43 thoughts on “May 21, 2013: Sliding”

  1. On pace for 71-91. With Cleveland and KC both not terrible, this could be a long summer for the hometown nine.

  2. I have a prediction for tonight's NBA lottery. The Minnesota Timberwolves will not move up in the draft.

    1. Oh man, that's tonight? I heard a rumor that Kevin Love was going to be there for it. If true, that seems supremely stupid. If false, then good.

      1. It is true. If you can't use the guy who broke his hand twice in a year, once doing push ups, as your good luck charm, who can you use?

        1. I assume that must be Taylor's idea. Sounds like a great idea to put your superstar, who has publicly been frustrated at not making the playoffs, in a spot that will remind him of how he's on a team that never makes the playoffs.

    2. I haven't even been paying attention. Where are they slotted and what's the likelihood that they move up?

  3. On something completely unrelated to my above statement, if you acknowledge you are attempting a revere jinx does that ruin the idea behind it?

    1. if you acknowledge you are attempting a revere jinx does that ruin the idea behind it?

      Ben's hitting .246 with an OPS of .569, so maybe there is a revere jinx.

    2. To answer your original question without acknowledging the funny typo-
      Yes, if you acknowledge you are trying a reverse jinx it cancels it out.

  4. Sano has cut his K rate over the past 35 AB or so... not a big enough sample size, but since that was one of the "problems" he was having, it's potentially a sign of him making adjustments. I also saw something yesterday that said something like "positive reports about his defense." Which, is probably a product of low expectations, but... well, I guess what I'm saying is, I don't love Plouffe...

      1. And who at 3B? It's been sounding more and more like his defense will hold up there, from pretty much every report I've read. He'll probably be a 1B eventually, but I think it makes sense to keep him at third and see if he can stick there.

        But also, yeah, I'm not particularly high on Parmelee.

        2. They'll probably play some utility infielder at 3b once the young guys are up. Escobar? Dozier?

          1. They need to keep up the scrappiness quotient somehow- gotta have someone to do the little things!

  5. This is pretty crazy, but cool.

    it introduces the possibility of actually recalling and hearing the voices and words of eminent personages as recorded in the paint of their portraits or of famous artists in their pictures.

    With an artist’s brush, paint strokes were applied to the surface of the canvas using “oil” paints involving a variety of plasticities, thicknesses, layers, etc., while martial music was played on the nearby phonograph. Visual examination at low magnification showed that certain strokes had the expected transverse striated appearance. When such strokes, after drying, were gently stroked by the “needle” (small, wooden, spade-like) of the crystal cartridge, at as close to the original stroke speed as possible, short snatches of the original music could be identified.

    4. This was used in a CSI episode, but in a more obvious fashion. Someone was using a brush on pottery when whatever loud conversation happened, so they then played back the pot and nabbed the murderer. Extending this to paintings is awesome.

      1. I think they pushed the believability a bit far in the CSI episode. Grains of the clay would often be bigger than the sound-waves created.

  7. New York City FC - "Partnership of Two of the Biggest Names in Sports, Manchester City and New York Yankees;
    Club Expects to Begin Play in 2015"

    INSTANTLY to the top of my least favorite teams list because:

    1) Yankees
    2) City/Sheikh Mansour
    3) No Cosmos in MLS now

    I think it's great MLS is still expanding, but there is absolutely no way I'll do anything with this club that isn't root for their demise at every turn.

    1. I'm okay with no Cosmos in MLS. The Cosmos' current ownership group seems to be living in some kind of fantasy land.

      From an overall league standpoint, I like it better that it is Man City and NYY as opposed to just Man City. The Yankees aren't going to want the team to suck, so Man City can't just treat the team like Chivas de Guadalajara has treated Chivas USA. I also think that the Yankees could help with showing Man City the ins and outs of scouting for talent in the US, and I think if MLS can do a better job of scouting domestic talent it will really help the USMNT in the long run.

      Also, not everyone in NYC is a Yankees fan--by including the Yankees this might actually help generate fans for the Red Bulls. I'm still going to be rooting against them, but that was going to be true of any new franchise since I already have a rooting interest.

      I think Beckham will want to own a team in Miami, so I expect that will be coming fairly soon. He's being kept out of NYC and LA, so that seems like the next most logical destination to me. He can probably pal around with LeBron and Dwayne Wade. It could even work out, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers are averaging about 4,000/game so with a decent stadium situation I could see strong support there. I'm also quite optimistic that the new Vikings stadium will bring a new MLS team to Minnesota.

      1. I’m also quite optimistic that the new Vikings stadium will bring a new MLS team to Minnesota.

        Can that happen without a retractable roof? I thought that was a dealbreaker.

        2. They play in Chicago, Denver, Toronto, and Montreal without a roof, so I don't see that as an issue. I'm sure they would prefer a retractable roof, and I would prefer to have a few million dollars materialize in my bank accounts, but you can't always get what you want.

        3. Wait, the Vikes aren't getting a retractable roof?
          This just keeps getting stupider.

          1. The Bears and Packers (and Bills and Patriots and Broncos and ...) manage to get by without one. What's so stupid about it?

            1. None of them have a roof at all. The Vikings will have a permanent roof. I thought that was the dealbreaker for MLS. I don't think any teams play with a roof closed.

            2. But it is obviously required in baseball. The Big Infinity games are safe once again.

            3. Pics I've seen have a roof. I figured i just hadn't seen the pics that showed the roof when open, or that was particularly ugly and they didn't want us to see it.

              Which is to say:
              I believe you've misread me, and that we agree.

  8. My favorite line of the day from an LTE (not here). It came at the end of a ridiculously polemical screed on the website of a major political magazine:

    Shut up, sit down, and let the adults handle this one.

    That was awesome, and awesomely self-unaware.

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