Desipio Message Board

It's obvious that he's lost a couple steps, unable to keep up with the storms. And he's taking playing time away from Cheryl Scott.

And now JTJ has taken over the remote to complete the Firebarn!

Frank Gifford.

Pete Rose, at 75, might be banned from baseball for life, but he (and Joe Morgan, too, holy crap) wouldn't be a bad idea 2016 pick to be banned from life.

OK, will he go splat?

One of the more colorful (and by colorful, I mean, nuts) Congressmen ever, James Traficant, who in a previous life was the second least sane guy in the Pitt huddle in 1960.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, should be Maddux's, Thomas', Glavine's, Torre's and even Bobby Cox's moment. Cheers. Even you, Bobby.

Fuck Tony LaRussa though. I'd just go along and give a golf gallery clap without giving it too much thought. But then, he and Jerry Reinsdorf spent some of their time lobbing darts at ... Harry Caray? A broadcaster that has been dead for 16 years? (But it's cheers to Hawk Harrelson for firing LaRussa and being the "asshole who fired him?")

Maybe that was Harrelson's best moment. Let's talk about LaRussa, whose legacy in Chicago was getting hotter than shit for a few weeks after the 1983 All-Star Break. (True story, there was a Chicago team only a half game out of first on July 4, and they are the team whose owner didn't personally fuck over every fucking working taxpayer with the aid and abetment of Mike Madigan, Jim Thomspon and Pate Philip with a stadium that provides nothing other than the personal enrichment of the Reinsdorf family).

OK, the White Sox get hot and wind up winning the AL West (shit teams that year. KC and California were OK, but after that you had a pile of shit that called themselves the Twins, a team in Seattle that make the 2012 Cubs look interesting, a Texas Rangers team that I challenge you to name one single player that played for them without checking baseball reference -- OK, besides Toby Harrah, and the Oakland A's, who had Rickey Henderson and a bunch of stiffs). Truth is, Apex, Mike D, Oleg and one or two ringers they could scare up for their softball team could probably compete in the 1983 AL West.

LaRussa had a Hall of Fame catcher, a Cy Young Award Winner, a budding star that probably should be a Hall of Famer, two other solid starting pitchers, a veteran DH who hit the shit out of the ball, and an East Chicago hilljack racist Rookie of the Year who now earns his living roaming South Side restaurants waiting for some Bridgeport buffoon to pick up his check after he regales him of stories of hitting home runs off the roof of Comiskey Park.

Oh, and they had Vance Law. If you have Vance Law, you have a championship team.

Hoyt, Bannister, Dotson and Burns were custom made for a short series. Hoyt even won Game One against a non-descript Orioles team managed by a guy who was so great, he was quickly replaced by the guy he replaced, and when he got to manage another Major League team, it was only because they didn't have a flight that could get Jim Essian from Des Moines to New York fast enough.

So, the White Sox team flames out, and LaRussa gets basically the same team back (including more Julio Cruz!) PLUS TOM FUCKING SEAVER. Seaver, despite eating live puppies in his free time, still could get people out. But LaMarr Hoyt found pot more interesting than baseball, Ron Kittle remembered he sucked and Richard Dotson and Britt Burns did their best Prior-Wood impressions. In short, the Sox were nothing special in 1984 (KC won the division with 83 wins and then played the biggest waste of time of an ALCS during a postseason that GOD HATES SO MUCH THAT HE PUNISHED THE CITY THAT WON THAT POSTSEASON WITH THE CITY THAT IT IS).

But I digress. Harrelson fires LaRussa, only with Gentle Jerry's blessing that he secured once he got word that Oakland would hire the Genius.

Ernie Banks should take part in the death pool. He recommends picking Craig Lefferts, Terry Kennedy, Graig Nettles and Steve Garvey next year.

QuoteIn the article, author Rich Cohen asks Banks if there is anything good about losing, apparently bringing up the Cubs' loss to the Padres in the 1984 National League Championship Series after winning the first two games.

"Yeah, well most of the players for the San Diego Padres died," Banks said. "And most of the players for the Cubs are still alive, so I take that and say 'Winning creates so much stress in the lives of players.' "

Cohen said Wednesday that the interview took place in spring, well before Gwynn's death on June 16th.

Gwynn, the star of the '84 Padres, died of oral cancer, a disease he attributed to his longtime habit of chewing tobacco. Two other members of the '84 Padres also suffered tragic deaths in the 1990s. Infielder Alan Wiggins died of complications caused by AIDS, while pitcher Eric Show died of an apparent heart attack after checking into a drug and alcohol treatment center and stating he'd ingested cocaine and heroin while consuming alcohol.

A news release on the feature from Sports Illustrated incorrectly referred to the passage, saying "Banks comically replied that all the San Diego Padres, the Cubs victors in the '69 World Series, are dead while the Cubs are still alive, noted by Banks to mean 'winning creates so much stress in the lives of players' that it literally takes a toll on their life."

The Cubs have not been to a World Series since 1945, and could not play San Diego in a World Series since they both play in the National League. They lost an NL East Division title to the New York Mets in 1969 in a late-season collapse.

Well, a few '69 Mets are dead too:

Donn Clendenon
Tommie Agee
Tug McGraw
Don Cardwell
Cal Koonce

And Willie Stargell, another villain in 1969? Dead!

OK, let's project things up to July 28, when the Cubs are set to jettison every veteran with value.

Cubs
CIN 1-0
WAS 3-1
@BOS 2-1
@WAS 2-1
@CIN  4-1 (Marty Brennaman drowns himself in Ohio River)
ATL 3-0
@AZ 2-1
SD 2-1
STL 3-0
Record on July 28: 54-49

SD
@SF 0-1
AZ 2-1
CIN 2-1
SF 1-2
@COL 1-2
LA 1-3
NYM 2-1
@CUBS 1-2
@ ATL 0-3
Record on 7/28 44-60

COL
STL 1-0
@MIL 2-2
@WAS 1-2
LA 3-1
SD 2-1
MIN 3-0
@PIT 1-2
WAS 1-2
PIT 2-1
Record on 7/28 51-53

PHI
MIA 1-1
ATL 2-2
@MIA 1-2
@PIT 1-2
@MIL 2-2
WAS 2-1
@ATL 0-3
SF 2-2
AZ 3-0
Record 7/28: 49-56

NY
OAK 0-1
@PIT 1-3
@ATL 1-2
TEX 1-2
ATL 3-1
MIA 2-1
@SD 1-2
@SEA 1-2
@MIL 2-2
Record 7/28: 48-57

MIA
@PHI 1-1
OAK 2-1
PHI 2-1
@STL 0-3
@AZ 1-2
@NYM 1-2
SF 1-2
@ATL 1-3
@HOU 2-1
Record 7/28: 49-55

CIN
@Cubs 0-1
@SF 1-3
@SD 1-2
MIL 2-1
Cubs 1-4 (Marty Brennaman drowns himself in Ohio River)
PIT 1-2
@NYY 1-2
@MIL 0-3 (Aroldis Chapman defects back to Cuba)
WAS 2-1
Record 7/28: 47-58

PIT
@TB 0-1
NYM 3-1
AZ 3-0
PHI 2-1
@STL 1-3
@CIN 2-1
COL 2-1
LA 1-2
@COL 1-2
Record 7/28: 54-50

ATL
@HOU 2-0
@PHI 2-2
NYM 2-1
AZ 2-1
@NYM 1-3
@Cubs 0-3
PHI 3-0
MIA 3-1
SD 3-0
Record  7/28: 57-48

STL
@COL 0-1
@LA 1-3
@SF 1-2
MIA 3-0
PIT 3-1
@MIL 0-3
LA 1-2
TB 1-1
@Cubs 0-3
Record 7/28 52-52

LA
@KC 1-0
STL 3-1
CLE 2-1
@COL 1-3
@DET 0-2
SD 3-1
@STL 2-1
@PiT 2-1
@SF 1-2
Record 7/28: 58-48

MIL
WAS 1-0
COL 2-2
@TOR 1-1
@CIN 1-2
PHI 2-2
STL 3-0
@WAS 2-1
CIN 3-0
NYM 2-2
Record 7/28: 64-42

WAS
MIL 0-1
@Cubs 1-3
COL 2-1
Cubs 1-2
BAL 1-1
@BAL 0-2
@PHI 1-2
MIL 1-2
@COL 2-1
@CIN 1-2
Record 7/28: 51-52

SF
SD 1-0
CIN 3-1
STL 2-1
@SD 2-1
@OAK 0-2
OAK 1-1
AZ 2-1
@MIA 2-1
@PHI 2-2
LA 1-2
Record 7/28: 61-44

You have a job to do.

Wheeeeee!

QuoteProspect Javier Baez displayed an impressive power show during batting practice. Baez, who hit 37 home runs last season at Class-A Daytona and Double-A Tennessee, hit several home runs that cleared the 40-foot netting behind the left field fence at one practice field.

One of Baez's drives apparently smashed the window of a car parked between the field and Cubs Way.

"I heard a sound, and it was glass," said infielder Logan Watkins, who was shagging balls in the outfield. "The rumors are true (about Baez's power).''

I haven't heard Ernie Banks' rallying cry yet ("You'll wish you had gangreen, watching the Cubs in '14!"), but Tom Ricketts has released his forecast. And take this, Skilling: Nothing but sunny skies!

Quote"I think we have a team right now that can go to the playoffs," Ricketts said during a 15-minute interview with reporters. "We have a good, young nucleus. We have to have guys step up, but we have depth in our system.

I'm reserving my space on North Michigan Ave. for the late October parade.

James Dowdle, brought Harry Caray over from the Sox, later fired Jim Essian, hired Larry Homes, Andy MacPhail, and Jim Hendry. Replaced by MacPhail, who begat McDonough, who preceded Crane.

RIP... but screw up another team next time.

Jim Fregosi is dead.

How can we remember him?

- Hawk Harrelson's choice to replace The Genius, finishing last his two full seasons in Chicago.
- The guy who managed a clubhouse that included John Kruk, Darren Daulton, Mitch Williams and Lenny Dykstra.
- An All-Star shortstop with the California Angels.
- The centerpiece of the trade that sent Nolan Ryan to California.

Take your pick. But he's dead, the second all-star shortstop turned White Sox manager to see it all end in Miami.

Bill Conlin, egotist and oh yeah, child rapist, dead.

I am reading Rich Cohen's tome on the 1985 Bears, hoping it would be something different, maybe explaining why the 1985 Bears generate  feelings we cannot explain.  Cohen sets out to do that, attempting to nail down why this one team is a social phenomenon while Fork's 1986 and 1990 Giants barely register a shrug.

Cohen so far has failed, instead describing his teenage years, which I would imagine to be only marginally more exciting than my teenage years, and that's because Cohen went to Super Bowl XX.

But what gets me are the major factual errors I am beginning to tally. To wit:

1) Hampton played a lot of tackle, but was an end by trade. Steve McMichael was strictly a tackle.
2) Ditka came to the Bears as coach in Jan. 1982, not 1981.
3) The 1963 NFL Championship Game was played at Wrigley Field, not the Polo Grounds. The Polo Grounds has not been home to the football Giants for years at that point.
4) Steve Goodman did not record "Go Cubs Go" in 1972. Was there really a collapse in 1972, anyway?
5) Members of the 1969 Cubs recorded "Hey Hey, Holy Mackeral"


I will add more as I find them, but holy crap, it makes it hard to believe anything new in this book.

Wally Bell

I'm really not the guy to be writing bad thread titles, so I waited for one of you... All of you asleep at the switch?

Andy Pafko is dead. Only one Death Pool list appearance this year.

We were all more innocent back then.

Desipio

Dusty Baker> Bobby Cox
The Bears laid an egg with so much more flair 10 years ago.
The Gamecast! Someone killed the Gamecast!

Ivy Chat!

Hey, I'm in Palm Springs! Something, something about pulling a 1999.

Pollyyellon
I'm remodeling my kitchen. Wait, what?

The Uncouth Sloth
Oct. 5 seems to be a great day in Cubs history; Bears fans are morons; Urlacher is a whore; Blagojevich is an idiot.

I gave you more than 50 options from all aspects of baseball as well as other sports, politics, entertainment, etc.. Pick one, Pen Foe.

WLS AM radio host and Chuck death pool pick.