Happy New Year from the South Pole! The Antarctic ice sheet moves 10-meters per year, so there is an annual ceremony to move the Geographic South Pole marker. The winter machinist makes a new marker each year, which is first revealed at the ceremony #newyears #southpole pic.twitter.com/MNkkjQcIO9
— South Pole Telescope (@SPTelescope) January 1, 2019
I’m not at the South Pole this year, but can still share the festivities. Looking forward to another 97 wins by the efforts of 237 anonymous and fungible pitching units (PUs).
Happy New Year. As I write this, there’s a float in the Rose Parade playing “Celebration.” (I think it is actually Kool & the Gang?) May we all hear that song many times in the year to come.
Happy 2019 FKers, may all our hops be as fortuitous as Stanford’s last night.
Interesting deal
So if he is Hideki Irabu the Mariners are on the hook for 56 million?
That seems awful high for a contract where you are signing up for a lot more if he is any good.
Judging by the quality of the “Redbox Bowl,” the Pac-12 Championship Game, and the 49ers in general, I think Levi’s may just be cursed for american football.
The only good event to happen at that place is El Tri getting eviscerated by Chile.
At least the National Championship Game is providing some points, which neither the Pac-12 game nor the Redbox Bowl could do. It’s in keeping with the tradition of lousy games though.
I loved Little Wayne as the Hamburgler though.
Now begins the time of year where I have no idea what day, month, or year it is. All I know is that’s it’s cold.
I really lost track between Christmas and New Years. Back at work today, which gives a better perspective. And it’s surprisingly un-cold!
Having already vanquished the batgirls and the Eds, tonight the Tar Heel nonconference tour de kraut continues as the andeuxs visit Chapel Hill.
That seems like it could be a mismatch. (Or not. Albeit they possess the might, nonetheless we have the will.)
I saw that the Eds also lost to the Falwells last week.
oh, good lord. I am glad I don’t pay attention
Steve Alford wishes he could say the same.
AV WHERE ARE YOU WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THIS GUY
https://www.sjearthquakes.com/post/2019/01/02/news-earthquakes-acquire-argentine-forward-cristian-espinoza-loan
Thanks, and go As.
nothing! i don’t remember him! at all!
a quick video review says he can thread a nice pass.
did hear too that barros schelotto is going from boca jrs to LA.
the thing with him (that i’m not clear if LA is going to continue) is that he coaches with his twin brother on the bench. so it’s kinda BOGOF.
My friend just went to eureka records and got a bunch of stuff, can you tell me if he got ripped off?
i think i’ve been there. one of the better shops for used rock in buenos aires, but does it make sense to buy rock in argentina? i guess if you know (and like) argentine rock it might. i don’t.
counterpoint, they might undervalue tango and other local stuff.
san telmo fair is fun for digging.
but to answer your question, yes. if he bought something in argentina he got ripped off.
unless it was a steak. tell him or her to shut up and go here.
i should have asked earlier. They just got back.
He of he and her, was “complaining” that they were in Austin the weekend before going and was going to eat too many tacos endangering his meat consumption in Argentina
Yes, the scum announced that they hired GBS.
Also I love the Quakes social media guy.
Thanks, and go As.
Touchdoooooooown Nnnnniners
Biggest premier league match of the season about to kick on NBCSN if you are into that sort of thing.
Bad hair, good finish for El Kun.
First team to put more than one past ‘pool in the Premier League this season (though Kompany should have been off 10 minutes before the first goal).
That was a fun game.
It’ll make the rest of the season more interesting.
We can give them a good deal on some used tarps.
If I’m litigating this one I’m throwing in a third amendment challenge just for the hell of it.
After googling to remind myself wyf the 3rd amendment is I learned it’s considered the least litigated amendment.
Presumably the rebuttal is that it helps ensure a well regulated militia.
Optimistic/pessimistic prediction: Barreto has a breakout year, but the reason he gets a chance is that Profar has to play third while Chapman is recovering more slowly than expected from his offseason surgeries.
Barreto is traded for a reliever.
Thanks, and go As.
What Rashida Tlaib said was very wrong … he’s clearly a daughterfucker, not a motherfucker.
I would have gone with something with a little more content. “Blithering idiot.” “Compulsively lying sack of shit.” That sort of thing.
Easy, words like that got alexander hamilton killed
Well, they are trying?
Alberto Callaspo #35 31 130 114 15 33 5 0 0 12 1 0 14 15 .289 .362 .333 .695
Chad Gaudin 12.3 K/9!
A trigger warning would have been nice before throwing Collapso at me.
trigger warning
Chad Gaudin 0.0 BB/9!
Come for the Chad Gaudin, stay for the Jemile Weeks and his 0 SB/2 CS.
Our 40-man roster is currently Chad-less…
Pinder is still here. However, the farm system is devoid of Chads.
Christ, what an asshole.
I’ve never attended an A’s Fan Fest. I’m not really a meet-the-players kind of fan. But dang, if Bob Melvin can pass on the awards banquet for his manager of the year accolades to be there Jan. 26 maybe I should too.
https://m.sfgate.com/athletics/article/A-s-announce-plans-for-2019-FanFest-at-Jack-13518015.php
Good old MLB, trying to schedule an awards ceremony during our fan fest. No respect.
My birthday. I should have invited him to my party. It’s a BBQ feast!
Or you should move your party to JLS. Everyone likes a good BBQ
I don’t do Oakland anymore.
Heretic!
where’s mine?
Thanks, and go As.
I honestly don’t know how you can’t consider this now to be a colossal fuckup by the A’s front office.
While I hold them (the A’s) to a higher standard than I do myself — did anyone really expect Kyler to win the Heisman? It does feel the risk/reward ratio was way too high though, and not worth taking on.
Winning the Heisman may not have been seemed terribly likely by itself, but given that he was already more accomplished as a football player than as a baseball player, there were a lot of ways the pick could go wrong:
– Decides to play pro football
– Gets seriously hurt playing college football
– Plays baseball, but doesn’t develop as a hitter.
Our scouts must have loved him, because that’s a crazy amount of risk for a top 10 pick.
There does seem to be some hope. He’s still considered undersized as an NFL QB, and if he doesn’t go in the first round, I would think he’ll choose baseball.
The A’s are responsible for more than just ascertaining talent level – they need to make a full and accurate assessment of a player’s mentality and commitment to the sport as well. That includes assessing the possible change of circumstances in a worst case scenario (from a baseball perspective): Murray excelling at football and being valued as a top NFL draft prospect. Simply put, with the #9 overall pick at stake, they needed to be 100% sure the kid was committed to baseball even if that scenario occurred. We gave them the benefit of the doubt at draft time, but it’s pretty clear now that assessment was completely wrong.
Christ, even the fact that the kid was only signing if they gave him that provision allowing him to play football this year should’ve been a warning sign that he’s not committed to baseball mentally.
Murray played this perfectly. He knew he preferred football. But he also knew that he physically wasn’t a strong prospect. So at MLB draft time, he simply had to convince some pathetic team that he was committed to baseball instead as long as he was drafted high enough and still had football for one more year. A pathetic team did indeed bite on that, and he balled out this year knowing that he has financial security already, with football still an option if he completely dominated.
The A’s will probably still get Murray if he’s drafted later than the first/early second round of the NFL draft. But they’ll be getting a kid who’s lost a year of development time, and who now has to commit to the grind of minor league ball for 3 or so years when he clearly would’ve preferred the bright lights and massive crowds of the sport he wanted to go pro in instead.
Do you think Boras was part of the scheme, or was he also deluding himself that Murray was going to choose baseball? I really want to be able to blame Boras for this.
if you fly on xmas day you get to blame anybody you’d like.
Boras will pay for it through reimbursement/other.
Agents frequently represent amateurs who end up not signing their draft offers. From Boras’s perspective this is not much different than that. I doubt representing Murray while negotiating the A’s signing bonus was much of a costly investment for him, because the eventual payoff is the significant cut of Murray’s future career earnings. While obviously Boras would’ve preferred for Murray to play baseball, in the end, this is just the nature of the business for him.
Murray convincing a baseball team to draft and sign him while still retaining football as an option is a can’t-lose scenario for him. Boras loses a little because he lost his cut of that signing bonus and a potentially lucrative client. The A’s lose significantly because getting absolutely nothing from a top 10 overall pick is pretty unprecedented.
He signed the contract, Boras gets that money from him regardless.
Grant Desme quit the priesthood and is playing again. Maybe the A’s can salvage something from that draft choice yet. Although the .539 OPS in independent ball last year suggests he has a long road back.
Murray will certainly attend the NFL combine rather than spring training, and once he does that, just turn the page and move on. lenscrafters is right, the baseball contract was nothing but a nice insurance policy for him.
Note to Beaneforst: From now on only draft guys with no outside talents or interests whatsoever. Good thing Zito’s music proclivities were late blooming.
I want to know at what point the A’s are officially off the hook for the $4.6 million. Because I want that money spent on actual players.
Just about enough for one Rodney!
More happy news
MLB’s financials are just way too out of whack. The haves and have nots are going to get a much deeper division than they currently already are.
wait. did we already know the DoD pays millions of tax bucks to sports leagues to sing GBA, do flyovers, wear cammo, and have players on the field during the anthem?
Yes.
i was just wondering how that 2015 report got by me. i thought i could count on all of you!
you could make it up with some contemporaneous accounts of an up with people! halftime show if you have any.
You can count on us. Where were you?
[counts years in octobers] musta been dumpy emo times for me. yeah.
glad i could count on you tho.
The Raiders move will get much more real when I see my first Raiders license plate. The Golden Knights already have one, as do UNR/Go Pack! and UNLV/Go Rebels! We already have 32 specialty plates in addition to the standard issue “Home Means Nevada” plate. I didn’t realize we had a Nevada Values Life plate and can’t say I’ve ever seen one; maybe those are in the more Mormon parts of the state. At one point when the Legislature was Republican they approved a Support the Second Amendment plate but it has never been made available.
When we drove around the western US three years ago I was blown away by the proliferation of alternate license plates. Montana alone must have a dozen types or more. Kind of ruined the license plate game.
Maybe she’ll announce at Fan Fest.
2:35 am Pacific starts for the Japan games, both on ESPN.
elcroata, we are going to need you to carry the game threads.
This pisses me off every time. They could play these at a time that works for both Japan and us (say, 1 PM Japan time = 8 PM PST) but they don’t.
Thats too late for the east coast and you know they are all super concerned with an A’s-M’s game.
The very best people
NOTHING HAS CHANGED!!! #email me
What
Of all the drama this was the part I wanted to hear more about.
right?
instagram shows, her kneehighs are alright. it’s the writing that socks.
{rim shot}
So N isn’t the Chief Administrator, or whatever his self-anointed title was, anymore? I honestly have only glanced briefly at that site in the last few years.
I did not know this. I glanced when all of this went down the other night and I was amazed at what a ghost town it is. I mean I know this isnt the time of year for hundreds of posts and comments, but it didnt look much busier than we are right now.
Someone tell Vince Cotroneo that Kyler Murray is a QB not either of those other things.
Huge win for the Sharks last night in Vegas. The Knights had won 7 straight overall and hadn’t lost in their last 12 home games. More generally they’ve owned San Jose there and of course knocked the Sharks out of last year’s playoffs.
Sharks have won 5 straight, against some of the league’s best, and are playing their best hockey of the year.
The Mets are an acceptable landing spot for Jed. I can root for him there.
Agreed.
Also, Khrushed
The East Bay Express basically died yesterday.
The East Bay Express has had periods of greatness in my years following local media, so this is sad news. The Gammon 1.0 era was sharp. But since his return (maybe 5-7 years ago) they’ve slumped a lot and have only infrequently been relevant IMO.
In a similar vein:
https://m.sfgate.com/music/article/Maximum-Rocknroll-san-francisco-print-online-kpfa-13532895.php
Anyone know what this is responding to?
It’s from the Neville Chamberlain playbook.
Not sure I see how this makes sense for the A’s. He’s going to be in violation of the contract signed. And any team willing to sign him opens themselves up to a lawsuit. Are they seeking to make their own lawsuit murky?
If this ends up with Boras getting more money out of the A’s, of all teams, he is truly a genius.
why not. Like I think it was lenscrafters was saying, this is embarrassing for MLB. he is looking at a lot more guaranteed moneys if he goes to the NFL. He is looking at EBT eligible wages if he continues in MiLB.
there is no reason for that. not in a $10B industry.
Here we go.
HE. ALREADY. SIGNED. A. CONTRACT.
Regardless, $15M is like “top half of 1st round” money in NFL draft terms. If he declares and is taken in the late 1st or later (where he should be) he’s losing money and getting brain damage.
This is just such a colossal FKup by Beane etc.
Thanks, and go As.
Don’t think of it as Murray getting paid for breaching his contract. Think of it as Boras scamming MLB into giving the A’s extra slot money.
Honestly not sure the A’s would get anything from MLB if Murray went to the NFL.
Also, not to be a dick, but the odds are already stacked against him making it in the NFL, let alone being a high pick. I hope he fails miserably.
Thanks, and go As.
I mean that the A’s (and Boras) may be trying to get permission from MLB to pay Murray extra to skip the NFL draft.
Thanks, and go As.
Obviously not ideal to start his option clock immediately and clog the 40-man, but if he’s as talented as they must think he is to have drafted him and let him play football for a year, may as well go for it.
Todd Van Poppel is the shining example of what happens when the A’s put a player on the 40-man roster immediately as an inducement to get him to sign (instead of going to the University of Texas in Van Poppel’s case).
good for boras.
this is on the MLBPA, they are the fuck ups here
It’s kind of morbidly fun to watch a smart kid and smart agent play the system rather than getting played by it.
Lost in the Murray is the fact that we still don’t have a rotation. This could’ve been another decent option:
Old friend Neil DeMause with a thorough primer on how revenue sharing in MLB has the effect of depressing player salaries at all levels, no collusion required.
https://deadspin.com/baseball-doesnt-need-collusion-to-turn-off-the-hot-stov-1831644811
I will be rooting for the Over in the most important proposition in Sunday’s AFC Championship game: How many fingers will Tom Brady lose to frostbite?
https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-polar-vortex-could-bring-record-cold-to-this-weeken-1831771032
Chose my 10 games today, did not seem to be a problem to pick same game x2, e.g. Opening Day. I suspect folks multipled the weekend SFGs games in August, those were nearly gone (from the four allowed 2nd deck sections).
Upgrade are you watching International All Stars? It’s kind of fun having the international contestants. It really loses some luster without Heidi and Tim though. Why on earth Alyssa Milano? And I wonder what the off-camera dynamic is between her and Georgina Chapman given all the me too movement.
Yes, watching and enjoying the new All-Stars season. The bargain with All-Stars has always been getting the best talent (and often biggest personalities though maybe not quite as much this time) and losing Tim and Heidi. That Ann Fulenwieder (?) woman is just horrible in the mentor role, her advice is so bad.
Apparently Alyssa fully supports Georgina as “one of the victims too” which is a little hard to swallow, to say the least.
Also Tim and Heidi are gone from regular Project Runway forever, they say.
Sonny -> Cincy
Thanks, and go As.
Happy Halfway Through Day!
I’d like to see another Goff-Mahomes game…which means I’ll bet my Magic Beanes on Brees -3 and Brady +3.
I visited Dad (87 in a few days) and his wife (84) this week, so I’m recovering from that with a few beach days in South Florida. Will be singing “Moon Over Miami” during tonight’s eclipse.
I am happy to cast aside five decades of habit and fully embrace Mahomes and the Chiefs today.
Today wasn’t a beach day weatherwise so I was out for a long walk. I passed the Trump Palace, the Trump Royale and Trump Towers I, II and III, all 35-40 story condo resorts on the beach in Sunny Isles Beach. He’s big here. A lot of French is spoken on the beach, to match the Quebec license plates in the parking lot, but one of the snippets of English I heard on the beach yesterday was “All I care about is that Hillary goes to prison! And Bill!”
Since they are Magic Beanes and I don’t have to root for them as if they were money:
50 on the Saints -3.
30 on the Patriots +3.
10 on the NFC over (56).
10 on the AFC over (56.5).
Why I don’t bet money, Exhibit “A”.
Well I got the AFC right at least. :-/
I saw the second half of Rams-Saints in a jampacked sports bar, but there were way too many people wearing Patriots crap to consider hanging around for any part of the second game.
Patriots fans are the absolute worst.
Just like the spurs drew it up
New England gets a bullshit replay reversal in an AFC Championship game? What a surprise.
This isn’t a stellar day for NFL officiating.
Quite the ref show in Q4.
Holy Toledo, what a game though.
Oh well.
Came down to the OT coin flip. Or to Bellichik in playoffs vs. Reid in playoffs.
Go Rams.
or 1 dude lining up offsides on the INT that would have given KC the game.
Thanks, and go As.
Yeah that reversal brought the bad memories roaring back. The refs sucked in both games, some of the non-calls on Rams DBs were outrageous too. Football gets easier not to miss all the time.
Interesting read about Micah Bowie.
Yahoo Sports: Former MLB pitcher seeks financial help from players union as he fights for life.
https://sports.yahoo.com/former-mlb-pitcher-seeks-financial-help-players-union-fights-life-161546675.html