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I think sports villains are a function of the success of a team first, and the role they play on that team.
For instance, all of the players you cite at the beginning belonged to successful teams of the franchises you identified. Now, let me offer some other examples, although clearly older -
Dallas Cowboys - Roger Staubach, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith
Los Angeles Dodgers - Steve Garvey, Kirk Gibson, Clayton Kershaw
Pittsburgh Steelers - Franco Harris, Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann
USC Trojans - Ronnie Lott, Charles White, Marcus Allen
Did people really dislike Staubach or Emmitt Smith as players, though? They hated the Cowboys, sure. But those guys specifically? With Irvin I could see it; he could be a loudmouth.
I specifically hated Staubach first because he deposed Cal's Craig Morton as starting QB and then because to me was antithetical to the times (from my point of view) being a square-jawed clean cut military man and lastly because he was so damn good for a team that I hated.
Apropos to this: Vic Wharton is still (kind of) playing football. He was in the German league and had 11 TDs in 11 games in 2021. He was brought in to be one of the four American players allowed on a terrible Prague Lions (1-11). He was only a part time player, but has shown that he has better hands than he showed at Cal, but perhaps he learned that now that he's nearly 30 years old.
Laimbeer, Draymond, Al Davis, John Hopoate. Also, I realized that I never knew how to spell Laimbeer's name until I was forced to try. Apropos to this: so few people know how to spell Jaydn Ott's name correctly.
Dillon Brooks. He has a double whammy - he was a dirty player who played for Oregon in the Pac-12 and he played for Memphis in the NBA. While at Memphis, he injured Gary Payton II (Dubs) on a flagrant foul in the 2022 NBA playoffs.
I don't particularly care for Mr. Brooks. Or wasn't that clear?
I'm seeing a pattern, though it's on-brand for Cal; despise others for the sin of actually being competent. Admittedly, Cal has had a lot of problems dealing with those types.
I got inspired, so I made a few experimental things over the past few days and had the leftovers for brunch.
My idea was to make a Southern version of kofte pita sandwich. I started with roasted turkey/veal meatballs and a homemade buttermilk ranch dressing, and some quick pickles. The quick pickles ended up being too tart, so I made a milder version of Haitian pizlik - essentially a spicy sour slaw. The ranch dressing was exponentially better than the bottled version and was the star. It's missing a filler to bulk it out, like rice or quinoa, but it pretty close to being something one can put on a menu as "meatball Pita sandwich".
It’s time once again for Oski Disciple’s question of the day.
We’re often told to put our hands together in recognition of an entertainer or speaker. Doesn’t that render it impossible to applaud? Don’t we need our hands apart?
The more I learn about the 49ers position, the less sympathetic I am towards them. They're trying to nickel and dime Aiyuk. Looked at in the context of previous high profile contract negotiations (Bosa, Deebo), and the 49ers dealings with the City of Santa Clara and I revert back to my default position about the Yorks - a pox on your house.
Farhan Zaidi’s decision to not trade Blake Snell was justified on Monday night at Oracle Park, against an Atlanta Braves team that had someone Zaidi did decide to trade batting leadoff.
It wasn’t justified because Snell was great, though he was more than great. And it damn sure wasn’t justified because the San Francisco Giants won, because they did not.
Had the misfortune of going against Chris Sale, who had an even better outing. A pitching duel the like of which used to be seen fairly often, but not any more., in more ways than one. Played a full 10 innings in 2 hr 35 min.
Monday night in Milwaukee was a showcase of superstars returning to their old form. Mookie Betts homered in is first game in nearly two months, and drove in three runs. That backed Clayton Kershaw, who had his best start to date in the Dodgers’ 5-2 win over the Brewers on Monday night in Milwaukee.
Betts struck out in his first at-bat, batting somewhere other than first in the lineup for the first time since September 8, 2021, his final swing causing him to tumble across the plate into the other batter’s box. But that was the final bit of rust for Betts on Monday.
These are the dog days of sports. No football, hockey, NBA, WNBA, Olympics. Not a lot of soccer and baseball is at the part where most of the season has been decided.
soccer is back already! The lower leagues in the UK and the Netherlands started this past weekend, La Liga restarts on Thursday, the English Premier League on Friday, it's soccer-tastic!
as evidenced by Oxford United's dominating victory over Norwich City in their first match back in the Championship in 25 years. Oxford is currently plowing Peterborough in the first round of the League Cup as well. Its a good season to be a Yellow
Actually, less has been decided than in most recent years. Baseball has actual division and wildcard races. Which will disappear completely come Labor Day weekend, and the start of football.
They don't televise as much, and the ratings/viewership drops for what they do cover. That Manfred isn't disappointed to the point of doing something different is a function of how out of touch he is and has always been.
State Superintendent of Public Instructions Ryan Walters (R-OK) was voted into office and then started steering the public schools to start teaching the Bible into the lessons, demanding that schools check student immigration status, firing employees who do drag shows in their private life, and threatening the livelihoods of all the employees who don't share his insane culture war. Now the US House republicans are starting to float strawmen to see if they have enough support to impeach him.
Remember when the UAW was still debating whether to endorse Trump or Biden. Well, Trump had an interview with Elon Musk on Twitter yesterday and said things so toxic that the UAW just sued Trump.
I don't think that said convicted felon has fully thought through his ability to do so. He is, after all, protected by the US Secret Service. That might make it dicey if he's going to attempt to flee from prosecution if he loses his election.
EDIT: Be careful what you wish for, Donny. You thought SCOTUS gave you a get out of jail free card with the immunity ruling. That ruling cuts both ways.
Tina Peters a former county clerk in conservative part western Colorado - who was sued by her ex-husband's brother alleging that she used her County Clerk position to transfer his house title to herself when the ex was in a nursing home with dementia - was found guilty of seven of 10 charges, including four felonies of election interference. She believed in conspiracy theories about plans for the election to be stolen, so used her position to allow people affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to take, crack, and copy the harddrive of a Dominion voting machine. She is the first local official to be sentenced (Oct 3rd). She is 68 and there is a decent chance she will die in jail. It is also a state charge, so she cannot be pardoned should Trump be re-elected.
Wow, how many places did these machines get violated across the country? An official in GA was charged (and I think convicted, or case pending) of same. The conspiracy theories are really going to play havoc this fall.
Stewart Mandell from the Athletic predicts that Cal will go 2-6 in the ACC and be 5-7 overall - the latter means that Mandell thinks that Cal will somehow lose to four of the following six games: @Pitt, @Wake Forest, Syracuse, Stanford, @SMU, NC State
Mandell is one of the few long time national guys that actually pays attention to Cal from time to time-- thought I don't believe his prediction on iota. He has a funny time machine piece on the Athletic right now that updates football fans that fell asleep in 2019, and includes Cal in part of it.
He also picks Furd to go 3-5 in ACC. Stanford plays @Cuse, @Clemson, Virginia Tech, SMU, Wake, @NC State, Louisville, @Cal. You tell me which 3 games Stanford is winning, Stewart?
I still can't believe that our starting blindside tackle is a guy who was 6'8" 235 pound high school senior 2 years ago who was brought aboard to be a TE project behind Jermaine Terry and Keleki Latu, who could possibly slide to OT if he didn't progress as a TE. Charlie Ragle was his recruiter as a TE, so it must have been Tim Plough and/or Mike Bloesch who saw that he should be a lineman.
Sports villains
Luiz Suarez, Mike Tyson
We have to start thinking ACC -- Christian Laettner, Greyson Allen, Rachad McCants
Even UNC fans hate Rashad McCants
Exactly!
In the category of major league commissioners or franchise ownership -
MLB, Commissioner of Baseball: Bud Selig, Rob Manfred
MLB, Oakland A's: John Fisher
NFL, San Francisco 49ers: Denise DeBartolo York, John York, Jed York
NFL, Dallas Cowboys: Jerry Jones
As a thought experiment, I tried to come up with villains that I personally rooted for (because they were on my favorite teams):
Giants - Barry Bonds
49ers - Terrell Owens
Warriors - Draymond Green
I'm not sure Cal has ever been good enough to produce a "villain" who other fans actually hated. Maybe DeSean Jackson was closest?
I think sports villains are a function of the success of a team first, and the role they play on that team.
For instance, all of the players you cite at the beginning belonged to successful teams of the franchises you identified. Now, let me offer some other examples, although clearly older -
Dallas Cowboys - Roger Staubach, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith
Los Angeles Dodgers - Steve Garvey, Kirk Gibson, Clayton Kershaw
Pittsburgh Steelers - Franco Harris, Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann
USC Trojans - Ronnie Lott, Charles White, Marcus Allen
UCLA Bruins - Troy Aikman, Freeman McNeil, Wendell Tyler
All of those players were part of successful teams that gashed my favorites. All of them played starring roles.
I would add Orel Hershiser to that list. He was lights-out for the Dodgers and garbage after he signed for the Giants.
He was just kind of average in his one year with the Giants. Not that much worse than in his last two seasons with Cleveland.
His shoulder was dead by then.
Steve Carlton was the same way. All used up by the time he signed with San Francisco.
True, yet my bitterness remains...
Did people really dislike Staubach or Emmitt Smith as players, though? They hated the Cowboys, sure. But those guys specifically? With Irvin I could see it; he could be a loudmouth.
I specifically hated Staubach first because he deposed Cal's Craig Morton as starting QB and then because to me was antithetical to the times (from my point of view) being a square-jawed clean cut military man and lastly because he was so damn good for a team that I hated.
Right, I was trying to think of players people hated for reasons other than them being good (though usually you also have to be good).
Someone more like a Charles Haley.
True for me, too.
Apropos to this: Vic Wharton is still (kind of) playing football. He was in the German league and had 11 TDs in 11 games in 2021. He was brought in to be one of the four American players allowed on a terrible Prague Lions (1-11). He was only a part time player, but has shown that he has better hands than he showed at Cal, but perhaps he learned that now that he's nearly 30 years old.
https://www.sportsmetrics.football/player/0f35a790-e365-11ed-a09c-bf958393cf84
Laimbeer, Draymond, Al Davis, John Hopoate. Also, I realized that I never knew how to spell Laimbeer's name until I was forced to try. Apropos to this: so few people know how to spell Jaydn Ott's name correctly.
Dillon Brooks. He has a double whammy - he was a dirty player who played for Oregon in the Pac-12 and he played for Memphis in the NBA. While at Memphis, he injured Gary Payton II (Dubs) on a flagrant foul in the 2022 NBA playoffs.
I don't particularly care for Mr. Brooks. Or wasn't that clear?
Rasheed Wallace
Tonya Harding, John Rocker, Bobby Knight. Anyone who plays for Furd or U$C. Also for me Tiger Woods.
I'm seeing a pattern, though it's on-brand for Cal; despise others for the sin of actually being competent. Admittedly, Cal has had a lot of problems dealing with those types.
Ehh, some of the people mentioned in this thread are despised for being competent, but the above?
Tonya Harding was despised because of her (perceived) part in attacking Nancy Kerrigan.
John Rocker was despised for saying racist stuff in interviews.
Bobby Knight was despised for being openly abusive to his players.
These are very different factors.
You think Tonya Harding was competent? She was a whiner who was implicated in the deliberate assault and injury of a competitor.
What's for lunch?
I got inspired, so I made a few experimental things over the past few days and had the leftovers for brunch.
My idea was to make a Southern version of kofte pita sandwich. I started with roasted turkey/veal meatballs and a homemade buttermilk ranch dressing, and some quick pickles. The quick pickles ended up being too tart, so I made a milder version of Haitian pizlik - essentially a spicy sour slaw. The ranch dressing was exponentially better than the bottled version and was the star. It's missing a filler to bulk it out, like rice or quinoa, but it pretty close to being something one can put on a menu as "meatball Pita sandwich".
HI
-lo, Hawaii.
HO HI HO, it's off to work we go.
It’s time once again for Oski Disciple’s question of the day.
We’re often told to put our hands together in recognition of an entertainer or speaker. Doesn’t that render it impossible to applaud? Don’t we need our hands apart?
If the hands don't come together, it isn't applause, it is just hand waving.
If everyone does it at a different time, sounds like applause.
You mean the sound of quickly pulling apart their hands in succession?
PRO
Ian Rappaport is saying that the Steelers and the 49ers both have offers out to Brandon Aiyuk.
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1823412682281668750
The more I learn about the 49ers position, the less sympathetic I am towards them. They're trying to nickel and dime Aiyuk. Looked at in the context of previous high profile contract negotiations (Bosa, Deebo), and the 49ers dealings with the City of Santa Clara and I revert back to my default position about the Yorks - a pox on your house.
These people are bad.
In only a way the Athletics can, they don't win the off-day. But they also don't lose.
Postseason vibes, regular season result (Giants lose 1-0 to the Braves)
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2024/8/12/24219186/giants-braves-recap-chris-sale-blake-snell
Farhan Zaidi’s decision to not trade Blake Snell was justified on Monday night at Oracle Park, against an Atlanta Braves team that had someone Zaidi did decide to trade batting leadoff.
It wasn’t justified because Snell was great, though he was more than great. And it damn sure wasn’t justified because the San Francisco Giants won, because they did not.
Snell had an additional 6 no-hit innings, but in almost true Blake Snell fashion, he was at almost 100 pitches starting the 7th.
Had the misfortune of going against Chris Sale, who had an even better outing. A pitching duel the like of which used to be seen fairly often, but not any more., in more ways than one. Played a full 10 innings in 2 hr 35 min.
Mookie Betts homers in first game back, Clayton Kershaw has best start to date
https://www.truebluela.com/2024/8/12/24218975/dodgers-mookie-betts-clayton-kershaw-shohei-ohtani-brewers
Monday night in Milwaukee was a showcase of superstars returning to their old form. Mookie Betts homered in is first game in nearly two months, and drove in three runs. That backed Clayton Kershaw, who had his best start to date in the Dodgers’ 5-2 win over the Brewers on Monday night in Milwaukee.
Betts struck out in his first at-bat, batting somewhere other than first in the lineup for the first time since September 8, 2021, his final swing causing him to tumble across the plate into the other batter’s box. But that was the final bit of rust for Betts on Monday.
These are the dog days of sports. No football, hockey, NBA, WNBA, Olympics. Not a lot of soccer and baseball is at the part where most of the season has been decided.
soccer is back already! The lower leagues in the UK and the Netherlands started this past weekend, La Liga restarts on Thursday, the English Premier League on Friday, it's soccer-tastic!
as evidenced by Oxford United's dominating victory over Norwich City in their first match back in the Championship in 25 years. Oxford is currently plowing Peterborough in the first round of the League Cup as well. Its a good season to be a Yellow
Actually, less has been decided than in most recent years. Baseball has actual division and wildcard races. Which will disappear completely come Labor Day weekend, and the start of football.
No, baseball races won't disappear completely come Labor Day weekend. Unless you turn your back on them.
Trouble (for baseball) is almost all sports fans and almost all media will turn their full attention to football.
Baseball does get attention back for the playoffs, but yeah.
I suppose then that the networks stop televising MLB games and forget about the playoffs. Rob Manfred will be so disappointed.
They don't televise as much, and the ratings/viewership drops for what they do cover. That Manfred isn't disappointed to the point of doing something different is a function of how out of touch he is and has always been.
Somehow, the White Sox beat the Yankees 12-2. Vaughn collects 4 of the Sox's 18 hits
https://www.espn.com/mlb/game/_/gameId/401570253/yankees-white-sox
And fellow alum Korey Lee now has double figures in home runs for the first time in his career.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
State Superintendent of Public Instructions Ryan Walters (R-OK) was voted into office and then started steering the public schools to start teaching the Bible into the lessons, demanding that schools check student immigration status, firing employees who do drag shows in their private life, and threatening the livelihoods of all the employees who don't share his insane culture war. Now the US House republicans are starting to float strawmen to see if they have enough support to impeach him.
https://twitter.com/SHumphreyTV/status/1823398575063085223
Hate to be picky, but that’s from the State of Oklahoma House.
This stupid, silly article. I read the whole thing and enjoyed it.
https://www.rawstory.com/trumps-fashion/
Remember when the UAW was still debating whether to endorse Trump or Biden. Well, Trump had an interview with Elon Musk on Twitter yesterday and said things so toxic that the UAW just sued Trump.
https://uaw.org/uaw-files-federal-labor-charges-against-donald-trump-and-elon-musk-for-attempting-to-intimidate-and-threaten-workers/
Convicted felon said he would flee to Venezuela if he lost the election.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-flee-venezuela-loses-election-elon-musk-interview-1938321
I don't think that said convicted felon has fully thought through his ability to do so. He is, after all, protected by the US Secret Service. That might make it dicey if he's going to attempt to flee from prosecution if he loses his election.
EDIT: Be careful what you wish for, Donny. You thought SCOTUS gave you a get out of jail free card with the immunity ruling. That ruling cuts both ways.
George Santos - the inventor of cold fusion - defended JD Vance dressing in drag.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/george-santos-defends-jd-vance-over-alleged-gender-bender-gear
Tina Peters a former county clerk in conservative part western Colorado - who was sued by her ex-husband's brother alleging that she used her County Clerk position to transfer his house title to herself when the ex was in a nursing home with dementia - was found guilty of seven of 10 charges, including four felonies of election interference. She believed in conspiracy theories about plans for the election to be stolen, so used her position to allow people affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to take, crack, and copy the harddrive of a Dominion voting machine. She is the first local official to be sentenced (Oct 3rd). She is 68 and there is a decent chance she will die in jail. It is also a state charge, so she cannot be pardoned should Trump be re-elected.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4825030-former-colorado-clerk-tina-peters-convicted-election-interference-case/
https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/peters-civil-trial-delayed/article_e3d4e1e8-d5b6-11ee-b53d-c754d17a085d.html
Wow, how many places did these machines get violated across the country? An official in GA was charged (and I think convicted, or case pending) of same. The conspiracy theories are really going to play havoc this fall.
I saw last night that Peters had been convicted.
Good. These fascists need to be put in jail.
Peter Thiel (BA Philosphy Stanfurd 1989, JD Stanfurd 1992) funds JD Vance. He has bizarre ideas and appears to be a massive POS
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/08/jd-vance-women-weird-voting-peter-thiel.html
RFK Jr says he once had a freezer full of roadkill and that he has picked up roadkill his whole life. What a weirdo.
https://apnews.com/article/rfk-new-york-ballot-access-lawsuit-e522e2348e54125420fffe8ca25a0d9f
DBD AV CLUB
CAL
Go Bears!!!
Stewart Mandell from the Athletic predicts that Cal will go 2-6 in the ACC and be 5-7 overall - the latter means that Mandell thinks that Cal will somehow lose to four of the following six games: @Pitt, @Wake Forest, Syracuse, Stanford, @SMU, NC State
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5696493/2024/08/13/acc-football-2024-predictions-clemson-florida-state-miami/
Mandell is one of the few long time national guys that actually pays attention to Cal from time to time-- thought I don't believe his prediction on iota. He has a funny time machine piece on the Athletic right now that updates football fans that fell asleep in 2019, and includes Cal in part of it.
Well but not surprising given that national media tended to underestimate the P12. Let’s just win the games and make him eat crow
He also picks Furd to go 3-5 in ACC. Stanford plays @Cuse, @Clemson, Virginia Tech, SMU, Wake, @NC State, Louisville, @Cal. You tell me which 3 games Stanford is winning, Stewart?
Clearly Stewart Mandell doesn't know any more about college football than does Howie Mandell.
Or Bethany Mandel.
I still can't believe that our starting blindside tackle is a guy who was 6'8" 235 pound high school senior 2 years ago who was brought aboard to be a TE project behind Jermaine Terry and Keleki Latu, who could possibly slide to OT if he didn't progress as a TE. Charlie Ragle was his recruiter as a TE, so it must have been Tim Plough and/or Mike Bloesch who saw that he should be a lineman.
Who is it?
Nick Morrow
I'm excited when younger players take over starting position from upperclassmen.
He has the potential to be our best olineman in 30 odd years. Pawlawski is already making Troy Auzenne comparisons. We'll see...
In that case, I sure hope he has 30 odd years of eligibility left! …I’ll see myself out.
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
How aTm opened the ATM to buy their 2022 class and how that didn't work out
https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/sec-football/hayes-how-texas-ams-2022-recruiting-class-went-from-historic-to-irrelevant/
did I call that? Or did I call that? Their implosion has been glorious to say the least
ICYMI
https://x.com/bylucaevans/status/1818731218592243790