EVIL~! alkeiper

Since it would probably create a shitstorm if I did it, I figured I would put this in the hands of the board at large. Should we ban NYankees for sucking? Or keep him and consider him good entertainment. It's up to you!

NYankees was the comeback.

Spotswood Poles was a small, swift player who began with the Philadelphia Giants in 1909 at the age of 19. He would go on to roam the Lincoln Giants' center field for the next ten years. Teammate Sam Streeter claimed that Poles could outrun "Cool Papa" Bell, regarded as the fastest player ever on the Negro leagues base paths. Shades of Glory, Lawrence Hogan

Yeah, my local Kmart always has the new releases for $20 or less, including Pay Per Views.

Taiwanese actually.

You're making generalizations, bad ones at that and using them to suggest policy. That's a bad idea. I can see the big picture. The big picture is that this is a minuscule part of the government's problems. But it is easier to pick on the unfortunate.

I want people to be responsible as well. I don't figure on forcing them to be. Personally, I'd mandate IQ tests, which would leave a few more certain people out of the gene pool. *cough* I have a college diploma unlike all of your Family except for you. So I must have done something right unlike your Papa who couldn't handle HS because his daddy sexually abused him. Where did I say sexual abuse? It was physical. And if you say one more thing like that you're out. Ooooo, so it's ok for you to insinuate stuff about me but I cant say out loud about you. Hmmmmmmm. Sounds fair to me. You're insinuating things about people other than me. That's out of bounds.

I want people to be responsible as well. I don't figure on forcing them to be. Personally, I'd mandate IQ tests, which would leave a few more certain people out of the gene pool. *cough* I have a college diploma unlike all of your Family except for you. So I must have done something right unlike your Papa who couldn't handle HS because his daddy sexually abused him. Where did I say sexual abuse? It was physical. And if you say one more thing like that you're out.

I'm dating one. She got back into high school after a year, is now 28 and a college graduate.

And we wouldn't get ahead. Those people who get that free money? They spend it on consumer goods. That money then goes to companies who produce them, stores that sell them, and if you're an enterprising person you get your money right back.

I want people to be responsible as well. I don't figure on forcing them to be. Personally, I'd mandate IQ tests, which would leave a few more certain people out of the gene pool. *cough*

1. Capitalism is motivation. 2. Because I'm pretty certain it is unconstitutional.

Of course, all of this misses something big. One of the founding principles of our country is that you can rise out of the muck of our society and make yourself something great. In Europe class distinctions meant that once born in a social group, you stayed there. In our country, you can improve upon yourself. A person emigrated to our country, worked their entire life as a laborer, hoping to build a better life for their children. My ancestors worked in the coal mines of northeastern Pennsylvania. My father was a High School dropout, but he has owned his own business for over thirty years. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. That was the product of generations of hard work, and I take a lot of pride in that. You don't take a group of people and tell them they are unfit. Not everyone can attend college, or a trade school. Real life for many people is much more complicated than that. But in this nation it is all about the opportunity. You can not take that away from anyone.

As an aside, it amazes me that we are wasting billions of dollars on a war in Iraq, and people are up in arms over the 1% of our budget that we spend on welfare.

He wasn't a social outcast. He had to fight his way through the ghettos of Chester, PA, dropped out of high school and joined the army to escape his abusive father, and made something of himself. If you think he dropped out of high school because he couldn't handle that, I dare you to say that to his face. And your criteria said 2 years of military, not 18 months.

Yes I can read. Neither of my parents fulfilled those criteria.

Too many stupid, irresponsible women are popping out multiple babies with multiple un-supportive fathers..what do you suggest be done about that? Nothing. Attempting to create a genetically perfect society is a bad idea, does not work and always backfires. Beyond that, you can not judge a person's ability to parent by a rock set of criteria. Many well-to-do people are unfit parents, many poor people are great parents. And if you create a society of nothing but well-to-do citizens, who does your dirty work? Where do your janitors come from? Your road workers? It's easy to look down on people in society and judge them unfit. It is less fun when someone sets the line somewhere above you. What then? What if I decide with my infinite wisdom that people like NYankees do not fit the standards of my own perfect society?

Yes it is.

http://forums.thesmartmarks.com/index.php?showtopic=89573

I'm sorely tempted to just merge this thread with the "Stupid Comments..." thread in CS. NYankees, you do realize this would preclude you from having children, right? Beyond that, neither my mother or father attended college. My dad served in Vietnam, but dropped out of high school. To suggest that society would be better off without me is about as insulting as you can get.

Really? I thought that the entire process gets very personal and that teams will try to avoid arbitration whenever they can, even if it costs them money. Arbitration hearings, by nature, force the team to argue against their own player's abilities and accomplishments. That can often cause bad feelings between player and team. If you can find it, check out Bill James' This Time Lets Not Eat the Bones. He talks about the arbitration process, having been involved as a consultant on numerous occasions in the 1980s. Teams that attempt to downplay their player's accomplishments will usually lose, that's a bad argument to take. The idea isn't to say a player sucks. A better argument is that, "yeah, he hit 47 home runs, but so did Carlos Pena and he got $7 million."

No updates. I really wouldn't read too much into it. Everyone understands arbitration is not a business process and there really aren't personal feelings involved, any moreso than a normal contract negotiation. As I posted earlier, I will be extremely surprised if Ryan Howard wins this case. Arbitration figures are determined by comparing the player with players at similar experience and production levels. Carlos Pena signed for $7 million next season, Justin Morneau for $7.5 Million. Howard's agent needs to argue that he is worth $8.5 Million or more to win the case. I think the Phillies are letting this ride because Howard refuses to negotiate downward, and the case is winnable for the Phils.

My version of the TSM Fantasy Baseball league is open. Yahoo now has a setup that renews the league and sends emails to last year's managers. Last year's entrants will have first preference to joining and then we'll see how many openings are left. There will be at least one.

Let me add this because it is a big point. In 2007-2008, NBA teams have averaged nearly 18 three-point attempts per game. In 1982-83, they attempted a mere 2.25. That's over 15 extra attempts PER GAME.

I counted six seasons in Erving's career where he exceeded the league average three-point percentage. Check out basketball-reference.com, you can view league averages for statistical categories by season. In 1982-83, the entire NBA shot .238 from the arc. Three point percentages were at least 50-60 points lower than today.