Ask Grandstander

[phenweigh]

Originally Posted by Grandstander

I think that the Homerun Derby is livelier than the actual All Star game, but I've no information regarding the makeup of the balls used in the derby. If they are juiced, so what? They are juiced for all and the entire point is to produce a series of monster shots to entertain the crowds. It isn't as though the pitchers in the Derby will be complaining about inflated ERAs caused by juiced balls.

I'm not complaining, just wondering what you thought. I think the information is the length of the home runs. Against soft batting practice pitches I would think it would be pretty tough to launch the 500' blasts that Hamilton did. But what do I know?

Do you think that the firing of the weapons would tend to knock the new perimeter troops off balance?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by phenweigh

Do you think that the firing of the weapons would tend to knock the new perimeter troops off balance?

What struck me about the formation was that their vehicles appear to be crotch steered. I wonder how that works.

[skrable]

Originally Posted by Grandstander

What struck me about the formation was that their vehicles appear to be crotch steered. I wonder how that works.

they each have a joystick

[LongtimeBravesFan]

Who do you side with in the Brett Farve-Green Bay Packer fued?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by LongtimeBravesFan

Who do you side with in the Brett Farve-Green Bay Packer fued?

Oh, I don't really care, but I always enjoy these things because I have a close friend I've known since first grade, who has a special hatred for athletes who retire and then make comebacks. That drives him nuts for some reason and joking about it over the years has been one of the pillars of the friendship.

For me, these comebacks are okay or unwelcome based entirely on the player's ability to still perform at a superior level. Bill James once wrote an essay on how it really wasn't anyone's business but the athlete himself with regard to when he quits. I don't agree. Sports are part of the entertainment industry and the entertainment industry is all about catering to fantasies.

If I become a Soandso fan because Soandso has long established that he is several notches above the typical player, and Soandso reaches a point where his skills erode and he is now no better than the average player, intellectually there isn't any reason to have to get rid of him. He can still make a good contribution, he just no longer makes that exceptional contribution. That's intellectually.

But emotionally I don't like it. My attachement to Soandso was because of his exceptional abilities and I do not wish to see him as an ordinary or below average player. Call it the Willie Mays Falling Down In The Outfield Aversion Syndrome.

Bill James was right....it Soandso is still good enough to hold a roster spot on a pro team, then it is up to Soandso as to how long he wants to keep going out there. It just isn't what I had in mind for my entertainment dollar.

[phenweigh]

Do you find Stonehenge interesting?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by phenweigh

Do you find Stonehenge interesting?

It has not been something which has occupied much of my thinking. Those who do find it fascinating seem to center their investigations on purpose speculation. Was there some religious function? Was it a giant, primitive calendar or celestial map? A sacred meeting place? My theory is that it was a practical joke. The ancient Celts threw it up just to mess with the minds of future academics. "Hey, let's pile up some rocks in a seemingly organized manner and just leave em like that. It will drive the social scientists nuts trying to figure out what it was for."

[LongtimeBravesFan]

Forrest Gump vs. The Rain Man (the characters, not the movies).

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by LongtimeBravesFan

Forrest Gump vs. The Rain Man (the characters, not the movies).

You are asking this of someone with the most extremely radical view of abortion in all FanHome. I'm for being able to throw em back up to about age two or so. Neither of the above would have made it to adulthood in GrandWorld.

Because it is so strong, I make no attempt to mask my utter horror of retardation. The entire concept of human beings who are never going to achieve a status greater than that afforded a pet, strikes me as a mockery of human distinctiveness. When I see groups of them being herded about in public places I shudder. Should one of them approach me or speak to me for any reason, I react the way most people would react to having to eat a cockroach.

I recognize that this is my own psychosis and I do not argue that mine is the correct view, but I am stuck with that view, a subset of my overall dislike of things irrational.

[skrable]

Wasn't the Russian Front supposed to be difficult?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by skrable

Wasn't the Russian Front supposed to be difficult?

Well sure, it looks like fun and games in that picture, but it was a different story a few days later when the unit discovered that Benny Bigfoot, their colorful mascot, had changed his name from Benjamin Bigbaum.

[Nighthawk]

You've answered plenty of questions about your favorite dictators and strongmen, but how about a different angle...what's your favorite dictatorial/strongmanian palace? Does Versailles win for sheer audacity? Or does the austere Eagle's Nest tickle your fancy more?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Nighthawk

You've answered plenty of questions about your favorite dictators and strongmen, but how about a different angle...what's your favorite dictatorial/strongmanian palace? Does Versailles win for sheer audacity? Or does the austere Eagle's Nest tickle your fancy more?

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.


Which sounded great on paper, but what emerged was....





But seriously, how could I not rank Stately GrandManor as # 1?

[vtred]

Originally Posted by Grandstander

But seriously, how could I not rank Stately GrandManor as # 1?

where does skrable stay?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by vtred

where does skrable stay?

I believe that empty stall front left is skrable's