Middle Buffalo

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/10-degrees-baseballs-attendance-woes-mlb-owners-rightfully-spooked-031815621.html?bcmt=1 Whenever I watch the highlights of all but a handful of teams, it's apparent that attendance is down throughout the league. Lots of 2/3 full stadiums. I suppose prices will eventually drop, but who knows?

Yeah, based on the comments below some of the articles I've read, you'd think Republicans didn't like McCain. Then, how did he get re-elected so many times and run as the presidential candidate? Democrats voted for him?

I definitely voted for him a few times for the Senate.There was a lot to like about him politically. I wish there were more like him who weren't afraid to reach out to the other side. RIP.

Robin Leach, 76. "Lifestyles if the Rich and Famous" debuted in 1984. So, he was in his mid 40s when this show peaked. That is hard to believe.

Not trying to be PC police, but I always find it odd that people have no problem throwing around "redneck" when they are talking about race. I don't see how it's different from some of the other words that are taboo. I know "gay" and "retard" were just words we threw around when I was a kid. Lots of times between friends. They were put downs, and I think we didn't really understand how those words might hurt other people. In our constantly evolving cultural language, i think people will verbalize these types of words less and less. Hopefully, it follows suit on social media. We can chalk some things up to youthful ignorance, and we can thank God our every thought and conversation wasn't archived and photographed when we were kids. People today are dealing with a whole new set of rules. I just had "the talk" with my 14 year old again just so I could emphasize the evils of social media posting. It's scary to think that something he says/posts/does as a teenager can have negative consequences for years down the line. I hope he got the message. Hopefully Kopech was just joking around with friends, and he learned a lesson. He's young. He can learn from this.

Hey, what happened to Greg?

I have older siblings, so it wasn't really necessary for me to buy music when I was younger. I just listened to their stuff (REO, Springsteen, Rush, the Grease soundtrack...). 70s stuff. The first album I bought was Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on cassette when I was in 5th grade. I don't think I bought anything else until high school. I know I had the Bobby Brown cassette with "My Prerogative," INXS "Kick," Gun N' Roses "Appetite," REM "Document," U2 "The Joshua Tree." U2, GN'R, & REM were my favorites, so I bought more of their stuff. I remember playing The Who's Greatest Hits album a ton, too. I built up a decent sized collection by joining and quitting BMG and Columbia House several times. I always paid - never tried to rip them off. First concert was either INXS (the tour after Kick) or Depeche Mode on the Violator tour. I was at the second & third Lollapaloozas, and I've seen Pearl Jam a few times. Never saw U2, GN'R, or REM in concert. Not sure why. I'm not really a big concert fan. I'll go, but it's not super important to me.

He got HBP in his first at bat tonight after 3 straight games with a lead off HR. The benches cleared, pitcher got tossed, and Jim Thome is calling for retaliation on MLB Network.

Not sure if we need a new thread, so I'll just start the 2018-19 fantasy talk here. I've watched a little of the ESPN mock draft marathon. I don't know That I get much out of it, but a little draft prep never hurts. I don't do much more than look at the lists and figure out who I want and take best available. I don't know that I'll ever get used to seeing guys like Schefter on tv looking at their phones constantly. There's really nothing that important happening that they can't afford to not be the first to report. Schefter is either looking down or pulling his phone out of his pocket and looking at it constantly.

I have no problem with the Sox waiting until September to promote their young talent. And my preference with any young pitcher is to send him to the bullpen to work middle relief for a little while just to let them get accustomed to MLB and not have days between starts to doubt themselves if they have a bad outing.

Jason Benetti is the guest on the latest Never Not Funny. I'm assuming it's the Sox's JB. I haven't listened yet. Jimmy Pardo is the host. He's a comedian, Sox fan, and native southsider (from Hometown). Jimmy, unfortunately, tends to stereotype southsiders as ignorant, but I really enjoy his podcast. Looking forward to this. Pretty surprised at the guest choice.

Amazing how far a contact lens can travel. I was putting one in this morning, and it didn't feel right. I couldn't tell if it was in. I could see, but not great. But it seemed better than without my lenses. But maybe not. I had no idea. So, I looked in the sink. On the floor. Back in my eye (maybe it folded up or slipped under my eyelid). Nothing. And I still couldn't tell if it was in. I started searching the floor again. Somehow it had fallen about five feet behind me. I don't know if it flew over my head, through my torso, between my legs,.... Whatever the case, they should start building cars and airplanes in the shape of contact lenses. The aerodynamics are unmatched.

Honestly, I have no idea what needs to be done. I used to have somewhat blind faith in police officers. That's me being a white male. Now, I don't blame minorities for their mistrust. I seriously wonder what the solution is. I suppose the answer will have to come from within the minority communities themselves. More police presence won't help if the behavior and attitudes of the officers toward minorities isn't changed. However, it doesn't really make sense that the mistreatment of minorities by law enforcement is the cause of such a disproportionate number of homicides of black citizens.

Not sure if this will hijack the thread, so mods please move if it deserves its own thread or should be merged into a Chicago specific thread... A former co-worker from Chicago lost her son to gun violence on the south side this past week. I was looking for the obituary online, and I stumbled across an article about 2018 homocides in Chicago. https://graphics.suntimes.com/homicides/ This is not meant to spark any racial dialogue, but because race was listed on the homicide information provided, I decided to count the homocide victims by race. Of 284: 16 white, 33 Hispanic, and 1 Asian. So, 230+ are black. I may be off a little on the count, but I'm pretty sure I'm close. I'm wondering what can be done to curb the violence in the black community if they as a community seem to resist more police presence? Obviously, there are real reasons for the community's distrust of law enforcement. However, how can the violence be mitigated without some police intervention?

I like Trent Reznor's thoughts on the current political environment. "But what Donald Trump is doing is concerning and infuriating — and it’s not the conservative agenda, it’s not a question of religious preference, it’s not a question of should government be big or small. I don’t have any problem with those topics. But the disregard for decency and truth and civility is what’s really disheartening. It feels like a country that celebrates stupidity is really taking it up a notch."

I made it a few seasons watching The Americans and stopped. The "disguises" were so preposterous, but I think I just lost interest overall. I'm binging Broadchurch now. Three seasons of eight 45 minute episodes. I recommend it to anyone looking for some summer programming.

Good question. I didn't even notice, and I'd like to know who/why as well.

I don't think I'd ever seen this video until I looked it up today, but I hear this on the radio from time to time. The moment Elton John comes on stage must have been chilling in person. It is when I hear it on the radio. Their two voices paired a perfection.

His HR call was great. Simple. Repeatable. Enthusiastic. Fun to say. I don't feel he's been very good for the last several years, but, much like Harry Caray at the end, it shouldn't diminish what he was at his peak. He was entertaining with Drysdale in the 80s and great with Wimpy in the 90s. It's too bad that duo broke up, but he was still good afterwards. He just never quite meshed with his partners. I'm not a fan of the homerism. Some fans like it, and I do to an extent. I want my teams' announcers to be rooting for my team. But, if a replay obviously shows that our guy was out, or the pitch was a ball, or whatever, I'd rather have our announcer admit it than act like he can't see it. There was a little too much of that for my taste. I would also have liked a little more honest assessment of Sox players' abilities. He had me convinced that Gordon Beckham would be great. I'm sure the reality for a guy who has seen as much baseball as he has is that he knew Beckham wouldn't be able to hit without some major adjustments. I liked his stories. It's too bad that the Yaz stuff and talking about Boog Powell or whoever became kind of a running joke or point of criticism for his detractors. I always appreciated his stories. Yaz was basically on his last legs when I started watching baseball, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't have known who he was. And kids who started watching in the 90s and 00s should, too. im glad Hawk was our announcer for as long as he has been, and I'm glad he gets to leave on his terms. At his best, he was pretty darn good. Hopefully he'll have at least one more big moment where he gets a chance shine again.

Is this the Wil Wheaton article JP mentioned? http://wilwheaton.net/2018/05/my-name-is-wil-wheaton-i-live-with-chronic-depression-and-i-am-not-ashamed/ I've never dealt with depression myself, but I have several family members who have. My sister still struggles with it. She had a great job, and then over time fell into a depression/anxiety state that cost her everything. Job, house, friends, you name it. The disease affects everyone who knows that person, too. What do you say? Will my sister ever be "normal" again? How aware is she of the effect this has on her loved ones? The questions are endless. As a family member, I offer my support daily. I call. I text. I email. For ten years, it hasn't seemed to make a difference. I just hope she doesn't give up. I know I haven't.

Straight out of the Big Ben/Williams sisters injury excuse playbook. I'm actually surprised he didn't let it out before the end of the series, though. He exaggerates so much every time he's fouled during a game (laying on the ground or squatting down for an extended period holding his face). Great player, no doubt. GOAT? I still have MJ. Speaking of GOATs, Durant was pretty classless when he received the Finals MVP with Bill Russell on stage. KD danced and hotdogged his way over to the trophy, then he didn't even acknowledge Russell. A little while later, someone grabbed KD and had him shake Russell's hand, but KD didn't show much appreciation for the former GOAT. Overall, Golden State is a pretty unlikeable team. I hope their run is over.

That looked like a pretty late slide. Musgrove is lucky he didn't hurt himself, let alone Baez. If that was Rizzo sliding into second, I'd probably feel like it was a dirty slide. Not sure what Maddon's laughing about, but he remains my least favorite Cub. He's just ahead of Baez and Rizzo (who I've heard is actually really approachable). There's always been something about Rizzo I didn't like, though.

So weird that Colangelo would feel compelled to do this, but it's really not much different from everyone else that has a media favorite that they feed stories and inside info to (including, I'm sure, medical stuff). Crazy that he felt compelled to start multiple accounts and follow the same people across several who are linked to him personally.

Yeah, that was dirty. I don't usually condone throwing at guys, but dirty slides seem to be commonplace for the Cubs. I think Russo should have been plunked in his last at bat.

I'm rooting for Washington (mostly for Ovi and because the first year expansion thing), and it feels very much like rooting for the Hawks. They seem a little slower, a little sloppy, a little late to loose pucks, etc. Maybe it's just a function of rooting for a team that I perceive it that way. Anyway, even the Cup winning Hawks teams always felt like that to me, so I'm not going to lose faith.