mad dog

[sfgdood]

No bigger fan of the Giants in all of tv than Chris Mad Dog Russo. Even he is declaring the Giants done like dinner. Chris sees the Nats and either the Mets or the Cubs or the Cards in the NL WC spots. He only thinks the Mets have a shot based on a lot of home games remaining.

[klaiggeb]

I can't disagree with him.

I think the Cubs have the best shot at the # 2 slot, and then St. Louis

But Farhan had to do what he did, Randy. He really had to.

Anything else would have looked like Horse S_ _ _ to the players and fans a like

[sfgdood]

Like i said before, you have to respect the gm that wants more than just making the playoffs which is all that was realistically possible...and even that was a 1000-1 longshot. I want the gm that goes for making the team solid for many years...not for just 2 months.

[sfgdood]

Like i said before, you have to respect the gm that wants more than just making the playoffs which is all that was realistically possible...and even that was a 1000-1 longshot. I want the gm that goes for making the team solid for many years...not for just 2 months.

[holiday613]

Randy, you crack me up..I happen to know mad dog personally and I used to be a frequent caller on his show back in the day known as Mordy From Monsey when he was on locally here in NY...Russo is lots of fun but there mightnot be a bigger moron in the field then him..He is the biggest Bandwagon fan out there and he changes his mind so often it could you make your head spin...He goes by the last game and it has always been what have you done for me lately ....Not that I disagree with him...I do think the Giants are on the outside looking in with many teams better suited to make the playoffs,,,But to quote Russo as though he is gospel is comedic@!!!

[sfgdood]

I wouldnt quote any talk show jock as being gospel. My only point here is when a Giants fan says there's no shot, you can be sure there's no bias in that statement.

[Islandboagie]

I honestly thought Randy was joking about using Russo as the voice of reason.

[holiday613]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDzAZ25hEi4


The famous 2003 Mad XDog reant...One of my all time favorites!! It mirrored exactly how id been feeling!!!

[sharksrog]

Today Chris had Ken Rosenthal on his show talking about how teams don't have to do a full rebuild to be competitive. He cited the A's and one other team (I should remember, but I've forgotten) as examples of teams who shed players at times but almost always try to go for it. He cited the Cubs and Astros as two teams that DID do successful rebuilds, but he also cited the Padres and White Sox where the rebuilds "are taking forever."

I still would have liked to see the Giants be more active at the trade deadline, but they appear to have done an excellent job of compromising in order to retain their "brand," which is to remain competitive as deep into seasons as they can while also building a better future.

There is no guarantee that Jaylin Davis and Mauricio Dubon will turn out to be good players. But they seem like prospects both with potential and who are close to being major league ready.

One thing that is crazy: At the beginning of the season the Giants didn't seem to have any outfielders at all. Now they seem to have them all the way from the Dominican Summer League through the major leagues. What was the Giants' top goal last winter? To get outfielders. Suddenly and without much fanfare, they seemed to have succeeded to a degree. Even though he's likely most valuable as a middle infielder, Dubon himself has played the outfield.

[sharksrog]

I got to hold my grandson's other grandfather's Hall of Fame trophy over the weekend. It was really heavy!

Remember, I'm the non-Hall of Fame grandfather!

[holiday613]

Who is the other gramps?

[sharksrog]

Not a baseball Hall of Famer, Mordy, but one who three months ago was elected into -- who knew? -- the Skate Boarding Hall of Fame. One thing I learned over the weekend is that now that's in that particular Hall of Fame, he has some public duties. Not that the Skateboarding Hall of Fame is a huge deal, but I never thought I would know a Hall of Famer, and to be honest, I didn't even know he had been a skate Boarder.

But I'm more than happy to be the non-Hall of Fame grandpa. And I'm happy that for whatever it's worth, my grandson has a relative who was good enough to make a Hall of Fame.

I think my own best shot at making a Hall of Fame is if they have one for faux pas or general klutziness. I'm pretty good at sticking my foot in my mouth, and I'm finding that even as I get more and more stiff and have a hard time moving my joints, that is the one area I'm still quite flexible at!

Why is it that as one gets older, suddenly the things that shouldn't be stiff are, and the things that should be stiff aren't! I think someone gave me the answer to that once, but I can't recall if I can't remember it or if I simply couldn't hear it.

[klaiggeb]

Skate Boarding Hall of Fame?

Seriously?

There is such a thing?

As an ex teacher, ya'all have NO IDEA how kids' obsession with skate boarding destroys their ability/desire to learn.

It is precisely the same as video gaming obsession.

If I had a kid today he would never get, own, or be allowed to use a skate board.

[sharksrog]

The particular Hall of Famer in question because a commercial artist and did a lot of graphic work for the skateboarding industry as part of his work.

I'm an amateur at this, but my sense would be that skateboarding, or video game playing or another other activity that provides pleasure -- in some cases maybe playing baseball -- could indeed become an obsession and get in the way of learning. It may be too that personalities that are bored, or have learning disabilities or otherwise have a hard time learning or possibly fitting in would gravitate toward such other activities that might be easier and more exciting for them.

In other words, what you're describing as a cause and effect relationship may be two things that are occurring together but not necessarily ion all cases with the cause and effect relationship you are describing.

The question that pops up for me is to ask what you as a teacher did to try to get such students interested in learning? One thing I believe is that what are potential good or even very good students get left behind. Sometimes when a student falls behind, he acts as if learning isn't important so he doesn't have to admit his failure to be able to catch up.

I know it has to be really hard to teach a classroom full of kids, some of whom need to be challenged beyond the curriculum, and others of whom fall behind for various reasons and not only can't seem to catch up themselves, but can hold the rest of the class back. I've always thought that would be one of the toughest challenges of teaching.

So my broad question is, what can a teach and/ or school do to overcome learning problems, some of which may be related to issues outside school (perhaps such as a skateboarding obsession, but perhaps also the death of a parent, family hardship, etc.)? I suspect that on the one side, students get held back by the class as a whole, while others get left behind and simply can't catch up, even if they truly would like to.

To be honest, I need to ask these questions of my daughter and ex-wife as well. You've helped bring an important issue a little more in focus for me, and I hope you can expound much further. Maybe others here have thoughts as well.

I realize I've gotten off Giants baseball here, but if Mordy just wouldn't ask questions!

By the way, I had no idea there was a Skateboarding Hall of Fame either, let alone that I would ever meet a member (in this case having known him a little for many years before he was inducted three months ago). I hadn't thought about issues with learning for kids, although I was certainly worried about the danger of physical injury.

What have you learned from talking to skateboarders who lost interest in learning? Did you try to truly listen and find out what was really going on? That can be hard with adults, and I imagine it's even more difficult with kids. But I would think that a respected teacher such as you were could get deeper into the real issues than most.

[Islandboagie]

I know of one math teacher I had that knew I was more interested in baseball that gave me different assignments to figure batting averages and ERAs. But that was in private school, once I started going to public schools the teachers didn't care as much.

[sharksrog]

My daughter taught a higher grade a few years back, and she didn't really know the subject matter very well in math. The way she got through it was that she found that the smart kids more or less taught themselves, and then she had them teach the slower kids. At the end of the year, her kids tested out extremely high.

That reminds me in a way of when the payroll person came to me with a question. I was her boss, but I had never done payroll. So what do I do to save face? All I could think to do was ask her questions, which turned out to be better than if I had known the answer, since the questions helped her to figure out the answer by herself.

Which kind of reminds me of back when I first umpired, and I'd get an argument. The very first time, the guy was talking so fast I couldn't even understand what he was saying. So all I could think to say when he finished was, "Let's play ball." And that seemed to satisfy him, whereas as if I had argued with him, he probably would still have been upset.

Anyway, good for the math teacher who took advantage of your interest in baseball to help you learn some extra math.