Balta1701

QUOTE (Cali @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 04:03 PM) I'd trade a horrible defense if it meant the Sox could actually get it up against the Royals... I get the feeling that if I could find a site listing errors and schedule in the same table, the Sox would have had more errors against the Royals than we'd be comfortable admitting.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 03:58 PM) That terrible defense which was supposed to kill them last year got them to the World Series. I don't expect it to be an issue in 2013... And kept them under 90 wins. A few wins by the White Sox against the Royals and it could have kept them out of the playoffs.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 03:37 PM) Since Detroit is better than the Sox, I think it's perfectly natural to expect bounces to go their way. If they don't then that will be the surprise. And we'll welcome it. Since Detroit's IF defense is terrible, I think it's natural to expect bounces will not go their way.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 03:29 PM) I don't really care. I was bringing up that we need not get indignant on questioning how government money is spent. That should be done constantly by liberals to make sure the government is working well. The problem is that the basis for doing so is completely ludicrous, as is the case here. We see great examples of this all the bloody time, usually by one party (in fact, often led by McCain) of finding spending items that, when taken out of context, sound hilarious. Studying pig farts! Smokey the Bear on a balloon! This is one that drives me nuts, because they love finding research that NSF funds (based on highly competitive grant processes) and then complaining about them because they sound funny. If you want to conduct an integrated advertising campaign, you put your ad in all sorts of places. Do you think that the sort of people who would be interested in ballooning would tend to be outdoor enthusiasts? I sure do. Compared to running a couple dozen more TV spots, this seems like it's liable to be as effective, or perhaps more effective, than other types of directed advertising. The US Army sponsored a vehicle in NASCAR for a decade, much of which it struggled to meet its recruiting quotas. This is how you conduct an integrated campaign, find what the people you want to reach are doing, and then make sure that they see the ads in as many places as you can. The Majority leader isn't arguing that this ad campaign is ineffective, he's not arguing that he has suggestions for better fire prevention programs, he's not arguing any of those. You don't see any evidence given in that link or statement. He's arguing that this program sounds hilarious and thus must therefore be wasteful.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 03:24 PM) The playoff will expand to 8, I have no doubts about that. The thing people said to me a while ago was that, particularly if you're playing at neutral sites, it's going to be hard to expect fanbases to travel for more than 1 game. How are they doing home field/stadium choices for the playoff rounds anyway?

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 02:59 PM) I think if wildfire prevention is worthwhile, then we need to make sure our government wildfire prevention methods are achieving that goal. It shouldn't be preventing wildfires is worthwhile, therefore any initiative to achieve this, no matter successful, is also worthwhile. And thus, I say it's on you to explain why the smokey the bear ad campaign is a failure. Clearly you must have some market research to back this up, because that's the kind of thing the people running the campaign would have done.

He'll sign a 1 year extension for 2014 and get it next year.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 02:51 PM) None of this is related to whether smoky the bear is doing anything to reduce future wild fires. I would say, particularly based on my park experiences, that the ad campaign is at least a solid way of reminding people about fire dangers. Perhaps a better ad campaign could be designed...but designing a new ad campaign is a multi-million dollar endeavour. If you have trouble with the basic ads, then something tells me you're going to have trouble with spending 100x that much to develop and start a new ad campaign.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 01:20 PM) What are the odds smokey the bear is between us and an explosion of camp fires. What about we encourage states to have 1 quarter of phys ed cover outdoor education. Seems worthwhile. 1. It doesn't need to cover an explosion of campfires. A single wildfire can cost millions of dollars to fight. Last year, the government budgeted $400 million for wildfire fighting, and blew through all of that money for the first time (thank you CO2 for your assist on that). To cover the losses, Congress took money from those same programs, prevention programs, forest control programs, etc. (which of course, is the ol cutting off your nose to save your face trick). If you prevent a single wildfire, you can save millions of dollars. Tens of millions if you prevent a wildfire that threatens or destroys structures. That's the cost-benefit analysis here. 2. Let's say we cut campfires, but we get a 0.1% rise in the obesity rate as a consequence of the outdoor education campaign. Now you've caused a nice increase in health care costs. That's yet another tradeoff to consider.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 01:26 PM) AJ isn't going to put up his 2012 numbers again either. True, but that's an .830-ish OPS (heavy on the slugging) that the Sox need to replace to have a similar production level. So if Flowers puts up an OPS around .700 and Keppinger is around .730, the Sox are at about the same starting point as last year, except with a more balanced lineup and an OBP upgrade. If Flowers comes in ~ .750 or better, which he's fully capable of doing, then the White Sox have upgraded those 2 positions compared to last year, on the whole.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 12:15 PM) Based on what? Time lost from injury and rehab? I am betting Danks will be there at the beginning of the season, but if it is cold weather I have no problem with him being kept out a bit longer. Based on the fact that Marty always assumes everything goes wrong for the Sox.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 10:48 AM) Best case scenario for the pitching aside, this team is going to have difficulty scoring. What do you expect from Konerko, Dunn, and Viciedo? I see a net drop from last year even if Viciedo improves. And as you mentioned, Flowers isn't going to put up 2012 AJ numbers. I don't see improvements from Keppinger, Ramirez, and Beckham (if they happen) being enough to offset the declines. This was the #4 offense in the AL last year. From that offense, they've added ~.135 OPS points at 3b, assuming Keppinger puts up something close to his career average. For comparison, that'd be about the equivalent offensive upgrade of Dayan Viciedo from last year turning into Billy Butler. Yes, we've lost AJ. If Flowers can put up a low.-700's OPS, then those 2 positions are very close to a wash together...and at the same time, OBP has been upgraded and the lineup has gained more stability by removing the 3b black hole that existed for 2 months. So, if this team is going to struggle to score runs, then a very large number of bad things must happen. Konerko, Dunn, Rios, and De Aza must produce significantly less between them, perhaps along with Flowers and Keppinger doing extra struggling beyond those numbers, and there can be limited improvement from Viciedo, Beckham, Ramirez, and the remainder of the bench (which was exceedingly weak last year). For this team to struggle to score runs, you need more than a net drop, you need an implosion from one or more of those guys. You need 2011 Dunn and Rios. If that happens, this team will struggle to score runs.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 10:43 AM) He's pretty tough on his players though which may or may not work in the college game. As an x's and o's guy he is one of the better coaches in the game. I also will always appreciate what he did with the Bulls (they were fun to watch with him...especially when you factor in all the years of s*** before he came along). I think Skiles does a great job as a "Franchise fixer". I'd hire him tomorrow if I were the Wizards. Maybe the Cavs also, maybe the Kings. Teams that have started accumulating pieces but aren't all there yet.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 12:06 PM) Yeah but if these will be the programs to ceremoniously sacrifice in order to keep social security and medicare fine, I'll play ball. Unless of course the end result is more wildfires due to fewer people getting the message. In which case, you'll sacrifice this and Medicare in order to pay for disaster assistance and firefighting.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 09:51 AM) He quit last night. Ah, ok, that's reasonable. edit: From reading on ESPN, here's a flashback of horror: Reading that made me want to go hug Thibodeau.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 09:43 AM) Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA Close coaching friend of ex-Bucks coach Scott Skiles tells Y! Sports: "Scott hated his team." When did he become their ex coach? Serious Q, how did I miss that?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 07:05 AM) Bigg is tweeting that he thinks the Singletary interview is a favor to the McCaskey family. Lets hope that is the case, because he was a mildly insane head coach. QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 09:46 AM) Singletary to interview for the Bears job. Why?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 09:32 AM) I watched more of the Bulls game than I did the NCAA title game. The Bulls seem to be coming together. Boozer on a hot streak is really big for them. It gives me a real scoring option until Rose gets back. How is the Bellini/Hamilton SG rotation working? Marco seemed to go into a bit of a slump when he was no longer starting but his numbers look good from last night (then again, everyone's do).

RGKnee conversation with "Expert" at ESPN was quite informative. More at link.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 09:21 AM) Wait until he gets called up... If that unfortunate circumstance is required...all I ask of him is that he actually hustles to first on ground balls.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 8, 2013 -> 09:24 AM) There is also plenty of upside left in the pen, and out of guys like Alexei and Gordon. (and Viciedo...perhaps the biggest upside of them all).

Still better option than Olmedo.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 7, 2013 -> 09:14 PM) Think Brent busted a nut there. She is smokin though. Getting more than a little weird now.

Ok, if I say this will you give me the full interview? Roll Tide.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 7, 2013 -> 05:51 PM) Is there any info on if it was his previously reconstructed ACL? Yes, it was, here's the ESPN version: