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April 21[edit]

a cartoon show[edit]

respected wiki,

i want to know about an cartoon show which was show on T.V. during my child hood, where in a boy and a robot merged together and form a fighting robot, also they have other robots with them,i want to know that show's name If possible.

I do remember a a show in which two dragon robots which later form shield of ice and sword of fire. i searched for that show on net but i didn't got much. so here by i am requesting you to fid it for me if possible.117.219.36.75 (talk) 08:20, 21 April 2013 (UTC) let me know if you find out the name of that cartoon show on my email 117.219.36.75 (talk) 08:23, 21 April 2013 (UTC)rohit[reply]

When was your childhood? Was it Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!? Voltron also had people inside robots (and Transformers, sometimes). Adam Bishop (talk) 11:25, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm fairly certain that first one is Super Robot..., as Adam said. Here's a link to a clip of that show. Assuming it was just one robot and a boy, you may be thinking of Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot. I don't specifically recall them "merging" in the common mecha way, but it's been a while since I watched the show. Evanh2008 ^{(talk|contribs)} 12:19, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

my 95 to 97 childhood period, i am used to watch cartoon network. but dont remember wheather that show was showned on tht channel or not110.235.84.2 (talk) 13:26, 21 April 2013 (UTC)Rohit[reply]

Wouldn't have been either Super Robot or Big Guy, then. Could it have been Voltron? Or one of the Gundam series? Evanh2008 ^{(talk|contribs)} 13:37, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Neon Genesis Evangelion would also fit the bill. Clip here. Evanh2008 ^{(talk|contribs)} 13:39, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

William Anthony Colon - attending schools in NYC[edit]

which schools did Willie Colon attended in NYC - Bronx? Did Willie Colon ever graduate from High school? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.193.197.27 (talk) 10:32, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Puerto Rican salsa musician or the American football player? Assuming it's the latter, our article claims without a source that he attended Cardinal Hayes High School and Hofstra University. Unless he dropped out and later acquired a General Equivalency Diploma, it's likely he graduated from Cardinal Hayes, since most American universities generally won't consider students who lack a completed secondary school education. Evanh2008 ^{(talk|contribs)} 12:22, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's the former, whose full name is William Anthony Colon. I couldn't find out what school he went to, but apparently he dropped out (although I can't find a reliable source about that either). Adam Bishop (talk) 14:25, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Oops. Well, in that case, I have absolutely nothing to contribute here. :) Evanh2008 ^{(talk|contribs)} 14:33, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

He had a half-brother, who was a semi-Colon. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:11, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Houston Astros low payroll[edit]

Why is the 2013 Houston Astros payroll so low?[1] Could someone add that information to the 2013 Houston Astros season article? Do they plan to have it so low in perpetuity and not expect the fanbase to be upset? 68.232.119.30 (talk) 18:46, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You may find This paper interesting. I've just scanned it, but it does attempt to explain the huge payroll disparity in Baseball between the top and bottom teams. Part of the difference is that Baseball has no meaningful salary cap, and very little revenue sharing. There is a "Luxury tax" where the highest salaried teams have to pay a subsidy to the lowest salaried teams, but it clearly doesn't have that much of an effect. This is partly because there is also no minimum salary as there are in other sports either. That means that, while the Astros are required to spend their Luxury tax refund they get essentially from the Yankees and the Red Sox on their own salary, they don't have to spend any more than that. I'm pretty sure that functionally, the Yankees are basically paying the entire Astros salary, given the numbers you just posted. The answer is that there's no rule against that, so some teams simply don't have any incentive to spend more. --Jayron32 19:59, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't there a minimum salary for major league players? Something on the order of 100,000, I think. Although nowhere near enough to attract highly-talented players. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:15, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There may be an individual minimum, but there is not a team salary floor like in the NFL. In the NFL there is a minimum pay scale (adjusted for years of experience), but there is also a separate salary floor that mandates that teams cannot pay their team (as a whole) less than that. MLB has no such floor, except that teams must use any of the paltry revenue sharing they get from the luxury tax on salaries. IIRC, the NFL individual minimum salary was around $400,000, so even if we applied that to a baseball team, that means a team of 25 players would still only have a $10,000,000 salary. Even the Astros do a bit better than that. --Jayron32 23:14, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I see what you're saying. So, supposing the minimum salary were 100,000, the 'Stros could theoretically have a payroll of less than 3 million and still be able to field a team. Although if they dropped that low, the Commissioner might look into it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:19, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Low team salary is the entire plot of Moneyball, which is based on a true story. RudolfRed (talk) 00:03, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You'll note how well the A's have done for the past ten years: One playoff series win, and one other appearance. Billy Beane's method only really works in short bursts, building a perennial power is still basically done the way it always has: with a metric shitload of cash. A fluke makes it in every year or so, but its usually a different fluke every year or so. Yankees, Sox, Cardinals, Dodgers, etc. still do it the old fashioned way. --Jayron32 00:09, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

How well I remember how the real-life Moneyball ended, with the Twins knocking off the A's for their own lone playoff series victory since 1991. The plain fact is that the reason the Yankees have so freakin' many championships is that they've been willing to spend the money to find the guys who could win. Their three great dynastic periods were all characterized by that "win at any cost" mentality. It's just that teams like the Cubs show that money isn't enough: You have to have people who know what they're doing. You have to have both, in the long haul. The clubs you mention have had the good luck (often, not always) to have both factors in their favor. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:26, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

To get back to the original question, there is the concept of "competitive cycle" in major league baseball. Some very rich teams like the Yankees try to win every year, but many other teams have a strategy of only making a big push to win only at certain times, when conditions are right. The strategy involves putting together a team of young players and having them mature together, while they are not yet costly. If the strategy works, the young players hit their peak at the same time, and the team can then complement them by adding a few missing pieces via trades or the free agent market. When the players become too expensive, they are let go, and the cycle begins anew. The Houston Astros are currently at the start of the cycle, which means amassing a lot of cheap young players and figuring which ones will be stars (and, there are a lot of very talented young players in the Astros' organization, although most are still in the minor leagues). Within three to five years, if all goes well, they should be competing for postseason play. This strategy was used successfully by the Florida Marlins, who won two World Series thus but are currently back to where the Astros are; by the Tampa Bay Rays (who are attempting to start a second cycle without falling completely to the cellar); the Toronto Blue Jays (who are making their big push this year); and the Washington Nationals (who made their big push last season, and are now trying to take the final step forward to a title). So, for Astros fans, the thing to do is to be patient, focus on the young players, and hope that the front office is smart enough to identify the right young players to hang on to. The temptation is to keeppatching up the team with costly but mediocre free agents, but you'll end up like the Kansas City Royals of the last 15 years and never move from being just bad to bad but promising. --Xuxl (talk) 08:47, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What film is this?[edit]

What film is this? Rough synopsis of the plot:

A father and his son(s) (I don't remember if there were more than one) are on a hiking trip in a river area. Unknown to them, a group of criminals led by a man called Frank Cartem (or something) have escaped to the same area. Cartem's partners betray him, so he is on the run from both the law and his partners. The father and his son(s) meet Cartem, and agree to escort him away from his partners so he can be safely turned in to the police. An FBI team led by two agents, a man and a woman, are looking out for the criminals, but the woman is actually in league with Cartem's partners, and wants to have both the family and Cartem killed so she can get her share of the loot. In the end, Cartem and the family reach the FBI agents, and Cartem reveals the woman is a traitor. JIP | Talk 19:35, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Contract? ¦ Reisio (talk) 00:20, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's it, thanks! JIP | Talk 04:11, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Championship-winning teams missing the playoffs[edit]

In the history of the big six sports leagues in North America, how many times has it occurred that a team wins the championship one season but misses the playoffs the following season, and vice-versa? Due to the nature of the NFL season, it's possible it's happened there, but how many times has it happened (if it has) in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS and CFL? Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 20:17, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That would take some extensive digging through our sports articles, which you could do as well as anyone else could. It's also possible there's an article on the subject. But if not, you could create one. It will be easier for baseball, for example, prior to 1969, when only two teams made each year's "playoffs", i.e. the World Series, so you could quickly deduce it from List of World Series champions. After that it starts to get more complicated. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:12, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

In the NHL, Chicago missed in 38-39, and Carolina missed in 06-07, immediately following their championship runs. There may be more, but these were the first that came to mind. (added: in 06-07, both finalists missed the playoffs the next season. Edmonton failed to qualify as well.) Mingmingla (talk) 22:47, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

"What Happened!? Sports Champions Missing the Playoffs the Next Season" courtesy of Bleacher Report. NFL/Super Bowl champs: 13; NBA: 2; NHL: 7; MLB: "often". No MLS or CFL info however. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:05, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The BC Lions won the Grey Cup in '64 and were at near the bottom of the conference in '65. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:25, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The most famous recent baseball example are the Florida Marlins: winner of the World Series in 1997, lost over 100 games in 1998. They pulled the trick again after their 2003 World Series win, but at least their 2004 team was competitive. The higher the percentage of teams making the postseason, the more remarkable a champion missing the following year's playoffs becomes. In baseball, it happens all the time, given how hard it is to qualify for the postseason. In some seasons of the NHL, 16 of 21 teams made the playoffs; it would have been a huge shock for the defending champions to fall that far! --Xuxl (talk) 08:53, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Marlins for 1998 had had much of their expensive talent traded away as a cost saving, which might sound familiar to any remaining fans of the current team. The joke in 1998 was that the team slogan was "Wait till last year!" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:14, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Like bugs said, that's a stats-fiend question... but anecdotaly, it's pretty common. Shadowjams (talk) 11:31, 23 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A comparable example in Europe would be Chelsea F.C. They won last year's UEFA Champions League but were eliminated in the group stage of this year's competition, becoming the first reigning champions to fail to reach the knockout phase. AJ Cham 20:52, 25 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]