Patrick425

So does this rule just apply to team hats or any hats? Does it also apply to other articles of clothing? Should I eliminate all mirrors from my house and get dressed in complete darkness so that I'm not influenced by something as girly as personal appearance? Oh, please please impart your wisdom on me, I want so much to be a real man and fan like you.

My wife and I were driving on I-94 between Waukesha and Milwaukee Counties today. On the way to our destination in West Allis my wife read an overhead sign (the ones that normally display drive times during the week) that read "Driving and pills kills zero in Wisconsin". I didn't see it and thought maybe she just did not read the sign correctly. On the way back to Waukesha there was the same message on the west bound side. She did read it correctly and we were both dumbfounded by it. So, I Googled it when I got home and realized that "Zero in Wisconsin" is a slogan for a current Wisconsin DOT safety campaign (a goal of zero deaths on the road in Wisconsin). However, the signs we saw read as one sentence that made it sound like they were stating that taking pills and driving causes zero deaths in Wisconsin.

The EDT and CDT start time of the game would not be so bad if it didn't last 3.5 hours. Barring some bad injury that causes a long pause in the game, there is no reason a 9 inning game should take that long to complete. It was nice to see a 50K+ crowd at the game though.

I'm old. My wife is recovering from a bad cold and for some reason it made me think about when Ludens and Smith Brothers cough drops were sold in small boxes and located at the grocery check out along side candy (Ludens came in an Orange box with a wax bag inside containing the cough drops). As kids we would buy them as candy and consume them like candy because we liked the taste.

So out of curiosity I went on the WBC site to check out ticket availability and prices for tonight's game. With the exception of a few dozen $450 seats available behind home plate, most of the remaining seats available are down the line or in the outfield. I would say about 4-5 thousand are left (with an additional 1 or 2 thousand for sale on stubhub). So, not a sell out, but appears that there will be a decent crowd. I do find it funny that even the cheapest seats at $40 in the upper deck down the line are labeled as "Premium VIP" seats.

So...still not letting that one go after 51 years? You know that they moved here from Boston, and were only here for 13 years.

AMEN!

With family vacationing in San Diego and attended the game last night. Fun game to watch with the come back, but was disapointed in the crowd size - 16,000, but they were very enthusiastic. Lots of U S A chants throughout the game. When we were in line for concessions before the game we heard someone say "Someone just tweeted that the upper deck sold out"...obviously a false tweet, unless they were talking about tonight's game between DR and Venezuela.

N kentucky is a 15 Ah, I somehow missed that (I think I was expecting to see "N. Kentucky" and not Northern spelled out).

Looking at the Braketolgy on ESPN that states it was updated today. However, neither UWM or N. Kentucky are listed as a team in the bracket (not even as a play-in team). So, clearly there is already one team that he predicting to make it that is not correct. In fact, there are no teams from the Horizon league listed. I'm not usually one to rant about ESPN like many others on this site...but c'mon ESPN.

Kinda....I think they said last night during the game that there has never been a team with as many losses as UWM has that has made the tourney.

There is a certain value to not having debt on your personal books. I know that it probably would have made more sense for me to not pay off my student loan and mortgage as soon as possible but it sure feels good. Not to mention that if you pay off loans earlier and reduce your debt, your credit score will increase. This in turn will increase your chances for any loans you may need in the future and will also get you better interest rates on those loans.

I switched all my retirement accounts to index funds. Fees are way cheaper and over time you do exactly the same as trying to beat the market. Imho, best post/advice in this thread, especially if you are looking for long term retirement type saving. .....sorry for the long post, and I know all the posts above are not necessarily about retirement savings planning, but I'm all for people taking a vested interest in their own financial futures. Save early and diversify your investments. If you in your 20's or 30's you should have no less than 80% of your retirement savings in equities. As your savings grow, you should be sure you diversify among large cap, mid cap, small cap, and international. This can easily be done with Index funds either with just core index funds or also adding growth and value funds (although, I feel the core funds alone are fine). Non-equity money can be invested in an Intermediate bond fund. The only caveat to this is remembering to rebalance your portfolio quarterly or semi-annually. Otherwise, target-date funds are another option and will automatically rebalance and become more conservative as you get closer to retirement. I have 5% of my retirement money in individual stocks and it's more of just a "fun" thing to do without risking too much of my total savings. I would caution anyone against putting too much of their retirement money into individual stocks. My wife works for a company were all employer contributions to 401(k) goes into the company stock. While the stock has done well over time, I always try to have her keep her total investment in the stock at no more than 15% of the total...and preferably closer to 10%. I'm sure many former employees of companies of Enron and Worldcom wish they had done the same. I think the US does a bad job in general of educating students in primary education regarding financial planning in general. There are too many 25-35 year olds that either feel like they can't afford to save (which is usually not true, they actually can't afford not to save) or that don't understand/trust the market. The average person only pays attention to news regarding the stock market when there are drastic downturns. The S&P 500 has never had a negative return in any 20 year period and very rarely has it ever had a negative return in any 10 year period. Over long periods of time the market has always gone up. There is no guarantee that that will always be the case, but I'm not going to bet against history. Diversify and don't panic during downturns in the market. To me, trying to time the market is a fool's game.

Showing why low level conferences like this shouldn't have conf tourneys. You would think they would want to send their best team to the tourney to represent the conference. I mean good for UWM if they can pull this off, but ultimate example of why these tourneys are a bad idea. Well...shouldn't the best teams in the conference easily beat a team like UWM? If a team like UWM can win 4 games in a row to get to the tourney, maybe they deserve it. Maybe they are the "hot" team in the conference.

My alma mater, UWM, with a record of 11-23 playing for a spot in the NCAA tourney tonight. Crazy stuff.

My son is 18 and is very familiar with Wayne's World (In fact we just recently sent him a college care package that included a shirt that say's "Milwaukee - The Good Land"). Many of his favorite movies were movies that were made before he was born...Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Back to the Future, Breakfast Club, Stand by Me, The Goonies, Sandlot, Ghostbusters, Blues Brothers, Caddyshack, Animal House, What about Bob, Groundhog Day, etc. As a Father that was grew up in the 70's and 80's I felt it was my responsibility to introduce him to these classics. I know he has now introduced many of these movies to his friends in college who, for whatever unholy reason, have never seen or heard of these epic films. We watched On Golden Pond when he was home for winter break. He had never seen that one. He loved it. Henry Fonda reminded him of his Grandpa.

This was must see TV when I was a kid. A few Christmases ago I got a few of the seasons on DVD. And yes, that closing song with the credits brings back a flood of memories. Not that now being able to watch pretty much any game you want is a bad thing. However, I really feel that only being able to listen to most games on the radio and not having access to watching many games on TV, made my thirst and appreciation for baseball that much greater. Not only that, the score was not constantly up on the screen. You had to pay attention to those games. I scored along at home for so many of those games on TV and radio, not just the Brewers but other random nationally televised games.

So true! The minor league side is like watching practice for a high school baseball team, although a lot of mesh netting prevented good views of some areas. My wife and I actually walked into Maryvale Park (MLB) for practice WITH a bunch of Brewers minor leaguers.... side by side, same entrance. Lara was one of them. The MLB team used a dozen or so minor league base runners during fielding drills. Only a dozen to two dozen fans were there. Fiers, Braun, Gomez, Parra, Lucroy, and others talked to the fans. I was tossed a ball from Parra as he jogged in from the outfield to get his swings in. We sat front row down the line, moved to the back row shaded areas if too hot, and walked down by the dugout too. THE NO DOUBT, MOST UNDERRATED BREWERS EXPERIENCE.......... no hype for this whatsover compared to Brewers On Deck, Arctic Tailgate, Fantasy Camp, etc. If you can get to Maryvale this year, visit a practice. It is basically a typical batting practice + fielding drills + interaction with players + sitting in 80 degree weather + no cost. I cannot imagine that this type of free access will be common in the future. Yes, there was a cop or two on hand, along with a few "ushers", but I really don't know if the risk/reward is anywhere credible for the team to allow this kind of access to a few hundred fans each year. I'll agree with this as well. The first time we walked back to the practice area we were not even sure if we were supposed to be there. One of the times we went, we were back by the diamond that is just south of the main field and all the starters were practicing on that field. This was back in the Fielder, Hart, Weeks, Hardy, etc days. It was awesome. Even the small field (mostly used for infield practice) that is east of the main field is great for pictures if you can position yourself in one of the fence openings (most of the fencing around this field is covered with a tarp). My son got great pictures of Braun taking wind sprints down the first base line on this field a few years back.

As a Brewer fan I'm happy (although, as mentioned above, I have a feeling the Cardinals will somehow find a way to do just fine without him). As a fantasy baseball fan I'm frustrated. As he was a nice cheap pitcher that I have on my roster in my keeper league!

Exactly! The strike zone is defined pretty clearly in the rule book. Why are umpires continuously allowed to ignore it? I thought part of the job of umpires was to ensure that games are being played per the rules. The runner on 2nd for extra innings is something they do all the time in youth baseball. Especially in tournaments. It's called the California Rule. It's a lot more necessary in youth baseball as many times you are fighting against daylight. In tournaments they are usually using the same diamonds to play back to back games all day long and need to make sure that games don't drag out too long. Sorry to quote myself, but after a discussion with my son about this same topic and then doing a little research I found this on the MLB web site regarding the last two changes to the strike zone: 1996 - The Strike Zone is expanded on the lower end, moving from the top of the knees to the bottom of the knees. 1988 - "The Strike Zone is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the top of the knees. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball." I didn't realize that they had moved the strike zone below the knees in 1996. So, if the only rule change regarding the zone is to move it back up above the knees, I don't have a problem with that. I think below the knees is too low. What I have a problem with is that they don't call the upper part of the zone correctly. For most umpires, anything more than an inch or two above the belt is a ball, and by the definition from 1988 (that carried forward to the change in 96), the top of the zone should be about 3 or 4 inches higher than that for most hitters.

Exactly! The strike zone is defined pretty clearly in the rule book. Why are umpires continuously allowed to ignore it? I thought part of the job of umpires was to ensure that games are being played per the rules. The runner on 2nd for extra innings is something they do all the time in youth baseball. Especially in tournaments. It's called the California Rule. It's a lot more necessary in youth baseball as many times you are fighting against daylight. In tournaments they are usually using the same diamonds to play back to back games all day long and need to make sure that games don't drag out too long.

The thing is rickh, I love money. I have always been a big fan of money and have supported having money in my pocket and bank account for pretty much my entire life. I was there every month when money paid my mortgage, bought my groceries, made my car payments, paid my health bills, helped pay my son's education expenses, contributed to my retirement savings, oh and....paid for my Brewer tickets, trips to spring training, playoff tickets, Brewer apparel, Brewer's license plates, etc. Money is awesome.

Nate is awesome! rickh....I was at every home game of the 82 playoffs and WS and all but one of the 2008 and 2011 home post season games. Was there when Molitor's streak was broken and when Yount got his 3000th hit. Was there when Mike Caldwell pitched 9 shutout innings to give Ron Guidry his first loss in 1978 (13-1). I have been to spring training about a dozen times (and we attend nothing but Brewer games when we are down there). I've been posting on this site pretty much since it's origins (when it was pretty bare bones and brownish in color if I remember correctly?) I have been a season ticket holder for the last 25+ years including some pretty brutal years when I wouldn't have been able to give tickets away (those were the years people really questioned why I kept buying season tickets)........... but I guess if you want to think that I'm somehow not a "true Brewer Fan" because I sell those tickets, then so be it. Again, I believe those tickets on StubHub are available to any fan that wishes to purchase them.

[sarcasm]Yes, you are right, for Cubs games that I can not go to, I should just give away or sell my tickets at face value to a Brewer fan rather than sell them at 3 or 4 times their face value on StubHub. That would be the smart thing to do[/sarcasm] So, on one hand, you can't understand why season ticket holders would pay so much for their tickets, but on the other hand you are going to chastise them for trying to recoup some of the cost of the season tickets because of who they sell them to? When I put tickets on StubHub, anyone can buy them. If Brewer fans are not willing to buy them for the price I posted, that's not my problem. Last year I had to sell 6 games (out of 20) that we could not attend. Two of them were Cub games. With the season ticket discount I already get (25%) and the proceeds from those ticket sales, I ended up paying 67% of the face value for the remaining 14 games that we went to. If I add to that $50 in food vouchers I received for paying for my tickets early and certain ssh days when concessions are 25% off for season ticket holders, it brings it down to about 60%. With that pricing along with all the other perks mentioned in this topic, I don't think I'm really paying that big of a premium for being a season ticket holder. Oh..I'm also not including the free game they throw in there every year (so...less than 60% of face value).

I'll kind of echo on what Hawing said in regards to why I continue to purchase season tickets. We really like the seats that we have and we also sit in the loge level family section (where you can not always find seats for some games). Our ticket representative is awesome. Like Hawing stated, he has been very accommodating with certain requests that we have had that we would not have been able to get without being long time season ticket holders. The perks they offer get a little better each year also. Last year we got to go on the field to watch pre-game batting practice. This year, they added take batting practice at Miller Park as one of the options. You are not guaranteed to get your first pick, but that is what we put as our first pick. As silly as it sound given the Brewers current state of affairs, possibly the biggest reason (or right up there with same seat location), is the post-season priority and the longer your tenure the better the seat location for post season that you are given. In 2008, we were about 4 sections away from our current seats. In 2011 we were 2 sections away. In 2014 when they sold post season ticket but did not make the playoffs, we would have basically had our same seats that we sit in all year. We don't want to lose our spot in line. Lastly, and this definitely goes under the everyone has different things that are important to them. Personally, I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to leaving and getting out of the parking lot at sporting events, concerts, etc (and no, I don't want to take a shuttle full of inebriated fans). Because of where we sit and where we park we can normally stay until the last out of the game, get to our car and get home to Waukesha within 20-25 minutes (sometimes even quicker) regardless of crowd size. Edit: Hawing - How bout' a anyone entering their age 51 season (I got about a month to go)?