FergieJ31

The hissing you hear is turbulence, which sets in around 60mph. Below 60mph the airflow around the ball is laminar and smooth.

It defies logic why a pro ballplayer would want to develop this skill. Seems like a good way to develop a hitch in your swing.

http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/sp/v/mlb/players_l/20090407/8160.jpg?x=65&y=85&xc=1&yc=1&wc=164&hc=215&q=100&sig=TBQNf1tCwA4Aa4hBceHoqw-- like a d-bag, frankly. classy post.

fixed

Let's see we have a: Yo momma joke A Hee Haw marathon joke Dead cardinals jokes A "we're in first place [in April] so I can't hear you up here" joke A "shoot him" joke Wow. By far the best is the one showing the Cards about 800 GB in the all-time standings, but even that falls short. Just tip your cap my friend. Kyle had it about right, there is no comeback til the Cubs win a ring.

For what it's worth: http://www.censusscope.org/us/print_rank_dissimilarity_white_black.html Also for what it's worth, I've been going to Wrigley for 25 years. I've seen plenty of public drunkenness, fist fights, girl fights, vicious over-the-top taunting of opposing fans, pot-smoking, a guy hitting a home run with his gf in the upper deck (if you know what I mean), a couple of robberies, a reporter doused with a Gatorade jug filled with water, but I can't recall a single racial epithet of any kind - ever. Just lucky I guess.

Nice payback for yesterday. Let's take the series tomorrow. (and Aramis Fan, wow that is the fastest turnaround time ever, from Aramabomb to Aramabomb sig.)

We should slap the next person who says this. It doesn't matter. It's not Theriot's fault. The game was over when that ball came off Braun's bat, barring a miracle one way or the other. There's a solid dozen things to be legitimately pissed about after this game. Theriot's defensive error early in the game, Soriano misplaying Weeks double in the 9th, every single move Lou made after pulling Harden... Theriot's decision to throw home in the ninth is not one of them. I disagree, I think he had a legitamite shot at getting braun at first if he made the turn to second. However, you're right, there are dozens of reasons to be pissed that don't involve him in relation to that game. From what I saw, I don't think Fontenot even gets a throw to first off. It bounced 4 times on the ground before Theriot was able to get to it in the hole. If he had thrown to 2nd, Hart would have been right on top of Fonenot by the time he received the ball and Braun's speed wouldn't have made a difference after Hart takes Fontenot out. I think Theriot made the only play he could there but he just couldn't execute it perfectly to get Weeks at home. This is pretty much how I saw it too: Hart takes Fontenot out, late relay throw, game over. Going for the play at the plate there is a very defensible decision. It's too bad Theriot doesn't have a stronger arm - that is the only thing he should be getting ripped for here. Fonzie's bad read on the Weeks drive is the miscue that cost the Cubs the most.

That's not entirely true. There is a minor expected bump in the right direction for people who have surpassed their career numbers by very large margins. Can you point to any published work on this? I'm extremely dubious that a regression study conducted honestly (without cherrypicking) would have any predictive value.

Wow - yeah, not their best work. This one is a little better: http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/play_every_day_to_the_best

Spring training stats are utterly meaningless at a purely statistical level - avg correlation with regular season stats is historically insignificant. There are only two reasons why the stats mean anything at all: (1) determining position battles and (2) as a rough indicator of health.

Awesome - thanks AF!

"what a crazy way to end a game!" Say what you will about him, but Chip had a great call of that play. Aramis Fan, I seem to remember you had a link to that replay, is it still up somewhere?

This is the first one I went to: http://www.fangraphs.com/wins.aspx?date=1984-06-23&team=Cubs&dh=0&season=1984

Ferdux Madkins ... first name sounds like a new pharmaceutical, second like a crazy diet. Not to be a jock and refer to myself in the 3d person, but obviously FergieJ31 is thrilled to hear this news. Can anyone think of another instance like this in any sport, where one number is retired in honor of two players who wore it?

the correct call IMO - Lou really couldn't go any other way (no disrespect for Demp)

Seconded.

>> The ONLY reason A-Rod was outed by someone at MLB was destroy his reputation. My feelings about the A-Rod story are pretty much exactly the same as the Michael Phelps story: zero outrage at the athlete, utter comtempt for the anonymous dweebs who outed them.

Nice op-ed piece by our old friend Doug Glanville: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/opinion/09glanville.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all The Rangers vs Longhorns story is awesome.

Karros' ad was very similar to Kerry's IIRC - similar layout & font. Whenever I think of Karros I think of http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/2087607.jpg%3Fv%3D1%26c%3DViewImages%26k%3D2%26d%3D17A4AD9FDB9CF1934A2752006EF5F0EDEE0BC81465FE28DA5A5397277B4DC33E&imgrefurl=http://www.jamd.com/image/g/2087607&usg=__m8fy4WduNHrxkSRqwT7WldZms0o=&h=389&w=594&sz=55&hl=en&start=27&tbnid=BVGZQT59juItnM:&tbnh=88&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Deric%2Bkarros%2Bchicago%2Bcubs%26start%3D20%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN ... and smile.

I scanned the ad in four pieces ... is there any way to upload the jpgs here? All I see are ways to link to a URL. If not, feel free to pm me w/your email and I'll send them along.

Nice editorial in today's Trib: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0120edit2jan20,0,3735496.story If nobody scans the full-page ad I'll try to do it tonight, but with an 8.5 x 11" scanner I will have to do it piece-wise. btw, did he put an ad in the Sunday SunTimes too? Kerry's long-term legacy will be the most dominating pitching performance in modern MLB history. The stuff he had that day was absolutely unbelievable.

Nicely done. Now, in your best William Shatner imitation, do you emphasize the word that or is?

Until last August, Bonds was the answer to one of my favorite trivia questions: Who was the last player intentionally walked with the bases loaded? http://www.baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/05281998.shtml (Now Josh Hamilton is the answer to that question.)

It's about time for a Prior thread lock Watch.