ninja33

Forget MLB.tv, why isn't the game on the baseball package with Direct TV? same reason. FOX has exclusive national rights on Saturdays between 4 and 7 or 8 EST...so any game broadcast during those times (i.e. the MLB on FOX games like today) are blacked out in the mlb.tv or extra innings packages. been that way forever, and it still is for some reason.

Only two games in, and it's time for my annual mental breakdown due to MLB weekend blackout rules. Good old exclusive national rights for FOX on games that are broadcast regionally so I get nothing on MLB.tv. And good old MLB coverage maps...the atlanta area gets DET/BOS and the rest of georgia gets the Brewers game. Ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as the dakotas each getting a different game, or Fairbanks getting the Angels game while Anchorage gets the Red Sox game. http://www.the506.com/mlbmaps/ Well it's about an hour and a half to Macon, I suppose I should get moving

i think that's the type of deal anyone would want their team to make. unfortunately the nets already have a center with injury problems and the bucks don't really have another piece that warrants a potentially high lottery pick. Of course Gerald Wallace probably doesn't warrant one either (although he is a much better player than "a guy who gets 13 and 7").

actually, the site i was looking at with TS% left out quite a few players (must have had a high threshold to qualify), so it made the numbers seem lower. pulling up hollinger's stats on ESPN shows a more substantial list, and I will retract the "efficient" statement. I still like the trade relative to the rockets offer.

what is the average for guards? I understand that building your team around 2 guards that shoot a lot with average (ellis) or below average (jennings) efficiency isn't the way to go about things. But my point was that Ellis can score efficiently for a guard, and I stand by that. I would guess that 54-54.5 number is bouyed by a lot of F/C.

Ellis averages 5 FT, which is 27th in the league this season. That is 12th among guards, and 4th among shooting guards. I think many people are underestimating how talented he is. They see a 43% FG% this season (which is equal to kobe this season, for what that's worth) and assume he's just a guy who jacks up 18 footers all day, but don't see the career 46.5% number. That number is elevated due to his ridiculous 07-08, but he's still probably a 45% shooter. Which would be #5 among SG this year. The guy can score, and outside of this year he's done it fairly efficiently for a guard. Maybe getting out of a bad situation playing 40+ minutes a game as the only guy who can score on a bad team will get him back to that. Or maybe it'll end up being the same situation...the optimist in me will hope for the latter. I understand the fear about he and jennings coexisting. But it's worth noting that Monta Ellis's best years were with Baron Davis playing point and shooting 17 times per game (and making a low % of them). Brandon Jennings is not Baron Davis...but the point is that Ellis can coexist and thrive with a PG who also shoots a lot. And if (a big if) Jennings can adapt his game to be more of a facilitator, bumping the assists up to 7+ a game, I think they could have a lot of success together. It's hard to envision Jennings doing so, but he's also never really been in the situation where he doesn't have to be the scorer. I don't love the trade, but I feel the need to defend it. People are treating it like we traded a draft pick. The bucks will still have the 15th pick (if they make the playoffs) in a deep draft. They could still get a new C like Tyler Zeller there, or an athletic peremiter defender type of guy. By "going for it" they're likely moving down about 5 spots and sacrificing the 3-8% chance that they get a top 3 pick. I get the reshuffling the deck chairs argument, and probably agree with it. Everyone wants to do what the thunder did. but it was really what the supersonics did....so what happens if they blow the team up, tank, get high draft picks, and we get to watch them put it all together in Kansas City or Seattle or anywhere else? Even if it's the right choice for the team long term, no one is going to want to watch it for the next 3 or 4 years. If nothing else the team is a little bit better than it was a few days ago, and potentially much more fun to watch (so much swag!). And everyone is so worried about all the missed shots seems to forget that it just means 5 more rebounds a game for Ersan.

I won't argue about Curry, but his ankle is kind of terrifying. The fact that the Warriors would have rather traded him now (when they've been trying to trade Ellis for some time) is pretty worrisome in regards to that ankle. Also, Luis Scola makes more money for a longer time than Ellis, is a worse player, and is a PF which is not a need. Dalembert is an expiring contract. A better one than Kwame, but the end game is still the same. A mid round pick in a deep draft from the rockets likely ends up being a player pretty comparable to Udoh. I'm not sure this type of trade is what the bucks really need (although a complete blowup/rebuild is not as easy as most think, despite what the thunder have done. and that took top 4 picks in 3 consecutive years, and hitting on all of them). Given the choice between the two trades, I'm going to take Ellis/Udoh.

I definitely buckled and made the impulse purchase of a custom Plush Sharks shirsey. Had been wanting to get a Brewers one, but the NHL ones are about $10 cheaper so it made sense to me.

the synthetic testosterone is very difficult to explain, and if that's the case I don't really see how Braun has a defense (even if he took something unknowingly, whatever he was taking that could have potentially had synthetic testosterone probably should have been cleared with MLB). As far as the herpes rumor, I don't think there's any truth to it. No antivirals that are commonly used would cause an elevated testosterone level. There could be others I'm not familiar with (because they're not used often, aka so expensive only a professional athlete could afford them), but I doubt it. The best explanation if it was somehow herpes, is that Braun had outbreaks triggered by low testosterone levels therefore he took/ate things to keep his levels normal/high enough. But again, anything he was taking that would modify his testosterone level is probably something that should have been cleared with MLB, so this doesn't make much sense either. I don't really think there's a good explanation if the testosterone was synthetic, unless a drug/supplement he was taking was tainted. they're capable of tracing that back, but if that was the case they were making I would assume it had been done by now.

interesting. I think I mentioned DHEA earlier when talking about Extenze or other similar supplements....I had no idea that it wasn't on the banned list. I assumed it would be, doesn't make any sense that it's not. That's probably the best guess I've heard so far. Might be the funniest thing ever if Braun taking Extenze triggered this (obviously there are plenty of other supplements that contain DHEA, including straight up DHEA, so I'm sure that's not it. but still, hilarious thought), assuming there's no suspension to follow it.

No question he's not hypogonadic but we both know that doesn't matter to a corrupt doctor. All Braun has to do is rattle off a couple symptons that can't be proven otherwise and he's got the medical OK to take it.You're missing the point here though. If Braun WAS hypogonadic (or diagnosed with it by a corrupt doctor), he would have had to disclose his treatment and clear it with MLB. Just like you need to make sure any supplement you take is on the "blessed list" or have it cleared by MLB, I'm sure any treatments that can affect your hormone levels like this have to be disclosed as well. And I would imagine that it is very difficult to get clearance to use TRT, and it would take more than just one doctor diagnosing it. MLB would likely have you tested by a doctor of their own to verify the diagnosis. You don't get to just start taking testosterone and then be able to play the "I'm hypogonadic" card. If you do that, you're guilty. So either MLB was made aware of it, which would make this positive test kind of a non-issue (or at the very least they would now that elevated T levels were very possible)...or they were not made aware of it for some reason and Braun is suspended, no matter if the diagnosis is true or not. Or it wasn't TRT.

Viagra (and similar drugs) pretty specifically target blood vessels in the penis though. There could be a small effect on vessels in skeletal muscles, but I think it would be pretty negligible. I don't think it would do much as an exercise supplement...but i'm not a trainer or anything. Either way it wouldn't boost testosterone. Someone before mentioned the pills you see in late night ads, like Extenze. Almost all of those contain DHEA or some sort of androgen that is a testosterone precursor. I would imagine they are all on the banned list and have been since they became available. If Braun got caught because of something like that, it's a) embarrassing and b) incredibly dumb

Now updated/clarified with: "If the prohibited substance wasn't a PED, it still triggered a positive result in MLB's steroid-testing policy." So perhaps this: The presence of a diuretic or masking agent in a Player’s sample shall result in the Player being re-tested. The presence of a diuretic or masking agent in a Player’s sample shall be treated as a positive test result if the IPA determines that the Player intended to avoid detection of his use of a Prohibited Substance. http://mlbplayers.mlb.com/pa/pdf/jda.pdf but the positive test result was (reportedly) due to an elevated testosterone level, which was found to be synthetic after further testing.

there are medications that can raise testosterone, but the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are used to treat epilepsy....and I'm going to go ahead and say that doesn't fit here. And even then nothing can really explain the fact that the testosterone was exogenous. Well, hopefully something can...but I have no idea what that would be.

nope. would be pretty funny though.

So now you are hoping Braun's camp confirmed testing positive and claimed they would prove his innocence even though MLB didn't find that he tested positive? OK, there is some serious denial taking place. Don't know what else to say about this... they confirmed he tested positive for elevated testosterone. Neither braun's camp nor MLB has confirmed what the cause of it was, or when the followup negative test occurred (and what that means relative to the first test). Is it probably going to come back that Braun was doing/taking something he shouldn't have? Very very probable. But until the appeals process is through and a suspension is (or isn't) handed down, we don't have the whole story. Some may call that denial, some may call that (false) hope. it is what it is

agree with you that some of the denial is a little bit extreme, especially placing blame on anyone but Braun (just like people saying "we can't blame braun until all the facts come out", we can't blame ESPN or whoever until all the facts come out). But I have no problem with the "Until he's suspended by MLB, nothing is really proven" camp. Yea, he failed the test but there's still the (very small) chance that something weird happened. He failed the test, but it doesn't officially mean/prove anything until the appeals process is over and he is suspended. Will Carroll is a pretty reliable expert when it comes to things like this, and he has a pretty informative story about the testing process in the link below. His last line sums up what the optimist view should be, "The original report from ESPN's Outside the Lines is certainly troubling, but it is hardly definitive" http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/will_carroll/12/10/braun-positive-test/index.html

So is it that no suspensions have ever been overturned, or that no player has ever won an appeal after a false positive(and from what I and many seem to understand, the appeals process is supposed to take place before anything becomes public...and then if the player wins nothing would become public)? Because that's a really important distinction that doesn't seem to be made consistently from story to story.

none of that really excuses synthetic testosterone though.

unless he has menopause.well other things can cause elevated testosterone levels but yeah unless they had a bad baseline for him (people can have naturally high testosterone levels) its either a steroid or something that acts similar to a steroid.well yea, he could have a thyroid or adrenal disorder or something (i was joking with the menopause obviously, none of those are likely)....but none of those things would have resulted in synthetic testosterone. that's the killer.

to put it in the most simple terms: by taking steroids.unless he has menopause.

to put it in the most simple terms: by taking steroids.

jaw, meet floor.

Heaven forbid they enjoy themselves.Or win a pennant, I guess. because it's impossible for a team to enjoy themselves AND win a pennant. definitely mutually exclusive.