Intelligent (Teal) Cubs Fans

[RKMeibalane]

A Barry Bonds fan posted the following at cubs.com:

I came over here to judge the feelings of Cubs fans regarding the cork incident. Honestly, it's worse than I thought it would be.
I can respect your support of your star player, but don't act like he didn't do anything wrong. A recurring theme seems to be that he "made an honest mistake". What? If that bat was truly only to be used for BP, why didn't he paint a big red stripe on it? Guys know their bats intimately, are we really supposed to believe that a veteran ML player picked up a bat that was at least one ounce lighter than every bat he has ever used and that he didn't notice the difference? If you go down that preposterous road, how do we know that he hasn't done this before. He can't tell the difference, right? I've also seen the argument that cork isn't a big advantage. Why go to all the trouble if it's not an advantage?

Where's the rest of the bat?

I would have been able to respect Sammy if he had owned up to it and "fell on the sword", so to speak. Now he's both a cheater and a liar. Many baseball fans are left to forever ponder "how many homeruns did he hit with an illegal bat" I hope that the answer is zero, I really do. It would be sad to find out otherwise, but it's even sadder that we'll never know. Innocent until proven guilty may work in a court of law, but not in the court of public opinion. In many people's minds the C on Sammy's hat stands for "cheater". What a stupid, stupid mistake.

A Cubs fan replied:

Barry Bonds is a pompous jerk.
He cheats by wearing much body armor
he is a whiner
He is the only player that I truly loathe.

It's nice that Cubs fans are capable of formulating intelligent responses when their players are criticized.

[Foulke You]

Originally posted by RKMeibalane
A Barry Bonds fan posted the following at cubs.com:

Barry Bonds is a pompous jerk.
He cheats by wearing much body armor
he is a whiner
He is the only player that I truly loathe.

It's nice that Cubs fans are capable of formulating intelligent responses when their players are criticized.

I heard a Score Cub fan caller say something similar to this by trying to say that what Sosa did was no different than Frank Thomas wearing an elbow pad to the plate. His argument was that Thomas "cheats" everytime because he wears the "armor" at the plate. Ridiculous. It is best to ignore the morons. They will defend Sosa no matter what.

[RKMeibalane]

Originally posted by Foulke You
I heard a Score Cub fan caller say something similar to this by trying to say that what Sosa did was no different than Frank Thomas wearing an elbow pad to the plate. His argument was that Thomas "cheats" everytime because he wears the "armor" at the plate. Ridiculous. It is best to ignore the morons. They will defend Sosa no matter what.

Leave it to a Cubs fan to fire off accusations without knowing all of the facts. It is stated in the MLB Rulebook that elbow pads, shin-guards, and other types of body armor are legal, provided they meet the following guidelines:

1. A player may wear body armor if it meets the specifications outlined in said rulebook.

2. A player may receive special permission to additional body armor if it is determined that he is protecting himself from injury.

That isn't the exact wording, but it conveys the same point as the official rules. Both Thomas and Bonds meet one or both of the guidelines listed above, so neither is doing anything wrong by wearing elbow pads. Now that I think about it, Sammy Sosa has worn a shin-guard in the past. I guess he was cheating, as well.

Next thing you know, Cubs fans will complain about Frank Thomas wearing a helmet during each of his plate appearances. Good grief!

I have discovered a synonym for the word stupid, and that synonym is this: Chicago Cubs fan.

[Nellie_Fox]

Originally posted by RKMeibalane
Leave it to a Cubs fan to fire off accusations without knowing all of the facts. It is stated in the MLB Rulebook that elbow pads, shin-guards, and other types of body armor are legal, provided they meet the following guidelines:

1. A player may wear body armor if it meets the specifications outlined in said rulebook.

2. A player may receive special permission to additional body armor if it is determined that he is protecting himself from injury.

That isn't the exact wording, but it conveys the same point as the official rules. Both Thomas and Bonds meet one or both of the guidelines listed above, so neither is doing anything wrong by wearing elbow pads. IIRC, the rule on elbow pads is that they may not exceed ten inches in length. Frank's is pretty small, but the one Bonds wears covers about half his arm.

[Dadawg_77]

Originally posted by Nellie_Fox
IIRC, the rule on elbow pads is that they may not exceed ten inches in length. Frank's is pretty small, but the one Bonds wears covers about half his arm.

Thats is part one but Bond's falls under part two as he has a Doc's note to where a bigger pad then specified in the rules.

[Nellie_Fox]

Originally posted by Dadawg_77
That is part one but Bonds falls under part two as he has a Doc's note to wear a bigger pad than specified in the rules. I'm sure it's very difficult for these guys to find a physician who will write them a note. That makes the rule pointless.