jersey cubs fan

Why do people believe that obscure rulings make baseball great? Has Tim Kurkjian convinced everybody of stuff like this or did you come to that feeling on your own?

There will always be a place for you in this organization..., somewhere down the line.

I love clark

Was e one of those senior draftees that signed for $0.87?

I can't think of another organization where the head of baseball ops takes the star slugger out drinking on his birthday during the season. http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/msti/images/c/cd/LaRusss_DUI.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130924012002

Ah, the "bats get cold" argument. Despite the Royals/Giants making the WS last year, hasn't it been disproven that the Wild Card winners win the WS about as much as they should given statistical probabilities in the playoffs? How would you go about proving such a thing 2(?) years into the current system?

It was nice to see that Maddon recognized it as a big series, didn't shy away from saying so, and then managed like these games meant more than the others. On the other side of things, I actually also think Bochy rightly (IMO) treated them like any other series with his veteran=championship core. At the end of the day, the young, hungry team who happened to be playing better baseball going in, swept the series and greatly improved their confidence going forward. If Bochy treated these games like they were any other series, then he was mistaken. They were hugely important in playoff positioning (granted, it might not have mattered all that much because the Dodgers got swept, but it does hurt one of their options badly) and, "veteran/championship core" or not, should have been treated as such. The odds swung greatly as a result. The playoffs odds swung greatly as a result of the game, but not necessarily as a result of how the manager's chose to "treat" the games.

The family part is the weird part. Obviously if you are in that situation you take precautions. The weird part is having family involved. And sex bouncers is not an inaccurate way to describe what that job entails. Hire professionals.

I really like most of this post and I agree that they are after money, which they probably should be and that is somewhat disheartening when you actually realize that's what sports are 100% about right now. The English Premier League, IMO, really does a great job of emphasizing the importance of every game, as does college football. One game playoffs in a sport where, as you said, good teams lose 40% of the time anyway, will never sit well with me. In my mind, either go full on madness like College Basketball or, one could argue, the NFL, or value the regular season at least slightly more. At least baseball isn't as bad as NBA and NHL where the regular season is nearly 100% meaningless. Though those postseasons are incredible to watch, it's hard to justify shelling out $75-$100 for a 300 level ticket to a regular season basketball or hockey game. I think baseball's system does a great job of valuing the regular season while at the same time making the world series the most important thing. You win your division in the regular season and get in a select group of playoff participants without having to play the one game playoff. The idea that a one game play-in doesn't sit well but a 3 game series with a DH involved somehow works is preposterous to me. The EPL only gets away with the regular season is everything concept because they have the champions league and other tournaments, and therefore the regular season is not everything. That is their playoffs and they rely on it heavily for their business model, both in terms of revenue generators and promotion/marketing. They also only have 20 teams, and the gimmick of relegation and promotion to keep interest in the bottom of the draw. I don't think it's a meaningful comparison.

But why? All that finagling just to make it appear that the seeds are more accurate? Win your division or get in by wild card. It ads to the drama of the regular season. If some weaker team gets in via a weak division and some good team gets screwed by being in a strong division, it just means there are more teams in the race at the end, which the league is going to like. The playoffs should never be about the cleanest and most accurate portrayal of what the teams should be ranked.

Waitwhatnow? I missed this element of the story apparently. Just the idea that his family was making "guests" sign release forms and hand in cell phones. It could very well be male cousins or something but that's boring.

I always find it helpful to consider what is best for the business of baseball when considering these concepts. That means things that make the teams money will not be taken away while things that cost teams money will not occur. Interleague will not be taken away. Neutral site games will not be played. One game play ins may one day be removed, but you would have to replace it with something far more television friendly than doubleheaders and 3 game series. The league likes the ratings they get from guaranteed elimination games. Those numbers go down sharply in the division series. Rivalries sell and you will play your divisional opponents more often. You shouldn't bother thinking too much about what you perceive to be "fair" or what more accurately correlates to which teams actually played a better regular season regardless of their record, or doing away with "arbitrary/fluky" games. A sport where good teams regularly lose more than 40% of their games is going to have fluky results.

I'm still weirded out by the idea that his mom, dad and sisters may have been acting as sex bouncer at his parties.

I kind of liked the concept of trading a former undrafted free agent for a draft pick and hoped it would begin a process. where the Bears start going into drafts with more than 1 pick each round and could more easily deal from quantity. The Bears need talent on D and LB was a big need, and this guy is interesting, if not truly a LB. But I'm nonplussed with the idea of trading for a Patriots draft pick after they got a chance to see him practice and training camp for a few weeks.

boring

doubleheader in the playoffs would be very bad and stands no chance at happening. And I do not see the need to "improve" on the wild card play in game. It's awesome and should be appreciated.

Yeah. He's had himself quite the summer. Basically got to tag along with Blackhawks for all their stanley cup celebrations and now chumming around with Rizzo and the Cubs. Well, the world needs jock sniffers, too.

that's kind of interesting.

greatest song ever, or most greatliest song in history and beyond?

Does it make me a terrible person to point out how weird it is (doesn't mean it's not true - just means it sounds a little unusual) that, as a guest at a strange house, she would walk into some room by herself? Again, not saying it's not true. Hell, maybe he told her she could go pass out on some bed and then he followed her in. Who knows? Just sounded weird when I was first picturing what was written. I do not think that makes you a terrible person* but I do not think that is weird at all. In that situation, post-bar get together at a celebrity's lakeside mansion, I would expect guests to wind up roaming around and finding rooms unattended. If I was a well known athlete with a big ass house on a lake and I was taking strangers back there after the bar, I would bet heavily that this type of things happens every single night. *your faulty hard drive makes you a terrible person

My sympathies to Ross and his family

New favorite thread

Seriously, nobody is saying "no way, he's an angel". It's quite a douchey troll thing to say you needed this to happen before you realized he wasn't a nice guy?

in play no out

bumpkins refer to any part of a big city as downtown, i've learned over the years this is true Around the NYC area people say "going into the city" but I always heard suburban chicagoans say "going downtown" no matter where they were going inside the city limits.