Centerfield

As an aside, what do you do when you're the president of the university and one of your professors comes out and says something like this? Try to distance yourself from it? Support him even though you don't agree? Close your eyes and hope it goes away? The poor guy is thinking to himself "Damn, I knew he was a little goofy when I appointed him director but I never thought he'd say anything this dumb."

I don't like when people try to characterize the debate as whether race is the reason, or whether race is not the reason. For some reason, people, like the quoted LSU professor, don't seem to entertain the notion that there are shades of gray between their black and white stances (no pun intended). Is race the reason Bonds is scrutinized? Probably not. Is race a factor? I would guess yes. The relevant question should be how much of a factor it is. And I would guess that answer varies depending on who, what and when. That being said, I would guess his personality is probably the bigger factor. I have little doubt that if Bonds were as accessible and fair with the media as Michael Jordan, he would not be under this type of microscope. I doubt that if he wore a big smile and said goofy things like Shaquille O'Neal, he would be treated the way he's treated now. Does this mean black athletes have to be happy-types to gain acceptance? (I think we already had this thread) What if Bonds had been white and surly? I honestly don't know the answer to these questions. What I do know is that to say what Bonds is going through will be 100 times worse than Aaron is just silly. Aaron was a black athlete in the South, thirty years ago. There's just no comparison. I don't know why people say things like this and undermine their credibility. And praying for Barry Bonds every night? Please.

Oh yeah that guy. I think he's in camp with the Phillies.

I saw the print version. She looks like Randy.

A completely different Fab Five:

Dammit. Both my ideas for Six (Blossom character) and Five (Short Circuit character) were taken by the time I opened the thread. I need to start getting to work earlier.

Fantastic 62.

What's amazing here was that Randy Johnson managed to find someone to sleep with him back in 1989 when he wasn't even good.

Wait a second, those batting helmets are for the regular season? I thought they were just for spring training.* *I vaguely remember saying something in an IGT that I liked the batting helmets. That was during a day game and I couldn't see that they were two-tone and had that ridiculous design. (I thought the whole helmet was metallic blue). Later, when I caught a night-game and got a good look at the weird design, I nearly gagged. I also thought the helmets were to be used for spring training only.

The starting pitching worries the crap out of me. Pedro's toe...Glavine's age, and then it gets worse from there. Trachsel, not long ago, was slotted in as a #5 starter...Zambrano is inconsistent, and our 5th starter remains a mystery. I'm concerned a bit about the offense too, but not as much as I am with the starting pitching. Our 2 through 5 is pretty good, but our leadoff guy doesn't get on base, and it there's a chance we'll get very little production from the bottom of our lineup. Even last year, our 6-7 slots had names like Piazza, Cameron...I'd take either of those guys over what we have there now.

You should see the guy with the TV for a head doing SNY commercials.

Poor MK. Strolling through the internet, minding his own business, then BAM. A reference to his potty-training. I can picture it now. The sing-songy two syllable version of "mom" uttered through gritted teeth. Don't worry MK. My mother still brings up the time I got trapped in "quicksand". And I'm 31.

Moses is pretty jack. Look at those arms. Maybe I should get some stone tablets to work out with.

What frustrated me most about Sid was how quickly he would lose it. He would sail along for 6 and a third, then suddenly walk the ballpark and give up a home run without warning. I liked him though. And I will always appreciate the work he did in the World Series coming out of the pen.

Grand Slam in both games of a double-header. Responsible for playing LA Woman for the '99 Mets.

The three guys in a car lyp-synching to rap music. Suddenly the phone rings: "Yes Sir....about 20 minutes away sir....yes sir." Back to the music. You can watch it here: http://www.theync.com/h032406getmoney.shtml I love the way he drops the phone.

Yankee fans didn't have a TV Panic thread and a determined letter-writing campaign.

Now time for the dishes to fall in line.

Gagne looks filthy. Welcome to the bigs Lastings Milledge. Ciafa Lewis can't deliver a question without stumbling in the middle. How did he get this job? Isn't being able to speak coherently kind of important?

Strong inning for Feliciano. Jose Valentin in at short. I wonder why he isn't considered a candidate to play second base.