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#12. No more shock, just doom, disgust, sorrow

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Sigh...agreed. Resignation.

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House

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Pretty good medical drama. But when it was popular, I was recently out of surgery and so didn't really feel like watching it.

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My brother and his wife are renovating their kitchen but they've been doing it all themselves after work/on weekends and so they've been renovating their kitchen since the 4th of July

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My Saturday was a mixed blessing. I missed Saturday's game against WSU because I sold my house, plus another plot of land in Arizona. The market is so hot that my house was sold sight unseen, get the cash upfront, and I get about half a year of free rent until my new house is completed.

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Where are you at? I thought it was starting to cool a bit, especially in terms of throwing in perks like rent backs.

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I am in Cary, NC - the main suburb that is in the middle of Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill "Triangle". The Triangle is the second fastest growing major metro area (behind Austin) - on the demand side. On the supply side, occupancy rates are nearly zero. We timed it so that there were only 2 other houses on the market in the entire area. The other two homes were priced much high and not as nice as our house. We purposely did a private listing (not on MLS) and marketed to out-of-town buyers -- in order to get them in a bidding war to pay a premium for us to not put it on the MLS.

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As luck would have it, I just agreed with a developer to buy their model home just now. It's a new build - so I've already built equity before it's even finished being built because prices are rising so quickly (up 50% over the past 10 months). I will have a risk-free renter who will pay me >6% yield from day 1 for about 3 years.

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I appreciate the surgical precision of your approach

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I’m only aware of Cary through the acronym, “Containment Area for Relocated Yankees”.

I thought Reno or Boise was the fastest growing metro area.

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DBD Kitchen

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Just made some nice conchiglie in a sauce of early girl tomatoes, italian sausage and a touch of cream. One of my faves.

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I have a whole chicken sitting in a brine now. Apropos, a whole, fresh chicken costs less than just the breasts. I guess folks really don't like to use a knife.

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Well, also it's work, AND if you buy a whole chicken, you buy some unusable bits too.

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Examples? I like all the innards. They're delicious

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Everyone is not like you. And again, it's extra work. But whole roasted chickens are the best.

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The first time I watched my SIL cook whole chicken, I managed to stop her before she threw away all the inside bits. Told her that, in my family, those are the parts we fight over.

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My GF offered me the carcass from a chicken she was done with. I said sure, I'll make some soup. I found a suitably sized pot. Then I said OK, where did you put the carcass? Oops! She had by force of habit, put it in the trash.

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Leftovers for lunch today: thai chicken curry + rice, turkey kebabs, roasted vegetables

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Well I got leftover curry mixed with leftover mac and cheese.

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Roasted chicken thighs with herbs de Provence; tarragon cream sauce, with roasted potatoes, carrots, and spring onions, with a RRV Pinot. Nothing fancy for dessert - fresh home made chocolate chip cookies.

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Spent a weekend at a college buddy's cabin in Tuolumne County. We dined out at the Eproson House in Twain Harte. Wish I could recommend it; I cannot.

Staff is friendly, though.

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Had Joe's special last night, spinach, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, onion, garlic...

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Saturday eve after leaving the game early - grilled ribeye and filet mignon.

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DBD AV

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Suddenly had the urge to listen to Don't stop me now by Queen, and then realized Cal could probably use that song as a pick me up

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Crumbling Democracies

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Former press secretary: Trump ‘will be about revenge’ if he wins in 2024

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/04/trump-revenge-2024-stephanie-grisham-514989

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And he wasn't from 2017-2021?

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I feel like the “and now Trump will be unshackled!” line is one we’ve heard many times

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Revenge porn as a political strategy. We are in a good place. Btw, did you guys watch the bit on 60 Mins last night about the FB whistleblower? Seems these tactics are pretty much in the cards indefinitely due to social media algorithms emphasizing posts that have high engagement, since negative emotions generate the highest levels of engagement.

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Which means broad regulation needed of social media needed. But that is impossible. Due to the gridlock. Created in no small part by the algorithms.

The machines have won.

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The simplest thing to do is to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Put social media on an equal footing with other publishers already subject to the libel and slander laws. Right now, social media is not subject to libel and slander laws because of the interpretation of Section 230.

Upshot - make social media responsible for their content.

If that kills 'em, so be it.

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Speaking of social media, which one of you pulled the plug on Facebook today?

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Good

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My main concern about that is the flood of suits - I don’t think Santa Clara Superior could handle it

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Inconsequential if it means that bad actors are deterred and parasitic social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, et al are put out of business OR, at the very least, are compelled to behave responsibly.

Right now, social media companies have zero incentive to behave responsibly.

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Today in COVID

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Got my booster this morning

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I'm getting mine tomorrow!

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Got mine last week.

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Congrats!

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The Age of Monsters ... from the Shouts and Murmurs section of the New Yorker

Lo, one day, a monster crawled from a cave. At first, the people of the kingdom were not alarmed.

“Many a monster has crawled from a cave before, and nothing came of it,” one said, and the people went about their business of tending sheep, harvesting crops, and imbibing beer soup at breakfast together. “ ’Tis silly to get worked up over a monster every one score years.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/04/the-age-of-monsters

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Fauci says Americans should get vaccinated even if Merck’s Covid pill cuts deaths.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/health/merck-covid-pill-vaccine-fauci.html

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Duh.

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Other College

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My cousin is going to UIUC and they're already signing leases for next year's housing.

My freshman year, I don't think we even started looking until second semester...

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Pro

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Tampa Bay is turning into Lakers of NFL. Now Richard Sherman has joined them.

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Yeah but they have some serious injury issues in the secondary right now.

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Sherman is done as an impact NFL player...he basically gives you replacement level production. Carlton Davis is done for awhile, and Dean & Winfield who knows.....

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Now that the 2021 regular season is over, let's have some trivia. Guess who has...

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highest BB/K ratio?

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Soto

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Yes. And it is not even close. His ratio (1.559) is nearly double #2 (0.868).

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Most RBIs?

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Salvador Perez?

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Yes. 121. Jose Abreau is #2 at 117

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Totally guessed this one.

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highest slugging average at 0.615?

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I'm going to guess Soto.

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Soto is #16 at 0.534, just above Yordan Alvarez

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oh I wouldn't have guessed Yordan Alvarez was second.

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The highest walk rate at 22.2%?

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Going to guess Soto again.

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Yes

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The highest strikeout rate at 34.6%

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Bellinger? Though he did miss a bunch of time so he may not qualify

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Didn't qualify. If he did, he's would be the #21 highest strikeout ratio vs. all qualified players. Interestingly enough Bellinger had the fourth BEST strike out rate for Dodger outfielders.

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4th best out of the 4 regular OFers?

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Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said Sunday that starting forward Andrew Wiggins has been vaccinated. Until recently one of the NBA’s few remaining holdouts, Wiggins was in jeopardy of being forced to sit out his team’s home games this season under a San Francisco ordinance related to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Andrew got vaccinated,” Kerr told reporters during a news conference. “He just told me today that he was fine with us acknowledging it, and that will be the end of it. I’m not going to answer any questions beyond that.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/10/04/andrew-wiggins-warriors-vaccine-nba/

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You guys think Kyrie will? This story is a case study in effectiveness of mandates

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I mean he is a flat earthier and is wealthy due to his earlier contracts so I think he holds out.

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Kyrie is the one guy I could see actually holding out to his own detriment.

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Prevents him from getting hurt I suppose

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Wow. Wiggins looks like even more of a jerk, now.

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I figured this would happen at some point. Wiggins wasn't going to sit out half the season.

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MNF - Raiders Chargers tonight.

Will Sofi be Las Vegas West? Will it mostly be Raiders fans that can't get to LV to watch a game?

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It probably will.

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Game #162: A’s hit 4 homers but lose final game of season

https://www.athleticsnation.com/2021/10/3/22707804/oakland-as-game-162-houston-astros-score-result

That’s the end of the 2021 season for the Oakland A’s.

They didn’t go quietly, hitting two homers in the top of the 9th to tie the score, but the game and year came to a familiar end with the bullpen allowing a walk-off run in the bottom of the inning. The A’s lost to the Houston Astros by a 7-6 final at Minute Maid Park.

The result didn’t matter in the standings, with Oakland already ticketed for a trip home for the winter after missing the playoffs, but they put on a show with four dingers and a dramatic late comeback. Seth Brown hit two of them, Tony Kemp went opposite-field, and with two outs in the 9th Khris Davis came through to tie it with his first long ball since returning to the team in September.

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Yesterday had the chance to be such a heroic end to the baseball season. Mariners, Blue Jays, Yankees and Red Sox could have all finished with the same record - it would have been such glorious chaos! And that would have come with the chance that the Yankees and Red Sox miss the playoffs all together.

But here we are, with the world's most insufferable wildcard game, ever. And the Giants winning the division outright is just the cherry on top of a truly atrocious day in baseball. I can't imagine a worse lineup of playoff teams than this one. Why can't they all lose in the wildcard round?

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We were rooting hard for a 4 way tie for the WC spot. Alas the Yankees and the Red Sox had to go on and win.

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106-win Dodgers finish strong, but end regular season in 2nd place

https://www.truebluela.com/2021/10/3/22707750/dodgers-106-wins-second-place-trea-turner-walker-buehler-brewers-recap

The Dodgers did not win the National League West, but they did close the season out with loads of offense, a three-inning save, and a seven-game winning streak, including 10-3 on Sunday over the Brewers at Dodger Stadium.

Sunday’s win was the 106th for the Dodgers, tying a franchise record set in 2019. But they finished one game back of the Giants, who clinched the division on Sunday with a win over San Diego.

“It was a great regular season. It was. You have to give credit to the Giants,” manager Dave Roberts said. “They took it from us. I don’t think we just gave it away.”

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reminds me of 1993 season, the Last Great Pennant Race

https://thisgreatgame.com/1993-baseball-history/

Only once, since 1980, has a team won 100 regular-season games and missed the postseason. That was San Francisco in 1993, which won 103. The Braves staged a fiery comeback and passed the Giants for the National League West title, because the Dodgers finally won the fourth game of a four-game series to quash the Giants, and Tommy Lasorda and Co. celebrated like “The Price Is Right” winners.

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Don’t forget the Colorado Rockies, in their inaugural season, losing ALL 13 games (I believe) to Atlanta. I despise the Rockies to this day & root for routine scabies outbreaks in their clubhouse.

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Except the 2021 Dodgers earned a playoff spot as a wildcard entrant.

The 1993 Giants were on the outside looking in. Until this recently concluded regular season, the 1993 Giants had the most wins of any team NOT to win a division championship. That distinction now belongs to the 2021 Dodgers with 106 wins. That's a record unlikely to be broken for decades.

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Mike Piazza

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Paris-Roubaix postponed from spring.

they don't call is the "Hell of the North" for nothing. wet, muddy, brutal conditions to go w/ all the cobbletones ..

women's race - first ever edition, fun to watch, won by Lizzie Deignan who is one of my favorites. impressively, rode all the cobblestones by herself for 80+ km

men's race - rare sprint finish, after a very muddy affair. impressively won by sprinter who was up there in final 3

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I saw that some bike racing was on tv last night and was pleasantly surprised to see some mixed dirt/road/cobblestone conditions rather than a race on pristine tarmac.

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Packers vs. Steelers score, takeaways: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay hand Pittsburgh third consecutive loss - [Randall Cobb returns and catches 2 TD passes]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/packers-vs-steelers-score-takeaways-aaron-rodgers-green-bay-hand-pittsburgh-third-consecutive-loss/live/

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Pittsburgh O is broken. Awful O-line + old, immobile QB w/ a bad throwing elbow + in-over-his-head 1st time OC = worst offense in League.

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49ers in fourth place in NFC west after loss to the 1-2 Seahawks. Some fans are calling for Shanahan's ouster.

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Shanahan will be more successful at his next stop...he's overrated as an HC, arrogant, and stubborn...he has no business having a say in personnel decisions, because he is dreadful at it.

That ego needs to take a little bit of a hit...like his Pops' did after the Raider stint. Then he matched up with a prick HOF QB and got the rings.

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Too many mistakes cost the 49ers in a 28-21 loss to the Seahawks

https://www.ninersnation.com/2021/10/3/22707713/49ers-seahawks-mistakes-garoppolo-lance-wilson-metcalf

We complained about starting fast, and the 49ers' defense forced Seattle to go three-and-out while the offense, led by Jimmy Garoppolo going 6-for-6 for 70 yards and a nice touchdown pass to Ross Dwelley, marched down the field to score in 4:13 after marching 71 yards.

San Francisco forced another three-and-out on the next drive thanks to a sack by Dee Ford. Again, you couldn’t have asked for a better start. The offense seemed poise to drive the field again, but Garoppolo failed to see the safety coming from the other side, which led to an interception.

Seattle had a short field, but Nick Bosa exploded off the line of scrimmage for his fourth sack of the season to take the Seahawks out of field goal range. The defense held opposing offenses to three points on Garoppolo’s last three turnovers.

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I knew the Niners were going to lose after it was tied at halftime. Needed more points after holding Russell Wilson down for so many drives. Jimmy G sucked and then he got hurt, so that was not ideal.

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Actually, a Garoppolo injury is not the worst thing. This was not a Super Bowl roster bc of ShanaLynch continued draft misses and refusal to address the CB position...and Jimmy is so not the answer. He’s a below average starting NFL QB whose weaknesses limit what Kyle can do with his playbook. He’s a backup QB...Steve Bono 2.0. They’re the worst team in the NFC West...again.

Lance needs reps to get used to the speed of the game & work out the kinks. They’ll be growing pains, of course, but his reps now are HUGE, and 2022, w/ Garoppolo’s $27M salary off the books, is when the Super Bowl window opens...IMHO.

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Jimmy Glass

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Garoppolo makes Elijah Price look like Lou Gehrig and Glass Joe from Tyson's Punchout look like Cal Ripken.

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Him making it through 2019 unscathed seems like a miracle at this point.

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Yes, I think it may actually be good to start the Lance experiment early. The first half of this game pretty clearly demonstrated that there is a cap on this offense with Garoppolo at the helm. That was okay when they had a dominant defense (like 2019), but attrition has eaten away at that and the offense needs to be more explosive.

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2nd Article for the Santa Clara is, this time on the San Jose Earthquakes if any of you are interested: https://www.thesantaclara.org/scusounds/earthquakes-wondolowski-hope-for-one-final-run

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Giants clinch, my Blue Jays win but lose (goes to show you have to take care of business and all those blown leads earlier in the year)

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NL West champions

https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2021/10/3/22707621/san-francisco-giants-nl-west-champions-dodgers

This isn’t a recap. You’ve read plenty of those this year and, thankfully, you’ll read a minimum of three more.

This isn’t an article to tell you that Logan Webb dominated, pitching brilliantly and hitting his first career home run. It’s not an article to tell you that Buster Posey played beautifully.

It’s merely an article to tell you that the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 11-4 on the final day of the regular season, giving them undisputed claim to the National League West.

The Giants are NL West champions. In a season where the Giants were supposed to be toeing the line between rebuilding and retooling, and the Los Angeles Dodgers we’re supposed to be historically good — and give credit where credit is due, they were exactly that — the Giants won the division. So I say for the billionth time: just as we all expected.

Celebrate and enjoy. The Giants won the West.

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A graphic that flashed on the screen after the 11-4 contest concluded said that the 2021 Giants are the team with the most wins to clinch their division on the last day of the season.

Think about that factoid - it took 107 wins to clinch the NL West and it didn't happen until the last day of the regular season. I'd guess that this surpasses the previous holder of the title, the 1993 Atlanta Braves (?), who needed 104 wins to clinch the NL West on the last day of the season over the 1993 SF Giants (103 wins).

Teams that win at least 100 games usually win their corresponding division title.

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What was the last 100 win wild card? Was it the A's in 2001?

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I think so.

Because of the 1993 Giants adding a wildcard team to the playoffs in each league was supposedly pushed through. The first year featuring a wild card team in each league was 1995 and was also the first year in which each league had three divisions.

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It wasn't because of the 93 Giants. The plan was already approved well before that. 1993 did provide a very glaring case study as to why you needed wild cards, though.

1994 was also played with three divisions, only the strike ended the season before the playoffs.

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Cal

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Over/under: 2.5 wins during the remainder of the season

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Easy under.

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Under, but that is still shaky ground.

To take a cue from Nam:

Won’t:

Oregon, USC, stanfurd, fUcla, Oregon St

Probably: Colorado, Zona

And those probablies will feature some very poorly coached and played games

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I'll go with the under.

I'm on record before today as having expressed that view. After Saturday's results, I see that my assessment, such as it is, is in no jeopardy of refutation.

Cue the sad trombone.

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Same, I thought this was a 2-3 win team at most after the first 4 games of the season. After losing to WSU I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if we go 1-11, in which case Wilcox has to go.

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At this point, I'd take the under. I think 2 is most likely, with wins over Colorado and ASU.

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One it’s Arizona so we have a better chance of winning that game than we do ASU. ASU would destroy us.

If we beat both Colorado and Arizona we will be at 3.

We get Colorado at home and away at Arizona. Tucson has been a house of horrors for us and better Cal teams have found ways to lose there.

All that being said, I’m going with the under as well and think we end up with 2 wins.

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* Arizona

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Yeah, Arizona. We'd get smoked by ASU.

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Sacrificial lamb heading into the Oregon game on national television eleven days from now?

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Man we looked like utter shit. Same helpless feeling after UCLA 2018 where I sat in the stadium until the end of that game with hundreds left in it.

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Face

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5. Just basic 'yuck'.

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2 when we blocked the punt. 3 when I saw their player get the ball and how much open field there was.

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12. Honestly, I was there after the Nevada game.

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12

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I spent a lot of time at 11 and 12, laughing at how ridiculously bad they were playing, then being surprised at reaching a new low the next time around. Looking up and seeing that Cal was only down 8 and mathematically it was possible to come back, but knowing that it was impossible.

I had a sinking feeling as soon as they screwed up the extra point attempt, but knew it was over when they blocked a punt and Wazzu got a first down

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Blocking a punt and yet giving up a 4th down conversion on the same play is how you know your favorite team is not well coached.

That is all.

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If anything it showed how poorly coached and bad WSU is that they gave up a punt block when it seemed like we had a punt return called.

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That play didn't suggest to me that the team is poorly coached. It suggested that there are insurmountable cosmic forces working against the team and that we are eternally doomed.

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I feel like the Time Variance Authority has pruned every possible universe of Cal being good to great at football and plays like that are proof.

If for some reason Cal actually won the Pac 12, all the universes would collapse into themselves.

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Yeah I saw it this way as well. We only rushed 1 so no one else was around to get the blocked punt. And the blocker didn't see which way the ball went right after.

On the play the punter took like 4 steps toward the LOS. Obviously he was told to take a few steps to allow the gunners to get downfield and was then surprised when a Cal player got through the double or triple team block.

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Com'on, that was hella fluky - the blocked punt went sideways, not backwards, like it does 99% of the time.

Team might not be well coached, but that play doesn't reveal that.

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5-6-7-8 before ending at 12 WTF, I honestly find it hard to understand how we could be so bad, in so many different ways.

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Does this mean I am absolved of being "...a typiCAL sour Old Blue..."?

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Not in the least.

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Alrighty, then.

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6, most definitely.

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I went though all 12 of those faces at one point on Saturday.

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12. I've been here before so many times. [Sound of Silence plays]

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6. This feels like a turning point in the Wilcox era, and not in a good way...

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yes

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Number 6 above? I too was one of the fans who walked out.

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plant ??!!

seems appropriate after the WSU game ...

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Too soon. A weekend ago I was out running on a trail. Someone let their dog off leash and when I tried to avoid it, fell and did a face plant. Got a nice little cut on my chin. I had just hit my turnaround and had 7+ miles to get home.

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