131 Comments
Apr 28, 2022Liked by Ruey Yen, Berkelium97

Can I get everyone's attention for a second? This'll be quick. Just wanted to remind everyone that we've got the Axe. That's it, you can go back to what you were doing. Have a great day.

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Forgot about that. In Oski we trust.

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instarec

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CAL

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The answer to yesterday's trivia question as to who holds Cal's MBB season record for rebounds is Ansley Truitt at 382 (1972) over 29 games. To put this into perspective this about the same as Cal's top two rebounders combined over 32 games this season.

Ansley passed away in February of last year due to Covid.

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wow - that's a beast of a year. I'm happy to learn about this. And RIP.

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Sad to hear. RIP

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California state judiciary committee passes State Bill 1401. It now goes to appropriations. If made into law as written, the bill will REQUIRE payment to revenue sport players via a 50% of revenues upon graduation, repeals NIL, and prohibits reduction of academic scholarship in lieu. While well meaning, this strikes me as as the mother of all unintended consequences.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1401

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Going from about break-even to negative 50% operating margins is deeply unsustainable and would destroy the finances of California college sports. It is an existential threat. It would create an indefinite $50m annual loss in Cal Athletics.

It would blow a massive whole in college sports, making all sports highly unprofitable to operate. Presumably, boosters would not tolerate a cut in the football or MBB programs, which means that all other men's sports would have to be demoted to club sports and enough women's sports cut to keep compliance to Title IX. And even then, the entire student body would have to pay more to pay the student-athletes salaries to be sustainable. This is a well meaning but terribly written bill.

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My reading is slightly different.

SB1401 makes a calculation based on:

(1) the value of all grants-in-aid in a particular sport

(2) subtracted from 50% of that particular sport's revenue

(3) the remainder of the revenue is then divided by the number of athletes in that particular sport.

TAKE-AWAYS

This formulation favors athletes in sports with higher revenues (specifically football, MBB, and WBB).

SB1401 says nothing about how grants-in-aid are to be treated across the sports of a particular institution. Are all athletes to be treated the same with the same grant-in-aid packages resulting in the same compensation expressed in dollars? Or can a grant-in-aid differ depending on the sport?

Regardless, this formulation encourages larger grants-in-aid as a way of reducing the amount of revenue distributed to the athletes in revenue sports.

SB1401 seems to discourage larger grants-in-aid for non-revenue sports (like swimming & diving, track & field, soccer, maybe even baseball and softball) as the grants-in-aid pool for those sports is compared against the revenue for each sport.

If grants-in-aid for athletes in different sports can be different based on the sport, then non-revenue athletes are screwed. Revenue sport athletes can also be limited in what they receive in their degree completion fund.

Either way, there is a sunset clause for the student-athlete: they must complete their degree within 6 years of enrolling at the institution.

SB1401 does put California institutions at a likely disadvantage within the realm of FBS football. There will be less money to spend on coaching salaries and facilities. Servicing debt (such as that incurred for the West Side Improvements Project, aka renovating Cal Memorial) will also probably have to come from other sources.

SB1401 will also induce upward pressures on ticket prices, concessions, merchandise, and other sources of revenue. Which, in turn, discourages spending by folks who are not wealthy, etc., etc.

In short, I think SB1401 will have a deleterious effect on college sports in California.

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Lots of interesting challenges with it; there are NCAA and conference mandated numbers of sports, and this will not work with Title IX either. All of those can obviously be changed, but not by a wave of the hand. I struggle to envision a scenario where this passes unless massively amended, but it could well launch a number of other initiatives aiming to do parts of what this proposes.

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So, you see SB1401 as massive poison pill for college athletics, then?

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I agree with all this.

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Go Bears!!!

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[SB] Cal beats SJSU 4-1 thanks to a slam by San Marin HS alumna UT Alexis Bishop, who bats in the 5 hole.

https://calbears.com/news/2022/4/27/softball-bishop-teperson-lead-bears-past-spartans.aspx

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[BVB] Cal loses to Arizona, dropping them to contender bracket in double-elimination Pac-12 championship. They then beat Oregon. Next up: loser of UCLA/Stanfurd match.

https://calbears.com/news/2022/4/27/beach-volleyball-cal-opens-pac-12-tournament-with-split.aspx

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Apr 28, 2022·edited Apr 29, 2022Author

Stanford got COVID problems, Big Row this weekend is canceled. https://calbears.com/news/2022/4/28/athletics-news-big-row-canceled.aspx

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weird that the title uses Canceled but the first sentence says Postponed.

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[MGolf] Bears finish a pretty good fourth round to secure fifth place in the Pac-12 Championship in Sammamish in Washington, overtaking the Bruins who choked on the final day.

https://calbears.com/news/2022/4/27/mens-golf-cal-finishes-fifth-at-pac-12-s.aspx

https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=24550

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Bees are venomous, not poisonous. It's obligatory pedantry, but what else is the DBD for?

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Because of ^^this^^ comment, I learned that the difference between "venomous" and "poisonous" refers to the method of delivering the toxin in question.

Venomous refers to toxins delivered by injection. Bees and snakes are examples.

Poisonous refers to toxins offloaded by something that is usually eaten or handled. Some mushrooms are examples.

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TIL

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Indeed

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It's dry out west. How dry? Like Lake Mead is the driest its been in 1,200 years. Speaking of, I wonder how Ben Shapiro's wife is doing.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/us/water-intake-exposed-lake-mead-drought-climate/index.html

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pqtm

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Since the year 822? Louis the Pious was Holy Roman Emperor and Michael II and Theophilus were emperors of Byzantium, both iconoclasts.

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Ukraine / Russia

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Biden will ask Congress for $33b. This marks a nearly 10-fold increase on what has already been promised. $20b will essentially be to buy Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Slovakia, and Poland's Soviet-era equipment/ammo. $9n in "economic assistance" $3b is for wheat and other commodities. Say hello to Gub'ment Cheez, Ukrainian friends.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/politics/biden-ukraine-congress/index.html

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That story in The Times yesterday about the Ukrainians that flooded their own village to stall the Russians' advancement is incredible. I mean, just imagine - they gave up basically everything they owned with no regrets, saying "we saved Kiev!"

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The selflessness is incredible, especially in contrast to the obstinate selfishness shown by so many Americans over the last couple years.

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DBD AV Club

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[Netflix] Ozark S4 part II starts tomorrow.

https://twitter.com/netflix/status/1508836378934538246

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I'm psyched. Almost getting too much of a good thing between Ozark, Barry and Better Call Saul all being back at the same time.

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Started 'Outer Range' on Amazon Prime. 2 episodes in, mildly enjoying it, Josh Brolin in all his crusty grumpy goodness. Plot seems scattered, but since it's only 6 episodes total, I'll finish it out.

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Ya, it’s not bad...kinda Yellowstone meets X-Files. A solid cast...Wendy’s brother Ben from Ozark, who was also great in Banshee...David Rose’s partner from Schitt’s...the clerk from Bad Times at the El Royale...Lily Taylor is real good. Interested in seeing where it goes...

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Barry's back after three years. Still very dark, still funny, had to look up a recap because I remembered so little.

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Oh I'm a couple of weeks behind on my shows but I might have to go ahead and watch the first episode.

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It might be the best show on TV.

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Children's show that I’m enjoying right now with my kids is Bluey. I highly recommend it.

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Fully agreed. I think the missus and I enjoy the show even more than Cf-98 does.

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Agreed. A few episodes from season 2 really caught me in my feelings.

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My younger niece - now five - is a hopeless extrovert and used to watch a lot of Bluey, so when they’d go for family walks in the early stages of the ‘rona she would accost total strangers starting with “g’day mate!” Apparently she occasionally still has to be reminded that not everyone is as adept with Australian slang as her

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looks fun. i recommend Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! from this genre.

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The first three Better Call Saul episodes have been stellar. Latest Moonknight episode was visually stunning and emotionally satisfying.

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I'm really going to miss this show when it's gone. Vince Gilligan and company are excellent storytellers and cinematographers.

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Pretty Little Liars ..

watching this w/ my 15 yr old since it is her current show of choice. i guess there is always going to be a show forever every generation w/ "pretty mean girls". must be some sort of standard school stereotype ...

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Speaking of stereotypes...I've never watched PLL, but it sounds like we see the same type of thing in the Guilded Age, or even Real Housewives of whereever.

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Star Wars Visions .. sort an alternate Japanese anime take on the saga.

saw the first one yesterday while waiting for the Warriors game to start and enjoyed it.

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They are all excellent. I hope they do another Visions anthology.

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Car broken into

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Only once in Philly when I went into my office late at night. It's possible that no one attempted to enter the car but just broke the window of a number of cars for fun. Recently, when I was getting everything out of my car before it was trashed (I had mentioned this on DBD), I thought to myself just how hard it was to get all those changes out of the car. No wonder it was still there after my car window got broken that one time.

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When I first moved to SF out of undergrad, my roommate and I had to decide who got the big master bedroom and who got the parking spot inside the garage. I chose the master bedroom and bought a car alarm. I chose poorly.

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Once in Atlanta the top of my miata was slashed and the thieves took my stereo.

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That's my worry when I take the Miata out. I never lock the doors. I usually don't have much worth value in my car so I don't even bother to lock the trunk.

Last time I flew to Seattle, I took the Acura with the power steering pump leak rather than my Miata because I didn't want to leave the Miata at long term parking.

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My friend and roommate at Cal had a soft top Miata that got broken into the same way off of Benvenue.

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Same thing happened to a friend of mine who lived near Rockridge. They sliced the soft top of her convertible and stole some worthless trinkets.

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In my case I was parked in short-term parking at the airport as I had a one day trip to NYC. Frustrating.

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Ugh.

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I went many years without having my car broken into, then within a year after moving to Oakland it happened twice. In neither case was anything actually stolen (nothing of value was left in the car), looked like an example of hoodlums just messing around.

I learned not to park my car on the more heavily-trafficked street near my apartment and didn't have any more issues.

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looked like an example of hoodlums just messing around.

I doubt that, more just looking for what might be inside, like maybe a wallet.

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In at least one case, none of the glove compartments or anything had been opened, just the back window smashed with a rock.

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twice in quick succession my sophomore year in college, otherwise so far so good 🤞🏻

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Twice, both in London. In 30ish years of living in SF, never once.

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oh, scoots, now you've done it!

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Do you park in a garage? I wonder how many breakins occur at home on the street vs driving to other parts of the city.

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I currently have a garage for parking at home, but the first 22 or so years did not (and once about 9 years ago I even left my wallet on the seat accidentally overnight, and when I went out in the morning it was still there, just chillin). I generally street park when out and about.

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From my many years of being building manager here in West Oakland: The Wallet Story:

This was many years ago, but a tenant left his wallet in his vehicle and it got broken into and the wallet was stolen. Did I feel bad for him? Not exactly, but in short secession four other vehicles were broken into, undoubtedly the same thief, looking for additional wallets.

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Not exactly broken into, but the catalytic converter was stolen last year. Happened a lot more during the pandemic.

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Prii seem to be the target of choice, at least if you follow the posts on NextDoor. I have heard of other cars being victimized (mostly Hondas), but a Prius seems to figure in more of those posts/emails than any other model, by far.

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Mine was a Prius too, passed along to an offspring, but sprung for the cat shield, which came with a decal.

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Got mine stolen twice and nearly a third when they cut into pipe, got spooked before removing the thing. I kept asking my insurance to help fund a cat cage, but they declined and the cycle continued. Eventually I got rid of the Prius and have had no issues since.

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This is still happening a lot right now. They are relatively easy to remove and do not take much time to cut them out.

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It's been quite a while - the old Nissan King Cab got broken into a couple of times, one time I was phone banking DT Oakland, came out, tried to start it, and immediately realized the battery had been stolen.

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Been a couple of years. I'm probably due.

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My car was broken into a couple weeks ago. I got the window fixed (shoutout to Cugel for letting me hang out at his place while I waited), but two days ago, I noticed that a bit of the door frame was rusting. I'd seen that there was a bit of a divot/scrape from when they broke the window, but I guess after we got rain, it started rusting. I'm not precious about my car, having lived by college campuses (and after it got shot), but I feel like I should probably get the rust taken care of.

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My friend's apartment got broken into. We were worried so we had him stay at another friend's apartment that night in a different city. Next morning he woke up to find out his car was broken into.

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Once in high school.

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Samsies

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I used to live in a small town where everyone just left their keys in the ignition. I mean everyone, all the time.

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Elsewhere in college

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Deadspin puts together a slideshow of Mark Emmert's best decisions during his term as NCAA president.

https://deadspin.com/mark-emmert-s-greatest-hits-1848848497

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Without clicking, I am sure that slideshow was short and full of failure.

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Emmert's "Transformation Committee" thinking about potentially a) eliminating college football coach limit, b) eliminating scholarship limits, and 3) expanding direct payments to students. If enacted, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.

https://footballscoop.com/news/report-ncaa-transformation-committee-could-eliminate-coaching-staff-caps

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...all of which is an argument for institutions of higher education to get out of the arms race that is college football. Or outright reform of the membership requirements.

90% of FBS athletic departments run a deficit. Most FBS athletic departments see a net revenue income from football. But when you have to sponsor a *minimum* of 16 varsity sports, meet Title IX requirements, and maintain a two-year rolling average of 15,000 per game in football it gets complicated and expensive for many FBS programs. Of those 16 varsity sports, one must be football, obviously. The NCAA requires *at least* 6 men's/co-ed varsity sports and 8 women's varsity sports. This allows some wiggle room in the number of varsity sports that are classified as men's/co-ed or women's.

Personally, I think the NCAA should bow to reality and make FBS membership restrictive. It would help to cut down on the number of institutions that get sucked into FBS while gambling money that should be put towards their primary mission: educating students.

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What does CFB and college Olympic sports have in common? They are both free minor leagues for the NFL and the USOC. I think the NFL and the USOC should pay for this service.

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I agree: the NFL, the USOC and IOC should pay for the privelege of having a pool of athletes to stock its leagues. You could apply that logic to the NBA, and MLB is moving (or at least trying to move) in that direction also.

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Sounds like a Trump era policy if Trump were in charge of CFB.

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Or Elon Musk

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OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

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House passes the Lend-Lease measure 417-10. Those voting against were Biggs, Gosar, Perry, Gaetz, Massie, Norman, Tiffany, Taylor Greene, Bishop, Davidson - all Republican. It already passed the Senate unanimously. The bill is pretty straight forward - says we can give any weapons to the Ukrainians so long as they return the arms and pay us back for its usage.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-117s3522es/pdf/BILLS-117s3522es.pdf

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Conservatives happy that Elon Musk has bought Twitter. Now Elon seems to be doing a favor for Don Jr.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1519480761749016577

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haha

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Musk tweeted this morning that he is going to buy Coca-Cola next and re-introduce cocaine into the formula.

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MA State Rep David LeBoeuf (D-17, Worcester) was arrested for DUI two days ago. LeBoeuf told officers he hadn't been drinking, but the nine empty mini-bottles of Dr. McGillicuddy, two cans [sic] of wine, the 0.32 BAC, and 15% of a missing rim ground down from driving on it would beg to differ.

https://www.wcvb.com/article/state-rep-dui-4x-legal-limit-state-police-say/39840092

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Those LeBoeufs...

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PRO

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Apr 28, 2022·edited Apr 28, 2022Author

[Soccer] Inter's backup goalie boofed a clearing kick, handing AC Milan a lead with one match left in the Serie A. The backup goalie is understandably devastated.

https://twitter.com/CBSSportsGolazo/status/1519409809107263488

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Mets/Cards finish 3 game series with more plunked batters.

1 on Monday, 5 on Tuesday, 2 yesterday. But Yoan Lopez threw at Arenado's head yesterday and things got testy Me thinks there will be a lot more plunkings when they meet again in May.

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1519419624990859267

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I understand the Mets being pissed after being hit so much. But the last guy hit was hit on the foot on a 3-2 count so I doubt it was on purpose. I had the game on as background and the throw at Arenado was predicted by Ron Darling though he criticized the fact that it was up near the head.

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A good old fashioned melee....bullpens and everything...

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A's hang on to beat Giants 1-0 on the strength of a Chad Pinder homer during his first at bat and the solid 5 innings by Paul Blackburn.

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LGO

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Literally the first at-bat decided it. Didn't see that coming!

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I wonder how many times in MLB history that the only run in a game was scored on a home run by the game's leadoff batter.

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I wonder if a first pitch has ever resulted in a game's only run. That wasn't the case with Pinder's HR but I wonder if it's ever happened.

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Apr 28, 2022Liked by SGBear

According to Baseball Almanac, it has happened. Four times.

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/Leadoff-Home-Run-in-1-0-Game.shtml

You need to read through the page to know which four instances happened on a first pitch HR.

Also, I infer from that page that Chad Pinder's HR is the first (and thus far only) instance of a leadoff HR providing the only score in an *interleague* game.

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super cool!

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First time in A's history (18,800 games) going back into the 19th century that this has ever happened. Pinder will forever be etched into A's trivia lore.

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Too bad that according to DS9, baseball will die out.

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but at least people in the gamma quadrant will have heard of it ...

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Gary Payton II !!!

seems to save the game for the Warriors. had the most energy on the court at the end and hit a clutch 3 w/ time running down on the shot clock.

good team effort too

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GP2 and Steph were clutch in the final minutes, hoping GP2 gets more minutes moving forward in the playoffs

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The Nuggets played hard for the last three games, nothing to be ashamed of. But ultimately they weren't good enough to win this series.

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It was definitely an honorable series played with mutual respect.

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They are going to be a handful when fully healthy

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Final mock draft (not behind a paywall).

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/nfl-mock-draft-2022-7-rounds/ecv9mhxlcmivlz5dbl9yttos

Hint: there are no Bears

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You'd think we'd have one or two after Pro Day but no. Anyway, whomever gambles on Bimage (NFL size and quickness) or Goode (pretty fast and athletic) and maybe Hicks is likely to get a contributor. There are plenty of small safeties in the draft projected over Hicks. The knock on Hicks was that he is too small.

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Chris Conte was like the skinniest dude ever and he was drafted high and had a solid career, 7 years as a starter. I guess he had the height and athleticism but it was a nice surprise

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He also finally accepted reality that his athleticism and skill set were better suited for safety rather than corner. If he stays at corner, he would have never been drafted or made it in the NFL.

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RemovedApr 28, 2022·edited Apr 29, 2022
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Tax squad. Is that like IRS?

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Yep, they send practice squad OL to people's homes instead of garnishing wages

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Okay now GB49 changed it to Taxi Squad. So Bimage is going to be a team bus driver?

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For all the talk on this and other boards about Wilcox improving the overall talent and athleticism on the team, it sure doesn’t show at the NFL draft.

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