Azazello1313

exactly. thank you. they want to keep all their options open. which means they HAVEN'T conclusively chosen the option where he's played his last game as an atlanta falcon. if they HAVE chosen that option, yesterday's presser would have gone down a lot differently. let me put it this way, if they HAD conclusively decided that they just want to be rid of vick for good, why wouldn't they have signalled as much yesterday with a statement like i suggested in my last post? they certainly could have done so without immediately cutting him and exposing themselves to cap ramifications. and ever more indicative, why on earth would they try and step in front of the commish with their attempted 4-game suspension (that would have vick IN camp, and done with his suspension a month into the season)? with the commish axe still looming, that one makes no sense whatsoever if their intention is to sever all ties.

360 is cheaper, with a few exclusive games (halo), with a better online experience (mostly because it's been around longer) ps3 is more robust, with blu-ray, and a more promising lineup exclusive games in the near future i think the ps3 makes more sense, especially since it will allow you to continue to play all of your ps2 games (in progressive scan without a special cable) without keeping an extra console around clunking things up.

it seems like it only lets you put up one item for auction at a time? i have an iron battle axe i'd be happy to sell you, but it won't let me put it up for sale since i've already got a burst of mental V on the block.

it would be easy for them to say something to the effect of "if these allegations are proven true in any way, michael vick's days as an atlanta falcon are over". such a statement would not expose them to the financial ramifications of cutting him right now, but would signal a clear intention to be rid of vick. given all the heat they are facing from the media, season ticket holders, etc., there is every incentive in the world for the falcons to make such a statement....IF their intention with regard to vick at this point was to be rid of him for good. everybody knows 4 games is on the extreme low end of what vick is likely to miss as a result of these charges. that the falcons tried to get the jump on the commish with what amounts to a lowball offer shows that, indeed, they want his banishment to be as short as possible. now, i don't by any stretch think it's a cinch that vick comes back with the falcons....i think they are very clearly trying to keep their options open as they watch how this shakes out. but it is obvious to me from yesterday's presser that the falcons organization is NOT 100% decided that vick will never play for their team again. if they were, they would have signalled as much, and they would not have tried to jump in with a 4-game suspension.

skeered, huh?

you mean you're not going to try and blame it all on american capitalism? rasmussen basically won himself the tour today with the stage win on col d'aubisque. contador was game, but when none of his attacks hurt rasmussen, all he could do was hang on until the last kilometer. i'm pretty disappointed with levi leipheimer, who was very clearly riding for his own chances at 3rd place rather than for his teammate contador's chances at yellow. he put in one very halfhearted attack at rasmussen early in the last climb...aside from that he just let rasmussen suck his wheel the whole climb while levi was trying to put time into cadel evans. then in the last 500m he ditches contador to get a few more seconds into evans and snag the 2nd place time bonus. pretty lame, levi. with that and the doping suspicions still surrounding rasmussen on his way to yellow in paris, i have to say it was another bad day for cycling.

they are counted as strikes for that purpose. anything where the batter swings, or the ump calls it, is a strike.

big john never ceases to amaze

i wouldnt mind that cracked boiled leather helm. everything else, even lil' ol me would just sell for the one point.

that's a good point too. if there's no one on base, the catcher will just put down 1 for fastball, 2 for curve, etc, and the announcers can see that and say it even before the pitch. can't usually do that with guys on base though. another clue can be how the catcher sets up. for instance, if he sets a high target, you can be sure a fastball is coming.

yeah, the stuff in this thread about wrist-flipping and grips and arm angles is not really accurate with big-league pitching. anything like that would quickly be picked up by opposing teams, as you said. like i said, it's knowing what a pitcher throws, and then just seeing the speed and break. usually a pitcher won't have two pitches that look the same, so it's pretty easy to tell. about the hardest scenario i can think of is with a pitcher who throws both a 2-seam fastball and a 4-seamer. the difference being a 2-seamer is just a tad heavier with a hint of downward break. i've seen announcers get crossed on splitters versus change-ups as well, but most pitchers throw one or the other.

they're dancing around the question because they want to keep their options open depending on how things play out. if he clearly didn't have a future with the team, there is no reason they couldn't at least imply as much, it would sure save the organization a LOT of heat. and again, i don't know how you can read the attempted 4-game suspension as anything BUT an attempt to take it out of the league's hands with a preemptive punishment, with an eye toward vick playing for the falcons THIS season. there is no way they push a 4-game suspension if there intention is getting him out of a falcons jersey for good.

part of it is knowing beforehand what kind of pitches a pitcher throws. very few individual pitchers throw two different change-ups, so if you see a change-up and you know that pitcher throws a circle change, then you know you can say it was a circle change. each pitcher generally has 2-4 pitches they throw regularly, so that narrows it down. the rest is just recognizing the speed and the break. it's pretty easy to do if you watch much baseball.