unclevlad

DH vs. no DH...

As things stand now, I don't think there's a good argument against the DH.  Specialization is fundamentally the rule for all but the top 10% of players, regardless of position.  If we can't teach hitters to go the other way to beat the shift, regardless of the situation, then why should pitchers be compelled to hit?  All we ever want is dingers;  strikeouts are fine, even with the bases loaded and no one out.  The notion that the DH is "not baseball" is fundamentally ludicrous now, with the way the game has moved.  

Yeah, it bites.  The current game is DULL...and that's saying something, as baseball's never been consistently a high-action game.

I also think the direction of the "opener" is gonna take hold more and more *in the American League*....because it's so much easier to implement with a DH.  Not all the time, but at least in spots.  If it works, then there'll be more incentive for the National League to do it, and thus more pressure for them to adopt the DH.  And I do *loathe* that one team has it, and the other doesn't.  That's just asinine, IMO.

5 hours ago, archer said:

Honestly, the reason we have a Constitution is so that crap like that can't happen. It's to our shame that we as a country have allowed violations of the Constitution in the past. But in my opinion, shameful blatantly unconstitutional acts of the past are not a valid argument to allow such violations in the future.

 

2 cents

The point isn't "allow."  The root fact is, major violations have occurred in the past, the internment of the Japanese, which included natural-born US citizens, probably being the most egregious from a pure civil liberties perspective.  Your argument is more theoretical...that it'd be illegal to do so...but that won't matter until AFTER the fact.  The damage can/will be done.

And the point with Lincoln shows that what's allowed is determined in large measure by political will.  It's not enough to scream "you cant' do that!" if you don't have the clout to push back.  The Japanese internment also shows this...and it was actually UPHELD as constitutional.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirabayashi_v._United_States)

It is extremely dangerous to say the Constitution is anything more than words, which can be ignored when it's convenient to do so.

3 hours ago, archer said:

The Texas Rangers and the Baltimore Orioles were two of the worst teams in baseball last time around.*

 

Which of those two team do you think are more likely to make the playoffs in 2019 (or barring that, which will have the better record)?

 

 

*Assuming you consider what the American League does to be "baseball".

Orioles don't have a snowball's chance of making the playoffs.  There's no reason why a team loses a near-record number of games...because there's a hundred reasons.  They're top to bottom BAD.  Baseball is a game where no one player can make *that* much of an improvement.  25th in team slugging, LAST in team ERA, 29 in team ERA+ (tweaks for the effects of home park).

It's at least possible the Rangers can pull it off, but it's not at all likely.  No reason to see Astros fade just yet, so they have to go the WC route.  But it's likely Sox and Yanks also stay up there, so there's only one spot left.  A's, Mariners, and Rays were all pretty good.  Now, it's wildly unlikely all 3 will *stay* good...but by the same token, I don't see all 3 of them fading.  

And neither team has a particularly rich minor league talent pool...both are basically middle of the pack, as of forecasts from the end of this year's minor league season.

Between them, well, you gotta figure the Rangers will have more wins, because they're starting from 20 games ahead.  Plus, they don't have to face *2* juggernaut teams in their division...just 1.

3 hours ago, Cancer said:

Crazy enough it just might be true

Nah, I don't think so.  Gruden's ego is too big.  If he could wreck it from the outside?  Possibly.  But he's not gonna sink the ship while he's on it.  The bare fact, far as I can tell, is he's a tyrannical little martinet with a total "my way is the only way" mindset.  

Interesting article over on Yahoo:

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-alarmed-raiders-disintegrating-jon-gruden-060137437.html

The new NFL power rankings should come out with the Raiders at 40th.

12 minutes ago, Pariah said:

Is that a Far-Right conspiracy theory or a Far-Left conspiracy theory? I can hardly tell any more.

Alt-Crazy

12 hours ago, Badger said:

I still think Dwight Howard will prove worse than Carmelo as far as pickups go.  The ultimate clubhouse cancer put onto a team barely holding together as is, due to previous locker room drama.

Wizards are paying him more too.  It's not like Carmelo is Johnny Sunshine, and Howard does give ya 16 and 12.

I wouldn't want either one, that's for sure.  I think I'll still say Carmelo is worse because Houston thought they had a real shot.  And perhaps they will when the full team gets back together...but I have my doubts.  Anthony, Paul, and Harden...there's still only 1 ball on the court at a time.  Wizards...yeah, right.  Their guards are the only thing that give them a chance, and the major problem as well.  One could say Howard fits right in.

19 minutes ago, Badger said:

The Bills offense is historically bad, but they did somehow win 2 games already, that probably knocks them out.  

Revelatory moment.

PROOF POSITIVE that the first 4 games are the actual pre-season.  Bills won 2, BROWNS won 2.  I rest my case.

3 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

Don't underestimate the Bills, though.  The 49ers are bad, but the Bills are historically bad.

If the 49ers are bad, what does that make the Raiders?  I totally skipped the game, but just a quick glance through the stats...no defense, no offensive line, a kid in his first start for the Niners, and 34-3?  Feels like that's rewriting the history of Bad.

One can definitely suspect that there's some number of Raiders who've totally checked out.  

35 minutes ago, Old Man said:

But who would they pick?  They already have Garoppolo.  Do they need a LT?  I can't think of any other position that's really worth a top three pick.

No one does this any more but...trade down, if nothing else.  The story does mention defensive line, but if it's really a bumper crop, you can also probably trade down to get a really good one mid-1st, plus more.

Why more teams don't do this is beyond me.   To follow on to Cancer's point, does anyone draft rationally???????

19 hours ago, Cancer said:

That depends on details that I think vary from institution to institution.  Heck, Maryland being a state school, the Legislature may have a say in the matter if it gets nasty enough.

Doubt the legislature can get involved on the firing.  It's possible they may grill the regents, tho, as to why they acted in the manner they did, because of the now-necessary buyout aspect.  

But honestly, I doubt the Regents will move to save Durkin.  I don't think they have authority to overturn the firing;  that was something that came out Tuesday.  And even if they do, would they really be willing to use it?  With the governor already questioning how they acted, with extensive University opposition, with the massive public objections?  

Now here is a SERIOUSLY troubling story:

https://thebiglead.com/2018/11/01/maryland-punter-matthew-barber-practice-fight/

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/terps/tracking-the-terps/bs-sp-maryland-football-altercation-20181101-story.html

And it won't surprise anyone that I completely agree with this:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/brennan/2018/10/31/dj-durkin-fired-maryland-football-board-regents-should-go/1838984002/

Yeah, Carmelo's looking like about the worst pickup of the year so far.  I took a look at his numbers...even from last year there's a notable decline in shooting percentages, and from his mid-career numbers, he's WAY down.  And we all know, that's the only thing he's ever consistently offered.  Granted, Harden's been out, but that'll help the offense only.  

Scary to see how many teams may already be eliminating themselves, at least if they don't turn things around *quickly*.  7 teams at 2-6 or worse.  Could just be a bad start, but that's a nasty hole to have fallen into already.

West leads East 17-9 in interconference so far.  OK, that's also biased...Houston and Phoenix have yet to play a game against the East, and Washington's played 5.

10 hours ago, Cancer said:

I know what my response as a faculty member would be.  Not to mention my response as an academic grant officer for a foundation.

Yes indeed.  And apparently Wallace Loh, the Regents' sacrificial lamb, heard it.  Durkin's out on his ass.

BUT doing it this way, he's just terminated.  NOT for cause.  So he's owed $5M or so.  Me, I think this should come out of the pockets of every Regent that pushed to keep him.  Not gonna happen, of course, but one can dream.

Now...is it possible to have yet ANOTHER bootlegger turn here?  Can the Board overrule the university president?  Let's go all in with the sucking up!

Well, this is a lawyer advancing a stand to serve his client's interest, and it probably won't work...but I do believe there's some truth to it.  Not enough to mitigate any sentence, but.....

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/us/bomb-plot-kansas-conviction-trump-rhetoric-trnd/index.html

25 minutes ago, Pariah said:

And the Broncos have traded Demaryius Thomas to the Houston Texans...who they're playing on Sunday.

Trade deadline.  If the offer was good, then...oh well, you play them.  Can't wait until after that game.

Booting Jackson and Haley sounds like it was necessary.  Even severely overdue.

So we have yet another total MORON of a kid backup quarterback.  Kyle Lauletta, backup QB for the Giants.  Yesterday he drives like a jerk;  he doesn't stop but the cops get the plate.  A summons was in the mail.  TODAY, he does the same bloody thing...only worse.  Now he's busted for a number of relatively minor charges, but there's also eluding the police, which is not trivial.  And throw in the summons from the prior day, and you've got a pretty slam-dunk player behavior violation.  At least 4 games, possibly more, but the stupid git was only a 4th round draft pick, so VERY good odds in my book that he'll be cut before the Giants' next game.  They have a bye this week.

I agree with Lord Liaden.  The degree of violence by each side is much less important than the fact that both sides of the spectrum appear to be doing it.

The other aspect is, I believe things are escalating, in terms of both frequency and intensity.  Racially motivated bombings...an unfortunate, long history.  Pulse and the attack in Pittsburgh iarerooted in, if you will, routine (extreme) bigotry.  Random sociopathy...Las Vegas, Unabomber, etc....  But political?  I don't recall for sure, but the shooting at the Congressional baseball practice wasn't partisan, was it?  General disgust with Congress, I think.  

And it's naive to deny the possibility that the overall increasingly inflammatory, partisan rhetoric is disconnected.  

So is anyone surprised the Cavs fired LeBron's choice for coach now that he's gone.  Apparently also the GM wants to play the kids, while Lue wanted to play the vets more, at least for now.  We know who's gonna win that one.  And the stats suggest they've got all the problems from last year, with no LeBron to compensate.  Worst 3 point shooting team in the league...take the fewest, make the fewest, pretty low in the rankings on percentage too.  AND worst in guarding the 3 point line;  the opponents don't take that many (relatively speaking) but they're hitting 42%.  Yeah, that' right there pretty much spells an 0-6 start...they're getting outscored from 3 by 15+ a game.

HOLY COW!!  Scoring stats, as have been noted.  Checking NBA.com...21 teams are averaging 110+ so far.  Only 4 are below 105, and they're still over 100.

1 hour ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

Yep, grats to the REd Sox, but I wish they'd have played out all 7 games.  Now we gotta wait til March

More like mid-June.

Sorry, but the bloody season is tooooooo freaking long for me to get interested much before then.  Yeah, opening week is cool, but after that...?  Largely true of the NBA season too, which runs almost the same length.  

If they had Seager, they don't have Machado.  From a talent perspective?  Probably mostly a wash.  I suspect Seager'd be the better choice for the locker room, especially given the longer tenure with the team, but I don't really think it's their big problem.  What I think it comes down to is, the Dodger hitters can bash, but they have more holes too.  

One more week.  Got to get through one more week, then the sheer HELL of thiis year's political ad campaigns will be over.  Given that the congressional races are considered so much more significant this year, compared to most, it sure feels like it's been both busier and nastier than most off-year elections.

Top of the 9th.  Still watching, Badger?

Whereas I'd had the TV on ESPN for the afternoon and forgot to switch until the 5th.

The ultimate terror??  MORE extra ininings...cuz there's another game tomorrow.  That'll ratchet the pressure on Sale and Kershaw to go deep, should this one go 12+ again....

ONLY in the sense of a Halloween costume party....

Mark Knopfler, Privateering

To mattingly:  oh yeah.  First, maybe 2nd time I heard the song...I was doing live-action Vampire some, I think, at that point, and reading a lot of the Vampire material, including the Book of Ghouls.  And it just hit me that this song is a *perfect* characterization of a ghoul's infatuation and loss.  Wondered for a long time...is that really what it was about?  Ages ago...yeppers.  Vampires, anyway;  I daresay the songwriter is probably completely unaware of the WoD, much less that somewhat specialized aspect.  Much like I always figured The Matrix was, in its way, Mage, with Neo being a Correspondence adept.

I do like Mentalists too, but hoo BOY they're expensive to build for me.  I'll be interested to see your take on them.

Bonnie Tyler, Total Eclipse of the Heart.  Written as a vampire love song, altho if you're seriously into World of Darkness...it's even better if you read the singer as a blood-bound ghoul.  

Meat Loaf, Bat Out of Hell.

Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain.