bani1717

Also, if anyone doesn't want to purchase playoff tickets due to the upfront investment required, feel free to PM me.

It's a lot of money, but they obviously hold all the cards. Option 1 is you pay for your tickets on their terms (ahead of time when they get to hold all of it, earn interest, probably talk you into using it to pay for next year's season tickets, etc). Option 2 is you don't and buy single game tickets through them (which I think cost more on a single game basis especially after adding all the fees) or through the secondary market. Option 3 is you don't buy tickets at all and they still sell out to other people.

Many people are dumping the water and making donations. Some people complete the challenge and then pledge a donation if the people they challenge complete it as well. At the end of the day, spending any finite resource (like "spending" buckets of water to help generate donations) has the potential to be viewed by some people as a wise use of resources and by others as a complete waste. So be it. If people want to dump buckets of water on themselves to help raise money for the ALS association, good for them. If others want to donate money to help bring water to parts of the world that need it, good for them too. If someone wants to shame or guilt someone else to make any kind of donation, that does bug me. But at the same time, someone who unwillingly makes a donation only out of guilt or shame needs to do a better job of standing up to the peer pressure IMHO and spend/donate their resources as they see fit.

I completely agree... just trying to express my desire for Roenicke to be quicker on the bullpen trigger in the playoffs this time around, should we make it.

I went to the BBC this morning. Got there at 8:30 and was 20-25 back in line. The bar opened at 9:00 at which poi t they gave out wrist bands for autographs. It was nice because it allowed my wife and I to have brunch instead of worrying about our spot in line. At about 10:15 a line started forming for the actual autographs. At 10:25 Lucroy strolled right through the bar (evidently having used the front door instead of the back door where they were waiting for him. Once we got upstairs where he was signing we found out he was signing any item. Between my wife and I we got a SS ROMLB and a provided photo signed. We also each got a picture with him as well as a joint picture with him. All told it was one of my better autograph experiences.

In the playoffs, yes that could very easily be too much. But ordinarily and at this point in the season, no.

That was BS. I dont normally hold it against an umpire for blowing a call but when you have multiple replay angles and all the time in the world, there is no excuse for getting it wrong.

That "stupid ice bucket challenge" has helped to raise over $50 million for the ALS Association. http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-082214.html

Not sure if anyone else went to the Gomez signing at Piggly Wiggly in Hartland today... He was only signing pre-provided 8x10 photos. Normally that wouldnt bother me if it were actually advertised ahead of time. There were a lot of people there who were diaappointed to not be able to get their own items signed. The plus side was that it made the signing go really quick (I was close to 200 back and got through the line in 25-30 minutes)

I think the challenge is to either dump ice water on yourself when challenged or make a donation. Either way it is actually working to the tune of donations 20x what they were over the same period last year: http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-082114.html

I saw a stat (before Peralta's last start?) showing season splits. With an ERA around 2.7 he was something like 3-4 to start the season. For the next split his ERA was 3.8 and he was something like 11-3. The run support differential was somewhere around 2 or 3 for the first split compared to over 6 for the second. I would like to see him get 20 wins, but those splits really say a lot about the luck factor.

Where do they advertise these signings? I can never seem to find any info online and only hear about them through this site.

When you are in a playoff chase and have a roster as constrained as what the Brewers have, is there any reason to not err on the side of calling up too many guys as opposed to not enough? There is the financial aspect but would have to imagine that Mark A is willing to spend extra even if its a couple hundred thousand to improve their playoff chances. Is there any other legitimate reason to not call guys up?

At both Miller Park and Wrigley, the number of people around you who are there to watch the game vs party/socialize/hang out etc is highly dependent on where you're sitting. In general the areas with more season ticket holders (i.e., the seats closer to home plate / in lower rows in a given pricing level) have more people there who are more focused on the game than other distractions. I will also add that everyone has their own preferences on when they want to go to games, where they want to sit, and how much they want to spend. If you figure out those three things for yourself then you'll always be able to find seats for a good value relative to what you want (whether that be via buying/splitting a season ticket package with someone, buying single-game tickets from the Brewers at full-price or as part of a promotion, or buying tickets on the secondary market). Sometimes it takes a little bit of time and effort but there are always relative "deals" out there.

Turbo, others have already partially answered your question about parking, but I will add one more option. I usually park off of National Ave south of the VA hospital. I walk through the parking lot, and in the northeast corner of the lot there is a path that leads to Miller Park. There are parking restrictions on some streets so make sure to watch the signs (and this area doesnt allow parking during the daytime on weekdays), but 50th and 52nd streets have worked well for me. One more thing I will say is that if you take the feeeway, getting on and off at Hawley Road is generally most convenient for parking in this location or on Wisconsin/Wells.

I see both sides of it. Sometimes I'd rather watch at home but in general I'd rather attend the game. My wife and I buy into a season ticket package of 2nd row tickets, so we have good seats and often know the people sitting next to us, so I really look forward to those games when we have the tickets. When we don't have the season tickets, if I go to the game then a lot of times it's by myself. I drive 15 minutes, park on the street (free), buy a cheap ticket from a scalper or a fan (this year has cost anywhere from $5-$15 over a handful of games, weeknight and weekend), and bring in my own food/drinks as well as a beer to drink while I walk around looking for a ticket to buy (cost of groceries). All said and done it is not that expensive for me to do this and the time commitment is maybe an hour and a half longer than if I just watched at home. Parking on the street leaves a 15-minute walk or so but essentially takes traffic out of the equation on the way in and on the way out. Obviously going to games alone isn't for everyone, and there's no way I'd do it as often (if at all) if I didn't live so close. With that said I don't always sit there and just watch the game. Sometimes I might be one of those people paying more attention to my phone than the game (especially if I hadn't had much chance recently to browse this site ). I generally try to sit or stand somewhere where it's not overly crowded, whether that be in my actual seat or not. (The tightly packed seats are the biggest downside to my season tickets.) Lately one of my goals when attending games has been to get a home run ball so I have tried to strategically sit or stand in a location where I'd have a decent chance at that. People getting up and down constantly does start to bother me after a couple times but I try to eliminate that if I don't have my season ticket seats. As for the idiots yelling... if it's for the whole game then it bothers me, but in general I find things like that rather humorous for a while. There was an overserved guy near me on Sunday yelling at Matt Kemp for a couple innings (around the 7th/8th) and getting responses, and while some people near me were getting very fed up, I found it pretty funny because he was trash talking the opposition and making himself look like a fool at the same time. Long story short there is a lot I enjoy about going to games, but there is also a lot I like to avoid. I try to maximize the enjoyable aspects while strategically minimizing the unenjoyable aspects.

I hear what you guys are saying. All I'm trying to say is that I think it would be wise for Cavs fans to not count their chickens before they're hatched. While those explanations for Love and James sticking around all sound reasonable, a lot can change in the next 1-2 years. Who would've thought 4 1/2 years ago that James would leave Cleveland for Miami the way he did and then come back? I can't say I followed the drama all that closely, but I was maybe a little surprised when he left Cleveland, but when he did I didn't think there was any way in heck he'd ever be back in a Cavs uniform.

Does anyone know if Jose Hernandez has a good return rate through the mail? From what I hear he is a coach in the Orioles' minor league system.

Does anyone have suggestions on good Badger message boards? Looking for a place where there is decent discussion on football and basketball.

I agree that its a win win, but the Cavs by no means have those three for the foreseeable future and there is no guarantee that they will be good for a very long time. The James deal is only two years so he could easily leave two again not too far down the road. Not to mention that Love doesnt have to stay around for more than a season.

I saw some pictures online from the Muskego area where the hail was covering the ground and looked more like snow drifts.

I think he is also doing two signings on Saturday. One for some K9 event on Hwy 100 (npt sure if its free) and another at Waukesha Sportscards.

The Brewers weren't as good as their 20-7 start, and they're not as bad as 1-11 in their last 12. Plenty of time to turn this around. It would be nice to win today and go into the ASB off of a strong performance, but either way the break comes at a good time.

I applied for tickets in April and called to ask what rows to request to be under the overhang. They told me row 50+ was under cover. I requested that and got section A row 61. For what its worth they are still selling tickets where people can actually pick their specific seats. So if you arent happy with the seats they gave you it might be possible to check online and try to move your seat location.

Not a single play, but the back to back comebacks at St. Louis (April 28-29) were pretty good.