The Sports Thread

[Gazoo]

Aurilia rocks the 9th! What a great at bat tonight. Omar is coming back to life too. Great to see. Most enthusiastic 3rd base coaching ever!

I'll take your word for it, but next time the Cardianls are in town, check out the 3rd base coaching of Jose Oquendo.

Three words for the both of you: WENDELL THE WINDMILL.

Would that be Wendell Kim who was with the Giants and then the Expos?

One and the same.  While he was 3B-coaching for the Red Sox, he had a penchant for excitably sending players around to the plate when they had no business doing so.

[Alicat]

Horrid, awful Giants game last night. I left in the 6th. The only redeeming parts of the night were good weather and a hosted wine tasting before the game up in sect 230. I had just enough 1/4 full glasses of wine and plates of fruit and cheese to dull the pain of the thrashing. Seeing Haren pitch was good. Sanchez sucked. He threw way too many pitches too early.

eta: Emmylou was at the game. I think she was down near Magowan, I just saw her on the big screen. Beautiful.

[RGMike]

Trade Deadline Updates: Tigers trade Pudge-Rod to the Yanks; Reds trying to trade Ken Griffey Jr to White Sox (but he has trade approval). And trade rumors swirl around Manny the Clown, er, Manny Ramirez.

[RGMike]

Trade Deadline Updates: Tigers trade Pudge-Rod to the Yanks; Reds trying to trade Ken Griffey Jr to White Sox (but he has trade approval). And trade rumors swirl around Manny the Clown, er, Manny Ramirez.

Update to Update: The Griffey trade is indeed official; Manny has apparently been traded to the Dodgers.

[Gazoo]

Manny has apparently been traded to the Dodgers.

!!!!!

I did not see that coming.

[RGMike]

Manny has apparently been traded to the Dodgers.

!!!!!

I did not see that coming.

In Boston I could ignore Manny and his ugly-ass hair extensions; now I'll have to see him whenever the Dodgers play the Giants.

[Lightnin' Rod]

Manny has apparently been traded to the Dodgers.

!!!!!

I did not see that coming.

In Boston I could ignore Manny and his ugly-ass hair extensions; now I'll have to see him whenever the Dodgers play the Giants.

Jason Bay goes to Boston.  He's on my fantasy team, and already having a very good year.  Hopefully the change won't mess him up, but I can't imagine being in the middle of the Boston lineup will hurt.

[Gazoo]

Manny has apparently been traded to the Dodgers.

!!!!!

I did not see that coming.

In Boston I could ignore Manny and his ugly-ass hair extensions; now I'll have to see him whenever the Dodgers play the Giants.

Jason Bay goes to Boston.  He's on my fantasy team, and already having a very good year.  Hopefully the change won't mess him up, but I can't imagine being in the middle of the Boston lineup will hurt.

"Bay Back in Back Bay" makes for a great headline, though.

[Alicat]

fwiw, Favre goes to the Jets. He'll pass thru OAK and SF in a few months.

[Gazoo]

fwiw, Favre goes to the Jets. He'll pass thru OAK and SF in a few months.

I love it.  They were, by all acounts, his very last choice.  He should have kept his retirement - and his dignity.

[urth]

fwiw, Favre goes to the Jets. He'll pass thru OAK and SF in a few months.

I love it.  They were, by all acounts, his very last choice.  He should have kept his retirement - and his dignity.

Exactly. Not the first instance where a superstar lets his ego override his legacy, and goes to a third-rate team rather than going out on top. (See also: Montana, Rice, to name just two.)

[Lightnin' Rod]

As I recall, Montana WAS forced out (with Young in the wings).  And they were phasing out Jerry too.  By that time, Jerry was leaving a 3rd rate team to join another 3rd rate team (neither the 9ers nor the Raiders were too good), and had a couple good years in Silver and Black.  As did Ronnie Lott, when he decided he wasn't done when the 9ers said he was.

In the end, if a guy wants to keep playing, who cares about the legacy?  He wants to play.  It's more than a business, it's a game too.  I don't think you can say the reputations of the players mentioned above are in any way diminished by the years they spent elsewhere.  Same with Marcus Allen.  They remain great players.

Still, the Favre fiasco was handled poorly (understatement) by both Farve and the Packers, and the media over-reported it, making it a bigger story (outside of green bay) than it really deserved to be.  I'm not a Packer fan -- I don't care!

[mshray]

In the end, if a guy wants to keep playing, who cares about the legacy?  He wants to play.  It's more than a business, it's a game too. 

At the Walnut Creek remote last Fri, Bill Romanowski said pretty much the same thing.  The news was just breaking that morning about the Packers offer of $20 Million to stay retired.

[RGMike]

Red Sawx pick up Brian Giles off waivers from the Padres.

[Gazoo]

Red Sawx pick up Brian Giles off waivers from the Padres.

Giles, who holds limited veto rights, has apparently scuttled the deal.  Guess he'd rather have useless at bats in a cavernous ballpark where he can't hit double-digit home runs anymore than have a chance at a ring on the bench with the Sox.