Desipio Message Board

Quote from: JD on January 08, 2011, 10:15:21 AM
I'm not sure why anyone would be against this trade.

I'm not strongly against it, but I also don't think the trade is all sunshine and rainbows.

I don't have much of any faith in Cubs 'prospects', but it seems like giving away the
chance for some cheap useful years for the right to pay Garza a lot of money.  And
the thing is that I just don't think a ton of Garza.  Maybe it's because he looks like
Matt Clement with a spray tan.  I am very skeptical that the AL East->NL Central
move will be a bigger impact than the Rays Defense->Cubs Defense, and
Tropicana->Wrigley for a severe fly ball pitcher.

If you think that Garza will be a big contributor for the Cubs then it's definitely it's a
hell of a good trade.  I just don't see that as the case.

I will be in attendance.

Quote from: PenPho on November 16, 2010, 01:07:33 PM
Bumping this thread because I just finished Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson.

For a book that's about, in part, an internet subculture/sensation, it holds up pretty well in 2010. 

I know Gibson's much better known for Neuromancer - wondering if this is a must-read?

If you enjoyed Pattern Recognition, now's a great time to finish up the arc with
Spook Country and Zero history.  They aren't sequels in the strict sense but threads
of the first two culminate in the third.  I always find Gibson both insightful and
entertaining. 

I love his earlier cyberpunk novels.  I rarely revisit books, but I've read them all
multiple times.  I highly recommend them all in approximate order that he wrote
them.  Not only due to some character interleaving, but because I think he
managed to develop a real universe (or setting or microcosm if you'd rather since
it's mostly southern california based and never beyond low earth orbit) and
following along as he creates from book to book adds another meta level to the
experience.  Don't let my pitchfork level, probably misguided, over analysis push
you away from the fact that his books are very entertaining with multidimensional
characters and a ton of action.

His latest three have somehow managed to move backwards in time from cyberpunk
to the 'near future' setting wise but at the same time are so much more modern.  I
think cyberpunk, as much as I love it, spoke to the concern that ubiquitous access to
data would lead more to increased oppression as power structures harnessed and
exploited the data to perpetuate themselves.  Instead it has mostly lead to more boring
classic commercial exploitation and assholes like us uniting in a common interest (in this
case the Cubs) and instead spending all our time have the same generic conversations
that still happen in bars, dorm rooms, parents' basements, and such.  It's a lot more
interesting to explore the concept of the disenfranchised regaining meaning, importance,
and control versus some stupid bullshit about twitter or facebook or something.  I'm sure
Douglas Coupland or someone is giving it a shot and I'm sure I don't give a shit.  Gibson
has moved on to far more relevant ideas about things like the interdependency and feedback
loops in our society and who, if anyone, really controls things at this point.  He doesn't
present answers, he doesn't even directly bring up the questions.  He writes entertaining
fiction, but the concepts are in there somewhere.

Gibson and Iain M Banks (but never Iain Banks) are my two favorite living novelists, I
recommend them to pretty much everyone and it was awesome that they both recently
released novels.

Anyone have any recent cyberpunk or (a guilty pleasure of mine) space opera type
recommendations?  I'd even settle for some decent options.  So much of it is garbage
sadly, but I love anytime there is something decent to read in either genre.

1908 seems like way too many for this team.

Quote from: MAD on April 06, 2010, 03:30:03 PM

Quote from: PenFoe on April 06, 2010, 03:23:38 PM
That said....if you do want to get depressed, 1st round picks, 1999-2005 (Colvin was 2006)

Year   Name            Current Status                           Total Major League Games
1999   Ben Christiansen   Out of Baseball                                     0
2000   Luis Montanez   Minor Leagues, Baltimore                        67
2001   Mark Prior           Out of Baseball                                    106
2002   Bobby Brownlie   Newark Bears, Independent League        0
2003   Ryan Harvey   AA, Rockies                                              0
2004   Grant Johnson   Gary, Independent League                        0
2005   Mark Pawelek   A, Cincinnati                                             0

Jesus Christ Jim Hendry's a tub of shit.  I already knew who all the draft picks were but seeing that list the way it is makes me want to vomit.

Before you all get your panties in a bunch, let's see how all the recent World Series champions have done...

Yankees

Quote
  2005   Carl Henry, ss   17
  2004   Philip Hughes, rhp   23
  2003   Eric Duncan   27
  2002   NONE   --
  2001   John Ford-Griffin, 3b   23
  2000   David Parrish, c   28
  1999   Danny Walling, rhp   27

Cardinals

Quote
  2005   Colby Rasmus, cf   28
  2004   Christopher Lambert, rhp   19
  2003   Daric Barton, c   28
  2002   NONE   --
  2001   Justin Pope, rhp   28
  2000   Shaun Boyd, 2b   13
  1999   Chance Caple, rhp   30

White Sox

Quote
  2005   Lance Broadway, rhp   15
  2004   Joshua Fields, 3b   18
  2002   Royce Ring, lhp   18
  2001   Kris Honel, rhp   16
  2000   Joe Borchard, rf   12
  1999   Jason Stumm, rhp   15
  1999   Matt Ginter, rhp   22

Red Sox

Quote
  2005   Jacob Ellsbury, cf   23
  2004   NONE   --
  2003   David Murphy, of   17
  2002   NONE   --
  2001   NONE   --
  2000   Phillip Dumatrait, lhp   22
  1999   Rick Asadoorian, of   17

Phillies

Quote
    2005   NONE   --
    2004   Gregory Golson, cf   21
    2003   Timothy Moss, 2b   85
    2002   Cole Hamels, rhp   17
    2001   Gavin Floyd, rhp   4
    2000   Chase Utley, 2b   15
    1999   Brett Myers, rhp   12

Had Prior stayed healthy, the Cubs would have done as well in the 1st as any other team than the Phillies.

I mean, it's not a _good_ list, but it's pretty much par for the MLB.  I think the Cubs refusal to spend serious
money on scouting and development was a far bigger issue and something to hate the Tribune for.  The
Tribune ran the organization for total shit until the last couple years as they tried to throw on a new coat of
paint to sell.

I don't like the idea of instant replay in baseball, but fuck if the umps aren't making
me change my minds.

Solid first half inning, anyways.

Quote from: Internet Apex on April 05, 2010, 02:33:08 PM
I really doubt if Schulman could get away with an actual murder. But if he offed two of the three chuggers in last night's booth, it would be worth losing him to a lengthy prison sentance with regard to improving ESPN's baseball coverage.

In the last 15 years, ESPN has never failed when given the opportunity to make something worse.

Quote from: R-V on April 05, 2010, 11:29:13 AM
Agreed. I know Peanut hasn't been top notch the last couple years, I just find it hard to believe he's been THAT bad.

I don't think he's been _THAT_ bad as a player himself, but I don't think
he's played an effective CB as far as stopping opposing teams because in
some part (I'd argue large, others can argue small if they'd like) the scheme
he has played in is not good at stopping the pass.  The amount of time that
opposing QBs have to throw the ball is such a huge factor on pass coverage
success for any defensive player, I think any attempt to compare defensive
backs' effectiveness at any kind of fine grain is mostly worthless until you can
factor that in at some level.

Quote from: R-V on April 05, 2010, 09:35:56 AM

Quote from: Slaky on April 05, 2010, 08:54:05 AM

Quote from: R-V on April 05, 2010, 08:52:59 AM
According to this site

http://profootballfocus.com/by_position.php?tab=by_position&season=2009&pos=G&stype=r&runpass=&teamid=-1&numsnaps=25&numgames=1

Sims was the 8th best guard in the league last year. Anyone heard of this site/know of any others that rank players at positions that are more subjective than QB or running back (offensive line, DBs)?

Nope, I'll take this site's word for it. But if the Bears don't get Sims, I'll declare this site as hocus-pocus bullshit.

I just noticed that they have 4 offensive tackles rated as worse than Orlando Pace last year. And Peanut as the 82nd best CB. Maybe it is Grade A bullplop.

Ranking Pace 73 of 77 sounds about right.

I'm not so sure that, as much as I love Tillman, that he has had good years the last two. 
In 2007 it ranks him at #3 overall.  Football evaluation and advanced stat stuff is a
mystery to me because there's so much team interaction that I don't know how you
can reliably assign things like which defender has what coverage, particularly in the
case where things break down.  I mean, it's easy to identify good plays, but when a
receiver ends up wide open it's frequently a guessing game of who blew the coverage.

Quote from: Chuck to Chuck on April 02, 2010, 10:23:17 AM
Well, the bank made loans to mobsters while Alexi had a senior position with the bank where he knew nothing about those loans.  That means some combination of:

1) Alexi's position wasn't so senior and really was a "Give your brother a desk and a salary" job because he's really skill-less.
2) Alexi's job was senior and he's lying about not knowing.
3) Alexi's job was senior and he didn't do his due diligence which means he's incompetent.

So, is he stupid, a liar or incompetent? Or is he all three?

There's plenty of other options if you want to go that route, employees not following company policy,
Alexi not establishing a policy, Alexi or his boss not allowing policies to be put in place because they
cost money.  There's a boatload of specific reasons why that bank sucked.  I'm sure Alexi shared some
level of responsibility, but none of us or the media investigators seem to know if it's .0001% or 50% of
the blame.  Hell, I have no idea.  I don't even like the guy.  But to claim that he somehow got a media
free pass on this stuff when it's been all over the news for at least a month is crazy talk.

Quote from: Weebs on March 02, 2010, 10:07:28 PM
Get ready for the Madden of first-person shooters.

Maybe, depends how the law suits work out.

Quote from: Chuck to Chuck on April 02, 2010, 08:46:55 AM
I'm not sure I understand where SKO and Teej are going, but did anyone see the Trib today?  Looks like about 40pt above the fold.

Broadway Bank loaned $20M to felons

Where the fuck was this reporting during the primary?  None of this is new news.

There have been a ton of articles about allegations and details of who loans were given to.  Are you
only talking about the front page aspect?  Because it seems like that article has pretty much no new
details as far as I can tell and still fails to actually tie the bad loans to the candidate.  I mean, compared
to all the actual insider trading and other shady business deals that politicians get close to free passes on
(I'll mention both G W Bush and Clinton for fairness), working at a bank which gave out some bad loans
isn't exactly a big deal.  There's been not a shred of evidence that he was actually bribed or even
personally interacted with the dudes:

QuotePublic records do not show which bank officials negotiated or approved any of the loans.
Giannoulias declined to be interviewed by the Tribune or to review public records outlining the bank's loans.

QuoteIn July 2004, records show, Broadway gave Giorango and Stavropoulos a $1.1 million loan, and they
used that money to pay $1.5 million for an office building at 88th Street and Ashland Avenue.

But the South Side businessman who owned the property at the time told the Tribune he was not selling
the building to Giorango and Stavropoulos but rather was using it as collateral to borrow money from them.

So the bank loaned someone money to purchase an office building, and they bought the office building,
but the bank was supposed to know that it was a hand shake deal instead of investment?  How the hell
would the bank know that?  Everything I've read shows that they didn't have police records when the
loans were approved.  I think there's plenty of room to take the bank to task for loaning so much money
without any significant oversight, but I don't see how you can claim that this is under reported.

Quote from: mtvernon on April 01, 2010, 03:23:20 PM
Hot Tub Time Machine thoughts?  Heard comparisons to the Hangover and Knocked Up. 

I assume the comparisons were along the lines of: "Hot Tub Time Machine was not as good
as the The Hangover or Knocked Up."  Ebert seems to think HTTM is a decent comedy, so
I'm sure it is.

Quote from: Slaky on April 01, 2010, 02:14:58 PM
I don't field because I don't care about fielding. So for me, a full game with 4-5 ABs takes 3-5 minutes. The only real loading time is waiting for a game to start but that's barely 30 seconds. I can crank out another useless Desipio post while I wait.

I've played a bit older (2008 I think, I heard 2009 was worse) version, but I got most of my points from fielding.
One thing that really fucked me was that the penalties for failing a challenge was really high, like a -10 when a
hit might be +2 or something.  Frequently the challenges were pretty much impossible, like driving in a runner
from 1st with my slap dick hitting 18 year old SS, or I was supposed to get a hit and I get 4 straight balls no
where near the plate and walk instead and so I'd get the few positive points I had wiped out.  The penalties
just seemed crazy because even if I was a great hitter, I'd have under a 50% chance of completing them.  That
and the psp loading eventually drove me away from it.