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MESA, Ariz. -- Oft-injured Kerry Wood is out again -- this time because of a flub in a hot tub. The Chicago Cubs pitcher is not expected to throw off the mound for a few days after he slipped this week getting out of a hot tub at home. Wood landed on his stomach and chest. "It was just a little spill," Wood said Thursday. "I didn't think anything of it. Nothing's wrong. It's just going to be a few extra days. My arm feels great. My body feels good." Wood said he probably would not have thrown off the mound until Friday had he not gotten hurt. He participated in most drills on Thursday when pitchers and catchers worked out for the first time. Bothered by an injured right shoulder the past three seasons, Wood is being converted to a reliever after being limited to four starts last year. AP NEWS The Associated Press News Service

Chicago might have a problem http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2763803

I was thinking of the pulled interview, but I don't remember the details now.

What about the Trish Stratus controvesy? I'm not reading through all those descriptions, but if there's not anything on that major event there should be.

What do you do for a living where NM is a business destination?

I love watching Rachel Marsden acting normal on Red Eye. Only Fox news would bring in the person who Swimfan was based on as a political pundit.

Tampa Bay Devils Rays to Possibly Change Nickname Name could be big change By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG - The team on the field might not reflect it, but the Devil Rays organization is undergoing significant change. With a fresh approach and attitude under the new ownership and management, there are millions being spent to upgrade the facility and improve the fan experience. There are creative executives being hired, and holdover ones being empowered. There are all kinds of innovative concepts (clean restrooms! a decent sound system!) floating around along with new ideas, such as plans for a huge touch tank of live rays on the right-centerfield patio. Bigger news might be coming. Top officials are privately talking about ideas that would change the entire look and identity of the team for the 2007 season - from the name to the colors to the logos to the uniforms. At the least, it seems likely the word "Devil" will be dropped, as it already is in some official team references. Then a decision has to be made whether to continue associating Rays with the sea creatures or to connect with the sun. Or there could be a new name, such as the Tampa Bay Tarpons. The name issue likely will drive the others, and it reasons that if one is changed they all will be, and done neatly to commemorate what will be marketed as the 10th anniversary season. Discussions are very much preliminary. Concepts have to be designed. Focus groups need to be convened. MLB officials have to be consulted. Procedures must be followed, including a March 31 deadline to notify MLB of a possible change and details by May 31. Decisions have to be made. The team on the field in 2007 is expected to be considerably better. From the sound of the whispers, it will look considerably different too.

In what could be the biggest news of the offseason, now all 30 teams will use the humidor. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...sp&c_id=mlb

Jacque Jones is still the right fielder, and Cesar Izturis has the starting job at short. I thought they were going to move Jones before opening day, as he wasn't exactly a fan favorite.

I realize the Cubs have taken some shit this offseason, but I think they're going to be better than most here think. Soriano cf DeRosa 2nd Lee 1st Ramirez 3rd Floyd lf Murton rf Barrett c Cedeno ss That has the chance to be a very good lineup, and if Floyd stays healthy that's the best lineup in the central.

When was that? Was it recently? Clemens does lots of golf tournaments, so I'm not sure of when this one was, but I hadn't heard any comments where he said that he'd only play in Houston if at all. If he did say that, YEAH BOY-EEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Dear god no. If that happens the baseball thread will be unreadable all summer.

I wonder if Jeff Garcia likes Chicago style hot dogs?

I'm really hoping Peyton gets his ring. Hopefully he has a great game and finally cements his legacy.

This is a pic of Trish and her husband. He is the chubby balding one in the black t-shirt. His name is Ron Fisico. Discuss, ladies.

Game 5 of the 1970 World Series So I recently DVR’ed this game and had the chance to watch it. I knew this game might be painful to a Reds fan, but I thought I would share some of my thoughts from the game, the players, and the era: *Bobby Tolan. Whatever happened to this guy? He had a magnificent 1970 season, looked great in this game, and then totally fell off the map. If I had been born 25 years earlier, he probably would’ve been my favorite player in my formative years, not Eric Davis. Why didn’t Cincinnatians adore this guy??? *Before Earl Weaver became “THE EARL WEAVER,” he must have been Jerry Narron because he had a .217 hitter batting leadoff. *Some of these pitchers looked extremely awkward throwing the ball. That includes Jim Merritt and Mike Cuellar, the two guys who started this game (both had at least 20 wins in 1970). Legs going left, arms going right. . . I mean forward. Lots of wasted motion here. I am all for uniqueness and deception on the mound, but I think baseball has made great strides with pitching mechanics in the past 35 years. *Cuellar had chicken legs and a flat BUTT. There is no way this guy would be a major league pitcher in 2007. *Merritt got pulled early, he was bleeding baserunners all over the place. *Clay Carroll looked like a real good pitcher, BTW. . . Even though he telegraphed his breaking pitch by slowing down his delivery. *The network loved the behind-home-plate and behind-the-catcher camera angles in 1970. Apparently, they hadn’t yet optimized the use of the center field camera angle on all balls pitched. *How did Johnny Bench last until the 2nd round of the draft? This guy LOOKED like a ballplayer. He had Popeye arms, thick legs, lightning-quick wrists, and pirouetted around the plate like a ballerina. In this game, he had a near-tag of Boog Powell at home plate that is great to watch in slow motion. Either the scouts totally missed something obvious, or he totally changed how teams scouted catchers. *Bench’s 1970: .293/48/148. I can only think of one offensive season for a catcher that stacks up to this one: Mike Piazza’s 1997 as a Dodger: .362/40/120. *All the fans wore suits to games in 1970. No baseball hats were to be seen. And oh, the fans didn’t cheer as much, as long, or as loud as they do now. *For those who think the 1970 uniforms were the best the Reds have ever had, I beg to differ (on at least one point). The hats sat on these players’ heads like giant, red, Chef-Boyardee hats on their heads. I mean they were huge. And the wishbone C’s on those hats were bigger than the palm of my hand. *Tony Perez had a closed stance. Closed stances are so passé now. In fact, I have trouble imagining how he hit 40 HRs in 1970 with a closed stance. *Frank Robinson hit a homer in this game. Boy, that one must have hurt Cincinnatians. *The announcers referred to Boog Powell as a “big” player. But by modern standards, he would be a slim ballplayer with a modest gut. Boog Powell was not as big as John Kruk, nor as big as Terry Forster. *The Reds lost the game (9-3) and the series on this day. But the Orioles were the far better team. The O’s had seven guys who contributed on offense, they had an extremely deep bench of outstanding pinch hitters, and had four great starting pitchers who devoured innings. This Orioles team was special. But this Reds team was special, too. Seeing so many 20-something players is rare in the World Series nowadays. Three of the Reds' best players were 22 (Bench, Concepcion, and Carbo). It was a club that was positioned for great success

Edge and Orton v. Cena would be such a letdown. It's obvious the crowd wants HBK v. Cena. No one will give a shit about HBK v. Booker.

Wait, your guys local stations don't show past World Series during the overnight hours. The other day I watched some of the 1990 World Series from Cincinnati. I've seen a couple of other one's shown on a local station here in Cincinnati.

Doink scared me in 93 when I was 8.

See you next year New Orleans.

Gangrel has had quite a free ride. Roughly 7 months worth of salary for exactly 0 matches. That's almost as bad as anything bischoff did, but you'll never hear about this on the fall of WWE dvd.

W ! !

Kotz, this thread didn't exactly go as planned. I guess they all can't be winners.

One other thing the page mentioned was that Jim Parque is coming back. Reportedly he is hitting 90 on the gun again, and a bunch of teams are interested in signing him to a decent sized contract.

I met JB once at the Cincy Airport, he seemed nice enough but very short. He came up to my shoulders.

Yeah, I copied and pasted a whole page of rumors from ESPN Insider but the board mixed everything together.