JoeHova

This isn't quite right. Crown Royal was first made in 1939 and was not available in the US until 1964. Somebody could have got it from Canada before that, but the 1857 date is the founding of Seagram's, not Crown Royal. Also, in looking around a little, they say that the Crown Royal bottles have subtly changed over the years, so you might be able to find out a pretty exact date by comparing. It seems that people on eBay are getting away with selling alcohol by claiming the value is in the collectible bottle (which may be true in some instances), not the liquor itself. I also found an interesting article that estimated the value of a half gallon bottle of 1950's Crown Royal as $75-$125. Yours look like fifths or 750 mLs to me, but it's hard to judge size from that picture. Here's another interesting article that says it should taste the same as modern stuff because it doesn't age like wine does. He says Canadian whiskeys are blended so that they keep a uniform taste from one generation to the next. He says the perception is that a bottle from 1951 tastes the same as one from 2005. He goes on to say that Crown Royal from the 1940's may be an exception to that rule and may bring double or so what a new bottle of Crown Royal would cost. There isn't as much stuff online about this subject as you would think, I guess because the prices are not very high compared to wine. It seems a lot of people want to know how much their old whiskey is worth, but there aren't many answers out there. I think that might be a bad sign. In fact, here's an article that says old Crown Royal is worth less than new.

The reason it's funny to me is because the only place I've ever seen Crown Royal advertised (besides a few magazines) is on the sides of liquor stores, usually alongside advertisements for Night Train or OE. I doubt 40 year old bottles of either of those things are worth much, which is why I cracked a smile.

Old Crown Royal is worth money? That's kind of funny to me.

As long as they don't bring in a guy like Mel Stottlemyre, it should be fine. Knowing how this offseason is going though, I expect he'll be announced soon enough.

I liked Craig, but he's one of those guys who is more fun to cheer for when he's not on your team, if that makes any sense.

I don't like this move if there is any idea this guy will be on the ML team next year. A .774 OPS for a ML 3rd baseman is nothing special and that's what he had in his best minor league season, which was his 3rd go-round at AAA. I don't see why he would be expected to become the next Chris Coste. Also, this better not affect the likelihood of either resigning Branyan or bringing in a long-term 3rd baseman.

Loewen is Canadian, if that helps http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif. It did, apparently, because the Jays got him. Why is Ned Yost IV reinstated from the inactive list? I thought he was coaching. Is he trying to pull a Gabe Kapler except in A ball? I don't see why the Brewers would want a 26 year old first baseman who can't hit taking up space on their low level teams.

The old design was the best, in my opinion, of any major newspaper, and I frequent most of the big ones' websites. The new one is just as bad as the sites most papers have. The old one was convenient and clear and well-lain out. The new one is none of those things. It's a shame, but whatever.

I also see the Bucks around 32 wins. If everything goes right, I can see them making the playoffs, but it's hard to project Villanueva or Bogut or Sessions to have a breakout year at this point. Still, I'm pretty excited for the season to start. Skiles is known to be a guy who has terrible rotations, so it will be frustrating to see Malik Allen, Francisco Elson and Tyronn Lue all on the court together, but it will also be fun to see Bogut, CV, Sessions, Mbah A Moute and Alexander improve over the course of the season. My biggest concern for the Bucks involves guys not playing out their contracts. Charlie Bell shamefully tanked last season after the Bucks matched his contract offer from Miami and Richard Jefferson appears set to do the same this year after the trade. The reports are that Bell won't do that again, but how can we trust that? If I was Herb, I'd give him the boot, even knowing he'd still get his money. Bell caused me to lose any respect I had for him with that pathetic display. Vince Carter in Toronto in 2004-05 is the only other time I can recall a player so egregiously not even trying. I'm really excited for the NBA in general to tip-off. My favorite players, Dwyane Wade and Yao Ming, both look to be healthy for the first time in awhile and both looked dominant during the Olympics (Yao looked a little rusty, but he was just cleared to resume basketball at the time). Houston could be a title contender this year even if the Artest acquisition doesn't work out and Miami should be exciting to follow with Beasley and Marion as Wade's sidekicks. Miami is total garbage aside from those 3, but I still see them making a run at the playoffs. Not sure if they'll get there barring a few trades, but it'll be entertaining as long as Spoelstra opens the throttle. Houston could use a better PG, but Alston won't kill you, despite his horrific shooting.

That was in 2008. In 2007, it was the opposite (though he did pitch well as a reliever for the first 3 months). CV is tough to figure out, I hope he puts it all together next season. He seems close to doing that, judging from his K/BB ratio as a reliever this year (4.4/1). He also struck out more than a guy per inning in 59 1/3 innings of relief. I think he can be much more valuable than his projection. Among the projections, I'm most excited for Prince, Braun, and Salome. Salome projects to have a 95-ish OPS+, which would be well above average for a catcher and a massive improvement on Kendall's 72 from 2008. That would be a huge help to the offense, as would having two guys with OPS's of .950+, as Braun and Prince are projected to have. Branyan was the only guy over .900 this year, and he only got 132 ABs. For some reason I'm afraid Salome is destined to go the way of Branyan and be an unappreciated player. That's probably more paranoia on my part, but it just seems like he's a guy where people (and teams) focus on what he can't do (be tall, throw out a ton of guys) rather than what he can, just like Russ. I really hope I'm proven wrong, and the September call-up from AA was definitely a good sign that I might be worrying unnecessarily.

I think he stays in MLB, now that it looks like he finally broke through. Of course, if Hanshin offers him a lot of money, maybe he'll take it because he's still a long way away from big money in MLB.

Today I saw an article that is related to this. It talks about how Wal-Mart is seeing a "disturbing trend" (the CEO's words) in payday related sales of baby formula and other necessities. People apparently have to rush out and buy formula and food right when they get paid, otherwise they can't afford it. Pretty distressing. link: http://www.reuters.com/ar...Name=businessNews&sp=true

I'd pick up his option. If the Brewers find somebody better through trade or FA, they could always trade him, a la the Yankees with Gary Sheffield a few years ago. Cameron is getting old, but other teams would definitely still be interested in him on a one year deal. So, either way, he should help the Brewers next year, imo.

Layaway used to be for people who couldn't get credit, but I never got why people didn't just save up for the item either. I guess the "sold out" thing could be a worry in some instances (Wii, certain clothing, etc.), and some people just aren't good at saving. The few times I've ever been in a KMart, I used to always notice a layaway counter, but other than that, I haven't seen much usage of it in the past 10-15 years. It's not nearly as bad as rental stuff though, that's an absolute scam.

If they hang a banner, they better hang one for 81 too. Also, I hope it doesn't say "wild card champions". Just say "wild card" and leave it at that. I personally wouldn't hang a banner unless it was a pennant or World Series though.

Sad to see Jack go, but I'm happy for him. It will be interesting to see what he can do in Seattle.

Owings only has one pitch he can throw for strikes on a regular basis and that is the fastball. He has an ok slider and has been learning a change up so maybe if those improve he'll become a decent pitcher. And that's all I was hoping for when I drafted him- an average or slightly above pitcher. His hitting is what intrigued me. I always like the idea of versatile players, whether it's a pitcher who can PH or a WR who can play DB.

My Micah Owings pick doesn't look so good right now because Micah tanked right after we made our picks. I still think he'll be good in the long-run though. I guess I should have went with Garza, which I was considering. Also, I was the only one championing Lowrie and that looks pretty good now.

It's been my opinion for awhile that Dial weights defense too much. Defense is very important, etc., but a lot of his results seem pretty far off. The effort is commendable, of course. It's just hard to believe that a first baseman (the least important defensive position, by far) could give back as many runs with his glove as the best hitter on the team gains with the bat.

His first two were his best, which is kind of weird. Nice list, it's very interesting. I'd say he's done pretty well, but that makes sense considering how many chances he was able to take with such a bad team. That's also illustrated by how few Brewers were claimed over the 6 years Doug's been here.

great, so now all the Saturday games will probably be blacked out. MLB is so stupid when it comes to their broadcast restrictions.

eh, that's not gonna happen. Maybe it could have happened 20 years ago if the poorer teams and the commissioner (and maybe congress) really pushed for it, but now there is no way the Yankees would give up their estimated $340 million in local television revenue or their $2 billion local sports network. By comparison, I just saw an article in SI that said the Brewers got $7 million in local TV revenue last year. The big teams will never want to lose that much of their advantage over the smaller teams, plus, they like having the actual cash as well.

The games are pretty much all on Extra Innings anyway. If this network is allowed to have Saturday afternoon games, that will fill in EI's one hole. I realize that MLB is unlikely to do that though, because Fox is presumably paying them to not broadcast Saturday afternoon games.

I'd prefer Davey Johnson out of the guys mentioned. I always liked him and I always liked the attitude his teams (especially the Mets) had, which was kind of a "we're going to do what we want and we don't care whether you like it or not" type of thing. I think that would fit well with guys like Braun and Prince. Macha sounds like he knows what he is doing, but I'd be worried about hiring anyone who inspired such unvarnished hatred. I'm not saying players have to be coddled, but generally, if everyone hates you, you're the problem, not everyone else. Showalter has the same problem, though to a slightly lesser extent. I mean, even the hard-ass of all hard-asses, Vince Lombardi, inspired love more than hate among his players. Same with guys like Parcells and Gregg Popovich. It's one thing to have players not always like you or agree with you. It's another to have them not respect you and hate you.

I don't get it, sungrasses, are you saying that "host families" don't actually host players in their houses? I had assumed it was like an exchange student type thing people had going on where a player stayed in a spare room or something. If they don't do that, what do they do? And I agree with thebruce44 that it seems stupid and shortsighted for the Brewers to be allowing things like what sungrasses described to happen. They should definitely make sure players have a place to stay and food to eat. Would it cost that much to build a 30-bed dormitory with a kitchen somewhere in town? Or at least have a block of rooms at some motel for the first week of the season until guys can find apartments. It is classless to have people living in the locker room.