JoeHova

David Eckstein, Willie Bloomquist, Ken Griffey Jr., Juan Pierre, Brett Myers, Carlos Silva, Ryan Theriot, Derrek Lee, Derek Jeter, Chad Moeller, Carl Crawford, Jeff Suppan, Justin Morneau, Delmon Young, Jason Kendall, Scott Podsednik, Rick Ankiel, Yuniesky Betancourt, Rob Johnson, Mike Fontenot, Aaron Miles, Ryan Freel, Ryan Dempster, Jeff Samardzija, Bengie Molina, Jose Molina, Xavier Nady, Jim Edmonds, Torii Hunter, Andy Pettite, Jason Varitek, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Lowell, Julio Lugo, Adam LaRoche, Andy LaRoche, Casey Kotchman, Jose Lopez, Josh Beckett, Nick Punto, Brian Shouse, Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, Kevin Millar, Edwin Encarnacion, Austin Kearns, David Dellucci, Derrek Lee, Michael Barrett, Johnny Estrada, Paul LoDuca, Aubrey Huff, Cesar Izturis, Nick Markakis, Ty Wigginton, Felix Pie, Adam Jones, Mark Hendrickson, Rich Hill, Joe Crede, Carl Pavano, Gerald Laird, Adam Everett, Dontrelle Willis, Jarrod Washburn, A.J. Pierzynski, Doug Mientkiewicz, Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, Josh Fields, Mark Kotsay, Ramon Castro, Scott Linebrink, Jimmy Gobble, Mike MacDougal, Mark DeRosa, Jeremy Sowers, Matt Herges, Anthony Reyes, Zach Jackson, Randy Choate, Billy Butler, Mark Teahen, Mike Jacobs, Jose Guillen, Luke Hochevar, Kyle Farnsworth, Gil Meche, Jamey Wright, Gary Matthews Jr., Jeff Mathis, Brian Fuentes, Chris Davis, Ian Kinsler, Ryan Howard, Michael Young, Chris Young (CF), Marlon Byrd, Hank Blalock, Kevin Millwood, Eddie Guardado, Adrian Beltre, Miguel Batista, Jack Wilson, Bobby Crosby, Orlando Cabrera, Adam Kennedy, Rajai Davis, Daric Barton, Dana Eveland, Jimmy Rollins, Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino, Paul Bako, Greg Dobbs, Scott Eyre, Willie Eyre, Dan Uggla, Cody Ross, Chris Coghlan, Wes Helms, Alfredo Amezaga, Ross Gload, Jeff Francoeur, Nate McLouth, Garrett Anderson, Dan Murphy, Brian Schneider, Jeremy Reed, Angel Berroa, Emil Brown, Doug Davis, Elmer Dessens, Ryan Zimmerman, Alex Gordon, Corey Patterson, Ron Villone, Colby Rasmus, Ryan Ludwick, Adam Wainwright, Ryan Franklin, Kyle Lohse, Chris Duffy, Brad Nelson, Joey Votto, Laynce Nix, Jayson Nix, Bronson Arroyo, Aaron Harang, David Weathers, Geoff Blum, Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, Darin Erstad, Aaron Boone, Mike Hampton, Jeff Fulchino, Doug Brocail, Brandon Backe, Zach Duke, Brad Ausmus, Claudio Vargas, Clint Barmes, Troy Tulowitzki, Garrett Atkins, Jason Marquis, Travis Ishikawa, Barry Zito, Brian Wilson, Aaron Rowand, Randy Winn, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Kyle Blanks, Kevin Correia, Cla Meredith, Chad Tracy, Stephen Drew, Conor Jackson, Augie Ojeda, Tony Clark, Dan Haren, Jon Garland, Daniel Schlereth, etc. edit: Typing this out, I feel like I might have too many guys that I dislike.

Carlos Villanueva, Mike Rivera, Russ Branyan, Placido Polanco (arguably a star but I enjoy his oddly shaped head), Jack Hannahan, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Nelson Cruz, Mike Napoli (the last 2 are arguably stars but weren't projected to be when I started being a fan of them), Byung-Hyun Kim (arguably a star at one time, not now though). I guess I don't like many no-names on other teams because with the Extra Innings pack, you tend to get to hear every team's idiot announcers rave about all of their team's various scrubs, which gets annoying and turns me off of the guys who are getting praised and aren't actually good. My list of players that I strongly dislike is much, much, much longer. I guess I should try to not let homer announcers and fans get to me.

I'd leave Jenkins off and put Sheffield in his place. Of course, Sheffield was not that good in Milwaukee and never played RF for them but he's easily one of the best 5 players ever developed by the franchise.

I don't like having Melvin at #6. Too high a percentage of the payroll over the past few years has been devoted to dead weight.

I have no idea what this thread is referring to.

You're right wickedheat, an early version of the Brewers jersey did use block writing and say Milwaukee. An extremely early version. The 1901 Milwaukee Brewers (the franchise that is now the Baltimore Orioles) wore a jersey fitting that description: http://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/images/al_1901_milwaukee.gif edit: The Milwaukee Bears Negro League throwbacks that the team has worn a few times over the past few seasons also fit the description: http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/images/2006/03/29/fJl9cOXV.jpg

Wow, a Dutch speedskater missed a crossover in the 10,000 and cost himself the gold medal. He had the race won by 4+ seconds but forgot to change lanes. Wow. The Netherlands must be in shock right now.

Yes, that was less than compelling.

I think much lower than 4th. In addition to the big 3, I would say stock car racing and golf are definitely more popular. Tennis, open wheel racing and soccer have a case too. Then there are things where if there's a big event, there will be a lot of interest but it's hard to gauge just how popular they are overall like mma, boxing, figure skating, other olympic events, etc.

I'm not sure I agree. Any of the top teams/skaters could skate a flawless program if they did a bunch of single jumps and basic lifts and throws. In order to encourage skaters to do something more difficult, they have to weight the more difficult elements, just like in diving during the summer olympics. You can't really tell who should win just by looking at who skated the cleanest program because they may have skated cleaner because their program was much easier.

No, the ski jumping qualifying round was yesterday. The medal round was today and instead of showing it, they aired random interviews that nobody could possibly care about and then aired the jumping on tape delay. I'm not blaming NBC for the weather, I'm blaming them for idiotic decisions and ignoring the actual events.

Yes. I remember that it came up with Tim Duncan, who is from the U.S. Virgin Islands, and also when Puerto Rico made an attempt to recruit Carmelo Anthony (whose mother is Purto Rican) for their Olympic team. At those times, I recall hearing that once an athlete decided who to compete for, he couldn't later change to the other (unlike A-Rod in the WBC).

I always forget how terrible NBC's coverage of the games is. Here they are on the first day showing interviews with Wayne Gretzky and some stupid NBC commentator instead of showing ski jumping, which is already over. I accidentally found out the results on ESPN, stupidly assuming that because these games were in North America, NBC wouldn't use much tape delay.

This isn't true. Every sport except boxing allows professionals. The Olympics would be absolute garbage if the pros weren't allowed to compete. Does anybody ever wonder why guys like Jesse Owens only have 4 golds? It's because he had to turn pro and race horses in order to get some money to support himself. Or why Jim Thorpe was stripped of his golds? He had played a few minor league baseball games. Now a guy doesn't have to choose between being in the Olympics and being able to put food on the table, which is how it should be. It would be unconscionable for the Olympics to ban athletes from getting paid while they rake in all the cash. The Olympics used to not even allow people who were coaches or sports instructors compete because that meant they were professional athletes. The only people who could afford to compete more than once were European lords and ladies. Everybody else had to try to support themselves with the sport they devoted their lives to.

The opening ceremony was pretty tedious. It is weird to think about a guy having died there today. It almost seems like they should have canceled the ceremony but of course people are always dying and life always goes on. It's hard to know how to act around death. I don't think it's necessarily callous to enjoy something in the aftermath of a death but maybe it is. The problem with that though is that someone dies literally every second of every day. It's just that people who die in public places or ways tend to make people examine their own mortality. I don't know what the answer is about what to do after someone dies.

Yes. I read that the 12 schools in the CIC award 15% of all PhDs in the US. That's unbelievable and a testament to the academic strength of the Big Ten.

These amounts of money people are talking about in terms of TV revenue are a pittance. Wisconsin spends 3/4s of a billion dollars a year on pure research. Texas has a $16 billion endowment. People are making a mistake when they assume that these institutions will allow themselves to be debased for the sake of a few million dollars in football revenue. The overall picture comes into play for colleges that are this large and prestigious. The athletic departments are important for getting donors excited and so forth but every Big Ten college is arguably one of the top 50 universities in the world. No other conference can say that. Keeping that reputation intact will (hopefully) be an important consideration in who the Big Ten attempts to get as their 12th (and 13th and 14th) member(s).

I love the biathlon. My favorite winter event by far, just because of its incongruity. The rest of the events are generally weak and most of them barely qualify as sports. I still enjoy watching though.

Wow, I'm shocked Lincecum signed for that amount. I thought he would win his hearing for sure. Still, I guess it's smart to reduce risk sometimes.

It seems like some people are overreacting with the stuff about Corey stealing money. Teams win some, players win some. If the Brewers didn't think Corey was a good risk, they could have just non-tendered him. Instead, they decided that they would like to have him work for them at $4+ million per year. They're still getting a fine deal because this is about the market rate for a slightly below average player, especially one that still has upside (at least, judging by 2007). I think Hart would easily get more than this on the open market, which still makes it a win for the Brewers, although not as big of a win as they were hoping for. That said, it wouldn't surprise me if Hart went full Bil Hall this year so I wouldn't mind the Brewers cutting or trading him. I assume they are hoping he can re-establish some value this season but even if he does, I doubt anybody would give up much for him with only 1 year until free agency.

Academics. Texas wants to be taken seriously as an academic institution and it's easier to have that happen when you're in a conference with Michigan, Northwestern and Wisconsin than it is when you're in one with Kansas State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma. That doesn't mean they'd move if the Big Ten offered, but I think it does mean they would consider it.

I think the hate being heaped on Minaya around the web is a little gratuitous. Sure, he's not the best GM in the league but the Mets had a winning record in each of his first 4 years as GM. The team still has a lot of frontline talent. They could easily be back over .500 and fighting for a playoff spot again this season. I don't see how they're worse than the Brewers, for example. Minaya should definitely be scouring the waiver wire for help at 1st base but that team is not a bad team. 1st base (and RF, but they have Pagan for cover there) is really the only terrible position on the team. Catcher isn't great but with Coste, Santos, Thole and Blanco, it shouldn't be too far below league average. Their pitching is much like the Brewers in that pretty much everybody had a down year at the same time, except the Mets' malaise extended to the bullpen. I wouldn't bet on all those pitchers being quite that bad again. I think they could easily be in contention this year, especially if Johan is back to his old self.

Seems kind of hypocritical for the Brewers to be anti-stadium tax.

Uggh. Horrible.

Nice win. Never like to lose these showcase games on your home turf.