Patrick425

My 14 year old son wanted an XBox. So he got three jobs this summer (2 umpiring jobs and a caddying job). He finally saved up enough money to purchase the XBox and some games. We went to Game Stop and he decided to purchase the refurbished one for $50 less (30 day guarantee along with a 2 year warranty). He gets it home, hooks it up and it can't read any of the games he purchased. Now, not a huge deal, since we can just bring it back and get another one, but obviously my son was a bit disappointed. Just laid down a bunch of hard earned money and gets a lemon in return. What bothers me is that I thought they tested all these refurbished game consoles before they put them on the shelves. Also, maybe someone on this site can help me out, but he set up a profile and had to enter a bunch of information (including his address). I'm not exactly thrilled about all of that being on the machine when we return it.

Exactly!! It was a great game. I can't believe that people were so bothered that there was not a "conclusion" to an exhibition game.

Not sure if anyone on this board lives in Waukesha or went to the City of Waukesha Fireworks tonight, but if anyone has any news on what happened with these fireworks I would sure like to know. We did not go to the fair grounds, but we lined up on Grandview Ave with many other people. The fireworks went on for about 10 minutes then stopped for 10 to 15 minutes. People started to leave and we were also getting ready to pack up and then they started up again briefly for about 2 or 3 minutes and stopped again. After another 5 or 10 minutes we left as did many other people. Never saw them start up again while we were driving away. Very curious as to what the story was. edit - update: Ok, just saw an update on JSonline. Apparently grass fires were starting..so they stopped the show. I guess the same thing happened in Oak Creek. http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/fireworks-halted-in-oak-creek-waukesha-k061425-161393055.html

I thought the exact same thing. In fact when he first started announcing it I swore because based on his call I thought it was going to be a fly ball out to CF.

Going through some of my emails...here is another. I don't know a lot about it: http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=batssportsacademy Also, I forgot about the Racine Hitters. They are a very seriously minded baseball organization. If we lived closer to Racine or had more time, my son probably would have done some of their clinics. If you are looking for instruction from former (and current) Major and Minor leaguers, this might be the place. Here is the web site link (I'm linking a camp they have in August, but you should explore the site. They do a lot of camps in the Winter): http://www.hometeamsonline.com/teams/Default.asp?u=BADGERLANDTEST&s=baseball&t=c&p=custom&pagename=youth%20end%20of%20summer%20camp

Sorry I did not see this earlier in June when you first posted. I have a 14 year old son that has been playing baseball since he was 4 and has gone though several different camps and clinics. I also coach his team. So, I have a little insight. Oddly enough, there are not a ton of clinics in the summer. Well, actually, I live in Waukesha and the High Schools play summer baseball out there. Since many of the clinics are run by HS coaches, they tend to do them in the "off-season". Here are a couple of thoughts: -Contact your local high school baseball coach (should be able to find his email address on the HS web site) and ask him about any camps/clinics/instruction he does. -There are a few indoor places in the area that offer baseball clinics (NX level in Waukesha for example). However, again, these are usually during the fall/winter/spring months. - Bigler Baseball is big in SE Wisconsin and they also offer several camps and clinics. The Biglers run the Wisconsin State Baseball League and they have coached at various High Schools in SE Wisconsin. Here is a link: http://biglerbaseballcamps.com/ - Whitewater also offers camps from time to time: http://www.uww.edu/conteduc/camps/baseball/ Again, as you will see, mostly in the Winter as coaches are busy with the baseball season right now. The camps and clinics are great for younger players (8-10 years old). However, once they start getting older, especially if they are getting pretty good at baseball, you may want to think about getting them more individualized instruction or instruction that involves smaller group sizes (NX level has this in the Winter). You will find after a while that many of the camps are basically teaching the same things over and over and when there are large groups of kids at each camp they instruct to the lowest common denominator with very little "one on one" time with your son. Edit: Of course the smaller groups and/or individual instruction tend to be a little more expensive. Having said all this, obviously your child has to want to do this in order for it to be of any help. If you are dragging him or her to these clinics then it's kind of a waste of time and money. You said your son is a baseball fanatic, so this should all be good for him as long as he keeps a positive attitude. Hopefully some of this was helpful.

Wow Casey...really? 2mph? I have a feeling you would not be a big fan of the way I drive.

Those things have always seemed very low to me. I passed one on 94 West somewhere around the College Ave. exit, and it said I was going 49, but my speedometer said 59. I know my speedometer might be a little off cause my GPS always has me going a couple MPH slower, but that's still a 7-8 MPH difference from what the digital radar speed sign says. I'll never understand why people slow down by those things. Don't they have speedometers in their cars? Or, do they think there is a cop standing right behind the radar sign that is going to run them down?

Not sure you can quite put the Bears on the same level as the Cubs. I believe the Bears were in the Super Bowl about 6 years ago and they actually won a Super Bowl within the last 30 years. Exactly. Why do people get so upset about the All Star Game?? It's an exhibition game where fans get to see the big names in baseball play. Why is that such a bad thing? Relax and enjoy!

IT people who insist I must have changed something, when I know I didn't.

Really?? Wow, we have had Sprint for several years now and have terrible reception in our house. I never knew this. I'll have to check into it.

Sorry, this reply is a little late. I also can never understand why people can not return their carts. How lazy do you have to be. However, I just wanted to make sure I understand this post. When you say "vestibule" what are you talking about? Are you talking about the "cart coral" that is located in the parking lots. I'm sure there has been many times when I have pushed my cart into the "coral", but it didn't necessarily get pushed all the way against the last previous cart. Is it important that this happen for some reason?

Because, as Fear the Chorizo stated, it would call into question years worth of testing.

What about Carlos Gonzalez? Look at his home/road splits compared to Brauny and Votto. His numbers are solid on the road but Votto and Braun have All-Star road numbers as well as home numbers. Crazy stat. Votto's BABIP is .432! That is .100 points higher than Braun's. Votto sports a career BABIP of .359. That shows to me he hits the ball hard. I really don't think the writers delve into "splits" when deciding on who to vote for. I believe most of them look at the "Big 3"..HRs, RBIs, and AVG. (Unless of course there is some Verlander type pitcher and no one putting up Superman like offensive numbers). Gonzalez is in the top 5 in each of those categories. I do believe that the writers take into account the teams success that the player is on, so that obviously will work in Votto's favor.

I find it interesting that he uses the words "Right now", which to me means that he fully intends to tell his whole story at some point and time.

What about Carlos Gonzalez?

Rock totally blew that. The umpire was calling Plouffe out of the baseline.

I think I'll be turning the sound down pretty soon, I can't take much more. The ball is practically in the dirt and the woman yells..."Ohhh, that was close, that was close!" Is that Dillard's mom?

Do the fans that you can hear realize that these are professionals and not 8 year olds?

Ummm...why didn't Gomez tag up on that?

I actually sometimes wonder just the opposite. So, under what you outlined above, that's $69M in gate revenue. Add to that whatever they get from parking/concessions, merchandising, TV Revenue, whatever revenue sharing they might participate in. Maybe it comes to $200M? I have no idea, but I would love to know. However, what many people forget is that it's just not the 25 man roster player's salaries. They also have to pay all their minor leaguers (including coaches and trainers), office staff, beneefits, equipment, travel expenses..it seems to be an endless stream of expenses. I'm not suggesting that I don't think any team is making money, I just don't get it when people say..Oh, every owner is making tons of money (I'm not talking about increase if franchise value). What are your calculations on that?

I'm wondering if 38 (the guy crouched behind Parra with the FuManChu and sunglasses) is Roenicke.

My guess is Estrada Marco Estrada is one of the big hair guys with zebra stripe tights. He's got the purple hair in the photo of four guys (Kottaras, Estrada, Ax, Loe) in reply #9 of this thread. That's Ax in that picture? I thought that was Lucroy. If that's Ax, then I want to know who's the Blues Brother guy in the back row?

I'm trying to figure out who the guy is 3 from left standing that looks like someone from Run DMC. If it wasn't an 80's theme, I would say that he also looks a little like Junior Soprano or the old guy from the Six Flags commercial of 2 or 3 years ago.

The one biting his nails? That's the one that everyone says looks like Suppan. Not sure who it is, but it looks like he's going for the Tom Selleck look.