gehringer_2

I tried to post to this thread yesterday to followup and for some reason it kept throwing them away. So if this post goes I will try again.....

And there is a historical cultural confluence that also fuels the issue. It's not just a group of people who have been dispossessed by war keeping things alive, that has happened in a lot of places without them turning into the ME; it's also a basic tenet of fundamentalist Islam that territory gained to Muslim conversion/conquest may never be lost. So Israel's existence is also anathema to any radical Islamist. It's a match of interests that compounds it all. And conversely and perversely, the existence of Israel is an argument Islamic radicals make that the people need to be more devout (read as "support us"), because if they were, Allah would never have allowed them to fall from power in their previously won lands.

this is the trick isn't it. Terrorism will not take permanent root or grow in a population that doesn't support it. Too many eyes and ears to hide arms, training or tunnels etc. So the problem will be what the problem always has been, that enough of the the Gaza population, despite Hamas's barbarity and despite the ruin they have brought, will in the future still shelter Hamas to the point that any occupation that tries to be relatively benevolent will find itself facing continued asymmetric warfare. To be clear, I'm not suggesting it, but the sad reality is that the only way to crush a terrorist movement in a population that supports it is ruthless (i.e. tyrannical) suppression. Though a lot closer than they used to be, I don't think (though I may well be wrong!) Israel is ready to operate that way long term, and they would get tremendous pressure from the US and Europe if they tried. Not many good answers, which is I suppose why it's been 75 yrs since partition and the area is still a mess.

incompetent. One more triple and they've have gotten to 400.

I don't know if it's accurate to say he didn't want to be president. He didn't think he would win when he started out so I agree he had no plan, and he certainly didn't want to 'be' a proper national CEO in the sense of ever doing all the work that entails to do well, but he sure as heII desperately wants to 'be' the 'biggest boss' there is, and that's POTUS. And now he not only wants it but no doubt feels he needs to get it back because he probably sees correctly that it is his be best route to hold his courtroom losses at bay.

Paraphrasing Gerson reminds me, has there ever been an ex-president more AWOL from the national public discourse than GW? Well maybe AWOL is the wrong term, he probably has 'leave' as far as many people are concerned. Is he really so small a man that he has to spend the rest of is life licking his wounds in seclusion, or was/is he so bereft of insight/unimaginative in having nothing to add that he was never fit for the job in the first place?

People in civilized societies have trouble not projecting their own civility onto people who go out of their way to make it pretty clear in both word and deed that they don't share it. I think there may be reasonable debate about how to destroy Hamas' hold in Gaza, but not that Israel has no choice but try to accomplish that somehow. I don't see many of Israel's international critics coming up with practical alternatives for Israel to pursue that are likely to accomplish the task by means other than those Israel is employing, i.e. military force.

a few rocket scientists did OK also....

Lipcius and Kreidler both pretty much at their "hit or go home" year I would think. IDK, Kreidler's glove may be good enough to keep him for some years as minor league regular if he wants it.

Yup, I seem to recall a Wings president's trophy team getting trounced one year in the opening series by a young Edmonton team that shouldn't have matched up with them (on paper). In a short series energy and goal tending can mean everything else goes out the window.

Not to mention the Mudhens need a 1B anyway. Looking at who played there last season, Nevin is gone, Ibanez will likely be in Detroit, Lipcius should be at 2B or 3B.

I suppose but of all the Tigers hitters Torkelson is the one I worry the least about. Injury always lurks, but otherwise, he's been able to adjust to how he's pitched, his mechanics are sound, and there isn't a lot of luck in his results that we're waiting to see regress. I'd like to see him get a *little* selective on strike one so he gets behind less often, but that's a small nit to pick. If the rest of team gets on base at all 100 rbi will be a walk. I do think they want to avoid running him down with 20-30 games stretches this season, so there will be a player who can cover 1B on the bench. If the OF gets crowded that would be Canha, but if some number of the young OFs regress and Canha is needed everyday in the OF, I think they will want at least one other possible backup for Tork - but that could be Ibanez.

The Wings offensive style is not going to lead to high shot totals very often. They don't bother taking many low % shots that other teams do - conversely they play for the perfect setup more than a lot of teams. They are scoring goals though, so I don't worry about shot numbers. When they struggle it's on the defensive end.

they like Kreidler's glove. If he could hit a little he'd probably challenge for Ibanez's spot

There is no-one in the Tiger org who could pressure Torkelson, but they do need some insurance if he gets hurt as they don't really have anyone else who has played much 1B since neither Nevin nor Schoop is still with the team. Ibanez played a couple games at 1st last season and is pretty much a lock to make the team but if they had to use him at 1st much it would crimp Hinch's 'optionality'. Beyond that, Malloy played a little 1B in college, Lipcius has played a little 1st in the minors. None of those have as much experience at 1b as Hiura.

And still the possibility Yzerman pulls the plug if he doesn't see enough before March 8.

LOL - right. Having Trump's incompetent, sycophant people in charge of the government I'm not too wild about, but in charge of the GOP? Go for it I say!

He's looking bigger.

For you: https://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/jeff-seidel/2024/02/16/detroit-tigers-spencer-torkelson-grown-mentally-thick-skin-home-runs-spring-training/72620080007/

Casualty rates were so high for flyers that not many guys served over long arcs of the war as in BOB.

Yeah - hard to know just from the fan end. But I do remember an occasion or maybe two, when Shep happened to work a game without an ex-player and I was struck that he was much better. I remember commenting about the difference here at the time.

You may have something with the timing. Putin loves to embarrass his client guests like Tucker - force them into compromising themselves even deeper in his defense. it's another show of dominance for him.

Also easier for Putin's private agents to operate freely in regions far flung from the regular bureaucracy. There are still people in Russia who try to play by the rules so just easier where all the local guards may be Asian conscripts who don't care or know about the political infighting between 'great' (i.e. European) Russians.

I always wondered if the he was really not knowledgeable or if he was too reticent about appearing to 'show up' his booth mate. We've heard Shepherd on local radio for years and he never struck me as not being up to speed. So I'm not sure he is/was as baseball dumb as he made out to be, but he adamantly refused to initiate any baseball knowledge of his own - the only thing he would do is ask the player about some aspect, and it then never went beyond where the player went. IOW to my reading, Shep was never willing to play equal in the booth and assert that he knew anything of his own. So I guess either way, it doomed him - and whether he didn't have the background or just wouldn't bring it doesn't matter in the end. Or another way to put it is that it's fine and proper for the broadcast pro to always yield to the player/analysts superior knowledge of the *play* of the game, but no reason he can't take ownwership of knowing the broader aspects of the overal *game* just as well as the player. Shep would not or could not ever do that. Maybe Bob Costas is the example I'd think of. Probably no player has near the encyclopediic knowdledge of the game's history he does, and when he works a ball game he is never apologetic about knowing more than his analyst about many things. And it works. You learn from Costas about the game and you learn from the player about the play.