ConstableRabbit

i have to laugh, knowing that Chicago was going to win if it made it out of the first round of voting. Rio is like a third world country and there was a conspiracy to keep the Americans out. Oh please do go on. "Conspiracy" is kind of a loaded term, but it's naive to think that Chicago wasn't targeted by voting blocs early on. The IOC and US have had a pretty strained relationship, so it's safe to say that few tears were shed. Source: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-10-02-2016-olympics_N.htm

Yeah I mean, it's held the opening ceremony of the World Cup for God's sake... The point I was making was that a lot of cities don't even have stadiums, let alone ones that are "dumps."

US-based olympics are the only ones that have made money -- and the only ones that have massive stadium infrastructure in place beforehand. Not sure about the impact on the individual cities, though.

i was prepared to rip on Castillo's poor framing (-1.6 runs added by count, 3rd worst) here and resulting inflated WAR, but then i saw BP actually also thinks he's been the best catcher in baseball (+2.4 runs) at preventing past balls & wild pitches: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/sortable/index.php?cid=1667631 Thoughts on how he affects future balls?

I forgot what an awesome baseball atmosphere looked like on the North Side. Thanks.

We already have a good looking 3B with a great all around game tho.

Starlin!

The point isn't that he was right to say that; it's that he now plays for a team that also has no chance of winning big. If he really was so gung ho about winning he would have taken less to go to a legit contender, or even stay with Texas.

There goes the no no

OltSac

Time to inspire hope then crush dreams.

Wtf Castro

Thanks for that. Wonder what brought on the change...

This is difficult to watch.

Am I crazy or are this year's hats a lighter shade of blue?

It's an improvement but is too busy imo. Looks like one of those higher end knockoffs you get on eBay.

More midrange bricks, please.

... And then miss open shots.

so, why exactly are you against him being welcomed back? i'm just asking because it appears that you can't put your finger on it either. Why welcome him back? He walked out on his team and organization. For all we know (and we all know he wasn't clean) he is the symbol of what was wrong in the game during the steroid era, shaming himself by acting as if he couldn't speak English. Sure, he was the "heart and soul" of the Cubs and the only bright spot for so many seasons. I enjoyed the PED Era as much as all of you, but I'm just not ready to let go of my disgust at what was done to MLB. Owners, players, and Selig - all garbage. Sosa and everyone else did it for the money. They ruined the history of the game, which some of us respect. Damn, he was fun to watch play, though. I don't care if they "reinstate" him to the inner circle of Cub Glory. I doubt he'd be accepted by that body - but what the hell did they do? I just like to rant - who gives a f$#% what I think. I still love Sammy, but what the hell is he doing to himself? For the last [expletive] time. Speaking shitty broken English to the media is a hell of a lot different than when you're in front of a Congressional hearing. When legal wording is involved and perjury is a very real outcome, it's in one's best interests to understand what the [expletive] is being said.

Presented without comment: http://deadspin.com/what-if-all-baseball-players-were-fat-1567600912

I love the data visualization, but the data is directional if anything.

I smell an open letter from NSBB. As long as a poster who understands how to use punctuation drafts it.

This is the throwback to 1914, guys. Yesterday was the 100th anniversary. #sadness

I'm pretty pissed off that we lost, but more pissed that our team sucks so much.

People are far too large given scale of stadium. F.