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    #26
    A-Roid

    That's right.

    Every year, there are one or two exceptions, like Tampa or Milwaukee, but in general its pretty reliable.

    As they were just discussing on SportsCenter the three teams to improve the most this offseason are the Mets, Yankees and Red Sox. The three teams that likely went backwards are the Angels, Mariners and Brewers. The Angels might get Bobby Abreau, however.

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      #27
      A-Roid

      ok, so why not have the NFL design, and f**k/forget the Wildcard nonsense?

      2 of the last 11 teams have been wildcard, and I havent even looked.

      I dont like the wildcard: if you are not good enough, then bugger off, BUT, there is nothing worse than knowing around May/June that your team is shit and you have nothing to play for... so, wonder why its there?

      If the Angels get Abreu, that is a HUGE step backwards (in 2 years)... This year: fine, 25 homers and a shit load of RBI's... but the thing about the Angels, and indeed anyone other than my evil empire, is that they look ahead.

      Incidentally, I will bet 10 of my UK pounds against 10 of anyones cash (euros or US Dollars only) to say that Mark Teixeira will be the AL MVP this year. Unless he starts snowboarding.

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        #28
        A-Roid

        Reed,

        I can't really argue with much of what your wrote in your last long post (well I could, but it would be solely for the sake of arguing).

        The only thing I would really take issue with is the salary cap. First, leaving aside the owners voice (I don't think they want it, but that's a closer case), I can't imagine any way that the players' association would allow it unless the cap was set ridiculously high, and if that happened, it wouldn't have much value.

        In fact, even if it wasn't set ridiculously high, I would wager that a large number of teams would come in well below it every year b/c of the revenue disparity. The only way to fix the revenue disparity is to have revenue sharing on TV money (which is the case in all salary capped leagues), and I don't see that coming about. I'm not sure why, b/c I'd think that the number of teams that would gain from revenue sharing would be substantially larger than the teams that would be penalized, but it seems to be the case otherwise it would have happened already.

        And, yes, Von Hayes was there for seemingly ever. I've always been pleased that the Phillies traded Julio Franco for him. Of course, that was probably better than their Ryne Sandberg for Ivan DeJesus trade the year before.

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          #29
          A-Roid

          Von Hayes and ms. ursus went to the same high school.

          As to the original focus of the thread, I think that this Joe Posnanski piece is excellent, even by Posnanski's very high standards.

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            #30
            A-Roid

            ursus arctos wrote:
            Was.

            She appears to have exchanged him for a newer Brazilian model.

            Am I a bad person for hoping against hope that Jeter is next?
            Next to ride Madonna or next to be exposed as a juice-user?

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              #31
              A-Roid

              The latter.

              The correlation between embarassingly unbridled adoration for Jeter and sanctimonious bullcrap about steroids in the New York media is close to 1 to 1, and I'd like to see the usual suspects try to square that particular circle.

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                #32
                A-Roid

                Yes, that would be interesting. I don't think it will happen though, because I don't believe he has. I would be way more shocked to hear about Jeter using than I have been about anyone else.

                And you know I'm not just saying that.

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                  #33
                  A-Roid

                  Yeah, I know it's unlikely, but I'm kind of hoping that he felt he needed an edge to pull Jessica Biel.

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                    #34
                    A-Roid

                    n fact, even if it wasn't set ridiculously high, I would wager that a large number of teams would come in well below it every year b/c of the revenue disparity. The only way to fix the revenue disparity is to have revenue sharing on TV money (which is the case in all salary capped leagues), and I don't see that coming about. I'm not sure why, b/c I'd think that the number of teams that would gain from revenue sharing would be substantially larger than the teams that would be penalized, but it seems to be the case otherwise it would have happened already.
                    Well, I was assuming there'd be a salary floor as well and more revenue sharing.

                    I don't forsee it happening anytime soon. Baseball is under the impression that it's doing really well financially.

                    I wonder, however, if it will feel that way in 20 years. Whenever I go to the ballpark, I'm struck by how old and white the crowd is compared to that of any other sporting event I go to - hockey, soccer, gridiron. When I was a kid, just about every kid I knew at least tried their hand at little league baseball and it was the most "important" youth sport by far. That is no longer true.

                    In cities where the baseball team is perpetually non-competitive, kids are a lot less likely to get excited about baseball and will instead chose something easier to pick-up like football or basketball or soccer.

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                      #35
                      A-Roid

                      Is this the guy who walks out to bat while Mims' 'This is Why I'm Hot' is playing? Do any other batters have their own personal theme tune?

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                        #36
                        A-Roid

                        It's called "walk up" music. As far as I know, now every major league ballpark as well as most parks at every other level (my uncle was in charge of the PA and walk up music for my cousin's high school team) play something different for all of the home team's batters. This has emerged over the past 10 to 15 years.

                        I think the player is supposed to be able to pick it but I imagine in a lot of cases the stadium's audio producers pick the walk up songs. It often seems that the music conforms to ethnic stereotype - white players get metal or country, black players get hip-hop and Latin American players get something in Spanish with a bit of salsa, rumba or mambo beat.

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                          #37
                          A-Roid

                          MLB.com did a survey of the walk-up music for every team in the major leagues last season.

                          The list for the Yankees is here, and it does indeed seem to be the case that A-Rod uses "This Is Why I'm Hot".

                          You can get to the list for any other team by clicking their name in the "At Bat Music" box on the left side of the page.

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                            #38
                            A-Roid

                            Excellent knowledge dropped, Reed and UA. Thanks.

                            Xavier Nady's quote on his walk-up music proves that Reed is right:

                            "I don't even know what the songs are, to be honest with you. I haven't been on the team for very long, so I just told them to pick whatever they want. It's been so crazy since I got here that I just haven't paid much attention to it."

                            Although, in other quotes it's quite clear that the player has chosen them. Depends on whether you're into music or not I suppose.

                            I like the comparison between Jeter's music (EPMD, Cameo, LL Cool J, Digital Underground) and A-Rod's (Young Jeezy, Mims).

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                              #39
                              A-Roid

                              A-Rod dead at 33

                              "Born in Texas in late 2000 after signing a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Rangers..."

                              Brilliant.

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