Try Lowering Ticket Prices

I came across this one this evening. Here are a few tips I thought of that may help...

The National Basketball Association will borrow 175 million dollars to serve as aid to teams that might struggle

1) As the title suggests, lower ticket prices. Right now, I can find the money that represents a pretty large part of the dollars coming in to these NBA teams. Fourth level tickets to a Boston v. OKC(the worst team in the league), at Boston, are about $77.00. Thats the fourth level. the nose bleed seats as they say. "But wait edgrimly, these are tickets for a premier team." That is correct. How about a match between OKC and Sacramento(another one of the bad teams.) $68.50 in OKC. That is again level 4. Try taking your family of 4 to these games, what with food and all, its a pretty big deal.

2) Stop paying millions of dollars to 18 year old children. Sure all of that money at the clubs is "stimulating" the economy. This is what rookies got paid in ought 7. Its probably more now. Paying a kid out of high school that much money is wrong on so many levels. But we're doing our best to talk the economy of the game here. Granted, in the NBA, rookies can make or break a team. See LeBron. But for one of these first 15 teams that are borrowing money, does it make sense? Granted, these salaries by no means are larger than MLB, but at least baseball has had a resurgence in the past couple of years thanks to steroids.

3) Take a tip from NCAA and play real basketball. There are a couple of teams that I could name that play real team basketball, and have for the last few years. San Antonio. And Detroit when they were good. Sure, coaches in college make a bunch of money, but they also bring it in to the school. They force their players to play defense, long lost on most NBA coaches, and do much more with much less talent. It may be hard to understand, but basketball is a team sport. Once again lost on most NBA coaches. See AI. Throwing up 30 shots per game is not playing with a team in mind.

Like it or not, this was bound to happen. Football does decent, and their ticket prices are pretty high as well. Baseball has been doing OK, despite AROD and the juice. Shit, even the NHL is making changes to get more money and stay in the black. Like it or not, you had to see something like this coming. You cant fund a national franchise on fancy commercials and shitty product alone. When some players are telling the media that they will go play in Europe for more money, you have issues. The point is, I would like to be a fan. I have been to one NFL game and numerous MLB games. I would like to watch the NBA on TV and not get pissed. But the fact is I do. Too much money and not enough product make it not affordable.

Sidekicks that Arent Cool

So this is Brewers Guy's sidekick. Hes been around a while at the daily, most recently following high school sports, before becoming a sidekick. Basically, the video is of this DB telling you what articles will be in the paper. Its quite possible that he cares about Ryan Brauns clothes more than he does baseball. Now Ive had my beefs with Brewers guy in the past, but I hope this was the papers call. And the nail in the coffin??? The backwards and sideways winter hat with a brim. You are not hip dude.

Refreshing

Instead of watching chocolate rain over and over this evening, which is the Sunday routine here in the bat cave, I decided to read about baseball. Most notably, this column by the MLB Brewers beat writer. This quote stood out right way.

You might as well put your top guy out there in that inning because the game's on the line then

I will be the first to admit that the save is an overrated stat in todays baseball. But when you have the best relief pitcher in history, you have to use him that way.
The thing that a lot of people like to say is that the bullpen was the downfall of the team last year. I say those people are dumb asses. They had something like the 4th or 5th best bullpen in the NL. That is a fact. But back to the quote...

That is new manager Ken Macha. And it is hardly a Yostian idea. See, Neddy bear had set roles, and set times when he would bring in set releivers. He did not like math, though he claimed to have it on his side. Numbers tell us that bringing in the best relief pitcher you have at the highest leverage time results more often in a win. And since hells bells(I hate AC/DC) wont be played until the ninth, there are a couple options for the new skipper.

The article goes on to focus on one David Riske. Readers of this website may remember my talk of this guy being the future closer(overrated). Well...I have abandoned those words as of last year. But this doesnt mean that the guy is not good. He was hurt, during spring camp, last year. But the numbers do say that he is a good relief pitcher. So behind the Hoffmeister, there are 3 options for good, healthy, long releif.

Not to mention the plethora of short releif options in camp, the pen looks to be better than last year, and we can all rest easy that Greg Aquino will not be serving up grand slams to the best non juiced player to ever play the game(some asshole used AC/DC for this) God I hate those guys.

Anyway, we here at NWIM like the way that the pen is shaping up. Yes I used an acronym because I cant read good. And since baseball generally comes down to pitching, that is a good thing. Not my reading habits, but the bullpen in general.

Afterbar

He is real and lives in a cabinet.

Is that you Dad?

Tryin to make a dollar out of 15 cents.

Make sure to let the 13 year-olds know.

They will get you.

Good luck saying no.

Say it Aint So

I normally dont read Yahoo! news. There are better places to learn about things. But, while checking my email this morning, there was this headline. "Worst Ever Band Re-forms." I like music, who doesnt? So I was a bit curious as to who they thought the worst bad ever was. Google is even better than Yahoo! So I searched for this steaming crap heap that people called music 10 years ago. Yes, it is true. Chopper owned Twitter(I just bought 10 million shares, so I own you now dude) confirms these people are going to try to give it another go. To be honest, I cant think of a single person that I know that ever liked these assholes. And do you honestly think that, in these trying times, people want to hear lame ass angry music? And do you think that the already angry enough man-scara(emo) bands are going to accept this crap being played next to them? On top of that, I dont think that the world needs more shitty rap metal, when the new rap and metal is all shit as well. But its cool right? After all, he banged Britney Spears. Oh, I forgot...she doesnt matter to anyone anymore either.

Note on a Scandal

I received an email from a buddy of mine who recently fled the midwest for the valley of the sun. Only to find out that he missed sub -20 temps and snow cows.

Hey [name redacted] edgrimly ive been reading your blog and you havent mentioned A-rod yet! WTF dude... i just got done watchn his press conference and im prettyn sickend! he was the first of the golden-players.... the guys that would break the records of the juicers!... anyways he is sooo full of BS..... he told this nice little story about him and his cousin juicing up for "only 30" days. how touching.... it was a family event man! dude i have more respect for recreational drug use because..."man, i just wanted to get high" ... versus...."i wanted a advantage on others that...just maybe...were betterthan me! BS! ....he was the best there was at the time who was close to him in 01,02,03? no one.... sorry you have to read this but im stewing! (too much coffe i bet)...

To which I responded...

Think about it like this. You can bet that most players with exploding numbers in the early 2000's were taking something, whether it was banned or not. Based on this, I cant really blame the guy. He was a product of his environment, and enforces the fact that most people in those 3-4 years were "enhancing their perfomance." For example, in college, I sucked at FPS games. Until I got lit like a Christmas tree. Than I would rip people's faces off, in the game I mean. Sure it sucks that the dude was on a non-banned substance at the time, and sure it sucks that he was to be the best that ever was. I was a big fan, even bigger when he went to the Bronx. But even Bonds still has supporters, and you can bet that he will go into that hall, not necessarily on the first ballot. So will A Rod. Thats why edgrimly's favorite ball player ever is Craig Biggio. You know that dude was only powered by bitches and liquor.

Next time buddy, I expect more profanity.

The One that got Away

Since, at some point, the band that I went to see Saturday got sold out. Who knew that Milwaukee dug on 80's pop music. I ran into a couple at the tavern after being turned away from the show, they had tickets but were not there(suburban yuppies) and they said that the band defined their own genre. Thats a bit too deep for me, but they are bad ass nonetheless. The band, not the couple.

The fiddle player is from 'Tosa apparently.

Breakfast of Champions: Whiskey and Tears

I dont even know if there is anything funny to say.

No Country for rabbits.

Creative self promotion.

The airlines are assholes.

More fun with airlines.

What kind of blogger are you?

Music

A nice lady I work with recently asked me if I knew who 311 was.

My response..."311's got the boom ya'll."

Bad audio, bad video, but I did yell in some 16 year old dudes ear because he was talking on the phone during the show. I blame my good buddy gin.

Pictures Worth 1000 Words

Violence is cool.

Welcome to my world little buddy.

Merry fucking Christmas.

Even whales bang once in a while.

Do it because you know you want to...

Feeding Children Drugs

Looks like me after an all out cocaine/hooker/whiskey/meth bender, especially the useless random yelling. The most noted difference is the lack of blood on my...the kids hands.

The Truth Comes Out

Looking past the possible payroll implications, it looks like the pretty pretty princess of the last 8 years is having elbow surgery. I guess thats why no one was taking any kind of serious look at him as a FA over the past 2 weeks. The post implies that the Brewers will most likely be on the hook, paying for yet more medical treatment for the Sheeter. Unless of course some other team signs him. I wouldnt bet on it. It looks like this may be the nail in the proverbial coffin that, while not career ending, limits his chances of having a job by the end of spring training, much less the middle of the season. Good luck to you Benny, and it looks like it was a good thing you gave a big "fuck you" to an arbitration hearing. Offtopic: The POTUS's Press Secretary looks like more of a nob than Scooter McClellan.

Welcome to Winter

With the end of another Superbowl, comes the onslaught of Winter in Wisconsin. The time between things to care about. Basketball is like methadone, OK to tide you over but not nearly as cool. I know pitchers and catchers report in a couple weeks, but really there is nothing to care about now. For a good month. No money on the line, no living and dieing on every play, and certainly nothing to bitch about. Though it is still too bad God-boy forgot about Fitzy until the fourth quarter, it was better than the last few that I have watched these past couple of years. Hey, I only lost 6 dollars, one of which from guessing the bosses age wrong. Not to mention the fact that Muntaba still hates this song, and I got up for work on time. Even though I dont have to be there...bitches.

The Day of the Big Registered Trademark

I prefer Hobbes.

Fun with clothes.

The Presidential signatures.

Now the question, what kind.

Kurt Warner's best good friend.

Snow.man