MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[emeritusprof]

One might say Steve Swisher, perhaps except to Cubs fans, was easy to overlook.  Son Nick is an Oakland A.

I would caution my students to read test instructions carefully.  To wit, Sager gets a deduction for listing all the Dads, then the sons, when the "test" was to name the sons.

The count is now 24, with the latest added:
Brian Bannister, Bobby Crosby, Jeff DeVanon, Chris Duncan, Brandon Fahey, Jason Grilli, Jason Kendall, Darren Oliver, Daryle Ward, Nick Swisher.

Five remain to be noted.

[emeritusprof]

Spiezio is not the correct answer to the bonus question.  Ed (Dad) Spiezio's career in the major leagues was 1964 to 1972.

Ten dads started playing MLB in the 60s, but only one dates to the 50s.

[Knightstalker]

So far, the following were (almost) correctly identified as MLB players presently on team rosters: Barry Bonds, David Bell, Sandy Alomar Jr., Aaron Boone, Ken Griffey Jr., Scott Spiezio, and Jaret Wright.

Bonus -- Only one of the present fathers started his major league career in the 1950s.  Which one?

Spezio with the Cards.

for some reason I can't get Ray Boone out of my head.

[almcguirejr]

One More
Tony Armas Sr. and Tony Armas Jr

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It's more about what people enjoy watching and for some reason US sports fans are the only ones in the world who aren't big on football.

An irate lurker e-mailed me and asked me why I let this statement of yours from a week ago go unchallenged, HF. So, in the interests of keeping off-season discussion going and of driving even further up the wall the people who read this room and hate soccer talk  , here is my rebuttal to your charge that Americans are the "only ones in the world" who aren't ga-ga over the so-called "beautiful game":

China -- With 1.3 billion people, the world's most populous country
India -- With 1.1 billion people, the world's second-most populous country
Pakistan --  With 165 million people, the sixth-most populous country
Russia -- With 145 million people, the seventh-most populous country
Canada -- No sticks, no ice, no sale, eh?
Australia -- The Aussies have turned their backs on the sport, probably just to tick off the Brits who invented it
New Zealand -- Ditto for the Kiwis
Finland -- They'd much rather play their own nutty form of baseball (http://www.kipa90.com/main.site?action=siteupdate/view&id=198) than soccer
Myanmar -- Burma! Why'd you say "Burma"? I panicked!
Cuba -- If Fidel had played it as a youngster instead of baseball, it'd be a different story
Philippines -- Their national sports are cockfighting and sipa, a sort of foot-oriented form of volleyball
Afghanistan -- When your national pastime is a form of polo that uses a headless goat's carcass for a ball, why would any other sport appeal to you?

That's got to be over half of the planet's population right there. The US of A is hardly alone in relegating soccer to a minor part of its sporting consciousness.

I'll give you all of South Asia, but the Aussies are loving their WC performance right now and China is possibly even more desperate than the US Soccer Federation to field a competitive team.  Their borderline.  I'm not sure where Russia came from.  They have a great team and a bunch of billionaire club owners... besides, they Russians don't get excited about anything.

[almcguirejr]

3 More

Jose Cano - Robinson Cano
Dave LaRoche - Adam Laroche
Mookie Wilson - Preston Wilson

Gus Bell played in the fifties.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Are you sure Preston Wilson is Mookie's kid?

[almcguirejr]

Are you sure Preston Wilson is Mookie's kid?

I did some checking, Preston is Mookie's stepson.

[Pat Coleman]

One More
Tony Armas Sr. and Tony Armas Jr

Tony Armas is not a junior, despite what the Nationals would have you believe. He is Tony Armas' son but has a different middle name. Properly referred to as Tony J. Armas or ... just Tony Armas.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Are you sure Preston Wilson is Mookie's kid?

I did some checking, Preston is Mookie's stepson.

Right on.

[David Collinge]

I would caution my students to read test instructions carefully.  To wit, Sager gets a deduction for listing all the Dads, then the sons, when the "test" was to name the sons.

Naming the Dads as well is a way of showing your work.  It's important to prove your response is correct when you have no confidence that the professor actually knows the right answers.  Your initial failure to recognize Eduardo Perez and Josh Barfield as correct answers instilled doubt.

Plus, it makes the conversation much more interesting. 

[Pat Coleman]

One More
Tony Armas Sr. and Tony Armas Jr

Tony Armas is not a junior, despite what the Nationals would have you believe. He is Tony Armas' son but has a different middle name. Properly referred to as Tony J. Armas or ... just Tony Armas.

Sorry Pat - but its more than just the Nationals that have referred to him as Tony Armas junior - no matter what political or semantic correctness you might feel.  In this case the poster was just repeating what is common accepted practice.

MW

Doesn't make it right. It's not just political (why would it be?) or semantic correctness -- it's CORRECTNESS.

Thankfully MLB's official statistician knows the difference:

Armas             6- 3   4.18  .253  14 14  0  0  0  0  75.1  71  37  35  6  30  57

Also not a junior: Atlanta Falcons coach Jim Mora.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Hopefully this doesn't violate the no politics mantra here, but this is reminicent of the 2000 Presidential election where George W Bush was called "junior" a lot when he really isn't and Al Gore never was, when he really is.

[Pat Coleman]

The George Bushes ... with different middle names ... are a great comparison.

[David Collinge]

Hopefully this doesn't violate the no politics mantra here, but this is reminicent of the 2000 Presidential election where George W Bush was called "junior" a lot when he really isn't and Al Gore never was, when he really is.

But Al Gore isn't a "junior."  He ceased being Albert Gore, Jr. when his father died in 1998.  In fact, while Albert Gore was alive, his was generally known as "Albert Gore, Jr."  Since then, he's been correctly identified as "Al Gore."

Funny that the ESPN crawl eternally running beneath the World Cup telecast identifies today's starting pitcher for the Nats as "Armas Jr."  And I thought ESPN could do no wrong...