iamshack

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 16, 2013 -> 08:09 AM) STOP WHINING ABOUT OBVIOUS JOKES I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH YOUR ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE Not that there is anything wrong with that!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 16, 2013 -> 08:03 AM) So you're content with the status quo? Because clearly telling everyone to enforce this on their own and then jailing 1% of the people who don't listen works, right? Yes, it is incredibly moronic...and then we bombard everyone with tv ads which basically tell the story that the only way to have fun is to drink...and let's just be honest here, they're not advertising this to the guy that's going to have two beers with dinner and then head home. It's always a night out with the guys or girls, at the beach, at the club, camping, etc...those are situations where we all know most people would be over .08 or even double that...it's just absolute horses*** to celebrate this culture in almost every walk of life and then to expect people not to drink and drive. If most people actually practiced what the law allows, many of our food and beverage businesses outside of major cities would be absolutely screwed. Then we'd have job losses. We'd have no local businesses or "downtown" areas in these suburbs or smaller towns. Property values would drop. The economy as a whole would suffer massively. There are solutions, but they aren't "don't drink and drive and if you do and get caught, we will fine the s*** out of you and suspend your license for a year."

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ May 15, 2013 -> 05:34 PM) Congrats shack! Will need some pics when it's finalized! Anyone ever go through a short sale? So far all the best places tend to be short sales where I'm looking. Thanks, Russ... As for the short sales...they are frustrating...but if you are willing to deal with the timeframe (3-6 months usually), you can get a pretty good deal most of the time. The key is to be patient.

Naaaattteeeee

This is the one knock on LeBron....where the hell has he been the last 20 minutes?

Have a pending contract finally...now we have to sweat out the appraisal for a week...

Well, I'm proud of them just for getting back into it.

Don't call it a comeback!

LeBron didn't even foul him...this crew is garbage

Cheater's proof

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 15, 2013 -> 03:41 PM) If they had Deng and Hinrich I'd agree...I just can't imagine these guys being anything but completely exhausted right now. Yeah, maybe I will just go with the Thunder instead at -4.5

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 15, 2013 -> 03:30 PM) I wouldn't bet on this game. It's either going to be really close or a blowout, and the blowout is much more likely. Pretty much my thoughts as well...but something tells me the Bulls have one last good game in them...

QUOTE (Brian @ May 15, 2013 -> 03:21 PM) Feel bad for him. My favorite part of that season of The Show was when KW told him he made the team and he started crying. On the other hand, how lucky is he that we extended him?

Bulls worth taking a chance on at +14 tonight?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 15, 2013 -> 02:41 PM) I've seriously been standing in one spot, smoking a cigarette, and fallen on my face before. I don't know how anybody could ever get that drunk and drive. Wite, there are a tremendous number of alcoholics in this country...a staggering amount...once you drink that much, you become accustomed to functioning that way. Many of these people are probably still probably better drivers than my girlfriend...now I'm not saying that we should allow this sort of thing, but I'm just pointing out, there are a lot of people out there that get that drunk and drive.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ May 15, 2013 -> 02:13 PM) Good question, and yes you can. You can see more than you think you would be able to back there, but it's hard to describe until you've actually done it, and then you realize you see the majority of the catcher's arm in addition to the glove. You're lined up off center (we call it the slot, between the batter and the catcher's head/shoulder) and you see them catching it out front. You track the ball the entire way in with your eyes, but you're also watching it all the way in and watching how the catcher receives the ball. You absolutely see the glove and the ball going into the glove and any associated movement with the glove. When I said perception is reality, what I mean is this...and it's much easier to see at a HS level (obviously I'm not calling MLB games). Catchers can absolutely help "steal" pitches or cost their pitchers the marginal ones. Every umpire wants to call strikes. We're taught to call strikes. Coaches want strikes. So you're not looking to call it a ball, but catchers can make you do so on some. Take your pitch that's on the corner, or slightly off the corner. If a catcher can stick that (and let me say that framing doesn't mean pull...you don't take pitches and then move your glove towards the center of the plate. That's telling me you think it's a ball anyway and it's sloppy) then that can be a strike, and no coach is going to have an issue with it. It looked close enough to be a strike, catcher caught it like a strike. It was crisp. Now, if the catcher stabs at it, or carries it out of the zone, that's a ball. Why? Even if it was marginal and could have gone either way, he showed everyone in the park that it was a ball. He gave up on it. You call that a strike, and the perception is reality comes into play. Good luck explaining that to a coach as the catcher is making it look awful. Same thing on a low pitch. If you carry the ball all the way to the ground, it makes that pitch look worse than it may have been in reality. Umpires aren't taught just to call it where you think it came through the zone. You're calling the entire action of the pitch, if that makes sense. You don't reward terrible catching, but you will certainly reward solid catching. I love getting a solid catcher back there that will give you a great look at it and not hurt the perception to everyone else. Even at the HS level, coaches get it. I'll have a pitch that a coach thinks may have caught a corner, or the lower part, and as I ball it with a terrible reception of the pitch, he's telling the catcher hey, stick that, don't give up on it, etc and not barking at me. They get it. So it's definitely something that's taught, and can make a difference in a game. That's why that article was great. Hell, even if at the MLB level, where they are all better framers than HS catchers, it can be a subconscious thing. Guy's throwing 90mph fastball and everything about the pitch looked good, catcher stuck it...you think you saw a strike even if pitchfx says it was an inch off. Catcher pulls it and isn't "quiet" with it it makes it look bad, you think you saw a worse pitch than it actually was, ball...and the pitches they had in the article did a good job of showing it. I don't know if any of this makes sense, but there's my take on it. Yeah, it makes a ton of sense. I guess you just need to actually stand back there and see it for yourself. Whenever they show those behind the plate camera angles you can only track the ball until it's about 55 feet or so.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 15, 2013 -> 02:37 PM) The fines should be enormous. The person who was caught drunk driving could just as easily have killed someone if not caught. The LACK of outrage in regards to DUI in this country is appalling. I'm sorry Milk, but I think this attitude is just burying your head in the sand of the bigger picture. If you're going to do that, then you need to also stop expecting bars and restaurants to support the local economies of the suburbs. Or you need to drastically increase the volume of cabs at night in the suburbs. Or offer driving services. Or something. But to just say "fine the drunk driver and suspend his license forever...pretty soon you'd have half the working population without the ability to drive to work.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 15, 2013 -> 02:31 PM) No, it's a safety issue. It should be as low as they could possibly make it. Zero tolerance, even. Well of course it is a safety issue. But then we need to re-examine the culture of alcohol in this country. We've got a driving culture combined with an alcohol culture and now we're going to expect no one to drive impaired. I understand that turning a blind eye to it isn't the answer, but neither is expecting these things to magically reconcile themselves because you are going to fine people and suspend their driver's licenses. What we need to do is to figure out a way for these things all to co-exist...and the best way to do that is to put controls in place which take the decision-making out of the hands of those that are intoxicated as much as possible.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ May 15, 2013 -> 01:53 PM) Long, but really good article on pitch-framing. Perception is reality when it comes to umpiring and calling pitches, and organizations are finally picking up on it and making it a focus. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/927575...e-molina-others Krush...I know you have been an umpire before and I always wondered this...how can the ump even see the framing when you're behind the catcher? I mean it seems like it makes a huge difference from the pitcher's vantage point or the center field camera, but can umps really see a well-framed pitch when looking over the shoulder of the catcher?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 15, 2013 -> 01:04 PM) ND just increased their punishments. It's like $1,000 fine, lost license for 6 months, plus 48 hours in jail, as well as classes that are required that must be paid by the person. From that, you are looking at approximately $1,500-$2,000. Then considering that your insurance rates are going to atleast double, and you are adding another $1,200-$1,800 per year. Yeah, and this does nothing but make life very difficult AFTER a DUI...I agree that offenders should face some repercussions, but I don't think they should be similar to those who are guilty of violent crimes. Not in this culture...

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 15, 2013 -> 12:36 PM) Frankly, I don't think any fine is going to deter people from drinking and driving. What might do so is either a longer period of time without a license, or losing your license permanently. Personally, I think there should be a difference between, say, a .08 and a .18. I'm sure there are people on here who do drive at a .08 and you might not even realize it. But if you are so bad that you are blowing a .18, you have been drinking for quite a while (that's like minimum of a 12 pack and likely closer to 14-16 beers/drinks), you know you're drunk and what you're doing is wrong. I think if you blow twice over the legal limit, you should lose your license forever. If you blow between .08 (or whatever the limit is in your state) and .16, you should be fined heavily and lose your license for a full year for the first offense, with severity increasing thereafter. These are not decisions most people consider when they are inebriated. The clear answer to me is to put breathalyzers on the ignitions of cars. Do something to help prevent the action regardless of the decision-making ability of a drunk person. It's obviously not a fool-proof method, but the fines and punishments don't generally deter drunk people.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 15, 2013 -> 12:22 PM) Just making this game take longer Where do you have to be?

QUOTE (flavum @ May 15, 2013 -> 12:08 PM) Axelrod does have stones. Does he have any choice? It's either throw what you have or start selling used cars, isn't it?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 15, 2013 -> 11:55 AM) Konerko's gotten off to starts like this before. Yeah, but he's also coming off of a half-season last year just like this.

Thanks for the memories, PK...