The Czech Republic

I thought Lofton was the Womack of '04.

Thank you, Precious Roy. As for the NBA of the 90s, it's what I grew up with, so I have no problems calling it my favorite era. 'Course, it always helps to have the local team win six titles in eight years with the most popular basketball player ever. Tell me if this makes any sense: the NBA has grown up along with the young fans of the Jordan years. It seems like everything of the 90s was really kid-friendly and family-oriented from a marketing standpoint: the most objectionable guy out there was Charles Barkley, and the uniforms and courts were all flashy and gaudy. Now you've got Ron Artest and Ben Wallace starting riots, Allen Iverson popularizing his whole gangsta image, the Kobe Bryant media circus, so on, so forth. All the really flashy jerseys, like the pinstriped Magic, mountain range Jazz, track-uniform Pacers, traded all those in for plain boring jerseys. It seems like on one level or another, they're not marketing the NBA as heavily to younger audiences as they were before.

I'm sure you're right, as you'd know more about the Yankees than I would. I think he was just lumped in as being someone who could go at the deadline, so I figured he was only under a two-year deal.

I thought Sheffield was on the last year of his contract, like Matsui, Brown, and Williams. Brown is damaged goods, Bernie is a Yankee-4-Life, so Matsui is all they can really unload then, I suppose.

Yeah, but Billy Beane favors college players over high schoolers and he's lauded as a genius. As for Guerrero over Sheffield, he would've been helpful, yes, but it's hard to call Gary Sheffield a flop. Wasn't he a contender for the AL MVP? Or did Anglesault just make it seem that way? Either way, I'd say Sheff was a big part of getting the Yankees to the ALCS, and though older, is still a good player. You could pawn him off for helpful prospects at the deadline.

Did Larry Brown and Jerry Sloan ever meet in the playoffs? I'm sure they must have, since Larry Brown has coached like every freakin' team in the NBA, but I can't remember it offhand.

Who are these Tampa yes-men? I'm unclear as to how the Yankees are run. I thought Cashman was the GM, who was then just overridden by Steinbrenner all the time.

I don't know about that. Stockton, Malone, and Hornacek were no slouches.

Pedro is doing great for the Mets right now, he won't move an inch. I'd worry that he'd fold under pressure in pinstripes too. If he couldn't handle losing to them, he's not going to handle losing with them either. Guerrero is too important to the Angels, Moreno would be crazy to get rid of Vlad for Jason Giambi. This is the team that is likely going to repeat in the AL West unless the Rangers pull off an upset. You could get Overbay from Milwaukee, since he's all but gone at the end of the year to make room for Prince Fielder. However, he's doing well for himself now, Prince still looks rough around the edges, and it seems like the Brewers are committed to their best finish in years. Then again, I said that before last year's All-Star Break, and suddenly the team fell apart. It was weird. I could see this trade, though. But like you said, I think the best idea is to write off 2005 and concentrate on building for 2006 and beyond. If they're way out of it at the deadline, the guys at the ends of their contracts should go. I bet Gary Sheffield could be of help to the Braves again, who are teeming with rookies that aren't ready for the majors just yet.

I never got into Brock Lesnar. I couldn't care less what he does.

Way to go Cubs. They get a 4-run lead to open the game and give up back to back solo jacks to Everett and Dye. They're gonna lose this game anyway.

So a Phillies loss, Braves win, an O's loss, and a Sox win. Hmph.

Told ya so. That was pretty cool. He jumped up to rob Andruw, but didn't catch it. I thought he did, but then there was no ball in the glove. Braves win.

Lay off the Spelling Bee. Those words are hard. But the Geography Bee is really where it's at.

It's not over yet! And it's not as if they gave up the lead to a team with shitty hitting, like, you know, the Braves.

I just agreed with everything Kotz said

I was the one who did I SUCK BALLS I SUCK BALLS. That CE thread was fun.

Slayer, how do you talk about the problem of Wikipedia without GROH RULES THE WORLD AND LIVES IN SAN DIEGO

When I'm in a situation necessitating footwear, I go with flip flops too. I hate shoe shopping, because my feet are too big. Once I was at some Nordstrom clearance outlet looking for size 15s, and some middle-aged woman walked past the aisle for size 15-19 shoes, and said to her companion, "I can't imagine shoes ever being this big! How strange!" and I felt sort of self-conscious. In conclusion, I hate shoes.

Yeah that was Dunleavy. I'm unclear as to when they stop being Showtime. I mean, no doubts as to when the Bulls dynasty ended.

But the Showtime Lakers lost to the Bulls in 1991.

CUBS WILL BEAT THE SOX 12-2! oh shit. HEART ATTECK

Because this baseball season hasn't really been very exciting yet and they need something to do?

Well this changed my day.

True story.