D-League

[MdWIldcat55]

Good morning folks. Cool and partly cloudy in the east. I have a feeling our 3-day weekend will be rain soaked with the remnants of that storm that hit the southeast.

Bernie, my son who is working as an interstate moving man had a job recently taking a small business in three large trucks (he had a crew) into Manhattan. I held my breath but all went smoothly.

With all the tall buildings GPS doesn’t work well in the city —or at all. About five years ago we went up there for a funeral of my wife’s uncle. There was plenty of parking in the cemetery so we drove rather than pay four train tickets for wife and kids. And we got hopelessly lost in midtown Manhattan with traffic moving about a yard a minute.

I’ll take DC, and the subway which I bitch about but can get you pretty close to wherever you are going.

Heading into the office. Hope it’s a good day.

 

[BBUK]

I was not replying about your post, I was posting about how the site has been rejecting my first post every day for the last few days. "Bite Me" was to whomever is running the site.

Edited: Was getting tired of typing a whole post only to have it disappear with that message I was receiving. There was never anything derogatory in my posting to be rejected.

Dayum,

And I deleted a darn good post!

 

[vhcat70]

Good morning folks. Cool and partly cloudy in the east. I have a feeling our 3-day weekend will be rain soaked with the remnants of that storm that hit the southeast.

Bernie, my son who is working as an interstate moving man had a job recently taking a small business in three large trucks (he had a crew) into Manhattan. I held my breath but all went smoothly.

With all the tall buildings GPS doesn’t work well in the city —or at all. About five years ago we went up there for a funeral of my wife’s uncle. There was plenty of parking in the cemetery so we drove rather than pay four train tickets for wife and kids. And we got hopelessly lost in midtown Manhattan with traffic moving about a yard a minute.

I’ll take DC, and the subway which I bitch about but can get you pretty close to wherever you are going.

Heading into the office. Hope it’s a good day.

I think I'd shoot myself in the head before taking either.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

I think I'd shoot myself in the head before taking either.

A lot of people feel that way. I understand why.

But I wanted to live around DC since I was six years old and an uncle gave me two books -- one on the Smithsonian Natural History museum and one on the Civil War battles fought mostly within a hundred miles of Washington.

And after 40-plus years, I'm still not bored. I still take lunch breaks at the Smithsonian museums or walk the path Lincoln's carriage took to Ford's theater, and I drive out on the weekends to Antietam, South Mountain, Manassas, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and so on.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

Has Rooster been around? Seems it's been a good while.

A long time.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

Good morning folks. Cool and partly cloudy in the east. I have a feeling our 3-day weekend will be rain soaked with the remnants of that storm that hit the southeast.

Bernie, my son who is working as an interstate moving man had a job recently taking a small business in three large trucks (he had a crew) into Manhattan. I held my breath but all went smoothly.

With all the tall buildings GPS doesn’t work well in the city —or at all. About five years ago we went up there for a funeral of my wife’s uncle. There was plenty of parking in the cemetery so we drove rather than pay four train tickets for wife and kids. And we got hopelessly lost in midtown Manhattan with traffic moving about a yard a minute.

I’ll take DC, and the subway which I bitch about but can get you pretty close to wherever you are going.

Heading into the office. Hope it’s a good day.

Being raised as a Country boy (Barren County) I could never get used to New York or Los Angeles or San Francisco or Boston or Phily. For some reason I had no problems with Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami or Atlanta.

When I retired I vowed that I would never again set foot in LA or NYC. So far I have kept that promise. My best friend lived in Cape Cod, MA, so I would go to Cincinnati, then 71 to Akron and work my way north to I-90 and come into Springfield, MA and then down to the Cape and on to Falmouth.

I moved to Smiths Grove. We do not have a traffic light. They are building a Buccees on the other side of town. Hopefully they will not put in a light.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

I thought our resident St. Looey Card and baseball expert Bernie -- and others -- might weigh in on this online discussion I saw: Does Dave Concepcion belong in the HOF?

Here's his comparison to Ozzie Smith. The one glaring difference is "Wins above Replacement" which I don't totally understand or trust as a measurement. I mean, did Concepcion NOT win games "above replacement" by another shortstop because those games were won by Rose, Morgan, Perez, Bench, Foster and Griffey? It's not like the Reds didn't win a lot of games in Davey's prime -- more between 1970 and 1976 than any National League franchise in history over a six year span. How much more WAR does a shortstop need to provide? This comparison with Ozzie -- who was a first ballot HOFer with 92 percent of the vote is one thing. Compare Concepcion with someone like Phil Rizzuto. That's a glaring win in DC's favor.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

A lot of people feel that way. I understand why.

But I wanted to live around DC since I was six years old and an uncle gave me two books -- one on the Smithsonian Natural History museum and one on the Civil War battles fought mostly within a hundred miles of Washington.

And after 40-plus years, I'm still not bored. I still take lunch breaks at the Smithsonian museums or walk the path Lincoln's carriage took to Ford's theater, and I drive out on the weekends to Antietam, South Mountain, Manassas, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and so on.

I lived in Baltimore for 6 years and I wore the battle fields out, especially Antietam and Gettysburg. I love the Smithsonian and the National Archives. But I usually took the subway to avoid traffic.

 

[vhcat70]

A lot of people feel that way. I understand why.

But I wanted to live around DC since I was six years old and an uncle gave me two books -- one on the Smithsonian Natural History museum and one on the Civil War battles fought mostly within a hundred miles of Washington.

And after 40-plus years, I'm still not bored. I still take lunch breaks at the Smithsonian museums or walk the path Lincoln's carriage took to Ford's theater, and I drive out on the weekends to Antietam, South Mountain, Manassas, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and so on.

Of course. The money government spends around DC totally disgusts me. It's like the rest of the country doesn't exist. Government is the complete reason the counties around DC are the wealthiest in the country.

 

[blubo]

I thought our resident St. Looey Card and baseball expert Bernie -- and others -- might weigh in on this online discussion I saw: Does Dave Concepcion belong in the HOF?

Here's his comparison to Ozzie Smith. The one glaring difference is "Wins above Replacement" which I don't totally understand or trust as a measurement. I mean, did Concepcion NOT win games "above replacement" by another shortstop because those games were won by Rose, Morgan, Perez, Bench, Foster and Griffey? It's not like the Reds didn't win a lot of games in Davey's prime -- more between 1970 and 1976 than any National League franchise in history over a six year span. How much more WAR does a shortstop need to provide? This comparison with Ozzie -- who was a first ballot HOFer with 92 percent of the vote is one thing. Compare Concepcion with someone like Phil Rizzuto. That's a glaring win in DC's favor.

View embedded media

Yes.

 

[berniecarbo]

I thought our resident St. Looey Card and baseball expert Bernie -- and others -- might weigh in on this online discussion I saw: Does Dave Concepcion belong in the HOF?

Here's his comparison to Ozzie Smith. The one glaring difference is "Wins above Replacement" which I don't totally understand or trust as a measurement. I mean, did Concepcion NOT win games "above replacement" by another shortstop because those games were won by Rose, Morgan, Perez, Bench, Foster and Griffey? It's not like the Reds didn't win a lot of games in Davey's prime -- more between 1970 and 1976 than any National League franchise in history over a six year span. How much more WAR does a shortstop need to provide? This comparison with Ozzie -- who was a first ballot HOFer with 92 percent of the vote is one thing. Compare Concepcion with someone like Phil Rizzuto. That's a glaring win in DC's favor.

View embedded media

WAR/sabermetrics hits a sore spot with me. I'll try and post more on that later when I have more time, but if you check out hall of fame monitor on baseball reference, you will see the average hall of famer scores 100. Ozzie is 143, Davy is 107, Phil is 87. That kind of agrees with you. BTW, once when Davy missed a game with a pulled muscle, Rose said that couldn't be right. Maybe a pulled bone.

 

[BBUK]

I thought our resident St. Looey Card and baseball expert Bernie -- and others -- might weigh in on this online discussion I saw: Does Dave Concepcion belong in the HOF?

Here's his comparison to Ozzie Smith. The one glaring difference is "Wins above Replacement" which I don't totally understand or trust as a measurement. I mean, did Concepcion NOT win games "above replacement" by another shortstop because those games were won by Rose, Morgan, Perez, Bench, Foster and Griffey? It's not like the Reds didn't win a lot of games in Davey's prime -- more between 1970 and 1976 than any National League franchise in history over a six year span. How much more WAR does a shortstop need to provide? This comparison with Ozzie -- who was a first ballot HOFer with 92 percent of the vote is one thing. Compare Concepcion with someone like Phil Rizzuto. That's a glaring win in DC's favor.

View embedded media

DC was a player I patterned some of my techniques after as far a fielding and some of his hitting stance (Not all but some), just a Big Red Machine junky. DC was a staple and that is not a small accomplishment at that time on that team.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

WAR/sabermetrics hits a sore spot with me. I'll try and post more on that later when I have more time, but if you check out hall of fame monitor on baseball reference, you will see the average hall of famer scores 100. Ozzie is 143, Davy is 107, Phil is 87. That kind of agrees with you. BTW, once when Davy missed a game with a pulled muscle, Rose said that couldn't be right. Maybe a pulled bone.

I remember Rose saying that.

People forget just how slick of a fielder Concepcion was, but he dominated NL Gold Glove awards in the 1970s, leading right into the Ozzie Smith era.

And he could hit! In the ten year span between 1973 and 1982 he hit over .280 SEVEN times, and in the .270s twice. That's more often than Pee Wee Reese or Rizzuto.

The Silver Slugger didn't become a thing until 1980 -- when his career was starting to tail off. But he still won it twice. I really think playing in the shadow of Rose, Bench, Perez and Morgan hurt the guy more than being on the Big REd Machine helped him.

 

[berniecarbo]

Where to start? I guess the beginning is the best place. Bill James invented sabermetrics. Bill was an agent looking for a way to better argue for clients in negotiations with owners. I forget the players name he first used it for, but he was an offense oriented player, so James probably tilted things toward offense. James himself said it is harder to evaluate defense. I'm sure others have added to or changed saber metrics over the years. I've heard saber guys say there is no such thing as a productive out. That brings me to what Mike Shannon used to call a Roger Maris rbi. Brock would lead off with a walk or a single. While Herr was batting,Brock would steal second. Herr would then hit a ground ball to the right side to advance Brock to third. Maris would then hit a sac fly or ground out to score Brock. Gibson would pitch a great game to win 1 to 0 or 2 to 1. Seemed like two productive outs to me.
That brings me to the Cardinals today. The Cardinals are bad. There used to be a thing called The Cardinal Way. It wasn't just words. A guy named George Kissell put it in booklet form. It was about good fundamental baseball and he was a roaming coach who traveled the Cardinal minor league system insuring a the Cardinal Way was being taught. He died several years ago and now all the coaches and players who came up under him are gone. Often this team makes me sick with their poor fundamentals.

That brings me to launch angle. Everyone seems to push launch angle these days, especially the Cardinals. They have a rookie who started the season hot. Jordan Walker has a Dave Winfield type body, but he was hitting line drives. The Cards sent him to Memphis to work on his launch angle and he has struggled since. I've read the average descent angle of a MLB pitch as it goes through the hitting zone is normally between 6 and 10 degrees with an average of 8. I've seen teams wanting a launch angle of 25 to 35. Draw 2 lines the width of a ball at angle of 8 approaching the plate. Draw 2 lines the opposite direction the width of a bat at 30 degrees. How much hitting zone meets the ball solidly. Draw other angles and see where the best chance for a hard hit ball is. That was Ted Williams theory.
I never got around to talking about Ozzie, but I guess this post is long enough and I could double this post about him. I would have paid to watch him do infield practice.

 

[BBUK]

When the New Wears Off of Your Crystal Chandeliers...







I forgot how good he sang..

 

[*CatinIL*]

I hope everyone on here that lives in FL are OK.

Hopefully everyone has an enjoyable holiday weekend. I was hoping to get the scope out this weekend at the lake but that BIG nighttime spotlight will still be close to full. A frirnd of ours asked if I was going to get the scope out to look at the Big Blue Moon...nope, don't feel like blinding myself.

And GO CATS!!! Woo Hoo, College FB is back!

 

[AustinTXCat]

Good morning from ATX. Currently 77°F and clear. Today's high expected around 101°F.

- Stayed up late and watched Nebraska vs Minnesota. My late aunt Agnes turned me on to Cornhusker football back in 1970. KY Wildcat fan first, of course. Anyway, Huskers lost a heart breaker.

- This Spectrum vs Disney conflict is gonna piss me off royally. We pay $350/mo for a huge package which includes SEC Network. Google Fiber sits right outside our door, costs $70/mo. DirectTV cable package costs another $85. Throw in HBO, Showtime, etc, and costs may still come in less than current Spectrum package. I'm giving them a few weeks, then firing off obscenity/profanity-laced tirade and cutting the service.

- Daughter flying out late this afternoon. She took a new job in Morristown. One-way drive from Forge Ridge takes 70 minutes. Beautiful this time of year. Dangerous as hell January-March. Hopefully convince her that she should move down here. It'll cost me, but worth every penny for peace of mind.

Happy Friday, y'all.

 

[warrior-cat]

A frirnd of ours asked if I was going to get the scope out to look at the Big Blue Moon...nope, don't feel like blinding myself.

Be careful out there CatinIL

 

[warrior-cat]

Good morning from ATX. Currently 77°F and clear. Today's high expected around 101°F.

- Stayed up late and watched Nebraska vs Minnesota. My late aunt Agnes turned me on to Cornhusker football back in 1970. KY Wildcat fan first, of course. Anyway, Huskers lost a heart breaker.

- This Spectrum vs Disney conflict is gonna piss me off royally. We pay $350/mo for a huge package which includes SEC Network. Google Fiber sits right outside our door, costs $70/mo. DirectTV cable package costs another $85. Throw in HBO, Showtime, etc, and costs may still come in less than current Spectrum package. I'm giving them a few weeks, then firing off obscenity/profanity-laced tirade and cutting the service.

- Daughter flying out late this afternoon. She took a new job in Morristown. One-way drive from Forge Ridge takes 70 minutes. Beautiful this time of year. Dangerous as hell January-March. Hopefully convince her that she should move down here. It'll cost me, but worth every penny for peace of mind.

Happy Friday, y'all.

I had Cherry pop over once, wife was pissed! 😁

 

[BBUK]

Good Morning all,

We shall see how this day goes... At home but plenty to do... (May make a trip to my office later.)

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Good morning D-League. Up early today and already accomplished some work critical to my day.

Nice 3-day weekend ahead. Hope to get up into the mountains with my son, walk a stretch of the Appalachian Trail along South Mountain. For history buffs, the battlefields strung out along the trail from Crampton's Gap to Fox Gap, all part of the South Mountain battle, are some of the most interesting from which to contemplate 1860s combat anywhere. For the Union soldiers, just climbing those mountains without being shot at would have been tough, with heavy, slow conical bullets and canister shells from artillery flying around, terrifying. And the rebels on top of the mountains could see overwhelming numbers surging at them, while they ducked artilllery fire. Each side lost a general in close combat -- a 2-star Corps commander Jesse Reno for the Yankees, and Brigadier Gen. Samuel Garland. That's tough fighting when generals are getting hit by rifle bullets.

Need to get through today's challenges first. Hope it goes well for all of you.

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Just saw some breaking news: Looks like the ACC is inviting Cal, Stanford and SMU...So much for the "Tobacco Road" conference of my youth. That's going to be a hell of a Thursday road hoops game from Syracuse or Tallahassee to Berkeley. I can't wait for the ACC Finals some year soon to be Boston College versus Stanford. That'll chap some asses in Chapel Hill and Durham.

I miss the old conferences, but, hell, I miss being 17 and taking my girlfriend in my 1965 F85 Olds convertible to the Drive In on Friday night. Life only runs one way, may as well face that direction. Lots of good days still ahead.

Watched some football last night. Nebraska, the Indiana of football, still can't get out of their own way. And Florida looked absolutely terrible -- horribly coached. I'm sure they'll get better, but arguably the play that started the landslide was a penalty for having two guys back to field a punt -- both wearing #3! That can't happen. FIrst down from that penalty leads to a touchdown, and the rout was on.

 

[BBUK]

Joshua.... Just serious music..

Gonna pull an MdW... (I dated this girl a few times from Campbellsville that was obsessed with Dolly Parton back before I met My Darling. Built like Dolly too. She talked like Dolly and could actually sing pretty much like Dolly. (Didn't look so much like Dolly though in the face but wasn't ugly.)

Just an aside... (Enjoy)

 

[BBUK]

Just saw some breaking news: Looks like the ACC is inviting Cal, Stanford and SMU...So much for the "Tobacco Road" conference of my youth. That's going to be a hell of a Thursday road hoops game from Syracuse or Tallahassee to Berkeley. I can't wait for the ACC Finals some year soon to be Boston College versus Stanford. That'll chap some asses in Chapel Hill and Durham.

I miss the old conferences, but, hell, I miss being 17 and taking my girlfriend in my 1965 F85 Olds convertible to the Drive In on Friday night. Life only runs one way, may as well face that direction. Lots of good days still ahead.

Watched some football last night. Nebraska, the Indiana of football, still can't get out of their own way. And Florida looked absolutely terrible -- horribly coached. I'm sure they'll get better, but arguably the play that started the landslide was a penalty for having two guys back to field a punt -- both wearing #3! That can't happen. FIrst down from that penalty leads to a touchdown, and the rout was on.

So yer saying: "Cal gone"???




or,

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

. . . . . . .

- This Spectrum vs Disney conflict is gonna piss me off royally. We pay $350/mo for a huge package which includes SEC Network. Google Fiber sits right outside our door, costs $70/mo. DirectTV cable package costs another $85. Throw in HBO, Showtime, etc, and costs may still come in less than current Spectrum package. I'm giving them a few weeks, then firing off obscenity/profanity-laced tirade and cutting the service.

. . . . . . .

I made the switch on March 21 after UK was out of the NCAA. I was paying Spectrum $353.28. I had 400 Mbps internet, telephone, all the movie channels and 4 DVR boxes.

I now pay Spectrum $74.98 for 200 Mbps internet and phone service. I got YouTubeTV for $72.00. So I am saving over $200 a month.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

Nice day here. It was 61 when I got up. Wonderful day in the offing.

 

[BBUK]

I made the switch on March 21 after UK was out of the NCAA. I was paying Spectrum $353.28. I had 400 Mbps internet, telephone, all the movie channels and 4 DVR boxes.

I now pay Spectrum $74.98 for 200 Mbps internet and phone service. I got YouTubeTV for $72.00. So I am saving over $200 a month.

Sir,

I pay $59.99 to Verizon for 500/500 fiber. Period.... We just stopped watching TV, I have four but not one of them are hooked up now beside my monitors. We may get a service back but not for a while...

 

[BBUK]

Nice day here. It was 61 when I got up. Wonderful day in the offing.

Sir,

I was 62 when I got up. 😁 (Born in 61 though... (So they tell me.))

 

[starchief5]

Joshua.... Just serious music..

Gonna pull an MdW... (I dated this girl a few times from Campbellsville that was obsessed with Dolly Parton back before I met My Darling. Built like Dolly too. She talked like Dolly and could actually sing pretty much like Dolly. (Didn't look so much like Dolly though in the face but wasn't ugly.)

Just an aside... (Enjoy)

View embedded media

Dolly had some terrible wigs back in the day.

Here she is wigless at age 14. She sounded great even back then.

 

[BBUK]

Just got back from my other house. My tenants had issues finding someone to cut the backyard. I still have my mower and I "ain't" cheap (As far as my labor costs go...). Dude pays his rent on time though and they are nice people. I asked him what he thought he'd have to pay someone and he told me $100.00. (That back yard is about...) Oh heck, here is a picture of it...

This is the front..

This is the backyard... (The yard ends about 8 or so feet the the left of the picture.) Not large but it sure was grew up. Gonna cost him $75.00

Yeah that was the BB last summer...




Just got a reminder about the below picture. All should know who that is... (I posted this previously.) That is my sister (SIL)(Since I was about 15 anyway.) photobombing in the back. My brother took the picture.

Have a fine rest of your evening. I am heading for the shower, then a Yuengling or two...

I see a John Wayne movie coming up...

 

[MdWIldcat55]

Good morning folks. Out early today. Taking a long Saturday walk. Still dark and cool. Feels good.

Reds got the split they desperately needed yesterday. Somehow they remain alive to at least make a Wild Card game. Didn’t expect that in September. Hell, didn’t expect that in June.

I just saw Jimmy Buffet died. Too young at 76. When I left Kentucky for South Florida in 1977 I quickly got introduced to his music, and saw him live a couple times, once in a small club in Cocoanut Grove and once at the Orange Bowl opening for the Eagles. I didn’t really stay a fan as I got older, but I could put on those first couple albums and it would take me back to those days of my early 20s. RIP.

Hope you all have a good day.

 

[warrior-cat]

ITS GAME DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[storm1507]

Good morning everyone

I spent the week in Pigeon Forge for our 35th anniversary (tomorrow). We had a good time, but like most of our vacations we were wore out by the time we headed home. Now lots of catching up to do.

Game Day! I haven't followed the FB team as much as usual this off season but would love to see us make a good showing this year.

I hope everyone has a great day!

 

[AustinTXCat]

Good morning from ATX. Currently 74°F and clear. Today's high expected around 102°F. Dry, triple-digit temperatures expected for at least the next 8 days. Summer just will not end.

Daughter arrived early last night. Rode bus out to airport. Took a shuttle from main terminal to south terminal. Met up. Rode shuttle back to main. Took taxi from ABIA up here. $76 fare. Cab driver pissed because I gave just a $5 tip. Screw her. Last time I took a taxi from airport (2018) to here, costs just $43.

Going for a short hike soon. Must police-up back yard. Daughter gonna help me set up wide-screen TV. Spectrum-Disney conflict burns my butt to no end.

Yep, Game Day. Go Cats! Plan on drinking a few beers. Not over-indulgence like years past.

 

[blubo]

😂

 

[warrior-cat]

Good morning from ATX. Currently 74°F and clear. Today's high expected around 102°F. Dry, triple-digit temperatures expected for at least the next 8 days. Summer just will not end.

Sept 21st

You can say it! You can say it!

Smart Ass. Yes, yes I am. 😁

 

[Catfan in Tn.]

Go Cats!!!

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

It is sunny and already 80°F on our way to 88°. I bet we will beat that temp.

Go Cats.

 

[vhcat70]

Humidity really hit me in face this a.m. when I went out to walk. Like July again. Had been low & cool for last 3-4 days.

 

[storm1507]

It is sunny and already 80°F on our way to 88°. I bet we will beat that temp.

Go Cats.

68 degrees here in the shadow of the mountain at 11:30 Eastern