- 05:49 AM
- 11/21/24
| Location: | San Francisco |
|---|---|
| Gender: | I'm a man. That's spelled M. A. N. Man. |
| Member since: | July 30, 2005 |
| Last visit: | May 27, 2017 |
L.N. Smithee has posted 5 links and 208 comments to SportsFilter and 1 link and 2 comments to the Locker Room.
Legit Discussion Shut Down -- Why?:
In the spirit of texasred, who asked 9/18/06 in a Locker Room post what was up when his NASCAR posts were deleted, I am addressing the Michelle Wie issue here.
My post from Friday 9/22/06 entitled "Masters? Michelle Wie Should Master LPGA First, says Female Sportswriter" fit the FPP. Admittedly, it is about Wie and her heretofore futile quest to make a PGA cut, a subject that always sets this forum on fire. But previous discussions have included unfounded accusations that those who are critical of Wie must be 'male chauvinists.' The column I posted was written by longtime San Jose Mercury News columnist Ann Killion, someone whose opinion obviously couldn't be motivated by agreement that a woman's place is barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. On top of that, Killion cited LPGA pros (including LPGA legend Nancy Lopez) who agree that Wie is disrespectful of female professionals by acting as if the women's tour isn't important.
None of those differentiations seemed to matter when some made note that it was I who posted the column. Immediately, some alleged that I have a hateful, politically motivated anti-Wie "agenda," but there were others who wrote that even if that was the truth (which it isn't), it was not a reason to stop posting legitimate items about Wie. The burgeoning discussion of both Wie's choices and whether or not people who are annoyed by the topic should ignore it came to a screeching halt when justgary made his first and only post on the thread. He simply wrote "Sorry, been out." Then, it appears, his next act was to shut the thread down with the words "This discussion has been closed by the admins." Seeing that not only I but others agreed that it was a legitimate post that fit the standards of the FPP, I think I am entitled to an explanation of why closing this thread within hours of its creation wasn't an arbitrary variance of SpoFi policy.
posted by L.N. Smithee to editorial policy at 01:22 AM on September 25, 2006 - 71 comments
S.F. Reporters Must Testify Over Bonds Leak: A federal judge told two San Francisco Chronicle reporters they must comply with a subpoena and tell a grand jury who leaked them secret testimony of Barry Bonds and other elite athletes ensnared in the government's steroid probe.
posted by L.N. Smithee to baseball at 07:12 PM on August 15, 2006 - 8 comments
Dave Righetti Gives Up #19 In Tribute To Rookie's Brother: Kevin Frandsen's late brother always loved Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti and long listed the left-hander as his favorite player. Both grew up in the South Bay in San Jose. Now that the infielder is back in the big leagues for a second stint with San Francisco, he is wearing Righetti's No. 19 jersey instead of the No. 8 that he wore earlier this month in his initial callup.
posted by L.N. Smithee to baseball at 01:10 PM on May 24, 2006 - 5 comments
Danny Almonte, Now 19, Gets Married to 30-Year-Old Woman: The former Bronx Little League pitcher whose being two years over the maximum age invalidated his team's Little League World Series run is now a 19-year-old pitching prospect likely to be selected in the baseball amateur draft, scheduled for June 6-7. He's also a recently married man -- and to an older woman.
posted by L.N. Smithee to baseball at 02:29 PM on May 23, 2006 - 69 comments
Lion Index wrote: If they name the team the Wind, every sportswriter in the country will fancy him or herself an insufferably clever little punk when the get to write the headline "[insert team here] Breaks Wind". True dat. That would be as monumentally bad as Major League Soccer (not) originally naming the Kansas City franchise the "Wiz." In the first year of the Miami Heat, when they defeated the Golden State Warriors, one S.F. Chronicle writer couldn't resist references to Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth": What a field day for the Heat 10,000 people in their seats Singing songs and carrying signs Mostly saying, "Hooray for our side!"
posted by L.N. Smithee at 01:05 PM on July 31, 2008
smithnyiu wrote: I've been to Oklahoma once. It made an impression on me. So I would like to vote for the "Oklahoma Dirty and Nasties ..." if that is on the list. So, did you have a good or a bad time?
posted by L.N. Smithee at 12:55 PM on July 31, 2008
Sorry...I thought I was going to be able to complete a comprehensive response last night. I'm still editing it for brevity.
posted by L.N. Smithee at 09:11 AM on September 27, 2006
This is my first Locker Room post and don't make a habit of cruising the Locker Room. I usually check the Front Page and if there are only links for things that don't interest me (such as English football or cricket), I ignore them and surf somewhere else. Regarding my "bailing out": At work, I have had tasks that have allowed me enough down time to post lengthy responses to SpoFi. I currently am taking on a task that doesn't allow that -- if I am on the web, it has to do with business with few exceptions. I made a special effort to post the Killion column because I have been waiting for a female scribe to admit the Wie-dia circus is getting old. I will respond to the things written here tonight, but one thing I want to say right now is that jerseygirl is full of crap. I have never said I hate Wie because I don't, and no amount of repeating unfounded assertions that I do hate Wie will make it so anywhere other than in her narrow little mind.
posted by L.N. Smithee at 03:09 PM on September 26, 2006
I was watching the 49ers when Nolan refused to go for the 4th-and-1. I was incensed. This is a guy who, according to all sources, is tough on his players if they aren't giving an all-out effort. Where in the world was his? I feel like he threw in the towel on the whole game at halftime with that call. To their credit, the Niners didn't quit. Alex Smith threw his 3rd TD pass (tripling his total of his rookie season) with :06 on the clock. This brought SF to within 14 pts of the Eagles, making the thrashing a mere rout. But then Nolan did something absolutely insane; he called for an onside kick. That's right -- an onside kick with six seconds on the clock. Even Joe Montana couldn't lead two scoring drives with six seconds left! The 49ers are getting better, but only because they can't get worse. I don't know if Nolan deserves any credit for that, because he's coaching like an imbecile.
posted by L.N. Smithee at 02:59 PM on September 26, 2006
Oh, brother. You know what this means -- there are going to be GMs that will have prospects doing peripheral tests like these to determine if they are going to be great players. [GQ writer Nate] Penn should have been warned, but he thought he would surely be the victor in a test of finger-tapping speed. "People my whole life have been awed by my typing speed," Penn said. (He types 120 words per minute.) I once did data entry alongside a woman who was a trained concert pianist. Her fingers were almost a blur when she typed. I asked her what her speed was, and she said, "I don't tell people anymore. They never believe me."
posted by L.N. Smithee at 01:47 PM on August 22, 2006
Heh. Maybe Williams and Lola-Falana can use some of that bookwriting loot to pay for their defense. Before I am accused of being a Bonds apologist, listen up -- I ain't. I think Bonds used steroids knowingly, and lied about it. I believe he is reimbursing Greg Anderson for the legal fees necessary to keep him from testifying. I hope he retires at the end of this season and spares all Giants fans another season of hanging fire over whether or not he's going to be yanked from an on-deck circle in handcuffs. And if he seems like a man walking through a living hell in an asbestos jumpsuit now, it will still not prepare him for the heat he will suffer if he creaks around long enough to break Hank Aaron's record. Think Pete Rose multiplied by 756. Nevertheless, whenever Bonds comes to bat, I want him to hit one out. He's a Giant, and the Giants are my team. He's not going to be a Giant forever, and I am not about to dump my team because of the misdeeds of one guy. To wit: I didn't dig Deion Sanders when he was a Falcon and making life miserable for my 49ers, and I didn't like him when joined the Niners. But you can bet I was cheering when he ran INTs back for a TD. What delights me about this development is that it smacks silly the self-righteousness of the Chron writers and their assertions that Bonds' and other players' abuse and subversion of our used-to-be national pastime justifies their own abuse and subversion of our Grand Jury system. That's right, I said "our" system -- someday, you might be the target of one yourself, and you sure as heck don't want to be compelled under penalty of imprisonment to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth before a supposedly hermetically sealed chamber just to find full-color photos of your dirty laundry hitting your front steps in the morning. Although they don't say it plainly, there's no mistaking the scribes' defense: "The rules don't apply to us -- we're reporters." Thank goodness that throughout the country, from New York to San Francisco, judges are sending the message that a press pass is not carte blanche.
posted by L.N. Smithee at 07:51 PM on August 15, 2006
the_black_hand: I prefer to do what I joined this site for in the first place...have fun writing and reading about sports. To other members of the same mind, I apologize for my complicity in this hijacking. "Complicity" doesn't cover it. You posted a link to an article about a Cuban-American ballplayer saying he hoped Fidel Castro died. Did you seriously expect that politics wouldn't take over the thread? If the idea of debate about the history of Communist Cuba isn't your idea of "hav[ing] fun writing and reading about sports," you should have hit the back button and forgotten about it. But you didn't. Ye who smelt it dealt it. I don't publicly pronounce myself a Christian, quote bible verse, and then wish a "slow, lingering, painful death" on another human being. So, as long as I don't start tongue-kissing God in public, then wishing horrible things on my fellow man, I don't think that expression applies. That's the beauty of not publicly adhering to well-known standards of behavior; you can point your finger at other people and shout "HYPOCRITE!" knowing well and good that they can't do the same to you because you have no standards to violate. Every Christian is a hypocrite every so often. We're not perfect, and don't claim to be, and if we should ever think we are, there are plenty of people like you who are more than eager to remind us with a obscene stream of invective and profanity. mjkredliner: I would prefer to bury the hatchet, and have fun writing and reading about sports. I would enjoy that very much. For all the teeth-gnashing that goes on around here about politics and religion taking over the threads, people sure don't do their best to avoid it. We probably don't agree on everything, but I think we're alike in that when someone starts whacking hot-button topics with a sledgehammer, we don't think they have the right to say "STOP!" when we react. cc: justgary
posted by L.N. Smithee at 01:22 AM on August 06, 2006
ryemonster: If someone comes up and asks you "What do you think of the guy that killed your father and law" I think the words "No comment" would be the furthest thing from your mind. Amen.
posted by L.N. Smithee at 02:35 AM on August 04, 2006
jerseygirl: So when you climb atop your pedestal, you just yell "I'm intolerant AND have my own agenda!" to keep it real, huh? I'll tell you how I "keep it real"; I don't climb on a pedestal like the S.F. politicos and say "I'm so tolerant," because I understand what the word means even if the people who have hijacked it don't. By definition, if I were "tolerant," it wouldn't have bothered me that the mayor of my city was breaking the law and was marrying people of the same sex. It bothered me. Also, by definition, if the Board of Supes was "tolerant," they would have ignored the Christian group's gathering. They chose to go out of their way to condemn it and insult them. commander cody: You can't "recruit" someone into being Gay. A person is born Gay or not. Are you suggesting that there are no homosexuals that attempt to seduce people who are not? It is to laugh. I happen to know people who were "recruited," identified themselves as "gay," and who are now happily and monogamously married who say different.
posted by L.N. Smithee at 09:20 PM on July 28, 2006
Weedy McSmokey: Drugs and rebellion are an essential part of growing up. Rebellion, yes. Drugs? Nonsense. But I guess you are just speaking from your own experience, "Weedy." Take your agenda of intolerance somewhere else. And I've visciously against anything that has even a faint whiff of anti-gay... Which pretty much every damn one of these evangelicals has - only it's a powerful stench. The preceding statement is, in itself, a statement of intolerance. By definition, tolerance recognizes no ideology, so it's hypocritical to say, "I am a tolerant person, but I'm intolerant of intolerance." No matter how much it pains the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, it remains a fact: the city is in the United States of America, where you are free to believe that homosexuality is indeed condemned in the Bible, despite craftfully pieced-together revisionist theological points-of-view popular here. That's what makes America a better place to live than Somalia, the Sudan or Iran -- if you don't believe in the same things the people running your city do, they can't run you out on a rail -- which the Board of Stupes sounds like it would have done if it could. And they had the nerve to call others "fascists." If you are demonstrably opposed to the agenda of another person, there's no law against that, but don't climb on a pedestal and lie and say "I'm tolerant!" when what you mean is "I have my OWN agenda."
posted by L.N. Smithee at 05:55 PM on July 28, 2006
Weedy McSmokey: Mjk - your link is one where I wholeheartedly support the city's resistance. Damn right - stop recruiting kids in public forums, you crazy bastards. I feel the same way as you do, Weedy. STOP RECRUITING KIDS IN PUBLIC FORUMS! But darn the luck, those so-called Gay Straight Alliances in public high schools practice Constitutionally-protected free speech, just like the rally by the non-violent Christian group whose free speech you and the hypocrites in San Francisco condemn.
posted by L.N. Smithee at 04:43 PM on July 28, 2006
GoBirds: If he is such a jerk what the hell is he doing adopting a child? He's famous. He's got money. When it comes to adoption, that works wonders. It's been years since state agencies have had unbendable standards for adoption. It doesn't matter if you're a jerk. You can even be an all-out scumbag. For instance, filmmaker Woody Allen. In 1992, actress Mia Farrow, the mother of Allen's five-year-old biological son, discovered that Allen -- who also was the adoptive father of a daughter raised by him and Farrow -- was messing with Farrow's 21-year-old adopted daughter (Soon-Yi Previn) from a previous marriage. Five years later, Allen and Previn married, and adopted twins. Hello?!
posted by L.N. Smithee at 11:51 AM on July 20, 2006
chicobangs: And if the Oklahoma City Sonics stays the name of the team if/when they move, you'll get used to the ring right quick. That's true. People like to talk about how ridiculous a name "Utah Jazz" is, but we're all used to "Los Angeles Lakers" without a second thought. You can always play jazz in Salt Lake City, but you'll never but a significant lake in Los Angeles. Even the lake in Lake Los Angeles, CA is gone!
posted by L.N. Smithee at 10:20 PM on July 18, 2006
High School Pitcher Struck by 100-Mph Batted Ball
I'm wondering about the estimates of the speed of the batted ball. Was there somebody there with a JUGS gun or something? Or is that conventional wisdom when it comes to line drives up the middle?