It’s Christmas time in Hollis, Queens. Mom’s cooking chicken and collard greens. Oh, wait. I’m not in Hollis. My mom lives almost 500 miles away and by the time I got there, the chicken would be cold.
But cold chicken makes for a great midnight snack, so let’s do this.
Extra Credit: Bud Selig’s been busy since stepping down as MLB Dictator for Life. He came back to Cheeselandia and has been merrily preaching the gospel of Baseball to young minds ever since Manfred took over the messy desk. He works with Marquette University in Milwaukee in their sports law department, and he also teaches kids here in my neck of the woods at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This semester, Bud’s been teaching a class called “Baseball and Society Since World War II” and I have to admit, if I had the coin to afford to take a class at the UW, the time to do it, and the pathological hatred of driving downtown at any given time of the day, I would so take that class. It sounds awesome.
Today the class took a field trip. All 22 students (and I can’t believe there’s only 22 people on the entire UW-Madison campus who wanted to take this course; Bud must’ve capped the number of enrollees), along with Bud and some special Brewers front office guests – including new Brewers general manager David Stearns – went to Miller Park. They took a tour of the Selig interactive experience that has opened in the ballpark, then got to listen to a guy who is less than ten years older than they are, who is now running a major league organization, tell them that if they work hard, they can have what he has.
OK, Dave. Keep telling yourself that. Mr. “I had three internships before I got a full time job!” is telling students who are probably going to have to work at the Gap and sell plasma to pay off their insane student loans this. All right.
Playing Keep Away: Jonathan Papelbon must’ve been a real peach when he was in school. I bet he took a notebook, listed every girl in each class, and ranked his (non-existent) chances with her. I say this because Paps has updated his no-trade list.
Our favorite volatile closer has a list of 17 teams that he’s put on his list, but what’s interesting are the teams that are not on it. Teams like the Chicago Cubs, the Atlanta Braves, and surprisingly, the Boston Red Sox.
Now, why in the world would Papelbon think that the Sox would want him again? It would be like begging your ex to take you back when said ex has a nicer, better looking partner? Boston’s got Craig Kimbrel now, and he’s all the things that J-Paps is not, namely a winner, nice to teammates, and not a douchecanoe.
Fan Interference 
Whew, we are on the list! Yes!
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Shit, my rooting interest is not on the list. That is one of my fears, that the Rays see him as a rehab project if someone is willing to pick up his salary.
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I will point out that no-trade lists are not usually a list of teams they do not want to be traded to, but instead a list of teams they feel will most likely want their services, and thus the no-trade becomes a negotiation strategy to get an extension in exchange for waiving it. I’d say he feels there is zero chance of being traded to the Rays (accurate) but feels that a relief poor team like the Tigers could use him, thus he put them on his list.
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It looks like Paps have seen a ghost XD!!
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I wonder how many teams have Poopsy on their no-trade list?
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Actually, it makes perfect sense for Paps to not have Boston on his list. While it is in part a list of teams he would not like to be traded to, it’s moreso a piece of leverage, and there’s no point in burning a spot on a team not likely to trade for him.
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Oh No! Paps would come to Houston. And to think they wasted all those prospects on Ken Giles. Just think what a great veteran presence he would be for all those Astros rookies.
Good luck, Paps! Somewhere else.
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The primary issue with anything Selig would say about baseball and society is that there is likely little truth to anything he says. The class should be called “Selig’s rosy perspective on baseball and how society is lucky to have MLB”
Like most care salesmen or politicians, Selig wouldn’t recognize the truth if it bit him in the nads….and then he would deny the truth despite the mountains of evidence against his made up bullshit.
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