Too bad Lasorda wasn't managing the U.S. team. He and Lefebvre could have had a rematch on the field. That would have been more entertaining than most of the Olympics.

Didn't the Chinese team hit 5 or 6 batters? What the hell were the Umps waiting for before they beaned LaPorta?

Well, I'm just glad to see the olympic spirit of good sportsmanship is being upheld.

What the hell were the Umps waiting for before they beaned LaPorta?

Permission from the Chinese government of course.

Yang Yang hit a home run to make the game 9-1, and held his arm up as he rounded the bases and stomped on home plate.

He does know that he's down 8, right?

“I think we not only lost the game but lost our catcher possibly for the rest of the games,” Lefebvre said. “The umpire should have ejected (Schierholtz). That’s when the game got out of hand. We do not throw to hit people. We do not teach that in China or in the U.S.”

Yeah, sure Jim.

The Phillies could really use this Yang Yang guy. He'd liven up the listless clubhouse, and he couldn't hit worse than Carlos Ruiz.

His anti-American enthusiasm could easily be transmuted into anti-New York (Mets) enthusiasm.

Yang Yang might enjoy playing for the Pirates or Royals.

Yang*2 would get a ball off his helmet if he tried to pull his fingerpoint celebration in the states.

Although running right into Yang*2 is a bit harsh.

Chinese reliever Chen Kun and pitching coach Steven Ontiveros were tossed soon after when Chen plunked LaPorta in the head to start the seventh.

11.5. karlmagnus Posted: August 18, 2008 at 05:01 PM (#2908234)

Ontiveros should be in the rotation instead of Matsuzaka, who clearly doesn't know how to pitch. But Theo and the other FO clowns wouldn't want Ontiveros, since he was a Duquette hire and they've been trying to get rid of all of Duquette's signings since day 1. I'd rather see my favorite team lose than to see that FO have any measure of success.

He does know that he's down 8, right?

It's the first dinger in Chinese Olympic history - and quite possibly - the team's first in all competitions.

Worthy of a celebration, no?

vi, can you email me please? You don't have an email address in your profile.

Maybe some acknowledgement. But holding your arm up in the air as you round the bases and jumping on home when you're down 8 is just ridiculous

Worthy of a celebration, no?

No. Not when you're getting your ass kicked.

Given China's lack of experience with baseball, I imagine they're learning all the "unwritten rules" from Ontiveros and LeFebvre. Draw your own conclusions about whether it was accidental or on purpose.

No. Not when you're getting your ass kicked.

The Chinese just have a different standard of success. Scoring a run is a victory to them.

Full game video off nbcolympics.com. No commentary, but game audio. Now to find the plays during the 3 hr 36 min tape.

The Chinese just have a different standard of success. Scoring a run is a victory to them.

Just like these guys

I'm pretty sure that the Chinese players simply assumed that no matter what the score at the end of the game, that judges could award them the victory regardless. Hence the celebration - style points.

Schierholtz made a hard slide home against backup catcher Yang Yang on a sacrifice fly in the sixth

see, its aggression like this that cost McArthur his command

Yang Yang? That's really the best his parents could come up with?

I'm pretty sure that the Chinese players simply assumed that no matter what the score at the end of the game, that judges could award them the victory regardless. Hence the celebration - style points.

Speaking of that, how in the halibut did that PRK girl win the vault yesterday? She fell on her ass twice. I know she had a higher DOD, but shouldn't one have to land successfully at least once? I know a 9.2 for execution is a bad score, but what do you have to do to get less than a 9? Fall off the springboard? I don't think I'm the only one when I say I'd rather see an easier maneuver executed well than a difficult one executed poorly, but that's not how the competition is set up. Seems odd.

Absolutely, misirlou. I'd say that if you don't end up on two feet, you get a zero. Take a step or wobble, give a deduction, but if anything other than two feet are the first things to hit the ground, you didn't complete the vault. You don't get .92 runs if you fail to touch the plate.

I think the gymanstics judges are a bunch of pedophiles and just like little girls as opposed to women. Probably a bunch of fat, greasy Europeans who can't get any adult women.


And I just saw the two collisons at the plate. Legal (if anything the second one was interference on the catcher - in the basepath without the ball. The first one was barely a collision. If Lefevre shows up in an American league again someone should kick his sorry ass.


EDIT: I thought the girl was Chinese, not PRK and, full disclosure, I've been at a department retreat all day and am not in a good mood.

LaPorta play in the 5th takes place at 2:06:30 on the tape. Catcher isn't really blocking the plate, tho his foot is on the foul line a few feet up the line. Sorta bush for LaPorta to try to plow into him in the olympics.

BLB, as always on these discussions, I'd be fine if they outlawed both blocking the plate and running over the catcher. I might even prefer it. But the way it plays now is, if you're the catcher and you're in the baseline (and a foot on the foul line is in the basepath), you get hit. If they don't like it, they can go play pingpong and badminton.

(I really, really wish I could share our discussion of the "Collective Action Committee". It has made me in a generally sour mood toward collective societies).

Why is rolling over a catcher somehow worse at the Olympics?

LaPorta play in the 5th takes place at 2:06:30 on the tape. Catcher isn't really blocking the plate, tho his foot is on the foul line a few feet up the line. Sorta bush for LaPorta to try to plow into him in the olympics

.

This doesn't surprise me.

This entire episode saddens me greatly. What a sour taste it all has...from both sides. Nobody expected China to win. In fact their win against Taiwan was really a miracle comeback. It had "feel" good all over it for the Chinese Olympic team. But not now. Now it just must be a bitter pill. I know some of the people involved, and I'm really bummed out this happened.

I'm not sure I follow shoe, how was it feel good to beat Taiwan and how would it have been okay to simply have been smashed by the US?

It looked like pretty typical baseball to me. Catchers in baselines get hit. Pitchers whose catchers get hit throw at batters. On the one hand, tempers rise, on the other...that's the game.

EDIT: I guess what I'm saying is I would imagine everyone gets over it fairly quickly. It isn't as if it's going to be a three game series with another series next week. I doubt the US, if they get to the medal round, see China again.

EDIT2: My first sentence is bad (I blame the scotch). I obviously see how beating Taiwan was feel good for China. What I don't see is how this game changes that. They got smashed 9-1. If that alone isn't enough to sour the taste in their mouth, then I don't see how a little brouhaha makes it much, if any, worse.

I think the gymanstics judges are a bunch of pedophiles and just like little girls as opposed to women. Probably a bunch of fat, greasy Europeans who can't get any adult women.

Speaking of Al Trautwig, does it not occur to him that is sounds very unseemly to an American audience to go on and on about how the Chinese government gave their one gymnast's family a house? I'm sure it was more like "Stay in the program and succeed or your family will become homeless."

LaPorta play in the 5th takes place at 2:06:30 on the tape. Catcher isn't really blocking the plate, tho his foot is on the foul line a few feet up the line. Sorta bush for LaPorta to try to plow into him in the olympics.

What do you expect from LaPorta, a beer league softball slide? There was a play at the plate in a tight game. The catcher tried (and failed) to block the plate so LaPorta went for the collision.

Maybe the Chinese government will give Al Trautwig and his family a house.

Or run over him with a tank.

I'm sure that the Cleveland Indians are just thrilled at LaPorta taking a beating in Olympic play.

The Indians are probably just thrilled that one of their players is participating in a meaningful game.

Speaking of Al Trautwig, does it not occur to him that is sounds very unseemly to an American audience to go on and on about how the Chinese government gave their one gymnast's family a house? I'm sure it was more like "Stay in the program and succeed or your family will become homeless."

My favorite was the part where he was talking about how one gymnast was pleading with her parents to be allowed to go home, but they told her she had to wait a couple more years, and how we're all lucky that that happened so we can watch her great performance today.

What do you expect from LaPorta, a beer league softball slide? There was a play at the plate in a tight game. The catcher tried (and failed) to block the plate so LaPorta went for the collision.

If the catcher failed to block the plate, doesn't that mean the all-out collision was unnecessary?

I'm sure that the Cleveland Indians are just thrilled at LaPorta taking a beating in Olympic play.

It seems that this was the fault of LaPorta, not anyone else. Or maybe the US manager is to blame.

The many teams that would no doubt like to sign Yang Yang have a lot more to complain about.

The Indians are probably just thrilled that one of their players is participating in a meaningful game.

I guess, if you have a liberal definition of the word "meaningful".

LaPorta barely hit the guy. And the guy was actually in the baseline. It was a pisspour block (and if I was interested in signing him, I'd ask him about it) but the runner has no obligation to miss the guy. Again, if you're interested in a rule change, bully for you and I'm on your side. If you expect runners to concede the baseline, you're nuts. The guy's job is to score, he doesn't have time to look around and see if he can maybe do it without touching anyone. Either make it a rule that the catcher can't be in front of the plate and enforce it or accept that collisions will happen.

It seems that this was the fault of LaPorta, not anyone else.

I'm not just talking about the collision at the plate.

Clayton Richard was supposed to be on the U.S. team. As a White Sox fan, I'm glad they called him up so he couldn't go.

Meaningful in this case means much more meaningful than any game the Indians have played in 6 weeks. (I'd like to say 60 years, but one can't forget Joe Table).

Yeah, it's not like the US olympic programs are also batshit crazy... or do people already forget Bela Karolyi? yeesh. pretty much every single olympic team in the whole world is set up to push children to fulfill their potential talent with little to no regard as to their actual health and well being- it's not just China that does it.

I'm not just talking about the collision at the plate.

Clayton Richard was supposed to be on the U.S. team. As a White Sox fan, I'm glad they called him up so he couldn't go.

If LaPorta wasn't running into catchers in China he could just as easily be running into catchers in Binghamton or Altoona. It's not like this is taking place during the off-season -- he's not going through any more wear and tear than he would be if he was playing in the minors right now. In fact, didn't the players get a 2-week break before the Olympics, to practice together instead of playing for their various minor-league teams?

41 agreed.

I'm sure that the Cleveland Indians are just thrilled at LaPorta taking a beating in Olympic play.

Doesn't matter since baseball is out of the Olympics after this year but if it wasn't then stuff like this would do even more to convince MLB teams that they shouldn't allow their best prospects to participate.

"Yang Yang?"

Could be worse. I was watching the Trampoline preliminaries over the weekend, and one of the guys there is named Dong Dong.

If LaPorta wasn't running into catchers in China he could just as easily be running into catchers in Binghamton or Altoona. It's not like this is taking place during the off-season -- he's not going through any more wear and tear than he would be if he was playing in the minors right now

Somehow I imagine that this would be small consolation to the Indians if his career was derailed playing in the Olympics.

I don't get the anti-China venom here. I thought that everyone was in agreement that the "bad judging" was just typical bad announcing.

"Yang Yang?"

Could be worse. I was watching the Trampoline preliminaries over the weekend, and one of the guys there is named Dong Dong.

I dunno. Is that any worse than Zinedine Zidane? or Billy Williams for that matter?

I don't get the anti-China venom here.

The Chinese are Ivan Drago, and the U.S. is Rocky.

I dunno. Is that any worse than Zinedine Zidane? or Billy Williams for that matter?

Willy Williams I'll give you. Is "Zinedine" a euphemism for penis, too?

Niether Zinedine nor Zidane are silly words for "penis"

I dunno. Is that any worse than Zinedine Zidane? or Billy Williams for that matter?

Willy Williams I'll give you. Is "Zinedine" a euphemism for penis, too?

Sorry, I didn't think about the member aspect. I thought the fact that they had the same first and last names was the joke.

I don't think it's just bad announcing.* It isn't much worse than what usually goes on, of course. But when one girl ##### up two vaults, she shouldn't win anything in the event.


Of course, the announcing is appalling and merits exile to a small iceberg in the Gulf Stream.

If Jeremy Giambi had run into the catcher like Nate Schierholtz did, then he would be a major leaguer today. You gotta do the little things!

or do people already forget Bela Karolyi?

I'm still waiting for the spilling of mid-life crises 10 or 15 years from now resulting from his indiscretions. It'll make the Catholic clergy thing look like a bubblebath.

Has anyone ever looked and acted more like a pedophile? And these girls were given away to him by their own parents, far from their watchful eye.

What do you expect from LaPorta, a beer league softball slide? There was a play at the plate in a tight game. The catcher tried (and failed) to block the plate so LaPorta went for the collision.

It would have been better for LaPorta himself to just slide on the foul side of the line and easily been safe. He was getting bandaged up in the dugout himself. But go ahead and go out of your way to injure yourself, have fun.

Similarly, it would have been better for the catcher to get in front of the plate where he could apply a tag without getting hit. As Johnny Bench taught. Why do you put the onus on the runner for ceding what is, by rule, his?

I'm still waiting for the spilling of mid-life crises 10 or 15 years from now resulting from his indiscretions. It'll make the Catholic clergy thing look like a bubblebath.

You'd think that if there was much to that theory, the Romanian government would have fanned that fire after Bela defected.

It's possible to be around teenage female gymnasts without being a perv.

Why is he in the TV studio then instead of the arena? How many yards away is the gymnastics venue?

That's what the church keeps telling us, Brandon.

Why is he in the TV studio then instead of the arena? How many yards away is the gymnastics venue?

I think the Chinese barred him from the arena

So why is Frenchy managing the Chinese?

I think the Chinese barred him from the arena

Yep, due to his comments about how all the Chinese gymnasts were ~13 years old. We've been the benefit, he's been awesome in the studio.

More Usain Bolt. His 100 was amazing.

I see nothing wrong with either slide. the catcher doesn't own the plate, particularly when he's got no chance at making the tag.

my goodness, the cussing on the video feed w/ ambience is Lasorda/Weaver esque.

Why is rolling over a catcher somehow worse at the Olympics?

It is not. About 15-20 years ago, the Olympics got over the charade that was "amateur" athletics. The Olympics are the most money driven, whore bagged sporting event in the universe. Get over Olympic "sportsmanship". Plus, I won't object when the Chinese get humiliated.

my goodness, the cussing on the video feed w/ ambience is Lasorda/Weaver esque.

I forgot to mention how awesome the video is in that you can hear all the arguments on the field.

More Usain Bolt. His 100 was amazing.

Who is with me in that U Bolt's qualifier was more amazing? Even though it was 9.80, he was jogging, reading the newspaper, pointing at family in the stands and ordering a post race hot dog for 50 M and nailed down a 9.80.

Who is with me in that U Bolt's qualifier was more amazing? Even though it was 9.80, he was jogging, reading the newspaper, pointing at family in the stands and ordering a post race hot dog for 50 M and nailed down a 9.80.

He should play centerfield for the Rays.

Bolt's qualifier was scary. I was like WTF is with this guy? He toyed the whole way, eatin' chicken nuggets, and ice cream between heats. I think he's going to regret not finishing strong(er), though 9.80 in a Q, followed by 9.69 is certainly strong.

Bolt's qualifier was scary. I was like WTF is with this guy? He toyed the whole way, eatin' chicken nuggets, and ice cream between heats.

I used to show up at the coin toss for intramural football in college with a bag of 3 McDonalds hamburgers, ate them in under 1 minute as I called tails in the air, then the game began. I was the QB and we ran the option. I thought I was a hot dog. Although once I regretted the pre-game meal. This U Bolt guy has earned a tryout with the Raiders for sure.

I don't think China's getting humiliated much, Beano. Their team has been running away with the gold medal count.

After looking at some of the China/US game on the commentaryless feed. Is Baseball the most profane Olympic sport? Lefebvre is one notable for using the word "####" or a variant around a dozen times after the collison at the plate.

Also, that LaPorta beaning may not be intentional. Unless China is taught to throw at hitters when up 0-2

I thought the fact that they had the same first and last names was the joke.

In Chinese, they're not the same.

To you all ignorant losers:
1. if you haven't seen the full uncut video, you have no damn right to judge.
2. Chinese names are created using Chinese characters. It's only for ignorant westerners who don't know a damn thing about the greatest culture in the world, they put the pronunciation there. Yang Yang are two different Chinese characters (with different meanings) having the same spelling but different tones. (for those who couldn't even answer how many quarters equal to $10, it's already rocket science).
3. When Chinese were wearing clothes made of silk thousands years ago, your ancestors were just either cave man or hairy monkeys. The fact of being hairy already means you guys don't have enough history of wearing clothes, which will wear off all your monkey hair eventually. But you won't see that, which your descendent's thousands later, will prove that to you, if you evolves fast enough.
4. Another fact, when you guys mock the Asian eyes, do you know that's another fact Asian people are much more advanced than your guys? Your eyes and eyelid are just another proof of your near ancestor living in caves or running on bare foot, which is only useful to block rains or sunshine since they didn't know how to build a house and live in it.
5. U.S. women's volleyball coach is a Chinese lady, and the gymnastic coach is a Chinese gentleman. And the PingPong team are Chinese. Chinese baseball team's having an American coach is to just show some courtesy so you guys won't be saddened to death.
6. enough, let's all have an open heart, sympathize the wounded player, and condemn the bad behaviors in the sports. The days for you guys to beg Chinese to give you jobs and money and pig food to eat is near, so you better watch out.

So George "The Animal" Steele's family didn't have a long history of wearing clothes?

I forgot to mention how awesome the video is in that you can hear all the arguments on the field.

Easily one of my favorite things about minor league and college baseball is the fact that you can often hear every word in arguments between anyone on the field and you can hear some of the dugout-to-ump comments

...you guys don't have enough history of wearing clothes

You say this like it is a bad thing.

And they say white people are racist. That was spectacular.

Re: #76:

Aww, bless.

I hope #76 enters BTF legend. It deserves to.

Yang Yang? That's really the best his parents could come up with?

Actually, Yang Yang (pronounced as it sounds, not as it's written) makes "Robert" sound like a cricket bat hitting a dead pig wrapped in wax paper.


I don't get the anti-China venom here.

Venom I get, it's nationalistic, and given some of China's official and unofficial behavior, justified. Mockery of the language and names to me is a little more pathetic and troubling, but whatever.

What's not to get with the venom? Two teams play a game that sees some controversy and (very, very mild) violence. Fans of two teams get feisty. Again, this is sport.

That isn't to say that I wouldn't be very interested in wearing some old silk and getting a job.

but why did wok feel the need to create another username?

oh and to respond no one gives a #### if our pingpong team is chinese, cause no one gives a #### about it

And they say white people are racist. That was spectacular.

It's not mutually exclusive, and we've certainly seen both in this thread.

What's not to get with the venom? Two teams play a game that sees some controversy and (very, very mild) violence. Fans of two teams get feisty. Again, this is sport.

I understand competitive pride, but I think there's a line between homerism and batshit crazy ethnic pride and racist mockery.

Hasn't our own stormy history taught us that people are ######## sometimes, but when we essentialize it to racist or ethnicity, it gets to a whole new level of ugly in a hurry?

Yikes. I'm no fan of the Chinese government but I don't conflate that with being anti-Chinese. I hope we don't go down that road as a nation.

#76 is hilarious, BTW.

Perhaps. I was really only speaking to my own expressions here and I don't believe I said anything that mocked race or ethnicity. In fact, I mocked the idea that the Chinese were these poor little creatures who the US players should look out for. If you're man enough to be on the field (they are), you're man enough to get hit, bruised, etc.


I did mock the Olympic judging and that did seem aimed at the Chinese, which is unfair. The gymnastics judges aren't Chinese, they're just bad (and, I truly believe, biased toward the look of little girls, but then the Chinese use of under 16 gymnasts just plays up to that bias and the knowledge that the IOC lets everyone get away with anything other than making the IOC look bad.)

Also, the guy I really called out up above was American. Lefebvre was an ass. An entertaining ass, but an ass nonetheless.

oh and to respond no one gives a #### if our pingpong team is chinese, cause no one gives a #### about it

This reminds me of the time Boris Yeltsin used superiority in tennis as proof of the superiority of Russian culture over the U.S. Good stuff!

"Mockery of the language and names to me is a little more pathetic and troubling, but whatever."

Hey, be fair. If I met an American named Dick Cocks, I'd find it just as funny as Mr. Dong's name.

I, for one, welcome our new Chinese overlords.

I would like to remind them that as a trusted primate, I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground silk mines.

Hey, be fair. If I met an American named Dick Cocks, I'd find it just as funny as Mr. Dong's name.

Right... Like Dick Pole gets grief around her-- oh, wait...

The days for you guys to beg Chinese to give you jobs and money and pig food to eat is near, so you better watch out.

I have heard this for as long as I have heard the Yankees were going to miss the playoffs. So maybe he is onto something.

This reminds me of the time Boris Yeltsin used superiority in tennis as proof of the superiority of Russian culture over the U.S. Good stuff!

Ping Pong is about the only thing I AM interested in watching this olympics, and have seen none of it. I had a great time in Beijing playing ping pong in one of the parks last year.


Hey, be fair. If I met an American named Dick Cocks, I'd find it just as funny as Mr. Dong's name.

Errrrrrr........

You don't get .92 runs if you fail to touch the plate.

The gymnastics judges aren't Chinese, they're just bad

Nope sorry. The gymnastics judges are judging the competition according to the rules. You don't like that someone who fails to stick the landing gets points? Fine. Don't watch gymnastics. Comparing gymnastics scoring to baseball scoring is idiotic.

Yang Yang? That's really the best his parents could come up with?

Taylor Teagarden? What kind of stupid name is that? He sews clothes while drinking tea in a garden?

3. When Chinese were wearing clothes made of silk thousands years ago, your ancestors were just either cave man or hairy monkeys. The fact of being hairy already means you guys don't have enough history of wearing clothes, which will wear off all your monkey hair eventually. But you won't see that, which your descendent's thousands later, will prove that to you, if you evolves fast enough.

Plato, Socrates, Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, Sappho, Solon, Democritus, Epicurus, etc ad infinitum, were hairy monkeys living in caves?

The Chinese were wearing silk thousands of years ago? The Greeks were creating philosophy, laws, writing poetry, comedy, literature, history, thousands of years ago.

C'mon rfloh. You're going to arguw with someone capable of the following sentence: But you won't see that, which your descendent's thousands later, will prove that to you, if you evolves fast enough.

I'd like to see my 6th grade teacher diagram that sh!t.

It wasn't failing to stick the landing rfloh, it was not landing on your feet at all. It's not like she took a big step after landing.

And did I miss the racism in this thread, or is it just Eraser being Eraser?

"Hey, be fair. If I met an American named Dick Cocks, I'd find it just as funny as Mr. Dong's name."

I mean, I think the dik-dik is hilarious, too. Does Günther feel inadequate because Günther's Dik-Dik is only half the size of Kirk's Dik-Dik (Wikipedia: "It grows to 70 cm (28 inches) in length and weighs up to 7 kg (15 pounds) when full grown.")?

You don't like that someone who fails to stick the landing gets points? Fine. Don't watch gymnastics. Comparing gymnastics scoring to baseball scoring is idiotic.

Your point is taken, but there is a world of difference between not sticking the landing and landing on your ass. If that's the way the rules are set up and everyone who competes knows this and by definition agrees with it, fine. But that doesn't invalidate my point that I prefer to watch something performed well, even if it is a little less difficult, than to see something performed poorly.