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I think Weezer could be part of a Super Bowl ensemble, but I'm not sure they're popular enough to warrant their own halftime. And I say that as someone who likes Weezer (but doesn't have cool points for liking them before anyone else knew who they were.) http://en.wikipedia.org/w...uper_Bowl_halftime_shows I always have to pull up a list at this point to see who hasn't played the super bowl. The one name that I've brought up in post-mortems for the past few years is Beyonce....if only because I'm amazed she has not done it yet. (...Plus or minus Jay-Z, who I already have penciled in as part of the "New York" game in 2014.) The problem with most of the contemporary bands: if they've become popular enough to build a SB halftime around them, most contemporary music fans don't like them. I look at Nickelback with as much (if not more) disdain than I do the BEP, but I could see them doing being considered a draw (albeit one lambasted after-the-fact, just like this year). Katy Perry would have the audience cheering for a wardrobe malfunction. I hate myself for even having to mention the Bieb here....but he's fairly low-risk right now. Eminem is probably a bit too risky for the NFL given some of his back catalog, but he's also been around long enough that I don't think he would embarass the league or the sponsors. Bring in 3-4 artists who align with varying tastes (which was the intent behind having Slash and Usher show up this year), give them each a song or two, and have some sort of collaboration in the middle. If you can't get a U2 to perform every year, then playing for different demographics is the way to go.

Gaga is exactly the type of performer that the NFL would shy away from....with good reason. She is as much performance art as musical performance. I think it was during the VMAs (Mtv's music awards) last year that she ended her performance suspended by wires, bleeding fake blood from the chest. It's the unpredictability of artistic freedom that's the problem. The appeal is there, but there's more than enough danger to off-set that appeal.

I didn't even comment on the halftime show....since I've come to the conclusion that it's bound to suck. I knew I hated the Black Eyed Peas, but I had only hoped that the disdain for the group would be half as widespread as the negative reviews for their performance this time around. My proof that no one who likes the BEP actually listens to the BEP: I haven't heard one person note that they removed the reference to the C.I.A. as being akin to domestic terrorists when performing "Where is the Love?" during the game. I at least give the NFL credit for trying to find a relevant, current band for the first time in a long time. Here's hoping for a Foo Fighters / Killers / Paramore / (your preferred band here) performance next year.

It goes hand-in-hand: if you are going to 'Diva up' the National Anthem....you can't screw it up at the same time. She screwed it up.

I wonder how many people saw the Terra Nova commercial, saw the one guy, and thought it was some sort of spin-off / sequel for Avatar? Liked the Cap / Thor ads, but I'm a sucker for the Marvel movies. The doritos 'dust' ad certainly caused a reaction from everyone watching....just not sure it was positive. I appreciated the Groupon commercials riffing against your expectations. NFL Network does 1 SB ad / year, and they're always creative. This year was no exception. Darth Vader was probably the winner for the night; honorable mention to the Snickers / 90s comedians ad.

Looking at the names, Escobar would have been my value bet (before his time with the Angels, he was one of the players Gord Ash wouldn't trade for Fernando Vina...so our organization should have a long-term read on him), but he's 34 and has pitched 5 innings in the majors over the past three seasons.

TiVo...but that's probably not what you're asking for.

I expected him to do it...just didn't expect it to happen as a Freshman.

After seeing Scott Pilgrim more than a few times since last seeing P-Rec, it took me a second to remember that April doesn't wear glasses. - "If you're trying to tell me something, I do not know what it is because you will not call me back" - Absolutely loved the Bob Knight look for Ron as basketball coach; the pyramid just comes too close to Dwight Schrute hyper-seriousness for my liking. (Aside from 'Romantic Love,' there's not enough Duke Silver there to balance things out.) - Leslie tossing Jerry's painting into the lake is just pitch-perfect. - Loved that Tom's explanation for wearing women's shoes included the fact that no one could tell the difference....immediately after Ron called him on wearing women's shoes.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/01/17/ron-swanson-parks-and-recreation/ In honor of P-Rec's return this week, part one of an interview with Nick Offerman.

It's a bit of a cop-out, but I'd like to see the club retire # 601, in honor of Hoffman.

A Brewers player will get caught stealing home plate in a ST game, prompting a 20 page thread over the value of stolen bases.

The one place where I take issue with a lot of this analysis is that a lot of people seem willing to only look at the defensive component of WAR. If Betancourt costs the Brewers 15-20 runs on defense, but his offense gives the Brewers an additional 15-20 runs on offense over a replacement level shortstop, that hurt is mitigated. Betancourt is, based on appearances, a replacement-level shortstop (+ 0.6 last year, -0.5 WAR for 2011 based on fan projections at Fangraphs). Considering he's only had a negative WAR once in his career (2009), he's probably better than that, paticularly if the +7 change in Fielding (from '09 to '10) is indicative of the player making an effort to improve. Would I like a player that's better? Absolutely. Is the team dead in the water if the Starting SS in 2011 is only able to perform as well as the starting SS in 2010? Not based on all the improvements around him. Getting good seasons out of the players already on the roster seems far more important to me than whether the Brewers bring in a 1.4 WAR player to replace Betancourt (Prince Fielder dropped 2.8 WAR from 09-10).

We've crossed fingers for you during the highs and the lows. Your ability to work your way back to playing baseball at the highest level reveals a good deal about your character. Wherever you take the mound next, we'll be rooting for you (unless the boys from Milwaukee are up at the plate).

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-obit-lajoie He'll always be remebered (by me) as the guy who threatened to quit his job if the Brewers didn't draft Prince Fielder.

Press conference? Probably not. Will Greinke be one of the centerpieces of Brewers On-Deck (1/30/2011, a week or two before single game tickets go on sale)? Absolutely.

Genesis - Tonight, Tonight, Tonight Yellowcard - Lights and Sounds Vertical Horizon - You're a God Simple Plan - Shut Up Def Leppard - Animal Vampire Weekend - Giving Up the Gun Kings of Leon - Use Somebody Def Leppard - Foolin' The Flys - Got You (Where I Want You) Caesars - Jerk It Out (which I bought based on SSX 3....not the iPod commercial!) Blink 182 - Always Lonely Island - J**z in My Pants Foo Fighters - Wheels Def Leppard - Two Steps Behind Saliva - Raise Up White Stripes - Seven Nation Army Rick Astley - It Would Take A Strong Man The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Impression That I Get Paramore - Fences Def Leppard - Armageddon It Blink 182 - D***it The Killers - Don't Shoot Me Santa Duran Duran - Come Undone Sara Bareilles - Gravity The All-American Rejects - Move Along I've seen a lot of clumping on my iPod Touch recently, so I shouldn't be surprised that 4 Def Leppard songs showed up out of the 578 tracks available for shuffling. (I was pulling for Cee Lo Green to make the list at the end, so I would have to cuss filter a third song.)

Football players rarely have to play on both offense and defense, as opposed to MLB players (excluding pitchers & DH's in the AL). Gomez gets chances to prove (or, rather improve) himself on offense because he's such a good player defensively. The best NFL comparison I can think of is the Tight End who gets the job based of his ability to block rather than his pass catching ability; the MLB equivalent of a Donald Lee. It's an important part of the game....just not the one that shows up in a box score.

...not to mention the willingness of that bat to take a bench role, as Gamel's role with the 2011 Brewers would be - in essence - the same one that Eric Hinske turned down in order to re-sign with the Braves.

Just to keep the thread alive, I actually managed to knock out another game on my XBox 360 pile of shame: Batman Arkham Asylum. Very well-put together game, and I'm not a DC Comics guy (although I did grow up during the era of the Fox animated series, the voice acting from which was largely transplanted into this game). Not every aspect clicked perfectly for me (I could have used 1-2 fewer Scarecrow sequences, and I gave up on the Joker challenges in order to make sure I finished the game), but I was glad that I snuck that game in before.... Cataclysm. It's like Blizzard took everything that worked in their previous incarnations of WoW (particularly the previous expansion), and made the entire experience work like that. The new leveling areas are a visual spectacle, including an undersea portion that gives the game a 3-dimensional feel (in terms of x-, y-, and z-axis movement, not as in things popping out at you, or wearing special glasses). The dungeon experience from levels 80-85 even feel more difficult than they have previously; it's very easy for a character to die if they aren't paying attention to what they're doing. Additionally, I am equal parts thrilled and mortified at the announcement of a new SSX game next winter. SSX Tricky is the first game I bought for my Gamecube; SSX 3 is my "stranded on a desert island" game; the music, the characters, the personality, the controls, and the just over-encompassing fun of that game are almost infinitely replayable. I'm actually thinking about trying to track down a PS2 version to play upscale in my PS3 (which is old enough to still have PS2 backwards compatability), I love it that much. That being said, the 2 games in the franchise to have come out after SSX 3 were both seriously flawed, and the reveal trailer for the new game (SSX: Deadly Descent) seems like a tonal mismatch for the franchise that I loved in its heyday.

Guthrie has been remarkably consistent (3 consecutive seasons over 200 IP, 110-120 k's (about 5 per 9 IP), solid WHIP), but it's a tough sell to make a 31 year old the centerpiece of a Fielder trade. I can't imagine that Baltimore would trade 5 years of Matusz (175.2 IP, 4.30 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 7.3 Ks/9IP...and he's a 23 year old lefty!) for what could turn out to be a 1 year rental of Fielder. Jacob Arrieta did not have as remarkable a rookie season (100 IP in 18 MLB starts, 4.66 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 4.66 K/9, will be 25 by Opening Day), which at least opens the door to his being available. (Edit: Just noticed that the Brewers actually drafted Arrieta in the 26th round back in 2005, after 1 year at Weatherford College, before he transferred to TCU. He was drafted by the Orioles in the 5th round in 2007. That probably explains why I recognized the name.)

No, but it doesn't help either. Hamilton was known before his "problems" for his work ethic and he's still known for it now. Took Hamilton a LONG time and good luck to come back. I'm not saying that Lawrie's a train wreck waiting to happen, I just think he should listen to another comp of his, failed prospect Chad Hermanson.... Not to mention, Hamilton was 2 teams removed from the one that drafted him before he even reached the majors. After having been out of baseball for 3 seasons (2003-05), Josh was a Rule 5 pickup by the Cubs, who sold his contract to the Reds the same day. Tampa Bay would have received far more in value had they dealt Hamilton while he was still a prospect. Not a good example.

I'll add in one more: 4) Marcum pitches well for the Brewers in 2011-2012 (60+ starts, ERA under 4, 13-18 wins/year, add your stats of choice here) 1 & 4 are the most important to me. The one thing that stands out as a question mark for me is Marcum's high BB/9. For a pitcher who relies on hitting the corners and getting guys to swing at pitches outside the zone, I'm always concerned about them getting hammered should they start to lose command. In his last two seasons before TJ surgery, Marcum averaged about 2.87 BB/9 (higher than the career rates for guys like Steve Woodard and David Bush, for what it's worth); last year he was down to 1.98. Granted, the walks didn't seem to hurt him that much in previous years, but I don't know how repeatable his 2010 season will turn out to be. Much like the Sabathia trade worked because of how well he performed, Marcum pitching like a #2 starter would make this deal a decent one. I don't think that the difference between Weeks and Lawrie is likely to be significant (although Lawrie's 20-yr old season in AA compares reasonably well with Weeks' 21-yr old season in AA), and Weeks' plate discipline and dedication to improving his defense are characteristics which make him a good fit in Milwaukee (particularly given the team's need for a leadoff hitter). Extending Rickie makes too much sense for it not to happen. On the whole, I'm okay with the deal as long as one of those 4 things take place, but I'm hoping for 2-3 of them.

Yes and no. I will certainly admit that the TV watching environment in a big box retailer, favors alteration of certain TV settings ('torch mode' as referenced above), and that most retailers will use those settings to their advantage...usually to promote store-brands (e.g. Insignia, Dynex TVs at Best Buy), or bigger, higher-priced TVs. Issues with image quality / processing still show up on the display floor. If a cheaper, major manufacturer set looks better than a more expensive / store brand TV, that can be reassuring. You can also get a sense for geometry issues with the sets (which was a major concern when I was buying a few years ago; might be a thing of the past now). A few weeks ago, I was looking at a Big Ten Network football game on a 60" TV at Sears (while waiting for an oil change). The artifacting was so noticable (fuzzy areas around the players, largely an artifact of the Cable TV compression) that I had to ask the attendant if I was watching the HDTV feed (it was). Live sporting events or action movies are great tests of picture quality, since there is a lot of movement on-screen. One other thing you'll notice, when looking at refresh rates: since most broadcast content only has a refresh rate of 30 or 60 Hz, people / objects in motion on a 120 / 240 Hz screen tend to stand out more against static backgrounds (something I have heard referred to as a 'soap opera' effect). Most sets have options you can turn on to mitigate this effect, but it's something that really starts to bother me when looking at newer sets. There are also a few, slightly superficial issues that you can find out in-store as well. - Do you like the layout of the remote, and can you find all the features you'd want to use on the TV? (Sounds silly...but unless you're planning to use a universal remote, you're stuck with the one they give you.) - Does it have a Digital Audio Out (in case you want a surround system down the line)? - EDIT: (Knew I forgot something!) Does the TV have a QAM tuner? This special feature in some TVs can give you access to HD versions of your local broadcast channels - and possibly a few others - without a digital cable box or CableCARD device (like a TiVo). Depending on how you plan on using the TV, it might not be a deal-breaker....but it's certainly nice to have. Be sure to do all the reading, like bruce mentioned (I definitely recommend the AVS forum as well), but don't pass up the opportunity to get eyes-on with your intended TV model before you buy.

The thread in which we try to predict whether Josh Gasser will get his first triple double before or after his junior season ...and everyone in the state circles December 11, 2010 on their Calendars (for that all-important UW-M @ South Dakota State Jackrabbits game, and not the other thing). Since the season is already underway, and I don't see a thread, I took it upon myself to start one.