Cup of Coffee

May 16, 2012: Alternatives

57 Comments

Once again, I remind you that the NBA playoffs have been exciting, nip-and-tuck affairs (well done last night, Pacers!) whereas the hometown nine aren't much worth watching. Just throwin' that out there.

57 thoughts on “May 16, 2012: Alternatives”

  1. I will be in the States from late next week. I would love to get a Playoffs edition of WGOM Radio recorded. Details to follow, but anyone with any interest in particpating?

      1. Why not both? We'll look to do the NBA playoff pod early in the week (28-29th?), and have a Euro preview out by the time the tourney starts on the 8th. (Record 4th-5th ish)

        There are four groups in the Euro, four teams each. Each panelist could have a group to preview as they see fit, and open 'er up for discussion.

        Group A - Poland, Greece, RUssia, Czech Republic
        Group B - Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Portugal
        Group C - Spain, Italy, Ireland, Croatia
        Group D - Ukraine, Sweden, France, England.

        Let me know if you have a preference to a group.

    4. I don't know if I'll be able to find the time, but I would love to join a playoff discussion so I can say how Dwayne Wade is my least favorite player in NBA history.

  3. Okay, so the story is, of course, Brett Lawrie's incredibly poor decision to fling his helmet in the direction of the home plate umpire last night. That's a stupid idea, and he should be suspended for a nice, long time.

    Did you guys see those last two pitches, though (each called strikes)? You'd think the ump had money on Tampa Bay. I realize that Lawrie didn't do himself any favors by practically sprinting out of the batter's box, but umpires are getting well beyond the ridiculous point. If we can't have robots, can we at least get some oversight?

    2. From Brooks Baseball, it looks like the second called strike was a particularly bad call. The strike out pitch was borderline, but then again, so was the ball 3 pitch.

      1. All that shows is that the pitch was a minimum of four inches outside. The view from above the plate makes it look even worse. I know they just get one wrong sometimes, but this reeks of an ump who just didn't like that the batter was assuming what the call was going to be.

        1. Yea, after just watching the video, the umpire really messed the bed on this one. I also can't believe that a fan actually struck an ump with a beer cup. I've seen the crowd get ugly before, but that's crazy.

    1. This card brought him rushing back:

      I remember my brother and I gleefully joking about how dorky the card was, as we often did with relievers we didn't really know anything about. Strange career he had, pitching from 81-83 and 89-91. The dude was obviously driven.

  5. I have pre-sale codes for the following Target Center concerts: (a) J-Lo/Julio Iglesias, (b) Carrie Underwood. Let me know if you want the code!

    1. Lemme know when the Kelly Clarkson tickets go on sale.

      SINCE U BEEN GOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

  6. Buzz Bisinger thinks we all live in our mothers' basements. He also thinks that college football should be eliminated. I was kind of surprised to see that from him.

    I get where he's going, but I feel like there has to be some kind of reasonable middle ground where the NCAA can have football (not that I'm a huge fan of it), but also make themselves a terrible minor league system for the NFL so that the NFL is forced to start their own minor league. This ought to be the case for basketball, too.

    They could probably make a good start by severely punishing programs that don't graduate their athletes, for whatever reason. This would give teams an incentive to ignore borderline students when recruiting, and it might even make schools hesitant to recruit students who are good enough to get drafted early. At the worst, teams that sent a lot of players to the NFL or NBA early would have fewer scholarships to use, which might help increase parity in college football and basketball.

    1. Maybe once a scholarship is given to a player, only that player is eligible to use it for four years. The school can apply for an exemption in special circumstances.

      1. Here's a thought. Every time an NFL or NBA team drafts a player out of college and that player makes the team, they have to reimburse the school for the full amount of that player's athletic scholarship. Make them pay for the player development the colleges are doing for them.

          1. Yeah, that is a good one. I also like and idea I want to say was mentioned on here by Ubes a while back that players who earn scholarships for sports can play without having to worry about classes and the like, then be able to use that scholarship after their playing eligibility is over to go back to school later, if they so choose.

  7. This looks a lot better than yesterday's lineup.

    1. Denard Span, CF
    2. Brian Dozier, SS
    3. Joe Mauer, DH
    4. Josh Willingham, LF
    5. Justin Morneau, 1B
    6. Ryan Doumit, C
    7. Trevor Plouffe, RF
    8. Alexi Casilla, 2B
    9. Jamey Carroll, 3B

    1. Plouffe is starting to wear real thin for me. Until he shows he can hit major league pitching, I'm going to rag his ass every chance I get.

      1. The same could be said about the majority of the twins roster, mauer and willingham excepted

        1. Well, some have proven they can hit "at the major league level" and are just not performing up to par. Plouffe has yet to show he can cut the mustard. I know he hasn't even had 400 MLB at-bats yet, but he's got almost a 100 point differential between his AAA BA and his MLB BA.

      2. His K/BB rate gives me hope but it may be just a SSS fluke. There isn't a lot of better options on the roster right now.

      3. I can see where Plouffe would be testing your patience, but I would be more impatient if I thought the Twins might do anything this year. If he's bad, the Twins improve their draft position, if he improves then the Twins have a minor asset. I think of him as having Cuddyer Lite potential. Some of their MLB numbers:

        8.7% BB% -- Plouffe
        9.0% BB% -- Cuddyer

        22.2% SO% -- Plouffe
        17.7% SO% -- Cuddyer

        .145 ISOp -- Plouffe
        .180 ISOp -- Cuddyer

        Overall, I don't think Plouffe is going to be as good as Cuddyer, but I think he's close enough that if he improves a bit, he could be a net positive for the team.

  8. rock n' rollers pick their favorite (and, in some cases, least favorite) ballparks.

    steve wynn:

    [...]I have never been to a more ridiculous park than the Metrodome in Minneapolis. I mean, I saw some great games there and all but, damn, it felt like seeing a game at a Kinko's. Good thing they have an outstanding park now at Target Field, though they did bring that crazy wolf/bear hybrid T.C. with them. I just can't figure that guy out.

    1. Also, Ben Gibbard really, really hates Yankee stadium...

      The new Yankee stadium is by far the worst I’ve been to. It might look like the old one from the outside, but inside it’s more like a gaudy, Long Island shopping mall than a ballpark. A classic example of what happens when people have too much money and very little taste. Plus, it tends to be full of Yankees fans.

      1. I went to the new Yankee Stadium two years ago. I hated it. Paying $100 for a seat that was over 600 feet from the plate didn't help.

    3. Wolf/bear hybrid? I think perhaps he was looking for the term "bear."

      He likes the Metrodome exactly the same amount as I did, though.

      1. Right. What is confusing about TC Bear? Other than how can a mascot be so awesome?

    4. After reading that, I really wish I had attended a game at the old Yankee and Tiger Stadiums. And while I've only been there for one game, I really do like Dodger Stadium for the nostalgia value. When I was a kid the Dodgers were a staple of the Saturday Game of the Week, so Dodger Stadium has a really familar feel to it for me.

      1. I missed Tiger Stadium by a year, which bums me out. (How did that not end up on the National Register of Historic Places or something? I know, I'm sure it would cost a boatload to maintain it, but it seems like a missed opportunity.) Dodger Stadium was great when I visited it a few years back. I liked Kauffman Stadium a lot, too, but it's probably not good enough to be in the discussion for the best of the best.

      2. "old" Yankee Stadium, like Fenway and Wrigley, had its charms, and its less-than-desirable points. Yankee Stadium's main problem, of course, was Yankee fans.

  9. Dr. Chop and I saw a live recording of the moth last night. If you're near there local shows (LA, NYC, Chicago, Nashville), and you're into live story telling at bars, I'd highly recommend the experience. The judges effed over the best story, but whatever.

  10. A jealous coworker revealed that we're leaving to Dr. Chop's boss today costing us our health insurance and jeopardizing some funding that she's worked her ass off for. I'm a loss for why this "friend" of ours took this upon themselves. Oy.

    1. I hate people so, so much right now.

      This sounds a lot like The Milkmaid's situation, actually, in terms of the source of the problem.

    2. umm, how did it cost you your health insurance? Is her contract year over? They can't just arbitrarily take benefits away from staff. That's nuts.

      1. So, as we understand it her contract is through end of spring semester (paid out in 12 month installments), but benefits aren't part of her "compensation". A friend in human resources has advised us that officially quitting before August first would result in a termination of benefits, but that her monetary compensation would be honored. According to another friend who is a department head in another area, if Dr. Chop's boss can provide evidence that she's leaving which will result in termination of health care effective the last day of classes spring semester. If that happens we'll be out health care, and will owe them for benefit overage.

        1. standard 9-month contract paid over 12 months.... But kinda bullshit.

          personally, I would advocate complaining (after you are out of town) to any and all professional associations about that institution of "higher learning", because vindictively cutting off benefits to a wage slave instructor is bull shit. Potential employees need to be made aware that this institution treats staff like butt wipes.

          I guess I was lucky, in that I always taught at Tier I institutions. Hell, when I left Big State University in "I" state to go to big state university in greater sactown area, I [may or may not have] double-dipped for a month, because my old institution's contract year ended a month after my new institution's contract year began. But nobody, and I mean NOBODY, ever said boo about messing with benefits. Because doing so with Tier I faculty would cause a total shitstorm, and said institution would quickly discover that no grad supervisor would want to send his/her students to take jobs there.

          I mean, seriously. The hiring season is during the freakin' school year. Every professor who ever changed jobs ever anywhere would get boned by such a stupid, asswipe policy. Any institution that boned exiting faculty that way would deserve to be blackballed.

          1. I concur with bS. What the hell are professors supposed to do if they switch jobs?

    3. Jealousy is one of the least positive of human traits. It can drive people to do all kinds of petty, cruel, vindictive things.

  11. Real life drawing from the Simpsons playbook yet again.

    Does this look like a man who has had ALL he can eat?

    Bill Wisth is 6-foot-6 and weighs 350 pounds. His version of an all-you-can-eat buffet might be slightly different from yours or mine. And now Wisth is protesting a Theinsville, Wisconsin, restaurant that finally cut him off after eating 12 fish during its all-you-can-eat fish fry.

    "It's false advertising," Wisth said, who has been picketing the restaurant with a handwritten, cardboard sign that reads "Poor Business Practices!"

    Amazingly, UPI reports that Wisth even called the police on Chuck's Place after the restaurant cut him off. The restaurant then sent him on his way with an additional eight pieces of fish, meaning he got 20 pieces of fish total, but he's still not satisfied.

    Hutz: Mrs. Simpson, what did you and your husband do after you were ejected from the restaurant?
    Marge: We pretty much went straight home…
    Hutz: Mrs. Simpson, you are under oath!
    Marge: We drove around until 3AM looking for another all-you-can-eat fish restaurant.
    Hutz: And when you couldn’t find one?
    Marge: We went fishing…
    Hutz: Do these sound like the actions of a man who had all he could eat?

    2. The restaurant's defense: Hey, if that's all we give you, then that's all you can eat.

  12. Good luck with that law degree.

    one out of every two law graduates will not have a legal career, and most of the rest will never make enough money to pay back their educational loans. This means they will either have to rely on other sources of income (spouses, extended family) to service their debts, or they will have to go into the federal government’s new Income-Based Repayment program. This program will keep people in debt servitude for 25 (soon to be reduced to 20) years, during which time the balance on their loans will grow, making it almost impossible for them to qualify for mortgages and many other forms of consumer debt. Finally, the debt – which for many law graduates will have grown to more than $1 million – will be discharged, meaning, of course, that taxpayers will be left to pick up the tab.

    1. Yeah, my advice to law students. If you didn't do really well the first year, you should seriously consider dropping out.

    2. Psh, I've got a law job and still struggle to make ends meet.

      Who wants to hire me?

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