99 Problems

by Eric Simon on Apr 3, 2007 11:51 AM EDT in Commentary

Undefeated. There's nowhere to go but down, right? I suppose a few more wins would be nice, but the winning percentage isn't going to get any better. One game, first place, where a lot of these guys think the Mets will ultimately wind up. Just like last year. Of course, BP's computers don't give them any respect, but computers are just godless, emotionless drones, right? What do they know?

Lots of folks enjoyed that opening night victory. I know I did. Some people even chatted about it. It's hard -- and dangerous -- to draw too many conclusions from one game. Tonight the Mets are at it again, still in St. Louis, where the Cardinals will receive their World Series rings. The Mets will throw El Duque out there, and we'll see what he's got. He looked good in spring training, well, when he wasn't suffering from bouts of arthritis and a littany of other age-related ailments.

The Cardinals have their own problems. Lineup problems. Outfield problems. Yadier Molina batting fifth problems. So Taguchi forgetting how to field problems. Drinking problems, allegedly.

I have problems, too. I work ten hours a day. I maintain two websites here on the sophisticated series of tubes we call the internets. I'm trying to coordinate the closing of two houses -- our current and future ones -- and I just found out that mortgage rates are going up tomorrow. Yay! But all of these problems go away for a few hours tonight when I can sit back and watch some hardball.

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Where did you get your loan?

From a guy named something like Vinnie Nine Fingers? When you get the commitment letter you lock in the rate for 90 days, even if you have to pay a small fee. And if you went with an ARM, I might just reach through them internets tubes and smack you on general principle.

by madisonmetsfan on Apr 3, 2007 12:22 PM EDT 0 recs

Nope

We didn't apply for a mortgage yet. We needed pre-approval in order to make an offer on the house, but we only just had the inspection on Thursday so the mortgage didn't happen yet. We were going to go in soon, but this just expedited that process. We'll get a 90-day lock on the rate, fixed for the life of the mortgage, so no internet-bitchslap should be necessary.

by Eric Simon on Apr 3, 2007 12:51 PM EDT up 0 recs

ARM's are just like any other financial instrument

There are good points and bad points to them - they're not automatically bad, you just need to understand what the consequences are of owning one, risk/reward-wise.

Hang in there, Eric - someday you'll look back on this and laugh. Like the day EFTB said he was going out for grape sod.

Watch me paste this pathetic palooka with a powerful paralyzing perfect pachydermous percussion pitch.

by Mr. Met on Apr 3, 2007 12:55 PM EDT up 0 recs

ARMs

Agree Mr. Met. Whether or not an ARM makes sense really depends on how long you intend to stay in your place. My wife and I bought our first place last year and we learned 90% of people sell their first house/apt within 5 years. For that reason, we went for a 7/1 ammortizing ARM. We are trying to start a family and wouldn't you know it we are already discussing a bigger place. I'd be shocked if we are in this place when our ARM resets. You really need to decide based on your circumstances.

Eric - Good luck with the place.

by millsy on Apr 3, 2007 1:45 PM EDT up 0 recs

Here's something funny

If you read the New Yorker, you may have seen the article about John Smith, the English adventurer who governed the Jamestown colony for a while in the early 17th century. I don't think it's available online - but it includes an interesting discussion of whether or not Smith's reports about the New World were accurate.

Two historians, James West Davidson and Mark Mailton Lytle, once tried to imagine how Smith might have reported a July afternoon spent at Yankee Stadium:
Being assembled about a great field of open grass, a score of their greatest men ran out upon the field, adorned each in brightly hued jackets and breeches, with letters cunningly woven upont their Chestes, and wearing caps ... upon their heades, of a sort I know not what. One of their chiefs stood in the midst and would at his pleasure hurl a white ball at another chief, whose attire was of a different colour, and whether by chance or artifyce I know not the ball flew exceeding close to the man yet never injured him, but sometimes he would strike att it with a wooden club and so giveing it a hard blow would throw down his club and run away.
In other words, you could count on Smith for abundant detail and admirable accuracy, but he's fairly likely to leave out what you most want to know: "Yankees 10, Red Sox 3."

On the other hand, he would probably still have been better than listening to Joe Morgan.

"He even tried to pimp it," Floyd said. "He's got no pimp." Said Wright: "I don't even know what that means."

by Billy Everyteen on Apr 3, 2007 1:48 PM EDT 0 recs

99 is a problem?

I thought Turk Wendell retired!

I watched and enjoyed the opening day game but couldn't make it to a computer (shame, too, that was a nice game thread); real life will prevent following the next few games, so I'll be especially happy to see recaps and summaries later on.

Best of luck with it all, Eric. And I'm hoping all the computers are wrong about this team -- our sheer heart and grittiness will cause the pitching problem to resolve itself. (Some good stuff over on FJM recently about Eckstein from the opener.)

by anonymous on Apr 3, 2007 2:45 PM EDT 0 recs