gatling
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Posts posted by gatling
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Don't forget about Steve Bono!
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8 hours ago, Tabe said:
Are corner outfielders with terrible OBPs that hard to find?
Well, ones that requires you to give up a draft pick to sign were more scarce. Maybe the Braves are looking for a new market inefficiency?
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26 minutes ago, grilledcheese said:
I'm very strongly considering taking a break from Major League baseball, but I'd just fill in that hole with high school baseball and the summer wood bat league that has a a handful of teams near-ish to me, or Modesto or Stockton or Visalia in the California League. You can't get much better than low level baseball when it comes to fun factor and watching young guys really get started on a professional career.
MLB (the league itself) has shown me time and time again that they have no interest in cleaning up the game in any meaningful way, be it about steroids or international signing or DV issues or cameras in CF to feed batters the pitch. All of these things make me think baseball sucks, and that is a hard thing to swallow for me, because of the really special feelings I have for the game. So I'll ditch the Bigs for a while and supplement my need for baseball with the lowest levels of the game. I have a little league team to coach coming up at the start of March, so I'll use that to keep my eyes on baseball.
Fuck the Bigs for right now.
I say go watch a bunch of Ports games and give me some scouting reports on A's prospects.
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@CSC I'm so sorry for your loss.
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On 12/29/2019 at 12:15 PM, Swiftian said:
I was going to create a thread on tipping but there's already one so might as well just bump.
I'm surprised to see so many people say their standard restaurant tip is 20%. Mine is 15% and I consider that to be close to my top end. Probably 18% would be the highest I would ever go. Am I cheap? Of course, I'm not from NA so have had to get used to this silly system over the years. I don't agree with it but I do always tip regardless (I don't think I've ever had a terrible enough experience to warrant giving nothing)
The reason I've brought this back up is because I'm a little sore over the tip I left last night. It was a special occasion so we went out for a family dinner at an upscale restaurant. There was 5 of us and the total came to $275. Without thinking about it I plugged 15% into the machine to give a $40 tip. The waitress could've been a bit friendlier but otherwise no complaints about the service. However, the $40 was more than any of our individual meals cost (excluding appetizers, drinks, desserts) so I essentially paid for six mains for five people.
My question is why is the tip commensurate with the price of the food? The waitress didn't work any harder than a waitress at, say, a Denny's. In fact, the latter probably works harder given how busy breakfast places can be. Yet one gets a $40 tip and one gets a $15 tip. Do high end restaurants pay their staff less on the understanding that they'll get higher tips?
@NikoBaltimore covered most of this with the quoted reasoning, but I thought I'd go a step further in that vein. Let's use your Denny's example. If you're eating a Denny's, are you ordering an appetizer before your meal? Dessert? It's certainly possible and available, but I think for most in a fast casual type establishment like that you're ordering a Grand Slam breakfast or a sandwich and fries and that's it. You're also ordering a cup of coffee or a Coke or something of that ilk, things the server will refill on their own. How many trips to your table is the server at Denny's making? Initial greeting and drink order, bring the drinks take your food order, deliver food, check on food/refill drink, drop off check. That's five trips on average, give or take a trip or two if you're a regular/in hurry or you're talking after finishing your meal and having an extra cup of coffee, etc. In the upscale restaurant(and yes, the "refined steakhouse experience" is going to qualify as upscale, it's not top tier or anything but a clear step up from Outback and Texas Roadhouse I'd be willing to bet) example you've ordered appetizers and desserts, and if drinks means mixed drinks or beer and anyone had more than one we're talking multiple trips to table, POS system, bar, and back to the table for each round, plus extra trips is anyone had coffee with their dessert/after dinner(or maybe a second cup?). You've easily doubled the number of trips your server is making to the table and in most restaurants of that level the server is at minimum tipping out a bartender but quite possibly also a bar back and a busser(or multiples of each of those positions, though the rate would probably be a bit lower then). A server at Denny's isn't tipping anyone out most likely, what they get goes in their pocket...unless they are required to report some or all of their tips as income and get taxed on them, but that's another issue. So even if the quality of the service was equal at Denny's and the steakhouse, your server at the steakhouse probably made twice as many trips to your table and had to tip out a bartender and possibly more people, so they do deserve more of a tip to begin with. The percentage based system might not be perfect but it's easy to figure and be consistent with. The only other thing I'd say is that having a range of just 15% to 18% doesn't allow much room for above average or better service. Even on a $300 tab, a 3% increase in tip is only $9 so if a server goes above and beyond and delivers excellent service you're not allowing yourself much wiggle room if you're sticking to that range.
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Sunday, December 29
NY Jets at Buffalo
New Orleans at Carolina
Cleveland at Cincinnati
Green Bay at Detroit
LA Chargers at Kansas City
Chicago at Minnesota
Miami at New England
Atlanta at Tampa Bay
Pittsburgh at Baltimore
Washington at Dallas
Tennessee at Houston
Indianapolis at Jacksonville
Philadelphia at NY Giants
Oakland at Denver
Arizona at LA Rams
San Francisco at Seattle
Tiebreaker #1: winning pargin in SF/Sea 7
Tiebreaker #2: Dak Prescott passing yards vs Washington 245
Tiebreaker #3: Josh Allen rushing yards vs NY Jets 80
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Saturday, December 21
Houston at Tampa Bay
Buffalo at New England
LA Rams at San Francisco
Sunday, December 22
Pittsburgh at NY Jets
Jacksonville at Atlanta
Baltimore at Cleveland
Carolina at Indianapolis
Cincinnati at Miami
New Orleans at Tennessee
NY Giants at Washington
Detroit at Denver
Oakland at LA Chargers
Dallas at Philadelphia
Arizona at Seattle
Kansas City at Chicago
Monday, December 23
Green Bay at Minnesota
Tiebreaker #1: more passing yards, Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins
Tiebreaker #2: Ezekiel Elliott rushing yards vs Phi 124
Tiebreaker #3: total points in Oakland-LA Chargers game 63
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Thursday, December 12
NY Jets at Baltimore
Sunday, December 15
Seattle at Carolina
New England at Cincinnati
Tampa Bay at Detroit
Chicago at Green Bay
Denver at Kansas City
Miami at NY Giants
Houston at Tennessee
Philadelphia at Washington
Cleveland at Arizona
Jacksonville at Oakland
Minnesota at LA Chargers
LA Rams at Dallas
Atlanta at San Francisco
Buffalo at Pittsburgh
Monday, December 16
Indianapolis at New Orleans
Tiebreaker #1: Total points in Ind/NO 63
Tiebreaker #2: Dak Prescott passing yards vs LA Rams 247
Tiebreaker #3: Interceptions thrown in Miami/NY Giants 3
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43 minutes ago, Craig H said:
Netflix has a pretty fun documentary up about Die Hard on their Movies That Made Us series.
Oh, and there's a Die Hard Blu Ray special edition where the cover looks like a Christmas sweater. I think it's only $6 so that's an easy purchase for me since it's only $2 more than renting it off of Google Play.
Thanks for the heads up! Ordered that and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles so I don't have to spend $4 renting it next Thanksgiving like I did this year.
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Thursday, December 5
Dallas at Chicago
Sunday, December 8
Miami at NY Jets
Carolina at Atlanta
Baltimore at Buffalo
Cincinnati at Cleveland
Washington at Green Bay
Denver at Houston
Detroit at Minnesota
San Francisco at New Orleans
Indianapolis at Tampa Bay
LA Chargers at Jacksonville
Pittsburgh at Arizona
Kansas City at New England
Tennessee at Oakland
Seattle at LA Rams
Monday, December 9
NY Giants at Philadelphia
Tiebreaker #1: Total points in KC/NE 42
Tiebreaker #2: Aaron Rodgers passing yards vs Wash 348
Tiebreaker #3: Winning margin in Den/Hou 21
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Great series of articles about the 10 Modern Era Candidates by the tremendous Jay Jaffe can be found here.
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1 hour ago, Happ Hazzard said:
If the Midnights are in the WWF in 1987 and Dennis bails, who replaces him?
Greg Valentine? He and Beefcake split at WM 3, around the same time Condrey left. Valentine didn't like teaming with Bravo, maybe he'd have been more comfortable teaming with Bobby?
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Happy Birthday Eddie!
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My wife watches Raw, Smackdown, NXT and NWA Powerrr with my daughter and I. She grew up watching WWF with her dad and brother. She's even watched a couple of AAA shows with me this year when I've checked them out.
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2 hours ago, OSJ said:
While I personally think that Jones, Helton, and Manny are really weak choices, let's discuss Jeff Kent for a bit. Kent is really an enigma, when he played he exuded "superstar" vibes as a slugging 2nd baseman in an era when he really had no viable competition. However, when we look at advanced metrics we see that Mr. Kent wasn't really all that and a bag of chips. Rather he was a good player at a position that was bereft of good players for most of his career. Once he moved to first he didn't seem nearly so special and as you point out, when we look at JAWS, he really wasn't anything special, he just seemed that way due to lack of any viable competition. I'm having a hard time thinking of another player who had the benefit of a near vacuum to perform in. I guess you could make a case for Tony Oliva and Rico Carty, both of whom seemed a lot better than they actually were due to a lack of real competition.
I don't see Manny as a weak candidate at all as @supremebve laid out an excellent case for him already. I wouldn't call Jones or Helton weak choices either, but I definitely understand people considering them borderline choices unless you're an extremely small hall type of guy(which I don't think you are). Neither were on my ballot last year(Jones would have been eleventh) but with four guys from my ballot getting in last year that opened up room for Helton, Jones, and Wagner. Helton is above the 7 year peak for the average HOF first baseman and less than one point of JAWS from the average--and as Jay Jaffe mentions here Helton ranks top 15 in JAWS for first baseman and had a top 10 peak. I think much like Larry Walker, many actual voters hold Coors Field against Helton. If memory serves you were a Fred McGriff supporter and his career OPS+ of 134 just ranks ahead of Helton's 133 mark(McGriff has the slight edge in wRC+ as well at 134 to 132)--but Helton brought much more defensive value. He's not a slam dunk candidate and I don't think he comes close to getting in this year, but with a less crowded field I think his percentage climbs. While Helton has more longevity to go with his great peak, Jones as a candidate for me is mostly about his peak and his defensive prowess. From 1998 to 2006 the only two players to average more WAR than Jones were ARod and Barry Bonds. He dropped off quickly after that, but that peak puts him as the highest ranking human center fielder not currently in the Hall of Fame--I'm mostly sure the guy with the actual best peak not in the Hall of Fame yet, Mike Trout, is some sort of demi-god. He posted more defensive runs saved than any other outfielder, 51 more than Willie Mays--even though Mays played in almost 800 more games.
I also just realized I somehow missed Scott Rolen on the ballot, he easily makes the cut for me and would rank ahead of Wagner, Helton, Jones.
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Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Todd Helton
Derek Jeter
Andruw Jones
Manny Ramirez
Gary Sheffield
Billy Wagner
Larry Walker
I've got one spot open and while Schilling probably has the numbers, I can't put him on my ballot. I'd think being a Nazi sympathizer would fall under the morals clause. Jeff Kent has the most HR at second base in history, a very shiny triple slash line and an MVP award but even with all that he's well below the average career WAR, 7 year peak WAR and JAWS scores for the average Hall of Fame second baseman.
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Thursday, November 28
Chicago at Detroit
Buffalo at Dallas
New Orleans at Atlanta
Sunday, December 1
NY Jets at Cincinnati
Washington at Carolina
Tennessee at Indianapolis
San Francisco at Baltimore
Tampa Bay at Jacksonville
Philadelphia at Miami
Green Bay at NY Giants
Cleveland at Pittsburgh
LA Rams at Arizona
Oakland at Kansas City
LA Chargers at Denver
New England at Houston
Monday, December 2
Minnesota at Seattle
Tiebreaker #1: Kirk Cousins passing yards vs Seattle 294
Tiebreaker #2: Winning margin in NE/Houston 14
Tiebreaker #3: Longest field goal kicked in Chargers/Denver 56
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1 minute ago, The Natural said:
Wikipedia says the Men's WarGames lasted one hour, didn't feel it to me. That would make the longest match in the history of NXT.
I thought it was short of an hour, I think it was 8:42 ET when the intros started and it was over before 9:36. Close to an hour, but I don't think it went a full hour.
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I loved the women's War Games match. Dakota turning was something you could see coming from a mile away but I was expecting her to come in last and attack Rhea. When she came out of the cage and turned around and attacked Tegan it caught me off guard(maybe I'm alone in that). I think Dakota's turn was handled really well and setting things up as a 4 on 2 match the rest of the way was a great twist. By far the best match of the night IMO. Kay Lee Ray took a couple of nasty bumps I thought, but all the women had their working boots on and really turned in an outstanding performance. Three way match was probably the weakest on the card but was still very good. I was hoping KO was the mystery partner but expected to be let down, I nearly jumped out of my recliner when his music hit. I hope he's moving to NXT full time.
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Currently watching "The Castaway Cowboy" starring James Garner with Robert Culp as well. It's not great but it stars James Garner so there are definitely much worse ways to spend an hour and a half.
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18 minutes ago, grilledcheese said:
I really enjoy that transposing one letter makes that nickname so insulting.
It should also be noted that 4 @ $73MM means he makes the exact same money as the deal he signed with MIL, as it breaks down to $18.25 per. Likes his chances in the AL Central as opposed to the NL, I guess? Or maybe the opportunity to DH on days he's not behind the dish. Pretty decent sock over the last couple of years, so not a bad choice to use him as such.
Yeah, Grandal just gets three extra years guaranteed and an extra $2.25 million from the buyout with the Brewers. Good add for the ChiSox. Played 153 games last year for the Brewers, starting 140 between C and 1B, could easily hit 150+ again with the DH as an option.
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Thursday, November 21
Indianapolis at Houston
Sunday, November 24
Oakland at NY Jets
Tampa Bay at Atlanta
Denver at Buffalo
NY Giants at Chicago
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati
Miami at Cleveland
Carolina at New Orleans
Detroit at Washington
Seattle at Philadelphia
Jacksonville at Tennessee
Dallas at New England
Green Bay at San Francisco
Monday, November 25
Baltimore at LA Rams
Tiebreaker #1: Aaron Rodgers passing yards vs SF 237
Tiebreaker #2: total points in Bal/Rams 58
Tiebreaker #3: interceptions thown in Pit/Cin 5
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6 hours ago, AxB said:
Jim Cornette is so dumb, he stayed up all night studying for a Urine Test.
Any chance this (or any of his other idiocies) screws up his Viceland gig for Dark Side of the Ring?
Interesting question. I think they have already been to "Castle Cornette" to film him for season 2, not sure if they'd just scrap that--would they have someone that could fill that slot in the show otherwise?
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On 11/2/2019 at 12:00 PM, gatling said:
I've got tickets for my wife, daughter, and I to see an NXT house show in Indianapolis the night before Takeover War Games. What are the odds we get the top talent that will be at War Games, or will they be at backstage at Smackdown for potential faceoffs with Raw/Smackdown talent on the go home show? I didn't realize until just a couple of days ago that this show was the night before Takeover, we decided this would be our family Christmas present this year so I'm hoping it won't end up disappointing my daughter if folks like Rhea Ripley, Adam Cole, etc. aren't there.
Circling back to this, my wife was in Indy today for a business lunch and afterwards she stopped by the Murat to get parking pass for Friday only to find out the show has been moved to March 29th of next year. About an hour later I got an e-mail letting me know about the postponement. I guess WWE put out a statement over the weekend saying the talent might be needed for Smackdown like I was concerned about. My daughter is a little bummed, but we're going to go see Frozen 2 on Friday now instead so hopefully that will make up for some of it.
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Your Wrestlers RIP Thread
in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
Posted · Edited by gatling
I'm glad I was able to go to CWF Legends FanFest in November to have the chance meet, shake hands with, and get my picture taken with Rocky Johnson. He talked about his career for 90 minutes in a special event to start the day and was there for the dinner while JJ Dillon and Barry Windham spoke, with Rocky adding a story or two then as well. RIP Soul Man. Anyone that's going to Wrestlemania should check out the three events Barry Rose of the Breaking Kayfabe Podcast(and CWF historian) and David Penzer are putting on. Among them is a sitdown discussion between Ron Fuller and Bob Roop over the Plan B tape and the Roop, Bob Orton Jr., Great Malenko, and Ronnie Garvin leaving the Knoxville territory.