1984Echoes

I'm watching SNY too... Multi-tasking between watching/ listening to the Mets broadcast, texting my brother about the game, and posting in here. Oh, and work too, but that's obviously not as important as the previous 3... even though I'm working towards our 10Q again...

At least he was honest. Rogers smacked his elbow (not hard) against the ump's facemask as he was making the throw... Ump immediately pointed to the top of his own head "Yeah, it was me...".

Tigers-Cubs World Series: 1907 Cubs win 4 games to (1) tie. 1908 Cubs win 4 games to 1. 1935 Tigers win 4 games to 2. 1945 Tigers win 4 games to 3. Just enough history and definitely close enough geographically and there has been some city-to-city rivalry between the two that... Yes, this should be our natural rival. Hands down. Detroit & Pittsburgh's reasons for rivalry are: (1) sort of close geographically, (2) Both are Rust Belt cities trying to reforge (literally) a different future.

If there's one issue that could override everything else and create a massive wave/ change... It's not the southern border. It's overturning Roe v Wade (HEAVILY in Dems favor). So, yes, that seems to be downplayed for the most part and what is emphasized is ("Oh Biden is a gonna lose 'cause the southern border (not true) and he's a gonna lose 'cause the economy (not true) and he's a gonna lose 'cause the Pro-Palestines peoples hates him (not true IMO. They're mad at him... but I think that changes by November, even before that, IMO...)".

Flush that bond down the toilet and make him PAY UP.

And a thriving democracy that, even under Bibi's corruption and mismanagement is still... Wait for it... A democracy.

I really just don't believe that this one issue is going to: Override EVERYTHING ELSE. Sorry... I just don't see it. (I see mtutiger said exactly the same right after your post... But, just to emphasize...)

This is only because no one is really paying attention to the actual election today, except for RABID MAGA. I mean, not only them... But I think today's polls are unserious. And ONLY when the election date actually comes into scope will people stop mucking around with being mushy and firm up, IMO, recognizing how atrocious another Trump administration would be for this country and quit F'ing around and swing their support fully behind Biden. I also have a healthy dose of fear... I mean, anything could go wrong... But I have true confidence (it may come off as "bravado" but I believe it's closer to "true confidence") that all the factors in this country will come together and be a major repudiation of Trump.

It's interesting that, publication or otherwise: That Israel's Democratic process, somehow becomes "NOT a Democracy", when in fact, it is. Oh... it's not a LIBERAL Democracy anymore.. according to someone. Hey: Poland and Hungary are also no longer "liberal democracies", right? Although... they are STILL a part of NATO and the EU, even despite that. So what are we to do with Israel since they are no longer a "liberal democracy" (even though they are still a DEMOCRACY)? Abandon them?

So where is it?

To create a humanitarian process to deliver food and needed medicines to Gaza. Famine is unacceptable. And Israel's actions play a major part in it. Establish the Mediterranean supply corridor (called for a month ago, including myself) by the US and other countries. I am perfectly fine with forcing Israel's hand on playing their part to start allowing more humanitarian supplies through their border entry points into Gaza. And if Israel needs to use their soldiers to distribute orderly the supplies (to avoid the panic, desperate rushes on earlier supply trucks entering Gaza) then so be it. They'll need to divert military resources in order to maintain orderly distribution. That's a huge risk for them and their soldiers, in the middle of Gaza... but they have to do it. Once the famine conditions are remediated: Israel can open their corridor(s) from Rafah to allow 1 Mill+ civilians to evacuate Rafah and head north. Israel can then proceed to commence the military operation to eliminate Hamas' last battalions in Rafah, and kill Sinwar and other Hamas terrorist leaders who perpetrated the Oct 7th crime against Israel, eliminate Hamas as a military and political entity in Gaza, and not least: search for their remaining hostages held by Hamas terrorists... dead or alive.

Anyone. But it IS an accurate statement. So... why won't Hamas just SURRENDER and save the fate of ALL their brethren? I've asked this since the middle of November. Why won't they surrender and save all their brother and sister Gazans? Don't they love their fellow Gazans? All those women and children, that they are related to? Dying under Israel's invasion and hunt for their hostages and the terrorists who committed that awful Oct 7th butchery? All they'd have to do is give up all the hostages, surrender, give up all their arms... low-level guys or those not directly involved in the Oct 7th butchery or kidnappings probably sent home, maybe after 90 days incarceration, and only the leaders (Sinwar, etc.) put on trial for implementing their Butchery and sentenced to death. Or maybe even the leaders could be allowed to escape into exile. Although I don't believe Israel would be too keen on that idea...

Which falls under: "Assholes and opinions, everyone has one." He does NOT obtain MORE legitimacy, which you are attempting here, because he was a FORMER member of Obama's White House. Hey, I used to live up the street from Mar-a-Lago... So MY opinion has MORE VALUE than yours!!! Right?

On this I can agree with. At the very least, Biden should have gone to the podium and said "All weapons sales to the State of Israel are halted until there is a humanitarian resolution to the current Israel-induced famine in Gaza. We will play our part. But all weapons sales are halted until Israel also does its part, which it is unacceptably failing, miserably."

So you're trying to tell us that we are selling them DIRECTLY to Netanyahu, right? OR... That we need to drop support for the State of Israel ENTIRELY... Because of... Bibi. Right? **** Israel? Do I have you right?

The WSJ is completely in thrall of Trump and MAGA. The polls you quoted, from them, I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw Trump. Which is zero. All polls are garbage as far as I'm concerned, not just WSJ, until we hit mid-October... from that point, I might take a look. But probably not. I just have no interest there. And... Trump is going down in flames.

We are selling them personally to Bibi? He has a personal Air Force? He is personally paying us $18 billion? Could you please stop mischaracterizing support for the State of Israel with direct interactions with Netanyahu, which are LIES?

It's only sick ****s, IMO, that can be attracted to this sick ****. I consider MAGA, and all his supporters, to be sick ****s. Sorry, and too bad if that offends anyone. But Trump has been a sick **** for 40+ (in the news that is... he may have been a sick **** his entire life... he only announced what a sick **** he was to the world when he first opened his mouth to the public... roughly 40+ years ago IIRC). Anyone attaching themselves to this sick ****... is a sick ****.

Bryan Sammons was in the Toledo rotation for most of last year. He's almost 29 and a 5th starter... at Toledo. He can easily be skipped in the rotation because he doesn't matter. 5th starter. Easy to skip over. This is what you think the Org should do with Madden? Sammons doesn't matter, at all, in this situation. Not to be mean to him, but he is almost a non-entity. Easily replaced as a 5th starter, in Toledo, by any other non-real-prospect that Detroit wants to throw out there. Again, this is the situation you want Madden to be in? It's better for Madden to be in Erie, as the #2 starter behind Jobe... where he can work on control and new pitches and tunneling and such... than as the 5th starter in Toledo, easily being skipped over. He won't be skipped over in Erie. Even if he ends up in the bullpen at some point in the future, as I've already stated.

The other side of the coin to that is Wyatt Langford. And he's going to be DH'ing a lot, or stuck in LF. It's great that he has such a nice bat.... But as long as Clark has a high OPS, and is a 2-way player (great defense, great bat) than I prefer 2-way players like Clark over the plethora of DH's that we seem to always be overabundant in.

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They're having cap issues so he might free up. He's already stated how disappointed he is in their offers, or lack thereof... But I still think he's not much different than Kane and will end up costing quite a bit more than him. I'd rather earmark for Kane and another top-6 forward separately so I consider them two different players. And Kane versus Reinhart/ Lindholm/ Guentzel loses, IMO. Given that Yzerman can make the money work, of course...

Stamkos, based on age and potential contract demands (exceeding the cost of Kane, IMO...), makes me prefer Kane. Kane was a special situation because of the injury (and had already played with the Rangers last year after accepting a trade). Leading to: I think Kane would stick with us on a team-friendly veteran contract versus the cost of chasing Stamkos. So I wanna stick with Kane and instead chase after a younger/ higher-end free agent. I don't know if Yzerman can make the money work (Aside from some expensive extensions on our horizon, he'd also have to move several veterans either by not re-signing them as free agents or by actively trading them...), or if the player would have any willingness to come to Detroit, but I am looking at someone like: Sam Reinhart (highly unlikely), Jake Guentzel (??? maybe have a shot?), Elias Lindholm (VERY high on my want list...), Stamkos as a fallback (maybe...?) Just thinking out loud here...

To break it down more simply: They need a higher level of talent. Yzerman has patched together a competitive team. But he's using lots of bubble gum and Elmer's glue. The more extensive list of problems as a result of that: It's a good enough job to make the team playoff-competitive, but we also can see ALL of the warts that go along with that: With almost nothing in high-end skills: (A) Larkin goes down and we nosedive; (B) As you've pointed out, our puck control is ****, leading to all sorts of problems: 1. The other team has control of the puck way too long, and we're always on the losing end of shot attempts. 2. So that means our goalie has to constantly win games for us. 3. Our passing is beyond sloppy. 4. We dump and chase versus having controlled entries into the offensive zone... That's improving, but we have a ways to go. 5. It seems the other teams' almost always control the entry into our zone, it's always a goal chance for them. 6. We don't control our entries so we fight for puck control after a dump & chase which SOMETIMES leads to a potential scoring chance but MOSTLY just hands control of the puck back over to the other team. 7. We run into CONSTANT turnovers due to our lack of puck control and/or passing. 8. We scrap for pucks and goals... which is getting us wins and maybe even into the playoffs this year... but that's not enough for sustainability, nor reaching the HIGHER level of playoff competitiveness that EVERYONE wants for this team... I am all on-board with Yzerman building us a playoff-competitive team, even one built out of pieces and parts, because... it's time. But in order to turn this Pinocchio into a "REAL boy"... They have to get a higher skill level. Edvinsson is a huge part of that... Noone is able to outreach him for the puck when it's on his stick, and he shields it so well anyways. Noone is able to knock him off the puck either, which, I don't know if you would call that "toughness", but it has the same effect. We need to move off of flawed skill and/or defense players: Like Gostisbehere, Petry, Perron, maybe even Veleno, and replace them with some of the kids that Yzerman has lined up. I know that's a scary thought for quite a lot of people, including Yzerman... but it needs to be done. That means, Kasper, Cossa, Tuomisto, and maybe even Wallinder and Mazur (I don't know if the last two are NHL-ready... but I'll just throw out a guess that they are...). They are faster, bigger, stronger on the puck, etc... than what we have. I think we need to re-sign Kane for two years. He's not a perfect solution, but I think he is basically a "coach on ice", similar to a "Larionov", trying to teach the rest of the team how to pass and puck control better... Just my thoughts on that. Finally, Yzerman needs to find some money somewhere, to be able to invest in at least one high-end top-6 forward talent. By free agency or trade or however he can. Just my 'pinion...

For 2 or 3 innings. Which means he is in the PERFECT spot on the pitching staff right now, right where he is...