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I honestly am just reading those tweets and wondering what the hell is so bad about that coming from a 17 year old. "Mexican rapist version of Super Mario"... how is that racist? He's just saying the guy looks like a creepy ass Super Mario. "Are you calling us f*gs?"... Really? This is homophobic? lol.... Then he clearly says "ni**a" in a manner which is simply conveyed as "dude". Don't get me wrong... I get the implications of the words f*g and Ni**a. However, this is ALL completely normal for a high school kid. Myself and people I grew up with said far worse. Teenagers don't have a frame of reference for this stuff. They don't understand the weight it carries. They have no life experience. They're still learning all of this. That's the point of growing up... lol. You say/do dumb shit. You learn from it and then you look back going "Jeez I was dumb". I couldn't even pretend to act like that stuff is a reflection of an adult's character. My god, did I say stupid shit at that age. Not even out of anger or hate. You just don't get it at that... ZERO of Kopech's tweets were angry or actually making implications pertaining to a group of people.

Our country has turned into a whole slew of tattletales.

I'm all for tanking, but hard to argue about Yoan and Timmy having a big impact.

fuck off

I don't really care if the PC police take issue with me thinking you're an idiot.

We ought to. We don't sentence <18 teenagers to death, or life without parole, when they commit murder. We don't allow them to vote. We don't allow them to consent to sex (yeah yeah, the AOC varies by state, whatever). We don't allow most of them to drive, and when we allow it of the older ones, it's generally under greater restrictions than the rest of the population. We don't allow them to buy guns. We don't allow them to drink. I'll stop now, but we set these restrictions because teenagers are stupid and we realize it, we expect it, and we know we have to mitigate the risks. It's a stupid thing to call someone a f** when you're 17, but unless you're still doing it when you're 25, I'm not going to hold it against you forever.

In one of the tweets, according to the Sun Times, he used the N word. Pussification!

I think we need to not give a fuck about words too. I don't care about words, I care about your attitude, behavior and how you treat people who are different from yourself. As I struggle in adulthood, with both a physical disability and autism, I couldn't care less about what people say, what matters more is how they treat me. Do they actually care? If a manager, would they hire me if I was the best candidate for the job? As they say, actions speak louder than words. I take words in stride personally. Twitter took off around the time I was finishing college, Facebook didn't exist as "a thing" when I was in HS, and MySpace(if you can remember that) was just becoming popular when I was a Senior in HS. I didn't even join my first message board until I was 18. I shudder to think what I would have posted online in HS. I think people need to lighten up about most things personally. There are things that are important, and there are things that aren't. What I don't want is people thinking that they can mistreat people that are different than they are just because of that alone. There is nothing that I want more than for a person to be judged on their character rather than their minority status.

I'm a high school teacher. On the first day I make it clear that calling something they don't like "gay" or "retarded" will not be tolerated in my class.

Yeah -- I won't deny that using gay as an insult or even f** as an insult or both in the 'do not do' list, however it was clear by the context of the tweets that he was just jousting with his buddies. It would have been different if it was actually meant as a hurtful thing to say. As a person who takes interest in these types of issues (call it a SJW or whatever you'd like) I feel like a situation like this actually HURTS the issue. These tweets are clearly not hateful and clearly a talk amongst their friends -- making things like this into a bigger story only will serve to turn more people against social justice issues like this.

There is not a single thing wrong in those tweets. Not a single thing when considering context.

The people that dig these old tweets up are losers just trying to get in the limelight. Kopech deleted them, he addressed them and apologized. Let it go and honestly, I don't think anyone cares anymore.

I'm not mad at the people who found the tweets even if they did it for silly reasons. Kopech said the stuff and he should answer for it — and he did. I don't think what he said then appeared to reflect a deep-seated bias or hatred, but that doesn't make it okay. But he was young and he hasn't made excuses or pretended it wasn't wrong, so I'm happy to move on from it.

Kopech was dumb for not deleting these, but in my opinion, there is a distinction between saying a hateful word and making a hateful comment. His tweets were not hateful, he just used a couple of slurs that are frowned up. Step foot on to any High School, even college, and you'll hear everyone calling eachother gay and the N-word, white or not. It's because they are trying to be funny or cool, not because they are trying to hurt anyone or cause trouble. EDIT: So he deleted them a while ago, and apparently this girl was sitting on these screenshots until he got called up and someone said she tried to go to TMZ with these first, likely for money. Awful.

And the N word had an A at the end. Not the ER that Hader had. Speaking as a person who is of (half) African American decent, its not nearly in the same stratosphere. It's getting ridiculous though. As you said, his nephews are both half black and he's always with them as an uncle. He's dating a woman whose black. He is far from a racist. But he must be a homophobe since he called somebody a f**, which is what myself and most of America does as a teenager to their friends as a joke... yea.... pussification.

Oh my god, he called someone gay when he was a teenager.. pretty sure everyone between the ages of 20-40 right now did the same thing. There's a difference between someone being immature and someone being anti-gay

He deleted them a while back, but his girlfriend's fans digged them up. His isn't bad at all really (not like Hader's crap), but you know.. pussification of America.

Hmmmm, only one extra base hit. I need more if he wants to be called up...

Pennant winning group with some tweak

I can not wait until next year when we’ll have Burdi & Hamilton in these situations rather than Juan fucking Minaya.

Absolutely. Not to mention a decent start from Lopez (bad defense behind him), good relief outings from future guys like Vieira, Fry (hopefully), etc.

Hand injuries frequently result in a lack of power. That’s not an excuse, that’s called a fucking reason. God you’re insufferable.

I don't remember if it's you or someone else who often points out Abreu's high leverage stats as below his career averages (but still respectable), but you/whoever that is may be pleased to know that Moncada seems to be quite good in those situations. His high leverage and clutch stats are way better than his normal stats. When the game is on the line, bases loaded, etc. he becomes a machine. Only swings at strikes, and when he does, he kills them

What I loved about the Yoan at bat is he didn't take the 2-0 pitch. He swung hard and did damage. He's been great with bases loaded.

Happy Birthday to me! Hot damn a Sox late inning comeback is sexy!!

Human rights are important, no matter who it is. It shouldn't be reality. People have a duty to society to stand up for human rights injustices. I'm sorry. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. In my eyes if you do nothing to stand up for injustices, you're just as culpable in the process. I get that everyone doesn't have the time and money to do EVERYTHING that needs to be done, but if everyone picks one cause they're willing to fight for, that is better than doing nothing. To me, that does more to contribute to society than having a job does.

biggest reason why Ricky and Steverson need to be canned the day after this season ends is Yoan is significantly worse now than when he came up last season in every single aspect.

Phew. So long as he's not injured!

The F word, N word and R word are being phased out of society because of their original intent. They were used to dehumanize the segment of society they were referring to, and that is why people find them offensive. If you understand the history and context of these words, you understand why they are incredibly offensive. If you want to know, I find things like Inspiration Porn more patronizing than being called the R word, because it perpetuates a cultural attitude that adaptation to others is a one way street for disabled people, and that if a disabled person can't pull off the success story that this person pulled off, they must be lazy or unmotivated. They make movies about those things for a reason, because they are incredibly rare and for once I wish they would make a documentary about what it is like for 90% of disabled folks. More people are outraged at the movie Blackfish than they are with how the disabled are treated worldwide. I have zero respect for organizations like PETA because we need to solve human rights abuses before we give an ounce of energy to animal rights.

Let's be clear: Kopech appears to be experiencing no negative consequences from this beyond mild embarrassment

quite the sad offensive effort the last two days. There is no doubt in my mind Eloy would be the best hitter on this team right now.

Not trying to be PC police, but I always find it odd that people have no problem throwing around "redneck" when they are talking about race. I don't see how it's different from some of the other words that are taboo. I know "gay" and "retard" were just words we threw around when I was a kid. Lots of times between friends. They were put downs, and I think we didn't really understand how those words might hurt other people. In our constantly evolving cultural language, i think people will verbalize these types of words less and less. Hopefully, it follows suit on social media. We can chalk some things up to youthful ignorance, and we can thank God our every thought and conversation wasn't archived and photographed when we were kids. People today are dealing with a whole new set of rules. I just had "the talk" with my 14 year old again just so I could emphasize the evils of social media posting. It's scary to think that something he says/posts/does as a teenager can have negative consequences for years down the line. I hope he got the message. Hopefully Kopech was just joking around with friends, and he learned a lesson. He's young. He can learn from this.

Kind of ironic how the argument can be made that as of right now, Giolito looks like he has a better chance to stick in the rotation than Lopez, given how hot he started off the year.

Wow, you’re incredibly brave

It's a good rule.

homophobia so cool get it cause it's a team we don't like so, you know, gay. so funny

I'm not gay, so I guess my straight point of view doesn't really allow for me to say that friends calling each other gay is normal and forgivable behavior for a high schooler, but I hear people use the "R word" at least a few times a week either at work or in general and while that does does personally affect me, I also don't think they need to be ruined or lose their jobs over it. I just chalk it up as them being ignorant to it's connotations and it's effects on people. I also don't think it means they hate mentally challenged individuals or that they would ever use it towards a mentally challenged person to hurt them.

It’s not just an anti-Cubs thing. Because of money, there are too many players that get through. I just think being able to add from outside your organization with about 30 games left is pushing it. Make the deadline with 45-50 games left, and after that it’s done.

I would also point out that the perception of what is acceptable and not acceptable has changed a ton in the last 5 years.

He was a teenager. Teenagers do and say stupid stuff. I'm happy that social media didn't exist when I was a teenager. The end.

Like, who ever intentionally digs this up needs to get a life.

The people who actually spend their time doing this. Just to fuck with people's lives - based off of some shit they said in high school. Should seriously be hung in the town square and laughed at. Who the hell's public life could withstand having their teenaged years gone through with a fine-toothed comb... I know I'd be done. 95-99% of others would be too, I would suspect.

that's his vesting option they reworked his contract for the tank year.

I have become convinced that a significant number of posters here are a) young children; and/or b) Cub fan trolls. Looking at it this way helps me stay sane while I navigate my way to the informed commentary.

Republicans investigate Benghazi 7 times. Her e-mails need to be investigated until the end of time. Republicans on Michael Cohen, under oath, saying that Donald Trump directed him to commit a felony? Nothing to see here guys! Let's let the courts sort this one out! The hypocrisy is staggering, and they never get punished for it.

I’ll be interested to see him expound more on his belief and reliance upon God in the years to come.

I need a towel

It's still not a full sample size with the new manager, but it's looking very true that Mike Matheny was a truly horrible manager that just held his team back.

It's such a simple fix in my opinion. We don't need to go full nuclear and ban shifts, make strikeouts 2 strikes/walks 3 balls, or anything like that. All that needs to change is that the commercials need to be slightly shortened and pitchers need to deliver the ball in less than X seconds. (I haven't done enough research on what that number should be but watch an AL East vs AL East matchup and you'll agree with me. It's excruciating). Those changes alone can shave half an hour or so from average game length.