JimH5

A love of baseball is simply not enough to keep one man connected to one woman. Unless of course, she has access to really good tickets. . .

Sorry SeriesFinale. . .My critique of San Francisco is strictly on a small sample size of 4 days I spent there several years ago. . . My complaints were that I was disturbed at how aggressive the homeless were on the streets. Not just panhandling, but blocking your way, demanding money, or sending insults your way. Pretty bad first impression. I thought that Fisherman's Wharf was "eh". . .Never having been there, and hearing about it for so many years, I was expecting more. And whenever we were seated at lunch or dinner, the neighboring tabletalk from other diners was very loud, with conversations about pretty superficial stuff, like complaints about one model of Porsche over another, and not getting better tables at last night's restaurant, etc. Loud talk about nothing substantive. As for Chicago, I love the hotdogs, and that's about it. I came of age in the 1980s during great times for the Bears and Bulls, so my opinion of Chicago was formed when they were on top of the world, and we weren't. Plus the driving habits of cars with Illinois plates (in Wisconsin) was always an irritant. As for the city itself, there just seems to be so much space from the time you hit the tollway until you came upon something good. It's pretty hilarious that Chicagoans have a superiority complex to Milwaukee, yet to the cities on the East Coast, Chicago doesn't even register a blip.

There are a lot of things that make a place feel like a big city. . . Pro sports teams Live theater Art & history museums Interesting architecture Visible taxi service Developed independent retailers World class medical facilities Street vendors Mass transit Ethnic neighborhoods Multiple daily newspapers sold on newsstands Tourists and things for them to see & do My favorite cities: New York Miami Denver Washington, DC Minneapolis My least favorite: San Francisco Chicago Philadelphia

I like the Mets and Twins. And I think fans of the Royals deserve a much better fate than they've been given.

First off, to Razzzorsharp & Ennder, you're right. There are times when I try to sound clever, but I err on the side of smugness. It's too cutesy and really takes away from the content of what I want to say. That was a fair criticism of me by you. There are a few other responses that I'll comment on. . . Yea, he should have come out and said, "I'm sorry for taking steroids" rather than a vague and non-commital apology that everyone with a clue knew was about. That way he could have been suspended. YEA!!! Then I'd really fawn all over him. Sorry Gopher74. If he was sincere in his apology, and truly felt sorry for taking HGH, then he should have admitted what he did, apologized for that and let the chips fall where they may. Otherwise, it's not really a mature, adult apology. Brian Roberts and Jay Gibbons did a much better job of coming clean. Gagne's press conference lasted less than a minute and he didn't answer any questions. It was bush league. I don't know why you'd say this is his "resume with the Brewers". I listed those four things in chronological order, from the time he signed his deal through Opening Day. He signed on December 11; then on December 13 he was named in the Mitchell Report; then on February 18 he apologized for being a distraction--not to the fans or to baseball, but to his family, friends and teammates; then on Opening Day he goes single, walk, homer and blows the save. Then he bolts before facing the press. Maybe somewhere in the middle of those days, he represented himself better, and I'm just cherry picking the bad stuff, but those are the headline things. And you'd be hard pressed to find a guy who had a rougher debut as a Brewer Free Agent signing, from Signing Day through Day One. He signed a contract. Kinda a must, and sure not his fault. He signed a pretty substantial contract to pitch in high leverage situations. I actually liked the deal on December 11, and then was disappointed on December 13, and then got pretty angry on February 18. I want the Brewers to win, but I don't want to cheer for a guy who broke the law, cheated the game, and really whose whole career could be a myth. why I do I suspect that regardless of what he does, you're not going to like him? Moreover, why do I suspect that we're not going to hear much when he has a great month and hopefully half and then year? On this one, you're right to a point. I'm probably not going to like him. He made a really bad first impression, and unless he does some serious image rebuilding, I've decided on him. That's strictly his personal character stuff (and probably mine, too)--not baseball stuff. And I promise that I will respond positively if he is successful--if you promise to join me in ripping him if he has a bad month, half, and year. You may or may not care about the drug use. I really dislike it. Some people are indifferent toward it. Shouldn't your anger be more directed at DM and not Gagne for taking 10 million? Good point, sgtcluels. But at least Melvin has a track record with the Brewers. He's done some good things, and has largely been good for the franchise. Gagne hasn't done anything good for the franchise yet. And our expectations of what Gagne could do for the Brewers are based on what he did in the past for the Dodgers (& Rangers). How much of that was him, and how much of it came from his use of drugs? How can anyone know, since he's unwilling to talk? My biggest worry is that Eric Gagne has been signed to a pretty big contract to be the closer. If he stumbles and gives us 6 or 7 bad games in a row, how long is Yost going to keep running him out there? Is he under any pressure to use Gagne as a closer no matter what? What is a clean Eric Gagne really capable of? Can he throw 90? Can he get hitters out?

I do think it was in poor taste for Eric to not stick around to face reporters about the outing. Why would you expect anything else? Here is his resume thus far for the Brewers 1. Sign $10 million contract 2. Get named in the Mitchell report 3. Make a Giambi-like non-apology and refuse to take questions 4. Pitch terribly in his debut And yet people are fawning all over him. . .why do I suspect we'll be glad it's just a one year deal?

Following his inclusion in the Mitchell report, and his "apology", I wish Eric Gagne was off this team. I want nothing to do with him. I thought that once the season began, I'd feel differently. . .but I don't.

Wow--I really want to mock it, but I'm so impressed by the amount of time and skill required to build it, that I'm ashamed I still want to mock it.

How often do they have these events? Are the items sold by the team, or dealers? Do they have other memorabilia or is it all Game used stuff? I'm curious about this.

I like "The Time Waster". . .or "Bragging Rights", or "(Insert name)-o-tron, like if his name is Dan, it's Dan-o-Tron. . .Mine would be Jim-o-Tron" Or perhaps the "Nerd Machine" or "Girlfriend Replacement Device".

This is so sad for this child and her family.

I thought it was a terrific idea, and I'd like to see MLB do more in bringing the game to global markets. The fact is, fewer and fewer American kids are playing organized baseball. The best athletes are going to football and basketball. And MLB is hardly the National Pastime anymore. The NFL is clearly the most popular sport, with more interest than all the other sports combined. The World Baseball Classic was great and will be great again, and playing league games across the globe, to excited paying fans is a good thing.

I bet 90% of the people who has posted negatively about ESPN on bf.net watch ESPN and read espn.com all the time. So whatever ESPN is doing is working because you're all still watching. I fall into that 90 percent. I don't watch ESPN all the time, but I do watch it. Part of the problem is they're so big that they have pushed nearly everyone else out of the market. There really isn't any other television network that provides their sports coverage. I'm just disappointed in the quality of the coverage. I read ESPN.com, along with MLB.com and SI.com and some others--to find baseball news. I don't have to sit through 45 minutes of NFL offseason stuff before I get a baseball highlight. I watch the network, but I don't enjoy the network--and I watch it because they have a virtually monopoly on sports. They're never going to appeal to everyone. It was funny to read dvoiss's comments about not liking the sportswriters who are on air. For me, that's the only group that I really do like. Gammons, Kurkjian, Olney, Bob Ryan, Kornheiser & Wilbon. . .good stuff. But I dislike Lupica, Woody Paige, Mariotti, Steven A. Smith and Skip Bayliss, too, so. . .it's just a matter of personal taste. What I dislike most is the analyst-athlete who adds nothing to a broadcast. If he's not giving insider stuff, then why is he sitting in the seat? BBTN has too many of those guys who just say stuff like "Wow, he really got a hold of that one." That's valueless.

I agree with the Cowherd complainers. He seems like the annoying sports know-it-all in the bar who fills the air with nothing but declarative statements, and talks at you, instead of talking with or to you. It's not so bad to have someone to act the part of the rabble rouser, but the stuff he brings up just isn't that compelling. And how many times is going to tell stories about Las Vegas or strippers? Tiresome.

SportsCenter really isn't a sports news program anymore. It's yet another vehicle for them to cross promote programming and content within their empire. I long for the days of Tom Mees running scores and highlights. That show became must see tv because in the pre-ESPN days, all you had was 5-8 minutes of sports coverage at the end of the local news. They recognized that wasn't enough, and it was so innovative to have a 30 minute show with all the games every day. Now it's 60 minutes or more, with so much fabricated content. ESPN News is a little more tolerable, but even they veer from the old SportsCenter model to do player interviews and silly commentary.

I have lost a good portion of my hair by the nature of having all that masculine testoterone pumping through my body. Don't worry ladies, I'll protect you. . . I shave every three weeks or so, so at shaving time, I am clipping hair, not stubble. I neglected to advise brwrsfan earlier what every shaver knows, and that is to use a moisturizing lotion with sunscreen afterward. That's a painful sunburn. And it's also a good time of the year to shave your head, as your face shouldn't been especially tan. If you wait until summer, you may have a few days when you have mismatched color.

Feed them to a naughty mule?

First I prop the lawnmower up onto concrete blocks. . . Actually I've been doing the Wilbon for the past 6 years. I use a Wahl trimmer with no guard and down to zero, just like you, and then I lather up with shaving gel (Neutrogena works fine), and use a Mach 3 Turbo (with the lube strips, NOT the buzzing one). I start at the front, and "comb" back right over the top, back to the back of my neck. My head is more rounded than pointy, and a pointy headed guy might want to start a little off center. Anyway, you just do it enough times to develop your own technique. Make sure you get the part on the back of your head up near the ears. That's usually good for a few stragglers. You'd think that you'd hack yourself up a lot, but I seldom do. When you get a bleeder, though, it goes for quite awhile, so be careful.

Invader3K. . .Regarding Rockford. . . I was there from 1987 to 1998. . .Lived there for the first 15 months of that, and then moved to Delavan, continuing to work in Rockford. It may have changed in the 10 years that I've been gone. . . And in all honesty, there were a LOT of local Rockford folks who were born and raised there who really liked it. I just wasn't one of them. The Wisconsinites who I knew who were also transplanted there were not as pleased with th community of Rockford as the locals. My biggest complaint about Rockford was that there was a pervasive contentment with the status quo. There didn't seem to be any real sense to try something new, or to make improvements, either incremental or massive. It felt like it could have been 1960 when I was there. And the racial & socioeconomic gap was as severe as I found in Jacksonville, FL. To escape poverty, people would have to make a very, very tough go of it.

I'm in.

If you're making at least $300K per year and have the rest of your financial house in order, I'd say Manhattan is the only place to be. Bright lights, big city. Something for everybody and world class everything. It's very very expensive, so you'd have to be in a situation where money wasn't really a concern to really get the full NYC experience. That said, I have lived in the Milwaukee area for a good chunk of my life, also in Rockford, IL (extremely depressing), Delavan, WI, central NJ twice (6 years total), Jacksonville, FL once (3 years), and now Singapore for the past two months. All things considered. . .I love Milwaukee and will always consider it my home.

If you like eggwhites, like I do, don't throw the yolks into the garbage without verifying that the garbage bag is without holes. Egg yolks will indeed find there way to the bottom of your holey bag and drip into your garbage can. That happened to me twice this past week, as I was using the plastic grocery bags to line my small kitchen trash bucket.

Congrats to you, Pedro on doing a great thing. Very classy.

If you are dissatisfied with the service you get from your doctor, then you should find another doctor. I agree with slobberknocker. You have no obligation to keep seeing someone who doesn't give you the service you deserve. If you have an exam scheduled a month or so from now, I'd recommend devoting that month to making sure that you're doing all the "healthy" things you should be doing, so as to eliminate some of the stuff that a doctor would probably recommend anyway. As far as your energy is concerned, make sure that you sleep enough. Especially since you've got that dreadful weekend work schedule. You absolutely need to recharge, and it wouldn't be realistic to think that those regular double shifts don't take their toll on your body and brain. Also make sure you drink lots of water throughout the day. It's stuff that we've all heard hundreds of times (and I hate the boring taste of water, too), but water is critical to body chemistry. Don't overdo it with alcohol. Eat healthy foods. Apples, not potato chips. Vegetables, not doughnuts. And exercise. . . At the very least, you'll know that you're doing all that you can for your own health.

Well, MLB had apparently agreed to pay the coaches, so how is it the Red Sox who were holding MLB hostage? First of all, none of us know the facts on what was promised to whom. The Oakland staff doesn't seem to have had the expectations that they would receive the money, which is what got Francona's attention. Why would the Red Sox coaches expect it? Maybe the money was supposed to be MLB money, maybe it was supposed to be Red Sox money, maybe someone made a promise that he couldn't keep, maybe someone heard something that wasn't said. Who really knows. . . My point is that Schilling, Lowell, Varitek, etc. are under contract to play MLB games. They have a contractual obligation. It's not up to them to decide how much to charge for parking, or when to turn the beer taps off, or how much coaches and trainers get paid. Who among us has traveled on business, and then expected a 40 percent bonus because of a trip? And, according to baseball-reference.com, those three guys, the three who have been quoted in news stories have earned $190 million from MLB during the course of their careers. It comes across as odd to hear guys with that kind of bankroll complain about a financial decision that was made by their employer.