cabiness42

Good story from the State College newspaper about how the investigation unfolded: http://www.centredaily.com/2011/11/17/2989...eary-break.html

What I've been wondering is if the Yankees are desperate enough to get their hands on Danks that they'd take Rios with him. Danks + Rios for Gardner straight up is a deal I think I'd do in a heartbeat.

They are common enough to have their own association: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America...ove_Association

2.718281828459045

Frank Robinson Joe Torre? Don Baylor?

I will root for the outcome that benefits the Bears the most, and since I don't see the Packers losing 3+ games to give the Bears a shot at winning the division, the best outcome is for them to beat any and every NFC team that might be competing with the Bears for the WC.

$7M in 2012 $14M in 2013 $14M in 2014 Club option for $12M in 2015 or $1M buyout. If that option is exercised, there is a club option for $11M in 2016 or $1M buyout.

I think KW is waiting until he knows whether or not he gets Buehrle back before deciding on trades for Danks and/or Floyd.

It was 18 relievers with a higher WAR than Valverde, not 18 closers. I'm betting that most of those 18 were not closers, but yeah, I agree that WAR is not a great measure for closers.

I want to add that the Bears' dominance on special teams is much more than just Hester having fallen to them in the draft. Aside from returns, the Bears are near the best in the league every year in FG kicking, punting, and KO and punt coverage. The franchise has made it a point to be excellent on special teams, and in a salary cap league, that's a very good strategy, since, apart from Hester and Gould, the people that do such excellent work don't cost a whole lot. It also blends well with a defensive scheme that forces you to move down the field in small chunks, since as long as the offense isn't turning the ball over, the special teams are making you go a long way to score.

I don't think trading Peyton Manning is an option. I see three ways to go with this: 1) Colts think Peyton is going to be fine and trade Luck 2) Colts think Peyton might be fine and hold on to Luck for a year to see how Peyton does and then trade Luck if Peyton is indeed fine 3) Colts think Peyton won't be fine and hold on to Luck As great as Peyton is/Luck might be, the Colts need more than a QB to turn what they have now into a Super Bowl contender, so keeping both of them if Peyton is 100% healthy doesn't make sense

Six divisions of five teams with no separation into leagues. Six division winners and four wildcard teams make playoffs. Division winners get byes while wildcards play best-of-three series. Then the teams are seeded 1-8, with the wildcards having to be 7-8 even if they have better records. You could have a division winner and a wildcard from the same division playing each other in the World Series. Yes, it's different than what other leagues do, but MLB will do it because they are dying to find a way to have a Yankees-Red Sox World Series.

Right, but most coaches' tenures don't last longer than that of a star player, so as the GM hiring a coach, that's not something you really worry about. Plus, the GM has done a good job of getting defensive talent that matches the system--Linebackers who can really cover the field, corners who are physical and good tacklers but don't have to have A+ speed because they usually have help over the top, linemen who can generate pressure without needing 5th-6th rusers.

It may not happen in time for 2015, but at some point, the NL will finally adopt the DH, at which point MLB will eliminate the AL and NL and realign the teams into divisions geographically, which would allow any two teams to meet in the World Series.

That, and the union will never allow 15 jobs to get eliminated.

I think the goal is to create enough confusion to get the fans of NL teams to finally accept the DH.

I guess if the Big East can have teams in Texas and Idaho, then the Maui Invitational can play games on the continent. EDIT: There's also some weird tournament where Notre Dame and Missouri host teams for the first two rounds, and then apparently advance to play each other in the semifinals even if they don't both win these first two rounds.

I think the Bears have a pretty good chance at ending up 12-4.

As of right now, all four wildcard teams are from the North divisions.

That is only for the almost-live coverage, which is always going to be a requirement of the gaming comission. The traditional edited episodes are still showing the hole cards at the beginning of the hand.

This sounds weird, but it's hard for an offense to develop any kind of rhythm when the defense and special teams keep scoring. I don't think you can really evaluate the offense much this week. I don't suppose Stafford will get suspended, but he better get one hell of a fine.

A guy from my high school played at Belmont a few years back, so I was hoping they could pull it off.

I have a bad feeling about the Bears today. I hope I'm wrong.

Damn, you beat me to it.

Had an interesting finish to a NL tournament last night. Will try to recreate the details as much as possible. 34 entries, 4 players paid. 1st = $1050, 2nd = $600, 3rd = $400, 4th = $290. Four players remain with the blinds at 3000/6000 with an ante of 700. I am UTG with 95,000. BTN has 155,000. SB has 55,000. BB has 45,000. I have AJo and raise to 15,000. BTN thinks for a while and re-raises all in. Blinds fold. I now have to call 80,000 to win a pot of 200,000 (2.5 to 1 odds). Based on how long he took to re-raise and what I've played with him, I can confidently narrow his hand range to JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, AQ, AJ. So I am crushed by 21% of his range and even money with the rest. From a purely mathematical standpoint, I should call. The issue here is the money. I can fold and still be second in chips and be almost a lock to finish no worse than 3rd and a really good chance to take second, but I'm gonna have to get really lucky to win. If I call and win I have a massive chip lead and am probably going to win. I'll see if anybody else has any thoughts before I tell you what I did and how it ended up.