DHonks

I'm glad to see that they finally starting making money after nearly 20 years. But I wish everyone that refused to shop at Wal-Mart would also see that the biggest perpetrator of the business strategy is Amazon.

LouisEly, I rant about Amazon to my students. Amazon should be investigated for unfair business practices for a number of reasons. 1) they've stated that their goal is to sell everything to everyone, without regard for profit (so all those folks that protest Wal-Mart for allegedly drive mom and pop stores out of business should really be protesting Amazon), 2) they've lobbied heavily to avoid internet sales taxes, which hurt state and local government, along with local brick-and-mortar stores, 3) they drove countless bookstores out of business by undercutting prices, but now they're planning on opening hundreds of brick-and-mortar stores 4) they dominated the e-book marketplace with over 80% market-share. They forced publishers to bend to their low prices, or risk not carrying their books. Authors and publishers reviled them. When Apple entered the e-book market, they set prices more in line with normal bookstores and took a 30% cut. Amazon didn't like that Apple became the preferred medium for publishers to e-publish works, and didn't like that publishers wished to raise their prices to Apple's rate, so they lobbied the government to sue Apple for monopolistic practices (despite Apple making up roughly 10% of the marketplace) while they themselves are practicing a new form of monopoly that seeks out marketshare dominance and is willing to have low-prices, disguised as "pro-consumer." 5) last I checked, they were not ranked favorably among workers There's some things I buy from them for convenience (probably 1-2 times per year), but I prefer spending my money elsewhere. I enjoy having choice.

yahoo had a great article about him last week, I think it was an excerpt from Passan's new book. Basically, Bauer is not a good athlete. He and his dad taught himself how to maximize his pitching ability. I'd trust that he knows best for himself http://sports.yahoo.com/news/excerpt--in--the-arm---a-search-for-the-new-frontier-of-building-healthy-baseball-pitchers-043238884-mlb.html

Also, what a messed up AA schedule. I was looking at possibly trying to take in a weekend in Biloxi with some baseball, golf, and gambling, and I see that they are only home for 1 weekend in the month. The Southern League also does some weird stuff where teams begin road trips on Saturdays??? Maybe June or July is possible, but I was thinking May would be perfect

Noche, how much stuff does Wang need? He was throwing 95 regularly in the majors, and showed the makings of several very good offerings. The problems are with command, control, and execution

Jungmann is a big tall kid, so mechanics can come and go. I liked the strikeout rates and the groundouts.

nate, not sure which stadiums still exist in Tucson. The Dbacks and White Sox used to share a nice facility for Spring Training at one park, while the Rockies had Hi-Corbitt Field. Not that most in the Cactus League would like it, but I wonder if the Cactus League has any interest in returning to Tucson. It's only about 1.5-2 hours drive from most of the parks.

Baldwin, I always thought of assassinations as the killing of a prominent political or social figure.

jericho, might want to tweak that Jones isn't back for a while, and it's appearing as though Nolin may be out for much of the season--if not all season. MLB.com's McCalvy is reporting that he has a substantial UCL injury. So I'm counting him out.

Nice game for Nelson tonight. He looked good

Was at the game yesterday, and every ball off him was hard. It could be an interesting competition for Designate Fan Stooge for 2016--Boyer and Hill seem the frontrunners

not sure how accurate the gun was, but I saw Cappy hit 92 on the gun today! I also saw Burgos lob one in there at 66.

Hoping 'Nova makes it to the finals. That's the last circle I can get on my bracket. The other side got blown up long ago. Oklahoma is playing really well. Shocking after how iffy they looked in the last 6 weeks of conference play. Love has more depth and talent, so I hope it's their time. Cuse is always fun to watch, even if they are overachieving and coached by an evil genius. My hatred of UNC is very strong....exponentially more than my hatred of Bucky. Really, the only school left that I like is Nova...so I pray they pull it out!

homer, Phoenix was much smaller back in the 80s. Not the 5th biggest metro-area in the country like today. Yet they didn't have pro football, baseball, or hockey. This town has grown tremendously....people aren't diehards, but they are proud to be a major league city in multiple sports. What I mentioned, TooLiveBrew, is definitely about pride. It's the economic concept of utility--very hard to measure though. I'd love to see wealthy owners kick in more for sports stadiums, but the community, fans, and businesses also get a lot out of being a big league town. The real value is felt when a team leaves.

one flaw these studies fail to analyze...the economic impact, or even the utility derived from being a major league city. If Phoenix wants to let the Dbacks leave, Economists (like myself) may celebrate, but the city would take quite a hit. Yes, replacing a functioning stadium with another--both publicly financed--seems foolish. But dropping to AAA city is quite embarrassing.

Really? Capuano is coming off a year where he posted a 7.97 ERA and has a very mediocre career 4.39 ERA and has almost no experience out of the pen. While we're at it, why not bring Lohse back? Morales isn't great by any means, but he's been a useful member of the bullpen on 4 different teams that went to the postseason. Hey it's not going to be a decision that'll come back to haunt them either way. But there are better lefty bullpen arms on the street right now than Capuano. As Doug Melvin loved to say, statistics for a reliever fluctuate day-to-day. Cappy still has decent stuff, a slightly funky delivery, and is a great mentor. I'd bet on him having decent stats over Morales.

I want Broxton to be the other OF. He makes too much sense

I like this move. Cappy is a great veteran, and more effective than the never-really-good Morales

I'm 35 and in decent shape. I can play 36 holes with no pain, but sometimes I'll randomly wake up with a sore neck/shoulder that takes 10 days to recover. Therefore I don't doubt most of the injuries

If anything, I'm a Badger hater. So I'll throw in my perspective. Very nice game again for the undermanned Badgers. They really are hurting with scoring. This team turned it around and made a remarkable run this season despite an impotent offense. Thoughts from end of game: -sloppy ball handling -Koenig needs to learn how to dribble. If I were an opposing coach, I'd harp on his palming of the ball. With refs looking for it, he'd probably get it called 2-3 times per game. In last 2 minutes, each time he dribbled he could have been called. That's saying something in the modern day of dribbling -Happ was a bit lucky on the dive that resulted in his 5th foul. He didn't just dive over the ND player (normally a no-call for some inexplicable reason), but his weight slammed into the players' head. In the NFL it would have been a personal foul, and I'm kind of surprised the officials didn't go to the monitor to determine a flagrant-1 (given how frequently they've gone to monitors in recent seasons). -Notre Dame with a lucky play on a strategical mistake. The steal of Koenig near half-court should have been played differently with the defender committing the foul up 3. Purdue (lost) and Iowa (went to OT) need to get with the times and learn to foul when up 3, at least until the NCAA moves the 3-pt line back. Given that Wisconsin seems to make several game-tying or game-winning 3-point heaves each season, I'd rather not let them have a chance to shoot. Having said that, maybe Koenig expected the foul which therefore allowed the clean steal. That said, Wisconsin will be in great shape next year with everyone back and a year older.

...of Chase Field. Thought this was interesting. Not a great place to watch games, but still a decent park http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2016/03/24/arizona-diamondbacks-could-leave-chase-field/82228788/

Wow, Baits' numbers rival Jason Neighborgall's numbers years ago with the Dbacks. I wonder if the kid throws as hard

MrTPlush, I think it shows a lack of creativity on their behalf. Last I checked, 7 low seeds favored over higher (better) seeds. Pretty crazy as I've only seen that a handful of times in the years I've gone to Vegas for MM

I tend to feel otherwise, I'll take Xavier to go far, and blowout their opponents. I got what I wished out of Bucky...a low line! Seriously, it's hilarious watching all the experts at ESPN and CBS pick their brackets. I don't think i've seen a single upset outside of a 9 beating an 8 (and I think three 9's are favored in Vegas) The question is which league will be this year's Big 12 with the flops. My money is on the Pac-12. I thought 5 teams deserved to get in, and they got 7!

AZBrewCrew, I don't read the AZ Republic every day, but what political and financial drama? We have a commission that generously funds ballparks. Arizona has a budget surplus.