thundercleetz

Good Read and Hemsley in the same sentence, I did not think that was possible.

Strop definitely reproved himself in game 4 in the ALDS.

Just to chime in on the game last night, yes awesome effort by our guys. With Alex Len, enjoy him this year because IMO he's NBA bound after this season. He has top ten talent and from last night it looks like it could all click. 7-1 big men with a skilled offensive game, tough defense, and soft hands and touch around the basket do not grow on trees. It was reported that Len put on twenty pounds this offseason. Well it showed last nkght as he was very aggressive and dominated the TOP recruit in the country Noell. This is Len's year, I would not be surprise to see him out up some monster numbers. This is the first time I have seen a MD team with this much talent. Talentwise we did match up with UK. Turgeon used four freshmen (his entire class) in the regular rotation. Charles Mitchell is a wide body who has a nonstop motor around the basket. A little undersized height wise but he is going to be a monster on the offensive glass. Shaq Cleare is a little raw but he has monster talent and is very aggressive. And both Seth Allen and Jake Layman are shooters who can spot up from anywhere on the court, we saw that last night. And I did not even mention our two most talented payers: Nick Faust and Dez Wells. Both guys were cold last night but do not expect that all season. These guys are scorers and are great going to the rim and in transition. Wells looks like a linebacker out there. Very broad chested and thick. The guy is a load when he drives to the basket. And Faust looks like he put on some strength this offseason. That should help with his mid range game which is his bread and butter. I thought 2013 would be the year for the Terps but after last night I can see that this team is going to be very competitive this season. Tons of talent and all these guys have bought into Turgeons system. It is still early but going but to my original post, Turgeon is building a powerhouse in College Park where all of the top recruits will want to come.

You also don't mess up the development of a once in a generation talent like Manny

http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=karabell_eric_baseball&id=8608202

Good analysis. What you said is the cold, hard truth for the GOP. I am a registered Republican, but I was not happy with the Romney campaign. It led me to vote for Gary Johnson, who I feel represents what the Republicans should represent. This election was a big opportunity lost for the party. IMO, a lot of voters were wishing for a legitimate candidate to vote for. I think there was general displeasure with Obama and middle voters wanted someone to convince them to vote for him. This was the Republicans opportunity to provide that guy, but Romney was not it. If Ron Paul was 25-years younger, I think he would have mopped up the electoral votes. Romney was a candidate that was disconnected from the general voter base and represented too much of "Bush-era politics". The party needs to go back to its roots, conservative fiscal policy that is based on the constitution and not religious principals. Too much of curent GOP fiscal policy is influenced by religious ideals that are against the fabric of Constitution (anti-gay marriage, creationism in schools, abstinence education, etc.). The Tea Party claimed to be constitutionalists, but it ended it up being highly hypocritical using the constitution when it was only convenient, but denying gay people rights and failing to recognize a separation of church and state. I truly hope the movement is gone. It completely eliminated any chance of swaying the middle voter. Where there is dispair there is opportunity. I think the party has some young politicians like Marco Rubio, Justin Amash, Rand Paul, and even though he lost in MD, Dan Bongino who are fiscally conservative but are more supportive of civil liberties. Politicians who are more libertarian like Ron Paul and Gary Johnson than present-day Republican. I think in the long-term this loss will do the party good. A lot of the social issues that have poorly influenced GOP policy will be taken care of during the next four years, so in 2016 the GOP will be able to focus on what it should, fiscal policy.

He had no personal relation to the average American. Someone used the term "American Royalty" in another post. I think that describes him. After eight years of Bush, and only four years removed from Bush, Romney was too similar. The Republican party really needs to regroup. The focus needs to be focused on fiscal conservativism and opposed to such a heavy focus on social conservativism (which ends up negatively effecting fiscal policy). The platform of Gary Johnson should be what the Republican party stands for. Until they make that change they will not win another presidential election for a long time.

I think even John's loyalty does not go as far as him losing his own job. I am sure if they said fire Cam or we fire you Cam would be fired in two second.

I am not saying we should or would do this, but hypothetically, do you guys think the O's are a Josh Hamilton and Zach Greinke away from being World Series contenders?

The guy might have natural baseball talent on the level of Mickey Mantle, but he gets headaches from too caffeine that causes him to miss a week of games. The guy just seems fragile. I am very interested to see what he gets paid. I believe he will give you four more elite years. Someone will overpay for that hoping it wins them a World Series.

http://news.yahoo.com/nj-gov-christie-call-boss-made-weep-214532990.html Here's a cool story.

When did Brian Billick retake control of the offense?

Wow another QB went down this week. The position is cursed!

That is tattoo man Ryan Roberts. I guess we can rule out Keppinger. The Orioles just claimed 2B Alexi Casilla from the Twins. From Duquette: "I think we have enough people on the roster to man the position."

I think we agree here. What I am saying is the investment should be in education and the school systems. Making college more affordable. Like you said, putting more of an emphasis on science and math in public education. I have told my wife many times, our kids are going to have science and math jammed down their throats. Picking and choosing green companies to invest in, that is not the government's job. Mindlessly throwing money around like that is a band-aid for the problem. As smart as these start-up innovators are in math and science, they have no idea how to run a company or how to work within a budget. Innovation has worked time and time in every other field in the past, let it work in the green field as well. To solve this problem you have to start from the ground up. Through innovation started in our educational institutions. Seriously, you supported the Solyndra investment? We'll just agree to disagree here on how these polcies will effect the middle and working classes and small businesses. Really no point in aruging. You said it yourself, "if people voted to protect their interests the race would not be this close" and that's what I am doing and that's what you're doing. Your comment about "moderate republicans will see the big picture and finally start to speak up against them." Yeah I can agree with that. But not in the sense of voting for Obama. I think the Republican party is hypocritical in general on a lot of social liberties when they claim to be "consitutional" (i.e. gay marriage, separation of church and state, birth control). IMO, them placing such a high priority on these issues is putting the party back 50 years, effect budget planning in a negative way, and delegitimizes the intelligence of party in the eyes of moderate and liberal voters. But to be fair, you could really say the same thing about Maryland Democrats when it comes to Senate and Congressional elections within the state and how terrible of a deficit we have had for years. I almost feel the Republican party would be better off losing this election so a lot of the social issues can be taken care of, so the parties platform will not be tied so much to constitutionally irrelevant social issues. I am not supportive of the tactics of the Tea Party movement, but I think Rand Paul is brilliant. He is really more Libertarian than he is Republican. I am not sure if you have researched him much, but the guy has great ideas. Here is why I am voting for Gary Johnson: Romney or Obama, they are simply two sides of the same coin. Both candidates are basing their recovery platforms on what their big whig economic advisors are telling them. In short, economic theory. Theory that heavily caters toward interest groups for both parties. Neither candidate has identified hard spending cuts. Sure, they said they will cut certain programs, but the intention is to spend more in other areas. Two sides of the same coin. Libertarians like Gary Johnson, Rand Paul, and Ron Paul have identified billions in wasteful government spending. Whether or not you agree with their ideas or not, they are based upon hard facts. Why are neither Obama or Romney offering to audit the fed? Seriously, who builds a budget without knowing for sure what you are currently spending? Why does neither candidate offer a constitution ammendment that requires a balanced budget every year? Simple, because they cannot guarantee whether or not their theory will actually work. They are basing everything on economic theory, and theory is not certain. Papa posted a really good link a few weeks ago with Gary Johnson responding real time to the first presidential debate. I'd check it out. Really informative.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I strongly disagree on the implementation of green technologies. I'm for a balance in current energy sources with green initiatives. A lot of these newer technologies are not cost efficient to implement. We saw this first hand with the waste of $535 million of government funding of the bankrupt Solyndra. Let the private sector research these technologies to make them economically practical. Sure government incentives for green research is a good idea, but direct investment in R&D like we saw in Solyndra is dumb. There are millions of very smart individuals in this country. Just like any other technology, when there is a breakthrough an American will find it. Look at any other technological field and see how much advancement there is in a ten year period. Implementation of green technologies will come in time when it is economically practical. I have very strong feelings about coal mining. These people have extremely tough lives and most of them only know coal mining. These skills are very specific, and there are simpy not any jobs out there for these workers with any sort of comparable salaries (yes you hear about the rich coal owners, but the workers themselves are paid a good premium for their dangerous profession). Local economies in states like West Virginia and Kentucky have been devastated restrictions against the mining industry. There is a way to efficiently implement clean burning coal technologies that would really boost these smaller communities. These are not futuristic technologies by any means. I am strongly Pro Coal and have a lot of respect for coal mining families. This industry has had massive layoffs and a lot of Midwest coal families are really struggling right now. Oil drilling I am not as versed in. Here is what I do know about oil: it is not stationary. If we do not drill in Alaska, that same oil will be drilled dry by Russia. Canada will have no problem partnering with China for their new pipeline. Is oil drilling risky? I am really not sure, I don't know much about this topic. But other counties are not going to wait around. I myself am voting for Gary Johnson. Sure he has no chance to win but his values align closest with mine, so that's what I am going for. As far as the other two candidates, I don't think our country's situation is nearly as drastic as most people paint it. We'll more than survive no matter who is elected president.

I thought you said pass them out in February?

Tampa Bay infielder Jeff Keppinger could be an option as our primary second baseman. Good defender, has versatility, and is a high contact/on base guy.

I actually like how quickly everything happens after the season ends. The season ends, awards are given out within the next few days, the Arizona Fall League is in action, and free agency starts seven days after the season ends no matter what. No wasted time here.

Congrats to our three guys! The recognition for Hardy's defense is well overdue! I like Flaherty a lot. The guy is a baseball player. High IQ (Vandy guy), he works counts, plays solid defense, and has great fundamentals. You can tell he has been coached well. I am just not so sure how high his ceiling is. If we cannot trade for Headley to play third base, and shift Machado and Hardy to SS and 2B respectfully, I would certainly give Flaherty a shot at 2B with Roberts working in slowly to the rotation based upon how healthy he is. That rotation could be a good bridge until our 2B of the future, Jonathan Schoop is ready. BTW, Schoop is doing excellent in the Arizona Fall League.The AFL is the best competition a prospect can play in outside of the majors.

Believe me, there is plenty of BS to go around in American politics. It will not matter who wins the election. In relation to the article above, I actually agree with what President Obama said in the second debate (I believe), some jobs we will just not get back. Some of the production costs in China are impossible to compete with. Instead of crying over spilt milk, the focus should be on correcting the balance of trade with China to stop the bleeding.

I had release day delivery for WWE '13 today but the deliver was delayed because of the hurricane! Blah! Dee you'll have to tell me how AC3 is. It looks awesome. I got it for my buddy for his birthday (we have a tradition where we each get each other a game for our birthday). The reviews have been good so far.

He had his chance to do that already to do that. Instead he bailed the banks and motor industry out. That was the chance to implement whatever tax reforms or to close corporate loopholes. We were already at rock bottom. If there is another market crash like 2008, the public will not be so forgiving this time around. Decreasing unemployment will be near impossible at that point. I do agree with you though: the market is due for a correction. Really whatever president that gets in there is going to be thrown right into the fire. Should be interesting to see what happens.

Here is an article from Buster Olney on a short offseason preview for all 30 teams. Here's what Olney said about the O's: http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=olney_buster&id=8568597

I guess we'll see what happens. All I'm going to say is if the long-term dividend and capital gains taxes are raised people will hoard their money like you've never seen before. You've been preaching moral restraint when it comes to taxes in your previous posts, well be prepared to be disappointed because people will utilize every legal loop hole available. And I am not just talking about really rich people, I am talking about normal people who rely on dividends and capital gains for income to survive. Add in the fact Obama wants to institute a $2,000 per employee tax on businesses to pay for Obamacare, and an already weak real estate market is going to have an additional 4% house sales tax and it is obvious why Wall Street is abandoning him. You may be right, Obama may not owe Wall Street anything. But if we experience another market drop like we did in 2008, you have to wonder what will happen? Are businesses really going to hire more people? Who knows, maybe it has to get worse before it gets better...