iamshack

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 13, 2015 -> 05:43 PM) It's not overblown at all. It's a hard fact. Athleticism, lateral quickess and length is where the nba is and where it will continue to go. Fair enough, but no one can hit a midrange jumper, despite all that lateral quickness.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 13, 2015 -> 04:52 PM) It goes both ways. Yes, the game was more physical and you could get away with things that you'd get fined and or suspended for today. On the other side, we are currently at the pinnacle of athleticism up and down the nba. Jordan wasn't going up against dudes like Butler, Kawhi and Paul George on a regular basis. Not that he couldn't torch them more times than not. But it wouldn't be as consistently effortless as when he was destroying the likes of Starks, Dumars and Hornacek. Also, team defensive schemes (not to mention advanced scouting/analytics) absolutely dwarf anything from the 80's and 90's. You can have your defensive schemes all you want...the ability to clothesline the ball-handler if he attempted to get too deep in the lane is more effective than any of Thibs' schemes

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 13, 2015 -> 01:08 PM) Jordan got calls but the game was overall much more physical when that did happen. Now they make calls because they assume there will be a foul. There also wasnt nearly as much traveling/eurostepping. And with that technical, does that mean the Bulls win? The Bulls get free throws? Oh wait, it means nothing. I don't even mind LeBron getting the calls...it just drives me crazy that even though he gets "the calls," he cries about e-v-e-r-y l-i-t-t-l-e f-u-c-k-i-n-g c-a-l-l he doesn't get. Local radio host here in Vegas was just ranting about how LeBron ultimately will go down as the best player of all time. Half of his rant was him picking these random stat-lines from playoff games and mentioning that LeBron has done it while Michael has not. I was thinking exactly what you mentioned above in regards to the defense that used to be allowed, especially come playoff time. It's so incredibly different now I'm not even sure you can compare stat-lines between the two eras.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2015 -> 12:05 PM) So to follow that up, if you guys saw Samardzija walking, Alexei being traded, and Anderson taking over as the starting SS next year you'd call that version of the White Sox ready to compete? No, I'd think that Hahn was learning some things from Oakland in regards to how to stay ahead of budget crunches by continuing to shift assets around before they become prohibitively expensive.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 13, 2015 -> 11:50 AM) Winning baseball games and making money are not interrelated like you have been positing for so long. Are you saying players aren't more attractive when their contractual liability is lessened? DA already addressed this but there is no way the A's committed to rebuilding. They had moveable pieces they kept. They spent 30 million on a DH. They traded for a back end up bullpen piece. They traded for Zobrist. What the A's did, while perhaps suggestive of rebuilding for others, is their standard operating procedure at this point.

Yeah, I have the AP2's...have been entirely pleased with them (I'm a high single digit capper).

So last night went to the "Beer dinner" at a local restaurant featuring Ommegang beers paired with different courses. All in all I believe I tried 7 of their selections, ranging from a blond ale to an IPA to a Belgian wheat to an abbey and one of their Game of Thrones creations, a dubbel ale aptly called Valar Morghulis ("all men must die'). Had a nice time, and won 3 large bottles of the Valar Morghulis at the end of the night. Had never been exposed to Ommegang, so it was nice to try so many of their selections.

Rogue.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 11, 2015 -> 12:17 PM) You really are a peach. Wite! I missed you!

WTG, Ricky...both the win and the woman.

Yeah, for sure guys...thanks! Now...anyone know how much getting a concrete patio poured costs?

Bought a house out in Vegas for my parents, as they have decided to move out to Las Vegas after being lifelong Chicagoans. They are excited, but very frightened at the same time. The Vegas real estate market has been tough. It's incredibly volatile - we've seen a 30% upward swing in the last 2 years and that is after a 40-50% upward swing from the bottom of the market in '11. To be frank, I did not thing it was especially wise to buy into this market, but I had no other real choice. My parents have large dogs like myself, so a rental was out of the question and they wanted a larger lot as well. After a few months of looking, finally found something that checked off all the boxes. 1800 sq ft on a half acre in a solid location with no HOA and move-in ready at a reasonable price. Made a strong initial offer the same day I saw it because they claimed they already had one. They countered a few times but I just refused to budge. In the end, they accepted my offer. The yard has desert landscaping at the moment (read: it is full of rocks), so I need to get some quotes to get them hauled away. Then we're going to landscape with a ton of native ground cover, shrubs, trees, etc. One exciting thing, the yard has a large in-ground pool, which neither of our current properties in Vegas have. Now on to the stress of moving my parents out here and a baby on the way in July. Deep breaths...one thing at a time...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 8, 2015 -> 07:42 PM) Jesus Derrick, have a night. I was thinking the same s*** earlier, and then something occurred to me: Michael had this game EVERY NIGHT. Unbelievable how much energy that man had.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 7, 2015 -> 12:48 PM) On a sidenote, outside of Sierra Nevada, I really don't like IPA's. I am a stout / lager / brown ale kind of guy....and if it isn't that, scotch or whiskey. We'd be great drinking buddies

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ May 6, 2015 -> 06:20 PM) More general comment... It didn't start out this way, but I'm a big IPA fan, and even better if it's imperial. 2 years ago I never thought I'd drink some of the hop-bombs that are now a staple of my supply. Unfortunately, some of my favorites are either seasonal, hard to find, really expensive, or all of the above: Bell's Hopslam, New Glarus Scream IIPA, Deschutes Hop Trip, and Dogfish Head 120 (absurdly expensive) to name a few. I also tend to like Belgian-style beers (Dubbel, Trippel, Quad, Saison and Farmhouse Ales), which I realize is completely different. I need to try out more of the true Trappist ales, but there are just too many options when I walk into a Binny's. Ommegang makes a lot of stuff I like. Glimmerglass is a spring seasonal saison that's out right now. They also make the Game of Thrones beers, which have some supremely bad-ass labels. Here's the current one, Three Eyed Raven. Going to a tasting at a local restaurant of beers by this brewery on Monday.

QUOTE (reiks12 @ May 6, 2015 -> 08:17 PM) would be nice if LaDunn could hit into the shift like that I just spit up my ice cream when I saw this.... Thanks for the laugh

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 5, 2015 -> 01:46 PM) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2454389...on-on-letterman Will Ferrell brings back Harry Caray to Letterman, had to laugh with references to the 80's and 90's Cubs. As much as I love his impression of Harry, that one wasn't his best. Not sure where that southern accent belongs...

I'm a big fan of brown ales. Almost any brown ale will do. Favorite brewery is Rogue, out of Oregon. Big Sky Brewing out of Montana is also one I enjoy.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 5, 2015 -> 07:45 PM) Abreu made the play, but it was sure a stupid decision. He's got to be able to make that play, although I agree it may not have been the best time to do it...

Blah...that's all he can really say, to be honest. I hope that honestly, they see this kind of s*** as a pattern which doesn't seem to get addressed and rectified under this coaching staff, and they are just biding their time until they get another manager in place.

So I am assuming the "forever" part is sort of meant to mean a salary which you won't discuss again for some time (5 years?). I wouldn't negotiate anything that is meant to stay static for a long period of time unless it is just impossible to turn down at this point. If you like this firm, it's great that you can stay by negotiating something, but you can't anticipate what might happen in the future...and you'd hate to have to leave because that is the only way to increase your salary in 5 years (we negotiated that "forever" contract with you 5 years ago, remember?).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 4, 2015 -> 06:28 PM) People have spent the last week+ saying this isn't true and I'm not sure they're wrong. Well I'm not sure how you dispute that, to be honest. I don't remember hearing much in regards to disappointment with the way our roster was supplemented this past offseason. This includes a fairly strong consensus on this board as well as by the local and national media.

The front office has put the players on the roster to compete. The coaching staff is not carrying over the talent they are given on the roster to a winning product on the field. I'm not sure why we would blame the former because of the latter.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 3, 2015 -> 01:10 PM) People are right though. Jerry is getting old and with all of his peers dying he probably has a whole different lease on life these days. Maybe this doesn't sicken him. Are you kidding? Dude just shelled out over $100 million to improve this s***box team and you think he doesn't care to win?

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ May 3, 2015 -> 01:05 PM) This team is fundamentally retarded. This is unbelievable to watch Too funny. I will say this much...I've known I did't want Robin to be the manager since sometime in late 2012. However, I have no interest in hiring Ron Gardenhire.