Bruiser Chong

Ah. That sounds more along the lines of someone who's too stubborn to be open-minded about something just becuase it may cause them to change an opinion they've held for a long time. I agree with Loss. This affects very few people and the majority shouldn't have the say in it. If any heterosexual people truly believe that they should have a say in it because it affects them in any way, I must get ready to apply the "bigot" label to them. I'm a straight guy, but I'm completely against the ideals that marriage is just between a man and a woman. Just because your precious bibles say something doesn't mean it has to be that way. I'm so tired of people using religion as a front for their true prejudice. I'm truly amazed that people think that two men or two women joining together in a marriage would somehow poison society as we know it. Why in a country where we're all supposedly created equal, there are people who are blatantly denied equal rights because of something they honestly don't have control over, is beyond me.

I seem to recall losing plenty of games we should've had in the bag that didn't involve him in the least. It didn't help we couldn't hit worth a lick that last week of the season. I'm telling you, Smoltz is a good closer, but his numbers are too similar to Hawkins' to make such a big fuss about. I watched plenty of games he closed that he either blew or came very close to doing so. He's effective, but he's quite far from flawless.

His career numbers would imply that to be true. And Hawkins was NOT a disaster as a closer. We've been through this before. He wasn't great, but his stats on the season were almost identical to that of John Smoltz, the guy you want as a closer for the Cubs next season. LaTroy was much better in the set-up role, no doubt, but his lack of closer mentality was greatly exaggerrated most of the time. He had a few bad breaks and I wouldn't want him as a closer in 2005, but let's not pretend he was Graham Lloyd out there.

Agreed, but this has ALWAYS been a knock against Sosa. Since he became a star, what he said went. He used his captain status, not as a method of mentoring and leading others, but for getting his way. He's always had problems with whomever the manager of the Cubs have been. That's why I say he needs to go, too. Baker going would be great, but as long as Sosa's around, there's always going to be this power struggle going on, since he believes that his broken English is gospel.

Were you a fan of his previous work?

I think they believe marquee players will draw more fans than winning games will.

I think he should just retire. Most thought he was done before he got traded, anyway. Did anyone happen to look where Grudzielanek's stats ended up? 307/347/432. He's not great, but he'll give you league average offense, and not every team has that. I think those numbers are a bit deceiving since he missed a good two months of the season. Give him a full season and he'll show you what he's all about.

Why? They've got money to blow and Sosa's still capable of putting the asses in the seats. He's not the big name in Chicago anymore, but he'd be a draw in New York.

No way Banky........explaination??? They were unaffected by all the hip hop bullshit. They seem to ahve a Neptunes-ish influence now. Dela was doing the Roots Illadelph gimmick before they were with Stakes is High. After that, it just seemed liek they were on a steady decline to nothingness. Even The Roots seem to be leaning towards a more typical "Hip-Hop" sound now. I like The Tipping Point pretty well, but the mainstream Hip-Hop influence in today's market can be heard throught the album, with the exception of "Star." That's old-school Roots. True, but the album is still hands-down more deep and fulfilling than a great deal of the popular mainstream rap out there right now. And I've heard through the grapevine that both the new Talib Kweli and Mos Def suck. This coming from people who liked their previous works, too. Grabbed the Kweli, but haven't listened to it yet. The Mos Def sounds like he pulled an Andre 3000 and went in a completely different direction, but a lot of people aren't buying it.

Well, he could solve the problem in centerfield, not to mention he'd be hitting in a hitter's park and playing for a probable contender. Anyone see this article on Sosa, criticizing the Cubs? He basically said he was humiliated by being put into the sixth slot. He's not a sixth hitter, he claims, he's a cleanup hitter and by hitting "600" homers, he's earned that right. Whatever, I say he humiliated himself with most of his at-bats in 2004. He says he plans to play for another five or six years and is going to hit 35 homers each season. It's becoming harder and harder not to feel embarrassed for this fallen superstar. I sorta hope the Cubs unload him, since it's becoming clear he's going to pull a Nomar and remain jaded about past events.

I think he should just retire. Most thought he was done before he got traded, anyway.

Like? Only on rare occassions have I seen rap mentioned here in a positive light.

No one said you should be content with losing. But quit acting like they've not won anything in decades. Just because they have the money to assemble a team of all-stars doesn't ensure victory. It's a shame they set the bar so high for people like you during their last championship run. Now anything less than that implies that they're quitters who want to lose. Speaking of which... Oh please. Get over this notion that they actually fucking QUIT. I'll give you that they probably figured they had little worry about with a 3-0 lead, but once game six rolled around, I doubt they were still sitting pretty. Just because a team loses or doesn't look motivated, doesn't make them so. I'm sorry, but the Yankees of the last five or so years have always looked lethargic. I think that's just taken for granted that they're going to be contending every season. But stop with the idea that they don't want to win or they just gave up. Yeah, I'm really sure they wanted to be remembered for one of the biggest collapses in sports history. More specifically, I'm sure they did it all to spite you. I think I heard A-Rod and Jeter going over it with Ruben before game six.

Christ, I don't remember that song being so long.

Does that enable him to read the ball better?

You should look around this folder. TSM hate black people.

I mentioned Nomar filing for free agency in the middle of this Sox/Yanks mess but I suppose you were too busy finding more reasons to complain about a team that hasn't won a championship in 48 aching months. You should probably relax. It's clear you're still not over the complete collapse of your team to the Rebels.

I can get a list together by tomorrow. I wouldn't be asking for too much; definitely not book price. It really depends on what the item is. I'll at least be looking to get back what I paid for them, but details will be ironed out after I produce the list.

A mod can feel free to step in at any time. Some of us actually want to see the thread get back on topic, even if if means we might not talk about the Red Sox or the Yankees for a few minutes.

I hate to interrupt this edition of the Yankees & Red Sox pissing contest, but just thought I'd note that Nomar filed for free agency today.

In all fairness, once Clement started getting run support the last month or two of the season, he was getting shelled on a regular basis. I don't know what the hell happened, but I'd be very weary of signing him if I looked at his performances from late August on.

My mom would love New Jersey in that case. I shit you not, the woman has never once pumped gas in her life. She is completely reliant on full-serve and more or less refuses to learn to do it herself. Obviously you can see where I get my stubborness from.

I don't get why people wouldn't have it on Sunday. So school's the next day, big deal? It's over by like 8 these days, anyway. I don't see how having it on Saturday is much smart. Yeah, let's have kids out trick or treating on Devil's Night!

Stoney's on the Dan Patrick show right now, for those of you who're interested.

I'm listening to espnradio1000 right now and some of the headlines include Sammy Sosa considering waiving his no-trade clause. Also, I guess Kerry Wood took a bat to Sammy's boombox on the last day of the season after he pulled his disappearing act. Awesome.