oblong

that sounds right. I know this isn't the election thread but I still worry about MI for Biden. The Arab American vote is lost for him. Biden can still win and probably will but I'd be surprised if it's a higher margin. We'll see.

Mattis too.

I'll defer to the rulebook as I don't feel like looking it up but I thought on an infield fly the play is dead. The runner can't advance at that point unless they go back to the bag. Seems like a situation where fielders could game the system... just move towards a runner and glance them and get the other out.

and do elections swing because of vote switching from consistent voters or from a particular group voting or not voting at all?

and the same thing on the other side of the border into KY. It takes a minute. Then you have a brief respite until the hell that is Lexington. I get off 75 not long after and then it's 2 1/2 hours of joy as it's highways and winding back roads through the hills. Beautiful country. Yet each time I go there's more and more development. If I go back soon I'm going to count the # of Dollar Generals. I'd say I saw at least 15 of them.

I think a lot of “independents” today are republicans but they say independent because they don’t want to be called racist. Things have changed so much since Trump that it’s hard to use historical practices. I feel like normal people gravitated towards the Dems. The trump voters are made up of idiots or those smart enough (Like Cruz and Rubio) to know that’s their only option so they play along knowing it’s bull****.

The Giant Jesus is further south.

His Smith regime had to rebuild, so that's what the 96-98 seasons were about.... it was a bad thing looking back that the '97 team did as well as they did. It masked issues, like the 2000 season did. Get near .500 and you think "Ok, we're not far away". I remember Buddy Bell being fired and the rumor was he wanted a new contract and Smith said the team isn't performing and Bell said the players suck, Smith said, no they don't.... so he fired him. Then we learned the players sucked. Buddy was right. How long was Smith here? 6 years? I know he was let go in early 2002.

"too many Mexicans. They don't like to hit in the cold weather"

agree with that. Plus you throw in cash stimulus payments for people who, frankly didn't need it. I am not talking about those hurt by covid issues, but people like me. Geez, I saved money during covid on gas, lunches, entertainment, etc. But the government gave us thousands. Suddenly I had a small nest egg so we splurged on some things we might not have otherwise.

This week is the 55th anniversary of Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal for Apollo 11, the moon landing. Apollo 10 featured what's known in space geek circles as "Turdgate". Here's the trancript. If you care CDR is Commander Tom Stafford, CMP is Command Module Pilot John Young, and LMP Lunar Module Pilot Gene Cernan.

that was the plan for 2024 all along.

By my rough count he pictched about 70 innings for the TIgers org.... not sure they had a chance to mess him up unless it was the medical staff.

I hope they didn't show all the funny stuff in the trailer. I love the double take when they refer to Cop III..... yeah that was bad. We don't acknowledge that one. The original was such a huge deal. I saw it 3 times in the theater as a 11 year old. We bought the VHS tape, this was one of the first VHS tapes you could buy for like $30. The studios were still nervous about selling them direct to consumers. And my advice is if you haven't watched the sequel in a while... watch it again. It is probably better than you remember. In some ways its better than the original.

I disagree that Ilitch didn't try and failed to spend money upon buying the team. He bought the team in August '92 and immediately made sure that Fielder and Whitaker were resigned. They signed Eric Davis as a FA after trading for him in '93. They made improvements to the exterior of Tiger Stadium. He executed poorly, very poorly, but he put a team in place (John McHale/Randy Smith/Buddy Bell) that had baseball pedigrees. If he didn't care or want to try he would not have done that. His record speaks for itself but I reject the idea he didn't want to win or was afraid to spend money, or my favorite at the time "He cared more about the Red Wings". His record does not bear that out at all. In fact you could argue he cared too much and made sentimental financial decisions... both with the Tigers and Red Wings.

yeah I often wonder the fortunes of this team had they not extended Cabrera and figured a way to keep JV, JD, and possibly Max. The team really went through some huge decisions in the 2013-2015 time frame that set them down the wrong path. Saurez. Robbie Ray. I think they could have sustained things as they had some cheap talent but the key was not extending Cabrera, and possibly letting Victor go prior to 2014, although he had a good year and they only won the division by a game.

regarding the JV trade.... remember that he still had some question marks and had 10-5 rights. Allegedly the Tigers had to convince him to waive them and obviously he wouldn't go to a crappy team. And they had to pay part of his deal. It wasn't like the Tigers were sitting in the catbird seat when it came to moving him. I don't fault Avila for the returns on the "stars". JD was sitting around in FA waiting to be signed. Fans over value their own guys.

That’s where I am at. People got mad when they downplayed winning the division. Just because the fans possibly overrated these guys doesn’t mean they did a poor job.

Just out of curiosity bow do you know the Tigers “didnt even try” for either of those players? How do you know contact wasnt made with an agent or a rep? who are these players the tigers should have signed? And how much would they cost? Who should they have trade for and who should we have traded? Would the other team have accepted that offer? Real life isn’t Madden.

This team has 99 problems and a Hinch ain’t one

Where does Bobby Witt Jr rank on the "It's fun to just watch this guy play" spectrum? Trout. Ohtani. De La Cruz.

In MI in particular I am wondering when someone says "they smoke" has it transitioned to where the inference is weed vs tobacco?

I'm reading a book called Wingman, about the relationship between Williams and John Glenn that developed during the Korean War. Williams was not happy that he was called up for duty again after serving in WWII. He was still in the Marine reserves at the time. He tried to get out of it any way he could. That was news to me. However he did his duty and did it very well. They called him "Bush" as in "Bush League". John Glenn was called "Old Magnet Ass" because he attracked flak. He would do his bombing runs, then go back several times to shoot the area up "because he saw something".

I knew it was going to be a laugher so my wife and I put on The Iron Claw. Great movie. I already knew the story as I was a big wrestling fan in the 80's, but my wife never heard of them and she was very into it. Usually she only lasts about an hour when we watch something before she dozes off. It takes us two nights to watch a movie.