Saturday, May 11, 2013
Davidi: Bautista upset with Ortiz allegations
(www.sportsnet.ca)
Sounding more like Bats Battaglia than Joey Bats…
Read More...“I think it’s a cheap shot and uncalled for to say something like that without having some sort of evidence to back it up,” Bautista said Friday in the visitor’s clubhouse at Fenway Park. “Comments and articles like that is what sometimes makes us wonder what’s the true intention of somebody that’s in the media. It blows my mind that somebody would just go out there and do something like that, and write an article where you’re ...
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< 1 2 3 >Jeez, that's almost as bad as being in Canada.
Not that much is still way, way better than not at all. Especially when they are young like that, those are the best years.
He could be in Canada for years, that time adds up.
That's undoubtedly some of it, but whether the pit bull is more likely to bite than the average breed, the simple fact is they're just better at it when they do.
I do think the licensure, spay/neuter and education solution noted in Shooty's post is a fine alternative to outright bans. I reject the idea that pitbulls (or similar makes and models) are no different than any other kind of dog.
Let's do some math, only this time do it right. If the family's in TO, that's 81 days plus homestand offdays the family's together that they aren't together otherwise (save the occasional road trip, though I'm not sure how that would work). Buehrle's odd hours are actually better for family time than most of us get, since he doesn't have days where he misses both mornings and nights with the kids -- a regular feature of the big city office work world.
A few years ago I was walking my dog (a smallish Australian shepherd, about 40 pounds) on a leash (as per city law and good common sense) in a city park. From about 100 yards away, an off-the-leash pit bull spies us and comes tearing over, pounces on my dog, and pins her to the ground.
I was helpless to stop it. Yelling did less than nothing. Attempting to pull the pit bull off was useless (and I'm 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, and do 50 push-ups a day). Useless. I resorted to kicking the pit bull in its side, as hard as I possibly could. Nothing. It was like kicking a brick wall.
The yahoo owner of the pit bull finally reaches us, and he manages to call the dog off, and (finally) get it leashed. I was terrified that my dog had been mauled, but the pit bull was merely demonstrating (extreme) dominance, and none of its bites had penetrated her skin. She was traumatized, but uninjured.
I was livid at the yahoo owner. He apologized, and gave me his business card and promised to pay any vet bills that I would incur. Fortunately there were none.
The combination of an irresponsible owner and a stupendously strong and ill-trained dog is quite a thing.
Pretty much. The other concern is that many modern pit bulls are bred for or from fighting stock; I've encountered numerous rescue dogs that are friendly and submissive around humans, but will fly into a frothing rage if brought near another dog. Makes sense in a way; you probably don't want to breed a fighting dog that tries to attack everything, all the time, but I'd be leery about having a pet that could so easily be reduced to a rage state, even if that state isn't necessarily triggered by me or my family.
You're assuming the family will have the kids switch schools twice per school year. That's not likely nor reasonable. Most likely, assuming they want to keep St. Louis their permanent home, which they seem to do, they would live in Toronto only during the summer months.
Night games which end 10:00-11:00, gets home around 12:00-1:00, he's not getting up at 8 with the kids. Day games work hours are similar, if not longer than office workers. No weekend or holidays off.
The five year old is barely school-age and the other kid isn't school-age. I don't know why we'd assume they want St. Louis as their "permanent home" when they lived where Buehrle worked last year.
Night games which end 10:00-11:00, gets home around 12:00-1:00, he's not getting up at 8 with the kids.
Why not? Get up, have breakfast, see them off, catch a nap in the huge chunk of day you have until work, if neceessary.
No weekend or holidays off.
But a whole offseason off, and a bunch of days off in-season. A baseball player with his family at the homebase will have more available family time than a professional office worker, male or female, with responsiblities -- and it really isn't close.
On other occasions, Buehrle has spoken about wanting to make St. Louis his permanent home. That's why there were Buehrle-to-the-Cardinals rumors for such a long time.
He doesn't have any reason to spend the offseason in Toronto - he can spend that with his kids wherever they are.
My gut is that if I were Buehrle I'd have gotten a place in Niagara Falls or Buffalo and dealt with a bit of a commute. I'd probably have told the Jays to keep a room in the hotel adjacent to the Rogers Centre set aside for me and the family if we wanted to spend a weekend in Toronto or I just didn't feel like the drive at midnight but I don't think I'd have sent the kids back to St. Louis.
The one thing that I wonder about is if the 5 year old is starting school. That's about kindergarten age and it's possible that Buehrle simply wants his kid going to school in St. Louis.
Not during the season you nitwit. That's what we're talking about.
Right. He spoke about it and then ... didn't do it. They lived in Miami last year.(*)
I mean, yeah, they'd prefer St. Louis over other cities once Buehrle decided he wasn't living with them, but that's not really the issue at hand.
(*) Well, technically, they lived in Broward County, since the jurisdiction in which Buehrle was employed also has a pit bull ban.
That's what I'm talking about too. A Toronto Blue Jay works in Toronto at least 81 times during a baseball season. Honestly, this really isn't debatable -- he's going to be living in an empty house that wouldn't be empty but for the pit bull 70 or more days a year, conservatively speaking. That isn't some tiny, de minimus number.
You sound like Seinfeld trying to rationalize an extra five days in Florida with Morty and Mom to Elaine by making it seem like it's really only two days what with meals and sleep and all. Sorry, no sale.
If I see an off the leash PB, I pick up my dog and get the hell outta Dodge--fast. I am tempted every time to rat-out the moron with the loose Death Machine on four legs
via cell phone, but have yet to do so. My dog is to PB's as a sandwich is to me, more or less.
Letting your dog off his leash in the impropoer area is a good way to get your dog killed as well: dog sees a squirrel, bolts, car hits dog.
The operative word that you inadvertently left out of that first sentence is "yet".
Nah, he's got a point. Imagine what a little well-timed intervention with MamaBear Blanks might have accomplished.
Little known fact: If play Pavement bootlegs backwards, digitize the output, it actually makes for a nifty web sniffing algorithm...
Pavement? Repoz is light years beyond Pavement.
Nothing is more important than actually being there for your kids.
So you don't work? You never work late or on weekends? You don't bowl, play softball, jog? You don't take a weekend to go fishing with your friends? You home school? Have you ever taken a new job in a new city and moved the family? If so, was that really the best thing for the kids?
And, the $10,000 question, have you ever forced your kids to give up a pet?
All that to say that it's not just macho idiots who shouldn't own pit bulls.
Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
/ducks
Know your pet. Train/spay/neuter (as appropriate) your pet. When I owned a 65lb part shepherd I trained the heck out of him because he was a pretty big semi-scary looking dog (who could be fierce). Currently I own a 60lb mutt who is so totally not fierce (and came pretty well trained, lucky me).
Sheesh.
Are pit bulls dangerous because they're owned by macho ########## who don't train or socialize them adequately, or do macho ########## own pit bulls because they're dangerous dogs that enhance their owner's self-image of badassery? I lean towards the latter.
Also, in terms of dog attacks on other dogs, you should never bring a dog on a leash into an area where there are other dogs off leash. You're putting your dog at risk - unleashed dogs see leashed dogs as extreme submissives and will attempt to assert their dominance over them. You've either got to let your dog off leash themselves (in which case the dogs will 99% of the time figure it out for themselves, whatever their breed is) or just don't bring your dog there.
@83-I was talking about people who just walk around suburban NYC with their large dogs off the leash. Not a dog run. I'm talking about the sidewalk.
I agree with you completely - wasn't addressing you specifically, sorry. I was more talking about when people bring their dogs to dog parks and such but still keep their dog on a leash. Likewise, one shouldn't in a public park that isn't an off-leash area let one's dog off the leash. It's not so much that the dog is a danger to other people (it isn't, in fact it will probably want to play with every person it sees) - it's that the dog may be a danger to other dogs or vice versa, as in Steve's example.
OTOH, our 175 pound Mastiff is a terror. She is overly protective at the park. (At the doggy day care...yes, that's right, doggy day care we go to, she's fine, just another dog in the pack, plays well with others, is loved by all, dogs and humans alike). At the park, she's in "protect" mode. Hence, she doesn't go to the park much any more.
I've got two of the most well behaved labs on the planet. Both have been hunt trained so they are completely obedient off-leash. I still wouldn't dream of letting them wonder around off-leash because some people are just terrified of dogs over 50 lbs. Don't get me wrong, I'm not making a value judgement, I just think someone would call the cops or shoot my dogs (I live in a heavily armed neighborhood).
One of the few towns to be named after a local columnist, or perhaps his output.
That is true. The issue is that a lot of people don't seem to know what their dog is. The problem seems to be exacerbated when there are a lot of other dogs around (i.e. lots of off leash dogs and one leashed dog), hence the dog park issue. Sometimes you feel like you should say something to people you see bringing a leashed dog to the dog park, wondering why the other dogs keep sniffing at it and continuously jerking the dog away because other dogs are messing with it - just let the dog off the leash and it's going to get a lot less attention.
our 175 pound Mastiff
Now that is a big dog.
Hmm, I still can't figure why a columnist with the Niagara Gazette would get in such a tizzy over Buerhle not moving his millions into their county?
That is a great story!
But as anybody with a brain knows, Westies are the best dogs. And not with those ridiculous ACK haircuts, I'm talking about a nice puppy-cut.
Have we ever had a "dog thread"? I don't recall one. Nor do I recall a "car thread", which strikes me as odd, for a site dominated by American males.
Can your Westies bring you beer? Both of my labs are trained to open the refrigerator and bring me a can. Very handy.
We have 3 cats, and they love her, and vice-versa.
When men come to the house, she gets weird and protective. She's much better with women.
I am so hoping this was a joke, or a reference, or something.
One rich motherf*cker.
As someone with 5 kids, 2 dogs, 1 bird, 1 rabbit and fish, I never have cash...ever.
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