bigruss

Illini beat #1 LSU 3-1. I havent really followed Illini baseball too much, any idea on how good they actually are this year? I plan on going to as many home games as possible.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Mar 5, 2009 -> 05:33 PM) Where did you read that? I see 4- 3 us. From the online feed, they came back and scored two to win. Jimenez the loser.

I got the idea from the best tv characters topic, but I think this would be so freaking cool to actually do. Arrested Development hands down for me.

The WHOLE f***ING CAST of Arrested Development Elliot, Cox, Janitor, Kelso, Turk in Scrubs Fry, Bender, Professor in Futurama Ill limit myself to those three shows, by far my favorite ones.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Mar 3, 2009 -> 02:22 PM) Considering the cars we used to see in the teacher's parking lot, I think this is one of the most over-stated falsehoods ever. The teachers around here start at nearly what I make after 10+ years. Really depends on the school district and what type of raises the teachers see. I know that Ive grown up in places where teachers are compensated very well as education was placed VERY high in the places I have lived in. But not every town/city/etc can afford to do so. Even where I lived they were starting to layoff a lot of teachers because they couldnt afford to pay them anymore, so they just passed on workloads to the teachers that stayed. Thats the cost of making alot and a teachers' union I guess.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Mar 3, 2009 -> 05:12 PM) .250 avg, .350-.360 obp, 20-25 HR, and 70-80 RBI? Whoop dee doo. In '06 and '07, he was starting to become a huge offensive threat, one who seemingly had a great eye and good power, a combination that is deadly if true. Now, it wasnt true here, as we found out.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Feb 28, 2009 -> 09:58 PM) These things may be true at your college, but they are not everywhere. I've taught classes starting earlier than 8am and classes as long as 2-1/2 hours (granted, only once per week). From a teaching perspective, 50 minute classes (at least at the college level as I've never taught high school) are virtually worthless. There's so little time to do anything that really helps learning (no activities, exercise, good case discussions, etc.). 75 minute classes are better; 2-1/2 hour classes are too long (especially starting at 7:30am or 7:30pm) when most people are already tired. While the "extend the school day" argument is interesting, I'd still rather see the school year extended if forced to choose between longer days and longer years. Of course, something will have to be done with teachers as well. At many schools (at least the high school teachers I know), they are already working extremely long hours during the school year and spend much of the summer lesson planning, revising curriculum, etc. It's not that much of a break for many teachers. I believe many teach summer school where funding for that exists, so that the teachers increase their income that way.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 28, 2009 -> 07:59 PM) I remember exactly how it went. I did many of those things that you mentioned. Up at 6:30am, AP classes all day, 18 hour a week job after school, homework until 11pm. Music practices on the days that I wasn't at work. National Honor Society, Quizzing, Pep Band, Marching Band, Concert Band, Choir, Drama, Musicals, Band Camp in the summer, college prep crap, writing papers without computers, working in the school for the decoration committee. My point is, you're only adding around two hours of in-school time to the schedule. Those two hours can be learning/practicing/studying/writing hours, hours that would have been used for the same thing at home without a teacher around to help. Well, then I dont understand how you think its really feasible to add hours. I see that you think that there would be more homework time because of the day between class, but thats not how teachers think. Atleast AP teacehrs at my school. If teachers were given that long for homework and they didnt have class everyday with the student then they would be pushing even more homework with the student. It wouldnt matter to them that they had the same amount of class time, they see that extra time and assign more work. In some theory, your idea may work. But in reality it wouldnt. Studies have shown that if school starts at 830 or 9am, then the more attentive students are throughout the day and grades go up. Starting earlier only brings grades down. Plus, if you really want to help students prep for college, have them make their own decisions on how to spend those extra two hours, have them learn time management or to improve that skill. Anyways, my school had the option of taking an extra hour of class, extending an individual's day from 230 to 330, but this limited sports alot of times for students, as any games after school would force students to miss that class, so those involved in sports couldnt really take it, but if you wanted to take it the option was there. I like this idea alot mroe than making it mandatory like you are putting it (even with your option of making it practice time).

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 28, 2009 -> 06:45 PM) Last I checked, sports was an elective. It's not part of the curriculum. If they practice from 2:45 to 5:00, eat for 30 minutes, homework from 5:30-9, there's still 2 hours before 11pm and 7 hours of sleep witha 6am wake up. Sports are their choice. On elective days, they can practice at 1:00 if they want. Tuesday and Thurs would be Art, Music, Shop, Athletics, Computers, Business, Drama, etc. 7 hours was a treat for me when my school went from 740-230. And ask alot of kids why they play sports, how who pushed them to start sports and you'll see that it isnt an elective for a lot of kids. Yes, its a game that many kids love to do, but a lot of kids are expected to play some type of sport during high school.

High school students who want to go to a good college are expected to: -take AP classes -be in some type of leadership position -be in some type of volunteer group -be in some type of sport -get excellent grades -get plenty of sleep so they can stay attentive in class -spend time preparing for college (essays, etc) -write essays for scholarships -if you dont have money, work a job -Then theres the whole family time issue (many people have siblings to watch after, family members get sick, etc) Its jsut not sane to ask for already loaded down students to perform at such a high level at so many levels while adding more time to the school day and having the same expectations. Many collegebound students are already at the brink of breaking because their schedules are so packed. Im sorry, but unless you have gone through the pressures of today's high school experience, then you wont understand it. Too many people forget how it was for them, or dont understand the new pressures of students in today's world and only know their situation.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 28, 2009 -> 06:35 PM) I take it that you don't have a family? I take it that I am a student who lived with a family whose parents came back from work, made dinner, ate, and relaxed afterwords while I went to do homework. Plus this just proves my point more, you want your child to have any family time during the week? Then you need to cancel out extracurriculars or school time, because it just wont fit in otherwise.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 28, 2009 -> 06:32 PM) There can be exemptions for athletics and music students who do after school activities. The gym hour can slide to the last hour of the day and can be used as practice time. How many sports have practice before school? How many teams only practice for an hour? In your case, even if they are given that hour to practice, then they may get out at say 5pm, then eat till 6 ish, then homework for the rest of the night. They are only given about 3 hours for homework if they are to get an appropriate amount of sleep, and I know that if you are in AP classes, honor classes etc, 3 hours is not very much.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Feb 28, 2009 -> 06:27 PM) Clubs/Activites/Sports keep them out of trouble, and with college admissions now if you plan to go they're are a must as you need them on your application to compete with other applicants. With those all those after school activities some kids wont finish until 8pm and with dinner, then homework some wont end up sleeping until 1 or 2 in the morning if not later. Making it almost impossibly to get up at 6-7. Exactly my point. And its unconsidered unhealthy or bad for college if all you do is study and then go to bed. Plus, for prepping for college and work you need to be able to communicate with others, extracurriculars are a great way to prep for that. And really, when you get home from work at 5pm or so, what other work do you have to do? Maybe once in a while you have some work to take home, but for the most part youre work is done for the day. When students get home, they are still students. They still have homework and obligations for classes to take care of.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 28, 2009 -> 07:03 PM) It would be shorter classes, but a longer day. It's like that in college. Uhhh, what college did you go to? Classes are an hour long, thats similar to a usual high school class. Plus, college you may have up to 18 hours a week of class (maybe more with labs and such) but your class hours are very different from high school hours. A 7am start time would ruin high schoolers, you cant compare work to high school, its different people doing different things. In high school, it is recommended to get 9.5 hours of sleep a night to function clearly, so a person would need to go to bed at 8:30 if they were to wake up an hour before school starts (6 am). What high school student can do that? After homework, sports, clubs, activities, your looking at an impossible schedule. Colleges and parents are expecting to much out of high schoolers when it comes to athletics and volunteering as it is, to expect them to have even less time to do so is just ridiculous. Edit: in response to your schedule: No way you have tired ass high school students in math/science/english classes for more than an hour. They would just lose interest and/or fall asleep.

I have no idea how hard he is throwing, but VB is looking really solid, maybe a longman out of the bullpen?

QUOTE (daa84 @ Feb 27, 2009 -> 05:01 PM) i think gameday isn't tracking every pitch, but rather just the ones that something happens on Maybe, but they had Rauch at 7 strikes, 5 balls, meaning theyre keeping balls on atleast one guy other than Owen's walk. But youre prob right, every hitter cant be going after the first pitch....can they?

QUOTE (daa84 @ Feb 27, 2009 -> 05:00 PM) well JVB so far has 5 pitches and 4 outs...both are extremely difficult stat lines to attain Just really aggressive batters right now.

VB inducing a ton of groundouts

QUOTE (daa84 @ Feb 27, 2009 -> 04:57 PM) man sox wasted no time getting after rauch there...lots of first pitch swinging Gave up three runs in one inning on 12 pitches. Including a walk.

Betemit long flyout to the warning track. Pimp grounds out.

PK RBI single, 6-0 Sox

Owens walks, Wise triples, GASP!

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Feb 27, 2009 -> 04:50 PM) i think chris stewart just went deep Yup he did, matched PK's, atleast according to gameday

Gameday showing Viciedo's HR was dead center, I likey

2 groundouts for VB