http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... son/050802

he basically says white guys have started a rumor that dusty baker wants to manage the dodgers because they don't want the cubs to have a black manager.

Maybe they don't want the Cubs to have a shitty manager.

the best part is he credits baker with every success of any team he's had, but when corey patterson sucks or a pitcher gets injured, poor dusty was just a victim of circumstance.

This is nothing . . . you should start reading Drew Sharp in the Detroit Free Press where everything is based on race.

i don't know who that is.

These kind of articles by these kind of idiots are typical and expected. He's a Jerk-Off!

Neither do I. Probably a good thing though.

He's a columnist for the Detroit Free Press that, after each firing of a black coach, labels the respective organization "racist," despite the coaches' obvious pitiful records. This is the same guy that said Michigan State was racist when it fired Bobby Williams, perhaps the single worst football coach in the university's history.

Dusty is a terrible manager, but i would take him over Jim Tracy any day of the week. I would take tommy lasordas WIFE over jim tracy.

save this, when he goes to LA a few pitchers arms fall off and the team sucks even more ass than they do now, e-mail it to that guy.

I bet PJ Guy is pissed.

would you consider Kurt Warners wife?

Only for a good old fashion titty fuck.

Brenda Warner is one hot number . go bravados!!!!

im not pissed. the dodgers dont have any pitchers right now who are worth getting upset about.

except for dereck lowe, who apparently has been screwing a fox sports reporter since he came to LA, and his wife has been pulling a brenda warner on tv and radio about it

did u get banned?

not from RM. i got banned from synergy because i made a "10C can suck my dick" thread as a joke and i got booted, and i wanted to get back on as Koufax but that kat wont let me so I am Koufax HERE for a while.

that's pretty funny. the mods at synergy are way too sensitive........

well, last i checked, when Bobby Cox is stuck with 5 guys on the DL, his team ends up winning the best division in the NL, but i guess there are still about 50 games to be played.

brad penny has been better than derek lowe, and it's not very close.

i'm not sure dusty baker's philosophy would fit very well into the dodgers at the moment. also, next year they'll likely have chad billingsley in the rotation so that would just be another young arm for baker to ruin.

The columnist he was referring to replies:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti ... jay03.html

When Mike Ditka wigged out and turned every Sunday into a self-mockery, I wrote he should be fired. When Terry Bevington summoned for a relief pitcher with no one warming up in the bullpen, I wrote he was in over his head. When Tim Floyd didn't get along with players during the post-dynasty collapse, I wrote that Jerry Krause never should have hired his bass-fishing buddy. When Jerry Manuel was falling asleep in the dugout, I wrote that a dismissal might caffeinate him.

This is Chicago, emphasis on the "go.'' Managers and coaches arrive, managers and coaches depart, and to be honest, most don't succeed. In my time at this newspaper -- hmmmm, why isn't the mayor throwing a party commemorating my 14th anniversary Thursday? -- I've written about flawed managers and coaches employed by every pro franchise in town. It's not a role that makes me particularly comfortable, but when fans devote so much time and money and hand-me-down passion to the city's teams, it's a necessary function for a columnist. Not just in Chicago, but in any place worth a damn.

Dusty Baker is struggling in his job at Wrigley Field. One reason he's struggling, in my opinion, is because he's once again immersed in how Cubdom is receiving him and his team. Last week, when LaTroy Hawkins -- a FORMER CUB now playing for the San Francisco Giants -- was heckled and booed in the Unfriendly Confines, Baker took the unusual step of criticizing the home fans while suggesting free agents might not want to sign with the Cubs if such treatment toward ballplayers persists. Could you imagine Terry Francona saying that about booing Red Sox fans, or Joe Torre saying that about booing Yankees fans? They know it's part of the territory and ignore it. Not Dusty. "Guys now are asking me if it's like this all the time here. ... This kind of thing is going to make it tougher,'' he said. Considering the same overly sensitive manager allowed a culture to fester last season that somehow blamed broadcasters Steve Stone and Chip Caray as the Cubs wobbled down the stretch, it's fair to wonder if Baker dislikes his surroundings.

Equal-opportunity criticism

So I wrote the other day that if Dusty isn't happy in Chicago and doesn't understand the frustration of the fans, who have been waiting almost a century for a World Series title, he should leave. It has nothing to do with race. It has nothing to do with the kind of ice cream he likes or how he orders his steak. It has to with his heart being in the job, a legitimate issue. And it probably wasn't coincidence that only two days later, a report surfaced in the Los Angeles Times that Baker might want the Dodgers' managerial post if Jim Tracy is fired. Just as Dusty thought Stone was out to get him, which wasn't true, he seems to think other media critics and booing fans are out to get him. It is difficult enough to manage the Cubs without carrying the baggage of daily paranoia.

How this possibly makes me a racist, I have no idea. But the implication was published this week by Scoop Jackson, a Chicago-based basketball commentator who writes a column for ESPN.com. Jackson decides that "certain members of the 312 area-code media ... quietly would like to see someone else at the helm of the organization that best reps America's national pastime. Someone who looks and acts more like them. Someone who won't make the comment: 'We were brought over here to work in the heat. Isn't that history?' as [Baker] did two years ago, talking about us people.''

This is exactly the train of thought I'm afraid Baker brings with him to the ballpark each day -- that overtones of racism seep into the sociology of the Cubs. He never has come out and said so, but the chronology of the Hawkins story suggests he resents at least some segments of the media and fans. When Hawkins was traded after a brutal time as a closer, Baker was quick that day to point out the hateful letters sent to the pitcher, some with "n-word'' references. Jerks like that, as I wrote, should be hung from the center-field flagpole, but it should be noted Hawkins didn't fail because a few racists sent sicko mail. He failed because he couldn't protect ninth-inning leads. I thought the issue was dead until Baker revived it last week, breaking ground as the first manager in memory to sit in his own ballpark and take up the cause of a visiting player who'd been booed.

Anyone who automatically thinks a Baker critic is a racist, or a Hawkins critic is a racist, should understand something about Chicago: This is a city of equal-opportunity sports criticism. If Dusty thinks he's being treated unfairly for reasons beyond wins and losses, he should call Jim Riggleman, who often was booed for trying to protect the arm of a young pitcher named Kerry Wood by removing him early from games. Or Tom Trebelhorn, who almost caused a riot when he foolishly called a "town meeting'' by the Wrigleyville firehouse during a particularly rough stretch. If you manage the Cubs, you are booed sometimes, regardless of race, religion or size of belly. If you manage a Chicago sports team, you are booed. It's in the job description.

Different Dusty in '03

As for Hawkins, here's a list of players who have been booed at Wrigley one time or another: Dave Kingman, Ferguson Jenkins, Ron Santo, Bobby Murcer, Todd Hundley, Mel Rojas, Matt Karchner, Antonio Alfonseca, Sammy Sosa, Kyle Farnsworth, Corey Patterson and Hawkins. Notice how some are white, some are black, some are Latin. Notice how some are Hall of Famers. Notice how Santo is now the beloved broadcaster and beneficiary of an annual Cooperstown crusade.

So how dare anyone try to inject race into the Baker equation. How dare anyone suggest, as Jackson did, that Chicago's white sports columnists don't want Baker to succeed because he's black. Last I looked, I'm the only one who has been critical of him. And I'm the one who wanted to throw a party when the Cubs hired him three years ago. Baker did a great job in his first season, but like much of Cubdom, he seemed to die a little death on Oct. 14, 2003, also known as Bartman Night. Since then, his energy hasn't been as bouncy, his toothpick quotient isn't as high, he drinks more coffee and he seems to complain a lot more.

Baker is logging enough misconceptions to be fueled by some misguided mope named Scoop. I was pleased to hear him deny the Dodgers report with vigor. "I didn't sign here for four years to think about going somewhere else," he told reporters. "I signed here for four years because I thought it might take that long [to win a championship], No. 1, and No. 2, because I wanted to make sure we saw this thing through. ... And I want to win here. ... I want the town to eventually, at some point in time, be extremely proud of the Cubs team.''

Which is all Cubdom wanted to hear. And if he somehow leads a flawed club to the playoffs, the people will praise him, including me. Does that make me fickle? Maybe.

But never racist.

Billingsley is a few yrs away, as is most of the dodgers top prospects. Broxton isnt meeting expectations since his callup, even with that 97-101mph fastball.

I doubt it will ever happen, since some of them will likely get traded along the way, but the dodgers could potentially have a rotation of Chad Billingsley, Joel Hanrahan, Greg Miller, Edwin Jackson, and Chuck Tiffany....all of which are supposedly cant miss pitching prospects.

ok, maybe i WOULDNT take dusty over jim tracy, but anyone else.....