Jake

Per capita taxation in Illinois, even when adding in local taxes, is very low relative to other states

I still love the fact that Republican budgets (not the ones that pass) have proposed taxing graduate students like me on the tuition that is waived on our behalf. It would effectively triple my income in the eyes of the federal government and make graduate school even more difficult to afford

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 21, 2015 -> 04:26 PM) I have had the thought lately that maybe Thibs has lost the team. For that type of coach, there is usually an expiration date where players keep listening. I don't know if that is what has happened, or not, but it crossed my mind. Never forget Popovich QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 23, 2015 -> 10:15 AM) He's like our kendrick perkins now. Except infinitely more expendable. And he doesn't play. Perkins became Perkins because they kept trotting him out there

To me, it's like corking a bat. It doesn't give you as much as an advantage as you hope for, there will be concrete evidence of your mistake, and it's overall not the biggest deal in the world. Slap him on the wrist and move on

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jan 20, 2015 -> 02:10 PM) Compelling. Adam Eaton vs. Dexter Fowler - Adam Eaton definitely the better player all things considered (defense, contract) but Fowler might be slightly better offensively. Melky Cabrera vs. Chris Coghlan - Coghlan had a great year but I'll give Cabrera the nod here. Jose Abreu vs. Anthony Rizzo - They're very similar. I think Abreu definitely has a chance to better. Call it a slight win for Abreu. Adam LaRoche vs. Starlin Castro - LaRoche is better. Avi Garica vs. Jorge Soler - I'll take Soler quite easily. Conor Gillaspie vs. Miguel Monterp - Montero has more power, more OBP and BABIPs normalizing favor Montero heavily. So you're saying we're better 1-4.

Even if he starts to look like the guy that had us so excited, he's now in a position where it will be hard for him to get a shot. At least, he has: Sale Samardzija Quintana Danks Noesi Rodon in front of him. You might say guys like Surkamp and Penny too, in terms of guys who would get the call.

I think I might have to root for the Patriots. I like Brady, but hate Bostoners, but really hate Seattle's "12s." They're the new Cardinals fans.

Happy to see Pack lose. Hopefully Seattle follows suit next week.

I'd be surprised if Melky makes the list.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 16, 2015 -> 03:22 PM) Not a league average CATCHER, but a league average PLAYER. There's a huge positional adjustment for catchers, which makes a mediocre catcher a more valuable player than a mediocre guy at almost every other position. He ranks #20 for catchers. So Flowers, on the strength of a BABIP and HR/FB rate that are well into the range of unsustainable, ended up approximating a league average player. There's no reason to believe he'll do that again, and even if he did, he'd still be a below average catcher. FWIW, that BABIP didn't come out of nowhere. He drastically increased his LD% and GB%. His HR/FB% wasn't too terribly far off career norms, either. He definitely looked lucky a lot, but I wouldn't want to suggest that the only difference between 2013 and 2014 Flowers was luck.

Luckily, nobody thinks he's going to be very good. We just feel pretty certain he won't be 2012 Brent Morel kind of bad, which is nice.

Paul George never should have missed this entire season. I think they were learning from the Rose experience and setting expectations low.

They're not playing great right now, but I'm not too worried about it. It happens.

The problems with Cleveland: -no defensive talent -no depth -For however good coach might be, nobody is listening to him -Kyrie is a clubhouse cancer -JR Smith is a clubhouse cancer -LBJ is starting to sound like a clubhouse cancer or is at least trying to push the coach out -LBJ is mortal, huge workload over the years starting to show -Kevin Love is not that great I think the total lack of cohesion is the real problem. Everything else is potentially doable if they weren't so at odds with the coach and one another

I wonder what his deal was as a pitcher. Never even threw 10 IP in a minor league season, even though he didn't do badly in his limited innings each time. Also weird that he's been out of the game for several years and is still making this comeback

The key question is whether a team can have a really, really bad season and it not be the coach's fault. Can a guy have some blemishes on his resume and that just be part of what happens when you coach for a long time or is it some proof that when certain circumstances aren't met, he's no good? It seems Fox has a good reputation for leading an orderly locker room, hiring bright assistants, and generally having his team perform up to expectations. He's had some fabulous teams in Denver, especially the last two years. Last year was the year to win it, and they almost did. This year would seem to have been just as prime time, but perhaps it was Peyton's injury that cost them. My feeling is that if you give John Fox a 13-3 team, he'll get them to go 13-3 just about every time. Sometimes he'll make an 8-8 team a couple games better. I don't see him being the driving force behind a bad team. If our problem is that the team only plays up to its talent level and merely makes the playoffs and usually wins there, we can cross that bridge when we get there.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jan 14, 2015 -> 12:21 PM) Is it something you have to TRY to do in order to do it? Is it affecting the actual use of the device? If so, bring it in, they'll fix it. Always loved Apples customer service. I'm going to bring it in. The fans aren't spinning at all if iStat is to be believed. It makes sense given that I heard something rattling around in response to my moving the machine, but now I can't do that. Now, I have the new symptom of this faint rattling every ~5 seconds and no fan spinning. It must be blocked by whatever came loose in there and I'm hearing its efforts at turning.

About 12 hours after my positive experience with a MacBook Air led me to buy one for my girlfriend, mine starts having this weird rattling noise. Fairly noticeable rattle when I move it side to side and a subtler one every few seconds when stationary. The subtler one would plausibly be a fan but I don't know about the other. I can't always reproduce the other.

Rick needs to sack up and sign Max Scherzer

Basically, every coach seems to suck. If they don't win a SB, they aren't that good. Then, most that do win a SB didn't really deserve it. We know that Fox is no disaster. If you think the team needs a bona fide leader, I think he's probably it. No matter who the coach is, we're going to b**** and moan about his constant in-game management problems starting in year 2. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 13, 2015 -> 01:20 PM) Long and Bennett fight on twitter over an unfollow. http://www.foxsports.com/buzzer/story/chic...150113_38704287 I think Martellus is in the right there, even though who knows why he unfollowed him. Probably thought Kyle was annoying.

OSU really outclassed them. So, do we talk repeat now?

I think this one is ova.

Cardale Jones is like a really good version of Juice Williams. Really strong arm, big and strong runner, accuracy and decision-making issues. He's just better at all that stuff.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 11, 2015 -> 10:46 AM) Sigh, what are people's thoughts: - my phone the other day started emitting a metallic battery acid burning smell when charging in my computer - since then it will only charge with one charger on "slow charge that takes ten hours - it also bare,y gets through the day for me anymore unless on airplane mode for most of day - I am very frustrated - I am in process of buying a house - most money is tied up in that, and probably can't buy phone in full - I don't want to apply for T-Mobile payment plan before my mortgage rate is locked in (suffering through a short sale) - I for some reason have insurance on sprint, should I just say it's stolen and pay outrageous deductible for refurbished phone? - also, phone is unlocked, so repair may not be accepted Thoughts? Better ideas? What phone? How long have you had it? I'd probably start by calling the OEM and telling them that you first noticed this happening using the charger it came with (charging any other way is often a violation of warranty). If you're within the warranty period, there is a chance the manufacturer will take the blame and send you a new one. If that doesn't work out, I'd look into the terms of the Sprint insurance. This isn't necessarily some kind of user-induced damage. Saying it's stolen might cause problems, I think - they may want to make some sort of effort to track it down. If you are forced to get a new phone, I'd look into getting a Moto G. They really have very few compromises and retail for less than $200. They also get Android updates on an almost Nexus-like schedule.

I just listened to all episodes on a very, very long drive. My thoughts can be summarized thusly: 1. He shouldn't be in prison. 2. I think he did it.