Updated Sept. 5
Ah, memories of summer already beginning to fade. Wait, not yet, not yet! ...
From: Joe P.
Re.: Summer lovin': Diamond dandies and doozies
Just finished going through the Summer Lovin' article. It was thought through very well. Giving props to PNC Park in Pittsburgh is a must. Tragic that the venue doesn't get its due because of the team's performance. Get yourself to KC anyway, enjoy the BBQ.
Hey Joe, let's not forget Primanti Bros. in Pittsburgh, either, and their classic sandwich featuring meat, cole slaw and French fries all packed between a couple of slices of Italian bread.
From: Arturo
Nice article. Keep up the good work. Go Cubs!
Yeah, go Cubs -- and make sure you take Zambrano's arm with you.
>From: Gordon D.
16 lists and not one mention of the Phillies or Philadelphia? Could they possibly be that nondescript?
Who?
From: Dean J.
Liked your column on Summer Lovin'. Thanks for not forgetting the Twins in your column -- we sometimes feel a little forgotten up here in the Northland, ya know. How they wind up this season is a question, but they have been and will be a lot of fun to watch!!
You betcha.
From: Rich
You must be from the Midwest as you hit some of the big memories: Glove hanging from bicycle. Dairy Queen and A&W, it really made me laugh.
Remember how you would put the window down halfway at those drive-in restaurants like A&W so the waitresses could hang the food tray from it?
From: Mark
Just because the park is old and has ivy on the walls does not make it great. It makes it an antique. Wrigley is a dump. Here are just a few problems: The sightlines are terrible. It's 2008, who wants to pay $100+ to stare at an I-Beam? The food sucks. There are not enough bathrooms. No parking. Difficult to get there. It is falling apart. The Cubs play there. U.S. Cellular Field is by far not the best park in baseball, but it completely dusts The Shrine. Stop kissing up to the Cub fans and call a dump a dump.
I'd like to borrow your philosophy and use it on a few works of "art" I've seen in my day -- "just because it's old ... does not make it great." May I?
From: T. Cushen
Wow, another Bud Selig-approved fluff piece that blows smoke up the ass of every organization in a major media market -- shocking. Let me guess, posted in your high school locker was a great big glossy 8x10 of Robert Duvall as Max Mercy.
Thanks for the nice compliment, you sly dog, but I'm just not quite as young as you think I am. There was a better chance you'd see Cheryl Tiegs in my high school locker than Robert Duvall.
From: Dan F.
Give the Pirates another year or two, they'll start stunning you in a good way.
Yeah, and Primanti Bros. will go all vegetarian.
From: Steve B.
Can someone please explain to me why the sycophantic media keeps kissing up to Billy Beane, who should have been at the top of your overrated list? I mean all he does is take a moderate payroll -- the Marlins are far lower -- and in 11 years only win one playoff series, fire his best manager, rehire him, fire him again, and make any other number of boneheaded mistakes. What has he done to hypnotize you guys? You folks won't shut up when they win a few games about how he's a genius, then when the team is on pace for the worst second half in the franchise's history you act like you've never heard of him?
Billy is having a bad year, no question. Bad enough to consider removing his genius hat and replacing it with a dunce cap. But we need another year or two of misfiring before we put it on his permanent record.
From:Steven D.
Oh vey, I love your columns and insights and it dismays me that I have to write you about something that doesn't involve baseball, but did you just say you like Kid Rock's abortion of a song? Wait, it's not his song, it's his song PARODY of two overplayed classic rock songs that took exactly zero talent to produce. My three-year-old son could've produced that, and I don't have a son.
You think YOU'RE dismayed? How do you think I feel, actually digging a Kid Rock song? But let me tell ya, Steven: Turns out, it's the simple things in life, like when and where.
From:Aztec Bill
Re: Owner's marital squabble adds to Padres' woes
You haven't been paying attention. The Padres just opened the best Dominican Republic facility and signed four of the top 10 Latin players this year. Their minor leagues were the worst two years ago, but Baseball America now rates it 12. They have really been taking the steps necessary to get a lot of draft picks and have been signing them since the re-org in 2005.
This year is bad but mostly from unusually poor seasons from a few players and a lot of injuries. Jim Edmonds was a bad decision, but the Padres also signed Jody Gerut as a backup plan. Jody has been great since the Padres bit the bullet on Edmonds. Owner John Moores always said the Padres would be competitive in the new ball park and this is the first year they have not been. They were one game away from the best record in the NL last season. Your opinions all seem to be three years old.
And you're drinking far too much of John Moores' Kool-Aid. The Padres only got into the D.R. about a decade late, after many other clubs have mined serious talent there. Anybody they sign now won't even appear in a Padres uniform for six or seven years. And Jody Gerut, who is having an outstanding year, is still a fourth outfielder on a legitimate pennant contender. You want to settle, Aztec Bill, be my guest.
From: Ivor
Re.: New stadium can't save Nats from embarrassment
Not to defend the team, but half of this article is garbage and very one-sided. The DC GOVERNMENT IS A JOKE AND DIDN'T FINISH CERTAIN THINGS IN THE STADIUM. For a team that's 40 games under .500, 30,000 a night is pretty good.
Sounds to me like you're defending the team.
From: Anthony
Scott, you forgot that the Lerners (who own the Nationals) REQUIRE a three-bid process for all team purchases. When orders were placed with Majestic for team jerseys and Rawlings for baseballs, the Lerners would not accept them and demanded that the team jersey and baseballs purchases be BID OUT!
Did K-mart bid?
From: Gary D.
Should have just left the Nats in Montreal.
Baseball hosed Montreal with the 1994-95 strike, and the Nats/Expos continue to pay for it.
From: Coachie
Good piece! The Nats' monumental problems begin with GM Jimbo Bowden, who is well known as a professional conman. He hires mostly yes men so it is not all that bad to hold their expense checks. The Nats have a penchant for being unprofessional in all endeavors.
So that's the difference between yes-men and others: You can hold the yes-men's expense checks. I would think that would turn them into no-men very quickly.
From: Daniel H.
Lay off Montreal! I absolutely object to the first sentence of your Nationals article. The Nationals' problems have nothing to do with Montreal. They suck even worse in Washington than they did in my city. Bad ownership, bad executives and MLB is a league that you can buy a championship in if you are New York, Boston or L.A. ... cities like Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Cincinnati are just like Montreal in (that) THEY CANNOT compete because of the few teams that can buy a championship. Try shiting on another city for a change.
I probably would enjoy shiting on various cities, though I'm not quite sure what that is.
From: Chris T.
Hey Scott, how about doing an article on Roy Halladay? If he was pitching for the Red Sox or the Yankees you guys would be going crazy over him.
See, this is why I'm a professional: I'm two months ahead of you. Wrote about him back on July 3. Check it out here.
