benjoshua wrote:Congratulation to Badmike who now has over 8000 feedback!

eBay listings

How long before he passes Cougie?

Hell, Coug passed ME up awhile back!!!!



Wow, thanks!  That anniversary passed me by. Now just need to set my sights on passing up Guido someday (right...it took me ten years to get this far!)



But thanks to anyone here that has bought something from me...!



Mike B.

benjoshua wrote:Now Cubs fans.  They are loyal AND unrewarded.  And whatever they are, they are no longer lovable.  Whoever came up with that one is ignorant of reality.  Just ask Steve Bartman.  He needed police protection to save him from a lynching.   There's no love there.  I personally think the intensity, scrutiny and pressure is part of the problem.

It has been pretty rough being a Cub fan and I have only had to endure it since the mid-eighties.  I can't imagine the pain and suffering some of the old-timers have had to deal with.  1984, '89, and 2007 were disappointing seasons but nothing for me tops 2003 as the most painful Cub fan experience ever.  To fall so far so fast after being so close against the Marlins was sheer torture.  

Mark my words...this is the year the Cubbies finally break the curse.  One hundred years since the last World Series win.  I don't think God would make us wait another year.  

Plaag wrote:
Brewers shall ensure that curse stays intact

ShaneG.

Just like they did last year eh?     I do think it will come down to another race to the finish between the Cubs and Brewers but the Cubs have made some interesting moves this year and I dont think they are done yet.  The Astros, Cardinals, and Pirates will all be rebuilding this year (arent the Pirates rebuilding every year though?) but Cincinnati may be a sleeper in the central division.  Dusty Baker apparently knows how to get the most out of his teams.

bclarkie wrote:
No, we never rebuild.  We just f**king suck, all the time.    We will continue to suck all time as long as we have this sh*t box owner who is more interested in lining his own pockets at the expense of the franchise and the fans and get someone in here new.  The Nuttings, heh, they should change their name to the f**king Nothings.

In the late 70s my middle brother and I were huge baseball fans (of the Texas Rangers), but our favorite National League team was the Pirates.  Loved the uniforms, and the personalities like Dave Parker and Willie Stargell (the "We Are Family" days), and rooted for them in the 1979 world championship year.  Of course they haven't done anything since and have a 15 year losing season streak, which is ridiculous. Saying a team based in Pittsburgh is a small market team is ludicrous (an excuse for owners not wanting to spend any more money than necessary), and they are #1 poster child for what is wrong in baseball.  Thank God the DFW area has owners like Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban, because without them shaming Tom Hicks to at least spend SOMETHING the Rangers would be worse than the Pirates or Royals of the baseball world.

Mike B.

Badmike wrote: Mark Cuban.

Believe me, people around here are and have been begging for Cuban to come save this team.  He is a Pittsburgh guy born and bred(as a matter of fact he grew up about 5 minutes from my house and went to Mt Lebanon HS which sits right next my school district) and people around here been clamouring for him to come home.  Granted he is kind of an asshat sometimes, but he wants to win, will spend to do it and thats what everyone around here is hoping he would do here.

Its pretty sad, we used to have sme great teams both in the early 90's and in the 70's, but it seems this franchise can't get out its own way now.  Between the gree of ownership and the completely mismanagement by the Front Office its become a joke.   We get the best of both worlds here in the Burgh, we have one the best ownerships in all of sports with the Rooneys and the Steelers and as noted above likley the worst of all with the Nothings and the Pirates.  

If you really want to laugh(and have the time) here's a link that show how the Steelers and Pirates "compare" over the last 27 years:

http://mondesishouse.blogspot.com/2006/ ... elers.html


And here is one that shows 79 reason why its hard to be a Pirate fan:

http://mondesishouse.blogspot.com/2007/ ... irate.html

And yes this site is based here in PGH.

bclarkie wrote:
Believe me, people around here are and have been begging for Cuban to come save this team.  He is a Pittsburgh guy born and bred(as a matter of fact he grew up about 5 minutes from my house and went to Mt Lebanon HS which sits right next my school district) and people around here been clamouring for him to come home.  Granted he is kind of an asshat sometimes, but he wants to win, will spend to do it and thats what everyone around here is hoping he would do here.

Its pretty sad, we used to have sme great teams both in the early 90's and in the 70's, but it seems this franchise can't get out its own way now.  Between the gree of ownership and the completely mismanagement by the Front Office its become a joke.   We get the best of both worlds here in the Burgh, we have one the best ownerships in all of sports with the Rooneys and the Steelers and as noted above likley the worst of all with the Nothings and the Pirates.  

.

Jones and Cuban may be nuts and pain in the asses sometimes but you know they want to win at all costs and throw their own money into the team to do so. Hicks, not so much, he's the typical bean counter sports owner that scrupulously goes by a "budget" and cuts or trades players because of the market (or so he says).  One of the signs of a con man sports owner is when your team is continually "rebuilding" and you are pleaded to wait "just 3 or 4 years and the team will be competetive".  Luckily I've gotten old enough to see these buzzwords for what they are, and don't give thieves like this my money.

I'm sure anyone would love Cuban as an owner...look at the Jason Kidd deal that will go through today, he wants to win NOW and saw other teams in the conference improve, and even though their cast of characters might be a better and younger team in 3-4 years decided he wanted to win NOW and went out looking for a superstar. Meanwhile Tom Hicks is trying to pick up cheap talent on a budget so the Rangers can be good "someday". Please.

If you were a Pirates fan though I wouldn't be too optimistic though as Mark is a huge Cubbies fan, I think he's looking that way more than anything.

Mike B.

and they have gone to the playoffs two of the last 5 years....they have a LOT of history to make up for the losing. The Rangers history is mostly crap.

A lot of this is because management has always seemed to favor hitting over pitching. The Yankees had this sitauation in the 1980s and early 1990s -- just think of LaPoint, Hudson, Hawkins, etc -- but they at least grew out of it when revenue sharing went out the window.

Rangers have had mediocre pitching for at least 15 years. And I don't recall there ever being a very good rotation in Texas. I mean, is Charlie Hough the best pitcher Texas has ever had over any length of time? Kevin Brown lasted a short while, but no one really around him, except maybe Ryan for 3 years, and Bobby Witt, which even then says a lot.

Aneoth wrote:and most of them are also liberals to boot. That's four strikes right there and even in softball thats an out.

They never shut up...............   EVER.

Let's not turn a nice discussion about baseball into a political bitch-fest.  

Aneoth wrote:
Being a member of another country, I can see how you might say such a thing.

However, I have spent a lot of time around actual yankees (this word means more to southerners than to foreigners and has other meanings than simply the baseball analogy) and I am all too aware of how rabid Yankees and yankee fans are.

But as to something shutting them up; they are yankees first, new yorkers second, Yankee fans third, and most of them are also liberals to boot. That's four strikes right there and even in softball thats an out.

They never shut up...............   EVER.

Says the guy who can't seem to keep political viewpoints off a forum about discussing Dungeons and Dragons collecting.  Sense any irony in this post?  Pot...Meet kettle.