Middle Buffalo

Does Baez' "World's Best Tagger" ability translate to the other side of 2B? Asking for all baseball fans. I'd hate to lose that.

I had a team a few years ago that finished the season in 2nd place in total overall points (maybe 10 points behind the points leader). His record: 11-2 My record: 5-8 It seemed like I either had the highest points every week or played the guy who did. I didn't make the playoffs, but my team dominated in total points every week during the playoffs, too. It was my big money league, too. Very frustrating.

Yeah, I don't really care about #1, either. Just an observation. #2 interests me because quite a few players have filed lawsuits against the league, and I don't think they are all concussion related, so it's interesting that the league doesn't have a more uniform safety policy. Not that knee pads would necessarily protect against knee injuries... #3 - thanks for the info. I figured it had something to do with the time left in the half/game, but I was never able to pin it down.

Three things: 1) When did the untucked shirt become a thing? I remember seeing it last year, but I'm surprised the league allows it since they're crazy about the uniforms. 2) How can a league that is constantly embroiled in player safety have players basically wearing bike shorts? So many dbs, rbs, and wrs don't wear thigh pads and/or knee pads. Some of the pants don't even cover their knees. 3) What is the stop the clock rule when a player goes out of bounds? Sometimes a guy goes out and the clock stops. Other times it doesn't.

1980s: rhp - Jack Morris lhp - Fernando Valenzuela rhh - Robin Yount lhh - Tony Gwynn

Yeah, I agree. I've had all three in the past. I had Gurley last year and he was great. Ive had Johnson a few times (including last year). Injuries aside, I don't think there was a wrong pick. They all have some question marks. Bell has a lot of drama surrounding his walk year. Johnson has a questionable offense. And Gurley has the possible regression of a Rams team that had everything go right last year.

Bell went 1st. I went with David Johnson.

I have the second pick in a PPR/non-keeper league. So everyone is available. Who should I take?

Not sure where to put this, but it's a crazy E:60 story by Sarah Spain. http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/24505521/the-jaw-dropping-story-nfl-coach-search-family

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/10-degrees-baseballs-attendance-woes-mlb-owners-rightfully-spooked-031815621.html?bcmt=1 Whenever I watch the highlights of all but a handful of teams, it's apparent that attendance is down throughout the league. Lots of 2/3 full stadiums. I suppose prices will eventually drop, but who knows?

Yeah, based on the comments below some of the articles I've read, you'd think Republicans didn't like McCain. Then, how did he get re-elected so many times and run as the presidential candidate? Democrats voted for him?

I definitely voted for him a few times for the Senate.There was a lot to like about him politically. I wish there were more like him who weren't afraid to reach out to the other side. RIP.

Robin Leach, 76. "Lifestyles if the Rich and Famous" debuted in 1984. So, he was in his mid 40s when this show peaked. That is hard to believe.

Not trying to be PC police, but I always find it odd that people have no problem throwing around "redneck" when they are talking about race. I don't see how it's different from some of the other words that are taboo. I know "gay" and "retard" were just words we threw around when I was a kid. Lots of times between friends. They were put downs, and I think we didn't really understand how those words might hurt other people. In our constantly evolving cultural language, i think people will verbalize these types of words less and less. Hopefully, it follows suit on social media. We can chalk some things up to youthful ignorance, and we can thank God our every thought and conversation wasn't archived and photographed when we were kids. People today are dealing with a whole new set of rules. I just had "the talk" with my 14 year old again just so I could emphasize the evils of social media posting. It's scary to think that something he says/posts/does as a teenager can have negative consequences for years down the line. I hope he got the message. Hopefully Kopech was just joking around with friends, and he learned a lesson. He's young. He can learn from this.

Hey, what happened to Greg?

I have older siblings, so it wasn't really necessary for me to buy music when I was younger. I just listened to their stuff (REO, Springsteen, Rush, the Grease soundtrack...). 70s stuff. The first album I bought was Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on cassette when I was in 5th grade. I don't think I bought anything else until high school. I know I had the Bobby Brown cassette with "My Prerogative," INXS "Kick," Gun N' Roses "Appetite," REM "Document," U2 "The Joshua Tree." U2, GN'R, & REM were my favorites, so I bought more of their stuff. I remember playing The Who's Greatest Hits album a ton, too. I built up a decent sized collection by joining and quitting BMG and Columbia House several times. I always paid - never tried to rip them off. First concert was either INXS (the tour after Kick) or Depeche Mode on the Violator tour. I was at the second & third Lollapaloozas, and I've seen Pearl Jam a few times. Never saw U2, GN'R, or REM in concert. Not sure why. I'm not really a big concert fan. I'll go, but it's not super important to me.

He got HBP in his first at bat tonight after 3 straight games with a lead off HR. The benches cleared, pitcher got tossed, and Jim Thome is calling for retaliation on MLB Network.

Not sure if we need a new thread, so I'll just start the 2018-19 fantasy talk here. I've watched a little of the ESPN mock draft marathon. I don't know That I get much out of it, but a little draft prep never hurts. I don't do much more than look at the lists and figure out who I want and take best available. I don't know that I'll ever get used to seeing guys like Schefter on tv looking at their phones constantly. There's really nothing that important happening that they can't afford to not be the first to report. Schefter is either looking down or pulling his phone out of his pocket and looking at it constantly.

I have no problem with the Sox waiting until September to promote their young talent. And my preference with any young pitcher is to send him to the bullpen to work middle relief for a little while just to let them get accustomed to MLB and not have days between starts to doubt themselves if they have a bad outing.

Jason Benetti is the guest on the latest Never Not Funny. I'm assuming it's the Sox's JB. I haven't listened yet. Jimmy Pardo is the host. He's a comedian, Sox fan, and native southsider (from Hometown). Jimmy, unfortunately, tends to stereotype southsiders as ignorant, but I really enjoy his podcast. Looking forward to this. Pretty surprised at the guest choice.

Amazing how far a contact lens can travel. I was putting one in this morning, and it didn't feel right. I couldn't tell if it was in. I could see, but not great. But it seemed better than without my lenses. But maybe not. I had no idea. So, I looked in the sink. On the floor. Back in my eye (maybe it folded up or slipped under my eyelid). Nothing. And I still couldn't tell if it was in. I started searching the floor again. Somehow it had fallen about five feet behind me. I don't know if it flew over my head, through my torso, between my legs,.... Whatever the case, they should start building cars and airplanes in the shape of contact lenses. The aerodynamics are unmatched.

Honestly, I have no idea what needs to be done. I used to have somewhat blind faith in police officers. That's me being a white male. Now, I don't blame minorities for their mistrust. I seriously wonder what the solution is. I suppose the answer will have to come from within the minority communities themselves. More police presence won't help if the behavior and attitudes of the officers toward minorities isn't changed. However, it doesn't really make sense that the mistreatment of minorities by law enforcement is the cause of such a disproportionate number of homicides of black citizens.

Not sure if this will hijack the thread, so mods please move if it deserves its own thread or should be merged into a Chicago specific thread... A former co-worker from Chicago lost her son to gun violence on the south side this past week. I was looking for the obituary online, and I stumbled across an article about 2018 homocides in Chicago. https://graphics.suntimes.com/homicides/ This is not meant to spark any racial dialogue, but because race was listed on the homicide information provided, I decided to count the homocide victims by race. Of 284: 16 white, 33 Hispanic, and 1 Asian. So, 230+ are black. I may be off a little on the count, but I'm pretty sure I'm close. I'm wondering what can be done to curb the violence in the black community if they as a community seem to resist more police presence? Obviously, there are real reasons for the community's distrust of law enforcement. However, how can the violence be mitigated without some police intervention?

I like Trent Reznor's thoughts on the current political environment. "But what Donald Trump is doing is concerning and infuriating — and it’s not the conservative agenda, it’s not a question of religious preference, it’s not a question of should government be big or small. I don’t have any problem with those topics. But the disregard for decency and truth and civility is what’s really disheartening. It feels like a country that celebrates stupidity is really taking it up a notch."

I made it a few seasons watching The Americans and stopped. The "disguises" were so preposterous, but I think I just lost interest overall. I'm binging Broadchurch now. Three seasons of eight 45 minute episodes. I recommend it to anyone looking for some summer programming.