Balta1701

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 05:23 PM) Thirdly, do you realize how big of a leap it was for record companies to agree to sell single songs as opposed to full-length albums? I'd say that was a pretty big leap from how things were when you first began buying music in the early 90's. You never bought a "Single"?

I'm not sure if he's right, but he's the kind of guy who would know what the "insiders" are saying, as this Steve Schmidt guy was one of McCain 08's top 2 strategists. I'm not sure if I want to see this happen or not.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 04:37 PM) ESPNChiSox Doug Padilla Chris Sale, fresh off a trip to Maui, says he's been working out since Nov. and is anxious to become a starter. Has he eaten anything?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 04:58 PM) Perhaps you could elaborate? Don't you think they conduct profit maximization studies? Yes, they certainly do. However, what is the end result of that in terms of actual prices of music? Do we actually see things like prices fluctuating depending on sales? Do we actually see prices varying substantially between artists depending on demand? Do we see substantial moves in prices depending on how an artist is selling? Heck, do we see different prices for the early-adopters for an album versus the people who decide to buy an album after hearing it on the radio 50 times? There is uniformity. You pay about the same price per song on itunes that you pay for an actual CD. You might save a dollar or two if you buy an album on an opening week sale, and that's about it. You don't see deep discounting to move merchandise after a CD has been on the market for 4 years (like you do with movies, for example). You don't see variation in prices between bands who sell 50k copies and 5 million copies. Everything is uniform. And even beyond that, the price of music has barely changed since I bought my first CD's back in the early 90's. The prices are totally uncompetitive. They don't go down if music sales go up, they don't go up if music sales go down.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 04:49 PM) Don't you think that if more people will willing to purchase the product instead of steal it, regardless of cost, that musicians and or providers such as iTunes would offer it for a lower price? No.

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 03:41 PM) its going to be a long season.. Because our non-roster invitees in 2005 blew these out of the water?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 02:40 PM) Oh boy. Are the weight articles coming out already? Sentences like: "Dunn is in the best shape of his life. He has lost a whopping 30 pounds. The secret? Just eating better," Dunn said. On and on. It's less than a month from spring training. The "Best shape of his life" articles are due right now, and if you're a baseball fan they ought to start getting you excited...because whether or not that's true, it means we're over the hump and there will soon be baseball!

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 02:16 PM) He actually has done it before. In 1988. But back then he had a much more important message to get out (that everyone needed to arm themselves because the blacks were coming, according to his newsletters.)

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 02:12 PM) If they are actually going to do what they say they are going to do, it would be some of the best political reporting anyone would have access to - frankly. I'd take that over an endorsement any day of the week. There you go. I'd much rather read a page that actually takes on the people in power, skeptically, from whatever side, and is prepared to call them out for falsehoods, rather than puts out questions about whether they should be in the business of correcting falsehoods. Nobody cares about endorsements. If "Endorsing a candidate" is the only way to get an org. to do what their job should be anyway, then the endorsements aren't worth anything.

That of course means that everyone on this website wants Bowe.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 02:04 PM) Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah... who needs those guys? Taj has the dreaded high ankle sprain. It's going to be a while before we see him.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 10:58 AM) OK, well it looks like we're in agreement. Something happened for a month that "people were looking for" And the future is wide open, nothing last year suggested he can't be or not be a certain kind of guy. Agreed then. The one thing worth saying though...if he hadn't put together that month of September, then there'd be a lot more reason to wonder "maybe Brent Morel will get stuck in this scared to get benched mode and never learn to hit big league pitching". It was certainly a plausible outcome in most people's eyes through most of the season.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 12:19 AM) Yeah, I agree...Eli played so so, but his lack of athleticism really showed tonight. Several times there was pressure in the pocket that a guy like Rodgers or even Brady would have eluded and Eli just could not escape it. I thought both games were pretty sloppy...not particularly great execution and I didn't think it was a direct result of any dominant defense or anything. Hopefully the Super Bowl will have a bit more solid execution involved. In the words of Peter King..."I counted 23 pressures on Manning". The 9ers front line was getting close to him regularly. Almost any QB will look "Sloppy" when you have guys regularly in his face.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 10:42 AM) OK I will agree with you that a developing kid hit the ball hard during a month. I'd love to hear how far you want to go with how promising that sample size is. The totality of Morel's past numbers don't doom him at all, not saying that. but the numbers within one great month don't do anything yet. Unless we want our minds to take us there. The sample size of positive performance in September is equally valid for future prediction as the sample size of terrible performance was in the rest of the year, acceptable? I certainly wouldn't expect Brent Morel to be a .220 hitter who puts up a .900 OPS for his career, just like I wouldn't expect him to put up a .625 OPS for the rest of his career either based on April-July. I still think he winds up somewhere between .750-.800 with really good defense, maybe a little lower or higher if he gets a really bad or good hitting coach, and nothing I saw last year suggested why he couldn't be that guy.

QUOTE (daggins @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 10:37 AM) I didn't watch his Sept. too closely so i'm not sure if there was any change in his approach or if he was just lucky. The power was obviously flukey but any improvement that isn't purely luck-based must be seen as a good sign. Big time change in his approach from earlier in the year. By his own testimony and to everyone's eyes, he was swinging tentatively and just trying to make contact through the summer, because he was scared of doing something wrong and getting benched for it. He started opening up and just swinging hard at the ball in September. In fact that shows up in his numbers...the strikeouts went up in Sept., but the power came with it. Definitelyl needs to find more of a balance this year.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 10:01 AM) LMAO, these last two posts are like a media protracted version of Balta and SS2K5 arguing "Chip Kelly close to taking the job" "Nope, no he is not" Figured someone would like that .

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 10:08 AM) He didn't say anything ridiculous. At least not for him. I expected a bunch of excuses for '11 and everybody is going to break out and have a career year in '12 spew. If he was actually calling out the OF defense in the spring, then that's actually pretty impressive, because that means he was calling the huge regressions for Pierre and Rios before they happened.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 10:03 AM) edit:nonsense #1 Morel's september being indicative of...anything Except for the obvious fact of a developing kid hitting the ball hard, which is what people who paid attention to Morel expected to see eventually, sure. Indicative of nothing.

Link

That outfield defense stuff and the spring training stuff sound pretty revealing.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 09:38 AM) Buster_ESPN Buster Olney Worst 3 starting pitcher on BABIP in 2011 (batting average on balls in play): Ricky Nolasco (.325), Derek Lowe (.318), Edwin Jackson (.317). First of all, baseball-reference shows Jackson having a .338 babip last year, so I have no idea where that number comes from. Secondly, his career mark is .314, and there's an outlier in the ".278" he put up in Detroit that seems to stand out as well, so if one were to project a babip for him, .317 might not be a bad estimate, depending on what park he winds up in.

Which is why there's no easy answer to either of these...the question that should be asked at a governmental level is what is best for society. In both cases, there is a balance necessary. Shutting down the internet or arresting 10's of millions to protect copyright holders is an excessive maneuver that only Tex and the RIAA/MPAA seem to think is a good idea. The question in the 2nd case therefore should be whether the enforcement efforts provide such a negative on society that they outweigh the possible benefits of uniformly better paying jobs and better working conditions.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Jan 23, 2012 -> 09:28 AM) I think most thought them and the Saints had the best chance to beat the Packers, I hate that I'm rooting for a New York team in the Superbowl. I'm indifferent and hoping for a good game. I figure we owe the Giants thanks for keeping the Patriots from being undefeated, but we owe the Patriots for stopping the Tebow mania twice this year.

If you want Mark Buehrle back, he's going to be available for trade in a year or two if you're willing to take on that contract.

Whoever "Insider Advantage" is, they're first in line for having a post-Carolina poll out for Florida (for the Republican magazine Newsmax). They polled Newt with a 34-25 lead over Mittens.