A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

What are you guys looking for this Spring Training?

I’d like to see Crawford ditch the man bun. He’s impossible to look with that thing perched atop his dome.

I’d like to see Pagan seamlessly transition to LF.

I’d like to see Pence stop making those stupid short films with his hot fiance.

I’d like to see the young guns in the bullpen cement their roles.

Most of all, just stay healthy.

Thoughts?

_________________

football talk: Here’s the inside of Bob Griese’s helmet in ’73. It’s dripping with CTE…..

Jason Stark does a poll each off season gauging the opinions of *35 baseball executives*—best and worst free agent signings. Here is his worst list:

I think Grienke got listed as *the best*. That’s hilarious to me.

Hey, if you want to read some good stuff go check out Twinner at the end of the last thread.

Chi said *make it so* and finally that has happened. As one of 8 mlb teams that require their pitchers and catchers to report on February 17th, the Giants have made some news today.

Here’s hoping most of them don’t look like that web.com wannabee Ty Blach.

Let’s just keep everyone healthy, ok? Long way to go to get to #4in7

The Giants being favored in 2016 is hardly surprising. We added 2 stud pitchers and a quality leadoff man to a team that already had a very good nucleus. Vegas is just telling us stuff we already knew.

I read a tweet from someone yesterday who said he’s not doing fanfest anymore because of the long lines. Said he waited 4 hours in line for 1 autograph.

Seriously? Didn’t he kinda see the writing on the wall after hour number 1? Who sits in line for 4 hours at fanfest?

Does anyone know how many players missed fanfest? I know Bumgarner, Pagan and Cueto missed it. I give the Latin guys a break because it’s a pain in the ass to travel into the country but Bumgarner? Nah, he should have made it. According to Baer he is driving in from NC and he was in Arizona the day of Fanfest. You can’t jump on a 90 minute flight? That’s lame.

Or maybe it’s the best?

Hope you all are enjoying your day off if you have one. If this is just like any other day for you, hey, this isn’t bad.

My buddy Dave (nicknamed “Pa”) is having an ok time. He and his girlfriend are on a *poker cruise* and I texted him a preferred Bill Murray movie line just to mess with him. This is the text I got back (it’s rad):

Chi, when do pitchers and catchers report? I’m pretty sure “poker against Orel Hershiser’s drunk wife” is scrapping the bottom of the sports barrel……

And a quick “Orel Hershiser and wife” search turned up this so I’m guessing Dave’s description of the game last night wasn’t too far off. lulz

I’ve missed a handful of dunk contests over the years but I’ve seen most of them. I definitely haven’t missed any of the epic dunks.

So when I declared (on twitter) that Gordon’s dunk over the top of the mascot while sliding the ball under BOTH legs was the best dunk I’ve ever seen I immediately started getting *dunk call regret*. Figured I’d gotten caught up in the moment. Figured the memories of Dominique and Jordan and Carter had finally flittered away.

And then I saw the 3-D vine of it and *dunk call regret* quickly faded. I mean, come ON. This is INSANE. It’s not the prettiest dunk. It’s not the most powerful dunk. But the immutable laws of *verticality* broken here combined with the awkward position of his body at peak height….for me it makes it the best dunk I’ve ever seen in one of the contests. The human body is not supposed to be able to do this……..

If you are fan-festing today, and I haven’t heard that anyone is, flip me some photos. Today is all about The El Camino Real Derby at GG, links @ Pebble and some all star stuff mixed into the evening. I’m also interested in catching a glimpse of the Buddy Hield Show but don’t know when that’s gonna happen with everything else going on. And I don’t DVR things. I could, I just don’t. Can’t watch something if I know the outcome. You guys DVR stuff?

Flipped on KNBR on the drive home last night and was greeted with contrarian radio voice of Marty Lurie. Felt like  baseball was back. He was interviewing Josh Osich who literally has nothing to say. Marty spiced up the interview a bit by accidentally saying “O-shit” two times. Seriously, who names their kid “Josh” when they have the last name of “Osich?” I mean, you’re just asking for that, right?

Mavericks and Pebble streaming all morning and it doesn’t get much better than that……

FanFest this Saturday and I’m stoked to be busy enough to snub the bejeeeezus out of it. Fanfest isn’t my thing anymore. If you like loooooooong lines, you should definitely go. Weather should be in your favor if you decide to make the trek.

On his radio show yesterday, Krukow predicted that Matt Cain would be the Comeback Player of the Year. Let that sink in.

Cain did look in great shape the other day down at Pebble. He hits the shit out of a golf ball…..

Fav golf tournament of the season today 🙂 🙂 🙂

Big, big day for Belt. Here’s a question that I THINK has been asked here before: Has the team ever submitted a number HIGHER than what the player submits? There has to be something in place to stop that from happening, right?

Pebble Beach this weekend. I’m not going but will watch as much as I can on TV. Hands down the most picturesque golf tournament of the year. I like Jimmy Walker this week.

I’d kinda like to see Belt’s case go to arbitration. First of all, if it does go, that will show how the team honestly feels about him. And I think that needs to finally get put out there. Next, I want to see if he wins. He’s got the peripheral stats that everyone like to jizz about. Does that influence an arbitrator? I’d be fascinated to see how that plays out.

But they’ll probably settle with him since they always do. Right? They WILL settle with him?

Ugh, the Broncos. I hate the Broncos. I hate all Denver sports teams. It’s been easy to hate their baseball team and their basketball team—both constantly suck. But ever since I went to college with 2 dudes from Denver I’ve had to listen to their nonsense about the pro teams. And the Broncos have been the one thorn they continue to dig in my side. They even managed to get me to hate John Elway, one of my favorite players in any sport growing up as a Stanford fan.

And they have been especially obnoxious since this recent Super Bowl win.

I HATE the Denver Broncos…….

The Giants were reportedly in discussion with Juan Uribe but talks tanked because….get this…..Uribe was asking for too much money.

Huh? What could he have possibly wanted that would have been “too much money?” Multiple years? I would think 1 year at 5 mil should get that done easily. And you pay that man his moooooney. He earned earned it 6 years ago.

In other news, Conor Gillespe is back in the organization.

____________

Very interesting match up with OKC tonight–they did not seem to take kindly to Steph guaranteeing a win. Trouble is, playing at Oracle, I’m not sure they are in a position to do much about that bold, in your face, claim…..

_______________

Super Bowl tomorrow. Please no terrorist funny business, ok?

Orioles are interested in Timmy. That uniform would be a good look for him. I’ve liked the Orioles since I was a kid. The name, the uni, Jim Palmer, Doug DefuckingCinces….all of it.

NBA three point contest contenders are lined up and it’s going to be FANTASTIC. Defending champ Steph is back plus Klay. James Harden and Chris Bosh will both be worth watching for the possible implosion factor alone, and the rookie Devin Booker will catch my interest. Middletown, Lowry and Reddick round out that ultra-competitive event.

Of course, we know who is going to win. Here’s a stat for you: this season, Steph is shooting 60.4% from shots 28+ feet out. The NBA average from 3 feet or closer is 59.5%. How rad is that?

Earlier this week, Gomes signed a deal to play in Japan. I’ve always liked him. Seems like a very cool dude. But I did not like this comment:

“It seems like the players are getting bullied. It’s February. These people are human beings. They have families. They’ve got to make plans. I’m not trying to get back at baseball by any means. But I’m not just going to hang around. What has changed since the end of September? It’s not like a guy is hot right now or in a slump.”

That’s the type of privileged, out-of-touch comment I would expect from an A-Rod or some other dumbass.

I’m sorry Gomes feels bullied. Hopefully some fresh sushi and a foot massage will ease his pain.

He’s 35 and declining rapidly. Japan should extend his career a bit. Doubt he ever takes another swing at the major league level……

I haven’t really followed this story, but I heard that Kaep wants out. Isn’t he already out? I’d like to play for the New York Jets too but I don’t think telling that to a media source makes that happen.

People are saying that this “leak” will hurt Kaep’s trade value. This makes no sense to me. Who wants to trade for Kaep? He is absolutely not worth the 12 mil he’s scheduled to make if he isn’t cut by April 1st. What team would trade for him and take on that “Kaep” hit?

Maybe he would have to agree to a contract restructure if he wants a trade to the Jets to get done?

To me, Kaep has almost no trade value. He has barely any value unless you think he can fit into what Kelly wants to do. Which I don’t think he can do. Steve Young called it perfectly: Kaep works really hard on things he’s already good at. I can’t see Kaep succeeding in a sped-up offense where he has to think and read defenses quicker. He doesn’t do his homework in the film room. He doesn’t work on technique. He doesn’t practice short throws until his muscle memory is locked in. All he wants to do is work out and throw deep balls in practice.

But hey, if the Jets want him they can have him…..

I used to think the beginning of February was a boring time around here. Nothing to do. Haiku dead zone.

And then I watched the news story of Punxsutawney Phil being hoisted high above his beaming handler’s head as hundreds of people cheered wildly nearby. And I was reminded that there does indeed exist a more boring time, far far away…

Anyone got a Super Bowl prediction? I know it’s the chalk play but I just don’t see how Denver doesn’t get rolled by Carolina. Sometimes the public gets it right. I think they have it right on this one…..

I’d like to see the news channels around here to go 3 seconds without saying “Super Bowl City”. I don’t think they could do it. There were 2 SEPARATE stories this morning on the freaking pants Cam Newton was wearing when he got off the plane in San Jose yesterday.

Not sure I’m gonna make it through the week with all the bullshit going on here……

Fanfest is coming up. February 13th. Pagan is missing his third straight. This is big news here. Do ANY of you care that Angel Pagan isn’t making the trek from Puerto Rico to come to freaking Fanfest?

I think Pagan should do whatever he wants to do. It’s not like he’s hanging out in a condo overlooking Super Bowl city. He’s in Puerto Rico. With a family. I think his wife recently had another baby. And he’s got that baseball clinic he does for all the poor kids in his town.

And now he’s getting shit because he won’t come to a 1 day jackoff session at AT&T that is more merchandise-driven than it is fan-driven?

Screw that.

I’m missing my 3rd straight fanfest too and you don’t see the media around here up in arms about that. But who knows, we still have a couple of weeks to go for them to whip into an angry lather about the “Flavor Snubs Fanfest” non-story……

No baseball.

No football.

NBA, but that only holds my interest in terms of Steph Curry and/or DFS.

Entering the dark days of sports…….

The Mets kept Big Cespy and that was quite a move by them. Renting him went well. Why not keep renting him? Sure, he can opt out after the first year but if he did that it’s probably because he had another big year. This is a good example of a team getting the best out of a player currently playing rather than paying for what they’ve already done.

With that pitching staff maturing another year, the Mets look quite imposing going into 2016.

It’s getting to the point where I’m only watching the first half of Warrior games. If this team stays healthy, the NBA finals will receive an all time low ratings.

Really looking forward to the SB mostly because I hate Denver sports and will enjoy watching the Broncos get destroyed in another championship game. Years and years of having to listen to one of my best friends blather on about the Broncos did this to me.

Cam Newton has grown on me. I used to think he was just obnoxious but he’s so good he’s backing it up and you can’t really hate on that. Plus, the dude is always smiling, even right after he gets tackled. Seems to really enjoy the game.

So I am putting aside my distaste for SEC players and will genuinely enjoy the SB.

Funny story about the last time the Panthers were in the SB. I was in Reno, drunk, finishing off my bets at the window. Just before I walked away I made a final wager: $20 on the Panthers scoring EXACTLY 29 points. No idea why I did this. Had $20 left and…. as I said above…drunk. It paid 30-1 and that looked pretty good to me at the time.

I wandered off and began playing blackjack (that was just before I got into poker and left that dumb game behind forever)— lost money, met some chick, yada yada. Anyway, I wasn’t playing a huge amount of attention to the game, kinda kept track of it on a nearby tv and it looked like things weren’t going well for my fistful of bets. Somewhere in the 4th Q I tossed all my tickets as they all looked like losers to me. It feels good to toss away losing tickets. If you aren’t a gambler you might not know this.

Anyway, in my drunken haze I had forgotten about the single bet of them scoring 29 points. As the final score flashed on a nearby screen I was like, “wait a min….Oh my God, what have I done!” I proceeded to check every garbage can I remembered passing by. No luck.

Hours later my buddy Dave goes, “let’s just talk to the pit boss and tell him what happened.” We did that and to my shock the pit boss said “that was such an unusual bet I can pay it out to you since there is only one of those left that haven’t been claimed.”

And that’s what he did. Only time I’ve ever cashed a ticket without the actual ticket.

I showered Dave with gifts……

++++++++++++++

UPDATE: Dave read the blog today and requested that I make the following changes to the story. Here is what he said:

He lives in Reno so I’m assuming I went back 90 days later to cash. That was a long time ago, I have no recollection about having to wait 90 days but at the time he drank considerably less than I did so I will go with him on this one.

I call bullshit on the no-showering claim.

+++++++++++++++++

I think Denver wins just because they’re at home with a better defense. Also, everyone is predicting that NE walks in this one and we know how “everyone” usually does at the betting window.

Carolina beating AZ seems pretty likely.

But really, who knows? Just needed a new thread.

I wrote a little bit about this 4+ years ago….

https://oneflapdown77.com/2011/11/17/what-the-astros-move-to-the-american-league-will-mean-for-baseball/

I don’t really get the furor that the DH invokes in NL fans. I’d prefer to not see it changed to the NL but it will hardly affect my interest in the game. I’m not going to stop watching baseball because I don’t get to witness a double switch.

But I get why NL fans don’t want it. I really think a lot of that just has to do with routine. We’re all in a routine as fans.

I bet Barry can still hit. How awesome would it be to bring him back as our DH? lulz.

Or Aubry Huff. He’s kick starting a comeback, right?

Baron Davis?

Ok, I’m done…..

Chi, how many more days till pitchers and catchers report?

This Justin Upton thing is….wow.

133 million? For what? This is a guy who has barely hit 30 home runs one time. So he’s not really a big power bat. He hasn’t stolen 20 bases in 5 years. His attitude is marginal, at best.

At least he got a partial no-trade and you can guarantee the Giants are on that list because he “hates” playing in SF.

The Tigers are reminding me of the Angels of a few years ago. Good luck with all that.

I’m not sure how you flip a coin in the air and it doesn’t flip. How does that happen? Maybe if you spin it like a frisbee? Seems to me it would still flip over when it hit the ground. But maybe that’s one of the rules, it has to flip in the air. Either way, the *coin toss* has proven in recent years to be too difficult of a task for field umpires to execute. Maybe they need to go to a *guess what number I’m thinking? Closest guess gets to pick.” That couldn’t be much worse than the freaking coin failing to flip.

Anyway, the laws of physics took a hit yesterday…..

That was a pretty epic game. Bummed I have to miss the 2 today but I’ll be re-freshing my phone like a boss at this all-day volleyball tourney I have to go to……

Four very interesting games this weekend. I posted my predictions on Chuck’s blog, encourage you to do the same.

I want to see the Chiefs win, just don’t know if they can pull it off without Maclin and with Kelce likely to be shut down by Chung. But you never know, maybe Smith takes the team on his shoulders and runs them to victory! Hey, he’s done it before….

Who you guys like this weekend?

I’ve softened my stance on the Chip Kelly hire mostly because I have no choice. And, the pickins were slim. If the choice was between him and the 2 AARP members I guess I’ll go with Kelly. And who knows, maybe he learned something from getting his ass fired in Philly. And come on, it’s Philly, aren’t most things dysfunctional in that sports town? Maybe Kelly just needed a fresh start.

I read somewhere that the #1 conflict resolution strategy for BOTH Kelly and Baalke is to stage a coup. I thought that was sad and also funny.

It will be an interesting season, that is for sure……

So I think we can all agree that the Powerball smokes copious amounts of Powerpole.

And, it’s January 14th.

It’s 4:55pm in Reykjavik right now. 21 degrees.

That is all.

That tweet I posted early this morning still has me chuckling. What are they going to do with that guy next year?

Rain. Lots of rain. Feel like Andy Dufresne after crawling through that shit line, only less happy.

Zumiee, you guys have to be getting hammered out there. How do the crops look?

Someone told me the Giants were the favorites to win the World Series next year. That appears to be untrue. They’re 10-1. Cubs and Red Sox are 7-1 and 8-1, respectively.

Future bets are, inherently, pretty dumb. What team looks the same in the post season as it did in Spring Training?

I wonder when the last team favorite to win the WS in ST actually went and won it? Yankees in 2009?

How could you not like our chances?

Man, Jeremy Hill….

People are going to say that somehow he’s not the goat of that game. That it was the absurd Burfict or Jones, who could be found weeping alone on the bench at the end of the game. And while those 2 idiots definitely played a role in that incomprehensible loss, Hill is the one who is going to have to wear that one forever.

I know this because I still haven’t forgiven Roger Craig for his fumble. Remember that one? Losing to the Giants with 2 minutes to play. All they needed was another 15-20 yards or so for a game winning field goal. Ball handed off to Craig. He runs into the line. Ball pops out. Fucking Lawrence Taylor recovers it.

Game over.

*********Resident Niner expert Chuck corrected me in the comment section that the Niners were winning when he fumbled and the Giants kicked a FG to win it. I don’t remember that at all. Just the fumble and the loss. I did leave my apartment in Portland, Oregon after the fumble and went for a drive. Don’t remember where I drove to. Probably for beer******

And I was a privileged 49er fan with 4 Sb ‘s already in the bank. How must a Bengal fan be coping with last night’s unfathomable defeat?

That was and will always be the worst loss I’ve ever felt as a fan. It still makes me sick to my stomach.

What was your worst loss ever?

_______________________

I swear to God, I woke up this morning and wondered how cold it was at Carstie’s cabin. Did he fire up the stove yet to warm up that pussy? Hey now.

FOUR games THIS WEEKEND. I wouldn’t bet on any of them. Especially the Minnesota game. What does below zero temperature do to a football? I’m guessing it’s not easy to throw.

They’re saying that this game could break the record set by Twin’s dad in the Ice Bowl game. I hope it doesn’t. I like that record. 🙂

Here’s what I like most about the Span signing: this is the first off season I can remember where management didn’t just build the barest bones roster they could possibly build.

In the past, we would be counting on Blanco, Pagan and Pence and that would be it. Kelby Tomlinson would probably be groomed as a 4th outfielder. And then when Pagan goes down in May we would be scrambling as usual.

But the Span signing means that’s not going to happen.

One thing I would like to see happen: stop tip toeing around Angel Pagan. It seems like the Giants are afraid of this guy or something. Sit his ass down and tell him he’s no longer playing CF. He can split time in LF with Blanco. Sharing the job would be best for both of them.

Now Specs can focus on his utility role in the infield and Parker and Williamson can jostle around for the 5th OF spot.

I almost don’t know what to do with all these extra players, lol!

If you change your HOF vote, doesn’t that make you kinda vindictive? Or uninformed? Or worse, a pussy?

I really don’t care, I stopped worrying about who was/wasn’t getting into the HOF a long time ago. Plus, I’ve never been there so it’s an *out of sight/out of mind” thing.

If you have a vote and you do the research then you should either know or not know on a guy the first time you vote/don’t vote for him. There is no new information coming out. They haven’t put up a stat in AT LEAST 5 years.

And now I’m reading about some softening from the voters regarding the steroid guys. Although, I’m not so sure about that since their % only seems to have gone up because of the sweep the BBWAA did to get rid of the guys who haven’t been voting.

Still, there are writers saying they’ve changed their minds. And while changing your mind is a right and as human as it gets, I don’t see what’s changed other than the calendar.

Royals got Gordon back for 4 years/72 million— seems about right. I actually would have been fine giving him the same deal. Now that he’s fallen the rest should start to go. What are the chances we get one of the following?

Big Cespy

Fowler

Parra

J-Upton

Denard Span

Marlon Byrd

I think we are probably more in a “Will Venable” state of mind but who knows, maybe management surprises me……

Anyone want Dexter Fowler? At the right price, I do. He’s a switch hitter who might hit 7 billion triples if allowed to play at AT&T full time. Or at least, 81 games.

He’s long (6’4). I haven’t checked his defensive metrics mostly because I think they’re overrated but he’s gotta be better at D than Pagan. I mean, who isn’t?

He’s 29, I actually see him as a younger Pagan. I’d take him.

I want you to imagine something with me. What if the Giants had a mediocre year and the owner fired the manager. Except he didn’t fire him, he told everyone that “there was a mutual parting of the ways.” Baer replaces Bochy with Darrell Evans. He tells everyone not to worry about Howdy Doody not having managerial experience because Steve Kerr didn’t have any and he won an NBA championship in his first year.

EVERYONE is skeptical of this move—the fans, the media, the internet. EVERYONE. Baer tells us all to R-E-L-A-X because his standard is World Series or bust and that the history of the Giants franchise says to trust in the process.

The following year, the team is awful. Close to the worst team in the league. An hour after the final game of the season, because he’s too much of a pussy to *be accountable* in person, the owner sends out a press release saying that Howdy Doody has been fired. Neither Jed nor Baalke were at the game yesterday, by the way……

Bochy, watching all of this from an ivory tower somewhere, sends out this cryptic tweet:

Whenever I go to mlbtraderumors.com and the lead story is either “week in review” or Free Agent A vs Free Agent B Face Off, I know there is nothing going on in baseball. And why would there be? It’s cold. Dark. Haiku.

Five decent games today. How about a prediction for each.

Tenn -10 vs N-Western. I’m taking NW and the points here since I watched them beat the Cardinal in the first game of the season and they looked great. That was a long time ago and NW is pretty much one-trickish with their running game, but 10 points is a lot.

Michigan -4 vs Florida. I’m taking Florida. I’ve seen Jim Harbaugh win too many games by a field goal. Gimmie the 4.

ND +6 vs Ohio State. I hate both these teams. I’m predicting that on the kickoff each player crashes into each other like coconuts falling from a tree, everyone is injured and they have to cancel the game. AND both programs are disbanded forever. Hey, I can dream.

Cardinal -6 vs Iowa. I’m taking the Cardinal here and as stupid as it is to lay 6 points with another coach who loves to win by a field goal, I am doing it. Although there is no outcome that would really surprise me. I wanna see Shaw do something dynamic with Love and Rector or even underutilized Barry Sanders and make this game interesting. Please don’t run the ball 500 times in a row….

Mississippi -9.5 vs Oklahoma State. Kelly accounts for 5 td’s and Ole Miss rolls…..

Here’s a good example of why I can’t stand the hot stove season: Someone named Jesse Sanchez from mlb.com says that The O’s and White Sox have emerged as the favorites for The Big Cespy. But he also says the Angels and Giants are “in the mix.” And not only that, The Rangers are “monitoring the situation.”

Look, that is not news. That’s a guy blabbering out a bunch of bullshit hoping to see his nit-twit follower list go up with some re-tweets and whatever else you need to gain followers on Twitter.

Anyway, nothing new here I just wanted to pop up a new thread. Regarding Goff, look he appears to be the real deal. And I would take him, ABSOLUTELY, before Paxton Lynch. But what would be the point? This isn’t the sexiest idea, but I would trade down so I could draft 2 stud offensive linemen in the first round. Even if I thought the Niners had the capacity to develop Goff, which they don’t, whoever they put back there is going to get fucking killed until they fix the right side of their line.

And I don’t know that Goff is a once-in-a-gen guy. I’m not gonna shat myself if we pass on him. Look, he threw 6 td’s vs freaking Air Force. So let’s not start smoking each other’s poles just yet over this guy. Fix the non-sexy parts of the team, then go out and try to get a stud QB.

Interested in any of these remaining games? There’s a few I want to watch.

The Cal game will be interesting from a tactical stand point as they aren’t used to playing teams like Air Force.

The LSU game is intriguing to see how many yards L-Train can pile up. Is 300 out of the question? Probably. I’ll say 224.

The line of the season that I would hammer is MSU +9.0. Dantonio is a very good coach and you give him this much time to get ready for a game and I wouldn’t want to be Alabama. I mean, all he’s got to do is shut down their one trick pony. I also think the SEC is completely overrated at this point and I will be hammering MSU + points and maybe the ML. +270 looks pretty good and I also might hit Air Force a little on the ML since I think they either get blown out by Cal or they befuddle the Bears with their weird play and beat them…..

Rose Bowl should be a big bore and not just because I’m a Cardinal fan and we keep ending up here. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Two running teams slamming into each other play after play is not my cup of tea…….

What games are you guys looking forward to?

Little going on in baseball world unless you consider the Glass Sanchez retirement papers big news.

Pawlie heading to Iceland soon to find out once and for all how many people there believe in elves.

I got nuthin’ but we needed a new thread…..

I keep hoping for a Christmas miracle, like we sign Matt Latos or something. That would be a hoot, right? Just to shoot the shit over? If you were one of the remaining free agent outfielders I could see today being a preferred day to sign a deal. One, big 100 million dollar box under the tree. Wives would like it….

Merry Christmas eve to Flappers far and wide. What a perfect day to hope for a “Cespedes for the restofus”……

In case you missed it, Pawlie takes a moment to sit down with himself for a hard hitting interview with none other than…..himself.

http://thelaughorist.blogspot.com/2015/12/an-interview-with-my-self.html?spref=tw

Last year there was a funny running joke about the *Lollogram*. I actually can’t even remember that outfielder’s real name.

I feel kinda the same way about Mike Leake. It’s like he wasn’t ever even here–more like a rumor of a guy we almost got. I remember his hammy problem that lingered. And I remember a sweet outing that he produced AFTER we got eliminated from contention. I think I even predicted the morning of that game that he would be lights out because there’s nothing left to play for….

Anyway, 80 mil and 5 years. Good luck St Louis. At least with all that new found coin you would THINK the department stores near the stadium would be safe from his pilfering.

But might wanna keep an eye him just in case…….

What sports can you literally just not bring yourself to watch? The only ones I can’t watch are hockey, car racing and soccer. And probably curling. Unless you’re talking about the damn calendar and then I’m positively glued to it.

I’d probably rank my favorite sports to watch, in order, as baseball, horse racing, college football, NFL, golf, college basketball, poker, NBA….that’s about it. I’d watch a body building competition before any of the 4 listed in the first paragraph. In fact, I’ve been known to take in a one-off body building contest on occasion…..

It’s funny how far the sport of boxing has fallen. I didn’t even consider it until I got done writing this thread. Back in the day we would all get together at someone’s house and watch the Tyson fights. Didn’t matter how long they lasted. Loved those parties.

I think it’s way past time for a new thread. lqtm.

The problem is that I have nothing to write about. No topic of interest to trumpet. The Warriors streak is over. The Niners aren’t worth discussing anymore. And the Giants seem to be in hibernation. That’s a tough pill to swallow with so many competent outfielders still on the market.

What teams do you non-Bay Area folks follow? I think the NY Giants seems to be popular with some of you. I know Loo loves his Chiefs, Zumiee is a Sacto Kings fan.

Anybody else? Who do you like besides the Giants and/or other Bay Area teams? And is it hard to support Bay Area teams when you live so far away?

Here’s one: Who was your childhood team if it wasn’t the Giants?

See, I knew I could find a thread if I just started typing…..

First of all, I am not going to see the Star Wars movie. Don’t care a single thing about it. You would think someone my age would care. I don’t. I never understood why it would be interesting to go watch a movie about dudes shooting at each other in space.

Weirdo move by LA to thumbs down the physical of Iwakuma and then he immediate signs with Seattle. Not sure the entire story is getting told there…….