Thursday, July 07, 2005

Mindless Sheep

Americans who read Daily Quickie on ESPN.com's Page 2 AND do whatever they're told to do by DQ's moronic editor Dan Shanoff ought to just move to a country run by a dictator. These people obviously don't have the instincts of free will and free thought. Why else would they vote Scott Podsednik over Derek Jeter for the final spot on the AL's All-Start team?

More infuriating than the thought of being surrounded by a nation of mindless sheep is this excerpt. As DQ wrote today:

"In your Face! The biggest story of “Final Man” voting wasn’t that Pods earned a spot; it was that Jeter – the “Face of Baseball” – lost. In a simple up-or-down vote, fans rejected Jeter and everything he stands for. His minions can’t possibly claim “Face” status anymore."

Dan Shanoff makes Derek Jeter sound like some sort of child-raping ogre or sadistic, bloodthirsty serial killer. What else can "everything he stands for" mean? I thought it was universally accepted that Derek Jeter stands for hard work, professionalism, heart and respect. I've never seen Jeter show up an opponent by flipping his bat after a homer and I've never heard Jeter say one negative thing about an opponent or teammate. I've also never heard anyone around the game question his credentials as a great ballplayer or teammate. Hell, if members of the Boston Red Sox, who are bred to hate all things New York, can say that Derek Jeter is a great player and a great Yankee then where on earth is Dan Shanoff getting all of this stuff from?

I think Jeter's "minions" (as this moron likes to call us) can claim that #2 is the best Yankee player in a generation and among the all time great players in the game. Whether he's the "face" of the game or not, I have no idea and I don't care. All I know is that Scott Podsednik isn't the best player going to the All-Star game and that, if given a choice, Kenny Williams would trade his light-hitting fluke-season leadoff hitter for Jeter.

Oh, and before I forget, Jeter's stats as a leadoff hitter compare quite nicely to any other leadoff hitter in the game, especially this guy Podsednik.

2005 STATS

Jeter:
66 R/100 H/11 2B/2 3B/10 HR/35 RBI/145 TB/40 BB/55 K/10 SB/3 CS/.395 OBP/.446 SLG/.841 OPS/.308 AVG

Podsednik:
48 R/78 H/13 2B/0 3B/0 HR/17 RBI/91 TB/32 BB/40 K/41 SB/9 CS/.363 OBP/.337 SLG/.700 OPS/.289 AVG

The Yankee lineup is better than the White Sox lineup which can account for the difference in R but the H, HR, RBI, TB, BB, OBP, SLG, OPS and AVG all favor Jeter. No question that the SB's are in Podsednik's favor since he's a steal specialist. Still, I pay my leadoff hitters to get on base, something Jeter's doing at a better rate than this fluke-season piece of crap player.

I HATE the White Sox. The team ought to be contracted and purged from our collective memories. If only ESPN.com would write something about petitioning for that, I'm sure all of the mindless American sheep would baaa-ahhh in agreement.

8 comments:

Gutsy Goldberg said...

I realize you are upset, but don't let Shanoff ruin your life. Just because he writes something, doesn't mean that the nation is a bunch of sheep. As an American, I dislike being called a sheep.

There is a lesson here though, the White Sox fans must have more hackers than the Yankees. Internet voting is never really representative of anything.

If I was a Yankees fan, I'd be happy. This will only motivate Jeter to play better in the 2nd half, similar to how my buddy Travis Hafner is going to hit a home run every day for the rest of the year since he was snubbed from the all-star team.

MJ said...

Gutsy, I didn't mean to imply that you are among the sheep. I'm only saying that those who read Shanoff and then say "YES MASTER" like a Frankenstein monster are the sheep. I assume that you don't have pegs coming out of your neck.

The great thing about Jeter is that he doesn't need motivation to play hard. He comes to play every day and every day he produces. If anything, I'm hoping that Podsednik thinks he's "made it" and slacks off the rest of the year. Nothing would make me happier than to see the Twins get hot and catch the Sox. I'd love to see the Sox get arrogant and toss it like they did back in 2000.

Gutsy Goldberg said...

MJ- I realize I'm not a sheep, I just think (or am at least hoping) that Shanoff is NOT the reason that Posednik got in.
Beth- I really like the analogy of screaming the loudest, with the "inexplicable success of Fox News and Stephen A. Smith." Call me an optimist, but I'd still like to think that most people have a mind of their own and are not so easily swayed.
In the end, I thought that MJ was going to take the "everyone hates the Yankees" reason for why Jeter didn't make the all-star team, which actually may hold true in this situation.

Mighty Mike said...

Does this mean we are in a nation run by a dictator?

Hitman said...

I don't have time to read Page 2, and I don't even know who Dan Shanoff is, but I did have time to vote for the All-Star game - and I, too, selected Podsednik...

Derek Jeter fans - and I am one of them - know that Jeter's value and skill goes far beyond his statistics. We have for years claimed DJ superior to other players with better numbers, including that SS-turned-3B who used to play in Texas. To me, indeed, Derek Jeter "stands for" things like hard work, professionalism, heart and respect, as Mo writes, but also for the point that you do not judge players on paper.

So, then, it's disingenuous to use a strict comparison of numbers to argue Jeter's superiority over Podsednik. We DJ fans can't have it both ways. Podsednik is a HUGE reason why the White Sox have the best record in baseball. His influence on the game and the league this year has been tremendous, and he's fully worthy of the All-Star nod - even over Jeter, whose impact this season is considerably weaker, even with the superior stats.

MJ said...

DJ fans aren't asking for it both ways. We only want to see the better player make the All-Star game. Podsednik's an overrated pile of turds. Take Garland, Garcia and Buehrle off the Sox this year and replace them with the 2001-2004 versions of the Sox' staff and see how much impact Podsednik would make. I'll do you one better, look at what he did in 2003-2004 in Milwaukee. He had such an impact that he almost brought the team to 10 games under .500! WOW! WAY TO GO SCOTTIE!

Anonymous said...

If I kill of Shanoff am I the dictator?!?

MJ said...

That depends, Lizzie, are you a Yankee fan or Yankee hater?