EVIL~! alkeiper

I don't see it as breaking the law. The Defense of Marriage Act is un-constitutional in my view. It needs a test case, which these recent events are providing. Doubtless California and other states will annul these marriages, and some of the couples will sue, citing the 14th Amendment. And it won't kill the rule of law. The cases must be heard by higher courts eventually. And they'll find the law is unconstitutional. That's why Bush & Co. are pushing for the amendment. Because they're SCREWED otherwise. As for following due process of law, that's not going to work in this case. If we followed due process and didn't use the courts, blacks still wouldn't be allowed to vote in the South. The Constitution prevents the majority from dominating society, which they would in this case. I don't care if disallowing gays from marrying is favored by 95% of the population. Its still unconstitutional. As for turning people against homosexuals, first off its a silly reason not to fight the system. Second, rather than turned against, I find myself fighting alongside homosexuals for a cause that I never thought I'd get involved in. This could UNITE us with homosexuals, under the idea that you don't fuck with our constitution.

If you're going to take points away from I-Rod because of his cushy four year contract, why not take points away from Lopez for his nearly as cushy three year contract? Besides, I've never seen any evidence that contract years, or big contracts effect a player's performance n any way. Second, you can't discount I-Rod moving into a pitcher's park, because he's leaving one even worse in Florida. The big thing is, Javy's coming off an out of context career year, while I-Rod is coming off a down year (for him). I-Rod is MUCH more likely to maintain his performance than is Lopez. Look at Lopez's walk rate. Despite his hitting surge, it remained the same. Lopez's improvement was due to a rise in batting average, and that's likely to flucuate. As an aside, both Lopez and I-Rod have the same career OPS+. I find that odd.

Or trading him for Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinosa for that matter.

Part II....... REVENGE OF THE CHRIST!!!!! starring...Johnny Damon

I assuming McEwing is driving the bus that carries the other five players involved in the trade.

Amen. I learned most of it from taking a Philosophy course a year ago.

No chance. You need two months minimum between fights. If a fighter gets cut, he won't make the next fight. And that shoots your tournament all to hell.

Joe McEwing? That's got to be some kind of sick joke. There goes my draft plan. *revises checklist*

A tournament would be great, but its completely unrealistic within the current parameters of boxing. Plus you have the problem of blowing all your big fights. Who does the winner fight next? You've used up the seven best contenders. Since we're dealing in fantasy, we can have some fun. He could apply for a New York License. But for the purposes of this sim, we'll keep him in MSG.

I could see Pedro visably tiring in the 7th inning. The hitters were hitting the ball further, and it was taking longer to get them out. Besides, when I find myself screaming at the tv for Grady Little to "take him OUT!", you can't help but second guess the manager. Overall though, I agree. Managers in baseball at least are overrated. There's only so much they do before the players take over. They can make personnel decisions, but ultimately they don't make the players hit, field, or pitch better.

If homosexuality is indeed biological, then preventing gays from marrying is a CLEAR violation of the 14th amendment. That's why the amendment is being pushed, because the conservative right knows what shaky ground they are on. And Pat Robinson and his ilk have been pushing this for a year now. Its only recently that the Bush Administration caught on to the rush. An amendment is needed if you intend to prevent gays from maryying. I simply don't want that language in the constitution. The Constitution is about the rights I have, not the ones I don't have.

I'm fairly certain Redding was confirmed as the #5 starter at some point.

Looking at the upcoming schedule, we've got #1 Vitali Klitschko facing #3 Corrie Sanders on April 24th, for the undisputed heavyweight crown. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with this fight being for all the marbles, but its the best we've got at this point. John Ruiz will face Fres Oquendo on April 17th for the WBA Heavyweight "Title". According to many onlookers, Oquendo deserved to win his last fight against Chris Byrd. Here's hoping Oquendo can finally put the Great White Dope firmly among the class of mediocre fighters where he belongs (yeah, Ruiz is latino, but Great White Dope sounds good). We've got Bernard Hopkins facing Oscar De La Hoya for the World Middleweight Crown on September 18. Here's hoping for a Hopkins victory, and it would be a nice note to retire on, as Hopkins is 39. In any case, it should be a good fight.

Tom, is there any way we could push the draft time to 7:15 or 7:30? Its a small change, but it would benefit my schedule greatly.

Ok, with six posters on board and no complaints, I've switched the drafts to Tuesdays. I set the time for 8:30, so hopefully a life or two shall be spared during Smell the Ratings! mad dash home.

Oswalt's great, but Prior's unbelieveable. 250 Ks in 211.3 IP. A 5:1 K ratio. I don't think there's a pitcher in the National League who matches up with Prior. And this is from the guy arguing FOR the Astros. You can predict future performance based on a single year. Dotel here, because he's pitched at this level three consecutive years. On what planet? You said you used last season's stats. Ensberg's OBP was 50 points higher, and his slugging percentage was higher. He's got better career numbers as well. As for stajack..... I started a thread on Christmas Day listing the Astros as the best in the league, before the Clemens signing. Here's why. Pythagorean Win Percentage.... Pythagorean winning percentage is an estimate of a team's winning percentage given their runs scored and runs allowed. Developed by Bill James, it can tell you when teams were a bit lucky or unlucky. It is calculated by (Runs Scored)^1.83 --------------------------------------------------------- (Runs Scored)^1.83 + (Runs Allowed)^1.83 The traditional formula uses an exponent of two, but this has proven to be a little more accurate. In other words, Pythagorean Win/Loss records estimates wins and losses using runs scored and allowed. Its an excellent way to measure the true quality of a team. Using that stat, the Astros had 94 wins, while the Cubs had 85. So basically, the Astros start out nine wins ahead. I don't see what the Cubs have done to cover that.

Gas at my local station just increased to $1.81 a gallon, the highest EVER. I'm officially getting sick of this crap. I'm now paying $29 a week in gasoline alone. Just another reason to oust Bush in November. Fun fact: If gasoline fell to $1.20 a gallon, I'd save over $400 a year.

THE RING MAGAZINE TOP TEN POUND FOR POUND 1. Roy Jones, Jr. 2. Bernard Hopkins 3. Shane Mosley 4. Oscar De La Hoya 5. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 6. Manny Pacquiao 7. Kostya Tszyu 8. Erik Morales 9. James Toney 10. Antonio Tarver Last Updated 2/19/04 USA TODAY SUPER SIX FIGHTER RANKINGS 1. Roy Jones, Jr. 2. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 3. Bernard Hopkins 4. Kostya Tszyu 5. Shane Mosley 6. Oscar De La Hoya Last Updated 2/13/04

Ausmus sucks, no question. But Michael Barrett sports a career .310 OBP. He's not much better. Jeff Bagwell has missed a total of ten games over the last five seasons. In his worst season (last year) he hit .278/.373/.524. That's still good. Hidalgo had 2 below par seasons beforehand, but that he turned 27 is an indicator that his improvement is for real. Morgan Ensberg emerged last season, and should continue to produce. The Astros simply have more firepower than the Cubs.

Would anyone have a problem if I changed the drafts to Tuesdays at the same time?

Well, depending on the time your league ends, you might be able to catch the latter stage of the draft. I could push the time back an hour if that works for you. I could even change the date, if that's agreeable with others in the league.

With auto-draft, the system will do the draft for you like it would have before we decided on a live draft. Just make sure your lists are set where you want them.

Once again, I have to ask why the Cubs are ranked over the Astros.

The truly great thing about O'Neill is that he holds absolutely no bitterness, and looks back fondly on his life experiences. For him, its not about what he didn't do, but rather what he did.

I wanted to point this interview out for those of you who may have missed it. Buck O'Neill is one of baseball's true ambassadors, and a genuinely great guy. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...ions/buckoneill