tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post4390973775206915053..comments2024-03-28T19:53:08.795-04:00Comments on the daily howler: Who holds the MLB home run record?<b>bob somerby</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02963464534685954436noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-30885225858930967442022-10-06T20:23:55.121-04:002022-10-06T20:23:55.121-04:00Yeah, the alcohol helped him hit home runs, so the...Yeah, the alcohol helped him hit home runs, so the other players, who didn't drink, were at a disadvantage.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-23441173434108364952022-10-06T20:01:12.303-04:002022-10-06T20:01:12.303-04:00Not to mention the enormous amounts of money funne...Not to mention the enormous amounts of money funneled into college sports. The highest paid employee at the University of Arkansas is the fricking football coach. And when they suck, as they often have, they get paid off in millions to get “fired.” mhnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-47661696435843998682022-10-06T19:34:51.997-04:002022-10-06T19:34:51.997-04:00Pro sports involves picking sides, and other toxic...Pro sports involves picking sides, and other toxic notions like hierarchy, competition, dominance, meritocracy, winners that make most others losers, etc. <br /><br />It is weird to spend your life watching others participate in life; stop following pro sports, go out and play sports yourself. It is even weirder that we have commodified sports, and to such an enormous degree. This kid hits a ball farther than most of us, clap if you like but let's not throw money at him for such trivial pursuits. Might as well pay somebody millions because they generate more poop!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-38546742790678095542022-10-06T18:36:36.094-04:002022-10-06T18:36:36.094-04:00“For Blackistone, it seems fairly clear that issue...“For Blackistone, it seems fairly clear that issues of race are involved as he ruminates about the way various MLB players are regarded, dating back to and including Babe Ruth.”<br /><br />I know very little about baseball, but, I can read. And this is not what Blackistone is saying. He says :<br /><br />“The perpetration of Bonds as an unworthy holder of the home run title…began when he was anointed the leader in the steroid era clubhouse.”<br /><br />Blackistone mentions players who still pass the “purity test”, despite having scandals. He doesn’t ascribe the dispute over Bonds as stemming from racism. After all, Judge himself is biracial. <br /><br />Blackistone mentions the color bar in baseball, but not in connection with Judge. <br /><br />And, for the record, aside from the Janes article, Blackistone also links to this:<br /><br />“Aaron Judge is chasing real history, not Barry Bonds’s phony version”<br /><br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/aaron-judge-barry-bonds-roger-maris/mhnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-87448434689228689182022-10-06T16:22:34.103-04:002022-10-06T16:22:34.103-04:00Hank Aaron is the best all time hitter in baseball...Hank Aaron is the best all time hitter in baseball. Willie Mays is the best all around player, without breaking records.<br /><br />There is no reason for Somerby to be knocking Aaron Judge for having a good season. This is juvenile.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-89762752001075341712022-10-06T15:44:19.586-04:002022-10-06T15:44:19.586-04:00A man who wasn't a total SOB would be happy fo...A man who wasn't a total SOB would be happy for Judge, not disparage his accomplishment because of Bonds.<br /><br />If you watch the film 61* you will see how unsportsmanlike Maris's own team was as he approached Ruth's record. Maybe sportsmanship isn't valued in baseball? Personally, I think Babe Ruth's record should have been disqualified due to his abuse of alcohol during his entire career.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-12236900147216724262022-10-06T15:41:39.809-04:002022-10-06T15:41:39.809-04:00"We humans are wired to pick up sides and the..."We humans are wired to pick up sides and then, rather quickly, to hit."<br /><br />One might argue that the existence of baseball demonstrates this, but the relative lack of brawls undermines that thesis (esp compared to hockey and soccer). And notice that the point of the game is not to hit the other players, but the ball, preferable away from where the other team is standing.<br /><br />I think Somerby is very mixed up about the social sciences.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-47178275925009911842022-10-06T15:38:41.015-04:002022-10-06T15:38:41.015-04:00"Most experts name the late Gene Brabender, a..."Most experts name the late Gene Brabender, a journeyman MLB pitcher, as the greatest anthropologist of the 20th century."<br /><br />This is a ridiculous and untrue statement. It isn't even humorous. It is annoying when Somerby does this, not least because it confuses the truth about who IS the greatest anthropologist of the 20th century (hint: it was not a baseball player). Margaret Mead, Bronislaw Malinowski, Claude Levi-Strauss come to mind way before any sports figure. Somerby, of course, doesn't know any of these names because he doesn't know anything at all about anthropology.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-52719578755067542002022-10-06T15:34:43.774-04:002022-10-06T15:34:43.774-04:00"the mainstream press corps, also massively j..."the mainstream press corps, also massively jacked on steroids, spent twenty months inventing crazy claims Al Gore was said to have said.)"<br /><br />There is no excuse for saying that anyone is taking drugs when they are not. Somerby doesn't like what was said about Al Gore (or how his admitted remarks were reported and mocked), but that doesn't mean he can make up a history of drug-taking on the part of journalists, when there is evidence whatsoever that was going on.<br /><br />Somerby did this last week when he spoke of Aaron Judge being on clear (which is slang for crystal meth). He shouldn't do that because it can hurt people's reputations and spread rumors, as well as denying whatever their accomplishment was. <br /><br />Barry Bonds broke the rules. His record is marred by that. It wasn't Judge's fault that Bonds did what he plainly did. Somerby is being a poor sport and a major jerk about this. But what else is new?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com