EVIL~! alkeiper

Yeah. Thank goodness Josh Hamilton doesn't have any drug use in HIS past. No, I think Hamilton is a better story BECAUSE Hamilton had major drug problems but overcame them and appears to have gotten his life back on track. Ankiel, in contrast, was a head-case who came all the way back to the majors as an outfielder after that epic collapse as a pitcher, and then it turns out he was on HGH. One player overcame drugs to achieve in the majors. Another one used them to achieve in the majors. You don't see a difference? Ankiel used drugs three years ago. If he used them since, it's unproven. Of course he could still be on PEDs. And of course, Hamilton could still be a cocaine addict.

There are a couple of problems with star ratings. One is the quibbling over whether a match was five stars or merely four and a half. Especially when you get it from the "Misawa/Kawada is the only ***** match" crowd. That's tiresome. Also, there seems to be a subconscious thought that if a match is 3 stars, it's not a classic.

Yeah. Thank goodness Josh Hamilton doesn't have any drug use in HIS past.

Does Dusty overuse his relievers now too? Or are we just slighting him for everything we can think of now? Great talent acquisition for the Reds. Lots of money but I'm not sweating dollar amounts at this stage.

"Hey, dawg. It's on, dawg. You dead, dawg. I ain't even bullshitting. Your kids too, dawg. It don't even matter to me who is in the car with you. Nigger, all I know is, nigger, when I see your motherfucking ass riding, dawg, it's on. As a matter of fact, I'm coming to your motherfucking house."

Paul Orndorff was the contingency plan if Andre was too injured. IIRC, that's why the had the draw in the cage match at SNME a couple months prior. I think Hulkamania had already taken off, the Andre match only cemented it. Indeed. Hulk Hogan was a phenomenon before he even stepped foot in the WWF.

This is something that I had floating in my head the last few days. A lot of wrestling reviewers will give negative star ratings to a particularly bad match. Often times it is prompted not by the workers involved, but the sheer idiocy of the booking of the match. In many cases the reviewer goes into the match expecting to hate it. But what truly merits negative stars? In my opinion, it is not enough to put together a boring match. I think a negative star match must fit one of X criteria. 1. The match contained several noticeable, blown spots. Let's see what they messed up here. 1. Nowinski comes in late to break up a pin attempt. 2. Trish attempts a springboard manuever but Gayda is out of position. 3. Trish attempts a leg sweep but Gayda fails to take the move properly, stumbling to the mat. 4. Trish tries twice to set up the bulldog but Gayda fails to position herself properly. 5. When Trish does go for the bulldog, she misses completely. Gayda sells it anyway. That is an easy one, it won Wrestling Observer's Worst Match of the Year award for 2002. Now, even good wrestlers will blow spots. Good workers will work it into the flow of the match, making it somewhat indistinguishable for casual wrestling fans. Knowledgeable wrestling fans notice, but they know it is a work anyway. 2. The match contained booking so bad that it insulted the intelligence of the viewing audience. The Fingerpoke of Doom. WCW advertised Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash and instead gave the fans a ten second "angle" match that turned many against WCW for good. When does a comedy match merit negative stars? For the most part, if the crowd dies. If the crowd is into the match, you can't really punish the workers because you did not like it. I give an exception to a match such as The Four Doinks at Survivor Series '93. When working the match requires ignoring the established rules of the game, that falls under bad booking. 3. The match denigrated into a shoot with the wrestlers losing all cooperation, preventing the match from reaching an intended conclusion. This one is extremely interesting, Bruiser Brody vs. Lex Luger. Brody sees fit not to sell anything Luger does until Luger just gives up, draws the DQ and leaves the cage. I wish I could find Andre the Giant vs. Akira Maeda. I have seen it before. There is a perception often that a better worker gave it to the lesser worker and taught him a lesson, or exposed him. More often it just becomes a disorganized mess with both wrestlers standing awkwardly until someone steps in. Failing to complete a wrestling match is an overlooked, but deserving reason to issue negative stars. What does not merit negative stars? Two workers stepping into the ring, giving a reasonably competent exhibition of professional wrestling but boring the audience. That merits a dud IMO. Dave Meltzer gave Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd negative stars. That was a pretty dull match with no high spots outside the finish. But it looked legit and the crowd enjoyed it. That can not possibly be negative stars. I rarely rate matches but if I did, my scale would give a basic match at least *, just for stepping in the ring. If the match was bad, that lowers the score as far as a dud, providing the combatants did not at least embarrass the sport. In my view, that is the criteria for negative stars.

Roddy Piper's babyface reaction at TNT is quite amusing. "You don't like midgets either huh?" Vince: "To pick on a midget. I mean uhh, how low can you go?" Piper: "I came on this show..."

I find it bothersome that PED speculation has to come up just because he passed away. Hundreds of ballplayers used performance enhancing drugs. How many of them died from their use. (Caminiti and others abused hard drugs.) There is no reason to suspect ballplayers are dying in their 20s from the use of PEDs. It's insulting that its suspected in any case.

Because of the massive amount of players that have dropped dead from brain aneurysms in their prime in the steroid era? Let's be reasonable.

Jimmy Hart refers to "Terry and Dory Funk." So much for Hoss.

Good. I think there's a ton of great talent from that decade.

Here's what a mid-80s talent group would look like, from the offensive side. http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/ekgR

Is that Yankees affiliate leaving Scranton, by the way? (Figured you might follow this, hence my asking you.) Not for three years as par their agreement. The larger issue in the future is that the commissioner negotiated a deal to give a group the right to purchase the AAA franchise. If that happens, that group could conceivably move the franchise away from Scranton. None of this is imminent, the SWB Yankees will remain for the foreseeable future.

I am thrilled to see the Phillies signed Ron Chiavacci to a minor league contract. Chiavacci is a local product, went to high school in Scranton and College in Kutztown University. This signing means he'll likely pitch for the new Lehigh Valley club next season.

Bill Conlin chimes in.

Negative stars? That's harsh. The Doink match from 1993 was legitimately insulting, I can see that. This one may not have connected with you, but they worked well and didn't blow spots. In fact, watching Lawler was a blast. He is perhaps without question the greatest cheater in wrestling history.

89 minutes.

Watching it now. Started off with Billy Graham/Wilbur Snyder and now Jesse Ventura/Hulk Hogan. I bunch of AWA stuff I've never seen, I love it!

Bundy dyed his hair. He has darker eyebrows.

Czech, we're not talking a Milton Bradley here. Johnny Estrada has no plate discipline. Jason Kendall at least had a history of high OBPs before last year. He may be burnt toast, but he knows what he is doing. I'm not sure the effort is there from Estrada. Steve, John Ennis came back briefly with the Phillies this season. Most of those guys still pitch, but they're marginal talents.

Phillies acquire Chris Snelling for cash. Lots of talent, high injury risk. For cash it's really a nice little pickup.

Four teams in four years. Makes me wonder if there's a personnel problem under the surface.

Excellent point. I have nothing to add.

Two beat writers from each league city.