[College Football]

37 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

Maybe he doesn't agree with the Pope.  His body, his choice.  

Sure, but two things about that:

1. He doesn't get to claim a religious exemption for that choice when his religion is advocating the opposite choice.

2. If he's going to make a choice knowing that choice goes against a statewide mandate, he's choosing to give up his job.

[College Football]

1 hour ago, woodstock said:

Rolovich suing over firing 

Seems like tensions were brewing before the vaccine mandate. This could get interesting.

Except his religious exemption demand request is bullshit since the Catholic church has come out in favor of getting the COVID vaccine and Pope Francis himself has urged people to get it, so I can't imagine this won't be thrown out.  Choices have consequences, Dick Nick.

[College Football]

27 minutes ago, xaxat said:

I'm sure some booster who still hates Kiffin will gladly cut the check.

100%

[MLB Thread]

I feel my comment about Dumbass Dylan Hernández jinxing the Dodgers is turning into a prophecy, and he can officially go fuck himself, but that little part of me that loves an underdog story is also kind of here for it?  Even though it's the Braves?  For whom I have nothing but antipathy?  I blame the double psycho whammy of Trevor Bauer and Blake Treinen and the fact that we won* (most 2020 sports champions get *s from me) last year.

Should the Braves go on to win the NLCS and then lose the WS to whichever cheating bag of dicks team wins the ALCS, though, I will damn them straight to hell for all eternity.

[MLB Thread]

5 minutes ago, Harry24 said:

So I know why we hate the Red Sox, Astros (especially the Astros!) and the Dodgers?  This AL fan is wondering why we hate the Braves?  Is it the chop?  Something else?

I love the Dodgers!  My fellow Dodgers fans, though, can be the worst (other than Phillies fans); I freely admit it.  I also completely understand those who hate the Dodgers.  Unless they're Giants fans.

I hate the Braves because I grew up in North Carolina in the 90s when it was all Braves all the time and the chop, so there was definitely a bit of a contrarian thing going on, but I absolutely felt like all the players seemed like assholes.  I wanted to take a 2x4 to Chipper Jones' smug, ugly face so many times.  I can't say it's rational, but I've never quite gotten over my antipathy toward them.

[MLB Thread]

9 hours ago, Peace 47 said:

What a game between the Dodgers and Bravos.  It was so suspenseful!  Disclaimer:  I do not condone the Tomahawk Chop, but they’re my regional market team, my father is so devoted to them he watches every single game during the regular season that he possibly can, and it’s correspondingly the only MLB team where I can name more than three players on the roster.

So go Bravos.  They’re an endearing group of players and have really put together an impressive end-of-season/ playoff run and fought tooth and nail for everything they have gotten.

I saw posted early Saturday some LA Times piece from before the game talking about how the Braves are not worthy opponents for the Dodgers; the real NL division championship was with the Giants, and the Dodgers would sweep the series.  When I read that, I was like, “What a way to jinx your team dude.”  Now if a few more LA Times staffers could write similar pieces before the next 3 games, I would appreciate it.

The chop is gross and racist, and I remember thinking that when I was a teenager in the 90s living in North Carolina.

Dylan Hernández wrote that horrible column for the LA Times.  His columns are clickbait trash, and he usually is obscenely critical of the Dodgers.  That column was so brazenly pro-Dodgers and so ridiculously disrespectful of the Braves that I'd almost believe he's deliberately trying to jinx the Dodgers.  If that was his goal, it's working so far!

[MLB Thread]

17 hours ago, mojoween said:

Nope can’t do it.  Watching “The Day After Tomorrow” instead.

I mean, that's essentially this ALCS since both are about the end of America and of civilization and of the world as we know it.  However, The Day After Tomorrow has approximately 11 billion times the entertainment value and doesn't involve cheating cheaters who cheat.  So, there's that.

What I'm saying is, I unashamedly love The Day After Tomorrow (I mean, 57 tornadoes annihilating LA all at once?  As an Angeleno, YES, that shit is hilarious!!!!!), and you made the only correct choice!

[MLB Thread]

I was rooting for the Dodgers and hate the Giants like any moral person should, but that final call...

If that was a swing, then I'm Angelina Jolie.

[NFL Thread]

1 hour ago, ChitChat said:

There are plenty of NFL players (black & white) who have done some heinous things (Michael Vick, to name one), but most of them have been forgiven and carry on within the NFL.  It's not just a "straight white guy" thing.    

Absolutely, but being a straight white guy in a power position (an owner or a head coach) certainly helps enormously.

[NFL Thread]

1 hour ago, ChitChat said:

Again, I'm not defending him, but it's a little scary thinking that one's personal emails  - especially from that long ago - can be dug up and used to ruin a person in less than 24 hours.   I'd like to give him his day in court, so to speak, and give him a chance to explain himself, as I would with anybody going through something similar.   YMMV.  

He already had his metaphorical day in court, though.  What more is there for him to explain further than he already has (terribly)?  He said after the first email was leaked that he didn't remember writing it and didn't have a racist bone in his body, which was clearly bullshit since a slew of other correspondences were subsequently released.  He doesn't need or deserve another metaphorical day in court.  This was not a one-off, for which I still wouldn't have much forgiveness; this happened over a period of years.  It's what you do when no one's looking (or when you think no one's looking) that determines who you are.  Well, when Gruden (and the other shitbags in that little circle jerk) thought no one was looking, he revealed himself to be a racist, homophobic, misogynistic asshole; that's exactly who he is.  If you feel comfortable saying any of that horrible shit to anyone, it's who you are, and you don't get to whine about the privacy element of it (which, to be fair, Gruden hasn't) should those words become public knowledge.

Also, his life was not ruined by this since he's already exceptionally rich; he just lost a job that he can afford to lose, and some people (but nowhere near all people) think him despicable.  Moreover, because he's a straight white guy who's already in the NFL club, as surely as the sun rises in the east, some other shitty NFL owner or university will probably offer him a head-coaching position if he wants it.  Honestly, the fact that he's the only one in that email chain who's suffered any consequences so far is telling: a scapegoat was needed to avoid more probing, it's Gruden, and it'll blow over eventually because it usually does for straight white guys in power positions in the NFL.

[MLB Thread]

Re: the upcoming ALCS:

[NFL Thread]

2 hours ago, mojoween said:

Wait, who are we talking about here…Baker, or Gronk?

Baker!

Byeeeeeeee, Jon, miss you like a case of gonorrhea!

[NFL Thread]

1 hour ago, emma675 said:

I seriously thought I was hallucinating or completely missing the point USAA was going for the first time I saw that commercial. Does anyone involved in that ad think it's a good look at all? Yikes. I wonder how that spot got approved and why Gronk's people thought it was a good idea. 

It seemed clear to me when I watched it that that "But I'M special!!1!" line was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek and intended to poke fun at himself, but Gronk can't...I mean, he just...he clearly doesn't take himself seriously (which I like about him), but he canNOT deliver a scripted line with any kind of humorous nuance because the elevator doesn't go all the way up.  I'm not even sure it goes halfway up.  My physical attraction to him is one of my least favorite things about myself.  Basically:

But, really, my brain gets angry at me.

[NFL Thread]

Nothing about Baker Mayfield is adorable.  He can't help but radiate "smarmy douche" even when squirting nacho cheese into trick-or-treaters' bags.

Gronk's issue is that he's just...a few fries short of a Happy Meal.  If it's possible to speak out loud like you're reading with your finger, he manages to accomplish that.  I mean, I still would tooooootally hit that, but I would haaaaaaate myself in the morning.

[Tennis Thread]

2 minutes ago, Harry24 said:

Do you mind my asking how you happen to have all this knowledge at your fingertips, nuguy514?  It’s very impressive.

Haha, I wish I could claim vast prior knowledge of this stuff, but I just googled it.  I'm really not that impressive.😆  

I will say, though, that the initial comment struck me because I do know the 760 area code covers a HUGE portion of California and it seemed an odd statement to make; that's why I looked into it.  Also, I do live in Los Angeles and have been to the Palm Springs area a few times and know it's not as fancy as people might think.  There are certainly areas with expensive homes, but most of the homes are fairly normal.  It's a lovely area, though, no matter what.

[Tennis Thread]

11 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

I'm sure Blake was referring to nearby Palm Springs, which is a very wealthy community.

And he'd still be wrong.  Palm Springs really isn't that wealthy, although that certainly is the perception people have.  The median annual household income in Palm Springs is around $53,500; by contrast, Fisher Island's is around $2.5 million.

[Tennis Thread]

3 hours ago, Medicine Crow said:

Is anyone else "in love" with James Blake's commentating?  He's so knowledgeable & eloquent, not to mention excellent diction!!  (My BIL was telling me Indian Wells was a "very rich" city.  James mentioned a few minutes ago that its area code is known as the most wealthy in the U.S.A.)

If Blake said that about Indian Wells, he's wrong; if he said it about Miami, though, that wouldn't be off the mark since the wealthiest zip code (wealth is usually ranked by zip code) is Miami Beach (specifically, the Fisher Island zip code) and one area code ranking I saw had 305, which covers Miami and the Florida Keys, at the top.  Indian Wells is in the 760 area code, which covers a gigantic portion of California and includes some very, very poor communities.

[MLB Thread]

Unlike some in LA (like a few of our longtime local NPR guys who were talking about this yesterday morning and in a low-key panic over the possibility our Boys in Blue might lose), I do not think a 106-win team having to play in the WC game is the death knell of the one-game WC round, nor should it be.  Win your division and avoid it; otherwise, you have to play it.

As a resident of LA and a Dodgers fan and a responsible fan of interesting baseball (basically, everything the Cardinals are not), I'm thrilled they won last night.  And I will be rooting for them against the Giants, whom I obviously detest for reasons that need no enumeration.  After that, though, it gets a bit tricky.  I've always, always hated the Braves (I grew up in North Carolina, but I was born in Cincinnati when the Reds and the Braves were in the same division, so my allegiance is with the Reds, and I just hated the Braves in the 90s so much), so that's a no for me.  I would normally root for the Brewers, but racist, homophobic Josh Hader single-handedly makes me want to see them lose; if he has actually done anything beyond giving one rote apology and having to attend sensitivity training – in other words, anything actually meaningful – to prove he's not a racist, homophobic piece of shit, I'm willing to hear it, but it doesn't look like that's the case.  I would obviously want the Dodgers to win, but...I DO NOT want Trevor Bauer to get a ring – none for rapist pieces of shit, bye. Castrate him, dump him from the team, and we can win next year.  And of course, fuck the Astros forever and ever and ever, everyone outside of Houston justifiably hates you, you should be banned permanently from baseball, and the Red Sox are cheating trash, too.

Soooooo, I guess that leaves me with the White Sox or the Rays; as far as I know, I have nothing against them as teams or against any of their individual players, so I'll probably root for either of those teams, should one of them make it to the WS.

Ugh, it's complicated being a sportsball fan.

[MLB Thread]

Chris Taylor, baby:

I mean, you always could get it, but right now you can especially get it.

[MLB Thread]

21 minutes ago, cleo said:

Well his racist mocking of Dave Roberts comes to mind....

And Yu Darvish.

[Grey's Anatomy in the Media: Incident Reporting]

1 hour ago, taanja said:

I dunno? I took it completely opposite. Ellen says it was a great experience -- and since it is she who is recalling the incident -- I'm gonna believe her.

I'm an actor, and one of the biggest no-nos among actors is directing your fellow actors.  It's soooooo obnoxious.  Pompeo improvised during a scene because she didn't like the acting choices her scene partner was making, and her improvised choice was essentially to direct the other actor on how he should be acting. Then, when she was called on it by the director, who should be giving those kinds of notes to the actors, she responded like a giant, entitled asshole.  No, ma'am.

Now, this is not some blanket defense of Denzel Washington.  I've always found him to be a humorless, self-important, know-it-all twat.  In fact, I have a friend who has actually acted onstage with Denzel and went with him to see Eclipsed (the Broadway play Lupita Nyong'o was in); afterward, they went backstage to congratulate the cast, and Denzel proceeded to give acting notes to the cast.  That deserved a "This is my motherfucking show, asshole, who fucking asked you" response.  However, since Denzel was actually the director of the episode in this instance, he was exactly right to call Pompeo out, and she is the one who comes off like a shithead and deserves all the criticism she's getting.

[NFL Thread]

12 hours ago, twoods said:

I know that Nick Bosa is garbage, but is his brother that plays for the Chargers equally as despicable? I haven’t heard much about him but it was nice seeing him do well against the Chiefs.

Given Nick and their father, it's hard to imagine Joey is completely garbage-free, but I don't think he's done anything condemnatory that's become public knowledge.

[NFL Thread]

34 minutes ago, roamyn said:

On the bright side Pissburgh is now at the bottom of the AFC North!  😈

A thing of beauty is a joy forever!

[The NBA]

13 minutes ago, Lady Whistleup said:

His religious exemption request was just denied too.

Good.

[NFL Thread]

The real question, though, is:

And by "love," Cher has stated she obviously meant "Tom Brady" because they're one and the same.

I don't know if I do believe in that life anymore...