Balta1701

ESPN has hired Urban Meyer as an analyst.

Quit sitting around and exercise, you'll get those hours back in longer lifetimes.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 05:10 PM) I'm not sure the Tigers really are any better than they were last year. I'm guessing the fall below .500 I can see a scenario where that happens, but I can also see a scenario where they challenge for the division. They've got 3 key parts; Cabrera, Verlander, and a solid bullpen back end. That's a good starting point. Add in Peralta, Inge, and Martinez, and you've got solid players at a number of positions. Their biggest issue, I think, is how their 2nd-3rd year guys respond. Austin Jackson, Matt Scherzer, and Brennan Boesch had frankly, solid to above solid seasons last year (while Porcello struggled). The back end of their rotation is currently garbage, that's their biggest weakness, but if Porcello and Scherzer pitch well, it might not matter.

Obviously, you thought wrong.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 04:54 PM) It was a joke and I'm sure he realized that. Maybe I should have used green. Half the posts here the past month have "not been necessary" Clearly it was a joke. I'm just not sure how anyone benefited from random shots at Juan Pierre. It wasn't discussed in the thread, it didn't add to the discussion, all it did was piss me off, which is, I'd guess, a portion of the intent.

Btw, just so you don't think I'm going to reflexively disagree with everything the judge wrote...he's probably pretty much right on one part...the notion that you can't separate the individual mandate from the rest of the law (unlike the last judge that struck down that provision).

Maybe the problem was that you were expecting something else.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 04:43 PM) Makes sense, but, how is the pet-friendly salt any different? I read Steve's linked article, but it just talks about the dangers of de-icing salt. One type I just found via googling is an Amide/Glycol mixture. Lots of organic molecules dissolve in water but they won't produce the same reaction on skin as salts. The freezing point depression effect comes about solely through the number of molecules of something dissolving in the water, so the melting effect (to first order) doesn't care about which molecules you use, only that they're water soluble.

Kiss your brain cells goodbye.

Direct quote from the decision: Think he's giving someone a shoutout there?

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 03:37 PM) Juan Pierre will lead us to the promised land Was this really necessary?

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 03:38 PM) Why? Scroll up about 10 posts. I think it's been coming out of a different point on his body.

This is the big case, brought in Florida by about 20 attorneys general. The Judge also ruled that the individual mandate could not be separated from the remainder of the bill (true) and so struck down the whole thing.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 02:49 PM) Lindy's also picked the Sox to win the Central. I'm pretty much half optimist, half pessimist with this team. I see upside and downside up and down the roster, especially with the every day lineup. I will say I don't think we can win the division without a healthy Peavy, even if it's for half a season, and without big-time bounce-back seasons from Beckham and CQ. It really gets tough if you don't have a bounce-back season from 1 of those 3. Everything else pretty much needs to go right; you'd need a similar year from Konerko, you'd need a normal year from Dunn, you'd need the rest of the starters including Jackson to step up, and you'd need the bullpen to be more solid than it was last year. It could happen, but it gets tough.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 02:35 PM) Really? So the guy that goes to one game a year drags his grill and everything? I find that so interesting. It always seemed to me the tailgaters were loaded down with so much extra stuff that I assumed they did it more than one or two times a year. I guess I learned my new fact for the day. I know a bunch of people who tailgated for the Rose Bowl and didn't go to the game. I'm sure if I walked around here during a home game, I'd see the same thing.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 01:53 PM) Well they're back to the bottom of the heap now. Really? I'd be shocked if they weren't at least "Competitive" this year. Their starting pitching is still in tact, and they have people who can replace Crawford. And a 3 year run isn't bad at all. Or how about the Marlins, 2 world series in their first 10 years. Or how about the Twins, basically building themselves into a medium-market club by constantly winning as a small market club (with 2 world series wins in the last 25 years as well). Or the run the Small-Market Oakland A's got on earlier this year. Or the team that started off 2010 in bankruptcy with the 4th lowest salary in the league making a world series run. Edit: If I go a little farther, Maher specifically states that a team like the Pirates has the same chance of making the W.S. as a black teenager from Harlem has of becoming CEO of Halliburton. 2 of the 4 bottom teams in salary last year, the Rangers and the Padres, were competitive for their divisions until the end of the year, and as I noted, 1 of them wound up in the Show. Meanwhile, 3 of the top 6 teams in salary missed the playoffs and a couple finished well under .500. Maher's analogy really doesn't hold at all. If you want to say Socialism is why the NFL is great, you really need to talk about public funding of ballparks, because the dynasty/parity thing just doesn't work if you compare to MLB.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 01:50 PM) The Bills/Lions. The Royals/Pirates can get great management and still have almost no chance to build a perennial contender. Not with their payroll. Like Tampa Bay.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 01:48 PM) That has more to do with terrible management. In which sport? The Bills/Lions or the Royals/Pirates?

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 01:32 PM) I brought it up as soon as I saw him non tendered. The longer he lasts the bigger bargain he becomes. Our bench looks weak and he's a proven legitimate hitter with speed . Only 25 his best years could be ahead of him. I can say exactly the same thing about De Aza though, with the exception of him being a bit older.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 30, 2011 -> 01:20 PM) New Rule: Americans Must Realize What Makes NFL Football So Great: Socialism By the way, it's worth pointing out how no matter who makes the point Maher tries to make about how Baseball and Football are like the Democratic and Republican philosophies, baseball's still the sport which has had a whole lot more mobility up and down in terms of who's actually winning the games, and the NFL has franchises just as moribund as the Pirates & Royals in MLB.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 12:42 PM) I know it's not an addition for this year, but I would love for the Bulls to spend their mid-level exception on Michael Redd this free agency. Re-sign Big Sexy and think this team is about as good as you can reasonably make it. Is he expected to ever really be effective again? He played 18 games so far this season, shot 35% from the field. Also...it's possible there will be no such thing as a mid-level exemption this year or ever again.

A couple to throw out there that I found at least interesting... And second, James Kwak argues, stronger than I expected he could, that the conventional wisdom that shutting down the GSE's would have a strong negative effect on the mortgage markets in the U.S. is wrong.

I walked past a guy wearing a cheesehead today.

I read this thread title and thought "how did the element Osmium sign a pitcher"?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 09:49 AM) 2003 we got 3 feet of lake effect two days before Christmas. The crazy thing was 3.5 miles down the road at my in-laws, they only had a foot. The worst was the 1998 blizzard that shutdown I-94 and the south shore for the better part of a week. That one was massive. '98 was the worst I went through during my 20+ years in that area.