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Swimming in dangerous waters
2007-01-16 17:43
by Bob Timmermann

The photo attached to this article could be the most controversial thing I've ever posted on the Griddle. It's safe for work, but will my comments be safe to read?

White House transcript of the visit.

Bigger photo of the team

Comments (53)
Show/Hide Comments 1-50
2007-01-16 17:50:22
1.   Sam DC
Man you are so right, and not to get all political, the last line here is pretty amazingly unselfaware (and feel free to give me a better word for what I'm trying to say):

"You were able to endure losing streaks of eight, and eight again, and seven, because of the team's character and leadership," he said. Bush added that he had dinner with La Russa in August, during a tough stretch for the team, and afterwards remarked to an aide that the Cardinals were going to win the championship – because their manager believed they would.

2007-01-16 17:52:47
2.   Bob Timmermann
To tell the truth, I'm not worried about what people think about the President...
2007-01-16 18:05:23
3.   El Lay Dave
At least we know what the guy on the left's VORP is. What is the VORP for the guy on the right?
2007-01-16 18:12:56
4.   Bob Timmermann
Who's the guy to the left of Juan Encarnacion?
2007-01-16 18:16:45
5.   D4P
Wow, where to begin.
2007-01-16 18:17:04
6.   treble
The headline is classic: "Cardinals join Bush League - at White House"

Bush league pretty much sums up this presidency.

2007-01-16 18:21:07
7.   Greg Brock
Politics and sports? I'll pass.

Even if it's David Eckstein.

2007-01-16 18:21:30
8.   Humma Kavula
3 Value Over Replacement President?
2007-01-16 18:22:36
9.   D4P
"Everyone likes a winner," the president joked.

President's approval ratings: 34%*

*USA Today/Gallup

2007-01-16 18:23:29
10.   D4P
Politics and sports? I'll pass

Then what do you talk about on your blog...?

2007-01-16 18:26:09
11.   Greg Brock
10 I'm not apolitical...I just don't wear my politics like a badge of honor. I talk about politics...But It's usually making fun of people who are stridently this or that.

I also have to teach, which means I have a responsibility to hide my politics and present things objectively...A notion most of my colleagues fail to understand.

2007-01-16 18:28:55
12.   El Lay Dave
8 Bingo. I'll bet the standard deviation on the estimates will be huge.
2007-01-16 18:31:02
13.   D4P
When you think about it, George and David have a lot in common.
2007-01-16 18:32:13
14.   Sam DC
I had a good friend (I moved, she didn't, lost touch) who taught high school (11th graders mostly) and she was very careful about hiding that she smoked. Two different times we were out and she shoved a lit cigarette into my hand as some kind wandered up.
2007-01-16 18:33:27
15.   Greg Brock
14 That's how I am about my heroin use.

Kidding!

2007-01-16 18:38:08
16.   Icaros
14

Funny, cause if she moved up just two grades she could bum cigarettes off of her students like most of my professors did.

But they didn't bum them from me because I don't smoke cigarettes.

2007-01-16 18:41:51
17.   Hythloday
10 - I have to disagree a bit. I never liked bringing my politics into the classroom, but I was always pretty explicit with my students that I was biased and that if they felt that I was being biased to call me on it. I guess I feel that being apolitical is mostly a facade and a weak one at that.

On the other hand Ward Churchill worked down the hall from me and there isn't a catapult big enough for that guy.

2007-01-16 18:44:03
18.   Hythloday
"I fancied myself a baseball guy at one point," he said.

Bowden for president?

2007-01-16 18:44:37
19.   Greg Brock
17 Being apolitical is a facade if you're not strong enough or careful enough to do it properly.

I have yet to meet the student who knows my politics...And they try to guess...All the time.

2007-01-16 18:49:23
20.   The Mick 536
All art is political. All sports too. Cardinals let the President buy their silence. They prepare for Spring training; he prepares to send overstressed troops to slaughter.

Baseball earns our love because it is mostly on the level. Bush and Tony deserve one another. Does ya think that Tony didn't know the bash brothers were juicing or that Mark was when he was with the Cards?

I long for John Carlos. How about some integrity.

And BTW, did ya see Keith Oberman's response to Bush's speech?

2007-01-16 18:50:32
21.   D4P
20
Bob doesn't care much for Keith Olbermann, despite the "mann" they share...
2007-01-16 18:53:43
22.   Eric L
19 Seems like the complete opposite of my poli sci 101 class in college. I consider myself fairly liberal, but the guy who taught it made me look like a conservative in comparison.

We learned about the wonderful social safety nets in some of the more liberal European nations. We also learned that Cuba has wonderful socialized medicine.

Of course, Poli Sci 101 is an American Government class and we didn't learn much about the American system of government.

2007-01-16 18:56:02
23.   The Mick 536
Almost forgot. He turned his interest in the Rangers into the Presidency. Surprised he didn't sell the team to Halliburton. Sold Sammy Sosa. He had baseball cards with his picture on them. Nixon was a big baseball fan too. Don't know whether that means anything, but I don't think that we should be doing business as usual while this war persists. If the players didn't play, maybe the war could be stopped.
2007-01-16 18:56:24
24.   Greg Brock
22 My job isn't to teach you what to think. My job is to teach you how to think.

As long as my students can back their assertions up with logic and facts, I'm perfectly happy to have little Buckleys and little Chomskys everywhere.

2007-01-16 19:24:14
25.   dianagramr
Eckstein definitely has more grit than Bush.
2007-01-16 19:44:22
26.   Andrew Shimmin
Nixon was a football fan.
2007-01-16 19:50:52
27.   Bob Timmermann
Nixon liked football more than baseball, but he was a friend of Gene Autry's and did go to Angels games from time to time after his resignation.

Bush 43 is probably the biggest baseball fan to serve as president since Bush 41.

I always had the impression that Clinton was a basketball guy.

Hard to tell what Reagan or Carter liked although Reagan did work as a Cubs play-by-play guy.

I believe Eisenhower kept score at baseball games.

2007-01-16 19:55:28
28.   Icaros
So did Timmermann.
2007-01-16 20:02:55
29.   D4P
That's "Timmermann 46"
2007-01-16 20:07:08
30.   StolenMonkey86
So if Sosa ends up playing with the Rangers in 2007, how long before he gets his first base on balls as a Texas Ranger?
2007-01-16 20:21:35
31.   Andrew Shimmin
Hmm. Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton, Obama, Timmermann? It nearly rhymes. And it's got a beat you can dance to. . .
2007-01-16 20:24:19
32.   D4P
Clinton, Obama, Timmermann

First female, first African-American, first SABRE member.

2007-01-16 20:27:21
33.   Icaros
Tallest president ever?
2007-01-16 20:28:47
34.   Greg Brock
31 Yes, but where does Dennis Kucinich fit into all of this?
2007-01-16 20:30:22
35.   D4P
34
(On behalf of your students): Where would you like him to fit...?
2007-01-16 20:34:29
36.   StolenMonkey86
27 - Clinton was a Wilt Chaimberlain fan, no doubt.
2007-01-16 20:35:11
37.   Andrew Shimmin
34- Kucinich is 86. Oh, sure, people will laugh at his cryogenically frozen body. At first. . .
2007-01-16 20:35:57
38.   D4P
Clinton was a Wilt Chaimberlain fan

Which Clinton...?

2007-01-16 20:36:23
39.   dzzrtRatt
1 "Bush added that he had dinner with La Russa in August, during a tough stretch for the team, and afterwards remarked to an aide that the Cardinals were going to win the championship – because their manager believed they would."

I bet LaRussa said it was a "slam dunk."

2007-01-16 20:38:17
40.   Icaros
Timmermann's two-term presidency should segue nicely into the election of America's first-ever dual President, the Bush Twins.

Following them will be another first, the Gonzo Triplets.

2007-01-16 20:39:14
41.   D4P
Bush should have strung up his "Mission Accomplished" banner
2007-01-16 20:47:12
42.   Bob Timmermann
Is it time for me to form an exploratory committee? Does anybody have a place for me to stay in Iowa or New Hampshire?
2007-01-16 20:56:29
43.   Andrew Shimmin
The last Bob to run shunned accommodation hunting by renting an R.V. And he brought his wife and kids with him. But he was a little bit nuts, so, maybe best not emulate him. Really, who has time to keep that kind of diary?
2007-01-16 20:58:40
44.   ToyCannon
I hope Eckstein washed his hands with something strong, sometimes blood is hard to come off.
2007-01-16 20:58:49
45.   Andrew Shimmin
Until this day, I didn't know Bob Graham was cheating. His first name was Daniel.
2007-01-16 20:59:53
46.   D4P
44
Wow.
2007-01-16 21:04:05
47.   Greg Brock
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.
2007-01-16 21:14:34
48.   Andrew Shimmin
I heard a rumor that David Eckstein played Lady McBeth at Summerstock, one year.
2007-01-16 22:26:21
49.   Icaros
What year did you hear that rumor?
2007-01-16 23:01:01
50.   Greg Brock
Sloppy Thurston
Show/Hide Comments 51-100
2007-01-17 00:19:26
51.   El Lay Dave
No So Taguchi in the photo?
2007-01-17 03:46:16
52.   Vishal
i want to hear the president say "pujols".
2007-01-17 16:54:38
53.   Jacob L
I wish the Mets had won the WS. Delgado could have turned it into a more interesting photo op.

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