And Now For Something Completely Different

Posted in Uncategorized by unca_chuck on July 28, 2012

Cue the Monty Python music. Or Benny Hill. I know this is fairly blasphemous to be writing about the Olympics during a Giants/Dodgers series, but then again, tough shit. It was this or writing about my mom throwing away my 3 boxes of baseball cards (~1966 to 1974) and what kind of sports memorabilia you guys have.

To Edddddacker’s unbridled delight, the XXX Olympics have started. And mind you, these really ARE the XXX Olympics, as all the athletes were given 15 condoms to use at their discretion, and local surveys say that about 75-80% of the athletes hook up with someone(s) over the course of the games. Multiple times. They are really putting the “Ohhh” in Olympics.

Anyhow, are you guys thrilled about the games? Yeah, they only come every four years (I guess that’s why they make up for lost time . . . [OK, enough of that]) so it seems to be a big deal. The pageantry, the hoopla, the athletes themselves, stronger, higher, faster. Medals, prestige, world renown overnight. That being said, I think the games are nothing like they were back in the day. During the turbulent 60s there was the civil rights protest of San Jose State’s own Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Their stand cost them their medals for a long time. You had the underlying tension of the Cold War hovering over the competition between the Soviet bloc countries and western countries (the athletes themselves didn’t share these feelings. They were hooking up back then as well, I suppose). You had the massive Soviet weightlifters like Vasily Alexiyev lifting crazy amounts of weight. The enigmatic Cubans like boxer Teofilo Stevenson. The East German women’s swimming and track teams who could barely disguise their proto-testicles and growing Adam’s apples. And the cocky Americans like high jumper Dwight Stones and Steve Prefontaine. Throw in some kooky Brits, crazy Canucks, and the pixieish Chinese and Chezck gymnasts, and you had a miasma of excitement. Characters abounded. Just the fact that a lot of these athletes were behind the Iron Curtain added to the mystery of the athletes competing. You had the tragedy of the Munich olympics with 9 Israeli wrestlers being murdered by Palestinian terrorists. It seemed to be a much bigger deal, with much bigger implications back then. 1976 was the last of the Cold War games as the US and the USSR swapped boycots in 80 and 84. In an age of relative isolation (read: no internet) between countries, the eyes of the world were truly on the games.

There was little corporate intrusion, and bare-bones coverage. Sure, there were the puff pieces, and athlete profiles (Which were usually brought to you by none other than the incomparable Jim McKay), but the focus was on the events. If it was time for the 100 meter dash, you got a minute of preliminary info. Nowadays, they start the hype of every race with 1 hour of in-depth analysis, talking head banter, and corporate shoe tie-ins to make you want to puke. The inclusion of professional athletes watered down what was always an exciting bunch of basketball games. The hastily assembled USA basketball team going against Soviet teams than had been together for years was always intriguing to watch. Typically, the US Olympic athletes were one and done. Maybe 2 games max. Soviet/East German teams had athletes competing in 3 or even 4 games. They were professionals out there. Supported by their governments and given all the advantages. There was a certain charm that the US athletes were not funded by the government (for the most part), but were subsisting on public money. Now, it’s all about the corporations, the sponsors, Visa, Coca Cola, MasterCard, on and on. Yay, the US basketball team will crush every opponent in sight. the Chinese gymnasts will lie about their age. Sure, there are compelling stories, like Usain Bolt may not even be the best sprinter on his team let alone the world. Another collection of plucky US gymnasts led by the old Soviet coach Carolyi will gather some medals. Track is usually exciting, but where is a guy like Michael Johnson or even (gulp) Carl Lewis? Boxing? I got nothing. Decathlon? Bring back the days when Bruce Jenner looked like an Olympic athlete, not Joan Rivers.

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unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 8:50 am

Pawlie, you get the score right, but the teams wrong. . . .

What a pisser of a game. Oh well. If anything, these guys usually bounce back well.
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:00 am
  
  “pisser”
  - unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:55 am
    
    “reply”
Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:00 am

BLEEP the Olympics!
willedav said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:09 am

other than the sprints in track and b-ball I can’t get into it. It is interesting, however, how euro countries approach training of top flight athletes from a certain age onward–quite different from us. While many can wind up with good govt jobs as a career afterward, the training is intense and isolated, and there is pressure to perform and succeed unknown here.
eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:11 am

Everyone knows I am a Pollyanna. Underdogs, disadvantaged youths, 40 y/olds with one last go. Countries you have never heard of with 6 member teams. Amateur stars in amateur sports like badminton, diving, weightlifting, judo. People you have never heard of doing world record performances after spending years toiling in anonymity.
It is all about people and stories and living vicariously as a spectator. At my age I empathise with the parents as well.
Yeah, the consumer commercialism sucks, yeah, PEDs sucks, and politics makes for strange bedfellows.
I missed Squaw Valley, worked LA and now I can join in, in person. From the raucous, riotous and audacious opening ceremony to the paralympics later this month I hope to see the constant variety of sport… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition.

And I am already SICK of the chariots of fire medals song with or without Mr. Bean.

go giants
- unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:35 am
  
  Great that you can live the dream, Eddd. Yeah, I wish I had been around for Squaw Valley (born in 1961), I had fleeting aspersions of skiing in the 1980 Olympics. If I had thought it out, I could have represented Ireland in those games.
Wilcojoe said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:19 am

Well written post Chuck…If you didn’t know otherwise you would think Jenkins wrote it…This new format has really allowed a lot of you guys to show off your writting skills…Great job by all.
willedav said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:23 am

and as for pressure, wait til Sochi. I would not want to be a coach or athlete who embarrasses Putin.
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:31 am

Why thanks, Joe. Yeah, I like the idea of the Olympics, and I’ll watch some of the track and field stuff, and of course some women’s volleyball, but solo synchronized swimming? Synchronized diving? Trampoline? How do you say that with a straight face?

I’m Bill Jones, Olympic trampolinist!

I always enjoyed the winter olympics more, as they seemed to be more intimate, less commercialized, and more exciting, but the addition of snowboarding has kinda turned it into the X games punk thrash shit. Skiercross? They might as well include the Chinese downhill. Although I will say, they DID get rid of ballet skiing . . .
twinfan1 said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:34 am

The Olympics mean absolutely nothing to me anymore…
Classy move by Baggarly to apologize to Melky- now let’s hope he doesn’t have to “un-apologize”..
Definitely appeared that Romo’s pitch to Ethier caught the corner- but that was no blatantly missed call. Maybe we just shouldn’t let Sergio pitch to Bums named Ramirez. Didn’t Manny beat him on a HR, too? That’s how good Romo has been, that remember that. ( It was a crusher- I blurted out that Sergio should never pitch in the bigs again)…

There was a lot of talk on Comcast about Scutaro playing third and Pablo first- geez, I hope not…love the trade, but Marco is a utility player, period..
Big game for the Zitster, and let’s send Babs to an early shower- blew too many chances against Barney..
I’m not for throwintg at people, but a 10-0 lead, Penny in to mop it up…it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if a pitch slipped…
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:21 am
  
  “Marco is a utility player, period..”
zumiee said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:34 am

Getting married changed my perspective on the Olympics. Women often see sports differently, and they are often more open to appreciating the lesser-known sports of the Olympics. My wife and I watched some of the opening ceremony last night, and this morning we watched women competing in fencing, a sport I know very little about. It was fun. And the Olympic coverage has gotten better over the last couple of Olympics by NBC. They finally realized they were over-doing it with the backstories of the athletes. All the sentimental “overcoming obstacles” lifestories were really starting to annoy a lot of people who wanted to see actual sports competition. What NBC finally realized is the sappy documentaries weren’t needed to bring in women viewers. Just show an equal amount of women’s sports competition in the coverage, and that’ll do it. Like, the women’s fencing competition this morning. And it’s cool how NBC can diversify its coverage with its main station NBC, but also MNBC and other outlets.
The Olympics will probably never have the titanic dramatic overtones of the Cold War era, but that’s OK. One of the goals of the Olympics is to promote world peace, and the world is far better off without the Cold War.
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:39 am

I hope yer right, Zoom. It was to the point these last couple Olympics where you had to wade through 3 hours of bullshit just to see ANY kind of actual competition. It’s like if I want to watch sappy, overschmaltzy crap, I’ll watchLifetime. Gimme some fucking competitions!
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:40 am

And yeah, I’ll be watching the women’s hurdles . . .
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:57 am
  
  I hope chuck never watches lifetime!
zumiee said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:41 am

The 1972 Olympics will stick in the memory for a lot of reasons, and one of the reasons is the big rip-off the men’s basketball team endured. Having to replay the end of the game several times because the clock kept malfunctioning, which gave the USSR team several chances to finally score the winning basketball. Just a ridiculous rip-off. The American team refused to show up for the award ceremony, and somewhere in the world is a box with the silver medals from that event.
- unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:46 am
  
  Yeah, that was terrible, as the clock had fucked up on the play they finally allowed.
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:41 am

Maybe I can start a TBOTD (Track babe f the day).
- eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:56 am
  
  Unca’s women of the Olympics, right on!
  - unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:07 am
    
    Wooo!
zumiee said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:43 am

Nice job on the post, Chuck. Last night’s Olympic ceremony helped take some of the sting out of the Giants’ loss.
twinfan1 said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:45 am

A huge beef I’ve always had with NBC’s coverage is that they gave us no feel at all for the venue. The Olympics might as well have been staged in the studio. And Chuck mentions McKay. Jim had been an embarrassingly inept play by play announcer,but became a revelation as host for the games- maybe a touch saccharine, but all in all just the man you wanted in your living room for a couple of weeks- so gracious he’d leave the last cookie for Gramps…ABC nailed the coverage..
Wilcojoe said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:47 am

Sabes making it sound like he’s done in regards to trading for a bat…I sure as hell hope not and I still steam when he has the gall to mention payroll as an issue…What’s the current sellout streak at? I think Hart can be had for a Peguero, Noonan and cash. Depending on how much cash the Giants take on maybe not even that much.
- WilcoJoe said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:56 am
  
  Hart makes $9mm this year and $10 next before FA…Not exactly breaking the bank…But for the Brew Crew, that could be considerable salary relief if they go into salary dump mode.
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:51 am

Yeah, whatever anyone thought of McKay, he always gave a sense of the local flavor and feelings of the home country. He also seemed a little more at home in Winter venues. Sitting by the fire, warm sweater on, cocoa in hand. Smarmy? Sure, but it worked for him, and ABC’s coverage was infinitely better than anything NBC has ever done. Like you said, NBC turned it into ALL tape delayed, let’s profile-the-winners-before-we-show-you-the-event type shit. Let’s focus on the athletes to the total detriment of the coverage of the actual events.

They antiscepticized to the point of being bland as hell.
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:53 am

If NBC blands this one out, it’ll be an epic fail. It’s pretty hard not to show the local fervor and gravitas of the games for Londoners.
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:00 am
  
  BLEEP NBC!
eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:55 am

I just rented ‘moneyball’ any body want to give me a heads up on this film?
I understand there are familiar players in it. And I know very little about the real Billy Beane.
- zumiee said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:58 am
  
  Good film. It fudges some facts, but does do a nice job of showing some of the “backstage” aspects of baseball, in particular a GM’s job. Pitt and the other actors do a good job.
  - Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:04 am
    
    I’m skipping this one for sure!
- dirtnrocksnomo said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:00 am
  
  I didnt read the book either and enjoyed it
- unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:03 am
  
  Not bad. You just get a sense of how baseball scouting was really just a bunch of old drunk white guys who based their decisions on nothing more than arcane half-baked theories and instinct. Beane is painted to be a visioary, and I guess he was to a certain extent, but in the end, it never got him or the team to the promised land. He’s a big fish in a small pond.
  - Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:07 am
    
    Overrated!
dirtnrocksnomo said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:57 am

My folks went to the Atlanta games and my mom ended up working the athlete holding area. She met Magic somehow and got a picture hugging him. She still talks about it like a gitty school girl. They’ve been hooked ever since and are in London now.

I have always liked the Olympics. I’m a ski bum and love watching the winter games. Especially when they bomb down the mountain in the slalom but other than that I enjoy the summer games. The commercialism sucks but not as much as the bullshit tape delay and Costas. The athletes are interesting to me from a performance perspective. Despite corporate and US Olympic support most of them toil in obscurity and have a real passion you don’t see in officially pro leagues. I wish there was more of just straight up LIVE events. Regardless of time. It’s interesting to me that the older core events like running, disk, javelin, shot put, decathlon, wrestling were possibly part of competition so long ago.

Chuck, In all seriousness that was a great thread kickoff man.
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 9:57 am

One thing I’ve always noticed. These fricking bike racers have it hard enough flying around these narrow streets. Throw in chase cars, camera bikes, and team support vehicles, and it’s amazing that there aren’t guys getting run over all the time. Nevermind sucking the bike exhaust as yer riding.
- zumiee said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:01 am
  
  I saw one guy handing out bags (!) to some of the racers as they flew past him. Water bottle? Food?
  - unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:05 am
    
    Souvenirs… (what the fuck kind of word is souvenirs? French for useless shit? I never really thought about it til now)
  - unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:05 am
    
    Yeah, this is like a 5 hour race, so it’s prolly enegry bars or some shit.
  - eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:24 am
    
    those are known as musettes, food bags given by the team in designated feed zones. Racers can burn 7000 calories a day and the contents are water, energy bars, cake, and recently a soda for variety; all feed bags are supposed to be similar. Riders end up throwing out what they don’t want and the bag and mt water bottles as they move along.
  - Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:32 am
    
    Two guys who work the quarters from LOS AL always say, “Souvenirs here!” when a horse takes a dump on the track. That shit never gets old.
Flavor said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:16 am

I had something come up so I’m pushing the Reno trip till tomorrow. Chuck, my interest in the Olympics is at an all time low (excluding Edd’s take on it all) and I couldn’t write a thread like this if you were telling me what keys to punch in. WilcoJoe referred to it above (and it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to do this): the new format keeps the blog topics fresh and engaging. Great job today.
Did you tweeters see that I got tweeted back by a MelkMaid?
The Melkmaids
@SFMelkmaids
@1flapdown77 thanks Flavor 🙂 we appreciate that! The more authentic Giants fans the better! No hard feelings 🙂 #GoGiantsstillfirstplace!
- WilcoJoe said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:20 am
  
  Are those the same chicks they showed in the stands last night? If so, you need to hold a Flap-MelkMaid mixer ASAP…Let me know, so I can book my flight.
  - unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:22 am
    
    Yeah, we can be the Melk maid milkers . . .
  - Flavor said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:28 am
    
    same chicks. As I said below, they showed my post on Chronicle Live and sat their refuting it and then Papa gave them a baseball quiz (which they passed). I didn’t see any of this but Ewisco watched it live and reported it.
- unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:25 am
  
  Thanks, Flav.
- eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:38 am
  
  too funny, nice when you can explain where you are really coming from.
  what’s a tweeter?
  BTW, maybe we should have a room B London 2012 page so as not to interfere with baseball talk. Although I won’t be as much a windbag as I was during the opening ceremony.
dirtnrocksnomo said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:22 am

Funny Flavor. Not sure if you saw it last week but one of them commented in the thread. She was calling bullshit on your statement that they werent real fans or some shit. Now twitter? Sounds like an opportunity to me. 😉
- Flavor said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:27 am
  
  dude, they were on Chronicle Live before the game yesterday and they showed the exact post and Papa quizzed them on baseball info to prove they know their shit. Too funny.,
- WilcoJoe said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:30 am
  
  A couple co-workers and myself checked out the first few innings of the Astros-Pirates game last night at Minute Maid…I made the comment that there are never any hot chicks at Giants games like there are in Houston…Really the only thing the ‘Stros have going for them, is they have a ton of hot women at their games…Though nothing compares to Texas Ranger games right NOW.
  
  Anyway, when they showed the Melk-Maids last night, I stood corrected.
DJLoo said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:29 am

Even going back to the Splash I’ve always thought Unca Chuck was under-appreciated.

Anyway, I’m not really twisted about Hanley’s gesture, mostly because I didn’t understand it. Does anyone know what it meant? But he did break one of baseball’s idiotic unwritten rules, so he must be punished by another one of them and put on his ass today or tomorrow…
- Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:45 am
  
  I looked it up. It's something called, "Lo Viste. Apparently something the Marlins do routinely.
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:41 am

Schulman just report the we, along with the ChiSox, were in deep talks with Ichiro before the Yanks snagged him. I’d prefer Ichiro > Scutaro. And if Sabean and Bochy even think about starting him at 3B, I’m gonna hit ’em both over the head with my shovel.
SanDawg said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:42 am

It means “Did you see that?” Some of the knucklehead kids at the high school where I work do that when they make a big play.
I don’t have a big problem with it either. It certainly wasn’t in the Mike Marshall category in my book. I’m worried that Hanley looks invigorated and he and Kemp are already jacking each other off. They have a better line-up than we do right now. Doesn’t mean they’re going to pass us, but I’m concerned.
- Wilcojoe said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:52 am
  
  I think I posted in April that this was going to be an epic showdown between these two rivals that could go down to the final day of the season…Meanehile i get the fucking yankees-redsox on Fox….Pretty sure the Giants have NEVER been the Fox game of the week since I moved to Houston.
- eddacker said, on July 29, 2012 at 4:09 am
  
  Ah, ha! we needed teenagers to understand Hanley!
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:48 am

Thanks, DJ. Baseball’s unwritten rules of conduct are outdated at best and ludicrous at worst.. It’s OK for Pablo to do his archery thing, but the goggles move by Han-job is verboten? Is it because it was off a home run? Because he was on the road? The whole showing-up thing is a thing of the 50s. Move on, guys.
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:49 am

Scutaro won;t be playing 3rd. He’ll be at SS/2nd base.
- DJLoo said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:52 am
  
  That will require exceptional range…
  - Flavor said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:55 am
    
    gold.
- Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:56 am
  
  You don’t know that. The subject was broached in the postgame, and Sabean said it would be discussed in a meeting to follow. I’ll lay ya 2/1 he starts at least one game at third. And 1/9 it’ll piss me off to no end.
  - unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:57 am
    
    Well, if Pablo’s DLed, sure. And it’ll happen because he’s hobbled, but when he’s healthy, it won’t happen.
- Wilcojoe said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:57 am
  
  Are you sure? My thought was Scutaro at 3b till Panda returns…The position is not new to him.
- snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:21 am
  
  I would expect Scutaro to play third at some point, he’s played it before. Plus, I’d guess he’ll spell Theriot, he rarely gets a day off. They got him to upgrade Burriss, essentially a vestigial organ the past two months. Huff is supposedly going to be activated, so Burriss or Christian have to go in that case, and when Panda comes back, the other one goes, unless there’s a trade. I can’t imagine Burriss or Christian would be in a trade; were I a GM the only reason I’d take either one would be to round out a AAA roster. They’re not major leaguers…
twinfan1 said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:54 am

It used to be that Ichiro was one of the leaders in making outs because he got so many official ABs and didn’t have a high BB rate- now it’s mostly because he isn’t any good..
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:57 am

BTW, how the hell do you add a photo to your comment? I went to the “add link,” but nothing worked.
- Flavor said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:17 am
  
  Dennis, do me a favor and don’t fuck around with that part of the blog. I don’t want you accidently fucking up the HTML and believe me, it’s easy to do. As Chuck said, when you are writing a thread look near the top and hover over the area that says “upload/insert. Click on *Add media*–you should be able to figure it out from there.
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:58 am

You can do it in a post, but not a blog entry. Add Media.
sandog said, on July 28, 2012 at 10:59 am

….as for Oympics, like many of you already said I was way into it when I was a kid. For some reason, when I think summer Olympics, I think of Shirley Babashoff. I have almost no interest now and didn’t watch any of the ceremony last night. Ceremonial stuff has never been my bag. I’m gonna tune in for the Lochte/Phelps race at 11:30 (probably on tape—don’t spoil it for me plz) and see if it does anything for me. Besides the political overtones mentioned (which were huge), for me the way TV has changed over the years has decreased my interest as well. You didn’t used to have a million channels with live sports on 24/7. Given the choice between Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom or women’s swimming, I would go for the swimming every time. These days, with much more competition for my attention (including the internet) I’m much less likely to tune in to the games.
ps Don’t go painting me as a Marlin Perkins hater now— I was mildly entertained by him on many a Sunday afternoon back in the day.
- DJLoo said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:08 am
  
  I don’t like ceremonial stuff either. I especially hate parades. Every one of ’em. Someday I may take a shot at Snoopy on Thanksgiving…
  - snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:10 am
    
    How ’bout that Giants 2010 WS parade?…
  - DJLoo said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:53 am
    
    You got me there…
snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:00 am

Jim McKay and the Olympics — went together like cookies and milk. Awesome.
Costas isn’t in the same area code…
snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:01 am

The Melk Maids need to do a group shoot for the Flap — BBs of the Day / Season?
Or, just one at a time for a single BB page for each one, and string it out for a while.
Get it done, BF… 😉
twinfan1 said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:15 am

I totally agree that ball players are absurdly sensitive about being “shown up”…I also think that even for a walk off, a little dignity around the basepaths is order. BTW, I’ve seen several of Hanley’s HRs, inclusding his first at the new ballpark, and I haven’t seem the goggles routine before. He also seemed to direct it towards the Giant’s dugout . Bush? Absoutely.Worthy of getting drilled? Only by accident 😉
- snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:34 am
  
  I don’t see what the fuss is about. I looked again today at the mlb replay, he did the goggle thing at home plate looking at Ethier and the Dodger dugout. http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=23404057&query=%26game_pk%3D319220
  Buster didn’t even pay any attention to it. I didn’t see him do anything rounding third, unless I missed it. He held his hand up rounding first, but so what? Bonds used to stand at home for a coupla seconds and admire his jacks…
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:30 am

From Rotoinfo.com : Marco Scutaro-SS : Marco Scutaro said he is starting at 3B Saturday for the Giants.

Allow me to be the first: We deserve to lose today.
- twinfan1 said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:33 am
  
  That’s fine while Pablo is out.
  - Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:35 am
    
    NO. It’s not. He hasn’t played 3B since 2008.
twinfan1 said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:30 am

As far as where Scutaro plays- Papa and his accomplice were pushing 3rd base hard- with Panda at first. If that happens I’ll join Denny on the ledge. When Panda returns, Scutaro and Arias will give us a pretty good utility infielder pair, and pray that’s the plan. Now time to work on that RH pop…
- Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:33 am
  
  You might want to consider a windbreaker or sweater. It gets pretty brisk and cold up here.
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:31 am

Chuck, ss Al Czervik told Judge Smails, “OK. You can owe me.” 😀
snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:36 am

If LA gets Dempster now, and we do nothing or next to nothing to get better offensively, it’s LA’s division to win…
- eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:40 am
  
  and HanRam will never upset the club house when all those other guys are getting the glory.
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:42 am
  
  Yeah you call up Sabean and tell him that.
  - snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:47 am
    
    He doesn’t take calls, remember?
    I’m sure they’ll put the Nipper through, though.
    “Sabes, it’s Nippy on line 1.”
    “Bleep!”…
eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:38 am

When we were kicking around Ichiro and decided he would end his career in Seattle Sabes picks up Scutaro. Most of their stats are comparable/even. If marco gets some steal chances he can still run.
- snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:44 am
  
  I’m fine not getting Ichiro. I don’t see what he would add to the OF. His OBP sucks, and I don’t know what his D would add to what’s already out there. We need a bigger bat out there, that’s not what he offers. Scutaro is the better add to upgrade that utility infield need, and way cheaper…
  - eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:09 pm
    
    that’s what I said!
    
    copycat
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:40 am

This is one of Sabean/Bochy’s most asinine moves in recent memory. Scutaro has as much business playing 3B as I do. Arias isn’t hitting worth a shit, but his D has been solid. I just don’t see the slight uptick in O offsetting the bigger loss in defense. Bad move.
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:43 am
  
  Stick to horses. Let Sabean do the thinking.
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:46 am

Well, my thoughts are similar. If Pablo plays 1st while Scooter is at 3rd, well, we’re fucked. My take was he’d pick up the slack that Arias doesn’t provide. A healthy Pablo should ONLY be at 3rd.
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:48 am
  
  Pablo on DL.
- twinfan1 said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:01 pm
  
  Denny doesn’t want him there even with Panda out. There’s a bottom line to Arias vs. Scutaro- Marco is the better player. And his career splits don’t show an inabiity to hit on the road, he hit well on the road when he was with Boston. He’ll help us.
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:47 am

Scutaro Home/Away splits this year: Home: .366/.427/.793 Away .278/.292/.570

What was that I was saying about a slight uptick in O over Arias?
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:50 am
  
  Arias doesn’t hit enough for third. Gives Bochy more bench.
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:49 am

Han-job did his google thing rounding 2nd, and directed it at the Giants dugout.
- unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:49 am
  
  IOW, he did it twice . . .
- snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:52 am
  
  OK, I thought he only did it at home. Now I get it. What does that mean, anyway?…
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:51 am

3:39 into the women’s basketball, and the score is a scintillating 2-0
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:51 am

Pablo on the DL, Huff activated. Oh joy.
- snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:54 am
  
  Belt has a 3 hit night to get some mojo going, so they activate Huff less than twelve hours later.
  Sweet…
DJLoo said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:55 am

How about Nipper breaking a story at 11:48? BLEEP THAT!!!
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:57 am
  
  Nipper never breaks anything. BLEEP!
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:57 am

My thought exactly. A Flap 1st! BLEEP!

Huff on the bench to save the day. They aren’t going to start him, are they?

Unless they start Arias there.
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:57 am

Bochy just said Scutaro will be the everyday 3B until Pablo returns.
We’re gonna be deserving to lose a whole shitload of games now.
- Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:59 am
  
  I repeat: Scutaro last played 3B in 2008.
  - snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:02 pm
    
    You want Arias there instead? He’s been hitting like Chef Boyardee. Or, maybe Burriss? He’s already hit his one double for the season. Scutaro makes the most sense there, until he doesn’t…
  - twinfan1 said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:06 pm
    
    Uh, Arias had played 2 games at third in the bigs until this year, Denny.And 49 in 11 minor league seasons..
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:00 pm
  
  Giants deserve to win!
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:59 am

It ain;t carved in stone, chicken little
DJLoo said, on July 28, 2012 at 11:59 am

Olympic/political flashback: George Foreman endearing himself to much of white America with his little flag waving routine in the wake of the bad-ass Black power salute…
- Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:04 pm
  
  Loo remembers when bricks were used in the streets.
DJLoo said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:02 pm

Lots of severe thunderstorms in the NY area. Hopefully FOX switches to LA-SF during a delay…
- Wilcojoe said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:43 pm
  
  With my luck, they will switch to Mariners-Royals.
Nipper said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:06 pm

Zito day today.
DJLoo said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:14 pm

Breaking News: Sandoval is injury prone
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:16 pm

Croatia beating the US women’s b-ball team. Too funny.
eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:26 pm

somebody was mentioning non-democracy countries training to win golds. China who has never won a gold in the pool just had a 16y/o set a new world record while winning gold.
eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:51 pm

USA girls are beating the Korean girls in real volleyball. They have a girl named Hooker that is really cute.
The Japan mens doubles team in badminton are incredibly fast and playing to win. The shuttle travels @ over 200mph when they are smashing it.
And in table tennis the blond Ukrainian is ahead in points and size to the blond Romanian.
eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:52 pm

did they change the start time for today’s game? My schedule says 6pm SF time.
- snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:58 pm
  
  Yes, 1:05 PDT start, in about 8 minutes…
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:57 pm

Anyone got the lineups?
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:58 pm

Yeah, they bumped it to 1:05 local time
snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:58 pm

Burriss DFA’d this morning…
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 12:59 pm

5 minutes before game time and no lineups?
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:00 pm

If huff starts, I’m gonna join you guys on the ledge.
- Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:04 pm
  
  Not today, but Bochy just said on his radio show that Huff will indeed get some starts.
  Not to fret, plenty of room up on my ledge. We could use some more beer and ice. Thanks.
- snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:05 pm
  
  Bochy said pre-game he’ll be mostly for bench, with spot starting. Whatever that means.
  And, if we need a three hop grounder to second to start a DP, he’s our guy…
snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:04 pm

What are the odds anyone will actually pick up Burriss? 3:1; 5:1?
I’ll be mildly shocked if he isn’t back in Fresno after the 10 days…
- unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:11 pm
  
  300:1
  - snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:17 pm
    
    I was trying to be nice to the kid…
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:07 pm

I got a bad feeling about today’s game. Kemp OWNS Zito. I’m thinking something like 8-4 or 9-3.
DJLoo said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:08 pm

Rain delay in NY. Fox showing Giants here…
- Smokey said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:12 pm
  
  Be careful what you wish for.
- Bozo said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:22 pm
  
  Me too Loo. When I looked at the TV guide it said Yanks and Sox, Motherfuck you FOX, and then I turned it on and we have baseball from Pac Bell. YES.
  Wait we’re down two to none, motherfuck you FOX.
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:10 pm

Did I mention Kemp OWNS Zito?
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:10 pm

Oh joy.
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:12 pm

WTF did that imbecile give him anything to hit? Even Kruk said on the pregame he should bowl four pitches up to the plate no matter what.
Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:15 pm

I saw that Flav p/u Barbara in our fantasy league this morning. Benedict Arnold.
- Flavor said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:24 pm
  
  Call it an insurance policy. And speaking of questionable morality, have you cooked up anything with Kev lately?
  - Del Mar Dennis said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:35 pm
    
    As a matter of fact I did. I sent him another one of my starters. I hope it meets your approval.
snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:16 pm

Zito should just hit Kemp every AB and be done with it. Saves throwing 4 balls to put him on. If there were bags loaded with Zito pitching and Kemp up, I’d intentionally walk him. Sheesh…
eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:20 pm

nate ryan melk buster catching pagan belt the new guy at third and Crawford
- unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:57 pm
  
  Better late than never 🙂
snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:36 pm

Can we just stop with stooopid ABs with men in scoring position and nobody out? If Pagan is going to swing and do that on the first pitch, just friggin’ bunt and take a chance you might make it for a hit…
- zumiee said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:38 pm
  
  That’s the thing- with the lack of pop in the Giants lineup, they absolutely have to play fundamental baseball, and get the runner to third in that situation.
  - snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:44 pm
    
    This is on Bochy IMO. This team is not going to score with the dinger, you have to get runners moved around. He’s loathe to play small ball, whether early, late or in between. The argument that you don’t play small ball early does not apply to this team, because runs are so hard to come by, and because our pitching is good…
  - unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:49 pm
    
    Yeah, Pagan hacking 1st pitch trying to do too much is horseshit. A wasted opportunity.
eddacker said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:48 pm

If Zito gets the umpire believing, and it looks like he is starting to, he will get those close pitches called and that can only be a good thing.
- snarkk said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:55 pm
  
  Zito is very umpire dependent. If he gets an ump who doesn’t like his shit, he’s in a bad situation. With his stuff, he has to get ahead early with spotting pitches so he doesn’t have to come in later with his “hit me” pitches…
unca_chuck said, on July 28, 2012 at 1:51 pm

It may be too late