Balta1701

I enjoyed the next 2:30 much more.

This has not been a pleasant first 5 minutes.

Watching the people celebrating and cheering who are doing so is making me sick to my stomach.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 17, 2015 -> 02:06 PM) ESPN thinks bears might get Suh. They do have a decent amount of cap space, but they also have so many different positional needs that it seems hard to justify spending most of it in one spot. Especially since this year it now looks like they're back to having needs on both sides of the ball.Then again, don't know this GMs style yet. If they hadn't signed Jared Allen to such a 2015-loaded deal I'd think there was a better chance.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jan 17, 2015 -> 11:32 AM) The chord for my iron is 12 feet long. I can't think of a situation where I'd be ironing 12 feet from the outlet. Well I guess if you're playing some crazy music while ironing you do want to spread things out... Really would be useful in hotel rooms.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 17, 2015 -> 10:21 AM) Possible. But I think it's more likely that bonifacio is a super sub in the role that they thought keppinger would fill. If Bonifacio isn't playing 3b at least ~25% of the games this season then we're doing something wrong.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 17, 2015 -> 08:24 AM) lol. gmab. Kawhi Leonard was/is one of the emerging young stars in the league. A physical freak. Him winning finals mvp (he did nothing the first 2 games) was about his evolution as a player, not LeBron's lack of defense. Is LeBron playin' d like he did in 2009 or like he did in the '11 conference finals when he made mvp Rose his b****? No. But he's 30 now and has logged well over 40,000 minutes in his career, not to mention 3 Olympics. If you think MJ (you probably do) was playing defense at 30/31 like he did when he was 25 then you're a nut. Well, Jordan's age 32 season was the year they won 72. My memories of Mike's defense that season only involve the NBA Finals, where The Glove was supposed to be the guy who slowed him down and then Michael dismantled him on both sides of the ball.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jan 16, 2015 -> 10:09 AM) http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30784886 The lost Beagle 2 Mars probe was found, this is pretty interesting. Balta, do you know if they are going to attempt to send any of the rovers in that direction to see if any of it is salvageable? Or is it just way too far? That's way, way, way, way too far for anything on the surface to drive. This is cool because it helps establish what happened to it. It successfully soft landed and 2 of the solar panels opened, but 2 didn't, meaning that the undeployed solar panels blocked the transmitter. Looks like much more of a solid triumph, it got to the ground, didn't do a high speed impact or anything.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jan 16, 2015 -> 02:30 PM) Well, they need to fix the US/Canada east of the Rockies. We have. We just complained about last year because it was the first "below average" winter this country's had in like 20 years so no one remembered what a "below average" winter was actually like since they're almost all above average now.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jan 15, 2015 -> 09:40 PM) I think we can possibly build a deal around Viciedo too and Astros can have Gattis catch. I don't know about that but it is an option. I would offer Chris Beck, Erik Johnson, Trayce Thompson, and Dayan Viciedo for Jason Castro and Michael Feliz Dayan Viciedo continues to have virtually zero value. There's a reason why no one has traded for him. The only guy from that list with any value to me is Chris Beck. Chris Beck and 3 likely busts, one of whom is paid $4.4 million already, for Castro? I mean, Castro was bad last year but he at least has been a positive player in the past.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Jan 15, 2015 -> 09:37 PM) Do you think Sanchez could be an everyday MLB shortstop? If so, the Astros might have a use for him. Otherwise, I'd have to agree. I didn't think of Altuve. He's one of the best around. If the A's think Semien can be an MLB Shortstop I guess anything is possible, but man, Sanchez seems to scream 2b to me. Not incredible on defense, puts the ball in play, not a lot of power but could hit for a decent average and maybe fill that "classic #2 hitter role" for some team. IIRC his arm wasn't quite strong enough for 3b so his arm wouldn't be a plus at SS either.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Jan 15, 2015 -> 09:29 PM) I'd give up Thompson/Beck/Sanchez/one low level prospect. No more than that. Problem with that idea is Sanchez. He might be the most useful piece from that list, but the Stros are already sitting on an all star 2b in Altuve. I'd be interested in Sanchez as a team with a hole at 2b where putting a decent player in there would be an upgrade and that isn't the Astros.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jan 15, 2015 -> 09:27 AM) You guys are finding the money, now figure out where all the volunteers and buildings come from. Who are you giving the money to and who are they responsible to? No one volunteers their time for anything other than churches? Come on Tex, we've clearly reached what I would call an unbreakable stalemate where neither one can prove their case because we've got one system and we can't get rid of it.

LOSnelL

QUOTE (Tex @ Jan 14, 2015 -> 07:49 PM) You still need to prove that the dealer is doing something wrong. A lot of drunk drivers drive through White Castle, but that doesn't really have anything to do with White Castle. As a scientist you understand the difficulties in proving causation. You can't just look at A and B and immediately say with 100% certainty that A caused B. But if you knew that was true, you'd put your enforcement right outside of that location, right? The state of Illinois can't do that because the states next door are enabling criminal activity within their borders.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jan 14, 2015 -> 07:44 PM) Who are you going to raise taxes on? Our discussion was "who is going to replace churches as a social welfare organization". Churches receive like half a trillion dollars a year in this country, in addition to nearly $100 billion in public subsidies. Their land and salaries are by far the largest charity in this country. In the event that there was no such thing as a church, even if overall donations decreased, that is a huge pool of potential additional money for "good works" or however you described it. What the final math would be regarding how much money would go to improving the nation I do not know, but neither do you. Therefore, you don't get to say "But without religion who would do good works?" Religion does good works while taking a large slice off the top to sustain itself. That makes it an inefficient way of doing good works.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 14, 2015 -> 05:02 PM) I'm not a big Obama fan, but I can understand why he wouldn't want to go to the service in France. I won't criticize him for that decision. The VP or at least the SecState or at least the Attorney General already in the **** country should have shown up. Yes it was a stupid photo op, they weren't even at the real march, and it's difficult to get the President there, but that's why we have others in the cabinet, to do silly photo ops.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 14, 2015 -> 04:39 PM) Amen! Of course he'll deserve the Hall but he won't get in. The Hall of Fame will be ignoring starting pitchers in the future. Not enough wins over a long enough period of time because of injuries and starters getting pulled early too. Mark Buehrle won't have to feel badly for not getting the honor he deserves. Cause no starters will be getting in the Hall. Their numbers just won't compare to the golden oldie guys who defined the high high standard of hall of Fame pitcher. But is Mark a Hall of Famer? Of course. I think there are several starters very likely to get in out of the pitchers we see right now. Kershaw, Hernandez, Verlander with a good shot, Wainwright with a good shot. Scherzer holds up well and you could make a case for him but he needs more time. The you could make a case for a bunch of the young guns having chances if they stay healthy-ish as well. Chris Sale goes 10 years without an arm injury and he's a hall of famer and there are probably 10 other guys in the bigs you can say that about right now.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Jan 14, 2015 -> 04:46 PM) I really miss all those threads about how He Was Really Good - We Just Mishandled Him I will go to my grave believing we win the 2006 AL Central if he's the everyday starting CF and Mackowiak barely, if ever, plays there. Entirely for defensive reasons. And no, WAR doesn't agree and I get that.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jan 14, 2015 -> 09:45 AM) One thing of note, Gates' religious point of view change came with the birth of his first child. He was generally, and accurately, described as non religious (waste of time on Sunday when you could be working) or even an atheist. How many non religious based shelters do you find around a city? Food pantries? That's my main point. Churches generally are a gathering spot for communities to do good deeds directly in the community. As a nation we just don't have time for civic and fraternal groups like we use to. The Masons, Elks, Moose, etc all have declining memberships. But as I noted, how many nonreligious shelters or food pantries could you fund with the several hundred billion dollars per year that goes to churches in this country?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 14, 2015 -> 01:52 PM) ? For a guy who says I mention Paulino more than his mother, you would think you would know all hindsight did is validate my original thought about him. Again, the Sox spend $9 million on a 40 year old LOOGY, a non tender middle reliever from the NL, and a guy who pitched about 20 innings in AAA the season previously after surgery. Betting under a $1 million , and at most $4.4 million on a 25 year old guy who can hit the ball a mile is no greater risk. In fact, IMO, it is far less risky. The big difference is that there was playing time available for the other guys to show whether or not they were worth anything and I'm not sure that's available for Viciedo. If he returns to his 2012 "Hitting lefties very well" form there will be, but if he continues his 2014 "not hitting anyone" form, I don't know why you'd even use him as a pinch hitter.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 13, 2015 -> 05:05 PM) Elway will likely reach out to Kubiak (hasn't yet) and I'm sure he'll reach out to Shanny. I don't think Gase is a done deal. If he was, I think he'd already be hired. They're requested permission for a Kubiak interview.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 13, 2015 -> 04:53 PM) Tom Coughlin took over as Giants head coach at the age of 60. Two titles later... If he's successful in the first 3 years I don't see why you couldn't expect him to coach well over 5 more years unless he doesn't want to. And of course, if he doesn't want to, then he shouldn't be taking the Bears job.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 13, 2015 -> 04:44 PM) Well played, sir. You've been waiting your whole life for this opportunity. At least since April of 2005.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 13, 2015 -> 03:15 PM) I'm not a gun person but I presume the argument of stop selling at stores that sell to criminals will mean that any gun store in an area with a high crime rate will close (than as those stores close, they'll buy at the stores next closest and we'll see those stores crime rates increase, etc, until we basically have decided that you can't own guns in empovershed areas (since those typically are the areas with the highest gun crime rates). I'm fairly certain that sort of policy won't end up working. Being in a high crime area would come no where near explaining those trends especially since they're all outside of the state of Illinois. The guns are not being used anywhere near the area they're being purchased, they're bought out of state and then wind up as evidence in the city of Chicago.