I admit it...

[Powdered Toast Man]

...I don't watch the news much at all, so are you guys up to speed with what's happening where I live in Baton Rouge, LA?

We had a 1,000 year rain event here over the weekend. A lot of creeks, bayous and rivers overflowed their banks. There are thousands without homes to return to. There is a town to the north and east of Baton Rouge called Denham Springs where it's estimated that 90% of the homes there are complete losses. I think the number reported by local media was that 13% of the people in the parish have flood insurance. Most of the homes affected aren't even in flood zones (you are required to have flood insurance if you're in a flood zone if you obtain a mortgage...loosely stated). FEMA will qualify those people for assistance because of the magnitude of this event.

The Amite River was so swollen, it backflowed (the river was so high that it's tributaries took on reverse flow and thus overflowed their banks). Now, Baton Rouge is not New Orleans. New Orleans, in cross section, looks like a bowl and is bounded by Lake Pontchartrain and sea level in the lake is above ground level in the city.

Baton Rouge just has low lying areas here and there. But in such an extreme event (like I said, this was a 1,000 year event it's being estimated) even areas not in flood zones were inundated. Here's the Range Avenue interchange with Interstate 12 in Denham Springs (before and after):



A few more areas:

A neighborhood in Denham Springs:


Juban Road in Denham Springs:


A portion of LSU's campus (LSU is located in Baton Rouge, in the western portion of East Baton Rouge Parish...Denham Springs is about 25 minutes east of campus):


I don't need anything and my own family and neighborhood are, thankfully, high and dry. I'm not asking for money, I'm not asking for donations, I'm just asking that you guys think about the good people coming together in this area in the wake of what happened in Baton Rouge, LA recently with the shooting death of Alton Sterling and the ambush on Baton Rouge police shortly afterward.

People have immediately started gofundme pages, started collecting and donating goods, and have pooled their own resources like boats, tools, etc. to help their neighbors.

This is one of the times I'm most proud of the people around me. I just thought I'd share with you all. There are lots of Cubs fans in south Louisiana, also.

Go Cubs, go.

I have a college roommate from Lafayette, lives in Baton Rouge now.  He's been posting updates, but otherwise I'd be pretty in the dark about most of this.

I'd say overall, the media hasn't given this as much attention as I'd expect.

The difference is there aren't any crying poor people on roofs, there isn't gang violence in the streets, there is minimal looting and no rape in a sports stadium. People have been incredible to each other this last week.

[Brownie]

I don't know, the weather's fine where it matters. Who wants to play 18?

[Oleg]

I don't know, the weather's fine where it matters. Who wants to play 18?

Probably Obummer.  Amiright?

[Canadouche]

Pictures of The Boy in the Ambulance have hit me hard. Like really, really hard.

[Wheezer]

... I seem to be unable to successfully crisp canned corned-beef hash. Moreover, having tried to dress it up a bit beyond the eggs, I have come to the conclusion that the flavor is, in fact, delicate.

[Tonker]

...I have a horrible feeling that, barring any significant changes between now and the end of next month, the BBWAA will choose not Kris Bryant, but rather Daniel Fucking Murphy as MVP.  Offensively, Murphy has managed to pull an entire season out of his arse, and defensively, he's nothing short of a fucking catastrophe, but that gaudy fucking BA and his RBIs are going to put him over the top.

I also expect Arenado to get more votes than Tony Ballgame to finish third, although that will be considerably less upsetting than Murphy beating Bryant.

[SKO]

...I have a horrible feeling that, barring any significant changes between now and the end of next month, the BBWAA will choose not Kris Bryant, but rather Daniel Fucking Murphy as MVP.  Offensively, Murphy has managed to pull an entire season out of his arse, and defensively, he's nothing short of a fucking catastrophe, but that gaudy fucking BA and his RBIs are going to put him over the top.

I also expect Arenado to get more votes than Tony Ballgame to finish third, although that will be considerably less upsetting than Murphy beating Bryant.

I don't see it happening. The hype train around the Cubs is better than the Nationals, the Cubs are the big story, Bryant is a marketable superstar, and enough members of the BBWAA know what WAR is nowadays. The only way it won't be Rizzo or Bryant is if they split the first place votes between them.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I admit it--I couldn't care less about who wins or doesn't win an award handed out by short-sighted, self-important sportswriters.

[SKO]

I admit it--I couldn't care less about who wins or doesn't win an award handed out by short-sighted, self-important sportswriters.

I mean I'm not going to work myself into a lather about it but that stuff does matter to the players and whether he'd ever admit it or not I'm sure Bryant has dreamed of being MVP the same way he dreamed of being ROTY and if he's earned it (and he has, by far), then he should get it.

[Yeti]

I don't know, the weather's fine where it matters. Who wants to play 18?

Probably Obummer.  Amiright?

It's almost as if we live in this amazing internet age where people can telecommunicate things to people in places that they aren't currently in!

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I admit it--I couldn't care less about who wins or doesn't win an award handed out by short-sighted, self-important sportswriters.

I mean I'm not going to work myself into a lather about it but that stuff does matter to the players and whether he'd ever admit it or not I'm sure Bryant has dreamed of being MVP the same way he dreamed of being ROTY and if he's earned it (and he has, by far), then he should get it.

Understood, I'm just declaring that my interest in who wins it is absolutely zilch.

[Yeti]

I admit it--I couldn't care less about who wins or doesn't win an award handed out by short-sighted, self-important sportswriters.

I mean I'm not going to work myself into a lather about it but that stuff does matter to the players and whether he'd ever admit it or not I'm sure Bryant has dreamed of being MVP the same way he dreamed of being ROTY and if he's earned it (and he has, by far), then he should get it.

unpossible

[SKO]

I admit it--I couldn't care less about who wins or doesn't win an award handed out by short-sighted, self-important sportswriters.

I mean I'm not going to work myself into a lather about it but that stuff does matter to the players and whether he'd ever admit it or not I'm sure Bryant has dreamed of being MVP the same way he dreamed of being ROTY and if he's earned it (and he has, by far), then he should get it.

unpossible

I only get worked up over things that actually matter, like someone, somewhere, daring to entertain the idea that Chris Coghlan shouldn't be shot.

[Brownie]

I don't know, the weather's fine where it matters. Who wants to play 18?

Probably Obummer.  Amiright?

It's almost as if we live in this amazing internet age where people can telecommunicate things to people in places that they aren't currently in!

Sorry, he blasted Bush for his flyover. Others blasted Bush for attending scheduled events in Arizona San Diego -- before the levees broke -- before cutting his vacation in Crawford short.

And of course, there's this.

[CBStew]

I don't know, the weather's fine where it matters. Who wants to play 18?

Probably Obummer.  Amiright?

It's almost as if we live in this amazing internet age where people can telecommunicate things to people in places that they aren't currently in!

Sorry, he blasted Bush for his flyover. Others blasted Bush for attending scheduled events in Arizona San Diego -- before the levees broke -- before cutting his vacation in Crawford short.

And of course, there's this.

No question that G. W. Bush was unable to hear the things that he said.  But as for his flyover of a flood, what do we expect?  What do we think that the President of the United States should do in that situation?