41 thoughts on “February 26, 2018: Without Rings”

  1. I had gone all year without a funeral. Then I had one last Thursday, two last Friday, have one scheduled for tomorrow, and another scheduled for Wednesday. That's five funerals in seven days. I don't imagine that gets me into the Guinness Book of World Records or anything, but it is at least enough.

    1. It’s too many (for all kinds of reasons). I hope you’re able to find some restorative moments in the middle of this service to folks going through the dark hours.

      1. I try to make it both, if I can. It's important to celebrate the life. But it's also important to acknowledge the real grief people are feeling and will continue to feel.

        1. I agree that it was intentional. I disagree that Pachulia was trying to hurt him. Looked more like a typically-dumb Zaza move to impede another player. Like an NFL defensive player laying on an offensive player after the tackle to prevent him from getting up quickly in a 2-minute situation.

          so, stupid, and borderline dirty because it had the potential to cause injury and it was an intentional move.

          1. I agree that it was intentional.

            Once a player makes an intentional move like that, any discussion of his intent to injure or otherwise is irrelevant. It should have been a Flagrant 2 and he should have been ejected. He should be suspended.

            The idea that it is akin to a defensive player lying on a tackled player is ridiculous. Tackling a player in football is a legal play. Intentionally falling on a player who lying on the ground is not legal or in any way analogous. It doesn't matter who the target is. When you factor in who the target is, well... the league office should put a stop to this BS with a suitably harsh penalty.

            1. Once a player makes an intentional move like that, any discussion of his intent to injure or otherwise is irrelevant.

              Really?

              If he had fallen and done a piledriver on Westbrook, we would have pretty clear grounds. But he didn't. He didn't take any action that you could say was a priori likely to cause injury.

              I will push back on the analogy as well. Laying on a guy well after the whistle ain't legal there either, which makes it quite analogous.

              Look, I'm not defending Zaza. I'm just saying there is a difference between intent to injure and dumbshit things that might lead to injury. Both deserve punishment. One deserves a much bigger punishment than the other, all else constant. In Zaza's case, one can probably make a case for there being a pattern of stupid shit that deserves a stepped-up punishment.

              1. It's one thing to lie on a guy that you've already tackled as a stalling tactic. It's illegal, but the act itself does not put the player in any danger of getting hurt beyond what was a legal play. It's quite another to throw your weight on a defenseless guy lying on the floor. Under your very charitable explanation, he did it to prevent him from, what, stopping a fast break? There's no way Westbrook was going to stop a fast break from the position he was in before Zaza fell on him. Thus, I stand behind the assertion that the analogy is ridiculous.

                He's listed at 270 pounds. He dropped his weight on a defenseless player's legs. I think that has the potential to cause injury. No, he didn't do a piledriver, because that would have been even more obvious. He was trying, you know, to get away with it.

                The definition of flagrant fouls:

                A flagrant foul—penalty (1) is unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent. A flagrant foul—penalty (2) is unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent. It is an unsportsmanlike act and the offender is ejected following confirmation by instant replay review.

                There is no way that isn't a flagrant 2. It was unnecessary and excessive. It could have hurt him. He should be suspended.

                1. There is no way that isn't a flagrant 2. It was unnecessary and excessive. It could have hurt him. He should be suspended.

                  Now, THAT I have no beef with.

              2. I could believe that there was no conscious thought in his mind that said, "I'm going to try to injure Russell Westbrook". But it's clear to me that what he did was deliberate, and he didn't really care what the consequences of it to Westbrook might be.

                    1. From that article, saying basically what I’m saying, except we’ve all agreed it was intentional so the part on the end is irrelevant:

                      A pointless, irrelevant, and frustratingly distracting debate that pops up after every occasion of this bullshit concerns intent: Whether Pachulia intended to injure or hurt or clobber or fall on this or that opponent, or if it happened as an incidental result of his limitations and how he plays basketball. The simple and only answer in all instances is, it doesn’t fucking matter. For example, when Pachulia dropped all of his 270 pounds on Russell Westbrook’s legs for no visible reason on Saturday evening: If he did this on purpose, as Westbrook believes (and no honest observer could sincerely dispute), then he is a fucking goon who can’t be trusted to participate in NBA games, and has no business on the court. If he sprawled onto Westbrook’s legs for no visible reason on accident, then he is a clumsy fucking doofus who can’t be trusted to participate in NBA games, and has no business on the court.

                      My sentiments exactly. Once we establish he did it on purpose, it doesn’t matter if he had some intention to hurt him. He did it on purpose. End of inquiry.

  2. Fun things on my three-day weekend: out of the blue I remembered that I had a bunch of unused points from a work rewards program that's being phased out. I ended up getting Above and Below, Kingdomino and six movie tickets that I have twelve months to use. Previously I'd burned the majority of my points getting my wife a bike, and after that I forgot all about them.

    We've got to get some kind of game night together. I think about doing so all the time, but the actual planning stage never happens.

    1. My opinion is yes, you can. That's one of the things that makes grief hard. You can be cruising along, thinking you're finding a way--not to get over it, necessarily, but at least to move on--and then some little thing happens to trigger a hundred memories and feelings.

      1. My dad died more than 4.5 years ago, and his cell phone was disconnected soon after that, but I still keep his number in my phone, and in the "favorites" list. Even though I know I can't use that number anymore, I don't have any desire to delete it.

        1. This brings up a pet peeve of mine. Why, in this cell phone age, do people insist on assuming your area code when you need to give a phone number? Like, yeah, I harken to have a 608 number, but this is a college area so I could just as easily have a 262 or a 715 or something.

    2. My dad has kept the same landline number for, at least, 40 years spread across 4 houses. I think he would be extraordinarily sad if they move out of the 651. (although does it count as the same number of it was 6 12 until the change to 651?)

  3. I’m reminded that the Twins weren’t the only team in the AL Central to sign a left-handed first baseman coming off a career year this winter. That other player was originally drafted by the Twins, but did not sign.

    Player Slash OPS+ TB Years $ Option
    Yonder Alonso .266/.365/.501 133 226 2 $16M 1yr/$9M vesting
    Logan Morrison .246/.353/.516 135 264 1 $6.5M 1yr/$8-9M vesting

    Both Alonso & Morrison have been around for eight seasons and have the same career OPS+ (109), but Morrison has nearly a season’s more worth of PA and has hit lefties better than Alonso. I think the Twins got the better deal.

    1. It shows that patience pays off. Of course, the Indians, a, had to replace a first baseman (or re-sign their own free agent) and, b, are expected to make another run at the World Series. I don't think the Indians got a bad deal, just a reasonable one and are unlikely to regret it, even if Alonso goes back to or even a little below his career numbers. The Twins didn't have a need for a LoMo but saw an opportunity to get a quality major league player for below market value and went for it, which I like.

    2. From Mike Berardino:

      He reportedly turned down a two-year, $20 million guarantee from the Cleveland Indians during the offseason. The Indians opted to sign Yonder Alonso for $16 million over two years instead, leaving Morrison with 19 chances this season to revisit that decision.

      So the Twins signed the guy that the Indians were willing to pay more money for (reportedly) and signed him for less than half of what the Indians offered. That's a great get for the Twins, and if I were LoMo, I would be looking for a new agent.

  4. I know it's still early spring training, but it annoys me that neither Cory nor Dan has a clue how to pronounce "Astudillo".

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