To me the craziest part of the New England Patriots 15 year reign of terror on the NFL that includes 5 Super Bowl championships, 7 AFC Championships, an undefeated regular season, 11 seasons with at least 12 wins, 11 seasons with a first round bye in the playoffs, and 11 AFC championship game appearances is that is should be more. Yes, despite all the success my beloved New England Patriots have achieved in the last 15 seasons. There is an IMO a legitimate argument to be made that the team has under achieved. It's crazy to say about a team with 5 championships in 15 years but I believe it to be true. Mainly due to cheapness and the team's inability to keep star talent. Now before I keep going I don't want it to seem like I'm ungrateful or anything, I mean being a Patriots fan is the best, I'm extremely happy that they're my team. They're responsible for some of the greatest moments in my life. They've gone from irrelevant to the most dominate franchise in all of sports. I'm just saying even with all the success they've experienced, it could and should be more. The Patriots have won 5 Super Bowls which is incredible, but the spacing is sort of strange. They won 3 in a 4 year span to begin this run (2001, 2003, 2004), went a full decade without a championship, then won 2 out of 3 (2014, 2016). To put it in perspective the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXIX when I was in 7th grade, then it took until my 5th year of college, the last year of my education for them to win again, when the beat the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX. From 2005-2013 the team came very close. In that time frame the team won two AFC championships, and played in the AFC title game in 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, and 2013. They were extremely close to adding at least one more Super Bowl win. Yes upsets happen, in 5 of the Patriots 8 playoff losses from 05-13 the Patriots were favored. The team has underachieved in some of the biggest stages. The Patriots were favored in Super Bowl 42, 2009 Wild-Card game against the Ravens, 2010 Divisional-Round against the Jets, Super Bowl 46 and the 2012 AFC Championship game. Of course every season and team is different and all face obstacles along the way, but one thing that I think has cost the Patriots is their frugalness. Bill Belichick would much rather have 5 nickels than 1 quarter. We've heard the same cliches over and over again that the Patriots would rather move on from a guy a year too early than a year too late. They've shocked fans by trading players like Mike Vrabel, Richard Seymour, Logan Mankins, Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins. They've let guys like Asante Samuel, Wes Welker, and Darrelle Revis walk in free agency. They made moves that fans would question, yet somehow, more often than not they'd work out and the Patriots would be right be in the championship mix the next season. You could argue Belichick's ability to make the tough calls is what makes him so great and has allowed the Patriots to consistently be in the championship conversation year in and year out. Apart from the dead money from Aaron Hernandez's contract, there aren't many examples of the Patriots spending big on the wrong guy. Other than maybe Adaluis Thomas they really haven't given out too many bad contracts. However they still have been very cheap and had years where they had tons of cap space to help Tom Brady and chose not to. I believe their frankly cheapness and inability to keep top talent on the roster has cost them chances at even more championships. With the deadline to franchise tag players approaching, the Patriots still have been very quiet about what their future with All-Pro linebacker Dont'a Hightower entails. Going into 2017 with 6th most salary cap space in the NFL they cannot let guys like Malcolm Butler and Dont'a Hightower walk away. They straight up just can't. They have no excuse. With 63 million in cap space they have no excuse to let two guys who should be fixtures of this defense for the next 5+ years walk away. Don't let just the stats tell the story of Dont'a Hightower because he means a hell of a lot more to the defense than just the numbers. It's everything about him. He's a winner at every level. He is one of the best linebackers in the NFL and has been responsible for two of the biggest plays in Patriots Super Bowl history. Given the make up of the team and the fact that they've already moved on from two of their most talented players Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins they need to keep some studs like Dont'a Hightower who has proven to be after Tom Brady one of the most clutch players on the team. Super Bowl XLIX everybody remembers Malcom Butler's interception that sealed the game for New England, but it was Dont'a Hightower's tackle of Marshawn Lynch the play before that kept him out of the endzone when it looked like he was going to walk in that allowed that play to be made. If Hightower doesn't stop Lynch from scoring on 1st and goal after the Kearse catch the Patriots lose Super Bowl XLIX and the legacy of both the organization and Tom Brady are forever altered. Then of course this year on 3rd and 1 midway through the 4th quarter in the midst of the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history it was Dont'a Hightower's strip sack of Matt Ryan that truly made the comeback possible. Had the Falcons picked up a first down there, with the amount of time left, I don't believe the Patriots win the game. This Patriots defense is a lot about scheme, they've made due with a lot of players who were cast offs filling the void left by stars the team decided to move on from. But at some point you need to keep your star talent. Coaching can only get you so far. Scheme is only going to get you so far. You need talent. You need to have at least a few play making studs. Which the Patriots have in both Butler and Hightower, it just worries me even with all this cap space that they may move on from two of the best young players in the game just because the Patriots think they can outsmart everybody. Tom Brady looked great this season but he's going to be 40 years old. You need to take the load off him, you shouldn't be asking a 40 year old QB to score you 30 plus points a game. We saw this season with the league's best defense (points per game wise) how much pressure that takes off an offense. Look at the Denver game this year. Brady played pretty shitty, but the Pats defense only gave up 3 points so you can survive those off Brady weeks, which I'm sorry I think are gonna happen more and more frequently, the NEED to get the heart of this defense intact. This team should be doing everything it can to make Brady's job easier, he has only a few years left, keep as much talent as possible. That was the biggest knock on this team in the years leading up to Super Bowl XLIX. Plus I just think it's a really shitty look by the team to cheap out on guys who actually buy into the Patriot way and produce at an elite level. Dont'a deserves it and he deserve it from THIS organization. Bottom line is there is no reason that Dont'a Hightower should play for another team next year and going forward. It's not like they're strapped for cash, this team can afford to reload and try to repeat next season. It starts with keeping our guys. P.S. I also want Hightower back because I have an awesome idea for a custom jersey based on his #54. BRU-TOWER. Little homage to two great #54 Patriot linebackers. Can't happen if he's gone :'(
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Song: Reminder Artist: The Weekend Album: Starboy If you missed this live last night (technically this morning) I don't blame you. It happened around midnight since The Oscars decided they needed to one-up the Grammys in dragged out award shows. I swear it felt like they started Saturday night, it felt so long. At least the Grammys have a semi legit excuse for excessive length because of all performances. What's the Oscars reason for being longer than Manute Bol? (Big L Rest in Peace) I think there were like maybe 3 songs last night. Plus it's not like they spend a lot of time on speeches (unless you're Viola Davis) It's absolutely ridiculous that they took until after midnight to finish. Have a funny monologue, give some awards, cut off people who won & achieved the highest honor in their craft thanking their loved ones who will probably never get the experience again 30 seconds into their speeches, and play a sad song for the people who died, rinse and repeat. Shouldn't take longer than a night of childbirth. The moment of course I'm referring to is when La La Land was mistakenly awarded Best Picture when it was actually supposed to go to Moonlight. Steve Harvey at Miss Universe all over again. After a solid minute plus of speeches by three different people the Academy had people on stage to give the harsh news that La La Land had falsely been awarded Best Picture thanks to a mistake with the envelopes. It was insane. I thought something seemed fishy. I was winding down getting ready to fall asleep, after a week of watching the Oscars then this happened and it was like I had adrenaline pumped into my veins. I was fired TF up, I couldn't fall asleep after something like this. They awarded Best Picture to the wrong movie. Think about the repercussions for a second. Imagine being told you achieved you're highest dream, whatever it may be, just to have it taken away. It'd be absolutely devastating. How the people associated with La La Land kept their cool and were so okay with handing over their award is beyond me and honestly pisses me off as a competitor. I could learn their names but I'm not gonna waste my time. Say whatever you will about award shows, but they are one of the highest honors these people can get in their craft. A lifetime of work was being recognized. For some I bet it was the best moment of their career and possibly life. They were told they won and were at the mountain top. Imagine the emotions they must of been feeling. Then from that, the absolute highest of highs to, "oops my bad" you actually didn't win. That's so messed up and is honestly the meanest thing I think you could do to someone. If I was one of them I'd be like "fuck that, you can give them their own Oscar, I'm not giving this back". Idk if you can still use the term "Indian-giver" in today's climate but you can't fucking Indian-give an Academy Award. I hate participation trophies and all of that culture but like for real, you can't tell someone they won best picture, literally hand them the award, let them give speeches then take it away. How they were just like "oh okay" is insane to me. I know they're people of "the arts" but how are you not a little competitive? Or upset? How can you be so quick to succeed? Put up a little fight one time for me. The bald guy was like happy to give away the Oscar. What world am I living in? This is a situation where you cannot make a mistake. So many people's emotions are on the line you need to make sure you get it right. Honestly I think the Academy should've just rolled with it. I mean I saw La La Land and thought it was alright, idk about the other nominees because I haven't seen them but everybody was expecting it to win Best Picture. It was a heavy favorite. Even though technically they didn't win I feel like you have to just give it them. It's just such a bad mistake that I think all you can do is just swallow it and act like it was supposed to happen. Imagine people who bet on the Best Picture winner, because there had to be thousands. If you bet on La La Land and ended up losing, I honestly think it'd be okay for you to get away with murder today. Worst beat of all time. Like a judge would have to understand. Just for today though, so you gotta strike now. I've had my share of bad beats in gambling back in my day, but to be a part of that would no hyperbole be the worst possible loss in the history of gambling. You literally thought you won and were ready to cash the ticket. I wouldn't be surprised if online accounts already credited people for the win before it was announced Moonlight actually won. A lot of conspiracies and same crappy jokes have been floating around the internet since this happened last night but all I know is if I was associated with La La Land I'd freak the fuck out. I do think there's a chance it was planned. Can't put that past Kimmel.
I was going to post the entire transcript from the article but it's long AF. If you want to read it www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/meet-the-texas-wrestler-who-won-a-girls-state-title-his-name-is-mack/2017/02/25/982bd61c-fb6f-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html?utm_term=.8c9c6c58ab2d
The transgender line is a tricky one to toe, but I'll try to do my best here. Long story short, a high schooler named Mack Beggs won the Texas 6A Girls 110 pound Wrestling State Championship despite currently transitioning from female to male. Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this touchy topic, Mack is a horrible name choice for this kid. Weirdly, I'm almost jealous of transgender people in the sense that they can pick their own name. I mean, it's literally how you'll get referred to for the rest of your life; it would've been nice to have some input on the situation. I think it's pretty cool that they get to pick their new name. I know he used to be named Mackenzie, but Mack is just a shitty name; I'm not a fan of transgender people taking the easy way out, either; going from like Mike to Michelle. You can be literally anything you want; you're fucking changing genders. Take the time to rebrand yourself with a cool ass name. When it comes to your name, you're just gonna do some boring switch like that? Idk, kind of lame to me. If I were going to become a girl, I wouldn't want to be like Ryanna or something. Plus, Mack isn't even a real first name; it's a nickname. The two most famous Mac(k)'s to me are nicknames. Mac from IASIP and Mack Brown. Are people gonna start getting named dude too? Anyways, Mack wanted to wrestle in the boys' division but was not allowed to because in Texas you have to compete in sports that go with the gender on your birth certificate. So basically, a girl taking steroids won the girls' state championship. I don't mean that ignorantly. I support trans people's right to make their own decision, but that's what this is from a scientific standpoint. This is just so idiotic to me I don't even know where to begin. First off, if you genuinely believe you were born the wrong gender, do whatever you want, go for it, idc it doesn't impact me. I'm a laid-back guy; I'm cool with pretty much any non-violent thing people wanna do. Even if you don't believe in the whole idea of gender dysphoria and think people are just changing gender, willy-nilly, I don't see why people care. Let people live their lives. That is unless you're the parents footing the bill. Then I can totally understand if you're upset. Are you supposed to pay for college and a sex change? Money doesn't grow on trees. How are you supposed to support a family, save for retirement, college funds, AND sex changes? If my future kids want a sex change, they better start mowing lawns. That being said let's call a spade a spade. This is a girl on steroids competing against girls who aren't; that isn't fair. Don't get butthurt that I called him a girl taking steroids because that's essentially what is going on here. If you want to identify as male and live your life as a dude, be my guest, but for the time being, physically, this is a female, taking testosterone (aka steroids) to transition to male competing against biological females. It's a girl taking steroids competing against other girls. If Mack were still named Mackenzie, this would be considered straight-up cheating. Instead, it's just run of the mill transphobia :( I feel like the easy solution here would be to let FTM students compete as males. If you believe you're a boy, play with the boys. It's wicked unfair for the girls he has to wrestle and also puts everybody in a wicked uncomfortable position watching what looks like a dude wrestling girls. It just makes me think of domestic assault, which is never good. That's just my opinion on this issue, let the kid wrestle boys. My main takeaway from this story, however, is this. Why the fuck does Texas have girls wrestling as a sport? Why would girls want to wrestle? TBH I still don't understand why guys want to. In high school, older kids on the wrestling team tried to recruit me because of my size after football ended my freshmen year, but I was all set. Yeah, I totalllly want to not eat for the week leading up to a match and get cauliflower ear; sounds fantastic! Where do I sign up? I don't understand why anybody, male or female, would want to be a high school wrestler. Wrestling is fucking gross; think about how nasty high schoolers can be? I know very well because I used to be one. Like you have to worry about ringworm. That alone should be enough to outlaw it. Sure, in football, you can get your brains scrambled like some eggs, but at least you can't get nasty ass ringworm like you're Rickety-Cricket. And your ears get ruined. No, thank you. Not worth it to play a "sport" that doesn't matter. To me, wrestling is a sport for people who didn't play real sports, very similar to cross country in that sense. Sorry to my friends that wrestled in high school. That doesn't mean I don't like or respect you; I just think wrestling is gross and stupid. Wrestling is for dudes who are 5 foot 1 that are too short to play real sports. Wrestlers will talk about the history of it and how that makes it great. I'm calling bullshit. Yeah, it's one of the oldest "sports" going, but that's just because it started before the wheel was invented, so of course, balls weren't around either (with all due respect to Mack). Over time technology got better, and people advanced. People don't drive horses and buggies anymore for the same reason; transportation improved. Same with sports. As soon as we figured out you can throw, catch, hit, kick, shoot, etc., a ball; wrestling should've fallen to the wayside. Song: Blame Artist: Bastille Album: Wild World Song: Feels Like We Only Move Backwards (Tame Impala cover) Artist: Arctic Monkeys By now most people know Tom Brady's jersey was stolen sometime after Super Bowl LI. It's supposedly worth 500K. Not a bad payday, only problem is that if you try to sell it you're probaaaaably going to get arrested for theft. Talk about your classic tough spot. Well today Tommy showed us he's been doing some investigating as he's trying to get his jersey back. When it comes to Brady's social media game I feel like a kid that knows Santa isn't real (spoiler alert) but still wants to believe. Like I really, reaaaaaally want to believe he's the one behind it, but I know my man has a team doing most of the work. Regardless of who's behind his Facebook & instagram as a blogger and more importantly as a huge supporter of all things Tom Brady the least I could do is try to help narrow down the suspects. I give you the Top 5 most likely culprits (according the evidence Brady gave us)
Least Likely: Jaws (Honorable Mention)
I really don't want to start off by getting into semantics, but I mean the odds of Jaws being the perp seem very unlikely. I haven't seen any of the movies but I'm going to assume Jaws doesn't get killed in any of them. Let's say Jaws was 10 years old in 1975 when the world was introduced to him. That would mean he's 52 years old today. Although according to my research (google) Great White Sharks can live up to 70 years. (Thought it would be way less than that, my original guess was 30) Even if Jaws WAS still alive I feel like he'd be a little too old to be stealing jerseys. Jaws is like an old killer in prison who's days of crime are way behind him. At 52 in shark years you're too busy teaching your grandkids about how to eat surfers and not get caught by Chinese fishermen. If it was who stole Terry Bradshaw's or Roger Staubach's Super Bowl jersey then maybe Jaws would truly be in the running. But between his advanced age, and the unlikely hood of being able to sneak into a locker room without getting noticed since he's a fucking shark seems unlikely. Hard to believe that Jaws did it.
Honorable Mention: Lady Gaga
It's no secret the NFL treats the Super Bowl halftime performers poorly. They've tried to get performers TO PAY to perform at the Super Bowl because of the exposer if gives. I think Gaga could be trying to get back at the NFL for probably underpaying her to perform. I've been very vocal in my rediscovered love for Gaga but she's a fucking weirdo and a wild card. She went from singing about taking rides on disco sticks to doing shows with Tony Bennett. You never know what you're gonna get with Gaga, and that adds to her sexiness. I could totally see Lady Gaga being a closet clepto a la Winona Ryder. I don't think Gaga did it but it wouldn't shock me. I could totally see her trying to do it just to do it. Nothing Lady Gaga could ever do would shock me.
#5 O'Doyle Family
I'm preeeetty sure the entire family died in a fire-y inferno in Billy Madison, but if they did survive the wreckage they are probably pretty fucked up. I'd imagine a lot of broken bones and burns. Medical bills are expensive. What better way to pay them then to wait twenty years and steal a jersey? They clearly have means to commit the crime since they have a history of theft. Said medical expenses could be the motive, but it's tough to believe those ass holes could ever afford to get into the Super Bowl in the first place.
Since they're probably dead, I can't put them higher than #5.
#4 Crab People
You'd be an absolute fool to rule out the Crab People. They're the fucking Crab People. What more do I need to say? You can't sleep on them. Plus they can take the form of anybody, making it very easy to sneak in and steal a jersey then never be seen again.
They probably put on the Brady jersey and then turned into him and walked right out of the locker room. Talk about the perfect crime.
#3 Julian Edelman
I feel like people forget that Edelman has been on the Patriots since 2009 since it took until 2013 for him to become a full time WR in their offense, but he's been underpaid and under appreciated for a very long time. He's played 8 seasons in the NFL.
Also as much as I love him, Edelman is low key not a great guy. He got in trouble in 2011 for grabbing a chick's box at a club before Trump said it was cool. He's had his trouble with the law, (charges were dropped) it wouldn't shock me to find out he was the one who stole the jersey. (Means) Jules isn't starving, but he also is not nearly as rich as you would expect. 500K to Julian Edelman is still a ton of fucking money. There's your motive. Given how close Tom and Julian are he totally could've been around him in the locker room postgame so theres your opportunity. Little 11th grade forensics vocab for ya!
#2 Prison Mike
Past Criminal Record: Check (stole, robbed AND kidnapped the President's son)
Unlike the rest of the suspects, Prison Mike has actually gone to Prison so you know he could strike again. We know prison was awful, between the gruel sandwiches, gruel sandwiches and hair eating. Now that Prison Mike is apparently free he's gotta be able to survive and not go back. You really think a guy who kidnapped the President's son is worried about getting caught stealing Tom Brady's jersey? It's like a serial killer being worried about jay walking. This is a man who's seen it all. Never been caught (ever though he went to prison). He'll do whatever he has to to survive. Don't drop the soap. Very high chance that Prison Mike stole Brady's jersey.
#1 Creepy Brady
I don't believe any of the accusations against Tom Brady. I think people want to assassinate his character because he's so perfect and is such a great winner and overall American. HOWEVER. Maybe I've been blinded by the Super Bowl rings and his stunning good looks. Maybe Brady is the bad guy people have been trying to say he is? While I don't believe Brady would ever create an elaborate plan to get sympathy after all he's gone through the last year, I'm also not putting it past him. My man did leave his pregnant girlfriend and deny me an autograph when I asked politely as an 11 year old. His exact response was "no thanks" when I asked if he'd sign my jersey when he was feet away from at training camp... It'd be an absolutely great villain move by Brady to stage the whole thing, part of me almost wants that to be what happened. Imagine that?
So that's who I think is most likely to have stolen the jersey given the evidence. Who do you think did it?
Look I know I'm in no position to be critiquing the physical appearances of other men. I sure as hell could use a lot of help. However I know my strengths and weaknesses. I'm not gonna wear skin tight clothes. With that being said Colby Rasmus has to be fucking with us right? I mean there's no way he can seriously think this looks good and is happy when he looks into the mirror? This has to be for attention and to get people like me to write shit, right? There's no way a living human with a brain willingly thought this was a good look/idea. As much as I hate the Yankees hair rules, shit like this makes me understand why they're in place. For those of you who don't know who Colby Rasmus is, he's a journeyman major league outfielder (currently on the Tampa Bay Rays) who has gained notoriety for his power, disgusting Amish beard and overall greasy redneck demeanor. I just need to know is he doing this just because he can? Or because he thinks it's a good look? Because the psyche of this man has to be in question if he thinks the Mose Schrute/Abe Lincoln look is a good one. I mean he's a major league baseball player, he doesn't have to fall into the societal norms with his appearance, we've seen guys take advantage of that with ridiculous looks in the past. Some of the coolest and most memorable players in baseball have experimented with strange hair/beard combos. Using the fact that you can have fun with your appearance has been going on in baseball for generations but none have ever been as ugly as Colby Rasmus. I feel like he showers maybe once a week. I can't imagine Colby Rasmum smelling good either. Probably why he keeps bouncing around, smelling up cities and over staying his welcome.
You know that scene in Remember the Titans when Petey is like "I just gotta know" at lunch after Sunshine kissed Gerry and wanted to know if he was gay or not. He didn't care either way, just wanted to know. I'm kind in the same spot here. I'll never like Colby Rasmus, he's a bum who's on the Rays. I hate the Rays and I kind of hate him tbh. But I just gotta know if he's trolling or not. Because at least then I could respect him for being in on the fun with this hate crime against facial hair he's currently rocking. As much as I find his beard repulsive I could at least respect the troll job. I mean I sure as hell wouldn't be talking about a guy who hit .206 last year if he was normal looking. Gun to your head do you think Colby Rasmus knows what he's doing or just genuinely doesn't care and wants to have the worst beard in the history of beards and life?
(watch that video before reading this)
I play Powerball every Wednesday and Saturday. For $4 a week I think it's worth it. Sure the odds are astronomical but with an opportunity to turn a few bucks into millions I'll take my chances. The way I see it everybody is entitled to one cheap vice. Since I don't drink coffee, I supplement that money by spending it on the lottery. Saving that money obviously wouldn't do anything, it's only 4 bucks. Plus I'm putting it back into the economy. I'm actually doing great things by playing Powerball. You're welcome. It's only $208 over the course of a year. Even to a loser like me right now that's nothing. I'll risk $208 for 104 chances at being a millionaire. When I say it like that I love my chances. Ever since it was close to a billion like two years ago I've played the same numbers almost every drawing. Can't stop now. What if the one night I don't play they hit? One of the few times I forgot to get my ticket in the last year four of my numbers hit. If all my numbers ever hit and I didn't play I'd 100% kill myself. That's not a joke. I couldn't live in a world where I lost a chance at being a multimillionaire because I forgot to stop at store. Just being honest. With the pot at over 400 million dollars tonight the Powerball is big in the news again. It's officially that point where people who normally don't play when the pot is "low" at like 68 million dollars come out of the woodwork and play since the pot is bigger. Those people are the worst. If winning the 40 million base isn't enough for you then you can kick rocks. You give me any amount of money ending in million and I'm happy. I think if you gave me $2 million dollars right now I could live off it the rest of my life just using my brain. It takes money to make money, all I need is that seed, baby. Which leads me to my main point. Anybody who thinks winning the lottery would be a bad thing is a fucking idiot. It's frankly irresponsible to spread stuff like this. Since when is being finically stable and having the ability to do literally whatever you want bad? It's the loser trophy mentality of our society. How could someone ever think winning that much money would be a bad thing? Would it be inconvenient to have to deal with family and "friends" coming out of the woodwork asking for money? Of course it would be. But you know what else is inconvenient? Being broke. Pretty inconvenient when I have to spend half my checking account on a student loan every month. Even if you have a great job you can always use more money. Money is like pitching depth. You can never have enough. Yeah money is an evil, but it's a necessary evil. Without it and it's motivating factors society would crumble. We need money and what it does to people. Competitive fire is good. Money doesn't buy happiness but it sure does make it a whole lot easier to obtain. Also anybody who says they'd keep their job is such a liar it's disgusting. That's such a line that people say just to sound like better people than they really are. I mean you probably won't have to ever actually make the decision. So they just say it because they know they probably won't ever win the lottery and actually have to follow through. But if you won millions of dollars and still worked your shitty 9-5 you should be arrested for stupidity. Anybody stupid enough to waste their life working when they didn't have to is a fool who should be locked up. You cannot be trusted. What's the point of having all that money if you can't enjoy it? What is wrong with you? Then this guy tries to be all high and mighty and start a conversation about the lottery and the bad things it has done to people. Sure there's cases of it ruining people's lives, but that's because they're stupid people who did not prepare. Yeah some redneck idiots have blown hundreds of millions of dollars. But that's because they probably didn't have a plan of action for what would happen if they actually won. If you play the lottery and don't have a plan of actions ready for when that day comes you shouldn't be playing. Because if you all of a sudden win 403 million dollars you aren't going to be thinking straight. That's why it's a good thing to have the conversation with your friends even if it's joking around about what you'd do if you won. Which leads me to my 2nd part of this blog. With the lottery at 403 million dollars you'd probably get a little more than 200 after taxes, which is more than enough to life a baller ass life, help people and set it up so your family would be set for generations. I'm not gonna give all my secrets away because TBH there's people I know who I'd enjoy seeing blow a powerball winning but for the most part we're all on the same team here. Going to end this blog with the first 10 things I'd do after winning the Powerball to ensure I wouldn't go broke and also have a sick ass life.
As part of its initiative to improve the pace of game play, Major League Baseball has approved a change to the intentional walk rule, going from the traditional four-pitch walk to a dugout signal, it was announced Wednesday. MLB has studied various ways to quicken games. ESPN's Jayson Stark reported earlier this month that MLB had made formal proposals to the players' union to usher in raising the strike zone and scrapping the practice of lobbing four balls toward home plate to issue an intentional walk. Getting rid of the old-fashioned intentional walk would eliminate about a minute of dead time per walk. In an age when intentional walks actually have been declining -- there were just 932 all last season (or one every 2.6 games) -- that time savings would be minimal. But MLB saw the practice of lobbing four meaningless pitches as antiquated. While the union has resisted many of MLB's proposed innovations, players are willing to accept the intentional walk change. "As part of a broader discussion with other moving pieces, the answer is yes," union head Tony Clark wrote Wednesday in an email to The Associated Press. "There are details, as part of that discussion, that are still being worked through, however." MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday he didn't want to share specifics of his priorities for alterations. "There's a variety of changes that can be undertaken," he said. "I'm committed to the idea that we have a set of proposals out there, and we continue to discuss those proposals in private." I love this move. It's how intentional walks have worked in video games for years. Just press the button and let the guy take his base. No 4 wide ones. Just let the ump know you wanna put this guy on and he can take his base. It's only going to save seconds per game but I still think it's a smart move and shows that baseball may finally be moving in the right direction. 99.98% of the time when there's an intentional walk, nothing exciting happens, it's just wasted time. Now that wasted time is eliminated. This is a good thing. Old baseball stooges stuck in the stone age need to realize this and stop complaining. Of all the things to change in baseball I think this is a very minor tweak that has a lot more pros than cons. You're never going to find a way to make games significantly shorter unless you eliminate innings from games. I think that's an awful idea, (Just like the idea of a man on 2nd in extra innings) so instead you need to find a bunch of little ways to take away a few seconds here or there that eventually will add up over time. They've already shortened the time between half innings which has helped. The idea of improving pace of play should be seen like Sabermetrics and Moneyball. One of the biggest changes from that was whole idea that getting on base matters, no matter how you get there, whether it's a walk or a hit. You aren't making outs which is all that matters in that philosophy. Same should be the norm for pace of play. It shouldn't matter how time is shaved off games, if it's effective and doesn't completely change the way the game is played, that's a good thing. I think eliminating the time wasted to actually throw four 70 mph lobs does not change the integrity of the game. If you dislike this move you're exactly what is wrong with baseball. The game needs to advance. Look at the NFL, they changed the extra point rules when most people really didn't think it needed a change and now has made that boring play much more exciting and meaningful. The crusty old baseball writers who want the game to be played the exact same way it was in 1917 are what's ruining baseball. Like instant replay has been in MLB since 2014. It took until 2014 to get people to agree maybe we should make the right calls on the field. The stone-age approach to Major League Baseball is slowly killing it. Despite its many successes MLB has a problem: it's losing young fans. Sure baseball is making money hand over fist, but it's old money, if they want to be relevant in 20 years they're going to need to find a way to get young people interested. They think the big problem is pace of play, that the length of a game is the biggest problem. I disagree with that. Maybe to the ADHD generation who can't appreciate the inner workings of baseball, but for the most part people find the game boring and not exciting. But real fans know, ff you're watching a good baseball game the time isn't the factor. Maybe I'm unlike the norm but I love the psychology of baseball. It's a thinking man's game. To a casual fan that is not exciting. I don't know exactly what MLB can, no should I it's not my job all I can do is give advice. Instead of trying to make gimmicks to make the game more interesting there is a simple way to fix this. Make the game more exciting and relatable to young fans by first introducing young talent to them It's MLB's own fault for not marketing its young stars properly and embracing ways to get young fans interested. Like Mike Trout is easily the best player in baseball but he's almost never nationally televised. It's kind of morbid but like look at Jose Fernandez. His death should have been a much bigger story nationally. Obviously it was covered a ton and was a huge deal in the news. But Jose Fernandez was one of the best young pitchers in all of baseball but he was not marketed that way. Did the average casual Seattle Mariners fan know who he was? Probably not. Baseball needs to find a way to make this next wave of young stars household names. They need to market to young fans and show how exciting the young players across baseball are for the next generation of fans. If baseball was able to move with the times like other sports have then maybe they wouldn't have these problems. Instead of shunning emotion on the field, embrace it. Let guys pimp job homers. If a pitcher gets a huge strikeout to end an inning, let him react how he wants. I think wanting to improve the pace of play in baseball is a good thing, but until they change their antiquated ways on how to relate to kids and make the game exciting there's always going to be a problem getting young people excited about such an old man game. |
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