Maybe Those who Didn't Want ARod were Right.

[rician blast]

Originally Posted by Gom

The Red Sox fans who don't want Arod are just as idiotic, if not more so [when not factoring in the salary concern].

You know what? I've got great character.

One could say that your statement above, calling fans idiotic for not wanting a certain player, contradicts the "great character" statement. But I'll leave that for others to judge.

Would you rather have me or Arod at third?

Now that is just silly.

Because someone doesn't want a player on their team doesn't make them an idiot...perhaps it reflects that they're less concerned about winning than they are with rooting for players they like on their team. There are other points of view than your's Gom, and although you see fit to negatively label those whose thinking is different, their opinions are no less valid. Just saying.

[One Red Seat]

Didn't Gom applaud Cap'n Jete's tax shenanigans and claim to cheat on his when he can get away with it? Real character guy.

[TheKilo]

No one has ever doubted ARod's talent on a baseball field, however it is interesting to hear many Yankee fans (not necessarily here) call Schilling a blowhard and completely ignore the massive amounts of charity work he does.

Like I said in my OP, it'd be interesting to hear Yankee fans call Schilling disingenuous after this fiasco and the Jeter tax issue.

[HeadOfSoxNation]

Originally Posted by One Red Seat

Didn't Gom applaud Cap'n Jete's tax shenanigans and claim to cheat on his when he can get away with it? Real character guy.

Find me one American who doesn't take a few liberties on his taxes. It's like embellishing a resume...it's expected. There is a certain degree that is almost condoned.

[TheKilo]

Originally Posted by HeadOfSoxNation

Find me one American who doesn't take a few liberties on his taxes. It's like embellishing a resume...it's expected. There is a certain degree that is almost condoned.

Few liberties =/= millions of dollars

[One Red Seat]

Originally Posted by HeadOfSoxNation

Find me one American who doesn't take a few liberties on his taxes. It's like embellishing a resume...it's expected. There is a certain degree that is almost condoned.

Irrelevant. If you tell me you cheat at something, and then tell me 3 weeks later that you have character because you don't "cheat", then I call BS.

[He Hate Me]

Originally Posted by Gom

This is why most Yankee fans are clueless.

Do you realize that without his season, we don't make the playoffs this past season? That with the team constructed as it is, we wouldn't make the playoffs next season? Do you realize that he's the only legitimate righty power threat in the lineup?

Do you realize that he hits well against the Red Sox pitchers? Do you realize he out-hit most of the Yankees against Detroit? Even the famed Derek Jeter, who was unquestionably the offensive goat against Detroit?

Personally, I know we'll be there in October again, barring injury. So will the Red Sox and the Angels. The question will be Detroit or Cleveland. We are a stronger team heading to 2008 than we were in 2007. Without Arod, we have NO CHANCE.

We got lucky in the early 90's. Do you really think our farm system will turn out a boderline Hall of Fame center fielder and catcher, a hall of fame shortstop, and the greatest reliever in the history of baseball all within 4 years like we did in the 90's?

I hear this BULLSHIT from Yankee fans all the time. Dude, look at the Red Sox. Who the hell did they rebuild with? Pedroia, Papelbon, and Youkilis? Merry fucking Christmas. As good as those players are, Ortiz, Ramirez, Schilling, Beckett, and Lowell had more to do with it. Those guys were trades or free agents.

You hope to get lucky with some players from your farm system, and you use trades and free agent signings to supplement what you have. It's what we did in the 90's. It's what the Sox are doing now. We were successful in the 90's, they are now. It's the same strategy.

Wake up.

clap clap all good point about A-Rod. Still not worth bringing him back at $275M plus all the drama he brings. happy?

[HeadOfSoxNation]

Originally Posted by TheKilo

Few liberties =/= millions of dollars

Yes, it does. It's all relative.

You taking a few liberties on your taxes to save $5,000 when you make $50,000 is the exact same, proportionally, as ARod taking a few liberties to save $3,000,000 when he makes $30,000,000.

[rician blast]

Love ARod's spin regarding his turnabout:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12172007...ing_878373.htm

Alex Rodriguez said during an interview with 60 Minutes that he and agent Scott Boras are not speaking to each other.Rodriguez indicated that he's upset over the way Boras handled negotiations with the Yankees. "The whole situation saddens me a little bit," Rodriguez said.

"There hasn't been much back-and-forth talking. When I realized things were going haywire, at that point I said wait a minute I've got to be accountable for my own life. This is not going the way I wanted it to go, so I got behind the wheel."

Forgive me for being cynical, but wasn't it reported that Warren Buffett advised him to go around Boras....and didn't a high-powered Goldman-Sachs employee contact the Yankees for him?

Besides, when has ARod ever done something without the advice of his image consultants?

What a piece of work.

[TheKilo]

Originally Posted by HeadOfSoxNation

Yes, it does. It's all relative.

You taking a few liberties on your taxes to save $5,000 when you make $50,000 is the exact same, proportionally, as ARod taking a few liberties to save $3,000,000 when he makes $30,000,000.

No, because the taxation rate on levels of income isn't the same across the board. So thanks for playing.

[HeadOfSoxNation]

Originally Posted by TheKilo

No, because the taxation rate on levels of income isn't the same across the board. So thanks for playing.

I know they aren't, and they don't have to be.

(I don't know why I started this discussion about ARod as this thread is about Jeter, but I'll continue on ARod for the sake of consistency of example...)

Taking liberties on your taxes to save 10% of your total income on last dollar earned is the same REGARDLESS of what your tax rate is. We're discussing pre-tax income here anyways, aren't we? That IS what you're taxed upon after all, isn't it?!? I'm going to give you a brief tax lesson, pay attention.

The "liberties" that most people take are usually one of two things, if not both: understating earnings or overstating deductions. You speak as though athletes have been climbing this ridiculous step-ladder of tax brackets. Federally speaking, you hit the maximum tax bracket by the time you earn $350,000 (assuming you jointly file with your wife) which ARod surpassed during like, the top half of the 7th on Opening Day. Once in that bracket, your federal income tax is 35% of your earnings over (about) $350,000. You think he's going to be able to overstate deductions or understate earnings enough to bring him down below $350,000?!? Of course not. He may save a bit here and there, but his tax rate is staying the same regardless of what liberties he takes. The problem with the taxation system in this country is that it's NOT how you imply that it is. My parents are part of the same tax bracket as ARod, and ARod is in the same tax bracket as Donald Trump, and Donald Trump is in the same tax bracket as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Something about that just doesn't seem right, but that's another discussion entirely.

So, in response to you my friend, tax brackets have absolutely NOTHING to do with this argument. Thank YOU for playing.

[YAZMAN]

HOSN, give to Caesar what is Caesar's...

As for what's fair, let's introduce all of you who are sick of all the BS in our tax code to the reform that Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul are raving about:

http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer

Buy the book, read the book.

[One Red Seat]

It seems as if HOSN is suggesting it's perfectly fair to use the same rate for the determination of relative "cheating" on taxes, but it's not fair that dissimilar income levels are taxed at the same rate. Can't have it both ways.

[HeadOfSoxNation]

Originally Posted by One Red Seat

It seems as if HOSN is suggesting it's perfectly fair to use the same rate for the determination of relative "cheating" on taxes, but it's not fair that dissimilar income levels are taxed at the same rate. Can't have it both ways.

I do not think it's fair that dissimilar income levels are taxed at the same rate. I respect your opinion, but fail to see why you think that I can't feel both ways.

We're discussing pre-tax income. We're discussing liberties that can be taken on one's taxes to save 10% of that pre-tax income. (I only used the 10% thing for the sake of example/easy math.) These are both determined before tax brackets and the like are even taken into consideration. But regardless of that...

My main argument in this whole thing was to show that what (if) ARod did on his taxes to save a few million dollars is no more morally reprehensible than what you and I do to save thousands. It's all proportional.

[One Red Seat]

It's mathematically proportional, but not morally proportional, not for someone who thinks proportional income means more to those with less, which is what you are saying you feel about the current tax structure.

I agree with you. 10% of gross income to the working stiffs mean a heckuva lot more than 10% to someone making millions, and it's because of what you end up with. The $50K example guy ends up with $45K. The $30M guy ends up with $27M. You have to budget everything, where you live, what you eat, what you drive, what you wear, around an extra $5K at that income level. At $27M? You don't have to budget anything, you can still live wherever you want, drive whatever you want, eat wherever you want, etc., etc.