Guns

I'm a gun man. Well, not really, but I completely support a citizen's right to own a gun, given that he or she proves that they're mentally right and able to own a gun without needlessly slaying others.

I am horrified whenever a school shooting happens, but I am also appalled when the day after, liberal nutjobs call for laws banning citizens from owning guns. They seem to think that simply making it illegal to own a gun will prevent criminals from obtaining and ultimately using them. Criminals break they law, that's kind of their whole deal. So breaking one more law may actually make them happier.

One year ago, Australia forced its gun-owners to turn in their guns. In total 640,381 guns were destroyed and cost the government over $500MM. The Aussies thought that by destroying guns, they'd get rid of their problem. I wonder how that turned out.

Actually, I don't because I could have told the Australians what would happen before they decided to go through with their stupid little plan.

• Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2%


• Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6%


• Australia-wide, armed-robberies are up 44% (yes, FORTY-FOUR PERCENT)


• In the state of Victoria, homicides-with-firearms are up 300%


• Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in homicides-with-firearms (changed dramatically in the past 12 months)


• Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in armed-robbery-with-firearms (changed dramatically in the past 12 months)


• There has been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the elderly


• At the time of the ban, the Prime Minister said "self-defense is not a reason for owning a firearm"


• From 1910 to present, homicides in Australia had averaged about 1.8-per-100,000 or lower, a safe society by any standard.


• The ban has destroyed Australia's standings in some international sport shooting competitions


• The membership of the Australian Sports Shooting Association has risen to 112,000, a 200% increase, in response to the ban and as an attempt to organize against further controls, which are expected.


• Australian politicians are on the spot and at a loss to explain how no improvement in "safety" has been observed after such monumental effort and expense was successfully expended in "ridding society of guns". Their response has been to "wait longer".

Surprise, surprise. Here's a quote from Keith Tidswell, from the Sporting Shooter's Association, Australia's version of the NRA:

"...The best organization you've got there, the biggest organization you've got there is the NRA. We don't have an organization that size. We didn't have an organization that size, and as a consequence, we suffered. And we hope that you don't suffer..."

I'll present you with two scenarios now.

Scenario 1: Mentally troubled young man wants to commit suicide and take some people with him. He gets some loser adult to buy him a gun and goes to his school. He takes out 5 of his classmates before killing himself, knowing that none of his law-abiding classmates will have a gun.

Scenario 2: Mentally troubled young man wants to commit suicide and take some people with him. He takes his gun to class, but sees two other students carrying legally licensed handguns in his class. He just goes home and takes his own life.

Now this won't stop every crazy lunatic from playing Scenario 1, but if it stops just one innocent murder, it's worth it. Now I'm certainly not advocating selling a gun to anybody and everybody, in fact, I support tougher and more intense screening before a gun is purchased. All medical records should be considered (both physical and mental) and background checks must become mandatory. If it's a little more inconvenient, so what? Owning a gun is different that owning a TV or some other trivial item.

Oklahoma is headed in the right direction. A bill that would allow students to carry firearms on campus if they are at least 21 and are licensed to carry a concealed weapon passed 14-2 on Monday by the House Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. The bill would only apply to public colleges and universities, and is its status is being tracked by schools like Oklahoma State University.

I'm actually headed to Stillwater, OK in May to attend a national conference of student government leaders and I'm looking forward to discussing this bill not only with students from OSU, but with students from colleges and universities from across the nation.

Guns don't kill people. Pathetic and crazy losers kill people. And liberals don't want honest Americans to be able to defend themselves from these crazies.

That's A Lot Of Age

It's a video of England citizens aged 1 through 100. Some of them look pretty ragged, and they're more in the 20-50 range. The 80+ group look pretty good.

Today's Idiot: Unidentified Cake-maker

So, imagine you're a low-intelligence Walmart employee and your job is to decorate cakes with whatever words or phrases Walmart patrons want on their cake. Birthdays, graduations, weddings and every other occasion you would ever need a cake for. So today's idiot is whoever did this cake:





The lettering on that cake says:

Best Wishes Suzanne
Under Neat that
We Will Miss You

Okay. At first I didn't get it. You may not have either. Just think about it for a little while. I'll wait.

Still don't quite understand it? I'll explain. Let's go back to imagining we're a low-IQ Walmart bakery employee. A customer calls in with a cake request and you answer the phone.

“Hi this is (blank), what would you like your cake to say?”

And the customer tells you:

“‘Best Wishes Suzanne.’ Underneath that, ‘we will miss you.’”

"Alright," you reply, "we can totally do that." So you take your icing-squirter thing and do the cake.

'Best Wishes Suzanne. Under Neat that, We Will Miss You.'

Torgos Basketball: Game 4

MBAA 46, TORGOS 39 - F/OT

Having clinched a playoff berth in Week 2, and MBAA needing a win to make the playoffs, the Torgos let up a little and suffered their first loss of the year. Jaryd again led the team in points with 11 as the Torgos battled through a very physical battle. MBAA racked up 20 fouls, a RecSports record. The Torgos struggled on the boards and were heartily out-rebounded yet stayed in the game. With under a minute left in regulation and MBAA leading by one, Logan had a shot swatted and MBAA made an easy layup. With time winding down, Roberto hit a huge three with under 20 seconds left. MBAA held for the final shot and missed, sending the game to overtime. MBAA hit two quick baskets in overtime and never looked back, outscoring the Torgos 7 to 1 in the extra time.

My final line was 15 minutes, 5 points (1-2 FG, 2-2 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal.

My regular season averages were 11 minutes, 2.3ppg, 5rpg, 2.3apg and 1.8spg

A New Look

Thought it was time for the blog to undergo a makeover.

Nothing new really going on with me. Found this new, sweet room for RHA meetings. It seats 61 people (always with the "1" in Cornell). The seats are arranged in 5 rows of a stadium-seating, semi-circle with an aisle down the middle. There's a sound system, projector and a camera projector. It's ideal for Congress meetings and Tanner and I instituted a seating chart to improve efficiency.


Just mirror-image this and picture a sweet projector in front

Good night.

2008 RHA Election Results

A win for Bobby Wood and Nathaniel Ballance! For the second year in a row, I was part of the winning slate in the Residence Halls Association elections. Two weeks of frantic campaigning culminated this week with voting on Thursday, February 21. The following day brought the annual RHA Banquet. After a delicious dinner and some delightful speeches (keynote: Kirsten Kennedy) the results were announced. This year's results were to be close, we were told, and there was a distinct possibility that we would lose. But that wasn't the case. Bobby and I won and dancing ensued. We stayed for awhile, but left around nine or ten to go out and celebrate three generations of RHA Presidents. Finally putting some pictures up on this blog.


Justin & I


Myself, Marissa and Justin


Just after the election results announcement


Bobby and myself. Where's his jacket?


Justin and I are fans of awkward middle school slow-dancing


Traipsing through the snow to Tellers


Celebrating


Current VP and Pres. At least for a little while longer...


Buncha Executives Past & Present


Where's Justin's striped tie?


Emily and her boys


Perhaps a Perplexing President?


I love our treasurer


Hm...Greg you often time confuse me.


I moved seats sometime during the night


Emily said something stupid. Laughing ensues.


All around, it was a great night, albeit a bit nerve-wracking early on. If there's one thing in college that I've thrown myself into head first and come to love, it's student government. And tonight was a celebration of that love.

Pre-Spring Training Picks

I've decided to relent and make picks before Spring Training really gets underway. I want to preface this post by saying that no one should look back to these picks after the season and call them my preseason picks. I will publish a new set of picks a few days before the season starts and those will be my ultimate picks, for better or worse. Things happen between mid-February and Opening Day. People get hurt, players get traded and personnel decisions are made. Therefore, I reserve the right to change any or all of these picks. This is a very premature set of picks based on how the teams are set right now. I will change them. But here's my take as of February 21.


AL East
Boston Red Sox: 97-65
--World Series champs who didn't do anything wrong. Losing Curt Schilling hurts only if someone else goes down. Lester and Buchholz are probably better bets now anyway.
New York Yankees: 94-68
--Putting a lot of chips on The Big 3. This is a team that could easily win 100+ games, but also struggle to win 90. They're counting on rebound years from Giambi, Damon and Abreu.
Toronto Blue Jays: 83-79
--They're in a tough place. I think they should have made a move in a year when Boston's getting old and New York's banking on unknowns. Rolen helps the defense (and in turn, the pitching) but I have doubts as to how well he'll hold up on the turf.
Tampa Bay Rays: 82-80
--What? Over .500 for the never-good Rays? I like the young talent they've accumulated and I love the young talent that hasn't quite reached the bigs yet. They're definitely moving in the right direction.
Baltimore Orioles: 67-95
--They did what they needed to do. It's not going to be pretty, and it'll hurt pretty bad this year, but they'll be glad they did it in a few years.

AL Central
Cleveland Indians 90-72
--I still stand by the old truth that pitching wins. And I like Cleveland's pitching 10x more than I do Detroit's. I really think they need to add a bat before the trade deadline to put them over the top, but the division is down a little.
Detroit Tigers 89-73
--Dontrelle had a 5.17 ERA in a NL pitcher's park. Maybe he'll be more motivated in Detroit, but I wouldn't count on it. The offense is scary, but the rotation is paper-thin and the bullpen is ravaged by injury.
Chicago White Sox 77-85
--Bought when they should have sold. They wasted a lot of money and a lot of young talent to finish third. I didn't understand the re-signing of Uribe after the trade for Cabrera. Normally I like Kenny Williams, but he confused me this winter.
Kansas City Royals 73-89
--Didn't like some of their moves (trading for Callapso) but Moore's doing a good job bringing the Royals back slowly.
Minnesota Twins 71-91
--Overplayed their hand with Johan Santana and then swapped their next best pitcher in Matt Garza. Also lost innings-eater Carlos Silva to Seattle. They'll depend on some promising young pitching, but unlike the Yankees, they don't have the offense to bail them out.


AL West
Los Angeles Angels 92-70
--Stacked with pitching and outfielders. They should easily win this division
Seattle Mariners 77-85
--Bedard helps them a little this year in the fact he replaces Jeff Weaver. He'll probably leave after '09 and they traded a bunch of prospects to get him. Carlos Silva was dumb though.
Texas Rangers 73-89
--Like the direction and the farm system. Still a few years away from contention, but making forward progress
Oakland Athletics 72-90
--Yuck. Got a ton back for Dan Haren, but they certainly aren't going to win this year or anytime soon. Moneyball is nice, but hasn't really paid ultimate dividends for Beane and his A's.


NL East
New York Mets 96-66
--Johan Santana is worth about 8 wins or so for any National League team. I expect Santana to completely dominate the National League and the Mets should be the favorite to play in the World Series.
Atlanta Braves 86-76
--There should be some concern about how well the rotation will hold up, but the offense should be a go once they settle on a centerfielder to replace Andruw Jones.
Philadelphia Phillies 84-78
--They got hot at the right time last year, and I don't think it'll hold over to this year. Brad Lidge must return to pre-Pujols form to balance the bullpen.
Washington Nationals 76-86
--There's not much to get excited about with this team. They made some moves bringing in questionable character guys, but they certainly could pay off if they shape up.
Florida Marlins 72-90
--No Willis, no Cabrera, no chance. They're making strides for a new ballpark, but we may see more 325-attendance games.


NL Central
Chicago Cubs 89-73
--They'll feast on pathetic division competition and then be knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, just like last year. Fukudome won't be anything special and they certainly won't make Ryan Dempster look smart.
Milwaukee Brewers 85-77
--The pitching is hit or miss most days and they're moving their players all over the diamond. They'll be right around where they were las year.
Cincinnati Reds 79-83
--They've got some great prospects that will spend this year learning and adjusting. Just not contending.
Houston Astros 74-88
--The stripped their farm system for this? They didn't address their pitching enough and after Roy Oswalt, there's nothing.
St. Louis Cardinals 74-88
--Their starting pitching might be thinner than even Houston's. If Pujols needs Tommy John surgery, this season will be a complete waste of time. I am excited to see Rasmus in person though.
Pittsburgh Pirates 71-91
--Need a long time and a lot of moves. They should move Jason Bay and start rebuilding. Again.

NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers 88-74
--They underperform so frequently and consistently, it's almost painful to pick them. But when their pitching gets hurt in Spring Training, I'll pick someone new.
Arizona Diamondbacks 86-76
--Haren upgrades the rotation, but they gave up a lot for him. They had a lot of luck on their side last year, and will probably fall off a little in 08.
San Diego Padres 86-76
--If only Chris Young could pitch at Petco every time out. Jim Edmonds is a downgrade from Mike Cameron in every facet of the game. Except steroid suspensions.
Colorado Rockies 81-81
--Another team rolling the dice on young pitching. Another team that probably won't have the same amount of luck as they did last year. Beatdown in the World Series will probably take a toll on them.
San Francisco Giants 70-92
--They've got some great young pitchers, but no hitting. They overpaid to see Aaron Rowand's offense fall off the map and are stuck with Barry Zito for six more years.

Phil Hughes' Blog

Blogs are great. I love them. They're an excellent source for timely updates on things, although they aren't always necessarily credible sources for important issues.

But they're also a fantastic way for individuals to write out their thoughts and opinions for others to read and then provide opinions and feedback. Lately, it seems that professional athletes have been getting caught up in the hype of blogging as well. Some athletes are better at it than others. Some athletes try to be actual journalists, which they certainly aren't (like Curt Schilling) but some athletes just get it. They understand that a blog should be fun and entertaining.

Yankees 21-year old uber-prospect Phil Hughes picked up a blog a few months ago. He understands what a blog is truly about for a pro athlete. He provides a great picture of what the Major Leagues are like for me, the casual fan. He tells his readers about what he does on his off days, posts pictures of his life and interviews his teammates (including non-baseball stuff).

But the one thing he does that's awesome is he holds contests. He picks stuff that's normal to him, but awesome to fans and gives it away. A game-used ball from his first playoff win, a ball signed by the Yankees and his extra warm-up pullovers have been featured in contests so far. It's not hard to enter them, it's sometimes as simple and just posting a comment and or guessing his favorite quote from The Office. He pays to ship it to you and everything.

This is a kid who gets it. He knows he's New York's poster boy and he doesn't go around thinking he's the big man on campus. He knows his place and he's simply a kid a year older than I am doing a man's job. It's awesome and I respect him for that.

What Nate's Reading Now - Feb. 20

I peruse the the news every morning to see what's happening in our world and thought that for those of you who don't, I could share with you what I'm reading. What's Nate's Reading Now will be reserved mostly just for things I find interesting. Nothing earth-shattering or controversial, just short, fun little things I find on my daily excursions over the World Wide Web.

I love Gary Hubbel. He's a columnist for the Aspen Times Weekly and is a certified journalistic and satirical genius.He writes about a group being ignored in the 2008 Presidential race. While every candidate is pandering over special-interest groups, one is being ignored and overlooked.

Here's a nice, upstanding Mexican man. He's a hard-working 22-year old that was arrested the other day for human trafficking. Unfortunately for him, he's been arrested and deported 14 times previously. Hmm...perhaps 1, 2, 15 strikes and you're out?

This mand found a surefire way to deter his smoker girlfriend. How, you ask? Well, when his girlfriend lit up in his apartment he simply grabbed his fire extinguisher and emptied it in her face. I'm going to start carrying a fire extinguisher around with me and utilize this practice on the many smokers here. The man managed to put out the cigarette.

Bet you know a lot about the Presidents. Here's a few things you may not have known. Bet you don't know which President had an annoying habit of ringing the White House doorbell and then running off to hide. (No, it's not Dubya...)


ALBINO MOOSE!!!

What is Barack Obama?

I've been talking on and off again with people about Barack Obama lately. As a Republican primary voter, I'm not paying a whole lot of attention to the Democratic candidates or thoroughly researching their policies and plans. I only know surface information on both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, more so Hillary. This note isn't intended to berate either of the candidates, it's simply a fact finding mission.

I read the other day that there have been several faintings at Barak Obama appearances over the past few weeks. I assume it's the same thing that happened with the Beatles or Elvis. Women get so overcome with emotion upon seeing their idol that the excitement just gets the best of them and they faint. But I don't get it, apart from being an energetic and charismatic public speaker, I can't seem to see anything of substance that Barack Obama stands for.

• What does Obama stand for? And don't say "hope and change." Those are non-answers. They don't count. They're vague ideas that wan't actually do anything


• Can you tell me two specific policy initiatives Obama has proposed? See if you can get past national health care and higher taxes on the evil rich, that's nothing new from Democrats.


• Name 3 Obama accomplishments - and being elected Senator doesn't count .. there are 99 others in office right now who pulled that one off.

So tell me, my democratic and liberal friends, what exactly is Barack Obama? At this point he's not much more than a campaign speech.

Torgos Basketball: Game 3

TORGOS 44, GARVEYS 35

The Torgos were down a player tonight due to an illness to Tepper, but still managed to pull out a tough win. Jaryd led all scorers for the Torgos with 12 and the Torgos had three players grab at least nine rebounds. The Torgos came out hot with Mike dropping in the game's first four points. The Torgos built a 10-point halftime lead, saw it cut to 4 with back-to-back threes early in the second half then pulled away near the end. The Torgos held a 16-2 second chance points advantage and out-rebounded the Garveys 50-22. The Torgos look to end the regular season on a strong note with a win against the MBAA team next Tuesday at 11pm on Court 10.

My final line was 14 minutes, 2 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 personal foul.

Torgos Basketball: Game 2

TORGOS 43, TURKEYS 23

The game was called due to the mercy rule. The mercy rule is called if a team is winning by 20 points or more with two minutes or less left to play, or if a team is ever winning by 50 points. The Torgos shut down a second consecutive team, holding them to under 25 points. Jaryd Wilson and Roberto Ruiz led the offensive output and solidified another stout defensive effort. The Turkeys played a very loose 2-3 zone defense that Mike and Roberto routinely cut through the defense. Carl was injured (back) midway through the second half and Kyle was docked a sportsmanship point for inappropriate commentary throughout the game.

My final line was 10 minutes, 0 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals.

Analyzing the 2008 PECOTA Yankees

PECOTA (Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm) is a sabermetric system for predicting Major League Baseball player performance that was invented by Nate Silver in 2002-2003 and introduced to the public in the book Baseball Prospectus 2003. Every year, PECOTA releases its predictions for everything baseball related. Every stat for every player and team records. And they're usually insanely accurate. Last year they predicted the final records of 26 teams to within 5 games of their actual records. That's pretty damn good. So I put a lot of stock into their predictions. This year, the top of the AL East looks like this:

Yankees: 103-59
Red Sox: 101-61

No team won 100 games in 2007 so having two winning 100 this year surprised me a little. And I was further surprised when I saw PECOTA's individual player predictions. Their player predictions are generally less accurate than their team predictions due to uncontrollable circumstances, but they are still closer on average than anyone else.



Note that the DH and 1B position is a mess (as well as LF if Hideki Matsui's knee is still troublesome) so I simply went with Damon and Giambi to fill out the lineup, although it's certainly possible that someone along the lines of Morgan Ensberg, Shelley Duncan or Juan Miranda steps up and take one or both of those spots. Still, with Giambi projected to a .796 OPS and Damon to a .772 OPS, it seems unlikely those guys will bring much more than that. That Yankees lineup would score 916 runs in 2008, down from the 969 they scored in 2007, but 916 will still probably lead the Majors. Offense is not a problem for the Yankees. It's the pitching.



The wins aren't what's important here, as they are the most unsubstantial stat in baseball. Wins rely more on the offense than the pitcher. All of PECOTA's pitching predictions are middle of the road predictions. Wang and Pettitte (barring injury) will throw more innings that 178 and 176, respectively. Of note is that the best ERA is Joba Chamberlain, which leads me to believe that he needs to be in the rotation as soon as possible, and in the playoffs. Because he'll need to be limited in innings, the Yankees are starting him off in the bullpen, which I think is a good idea as long as they bring him back to starting. Some plan along the lines of this would be the ideal situation:

1. Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy would stay healthy to form the rotation. All five would be needed from the outset because the Yanks have just two scheduled off-days from March 31 through May 4.



2. Chamberlain stabilizes the area the Yankees profess offers their greatest uncertainty in 2008: Their setup crew in front of Mariano Rivera. The Yanks envision Chamberlain dominating in the eighth based on his 0.38 ERA and .145 batting average against in 19 regular-season games as a reliever last year.



3. The Yanks see the Chamberlain/Rivera tandem helping them be a dominant late-inning team over the first two months of the season. At some point in June, the Yanks would send Chamberlain to the minors for 3-4 weeks to stretch him out to 5-6 innings in preparation to be a full-time starter in the second half.



4. The Yanks hope is that over the first two months other relievers show enough fortitude/reliability to be moved into the eighth inning. Only Kyle Farnsworth and LaTroy Hawkins are guaranteed jobs. The Yanks think Girardi, who was a Cub teammate of Farnsworth for three years, might help the talented righty find greater consistency and grab the eighth inning.

And then the bullpen. Because of injuries and struggles of the starting rotation in 2007, the bullpen was abused and overused. That led to incredible efficiency and effectiveness in April and May and then resulted in a crash-and-burn during the summer and a total burnout (Joba Chamberlain nonwithstanding) by the end of the year.



PECOTA views the starting rotation as a more cohesive and effective unit this year with so many options, and therefore believes that the bullpen will rebound. The Yankees have 25 pitchers on their 40-man roster. That's a ton. They're hoping that one or two of those will stick as a reliable reliever. PECOTA seems to be high on Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez and even show some faith in Kyle Farnsworth. Joba starting out in the bullpen will help even more. And PECOTA doesn't project Humberto Sanchez as a bullpen option, but he may be able to go around August, and is more than capable of doing a good Joba impersonation.

The Yankees gave up 777 runs in 2007, and the 2008 PECOTA projections have the Yankees giving up 668 runs, 109 less than last year, and the main reason for the 9 win bump in their record.

I doubt that the Yankees will reach 103 wins this year, especially in the AL East, but they do seem to have some order and if they play their rookie cards right, 103 wins are certainly not out of the question. Either way, I still believe Boston is the team to beat in the American League this year, but the mix of veterans and youngsters in each organization will make for a very intriguing 2008 American League baseball season.

Pitchers and catchers report February 14th!

AL's Best & Worst Moves & Non-Moves

All right, time for teams that actually matter, time for the American League. They've dominated the National League for about a decade now, and it doesn't seem to be headed for a turnaround any time soon. The NL's better players keep heading over to AL teams and the American League keeps pumping out elite prospects.


AL EAST

Baltimore Orioles
Best Move: Trading Miguel Tejada to Houston. Visa and steroid problems non-withstanding, Baltimore needed to start rebuilding and bringing in a handful of decent prospects for a guy past his prime isn't too bad.
Worst Move: Doing nothing else. Bedard still hasn't been moved and if the Cubs had offered me two young arms for Brian Roberts, I'd have done it. Just ship all your guys off for prospects wait.

Boston Red Sox
Best Move: NOT trading for Johan Santana. They already had a World Series caliber rotation, and if the Yankees weren't in for him, there was no need to ship off a Jacoby Ellsbury or Jon Lester just to add $157MM.
Worst Move: I don't think they have one. Everything they've done is pretty much smart baseball. Even when everyone's least favorite loudmouth found out his shoulder sucked, they're still the favorites for the World Series.

New York Yankees
Best Move: Re-signing A-Rod. The Yankees needed Alex Rodriguez and Alex Rodriguez needed the Yankees. $275MM will most likely keep the best player in the Bronx for the rest of his career.
Worst Move: Not addressing their bullpen issue. With Joba Chamberlain looking to start and the only significant addition being LaTroy Hawkins, getting the ball from the starters to Rivera is still looking to be decided. Given, any number of the young arms could emerge as another Joba, but it probably isn't something the Yankees are too confident in counting on

Tampa Bay Rays
Best Move: Actually doing something. They started the offseason by dropping the "Devil" from their name and then spent some money locking up their young talent. They also used their extra outfielder to grab one of Minnesota's extra young starter.
Worst Move: Signing Troy Percival. He's probably not $11MM better than anything they could pull out of a loaded farm system. Maybe it'll help a little, but the dude's tossed 40 innings since 2005.

Toronto Blue Jays
Best Move: Trading Glaus for Rolen. Rolen may have the longer and larger contract and no bat, but he'll immediately help an already impressive pitching staff.
Worst Move: If there was a year that someone other than New York or Boston could win the division since the mid-90s, it would be this year. So what does Toronto do? Stockpile average-to-useless middle infielders like Marco Scutaro, David Eckstein, Russ Adams and Joe Inglett.


AL CENTRAL

Chicago White Sox
Best Move: Obtaining Carlos Quentin? The whole Brian Anderson experiment failed and Ryan Sweeney proved to be nothing as well so Quentin's as good a move as any.
Worst Move: Thinking they're a contender this year. They re-signed Juan Uribe then traded an average arm for Orlando Cabrera. They traded three prospects for Nick Swisher. And they'll still finish third at best in their division.

Cleveland Indians
Best Move: Signing Betancourt. He's been extremely reliable and consistent and $5.4MM isn't bad for two more reliable years.
Worst Move: Not adding to their offense. I'm probably talking about Jason Bay. They're weak at the outfield corners and even a Jason Bay down year is an upgrade. He's easily worth Cliff Lee and Kelly Shoppach

Detroit Tigers
Best Move: Obtaining Miguel Cabrera from the Marlins. Lots of teams talk about making a big move, but never do. The Tigers actually did. Cabrera gives them arguably the best offense in the game. Now if only Zumaya could stay healthy...
Worst Move: Extending Dontrelle Willis. That 5.17 ERA isn't going to look good once it gets through the AL exchange rate. I'd have waited until after this year to talk about an extension.

Kansas City Royals
Best Move: Moving their April 10 game from 1:00PM to 8:10PM. Now I can go.
Worst Move: Letting Arizona steal Billy Buckner from them for a middle infielder they have no room for.

Minnesota Twins
Best Move: Getting Delmon Young from Tampa Bay. The Twins had extra pitching and the Rays had extra outfielders. Very even swap and beneficial for both teams.
Worst Move: Well .. other than the Johan Debacle .. signing Adam Everett. He's just a good-glove, no-bat shortstop. But they already had Nick Punto...


AL WEST

Anaheim Angels
Best Move: Trading Orlando Cabrera. They've got a bunch of young shortstop prospects that are probably better than Cabrera. Getting a durable arm is just a plus.
Worst Move: Torri Hunter, easily. Along with GMJ2, they're paying $30MM for centerfield through 2010. And now the Angels have 6 outfielders capable of starting.

Oakland Athletics
Best Move: Gobbling up everyone's prospects. Some from the Braves for Kotsay, a bunch from Arizona for Haren and more from the White Sox for Swisher. And they still might deal Blanton.
Worst Move: Not trading Ellis and Johnson. They traded everyone else, and they want to rebuild. These guys don't belong anymore.

Seattle Mariners
Best Move: Finish the Bedard deal already. I'll tell you then.
Worst Move: Carlos Silva. Seattle is going to pay him like a #2 starter and he's probably more like a #5. Safeco helps flyball pitchers. Silva isn't one. Not even lose.

Texas Rangers
Best move: Stockpiling one-year contracts. They won't compete, but they'll stay respectable until that farm system starts paying dividends.
Worst Move: Hanging onto Hank Blalock. Chris Davis is quickly approaching. Move Blalock now for a prospect or two. San Francisco or Philly would give up a decent prospect for this guy.

Torgos Basketball

TORGOS 27, GRIFFINS 24

This semester I have ventured into the world of intramural basketball. My roommate and I joined our friends to form an 8-man team, The Torgos. Now, I won't claim to be a great basketball player, I won't even claim to be good. Actually, I'm pretty bad. But I like playing. So I figured if I joined a team I'd see a few trash minutes to run around and guard someone. On a team of eight, I'm probably the sixth or seventh best player. We play two 20-minute halves in a game with a continuous clock.

The Torgos focus mainly on their defense and we sacrifice a little offense in the process. We certainly aren't going to be putting up 50 points a game, but we're going to make every team we play work for their points. We play a 2-3 zone defense that forces a team to settle for tough outside shots.

We opened tonight's game against the Griffins strong and built an 18-8 halftime lead. I played three minutes in the first half missing my only shot, grabbing one rebound and dishing out one assist. We struggled in the second half, allowing the Griffins to pull within one point, 25-24 late in the game. After we inbounded the ball, they fouled us and Carl sank both free throws with 19 seconds left. We prevented a shot until they were forced to heave up a desperate 3-point attempt which wasn't close and we won 27-24.

My final line was 6 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, one assist and zero turnovers.

Just A Quick Thought

Alright. Sometimes Nate just decides he's bored and pages through old US Supreme Court cases. No reason other than things like this interest me. I found one this morning that got me to thinking.

In the case of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Robert P. Casey, the Supreme Court ruled that if a woman having a baby decides to have an abortion, she is freed from any legal obligation to tell the father about it. However, if the woman decides to keep the baby to collect child support, she can by all means go out and try and get it.

I won't discuss my opinion on abortion and how despicable it is, but how is this fair? I understand that men don't get pregnant, but part of that unborn child is his, he helped create it. The fact that the father has no legal say in what happens to his own unborn child is deplorable. But if the woman wants him to pay for the entire rearing of the child, even if she won't let him see the kid, is fine by the Supreme Court.

They claim that telling the father ("spousal notification") places an undue burden on a woman's rights and liberties. Excuse me, but what about the man's rights and liberties. The woman doesn't have a baby without the man (and vice versa, of course). I know that there are a ton of "dead-beat" dads in America that leave women completely alone with the child, but there are upstanding men out there that want to be fathers as well.

To allow a woman to make a decision as big as killing a child without even informing or consulting the father of the child infuriates me. But perhaps I'm just a stupid conservative.

The NL's Best (And Worst) Moves (and Non-Moves)

With the Johan Santana saga finally resolved the other day, I'm assuming all of the teams are done dealing. Now it's about time for pitchers and catchers to report. I've decided to look at each team's offseason move and finger their best and worst move. So here's the National League. I'll do the American League later on because as the dominant and more significant league, they deserve more of my attention. I know you're all looking forward to my picks, but those don't come until the day before the first game.


NL EAST

Atlanta Braves
Best Move: Trading Edgar Renteria to Detroit. They added two guys who will eventually make a major-league impact and opened short for Yunel Escobar.
Worst Move: Trading for Mark Kotsay. He probably won't be healthy and they don't have a ready-made solution if he goes down. They have a handful of good centerfield prospects, but they're all a year or more away.

New York Mets
Best Move: Trading for Johan Santana. Duh. And what makes it better is that the Yankees and Red Sox didn't want him, so the Mets didn't have to part with their best prospects or anyone that would be on their major league club this year. They stripped their farm system to thin levels, but they'll be the National League favorites.
Worst Move: Trading Lastings Milledge. For who? Ryan Church and Brian Schneider. Two guys who haven't been even good in a few years.

Florida Marlins
Best Move: Trading Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit. I hate the way Florida operates it's team, but if you're going to do it, getting a top 10 hitting and pitching prospect in baseball (along with a lot more) is the way to go.
Worst Move: Trading Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Detroit. It helps for 2009 and 2010. But not now. They'll be terrible this year.

Philadelphia Phillies
Best Move: Obtaining Brad Lidge from Houston. Michael Bourn was expendable and worth a lot less than Lidge. Pujols killed Lidge's status as a dominant closer, but he'll be a lot of help to a usually suspect Philly bullpen.
Worst Move: Re-upping with JC Romero. In July he was worth a minor-league contract and after a short successful run, he's worth three guaranteed major league seasons?

Washington Nationals
Best Move: Obtaining Lastings Milledge from the Mets. A bad trade for one team is bound to be a good trade for their partner. A change of scenery will help Milledge and he'll have plenty of opportunities now.
Worst Move: Not picking their first baseman. Dmitri Young and Nick Johnson can only play first base at this point in their careers. Both a pretty good players. But they both can't play at the same time. They should have traded one of them for some pitching help.


NL CENTRAL

Chicago Cubs
Best Move: Parting ways with Mark Prior. Yeah, he had a good '03 and a ton of potential. But it was time for a much needed divorce.
Worst Move: Lack of middle infield activity. Fontenot, Theriot and Ronny Cedeno? The Cubs could do much better.

Houston Astros
Best Move: Trading Brad Lidge to Philadelphia. See Prior/Cubs relationship. Time for the separation on both sides.
Worst Move: Kaz Matsui's 3-year contract. What? Kaz Matsui can get a 3-year contract? Then I can probably demand one with a player option. He's no better than Chris Burke or Mark Loretta. But he is more expensive.

Cincinnati Reds
Best Move: Trading Josh Hamilton to Texas. They made room for Jay Bruce and strengthened their weak pitching staff.
Worst Move: Signing Francisco Cordero. Cincinnati isn't going anywhere this year or next, so why waste your money on a high-priced closer when you don't need one?

St. Louis Cardinals
Best Move: Uhh...I'm struggling with one here. They needed to trade Edmonds as he was a few years removed from being a threat at the plate and is still an overrated fielder. I'll settle on claiming Brian Barton in the Rule V. Solid player and lets Colby Rasmus get a shot in center.
Worst Move: If Rolen and LaRussa weren't babies, I'd have picked this one. But Rolen needed out. So signing Aaron Miles is a worse move. He'll take time away from Brendan Ryan, who they need to see if he's as good as he showed last year (I don't think so).

Milwaukee Brewers
Best Move: Signed CF Mike Cameron. Even considering his 25-game suspension to open the season, come May, the Brewers defense improves immensely. Cameron's addition enables the Brewers to move Bill Hall back to third and shift Ryan Braun's .898 fielding percentage to left.
Worst Move: Signing Eric Gagne. In a panic move after the lost Francisco Cordero, the Brewers got a closer who hasn't come close to approaching his 2002-2004 numbers.


NL WEST

Arizona Diamondbacks
Best Move: Obtaining Dan Haren. They moved quite a few pieces for him, but they were all expendable, and Haren will probably help them more the next three years than any of the pieces they moved.
Worst Move: I don't think I dislike any of their moves. Maybe moving Valverde, but he's much too inconsistent to not trade him for the old reliable Chad Qualls and change.

Colorado Rockies
Best Move: Signing Troy Tulowitzki to a six-year deal, with an option. He's really good and now his arbitration years and then some are bought out. Great deal for both sides.
Worst Move: Signing Kip Wells for $3.1 million. It's only a one-year deal, but it's Kip Wells.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Best Move: Signing Hiroki Kuorda. Instead of giving up their farm system for a Santana, Haren or Bedard or shelling out upwards of $50 million for Carlos Silva, they took a risk here. But it's a good one.
Worst Move: Signing Juan Pierre last year. With Kemp, Ethier and now Jones, Pierre is at the bottom of the depth chart. It hurts this year too.

San Diego Padres
Best move: Signing Maddux, Wolf and Prior to one-year deals. If they work out, great, if not, no long-term damage done.
Worst Move: Trading for Jim Edmonds. He's a very overrated defensive centerfielder, who won't be getting any better in a huge outfield and his offense has been slipping for four straight years.

San Francisco Giants
Best Move: Letting Bonds walk. Just like with the Cubs and Prior, it was better for both sides to move on. No one seems all that interested in Mr. Bonds now, but the Giants can finally move on not focused on Bonds.
Worst Move: Signing Aaron Rowand. The Giants aren't going to be contending anytime soon, yet they signed a centerfielder coming off a career year in a hitter's park for five years. But it's not worse than Barry Zito.

Today's Idiot: Veronica McNeil

Today's Idiot is a married woman with two children. She was recently fired from her job.

Mrs. McNeil, citing the rising gas and home heating oil prices, told CNN that money was getting tight for her family. While her husband managed to keep his job, the family was still struggling to keep their home heated during the cold Chicago months.

Awww, how sad, right? No, not really. Mrs. McNeil just purchased a flat-screen television with which to view the Super Bowl this Sunday. These are the examples that make me have to pity for the poor. When you complain about not being able to heat your home or afford healthcare, yet you make unnecessary and expensive purchases like cell phones, flat-screen televisions, car payments on fancy cars, vacations and lottery tickets.

Just because personal responsibility and wise financial decisions are lost to these people, doesn't give them the right to complain.

The "Poor" Poor

If you know me, then you know I have little to no sympathy for the supposed "poor" people living in poverty in this country. You tell me they've been screwed by big companies and evil Republicans. So imagine my outrage when I came across this article, outlining just how "poor" America's poor really are.

• Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.


• Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.


• Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.


• The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)


• Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.


• Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.


• Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.


• Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

According to the US Census Bureau, 35MM Americans live in poverty. But only a marginal percent of those are actually poor. I like this quote from the article:

The typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians."

People say that I'm guilty of generalizing the poor, and often times I do. But for those that truly are victims of circumstance I do truly have sympathy for, and support programs to help them. But to support those people who could support themselves if they sacrificed a little is asinine.

People want me to stop generalizing the poor. I want them to stop categorizing the people in the studies above that aren't poor! People don't need televisions, extra cars, fancy DVD players and designer clothes. And if having those "wants" prevents someone from having "needs" then I have a problem.