Montreal

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Assassin's Creed: Unity is so broken, Ubisoft is giving away free DLC to apologize

Ubisoft's big-name hit Assassin's Creed: Unity shipped so badly broken that they had to set up an entire stand-alone website just to track all the problems and patch updates. Ubisoft's Montreal manager wrote that "the overall quality of the game was diminished by bugs and unexpected technical issues," and the company is going to ship the upcoming Dead Kings expansion pack free to players who purchased the game.

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Montreal, Canada

Known as one of the foodie capitals of North America, Montreal is a perfect place to visit for couples that enjoy fine dining and exciting nightlife.  From simple delis to high-class restaurants, there is a wide enough selection to appease every appetite.  And bars, nightclubs and other entertainments are in abundance, so you’ll always have something do when you go out.  The city is also known for its numerous festivals, so no matter what time of the year you show up t

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Sonics Tradition

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On the subject of NBA franchise relocation, James had an intriguing way to organize our thoughts:

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Personally, I don't think it's important to preserve [statistical] records, because we'll adapt to the new records, just like we adapted to huge strikeout changes, etc, (or NFL going from 14- to 16-game season and eventually 18). Even so, going to 8-inning game will radically change bullpen usage, but, we've seen that over the past 30 years anyway.
Asked by: tangotiger
Answered: 1/14/2013
Well. ...philosophically, you and I share a predisposition in favor of change; I think we're both inclined to believe that baseball hurts itself more than it helps itself by its fear of change.  
 
But at the same time, it does not follow that all changes are good changes, or that there is no value in tradition.   Indeed, almost the ENTIRE value of a sports franchise is in its traditions.   You and I could design a game which is as entertaining to watch as baseball or football, but were a league to be launched based on that game, its revenues in Year One would be less than 1% of the revenues of the NFL or MLB.    The other 99% is accounted for traditions.  
 
The value in the franchises is in the traditions which bind its fan base to the team.    While I agree that baseball needs to be open to change, I also think that it needs to be not TOO anxious to change.  

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This is a thought-provoking suggestion -- that 99% of the Seahawks' shirt sales* are really because of a contextual backdrop.  The fact that they're playing in the NFL(TM), the league of Lombardi and Walsh and Unitas and etc., and the investment that sons and fathers have made over the years -- this is the fabric of fan loyalty and intensity.

Compare the value of a product's "brand"; the Coca-Cola "brand" is worth 60-something billion.  The memories, feelings, and attitudes are themselves the marketable product.

Obviously, most of this is true.  You could build a USFL team to play in Portland, and it might have great players, but it's not going to have anything that we value about a Felix Hernandez - Albert Pujols matchup on Friday night.  This would be true even if Felix and Pujols jumped to the USFL.*

Just Watchin'

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=== Good Pitching Beats Good Hitting ===

... except when it doesn't.  Dave Fleming, at BJOL, goes over the four Division Series matchups to see if Good Pitching won.  He's not trying to prove a case in a court of law.  He's just cracking peanuts, and watching baseball.  ... Of the Final Eight teams, in four matchups, how many qualified as Pitching vs Hitting matchups?

NYY vs BAL:  both teams had 109 ERA's.  NYY had a far better offense.  No test case here.  The better team squeaked out a win.

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A's vs DET:  both teams had ERA's of 114 and 112, and both had OPS's of 97-104.  Fleming called Oakland the pitching team and Detroit the hitting team, saying that hitting beat pitching.  I'd call it a non-test case.

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SF vs CIN:  Huge test case.  Did you realize that the Reds had an ERA+ of 127 ?!  And they had a lousy OPS+ of 90 also, despite Votto, Bruce, Phillips and Ludwick.  San Fran, on the other hand, had an excellent offense and below-average pitching.  

The Giants won, so that's an In Yo Face against the purists.

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Gnats vs Cards:  the Montreal Expos had a sky-high ERA+ of 119.  The Expos' offense was league average; the Cards' offense was better than their defense.  Legit test case.

The Cardinals, the hitting team, won -- staging a huge comeback against a terrific closer.  In Yo Face.

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Tom Willhelmsen RP - SP, part 2

This is part B.  Part A can be found here.

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(continued)  Q.  Where is he on the starter's rhythm spectrum?

A.  Here, check this key aspect of his mechanics:

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He steps lightly.  He carries his weight high, and loosely.  He's not "running down the mound" (Orel Hersisher).  He's smooth, not explosive. 

You can see that for yourself, can't you?

There's every chance in the world this guy could be a Grade A starter.  Check that:  if he executed the pitches that he did on Avila, he WOULD BE a grade A starter.

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Q.  How are Feliz, Bard, and Sale doing?

A.  They're adjusting, obviously.  While AL batters are suffering.   Feliz' ERA is 2.70, and he's on pace for 4.0 WAR.  He had 1.0 WAR last year in 62 IP out of the bullpen.  Okay, they're leveraged innings:  multiply it by 2x and what is 1 times 2?

Daniel Bard fired a gem at the Rays on April 16, and then the Sox moved him back to the pen, apparently.  Here's a discussion of his situation.  I trust that nobody in Seattle would be debating Tom Wilhelmsen's control.  Well, at this point...

Gary Carter

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We've been asked to lead many funerals.  One of the most important questions you ponder, as you're getting your material together, is "Did this person lead the life that they wanted to lead?"  

The greatest example of this in my experience was my wife's father.  He was a roughneck in school, joined the Navy, saw the world, went to college, became an engineer for Boeing, took care of his money, parceled it out patriarchally, tolerated no disobedience or even disagreement, had the respect if not the extreme love of his family, owned nice cars and motorcycles, vacationed to inexpensive but friendly little fishing resorts, retired as a highly-appreciated consultant to Boeing, pursued his aviation hobbies, and died at 67 -- with absolutely zero regrets, except for the time of his departure.  

He took 15-20 vitamin pills per day, his entire life, running circuits around his tile basement every morning before work.  It didn't stave off the pancreatic cancer.  Perhaps his working in the Minuteman silos had trumped the vitamins.

The key to my wife's comfort, then and now, was this realization.  From cradle to grave, her dad had lived exactly the life that he wanted to live.

Gary Carter lived 57 years, and they were 57 years that 99% of American boys dreeeeeeeeeaam of living.  Is that preferable to 75 years of a life that isn't the life you'd prefer to live?  It's an interesting philosophical question, isn't it?  Which lifetime would you take?

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