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The Slav's Blog about anything relating to the great game of baseball
- and other less important issues from outside the diamond.
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SERIOUSLY!!! Oh player, please. All I can say Tiki, is hold on to friends like this. Or agents like this. And continue to live in a house with no mirrors.
"We are flabbergasted that Tiki has not had an opportunity with any team, especially when rosters were at 90 players this year," agent Mark Lepselter told SI.com. "I certainly thought some team would be intrigued to see what he had left in the tank."
Because if this statement is honest, it is over-the-top clue-lessness.
Let's review.
But first, let's note that when he was with the Giants, I was a Grade A, top of the line Tiki Barber fan.
When Tiki left the team, apparently the number of team mates who volunteered to help Mr. Barber clean out his locker was well above the league average. For someone who was so productive on the field and apparently well-liked off the field, this was a surprise. Should have been clue #1.
Then, the whole leaving your first wife for the eye-candy, mistress thing?
......Well, who hasn't at least...?
......While the wife was still pregnant??
C'mon Man!!!
That's the height of douche-baggery. Even for a high-profile athlete.
Then you lose your network commentator gig when apparently the only two qualifications are
- to look good on camera
CHECK
and
- not dip your quill in the company ink ...
Aw, snap Tiki!!! You're gone.
Hope she was worth it, man. And far be it from me to tell folks how to handle their personal lives, but just so you and special agent Lepselter understand:
- your ex-teammates apparently don't speak very highly of you. In droves!!!
OK, could happen now and then.
- your ex-wife doesn't speak very highly of you. Well......OK
- your ex-employer -- heck maybe your last two employers....don't speak very highly of you.
And you guys are surprised you didn't get a return gig in an industry that at least sometimes evaluates players on their character?
I'm not the brightest guy in the world, but I'm picking up on a pattern here.
Let me give you guys some advice for the future....Buy a dog....name him Clue....then you'll have one.
Sheeeshhhh......You can't make some of this stuff up.......
A great loss for the Tampa Bay sports community as well as the region at large. Selmon was not only a great football player, at a time when those were few and far between for the Buccaneers, he was a pillar of the community. He was a very classy, well respected business man after his career and very active and influential in bringing college football to the University of South Florida. He founded a chain of restaurants in the Tampa area that bears his name. Great man, great loss to the community. Prayers go out to his family and many friends.
"Lee Roy Selmon, the Hall of Fame defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, died Sunday, two days after suffering a stroke.
Mr. Selmon was 56."
The family of Lee Roy Selmon released this statement:
"It is with very heavy hearts that the Selmon Family announces the passing of our beloved husband, father and brother, Lee Roy Selmon. Lee Roy passed away today surrounded by family and friends at St. Joseph's Hospital.
For all his accomplishments on and off the field, to us Lee Roy was the rock of our family. This has been a sudden and shocking event and we are devastated by this unexpected loss. We deeply appreciate the prayers and support shown by family, friends, the football community and the public over the past two days.
For those wishing to honor Lee Roy's many contributions, we ask that donations be made to Abe Brown Ministries or the University of South Florida Foundation Partnership for Athletics.
We ask now for privacy at this very sad time and will not be making any further statements until funeral arrangements are announced at a later time."
The Glazer family also released a statement:
"Tampa Bay has lost another giant. This is an incredibly somber day for Buccaneer fans, Sooner fans, and all football fans. Lee Roy's standing as the first Buc in the Hall of Fame surely distinguished him, but his stature off the field as the consummate gentleman put him in another stratosphere. Put simply, he was first class. He was the real deal. We are so blessed to have known this fine man and to have called him one of our own, yet so sad to have lost him so soon. Our hearts go out to the Selmon family at this time of their loss."
"Sure, the Giants might be a little unlucky. Their .281 BABIP is the lowest in the game -- although their 18.8 strikeout percentage means not a lot of balls are being put in play anyway, and their .355 SLG means hardly any of those balls are leaving the yard, let alone dropping for extra bases. When the Giants do get on base, they’re not particularly dangerous, having stolen only 75 bases, the ninth-lowest total in the majors. "
"Red Sox Hall-of-Fame OF Ted Williams was larger than life and possessed the stuff of legend. He was both a baseball hero and a war hero, serving as a naval aviator (USMC pilot) during WWII (1942-46) and the Korean War (1952-53). He was the last baseball player to hit .400 during the regular season while having enough at-bats to qualify for a batting title (.406 in 1941). He was famous for having a sometimes ascerbic personality, and for his battles with the press and the sometimes-unappreciative Boston baseball fans… and he was renowned for being an avid and skilled fisherman."
Legend has it Williams once told a friend, “All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, ‘There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.’” That tale was woven into the fabric of the movie, “The Natural”, based on Bernard Malamud’s novel of the same name. There are many baseball aficionados, pundits and ballplayers who truly believe that Williams was, in fact, the greatest hitter who has ever lived. Williams’ contemprary and equal, NY Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio, once said: “He was absolutely the best hitter I ever saw.”
No other player visible to my generation has concentrated within himself so much of the sport’s poignance, has so assiduously refined his natural skills, has so constantly brought to the place the intensity of competence that crowds the throat with joy.
It was that single-mindedness that made Williams such an extraordinary hitter and has led many to wonder what kind of numbers he ultimately would have compiled if he had not missed more than five years – in his prime – to the cause of war. It was that greatness that led the baseball world to bestow a variety of nicknames on him: “The Splendid Splinter”, “Teddy Ballgame”, “The Thumper” and, simply, “The Kid”.
And now we learn that The Kid will be honored by the United States Postal Service in its upcoming “Major League Baseball All-Stars” collection, which will be sold at post offices next year. Williams is the fourth and final all-star to be included in the set (Joe DiMaggio, Larry Doby, and Willie Stargell were previously confirmed as subjects in the four-stamp series). It is art of a different milieu – stamps are widely considered the most available and easily afforded form of art available.
Quinn, who started the game, was just 4 of 12 for 26 yards with one interception in his two quarters.
"It was the offense, I think, all the way around," Quinn said. "We need to run the ball better, I need to play better as far as making throws and we need to catch the ball. We didn't make the plays when we needed to, and unfortunately it was a bad game to end the preseason."
Tim Tebow came on after halftime to complete 7 of 11 for 116 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown pass to rookie Eron Riley with 2:57 to play.
"Going into this game I didn't know exactly when I was going to get in there, when I was going to play or how long," Tebow said. "With my opportunity, I tried to make the most of it, try and figure a way to get the team in the end zone, which I was able to do, so that was good.
Coach John Fox had resisted publicly naming a backup to starter Kyle Orton, who had the night off along with the rest of Denver's first unit.
-----
The Tebow issue settled for your amuement by ESPN chief ass-clown Rick Reilly.
The same Rick Reilly who excoriated Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds over PED's, but couldn't salivate enough at the feet of Lance Armstrong. So he has both eyes open and can see things clearly.
My comment submitted respectfully (cough, cough) to his story. I doubt very he much that he has the spine to respond.
Hate it as usual.
Methinks you doth protest too much. If Cross wasn't referring to you, it shouldn't have stung as much. I'm sure he meant some not all people who root against him no better.
Esiason was at our church recently, likeable guy, he should know better.
Read the comment section of most articles on Tebow and see if you don't find MUCH virulent, venomous anti-Tebow rhetoric. And for what? His bad mechanics? PLEASE.
Stop defending the indefensible.
Once an idiot, always an idiot over there at ESPN, I guess.
Today, the Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls (jobs) were unchanged in August. Today's chart provides some perspective on the US job market. Note how the number of jobs steadily increased from 1961 to 2001 (top chart). During the last economic recovery (i.e. the end of 2001 to the end of 2007), job growth was unable to get back up to its long-term trend (first time since 1961). During the current cycle, nonfarm payrolls have pulled away from its 40-year trend (from 1961-2001) by a record amount (see bottom chart). In fact, the current number of US jobs is well below its 2001 peak.
Notes:
- Will the Dow crash? The answer may surprise you. Find out right now with the exclusive & Barron's recommended charts of Chart of the Day Plus.
Aside from the Bernank's imbecilic repsonse re: the price of gold, note the response when Rep. Ryan turns the questioning to the issue of jobs ie: whether or not conditions were ripe for the private sector to take the baton from the public sector (about 4:30 minutes in).
The first thing to note is the eye roll from Bernanke to Ryan's question. The second is the response, which he clearly gets wrong.
Bernanke should have been fired before this time, not rehired. If responses like this are not good enough, his dismal forecasting and problem-solving skills (which mysteriously seem to make existing problems worse) should do the trick.
Hopefully, the next President make firing this ass-clown his top priority. If he doesn't resign, have him arrested and thrown in jail.
"I don’t fully understand the movements in the gold price" and "I guess I don't buy your premise" are going to go down in economic history as two of the dumbest phrases ever uttered by a Federal Reserve chairman and this guy has them both.
I'll grant you that one was uttered before he was the chairman, however at the time he was knees and elbows deep in the crisis, along with Greenspan, but that just makes his ascension to Chairmanship that much more remarkable.
What do you have to do to lose your job in DC anyway?
Chairman Bernanke’s testimony before the House Budget Committe this week has set the Web buzzing over the fact that he is, as the Wall Street Journal’s Jon Hilsenrath put it, “puzzled” by the surging gold price. When one gets a Fed chairman averring that he doesn't “fully understand the movements in the gold price,” it’s certainly news. But the story from the hearing that caught our ear was the emergence of the congressman who asked the headline question, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, as a point man on what we see as the issue of the hour — fiat money.
This came 31 minutes into C-Span’s video of the hearing, when Mr. Ryan noted that on Tuesday “gold hit an all-time high,” or, as we like to put it, the value of the dollar fell to an all-time low. Mr. Ryan suggested that most people would view the development “as a vote of no confidence against fiat currencies.” What he asked the chairman was “what does that price signal tell you and what is your view of the long-term repercussions with respect to weak currency policies?” He said he supposed one could argue that we don’t have a weak dollar because everyone else is weaker, but asked about the implications for a the “strength and stability of our currency.”
“Well,” Mr. Bernanke replied, “the signal that gold is sending is in some ways very different from what other asset prices are sending. For example, the spread between nominal and inflation index bonds remains quite low, suggesting just 2% inflation over the next 10 years. Other commodity prices have fallen recently quite severely including oil prices and food prices. So gold is out there doing something different from the rest of the commodity group. I don’t fully understand the movements in the gold price, but I do think there’s a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety in financial markets right now and some people believe that holding gold will be a hedge against the fact that they view many other investments as being risky and hard to predict at this point.”
The chairman’s answer strikes us as a classic. One doesn’t go into gold because, as the be-puzzled Mr. Bernanke seems to suggest, one lacks confidence in, say, “other investments,” soybeans, say, or iron ore. One goes into gold because one lacks confidence in the fiat currencies.
This dovetails right to my feeling about the "boy-wonders" of the administrations economic team.
The jobs reports came out today and the administration hacks predictably went on the offensive. One was just on Bloomberg (Gene Sperling, I think. HARD TO KEEP TRACK OF THE RATS LEAVING THIS SINKING SHIP), defending the administrations "focus" or lack thereof on jobs. The questioner asked if the administration in hindsight made a mistake focusing on Health Care to the exclusion of jobs and the economy.
The response was predictable. Once again along the lines of We inherited this and that...we didn't realized the severity of the recession we inherited....blah, blah, blah.
HOLD ON, CHIEF!! How long have you ass-clowns been in office? At what point DIDit occur to you that the economy sucked? Isn't that YOUR JOB, to recognize things as they ARE? Seems like some are still in DENIAL. I'm glad I don't have a microphone.
Mind you, the Ryan - Bernanke questioning took place in June 2010. So thankfully some were focused on jobs. Unfortunately, they were drowned out by those forces -- the Obama - Bernanke - Keynesian clowns -- who were in denial that THEIR solutions were failing to work.
They just continue to engage in finger-pointing and blame shifting. Ass-clowns of a feather seem to want to flock together in DC I guess, cause Bernanke (allegedly) is a Republican.
Apparently, it was going on around the same time this questioning was occurring. Some of us obstructionist, idiots were a bit skeptical. History will tell decide who was right and who was wrong. But then again, at that point, some in DC will try to re-write history. SNAFU.
We deserve better from the Whiny, Finger-Pointing, Cry-baby in Chief and his minions.
UPDATE: for clarity, when I use the term ass-clown, I am using it in the context listed under Section 2, Article 1 of the Urban Dictionary. However, many of the other definitions fit the bill as well.
1. One whose stupidity and/or ineptitude exceeds the descriptive potential of both the terms ass and clown in isolation, and in so doing demands to be referred to as the conjugate of the two.
It seems as if -- given time and the right economic and monetary conditions -- the terms "Bernank" and "ass-clown" may become synonymous.
Hopefully the jobs speech contains better plans than this one. $535M flushed to "save" - not create - save 1,100 jobs for 12 months. Delaying the inevitable. Money flushed, no jobs "created" and none really "saved". Plus details are emerging that the bigs at the company were large donors to guess who? Crony Capitalism at its finest.
Seriously though, I blame US, the electorate. Because what little we did know about him screamed "Chicago politician". So to act surprised that there is some level of skull-duggery in his administration / policies is a bit naive.
It's like we act all surprised when we hear about the kid who growing up used to torture the neighbor's cats, and then he goes off and kills some folks and we say "I didn't see that in him". Yeah, just a little like that.
"The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is attempting to investigate Solyndra and the extent of its political connections to the White House, but it’s being stymied by no-show witnesses and White House refusal to turn over records. One of the company’s leading investors, oil billionaire George Kaiser, was a campaign-donation “bundler” for the 2008 Obama campaign. An investigation by the Government Accountability Office found the Department of Energy announced Solyndra’s loan approval “prior to completion of external reviews required under procedures.” Earlier this month, the Office of Management and Budget agreed to comply with a House subpoena for up to 1,800 pages of records related to the Solyndra loan decision.
Whatever sweetheart, back-channel deals the investigation eventually reveals, the lesson is that it takes more to survive in the marketplace than just trendy green credentials, political pull and a boatload of taxpayer cash. Last year, Mr. Obama said, “The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra.” Let’s hope not."
""It isn't over," Pat Burrell said. "We're going to fight this thing out, and the better team is going to prevail, obviously. We feel we are that team."
The Giants tweaked their rotation so that their three All-Stars will pitch: Matt Cain on Friday, Tim Lincecum on Saturday and on Ryan Vogelsong Sunday.
They skipped Eric Surkamp, who's in the No. 5 starter slot, so that he won't pitch until Tuesday in San Diego.
This Diamondbacks series is for the big boys.
Arizona will counter with Joe Saunders, Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson.
So the marquee matchup is Saturday between possible Cy Young Award candidates Lincecum and Kennedy.
The Giants also play the Diamondbacks in the season's final week, Sept. 23-25, and it's anyone's guess how the race will shape up by then. For now, they want a three-game sweep to cut the deficit to three.
Winning two of three won't do much.
They can't afford to get swept or even lose two of three. Basically, it's a make-or-break series.
"I don't see how it couldn't be," Burrell said. "I think this team responds better when all the chips are out on the table.""
"Yes, that’s right: while Warren Buffett complains that the rich aren’t paying their fair share his own company has been fighting tooth and nail to avoid paying a larger share.
The story of Berkshire's years-long tax battle, which is generally known in business circles, took on new life this week when a group called Americans for Limited Government (ALG) reported that, according to Berkshire Hathaway’s own annual report, the company is embroiled in an ongoing standoff over its tax bills.
That report, in turn, was cited in an editorial in The New York Post.
“Obvious question: If Buffett really thinks he and his 'mega-rich friends' should pay higher taxes, why doesn’t his firm fork over what it already owes under current rates?” the Post opined.
“Likely answer: He cares more about shilling for President Obama -- who’s practically made socking “millionaires and billionaires” his re-election theme song -- than about kicking in more himself.”
THIS GUY SHOULD GET A MEDAL FOR BEING SUCH A GOOD SOCK-PUPPET
Using only publicly-available documents, a certified public accountant (CPA) detailed Berkshire Hathaway’s tax problems to ALG. AlG President Bill Wilson cites the company’s own 2010 annual report, which states at one point that “At December 31, 2010… net unrecognized tax benefits were $1,005 million”, or about $1 billion.”
“Unrecognized tax benefits represent the company’s potential future obligation to the IRS and other taxing authorities,” ALG explained in its report. “They have to be recorded in the company’s financial statements.”
“The notation means that Berkshire Hathaway’s own auditors have probably said that $1 billion is more likely than not owed to the government,” the ALG report explained.
That $1 billion represents about 0.2 percent of the company’s $372 billion in total assets, according to ALG.
As Wilson points out, “On one hand Buffett advocates for paying more taxes, but when it comes to his own company’s taxes, he has gone through great lengths to pay less. That’s rich.”
Here's the key section from Berkshire's report:
“We anticipate that we will resolve all adjustments proposed by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (‘IRS’) for the 2002 through 2004 tax years at the IRS Appeals Division within the next 12 months," the report states. "The IRS has completed its examination of our consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns for the 2005 and 2006 tax years and the proposed adjustments are currently being reviewed by the IRS Appeals Division process. The IRS is currently auditing our consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns for the 2007 through 2009 tax years.”
Wilson also points to a prior tax fight the company fought. “Apparently, this is not the first time that Berkshire Hathaway has tangled with the IRS. They fought a 14-year battle over the dividends received deduction. That case was just resolved in 2005,” Wilson reports..
“Although the prior case was settled in Buffett’s favor, it demonstrates a decades-long pattern of behavior by Buffett to minimize his taxes. That’s the important part of the story,” Wilson writes.
And Buffett this week is at the center of another tax controversy, according to The Wall Street Journal. His recent decision to invest in Bank of America "represents another tax-avoidance triumph for the Berkshire chief executive," the Journal wrote in an editorial Wednesdy.
It turns out that U.S. corporations are subject to a top federal income tax rate of 35 percent, the second highest in the world. But Berkshire won't pay anything close to that on their investment in BofA preferred shares.
"Berkshire will hold the investment in a property-casualty insurance subsidiary. Such corporations can exclude from taxation 59.5% of the dividends they receive from an investment in another corporation," the Journal reported. "This exclusion is intended to prevent double- or even triple-taxation as money is earned by one company, paid to another company and then ultimately paid out to shareholders. The policy makes sense; we only wonder why the exclusion isn't 100%.
"With the exclusion for Mr. Buffett and his fellow shareholders, Berkshire will enjoy an effective tax rate of 14.175% on the $300 million in dividends it will receive each year from Bank of America," the Journal reported.
These new revelations about Buffett's tax practices have only furthered enraged conservatives at the hypocrisy being shown by the famed "Oracle of Omaha."
Writing in the conservative website Human Events, John Hayward added that analysts should look at the "value of the time IRS agents have invested trying to collect it – they don’t work cheap, and we pay their salaries – and the resources Buffett’s people have invested fighting back. All of which would have been saved if Buffett simply practiced what he preached, and willingly handed over his fortune to the brilliant and compassionate 'leaders' he commands the rest of us to support without resistance.
"Warren Buffett is no different from the other liars and frauds orbiting Barack Obama. His hypocrisy just runs billions of dollars deeper. When it comes to 'shared sacrifice,' you do the sacrificing, and they do the sharing," Hayward writes.
Maybe it is time for corporations to step up. More likely it's going to take serious tax reform across the board to un-do the decades of chicanery and favoritism that has allowed these glaring disparities in fairness to exist and grow to such obscene levels.
"SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—His team practically desperate, Madison Bumgarner(notes) delivered a boost that could not have come at a better time for the defending World Series champions.
NL West-leading Arizona arrives for a crucial weekend series with the Giants starting Friday.
“We needed to win today in the worst way possible,” newly activated outfielder Pat Burrell(notes) said.
Bumgarner matched his career high with 11 strikeouts, Jeff Keppinger(notes) and Pablo Sandoval(notes) hit consecutive home runs in the fourth inning, and San Francisco beat the Chicago Cubs 4-0 on Wednesday to snap a three-game skid and avoid a sweep."
There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt. --- John Adams, 1826
1. Joey Bart 6-2, 215 C Power arm and a power bat, playing a premium defensive position. Good catch and throw skills.
2. Heliot Ramos 6-2, 185 OF Potential high-ceiling player the Giants have been looking for. Great bat speed, early returns were impressive.
3. Chris Shaw 6-3. 230 1B Lefty power bat, limited defensively to 1B, Matt Adams comp?
4. Tyler Beede 6-4, 215 RHP from Vanderbilt projects as top of the rotation starter when he works out his command/control issues. When he misses, he misses by a bunch.
5. Stephen Duggar 6-1, 170 CF Another toolsy, under-achieving OF in the Gary Brown mold, hoping for better results.
6. Sandro Fabian 6-0, 180 OF Dominican signee from 2014, shows some pop in his bat. Below average arm and lack of speed should push him towards LF.
7. Aramis Garcia 6-2, 220 C from Florida INTL projects as a good bat behind the dish with enough defensive skill to play there long-term
8. Heath Quinn 6-2, 190 OF Strong hitter, makes contact with improving approach at the plate. Returns from hamate bone injury.
9. Garrett Williams 6-1, 205 LHP Former Oklahoma standout, Giants prototype, low-ceiling, high-floor prospect.
10. Shaun Anderson 6-4, 225 RHP Large frame, 3.36 K/BB rate. Can start or relieve
11. Jacob Gonzalez 6-3, 190 3B Good pedigree, impressive bat for HS prospect.
12. Seth Corry 6-2 195 LHP Highly regard HS pick. Was mentioned as possible chip in high profile trades.
13. C.J. Hinojosa 5-10, 175 SS Scrappy IF prospect in the mold of Kelby Tomlinson, just gets it done.
14. Garett Cave 6-4, 200 RHP He misses a lot of bats and at times, the plate. 13 K/9 an 5 B/9. Wild thing.
2019 MLB Draft - Top HS Draft Prospects
1. Bobby Witt, Jr. 6-1,185 SS Colleyville Heritage HS (TX) Oklahoma commit. Outstanding defensive SS who can hit. 6.4 speed in 60 yd. Touched 97 on mound. Son of former major leaguer. Five tool potential.
2. Riley Greene 6-2, 190 OF Haggerty HS (FL) Florida commit.Best HS hitting prospect. LH bat with good eye, plate discipline and developing power.
3. C.J. Abrams 6-2, 180 SS Blessed Trinity HS (GA) High-ceiling athlete. 70 speed with plus arm. Hitting needs to develop as he matures. Alabama commit.
4. Reece Hinds 6-4, 210 SS Niceville HS (FL) Power bat, committed to LSU. Plus arm, solid enough bat to move to 3B down the road. 98MPH arm.
5. Daniel Espino 6-3, 200 RHP Georgia Premier Academy (GA) LSU commit. Touches 98 on FB with wipe out SL.
2019 MLB Draft - Top College Draft Prospects
1. Adley Rutschman C Oregon State Plus defender with great arm. Excellent receiver plus a switch hitter with some pop in the bat.
2. Shea Langliers C Baylor Excelent throw and catch skills with good pop time. Quick bat, uses all fields approach with some pop.
3. Zack Thompson 6-2 LHP Kentucky Missed time with an elbow issue. FB up to 95 with plenty of secondary stuff.
4. Matt Wallner 6-5 OF Southern Miss Run producing bat plus mid to upper 90's FB closer. Power bat from the left side, athletic for size.
5. Nick Lodolo LHP TCU Tall LHP, 95MPH FB and solid breaking stuff.
