Balta1701

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Feb 7, 2012 -> 10:57 AM) ...why are they calling 3 and 4 point wins "massive blowouts"? Maybe that phrase is directed more towards the gay marriage part?

So, another day of actually having votes cast. Minnesota, Colorado, and a non-binding something or other in Missouri. Colorado is probably strong territory for Romney, the others are more interesting, and some data is showing surprising enduring strength for Santorum.

I really get the feeling this is going to be the ugliest, most-negative election I've ever seen in my lifetime.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Feb 7, 2012 -> 08:59 AM) His BA was okay, but his defense was terrible and his speed was waaaaay down. If he had had a decent season, he would have gotten more than a minor league deal. And during that stretch where the Sox went 5-15 and really fell out of the race, he hit .233, .550 OPS, and that's on top of trying to destroy Matt Thornton.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 7, 2012 -> 01:49 AM) Juan Pierre arguably had a decent season last year. Absolutely not. There is zero sense in which Juan Pierre had a decent season last year.

Refugee

He's been number two on that list for like 5 years now.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 07:56 PM) Hypothetically, would the Bulls have beaten Miami in ECF last year if Brewer had been starting over Bogans? No.

Different topic, long but good read from NY Mag arguing that Dodd-Frank has already been surprisingly successful in breaking the Wall Street culture that drove the bubble cycle.

QUOTE (mumbles3k @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 04:31 PM) I'm trying to figure out how to embed YouTube videos. Can someone help? Copy the "Embed" code on the youtube page. Paste that text in the text editor when you're posting. Then, when you're ready to post your video, scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for a pull-down menu labeled "HTML off". Change that to HTML on, Auto Linebreak Mode. Then hit add reply.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 04:17 PM) He actually said a majority of the board voted to sell the team? More specifically, a "Voting majority" (i.e. a majority of the shares, not of the people present in the room).

QUOTE (SuperSteve @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 03:12 PM) Not seasonally adjusted, we have lost 3 million jobs the past two months. The 1.2 number I provided is not seasonally adjusted for January. There is literally nothing to be gained when evaluating the status of this year's job market by looking at the non-seasonally-adjusted number and then saying nothing about what you're expecting the seasonal adjustments did wrong.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 02:43 PM) He can override any board request, and has on several occassions, some being correct and some not working out so well. Truth be told, although JR does listen to his partners, they, at least according to Stern, have no "rights" . His is the final decision, and its worked out well for all of them. But he can only do so with the understanding that if he goes too far, the board can remove him.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 02:35 PM) That doesn't matter. Yes it does. The board still has rights, but in the position of a majority shareholder, he would be able to make policy for his organization without input from the board and would be able to override their decisions. This is not the case.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 02:28 PM) As I stated, I was exaggerating to make a point. In the end, its JR's call what the payroll will be. Remember though, if the Chairman is not a majority shareholder, and as some are saying not even a plurality shareholder, then he only serves in that position at the pleasure and discretion of the other shareholders. Those shareholders are very unlikely to tolerate a sustained period of losses in the value of the asset that they hold. Taking on debt to pay higher payrolls would do exactly that; the only way to do higher payrolls sustainably would be to have higher revenues to match, and revenues are going the wrong way.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 02:21 PM) Not a chance. This franchise is worth what, maybe $400-$500 million, and takes in enough revenue to be profitable with about a $100 million payroll. A sudden loss of $150 million 1 year would require ballooning the team's debt from about 10% of team value to about 40% of team value in 1 year. Financially that wouldn't be totally catastrophic, teams do survive with higher debt loads than that, but that dramatic of an erosion of financial position would be more than enough reason for the remaining members to act to remove him. 2-3 years of those kind of losses would put the team in bankruptcy.

Chrysler explicitly edited out pro-union signs from the images that were used in that ad.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 02:16 PM) If JR wanted a $250 million payroll for 2012, the payroll would be $250 million. And the next year, Jerry Reinsdorf would no longer be chairman of that organization, the other members would vote him out.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 01:57 PM) Buehrle was never made an offer. He even said he would have stayed for less, and apparently told the White Sox as much. No offer means they didn't want him back. As for JR's power, I believe you are mistaken. I was always told JR had the final say, and Lee Stern seemed to confirm that when promoting a book a year or so ago. But how much less? The 2 sides were probably off by a factor of 2. Most people here were saying things like 3/$36 would be ok for Mark, but that might even push the Team's budget. He got nearly 2x that from Florida.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 10:11 AM) Really? That was the Coca-Cola Polar bears, they have been around for a long time But what exactly were they doing in those ads?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 10:20 AM) I didn't see it, but as I understand it, Eastwood is a libertarian of sorts. So that would surprise me. Now that I watch it thinking about that, the "Halftime" part...

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Feb 6, 2012 -> 10:00 AM) Obama is leading Romney by 7% in two of the latest polls Way too early to take anything from various polls. The relevant data right now is that the economy is somewhat improving and that is improving the President's current hypothetical chances. But there's still 9 months (H. Christ) of conventions, ads, SuperPAC's, possible wars with Iran, and based on current trends, 3 Greek bailout crises before we get to that point.

It sounds like the procedures for the Nevada caucuses were a disaster.