nate82

The elimination of taxes completely has a better chance of passing than this.

Not really new music but going down the Chris Stapleton road I found Tyler Childers.

HBO is doing a free thing though not on cable that I know of. https://help.hbonow.com/Answer/Detail/703 You will have to use the HBO app or go to HBOnow on your desktop to watch these for free: Series (all seasons, all episodes) Ballers Barry Big Little Lies Silicon Valley Six Feet Under The Sopranos Succession True Blood Veep The Wire Documentaries The Apollo The Case Against Adnan Syed Elvis Presley: The Searcher I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth Vs. Michelle Carter The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley Jane Fonda in Five Acts McMillion$ True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality United Skates We are the Dream: The Kids of the MLK Oakland Oratorical Fest Warner Bros. Movies Arthur Arthur 2: On the Rocks Blinded By the Light The Bridges of Madison County Crazy, Stupid, Love Empire of the Sun Forget Paris Happy Feet Two Isn't it Romantic The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part Midnight Special My Dog Skip Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase Pan Red Riding Hood Smallfoot Storks Sucker Punch Unknown

If they're thinking possibly 12, I'd just bump it up to 13 so the three division winners can have the byes. I'd like to keep some sort of divisional race in tact and give the top teams something to compete for down the stretch. Otherwise there will be a handful of good teams with things wrapped up pretty early on. Regardless, the 13th spot should be a heck of a race! The past five years have ended with 4, 6, 7, 9, and 9 teams within 3 games of that 13th spot. And that doesn't even account for having fewer games, which will theoretically tighten the standings further, and teams that may have been out of reach otherwise still having something to compete for, so it could be a pretty wild finish to the regular season. Also interesting to note, had the top 13 teams made it into the playoffs each of the past 5 years, only 1 of 65 teams would have sneaked in without a winning record. I like this idea. Was also thinking that the top 4 teams would get a bye and then set it up like the NCAA Tourney. 12 teams total and then having the two top seeds on different sides of the bracket. So something like the first seed has the 12th and 10th seeded teams in its bracket. The second seed having the 11th and 9th seeds, third having 8th and 6th and finally the fourth seed having the 7th and 5th seed. I think this would create some excitement for the playoffs. First set of games are 3-game series second set a 5-game series and the World Series being a 7-game series. The division winners would get seeds 1-3 with the 4th seed being the team with the best record to not win a division.

Playoffs will be expanded and I believe they will just do a seeding instead of NL and AL. For example they could take the top 9 teams and give the top 3 teams a bye (each division winners) and have the teams 4-9 play a 3-game series then 7 the rest of the way. That would put the world series sometime around November hence the reason to have a neutral site that is either a dome stadium or in a warm weather city. I fully expect the world series to be played in Miami this year. I still don't get it, in that scenario there are six teams left in the second round. Sorry brain not working but something like 10 or so teams make the playoffs. From what I have read they are looking around a 12 team playoff structure.

NCAA has approved allowing players to sign endorsement deals as long as the school is not involved in the payments in anyway http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/29112263/ncaa-group-oks-conditional-player-endorsements

Playoffs will be expanded and I believe they will just do a seeding instead of NL and AL. For example they could take the top 9 teams and give the top 3 teams a bye (each division winners) and have the teams 4-9 play a 3-game series then 7 the rest of the way. That would put the world series sometime around November hence the reason to have a neutral site that is either a dome stadium or in a warm weather city. I fully expect the world series to be played in Miami this year.

It is 10 teams per division and the divisions are set up by geographical location. So an East Division, Central Division and a West Division. East would be: Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox New York Yankees Tampa Bay Rays Toronto Blue Jays Atlanta Braves Miami Marlins New York Mets Philadelphia Phillies Washington Nationals Central would be: Chicago Cubs Cincinnati Reds Milwaukee Brewers Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals Chicago White Sox Cleveland Indians Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals Minnesota Twins West would be: Arizona Diamondbacks Colorado Rockies Los Angeles Dodgers San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants Houston Astros Los Angeles Angels Oakland Athletics Seattle Mariners Texas Rangers There are two options on the table the first I went over previously allowing the teams to play in their stadiums with no fans at first and when possible fans would be let in but it would be more like a Marlins game and the stadium won't be filled probably would only be at 25% capacity probably less (I am just guessing on this part). The second option has also been floated around here in this thread. The second option to recap is having the teams play in three states (Florida, Texas, and Arizona). The three states would represent the 3 divisions with 10 teams in each state. Also if a state doesn't come out of lock down for the first option the teams in the lock down state would either play in Arizona, Florida or Texas depending on what division they are in. For example if California doesn't come out of lock down when the season starts those teams would play in Arizona. I think option 1 where the teams play in their home ballparks is what will be approved by the MLBPA as it removes partially the not being near family part that some of the players are using as a sticking point on saying no. I think what is the most interesting thing is that MLB and MLBPA are both looking at keeping these in place even after the pandemic if that ever happens. The three divisions, the DH and the expanded playoffs are being considered along with keeping a neutral World Series site.

Also one of my favorite NES games back in the day.

Apparently the plan is to play at home ballparks to start by July 2nd. Total of 100 games and there will be 3 divisions with 10 teams in each division and an expanded playoffs. The divisions will be regional and I am going to assume the DH will be here to stay after the year. Postseason will also be played at a neutral site not sure if that means just the world series or all of the playoffs. Some other rumors that have been swirling around is that everything that is being considered this year DH, 3 divisions, automated strike zone and a few other things will be kept and put into the next CBA.

MLB teams will revise ticket refund policies during coronavirus shutdown, per report Looks like there will be some news soon on refunds.

I think the Eagles got a steal in Hightower who could come in and be a difference maker at WR. He is probably more of a gadget player next year until he puts on some more weight but he is someone that I believe people will say why did he get drafted in the 5th round in 2-3 years.

Fully autonomous vehicles is probably the best answer.

The GOAT of Brewers SS and should be in the baseball HOF!

Reports of a deal that has been accepted that could remove 40+ teams. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/minor-league-baseball-will-accept-mlb-proposal-that-could-cut-more-than-40-teams-report-says/

Pensions are bad as they require a younger workforce to continue pouring money into it. What happens when that industry is no more? For example what if there is an invention tomorrow and it makes cars obsolete. The people that are relying on the pension are now out of new workers contributing to that pension and no new money is being put into the pension. Without the infusion of new money the pension will fail or the amount of money that is handed out from the pension is diminished greatly. You could go from $4,000 a month from your pension to $2,000 a month or whatever the amount would be to keep a positive or neutral value in the pension. A 401k or any other type of investment is not reliant on a younger workforce to contribute. If you can have both a pension and a 401k that is probably the best way to go or if you can't get a pension a 401k and an annuity is the way to go. If you can afford more get more like rental properties. Having only one investment like a 401k or just a pension is just not a good idea. Also if you are relying on social security as an income source you are setting yourself up for failure.

An annuity would be a better option than SS.

I have a hard time believing that 31% didn't pay rent. If even close to true, it speaks to entitlement, not economic impact. People didn't start losing their jobs until mid-March, and two weeks later they can't pay rent? And 1/3rd of renters lost their job? I'd believe it for May, but not for April. I don't believe the numbers account for COVID only related non-payment. I believe the consensus for rent and mortgage non-payment for the month of April was going to be higher than average. May is probably going to see another spike with a peak in June. July should be the first month that should start to stabilize if we don't see stabilization by September expect something like the 2008 mortgage default issues popping up again.

I would like to see 1-2 weeks worth of games before starting the playoffs.

My employer has planned for 4-months for the stay at home. I work for a major bank in the US. This stay at home order was done in the middle of March. So that would put the end of this order around July from my employer. I think a safe bet to start planning and assessing to lift the stay at home should be done in May and no later than the beginning of June.

Yes, almost certainly. I wouldn't be surprised if that gets implemented just for the year no matter what proposal wins out. I believe it would become permanent if this happens.

Saw this on Sports Illustrated today. https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2020/04/09/baseball-reddit-weird-baseball-fields-photos

Cooks to the Texans for a 2nd round pick. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29018495/sources-rams-trading-brandin-cooks-texans

Amazon at least has more small businesses that they support. Last I saw Amazon is the biggest small business supporter in the US and the majority of the things you can buy on Amazon are actually from small businesses. What is dying are the brick and mortar places this pandemic maybe another nail in the coffin for those types of small businesses.

So sad to hear this. Not sure which is my favorite song between Paradise and In Spite of Ourselves.