Baseball Thread
- Thread starter Hypocycloid
- Start date
I have absolutely no interest in following baseball at all since the Expos left. Just hearing about the insane contracts being given out by the teams and the abuse of performance enhancing drugs by the players would be enough to turn me off the game even if we still had a team. Might as well be watching bike racing. 
I agree with you guys, contracts, steroids etc.... the contracts are high, but it is the players getting the money that would otherwise be pocketed by the owners. So, I dont really have a problem with the salaries too much, but the players union is what drives up the values. These guys play looong seasons, and some really deserve the payday.
Steroids and HGH have disrupted the statistical integrity that was the foundation for baseball history. that bothers me, but.......
the game is still the game, and it is no less fun to play and watch for me, even with the empty void left behimd by Nos Amours Les Expos!
Steroids and HGH have disrupted the statistical integrity that was the foundation for baseball history. that bothers me, but.......
the game is still the game, and it is no less fun to play and watch for me, even with the empty void left behimd by Nos Amours Les Expos!
And yet you go to movies in which the leading performers are paid at least as well as baseball players. Can you explain the contradiction?Techman said:I have absolutely no interest in following baseball at all since the Expos left. Just hearing about the insane contracts being given out by the teams and the abuse of performance enhancing drugs by the players would be enough to turn me off the game even if we still had a team. Might as well be watching bike racing.
I used to cheer for both the Expos & the Jays back in the days when the Expos were in Mtl. The Jays were my American League team, the Expos were my National League team.
I still cheer for the Jays. Among the NHL, NBA, NFL & MLB, baseball is still the cheapest pro sport to attend in person. I can only afford to go to an NBA game once or twice a year. Same with the NFL. As for hockey, a handful of games. But i can attend a dozen MLB games since a premium ticket is much more affordable than what i'd be paying for the other sports i listed.
I still cheer for the Jays. Among the NHL, NBA, NFL & MLB, baseball is still the cheapest pro sport to attend in person. I can only afford to go to an NBA game once or twice a year. Same with the NFL. As for hockey, a handful of games. But i can attend a dozen MLB games since a premium ticket is much more affordable than what i'd be paying for the other sports i listed.
rumpleforeskiin said:
Good point. Add drug abuse. Add listening to music and/or attending a concert. The amount of drug abuse among celebs is astronomical.
rumpleforeskiin said:
For one thing, it doesn't cost me 400 bucks for a ticket to a movie like it would for a good seat to see the Yankees with their 450 Million dollar roster.
Plus whether the actors in a movie use drugs or not has no bearing on whether the movie will win at the box office or not. And no matter how much it costs to make a movie, even the lowest budget film can be successful at the box office and have a chance to win film's top prize, the Oscar. While the bottom revenue teams in baseball don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning anything.
The day MLB brings in full drug testing for all it's 'athletes' and a salary cap so that all teams have the chance to compete on an equal playing field, baseball is about as interesting as the WWE.
Techman said:For one thing, it doesn't cost me 400 bucks for a ticket to a movie like it would for a good seat to see the Yankees with their 450 Million dollar roster.
Plus whether the actors in a movie use drugs or not has no bearing on whether the movie will win at the box office or not. And no matter how much it costs to make a movie, even the lowest budget film can be successful at the box office and have a chance to win film's top prize, the Oscar. While the bottom revenue teams in baseball don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning anything.
The day MLB brings in full drug testing for all it's 'athletes' and a salary cap so that all teams have the chance to compete on an equal playing field, baseball is about as interesting as the WWE.
Hello Tech,
Good explanation, almost. I think you might have gotten Rumples with that except the WWE allusion is a very low blow. Professional Wrestling was never a sport. Even if competitive baseball is very unbalanced and unfair, it is still not staged as is every moment in the WWE, making the WWE irrelevant...unless you are into sweaty over-built semi-nude men acting...lol.
Really,
Merlot
Last edited:
Techman said:
Do the Tampa Bay Rays mean anything to you Tech? I'm pretty sure they played in last years World Series and are always amongst the leaders with the lowest payroll.
Plus you can get a ticket to a Rays game for less than a movie ticket in Montreal.
There's always exceptions to everything now and then, SK. The Yankees have been in the 'World Series' (which strangely includes no teams from the rest of the world) 6 times in the last 14 years since the strike, winning four of them. Think they would have been there if not for their unlimited budget?
Merlot, you're right...I shouldn't have compared MLB to the WWE. I think the WWE has a better anti drug policy and besides, it isn't cheating when the outcome is predetermined. I should actually have compared them to the Tour de France most of the top stars there are also performance enhanced.
Merlot, you're right...I shouldn't have compared MLB to the WWE. I think the WWE has a better anti drug policy and besides, it isn't cheating when the outcome is predetermined. I should actually have compared them to the Tour de France most of the top stars there are also performance enhanced.
Yes, there are exceptions. The exception in the last 8 years is the Red Sox as they are the only high payroll team to win the World Series in that period. If you look at who has appeared in the Serious in this period, you don't see the Yankees, you don't see the Mets, you don't see the Dodgers. You see Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays.Techman said:
While I certainly don't approve of PEDs, the simple fact is that the book is out as to whether or not they actually improve performance.
rumpleforeskiin said:
I think the correlation is CLEAR, while PEDs are not talent in a syringe, what they do is allow a baseball player to be at or near 100% all season, in a very long and grueling season. Barry Bonds was able to be Barry Bonds every day, not fatiguing down the stretch when pitchers arms are tiring.
Steroids and HGH promote healing, allow for more frequent workouts, more efficient work out, and less recovery in between workouts. When taken in moderation, they will extend a playing career enough to compile HOF worthy stats, = R. Palmiero, I. Rodriguez, R. Clemens... When abused they can shorten careers = McGwire, Juan Gonzalez, Mo Vaughn.
On the field, some players have talked about better vision, Bonds won 2 batting titles on the clear and cream. It allows for quicker bat-speed, perhaps the most important aspect of hitting a baseball, reducing the read n react time with a faster bat through the hitting zone.
What about the psychological edge? Ken Caminiti, who once said "I have made many mistakes, steroids is not one of them", he talked about believing he was 8ft tall and bulletproof at the plate.
Steroids dont teach talent, but I think the evidence suggests that they can turn average players into good, good into great, great into superstar, and superstar to legendary.
It never bothered me that a player just trying to make the squad, or remain on squad might turn to the juice for an edge, or even established players trying to get through the season, or sign that next deal. What does bother me is when the cream of the crop abuses steroids and HGH, Bonds and Clemens went overboard, its like the smartest kid in the class stealing the answers to the exam, and then not getting a few wrong to deflect attention away. I noticed nobody really cared when Greg Zaun, Dave Martinez or Troy Glaus was linked
The list of players linked to Steroids will grow, it was far more rampant than what we know about, the Dominican academies have been milking MLB scouts for a while now, there are stories about "protein shakes" given to the prospects in the DR, forged birth records etc... David Ortiz even said that he cant be sure that he never took anything shady, because he never asked whats in the supplements he was given in Domican leagues.
So imagine a player like Bonds with all of the skills, a 5 tool guy, (ok weak throwing arm but 8 gold gloves), near perfect plate mechanics, he knew how to do anything, just imagine him bigger, stronger and faster with the same mental skill set he already had = legendary.
allways loved the expos and kansas city royals in the AL, unfortunately i never got to see les expos in person, that wouldve been great to see them at olympic stadium! ,, now i follow the nationals and royals
an interesting sidenote, ive allways lived in syracuse ny, our team has been the blue jays aaa team for years, but this year it became the nationals team, pretty cool now there will be a team i actually care about
ive been wondering also with all the games theyve been doing outside the country (mexico,japan,china etc),, if maybe the nationals may play a few games back in montreal sometime, i brought this up on the nationals board, someone says they believe that the baseball field/turf was sold, so theres no way baseball could be played there now unless new turf was bought,, anyone know if thats true?
an interesting sidenote, ive allways lived in syracuse ny, our team has been the blue jays aaa team for years, but this year it became the nationals team, pretty cool now there will be a team i actually care about
ive been wondering also with all the games theyve been doing outside the country (mexico,japan,china etc),, if maybe the nationals may play a few games back in montreal sometime, i brought this up on the nationals board, someone says they believe that the baseball field/turf was sold, so theres no way baseball could be played there now unless new turf was bought,, anyone know if thats true?
cpp433 said:
I dont think the Nationals would be welcome, a Blue Jays game not a bad idea. When I made the poll I omitted the Nationals.... unintentionally intentionally perhaps.
I have no clue about the stadium, the big Owe is a touchy subject and rarely mentioned. I like to picture it as Chernobyl, with everything still in place, uniforms hanging, lineup cards, buckets of baseballs in the bullpens, all dusty and preserved...
Hypocycloid said:
The Nats currently are an embarrassment to MLB. Oh! how they regret ever taking the team out of La Belle Province!!!
"I dont think the Nationals would be welcome, a Blue Jays game not a bad idea"
not sure why as washington didnt steal the expos from montreal, i can understand anger when thats the case as happened with some citys/teams, like it or not the nationals are our expos, and if washington were to come play there of course it would be against the blue jays, i would never suggest they play any other team there
not sure why as washington didnt steal the expos from montreal, i can understand anger when thats the case as happened with some citys/teams, like it or not the nationals are our expos, and if washington were to come play there of course it would be against the blue jays, i would never suggest they play any other team there
cpp433 said:
I no longer consider the Nats as being OUR Expos. Maybe during the first year, but no longer. Too many changes & the players we had in Mtl are all gone. The organization also no longer has any 'Quebecois' ties.
Similar threads
