mothershipconnection

I wish my employer came in and said "you're gonna be well paid for your industry, but we don't want you to work every day". Um, yep, I'm cool with that.

My impression of Minnesota fans (based on the Crew series last year) was that they have no idea at all what to do They're about as dry and sterile as the building they play in.

I have the solution. Fire Yost and coax the Cubs into bringing him on as a base coach or whatever. He brings his second half collapsing magic and we eek out the division crown.

"If Billy's not going to be an everyday player, it's probably best for him and the team to be traded," Bross said. "They could get a pitcher for him that would really help the team. Not unless that pitcher comes via a big salary dump. How many teams would even take Hall for free right now? The only sub-.500 team with a FA-to-be pitcher who's mediocre but would help us is Cleveland (Paul Byrd), they could use some 3B help with Blake scuffling, but I'd assume they'd much rather trade Byrd for prospects. Hall may interest them in helping bridge the gap to Marte (or Hodges). However, they're only 5 games back in what has not been a strong division.

Russell Branyan doesn't wear Oakleys to block the sun, but to block the light emitted from his eyes which melts incoming pitches and impregnates all nearby women.

As great as it's been to see Braun transition into a decent outfielder, I'd be WAY more comfortable using Hart in center at this point. I'd prefer to give the guy a chance to play acceptable D in a position he's comfortable in rather than putting him back into position to be a butcher.

By only playing against RHP, I would expect Branyon to have a real chance at crushing his lifetime BA by 30 or 40 points. I did not look at his career splits at all before making that statement. Tha gap isn't real big, only .03 higher overall than against rhp. He's always been fairly protected from LHP, with 317 PA vs. 1880 vs. RHP.

I never tuck my shirt in except on the rare occasion that I wear a suit. It makes me feel old.

Yeah, you'd never get a real #2 starter for those guys unless he had a lot of warts (recent injury history, vastly overpaid, struggling this year, etc) and was a rental. Hall's struggles will scare a lot of teams off when they know he's signed for 2 more years and could be dead weight.

Q: Is Russell the Muscle a widespread nickname for Branyan? That didn't originate at BF.net, did it? I think Joe's right, it's one of those slam dunk nicknames for a guy with a certain name, like "Kurt the Hurt", "Nasty Nate" or "Big John Stud". I'm sure there's an origin somewhere, but it pre-dates this site and his career. Still, the name doesn't just fit because it rhymes with his name, but because his power is str8 dope.

Should Dave Bush still go? Yeah, he's the abusive spouse who just bought a bunch of flowers and is showering you with attention to make up for his bad deeds. I see through your games, Dave. You'll be back to making me miserable any day now.

This is correct for the most part. My degrees both would require further schooling, but the mere fact that I have any kind of degree got me the job that I have now and could probably get me much further in the field that I'm in if I choose to (I'm not choosing to). Oh yeah, you can get "a job" with "a degree", but if you choose a certain field to work in, you often will need a certain degree in hand. If you wanna work in some fields with a BA, you'll make less than a Burger King manager and will have a pretty demeaning job. You can get an English degree and land a job in plenty of places simply because you're college educated, but you won't be doing anything literature-related with it that will pay more than $30,000. I suppose you could manage a bookstore, but most people end up with office jobs total unrelated to their degree. If that's what you want, there's nothing wrong with it, but I don't think some freshman realize that will happen when they choose a major.

In fact, there's a kid who's graduating with a 4.00 and 33 (I think) SAT that was turned down by all the Ivy League schools, Northwestern, Michigan, and Purdue. He "settled" for Wisconsin. That's crazy, I can possibly see not getting into Ivy League schools with those stats, but Northwestern, Michigan, and Purdue? I can't fathom them having several thousand kids with a better academic record than that. Finally, in response to a previous post, I believe that it is OKAY to pursue a Masters (or professional) degree immediately after college. I was fortunate enough to receive a tuition waiver and graduate assistantship to pursue a MS right after I completed my first degree. There is even an internship built into my Masters program. In a year, I will be able to graduate with work experience in my field and zero debt. I agree. It's best to put your head down and just run straight through it. I went straight through for 8 years, and I don't know that I would have gone back if I had gone out to work right away. People become comfortable and buy houses and cars they couldn't pay for and have children they wouldn't have time and money for if they went back, so they don't. Also, and this is big, so I'm gonna put it in all caps WHEN YOU DECIDE ON A FIELD, KNOW WHAT LEVEL OF DEGREE IS NEEDED, DECIDE IF YOU CAN GO THAT FAR, AND UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE TO HAVE THAT DEGREE. If you wanna work in some areas, you have to have a master's or PhD. Otherwise, you are a drop out. Anyone trying to work in the psychological field with a BA is a dropout, because they didn't go into a bachelors-level field, they went into a MA/MS/PhD/PsyD field. If you don't want to go to school for 6-10 years, make sure you choose a field that only requires a bachelor's degree.

I think this would be better in the "Fielder's Value" thread in the transactions forum. Feel free to copy and paste your post there.

I think the only valid comp between the two is that both may have a similar gap between avg and OBP. Jeff Francoeur has a very good half season, an average season, a below-average season, and a below-average 1/3 season. Everything else is pretty similar. I stand by my comparison. Jeff Francouer with more power. The difference in power doesn't allow any kind of comparison to be made based on avg and OBP. It's not as if one simply "hits the same, but with more power", because a huge increase in power makes you a completely different hitter, as doubles and homers are not singles. In 1998, Vlad Guerrero had a .324 avg and .371 OBP. Juan Pierre had a .326 avg and .374 OBP in 2004. Those data in a vacuum would suggest the same exact hitter. Take a step back and you see that Vlad hit 15 more doubles and 35 more homers.

Wal Mart.com has some listed, but I looked again and saw they aren't sold in stores. I'd call best buy and walmart and ask if they sell the standard replacement composite cables that will work on a non-HD television. I'd assume they would, as the s-video models will work on a standard TV.

The original wii AV cable will only have a single video plug (and work with that setup). You must have upgraded to a component/HD AV cable.

Branyan probably wouldn't be a very good poster on here. i heard the only letters he bothered learning as a child were H, R, B and K, since those are the only letters he'd ever need to use. And even then, he either misses the key by three inches or pounds it so hard it breaks.

I saw this guy on ESPN news being interviewed last week. He was goofy as heck and seemed to be able to laugh at the joke. I don't really see how it's a slap in the face, since he was in the indy leagues and couldn't go play for his team, so they did him a service by giving him to a new team while simultaneously pulling off a clever publicity stunt. He gets to go to a new team and they get publicity - sounds like a win-win to me.

those 'sell' pretty well to predominantly white audiences. All you need to sell is winning. In very prejudiced southern rural areas, people are absolutely fanatical about their college sports teams, which are predominantly black. It's something I've never understood - how racists can be huge fans of sports teams with lots of black players. That'd be like a neo-nazi cheering for Israel in the olympics.

My biggest concern with Hall isn't so much in the present as the future. He's paid a tolerable amount for mediocre production now, but it's gonna be $6.8MM next year and $8.4MM in 2010. If he can't rebound, that's a lot of money for a guy with an OPS in the .700's unless he's an OBP-heavy gold glover.

or the comically skewed reaction to a Nuggets-Knicks brawl that wasn't one-tenth as violent as the Senators-Sabres brawl last week. Certain media members will always delight in sticking it to the NBA, with the underlying theme being, "Sorry, I just can't identify with those black guys." Or it's just that nobody watches hockey.

Was he wearing Brut? I would totally expect him to be. Or maybe Old Spice? Those are for sissies, Branyan wears wolverine urine mixed with Gumout. In all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if he went totally metro and wore Aqua di Gio (sp?) - he has to have some weakness. Perhaps he loves 7th Heaven or Gilmore Girls.

Why is this in blue? Because Branyan can't be cloned. His mother was the first and last woman to have the experimental iron womb implanted after her hysterectomy. Without that device, the potential mother would die from the trauma of the fetal Branyan hitting 500 ft bombs while in utero.

Wait, I thought nobody liked watching Tim Duncan and Tony Parker types with squeaky-clean images.