Desipio Message Board

Unlike our good Governor Rod, I know when my time here is up, and I now go quietly into the good night.

Quote from: Furious George on December 16, 2008, 01:00:43 AM
This shit's officially almost official...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081216/ap_on_go_pr_wh/electoral_vote

QuoteIn all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the 538 electors performed a constitutional process to legally elect Democrat Barack Obama the 44th president.

More than 131 million voters cast ballots — the most ever in a presidential election. But Obama's election is not complete until Congress tallies the outcome of Monday's Electoral College vote at a joint session scheduled for Jan. 6.

Monday's voting was largely ceremonial, the results preordained by Obama's Nov. 4 victory over Republican Sen. John McCain. Obama won 365 electoral votes, to 173 for McCain. With every state reporting, all the electors had cast ballots in accordance with the popular votes in their states.

An electoral vote for every day of the year.

Well... not this year.

One more formality'd.

Oh, and one piece of trivia: The reason the IL Gen. Assy met so late in the day was that Illinois' electors met in the chamber in the statehouse earlier.

Well, Rod, you've been a very bad boy this year. You've been so bad that coal would be too nice. Instead, I'm giving you gift certificates to watch the 1980 Cubs!

Yeah, let's spend some more of Illinois taxpayers' money. Oh, and I'm sure they'll be able to easily take the land from Marovitz Golf Course and put a stadium out there that is for all intensive purposes private property.

That'll go through without a word from Friends of the Parks, or the people who play golf there, or the residents in the high rises on LSD who don't want to look at the stadium, or the downstate pols who might think the state spending money on another stadium in Chicago is misguided, or the South Side pols whose constituents won't feel too keen on funding anything for the Cubs, or the fiscal conservatives, or the liberals who want to build up social services, or the the realists who might not be opposed to building this but also realize that THE STATE IS BROKE and THE CITY IS ALREADY COMMITTED TO SPENDING BILLIONS ON THE OLYMPICS.

Otherwise, this all sounds great.

It's going to be a hard year for professional sports franchises. Even the Cubs.  Raising ticket prices is probably the worst things most franchises can do. Unfortunately, I don't think demand for Cubs tickets will be affected.

It's been 22 years since he made his Major League debut as pinch-running for Jody Davis in the 17th inning of an 18-inning loss to the Astros. Just for kicks, here are some of the guys who played in that game:

Davey Lopes
Charlie Kerfeld
Larry Andersen
Dave Smith
Matt Keough
Bob Knepper
Bill Doran
Danny Darwin
Phil Garner
Denny Walling
Dan Driessen
Kevin Bass
Jose Cruz (Sr.)
Alan Ashby
Dickie Thon
Craig Reynolds
Nolan Ryan
Auerlio Lopez
Terry Puhl
Billy Hatcher (who hit the first HR off of Maddux, the game-winner)
Dave Martinez
Lee Smith
Brian Dayett
Ryne Sandberg
Jerry Mumphrey
Bobby Dernier
Keith Moreland
Leon Durham
Chico Walker
Frank DiPino
Rick Sutcliffe
Scott Sanderson
Manny Trillo
Jody Davis
Chris Speier
Guy Hoffman
Gary Matthews (Sr.)
Shawon Dunston (in his second MLB season)
Jamie Moyer
Terry Francona
Thad Bosley
Steve Trout
Ron Cey

Yeah, there is one active player in that list.

His last appearance at Wrigley was 22 years and at least two or three eras later and punctuated by getting Chuck's favorite player to hit a weak pop-fly to end game 1.

That kind of longevity would have been even better had all 22 seasons been in a Cubs uniform.

Quote from: Mike D on December 01, 2008, 04:07:22 PM

Quote from: CBStew on December 01, 2008, 04:05:33 PM
I think that Henderson will insist that his name be taken off of the ballot, since you have to be retired for five years, and Rickey, like Sammy, doesn't seem to think that his playing days are over.

I'm thinking that Rickey's been waiting to come back now that he is in the Hall of Fame.  Jim Palmer tried that 20 years ago and failed miserably in Spring Training. 

Didn't Palmer pitch in one spring training game, give up a couple runs and tear his hamstring?

Mark Prior would die to have that kind of spring training.

Quote from: Chuck to Chuck on December 01, 2008, 03:29:39 PM
Blyleven, Dawson, Rickey, Jack Morris, Dave Parker, Jim Rice, Lee Smith.

Parker gets my vote over Raines because Parkerwore a football helmet while playing baseball, made the most awesomeist throw ever in an All Star Game, and Raines slid on his stomach so as not to break the cocaine vials in his back pocket.

Didn't Parker hook Raines and Keith Hernandez up with the Pirates' parrot though?

Bert Blyleven, Jim Rice and Tommy John are the 3 biggest head-scratchers. Why are none of them in the Hall? Blyleven has the numbers as does Jim Rice. Tommy John won 288 games, but he also won more than half of them after suffering Tommy John disease.  Frank Jobe performed the surgery, but Tommy John did the rehab, and he also made it possible for other surgeries to happen.

Along with Blyleven, Rice and John, I think Dawson is Hall-worthy, and I know his OBA isn't great, but let's put it this way: Sandberg is a Hall of Famer. When Sandberg was in his prime and Dawson was past his, pitchers would rather pitch to Sandberg than Dawson.  

Henderson is the shoo-in.

After that, you have three others: Dale Murphy, Jack Morris and Don Mattingly. They all deserve serious consideration. Murphy was THE PREMIER outfielder in the NL from 1982-1987.  He dropped off dramatically after that, but he has 398 HR and a career .815 OPS, which would have been dramatically higher if not for his last three years of his career.

Morris was the best starting pitcher of the 1980s, and the ace for the best team of the 1980s.  His World Series performance in 1991 was legendary. And he greeted the 1984 White Sox post-division title glow with a no-hitter. He'd have my vote.

Mattingly wouldn't need my vote, because eventually he'll get in. Believe it or not, he deserves it. From 1984-1988, he had seasons that rank among the best in baseball history.

If I had an actual vote, I'd cast them for Rice, John, Blyleven, Dawson and Henderson. I'd also cast a sixth vote for one of the Murphy-Mattingly-Morris group.

The above is the current HOF ballot.  While I'm sure Plesac will get in on the first ballot, I'm really hoping that he's joined by Sox bench coach Harold Baines and Cubs bench coach Alan Trammell. I'm sure Greg Vaughn and Jay Bell will also make it. Anyway, vote for up to 10.

I seem to remember the Mets took a flyer on some eccentric guy who lived in the Himalayas back in 1985.  He was a non-roster invitee to spring training, and they were apparently ready to offer him a contract and insert him into their starting rotation, which already included Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez and Rick Aguilera.  Unfortunately, he decided baseball wasn't for him and returned to the Himalayas.



Maybe the Pirates think they found another one.

Quote from: Eli on November 25, 2008, 10:37:27 AM

Quote from: Old Style Man on November 25, 2008, 10:33:15 AM
I've heard that the general rule of thumb is to offer close to 10% less than the asking price. The worst that can happen is you don't get a counter offer, in which case you can raise your offer if you decide to do so.

This.  It never (or rarely) hurts to make a lower offer.  A friend of mine just bought a house that was listed for $335,000.  He offered $300,000 just to start negotiations, and the people ended up taking it.  He was just hoping to get it down by a few thousand.

And you just know that while your friend probably has no complaints, he probably wistfully thinks about how low he could have gone....

In some markets, go 20 percent under. The seller's situation will dictate the price he's ultimately willing to take.

Quote from: De Jesus on November 20, 2008, 01:11:30 PM

Quote from: TJ on November 20, 2008, 11:23:18 AM
For those interested Libertarians, this is a Cato Libertarian Institute Fellow talking about the U.S. health care system vis-a-vis other countries' systems.

Accurate portrayal of the Cato institute'd

I hate the Cato Institute.  Not always for what they stand for, but for the fact that they pretend to be non-partisan. The truth is that they may criticize both sides, but they're "nonpartisan" in exactly the same way that the National Organization for Women or Planned Parenthood are.

QuoteThe mission of the Cato Institute is to increase the understanding of public policies based on the principles of limited government, free markets, individual liberty, and peace.

Yeah, they're libertarian.   I thought by saying it was Cato, you'd understand it was libertarian-minded.  Even so, this speech outlines the problems in health care are not limited to the U.S.

It's a stretch to call them non-partisan, because I suppose the Libertarian Party is their dog in the fight. They've hardly coddled the Bush Administration.

For those interested, this is a Cato Institute Fellow talking about the U.S. health care system vis-a-vis other countries' systems.

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 09:15:51 AM

Quote from: Furious George on November 20, 2008, 08:41:02 AM

Quote from: Taylor2 on November 20, 2008, 08:04:35 AM

Don't worry about it TJ or anything else for that matter. The house negro is going to take care of us forever.

And if he doesn't, I bet a racist strawman could come through in a pinch.

If he doesn't? Heresy!!!!! He's bringing real change to Washington. If he doesn't? Do you doubt for any second his ability to bring hope to all of us? It's racist to even think that he is not the most sucessful president-elect in our history.

Taylor, it's funny. I have been able to suggest that Obama won't be especially successful as President, yet no one beyond the most idiotic would suggest this as evidence I am racist.

I'm not doing cartwheels since Obama won, but he deserves the respect the Office of the President commands.