caulfield12

Selig acknowledged that the strike (1995-95) had torn an irreparable hole in the game's fabric. The move to cancel the rest of the season meant the loss of $580 million in ownership revenue and $230 million in player salaries. In 1994, the average MLB salary was an estimated $1.2 million. Of the adults polled (now this was back in 2012, so MLB has lost 2-4% calling it their favorite sport and NBA/NCAAB, NFL/NCAAF have clearly gained), 34 percent said pro football was their favorite sport, not surprisingly making it the top dog in American sports. Actually, I'm surprised the gap wasn't wider. Baseball checked in at No. 2 with 16 percent of the vote, followed by college football (11 percent), auto racing (eight percent), men's pro basketball (seven percent), hockey (five percent) and men's college basketball (three percent). Now, I found the headline on adage.com a bit odd. It was "Look out, baseball, college football is hot on your cleats." I found it odd because, last year, baseball and college football were tied for second at 13 percent each. So baseball gained three percentage points, college football lost two and it's "look out, baseball?" The reason for that headline would be that demographics show the younger crowd prefers college football over baseball, but still, there's this: Even if (when?) college football does surpass baseball in popularity, I'm pretty sure having more than 100 million people paying attention to a sport means it'll survive just fine. Still, I doubt this will quiet the persistent "baseball is dying" crowd. I have no idea why some are so eager to say baseball is dying, but we'll let them maintain their delusion while our favorite game thrives. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/poll-finds-baseball-second-most-popular-american-sport/ It really feels (at least to me) that the owners are so confident behind their exploding franchise values and increasingly diversified revenue streams that they continue to maintain the belief that destroying the union might be more valuable to them financially (over the short term) than losing another 10-15%, maybe even 20% of MLB fans. That's how much LESS the impact of losing season ticket buyers, concessions, souvenir sales (so much now is online and world-wide in scale) and parking revenues...compared to where things stood nearly three decades ago (1994-95 cycle). What happens to those fans under age 25 or age 30 who are already devoted to e-sports is another question altogether.

He is not a Leninist. He wants the pre-1917 empire back.

Some are speculating they’re basically pushing for as much as the eastern 2/3rd’s of Ukraine… One thing is certain, it will test NATO and EU solidarity faster than it does the American response. That said, $7/gallon gas prices will play out with the backdrop of Nov mid-terms on the minds of politicians on both sides. Germany will be the key. And, of course, the coziness of China and Russia risks further intl. isolation there, but also the ability for Beijing to study responses in a role play of sorts for a future forecasted Taiwan invasion that would stretch alliance response capacity.

Home Depot?

How long do you believe it will last? Will we see any type of Western/European/NATO or US military involvement? Is it simply a matter of appeasement (Ukraine will never join NATO), or is it much bigger, to the point where Ukraine will be reabsorbed into Russia and can never be allowed to become a democracy after two attempts the last two decades were aborted by Russia? What will be the impact on former Soviet satellite states and Eastern Europe? Is there any leadership in Europe, or America, for that matter? Macron, the new German leader Stolz, Boris Johnson...certainly there's no clear leader in that sphere with Merkel now gone.

No. What does seem pretty clear is we're likely entering a period some would refer to as stagnation, highlighted by stagnant growth and higher/rising prices. This is certainly the case with BBB bill blocked permanently by two senators. It's certainly no surprise oil is well over $100 a barrel again...the only "shock" was the belief in March/April 2020 that oil prices might never bounce back.

Am supposed to do a Required Minimum Distribution from Vanguard before Dec 31st. Any thoughts (from those market timers)....do it now before the market falls even further, or wait out Russia/Ukraine and hope for a rebound the second half of the year? Feels like the days of 8-12% yearly stock market growth are coming to an end, and 3-5% before taxes/inflation will be the "new normal."

Is there anyone else fed up with Ryan Reynolds and Channing Tatum (Dog) movies? It almost makes me pine for Ryan Gosling, well, my wife at least doing that.

The biggest issue is playing long enough for the health care and pension benefits. I think it was Scott Carroll, former Sox pitcher and Purdue QB, who all the press was rooting to prolong his career long enough to qualify for those. He ended up with a 168.3 MLB innings pitched, and I think he qualified based on the number of days on a big league roster. It used to be 43 days rostered to qualify. For those who reach ten years, they get something like $7500/month ($90k per year) along with generous health/vision/dental plans for the rest of their lives.

As a 501c3, if he was donating that type of money to White Sox Charities, everyone in the world would know about it...they wouldn't be able to hide it, as it has to be reported publicly. And surely there are numerous tax advantages to doing so, as well.

Julio "Won't You Let Me Take You On A Sea" Cruz Thanks for 1983.

Dunston's daughter not close enough?

How ‘bout them Hawkeyes? With Joe Wieskamp, Jack Nunge and a healthy CJ Frederick…they would have been a legit national title contender.

Or Wil Cordero?

Well, another way to think of it would be how many of us stop following the Sox as their favorite team if they managed to win the 2022 World Series with Bauer rostered?

You have to think a team like the Rays, A's or maybe the Reds or Tigers would take him for just $5-15 million commitment the next two with LA covering the remainder. Rangers, perhaps.

For those who would argue for Bauer coming to the Sox, what's the most you would be willing to take on from the two remaining Dodgers' years, meaning they would pay/subsidize roughly 75%+? $7.5 million? $10 million? $15?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzybwwf2HoQ

Fixed for you.

And the US pays $37,500 for gold, $25k for silver and $12,500 for bronze, on the low side for most countries.

Otoh, you have the costs of training for downhill skiing escalating to the point it's no longer affordable for the vast majority of American parents and their kids to pursue. Look at US results there. Just one silver medal across all the events, and fourth in team on Sunday. Norway and most of the European countries have a much better ranking in the Inequality Adjusted HDI. In fact, that country is #1. Plus the ideal winter weather obviously helps as the second point.

https://sports.yahoo.com/how-team-usa-created-a-reality-show-to-find-olympians-204859588.html Well, this is a truly uplifting story at least. https://sports.yahoo.com/raising-age-limit-skating-end-073318467.html Discussion of raising the minimum age for skating to 18...likely eliminating squads and allowing careers to last across 2-3 Olympics.

Well here’s your next Gold Medalist (if she isn’t already too old at 18) in Torino Italy, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=adelia+petrosyan+ She’s actually Armenian-Russian, doing jumps already that nobody in history has pulled off at age 14…Adeliia Petrosian https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aqgXlYh9MRw

Seems like one of the tricks (minus musical chairs) directly out of the most recent Jackass movie...that one with Wee-Man.

Read this today in the comments section at medium.com, thought it was worth sharing with a fellow teacher "I'm a teacher. It's bad. But it's not just bad for teachers; it's bad for students as well. Each day, I stare out at a bunch of cold, dead faces, like zombies from an apocalyptic movie. I ask them about their lives, what they are thinking, what they are doing in their spare time, what kinds of things get them out of bed in the morning, to connect with them, to try to build some rapport, because this is my workspace, the classroom, and I prefer my workspace to be minimally affable, for my own sanity, and I get dead, empty space in return. The students turn their backs, stare at their phones or computer screens, wishing I would just stop talking and give them their required work for the day. There is no discussion. There is no energy or even life in that room . . . in all of those rooms, just cold, dead, empty eyes staring back, thinking the whole business of education is a joke, because their culture, and some of their families tell them this: be suspect of education. They think it's just another ruse, because when will they ever use English or communication skills, when will they need critical thinking skills, because all of this is just too hard to bother with -- just give me my grade, my course credit, and get out of my face, this is what they say. It's not just teachers who don't want to be teaching, it's also students who don't want to be learning, to be in school, because they find zero value in it, other than the job they hope to get at the end of all of it. It's Friday morning, and I am sitting here thinking: I can't do it; I can't face them again. It's the end of the work week and all my special reserves are exhausted and I have nothing to give to this battle, no armor or ammunition left. I don't smile either. Not anymore. I can ignore climate change, or the other social problems that are so immediate and so depressing in our society, ignore them for a minute or for a day, but I cannot ignore my job, those dead-eyed students, not even for a second, not even in my sleep, which is troubled, always, with trying to find some way to make this profession bearable, to make a student care, even just a little bit, about learning, and if they can't care about learning, to care just a tiny bit, an angstrom, about me, or other teachers, as people, just like them, trying to do some good for society, just trying to make it through, but it never works, no matter how hard I try to tap-dance in front of them, entertain them, inspire them, get them out of their zombie-like state. And, it's not getting better, only worse, year after year, as I see more and more good teachers retire early or leave the profession altogether, which is what I have resolved to do, because life is way too short, not to smile once in a while. And, please, while well-intentioned, do not respond to me with: hang in there, because hanging in there is what I have been doing for a decade, trying to figure this problem out, to find a way to make teaching bearable, and there is no way. We have failed. Education has failed, just as intended, just like the Post Office, a planned demise of a once proud and storied institution. We are devolving. The arc of history does NOT always bend towards progress, justice, or improvement as we once so foolishly and naively believed. The arc of history bends towards demise, and education is only one example of this."