bani1717

Things like that are really nice if you're content those "less desired" autographs. I don't really follow the Rattlers too closely except to maybe see how our top prospects are doing or to see how a rehab appearance went for a guy. But being a recent grad from UW-Madison, I did collect some autographs from the football and basketball teams over the past few years. I have a basketball team signed poster from 2007-08 and 2008-09 (07-08 was a good one to get since they won the Big Ten title), and I also have a helmet signed by nearly all the key contributors for last year's Big Ten Champion football team. The helmet might be worth a little something (but probably not much), and the posters are probably practically worthless, but being an autograph collector and a Badger fan, those things were cool to get (and also very easy relative to hunting down Brewers autographs).

Prince's signature is definitely getting simpler, and the past couple of times I've gotten it, it's also been fairly sloppy. Both times, time was a factor (once he signed for just 3 people and was in a hurry, the other time he was signing for all 30ish people and doing multiples on his way into a game), but then again, when is time not a factor? From my experience he signs a lot of autographs when he can do it lazily (eg without walking over to the fence in the player's lot), so he's probably always in a rush to get all the signatures in, making his signature naturally more simple and sloppy even if time isn't an issue.

Anyone have any luck with autographs at the Sheraton in Boston? (Or anywhere else on the recent roadtrip?)

Even it out to 15 and 15, 3 divisions in each (divisions pretty much preserved) 3 games vs 15 teams from other league = 45 games 6 games each vs 10 teams from other divisions in same league = 60 games 14-15 games each vs 4 teams in same division = 57 games Total = 162 games Then, if you want to have 5 teams make the playoffs, you definitely need more than a one-game playoff. I don't really like the first round being 5 games as it currently stands. You have the NBA and NHL taking 2 and a half weeks for their first round so that all sorts of bad teams can play 7 games, so I think that in a sport where it takes so much to make the playoffs after 162 games, 5 games isn't enough for a 1-4 or 2-3 matchup. Here's what I'd like to see if the playoffs went to 10 teams: 4 vs 5 seed (ie 2 wildcards) - 5 game series (2 home for lower seed, then 3 home for higher seed, ie 2-3 format), starting the 2nd day after season ends (ie one off-day between the season and this series), have no off days during the series, so that at the latest it finishes 6 days after the season ends 2 vs 3 seeds (2 lowest division winners) - 7 game series (2-3-2 format), beginning on the 5th or 6th day after the season ends (ie 4-5 off-days between the season and the start of this series), with 3 off-days during the series for travel and to space it out. This series may end as early as the 9th day after the season ends, or as late as the 15th day after the season ends 1 vs 4/5 - 7 game series (2-3-2 format), beginning the 2nd day after the wildcard series ends (ie the 8th day after the season ends). 2 days off during the series for travel. Could end as soon as the 12th day after the season ends, or as late as the 16th day after the season ends LCS - 7 game series (2-3-2), starting the 18th or 19th day after the season ends World Series after LCS

I used to get the same error message saying the AC adapter type cannot be determined, and that my computer would operate slower/not charge the battery. I bought a new AC adapter from Dell (I think it was like $70) and that solved the problem. Nowhere near as good as the $10 adapter off of ebay though. I also had to replace my battery, but that was a totally separate instance.

All parking in the immediate area is permit only after 5pm for Cubs night games (6pm on nights when the Cubs don't play). On Monday, I parked in the $6 lot at DeVry University on Addison that includes free shuttle rides to and from the game for everyone in your vehicle. I got out of there in a hurry after the game, and getting on one of the first couple buses back, we didn't hit much traffic. (The bus actually took Irving Park Road, not Addison, back to DeVry). I'd recommend that for anyone going Wednesday night, as its cheaper than the train and seemed more convenient to me. The one downside is that you'll hit traffic if you take Addison on the way in to DeVry. The shuttle doesn't run for weekday games, but street parking is allowed without permits than anyways, so that's an option for people going on Thursday.

Marcum, Gallardo, Wolf, Braddock, Dillard, Morgan, Sveum, and Sedar. I feel like I might be missing one person.

I don't really care whether or not we'd actually get an MLS team, as I'm not a soccer fan and would only go when they had super awesome promotions (like the $1 beers someone mentioned) or when friends asked me to go, or if the team was in a championship hunt. That being said, I'd be interested to see what else besides the MLS and other soccer games would happen there. With a 20k seat stadium, you'd also have a site for high school football games, which would be kind of cool. Also, this is a far longer shot than even getting and MLS team in the first place, but maybe the Packers would even play a preseason game there to generate extra interest in the stadium. Like I said, a VERY long shot, but the NFL does have a preseason game at a small stadium in Canton, OH every year, so a guy can dream.

Anyone have any parking tips near Wrigley? I realize parking your car near the stadium is generally not the best option, but I was considering going to the game on Monday and getting there real early (12pm-ish) to get autographs as the players arrive. So if anyone knows of any good places where I could park all day and throughout the game, please share. Thanks.

Anyone know where I could find a video of any of his past interviews? I heard about one where he made the interviewer ask every question twice, once to Nyjer Morgan and once to Tony Plush.

To answer the question about when players will leave the hotel for the game, from my experience players usually arrive at the stadium for away games about as early as they would for home games. The exception is that the team bus might arrive later than the last-arriving players for a home game. So, players generally arrive in taxis at games between 4 and 7 hours early for night games and between 2.5 and 6 hours early for day games, depending on the exact game time, with the team bus getting there maybe 2.5 or 3 hours before the game. So, for the night game in Boston, a good guess might be that the first few players start heading to the lobby sometime between 11am and 12pm to begin heading to the stadium and/or get lunch. Players may (or may not) be going through the lobby until the team bus heads to the stadium around 3:30 or 4pm EDT. For the day games, the early-rising players may start coming to the lobby for breakfast/to head to the game around 7 or 7:30am, with the team bus leaving around 10am or 10:30am. These are just guesses, but that's probably what I'd bank on if I were in Boston.

Only Albert Pujols can stand at the plate and watch his homers (and sometimes doubles or long fly-outs) without repercussions. Braunie's homer the other night brought back memories of his strut in St. Louis, when he hit the big homer late in the game to cap off a sweep and a 7-0 roadtrip. Ahh, how it still feels so nice that it came against the Cardinals.

Did anyone go to the Driver softball game today? If so, did you have any luck with autographs? Or any general observations after watching these guys hang out together for the first time since February?

11-16 due to the fact that we're hitting the road and due to the streaky nature of baseball

More like a big bully stealing the whole pinata before it even got hung up....

I don't think that pirating music helps music producers as much as legal download sites like itunes. In places like that, you can sample a large part of the song for free, and then buy/not buy individual songs. That gives artists the same exposure they get through illegal file-sharing.

I think it would be pretty obvious to the Brewers if a single person got there really early and took away all the clues, resulting in only one entry from that one park. Also, the Brewers could check various parks throughout the day and at the end of the contest, or have staff members present, to make sure the clues are in place for the duration of the contest. But yes, if it's not at all policed, we've seen what can happen. If you have a better idea, I'm all ears. But I've participated in a scavenger hunt like the one I described, and it seemed to work pretty well.

No, it was in county parks. What they should do is have a series of clues hidden at each park. People who collect all the clues at any one park would then be put into a random drawing for the prizes. This ensures that EVERYONE who attempts the scavenger hunt during the designated timeframe (maybe like a Saturday morning or something?) has a chance to find the clues and feel like they've accomplished something, without all the obsessed people taking all the objects before the event begins. The random drawing could just be submitted online, where you enter your name/personal info plus the clues (the clues might be letters that spell out a phrase or something) during the designated timeframe. This would make it easy to make sure no one gets more than one entry. You could also have Brewers employees handing out smaller prizes to everyone who finds all the clues at any given park. I feel like this would create a better spirit of the event. I actually had a lot of fun searching for Bernie's, even though it turned out to be a total waste of time in the sense that I didn't get anything from my trips to 4 different parks and the lakefront. While at first I was more excited about the prizes than the hunt, I had fun searching just because my fiance decided to come along with me. I feel like a prize would've been nice, but ultimately whatever I got would've basically been another Brewer item in my never-ending pile of random sports items. What would've been real nice is just finding something just for the personal satisfaction. That being said, this irritates me a lot more than people who get tons of bobbles or things like that, because the people who went out early and/or grabbed multiples basically ruined the spirit of the event for LOTS of other people. For people who get lots of bobbles, I think there are much better things you could be doing with your time and better ways to make money, but that's not ruining the bobble-collecting experience for others to the extent that the scavenger-hunting experience was ruined in this case. That, and the poor planning by the Brewers. (Slightly off-topic rant begins here:) As for the autographs that a couple people mentioned, I collect autographs myself, and I personally can't stand the general belief that kids should be able to get autographs and not adults. As some have pointed out, some kids are working for dealers, and I can say that many adults who collect autographs are NOT dealers (while many other adults are dealers). I don't at all fault the Brewers for making the auto Friday's kids only, because that was a bit out of control, and they'd rather market it to the kids/families that come to occasional games moreso than the hardcore fans/collectors who get to every autograph Friday a couple hours early. I'm not happy about that being changed last year, but I understand it. My fiance sometimes tells me I'm like a kid when it comes to collecting autographs, and I realize a lot of people aren't, but I don't think people like me should be "frowned upon" because I enjoy getting autographs like a little kid does. I definitely appreciate the autographs I've collected in the past couple years a lot more than the ones I collected back in grade school, largely because I have nicer signed items now that will look a lot better when I display them.

Even the lakefront was a fiasco, where they had 1000 lawn ornaments. I didn't find anything at Sherman, King, Madison, or Noyes Park, so then figured I'd go to the lakefront. Not only was the "disclosure" of the single location not at all specific, most of the people had already taken their Bernie's and left before the 7am designated time. I thought they'd be distributing them, but they were just placed all over the grass. The only enforcement for people not taking multiples was self-enforcement for anyone who actually hung around there as opposed to just taking their lawn ornament and leaving. I should've known it would be a waste to get up at 4am...

Also looks like the autographs will be the same system as last year with random drawings to determine whose autograph you get

I'm looking for a ticket in good condition from yesterday (5/11/11) since it was Fielder's 200th HR. I'm also looking for a ticket in good condition from Gallardo's first win (Monday, June 18th, 2007). I'd be willing to trade a Hoffmann 600 save ticket or perhaps some other type of milestone ticket (can't remember what extras I have right now). Also may be willing to pay cash. PM me if you have either the Fielder or Gallardo ticket available.

McGehee signs all the time, particularly before games, so if you want him you'd have a real good chance. I went in the morning on Opening Day and got him, Mitre, Loe, and Morgan. Other than McGehee and maybe some of the young guys, it's pretty hit and miss.

Would it maybe make sense to hold off on starting Gallardo and just start him on Sunday if the game does start on Saturday? That way if the Saturday game does get delayed after a couple innings, you'll get more than just those couple of innings out of him.

I tried the kabob tonight. They only sell it outdoors (smoking area outside of section 110, right by the ramp to the upper levels). I didn't think it was nearly worth the $6.50 I paid for it, even by ballpark standards. And this after I waited outside on Monday for it, in the cold, amongst the cigarette smoke, in the line that they have the "enter" and "exit" signs backwards on, only to find out they were out of it after I missed a full inning waiting for it. Between that and the overpricing, I don't think I'll ever buy anything from that stand again.

I would trade my 2011 Hot Dog for someone's 2006 Hot Dog, if anyone's interested...