Ron Robinsons Beard

Upload is a fun show. Some really funny comedic moments, with some dramatic elements to boot.

Binged the whole first season of Upload on Amazon Prime over the weekend. I was a pretty big fan of The Good Place during its run, and reading the previews for Upload, I figured it would be somewhat similar. I was wrong, but in a good way. Really interesting show with a lot of laugh out loud moments, but serious undertones. I'm a fan, and am excited for Season 2.

Me too. Really odd though that YouTube TV isn't releasing a list of those Sinclair RSNs that they'll continue to carry. All they are telling people is that if they are losing their RSN, they'll receive a notification via their YouTube TV app.

They announced late last night a temporary extension while they continue to negotiate a long term deal. Pretty sure that's what happened with Sling too. There was a short extension (

The advice is, basically, Hulu Live TV or AT&T TV NOW ... until those services ultimately drop it as well. The speculation is that Hulu Live TV might be safe for now, as it is a Disney-owned company, and Sinclair literally just bought the Fox RSNs from Disney 6 months ago.

I suppose there's always the "pirated stream from a reddit link" route, but in my experience those are chock full of popup ads and are far from dependable. This is really unfortunate for a lot of people, especially those who live in rural areas with no access to cable. I'm one of those. I was a longtime DISH customer until getting fed up with the price increases. When I finally cut the cord and cancelled, I was playing $150/month for a basic package. Sling was great for the majority of the season last year, as the interface worked nice, the stream solid and it was only $30/month.

It appears that Hulu Live is going to have to be a "go to" for now, unless they get some carriage agreements worked out. That's a bummer, because Hulu Live's interface is an absolute crapstorm. I really like YouTube TV, and was planning on going with that service to watch ball games this summer (switching from Sling). AT&T TV NOW is another possibility I suppose, but that is getting quite pricey at $65/month.

No guarantees, but it appears that DISH (the owners of Sling TV) are now at least willing to come back to the table and negotiate with Sinclair (the owners of the FOX Regional Sports Networks) to get a carriage agreement. DISH and Sling TV lost nearly 200,000 subscribers in the 4th quarter of 2019, many of which were attributed to dropping those networks. It appears that the DISH decision makers vastly underestimated the number of viewers who were interested in watching those regional networks, and were upset to the point of cancelling service when they were pulled. I know I'm in that boat, and will sign up for YouTube TV to watch Brewer games if Sling doesn't figure this out in time.

I cut the cord a year ago, and not a day goes by that I regret it. I was paying $150/month for DISH, on top of the streaming services I was getting (Netflix, Hulu). Now I pay $25 for Sling (for 90% of the same channels I was getting in DISH), and spent about $100 on an antenna and signal booster to get the over-the-air channels. I'll likely switch to YouTube TV once Brewer games start back up, or stream them on reddit.

Sling does not have FS Wisconsin. Yes they do. I had Sling. It's just not in their Orange package. That said, Sling sucks. I've been much happier with Hulu Live. But if you're looking for something cheaper and don't care about ESPN but need Brewer and Bucks games, Sling Blue gets the job done. I usually used the FSGO app with my Sling login because the feed on Sling wasn't good. I can guarantee you, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Sling does NOT have FS Wisconsin. They dropped it in July. Sling is owned by DISH, and DISH no longer carries FS Wisconsin either. I hated Hulu Live personally. The platform is just shoddy. I've had the most success with YouTube TV.

Sling does not have FS Wisconsin.

Stopped at our local Papa Murphy's last night, and they have a "Pizza Friday" deal. $5 for a large 1-topping thin-crust. That seems like a steal.

I think of all the chain pizza places, though, nothing holds a candle to the absolute terribleness of Papa John's. Cardboard chewy crust and overly sugary sauce. Gross. Dominoes and Pizza Hut are marginally better. Little Caesars and Topper's above them. I'd grab a Papa Murphy's pie over any of those.

Binged both seasons of Cobra Kai on YouTube last week. Parts of it are pretty hokey, but it was a fun trip down nostalgia lane for this '80s kid. Watching a show told from Johnny Lawrence's perspective really makes you go back and see the original movies differently too.

I disagree that Medeiros was a bust. He brought back Soria in a trade, and Soria was a huge part of the shutdown pen in September that they rode to the playoffs. He has not looked good so far for AA Birmingham in the White Sox system, though. He had an ERA north of 6 in September/October last year and was a human trash can in the NLCS too. Soria was pretty terrible for us and the fact two months of a reliever is all our former #12 could net us is a solid sign he was a bust for us. Not to mention he was pretty expensive on top of that. I mean, sure, he was apart of the shutdown pen. He wasn't the shutdown part of it though. Yeah, i guess when you qualify it that way, that makes sense. But when you consider that this team has drafted the likes of Mark Rogers, Evan Fredrickson, Eric Arnett, Kentrail Davis, Kyle Heckathorn, Dylan Covey, Taylor Jungmann, Jed Bradley, Clint Coulter, and Victor Roache in the 1st round over the last 15 years, getting a half season of a decent reliever doesn't sound too bad. Of course, that is more of an indictment of how poorly this team has drafted in the 1st round than anything. But if Medeiros continues down his path, that deal was a decent example of making lemonade out of a lemon. It certainly wasn't a good pick.

I disagree that Medeiros was a bust. He brought back Soria in a trade, and Soria was a huge part of the shutdown pen in September that they rode to the playoffs. He has not looked good so far for AA Birmingham in the White Sox system, though.

Well, Yamamoto's terrific start to his MLB career ought to quiet the "Brewers fleeced the Marlins so now they won't trade with us" farce that has popped up here a time or two.

Starting caliber players are imminently replaceable. MVP-caliber ones typically are not. Yeah, the Brewers seemingly gave up good value. They got back incredible value. Still, it appears that all 4 of these guys stand a chance of being at least MLB regulars. That is pretty rare in a quantity for quality deal like this. Kudos to the Marlins for identifying four possible/likely future contributors for a guy they needed to deal. Kudos, too, to the Brewers for having a solid and deep enough system to be able to make this deal. Makes both teams look good. Im not taking one side or the other on the trade but to say starting caliber players are replaceable is not true. Just look at some of the well below replacement level crap we've run out there over the years. And superstars mean next to nothing in baseball if there aren't quality players and depth to surround them with. Perhaps this is correct if the goal isn't to be competitive. But there are always starting role player types available if a contending team is willing to pay for them.

Starting caliber players are imminently replaceable. MVP-caliber ones typically are not. Yeah, the Brewers seemingly gave up good value. They got back incredible value. Still, it appears that all 4 of these guys stand a chance of being at least MLB regulars. That is pretty rare in a quantity for quality deal like this. Kudos to the Marlins for identifying four possible/likely future contributors for a guy they needed to deal. Kudos, too, to the Brewers for having a solid and deep enough system to be able to make this deal. Makes both teams look good.

Politics has always been fodder for late night hosts. Go back and watch some Johnny Carson re-runs on one of those MyTV stations, as he always had fun with what was going on politically. He poked fun at all of them, though. I agree that it is amped up and more pointed over the last few years. But I'm old school when it comes to politics and media. I don't think there should be any conservative or liberal voices in the true media. Media should be unbiased. I know, yeah right. Colbert is the worst when it comes to politics. Most of his show is pretty politically charged. Kimmel has softened his political stuff after going really hard for awhile. Fallon tends to steer the most clear of politics when compared to the others, and is usually safe if you are sick of the political bend late night.

I hope you are right, I really do. But making that jump successfully is super rare. I think he has the talent to have a long, successful MLB career, but I'm tapping the brakes before I call him the next Brooks Robinson. It is certainly exciting to have a potentially elite bat in the system, though. You really don't need to condescend by saying I don't have a feel for prospects. The chances of him struggling in his first MLB action, whenever that occurs, are substantially higher than him coming up and immediately becoming the "3rd best bat on the team". I've NEVER seen anyone say he's the next Brooks Robinson. He's pretty much expected to be the antithesis of Brooks Robinson. If he ends up hitting like Brooks Robinson, I'll be disappointed. Of course if he ends up being the greatest defensive 3rd basemen of all time with a historically great throwing arm....that may off-set some of that disappointment. And is it really that much more likely that an advanced college bat and top 10 overall prospect who is coming off a dominant AFL struggles rather than succeeds at the big league level? [sarcasm]I really just want to see a simulated game with Jimmy Nelson throwing to Keson Hirura. That way I can write one guy off and get super excited about the other!![/sarcasm] In his first taste of MLB action following an overly-aggressive minor league promotion schedule ... yes, I would say there's a strong chance that he struggles in his first taste of MLB action, especially if that is in June after 40-something games of AAA action. I would say that the Brewers and Stearns agree, otherwise they wouldn't have signed Moustakas. That was 100% saying "Keston, we want to to tear the cover off the ball in San Antonio this year." If he can come up in August or September and provide another weapon during the pennant chase, great! But barring injury or some other crazy thing, we likely aren't going to see him before then. And sorry about the Brooks Robinson reference. That was obviously a crappy comparison.

I think that's why we're seeing so many reboots and old sitcoms come back with the same actors. Most of the new stuff they are coming up with is pretty horrible sitcom-wise. I've enjoyed a few somewhat new comedic shows out there. The Orville is pretty good. The Good Cop (Netflix) is fun. I recently watched the full run of a Fox sci-fi drama from a few years ago, Second Chance. It was only 11 episodes before it was cancelled, but it was an interested moral story mixed with procedural cop drama. I'm a sucker for redemption arcs LOL.

I hope you are right, I really do. But making that jump successfully is super rare. I think he has the talent to have a long, successful MLB career, but I'm tapping the brakes before I call him the next Brooks Robinson. It is certainly exciting to have a potentially elite bat in the system, though. You really don't need to condescend by saying I don't have a feel for prospects. The chances of him struggling in his first MLB action, whenever that occurs, are substantially higher than him coming up and immediately becoming the "3rd best bat on the team".

I think our window is the next 2-3 years. I also think it would be prudent for Hiura to play the full year at AAA, and aim for 2020 to start playing regularly at the MLB level. It's going to take him time to get his feet under him at the MLB level. Hence back portion of the window. If it happens sooner, great! Just trying to be realistic.

My thoughts as well. I can definitely see him hitting 35 homeruns, driving in 110, and hitting .320 the next 4 years. Man is it nice to have a bat like his that can match Braun’s production when he was in his prime. We are one big bat away from a very potent offense. Did you watch the AFL this year? Some guy named Hiura may just be that big bat... at NO cost. The AFL is most assuredly NOT MLB pitching. I like Hiura too, but the kid hasn't played a second of AAA baseball. He may fit into the back portion of this team's contender window, but I doubt he does right now.