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One of my theories is that TV really doesn’t even need play-by-plays, especially nowadays with graphics giving you so much information. It’s a medium for analysis. Conversely, I believe analysts are superfluous and possibly even detrimental on radio, which is much more of a medium for play-by-play description. I love listening to old Ernie/Paul broadcasts, where for the most part it’s just one guy talking during his innings. That way they could concentrate on keeping the listener apprised of what was happening instead of trying to maintain a conversation. It also allowed the broadcasts to breathe much more; during lulls in the action they’d lay back and just let you enjoy the sounds of the ballpark.

You know where you will find a lot of mental health issues in America? Look among the homeless. Probably a higher proportion of damaged pysches there than anywhere. You know where you don't find a lot of mass murderers? Among the homeless. Why? Because they can't afford to buy or have places to store guns and cache ammo. QED.

All the more reason to not have half the country bully them then, isn't it?

I am sympathetic to Eric's point that mental health is a factor, particularly as we become more isolated and AI becomes more prevalent. But "mental health" is a pretty amorphous topic that, in a country of 350 million people, isn't going to lend itself to a one-size fits all solution. Like, even if the GOP didn't just scream "mental health" as a way to run out the clock on the news cycle and actually cared about making progress on that front, I don't think there's a policy change or additional funding on that issue that brings down the prevalence of these events at scale that doesn't involve access to guns. And that discussion has been determined to be off-limits and politically incorrect by our GOP overlords.

The remainder of the season after the deadline date is, practically by definition, a small sample size.

I think there was so much going on with the Hooker pick and really the Martin pick. First was the Goff situation. I think they new he was going to be the guy although I don't think they were 100%. They probably felt like the draft was already solid and they got 4 starters so why not take some chances in the 3rd round. If for some reason Goff had a set back (or was asking for too much $) they had a guy they could develop from the beginning and they could be patient with. It is not easy to determine QBs success in the NFL either. There's just so many factors. I would be curious what the success rate for QB's is. So why not take a chance with a first round talent in the 3rd round when you already have a QB? I also like to look more at the whole draft every year. I consider any draft successful if you can get 2 solid starters (this means for good teams, not a starter because your team is terrible like the Lions have had in the past). I trust the Lions evaluation in practice although I also think QB's need to be in real games to fully be evaluated. Some just are better when put into the fire and as long as Goff stayed healthy he really wasn't going to get his chance.

I don't get all of the angst about Harris' deadline moves. He did EXACTLY what has has said all along he was going to do. Since he arrived he has broadcast that his goal is to build a team that is successful long-term through draft and development and that he would not trade that long-term goal away for short-term success. His moves at the deadline were exactly what we should expect. If we had any other expectations then either we have not been listening over the past three years or we were being delusional. And, since Harris (et all) has our team in first place, I'm inclined to trust him and enjoy the ride. Watching winning baseball and the praying we win the crap-shoot called the playoffs is a pretty good life.

I think Bobby has improved a lot over the past few years. I think his main problem was low volume and high speed when he first started. He's definitely fixed the volume problem, although he is still a fast talker. But he is definitely informative and a good communicator of his thoughts. He must be from a large family where he had to talk fast to say what he needed to before someone talked over him. That's pretty common. Or so I've heard ... 😏

Mental health issues + guns = way more mass shootings than mental health issues - guns.

A non-Tiger, but he had the greatest season ever. Johnnie LeMaster, 1985. He slashed .128/.180/.160 for the season over 45 games and played for 3 mlb teams that season. Pittsburgh 57-104, Cleveland 60-102, and San Francisco 62-100. Played for 3 teams that lost 100 games that season.

Here's what I'll say - politically I don't know how easy any of the issues surrounding guns are to deal with anymore, there's just so many of them distributed throughout society, lobbying for the availability of guns (even as the NRA has diminished in influence) remains as strong as ever, and loosening already loose restrictions on owning and possessing guns is almost a article of faith for the GOP in this country. And they control the store right now. But none of that changes the facts on the ground: the wide availability of guns in American society is the single biggest factor in why these events happen. Over. And Over. And Over. And Over.... and when these events happen, it needs to be called out for what it is. Not blaming video games, SSRI drugs, identities or any of the other bull****. And like it or not, these events happening over and over and over again is not an inevitability. It's a choice that we make as a society. The fact that so many other things get scapegoated and that the guns are off-limits to discuss stands as a tacit acknowledgement of this fact IMO.

Every. Single. Thing. Except. For. The. Guns......

A couple of thoughts One, I find it interesting that the identity of the shooter matters in this case and yet, with Vance Boelter, it was either ignored or his identity was flat out lied about by the same people who care so deeply in this case. Two, I am unclear how the identity of the shooter matters more than, oh, the wide availability of guns for people who otherwise shouldn't be in possession of them. It's amazing how every single thing under the sun is responsible for these shootings *except* for the guns.

Well the KC series better bring better Babip. That was my alliteration for the month

Only 8 bottles of beer on the wall. Can't stop now.

Also, can I tell you how much I like Benetti and Scales together? They are now my favorite combo on TV. Scales brings his all-business radio veneer to the TV booth and that helps keep Benetti’s worst impulses in check. But also, you can tell Scales and Benetti really like each other, and the volume of joking between them I think is at the appropriate level.

More like several cuts below. Sure, catchers didn't need to hit back then but Bergen was really extreme. Nobody came close to being as bad as him.

As bad as literally everything about this administration has been, I don't think there's a worse appointment that was made than RFK Jr. Just completely unqualified and out of his depth for the job. And he's a lunatic whose views will kill a lot of people in the long run.

Trump is a pedophile.

I have a wholly unqualified opinion that Greene’s body won’t last long enough for a long term deal to make sense.

Carpenter won't be a free agent until his age 31 season. Dingler is under team control through his age 32 season. I wouldn't bother extending either. Most guys who start late tend to fade pretty rapidly by age 32 or so anyway. The only guy currently on the roster (not named Skubal) worth an extension is Greene, who will be a FA as a 28-year old. I suspect, however, that window may have closed. Greene has little incentive to agree to a long-term deal unless it's comparable to what Vlad Jr. received. And I doubt the Tigers want to commit to Greene into his late 30s.

This is voted on by the players.

I think there are limits to the spending and Skubul might be 200 million more...250 to 450 or 275 to 475 ? PLUS PITCHERS BREAK.

Had the pleasure of helping a family of former Michiganders who had just moved to Idaho and still had Michigan license plates on their two vehicles parked one next to the other, one of which had the hood up with a dead battery, at one of our Trader Joe’s. The dad is an engineer, and Micron Technology here is going through a big hiring phase and he’s a new hire. I found it amusing that a person who can understand the ins and outs of memory and storage products, including DRAM, NAND flash, and SSDs didn’t know how to jump the battery in his minivan. But he had all this rarified technical knowledge - at least in my eyes - but not practical knowledge like that. It reminded me of another engineer I knew who was high up in the Micron hierarchy that I met here in 1988 who had a VHS tape player that always flashed the time 12:00 12:00 12:00… that he had apparently never figured out how to set. Those of you who are engineers or work with engineers might find this amusing or instructive in someway. I did

Or, his “A’s” stuff

With her post on X, Tulsi outed an undercover CIA operative working in Russia.