unclevlad

It's enough on offense. it's not enough pitching. Another aspect here. The aircraft carriers are priced at their maximum production. There's no, or very little, upside that's even possible. In a capped marketplace, even if it's loosely capped, you need players giving MORE than what you priced in. That's a big reason why rookie contracts are so incredibly valuable.

If not even 3 states over, although that's typically ad money for issues. There's a growing problem, tho, of...I can't even call it tyranny of the minority. More like tyranny of the unary. Single (or very small numbers of) individuals who use the mechanisms in place to advance their agenda. I'm seriously dreading the day when someone actually carries out one of these threats. I'm also kinda glad I'm not in high school any more... https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/07/27/u-s-school-security-procedures-have-become-more-widespread-in-recent-years-but-are-still-unevenly-adopted/ https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_233.60.asp 10% of high schools use random metal detectors. 60% do random drug sweeps, 1/3 do random contraband sweeps. What does that tell the students, how does it impact their outlook on society? It supports the notion of fear, to me...and that's advancing the Republican agenda of a corporate-police state.

Solid but not spectacular == .500 ball club and no playoffs. How often do those big contracts actually play to their cost...and for how long? Yeah, if they do, that's one thing. Another aspect with, say, the Yankees of the last several years is IMO roster mis-construction. Too many all-or-nothing types. With the Yankees as well, all-or-nothing hitters that were substandard on defense. The Yankees recognized that last year, and took steps to address the defensive issues, for sure. Also, note that if Rendon and Trout aren't $20M...they're $35M. IF they can re-sign Ohtani, even as a hitter only? We're talking $40-45M...might be more, but that'd just make the case stronger. So, we're talking 3 players, $110M, and about 50% of the salary cap. IF they play that way, then they'd have to be brilliant...because the pitching staff will be badly underfunded. Another point: the Angels put those players on waivers to dump salary, hopefully. Why? Not so much to cut expenses this year, but to get under the competitive balance tax...if someone picks them up, then the remaining salary is their problem. The CBT starts at $233M. If they lose Ohtani, their compensation pick improves significantly...from post-4th round to post-2nd round. If the Angels accede to Ohtani pitching...and try to get 150 innings a year out of him? Assuming he doesn't have to have the 2nd TJ to try it...there's only a *slim* chance he'd last 2 years, I think. Not with the repeat damage. If he's got to have the TJ now, the first question is whether he *can* pitch again effectively. History shows, this simply isn't very likely. EDIT: watching Angels-Phillies, actually, on MLB. Bottom Line point about the D'backs-Dodgers game, in LA...the D'backs are 7-33 in the last 40 games in Dodger Stadium. Owwwww.....

How can we possibly pity someone whose face appears, painted on a ceiling?

Venus Williams.....please retire. US Open first round, she had to get a wild card, which was strictly based on her record. First round, playing a qualifier. First set was a 6-1 blitz. Second set? I switched away when it was 4-0, 40-love...Venus had won only 5 points in the entire set. She earned massive credit for all she did, but she's 43. Her rank is 400...that won't even get you invited to the qualifying rounds. There comes a point when enough is enough. EDIT: match over. Madden wins, 6-1, 6-1. Total points, 62-36. EDIT 2: my bad. She went through qualifying, she didn't get a wild card.

Baseball teams are starting to clear some deadwood. Yankees release Josh Donaldson. From the Athletic: They also waived Harrison Bader, who's been horrendous the last 2 months...4th worst in wRC+ since July 4th. Good defensively, but that bat just doesn't cut it. Plus, his free agent contract expires this season. No loss. And the Angels proved their front office is an UTTER disaster, IMO. Or slik might say, succumbed to the inevitable. Giolito waived. Grichuk waived. "Roster strengthening" moves that bombed. 3 others also waived. Yeah, they have NO chance, with Trout out again, with no pitching at all, and with a near-impossible task...they'd have to go 24-6, .800 baseball, to reach 87 wins. Even before this? They were a near-lock to be closer to 6-24. So they've emptied anything they might have had...again. FanGraphs has them 29th, another site 28th. Baseball America has them last. Shohei should walk.

A high profile athlete at a high profile school should absolutely know by now that committing either way is utterly moronic. It's completely lose-lose. That's pretty much a Captain Obvious article, IMO. Coming into the college season, Williams has 2 big NIL deals...taking over the Bryce Young slot in Fansville is no surprise, and I saw him in a Wendy's ad last night. In case you wondered what NIL deals looked like, for the high end... https://www.on3.com/db/caleb-williams-17251/nil/ Of COURSE Bronny is #1. Livvy Dunne is huge on social media, and Vuori advertised pretty heavily in the spring. And Arch Manning, it's all in that last name. Plus, of course...Texas. There's also this: https://www.on3.com/nil/rankings/player/nil-100/ What's a bit crazy is...there's 10 high school kids on the list. Bronny's younger brother's one...ok, no surprise. Others are big names in the football or basketball recruitment lists. But...realize...they're all making over $500K *while still in high school.* That's crazy.....I don't begrudge them the money, if someone wants to pay them, but man. Cult of celebrity...

Which move are you calling obvious? Murray to PUP, yeah, sure. And...hmm...looking at McCoy...he's hopeless. Not like Dobbs is any better, but he's gotta be a lot cheaper, just from years of service aspects. Story in the Athletic today...they polled 23 agents, promising anonymity. One of the questions: now that the Commanders are in a franchise reset, what's the worst-run organization in the NFL? *9* of them said...the Cardinals. One of the comments: Second was the Colts, which...given that Jim Irsay may now be the worst owner in the NFL, makes sense...but that was only 4 votes. Cowboys got one vote: "Nepotism at its finest."

Believe I saw he was doing that the night the mug shot was released, or at least the next day. And, yes, there was never any question whatsoever he'd do it.

Hey, it's one way to break up the monotony, and it's not like there was any way they could *lose*.........

Well, it's always something of an open question whether it's bad coaching...not counting last year's farce, that was TERRIBLE coaching...or a total inability to assess and/or train a QB? This could readily be a chicken and egg class of question.

And now we see how well that policy paid off. A possible rationale for bullpen work...overwork also means over-exposure, especially in these days of exhaustive scouting. The margin between a good pitch and a mediocre one isn't much. Another? Max effort pitching is plausibly harder to repeat. Pitcher gets just slightly off, and Bad Things happen to Good Baseballs. Speaking of fall from grace...Cleveland designated Noah Syndergaard for assignment this evening. Rockies outright released Jurickson Profar. Both were only on 1 year deals, and...let's just say, underperformed. Profar's hitting has been terrible...3rd lowest wRC+, which is one of those weird, composite metrics, but it's related to run production...and the fact that it's the 3rd lowest among qualified hitters is clearly Really Bad. Both will probably get deals for next season with someone...but not big or long term ones.

Except that I really don't think it'll be the Angels' problem. Angels GM Perry Minasian said Ohtani declined an MRI 3 weeks ago, when he had to leave due to cramping in his pitching hand. This is blame deflection. From the Angels, to Ohtani and his team. This is not an approach that will maximize goodwill between the sides...rather the opposite. I think, if that bridge was intact before, well, the Angels just blew up all the supports. Now, some of this is probably on the Angels, but a lot of this, IMO, just reflects the fact that mega-stars have ALL the power. The team should have the power to require an MRI. There's no reason NOT to do it...other than money, and while an MRI is expensive for us, it's nothing for them. We can't impute anything from the fact that he did decline; we have no information there. We only know he did...and now everything's imploded. To Logan's point...there is serious concern his pitching career is effectively OVER. The second TJ is a very, very bad sign: https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/shohei-ohtanis-pitching-future-how-mlb-starters-have-fared-following-second-tommy-john-surgery I'm not sure it was because he was also being the DH; I will say that we don't necessarily have a good idea about HOW to handle the combination. But, heck, guys, no one knows how to handle pitchers, PERIOD. There's some video clips on that page, the first one *rips* the Angels for serious overuse. I do recall a few times when Ohtani was pitching longer than needed. I'll still leave the question open, tho...how much of this was trying to keep Shohei happy? Flip side, of course, how much was desperation because the Angels' bullpen isn't very good? (And there's a serious problem with bullpen overuse across all of baseball. The Rangers have the least number of innings pitched by the bullpen, and they're still averaging 10 outs per game from the bullpen. I'm also not sure if that doesn't tell the whole story...because that may not account for openers, who really AREN'T starters. Some of the statistical aspects of the game have gotten seriously tangled.)

From the "no one saw THIS coming" department... Mariners have gone 9-1; Rangers have gone 1-9. The MARINERS are now in 1st in the AL West.

But this is the Broncos, so we know they can fail to meet even low expectations.

The Royals E# is 6...because they're in the AL Central. They're already eliminated from the WC. The Rockies are actually not eliminated from the division...but the number's 2. For the WC, it's actually about 14. FanGraphs has 7 teams with a listed 0.0% chance of making the playoffs...Nats, Pirates, Cards, and Rockies in the NL, and White Sox, Royals, and A's in the AL. < 1%: Yankees, Tigers, Angels, Mets. They're STILL giving the Padres almost 5%; that one still escapes me. 32 games left, they've only got 61 wins. So, 24-9 to get to 85? That MIGHT get you there, but nothing all season has shown they can make that kind of run.

Well, saying the offense might be better than last year, is definitely chasing the low hanging fruit....

Just noted on Bottom Line that the player has been released from the hospital.

OK...just saw this. Email that actually got pushed into spam, but legit.... There's now a class action lawsuit related to NFL Sunday Ticket. https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/08/22/google-sued-for-information-in-6-billion-nfl-sunday-ticket-lawsuit/?sh=60ee15e81817 My initial feeling is, there's not much of a case here. Those out of market rights are valuable...but if they're offered to multiple streaming services, the value drops FAST for the streamers. NFL Sunday Ticket is sufficiently attractive to draw subscribers, and NFL rights of any kind are huge...look at the deal for TNF. And, if the viewership gets split among multiple streamers, the audience fragments, and the ad rates on each have to be lower.

Because certain Republicans would then lose one of their clarion calls to increase funding for their stormtroopers.

The latest trend...balks. Least, it seems that way. Maybe it's just mostly coincidental, but I've seen a LOT of em called. Thoughtless ones, basically. Just now? Reds-D'backs. 7-7, 11th inning. 2 outs runner on 3rd (maybe others but doesn't matter). Pitcher is at set position. Breaks hands apart...then returns the pitching hand to the glove. BOOM. Reds, 8-7 now. Bottom 11th coming up. Earlier this week, it was pitcher had come set, at the belt. Raised both arms, pitching hand still in mitt...then came to another stop. OOPS. Think that was a Yankee broadcast...Michael Kay was going...what? Then they showed the full replay, and yep...he conceded the point. Believe there was another in that game too. I'm wondering if the clock and disengagement rules might possibly be in the back of pitchers' minds a bit.

Just for grins...play counts. UTEP-JState: 136 Ohio-SDSU: 142...Ohio was 26-52 passing, and incomplete passes still stop the clock. UMass-NSMU: 119...in a 41-30 contest. The story in The Athletic said the average for FBS last year was 178 plays per game. USC-SJSU is at 127 with 3 minutes left, and no doubt about the outcome. Not really likely to have a lot more plays there. The other 2 games are still in the 3rd. EDIT: they're over. FIU vs. La Tech...127 plays. Of note? 83-44 La Tech in plays run. La Tech threw 44 passes; FIU, 14. Note that Ohio ran a ton more plays than San Diego State, with many incompletions. Hawai'i-Vandy, 116 plays, including 65 passes. So it may not be passing per se, but the style of passing. Outside, even swing passes to backs, that'll end up out of bounds, that team can likely run a high number of plays. But the first glance suggests it's working.

Sajak and White probably hold the record for longest-running showrunning duo. Checking...yeah, has to be, in the US. It's #3 longest running (behind Jeopardy and TPIR) but the Sajak/White combo has remained together for most of that run. Trebek was near-perfect for Jeopardy, but that's a *quiz* show, not a game show. The two require different skillsets. Given the HIGH level of involvement...yes, Trebek was probably the best host in terms of show management ever. I can't offhand think of any other game-related show where the host was essentially an equal participant to the players.

That's not a local, that's the national game. The only ESPN game today. Google does not tell you the whole story. The wide shots give you more of an idea, but not the whole thing. They do show the paucity of attendance...but the why there is the same, to a degree. Or too many degrees. Yeah, I could be there. I passed. AIR temp is low 90s. STADIUM temp is a different story. Aggie Memorial is 100% CONCRETE. The benches you see are steel. It is MUCH, MUCH hotter in that stadium than what the various weather stations might be reporting. Dunno what the on-field temp might be; I did attend a few games back in the day, but I never got down to the field. BTW, yes, it also means it's just as uncomfortable as you might think. BTW, most games start later than this; up through at least mid-September, things haven't cooled off materially at 5. Games typically start more like 6 until much later in the season. The other scourge of early season football is delaying Hawai'i vs. Vandy...yeah, I'm sure you're waiting for this one with baited breath. Lightning in the area.

Eh, I think it's an AD with delusions of grandeur. I predict he doesn't last 5 years. Insofar as the timekeeping change...one game can't give us much, unless it's dramatic. This could well be dramatic. 50 total plays for Navy. 57 total games for ND. That's all...not even 110 total, from scrimmage. Something to watch, for sure.