Dr. Tom

It's hard not to, sometimes. Basically, I only play good hands, except on rare occasions when I'll play trash to keep people guessing. Generally, I go for hands whose blackjack value is 19 or greater, any pair, and Ax suited. If you have high pairs or AK, raise before the flop. The thing about Hold'em is that you're playing your opponents as much as you are the cards. Look at the board and try to put them on hands based on the way you know they bet. Spend a little money and buy some information to see where you stand. And if you have a good hand, look at the number of outs you have compared to the pot odds, and be aggressive. Get out if you know you're beaten, but if you have the best hand, make people pay to try and draw something to beat you. That's how I play: tight, but aggressive. I don't play a lot pf hands, but when I'm in a hand, I'm in it to win it, and I'm going to make you beat me unless the board is bad for my cards.

Yeah, just you wait.

It would be an awful lot to post. See if you can find a copy of Ron Shandler's Baseball Forecaster, Vern. It's highly recommended for anyone in a competitive fantasdy league, btw. Shandler discusses the power tendencies of catchers in that book. I know I've seen it mentioned in the last two editions.

Presuming he doesn't get hurt, it's a lead-pipe cinch.

That depends, Al. Ron Shandler has tracked the catcher-power-spike-in-their-30s trend for a while now. It seems to happen more often in backups, but IIRC, didn't Lopez miss some time the past couple years? It might have been a contract year, but he might also be finding that second wind in his power stroke that a lot of catchers his age seem to experience.

Not I. Halladay showed himself to be a big-game pitcher this season, toiling for a team that wasn't as good as the Red Sox. He's also younger (though I do worry about his workload this season) than Pedro, so it'll be several years (barring injury) before he starts to decline. Give me Roy every time. Time will tell. He's still young, and only two years removed from major surgery on his arm. Not yet, no, but I'd take him over Pedro for his potential to be better soon. He let his ace talk him out of making a move that was in the best interest of the team. That's inexcusable. I don't care how hard you want to ride Pedro's jock, Mike, but when you have a tired, struggling pitcher on the mound in a Game 7, YOU TAKE HIM OUT. It's really that simple. No hesitation. No "do you think you can get these next couple hitters?" Go out and get him or be thought of as a manager with no testicles. That would have been a good call. And an infinitely better call than leaving a weary Pedro in there to take a beating. The Braves' pitching always seems to blow up on them in postseason. I've noticed their bullpen struggles over the years (and there were also plenty of times when their starters struggled), and I really have no way to explain it. Still, I think a quality reliever, rested, is a better gamble than a tired starter, however good the manager thinks that starter may be.

I'm unconvinced he's the same back he was before he got hurt. I think the injuries are taking their toll. The Rams are doing pretty well without him, anyway. I don't. I said it about Portis. Portis plays in a better offense and runs behind a better line, but I think in terms of talent, he and LT are very close. JAMAL~! True, but I still think the season will see LT finish with more points than Moe.

Actually, Vern, catchers' power numbers tend to spike later in their careers. It's possible Lopez could hit 30+ homers for another couple seasons. It's also possible he could suck a big wang next year, of course, but I think the Braves will roll the dice.

In order: Yes, Yes, not a chance, no way, yes, they're about even, and no way. Also keep in mind that JAMAL~!, while he's a fucking house who's always been a very good back, is seeing his stats helped by both his record-setting day and the inefficiency of Kyle Boller. The dreaded P-word. So many fantasy owners pay dearly for it. For my money, LT is the better back in the real NFL, and the better back to have on a fantasy team. I think LT will have more points at the end of the season. He doesn't play in an offense that's nearly as good, but he is the star of that show, and as such, he won't have to share the points like Williams would. There's no Randy Moss in San Diego to haul in TD catches, and there's no Daunte Culpepper out there to smash the ball into the end zone on a QB draw.

WTF? Ever heard of Roy Halladay? Roy Oswalt? Kerry Wood? Mark Prior? Heck, I could name a bunch more people I'd take over Pedro. Face it: he's fragile and his hard-throwing days are getting to be in his rear-view mirror. Pedro will have to PITCH now, and while I don't doubt he'll be able to make the transition, the ubermensch you're thinking of is gone, replaced by someone who can't overpower people like he used to. He was doing well, until that last inning, when he was getting lit up like a Roman Candle at a flamethrower convention. Fair enough. But the combustible BK Kim was out of the picture, and like I said before, a fresh reliever is better than a clearly tired Pedro. Maybe not, but presuming the man they hire has seen his managerial balls drop, he'll certainly get more of a chance to find out.

Perhaps if they'd been able to marry and have sex like normal people in their younger years, maybe they wouldn't become "fucked in the head" and start raping little boys when they hit their 40s and 50s. Sure, these guys are sick, but I think if they were allowed to be MEN first and priests second, there would be a lot fewer problems. Devotion to your god shouldn't mean you cast all your earthly needs aside. The Catholic Church badly needs to modernize a lot of its views. Does it really hurt to find out? If ONE CHILD does not have to go through what so many others have gone through, isn't it worth it? Or is outdated dogma really that important to you? How? See if they get sized from looking at kiddie porn? I think 25-to-life is appropriate. Per offense. It remains to be seen if the Church will actually follow thru with that.

I've played many variations of poker over the years. Texas Hold'em is the version I prefer to all the others. Five-card draw sucks because it only has two betting rounds, and you need wild cards for people to play their hands. Seven-card stud is a perfectly good game, and it's probably my favorite after Hold'em. Omaha feels broken at first, since you get four cards, but I have a hard time shaking the Texas Hold'em mindset and remembering I can only use 3 from the board. Crazy Pineapple's a decent spin on Hold'em, but not as good as the original. If anyone is serious about playing poker for money (even in $20 home games), you owe it to yourselves to do some reading. Phil Hellmuth, David Sklansky, Doyle Brunson, and Ken Warren all have good books on the market about poker (usually hold'em, so shop around a little if Hold'em isn't your game).

Tomlinson's Stats: 116 carries, 657 yards, 5.7 YPC, 3 TD. (6 games) Williams' Stats: 105 carries, 508 yards, 4.8 YPC, 3 TD. (7 games) LT has three touchdowns for a bad team. That's OK. Williams has three touchdowns for a team that just lost its first game. That's bad. Also, teams don't have to focus on Williams when playing the Vikings, since Culpepper and Moss are both potent offensive weapons. LT is the best threat San Diego has, and considering the bust that David Boston has been, defenses have been playing eight men in the box against the Chargers. Everyone knows Schottenheimer loves to run the ball, and LT is still up near 6.0 YPC. Sorry, Mike, but he's a damn good back, and it's hard for me to take anyone seriously when they say he's not among the top 5 backs in the NFL. Also keep in mind that Williams, while talented, is only starting because of an injury to Michael Bennett, and the mediocrity of Onterrio Smith.

No, they dumped a coward who couldn't pull that obviously-tiring pitcher out of the game because he's Pedro Martinez. BTW, Mike, Pedro isn't exactly the best pitcher on the planet these days. His velocity was down this year, especially late in the season, and it was obvious he was out of gas in Game 7. Little should have gone out there and taken the ball from him, but he let Pedro, far from the humblest of men, rest on his laurels and reputation, and it cost the Sox the World Series. Pedro's a gamer, sure, and what pitcher ISN'T going to want to stay in at that point. Logic dictates you take him out, though: he was clearly tired, and the Sox had the best bullpen in the postseason. The bullpen had been the best in the preseason. Taking Pedro out in that spot woud have been easy to defend, considering how obvious it was that he was running on fumes. Whoever comes in from the 'pen might not have the talent Pedro does, but a fresh, rested reliever is better than a tired starter, no matter how good the starter's reputation is. Little was a coward, plain and simple, and cowards should be fired from managerial positions.

I seriously fucking hope not. I, for one, will be pissed if Murray doesn't get it. He's a solid baseball man with a good mind for the game, and he has a local connection that no one else but Cal Ripken could boast of. If Murray gets tossed by the wayside for a coward like Grady Little, that will just be one more chink in my Orioles fandom armor.

Actually, a much easier solution would be eliminating the pointless vow of celibacy and allowing priests to marry like any other man. Other faiths do it, and the Catholic Church sticking to what it perceives as tradition (OMG THE APOSTLES WERE TEH SINGLE~!!!11!!!1!!) is only getting in the way of change taking place. Of course, they should let women be priests, too, but there's no reason to expect the Church to stop becoming a patriarchal, sexist, bullshit institution overnight.

Oh yeah forgot you. Hope you die along with a wrestler you hate. This might be NHB, but wishing death on someone is beyond the pale. Arrivaderce, Game. May you floss with ass hairs from now until the end of time.

No, continue blaming him because he didn't have the stones to take an obviously tired Pedro Martinez out of the crucual game 7 of the ALCS. He let Pedro talk him into staying in the game. That's inexcusable. He's the manager of the team, and he should be assertive enough to get his ace off the mound when it's apparent he's running out of gas. But he let Pedro talk him out of using the best bullpen in the postseason, and that bloody well SHOULD be his undoing. No team needs a coward for a manger.

Joe Torre, if the Yankees let him go. Mike Hargrove. Eddie Murray. There are a lot of good baseball men looking for jobs right now who would probably love a chance to manage the Red Sox.

As a casket cover, perhaps, but that's it. I don't know who the new manager will be yet (I'd like to see Eddie Murray get the job), but I don't see any reason to put Don Zimmer on the coaching staff. Not that he's not a capable coach, but I'd prefer to see younger fellows who can relate to this generation of ballplayers better.

The Sox didn't win the one game that counted most because of him. That's enough reason to sack him right there.

No, because he kills any and all competetive balance by using his never ending funds. He also has a tendency to aquire players just so other teams can't get them. Steinbrenner is bad for baseball, plain and simple Actually, Steinbrenner is bad for his own team. Historically, when he has been the most involved in player personnel decisions, the Yankees have not done well. When George steps back and lets his baseball people take care of things (presuming he doesn't fire Cashman and the rest of the front office), the Yankees do well. Plenty of teams with far fewer resources than the Yankees are starting to do well. Competitive imbalance in baseball is not like it used to be, and a collection of mercenary all-stars is still very vulnerable to a good team which plays solid baseball.

No way. You're giving up too much and not getting enough in return. I like Coles, and I think Barlow could do well if SF would actually let him play over Hearst. I'm not a fan of Pittsburgh's D at all this year, though. The "steel curtain" has rusted out. If the defenses have to be involved, I'd reject the trade. Yes. Gannon sucks this year and plays for an old, lousy team, and Barber > Faulk.

Not at all. He's the nut high. Nope. Williams isn't a top-tier back, and Boldin is still young and unproven, though he shows a lot of promise, and he plays for a shitty team. I don't think it's fair at all. In your place, I'd probably veto it as well. A top-5 running back like LT should command a top-tier receiver and a decent RB in return. You have the decent RB in Williams, but there's no way anyone's going to convince me that Boldin is a top-tier receiver so early in his career. Even in a keeper league, I don't like this deal.

Two words to watch out for, though: sophomore slump. Sure, it looks the kid has the goods, but let's see how he holds up for a full MLB season before we beatify him.