Balta1701

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 01:12 PM) I think someone's presence like Zimmerman's is going to be more effective than relying on people to call something into the police AFTER the crime has already occurred. That's the point i'm trying to make. Increasing police funding to do more patrols or to speed up response times isn't going to do anything because at that point the crime is already over. Ideally if Martin were a potential robber, Martin "stalking" him would have ended up being a phone call to the police before or during Martin's crime, not after he was already gone. No one has said that Zimmerman didn't have the right to call the police on this potential threat that he saw, and no one has said that they dont' have the right to be proactive and form a neighborhood watch. I dispute the idea that it's a good thing to have unarmed, untrained, and unidentified civilians attempting to deal with potential crimes on their own, and I hugely dispute the idea that having that civilian armed will actually make the situation any better.

QUOTE (forrestg @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 01:13 PM) I believe last year at charlotte he was struggling before he got his stroke. He's struggled in April every year. Last year was a particular year because he also was recovering from an injury to start the year.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 01:10 PM) I believe Joe or Marty wanted a total rebuild, yet he can't take a young guy struggling for a couple of weeks before he wants him out. If people want to trade Viciedo fine, but these people say he won't develop into much and also think he'll bring a decent return. If anyone thinks he sucks, why wouldn't they think every other team thinks he sucks? All Joe/Marty wants is to come up with a standard that requires KW to be fired ASAP. He can't accept any notion that we're rebuilding because that would give the team a reason to hold onto the GM to see how the rebuilding process must go. He can't tolerate having Viciedo, Beckham, Morel, Sale, and >50% of the bullpen actually being given time to develop, because that means you'd have to evaluate the GM a couple years down the road when they're approaching their peak years.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 01:03 PM) If it is the Knicks it will be the prime time game, I am sure. Be 100% honest with me. Do you really think the Knicks will be able to lose to the Bobcats tonight?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 01:06 PM) "Stalking" is crap. He was watching a kid that fit the profile of other criminals in the area - call that rayces all you want, but when all of the recent crime was being committed by young black kids I don't have a problem with that. And yes, it's "acceptable" IMO just like it's "acceptable" that alcohol is still served in bars despite the fact that hundreds of thousands die each year from drunk drivers or how hundreds of thousands die each year from car accidents yet we still allow people to drive. Is it tragic? Yes. Is it a good example for why people shouldn't be able to protect themselves/their property/their neighborhood? No. And how is increasing funding going to do anything here? How is increasing response times going to stop the crime. You've got a perfect example here of a situation where there have been tons of calls to the police, some arrests, and nothing has changed. Great, more police = more arrests. Since this is burglaries (thank God nothing more serious.....yet) those kids get minimal time or probation. It's not going to stop anything. Stalking is an accurate word as far as I'm concerned. It is an accurate description of following a person first in a car and then on foot. And second...you just argued that arrests and such will not help the situation. A normal neighborhood watch should be trying to generate arrests. That's the goal. If arrests are ineffective, what option are you defending other than vigilantes gunning down people in the streets?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 12:52 PM) Right, but this is precisely why those communities try to start neighborhood watches, to start reigning in their communities with their churches, etc. They're TRYING to do SOMETHING, not just protect their home and hope nothing bad happens. Unfortunately for the communities here it's far too late and it's just a perpetual cycle that won't be broken until those communities are broken up. But that's a different topic. I don't think anyone's going to dispute the right of a community to organize a neighborhood watch. The question is...we have a circumstance that ended up in a barely trained neighborhood watchman stalking a 17 year old kid and killing him. Is that an acceptable result, or what scenario should lead to intervention here? If it had turned out that he was actually chasing a robber and wound up shooting him down, that's not a good scenario either. Some might say this is an argument for improving the funding and response times of the local PD also.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 12:51 PM) Pitching staff says they aren't rebuilding. Yeah, Going with effectively a rookie who threw 60 innings in the bullpen last year, 2 guys who tired out after 100 innings last year (one of whom is a ~30 year old who has been cut by 3 teams in the last couple years), and one of the worst "#1" starters in baseball, while letting the most reliable starting pitcher in your rotation walk and fielding trade calls on the others, that's totally not rebuilding. Edit: Oh, and rookie closer/bullpen with 4 rookies while we're at it.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 12:49 PM) The Bears have zero leverage in a trade negotiation. Then there's no reason to trade him. As noted, he may hold out, but missing the season is not going to be an option for him, and the franchise tag is still more money in 1 season than he's made his entire career.

QUOTE (God Loves The Infantry @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 12:48 PM) No one should rely on the police. The police are reactive, not proactive. If someone is going to break into my home and kill me and my girlfriend, the police won't stop them. The police will possibly start the process of putting the bastards away after the fact. But we'll be dead. What will keep us alive is the HK in my nightstand, the rifle in the closet and the shotty in the other closet. Maybe the 1911 or the Glock in the safe. That's what I rely on to keep my family safe. The cops? Ha. Let 'em show up afterwards and scrape the poor f***er's brains off the wall. Unless the innocent kid walking down the street is lucky enough also to be armed.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 12:47 PM) He has value to a team that's rebuilding. Slugging LF'er is the easiest position on the field for a big market team to fill. Like a team that cut its payroll by $25 million last year, fired its manager, traded away an all star, let its most reliable pitcher walk, and traded away their closer, bringing back nothing but minor leaguers, while signing only 1 backup OF on the free agent market hte entire offseason.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 12:42 PM) B, I don't think he'll reach that Vlad Guerrero upside! Yeah, we know.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 12:40 PM) You hope some team values him more than the Sox. Matt Thornton was traded for Joe Borchard after all. And so why are you judging that he's unfixable if you're assuming other teams will find him a developable talent? And if teams are deciding whether he's repairable despite all the issues you're highlighting, then why would you expect his "Value can fall farther" than it has already?

NFL finally considering pulling the plug on the pro bowl.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 12:36 PM) Well that confirms it, drunk saturday. Crud, there's a festival here I'm taking my wife to. Nuts. Hope the game is at night.

Yeah, we know.

BTW, for those still interested in this case, Reuters has a very good look at how Zimmerman's life shaped up prior to this event, to the point where you can follow his psyche pretty well about why he'd have done what he did. My only comment is that since you can make it seem like every little escalation makes sense...that's why you can't have people carrying guns everywhere.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 10:45 AM) I like the pitching matchups in this series. I also like that the Sox are coming off a game where they screwed up some basic stuff - something they hadn't yet done much under Ventura. My bet is they are much sharper this series. I predict the ChiSox take 3 of 4. The ChiSox are going from facing the team with the #2 ERA in the AL to the #14 ERA in the AL. The BoSox are going from facing the team with the #13 ERA in the AL to the team with the #3 ERA in the AL.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 10:11 AM) I agree that Santiago isn't cutting it right now, but yesterday's game should have been won two different times before the 14th if not for baserunning errors, and calling for that off-speed pitch to Cespedes when Santiago had just blown a fastball by him wasn't the best idea. And you can't just keep trying to throw a 94 mph fastball past people on every pitch, the last time he got beat that's supposedly what he was doing.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 09:58 AM) Get to the Red Sox bullpen early and often. Doubront is their best starter in terms of ERA so far this year but he has walked a lot of guys, so taking pitches on to be on the list of ways to attack him this game.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 10:02 AM) Nate Jones has impressed me, but I'll honestly say I haven't watched his pitch selection closely. Does he have the right mix? Plus, he went a couple inning yesterday. Is he more of a longer relief guy? He has the stuff to be effective but he seemingly has no where near Reed's level of control. At some poitn this season there is likely to be an inning where Jones walks 5 guys. If that doesn't happen, then he could be a long term option for that job, but let's let Coop work with him for a year first.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 09:51 AM) What's the tiebreaker situation with NY & Philly in case they both win/lose tonight? NY has the tiebreaker. For them to be slot 8, Philly must win and they must lose.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 09:22 AM) What exactly did you expect when you posted that in the Republican thread? Yeesh is right. Sarcastic responses making fun of how dumb the studio/casting director was? Maybe a good laugh out of it?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 09:20 AM) But is Kila really ever going to be able to hit for enough power (he didn't in KC, a pretty big ballpark) or Oakland to get regular playing time? Granted, he's better than Brandon Allen, but HOW much better? Can they live with just 12-15 homers out of him....he'd have to hit a TON of doubles? He always reminds me of someone like James Loney...he's a great minor league hitter, but he's clearly stumbled at the big league level in his opportunities so far, at least. Both the A's and the Royals are in the position where they need to be trying to maximize the value out of everyone they have. That means, for the A's, that they're constantly trading away pitchers 2 or 3 years before they become free agents, because they don't have enough around them to really make a run, but the GM has to hope that eventually all that stockpiling will combine with a lucky free agent signing to enable them to make a run at a wild card. The Royals ought to be in the same boat. Even if a guy is old and taking a while to develop, if they have him, they shouldn't be losing him because they have 2 other guys at the same position. Butler could have (and still could) bring back a haul of pitching. It would make them worse when they made the deal, but it could set them up for an actual run 2-3 years down the road.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 09:13 AM) I don't know many veterans that care for her much...if at all. Totally understand that. Expetive laced rants on message boards in reply? Yeesh.

QUOTE (God Loves The Infantry @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 12:51 AM) Meh. Just another piece of Hollywood s*** that I'll skip. Reasons to root for the Naval Academy...when a plebe shouts, "Good night, Jane Fonda!", the entire company responds, "Good night, b****!" I bet the Queen of c***s doesn't do many commencement speeches in Annapolis. GMAFB man.