gehringer_2

and part of this is that we are in what John LeCarre would have called a 'silly season'. There used to be some level of separation between the office and then person or the politics. Like the line from Band of Brothers - "you salute the rank, not the man". 

But the problem is that is a two way street. When Presidents refrained from using the ceremonial aspects of the office for personal political ends, then they could expect people to respect the office irrespective of the occupant. But when the occupant doesn't respect the office or the institutions represented, then that level of respect from the public is likely to be withheld. But a lot of people are still sort of lost in transition - they may know full well Trump is jerk (even if they do vote GOP for tax purposes) but still think it's too rude to refuse the President - and of course a range of views on both sides around that. Trump is obviously a much more uniformly negative  figure for young independent women, so the difference in the response of the men's and women's team is not surprising.

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

I would think “can Tork prove once and for all he can hit” and “can Kenley make a real difference in the back of the pen” might be up there as well.

Certainement.

7 minutes ago, buddha said:

michigan state set up a separate legal entity to handle their sports contracts.  with specific rules that it does not have to answer to the public or foia requests.  how can a public institution do that?  

They probably can't. Sounds like fodder for an ACLU action, but they are somewhat otherwise engaged recently.....

If you want to start the suit I'll throw in $100 to a go-fund-me just to see it. 

4 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

So inflation is skyrocketing under Trump? 

Rule one: Correlation /= Causation.

Trump has been completely irrelevant to inflation. In fact by pushing the Fed to loosen money more than they were willing to, he was moving to make it worse if he could have, so he gets no credit for other people whose actions he opposed tooth and nail having done a good job despite him.

3 hours ago, Deleterious said:

 

how long before schools start arranging for NIL be escrowed?

Just now, chasfh said:

Me, I’m glad I never turned it on in the first place.

I feel sorry for people who have to cover this guy for a living. It must be mentally, emotionally, and psychically exhausting.

that's what he counts on.

Check the dates on your own chart. He inherited an economy with a rapidly falling inflation rate. This would be like the Avila/Harris debate except in this case Avila really did already do the work.

16 minutes ago, chasfh said:

If I had to pick a spot where the biggest offensive weakness is probably baked in, it’s CF. Every other position, there’s a fairly wide range of potential outcomes depending on how much progress certain guys at certain positions can make, and of course, whether McGonigle breaks camp at short. But Tork, Torres, Keith, Riley, Carpenter, and Dingler all have the potential to rake. Or to flop.

If I had to rank my 5 top question marks for this season, "will Meadows hit enough to be the regular CF" is probably #1; followed by "can Keith hold down 3rd with the glove" #2; then "which Flaherty do we get" #3; Can Riley be more productive" #4; and finally "What does JV have left in the tank" #5

1 hour ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

When you are an elected official your charge are American citizens. You can lobby to change laws and or policies but ultimately you serve your citizens. 

You don't park your humanity at the door when you become an elected official either. It doesn't serve anyone's citizens to take joy in the discomfiture or others. The de-humanization is simply the precondition to excuse acting in ways that would otherwise be morally unacceptable - own it for what it is.

they put up 7 runs today, that's good trend to keep up.

4 hours ago, tiger2022 said:

I think the Tigers infield defense leaves a lot to be desired.  

The one thing they have on defense is some of the better catchers in the game.  Dingler won the GG and rightfully so and Rogers is way above average behind the plate.  Outside of Skubal, Dingler was the team MVP last season.  I'm not sure people realize how much Dingler contributed to the success last year.

Strong up the middle.  Baez needs to play SS and Meadows needs to stay healthy and hit just a bit.  Torres has limited range but at least makes all the routine plays.

yeah - they have a reasonable number of decent defenders, the question is whether those players can hit enough to stay in the lineup. Keith is a question mark but I'm moderately optimistic he'll be OK at 3rd.

3 minutes ago, Tigerbomb13 said:

The de-humanization of undocumented people is just gross. These are people just like you and me - these are people who have fled their own country for reasons such as political/gang violence or extreme poverty. 

Jefferson didn't say "some" men are created equal, and he was just channelling St. Paul who said "all are one". So whether you fancy yourself an American or a Christian, there is your fundamental value staring you in the face whether you like it or not. Too many today want to claim either title without accepting the responsibility to be what it demands.

26 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

Do you think it was a good idea for the democrats to sit on their hands last night when asked if illegals rights meant more to them then representing the American people who voted them in? 

At heart it's both childish and craven to compare the worth of one human being to another and you should know that. There may be policies that are better or worse but not because the people they affect have more or less human dignity or worth. Anyone who believes otherwise is a sorry soul.

16 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I'm not feeling very positive about Riley Greene this season.     His 2nd Half was brutal.    .694 OPS is garbage.   And he was no-show in the Seattle series.    That uppercut swing gave him more HRs, but he needs to put the ball in play a lot more.  

The thing with Riley is that it's not asking him to do something he hadn't already done before. He was at a 26.7% K rate/11% BB a year earlier. He basically just has to undo the move to the extreme loft swing he had only added last year, and his natural strength increase will probably give more HR than in 24 with the same approach.

The problem is no-one ever accused baseball players of being the most self-aware observers of their own game.

19 hours ago, Deleterious said:

A big that can shoot well is pretty rare in the NBA.  

True - and back in the day when it was even rarer I never thought Laimbeer got enough credit for forcing opposing big men to come out to cover him. 

Playoffs are often all about matchups. Maybe if things break right for the Pistons someone knocks off the Spurs before the finals. 🙏

10 minutes ago, oblong said:

Along the same lines... movie stars and musicians.  Maybe not so much movie stars because we don't "see" them and their work is not really them, it's part of an ensemble of art others created.  But if you find yourself jamming to a song from the 50's until maybe 10 years ago when we got smarter about this.. you might not be happy to know what they've done.

Unless someone explicitly does a certain thing I'm not getting wrapped up in it.   I will cheer for Larkin like I've always done.  

and Wagner was a Nazi but his operas are still the epitome of the art form. Whadyah gonna do? The idea that only moral people (by whatever definition) can produce things of positive value is a naive and false reading of humanity. Nor does the that fact that they do vitiate their culpability for the bad stuff.

1 minute ago, oblong said:

Conservatives today think adult means 14.  At least sexually.

yes, of course there is that....

😉

1 hour ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

The point being the new law: THEY have to be accompanied by an adult. An adult in VA is considered 18. Reading as: a 20 year old can possess the firearm if they are with an 18 year old. Talk about some pretzel logic...

yeah - if that's the way it actually reads,  they screwed up. But these confusions started when they lowered the national age of majority to 18 in 1972 in response to the protests about sending boys to War but not letting them vote. Of course that also lowered the drinking age to 18, which states realized they didn't want to do and eventually in '84 the Federales pushed all states to raise the drinking age back to 21 separately. So you have this split regime. A lot of people still think of 'Adult' in terms of the *drinking* age (21), even though that is the exception to everything else being 18.

Still no excuse for legislators to be clueless. But like I said - too easy for clueless people to get elected in the US.

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

or they have a plan and it is optimal and they know how to execute it.

i know it's hard to fathom we could actually ever have that, but that's a possibility, too. 😏

one hopes. I was happy to see Edman's post that WBC guys have their own training/exhibition setup. You'd think this stuff was all obvious but historically we know they've often screwed things up because the planners were more concerned with the $$ than the players.

19 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Newsom seems childish to me.  I am really hoping somebody more serious emerges.  I'm not going to hold my breath.  

Unfortunately childish simplicity is what American Voters vote for. In America, serious people need not apply, or at least have to hide themselves behind a faux persona.

I joke about it, but I guarantee you Newsom will gain or lose more votes over his hair than he will over his positions on how zoning rules and building codes affect housing affordability.

31 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

Dems gave all their challengers great film to run in commercials leading up to November.

 

 

 

 

 

 

self selected sample. How many non-trumpers watched it? Or even worse, how do you trust any telephone or I-Net pol in an age of AI bots? Serious question that goes beyond Trump. The old line about believe none  of what you hear and only half of what you see needs to be update to "none of none"

11 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

 

one would guess the population is also higher than it's ever been.

10 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

They have the WBC tournament this year, so we might see more minor leaguers playing in spring training than usual.  

are WBC guys prepping somewhere else? Seems it would be important that players going to WBC get some work in prior because you know there is a high probability guys will overdo it there.

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

I could see a team without a plan doing that.

or they have a plan and it just isn't optimal.

I don't care they they are losing with players that aren't going to make the team, as longs as they don't get so obsessed with seeing every joe blow prospect in the system in a Spring game that the regulars don't get in enough competitive work and we end up behind the 8-ball before the team hits stride around Mid May. It's still plenty early though....