Joe Dumars has lost the plate.

Remember when Joe Dumars was well regarded as a general manager? It wasn't that long ago. Even after he decided he was going to draft Darko over Carmelo. People still liked him.

I mean, Michael Curry was a highly regarded hire when he came to Detroit. But then, the wheels came off. I saw it coming. I mean pre-twitter and lesser NBA fan me saw it coming. And if I could see that it was bad idea jeans, you know you're losing the plate.

But to scapegoat Michael Curry after one season? It's ridiculous. You take what was at best calculated gamble that broke badly to get a player whose killed a coach or two in his past. And it doesn't go well.

But you let the coach go after the draft and after the season because of it? That's Isiah level-petty. Michael Curry did what he could with what he had. And he had an old team with mismatched parts.

And whose fault was that?

The Bucks decided to let Villanueva go free...

What the fuck was that? Huh? You go off and you start to a plan. You try to change the future of the team. Get flexible. Become leaner and meaner.

And I was there for every step of the way. I got blocked off of Bill Simmons' Twitter account because of it. Yi and Bobby Simmons becoming Amir Johnson and two old Spurs? I understood.

Because there was one thing the Bucks needed to do this offseason. They could have reached on Jrue Holiday. They could have traded Michael Redd for two bad contracts. I would have understood. Because there was one goal.

Keep CV31 and Sessions.

Well that's not going to happen. Odds are we're going to see Alopecia Pete have the same sort of success as Mo Williams did on the same team. So that's awesome. They made the wrong decision if it came down between him and Skiles. But I am going to leave it be for right now.

Just, on the infinitesimal chance Amir Johnson is listening? Get your shine on. If the Bucks are goin gto be good, you need to fill the shoes.

You know what?

I'm seriously confused. Honestly. It's a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but I have to work this out in my head. How in the blue hell did Matt Joyce spend the last two months in Triple-A?

Now if you remember my post on December 11th of last year, you know exactly why I'm a fan of Matt Joyce. He threatens 60 extra base hits with a .500 slugging percentage if he gets 500 at bats. Not better than B.J. Upton or Carl Crawford by any stretch of the imagination. And Gabe Kapler has value as a lefty masher.

And we imagine that Ben Zobrist's ability to play six positions and generate a modicum of power and a soupcan's worth of patience means he has a spot in the bigs for as long as he's effective. So that's four spots. And we understand it.

But unless you need to run a two-minute drill, in what world does Gabe Gross deserve a job over Matt Joyce? I mean this very seriously. If it's because you feel comfortable with a guy? It's a stupid reason.

Especially because Gabe Gross is the definition of replacement player. I mean it. Look at his per/162 totals.

.243/.342/.411. That's a .750 OPS for your corner outfielder. That's something you want. At least it's what Joe Maddon seems to have wanted. Why does that annoy me? Because look at this total. .251/.339/.502.

That's Matt Joyce's Per/162. Yeah, he's not going to average two bases for every hit from here on out? But the dude can rake. In fact? Let's take out the batting average and isolate on-base and slugging percentage.

Joyce: .339
Gross: .257

You had a starter-level right fielder and you kept him in Durham. This was a big mistake Joe Maddon made. He rectified it now, but it may have been worth several wins to get there.

I mean, if you're going to trade a potential closer option like Edwin Jackson to get
this piece of the puzzle, why are you going to let him languish in Durham.

Hey Twitter...

What are you doing? I like hearing half of conversations. Hearing half of conversations allowed me to learn about the Playoff conversational magic between Russ Bengston and Courtside from NBA's finest. Hearing half of conversations allowed me to figure out that Matt Fraction is on twitter. Which is awesome.

But now? Nothing. It's only people I know and fuckers trying to spam me. Not to say that the Twitter Mayor of Portage isn't mad at the people who follow him. But I want the randon @replies back. For the love of Pete, I never knew the Matrix was on twitter.

But this is a microchasm of life on the internet. They keep fucking with things that are good. That's what chased me from the WordPress (and readers). That's why my MySpace is the same as it ever was. And that's why I am morose about twitter's state of affairs.

Are the idiots in the Senate Proud of themselves?

...Didn't I tell you this was going to happen? Saxby Chambliss was gonna win. I could see it coming.

So why oh why do you protect a man chairing a committee where he is as arch-conservative as an Oklahoma lunatic? Barack may be feeling magnaminous. But what the hell? You have a man who cannot win a primary over a negatively charismatic rich white guy named Ned.

...This is all you're hearing isn't it?

30 in 30? San Antonio.

The Spurs can go fuck themselves.

I believe that political points of view are malleable.

There are several events in a persons life where if fate just turned left instead of right? Their point of view would be different. I mean, me at 35 is different from me at 27 is different from me at 19. And you all know the Apocryphal quote from Churchill, am I right?

That being said, something came across the transom that if it comes true would break any chance of me ever voting Republican again if it comes to pass.

"Sen. McCain signaled he may give his acceptance speech via satellite from the disaster zone. [from Hurricane Gustav]."

Seriously. He wants to accept his nomination amidst the rubble of a very powerful Hurricane. In terms of dick moves? This is between sleeping with your brother or sister's spouse and stealing key resources from a charity.

This is thinly exploitative. This is trying to make your bones on the back of the frightened and the suffering. Bush wasn't stupid enough to pull this shit in 2004. And you know what? He pulled every other god damn trick in the book.

I once respected John McCain. Maybe I was young and stupid, but I did. But you know what? He's a weathervane. He goes where his instincts tell him politically. And he might actually do this.

He's going all-in for the Presidency, and if he gets in? We are fucked. Fucked fucked fucked.