NewUserName

As a parent of a child who plays travel ball, I do not think you guys fully understand all the motivations that go along with playing travel ball. I understand that my son is not a baseball prodigy. I really wish just playing in our local town league was a good option. Travel ball is expensive and it involves a lot of adults who are over estimating their sons ability to play. My son is probably the best hitter in his class at school. He is a solid defensive player at almost every position except pitcher. He has no movement on his fastball so he is a limited pitcher. There will only be 7 spots available on the Junior High team this fall because the class ahead of my sons is deep and talented. Since he is limited as a pitcher he will have to be really impressive hitting. The coach values pitching and feels that as long as a kid can pitch he can teach hitting. Our local town league has been gutted for several years because the better kids are playing travel ball. So if my son was to play local he would probably not get any better as a hitter, though he would probably tear the league up. So basically to give my son the best chance to make the junior high team, he probably needs to play a higher level of ball than our local town provides. Also, most to the better players in his class are also doing travel ball. Many of these kids are his good friends. As a social thing, he would rather play with his friends. I know this could be me rationalizing it more, but my son was invited to play on a better team but chose the team that had more of his friends on it.

For the right price and no NTC it might make sense. Trading Garza for multiple prospects that are 1-3 years away from the ML while plugging Jackson into the rotation and possibly flipping him or Dempster at the deadline makes sense for a rebuilding team. Obviously, the right price is the key. But what if you sign Jackson with this in mind and he sucks. I think we should just pass.

Getzlaf is still only 26. Plus if you can get a 2nd round pick from Anaheim, that is going to be a kind of high pick. I am not sure trading Kane for Getzlaf would be a one or two year fix.

I was talking to a buddy the other day. He was saying that this tattoo scandal may end up being the best thing to happen to OSU.

Somewhere, the trade Kane crowd is thinking this: THATS WHY HE HASNT SCORED ANY GOALS, CUZ HES BEEN TOO BUSY PLANNING THIS SUPERMAN BIZ. TRADE HIM! HE DIDNT EVEN HIT ANYBODY IN THE ALL STAR GAME!!!!! I do not think anything like this would happen, but would you consider trading Kane for Getzlaf and a 2nd round pick? Maybe even see if you can get Selanne thrown in the deal somehow? Getzlaf is a true center who usually performs well in the playoffs. Plus getting off Anaheim would have to have a positive effect on his performance. Truth be told I don't think Kane has ever been as good as Getzlaf was a few years ago. Getting him and a high draft pick seems plausible. Plus it still leaves the Hawks room and bodies to pick up a top 4 defenseman. Basically, as a Wings fan I would be much more afraid of the Hawks with Getzlaf than I would with Kane. I am not saying the Hawks should trade Kane, I think they should be open to it if the right kind of move came around.

I think the NHL has at least made the picking of the teams somewhat interesting. I say this because I actually looked up the teams. But I still have no intention of actually watching the game. Though a line of Kane with Datsyuk would be awfully fun to watch.

last year my sons traveling baseball team played an all African American team. These kids were extremely athletic and kept the game close because every now and then one of them could tomahawk a HR. As the game progressed they just didn't have actual baseball skills. They were terrible defensively, most of them had lousy swings and as a whole they had no baseball sense. I was talking with one of the coaches afterwards and he told me that they can never practice. Most of the kids who are really talented play in basketball leagues during the summer also and would quit baseball in a heartbeat to play basketball. So the opportunity to practice baseball is almost non-existent. The coach said it is kind of sad because none of them will ever get anywhere playing basketball. He understood that there is a lot more opportunity for these kids to get somewhere playing baseball in either college or some level of pro. A couple of those kids probably could do that, but they will never put in enough work in baseball to get that far.

Did the Tigers hire Jim Hendry?

I have noticed that every athlete that I think is a douche plays a leading role on a successful team. I have also found that I usually root against that successful team. I have noticed that I have never thought a player was a douche who plays for a team that I root for.

I believe that will even out as the season goes on, they're playing well no doubt and also getting a lot bounces. The last game vs the Hawks was really annoying, for whatever reason the Hawks decided to let them stake to and do anything they like for 45+ minutes plus OT. I give some credit to the Wings but, the Hawks largely decided not to play. Found it interesting that when the Hawks decided to play they outscored the Wings 2-0, makes you wonder what it would have been like had they played the whole game in such a manner. couldn't it also be said that the Wings decided not to play for the 1st 10 minutes of the 3rd period in that game? Makes you wonder how much of a blowout that game would have been if the Wings would have played those 10 mins. I am not picking a fight, just pointing out that your argument has a rather large whole in it.

There's no way his spread works in the NFL. NFL defenders are too big and too fast. is it really a lot different than what the Patriots run? or maybe even a hybrid of the Pats and Broncos?

I don't watch a lot of NFL. I watched most of the NFC game today. Patrick Willis is my new favorite NFL player. That idiot from Pittsburgh(Harrison I think) can learn by watching Willis. You can hit hard, with your shoulder pads, wrap up and tackle all while being an all pro player.

I was surprised that Nashville chances of making the playoffs was so high. I went and checked the overall standings and realized that after the top 7 teams in the West, the rest of the conference takes a pretty large nosedive talent/ability wise. I know it is early to say this, but I would hate to run into the LA Kings in the first round.

Does this mean he sucks? I have not been overly enamored with him but really had nothing to go on. I liked his swing in the video, but my guess is that I would like a lot of HR swings.

Didn't it turn out that the Rangers were the only team seriously bidding, Boras just played it out longer to give the impression that there was more interest in him than there really was?

I wonder why. I can think of several players who made successful moves from other IF positions and even a couple of catchers. I guess if you were a 1b to begin with it is because you were already considered a below average athlete. I always wondered why Derrek Lee was a 1b. With his long legs and speed it would seem that he would be a natural OFer.

maybe phil hughes is not guaranteeing that he will be effective?

Isn't that exactly what happened with Matt Cassel? He was franchised, signed to a one year, deal, traded, and extended all in one offseason. Exactly what happened. This is not a new situation. Not sure why people can't grasp the situation. It is probably my lack of paying attention to the NFL off season that causes my lack of grasping.

I hate to go back to this subject. But it is beyond any reason that a team will pay franchise tag money and draft picks for Matt Flynn. Or am I missing something in the franchise tag then trade situation? If the Packs tag him and trade him, can another team then sign him to a long term contract that would not make him one of the highest paid QBs in the NFL?

The Wings have far and away the best goal differential. Which means they will probably finish 4th

I am sure that the 2nd period will be almost opposite of the first. But the Red Wings look like potential SC champs at home and a non playoff team on the road

Kind of sounds like a lot of fans from Detroit are not happy about the game being in Ann Arbor. I also wonder how many UofM fans may not buy tix expecting a potential New Years day bowl bid?

Ken Hitchcock has a good track record of straightening up a teams defense rather quickly. I think if the Blues can get a hot PP during the playoffs they can easily make a run, but I agree that their lack of scoring will make it hard to win the Cup. They are also a team with the cap space, if not the money (in light of the ownership situation), to add an impact scorer at the deadline if one is available. its funny you write that, I was reading a story this morning about Phoenix. Shane Doan and Ray Whitney are going to be FAs after the season. I was thinking how scarey it would be if St Louis could somehow swing a deal for both of them. I think it is probably unrealistic to get both, but I think that is a kind of move that would make the Blues very hard to beat.

Ken Hitchcock has a good track record of straightening up a teams defense rather quickly. I think if the Blues can get a hot PP during the playoffs they can easily make a run, but I agree that their lack of scoring will make it hard to win the Cup.

I liked ChristianMingle a lot more when they had the 2 well endowed girls in their early 20s wearing tight sleeveless shirts on the cover page of their ad. All kidding aside, a couple of really good friends of mine met from EHarmony about 8 yrs ago. They really do seem like a great match and have a very strong relationship.