114 thoughts on “January 20, 2012: Coffee, anyone?”

  2. There's been some rumbling that maybe Kobe Bryant is this year's MVP and that he's really playing well. Let's go to the numbers.

    PER: 26.71 Not bad, up from last year's 23.94 and his third best number in the last 10 seasons.

    TS%: 53.7, his worst in the last ten seasons
    AST (percentage of possessions used that end in assists): 14.8, down from last year's 15.4 and his lowest in the last six seasons.
    TO Rate: 10.0, up from 9.6 last year and his second worst in the last ten seasons
    REB Rate: 8.4, down slightly from last year's 8.5, but within his general range.
    USG (usage): 36.0, his highest in the last ten years (and that includes the first post-Shaq year when he gunned mercilessly)

    Kobe's basically playing worse than he has at any point in his career, he's just shooting a lot. To be sure, he's always been a supremely talented player, his big problem has always been his selfishness and it is on full display this season.

    1. I think Kobe is getting MVP talk is that he is playing through pain (supposedly he is getting shots in his wrist as many times as he can) and putting up scoring numbers (but by chucking up 100 attempts to score his 30)

  4. If we have a reasonably busy day, looks like LTE id number* 60,000 will be reached today. If we have an actually busy day, then comment number** 60,000 will be reached.


    * Under 40 as of this LTE.
    ** Bit under 140 as of this LTE.

          1. I don't think I've ever been on the boards when a milestone is in reach, so it's an exciting time. It's like watching history unfolding!

                1. I'd say something about arbitrary end points, but I don't really know what that means in this context

          2. funny, I've seen a lot of BS posts....

            sorry. duty called today. I will make up for it this weekend, maybe.

    5. It didn't even take the Wolves game log to reach 60,000 actual* comments. I think this is the one.

      Mags: It's fine/preferable if you want to keep going off the ID. The difference between the ID and actual will continue to grow, requiring input from me to determine the "actual" milestone comment. Plus, no one cares.

    1. I want to say something about how now you get to go her Forbidden Zone on a regular basis, but I have too much class for that.

      Congratulations!

      The ten-year anniversary of my first date-type-thing with the Milkmaid (it was a very convoluted story, as it turned out one of my closest friends was under the impression that he was dating her, as he had been fed misinformation by a meddlesome friend of ours) is on St. Patrick's Day.

        2. and I proposed six years ago today. (It was about 15 degrees outside in the evening near the Lake Harriet bandstand.)

          1. I proposed on September 19th(?), 2002. I occasionally miss by a day, but I can easily figure it out online by remembering that not long after she said yes, we went inside and immediately saw the Ligues beating the crap out of Tom Gamboa.

              1. yeah, i've got no clue either, but i don't think it matters as it was about as unromantic as you can get. i think i'm good though, as neither of us can ever remember our anniversary, much less actually celebrate it.

                1. Yep, nothing romantic about my proposal as well, but when Mrs. Runner mentions that, I'm quick to point out that it's been over 20 years, so I must have done something right.

                  2. I proposed on a bridge in our favorite middle-of-nowhere local park. The first words out of her mouth were "You dummy..."

                    I like to remind her of that occasionally.

                    1. My brother proposed by decorating his then-girlfriend's apartment, hiding in the closet, and then coming out of the closet. I think he could have chosen a better way to do that.

              2. My wife supposedly remembers a date that I proposed. I maintain that there was no proposal, and that she just told me to show up at the church on Sept. 1. I like my version better, while she prefers hers.

          2. I'm pretty sure I proposed on January 21, 2006, so I'm getting pretty close to the 6 year mark, too.

        4. I never actually proposed, we just kind of decided to get married. I did buy her a Ring Pop after we had the discussion, though.

          1. Mrs. A and I have the same story (absent the Ring Pop). It happened, coincidentally enough, on D-day.

      1. Last week New Girl and I celebrated the 6 month anniversary of getting drunk at a party and then making out in the lobby of a random apartment building during a rainstorm. So, you know, romance.

        1. I think that's the most romantic thing ever, except for me we at least knew who's apartment we were in. and it wasn't raining.

    3. Because New Guy brought it up, I feel inclined to state that no matter how many times it randomly pops up, the greasy Matt Capps ad absolutely kills me.

  9. Just wanted to let everyone here know that I made my way down to Beloit from Milwaukee last night for the Snappers' annual Hot Stove Banquet. Terry Ryan spoke, and there wasn't anything earth-shattering, but he was very matter-of-fact in discussing what an awful year the Twins had last year. Some highlights:

    Ryan's main focus in talking about the pitching staff was in how it will be helped by an improved defense. In other words, they signed a shortstop that can actually field and throw the ball to first base. This was the most glaring issue on the team. He seemed almost disgusted when talking about the Nishioka fiasco from last season.

    Ryan was asked about Morneau, and he seemed cautiously optimistic that he will be back to playing first base full time, but admitted that they won't really know until things get going in spring training. Nothing too out of line from what he's said recently in the press, but it was interesting to see him say it in person. Said they aren't considering a move to DH.

    Ryan was also asked about Mauer, and he seemed confident that Mauer is and will be healthy and able to catch ~130 games. Maybe he just seemed confident in comparison to talking about Morneau, but I sort of agree that Mauer's injury woes are a bit overstated.

    Ryan was asked about moving the fences in, he said never say never, but that the park needs a few more years to really figure out how it will play. He also said it's their job to build a team that fits the park.

    2. Moss says don't mess with the fences...just move home plate out by 10-15 feet. That increases the foul territory at the same time. (You have to move the mound, foul poles, and infield dirt, but it's prolly more elegant than somehow erecting fake fences.)

      2. Increasing foul territory would also cut down on strikeouts, which is a plus if you're a fan of more balls in play.

      3. It first glace, I read this comment as "Moss says don't mess with the feces..." I was going to disagree, because last year's feces definitely needed to be dealt with. But I agree that if you're going to change field dimensions, it's better to move home plate than it is to move the fences. Though I'm not really convinced any changes need to be made to the dimensions.

          1. I'm going to occupy home plate and prevent them from moving it. I like having a pitcher's* park. It isn't an extreme one, since the foul lines are reasonable, perhaps even a little hitter friendly.

            * For all teams but the Blue Jays it seems.

  10. Any citizens with experience building a website / finding host space not related to wordpress? I'm being forced to move my current website from it's sofa in the basement of apple's warehouse. I know that I can buy a domain name and export the website, but am unsure if I'll be able to update it or make changes through iweb after the move.

  11. Dear Management,

    Has anyone noticed that the "Posts" and "Comments" links in the top right corner don't work? Or is it a problem on Moss' machine??

        1. Ahh, I see what you mean. Yeah, Chrome doesn't include any sort of RSS reader in it, so it just dumps out the XML. I have to say, I like IE 8's view of it more than Firefox's.

    2. OK, the problem is only in Chrome. Even with an IE emulator, it still doesn't behave like it does in IE. Works like normal in IE.

    1. Good luck to him. I'm surprised he didn't keep playing, but maybe he figured if he didn't get called up last year, it wasn't ever going to happen.

      1. There were rumors earlier in the offseason the Tigers were in talks to trade for Matt Garza. I figure that would be just about perfect.

  16. the rockies pitcher that went up a mountain, and came down an indian:

    jonmorosi Jon Morosi
    Source: #Indians acquire Kevin Slowey from #Rockies for Zach Putnam.

        1. Doubtful, since they had Fausto Carmona at the time. This may have been a trade based on a sudden need rather than strategic planning.

          1. There's also the desire of most GMs to not do anything that might help their divisional opponents. Presumably teams agree to trades because each side sees a way in which they benefit. It's easier to pull the trigger on a trade that benefits your team and a team in the opposite league than it is to pull the trigger on a trade that benefits your team and a team in your division.

        2. Probably not, but who cares? It's still funny. And a nice job by the Rockies to turn Turpen into Putnam.

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