notnadia asks: I heard this morning on the radio that Major League Baseball's new labor deal includes the addition of another wild card game. Is that true? How would that work exactly?
» SFB says: Here’s how it’d work: Each league will get a new wild-card team, and at the end of the season, each league would play a one-game playoff to decide which team would go to the postseason. Here’s why baseball purists may not like this: The end of this year’s regular season was made interesting by the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals (who won it all) coming from behind to overtake the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves, respectively, for the wild-card slots. Under the new scenario, the Braves and Red Sox would have one last shot to redeem themselves, effectively taking a couple of weeks of excitement and putting it into a single game — kinda like sudden death at the end of a hockey game. What do you think? Like? Dislike? — Ernie @ SFB (It’s our Office Hours! Shoot us a question over here.)
megan-elizabeth-deactivated2012 asks: Yesterday I heard someone complain about OWS costing them a "future job." This person is a college student who was planning to get a job as a police officer upon graduation. I believe he had already begun the hiring process. He claims that the police force is not hiring any new officers for a while because they can no longer afford it, thanks to the amount of overtime paid as a result of OWS. What do you think? Is this credible? Is this the fault of OWS, or a problem with the NYPD?
» SFB says: The protests are certainly a factor, at least in NYC. From this Reuters article: “About $226 million in police overtime was added for this year, and $240 million more a year after that, Turetsky said. The Police Department will have a hiring freeze for civilians; the Fire Department will cut 44 civilian jobs through attrition this year and 29 people next year.” While there have been other reasons — the year’s heavy snow and weather issues are also cited — the extra police presence at Occupy is part of the reason the city went $1 billion over its budget this year. As to who to blame, let’s face it: That comes down to your political views. Many find ways to credit or discredit the movement as they see fit. Plenty would be quick to put the blame with Bloomberg; others would certainly look at the Occupy movement. Ultimately, though, it’s been a difficult year all around for NYC’s budget, with many unforeseen circumstances coming out of nowhere, and Occupy was one factor of many. — Ernie @ SFB (It’s our Office Hours! Shoot us a question over here.)
No homework assignments please, sorry. :/ It’s not that we don’t like seeing you guys pass your classes, but we’d rather see you guys succeed!
basicallyenhanced asks: Hey Shortform, whatever happened to Office Hours?
» SFB says: Yeah, it’s been a while since we’ve done Office Hours, hasn’t it? Admittedly, to keep things fresh, we’ll do features for a while and then give them a bit of a break. Office Hours is one of them. We totally take on asks all the time, though. (So, ask us stuff!) But we’ll try to make time for a period of Office Hours one evening later this week. — Ernie @ SFB
musingsbymattheous asks: Did you ever go to your Professors’ office hours in college?
» We say: Yeah, but it was because we had to be there. Stupid professors. Sigh. Seriously, though, it was nice to be able to vent every once in a while. Which is why we have Office Hours now.
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