happybat4

**** off

Might be biased, but here is my list as an educator
 
1. Get rid of the salary scale. Reward good teachers! All teachers should not be paid the same
 
2. Quit worrying about every kid going to college. We do so much for the bottom 5% of students to make sure they graduate. Who cares? Let them develop a skill and a trade. They do not need to know calculus
 
3. Leave kids behind! If they don't want to do school work, let them flip burgers. Offer night school to adults who WANT it.
 
4. I do believe there needs to be standardized testing, but lets limit it a bit. We have state tests, ACT, SAT, SAT 2, AP tests, Graduation tests etc. Lets limit the tests. I can have 95% of my AP students pass the AP tests, but if they do not do well on the state tests, why should it matter?
 
5. Make it easier to fire bad teachers
 
6. Put less importance on athletics. Other countries laugh at the athletic departments we have and the focus we have on athletics.I do believe athletics have an importance, but there is to much focus there.
 
7. Start school later. All the science *PROVES* that kids function better when they start later. Despite this we still force them to be at school at 7:30. How many people have jobs that start at 7:30? This does not happen because of athletics.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11065561/yoenis-cespedes-throw-los-angeles-angels-hailed-special
 
You won't believe what Mike said about that throw
 
Added Scioscia: "I mean that was a special play. You just tip your cap on that one."

Where to even start?

I thought we signed a new player named Camo Unis

I would play Cogwill over Calhoun at this point

I would play Cogwill over Calhoun at this point

I would play Cogwill over Calhoun at this point

I would go but I am out of town that week. Today was an amazing day in Washington. I took a side street so my commute home would be along Lake Washington. More traffic, but it was beautiful. 

Or teams know he has a weak arm so they run on him all the time

Joe blanton used to throw balls to the fans in the same seats, by way of someone elses bat. We should have called him 'souvenir joe'
Jerome is a good guy. Met him once a couple of years back. Real down to earth.

I found this interesting article written about players who only played one year in the majors. The most interesting is Buzz Arlett who batted .318 with 18 home runs and a .925 OPS in his one season in 1931. He hit over 400 home runs in the minors. Interesting stories as to why some of these players only played one year
 
http://prestonjg.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/one-and-done-the-sparky-anderson-all-stars/

Didn't Gary Mathews start off hot when he was with the angels.
 
Also I refuse to acknowledge that Mendoza line, I refer to it as the Mathis line. Mendoza batted around .217 for his career. Mathis is at .195

I don't blame Kemp. You would think with his background and still young age you would give him a chance on the field to prove he is no longer good. Crawford and Either are nothing special.

I've been reading comments on national articles like espn and yahoo and surprised how the so called "knowledgeable" east coast baseball fans knows so little about arbitration years. Those fans are so over rated.

don't believe the tests that say we are at the bottom. We actually test all of the kids, while other countries simply kick out the low scoring kids.

I would give it an A if it was Grezkys daughter. Also how was the Hawkins signing a mistake. He put up a 3.64 ERA. Was anybody really expecting better than that.

congrats, happybat. hope all goes well for you. if you need any help or have any questions, shoot me a pm and i'll help where i can. i'm even willing to mail you handouts/worksheets/ideas.
 
one request: learn the difference between "should of" and "should have". 

Glavine was never a closer. You are confused with Smoltz.

It is a fact that Sheffield was on the Balco report. I guess since he denies it, it therefore makes it an allegation. I guess there are just allegations that Bonds used as well.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6131472
 
read the article. Sheffield bought the "clear" from balco
 
"Sheffield was named in the Mitchell report on PED use in Major League Baseball, but Sheffield said his inclusion in the report should not cloud his candidacy for the Hall of Fame.
On page 116 of the report, Sheffield is among the players who are alleged to have purchased "the cream" and "the clear" from BALCO founder Victor Conte. On page 136, a FedEx receipt from Sheffield to BALCO found during a 2003 search of trainer Greg Anderson's condominium is referenced. On that same page, an excerpt from Sheffield's book "Inside Power" where he acknowledges receiving a bill from BALCO for "vitamins" is mentioned. His testimony before the BALCO grand jury -- he testified not knowing whether "the cream" contained steroids -- is also referenced.
"The thing about the Mitchell report is that I cringe about it because the guy who wrote the report didn't talk to me," Sheffield told the newspaper. "If he talked to me I would respect that no matter what. But I cringe on that because he didn't."

Bonds was a two time MVP and 40-40 player before the PED era

Sheffield is a steroid guy, he will not get in. I doubt Smoltz get in right away. Pedro is pretty interesting. Johnson should be a no brainer. Im suprised Raines went down and also that Mussina was so low.

I still don't for the life of me understand how people can vote for Morris, yet leave Mussina off the ballot. Mussina was a better pitcher than Glavine and Morris. Also how the hell was Tony Gwynn a first ballot HOF, yet Tim Raines is not in yet. Raines had a higher war, way more walks, much more stolen bases, and still had some pop in his bat. 

I still don't for the life of me understand how people can vote for Morris, yet leave Mussina off the ballot. Mussina was a better pitcher than Glavine and Morris. Also how the hell was Tony Gwynn a first ballot HOF, yet Tim Raines is not in yet. Raines had a higher war, way more walks, much more stolen bases, and still had some pop in his bat.