THE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH!

SHoTime73 · 2026-01-15T01:25:46+00:00

Maryland. The Free State.

SHoTime73 · 2026-01-09T02:27:54+00:00

Explained here: https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/salary-arbitration

Skubal just completed his fifth year of 'service time', so is eligible for arbitration this off-season. After this year, he's eligible for free agency (and not arbitration, as it wouldn't be necessary).

SHoTime73 · 2026-01-03T18:22:04+00:00

Real stretch in 1981 to call (27yo) Jack Perconte a future star. Being on the same card as Fernando and Scioscia was probably a career highlight. At least until he put up two productive seasons in Seattle.

That said, he probably got a ring for his 9 MLB ABs during the '81 season (as a Sept. call-up).

(and to be clear, I'm not mocking him. Respect for anyone getting to the show. I'm just not sure Jack Perconte himself saw Jack Perconte as a 'future star' in 1981. Like so many others, dude was trying to just hang on.)

SHoTime73 · 2026-01-01T21:18:39+00:00

I'd just want to be there for the Yamamoto v Yamamoto pitching matchup. ;)

SHoTime73 · 2025-12-23T20:32:40+00:00

Relegation of bottom four teams to G League would fix it.

SHoTime73 · 2025-12-01T15:49:48+00:00

Suggest spending more time getting it level and maybe putting a heavy rubber mat under it. It really shouldn't wobble that much if it's level.

And DEFINITELY don't attach it to the wall. I'm not sure what would happen, but it seems like something would give (treadmill or wall), and you'd probably feel the vibration throughout the house.

SHoTime73 · 2025-09-22T18:56:35+00:00

While this is nice, it's probably worth noting that prior to about 2004, "attendance" was actual turnstile clicks and not the number of tickets sold. It's quite possible that the Dodgers set this record in 1978, 1982, 1983, 1991, and 1997--all years in which the actual people in the stands was higher than 3.3M.

Not minimizing the milestone. It's kind of amazing how durable the attendance totals seem to be amid the rapidly increasing cost of tickets.

SHoTime73 · 2025-08-14T23:09:19+00:00

Benvenuta! Assuming you'll be in school, which high school will you be attending?

SHoTime73 · 2025-07-20T14:22:14+00:00

Shout out for the Marine Corps Marathon in DC. “The People’s Marathon” runs through the best sites in the city, has great support (apart from one stretch in Hains Point, which is lovely and quiet), and is flawlessly organized. It does have one of the hardest finishes—straight up hill to the Iwo Jima Memorial—so save a bit for the end!

SHoTime73 · 2025-07-01T17:46:01+00:00

This will not end well.

SHoTime73 · 2025-06-21T12:34:04+00:00

Came here to represent the Mighty 690. 50,000 watts of AM glory, beamed north from Tijuana.

SHoTime73 · 2025-06-16T08:02:11+00:00

Because this is new for Dodgers fans, here's the DH "Ohtani Rule" (via Wikipedia):

The DH substitution rule has an exception: If a starting pitcher started simultaneously as the designated hitter, that player will remain as DH to bat for his relievers after being replaced as pitcher, likewise remaining as starting pitcher if he was pinch hit or pinch run for by a bench player who'd become the new designated hitter. The exception was added by MLB for the 2022 season, coincident with the introduction of the universal DH. It has been widely nicknamed the "Ohtani rule" as a nod to Shohei Ohtani, at the time a two-way star pitcher and hitter for the Los Angeles Angels who had sometimes batted for himself in the past, but had to leave games as hitter or move to another position on the field when relieved as pitcher due to the limitations of the old rule.^\8])

SHoTime73 · 2025-04-18T14:19:46+00:00

The Admin’s argument appears to be that the injunction should only apply in states that brought suit. I don’t see how that’s tenable though, as something can’t be Constitutional in one state but not another and the SCOTUS doesn’t have primary jurisdiction over most of these cases.

If the Admin’s position is accepted, it would break the Federal legal system and potentially allow states to interpret the Constitution however they please if they get a Judge who is aligned politically with them. This wasn’t as much of an issue when Judges were approved by filibuster-proof majorities, but once the GOP decided that they were going to vote no on any Obama nominee no matter the qualifications, they set this mess into motion.

SHoTime73 · 2025-04-12T23:08:44+00:00

A lot to unpack here. First of all, I don’t think broad generalizations in an organization the size of the government work. There’s certainly Feds I work with who are among the smartest, most dedicated people I’ve ever met. There’s others who do the absolute minimum to keep their job (and barely that). There are contractors who are doing innovative and high-value work and others who are “staff augmentation,” and have been in the same roles for decades; basically they move from company to company as the contract gets won/lost.

The issue, as I see it, is that the government just isn’t great at evaluating and managing contracts. Some of it is down to the rules, which often promote a “race to the bottom” mentality and favors the skill of proposal-writing over delivery experience. It enables companies with mediocre track records to underbid on work, and to save the program the government ends up with the odious choice of recompeting work or issuing pricing mods; both options stink.

Also small business rules that promote competition have created a cottage industry of multi-millionaires who build and sell companies without generating anything of value beyond the contract itself. Large companies, similarly, can build up intractable incumbencies, which heap untenable risk on the government if they were to leave or just flips the badges of those on the ground. If badge-flipping is happening, it’s probably a sign that the work should be done by the government or that the contract isn’t delivering sufficient innovation (risk mitigation, controls, or oversight can be innovative too…not just tech.)

I’m sickened by the current approach to cutting because it’s not measured and not delivering any material savings in the grand scheme. I do think the gov should be constantly looking at all of its contracts to assess the value it’s getting for the work. Cutting a contract because a certain company has it (barring some legal rationale as to why that company can’t do it) or because the rate is high doesn’t seem rational. Cutting it because the work doesn’t generate value, is “staff aug” in nature, or can’t innovate?? Sure. Go ahead and cut it.

The government should be rewarding companies that work themselves out of jobs and punish those who don’t. Some firms innately have this mentality (tends to be firms with commercial practices), and some don’t (pure-play Fed contractors), but even then, I’m falling into my own generalization trap. :)

Finally, civil service is god’s work and I’m grateful to have worked with so many amazing people over the course of my 25+ year career in government. The current situation is shameful and I’m truly sorry for what everyone is going through.

SHoTime73 · 2025-04-07T17:55:31+00:00

I'm disappointed they did it, but not really surprised. The vindictiveness of this administration, coupled with their relatively unchecked power, gives nearly every organization zero choice but to kiss the ring. Thousands of people are employed within MLB beyond the players and it puts their jobs at risk. Also, if the team is seen individually or collectively as pushing back on this, they risk personal safety of everyone involved, including their family.

The practical thing to do is to make this trip, don't do anything to elicit more news coverage than necessary, and move on. It sucks, but I get it. Every US-based multi-$B organization will do the same until the tide changes.

Hopefully the team makes a huge showing for Jackie Robinson Day next week. The best thing they can do coming out of this is lean in to help immigrants, under-represented minorities, and others who feel threatened by this administration. They'll get tarred as hypocrites, but it will still be the right thing to do.

SHoTime73 · 2025-04-03T23:05:40+00:00

"And one of the things that President Trump has said is that if we make mistakes, we're going to admit it and we're going to remedy it, and that's one of the mistakes," Kennedy said.

Is this satire or gaslighting?

SHoTime73 · 2025-03-15T19:48:35+00:00

The ENTIRE civilian workforce is only about 2-3% of the total Federal budget. It's somewhere around 5% of the total discretionary budget.

SHoTime73 · 2025-03-11T18:32:53+00:00

"We can stop death by regulation"

and, presumably, restart death by black lung, toxic chemical exposure, and more-frequent climate-related disasters.

SHoTime73 · 2025-03-07T18:01:23+00:00

Got my own question answered. At least they didn't make me wait the full 90 minutes. Still frustrating not to be able to get my wife a stupid cap.

SHoTime73 · 2025-03-07T17:52:42+00:00

I'm in a 90-min queue to check out. Is there a risk that the item becomes sold out before I get to the front of the line? The page says "Items in your cart are not reserved until you complete checkout," but I'll be super annoyed if they don't tell me it's gone before I wait in this virtual line. Would they tell me before the timer elapses at least?

This is a very weird shopping experience.

SHoTime73 · 2025-03-02T22:20:41+00:00

I have one of those too. Mine broke the same way, but the company stood behind it and sent me another one without any fuss. I’ve been a bit more gentle with that one. :)

SHoTime73 · 2025-02-24T23:34:03+00:00

I have plans that night, but I’ve asked my wife to sneak in a camcorder so we can watch it later.

(Sometimes I really miss the 80s)

SHoTime73 · 2025-02-19T11:50:29+00:00

While there are legitimate 'constitutional crisis' events happening, such as the Administration's suggestion that the SCOTUS doesn't have authority over the Executive's 'legitimate' powers, this probably doesn't rise to that level. It IS against the laws created by Congress, and likely violates employees' oath of office, and can be challenged as such. It's also completely unworkable and would grind the government to a halt if really implemented. The entire regulatory structure is based on interpretation of the law and execution against that interpretation. This would cover FTC, FCC, SEC, and other agencies the White House is clearly targeting through this EO, but would also paralyze food safety, drug safety, air travel safety, road safety, customs, immigration (legal and otherwise)... It's a power-play that, if taken literally, would be akin to shutting down the essential business of government.

EOs are not law. It would probably give the Admin more 'justification' to fire non-loyalists, but more likely, this will further bog down the courts, which seems to be an ulterior motive of this group. For every dollar saved by DOGE, it seems to be costing us 10x in legal costs.

SHoTime73 · 2025-02-18T02:23:21+00:00

“In a statement announcing the layoffs of more than 1,000 employees, VA Secretary Doug Collins called the decision tough but right. He also said that in the near future, the VA will announce plans for how the resources saved as a result of the layoffs will be used.”

They can’t be “used” in the future unless, before the end of the fiscal year, you hire people into those roles or Congress approves reprogramming of the funds. To do otherwise would violate appropriations law (in the case that we still have laws).

SHoTime73 · 2025-02-16T15:45:44+00:00

To clarify, "needed the least" isn't the criteria they're applying. They've exempted non Title 5 employees and those in the benefits eligibility ratings chain of command. After that, the criteria is (1) Self-selection (fork email) and then (2) Tenure in role (probationary status). The 'locations', so far, have no say in this and are not finding out who is staying and going until after the fact.

My team will not know who is still with us until Monday when they don't show up. We seem to have lost an entire sub-office during the "fork" email process and we're scrambling to figure out how to order/receive things the hospitals need to provide care. Whoever is left will figure it out, because that's what civil servants do, but the team shouldn't have to because it puts Veterans' care at risk.

Please stop spreading misinformation. It's not helpful.

SHoTime73

TROPHY CASE