At last we've heard the last of "Yeah, that Pujols shot really messed him up." My Sox could've taken the Phillies though. Congrats Brad!
Ed Wade built that Phillies team up, then completed his job stocking them with one of the final pieces by adding Brad Lidge to the team. Then Zobrist shows up almost coming through with a game tying hit just to rub it in more... Kudos to Brad. What a way to turn it around. But, I respect him I dont love him. I dont care if his comment was directly aimed here or not, was close enough, Screw him ,
I'll give him a break since he did just wint he freaking WS, but if he says it again thats pretty freaking wrong.
Why are we so sensitive in Houston? First of all, 'the Cat' is 'cat'egorically correct in that he wasn't referring to this city or its fans. That said, even if he was, I for one couldn't blame him. It was our pathetic excuse for journalists that had the most opportunity to show Lidge to the rest of the nation as a guy who kept his head straight amidst all the turmoil. All they had to do was maybe, I don't know, ten minutes of work on research? A phone call or three? But it was easier to write the baseless myth just like everyone else. Then there were the fans booing him off the field, and management yanking him in and out of roles. Remember when he was busted from his job after one appearance? "all that other crap," indeed. Houston is the best city in the world, period. That said, I don't have this fantasy expectation that every athlete who leaves (or is unceremoniously shipped out of) Houston has to gush all over the city once he's gone.
Never doubt the resiliency of stupidity. It has an amazing capacity to rise from its self-inflicted ashes and fearlessly repeat itself again in the face of a tsunami of facts and common sense.
they cater to the LCD; one of my "crusades" - they're not interested in raising the level of discourse but rather ensuring it stays in the gutter. that's why justice flip-flops: he's constantly changing to appease the LCD.
Well, did we not treat him like crap after Albert rocked him, and he started to play poorly? So some have a problem with him saying we treated him like crap? What was he supposed to do...lie about it? Funny how we want athletes to stay classy but when they don't meet our expectations, we never do....
...and them I'll hold accountable (well, I would if I could but I can't so I'll b**** about it). They have an education in journalism. They have a proximity and a level of access that the average joe simply does not have. There is no excuse for water cooler talk coming from a salaried journalist. None.
Absolutely. The most sad thing I've ever read was a blog response from JdJO last year on why he consistently raised the racism angle, given how obviously ridiculous it is/was. To summarize, JdJO said he might not believe it himself, but that a number of readers were asking the questions and he owed it to them to explore it. In short, that's absolute BS. It's lazy and irresponsible journalism to let fans dictate your work. Your obligation should be to covering reality. You're in that clubhouse for hours every day. As such, your standards and your ideas should be above Joe the Plumber's ideas sitting on his couch. That said, I couldn't blame him if he held the city responsible. What happened to him was an embarrassment and made us collectively look like a group of amateurs. OMG OH NOES one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball hit a home run! HE'S FINISHED MENTALLY SCARRED AHHHHHH!!!!! Albert Pujols has hit home runs off lots of pitchers, yet somehow, most of them have still managed to have a career. Taking notes, Chronicle? It's also the same cater to average Joe mentality that hurt Lidge. The real problems -- faulty mechanics, overuse (WBC), knee injury, and bad luck -- weren't sexy. For the most part, they were technical baseball things. But Joe can't relate to those. Joe can relate to "mental" issues, though, and they make more of a human interest story (i.e. awards)... and those issues win out over reality. It's really sad. I could rant on this forever, but that JdJO blog response really floored me... that a trained journalist with his level of access would relinquish so much control to a few couch potatoes blew me away. I'd be upset, too.
hey, the cat - i'm on your side, obviously, but keep in mind: after puljos, lidge then gave up a game-winning homer in the WS to a guy who DOESN'T hit them off a lot of pitchers. i don't blame the fans, per se, for their reaction. they're invested in that moment and it meant a lot to a lot of people - some of whom had been waiting for 4 decades to experience those moments. it's natural, and i think acceptable, for them to react emotionally. BUT the journalist should NOT cater to it, and certainly shouldn't perpetuate it. the journalist should be the one speaking (as much as possible) the truth - using his resources, experience and access to paint as accurate a portrait as possible. the williams/bush/young situation was the most egregious example, and it obviously still leaves a bad taste in my mouth: i thought the way they more or less marginalized mario williams that first year was reprehensible.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8734144 And none more so than the closer who took the mound to begin the ninth inning. Not so long ago, however, Brad Lidge was a castoff from the Houston Astros. He had lost the closer's job. He'd get booed when he warmed up. After the 2007 season, Houston traded him with Eric Buntlett for the likes of Michael Bourn, Geoff Geary and a minor leaguer named Mike Costanzo. "I don't give a crap about Houston, honestly," he said, "because this is the pinnacle of my life."
But that does nothing to raise the level of discourse! I don't undertand how this is consistent with your stated position concerning raising the level of discourse. It sounds more like my position. Agreed!
True. While it's frustrating, I was directing it mostly to the Chronicle, because like you said, they should know better. Truth be told, I was more upset by the Pujols HR than the one to Podsednik. With Pujols, Lidge made a mistake with the pitch. With Podsednik, you go into an at-bat thinking one thing -- don't walk him, because it's essentially an automatic double. So, Lidge got behind in the count, and no one was on base, so he did what anyone would do -- pump a fastball for a guaranteed strike, the thought being that the absolute worst-case scenario (he hits a gap) is really no different from a walk. And somehow, a guy who hadn't hit a home run in around 650 AB hit it out. There was nothing wrong with the approach or the pitch, and if the situation were repeated again, I'm sure Brad would do the exact same things. It was just awful, horrendous luck at the time. You're right, it's natural for fans to have a heat of the moment, emotional reaction -- but trained journalists shouldn't go along with it or cater to it.
Nice piece from RJ today, even though he was part of the problem (not nearly the biggest, though) the past couple of years: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6085063.html
i think there has to be context. regardless of why, those were two soul-crushing HRs - i'm not sure its reasonable to expect fans to quickly rationalize them. a year later? sure. but in the meantime, people like justice, et al, kept reporting on lidge's mental state - it became gospel. that's why i don't dismiss message boards, blogs, etc. case in point: lidge's injury was undereported. the cat's descriptions that ran here painted a TOTALLY different picture of the circumstances and has rightly caused a lot of us to rethink the way we viewed certain things. with journalists (and the newspaper business as a whole) so desperate, i think we have more creditibility than ever. i read so much garbage from "legitimate journalists," it's amazing. most of these guys aren't watching games; they just aren't. or don't know how. instead, they're feeling the pulse of their blog and writing accordingly. it's sad, really. and then they whip everyone into a frenzy because now a RESPECTED JOURNALIST has validated fans' opinions... then you come here and you have a few diligent posters with, imo, a much better perspective and they get swallowed up by the mob mentality. "lidge is fried!" "drayton is cheap!" "the texans suck!" so i blame both parties, equally. it's a give and take.
Just heard what Lidge said on replay, and I don't take it in a bad way. The guy said "He doesn't care about all that other crap" which was stuff related to everyone in Houston and what they thought etc... It's not like he took a shot at Houston calling us crap...he was talking about all the negativity and if people thought he was going to be good anymore. He was enjoying his win and that's all.
