Cup of Coffee

March 6, 2014: Oh, That Makes Sense

66 Comments

Skim has bronchitis, which explains why it was lingering and lingering despite nobody else getting sick. I don't think I ever missed a stretch of school as long as her four days here.

66 thoughts on “March 6, 2014: Oh, That Makes Sense”

  1. Update on the SBG Keeper league: I set the draft date as March 30, 7:30 PM, as that's what works best for me. We also only have 10 teams this year, (missing Lew Ford All Stars (need replacement), SoCal Sluggies, Tricycle Frogs, Devilbirds, Wigglepuppy Juncton, and yickit). If there are any interested poeple who want to play, let me know below or at rpz3.14 (at) gmail.

    1. If there are two people interested one can have my team. I'm not sure how much time I'll have for the league this year.

    2. This reminds me... if anyone is looking for a "get multiple keepers/trade away one" kind of deal, I'd possibly be game for that.

      Fightwig, I'm somewhat interested in your 17th round Harper...

      1. What sort of people are you looking for? I have a few good pieces that could be moved if the price was right.

        1. I'm keeping Trout, Strasbourg, and Cole for sure. I have Heyward (5th round), Seager (9th round), Miller (15th round) and Lucroy (21st round) to pick from for my other 2 spots.

          As such, I'm looking for a top-level talent with a mid-to-late draft spot (ala Harper). Pitching or offense, doesn't matter. They're few and far between, I realize, and have a lot of value to their own team. But I'd be willing to even go 3-for-1, since I can't keep 3 of my other good keepers anyways if I make the trade.

          1. One thing I didn't immediately realize with the sticky-draft round for keeps is how similar it is to service time. Trout in the first round? Like a free agent, so you only keep the best. Trout in whatever ridiculously late round you got him? Unobtainium.

          2. I'd be potentially interested in a trade. I have 6 keepers, but a few off them are kind of nominal value.

      2. Have not lurked in a long time. Wouldn't mind doing so again. I'd be glad to pick up a team.

            1. I've got no idea. All I know is ZG is willing to take over an existing team if we're short a manager.

  2. Big news from the Omerha today. The Omaha Storm Chasers will host the 2015 AAA All-Star game at beautiful Werner Park.

    2. From everything I've seen, that's coming from one tweet from Peterson that Vick would take the Vikings to the Superbowl.

      I hope that's the only place it's coming from and that it doesn't have any more legs than that.

  5. Pablo S Torre on why the NBA produces the most conspiracy theories

    So it was on the night of the 2011 lottery, when former Timberwolves general manager David Kahn bristled at the sight of the Cavs' winning the No. 1 pick (and Duke's Kyrie Irving). "This league has a habit, and I am just going to say habit," Kahn told reporters, "of producing some pretty incredible storylines." Then he pointed to how, the year before, the widow of late Wizards owner Abe Pollin had curiously shown up on the night Washington won No. 1 (and Kentucky's John Wall). And how, on this night, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert had his 14-year-old son, Nick, who suffers from neurofibromatosis, by his side. When he saw Gilbert's son, Kahn concluded, "we were done."

  7. Sports on Earth's website annoys the heck out of me because they seem determined to never display more than 1.5 paragraphs of text, but I since I haven't seen anyone link to it yet: What Was the Best Time to be a Fan of Every MLB Team? The author uses a points system and categories (World Series, Playoffs, HoFers, etc.) to help him determine the "Golden Year" for each franchise.

    Can anyone guess the year for the Twins?

    'Hint' SelectShow
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            1. I like that line of thinking. It means the Browns have actually won a Super Bowl.

              1. It also means that the Thunder have not won an NBA Championship, which is fine by me as well.

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          2. History SelectShow

          3. I think it's late enough to not spoiler any more.

            The Rangers own the history of the Senators, as they were they expansion Senators when the old Senators became the Twins.
            Like how the Browns history belongs to the Browns and not the Ravens.

            Some people may have some evidence that the above is wrong, but that's pretty easily disregarded.

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  9. Sorry for the loads of links today, but lots of good stories being churned out today.

    The NFL and NFLPA not really serious about funding concussion study

    NFLPA officials now say Harvard mischaracterized the initiative as a "grant," because any future money is predicated on performance and availability. And the project isn't necessarily worth $100 million, the officials concede. Harvard might receive far less because of the NFL's refusal to participate and because the union could pull out of the deal at any point -- although the NFLPA says it will continue to fund the project as long as the research is productive.

    I

    1. Hmmm...do I count as a good clubhouse influence if I tell Nate Silver that his tie is tied too long?

      1. Length shmength. From what I've gathered, a Windsor Knot suggests PEDs, right?

        So glad you're still around, Ubes. (Seriously. You ruined me. I'm a total stat nerd, thanks to you.)

    2. I was seriously trying to get hired by a team for analytics for a short while, until I realized the pay is awful. I would guess ESPN pays better, but I wonder if it would be that good. I assume they have many, many candidates, all deserving, and can pick the cheapest.

      1. Judging by some of their work, I do believe they've picked the cheapest. To me, the big downsides of the job would be moving to Bristol, CT and this part of the job description: "Full availability for this position, which will include nights, weekends and holidays."

  12. The current state of college football--Nick Saban openly compares playing football to smoking cigarettes:

    Alabama's Nick Saban isn't taking credit for the "10-second rule" that's scheduled to be voted on Thursday by the NCAA playing rules oversight panel, but he is adamant that the pace of play in college football bears a closer look as it relates to player safety.

    "I don't care about getting blamed for this. That's part of it," Saban told ESPN.com. "But I do think that somebody needs to look at this very closely.

    "The fastball guys (up-tempo coaches) say there's no data out there, and I guess you have to use some logic. What's the logic? If you smoke one cigarette, do you have the same chances of getting cancer if you smoke 20? I guess there's no study that specifically says that. But logically, we would say, 'Yeah, there probably is.'"

    I mean, to be perfectly honest, I think this is about Nick Saban wanting to keep control of the game in the coach's hands (calling plays from the sideline every down and generally micromanaging everything) rather than the players' hands, figuring things out as they go. But at the same time, it seems rather startling for a major college football coach to be implying that the risks of playing college football rank up there with the risk of getting cancer from smoking cigarettes.

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