commas?
Sorry, was voicing it in while driving
Saying “REALITY” doesn’t make it so!! Truth is legal and illegal immigrants use much more welfare programs than natives. Too many falsehoods in your narrative to list. Bottom line is you are either uninformed or naive if you believe the system isn’t being gamed, and above board taxpayers penalized, by millions of legal and illegal people working under the table.
http://cis.org/Cost-Welfare-Immigrant-Native-Households
I made my point in spite of sounding illiterate.
You guys are clueless. There is a huge underground in construction, manufacturing and virtually all services.
On top of that under the counter sales of goods, scamming all government assistance, etc, etc
Um, saying ‘reality’ when using facts based in reality generally does make it so. Otherwise it’s innuendo or what I like to call, “unsupported.”
Ah, yes when presented with facts Boxout and Melton just call those coherent arguments naive. Worse yet is Boxout citing the CIS. Who are they?
Past reports by the CIS have been deemed misleading and riddled with basic errors by scholars on immigration; think tanks from across the political spectrum (such as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Cato Institute, Reason Foundation, the Heritage Foundation and Center for American Progress); left-leaning, neutral and right-leaning media (including the Wall Street Journal, Politifact and NBC News); several leading nonpartisan immigration-research organizations (such as Migration Policy Institute and the American Immigration Council); and by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
If that’s news, allow me to ask my magic 8 ball about future events.
But, let me say this.
Illegal immigration is a problem. A very serious one. The US infrastructure (economic and physical) is outdated and fragile, and cannot just support unmitigated influx of people.
That combined with automation and tele-communications/technology destroying industries make it even more problematic.
That said, you cannot just lie or make up stuff to make that point, which is what Boxout did in that silly parable about Jose Illegal.
Well I don’t believe immigration is even near the top of US priorities. Apparently I’m not alone.
Pew:
bluto: “But, let me say this. Illegal immigration is a problem. A very serious one.”
Now your starting to get it!!
Ok, deport all of them.
But before you do, could you get them to fix our dams, our roads, our sewer systems, railroads, in fact, our entire infrastructure. And have them come back to work our fields come time to eat.
Artie, I just read those articles you posted. Thank you for bringing facts to this debate. I learned a few things reading them. I learned numbers behind what I already knew to be true. The labor force of immigrants adds billions to our GDP.
“Immigration has its largest negative impact on the wage of native workers who lack a high school diploma, a group that make up a modest (and, in recent decades, shrinking) share of the workforce.”
This might be the bottom line. White guys don’t work labor jobs. Uneducated young local folks don’t compete well with the immigrant labor force. I worked with this immigrants for a summer in ’71 and worked a decade as a controller for a building contractor hired them. I know the work, and I know the workers personally. It’s difficult to do what they do. I also have a friend who is a golf course superintendent who, in a private moment, told me he won’t hire anybody but Mexicans. They come early and stay late while the last two white laborers he hired both worked less than a month before filing workmanship comp claims. That just doesn’t happen with immigrant labor.
Immigrant labor has been here for decades and is here to stay. There is a smart way of handling this issue. The smart way is NOT what Trump is doing.
‘Well I don’t believe immigration is even near the top of US priorities. Apparently I’m not alone.’
Than you provide a chart that shows the most important problems facing your community:
Crimes/Violence 14% (duh, criminals wanted in Mexico escape, well actually walk into our country. Mexicans are always in groups and I know many smaller communities where the crime rate has gone up due to them. )
Unemployment 14% (duh, many jobs are taken by illegals utilizing a false social security number, again I know this as a fact.)
Education 12% (duh, do all of these children not attend our schools? Of course not, our public school system is compensated for the # of kids that attend school, the more the merrier, who cares about the quality of education, hence our continue decline in world rankings, even while the great and wonderful Obama was in office.)
Drugs/Alcohol 10% (duh, drugs flow into our country from our southern border. Until a wall is in place that will continue.)
Crowding/Traffic 7% (duh, when you have millions of undocumented, I mean illegals living in the country, guess what…traffic worsens. Talk to anyone living in or near any metropolitan area in this country and ask them if traffic is less or more than it was just 15 years ago?)
Taxes 7% (duh, when millions are here illegally and using any form of government assistance that is burdening the rest of the folks that are US citizens. Our ER rooms are overcrowded and many US Citizens have long waits to see a doctor and get medicine due to the utilization of our ‘free’ health care to many illegals.)
Roads/Infrastructure 5% (duh, our infrastructure is crumbling due to the influx of millions of illegal that use but do not pay their fair share. What did the great and wonderful Obama do to improve our infrastructure? That’s right, nothing.)
Immigration Issues 3% (Really? By this chart alone, anyone can conclude that the Immigration Issue is at the forefront of most all of the problems in our communities today. The real number is 72%.
Chili, I appreciate you responding to that, I was starting to.
You addressed it thoroughly enough, thanks
M.J. What you don’t understand is that they don’t have to follow our laws. They are not accountable, they are not citizens, they can parade around as anyone. As a woman I would be very concerned.
Every morning they can change their name and address. Please try to grasp the implications.
So many unsolved crimes.
This is total and complete bull.
Revolting stuff really.
Of course they are accountable. They can change their names and address with just as much facility as “we can.”
But more than this, 99% of immigrants are coming here to contribute to society. Don’t try to paint it otherwise.
It’s paranoia like this which makes rational discussion impossible.
I don’t know where you live or work, you can read all of the stats you want, but I live in LA CA. I am at ground zero. I see it daily. Complete bull? my ass. You Sir are mistaken. They are not fingerprinted as they sneak across the border. Ours are on file. This is just one small example.
OK, you and your comics win
Drink lots of Kool aid and stick your head in the sand. Nice and safe, i’m sure you know the one about the frog and the nice warm water….I just hope it’s not too late
If I agree to drink the kool-aid will you take your muddled mind elsewhere?
Seriously, just spouting innuendo is no way to spur dialogue.
Of course people aren’t finger-printed at the border, it’s an inherent invasion of privacy not to mention a logistic disaster waiting to happen.
I live here in Los Angeles, it’s quite lovely and wonderful. It’s much closer to being “too late” where the jobs aren’t in technology and entertainment. Here it’s just great.
“Lovely and wonderful….”, what?
You’ve already ingested the kool aid
I guess you haven’t been in the Valley for awhile
I am taking my muddled mind nowhere, I only speak out
when this “Dodger” site turns to politics.
” they don’t have to follow our laws.”
If they don’t they pay on two fronts: criminal justice and deportation. So in fact they have to be more stringent. Would you like to be in the situation of being separated from all you know and have over a broken tail light?
Wait, I am talking about the criminal element. As a matter of fact they are inherently opportunists or the would not be here in the first place. Nobody pays for criminal behavior until they are caught. Our jails are overflowing with the unlucky ones and the streets hold the rest
Yes, they do not follow our laws. The minute they walk over or through a hole in the fence, they have broken one of our laws.
Try walking into Mexico illegally and see what happens to you. Go to Canada illegally and see what happens to you.
And maybe the next time they decide to protest something, how about being ‘smart enough’ to not hold up the Mexican flag. If you think so highly of Mexico than walk back through the fence and you’ll be in the country where you came from and evidently think so highly of.
I dare anyone to go to Mexico and protest and while doing so hold up the US flag. I want to see how long you stay vertical. (Those peaceful people…..LOL.)
As we all continue to text our thoughts on this blog ICE is hard at work. The department is adding another 5,000 folks. The worse of the illegals are being rounded up first. Every day things are happening but do feel free to keep texting.
Man you guys are angry at Hispanics aren’t you.
Sorry gentleman, but the data just doesn’t support your argument. I’d advise to stop getting your facts from Breitbart but I know that would only incite more inaccuracies in your response.
We do have issues with immigration, I’m not so naive to believe otherwise. But you could Trump them all back to Mexico and our problems in education, crime, war, failing infrastructure, climate change, the economy etc would still exist. In fact in some ways things would get worse. To blame our most immediate crises on immigrants is, well, excuse the bluntness, it’s just fucking stupid. I would hope you could do better.
Badger: “Man you guys are angry at Hispanics aren’t you.”
What’s next? You trying to tell us again that all black people look alike?
Typical dimocrat slave party member comment! Go to your KKK meeting already!
“I’m sorry gentelmen , the data just doesn’t support your argument”
I am referring to real life here. This isn’t baseball, you wonder why everything is overflowing? don’t, the 20-30 million opportunist lawbreakers have overwhelmed us already.
Artie – I know you love your soccer & as you know I have a season ticket at an English Premier League club. The atmosphere is unbelievable – almost electric at times, although a little intimidating if you are supporting the away team.
However, if I could swap that for Bobby’s season ticket at Dodger Stadium, I would do it in a heartbeat.
Baseball is my first love.
My missus asked me what I was watching on Sunday night? When I told her it was the Dodgers she said that she didn’t think the season started until April. When I told her it was a Spring Training game she just rolled her eyes.
One year I’m gonna get out to Glendale to watch ST as you guys speak so highly of it.
Michael, I think after watching the Dodgers together, you and I would struggle as I also love watching Golf!!
I think we are all guilty of looking back nostalgically and thinking that things were better in the past. I certainly do it with soccer. We are playing as high a division as we ever have, and the Club has better financial backing than ever before, and yet I hark back to the days when I usta go along with my Dad, when we were garbage. Somehow those days seemed better, but the reality is, they were different and I was seeing the world through younger eyes. These days I’m full of cynicism for soccer because it’s evolved into something a little different.
I think this is where we struggle a little with FAZ.
They are evolving the game in front of us.
Lots of depth to allow for more platooning. More SP pitching fewer innings. Lots of BP arms as they are gonna throw more innings.
Clever use of the DL & whole 40 man roster. It’s not what most of us grew up with so takes time to adjust.
As for the $$$, well it’s always been the case that everything has a value, and thanks to the TV deals, the bigger clubs can afford the better players.
It is a disgrace however, that the people of LA can’t watch their local team.
Still, LAD lead the MLB in attendance so it can’t be all bad.
The money is being made by those who want the money. Fans? Nothing more than the 99% unwashed junkies. If the fans were organized, this would stop tomorrow. Keeping us disorganized, keeping us divided, is part of the play. It is working brilliantly
Bluto- you left out the half trillion dollars the U.S. spends on “fighting crime”. Also, it should be pointed out those figures you posted are billions, not millions. And the 2016 budget requests were much higher than your numbers, but point taken.
Words of wisdom Watford. Yes I learned the game of baseball with my dad. And yes seeing what it costs today to watch a baseball game makes me cynical. Guess it’s just the age thing.
However via the game of football (as I watch it from multiple countries in English and Spanish) I’ve learned how to celebrate the esthetics/beauty of the game. And how there is criticism (deserved or not) when a team plays ugly. There is not much creativity when a football team only knows how to lob the ball into the box waiting for someone to get their head on it. Even if the team won, its supporters would begin to complain, particularly if they were paying quite a bit to watch that style of play every weekend.
Baseball is much the same way. The game gets quite boring when the runner on base is forced to stay put because of the inherent danger of being thrown out and wasting one of the precious outs. Having base runners put pressure on the pitcher is exciting. Just the threat of a steal or a double steal is exciting. The threat of a bunt (which draws in the 3B) which allows the batter to then slap the ball past the 3B is beautiful, thinking man’s baseball. Don’t see much of that. And though FAZ bring new insight into the game (which I thing is fascinating) there is not much excitement in watching a parade of relief pitchers. And why a parade? Because each one has the highest probability of success (getting the batter out) at the moment they are brought in. Probability is high but it begins to look just like the football team lobbing the ball into the box over and over. Not much fun to watch.
But I am a dodger fan for life. As are you Watford. The FAZ’s of the world can bore us to death at times, but apparently they know what they are doing….apparently.
Cheers!
Watford
You are our honorary American!
I didn’t see the game yesterday but just read the box. Laughable. 7 for 34, all singles, 11 K’s, 1 for 9 RISP, 22 LOB, 3 errors. A very forgettable performance.
Badger
Moore pitched three innings, and had more strike outs, in those three innings, then Kershaw did, yesterday.
Like I have said, I hope we are going to do better against the Giants, top three pitchers, this year.
Moore is a solid starter in his prime. I see no reason he won’t duplicate what he did last year and may even lower his ERA to below 4. That is a decent pitching staff in SF. They finished 4th in MLB last year (we were 5th) and they have added to it.
i agree with boxout7
Jerry
Someone has to do it.
How old are you, Jerry? How much life have you seen?
Jonah
I was proud of your response today, a little farther up, on this thread.
I had to read a book on California’s history, about all the different immigrants that came to California, and most people would be suprised, about what every imigrant went through, when they came to California, which is a very liberal state.
This book was so current at the time, and it actually had the Rodney King incident, in this book.
But it was a very good read, since I love history.
ohh gad, gag me “i had no idea you were soo tall”
Dude, she’s hot for you, invite her over
What the heck in Melton talking about?
Melton done had a Meltdown.
Lets not expose our senility, I’ve been watching this soap since Wondering posted his picture
Michael N. Norris: “Excuse me. but I paid into Social Security and so did my employers, that is my money not the tax payers. The fact that funds have been mismanaged by the government is not my fault. Social Security is not an entitlement. I earned it.”
Unfortunately you have been scammed! A victim of the biggest Ponzi scheme ever!! Truth is LEGALLY you have less rights to YOUR S.S. than an illegal immigrant has to their benefits.
Jonah: “Finally, unless you are a full blooded Native American, at least some of your ancestors came here from another country, like Jose Illegal, and persevered at miserable jobs and poor living conditions, to eventually produce…You. You dishonor them with your attitude.”
Not even close!! My ancestors mostly came here in the 1840’s and 1850’s. Iowa farmers, Grandfather was born in 1874, sharecropper, so yes they persevered at miserable jobs, including getting sucked into many of this country’s wars. But ALL my ancestors would have eaten dirt before accepting ANY kind of government assistance.
I don’t fault Jose illegal for trying to get into our country. But the truth is, U.S. is 20 trillion in debt with another 100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Those unfunded liabilities are mostly owed to people who played by the rules! We can’t afford Jose illegal any longer. The people who will scream the loudest when their EARNED benefits are cut to fund Jose illegal are libs!! The board libs want to tell us the wonderful benefits of all this immigration, but if it was so good, the countries the immigrants are coming from would be begging for them to come back!!!! They aren’t!
Never forget “Liberalism is a mental disorder”!!!