JimH5

We just got back from today's performance of Jackie & Me by the First Stage troupe at the Todd Wehr Theater downtown. Highly recommended baseball play about a kid who goes back in time to meet Jackie Robinson. If you've got kids who are interested in baseball or if you want to introduce them to the story of Jackie Robinson and race relations, this is a good show. I think they're going to run in for one more week.

Agreed. I'm generally a prude, but I don't see these spots as distasteful or objectifying at all. They're cheerful and cute, and the girl with the brown hair has a noticeable Wisconsin accent, which I find charming.

Agreed. The world is full of stuff that people thought was going to increase in value. Collector plates, commemorative coins, Frozen Tundra, Starting Lineup figures, special magazine issues, comic books, Hummel & Precious moments figures, Beanie babies, limited edition art prints. . . We must be wired in some way to think that things that we like and cherish now will be popular in the future. But when things are mass produced, there is a likelihood that stuff will wind up in someone's basement rec room, having little value except as a fond memory. Buy whatever you like and can afford, and enjoy it now. I wouldn't buy any bobbles with the assumption that they're an investment.

I think we basically agree on everything except the whole ".22 is a problem part". The rest of your statement is what I was getting at. If it's such a problem how do 90% (or whatever # you want to use, certainly a majority) of those college kids overcome it so easily? That's my only question. I think the ".22 is a problem" is my point--not exclusively, as there are others who are in agreement--but I was early in the thread to take that stance. So, I'll answer your questions from my own point of view. These are just my observations, I'm not a counselor or expert in addiction. When I say "anyone who reaches a .22 has a drinking problem", I don't mean to imply that they are addicted to alcohol, or that they must undergo rehab to fix the problem that they have. Most college kids grow out of it. They no longer have the mindset that they have to be blitzed to have a good time. Or that they are really looking forward to getting hammered. Or that they like the feeling of drunkenness, because life is better when they have a buzz. Drinking 12 beers isn't better than drinking 2 or 3. It's a sign that 3 wasn't enough for you, and you had to have the next 9 to really reach an adequate level of happiness. If you had a friend who insisted on eating 3 pizzas and 2 dozen wings 10 times a year, nobody would object if you declared that he had an eating problem. I get that it's a common part of our culture to drink until we're drunk and share the stories afterward. But it can be both common and a problem. I've got family members and friends who couldn't imagine a night out without drinks. They can't imagine drinking and stopping before they get drunk. I don't know if they have a physical addiction or not. It's just that it's never dawned on them to not get drunk. That's the cultural part that's troublesome. But it's not that way everywhere. With Gallardo, I called for the Brewers to put him on the DL and send him to rehab, mostly because of the investment they have in him and his role as a representative of the team. His situation as a public figure and expensive contract if different than what most of us have in our lives. Not everyone who blows a .22 is an alcoholic. But to get to that, they had to drink a lot, and that's the problem.

2 guys are drinking and get caught driving. One guy is .20 and shows little, if any, impairment while the other guy is .10 and can't even stand up. Is the .20 guy "worse" than the .10 guy? I guess I understand where you're going with this, but if I may, I'd like to reserve the right to hate both of these hypothetical gents. 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? I don't think being out late is a problem, really at all for these guys. They have lots of free time and weird work schedules. But I think anyone who ever drinks so much that they get to a .22 BAC does have a problem. Understand that I'm 50 and not 25, so I have different sensibilities than I did at 25. I also don't expect everyone to agree with me. Drinking to reach a .22 requires what? A dozen beers? I believe a dozen beers is too many, even if I admit to doing that when I was in college. Perhaps you see that as hypocrisy on my part. I see it as developing maturity--but again, we don't have to agree on that. He also apologized and accepted responsibility for his actions. What else can he do at this point? He could vow to not ever do it again. He could speak to schools about the danger of drunk driving. He could donate money to pay for taxi service for people who drink too much at Summerfest or Brewers games. He could do PSAs promoting sobriety. With his celebrity and his salary, he really could do a lot. He's probably the most recognizable person of Latin American heritage in the state. He could really make an impact on the whole community, but the Latin community especially. This is a really great opportunity for him and the team.

I don't believe that is true. It's possible that it's true, though it's also possible that it's not true, so I stand corrected. Alcohol enters the bloodstream mostly through the stomach and small intestine, so it's very conceivable that he had a last drink, and his BAC peaked at .22, after leaving the bar. He was stopped pretty close to the bar, so it's possible that he was stopped while at his peak BAC, before his body began to process the alcohol. Thank you for making me rethink that part.

In my mind, there is a difference between being an alcoholic and having a drinking problem. I don't have any reason to accuse him of being an alcoholic, but I think even this one incident is enough to indicate that he has a problem. I think he has an unhealthy or an uninformed relationship with alcohol that has now proven itself to be dangerous to him and the community.

Some are probation holds, child support warrants, any number of reasons. I added this to my post above... And yes, Yo was obviously impaired but you seem to be incensed that he was at .22. Would you be somehow less incensed if he had blown .09 and showed the same impairment? And if so, why? I would be less upset with a .09 than with a .22, because it takes more than twice as much drinking to get to a .22 than to get to a .09. You don't get to a .22 without first getting to .09, and then .10, and then .11, and then .12, and then .13, and then .14, and then .15, and then you're at .16, and then .17, then you get to .18. Then after that, you're at .19, and then you would blow a .20. And then a .21, and then a .22. And we don't know if he stopped there, or if he reached .22 on the way down from a higher number. So it shows terrible judgment on his part to drink so much that he'd get to a .22 mark. And if he was drinking at Leff's the whole time, they have a responsibility to the community to not let people get that drunk. (Understand there is no indication yet that he was there the whole time.) He was driving while impaired, and drinking in excess led to that impairment.

My wife books people into jail on a regular basis that are at .4 or higher and you'd never know they were drinking if you didn't smell it on them. Yes, these tend to be 'career' drinkers, but the point remains, .22 is not a measure of drunkenness. There IS no way to determine drunkenness by amount of alcohol consumed. It simply cannot be done. There is no metric. Tolerance, body mass, body mass composition, metabolism, intestinal makeup (length/health/composition of duodenum), liver function, among many other things all factor into how alcohol affects an individual person. And how is it that they end up being booked into jail, if they haven't done anything to indicate their drunkenness?

There are people out there that can be at .4 (5 times the legal limit) and walk and talk perfectly No way. The only people who can mask the effects of alcohol at high levels are those who regularly consume alcohol at high levels. But the effects (affects?) are still there. Your judgment, reaction time & coordination are all affected. Gallardo wouldn't have been pulled over if he didn't tip off officers by his behavior behind the wheel. And Nicholson's point about consuming 12 drinks or 16 or whatever. . .there is never a time when that amount of drinking is a mature, healthy way to use alcohol. Binge drinking is problem drinking.

Everyone who gets drunk doesn't have a drinking problem and it is really easy to not realize how much you've drank especially if you are doing shots etc which tend to hit you hard when they do hit. I agree that driving while drunk is awful and when I go out I make it a point to not drive even if I'm just having a beer or two. But I would never suggest sending him to rehab over this unless the team has seen he is doing it constantly or something. He wasn't drunk. He was drunk enough for himself and you and me combined. He was caught at .22, and unless he was drinking in the car, that means at some point, his BAC was higher than that.

There wouldn't be a college open outside of Utah if everyone who blew a .22 went to rehab. Small sample size alert. He got busted once. He's not a college student. He's older and should be wiser. And I hope the police in Wauwatosa investigate Leff's Lucky town to see if he was over-served there. Servers in every bar have a responsibility to cut people off when they are visibly intoxicated.

Driving under the influence is a terrible thing. He's deserving all the criticism he gets and more. But even drinking enough to get you to .22 is a sign that this guy has a problem with alcohol. Put him on the DL and send him to a rehab clinic.

In truth, I haven't thought about Lumpy in many many years, but the Leave it to Beaver gang was part of my childhood (in reruns) during the 1970s. I liked dimwitted Lumpy. There was probably a guy like that in every school & neighborhood. A big, dopey hang around kind of kid who you were somewhat forced to have a friendship with, just because of circumstances. Frank Bank did a good job of bringing that kind of kid to the tv audience. Glad that he lived a long-ish life, unlike many child actors. May he rest in peace.

I have also dropped Buster. Way too ESPN-centric for me. And too many athlete interviews and awkward laughter. Besides the ones you mentioned, I listen to Keith Law's podcast and MLB.com's Fantasy 411 with Mike Siano & Cory Schwartz. Heyman and Ken Davidoff have regular appearances with WFAN's Steve Somers. And Gammons, Ed Coleman (Mets) and Sweeney Murti (Yanks) are regular contributors on Mike Francesa's podfeed. I'm back on the Rany & Joe one, too, though I can only take so much Joe Sheehan. I subscribe to his newsletter and admire his intellect and insight, but on the pod, he just seems socially awkward. A lot of those guys, Bill James, Law, Jay Jaffe, Sheehan, Calcaterra. . .the new stat thinkers are tough on the ears. I miss Eric Karabell's daily pod, though it seems he's going to be a regular contributor on the Matthew Berry podcast.

There is no "we". There is only a "they". And right now, they stink. Minus 27 in run differential, 2nd worst only to San Diego (minus 28). A complete lack of depth to handle times of injury. A minor league system considered among the bottom 10 in baseball. No first round draft pick this year (I guess that will only prevent them from choosing another flameout non-prospect). A looming case regarding their best player and a possible suspension. And I've got a fresh coating of snow outside.

Not sure about the Beckett holders. I have used Tru-Vue conservation clear glass for many years and have been very pleased with the results. It has UV protection and you can get it at most framing shops. It's not their most expensive product, so there is some glare, but that doesn't matter much to me. I am currently using Bridgetowne Custom Framing and Gallery in Wauwatosa, though I've also gotten it at Fast Frame, and mall frame shops. I think it's pretty much a standard product for framers. I have a number of autographed 3x5s and other signatures on white paper, each framed with a photograph on acid-free matting, behind that glass. The earliest pieces I had done were at least 20 years ago in the early 1990s, and they're still bold and legible. Some of the earliest pieces were in a room with afternoon sunlight for 5 years. They still look great, so I think the glass does the trick.

Agreed, and I have an X and a Y, at least the last time I checked. We don't need to cheer for guys who beat women.

Interviews and press conferences are only interesting when someone interesting is being asked interesting questions. And I think we're 0-for-2 on that. I subscribe to the Journal/Sentinel and don't remember anyone ever criticizing Melvin, Roenicke or Attanasio. They didn't report on K-Rod's domestic assault until the season was over, a month after the incident. Is there anyone in the room who is going to ask anything that will cause a stir? Plus, Roenicke is a boring guy. He might be fine in the clubhouse, or inspiring play on the field, but to me, he's about as vanilla a personality as you can have. . .compared to Bobby Valentine, Jim Leyland, Charlie Manuel, Ozzie Guillen, he's dull tv. I sort of like the instructional stuff. Those segments impress upon me that baseball skills are difficult to master. While they often have info that I didn't consider before, I'm not really ever going to play or coach, so it's more a matter of being nice to know. For me, I'd rather they do a quick recap of other action in baseball, maybe highlight the top fantasy players that day, talk about pitching performances of guys the Brewers are going to face their next time around, show some game highlights, talk about what happened in the Brewers minor league system, do an injury update, and sign off.

Thanks DocLuna for the research. It's possible to find signed items for most if not all of the Brewers. It gets to be problematic when you have to have them all on a type of thing (gum card, SS baseball, 8x10, etc). Some Latin players are pretty scarce (Pena, Polidor, Suero), as they died young and didn't do many (if any) US card shows. I have a Dan Thomas hand written & signed letter. That was the most difficult signature for me to buy considering the circumstances of his life and death.

If they were for charity, I think we would have heard about it. I suspect it's just him clearing out stuff that's valuable and using the money himself. Nothing wrong with that.

I admire the creativity and craftsmanship of your device. I am equally horrified at the thought of cleaning out the contents of your device when you get home. How do you prevent it from sloshing around? What do you do with it when you go into the stadium? Isn't standing in line at the Porta-john less of a hassle than dealing with transporting human waste? Do you do your business in an RV? In a tent? I'm not a complete Felix Unger on this. I go camping every year, and have done my business in pit toilets before, and in campers, too. I've cleaned up dog crap and cat litter boxes, I've changed thousands of diapers. But with an RV, there is a sanitary station, where you empty the contents, and flush the tank with water. There are chemicals in those porta-johns to address the odor. I can't imagine any situation where I would not rather walk across the parking lot and wait in line vs. lifting the lid of that top, doing my thing, and then dealing with it after the fact. I'm glad it works for you. But I will be one of the schmoes standing in line, waiting for the little red wheel to turn from red to green.

People whiz into a bucket of cat litter?!? C'mon. Seriously, is this a newer version of WOAH SOLVDD, where it was really just some kind of inside joke that I never got? How is this stuff happening all around me and I'm clueless to the fact?

I didn't know BYOP was a thing. I guess it makes sense if you're in a big group. I'm not a tailgater, but as a parent of a kid who can't dance around for 20 minutes, I agree with the need for more restrooms. They should have physical structures built for those in the parking lot, like the buildings at state parks. Porta johns shouldn't be the permanent plan.

I was studying Yuni's splits the other day and it is remarkable how much better he is earlier in the count, and how much worse he is late in the count. He's too old to change his ways, so he'll be a hacker until they take his jersey away. And while it seems so much better to work a pitcher and extend the at bats, that strategy doesn't work for him. He doesn't get better with more looks.