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Magnetic Curses

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Everything posted by Magnetic Curses

  1. Magnetic Curses
    good to know i'm not the only one who thinks like that..... and on a random tangent Marx had some good ideas, who here has actually read the manifesto?(not meant as an insult) I have and I think marx laid out good ideas, but he didn't account for what I would call the human element, also its not his fault his ideas were perverted by some power hungry soviets. The Manifesto? No ideas there, or, at least, not any in a form to be of any real use. Read Capital. Das Kapital is not really for the casual reader. one really needs a teacher or guide to get through it. as for the "human element", i don't buy it. pure capitalism is much more of a pie-in-the-sky "feel good" idea than socialism. as i've said before, if you read marx, you understand that he was an ardent anti-utopian, who fought against utopians and anarchists his entire professional life. "communism is a great idea, but doesn't work in real life" has been an american mantra-even a cultish, brainwashed motto--since the time of mccarthy. marx's vision at it's most basic level involved control of government by the working class, an idea that people who support control of government by big business would have you believe is a pipe-dream, which is, of course, a huge joke--and a propaganda victory of the most effective kind.
  2. Magnetic Curses
    You should account for the pace difference between the Suns' and the Bulls' offenses before you start rattling off numbers. Thomas produced a 12.23 PER during the regular season compared to 15.86 for Deng and 16.12 for Noch. He's not the answer at SF for the Bulls by a long shot. thomas had a handful of games to prove himself, too. Paxson doesn't and he made the right call with Thomas. his hand was forced by skiles, who has the reputation of being an insufferable jerk around the league. i've rarely heard of an ex-player saying anything kind about him.
  3. Magnetic Curses
    I wouldn't give 3 first rounders for Davis. That's absolutely insane. technically, it would only be 2, this year's first round pick would just be improved. considering our track record with 1st rounders, we're bound to miss on the next two years anyway, why not make this year worth something? especially with a tight-end that gives you so many different options. 2 first rounders for a potentially great player is an easy deal to make. barring injury, vernon davis is a virtual lock to be a perrenial pro-bowler in the NFC.
  4. Magnetic Curses
    It surprised you that Sully would feel that way?? Where've you been bro? i think he was surprised by the relative benevolence toward america in the post. No offense, but yeah, that's what I meant. The flag is just a symbol. It is not an actual veteran, or the grave of a veteran. And the reproduction and bastardization of the flag in so many forms that are technically against the rules of proper treatment of the flag (as well as the irony that burning the flag is proper disposal) makes me laugh at the disingenuous nature of many people's complaints. Make no mistake, I think flag burning is a crap form of protest. It's a pathetic attempt to make a statement when you don't even know what you want to say. But it's harmless, and somewhat serves a purpose as it exposes the fools. yep, that's pretty much my point.
  5. Magnetic Curses
    I fail to see how getting rid of Tim Thomas proves this point, or how that indifferent underachiever would've made a positive impact for the Bulls. Your blind squirrel analogy can be applied to Thomas' game 1 performance against the Lakers. we could have used Thomas's 9 boards and 11 points (game 2) against the heat. skiles has a track record in the NBA that pre-dates his time with the bulls.
  6. Magnetic Curses
    Mariotti agrees with you. That would make me uncomfortable. a blind squirrel is given his acorn now and then. personally, if it's that obvious that even mariotti can see it, i feel good about the assertion. skiles is a player-killer. if we got garnett next year, he'd be buried on the bench (being facetious, obviously, but you get the point). skiles and star players don't mix.
  7. Magnetic Curses
    if there ever was a time to trade up and take a first year impact player it's this year for the bears. i don't know what they'd have to give up to get a shot at davis, but i'd give our next two first rounders, as well as this one, to get him--i'd also give up thomas jones if it would suit anyone in that position. trading down smacks of rebuilding. we aren't rebuilding, we have less and less time to make good on our team's success.
  8. Magnetic Curses
    It surprised you that Sully would feel that way?? Where've you been bro? i think he was surprised by the relative benevolence toward america in the post. i'm not anti-american at all, i just think the way certain people feel about the flag in this country is somewhat similar to the way that many muslims feel toward the image of muhammed. before you mention anything about the fact that some have threatened violence toward presenters of the compromised images of muhammed--i'd like to call to attention the presence of cultural relativism here. regardless of the severity of punishment or retribution in the 2 examples, my feelings remain that hallowing an image or piece of fabric is somewhat dangerous in any capacity. as i said, the story is a cool one--this thomas fellow was a loser--and hopefully his kid has grown up to know better than to commit such idiotic and frivolous acts simply to get a reaction from some folks. the burning of the american flag only hinders the cause of those on the left.
  9. Magnetic Curses
    jacque also said that he knows pitchers are trying to walk him and yet he still swings at everything.
  10. Magnetic Curses
    You wouldn't. of course not, because marxists have never erected idols, engaged in idol-worship or nationalism. i don't see what me being a marxist has anything to do with this. but leave it to some sort of almost superstitious hatred of anything non-capitalist to spark hatred in someone speaking without knowing.
  11. Magnetic Curses
    .258/.343 (8BB/11K) Murt is the only player on this entire team (other than Lee) who could put up a pretty solid OBP even when he is hitting .258. Very impressive patience at the plate. :D Aram could too. Not sure about that. Aram don't like to walk. The last time his AVG was low for a long time (as a Cubs in 2003), he hit .259 with a .314 OBP. In 2002 he hit .234 with a .279 OBP. His OBP is generally just a little more than .050 points higher than his average, which means that with a .258 AVG, he's probably be no better than a .310-.315 OBP, which is bad. Really? I thought Aram had the second highest OBP last year which I *thought* was 70-90 points above his BA. Edit: Nope you're right. .055 two years ago, .056 last year. it's easier to just use the term isolated discipline, or IsoD. :D on a similar note, the common misconception about aramis is that he's a patient hitter (maybe due to the fact that, like albert pujols and vlad guerrero, although to a much lesser degree, he's a good bad-ball hitter). he's on the right track this year, but that could be because teams are pitching around him.
  12. Magnetic Curses
    well, i'm real glad that skiles ran thomas off earlier in the year, what a genius move that was.
  13. Magnetic Curses
    i never said that clutch pitching was fictional, just clutch hitting. pitchers, i believe, are subject to "clutchness". I don't understand the logic that pitchers can be subject to clutchness and not hitters. Hitters are subject to the same pressure as pitchers, and they too can have their mechanics falter as they try to press. i think it's more that pitchers have less room for error than hitters, who are afforded the luxury of being able to make more mistakes, and get away with them, than pitchers. add that to the fact that a pitching motion generally involves more moving parts and you get my assertion.
  14. Magnetic Curses
    The solution is obviously not as simple as you would make it seem. i don't think the solution is that simple at all, nor is it unnecessarily complicated. the cubs have been the worst team in the league at drawing walks, plate discipline has not been taught at the fundamental levels of the farm system, obviously. if i wanted to oversimplify, i'd say make the major leaguers immediately lead the league in walks, which would probably have disastrous consequences for the cubs. no, what i propose isn't a simple solution to a complicated question at all. the answer to the question as to how to make the team better has been in front of hendry's face the entire time--and he's either staring through it like some sort of computer-generated art, or he's chosen to ignore the schooner, er sailboat, altogether, for the sake of proving the relic of an argument that tools trump baseball smarts.
  15. Magnetic Curses
    who's oversimplifying now? i doubt anyone would argue that making an out in any situation is more valuable than not making one.
  16. Magnetic Curses
    I want the Cubs to be more patient and swing at better pitches and take more walks. with that said, there's some truth to this comment, all kidding aside. the hitter has no control over an umpire's right arm going up in the air on those pitches that Morgan calls "acceptable strikes" (aka balls that are called strikes). you can claim that those calls "all even out," but I've watched enough Cubs baseball to know with a high degree of certainty that those calls do not even out when you wear the big red C. so what, just swing at everything and let God sort them out? nope, a hitter CAN control what he swings at and what he doesn't. and, as Tim alluded to before, he can control if he swings at a pitch that he can't hit effectively. for example, i'd rather have a guy like adam dunn than a guy that doesn't strike out very much and puts the ball in play very ineffectively--ala juan pierre (who doesn't walk either). it's not about putting the ball in play, it's about putting it in play effectively. all i hear on the radio is "just put the ball in play, good things will happen" (from the same baseball insider-geniuses that would tell their non-sinkerball pitchers to "just let them put the ball in play, good things will happen"). one does not put pressure on an opposing pitcher or defense by slapping at a bad pitch (if the ump is going to call that bad pitch a strike, then so be it, if it's not strike 3 at least you didn't get yourself out prematurely and will make the pitcher throw a few more pitches). the more i think about it, the more i believe that it's the coaching and upper management that needs to go. either hendry's stupid, stubborn, or blind to not recognize the plate discipline problems that this team has--and dusty's probably all 3. would i make a better GM than hendry? how couldn't i? if all i did was issue a mandate to all of my farm teams that they must lead their respective leagues in walks or the manager gets fired--i'd be doing the major league team a huge service just in that. however, hendry insists on finding increasingly more archaic ways to win--which makes him a terrible GM.
  17. Magnetic Curses
    getting hits isn't a problem with this team. hits will come and go. if you're slumping, but still good at recognizing good pitches from bad ones, you can help the team by getting on base--or, as i like to put it, not making an out. i'm sure a toolsy player that is very bad at not making outs is very "sexy" to some, but i'll take a fat, slow player with no arm that is good at not making outs. this team's problem is that it doesn't walk enough. nice BA, crappy OBP. that's why patient teams outcore us. i guess it's all in what you find "sexy"--perhaps making outs at a rapid clip makes you feel all funny inside, but not me, just angry. walks also increase pitch count. This lets you get to the other teams middle relievers, usually a teams weakness, quicker. cobs never seem to do this. the thing is that the cubs also strike out a lot, which should increase pitch counts as well, but doesn't. the cubs manage to strike out on 3 pitches more than any other team, i believe. The Cubs don't strike out a lot. People continue to say this without empirical evidence to support such an assertion. In fact, they are currently 13th in the NL this season in strike outs. They were 14th in the NL last year. So, how is it that the Cubs "strike out a lot"??? Also, while I too wish this team would walk more, it isn't a matter of which is more "sexy"...a hit is more valuable than a walk. you're right. i made the mistake of looking at the rankings backwards. i assumed that being 14th in Ks meant the opposite--that being 1st would be good, not bad. sorry for the error. no need to be rude, it was an honest mistake. as for the term "sexy", i hope you're not quoting me, because i was quoting someone else, so you should probably double quote that if you were talking to me. a hit is more valuable than a walk, but a team needs to be able to do both well, not one or the other. walks are a huge part of the game, when combined with BA, they make OBP, which measures how many times someone doesn't make an out--which in turn is infinitely more valuable than simple speed or the ability to sac bunt--which are peripheral skills, not fundamentals.
  18. Magnetic Curses
    um, darren daulton anyone? his 1993-self could skip forward through time.
  19. Magnetic Curses
    getting hits isn't a problem with this team. hits will come and go. if you're slumping, but still good at recognizing good pitches from bad ones, you can help the team by getting on base--or, as i like to put it, not making an out. i'm sure a toolsy player that is very bad at not making outs is very "sexy" to some, but i'll take a fat, slow player with no arm that is good at not making outs. this team's problem is that it doesn't walk enough. nice BA, crappy OBP. that's why patient teams outcore us. i guess it's all in what you find "sexy"--perhaps making outs at a rapid clip makes you feel all funny inside, but not me, just angry. walks also increase pitch count. This lets you get to the other teams middle relievers, usually a teams weakness, quicker. cobs never seem to do this. the thing is that the cubs also strike out a lot, which should increase pitch counts as well, but doesn't. the cubs manage to strike out on 3 pitches more than any other team, i believe.
  20. Magnetic Curses
    while it's stupid and pointless to burn the flag--and i certainly understand why monday did what he did--i don't understand why the symbol of the american flag provokes so much nationalistic idolatry. yes, it's a cool story, but what certain forefathers fought and died for certainly cannot be summed up by a piece of 3-colored material. if you want to burn a flag, fine, but it only makes you look foolish, and accomplishes nothing more than what people let you accomplish. when you burn the flag, you are no more burning a symbol of my history than some other inanimate object--and if you actually buy a flag just to burn it in front of people, you're not only wasting money, you're inviting a beating from some back-woods, tobacco chewing, 3-toed, superstitious trog, who has let a piece of cloth symbolize who he (or she, circumstances dictating) is--similar to not stepping on a crack for fear of breaking their proverbial mother's back. now, if some evil idiot would drag an 85 year-old WWII veteran out there and try to light him on fire, than i'd say swarm and kill the jerk. but all some moron and his indoctrinated little bratt of a kid need is a senseless beating from security and maybe a kick to the groin for endangering the on-field entertainment of the day. great save, monday--especially because a new flag can go for some serious money on the open market--but that's really all it's worth. next time, save me a corn dog or something.
  21. Magnetic Curses
    Well duh, if you are reporting from St. Louis, you have to be in St. Louis, and regardless of the outcome of the game, life sucks in St. Louis. Note to St. Louis, everyone else figured out how to bread and fry ravioli, you ain't got nothin' anymore. The rest of the world knows how to cook pizza to. What is your point? Life is actually pretty nice in St. Louis right now. The weather is nice and the baseball is great. I have to disagree with you re: pizza. Giordano's still does pizza better than anyone on the planet, and it's not close. joe's fox hut
  22. Magnetic Curses
    getting hits isn't a problem with this team. hits will come and go. if you're slumping, but still good at recognizing good pitches from bad ones, you can help the team by getting on base--or, as i like to put it, not making an out. i'm sure a toolsy player that is very bad at not making outs is very "sexy" to some, but i'll take a fat, slow player with no arm that is good at not making outs. this team's problem is that it doesn't walk enough. nice BA, crappy OBP. that's why patient teams outcore us. i guess it's all in what you find "sexy"--perhaps making outs at a rapid clip makes you feel all funny inside, but not me, just angry.
  23. Magnetic Curses
    he also looks quite a bit like lee. maybe some casual fans wouldn't notice the difference.
  24. Magnetic Curses
    i think this is the most realistic deal possible right now. i like it, and immediately thought of wilson when i found out that lee would be out 2-3 months. what's better is that wilson can be platooned in right after lee comes back. the jaqcue jones deal, as expected, is looking more and more like the christian guzman deal. great job, jim. way to ignore plate discipline for the sake of some imagined tools-theory, but i digress. trade for wilson and i'll feel better, there's no way this team can make it without a decent power/OBP bat at first until late june.
  25. Magnetic Curses
    most do unless promoted or demoted. these guys live on the road. they don't want to have to become familiar with new highways, new restuarants, new hotels, etc. just for the sake of a lateral move, ie. from one AA league to another AA league. I'm sure some guys get put in leagues they don't want to be in, so they change later on. but the guy I know had his choice of AA leagues to go to, and I can't imagine he received any special treatment by being given this choice. who's talking about lateral moves? i'm talking about umpires fresh out of umpire school starting out in rookie ball and progressing up until they either hit the big leagues or top out somewhere along the way. you don't just hit the southern league after you graduate.
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