thebruce44

Wow, I must be an incredibly functional alcoholic to be 31 and still drink 12+ beers a day 10 or so times a year. In fact, I guess all my friends are too. Hmm, and this is a group made up of lawyers, engineers, and a guy currently getting his doctorate. Wonder how we still manage to overcome and be productive members of society Sunday-Friday. Or maybe your idea of what other people should and shouldn't do if they aren't endangering anyone else is wrong. I really dont care if you or anyone else drinks to excess, as long as you dont get behind the wheel and endanger others lives. IMO the first step to not Drunk Driving is to not drink past an .08, a lot of drunks dont plan on driving home, but judgement goes down, inhibitions go down and people tend to do things they wouldnt do sober. If that's not you or your friends, that awesome, but for most people that isnt the case, and its a problem. So you do or you don't think people who occasionally consume more than 12 beers in a day or who occasionally hit .22 have a drinking problem, or are drunks and not capable of being productive members of society? It sure seems like you have a problem with me and my friends, unless you don't care if people offer nothing to society. And hows this for your sweeping generalizations. When me and my friends drink none of us even have access to cars. We're in the city of Chicago. I'm one of the few people who has a car, but I don't even have car keys when I drink. So I would say the first step to not Drunk Driving besides not drinking would be to not be capable of driving.

Wow, I must be an incredibly functional alcoholic to be 31 and still drink 12+ beers a day 10 or so times a year. In fact, I guess all my friends are too. Hmm, and this is a group made up of lawyers, engineers, and a guy currently getting his doctorate. Wonder how we still manage to overcome and be productive members of society Sunday-Friday. Or maybe your idea of what other people should and shouldn't do if they aren't endangering anyone else is wrong.

Some of the posters here must really hate the awesomeness that is Wade Boggs.

Well, a year ago someone who didn't live in MKE could have been complaining about how bad Milwaukee's stadium was if they hadn't attended a home game in 10 years. When you did go, did you take public transportation? I actually think its much easier to get away from Wrigley after the game than it is from Miller Park. Actually I would've said the same thing about County Stadium 15 years ago. It needed to go, and I'm glad it did. Last time I went, I took a cab from my hotel, but I have taken the train to Wrigley many times. I just don't see why anyone would want that type of situation, in terms of traffic, bathrooms, and just a tiny tiny environment when something more modern could be built. God knows they could afford to put it just about anywhere in the greater Chicago area. Well, I mean the traffic and people density thing is just Chicago in general. And having the stadium where its currently located is more convenient for most people than moving it to a less dense area.

I think a lot of the Wrigley hate is overblown. While I avoid the Lakeview neighborhood as much as I can, Wrigley itself isn't bad. The food selections are much better. They have added a lot of bathrooms, including ones with urinals, over the years. Yea, parking sucks. But it pretty much does at any downtown park, that's why there is public transportation. The only real complaints I have are the lack of video replay if you aren't sitting near a tv in the stands and when I was there earlier this year I was unable to find the pitch speed display (which was there in previous years). And I think the players have some viable gripes when it comes to their facilities. I honestly didn't know that because I have been there in about 10 years. I simply won't go anymore. It's a terrible stadium and a huge hassle to get to IMO. The thing that kills me is this talk of "tradition". What tradition? Losing 90 games a year? Well, a year ago someone who didn't live in MKE could have been complaining about how bad Milwaukee's stadium was if they hadn't attended a home game in 10 years. When you did go, did you take public transportation? I actually think its much easier to get away from Wrigley after the game than it is from Miller Park.

Not rationalizing. Just saying we don't know all the facts. Again, I don't want to put myself in the position of defending anyone who is drinking and driving. All I am saying is that some of the comments here are just as over the top in the other direction as comments defending Yo.

Actually since another motorist called 911 on him it must have been fairly obvious he was having issues to those that were on the road with him. I've had a random driver call my boss once when I was in a company vehicle with the number on the side and leave him a message saying I was driving drunk. I was pulling out of the parking lot of a bar and had zero drinks, just stopped in because it was the nearest ATM since I was in the middle of nowhere. I didn't cut anyone off or do anything wrong. I almost got fired the next day. Never underestimate what random people will do. What kind of car was he driving too? Probably draws even more attention.

I don't want to put myself in a position of defending drunk driving but some of the reactions here are pretty amazing. Do people really think you are up to no good if you are in your 20s and you drink on a Monday? Or if you are in your 20s and you get to a .22 you've got a problem? Yo messed up. We don't know all the details but it happens and a lot of people have made similar mistakes. In fact, there is a very good chance that a lot of the people here who are so appalled at this have driven in a worse state since they have no idea how Yo handles his alcohol.

This 100%. Wrigley is an open sewer and should be leveled immediately. All these arguments about "charm" and "tradition" crack me up. I prefer "parking" and "urinals" personally. I think a lot of the Wrigley hate is overblown. While I avoid the Lakeview neighborhood as much as I can, Wrigley itself isn't bad. The food selections are much better. They have added a lot of bathrooms, including ones with urinals, over the years. Yea, parking sucks. But it pretty much does at any downtown park, that's why there is public transportation. The only real complaints I have are the lack of video replay if you aren't sitting near a tv in the stands and when I was there earlier this year I was unable to find the pitch speed display (which was there in previous years). And I think the players have some viable gripes when it comes to their facilities.

How else are people supposed to live with themselves?

There goes my 2 seed and top 10 prediction. Vander just isn't ready. As an MU fan, I'd obviously like to see him stay. As a Vander Blue fan, I'd like to see him get 1 more year in too. I feel like he must be getting bad advise.

35th is fine. Its practically Pilsen or Chinatown now. I'm glad the White Sox didn't move to Addison. I think you are completely wrong about Rosemont too. A good percentage of Cubs fans live along the Redline, so Wriggley is easy to get to. I'm not going to defend that park or Lakeview in general, but there was zero chance the Cubs were moving out of that neighborhood.

I would have said the same thing until I saw a playoff lineup card that listed "Kotsay" under "CF." http://johngress.com/wp-content/uploads//2011/10/600WJG13425__MG_3290.jpg

If only Brewers management was capable of building a deep bullpen then.

You know, Braun has caught a lot of guff for not explaining his side of the story and "hiding behind his lawyers" but this may very well be the exact reason he has done it. Could it be possible his lawyers knew how upset and revenge minded MLB might be? My buddy is a lawyer and one of the first things he told me he learned in law school is just how many trivial cases there are because of nothing more than spite.

Greinke seems like the kind of guy who if he hit him on purpose would just come out and say he hit him on purpose.

I'll give you a manager Macha outperformed since you can't seem to remember one. I'll give you a hint, he's our current manager. Don't confuse success with managerial performance.

Or we understand exactly what its like to be a human in your low 20s. Young pitchers need a chance, especially when building up arm strength for the season. They shouldn't be looking over their shoulders or trying to over pitch for a few meaningless innings. But yes, guys should also get a chance to show the club what they can do. Two different scenarios though and again, not really what we are talking about here. You are assuming that the decisions are made because of of performance. It might have nothing to do with performance. Basically, Kranitz should be telling a guy what to work on and what he needs to do in order to be considered for a roster spot. Maybe the guy needs to relax and NOT over pitch, yet they don't listen and continually try to strike guys out. So they get sent down, etc. We don't know what goes into these decisions, so speculating about it and assuming that it is purely based on performance isn't right either. I don't disagree with this, but I've sort of lost sight of what this has to do with the discussion here. Are you saying that we always need to leave room in the budget and have a FA ready to target so that if a guy doesn't do something he is asked in ST (like pitch to contact or work on his off speed stuff) he can be sent down? That seems pretty unrealistic.

So can we all agree that this is another instance of management being too reactive instead of proactive and that this is an ongoing issue?

Or we understand exactly what its like to be a human in your low 20s. Young pitchers need a chance, especially when building up arm strength for the season. They shouldn't be looking over their shoulders or trying to over pitch for a few meaningless innings. But yes, guys should also get a chance to show the club what they can do. Two different scenarios though and again, not really what we are talking about here.

There are two separate (though somewhat related) debates going on. I fail to see how my desire for them to manage a roster without putting two light hitting SSs at 1st base for over a month contradicts my desire for them not to use 25 meaningless innings to evaluate young pitching.

Sure, back of the bullpen guys and the last man or two off the bench. But if you are telling 2 or 3 young pitchers that they way they get their arms warmed up for the season over the next 25 innings will determine if they make the majors you've got some serious front office issues. And that's the point that is being made.

The dismissive attitude and hyperbole of new posters is pretty annoying. I guess we shouldn't worry about potentially dropping an extra game or two early in the season due to poor roster management. No way that could come back to haunt us towards the end...

So basically you are saying all teams do this...then we went a step further due to poor planning and then another step further due to more poor planning. But thats not anyone's fault and its normal and the article was dumb for pointing that out. How do you plan for injuries to 5 IF players? The plan was to have Bianchi and Green available. They got hurt, so we signed Yuni B. Before any decisions were made about the pitching staff, RR and Melvin probably wanted to see how guys looked in Spring Training. That didn't go so well, so we signed Lohse, then Narveson got hurt. It's absolutely absurd to "plan" to need to be 5 deep at every position on the field. Sheesh. Minor league depth? We are talking about 1B here. That means EVERYONE in the organization is available who can hit better than AGonz. Not to mention how many years now have we carried a gritty leader 1B type (who RR eventually decides can play CF) for some strange reason. The one year we decide not to is the year we should have had that guy in camp and actually kept him. EDIT: And as TLB said below, you don't evaluate talent in ST.

They're taxed. Yes. We are carrying more pitchers than we should be, and they're still overworked. Maybe, just maybe our manager is clueless as to how to manage a pitching staff? No, he just has a rotation that hasn't been able to go deep into games and the 13th pitcher is injured so can't pitch. This is normal for April which is why the article was so dumb. Teams carry 12 pitchers in April for a reason, we have a 13th because of an injury and not wanting to lose a player and the late signing of Lohse putting extra stress on the roster. So basically you are saying all teams do this...then we went a step further due to poor planning and then another step further due to more poor planning. But thats not anyone's fault and its normal and the article was dumb for pointing that out.