?!'s profile

?!
711
Location: Largo, FL
ZIP: 33773
Member since: February 09, 2003
Last visit: June 10, 2007

?! has posted 1 link and 259 comments to SportsFilter and 1 link and 36 comments to the Locker Room.

Sports Bio

Baseball has been very, very good to me.

If you'd like to contact me just leave a comment on my website. I'll see it.

Recent Links

FPPs and Linking: Just a general guidelines question. After reading this post I wondered: When making a FPP is it better to link to the original news report or to a blog entry about the news report?

posted by ?! to editorial policy at 02:37 PM on June 14, 2006 - 50 comments

MLB Cracks Down: "A player will be tested during spring training physicals and at least once during the regular season, with additional random testing." We're talking greenies. Jim Bouton reported it first in Ball Four. Tony Gwynn reminded everyone nothing had changed 34 years later.

posted by ?! to baseball at 09:33 PM on January 12, 2006 - 55 comments

Recent Comments

SportsFilter Now Has a Practice Squad

Great idea.

posted by ?! at 03:07 PM on October 16, 2006

Negro League Great Buck O'Neil Dies

Not in order... 3b) Orlando works as well for me. I think my email address is in my profile. If not it will be before March. 3a) Very possible..and I have a hunch you're closer to the source there than I am. 2) True, he was one of 90-something first considered and he made the first cut. His being happy for the others who did make it doesn't answer why those four committee members didn't say "yes" to O'Neil. 1) "I just suggest that his failure to do so was not a defining moment in his life in his mind." -- Not something I suggested either. 0) "There is a dangerous line here between not voting for Buck and voting against him. " -- As far as that committee was concerned, both options are the same. It was either a "yes" or "nothing" vote for each candidate. They weren't limited to the number they could vote for, so saying "yes" to O'Neil didn't bump anyone else off the list. I think two beers and we can call this one done.

posted by ?! at 04:33 PM on October 12, 2006

Negro League Great Buck O'Neil Dies

Thanks. Here is the link.

posted by ?! at 09:53 PM on October 10, 2006

Negro League Great Buck O'Neil Dies

"Regardless of the criteria listed on the ballot:" -- I can't agree with that. The HoF appoints these committees for a reason -- to fill a hole the baseball writers can not. If you follow your list you'll notice that 18 members of the HoF are not listed as "Player, Manager, Umpire, or Executive." They are listed as "Negro Leaguer." Those members were added to the HoF through committees --The Veterans Committee and the Negro Leagues Committee. Those 18 could have listed as Players. But they weren't. They were not because the HoF is not a steel rules institution. They have bent or altered the rules/criteria to fit special needs. You know the examples. There is no sense in arguing if that is a good or bad thing. The fact is: it has been done. "O'Neil's recognition needs to come by way of a less orthodox means than traditional induction" -- I agree. And that point could have come with the last committee. Obviously seven members agreed with me. Do we know if they thought "player" or "builder" or "pioneer?" I still have to say category doesn't matter to me. Don't worry about the list. It could have been my 5th grade class. I won't be caught up by refuting or praising it. And though I agree with your point about a Buck O'Neil award, it is another discussion. I still feel we're on opposite sides of some fence. Some question or judgment about the role of the HoF where we don't agree. I doubt this is the forum to find that point. However, let me know if you come down to watch the Yanks in spring training. The first beer is on me. We can talk baseball the whole game. But let's not bring up the Expos.

posted by ?! at 06:51 PM on October 10, 2006

Volley of the week:

Assuming it is a public beach the camera(person) didn't need a waiver or permission. Assuming they're all of legal age. Assuming that if it is Brazil, rather than merely Brazillian music, they're all women. Assuming you weren't being sarcastic. :)

posted by ?! at 02:51 PM on October 10, 2006

Negro League Great Buck O'Neil Dies

Re: "easy:" Thanks for clearing that up. As for the special election: The committee wasn't charged with the exact same criteria as the regular yearly vote or the Veteran's Committee vote. For example: "The final ballots represent players, managers, executives and builders who are top-tier candidates and worthy of review for consideration for election to the Hall of Fame. " -- Fay Vincent Do I think O'Neil should be in as a ballplayer? I didn't see him play, but he didn't think so: "The truth is, I don't belong; I was a very good ballplayer, but very good ballplayers don't belong in the Hall of Fame. Great ballplayers do." So, no, not as a player. But the special ballot didn't have separate Player and Composite Ballots -- as the Veteran's Committee uses. The special committee used "Negro League" and "Pre-Negro League" ballots. Here was O'Neil's bio from the Negro League ballot: "First baseman and later the manager of the Kansas City Monarchs….Appeared in four East-West All-Star games as a player and as manager, he sent more players to Major League Baseball then any other manager in black baseball history, including Ernie Banks, Elston Howard and Pancho Herrera, among others…An outstanding motivator, managed the Monarchs to four league championships in 1948, 1950, 1951 and 1953…In 1962 became the first African American coach in the major leagues and has effectively championed the cause of the Negro leagues since their demise in the late 1950s." The rules were different for this special election, so I don't think a category is as important as it is with the Veteran Committee elections. (I don't care much for the "categories," but that's a subject for another day.) Call him a "Builder" if you must. Obviously, he was to be considered for more than his play on the field. Based on such my "vote" would have taken in his total life in baseball. He thought about how he might be elected someday: "Oh, I'd like to think I might get in the Hall one day, but maybe as a manager or for other contributions that I made to baseball." I agree with that line of reasoning. Is that a better explanation of my thoughts?

posted by ?! at 06:41 PM on October 09, 2006

Negro League Great Buck O'Neil Dies

BullpenPro: When the HoF decision was announced we fell on different sides of the decision. I doubt our positions will change, but mine wasn't merely "very easy to say." I gave much thought then, and again when Mr. O'Neil passed. No, we didn't see O'Neil or most of the candidates play. But then again the full committee didn't have that honor either. How did they base their votes? Fay Vincent, non-voting chair, said, "Each person evaluated the candidacy as he or she saw fit. There's no way I or anybody can answer that except to say that we consistently applied what we thought was a very high and rigorous standard. For some people, the absence of statistical data, because of early years, would have been a disability. Other people might not have focused as much on that." I believe that four members of the committee made a mistake by not voting for O'Neil. His stats weren't the only criteria for which he should have been considered. Of the 17 who were voted in, only seven played in the Negro Leagues. Five played before that time, and the rest were executives -- who obviously weren't inducted based on their stats. Obviously this vote wasn't entirely statistically based. "And that seemed to be okay with Buck." -- As you say, you weren't a close friend of the man. You can base that opinion on his published words and interviews. My opinion is Mr. O'Neil had the grace to not question the decision and focus on those who were inducted. Good for him. But the quote I posted earlier certainly showed a man who was excited at the prospect his work for baseball would be honored. I did see Mr. O'Neil's passing as a shame. I know death happens to everyone, but it's always a shame when someone who seems to so enjoy life passes from it.

posted by ?! at 04:02 PM on October 08, 2006

Negro League Great Buck O'Neil Dies

ESPN: "What would it mean to you, personally, to get in the Hall of Fame?" Buck O'Neil: "It's the top of the line. That's as high as you can go. For me, that would be high as I could go..." The committee blew it.

posted by ?! at 11:20 PM on October 06, 2006

"It's 'Bull Durham'-meets-fantasy-sports come to life."

Good find. It reminds me of when Bill Veeck's "Grandstand Managers" did this for a game 55 years ago and the Browns won.

posted by ?! at 02:49 PM on September 02, 2006

jerseygirl: Yes, I knew exactly what your over-the-top sentence was all about. I think each and everyone knew what you were saying. If you read my comment you'll see that I believed the AOL Speak rule was enough and the mention of caps and exclamation points was superfluous. I also wrote, "I'd drop the caps and exclamation point rule. That will just lead to arguments about commas and semi-colons." I was surprised you took the ball and ran so far with that. Still, I thought that your comment was a good example of AOL Style writing. Even after your latest comment I still think your first comment was a good example of AOL Style in the worst sense. However, this comment is obviously condescending. You don't need to tell me all caps "looks like shit and is hard to read." I am not a 14 year-old new to the net and it's obvious from my comments. I remember when ALL CAPS vs "ups and downs" wars started. Do you remember why some people wrote in all caps back in the "early days?" If not, take a look at this Wikipedia entry. You'll notice the mention of AOL. I'm leaving it there. I still believe AOL Speak is enough.

posted by ?! at 08:08 PM on August 16, 2006

Here you go, jerseygirl, et al. And that was as fine an example of "AOL Style" writing as I've seen. justgary, you've got your example.

posted by ?! at 06:05 PM on August 16, 2006

Over use of caps, exclamation points, and aol-speak is discouraged. Oh, now we have rules against specific users?! This has gone too far! Seriously, "AOL Speak" is enough. I'd drop the caps and exclamation point rule. That will just lead to arguments about commas and semi-colons. Maybe a requirement that the user has read and understood Strunk and White?

posted by ?! at 02:40 PM on August 16, 2006

Ah, I was focusing on the destination instead of the trip. Thanks for the update. See? I told you the admins read the suggestions here.

posted by ?! at 05:59 AM on August 16, 2006

lil_brown_bat: I asked the same thing and right after justgary wrote "Thanks for the latest suggestions. I'll try to work on them later this morning." What do mean I shouldn't assume he even saw my suggestions and questions?

posted by ?! at 09:47 PM on August 15, 2006

The Art of the Interview, ESPN-Style

"Don't ask yes-or-no questions, keep questions short and avoid charged words, which can distract people."
They graduated from high school without knowing that?

posted by ?! at 09:42 PM on August 15, 2006