danzig6767

I think the next round is managerial tactics. Teaching them a different version of "the book". Or maybe sending them a good game simulator for their gaming system and have them play a thousand games in the offseason. Ned Yost might still have a managerial job if he had been more interested in Stratomatic than Nascar. Related to that might be, how to get the most mileage out of your bullpen. There's got to be a better system than our best reliever only comes in in the ninth when we have a three run lead or less. Robert Yea i've long thought the typical closer role would vanish, but look what happened to all the stat guys who thought the same that the closer role made no sense. Yet, guys like Theo and Beane tried the closer by committee deal/less structured bullpen and after it imploded, they went right back to having and using a closer in the same fashion that all other teams do. It does seem like a dumb and to rigid of a way to use your best relief pitcher, but i'm skeptical that the typical closer role will be changing drastically anytime soon.

Holy crap, one dog on the hipster site looks just like my dog except he'd go crazy if i put anything on him http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxhoabOlKF1qb0fx9o1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0RYTHV9YYQ4W5Q3HQMG2&Expires=1265957908&Signature=T44vVKymc35tR7TqLKzHfRucMBM%3D My dog, but couldn't find the folder with recent pics that show a comparison better, but the above picture really does look just like my dog when both are at that angle. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/danzig6767/0730091155.jpg?t=1265872540 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/danzig6767/0729091727.jpg?t=1265872150

Yea he's the perfect mix for a contender in that he's a veteran, he's playing well, won't complain at all about playing time, and is an expiring contract. It will be interesting how Hammond handles him. Even though the Bucks should have fully rebuilded long ago and have frustrated me to no end by refusing to do so, long term it's probably in the team's best interest to trade Ridnour for say a first round pick. That said, the front office obviously put the roster together with the desire to make the playoffs. That has a somewhat realistic chance of happening, but Ridnour has clearly been the Bucks best player off the bench all year and often has played better than Jennings. Trading Ridnour hurts the Bucks chance for that 8th seed and the right to get slaughtered by the Cavs in the playoffs. It'll be interesting to see what direction Hammond chooses.

Bummer to hear. Love the show and as others stated, Phil was a favorite of mine. That said, the lifestyle of his being a boat captain which consisted of high stress, little exercise, not enough sleep, chain smoking, and i'd assume a poor diet all had to be brutal on his body.

When the team couldn't buy a jumper, why didn't Bo put Wilson back in the game for Jarmusz? I know Bo must like that Jarmusz doesn't turn the ball over and is a solid defender, but he couldn't create his own shot if his life depended on it and there were already 4 other jump shooters on the court with Jarmusz. I just wonder why though Bo won't give Wilson more PT when the offense gets stagnant, i can't fathom that Wilson is that much of a defensive downgrade from Jarmusz that Jarmusz has to get 30 minutes.

Don't bring brats, i have something guaranteed to be a hit and is very easy to make. Plus it will be different from standard brats. I got this recipe for italian sausage links that is fabulous and i generally don't make italian sausage links. For say a 5 pack of Johnsonville links you also need a can of diced tomatoes, a green/yellow/red pepper depending on your preference, olive oil, and garlic or garlic salt. I like green pepper best for this. First flash brown the sausages on the stove, but don't cook to long Put them then in a crock pot or slow cooker you have. Throw in a can of diced tomatoes, a sliced pepper of your choosing, about a half a cup of olive oil, and some garlic. Cook on low for a few hours and they get so tender that grabbing them with thongs can split them in half. The tomatoes and peppers go great on the sausage in the hot dog bun besides adding flavor to the sausage while cooking. I made a batch of 10 for a small gathering as my food contribution and everyone loved them, including my mom who isn't an italian sausage fan. Man they are delicious.

Yea the Big East is stronger than the Big Ten, but i don't think by a wide margin. Come the NCAA tournament time, i think Purdue and Michigan St. will prove to be very tough outs and could hang with anyone in the Big East. Wisconsin also so long as Leuer comes back. I'm an equal fan of both UW and Marquette, plus just a big college basketball fan overall, so i watch a lot of it. I don't think there is a great team in either conference, just some really good to good teams. Of the main guys in the Big East, Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, and West Virginia, i wouldn't be shocked if any of them got upset before reaching the Sweet 16. Same goes for Michigan St, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Of those 7 teams though, i do think Syracuse and Villanova are clearly the top two with the remaining five all being roughly equal. That said, for both being 20-1/22-1, they don't feel that good when i've watched them. They'll both be either 1 or 2 seeds, but they feel more like 3 seed type of teams that just happen to be lucky college ball is watered down this season. Kansas IMO will end up number one at seasons end and they aren't close to special. My gut hunch is come tourney time, we could see more big upsets than in years past featuring 1-2 seeds. This won't be one of those years where say the Elite 8 has six 1-2 seeds or three number 1 seeds in the Final Four.

Why? If you don't want to drive your car much, hey, more power to you. Nearly everyone i know likes the convenience of their car and have no plans on deviating from that. Trains run on rigid time frames and run in a rigid direction, cars offer the ability to adjust to changes in plans time wise or changes where you need/want to go. All of the inconveniences you spoke of are made up by the fact that I am never in traffic. In fact, I am posting this right now while I zoom into Chicago at 45 mph on a train. I have my feet up on a railing and my laptop on my lap. Tonight on the way home I will do the same and may enjoy a tall boy too.Outstanding for you. I honestly mean that. Not everyone though has the same life or job circumstances that you do either. I'm not some hater of advanced forms of mass transit because no question there are places in America where it's not a luxury, it's a necessity. In other places it can be somewhat of a necessity and also as much something that might be able to help grow that area of the country. I do have a beef though among some of the very pro-mass transit folks that like to harp on those who would just prefer driving their cars and thus that those people need to get out of their car liking "mentality" and instead start hopping on buses or trains. People can differ on what they feel is most convenient for them based on their life circumstances and/or whether they simply like driving their cars or not. To be fair though, no doubt there are some very strong anti-mass transit folks would treat pretty much any mention of light rail as nothing more than lighting money on fire regardless of the plan.

I don't know if laughably low will end up being the ridership numbers, but when i read about the numbers they project of about 22,000-23,000 riders a week, that just strikes me as very optimistic. If say anyone here was told they would get 25 grand if they guessed correctly on the over/under of the 22,500 ridership numbers the state projects, would anyone really take the over? Anyone? Would anyone take the over even if it was lowered to 20,000? I should as hell would take the under. Sometimes talk of light rail or mass transit overall can end up becoming strictly just a conservative/liberal situation where nearly all conservatives tend to be against it while liberals for it. There instead should be only an evaluation of if there is a strong need/demand for more or new mass transit options like light rail to justify the cost of both building and maintaining it. Each city or state along with the potential plan for it is it's own entity and thus comes with it's own pluses or minuses. So as for the Milwaukee/Madison connection, i'm just not seeing any strong demand or need for it from the public and that's the main reason i'm extremely skeptical that ridership numbers will come close to matching projections. Not only isn't this a high speed train, we in Wisconsin don't face traffic congestion problems anywhere near like other places in the country. Parking can sometimes be a hassle in Milwaukee and Madison, but not to the massive headache degree some cities cause. It's relatively easy for most here in Wisconsin to just get in their car and drive to/from Milwaukee/Madison without hassle so the vast majority will stick to driving their cars. I hope i'm wrong though about ridership numbers for the taxpayers sake so their yearly dollars for subsidizing it doesn't go way up. This is one issue where i'd glad to look back and be told, you were way off on that one. That's simply a lot of riders they are projecting though.

Yet another example of why the franchise has been stuck in muck for such a long time. You don't give players like him 6/yr deals.

Why? If you don't want to drive your car much, hey, more power to you. Nearly everyone i know likes the convenience of their car and have no plans on deviating from that. Trains run on rigid time frames and run in a rigid direction, cars offer the ability to adjust to changes in plans time wise or changes where you need/want to go.

I have some fear of this happening also because Edmonds in CF via experience would still be able to catch anything in his general direction, thus Macha could determine this to mean he's doing fine out there. I could live with Edmonds getting say a start a week in CF so long as he's hitting well, but that's it. A Braun/Edmonds/Hart trifecta in the outfield for extended stretches of games would be some terrible news for our pitching staff.

How can anyone be against this move? It's only a minor league contract and if Edmonds looks completely done in spring training, the team just lets him go. I hope Edmonds shows something because he could be a great bench option given he has some power, is very patient at the plate, and probably has the range left to be a good defender in RF and tolerable enough to start a few games in CF to give Gomez days off against some RH pitchers.

Keeping up with the analogy, I'd argue they bought a 150,000 house in an old suburb when some great new condos in a hip area were going for a similar price. Or something? Basically, they could have done better for similar money. Is Sheets really going to get much more than 5.25 mil? We could have had Sheets or Bedard instead of Davis and Hawkins. What is there to believe at all that Ben Sheets would be interested in pitching here again unless he had no other options?

Well, there is at least a chance that Parra improves quite a bit this season and if so mixed in with these two signings, the rotation should be quite a bit better. Gallardo also could pitch better than he did last season.

We didn't have King Felix and therefore we could not extend or him. You cannot compare this extension to Wolf or Suppan. Personally I think this is a horrible move by Jack Z. The Mariners are 1 injury away from being crippled for the next 5 years. High end starting pitching costs money and Felix is not only ace quality, he's young. If Jack waited another year to try and lock up Hernandez, it would have made it harder and more expensive to get him signed, or risk losing him. Fan Graphs http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-extension-for-felix

I used to love Letterman, but he lost his edge with ages as happens. I understand Conan's schtick and occasionally he would make me laugh, but never enough to make me a fairly regular viewer. Leno i liked as an interviewer, but didn't often find the rest of his show that funny. So over the years i just never became a regular viewer of any of the three late night shows. Instead, on nights nothing else was on, i'd see who the guests would be on each show. If any guest interested me, i'd not waste time watching the rarely funny monologues and pre-guest borefests. I'd just wait and then turn on the show when the guest came on i wanted to see interviewed. If the second guest didn't interest me, i changed the channel.

No way this is a 50 win team if you added a Ray Allen in his prime to the roster. Maybe around 40-42 wins, but this roster is littered with holes. They have a rookie PG playing extremely inconsistent basketball except for consistently shooting a terrible percentage. They don't have a starting caliber SG. They don't have a starting caliber SF. Ersan has some intriguing qualities for the future and has been solid, but at this current time, he's a below average starting PF. Andrew Bogut is a very good defensive center and can have some nice offensive games, but fives years in, Bogut still can't be counted on to provide consistent high quality games night after night. The bench stinks besides Ridnour. Jennings no question has a scoring mentality and i'm fine with that from a PG, but not if the PG is shooting under 40% nearly every night. I still have hope for Jennings and don't regret the pick at all, but he really needs to work on a few things going forward 1. Shot selection. Yea the lack of offense on the roster contributes to him shooting to much, but he's still taking way to many shots that aren't a good enough percentage to go in. 2. Penetrating the paint and dishing. To high of a percentage of his trips into the paint result in shots he misses instead of beating his man off the dribble and dishing to open players after defenses converge on Brandon. 3. Finishing inside when he shoots instead of passing. His jumper is better than i expected, especially from three point land, but he's terrible at finishing in the paint. Sure some of that is from being a rookie, his slight frame, and lack of calls by the refs, but it does have to improve greatly or he'll end up just struggling to meet expectations for himself. It's not a given either that Brandon with get better at finishing, former Buck TJ Ford never did.

I don't. I think he's lying yet again which would be beyond stupid.

Outside of hoping Gordan finally puts it together, that kind of bland and little upside lineup would make me barely watching by June.

I blame Melvin for Suppan and Gagne(I'll give him a pass on Riske since he got hurt) but not much else when it comes to pitching. I can see arguments for trading LaPorta for a lesser pitcher who had more years left or Hardy for a high risk pitcher instead of Gomez but they aren't no brainer type arguements. It really depends on what else was available and there is no way to really know.I agree that in general, the biggest key for any small market team pitching wise is to draft and develop it which has been a major short coming under Jack Z. Some of that the result of bad drafting and some bad luck with injuries to drafted pitchers. That said, there are other ways to acquire pitching besides the draft or free agency and Melvin hasn't been able to make shrewd moves in the trade market to acquire pitching even if it isn't an easy task given how valued pitching is.

Well, i went the refurbish route at Dell and got one with 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (3 DIMMs) Processor: AMD Athlon II X2 215 (2.7GHz, 1MB) 500 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) w/DataBurst Cache Genuine Windows 7 Professional For the price of 329 and free shipping which was pretty much the same price than if i bought a new one which had the processor you said stinks and the refurb came with double the RAM and a bigger hard drive.

My computer is older and slow, i won some cash in a football pool so i decided to get a better computer but don't want to spend a ton because i just mainly use my computer to surf the net. I'm not an online gamer or do anything intensive on my computer. The problem though is that i know very little about computers beyond turning it on. I did a little checking around in my 300-350 price range and saw these two, the Dell i'd upgrade to Windows 7 for 30 dollars because i was told Vista sucks. Which looks better to the computer savvy? http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&oc=DDCWTA1&s=dhs http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883147067&cm_re=recertified_hp-_-83-147-067-_-Product Thanks in advance for any advice

That frustrated me also. So many empty possessions that largely consisted of aimlessly passing the ball around the perimeter for 25 seconds. Then as the shot clock hit 10, someone would decide, hey we better hurry up and get a shot up which in most cases was a highly contested jumper with little chance of going in.

I agree about liking it as much or more the second time watching it, thus allowing to focus on on the bevy of fabulous acting performances. In fact, i've seen it three times now, twice at the theater and once on DVD. Greatly enjoyed it each time. Tarentino does such a wonderful job at casting his movies and the dialogue so enthralling that i in most of his movies can watch them multiple times while being just as entertained as the first viewing. Plus, i'll often find myself picking up a few things that i didn't really notice in the first viewing.