sabugo

I have been a fan of Gardner thorughout his carrer. That being said, I can see that he's getting old and become less and less of a threat on the offensive end. Still, I think it was a good idea to have him for one more year, for his clubhouse presence and maybe to teach some defensive skills to the younger guys. I just don't think he was supposed to be on the field this much, but with so many injuries, he's been basically forced to play a lot more than it was antecipated. Oh, and he doesn't steal bases anymore but he's still a pretty good base runner. The All-Star voting is a joke. As it is in many other sports. Guys used to play in all-star games to prove something, or at least the game was interesting or competitive. Now it's just a huge event that accounts for nothing more than popularity. I teach and coach kids. Fortunately I have a great group of parents who refrain from looking like assholes. I'm really lucky in that regard but I also enforce some respect. I have actually had a mother tell me that if we weren't so relaxed with the kids that she would have pulled hers out of our class - she had just witnessed a mother and a coach scream all the forbidden words during a 7 year old match. Just this weekend I had kids competing, and in one instance, the referee completely screwed up - not a matter of opinion, he just got it wrong - I chose not to say anything, not a word (this kid's dad is also a student of mine). No point in arguing with referees when there's 6 year olds involved. It's definitely not the message that I want to deliver to my kids. But yeah, some parents are the worse. I have personally seem them threaten referees and even other kids! As for the London series, I was at a tournament for most of the weekend and missed it. I happened to ask my wife for the score at one point and she said something like 15-7 and I figured she misread or something. I guess the lack of familiarity with the field accounted for a lot of those runs.

Coming from another sport - I never even played baseball - I can tell you this: - Do it right, but let passion dictate your effort, not what you think should be done - Be sure to put in the hours. There is no substitute for practice. 10 thousand hours of ANYTHING will make you an expert - Keeping the above in mind, make sure you get your rest. And rest properly. Give your body enough time to heal. Competitive sports are NOT HEALTHY. So do your best to minimize the impact it has on your body. And lastly, the most important tool you possess is your mind. Being an athlete is so much more than playing or having 'talent'. There is no such thing as talent. Or at least it is a very little amount of what makes an athlete. Talent is most often an excuse to justify lazyness. Hard workers get farther and more sustainable results than 'talented' people. Being an athlete requires that you give it everything you have to succeed. Forget birthday parties, forget drinking with your buddies, forget doing all the stuff that normal people do. They are not following your dream nor are they responsible for it. You are. It is YOUR mission. Every breath you take HAS to be towards that goal. Every single minute that passes, you're either getting better, closer to your objective, or you're not. It's that simple. I always tell my kids class, 'Hey, if staring at a wall is your passion, somehow you're going to find a way to make that your living. If that really is your passion, go be the Michael Jordan of staring at walls'. Whatever you end up doing with your life in five, ten or twenty years, make sure your athletic career does not define who you are, make sure you do it because you like it, because it feeds your ambitions. In the long run winning or losing is measured not so much on the field but off of it. It is measured on how you played the game, how much effort you put into it and how it made you feel. Follow your dreams, but work hard at them. Be happy, treat others well and you'll be fine.

Nothing is ever perfect. Even the Corleones had Fredo.

Now that is a cool thing to read. Best of luck for you.

Wow, flew right by me.

The shoutbox doesn't seem to be working. For me, the shoutbox it is definitely a plus.

Gimp is the way to go.

Portugal? Am I in the game?

If they get into it, they'll just probably start from scratch and spend years just to be half as good as MVP.

It does that sometimes. It's perfectly safe. Make an exception in your anti-virus software.

I second that

I guess it's just the way the industry works, sadly for us who like to play quality games.

I've said that for many years. It amazes me that people who mod games for free can do so much better than some of the guys who are paid for it. It's even more amazing that companies don't give these guys jobs. Are they even aware of what some of the guys in here are capable of?