[Dina]

Rick, I have a feeling if you and I ever chance to meet, we might have some interesting debates. I can see that we're both stubborn, opinionated and passionate people.

[voice1]

Dina...I don't think of myself as stubborn. Braun may be guilty. We just don't know what we don't know. A stubborn person will latch onto a concept and never be disavowed of it. There are more than 2 sides of a story and fairness needs to play itself out. It's usually about paradigm shifts.

As for being opinionated...yes, I have my opinions as most people do. But it is in my "opinion" that how a person derives one's opinion is the key. Too often it's based upon hearsay, innuendo or out and out lies. We should always seek the truth and then test it over and over again.

I do have my passions. One of them is the relentless pursuit of never boxing myself into a corner unless it is unavoidable.

[Dina]

Originally Posted by voice1

There are more than 2 sides of a story and fairness needs to play itself out.

Of course, you're right. I'm usually a very fair minded person. I'm just so tired of hearing about athletes who cheat or commit crimes. In this case, we will never know the truth. That frustrates me too.

[voice1]

Sadly, you may be correct.

[sschweiger]

Whenever the subject of steroids, juicers, cheaters, performance-enhancing-whatevers, etc. comes up, I feel that I have to take an extra shower. So, let's change the subject, if you please...

...Bobby Valentine won't allow beer in the Red Sox clubhouse! Can milk & cookies propel the Sox to the American League East title? If their pitching staff is healthy (except for Beckett); if "Youk" is healthy; and if Carl Crawford returns to his pre-2011 form -- the Bosox will give the Yankees all they can handle!

[sschweiger]

Saw some video of the new pitcher that Texas got from Japan! I think his name is something like Darvish, but I could be wrong! What isn't wrong is his composure, and his fastball! Wow! Rangers and Angels will have a doozy of a division race!

[Dina]

I saw the Tigers and Pirates play a spring training game on Friday in Bradenton, Florida. It was a gorgeous day and the Tigers scored 6 runs in the ninth inning to win 7-2.

[sschweiger]

Exhibition baseball is lovely time of year...all of the teams think they can compete for the Playoffs & World Series; the games are played in nice, warm climates; teams are watching their young players to see who has what it takes to play in "The Big Show;" there's a sense of newness; rebirth, if you will; the games are played at a leisurely pace, reminding us what it was like when baseball was America's National Pastime. Now, American society moves too quickly, fans demand instant gratification, and, worst of all, there is a feeling of action & violence that permeate a good part of the American landscape. So it should come as no surprise that the National Football League has replaced baseball as America's #1 sport!

But I fondly recall seeing some pretty fair rookies -- Henry Aaron, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, and Sandy Koufax -- in Vero Beach, FL, trying to get to the majors during the exhibition season. I think a couple of these guys made it to "The Big Show," and comported themselves quite well!

[voice1]

So the season was kicked off this morning at 6:10am EDT in Japan. There is something very un-American about that. The opener should always be in Cincinnati with a day game. Then the president should throw out the first pitch in Washington at a night game the same day. All of our traditions have been shot to hell.

[sschweiger]

Rick, why should the first baseball game every year feature the Cincinnati Reds? Oh yeah, the Cincinnati Red Stockings began life in 1869!!

[voice1]

For decades the first game of the season has been hosted by the Reds. It's a great tradition lost for some unknown reason.

[sschweiger]

If the Red Sox had opened today in Boston, half the crowd would have contracted pneumonia! Today's weather was raw & ugly!

Oh, I almost forgot (but not really!)...To all SFFers who thought & said that I was smoking those funny looking cigarettes, when I posted that the Dodgers were for sale a while back -- I happily accept your apologies!

[SinatraFan]

I don't mind the season opening in Japan. The Yankees opened over there a few years ago and the Japanese were a lot more enthusiastic than Seattle or Oakland fans have been lately.

[sschweiger]

Baseball is just doing what the other sports are doing -- growing its fan base, while chasing after the almighty dollar!" Baseball, in fact, was sending teams regularly to Japan as far back as the '30's, when The Babe and other great stars led the way!

[Ace917]

I'm with Rick. Opening day is in Cincinnati. Washington opens at home, and the president throws out the first ball. Doubleheaders on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day, and lots of Sundays in between... with Monday a travel day, usually by train. The season is 154 games long, pitchers go all the way, the DH is just a bad dream far in the future. And the Yankees win the Series... ... the first week in October.

Wool uniforms? Okay, there's one thing I don't miss.

[Dina]

Since his home state Detroit Tigers already have a great owner, here's hoping former MSU Spartan Earvin "Magic" Johnson and his group are able to bring the Dodgers all the way back to their former glory. Magic is a superb businessman with a lot of experience via his ownership of theaters, coffee shops, investment firms, etc. In this new endeavor, he will be able to utilize that knowledge as well as his obvious experience dealing with athletes. Personally, I think it's a match made in heaven and I wish him much success.

[Dean]

Hooray for Rick's buddy, Jamie Moyer, named number 2 starting pitcher for the Rockies.

Speaking of a while back, I posted this here Feb. 2005, "I'm having a difficult time with alot of the decisions the Dodgers' have made since the McCourt's took over (the handling of the firing of Evans, shrinking foul territory, the Beltre non-negotiations...). Things might get even uglier when the Angels start outdrawing the Dodgers. I never thought I see that happened, but it looks like it's a real good possibility."

And those who know me know I have never stopped praying to get rid of these people since they got there. Please don't let him keep the parking lots!

It will be nice to once again have a baseball man, Stan Kasten, running the franchise.

[voice1]

Hooooray for Jamie....and I agree with the rest of your post, Dean. BTW, I dont think your Mets are going to be as bad as everyone else does.

[Ace917]

Originally Posted by Dean

And those who know me know I have never stopped praying to get rid of these people since they got there. Please don't let him keep the parking lots!

From ESPN on-line yesterday:
The joint venture between the ownership group led by Magic Johnson and soon-to-be former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt for land around Dodger Stadium will not allow McCourt to reap any profits from parking revenue, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation.

The new ownership group paid McCourt $150 million for the land around Dodger Stadium, which contains the parking lots, and the right to control it. McCourt also received a share valued at $150 million to retain some of the land rights, but those rights are controlled by the new ownership group.

WAHOO!

[Dean]

2011, the Angels outdraw the Dodgers for the 1st time ever, another timeless piece of the McCourt years' legacy.

Rick, Mets, why I outta...

Ace, thanks for the parking lot update. I'd like to see him banned from the property, but this is a step in the right direction.