Balta1701

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 09:35 PM) Yes. He was hated in Cleveland and considered to be a locker room cancer in Utah. http://www.sportsviews.com/blog/49991/The_...cers_in_the_NBA I knew he was hated in Cleveland but that was 100% because of how he left

Balta full.

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 09:27 PM) Carlos Boozer was supposed to be a disruptive cancer. I haven't heard a peep about him yet. He was? The problem I had with him was that I expected him to be hurt for 20+ games a year, if not full seasons, and so far I've been right about that.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 09:21 PM) It can also destroy a team. Ben Wallace... Although...sometimes...the right coach can overcome...

The other real issues I see right now is...pretty much every one of the primma donna receivers has wound up on a sucky team this year where the QB has wound up struggling, questioned, and publicly bashed. It's really been quite remarkable. Marshall, Moss, Owens, Ochocinco, they've all been losers.

Link

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 08:54 PM) Wow, welcome to the real world. Happens all the time on your side, but that's okay, right? Not quite sure what you're taking a shot at here.

Try talking to Virgil. I hear he's an excellent tour-guide now that he's dead.

Roman skeletons could write it

Perhaps we should start writing the history of 2k5 before it goes extinct.

Maybe 2k5 is just a dead language.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 05:43 PM) One interesting name I have seen come up today is Yao. Apparently the Rockets are marketing him as an expiring deal. I wonder if there is a way to make a three way work with the Rockets to get Yao to Denver, and Carmelo to the Bulls? Adding in the Yao step only makes sense if the Rockets really like Deng and the Nuggets don't want him. It really doesn't make things that much easier otherwise. In fact, it probably makes it harder...because Deng + Gibson + Johnson = Yao or Deng + Gibson + Johnson = Anthony. You really blow all of the Bulls shots trying to get Yao, and you have nothing left to turn him into Anthony.

Keep working on that 2k5-English translator.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 05:09 PM) Balta, given our clear intelligence failures the last 10-15 years, how do you know this is true? How can we know for sure we not only have the best, but a generation lead, in cutting edge technology? Also, IMO the same reasoning behind your view on civil scientific research spending (every dollar spent on science is a benefit) should be applied to spending on defense technology and research. The problem with this comparison is the price. The entire NSF budget over the last decade currently is comparable within a factor of about 1.5 to the entire F-22 program. Because of that cost comparison...we're spending more on our defense department than the entire rest of the world spends on their militaries. If some potential adversary is producing an equivalent weapon at 1/100th the cost, then we've already failed, because the cost of these guys is 100% the key flaw; you can't ever afford to lose one.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 05:35 PM) So who exactly is going to leave a production line sit at all of these different defense companies on the off chance that we need more after the program is mothballed? Otherwise, you are starting over again. You're half-way to the flaw in NSS's logic. If there's money available to build a line, then someone will keep it up and running. The problem is that building the lines, completing all the tests and designs, figuring out all the flaws, losing a couple test pilots, etc., is the expensive part; building the planes is the cheap part. Of that $35 billion price, probably the first $25 billion was spent setting up the system and design. Once you get the design, producing the planes becomes the cheaper part. Running the line from here they estimate costs about $100 million or so a plane, while the first hundred on average came out at about $250 million a plane.

Currently, there are 187 F-22's in service according to the military, filling up only a handful of squadrons, none of which have ever been used in combat. The total cost at present of the program is about $35 billion.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 04:43 PM) I think the elimination of the F-22 program is the biggest mistake the military has made in a long, long time. That is one bad ass plane... and it was a big part of the business I work at now. The technology is phenominal. Aside from keeping you employed, what exactly is the F-22 useful for? It's an expensive air superiority fighter that has zero role right now in maintaining air superiority because even the best the rest of the world has can't challenge the last generation of U.S. fighters. On top of that, it's so expensive that at a shootdown rate of 15:1 enemy:us, the fighter still remains impractical; you need about 30:1 or 40:1 for the costs to even come out close to equal.

Actually NSS, assuming his birthdate is accurate, he turns 22 during training camp this year.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 04:26 PM) I'm guessing Saito will be a setup man. For what closer?

Get me a pair of tickets.

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 04:17 PM) I meant Memphis, Balta. What extra PFs do they have? The Grizzlies have Marc Gasol and Hasheem Thabeet as their Centers, with Zach Randolph and Darrell Arthur as their PF's, and someone named Hamed Haddadi as their 3rd C. Randolph's contract is huge and expiring, Gasol is not under contract next year but they may have his rights as well. The other guys are young, of the sort that they might not be thrilled to move. Thabeet's salary is about $5 million, Arthur and Haddadi are around $1 million.

The Rangers team doctor is also the same doctor who performed Webb's shoulder surgery.

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 03:12 PM) If The Clippers can actually stop being the Clippers (and I mean that in FO decisions as well) they will be good too in 2-3 years with their core and future top 5 picks. Which is more likely, the Cubs winning the World Series or the Clippers front office not blowing it?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 03:09 PM) The Lakers? Really? They're still a contender this year. But the clock is ticking, IMO. Fisher looks about done. Artest has declined considerably. Bynum is the NBA version of Nick Johnson. And I really don't see Kobe remaining a top 5 player at age 34. I agree with you about the Knicks and especially the Thunder, though. The Knicks are really weird right now though...they're in that position where they're now good enough that they won't get great draft picks, but where they really need someone else to help them out in order for them to take the next step. If Carmelo Anthony is 100% determined that he's going to play for the Knicks come what may, then either the Nuggets or Anthony will be the one helping them out.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 27, 2010 -> 02:58 PM) Yeah, I read an article on that just recently. Still, a productive 3B is a lot harder to come by than a productive 1B. And I think...in Brent Morel...we have one.