Just a bit of a heads up: my Twitter account has been suspended for some reason. I’m not sure why, since I only tweet out sports stuff and the occasional popular culture quip, but somehow I’ve been suspended. Obviously, this was done in error, and I am trying to get it fixed and back to running as normal.
Thanks for understanding.
There is a Twitter Feed that lets you know when Yasiel Puig comes up, and when Vin Scully says something cool or profound. What other Twitter feeds do we need? I have some thoughts…
Get to work, Internet!
In the hours since the Ryan Braun news broke, you could see a wide variety of responses. Here are the types I found… I am not including examples as a way to protect the innocent and/or guilty. In addition, many tweets may be crosses between the below.
The Purely Informational Tweet: Tells us what’s happening, how people are reacting, give us further details, etc.
The “He had it coming” Tweet: Self-explanatory.
The “He should apologize” Tweet: He should apologize to his teammates, he should apologize to that sample-collector, he should apologize to the arbitrator, he should apologize to the fans, he should apologize to his family, he should apologize to those who defended him, he should apologize to Matt Kemp for winning the 2011 MVP Award instead of him, etc.
The “Not Enough” Tweet: Suggesting that Braun got off easy. Other suggestions can range anywhere from 100 games to some who suggest expunging Braun from the record books, banning him for life and then shooting him on a rocket towards the heart of the Sun. Only slightly exaggerating.
The “Who Cares?” Tweet: Somebody either says they don’t care about PED use anymore or don’t see what the big deal is because the Brewers are already out of playoff contention.
The “A-Rod’s Next” Tweet: Self-explanatory.
The “Tie this into another event” Tweet: Ranging from the rather apt comparison of the reaction to Braun’s suspension to the reaction to the suspension of the NFL’s Von MIller to the rather silly, such as saying that this means that the Royal Baby won’t be named “Ryan”.
The “Get off your high horses” Tweet: Again, self-explanatory, usually aimed either at sportswriters or MLB itself.
The “MLB is just as bad” Tweet: Focuses on the fact that some of the methods that MLB has used in these investigation are rather suspect morally or ethically. In extreme cases this may appear to be an attack on MLB instead of a condemnation of both MLB and Braun.
The “Anti-Semitic” Tweet: I haven’t seen any, but given the fact that this is Twitter and some real scumbags are on it, I’m sure they exist.
The “Woah” Tweets: People are so stunned at this development that they just can say “wow” or “woah” or something similar.
Any types I’m missing?
It was bound to happen: somebody thinks Chris Davis may be on steroids. They even asked him! His answer?
— Chris Davis (@ChrisDavis_19) June 30, 2013
Last year, I talked about good Twitter accounts to follow. For the most part, those are still true. So, in addition to those, I add in these suggestions. They are by no means the only ones to follow… consider it more of a sampling:
So, before the Yankees-Dodgers series this past week, the two teams had a Twitter fight…
I have to say that the Dodgers won this one. Hard to top Vin Scully.
Have you ever wondered: “How can I follow the 140-characters-or-less thoughts of the no-doubt young and dashing proprietor of this fine blog?”
Well, you can! So don’t forget to follow me on Twitter!
Okay, so Old Hoss Radbourn was a player in the 19th century, most notable for having 59 wins in 1884.
But, guess what? Baseball Reference has a Twitter feed for him listed. See?
It goes to the parody Old Hoss Radbourn Twitter account, which I covered last May.
So, what I’m wondering is: is this an intentional joke by B-Ref, or a just a result of some type of automated system?
The world may never know.
It is well known that I am a big fan of the Dutch word for baseball: Honkbal. In Dutch, apparently honk means home, purpose or goal, but thanks to the fact that it means something entirely different in English, it is, well, an inherently fun and an inherently funny word to us. And the style of play of the the Dutch National Team, who upset Cuba yesterday, is infectious, a team of athletic, smooth-fielding players who won’t let the fact they play for a country that isn’t among the traditional baseball powers stop them from showing that they belong.
And, by the looks of what was trending late last night, I’m not alone in having Honkbal fever:
Honkbal fever- catch it!
During the Athletics-Rangers game yesterday, I saw somebody (one of the Oakland reporters) retweet this:
Stephanee Neshek is the wife of Pat Neshek. Pat Neshek is a right-handed reliever for the Oakland Athletics, notable for his rather quirky delivery. He came up through the Twins system, and he’s one of the most fan-friendly guys in baseball. He had (and still has, although it isn’t updated much anymore) a website that is about his love of autograph collecting, with an address for fans who want to trade signed cards or if anybody had anything to be signed. During one of his stints in Rochester, after he had lost his spot in the Twins’ bullpen following Tommy John surgery, he brought his dog to the ballpark on a “Barks in the Park” day and played toss with the dog for the “first pitch”. For some reason that stuck with me: he’d lost his spot in the big leagues, he’d gone through Tommy John surgery, and he was stuck in AAA four years after he had been seemingly called up for good. And yet he was good-natured enough to bring his dog to the ballpark as part of a promotion.
Neshek found his way back to the majors, first with San Diego, and then this season in Oakland. And now it looked like he was going to have the best day of his life: his team was about to pull off a miracle final-week comeback to win the AL West, and he was becoming a father for the first time.
Which is why it was sad to see this in my Twitter feed this morning:
Suddenly, there was a realization everything that had happened yesterday, from the results on the field, to Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown, to even the presidential debates, were just so trivial. It was the best day of Pat Neshek’s life, and it turned into what was probably his worst.
So keep that in your thoughts when you think you are having a bad day. And keep the Nesheks in your thoughts as they go through this horrible tragedy.
The Baseball Continuum 