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My knee hurts just looking at that windup.

fascinating

yes, I just looked it up and it's grass ****. I can't remember whether I pronounced it as a French person or an ignorant Bostonian.

This is a swing district by the way.

It is getting more difficult for me to care...

Yes I get it and agree that there are very few straight up trades in the NHL and I would not expect one to occur in this case. But I don’t think his trade value has collapsed. And I don’t think anyone wants to trade him for anything other than player(s) that make the team better immediately.

Cade has been looking less for Duren in the paint when he rolls of the screen....he has perhaps lost confidence in him as well

We really enjoyed “Project Hail Mary”. When I saw the previews I thought “oh, a 2026 ET”. Glad I tried it anyway. It was funny, entertaining and occasionally tension-filled. Also the plot twist toward the end was really well done.

Reminds me of the Devi Cruz,Tony Clark, Damien Easly, Bobby Higgison, Juan Encanarcian era where it was just time to get rid of the crew and on to the next

Tork is a mixed bag right now - he's walking enough to be keeping one of the better OBPs on the team but he's fallen back into the his usual rut of taking so many strikes looking for perfect that his K rate is too high. He strikes me as a guy who just can't get out of his own way mentally to maximize the physical talent he does have and it's frustrating to watch. He needs to go to RF more and he needs to swing at strikes both of which he is perfectly capable of. If we had a LHB that could play first you could sit him against tougher RHP ( of course Anderson is a RHB) - you'd think that guy could be Keith, but he's a worse defender and until he finds some ISO he's no more productive than Tork has been. This team just is not gelling according to plan.

I'm listening to a podcast about Robert Duvall's career. They pointed out some movie he did where he played a Nazi general. He used a German accent. The other nazis used their british accents. I remember the first time I tried to watch Hunt for Red October I struggled with Connery's attempt. My take is just talk. It's silly to portray a Russian by speaking English in a Russian accent... Just talk normal or speak Russian and use subtitles.

All of the talk during the regular season about the chemistry between Cunningham and Duren. But I wonder how that chemistry is during these playoffs. I understand a slight drop in production from the regular season to the playoffs. I understand a first foray into the playoffs might be tough for a player. But Duren has all but vanished in these playoffs. There’s not one improvement in his per 36s from last playoffs to this except for personal fouls. He’s gone from, 24.9 points and 13.4 boards in the regular season to 11.8 and 9.7. Ok, yeah, we’ve all seen it in action, it’s been a popular topic heading into and during the playoffs. But how is this grinding on Cunningham? Especially after last night and seeing the overt double teams above the arc late in the game and knowing the opponent will all any other Piston a crack at scoring rather than allow Cunningham that shot. And while we love Thompson’s defense, and holy smokes is it a thing of beauty to watch, he’s got to pick up some sort of offense this offseason. A 3 point shot that’s enough to keep the defense honest would be great. A mid range along the baseline to open up the key a bit for drives/posts. Something besides back door cuts (which are still beneficial).

If you would choose to stop playing Tork, what would you do with him? Bench him and use him as a pinch-hitter like Jahmai? Exile him to the minors indefinitely? Trade him for whatever you could get? Release him outright?

No sense to keep playing him at low ebb.

I don’t think people give enough thought to the idea that the environment of a particular area might be a big contributing factor to the wide spread of certain diseases there. Seems like for a decade or more now, my wife would tell me about yet another person she grew up with who stayed in the area and who died of cancer in their 40s or 50s. She grew up in rural-ish Wisconsin half an hour east of Green Bay, where there has been a lot of industrial farming ever since she was a kid. I suspect the soil and ground water there have been polluted beyond belief. I think a lot of it has to do with the folks there being conditioned to be prejudiced against environmental action, which, I will just leave it there. But I suspect they don’t believe that’s a real factor.

I once read a critique of a critic (oooh, meta) who complained that Marlon Brando, playing Napoleon Bonaparte, had desecrated his performance by using his natural American accent instead of putting on the standard British accent. The critique did not miss the opportunity to point out that a British accent would not have been any more appropriate than an American accent, since Napoleon spoke French.

What, Walmart’s all out of solid major league starters? Bummer.

I totally remember that, and I still replay it in my head every once in a while!

Taking French in high school is certain to lead you to mispronounce “Gratiot”.

Are you done with Tork, then? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I could be talked into that, but then what do we do with him while his value is at low ebb?

The final play was close to being an even bigger catastrophe. Ausar touched it last and if he had just a little more momentum, the ball goes out of bounds with a second left to Cleveland. Can you imagine if that no call led to the Cavs getting another chance? You’ve got to make that call even with .5 left.