Fan in Chicago

Well if the basic premise of the post - that we would have won a few more games with tight coaching - then still having Meathead would not be a bad thing. But that means TD would be here too {I have contributed nothing to this thread}

For a change a national sportswriter presents a balanced view of the team and projections for the upcoming year. And we still find reasons to nit pick and blast him ? Apart from the Bennie Anderson gaffe, I could not find any other objectionable points in his article. We complain about the media not giving us enough respect. Given our performance in recent seasons and the question marks around several of the moves we have made, this article is flattering.

Agreed. It has been a while since we had a legitimate threat of a pass catching TE. Everett panning out gives us the best long-term option but I would be happy if Royal steps it up as a pass-catcher too.

Put them all in a 'safe house' and drop another 500 pounder ? More seriously, I was initially disappointed that he died right away and did not suffer. The video of Daniel Pearl's beheading is branded in my brain, possibly for life. Reading now that he was alive for a while gives me morbid happiness that he did not die instantly without sharing some of the physical pain he imparted others.

Not his business ? If it is related to NFL and players, it IS his business. Even if technically Ricky is not an NFL player now. Again, in what way is he way over the top ? We all want the 'don't hurt his sentiments' kind of reporting don't we ? Enough being pu$$ies - call a spade a spade and as long as he doesn't cross the line of decency in his reports, any strong language is fine. After all it is his opinion.

Whether he is a blowhard or not is not the point, is it ? Though that seems to be the way this thread is progressing. Which part of the article, quoted in the original post, do you disagree with ?

Is that a comment on your math skills or your laziness ?

As this thread has been hijacked big time, I might as well go with the flow. The outsourcing boom is not actually a terrible thing. Most of the work that gets done there would not be done by the US companies AT ALL if they were priced with local US labor. I think our day-to-day life is much better off as our companies are getting a lot more done with less resources. So you are more likely to get a human voice quicker when you dial a customer service number; your websites will be upgraded and featured faster etc. Conceivably, several years from now, wages in these countries will catch up those in Western countries and work will begin to get done locally again. It may take a while but it is very likely to happen. Second point is that in oil and gas construction companies in the US, there are engineering, drafting, estimating etc. positions going unfilled as there is a shortage of qualified people here in the US !!! Where did they all go ? They retired early or were downsized and left the profession in the mid to late 90s. So the current shortage is the fault of both employers who were quick to axe and of the student advisors who advised prospective students to not enter the technical (read: engineering) profession. A large outflow and reduced inflow resulted in a shrinking engineering labor pool. So if you want to not fall short of electricity in summer of 2007, how will the construction company build a power plant ? Get engineering design done in India/China and build it in time to avoid problems. Bottomline, everybody reaps what they sow. Hope I did not make this confusing.

I don't understand the vitriol directed at JT, especially in implicit support of Ricky. Just because there are other disgraceful players in the league does not make Ricky any less of a disgrace. Maybe at one level, you can say he is human and his decision to not play football is acceptable. But he just did not handle it correctly. He should have decided earlier in the (off) season that he was calling it quits to allow his team to plan adequately for his departure. He made it worse by later returning and 'wanting to play' when he obviously was doing it to simply relieve himself of the financial obligations. Secondly, if he did not want to play, what is he doing with the Argos ? He should have simply vanished into oblivion under the cover of his pot haze and nobody would have cared or criticized him. Lastly, I agree with Thiesman (sp?). I don't know his own personal history but unless he indulged in such behavior, I think he has earned to right to call out a player when he believes they are wrong. So there, I said it.

I am too lazy to look up the context of his statement. But just that statement is not insightful at all. How does he define 'stud' in the context of football ? A heavy person, a strong person, a multi-gap tackle ... ? It has been stated numerous times over this board that this defense is not designed for a Ted Washington type heavy player.

O great - now I am the one in need of a sarcasm antenna

Dude, the post was sarcastic {Somebody had to tell him}

Actually, I saw the Consumer Reports and replaced my Corolla with a Mazda 3 (made in Japan) last year primarily because the reliability ratings were as good as a Corolla but the 3 had more style, drivability and a significantly superior interior. Also, the Toyota dealers were too arrogant and could not get me a Matrix with stick and ABS whereas the Mazda dealer went out of his way to make sure I got the exact car I wanted. 1 year and NO issues yet - love the 3.

I have the best experience with Toyotas (Corollas specifically). But have had numerous problems with my 2000 Odyssey. Not sure what happened, but they screwed up on this one. Ofcourse, my definition is totally relative but I have had 3 automatic door problems in the first 2 years, transmission crapping out (covered by Honda voluntarily extending the warranty), EGR valve crapping out (again covered by 'extended' warranty) and several brake jobs. My Corollas have been totally trouble free for their first 7-8 years of ownership. Sorry to hijack the thread.

In what, tough guy ? Running a car company ?

Depends on their strategy - at what point is it better to make a step change in production in the consuming nation versus importing. Also JIT refers to the assembly process - reduce the time between needing parts for assembly and their delivery to the plant site. That reduces inventory & storage while streamlining the overall car assembly process.

Good one. had read the news but did not think of this.

This issue was discussed in this thread: http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showtopic=46635

What would that accomplish save for an opportunity to vent your frustration ? They are humans too looking out for the best for themselves and their families, like everyone else. I bet many of them are illiterate enough to not know what type of illegal activity they are engaging in. I am all for deporting illegals but certainly not violence against them. Violence only begets more and there is always an opportunity to think about ground-level solutions before resorting to strong-arm tactics.

Thanx, CTM. Feel free to engage me in any energy-related topic.

If you mean the oil shale deposits, I have not studied the situation much. A bit less confident here than on the other topics. I believe the reserves are indeed plentiful but technology to draw oil from it is far from economically viable right now. Sort of like the Canadian oil sands were a few years back. I have heard that with current technology, it starts being viable with oil at $120/barrel. It is chemically very messy and we might see serious efforts to improve that technology as oil passes $100/barrel. But as with everything, we will never know how much of that oil is really recoverable until it becomes atleast partially commercial. Sorry I don't know this in much detail.

I had ranted about Kennedy's hypocrisy in this thread (about 2/3 way down). http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showtopic=45441&st=80 Wind power is a bit complicated though not too much. I can write a longwinded article but will try to make it short. Building wind farms today does not make inherent economic sense compared to building a gas-fired or coal-fired power plant. What this means is that the cost is too high and the payback due to the ACTUAL electricity generated is not good. The only reason wind farms are being built in the recent past (in the US) is due to tax subsidies. I had done a quick analysis and it looks like they can make sense without subsidies if natural gas prices stay consistently above ~$11/MMBTU (currently $7.2/MMBtu). Sure gas prices spike in winter but they have to stay that way in summer (peak power demand) and most of the year to help wind look attractive. Problem with wind is that it doesn't blow all of the time (duh) and you still need a base-load generating plant using gas or coal or nuclear. Which means you are double investing (almost). While conventional plants have uptime of ~90%, effectiveness of wind plants is 10-20% (the percent of time it is actually generating what it is supposed to). Advantage is that when it does generate, you are not burning a fossil fuel thus cutting back on consumption of that fuel and not polluting the environment. Does it cause environmental damage ? Maybe, but studies from both sides of the debate are largely biased so no one knows for sure. My personal opinion is that the number of birds killed in this blender-in-the-sky is miniscule compared to natures own forces (predators etc.) I am sure a scientific and unbiased study will prove that the emissions reduced wil balance out the ill effects of a few chopped up birds. Bottom line - everything boils down to economics and wind, as of today, is not inherently economical. We are better off going with nuclear or clean coal technology (IGCC) for future power plants. Back to the topic of the Kennedy's. My beef with their protest is that on the one hand politicians start screaming for weaning us off the dependence on foreign oil (and in the future foreign gas). And on the other hand, they protest wind farms. The only reason is that instead of seeing the pristine sunrise through their sozzled eyes, they will see giant fans. To preserve their aesthetic view, they are willing to sacrifice the well intentioned efforts of those working to make Cape Cod wind a reality.

I agree. But, you know what - if we find that the dline is doing fine, the sequence will be - 'yeah but, we don't have any WRs to catch any balls', - Fix WRs, 'yeah but we don't have an oline to let the Qb throw' - - Fix OL .... You get the point.

At least I got 10 minutes worth of work done at the office.

Dang- missed 3: exports, language and immigration The CSI question may have been a control question - see if significantly larger % of people answer that question correctly compared to the other questions. (And I am a CSI fan and no I don't think it is comparable to the idiotic American Idol)