That’s really the only resort the players have unless they can prove collusion.

Yeah. The owner of the Houston Astros is an “idiot” despite the fact that he has overseen an organization that has rebuilt itself up from ineptitude and won a World Series with that philosophy. The real problem is that baseball players don’t enter free agency early enough. Owners don’t want to pay the back end of…

More like a scarlet letter.

+one box of kleenex

Exactly. The ease and security issues is why all sorts of organizations are going this route. The few times the systems go down are a much smaller price than the hassles of dealing with cash.

I don’t know what you mean by low-level, but this here liberal finds Norm MacDonald to be funny. He’s apparently conservative but doesn’t usually joke about it.

I travel for work about five or six times a year for a week at a time. When my three boys were younger, I looked forward to these trips. My wife could sense my absolute glee as I packed. I didn’t really care how busy I was going to be, all I knew was that I was going to get a couple real good meals on someone else’s…

Mike Florio has been pushing for a “booth referee” who can make calls in real time, or immediately afterwards after viewing a quick replay.  

And the bars downtown are right next to the Mississippi.

So “Hail to the Redskins” is a “tribute to Native Americans” in Snyder’s eyes???  Wow.

Right.  But he is still subject to transfer rules.

Once they are enrolled and added to the roster, walk-ons and scholarship players are under the same transfer rules.

Well sure. Don’t recruit the guy over then. 

Yes. This is the first that you have heard of a “graduate transfer?”

Uh...pretty easy. He’s in graduate school.

Why does it matter that he was a walk-on?

Why does it matter that it’s in-conference?

You are right that its not a coincidence. But it’s because teams see success in other ways. 

Right. The team will have other options when he turns 32 instead of tied to one guy. That’s the point. They are maintaining flexibility in case better options exist later on.

I would be perfectly happy to sign Machado to a shorter contract. My guess is that if he is looking for a five or six year deal, he would have a lot more offers.