jschris

I can certainly feel your pain. I was in a similar boat. When my wife was pregnant with our first child, I actually gained more weight than she did. That's slightly embarrassing. I lost a few pounds, but gained it back with our second pregnancy. In the fall of 2005 with a job that allowed me the opportunity for fast food every day , I ballooned to 335 pounds. My scale was only registering to 300, so I thought I was fine--until I got the new scale. I slipped in a hot tub one day and had trouble getting up. I struggled with the fact that a 33 year old like me was having problems even standing up after a fall. I dropped 30 pounds, but when I missed my goal of 300 by my birthday I got depressed and went back up to 316, where I started this year. I'm down to 270 now thanks to something of a lifestyle change. I'm extremely careful with my portion sizes and healthy diet balance for the majority of the week. However, I allow myself one day a week where it's no holds barred. Whatever I want to eat in whatever quantity (I would draw the line at a hot dog eating contest, obviously). This comes from the "Body For Life" theory. It seems to remind your system that you are not in starvation mode, so it burns calories at a normal rate. When your body thinks it is starving, it conserves calories and metabolism plummets. Also, the "free day" has the added psychological benefit of knowing I'm only 6 days away from whatever food that I'm really craving. As for exercise, I believe variety is the best way to attack. If you walk a couple miles one day, the next day why not sprint for a 100 yards, walk a 100, sprint a 100, etc for your route? Another day maybe slowly jog the whole thing. Same thing with an exercise bike. One day maybe go an hour at a slower pace. The next an all-out sprint for 15-20 minutes, or alternate sprints and rest periods. With weight lifting, I like to do a sets of 12, then 10, 8, and 6 of the same exercise, slowly increasing resistance. After my set of 6 (the heaviest lift), I drop the weight down a notch and pound out 12 reps. Then, without rest, I move to another exercise that works the same area and do 12 reps before moving on to the next area to work on. Classic "BFL". After I fell that day, I actually went to LA Weight Loss. That's where I learned my old scale wasn't "wrapping around". Even though it was expensive, my wife was great and allowed it if I wanted to do it. I thought it over and decided I wanted to try it on my own first and if I made my goal of 225 I could use that money I would have spent at LAWL for something fun. Like a solid downpayment on a Brewer Fantasy Camp. I think she's getting nervous because she made cookies today... Best of luck to you. If you need someone for support, please PM me.

I would have a problem going blindly with a player as our closer solution just based off minor league stats. If I were Doug, I would need to trot him out against several teams in the league to see how he handles. Without question, though to be fair Turnbow didn't have a whole lot of major league closer innings when he was handed the job (I know--different situtation with the 2005 team not having as high expectations next year's team does). That's why I'd like to see Balfour up this year yet.

I second the Balfour nomination. He appears to be all the way back from injury and then some. He's certainly earned a shot at it anyway.

Can you imagine the outrage the media would have spewed forth had it been Yost leaving Pujols on the bench in that situation? Like him or not, LaRussa has probably earned the right to be cut more slack but no doubt about it it was a poor decision on his part. I agree, though, that this will smooth over in a day or two and things will be fine. Unfortunately.

I'm 99% sure it was Nomura. I wish I had one to take a picture of.

I'm interested in the Melvin if it's still available. Thanks! Jason

I think there needs to be a test for Human Growth Enzymes. No way a normal person can digest that much. I wouldn't want to be in any of their homes in the next few days. Did you see in the "pregame" that the lady called the Black Widow ate 10% of her body weight in a cheesecake competition? Just insanity. I loved it!

FTJ beat me by a couple of minutes. The Oracle is just plain fun. I try to link the most obscure 19th century players to a modern player just to see how many links it would take.

I'll step in line right behind BHF. Also, I know there are some excellent photographers out there--anybody get some good pictures of Yo's first pitch (or anything Yo related) that they could share?

I'm interested in the Uecker bobble. PM or email me when you can. Thanks!

Mark Summers...is that the guy who used to host Double Dare? That's a great choice.

Unfortunately, Tomarken died in a plane crash a few years ago. He was fantastic as the host of Press Your Luck. I completely agree with you--he would have been an excellent choice as a replacement.

jjfan- Sorry to say, but Zimmerman will not be with the Express at all this season. Hopefully he'll be a high pick, sign quickly, and begin his professional career this summer. A group of folks (myself included) are raising money to refurbish the area around the Aaron statue. We'll have a wall showing our own "Hall of Famers", a plaque listing all EC natives that played professionally, and (my favorite) awesome bricks that will be inlaid in the cement around the statue that give information on every major leaguer that also played in Eau Claire. I've found over 100 and there may be a few more. See you at the park sometime!

I was going to mention LaCrosse's Stanczyk and Ned Yost IV, who played with the Wisconsin Woodchucks, as two of Milwaukee's prospects. I wasn't sure if there were more, so I just deleted the idea entirely. Last year, Eau Claire had a catcher named Nevin Ashley. He really looked sharp, even though he admitted he was only up here until the draft. He was drafted on 6-6-06. In the 6th round. By the DEVIL Rays. Frightening. Mass: I haven't been to all the parks in the NWL, but they seem to be fairly nice with a few exceptions. Warner, well, I'll let the Madison folks take care of that one. There are a handful of "historic" parks that aesthetically maybe aren't the best but they are cool nonetheless. I love the neighborhood feel of the park in Wausau. Kevin at nwlfan has reviews of most of the stadiums in the league, in case you are interested.

Troy Percival?

You also should see some better ball as the season progresses. Most of the teams only have one or two practices together before the season starts, so they haven't had time to work with each other. It's also possible the teams have some short term "filler" just to get through the first couple of weeks. I think I mentioned this in another thread that Eau Claire only had 12 players in uniform for the opening series because several of the players they signed were still with their college teams. The league is solid and I know their goal is to be better than Cape Cod. It's a difficult goal, but perhaps not unattainable. The list of major leaguers is impressive, but there are also quite a few decent prospects making their way through the minors as well. I'm looking forward to seeing where Jordan Zimmerman (UW-SP, Eau Claire Express) gets drafted on Thursday. And Warner Park really is a joke!

I think WhizKid is right--if interference on the batter-runner is called than no advance by another runner would be allowed. The ball would be dead and all would go back to their original bases. However, it doesn't appear that interference was called on this play and the out was recorded at first base on the force. Assuming that's true, then certainly other runners could advance.

One or two total games. I remember reading that ESPNU was entering an agreement and I thought it was pretty sweet. The devil is in the details, I guess. I consider my collection complete now that I have a Kane Davis signed photo! Thanks very much. It has found a good home!

I think it's only like one or two games this first year for ESPNU with more in subsequent years.

I think it's great news. I hope other teams follow suit soon. I'll at least passively be watching Eau Claire's first game tonight. Not knocking EC at all, but this time around Madison sure seems to be in tune with the fans' needs. They'll still practically sell out, I'm sure. Odd the professional baseball can't stick there at all anymore but the NWL shines. EC may have only 10-12 players on the roster tonight, as they recruited kids from bigger schools and their seasons aren't over yet.

Yeah, I guess my theory is out the window now. The next two episodes can go in any number of directions. Does anyone think it will be sort of left open just enough so a future movie could be made to tie up loose ends? How about something way out there? Tony works with the Feds to bring down Phil, getting his family away from the life now that Tony "gets it". Like somebody on some message board said--what do Sopranos do? They sing. Solid episode last night. Glad to see the pace pick up a little.

I'm thinking the same thing as Klements. I wonder if Tony wasn't killed in the car wreck. He mentioned never trying the shrooms before because he always had responsibilities. And now he doesn't? After vomiting, he looked up and was fixated on the light in the bathroom--just like the airport beacon he saw in limbo. Then the desert scene--again, staring at the light. I even wonder if this Christopher ex he hooked up with is some sort of symbol of Adrianna, who Tony obviously liked. I'm probably looking way too deeply for clues, though. Oh, I think he said "I get it", too, but I could be wrong.

Jim Gantner was the first autograph I ever received through the mail. As seven year old in the summer of 1979, I sent his card to "Mr. Jim Gantner, Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee, WI". In a week, I got it back. With that exact same signature as he signed last night. His signature is so consistent it's nearly mechanical. Plus it would make a third grade teacher proud! I also sent a card to Amos Otis that same day. I received it back, signed, a week before graduating high school in 1990.

and it doesn't even come with a grill! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

My second cousin through marriage is Ryan Klosterman, a SS in the Blue Jays chain (ended season at AA) who played in the AFL this year before getting injured. I was a little bummed he didn't make the list.