The Sir

I'm happy we don't employ those sorts of players (except for Beef, who sucks and we all despise) and that our biggest superstar of the last thirty years was famously anti-PEDs.

Holy shit, you weren't kidding. What a shitbag team. You'd think all the cheating would at least win them some playoff games, but noooooooooooo.

Haha, Rosario is such a fucking douchebag. Fuck the Twins!

I'm not a Benetti fan, but that will change if he keeps bashing the Twins so openly. I fucking hate that team. Go get swept in the divisional series for the sixth consecutive time, you pricks.

I don't get this. All he had to do was sleep with supermodels like a normal rich 20-something athlete and then he'd almost certainly get even more money in free agency in a year or two. Easy, awesome life. Or...he could fall in love with a middle schooler he met in the bleachers.

I'd support that 100%. Again, I never did anything relating to my undergrad degree (except for the fact that I needed one to get my military commission), and with this business plan in the works, it is unlikely that I'll do anything related to my grad degree either. The only caveat is that the GI Bill has made it a lot easier for me to do these things. If I had college debt already, it'd be a hell of a thing to tack on some more on a whim. But if you can manage the finances, I would absolutely recommend it. Again, it's never too late.

Ricky is stupid as fuck. In other news, would be way cool for Eloy to finish with a .260 BA, 30 HR, and an .800+ OPS.

Please do. Ricky is a total fucking piece of shit. I hope him and Yolmer never get jobs in baseball again and end up living together under a fucking bridge.

Hopefully we've seen the end of Ruiz, Fry, and Herrera soon.

You all know it's a tank game when Ruiz is called in to pitch in a big situation.

Fuuuuuuuuuuck. Almost. Fuck the Mariners.

This post makes me fucking giddy. The Gatorade Goof can go be terrible at baseball somewhere else. Five years too late.

Thanks Mendick, now Yoan should get one more chance at the cycle.

In Texas, I got an alternate certification and that was it. I have a hunch that some principals looked down their noses at alt-certs, but I got hired and then got my master’s at a pretty prestigious school, so that didn’t stop me in the long run. Other states might certainly be tougher to get in the door. To add on to the stuff about college, we need to rearrange the way we think about class in this country. Socioeconomic class is about money. Period. My friend is a lawyer, and while I love the guy, he makes dick. Yet I feel like a lot of people would put him in some upper echelon of society, higher than, say, a plumber who has several years of experience and makes six figures. Fuck that noise. If you can go to trade school for cheap and make bank, that’s what you need to do. For what it’s worth, I was teaching, a member of the guard, already had a young son and celebrated my daughter’s birth while owning and often renovating my own house during the year that I was getting a master’s. My wife worked too. Don’t let it freak you out- it was definitely doable.

Just from looking at your long-ish post on the last page, where you talk about being stuck, I really agree. I've been there too. I came home from Afghanistan six years ago last Saturday. I didn't really want to be full-time in a peacetime army, so I decided to get out and remain in the National Guard in case any action came along again. I didn't know what to do at that point- I majored in criminal justice in undergrad so I thought about being a cop, but I also considered firefighting and air traffic control and teaching. I was truly all over the place! I eventually settled on teaching. I did that for a few years and even got a master's in educational leadership. I then spent a year and a half doing a stateside mission for the guard, and now that is ending. I am freaking out about going back to teaching but my optimism about this business assuages me a bit. I know I can build it up on the side, until it becomes my primary focus, and then I can phase out teaching (and all "normal employment") entirely. It's a little strange knowing that, once I succeed in business (there is no if, only when), my educational pursuits will prove to have been mostly pointless. My wife and I fumbled along, mostly paycheck to paycheck with a little padding in a savings account and nothing going for our retirement, until we sold our house for a massive profit last year. I don't think we even realized what an asset we were sitting on until the check was deposited in our bank account. We had bought that house easy because we didn't need to put any money down because of the VA loan. So we paid off debts, poured money into savings, started IRAs for both of us, and made our current investment based on that. I could have enlisted with no college degree and never have gotten a master's and found more or less the same benefit. My parents pretty much expected me to go to college, and while I enjoyed it, I think it's a valuable teaching point for my own young children that it's not absolutely mandatory for success. Hell, it's a decent lesson for as long as I teach, too. We need to get away from the four-year-college mindset and encourage people to do what suits them. There are multiple pathways to success. I didn't mean for this to be some sort of bio, but the point of all of this is that you can't get too set on any one path. It is OK to walk a certain direction for some distance, then turn around, retrace your steps, and sprint off down another path. I don't want to make assumptions about anyone else's position, but I know this is something I've struggled with in my career confusion. I've got a master's in educational leadership, I need to be an educational leader! That's what I'm working towards! Well, bro, that degree isn't going anywhere- you can come on back if you want later. This other thing might be so much bigger, go and give it a damn shot already. If tearing down the canvas that you already have is what leads to your true masterpiece, then fucking do it. Don't be afraid. Another thing- it is never too late. Personally, I am a big admirer of Winston Churchill. I'm currently reading his biography, The Last Lion. It consists of three volumes, and volume 3 is subtitled Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965. At the end of volume 2, it's May 10th, 1940, and he finally gets the call to become Prime Minister. Up to that point, he was known mostly for conceiving the disastrous Gallipoli campaign and really, really hating Nazis. If he had up and died on May 9th of that year, he'd be known by serious students of British history and no one else. He was 65 years old at that point. His entire legacy centers around things he did after an age that you or I or Jack won't hit for another three decades. So if you want to scribble everything out and start over, get started! There is no such thing as stuck or too late, unless you allow it. Last point I'll make, lest I sound rambling- a few months ago, a guy we reached out to on Craigslist came over to my house to pick up some old furniture that was clogging our garage. I wasn't there but he made some comments to my wife about my Jeep, which I'm trying to sell, and he asked my wife if he could contact me. I figured he was interested in the car so I said yes. The next day, he called me and started talking about his great business opportunity. I asked what his business was, and he immediately ranted to me about the employee mindset that was destroying all of our dreams. Now I feel sorry for a guy who has to cold-call other guys who gave him a free dresser via the internet to lure them into shitty MLMs, and I let him down promptly and politely, but his point wasn't all that bad. The timing was terrible, and you really shouldn't go into philosophical diatribes in response to simple inquiries about what your business sells, but he was technically right- you don't need to work for anyone else. Jack is, by his own words, highly intelligent. You, Beast, seem like a talented individual. I know damn well that I am gifted. Why should my efforts primarily reward other people? I made that exact point when I introduced myself at this meeting today and they asked why I got into this investment- I said that after years of service to others, it was time for my talents to work for me, my wife, my kids. It's terrifying in a way- if you think job applications are tedious or interviews are nerve-wracking, then dumping thousands of dollars of your own money or obtaining financing is infinitely more so. But it gives you freedom and dignity in a way that working for a fixed wage and needing a union to protect your right to take a shit on the clock could never hope to do. The optimism I'm feeling these days as my plan increasingly comes together is one that I don't think I've yet felt as an adult. I hope this reads as helpfully to you and anyone else as it does in my head. If you want precise details on what I'm investing in, I'm happy to share via PM.

I can't like this enough. I've spent so much time thinking about all the luxuries that could be mine if I started my business or flipped houses on a larger scale or whatever. It was all dreams until I took some risk and actually did something. Now I'm on an official trip for an investment opportunity that I've actually invested in, and everything I do from now on out will work towards making those dreams into reality.

Yes.

Jack, that isn't true. You might have a hard time getting approved for a credit card if you report your income as zero (how are you gonna pay that balance off?) but that doesn't affect your credit. Seriously, just try it. This is heartfelt advice that might open a new door for you, and it won't hurt to try AT ALL. Rather than being pessimistic and dismissing it out of hand, give it a shot. The absolute worst case scenario is that you are still stationary at the same place you are now.

Check it! It doesn’t seem like it’d be bad, and if it is, then it’s not like you’re any worse for the wear. You can check it free through Credit Karma (I’m pretty sure that’s the case and not something I got pro bono through the military). But it’s worth knowing and if it’s decent, it could open up new avenues for you.

It. Was. A. Joke. You're being more of a dillhole to him right now than I was. ^^^Also...a joke!

OK. If you can, try to find local courses (doesn't have to be college-based, pretty sure I've seen autoshops offer mechanic courses and Home Depot offer home improvement courses) so you can learn 100% of the right way of how to do these things. See if any of them offer any sort of official certifications for different things you could be good at. Anything to make yourself marketable. In another vein, how's your credit? I don't want to put too much of myself out there, but I am investing/financing a business venture. It has nothing to do with what I've done before but I feel confident in my ability to make it successful just because I'm a smart guy and a skilled organizer. It's somewhat like a franchise, so there is support from corporate, but you can really make yourself independent if you choose (no royalties or top-down control). Relatively low entry costs. Again, I don't want to dox myself, but if you're interested, I'd be happy to tell you more about it in PMs.

Geez. It was a tongue-in-cheek response to him talking about nagging about my Moncada comments, but thank you for policing the internet.

Are you good at those things or aren't you? If you are, then what are you lying about? Selling yourself is easy, man. Take all of your arrogance that I rag on you about that, keep that, and ditch all of the self-bashing and mentions of autism/work history/whatever. If you're really good at it, take Jerksticks' advice and tell the world and find the independence you seek! There's no dishonesty in that. This isn't a bad take. It's just a sad take. You can do more than you give yourself credit for. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and go do it, already.

As long as you're prepared for me to venture over to the Job Thread and remorselessly kick you in the nuts for every single non-baseball hot take...😆

I'm less help here, honestly. We had a weekend in Paris when I was 13 or so (yeah it would have been 13, because I was distraught about the Sox getting swept by the Ms in the ALDS). My brother and I forced our parents to eat at TGI Fridays and Planet Hollywood. No authentic French food there! London I'm a little more familiar with because my dad lived and worked there, so we visited a bunch. But small cafes? Not really. If you have any affinity for South Asian food, you need to visit Brick Lane for some Indian. Thai food is also great in the UK, but I don't have recommendations on exact places. Beyond that, we had Thanksgiving at a pizza place in central London when our car broke down one year, but I think it has since closed. Shame- it was actually pretty good. Sorry my advice probably sucks. If anyone's going to Rome, I can recommend not only restaurants but exact menu items as well!