I know this is a baseball blog, but…
Posted on January 20th, 2009 – 10:08 AMBy Howard
As lots of us take time from our daily routines to watch the swearing-in of President Obama, I have a sense of the progress that we’ve made. In the big picture, I am struck by the grace and dignity with which the transition of power has been made. George Bush and Obama have handled themselves, and compelled others to handle themselves, in a way that I hope becomes a model for how the tough problems facing our country and the world will be approached. Without giving a history lesson, it hasn’t always been so. The very short form: we all need to work together.
On a personal level, I think back to my middle-school days outside of Chicago. There was a woman who taught “etiquette classes” and routinely used the school directory to contact students and their families — except for the blacks and Jews. (Not that there were a whole lot of us!) I’m not that old, but this was still a time when a meeting of class parents could actually include a debate over whether it was appropriate for “Miss W” to use the school to recruit in such a manner. She was eventually commanded by the administration to invite everyone, but by then we were hardly going to patronize her. I know my dinner forks as well as the kids who paid to learn that stuff.
Many of you who are younger would be hard pressed to imagine such exclusion; many of you who are older would see that story as a trivial indignity compared to what you and others experienced. To me, it’s a backdrop to what I’ll be witnessing today.
Interestingly, the Twins website includes a link to live inaugural coverage, as does startribune.com.
Back to baseball. The TwinsFest player schedule is here. Interesting news about Joe Mauer’s health and the pursuit of Eric Gagne here.
62 Responses to "I know this is a baseball blog, but…"
amen, howard, amen. never thought i’d see this day…
Why is it “we all need to work together” now that President Obama has been sworn in, when no such accommodation was made for President Bush?
Bush didn’t ask for any “outside” help.
He already had people that he thought knew all the answers.
Blake–Some would say that we’ve learned a lesson in the last few years. Others would say that the tone is set at the top. Yet others would say that the health of the Republic depends on it. It may not be question of accommodation as much as survival.
You Too! NOO!!! Howard, please don’t post politics, us baseball lovers don’t care.
Sid,
So, you’re saying that President Obama doesn’t have the answers? That he ran on a platform based on “I’ll get back to you once I have the answers?”
In other words, Sid, you “Hope” President Obama will eventually have some answers?
Brock,
Well, perhaps politics aren’t in line on a baseball blog, but, I’ve found most of the baseball people to be pretty respectful.
Were I to post my comment elsewhere the immediate vitriol would astound you.
I don’t like mixing politics with my hobbies…I find they make bad bedfellows. I’m hopeful that Obama can do the job he’s promised to set out and do.
I just hope we don’t get too distracted patting ourselves on the back to properly evaluate his performance.
The difference between the real world and politics, er baseball, is that we need to get behind Obama, and its fair game to get Billy Smith’s behind.
Howard,
What lesson would you say we learned? President Bush was a big government Republican who pretty much signed off on every domestic spending bill that came across his desk.
How is this different than the proposals offered by President Obama?
We got rid of a big spending president only to elect another big spending president? Tell me, what’s the difference?
Blake wrote: Well, perhaps politics aren’t in line on a baseball blog, but, I’ve found most of the baseball people to be pretty respectful. Were I to post my comment elsewhere the immediate vitriol would astound you.
Blake, People are pretty good at self-regulating around here, which is kind of weird for a sports blog. I’m glad you noticed.
Brock, I think most baseball people do care what’s happening beyond the field and front office.
“So, you’re saying that President Obama doesn’t have the answers?”
No, that’s not close to what I said.
I said “Bush didn’t ask for any “outside” help.
He already had people that he thought knew all the answers.”
Any similarity between what I said, and what you said that I said, is invisible.
My favorite inaugural moment was on the ABC News feed when Sam Donaldson said (correctly) that Chief Justice Roberts “bollocksed up” the oath of office.
Howard,
I’ve not looked at any Philadelphia sports blogs, however, from what I’ve seen elsewhere, Philadelphia fans are the most rabid in the US.
For example.
Yes, Sid, the difference between what I said and you said is invisible.
TRANSLATION:
“we all need to work together” was never a Bush request.
Obama “apparently” wants input and feedback from his constituents.
Bush “apparently” did not want that, or at least, not as much of it.
In all fairness, I believe the other side of the aisle was ready to work together with President Bush after his inauguration in 2001. Bush’s immediate appointments and executive orders quickly set the tone that “working with” the Bush administration had to mean agreeing with everything they did.
President Bush did ask for “outside” help when he included Democrats in No Child Left Behind and the Medicare Prescription Drug legislation. He tried to make nice with Senator Kennedy by inviting him to the White House for a viewing of the movie JFK. He tried to reach across the aisle and they still hated him because they thought he was an illegitimate president the day he took office.
Blake, In Philly they boo the invocation.
Sid:
“Feedback from constituents” is “governing by polls.” In other words, you expect President Obama to govern like President Clinton.
Now that Bush, Cheney are gone and their rich buddies have been taken care of, it is time to get this country ontrack again. Here is hoping Barack and company can set things straight, it will be a tough task and it will take time to make the necessary changes.
Not to change the subject or anything but the Pi Press is reporting that the Twins extended Kubel for 2 years at an unspecified amount.
Now on to baseball! come on Twins let’s make a few deals to make this team a major contender!
JayTEE, I hope Kubel continues to get better as DH.
Now, if Delmon can show the right handed power he should, it will make things a lot more interesting.
LEN’s reporting the Kubel signing, too.
http://blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/neal/2009/01/20/kubel-agrees-to-a-two-year-deal/
Ah, yes, the winners always say it’s time to “work together.” Give me a break, Howard. Let’s get back to reality. These are human beings we’re dealing with!
Witness this morning, when President Bush is booed at the inauguration, and you have people singing, “Hey, hey, hey, goodbye.” One of the lowest, most classless acts I’ve seen in a long time.
http://www.wjno.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=244038&article=4878923
Blake,
““Feedback from constituents” is “governing by polls.” In other words, you expect President Obama to govern like President Clinton.”
If you are going to continue to give YOUR BOGUS MEANING to my words and then twist YOUR BOGUS MEANING into nonsense, I’ll go back to baseball talk.
OUT!
Speaking of politics and baseball, the baseball prospectus has a Q&A today with Brendan Harris. The topics are politics, baseball, how he is regarded as a fielder and the 2008 Twins.
Great Read:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8427
(requires subscription)
Howard -
I was on the Mall for a while today. It was pretty remarkable. I think it’s wonderfully appropriate for sports sites/blogs to step aside from time to time and acknowledge political or social events. Athletics is just another piece of the entire puzzle of what it means to be human, and to step away from sports for a minute helps us gain perspective; just as watching a game or rooting for a team can help bring people together or provide new perspective in other areas of our lives. Thanks for always helping us keep that balance.
I did want to offer one other little piece. You wrote, “Many of you who are younger would be hard pressed to imagine such exclusion”.
As one of a younger generation I’d offer a slightly altered assessment. It isn’t that we can’t imagine the discrimination, or have a lack of understanding. Rather, it’s that the generations before us resolved the intellectual questions of racism, such that for us it was never a question whether a minority would ascend to the Presidency, but only a question of when. Perhaps this has led to some lack of appreciation of the depth of struggle, but I’m inclined to think that this is less a failure of the younger generation, and more a testament to how absolutely the proposition of racism has been rejected.
Sid,
As usual, it doesn’t take much to upset a President Obama supporter.
You call it “twisting” I call it “interpretting.”
I may have mocked you, but I most certainly didn’t get angry.
You’re upset, which means I win and you’ve got nothing left to challenge me with.
Typical.
Oh, and by the way, while I have huge misgivings about President Obama, he’s still my president and as such, anyone other than an American can go pound salt if they start bashing him. That right is reserved to Americans.
Blake,
I’m not angry.
I’m just done arguing with someone who distorts what I say into something everyone (including myself) disagrees with.
Well, pray tell, what is the difference between “listening to constituents” and “governing by poll?”
Usually, feedback from constituents is gathered via poll.
Logical conclusion, though you obviously have a problem with that.
“You Too! NOO!!! Howard, please don’t post politics, us baseball lovers don’t care.”
Well, the American Pasttime can relate to other American events every now and then.
And, I saw Dave Winfield on the political show on MSNBC last night. He gave his somewhat politically amateur insight. But he deserved the shot, because he’s done so much for the American community.
Obama just ran the least demogogic campaign I can remember. He just dined with conservatives a week or so ago.
Lincoln tried straightening out this race problem 150 years ago. Yet, when Colin Powell joined the Army, it had only “integrated” for 3 years.
Jackie Robinson also did his part in straightening out this race problem 50 some years ago.
Baseball relates to this day. This is one unique inauguration day.
Thanks, Howard.
Get us a 3rd baseman, okay?
Romer,
I’d settle for a “lights out” set up man.
“I’d settle for a “lights out” set up man.”
We agree on that.
Only a dupe would fall for Obama and his silly rhetoric.
TLC is not a gullible fool. TLC has been around long enough to have heard the same old garbage that Obama spews many times before. It’s just new window dressing on the same old rotten failed policies of the past.
I oppose Obama, urge everyone to NOT “work together” in support of his policies, and will enjoy watching everything fail that he tries.
He’s the first president born and raised in Kenya, so I suppose that is something new.
In four years when he is voted out, I hope I can say, “hit the road, punk” and “good riddance”.
OK, here’s the deal. I read two things I don’t understand and need help.
1) I know my dinner folks as well as the kids who paid to learn that stuff.
2) Politics makes strange bedfellows.
A little help? ? ?
When I hear the Bush apologists saying that the Bushies have kept the country free from terrorist attack for six years, I can’t help remembering Osama bin Laden saying, several years back, that he would take down the U.S. by way of the economy.
Unless Barack Obama does indeed have a magic touch, that “mission accomplished” banner will soon be hanging above a cave in Pakistan. Only by then it will no longer be a bad joke. It’ll be the new reality.
I thought O’Bama was born in Ireland.
Einstein–Dinner foRks! Can’t help you with the other one because then you’d hafta call the cliche police.
Great that we elected the 1st black president. I disagree with most of his ideas on things, but we will give him time to put his stamp on things. I also am a believer that the president doesn’t deserve as much credit or blame as they get. I am very disturbed at how the media is treating Obama in comparison to how they treated Bush. Like or hate either of them, when the media becomes as biased as they are now, we are all in trouble!! I hope they stop idolizing him and start reporting facts. How can we have an intelligent electroate when the media is so far out of kilter?! Then it becomes propaganda not news!
hey TLC, if you were a patriot who wanted America to succeed, you would say, ‘I hope Obama does a great job’ instead of “I hope in 4 years I can say good riddance”
[…] A Fan’s View – […]
haasertime and OTF,
While I don’t agree with a lot of Obama’s positions, I’d rather he succeed, too.
Objectively, I think it’s a wait and see. It is way to early to proclaim President Obama either the second coming, or a terrible president.
We just don’t know yet, it takes time to see just how things are going to turn out.
So, I reserve judgment, for now.
TLC,
Obama was born in Hawaii and raised in Hawaii and Indonesia. A person born in Kenya (or any country other than the US) cannot be President.
hassertime,
You are naive. Washington DC is the lair of scoudrels. The worst forms of humanity. The scum of the earth. Obama is no different than the rest. Wise up and learn to hate them all equally. Become non-partisan like TLC.
WJ,
The fact that Obama wasn’t born in the United States doesn’t make me detest him more or less. I just noted that was the one, and I might add only, thing that made him unique.
What part of my statement made you think I was naive?
I’m just sayin that no matter who the president is, you shouldn’t wish failure upon them just so you can say ‘I told you so’
hassertime,
It’s like this:
Patriotism has nothing to do with suppording a scoundrel. A scoundrel is the only type of person who gets to be president.
You obviously think that a person can become president without being a scoundrel. That is what makes you naive.
Tender Loving Craig,
Obama wasn’t born in Kenya. His father was. That certainly is interesting, and inspiring.
We are, after all, a nation full of immigrants. Except for the people we forced off their lands and put onto reservations, but whatever.
Steve,
Obama’s grandmother and brothers and sisters said he was born in Kenya. They were eyewitnesses. I believe them. It’s like the holocaust. The evidence is almost exclusively eyewitness accounts.
I believe the people. Why would Obamas family lie? I’m just fine with him being born in Kenya and being an immigrant.
I don’t care if it’s illegal for Obama to be president. I know he is a crook regardless of where he was born.
I think it’s fine that he is not a legitimate president. In actuality, I like that fact. I don’t think any less of him because of it. It is not possible for me to think any less of him.
So Obama is a scoundrel. There’s nothing wrong with that opinion. But if he fails, America will be in even worse shape. Why would you want that? Maybe you’re thinking long-term, big picture?
Tender Loving Craig,
Well, by your comments about the Holocaust, you’ve outed yourself as, at the very least, a little off. Add to that your disregard for the truth of Obama’s birth in Hawaii, then there’s not much more point in me responding to you.
Here’s to hope that we can accomplish something as a nation, and that we will change the way we view ourselves within our community. Wouldn’t that be something?
Steve:
I was told this today:
“News flash- Craig is satire.
There is no Craig, there is someone out there with a good sense of humor who exaggerates the rubitity of some of our fellow fans.”
I guess he would be Trolling Loving Craig.
Howard,
Thank you
How to Score More Runs Despite Anticipated Decrease in Batting Average with Runners in Scoring Position (BA w/RISP)
1) Increase the Number of Runners That Reach 1B
A) Better strike zone discipline
B) Increase OBP
C) Increase BA WITHOUT RISP
2) Increase Number of Runners in Scoring Position (#RISP)
A) See #1
B) Steal 2B more often and more efficiently
C) Better execution of Sacrifice Bunt (1B to 2B)
3) Advance More Runners to 3B with no outs
A) See #1 and #2
B) Better execution of Hit & Run
C) Steal 3B more often and more efficiently
D) Better execution of Sacrifice Bunt (2B to 3B)
E) Better execution hitting behind runner on 2B with no outs
4) Drive in More Runners from 1B.
A) Maturity and Weight Training to Increase strength (& SLG)
B) Lengthen swing with runner on 1B and two out.
RESULT
Increase in NUMBER OF Runners in Scoring Position;
PLUS
Increase in Number of Runners at 3B with 0-1 outs;
MORE THAN COMPENSATES FOR ANTICIPATED DECREASE IN BA w/ RISP.
Three topics I want to hit on…Obama, Kubel, and Hartman:
On Obama, I think it’s obviously important that we recognize the historic significance of what took place yesterday, beyond that, I kept asking my co-worker, who was streaming the festivities on her computer, to let me know if someone returns a punt for a touchdown (she called it ‘her Superbowl’).
Point being, there wasn’t enough drama for me to go into ‘take the day off’ mode over the Obama inauguration. I can’t remember where I was for Bush I, Clinton, or Bush II’s inaugurations, either, but I can tell you where I’ve watched every Superbowl in the last 15 years. I hope Obama succeeds, we all need him to succeed. The rhetoric on both sides is still sickening (I am convinced that the country could literally crumble like a poorly baked cookie and those on the Left would turn a blind eye to holding President Obama accountable, using the same “not his fault” mantra we’ve heard from many Republicans during GW’s administration; meanwhile, you can sense a lot of unnecessary bitterness continuing to emenate from the Right). While it is very cool that we live in a world where any race can be president, I submit that Obama is not Jackie Robinson. Obama is not fighting through a majority of haters that are trying to suppress him from shining–he’s got a ton of backers and frankly I’m proud of the fact that we live in a country where people of any race can rise to the top and it doesn’t have to be ground-breaking news. Good luck, Mr. Obama.
I was saddened yesterday when news of Chad Hartman and Doogie Wolfson’s firings came down. I went to J School with Doogie and honestly felt that he was one of the few true journalists at KFAN, who also wasn’t afraid to call it as he saw it, which was very refreshing. Same is true for Chad. They will be missed.
Finally, count me as one who reacts to the Jason Kubel signing with a shoulder shrug. The “Free Jason Kubel” movement that a certain blogger called for at the beginning of last season never came to fruition–the manager still doesn’t like playing him against lefties and he still is too slow to play the outfield. So where does that leave us with this guy? His numbers are not taking off and he has no speed. Granted, a 20-HR guy looks like a star in our lineup, but I do not view this as a big signing (ala Nathan and Morneau of a year ago). Frankly, I’m concerned about both Cuddyer and Kubel now that they’ve been paid.
Andy Griffith: I’ve wondered that myself, which is also why I can’t figure out how he hasn’t been banned by now.
You’d think that somebody who seems to have the singular goal of interjecting nonsense and pissing everybody off wouldn’t be welcome.
Because it’s one thing to piss somebody off in the regular course of conversation, but to actively set out to do so…*urk*
I had the pleasure of meeting our current president in October 2007 in DC. At the time Mrs.Clinton was still considered the next president in waiting. I asked myself after the very brief talk with Obama “I wonder who will be a pres first a black man or a woman. So lets remember the rule of thumb. Lets remember that women had to fight for their right ot vote as well. Oppresion doesn’t always have to do with skin color. I’m not some kind of man posing as a womans rights activist hoping to get lucky. I just want everyone to remember that the struggles not over for everyone just because a black man is the leader of the free world.
Great Posnanski article here about how the Royals missed out on becoming the 1927 Yankees incarnate…..
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/01/20/the-power-of-one-draft/#more-1491
I can appreciate the historical significance of what happened yesterday but only time will tell if his inauguration speech was just more political rhetoric or not. Good luck Obama your going to need it.
I’m certain I have figured this out. TLC works in the Twin’s front office and wants all of us to hate the team equally. That is why the Twins will not make any meaningful signings or trades and instead sign the brutally bad Eric Gagne and extend Kubel’s reign at DH. This will ensure that we’ll blow every 8th inning lead and have the worst DH production in the league for 2009. Nice work TLC and maintain your focus on everything absurd and not winning a pennant. You are truly a Great American.
