qrk10000

My wife had lasik surgery at Lasik Plus. She was legally blind before the surgery and now she has 20-20 vision. I got to watch the whole procedure (pretty cool, if I must say so myself). They put a ton of eye drops in her eyes and she said it slightly burned, but it went very quickly. Then it took a day or so of rest and she was back on her feet. My 2-year old did bump her eye on accident and that was scary. She actually lost eyesight temporarily but Lasik Plus checked it out for her and everything was ok. You just need to be very careful to limit contact as much as possibl (including rubbing your eyes in your sleep) for about a month. Also, make sure you show up for your checkups at an eye doctor and keep the receipts. You need that to maintain your lifetime warranty. Based on what it has done for my wife, I would highly recommend lasik at Lasik Plus. They did a great job, featured a pretty up-to-date facility and knowledgable doctors, and the warranty was impressive, too. If her vision ever dips below 20/40, they will repeat the procedure.

Thanks very much for sharing, Rob. I really mean it. Sometimes we do lose track of what is important, especially with all of the shopping madness that is now being associated with Thanksgiving. My 2-year old has spent extensive time at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee over the course of his life due to chronic tracheal problems and I can certainly say I am so thankful for everything they did for him so that he can be with us this holiday season. I cannot imagine life without him and find myself, too, still coming to grasps with all that has happened over the past two years. It still doesn't seem real. Now we have another one on the way, too, so life shouldn't slow down for awhile. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. I truly hope that things continue to improve for your beautiful boy.

Wow, Gomes and 2 first rounders now? That is quite a haul for the Wolves. Boston better win 50 games and a round in the playoffs for this trade to work. Yikes! Boston has to resign Garnett in order to save face now. If he walks, they literally have torn apart a big chunk of their team (especially in Jefferson, Gomes, and Green). Danzig, you have to remember that Green is still very young and only started 26 games last season. As you stated, he has a ton of athleticism and as he matures, he should learn to refine that. I have not watched him play enough to question his basketball I.Q. (and being on a train wreck like Boston has been the past few seasons does little to help a young player like Green grow), but I was impressed with his numbers against the Bucks at home.

Couldn't Byrnes play center and allow the Brewers to move Hall to a corner spot (or second base if Weeks still struggles next season)?

On paper, this sounds like a pretty good deal for the Celtics. They are desperate to win now and having a 1-2-3 punch of Allen, Garnett, and Pierce should go a longs ways towards helping them do that. Ryan Gomes and Tony Allen are both nice players too. They definitely have a hole at point guard, though. I am guessing they may address that through another trade. It would be a mistake to assume Gabe Pruitt and Rajon Rondo can handle it in 2007/08. As for the Wolves, I also agree that this would have made more sense before the draft. The 1st round pick shouldn't be as valuable next year barring some Celtic injuries. Jefferson is a beast at power forward and should be a good option for years to come. He is definitely the key to this deal. Telfair adds depth at point guard and still has potential. I like Gerald Green and I think he has the chance to become a special player with the Wolves. Ratliff is pretty much just filler. The Wolves needed a little of everything and that is what they got. While this should not get them out of the lottery anytime soon, it should give them something to work with in the post-Garnett era that they have been preparing for for years.

Certainly not a sexy move but we had nothing Bogut and Gadzuric went down last year. I'd like to think he is a better option that Jared Reiner.

Bucks sign Jake Voskuhl At least he will provide relatively cheap backup behind Bogut & Gadz.

I feel that comparing Dunn to Branyan is like comparing Tony Gwynn Jr to Sr, as they're both the same type of player. However, one of them was a phenominal outfielder who's going to the HOF, and the other may be good enough someday to start for a major league team. Dunn and Branyan are the same "type" of player, but there is no comparison in ability. Dunn hits 40+ HR nearly every year, and not many players can do that. Excellent point, monty57. Dunn is essentially a lock to 40 homers year in and year out and there are very few players in the league that can do that. The guy has a career OPS just below .900 and always has a high OBP thanks to being able to draw a lot of walks. I think the only knocks against him is his defense and his batting average. I love the possibility of having him hit between Braun and Fielder with Hart and Hardy in front of them. That is a super 1-5 and that is not even taking into account Bill Hall coming back in the 6th spot.

Don, I want to correct my previous assertion. I was looking at his playoff numbers. I believe his career numbers are actually 6.1 assists per game, much better than 4.9. I still stand by his numbers in Milwaukee, though. Mo should surpass them with a better surrounding cast.

I would say that belongs to Brandan Wright. A 6'10 200 pound PF is going to get abused in the NBA. I personally hope that crown belongs to Joakim Noah. I want nothing more than for that guy to fall flat on his face. This whole Yi story is getting more and more laughable. Larry and Herb are doing the right thing by being silent and respectful. In the end, I still think that Yi will be in a Bucks uniform and the whole team will be eating egg rolls by October.

Don, sorry, his career numbers are 4.9 assists per game. Look it up if you don't believe me. I am not discrediting you on his numbers in Milwaukee but look at regression. It was 9.0 in 99/00 but by 02/03 it was 5.8. That is not very good for a starting point guard. Keep in mind that Cassell was 33 by this point. Mo is only 24. I think Mo has considerable upside and with better and healthier targets (still not as good as Cassell's), his assists should go up. I really hope they can sign Yi because he should do a lot to strengthen the front court.

Arizona shopping Jackson to the White Sox I will admit that I do not know all that much about Conor Jackson. A quick look at his numbers shows he appears to have an above average eye at the plate but below average power for a corner infielder. It does appear that he has played in the outfield before so he might be able to handle left field. He is only 25, which helps too. Do you think the Brewers would have any interest in someone like him? I can't see us giving up any pitching now, though, with Sheets on the DL.

I think the NBA is going to do all it can to avoid the appearance that players can dictate where they play when they enter the draft and they are more interested in having the best players in large markets than the best interest of the league as a whole. I second that and I think it is already happening. The more and more I read these articles about Yi and the quotes from his camp, the more I think it is a desperate, last attempt to get their way. I hope that Larry holds out.

It is almost getting to point where the only way I think Yi is going to play in the NBA next year is if he tells his national team, his agents, and maybe even his country to back off. He has so many third parties "looking out for him" that it doesn't even seem like he has much of a say anymore. I hope for his sake that he is able to do what we wants to do and not strictly what others are telling him to do but that appears to be more and more doubtful now. That being said, this representative from the Chinese national team is ridiculous. How in the world is this not a good opportunity for him? We are incredibly weak at power forward so this is a golden opportunity for him to come in and get a lot of minutes. Plus, he is in a relatively weak conference with few dominant power forwards (i.e. Zach Randolph, Chris Bosh, Jermaine O'Neal, Emeka Okafur, and Dwight Howard: 5 out of 15 teams), so he should have a good chance to develop without being destroyed by his opponents. What's next? Are we are going to hear a report that now the real reason Yi won't be in Milwaukee is not because the lack of Chinese-American citizens, not because Milwaukee is not a good fit for him, but rather because Andrew Bogut hurt his feelings at the olympics and he won't play until an apology is issued? Bah.

Certainly best wishes you and your family. We have had a couple of scares in my family over the past few years and they are never easy. The one positive that I have been able to draw out of it all, though, was how it did bring a lot of my family members together. It is sad that it takes something like this to do that, but that seems to be how things work sometimes. I would just try my best to be there with her as she goes through everything and maybe try to plan a vacation or something for when she gets better so there is some motivation for her. When my uncle had bone marrow cancer, that seemed to work for him. He was extremely bitter about everything too, but I think a lot of that stemmed from fear and that feeling of "why me?" Some people handle it differently than others. Good luck to you and keep us all posted.

Couldn't Simmons play a little shooting guard? That certainly would give us some flexibility, but I would have to say no. Considering the heel injuries he sustained, it is anyone's guess as to which player will show up. He has most likely lost some speed now and that would make it diffiult for him to guard most 2-guards. If he is healed and 100%, he will be a super addition at the 3, though. As was previously mentioned, Simmons has a rep for being a nice defensive pressence and has a diverse offensive game. His first year with the Bucks was certainly a bust but I am interested to see how he with a different point guard (TJ Ford was at the point when Simmons last played) and a new coach. This is a big year for him. Another note too, he and Mo Williams are good friends so it will be interesting how they work together. frankly, we don't know if Simmons will play at all...I keep thinking of Grant Hill's injuries Those were the exact words of a former Bucks' assistant coach too. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. Are they counting on Sessions to make the team, or is another FA coming? Based on the way he has looked in the summer league, I don't think the Bucks will be able to rely much on him this year. He is a project at best who figures to play very little and normally would be a D-league player if we had more depth in the backcourt. I think, if they all stay healthy, Williams, Bell, Redd, Mason, and Greer would all see a lot of minutes in the backcourt. It would probably make sense to bring in a veteran that could play both spots (kind of like Bell) in case of an emergency or injuries. I think Derek Anderson, Aaron McKie, or Janero Pargo could fill that role nicely. Travis Diener is still available too, last time I checked. I doubt he'd be better than Sessions but at least we would draw a crowd from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

He was a restricted free agent this year and we extended a qualifying offer to him which means we were allowed to match any offer. Same thing applies when he goes to Europe, when he comes back we still have the qualifying offer and can match any offer another team makes. Thanks trwi7. You beat me to it. It is quite similar to the Yi situation except that Ersan won't be eligible to reenter the draft. I personally think this is going to help the Bucks because I was concerned about him getting playing time this season (especially if/when Mason is aboard). If Yi signs and we resign Skinner, that gives us our 1-2 punch at power forward leaving Villanueva to back them up as well as fight for playing time with Simmons and Mason at the 3. Ersan simply would not have had anywhere to play, barring injuries. At least this way, he will get to play against some decent competition and get a lot of minutes. If he does well, we can try to resign him in a couple of years. If he stinks it up, then it is someone else's problem.

Interesting news all around. I have been hearing rumors about Mason's potential return to the Bucks for awhile now. I am glad he and Larry are able to put things behind them. Mason is a hard worker and was well liked by his teammates. As long as they don't try to trot him out as a power forward again (still one of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard), I am fine with this. As for Ersan, this works out very well for the Bucks. He is still very young and this gives him a chance to play more often. I still see a future for him with the Bucks. Hopefully he can return in a few years and fill a hole at small forward. I hope the Bucks can find a way to resign Skinner and Bell too. They were both key role players for the team last year and add a lot of depth to the bench. Now if the Bucks can just find a way to sign Yi....

I find it humorous that he is so interested in picking on people's weight when in his profile he lists his weight as "not what it was at 20". This is the exact reason I no longer post at that forum.

"Only" 1.8? That's still a couple of ill-advised shots/game. Are they ill-advised if he is hitting 45% of them? Almost 1 out of those 2 shots went in. We could both name times when those shots were not good ones but we could also name times when they are. The Bucks also had three big-time scoring weapons (Cassell, Allen/Payton (after the Allen trade), Robinson) plus Redd as the 6th man back then. It could also be argued that the Bucks did well in spite of Cassell's shoot-first mentality. Exactly, that is my point. The Bucks had serious weapons at that time and one of those weapons was Sam Cassell. I know he frustrated a lot of fans (myself included) because he took a lot of shots. He loved doing it all himself, especially if he was "shown up" by someone on the other end of the floor. My point is, though, that because he hit a lot of those shots, they won. He hit a lot of clutch shots in the waning minutes of games (similar to some of those long three's that Mo has hit with time expiring). I think Mo Williams is very close to the level that Cassell played on (good rebounder, decent passer, good free throw shooter, good field goal percentage, same amount of steals) and very well could pass him up. In 2000-2001, Cassell took 14.9 shots/game. In 2001-2002, he took over 16. In 2002-2003, he took 14.9 once again. So yeah, he took a lot of shots, but he had a lot more assists. Take a look at those numbers again. Cassell has averaged only 4.9 assists per game for his career compared to Mo averaging 4.6 assists per game for his career with only 2 seasons as a full-time starter. That is hardly a lot more. If you compare 2001-2003, it is even less impressive and that is with guys like Ray Allen and the Big Dog to pass to. Remember, in 2004/05, Mo averaged 9.2 shots per game and in 2005/06 he averaged 10.8 shots per game. It is not like he has been taking 15 shots per game his whole career. He has only done that for one season when our #1 scorer went down with an injury and he was the only other real option that we had. Even when Redd was around, he was the #2 option so obviously he would be expected to take more shots. As you said before, let's see how the season go and whether or not he repeats his numbers from last year. It is hard to tell exactly what he might do since he has only been in the league for a few years.

Yes, but the issue here is solely with the *number* of shots/game Mo takes. For a point guard, it's rather high. To be fair, he took only 1.8 shots a game more than Chris Paul and took a similar amount of shots to Deron Williams, Baron Davis, and Tony Parker. I think some of that could be attributed to games in which he acted as a "2nd shooting guard" when the Bucks had Redd and Boykins or Blake in the game. He was expected to take a lot of shots in those instances. I do agree, though, that I hope he does not have to shoot that much next season. He'll have more weapons to work with and if the Bucks can be more diverse with their scoring, they should be a better team. However if he is making 45% or more of his shots, I don't have as much of a problem with it. Sam Cassell was a successful point guard for us that almost led us to the NBA Finals and he took a ton of shots. It is the guards that take a ton of shots and shoot 40% that drive me nuts.

Of those remaining options, none scored over 10.5 PPG last year. And none are exactly "options" any more than Patterson/Bell/Boykins were. That is my point, though. Mo didn't have any better options than Chris Paul did yet still managed to shoot pretty well. The difference is that Paul is a 100% pure point guard with terrific ball-handling skills and thus will naturally have less turnovers. He is a better player than Mo, too, drafted high in the 1st round and has lived up to everyone's expectations for him. I still believe that with the team being healthy, the addition of Yi, a new coach, and more experience under Mo's belt, he will be even better. He has improved each year so why couldn't that trend continue? Villanueva's coming off of an injury-filled season. He's not tradeable in the sense that he'll return very much until he proves he's healthy. Bogut's really not that tradeable; he wouldn't exactly get all that much in return. I disagree here. There is always a demand for big men, especially centers. While Bogut has not played like a #1 pick yet, he did improve last year and is still a lot better than most the NBA centers out there (and he is young and cheap). If the Bucks were to trade him, they certainly would get a decent return. Villanueva falls under the same category but has an asterik next to him due to the injuries he faced last year. If he is healthy this season and can play small forward, his stock should rise greatly. I think the Bucks are very high on him, though, and are not considering trading him anytime soon. I hope so, but I also hope that Larry K has the wherewithal to sit Mo if he refuses to distribute the ball. I don't think that will ever be an issue. There have never been any reports that Mo Williams has refused to distribute the ball. This will be the third coach that Mo's been the PG under (Porter, Stotts, Larry K - I'm not really counting the 15 game audition as "under Larry K" just yet), and if Mo's not distributing the ball (improving that assist:turnover ratio) by the end of the year (assuming that the team remains somewhat healthy), then it's not the system that's at fault - it's Mo. Agreed, but if the Bucks are injured as a whole again this year, than Mo certainly cannot be solely to blame. I can't help but note that he'd have a wide-open Andrew Bogut all the time down low and instead of passing, he'd just... dribble. And dribble. And heave up a last second shot. And Bogut would just glare at him. Same thing would also happen with Villanueva. The beauty of Terry Stots. This was the Bucks gameplan 3/4's of the time. I never understood this either. However, that is why it is interesting that Bogut would express his anger about Stots and not call out Redd or Williams. The Bucks seemed to always want to play isolation with Redd or Williams and that was just plain silly. Of course I can remember many, many times where Bogut got the ball and passed it away immediately when he could have taken a shot or turned it over. So far, he has not proven to be an aggressive player inside at all. Hopefully that will change this season, though. the beauty of having season tickets Absolutely. I was a season ticket holder for several years and last year attended probably around 20-25 games (most of them free thanks to a friend who works for WTMJ). You do see a lot more in person than you do on TV. You don't have to listen to the Bucks' 2nd head coach, Johnny Mac, then either. Haha.

Thanks for all of the advice, guys. My wife and I actually have been in a similar situation over the past two or three years. We were health food freaks for a long time, worked out regularly, and never had any weight problems. Then we had our first child. Initially, we still were doing great and my wife only put on about 15 lb from the pregnancy. However, it was after his birth that we started struggling. Our son always slept poorly so that meant we slept poorly. This lack of sleep kept us in a state of not wanting to do much of anything (i.e. working out, cooking healthy dinners, etc.) and we started to fall under the lure of fast food (cheap, quick, easy). It wasn't until we put on about 40-50 lb that we were like "what the heck happened here"? We tried a couple of fad diets. They worked a little but most of them were just too strict. I think the one thing that has worked the most has been working out together 2-3 times a week, eating lots and lots and lots of fruits and veggies, and cutting down on the amount of dairy products we consumed. For whatever reason, that affects my wife and I negatively. While we are doing better, we are still not where we want to be. We've accepted that there are no easy fixes, though, so hopefully our patience will pay off. Good luck to all of you facing similar struggles.

If you compare the offensive load Mo had to shoulder versus, say, Chris Paul, you'll find out that Paul had even fewer offensive weapons to work with... namely pretty much Desmond Mason... because of injury. Chris Paul actually had several pretty good options in David West, Desmond Mason (as you mentioned) and Peja Stojakovic (before he got hurt). They had some decent role players in Rasual Butler, Bobby Jackson, Devin Brown and Tyson Chandler too. Once Redd went down, Mo really had very little to work with. Charlie Bell and Ruben Patterson are nice role players but neither can be counted on to shoulder the load offensively like David West can. Boykins was fun to watch but all he did was make Mo's job even harder due to his limited size and complete inability to guard anyone. When Mo and Redd are in the backcourt together, they are a very nice tandem and complement each other nicely. Regardless, I don't think it is even fair to compare Paul to Mo because Paul is a much, much better player. My only point in bringing him up was that Mo actually did shoot the ball pretty well for a point guard, better than some people give him credit for. You are dead on about the turnovers, though, and that is certainly something he needs to work on this year. Having a healthy team around him will certainly help in that area as he won't have to be double-teamed as much. Given Livingston's inability to stay healthy, I'm seriously wondering if he's going to be a Clipper for much longer. Agreed, he has great hair, though. That said, I'll agree that FA isn't an option... but what about the draft? I'd say "what about a trade?" but the only option that we'd have would be Redd. As much of a one-dimensional player as Redd is... the few remaining Bucks fans might revolt if he's traded. I guess that is the point I was trying to make before. It is difficult to even tell who will be going in the draft yet. OJ Mayo has superstar potential but he is not a true point guard and whose to say he will even come out this year? Derrick Rose looks like a nice player too but I hope we are not in a position to be drafting him because he will probably go in the first two picks. I think the most realistic option at this point (and again, this is purely speculation at this point because injuries or poor play could jeopardize where/when these guys are drafted) is Darrren Collison from UCLA. When I have watched him, he has looked like a hard worker who likes to play defense (certainly a good thing) but he is still very green at point guard. When you compare these guys to Mo, it makes him look even more attractive. As for which Bucks are tradeable, I think Bogut, Villanueva, and Yi are all very, very tradeable. Ersan Ilyasova (if he resigns) should fall into that category very soon too. I think he is on the verge of becoming a very nice player. However, if Mo cannot improve significantly his assist:turnover ration (which would probably result in improved assist totals) and cut down on his shots, then the Bucks will be in trouble again and stuck for 5 more seasons. Agreed, but I think having a healthy cast around him, more offensive weapons, and another year under his belt will go a long ways towards improving that facet of his game. He is still a young guy with a great attitude and a willingness to get better. Hopefully Coach K will do a better job than Stots of drawing up gameplans that spread the ball around and utilize our big guys more. That will only help Redd and Mo.

It is hard to judge if that is Mo's fault or the fault of the people drawing up this team's game plans. We have had coaches that publicly stated that they wanted to play a "run and gun" style of play so Mo was doing what he was told. I personally don't even have a problem with that if they would have actually committed to doing it. However, there were many times where they would change their minds and try to play a half-court offense that made them look ridiculous, especially the Bucks' frontcourt. The Bucks have enough young, athletic players to play a successful full-court offense. In fact, I don't think there is currently a player on our team that doesn't fit that mold. It is just a matter of whether or not the Bucks will actually stick with it or abandon it immediately when they face a team that plays a little defense.