Samurai Bucky

[sarcasm]I won't take anybody seriously until they hit 130-0...[/sarcasm]

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Out of the Park Baseball (OOTP) has their preseason predictions: NL Central: St. Louis: 87-75 Chicago: 85-77 Milwaukee: 83-79 Cincinnati: 79-83 Pittsburgh: 76-86

Insert my occasional blurb about Playstation Vue here...

Since Sabermetrics (analytics) seems to be a much better gauge of a person's ability, could it be a good time to really upend things? If collusion is supposedly happening today, lets try to fix the problem instead of pointing fingers? As was mentioned in this thread, if I am in a company and my company is failing, then I may have to take a pay decrease. Or... I may lose my job. If I do not perform to my contract, I may get walked to the door. If the company does well, then I get a salary increase, get bonuses, or get money through profit sharing. Could baseball work on something like this (round numbers for ease). Each player would get a per-game base salary amount based on the level where they play. MLB: $10,000 / game, AAA: $3,000, etc. After that, Sabremetrics is brought in for a non-biased (somewhat) evaluation of a player. Let's say Christian Yelich, being the MVP, is worth $40MM. The difference between the $1.6MM and the $40MM would be due to his performance. Likewise, if a Jeff Suppan or Matt Garza doesn't perform well, then they may only make an extra $1MM or so a year. For younger players in rookie ball or A ball, I find it ridiculous that, on average, players get around $1,100 a month. Some of these players don't have a college education to fall back on, so what happens if they get hurt or don't make it up the food chain? This almost seems like it is semi-professional, but they work 60-70 hours a week! I know that performance-based pay has not been a good option. Perhaps modern Sabermetrics can help with that. If a player has a good running average over a few years, perhaps the $10,000 / game increases to $20,000 a game. This allows for a more tangible means of measuring a players worth opposed to owners hoarding the profits or the players whining about collusion. Would this be a good place to start?

Until he goes to the University of Minnesota.... Hopefully, the Badgers will start a D1 baseball program on or before 2022. Hmmm...

We painted the Miller Park logo on the wall in one of the kids' bedrooms. What are we to do? One other one has the Badger W painted. That probably won't change...

And he was a pretty darned good player 2 years ago. Since 2009-2010 when Player Efficiency Rating started to be kept, he's 30th among all players as an average over his career, just behind C.J. McCollum. He's on pace to finish his career with over 2000 points, 1000 rebounds, 400 assists, and 200 steals. I don't know how to look it up, but I'd be willing to bet the list of players who have hit those levels over their career is a very, very short list. For reference: Frank Kaminsky (1458 points, 666 rebounds, 188 assists, 77 steals) Doug McDermott (3150 points, 1088 rebounds, 194 assists, 34 steals) Tim Duncan (2117 points, 1570 rebounds, 288 assists, 69 steals) Derrick Coleman (2143 points, 1537 rebounds, 322 assists, 187 steals) Tyler Hansbrough (2872 points, 1219 rebounds, 154 assists, 180 steals) Christian Laettner (2460 points, 1149 rebounds, 273 assists, 243 steals) Nick Collison (2097 points, 1143 rebounds, 257 assists, 155 steals). Right now Happ is at 1871 points, 1051 rebounds, 349 assists, 192 steals, and UW has 14 regular season games left. If he keeps his averages/game through the end of the season, he finishes with 2143 points, 1197 rebounds, 413 assists, and 203 steals, plus whatever post-season games they play (1 NCAA tournament or 2-3 NIT). Ethan Happ is one of the greatest college basketball players of the last 30 years. Yes, he's a terrible free throw shooter, but the only player listed above who has either more career assists or steals than Happ is Laettner (243 steals) and Happ may finish with more career points than Tim Duncan or Derrick Coleman. Think about that. I frequently ask myself why the Badgers don't drive to the hoop more often (sans Happ). It is because Happ is not a threat outside of 5 feet. This leaves an extra defender in the lane to defend drives. Kaminsky was a much better all around player because his defender had to come out and respect his outside jumper. Happ can finish around the hoop very well, but his lack of an outside game negatively affects the team. My prediction -- he plays overseas.

Doesn't every region of the country THINK they're polite? Southern Hospitality, Northwest is kinda known for being hippy-ish and real polite, the Mid-West(which is really about 2/3rds of the states depending on where you're from). I feel like the only people NOT concerned with being polite come from a small cluster in the Philly, NYC region. Not that they're rude, they just don't really care if you think they're polite. I'm guessing some forum sites are not considered a region [sarcasm]... what a dumb thought...[/sarcasm]

It's a regular car, but when I see it, it has a sign on top. I don't remember what it is, but I think it's a pizza place. Not a national chain, but some local place. I'm guessing he takes it off his car when he's not working. Nice play on words. I have a feeling the owner is a Steely Dan fan.

I don't know, why would anyone watch college sports unless you have a kid playing? I for one really enjoy watching HS basketball. Also watch some HS football. In fact, the Kimberly/Arrowhead champ game a few years ago (in the snow)was one of the best football games I've ever seen in my life. I don't know how many schools would have a mutlimedia club. They could stream the game live over the Internet, or even have it recorded. Streaming is the way to go. [sarcasm]It would probably hurt the totals at the gate, though...[/sarcasm]

I had to stop watching at halftime. Did they finally start driving to the basket instead of doing a "four our -- one in" offense with people jacking up threes?

Ok... here is the "non-pc" answer... for discussion only... Is the Civil War cemetery really honoring those who are buried there? Could you relocate the graves to a place in a more rural setting with grounds that are more honoring to them? That would alleviate a lot of issues with the freeway, more buildings, etc.

Last night's game was over at halftime... by I digress.

A new topic!!!!! Now, I'm not going to have to scroll through pages and pages and pages and pages... Wait... that doesn't bug me. Sorry...

Aquaman was a very good movie. James Wan did it right...

Without Stallone/Rocky, I won't have much interest in other Creed films. To be honest, the actor that plays Creed is pretty blah. I just haven't found myself liking him much. On the flipside, and I felt a little guilty about these thoughts, I found myself more drawn to Drago's son than Creed. Viktor Drago has obviously led a much more interesting and painful life that Adonis Creed. His character drew more emotion out of me than Creed, and I found myself feeling genuinely sorry for him.. That is all I can say without posting spoilers, so I'll let it go at that... I don't want to give away spoilers either but I know you are not alone in this thought. Perhaps that would be a tie into the next movie. Drago ends up managing Creed. Dunno how that would work, but it would certainly be a plot twist. The relationship between Drago and his son is what I wanted to see explored a little more. Stallone is 72. Getting up there in age, for sure.

Resurrecting the thread... Saw Creed II. Very very good...

Which tells you that things have been pretty good in Badgerland. They were due for a clunker. I'll echo this. I try to be careful not to get too spoiled. I was in the band when Don Morton was the coach... and Alvarez's first year. Might be four of the worst years in Wisconsin football history. I'm optimistic that the Badgers will bounce back next year. They will be bringing in Mertz, at least two stud OTs, a stud DT from Columbus, plus a lot of other skill players. It will be interesting to see how Davis from Menomonee Falls does in the backfield.

Although we could have watched it over the air, we were able to watch it on Fox 6 via Playstation Vue.

There are two things that should happen. First, Rodgers needs to check down to his running back more often. Also, the short, quick passes seal the deal. Next, McCarthy is probably gone. Hire the Offensive Coordinator from the Patriots.

I know the space to the southwest is owned by Veterans Affairs. Would it make sense to put it where the wooded area lies (I think workshops are there)? You could then put a sky walk from the hotel to Miller Park. I really like the idea of using Miller Park for Weddings, business functions, etc. The location of the hotel would be ideal.

While I agree, didn't Yelich hit better when being more aggressive earlier in the count?

I would love to retire at 55 (six years). However, I don't know if that will be possible. No pension, but have been frugal and put the max into 401K every year. We help our children with college -- the third one is starting next year and the fourth will be in four years. Now that our youngest is in high school, Mrs. Samurai is looking to enter the workforce on more of a full-time basis. Insurance is going to be a big factor. My dad retired from teaching at age 55 and has a Cadillac heath care plan (now at age 72). I don't think that is the norm. When I retire, I don't know what I'm going to do. Coach youth baseball / softball, I suppose, or go on some missions trips abroad.