Thats Freakin Sweet

This is much ado about nothing. Curveballs curve in comparison to a fastball because one, they are slower so gravity comes into account allowing for the change veritcally, and two, the arm angle the ball is thrown at influences horizontal movement. 12 to 6 curves are thrown over the top, thus they tend not to drift a lot side-to-side. A 3/4 delivery will add tilt to the curve and then give it side to side movement. The seams also provide some movement, the ball is not a perfect sphere. A hitter does not use peripheral vision to hit a baseball.

Damn. I was really hoping the Brewers would be able to snag him. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tired.gif

On an aside, you should definitely amend your 2005-2007 taxes. This is why unless you simply have a W-2 or two, somebody else should at least look at your return for you. No offense intended.

Are you a sole proprietor? Single-member LLC? Sub-S Corp? Depending on entity selection, your tax return fee would be different. If you are a sole proprietor and you'll be reporting your new business on Schedule C of your personal 1040, I would think $250 would be about right, give or take how much work would have to be done on the C. What type of business is it?

I've enjoyed reading this thread, lots of interesting arguments on both sides of the discussion. Nowhere, however, do I recall reading anyone discussing why Rickie isn't hitting the ball. Discussing statistical comparisons are all fine and dandy, but it seems most here are ignoring how bad Rickie's swing is. He has a ton of holes in his swing. He simply does not square up on way too many strikes that are thrown to him. On the off occasion that a pitcher finds his miniscule wheelhouse, Rickie hammers the ball thanks to his excellent bat speed, but it doesn't happen often enough. He needs to seriously lose his obstinance and change his swing. With his pitch recognition (he does have a good BB rate), above average speed, and superior bat speed, there is no reason (except for the obvious poor swing) that he cannot be a .300 hitter with pop. I just really question whether he will forego his stubborness and find a hitting coach to rework his swing. If he isn't willing to do that, I don't want him with the Brewers. I've also seen some arguments that he should move to CF. I don't like that idea. While his speed and arm strength would play, his instincts stink. I've never seen an infielder take poorer routes to balls in my life, especially when going back on flares into short center. Having that in CF would scare the hell out of me. As a 2b, I don't think he'll ever be a gold-glover, his arm is too erratic and he gets frying-pan hands from time to time, but if he can improve his offense, I'm all for keeping him there. To sum up, I'm not on Rickie's bandwagon, but I don't believe he's without hope either.

Well, if both CC and Sheets are gone (I'd like to see the Brewers resign CC, but...), I'd wonder what the likelihood of trading Prince, Suppan + mid-level prospect to Toronto for Halladay and Overbay is. Realistically that probably wouldn't happen, maybe if the prospect was a bit higher, it could go down. I'd then like to see if they could retain Mike Lamb as a platoon-mate with Hall at 3B. Enter Spring Training giving Escobar a shot at SS, and convincing JJ to move to 2nd. I think that's a more feasible request as his offensive numbers won't be devalued, which they would be if he were at 3rd, meaning JJ wouldn't be drastically hurting himself by the move. I'd then see if it'd be possible to flip Weeks for a solid bullpen guy. My lineup would be (against RHSP): 1st - Overbay 2nd - Hardy SS - Escobar 3rd - Lamb Left - Braun Center - Cameron Right - Hart Catcher - Kendall Bench - Nelson (1B/OF), Joe Dillon (IF/OF), Rivera ©, Hall (IF), Kapler (OF) Positionally, that's a pretty flexible group, with enough guys that can play multiple positions to help out in short-term, non DL injuries Starting Rotation: Halladay, Yo, Parra, Bush, McClung/Villy (winner TBD in ST) Bully: Torres, Coffey, Stetter, Villy/McClung (the ST loser), Mota (if he's cheap), Dillard, Gagne (if he's cheap) or whomever is acquired in Weeks trade. There's lots of 'ifs' and 'buts' in there, but that's what off-season speculation and insomnia is all about, no?

In general, I'd be against signing a CC type free agent in Milwaukee, but in this case, I'm all for it. There are a few reasons that I think we should consider: 1) With the departure of Brett Favre the state of Wisconsin is devoid of a "hero." CC could easily be that guy. He has the personality and the elite ability. 2) Even if the Brewers pay him $30 mill per, he will not cost them that much. This coincides with No. 1, but the marketing income from CC's presence would offset whatever he's paid, to what extent, that's to be decided by the number-crunchers that Attanasio employs. (Thank God Attanasio is a business man, he understands Opportunity Costs). CC moves the needle in both attendance and ratings. 3) Winning is the best business decision that can be made, and there's no doubt that CC with a healthy Yo, and a more experienced Parra along with a strong, young offensive nucleus can win and win a lot. Take CC out of that equation (regardless of whoever is picked up to pitch), and the likeliness of winning as much declines. 4) Out of any of the "aces" that could be signed, CC is about as low-risk health-wise as you get. He does not tax his body pitching like a lot of pitchers. He's big, he's strong, and he's young. These factors mitigate the risk in my opinion. Sign him.

I'm sorry, but cannot even fathom how on earth anyone could even complain about this. It costs the Brewers next to nothing to do and can only have a positive affect. If he's not hitting well prior to 9/1, cut him loose, if he is, bring him up as another left-hand bat on the bench. It would seem some are not happy unless they are complaining.

One more, not Bucs or Dolphins related: Fecal Rampage

Sapp's Pants-Sweat Insane McCown Posse Sabby Piscitelli...that's really my name A McCown Apiece Ricky's Rolling Papers Ricky's Bong Big Tuna Melt Big Tuna Taco

Rod Beck...best facial hair/mullet combo in MLB ever!

No, you don't get it, he was listed at 260 last year and 270 this year.

Hell, NDOG, you don't even have to look at him, like you said, read his listed weight.

Gene Conley

Well it appears that there is some factual evidence that due to albumin and amino acids, that a vegetarian diet doesn't provide the same quality of protein and protein absorbtion for maintaining muscle mass....interesting. Nutritionist or not, playing a long baseball season wears you down and if you aren't getting good protein, strength will wane (even moreso than normal....there's a reason guys were juicing to maintain strength). That said, I think a lot of Prince's lack of power is due to his swing. He's trying to hit home runs (I've noticed a big hitch on hitter's counts) and this is leading to topping the ball (grounding out), popping out, or even when he drives the ball it tends to have top-spin on it, which, as we all know, hinders how far the ball will carry. He's pressing for dingers and he needs to relax and they'll come to him. It's not like he's the only guy that's trying to park it on what seems like virtually every swing, Hall is doing the same thing. I'm starting to wonder what Skaalen does if he isn't hammering into these guys noggins that they need to stop hacking.

So, when this comes down to it, is this just making a move to make a move? Is Dougie just making it look as if he's really trying to improve this team?

None of the above. "I'm a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That's what kind of man I am. You're just a woman with a small brain. With a brain a third the size of us. It's science." In all seriousness though, the female human does not possess the strength, speed, size and agility (most importantly the combination of those aspects) to be able to compete with elite, male, professional athletes. This is not a misogynistic opinion, to steal from above, "it's science." Motor racing is altogether different, while you do need some strength to do it, it's more hand-eye coordination and endurance, which are pieces of the athletic puzzle, but not the whole thing. Edit: grammar

All in all, it wasn't as bad as Episode 1. It was lacking as a movie in my opinion, but Ford, LaBeouf and Winstone were all good, as was John Hurt (not a surprise). All in all though, I was underwhelmed, it had some good moments and some great comedy as Ford and LaBeouf had good on-screen chemistry, but I felt the ending a bit anti-climatic and rushed. Further notes below in white: "Aliens?" is kind of what I thought too, though, they were more or less following one of the actual belief systems surrounding the real crystal skull(s), I just thought the ending was lazy and was somewhat irked that Indy et al weren't rewarded in any way. Although I suppose one would argue that his finding and then marrying Marian and also discovering he had a son was Indy's reward, in the first three, Indy received the Ark in the first, returned the stone to the villagers in the second (along with all of their children, receiving gratitude) and was able to save his dad in the third. It's just that they made such a big deal out of receiving a 'reward' for returning the skull, that they didn't really get anything was a downer for me...anywho, I saw it for free and did so whilst drinking Captain and Cokes as my buddy owns the theater so I've wasted 2 hours in worse ways. Here's to looking forward to Hancock, The Happening, Get Smart and Dark Knight, all of which appear to be pretty good. Was the trailer for Kung-Fu Panda on before the one you saw? I must admit to laughing quite a bit to it, especially the last seen where Jack Black drops the "Ski-doosh" line with the belly bump to his adversary.

Kudos Owen, to joining and facing the music. It's just too bad that you had to trash the site and those that frequent it. You hadn't mentioned it on the air, but did the emailer that inspired your rant against the site trash Melvin?

Is anyone really surprised Benny hasn't broken a bat? I mean, you have to make contact to break a bat right?

I haven't read the whole thread, but I can't imagine why in the world the Crew would want to move to FL. Arizona is set up so much nicer travel-wise than Florida.

I agree with both of your points, but the way in which he spewed on, railing against this site and those who come here as some sort of dweeb and idiot rubbed me the wrong way. I think it'd be funny if his inbox was filled up with brewerfan.net denizens giving him the 'what-for.'

Owen Murphy is a newish host in Madison. He supposedly left (wasn't canned???) ESPN and ended up in Madison and is now co-host of Heller and Murphy, a sports-talk show on 1070 am from 3-6 pm. He comes across as an idiot, more or less.

An emailer, whilst discussing the Linebrink deal, and the host (Murphy) saying that no one had ever heard of the prospects given up for Linebrink, et al, suggested that maybe he should check out Brewerfan.net to do some homework on the Brewers if he's going to discuss them so he's not uninformed. Murphy went on a tirade making fun of Brewerfan.net and saying that he'd go to ESPN.com to get his info (he mentioned Baseball America too). Anyone who would like to tell Owen what he's missing, or that he's a moron...whatever, here's his email address: hellerandmurphy@1070mail.com The guy is definitely a tool.