CMRivdogs

Several years ago my son and I booked Amtrak from Chicago to Roanoke, Va. Roanoke was until the late 60s or early 70s the main office for Norfolk & Western. You would think with that heritage they would still have train service. Nope, they've just recently added a run to DC. 12 hours on a train to a small town about 40 miles from Roanoke, meaning someone needed to meet us, and then drive us back at the end of our visit. The Interstate System is probably just as much responsible as freight rail. Thanks Ike

The fact that the freight lines own the tracks and the only the US has one federally financed passenger line. The map doesn't show the Chicago area commuter trains for example, and I see signs when traveling to North Carolina about train service but have not checked it out. It's nice to have Amtrak service from here to DC. So much easier to park in Richmond than to fight the interstate. Now if we can ever get service for the rest of the state.

Somebody half the board will hate

Several years ago my wife was called for jury duty. It was a civil case. Because of the nature of her profession, she told the judge that she knew the attorneys for both parties and didn't have a favorable opinion of either one. She didn't serve

With the Semiquincetennial Celebration of the Declaration of Independence just around the corner, states are gearing up for ways to celebrate the 250th. Personally I think we should hold off until the 250th anniversary of the Constitution, if we make it that far. That said stories like this remind me that the group of colonies that would eventually make up the 'United States" were not unanimous in their feelings. We're basically in the same place we were back in 1774 or before https://cardinalnews.org/2024/04/16/a-rascaly-county-montgomery-county-was-a-hotbed-of-anti-patriot-fervor-during-the-revolution/

I guess nap time is over for now. Maybe he needs his cookies and milk

Brian was one of the mainstays in the Tiger Forum, I considered him among the most astute posters of the time. VaTech was basically in my backyard growing up. Thoughts with his sister and family and for all of those affected on that horrible day

Langford K's. The guy's a bum

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/murder-rates-down-new-york-san-francisco-philadelphia-508b6855?st=2fkt047y43fn97i&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email CITY 2024 HOMICIDES 2023 HOMICIDES CHANGE PCT CHANGE DATA AS OF Philadelphia, PA 75 114 -39 -34 4/9/24 Columbus, OH 19 45 -26 -58 4/7/24 San Antonio, TX 23 46 -23 -50 3/31/24 New Orleans, LA 44 66 -22 -39 4/10/24 Dallas, TX 57 79 -22 -28 4/9/24 Baltimore, MD 48 69 -21 -30 4/8/24 Phoenix, AZ 32 52 -20 -38 4/3/24 Detroit, MI 43 63 -20 -32 4/9/24 Las Vegas, NV 25 42 -17 -40 4/5/24 Washington, DC 44 61 -17 -28 4/9/24 What's this about JB and high crime rates?

Or as Sparky used to say "You can't tell anything about a baseball team until 40 games have bee played" The Tigers are on game 17

It could be worse. You could fans of the A's W-Sox, Marlins, Nationals, Angels, Giants, Mets.....

I just had to do this....

Last season somebody on XTwitter showed a video of Clark cleaning up the dugout following a game. Picking up trash and stuff, chatting with non player employees. He's 19 signed for a tidy sum of money and basically on his own for what may be the first time in his life. If a pair of cleats defines your opinion of him.......

I just found this while looking for something else, and a link from AXIOS Detroit. There some interesting maps at the parent site. https://www.detroit-neighborhoods.com https://detroitography.com

Who are you promoting and why?

One the surface and first glance I tend to agree. But with MiLB now under the MLB roof the push the last few years has been stadium upgrades a mandated by the Commissioner's office. Stadium size, team amenities and so forth. I also think that the minor league players are now somehow tied into the players association. A company owning the rights to several teams opens the possibility of negotiating vending prices downward, possibly consolidating some of the front office work (accounting, national or regional advertising sales, etc). Maybe the ability to entice concerts or other draws to several venues rather than just negotiate each venue separately. Minor league stadiums are usually owned by the community and leased to the team for X number of games so if a community wants to continue to host a team at their venue they need to keep the facilities up to standards. (I'm seeing that now in Richmond,Va where discussions over financing upgrades for the minor league club continues despite missing the deadline (again). I get the downside, having spent nearly 50 years either working or closely watching the broadcast industry (radio) to anticipate the pitfalls. A perfect world would have the parent clubs own all their development teams. That's never going to happen in my or my 12 year old grandson's lifetime

He's basically anointed Tina Fey as his replacement https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lorne-michaels-tina-fey-replace-him-saturday-night-live-snl/#

Interesting article in The Athletic about Diamond Baseball Holdings buying several minor league teams in recent years including the Lugnuts. https://theathletic.com/5408834/2024/04/15/minor-league-baseball-team-ownership-diamond-baseball-holdings/?source=freedailyemail&campaign=601983&userId=213687 Reading the comments there were some good thoughts on the plus and minuses of private equity starting to move into that area of the sport. I've got mixed emotions, but if they are able to standardize to a certain extent the quality of the fan experience side of game (minor league) and work with clubs and franchise cities on ballpark improvement and that rather leaving it up to several individual owners it might be a good thing. Especially after watching the ongoing fiasco in Richmond, I'm all for it for now.

Anything to appease MTG and friends

Just wondering how jury selection is conducted in NYC. Are both sides limited to the number of jurors they can select or is Trump's strategy to reject everyone and hope for a mistrial.

There is an Adderall shortage

Just like Infrastructure Week under The Former (now indicted several times) Guy

BTW Inter City Press (intercitypress) is doing a good job on XTwitter