I'm in love, madly in love, with Kyle Farnsworth after seeing him unleash the football-style tackle on Paul Wilson. Awesome. I happen to be a big fan of the occasional bench-clearing brawl, though unfortunately I've never seen one in person at an actual game.

Cubs/Reds Brawl

Tsk tsk, Wm, mindless macho violence gets you all aroused? How like General Jack D. Ripper, or many a Gov Bush supporter!

Not too smart of Wilson to challenge a perfect physical specimen who can still execute a tackle (what was that 'Backstreet Boy / hair gel' crack about KF the other day? Wanna say that to him?)... I HAVE seen Kyle on top of a man before, but only in dreams.

I believe you mean President Bush...

I wish we had bench-clearing brawls in Congress. I'd watch C-SPAN more.

What's with the Reds? Two brawls in less than a week and in both cases their batter charged the mound and ended up tackled.

And Bob Boone said about the close pitch that it was at his head, and it clearly wasn't.

William1865,

I'm am SOOOO with you--after seing that tackle, I wouldn't mind being the next person being under Kyle Farnsworth. It was great to finally see a pitcher stand up for himself, as opposed to throwing his glove and running away. Ironically, it was another pitcher who charged the mound. Bet Paul Wilson won't do THAT again.

Oh, BTW, we have separate rooms for political threads. There is no place for politics in a discussion about hot sweaty men tackling each other, and rolling around in the dirt, getting sweaty and bloody, and pumped up, and...jeez, I need a shower...

I think Kyle Farnsworth could take a cue from Deion Sanders and be a two-sport athlete! His open-field tackle was a lot better than some I saw last season!! And, Joe, it's not just the Reds--it's their stadium; I heard that a man trying to steal a photo of Johnny Bench from the wall of Great American Stadium was tackled by a security guard & injured his head when "it connected with the concrete floor." The Reds should look into a tribal cleansing!!

~Adam

Yeah, the man is gorgeous. God, did you see the look he gave the other team as he was ushered off the field. Beautiful. Farnsworth is a total hottie, and I don't mind a man with a punch.

Hey, Hey, all you hussies back off right now!! Farnsworth is one hunkhunkaburninlove, and I saw him first. Farnsworth has always had a swagger about him that I found sexy, but the way he just pimpslapped Paul Wilson and then hung around the field with that "don't mess with me" smirk on his face made me verrrrry sweaty.

I gotta agree with all the raves Kyle Farnsworth has been receiving for the way he went after Wilson yesterday in Cincinnati (not to mention Kyle deserves compliments on his FINE physique -- talk about long, muscular legs on a pitcher )....that was the best reaction by a pitcher to an opposing batter charging the mound since Nolan Ryan had Robin Ventura around the neck in Arlington like he was roping a calf in a rodeo.

As for you never seeing a bench clearing brawl in person, William, I happened to be at a Sunday afternoon game at Camden Yards about 10 years ago when catcher Bill Hasselman (then with the Mariners) had the gall to charge the mound against Mike Mussina over an inside pitch that didn't even hit him....a HUGE brawl ensued resulting in a few players on both teams being injured and Cal Ripken has acknowledged on several occasions since then that had the O's not had an off day on that following Monday he doubts he could have played and his consecutive game streak would have likely ended a few hundred games short of Lou Gehrig.

For the record I am NOT a fan of bench clearing brawls as a rule (if Selig had any cajones he would implement long suspensions for any player leaving the bench/dugout/bullpen as they do in hockey and basketball which would put an immediate end to such juvenile shenanigans) BUT if a batter is stupid enough to charge the mound over a pitcher throwing inside (which he has every right to do) then he deserves to be pummeled once he reaches the mound -- not only by the pitcher but by the catcher and all four infielders if need be. eek!

[ June 20, 2003, 07:58 PM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Kyle is a STUD!!!
no doubt about that at all

Ya think? I've been panting over him since '99, and was moaning in my Shea seat when I saw him start against the Mets in early 2000 ... And yeah, I agree the smirk was hot.

add my name to the list of people who gets all hot and bothered by "mindless macho violence" (when it involves someone like Kyhle anyway..)

Ohhhhh Baby. Give me that tackle again...

My favorite bench-clearing brawl of all time is the one Kramer started at Mickey Mantle's fantasy camp in Florida, even though, of course, no one actually saw it. Kramer's account of the incident was hilarious.

Check out Kyle's thighs!

Here's the photo from the USA Today- great Baseball paper- Add me to the list of guys that Kyle could abuse. Please sit on my face. wink wink

Another Seinfeld reference: To me a bench-clearing brawl is sort of like a catfight. When two guys are all over each other like that, there's always the chance, just that one-in-a-million shot, that they might start making out.

Does any athlete or team get penalized/fined for fighting? I'm not sure how that works. As sexy as it may be to some of us, I think something needs to be said about good sportsmanship and 0 tolerance for violence on the fieled. Many kids watch the games too and consider some athletes/teams as heroes and gods. Many of these athletes get paid a lot of money. I think they should set an example of good sportsmanship and team pride. Everytime I see these fights or brawls, I immediately think about all of the children watching, how they absorb what they're seeing and if they try to immitate what they've seen when they're playing sports for their schools and communities.

Sorry to pour water on the "hot/sexy" subject but I think it's worth mentioning and I would like to know if there are any penalties or fines, besides suspensions. Thank guys.

You know, I think it's about time the Farns got his due as sexiest man (or at least pitcher) in baseball. Hopefully he'll take his shirt off during the Cubs' World Series championship post-game celebration!

Ah, Cubsfan, that's just crazy talk!

I think these basebrawls are pathetic. The British have an expression that describes most of them: "Purses at 20 paces".

And I'm SICK of hitters taking exception to pitchers pitching on the inside of the plate. They walk up to the plate with body armor, lean over the plate with their huge bats and then freak out when a ball that goes 2 inches inside makes them do a jacknife. Everything is loaded in the hitter's favor so one of the few legitimate tools a pitcher has left to control the count and the strike zone is taken away? What nonsense.

Obviously, head hunting is despicable and should be (and often is) punishable. But a pitcher throwing a fast ball at the wrists a few inches off the plate, backing the hitter away and then throwing a curve ball on the outside corner is a different story.

Another Cubs fan, Yes it is about time Farnsworth got his due as a hottie and a good pitcher.

Minus the punching in the face or nose I really would have liked Farnsworth picking me up and falling on top of me. Maybe me and Kyle could be that 1 in million that a previous poster talked about.

To answer Jorel's question. Yes. they do get punished. The players are ejected from the game and they are suspended for several games later.

For example, Jorel: the Phillies and Reds had a brawl a few days before the Cubs and Reds did. The penalties from that brawl were announced Friday:

Phillies' Carlos Silva-suspended 6 games and fined for throwing at Adam Dunn (Silva is appealing the penalty); Larry Bowa-suspended 1 game because Silva threw at Dunn after the umpire issued a warning; Todd Pratt and Jose Mesa were fined.

Reds' Adam Dunn and Sean Casey-suspended for three games each. Dunn appealed and got his sentence reduced to two games.

Thanks for the response, guys. At least there are consequences to their actions. I also wonder if the punishment is more severe when the coaches or coaching staff get involved. Thanks again.