Texsox

Exactly. There may be a few things we'll want to keep, like DH for all.

I've told the story here before but it was life changing for me. Back during one of the Bulls championship season playoff games at the original stadium we arrived early for a Sunday afternoon game. We got an easy out at our usual lot facing the street and the high rises across the street. The weather was perfect and there were dozens of kids playing in the courtyard at the apartments. I believe that's Robert Taylor Homes. We had a six pack in the car and a couple beef sandwiches. We planned on obviously pregaming a bit. Just as I was about to pop up the first beer I see a couple beat cops slooooowly walking towards the car. Not wanting any trouble we hide the beer and wait, and wait, and wait. Damn those lazy ass cops walked so slow. Finally they get past us and we pop the first one. A couple minutes later we hear popping sounds and see kids running everywhere in that courtyard. I vividly remember a kid about sixteen scooping up a toddler in one smooth motion and keep running, ducking for cover. It looked chaotic and kids were diving around corners. Next I see those same two lazy ass cops running towards the gunshots with their guns pulled. #Respect. After about a dozen cops pulled up the parking lot attendant who we knew was an off duty CPD guy knocked on our window, "Why the hell didn't you morons duck? Did you think that windshield was going to safe your ass from a bullet? Didn't you hear me knocking on your car?" Nope, we were frozen. Later I was telling my wife about it and realized my kids would have no idea to run from those sounds. My kids would have no clue how to survive in that environment and as a parent I would not know how to help them. How good of a parent can anyone be living there? And later I scoured the Sun Times and Tribune. No news. Gunshots at a "project" isn't news. Just another day in the life.

It seems obvious to me but I should add the longer the season, the fewer teams should make the playoffs. The shorter the season, the more teams should make the playoffs.

There will be outliers, always. We could expand to a 200 game season and there will be flukes.

Depending on how many teams make the playoffs, fifty games is more than enough to seed the playoffs. The top seeds will be teams that avoid slumps for two months or so. The mid level seeds will be a couple good teams that had a bad stretch and a couple average teams that played above their abilities. If any teams do not make the playoffs, they were poor to average in the beginning. All the regular season does is create seeding for the playoffs. It doesn't take 100 games to accomplish that.

I've kind of been dreading the test. I'm glad it wasn't that bad. Before my upcoming appointment at MD Anderson Cancer Center I have to have the test. I'm driving four hours each way on Monday then hopefully returning Thursday for my appointment.

Not a scientifically valid survey but the past three weeks when I have gone to curbside pick up groceries I was the only car. A month ago I waited fifteen minutes for one of the 30 spots to become available.

It does. But being responsible does not guarantee food security in this country and a wealthy irresponsible person can grow up to be president. We want to believe that being a hard working responsible adult will assure a decent life. In reality it probably is for white people. Others, it's a great start, but there is still a ways to go. All in all a wealthy middle class loafing, irresponsible, coke blowing, white dude will out perform a tenth generation poor, responsible, hard working, non white dude. As SS pointed out and I will add to, the solution is building better adults rather than fixing messed up adults with a for profit justice and prison system. We have huge economic systems in place to make money on non violent offenders who are generally poor and uneducated.

I agree but allow me a couple observations after seeing both ends of the educational spectrum. I've taught at a very poor school and an affluent school. Poor as in colonias with home build walls, blankets for doors, and a communal water tap with hoses running through windows to provide water. I now teach kids leaving multimillion dollar homes. It's more than valuing education. Poor parents working two jobs to provide food and shelter just can't provide the same level of support as a full time mom. Most of the kids at the poorer school had no one at home to ensure of them doing much of anything. Rich parents hire tutors. College educated parents understand the system and how to get their child into the right colleges. The poor parents just don't have the background. Then there is the pressure on the kids to work at a young age. I taught a lot of migrant kids who basically could go to school from November to April. The rest of the year they were chasing paychecks with the rest of the family. It's what they did to survive. The families valued surviving over everything else. I know you didn't make this implication, but I just wanted to show that it isn't some character failing or shortcoming by the parents. But when so much of your time is spent providing food and shelter, other things, even very important things, just don't get the space they deserve.

OK it's millionaire labor versus billionaire management arguing over how to split up the barely surviving fan's money. I believe that calling a millionaire playing a game as "labor" gives them more of an underdog status than they deserve. The only labor I see in this is the labor the fans do to afford going to a game or buying the products that are advertised. I'll side with the fans and their pocketbook also as a general rule. I find it obscene that either side wants to cry poor.

Bottom line millionaires are fighting with billionaires over how to divide the fan's money. I'm not going to choose sides because I'm at the point I want both sides to lose.

Most businesses do close after a year of loses. Most businesses are like your local dry cleaners, plumber, or restaurant. But we aren't talking most businesses here. We are talking huge businesses, which you are correct, they can withstand a loss for a year. So too can players who are making millions to play. Could they play a season for only a million? And I don't see either side throwing a temper tantrum. They both know the point where they don't want to participate. This negotiations has been a part of every sport since Curt Flood ushered in free agency and the business side exploded.

The change I'm seeing are corporations making strong statements. That might seem minor, but those are the same folks who fund political campaigns. It also shows where the economics is lining up. The cynic in me believes that twenty years ago it would have hurt financially for a main stream company to come out against the police and racism. Now it seems that the economics has switched. Follow the money as they say. I'm praying we'll look back on Trump's term in office as when racism jumped the shark.

Because of the stimulus "checks" being sent out via debit cards I learned my mother-in-law has never used an ATM. It only took a few minutes but we were able to transfer the funds from the debit card to her bank account. The only fee was the home cooked dinner she promised me.

It certainly can be taken to an extreme. But, if we really took King's quote to heart we would all be looting. I can't believe I have to toss a brick through a window to support equality and the end of racism.

Neutral site playoff games would make sense. Keep everything in domes or south. It really doesn't matter, especially if no fans are in attendance.

I can't find the quote now, but it was from the 60s I believe. Basically it spoke about the challenge of getting folks who are 100% against racism and all it's ugliness but also very much for respecting the law on board and working for change. I had never considered that before. Supporting the goal without supporting the path is probably the least anyone can do. Better, is finding an active path towards the goal you can take. I appreciate the corporations who have made public announcements in support of the protests and have gone slightly out of my way to shop there and tell them why. I'm looking at you REI (most recent).

Minor correction, he had just made a delivery to that station and was empty.

Great article. I'm reminded of a quote from a sport's agent, I forget who. He mentioned as a player's financial advisor his job wasn't to make investments that made a player wealthy. They were already wealthy, his job was to keep them wealthy. It's a tough choice for these guys. You make a bunch of money and suddenly can take that dream trip to Hawaii. Do you take your lifelong broke ass friends from your old high school and pay for everything or forget where you came from and hang with your new rich friends?

Fifty regular season games, 30 teams make the playoffs. That's five rounds of potentially 7 games each. Money for the owners.

I found this interesting. I just received a message from Patreon regarding portions of my pledges now being taxed. For those of you not familiar Patreon is a way for artists and other creators to receive direct financial support from their fan base. What is being taxed are any tangible benefits the patron may receive. So if you receive free plans, exclusive content, etc. some value will be placed on it and taxed. All taxes collected will be going to the local governments where the donor lives. As I started reading I was thinking they were talking about people trying to write off their Patreon account as a charity and I was thinking of course that's not allowed. Now I see how someone could game the system and avoid paying tax on purchases if it's part of supporting something.

It's always been about money from both sides.

Thinking about players being allowed to opt out has me wondering if there will be any sort of "strike-like" line either for or against playing. Where will the peer pressure be?

Texas high school athletics getting started for fall in two weeks with strength and conditioning camps. Finally back to normal.

Since all we have are hypotheticals right now let's think about this. One team or a few have it spread through their clubhouse. Forfeit games? Bring in the minor league guys? Postpone for a couple weeks?