It's all about me

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Alex_de_Large
CNN.com is reporting that Martha got 5 months.

Wow. Looks like she got everything she wanted:

Sentence at the low end--10 mos.
Home confinement for 5 of those mos.
Stay of sentence pending appeal.

Kind of a rebuke to the merits of the case, no?

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Alex_de_Large
CNN.com is reporting that Martha got 5 months.

Lucky. She'll be out in time to cash in on a new egg nog recipe.

stp: looks like she won't be going anywhere by then.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Wow. Looks like she got everything she wanted:

Sentence at the low end--10 mos.
Home confinement for 5 of those mos.
Stay of sentence pending appeal.

Kind of a rebuke to the merits of the case, no?

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...tacodalogin=no

Its over burger. Time to move on to the next celebrity trial. Bobby Fischer got arrested and will perhaps be tried in the States:

Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer, wanted since 1992 for playing a tournament in Yugoslavia despite UN sanctions, has been detained in Japan, clearing the way for his extradition to the United States.
Fischer was stopped at Tokyo's Narita International Airport on Tuesday as he tried to go to the Philippines, an airport official said on condition of anonymity.


So the case is similar to Martha's in that the crime is hard to get excited about, or even understand. Of course Bobby isn't nearly as big a celeb as Martha, but he is certifiable, and has Jewish mother issues. So anyway there is a potential for great quotes coming out.

In radio interviews, Fischer praised the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying America should be "wiped out," and described Jews as "thieving, lying bastards." His mother was Jewish.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by LessinSF
To be more precise, by "markedly better" I was referring to Bonds hitting more home runs after age 36. The chart that follows shows the year, the amount of at-bats, the number of home runs, and the amount of at-bats per home run:

1986 413 16 25.8
1987 551 25 22.04
1988 538 24 22.41
1989 580 19 30.52
1990 519 33 15.72
1991 510 25 20.4
1992 473 34 13.91
1993 539 46 11.71
1994 391 37 10.56
1995 506 33 15.33
1996 517 42 12.3
1997 532 40 13.3
1998 552 37 14.92
1999 355 34 10.44
2000 480 49 9.79
2001 476 73 6.52
2002 403 46 8.76
2003 390 45 8.67

Admittedly there could be other factors such as new ballparks, Pac Bell's short line down the right (although the park is a pitcher's park and right field goes out rapidly from the line), or a juiced ball. I just think his numbers at an age when most players decline or retire also suggest that it might not be the ball that's juiced.

Looks like someone started juicing in late '89, early '90.

Here is what I don't understand. Everyone (including Harold Reynolds) keeps saying that all that extra mucle doesn't really help him. It's the hand-eye coordination that makes him able to hit so many home runs. Bullshit.

1. If it wasn't helping him, he wouldn't be doing it.

2. If everyone concedes that playing at altitude aids in the hitting of homeruns because of the thin air, why don't they concede that getting twice as strong as you were has the same effect? Essentially, Bonds is playing at altitude wherever he goes.

TM

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
Looks like someone started juicing in late '89, early '90.

Here is what I don't understand. Everyone (including Harold Reynolds) keeps saying that all that extra mucle doesn't really help him. It's the hand-eye coordination that makes him able to hit so many home runs. Bullshit.

1. If it wasn't helping him, he wouldn't be doing it.

2. If everyone concedes that playing at altitude aids in the hitting of homeruns because of the thin air, why don't they concede that getting twice as strong as you were has the same effect? Essentially, Bonds is playing at altitude wherever he goes.

TM

Moreover, no one ever mentions the fact that HGH can improve vision. Everyone always says that steroids woudn't enable him to see better. HGH would.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
It's the hand-eye coordination that makes him able to hit so many home runs. Bullshit.

That is bullshit. Ted Williams had that, but was wiry and did not have crazy muscles. He still had tons of walks, but a lot fewer homeruns (well, still 521 while missing 5 prime years) Hand-eye allows a guy like bonds to know the strike zone and collect a lot of walks and swing only at good pitches. But it's the juice that allows those swings to carry half the balls out of the park. And, without that, rest assured there would be more pitches in the strike zone.

[Alex_de_Large]

spoiler space...






























Nice finish.

[Not Bob]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
That is bullshit. Ted Williams had that, but was wiry and did not have crazy muscles. He still had tons of walks, but a lot fewer homeruns (well, still 521 while missing 5 prime years)

I think that your Ted Williams example sorta undercuts your argument.

I blame it on a juiced ball, not on juiced players. I think that I remember reading somewhere some study that showed that a player's bat speed isn't really affected by increase in his muscles. But I could be wrong.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Not Bob
I think that your Ted Williams example sorta undercuts your argument.

Except for the fact that Williams didn't hit 73 home runs at age 38.

After the Korean war, when Teddy Ballgame was 35+, his HR's per year were: 29, 28, 24 , 38, 26, 10, 29. (
source )

Strong, but not crazy strong.

The problem bonds has is this. Baseball has always had some guys who are a couple of notches above everyone else. Obviously the Babe wasn't juicing (at least not on 'roids), but he was hitting dingers like no one else. But he did it throughout his career, not just in the tail end. Even Hammerin' Hank was consistent throughout his career. If Bonds had been hitting like this at 25, 30, 35, the same questions don't get asked.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Not Bob
I think that your Ted Williams example sorta undercuts your argument.

I blame it on a juiced ball, not on juiced players. I think that I remember reading somewhere some study that showed that a player's bat speed isn't really affected by increase in his muscles. But I could be wrong.

But all the big home run hitters have massive arms, don't they. Speed being the main thing would make shortstops the big HR hitters.

What's odd is the same doesn't appear true in golf. The first time I saw Tiger play 2 things impressed me. 1 he substantially out drove Daly and a few other big hitters. 2 at the time at least, he was scrawny.

[Oliver_Wendell_Ramone]

Originally posted by Jack Manfred
I'm kinda surprised you liked them if you heard them before they put out an album. They were a shitty live band back in the day at the Cattle Club.

We may have been at the same shows. I'd say more hit-or-miss live. Not stellar by any means. Still, quirky enough that I dug 'em, even if the "performance" was nowhere close to, say, Little Guilt Shrine or whatever side project Kevin Seconds had going at the time.

Cattle Club.... Sacto, baby!

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
But all the big home run hitters have massive arms, don't they. Speed being the main thing would make shortstops the big HR hitters.

What's odd is the same doesn't appear true in golf. The first time I saw Tiger play 2 things impressed me. 1 he substantially out drove Daly and a few other big hitters. 2 at the time at least, he was scrawny.

I don't think the huge upper-body muscles are necessary in baseball. Swing torque is generated from the hips. Junior and Palmeiro have done just fine w/out the massive upper bodies. Same with A-Rod. Obviously, extra muscle will help push a few more balls over the fence, but I think players sacrifice flexibility and thus, torque, when they get huge. One advantage to getting huge, I imagine, is that it shortens the arm muscles, possibly making it easier to get the arms fully extended. Jordan was strong, but his arms were WAY too long for baseball. he didn't have enough time to get them extended.

As far as golfers go, I've seen big fat guys, short skinny guys, tall skinny guys and fireplugs all pound the shit out of the ball. I don't think one body type is better than the other. Shigeki Maryiyama (5' 6"?) was KILLING the ball at the U.S. Open. Nick Faldo (6'4") drives like a little girl.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Nick Faldo (6'4") drives like a little girl.

watch what you say about little girls, buddy.

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
watch what you say about little girls, buddy.

At 6' tall, she's not exactly little. I should be so little.

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by Not Bob
I think that your Ted Williams example sorta undercuts your argument.

I blame it on a juiced ball, not on juiced players. I think that I remember reading somewhere some study that showed that a player's bat speed isn't really affected by increase in his muscles. But I could be wrong.

Is this going to be a physics lesson? The bigger guys swing a bigger bat. It's momentum (isn't it) that carries the ball over the fence. You can bet that Ichiro and Bonds don't swing the same lumber. And ARod and Griffey have bulked up quite a bit since 95.