unclevlad

Brewers/Dodgers in 13th as I type. Gonna go out a bit on a limb and say whoever can win this, wins the series. Why? Brewers are taxing their bullpen; the longer this goes, the worse that'll be. That's OK *if* they can win this one and go up 3-1. If Dodgers win, they've got Kershaw, and while he didn't have a great start, we can also expect he's not gonna get hosed by, what, 5 errors? (Passed balls count as errors.) So if they win this one, then tomorrow as I'd bet were I so inclined, they're up 3-2. Going back to Milwaukee isn't *that* much of an edge. Going into bottom 13th. 32 strikeouts. 13 hits. 5 hours so far. Modern baseball at its finest. Oh and side point. I'm beginning to really dislike Machado. Ask me, he's a DIRTY player. See the play where he quite clearly stutter-stepped AND changed his line, so his foot clipped the 1st baseman's ankle? And plays sliding into 2nd have been borderline to VERY suspect. EDIT: OK, Machado just got a single, and he and the Brewers guy just had a chat that seemed friendly enough. The play did NOT look good, tho.

It's only 2-1. I think this is gonna be a long series. Well, ok, I hope it will be. The Sox certainly CAN be overwhelming, and the Sox bullpen is still shaky as heck.

The more I see about Aussie politics, the more I realize it would NOT be a place to move to. Although the alt-right is rearing its ugly head back up in many places, as I understand it.

Not surprising at all. Gives me hope...because if there's one large group that might be considered single-issue-dominated, it's us retired people, with Soc Sec and Medicare. Because it is literally the financial lifeline for many. Maybe, just maybe, we will see a chamber switch sides. The downside? If we don't...I think the legislative rampage will start next year.

Hey, he's got a great marching slogan. Alt-Knight is Alt-Right!!!!

Hooo....centrist is one thing, but there were more red flags with Kavanaugh than were on Florida's beaches last week. Political ploy to cut your own political throat? I don't see it. Near certainty to alienate a LARGE bloc of women voters, who even if they don't vote for the other candidate, probably then just won't cast a vote at all for that race. NYT polls are showing a growing, now fairly significant, lead for the Republican. So the notion of it being a political ploy sounds like total BS.

That's not par for the course...but it's damn close. It *is* par for the course when it's a PAC ad, rather than a candidate's ad. To be sure, it may be selective memory, but Republican PAC ads always seem to be nothing but fearmongering and/or personal attacks. Democratic PAC ads aren't immune; not saying that. My sense, tho, is that the Republican PAC ads sink 2 or 3 levels deeper into the cesspool.

The point is Trump denied it, and is now denying he ever made an issue of it. Which is also utterly unsurprising.

The difference between what most politicians do, and what Trump does, is that he's much more blatant about it. His rhetoric is also that of a campaigner, not of a leader, no matter if he's at a rally or from the White House. On a side note, anyone else in as much despair over the *glut* of late-season political ads? Had the baseball game on the TV, Chiefs/Pats streaming off and on. Carpet-bombed by them, and of course, a HIGH percentage of them are corrosive, pernicious attack ads.

LOL Wasn't a fan of the old one. Saw they were doing a remake, and figured that was 2 1/2 strikes to begin with. SICK of remakes! Apparently reviews are quite mixed.

VIkings had a generally better team. To Badger's comment...ok, Eli might be better than anything the Broncos have now, but their offensive issues are much more extensive than that. Next to last in 2017 in TO margin (guess who was worse); 24th this year. 26th in points per game. Defense is 6th worst in YPG allowed, middle of the pack in 3rd down stops. This isn't the defense that went to the Super Bowl. Yeah, looks like it will be a long year. 2 home losses? Good luck going better than 7-9; Broncos are so awful on the road that thinking they'll win more than 1 road game is pretty much a pipe dream.

Yeah, I'm sure Mark Davis is SUPER happy with his coach. (I'm hoping Gruden will have a terrible 2-3 year run then fade into total oblivion, only popping up as a Talking Head on the "analysis" show of your choice.) Of course the Vikes won. Come on, at home, and the 2nd or 3rd worst team in the league? Almost a bye week. Gotta look askance at that Vaunted Bear Defense. On the road, sure, but can we assert the Fins to be a powerhouse offense? With Osweiler? Over 500 yards, 30+ points, 8/17 3rd down efficiency.

Signed through 2019. Google it...real simple. But no one's gonna trade for him. $23M+ cap hit for next year, for a very mediocre QB who isn't gonna get any better...and generally seems to have regressed. I'll buy that gunshy is some of it, but he's 21st in rating this year, and looking at last year, it looked like about 24th among QBs with 250+ attempts. And given that he'll be 38, with a LOT of miles on him, the only role would be as a stopgap for a year. But I wouldn't want him. I hate throwing away a season with a Dead Man Walking QB. The other thing is, I am just not sure where his head is. How much does he want to be there...or is it that he's just sick of the Giants? Further, Eli needs to be THE team leader. Got the years, got the position, got the rings. Don't got the personality, from everything I've seen whenever I'm stuck with the Giants. I think there's a good chance OBJ is locker room cancer, but Eli's in a position to at least mitigate the problems. It seems clear from the pathetic performance against an Eagles offense that's been MIA all year until Thursday, that there's all I, no Team there.

BIggest shocker to me was the ending to Deathwalker. Which is also one of my favorite episodes, along with Comes the Inquisitor.

Youch. Postgame comments, Aikman flat out said, "hate to say it but the Giants are just playing out the string." That might be the biggest rip I can think of, targeted at a team. Especially this early. That's a week 15 comment for a 3-10 team, sure, but week 6? I'm not gonna say Eli is the core problem, but I think there's no point in playing him any more. Nothing good's happening on offense when he's onfield, so what's the risk?

Wow. In the NFL, there's bad...lots of that. There's worse. Then there's the Giants. Not including Barkley; that kid's impressive. In some ways, what's the worst fate a college athlete can have? Being the #1 pick. Godawful team will be the norm for your first few years. The upside of course is, you *do* get paid rather well.....

The actress was the problem. Scoggins just lacks the qualities to make a convincing leader, much less military leader.

True but not complete. They were renewed, albeit somewhat late. However, Claudia Christian wanted some time off during season 5 to make a movie, as that would actually pay her *much* more. The producers said no. (That's what I read at the time; apparently there are conflicting takes as to why.) So, she didn't sign on for the 5th year. Yeah, closing out the major storyline was a consequence of the production company jerking everyone around, but certain major storylines got totally re-written because of that aspect. This is from tvtropes.org: Perhaps the most infamous example: the original plan for Season 4 was to end with "Intersections in Real Time"; the Earth Civil War arc would be concluded in the first six or seven episodes of Season 5 (much like the Shadow War arc conclusion in the first six episodes of Season 4). But then the network PTEN finally disintegrated, and it seemed like Babylon 5 was going to be cancelled at the end of Season 4 — so JMS, determined to give his show a proper ending, condensed his original plan for Season 4 to make it four episodes shorter and then crammed the resolution of the Earth Civil War into three massively-compressed Wham Episodes followed by the Distant Finale"Sleeping in Light". Then, at the last minute, Babylon 5 was picked up for its last season by the cable network TNT! There was only one problem: Season 4 had already been shot, so there was now a massive gap at the beginning of Season 5 where the planned story had already been told. JMS had no choice but to fill the gap by taking the telepath colony arc — intended to last only three episodes — and stretching it out to eleven episodes over Season 5's entire first half. There's a reason why Season 5 is so unpopular with fans. That's largely how I remember it too. And yes, season 5 is a disaster until the whole Centauri/Drakh storyline actually gets played out in the second half. I actually felt really bad for Londo by the end of things. OTOH, Tracy Scoggins was perhaps the worst choice for a MAJOR commanding officer I've ever seen. Babylon 5 is a major, MAJOR posting; it's at least ambassador-equivalent, as well as supreme commander for a theater (a la head of the Pacific fleet today). We're talking 3 or 4 star general officer. Scoggins came across as a bimbo.

Have to think so, but remember, Trump set the meeting up, with a pretty clear intent to be recorded. Why bother going out of his way to draw the people in, if it's off the record?

Ahh, I see. They're bringing it back. Cool. Seasons 2-4 are awesome, altho you can tell the storyline's getting rushed in season 4.

Interesting article about ratings so far: https://www.wsj.com/articles/nfl-television-ratings-are-up-for-first-time-since-2015-1539255604

The California judge's ruling was based on labor law, as I read it. He was saying the NCAA was denying employment improperly. I'd say that logic would apply to every school in the state, not just the state-run schools. Also, re-read the details anyway. The case was about a USC coach, so it clearly is *not* limited to just the state schools.

scary...............

SBNation has an article on coaches on the hot seat...Joseph, Koetter, Bill O'Brien in Houston...and Garrett. Their comments: But throughout Garrett’s unproductive tenure, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has supported and defended the coach. Even after missing the playoffs last season — one year after going 13-3 — Jones said Garrett wasn’t on the hot seat. So that’s why it seems especially notable that Jones chose to publicly criticize Garrett’s decision-making following a 19-16 overtime loss to the Texans. The Cowboys coach played it painfully safe with a punt in overtime that quickly cost Dallas the game.

I think the judge in this case is overreaching. MInd, I am NO fan of the NCAA, but this ruling feels wrong. I don't see a "show cause" condition as constituting unlawful restraint. The guy is found to have broken the rules. It's an administrative punishment that seems well within the bounds. I do agree with rejecting the Pac-12's comments. Tough noogies, kiddies. Deal with it. Besides, if this ruling's upheld, I wouldn't be at all surprised if more challenges start being filed in other states, under any similar laws they've got. It *is* California, and they do have some unique laws, but this feels like something other states would probably also have. Oh, and heck, it's not just the Pac-12. Big West, West Coast, Mountain West for sure. Div II has a California Collegiate Athletic Association. Looks like about 25 in Div I and another 20+ in Div II.