EVIL~! alkeiper

Speaking of the Cubs, shocking news as Mark Prior is done for the season.

I learned to like it actually. It's intolerable if it's not on fast mode though. The weekly roster updates are nice. I can't get into franchise mode though. I'm tired of sports games in general where you play a combination of sports and lemonade stand.

In Lee's defense, he was safe on that play. No, he probably shouldn't have been running, but he was safe. Come on, Czech. Those are all valid points you bring up, but it is still only April 25. Valid points? They're damning indictments of a team that still has no grasp on basic fundamental baseball. Trust me, I don't like to go Chicken Little this early, but there's not a lot of encouraging stuff here, and watching your ace fritter away 5-0 and 4-0 leads in consecutive starts is as discouraging as it gets. It's a very very flawed team, as we're starting to see, from how it was assembled, to how it's sent out day-to-day, to what they do once they're out there. And yes, it is, in fact, April 25, and yes, we've only lost 13 games, but 11 of those 13 losses are divisional losses, and those are going to bite this team in the ass if they do end up pulling themselves out of last place. You don't win pennants in April, but you lose them in April. Look at the list though. It isn't a lack of talent, but a lack of fundamentals. That's damning, but it can be taught.

Plus a preview of Condemned, the movie. I'm really glad they added that, because there really hasn't been much publicity for that on WWE tv lately. [/sarcasm] Besides, I already know how the movie ends.

The Cubs have actually outscored their opponents so far this season. Their problem is that they're 0-5 in one-run games. Considering the Yankees are also in last place, I think it's premature to count them out.

Complete with somber piano music and low-hushed narration Already saw it in Ken Burns' Baseball. Ah for the days when Steinbrenner destroyed the Yankees.

Browse through the other 24/7 thread and you'll see some issues there reported by posters. Personally I've never had a problem with my service.

Did nothing for Koloff though, he was only used as an transitional champion. Did nothing for him in the WWWF, but it made his career everywhere else. Exactly. Actually as far as WWWF, Sammartino/Koloff drew big money as a return engagement in 1975, headlining MSG on three consecutive months.

As you should. Football sucks. It was dollar dog day again at Philly, and those nights tend to attract tons of college kids. They've had problems this year at other games already, for example a previous Phils/Astros game saw that fan run onto the field and make it to second base.

Look at last week's Raw and the Smackdown threads. Taped shows simply don't get the posts that live shows do.

What was the longest Raw match in history? Benoit/HHH Ironman, right? Besides that?

I went years without dental work before a tooth shattered and I finally had to go back. It's been beneficial as my teeth are in much better shape. Oddly I don't mind dental work much anymore, even novocaine. The only thing that bugs me is post-procedure numbness.

I haven't either. I may not watch the show, but there's something about spoilers in general that disappoint me.

If WWE were to buy out TNA, it would be because TNA failed and there would not be much interest there. I've often wondered about what if Ted Turner of all people were to show up on WWE tv with a stable of former WCW stars.

I agree with some of that HTQ. When you reference the locker room though, you have to consider, great buyrates for whom? It's great when the company draws well, but for the wrestlers left behind in the roster crunch, it means squat. Honestly, the way things turned out obviously Goldberg, Kevin Nash, etc. weren't worth the money since WWE did bring them in, and they did not last. As far as stacking the card, I don't have solid numbers on this but I've often wondered about the diminishing value of wrestling talent. By that I mean the first big star will draw the crowd, the second will draw a smaller additional crowd, and so on. By the time you bring in the 10th or 11th star, you're getting a fraction of additional interest, if that. Look at how WWE eventually played this. Instead we got Flair in 2002, Nash and Steiner in 2003, Goldberg in 2003-04, etc. They all kept business going as needed. Now if you run the Invasion, you push out talented low-carders in favor of main-event talent. You draw big that year, but you blow interest in big matches in the future, and you also fail to develop your next wave of stars. And that's going to bite you in the ass down the road.

If you're going to talk about equality, economically the shooter was not in a different world from his victims. The problem is social equality, and I don't know how the heck you would go about legislating that. Even basic nomadic tribes had outcasts. As for gun control, you can set a certain amount of restrictions, but until you revoke the second amendment you can not ban them entirely.

Probably ECW.com

You'd think they would learn not to run on Shane Victorino by now.

I would've loved to see what a similar article would look like in 1804.

There's a story unfolding in Atlanta, as Willy Aybar did not show up for a meeting with MLB officials. He's skipped two meetings and has not been heard from since Thursday.

A play on pig iron. It won a contest.

Moving your second-best starter to the bullpen makes the team better neither now or later. If Lieber stinks too much to be a reliever, release him.

Does the Mets scene in The Odd Couple count?

My mission this season is to watch five different Phillies teams. Within range are the major league Phillies, the Reading Phillies (AA), the Lakewood Blueclaws (Low A) and the Williamsport Crosscutters (Short Season A). The AAA Phillies play in Ottawa, but they'll play road games in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Lakewood is 2 1/2 hours away, but a free day and the promise of a 70 degree, sunny day near the shore provided more than enough temptation to make the drive. FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood is easily the nicest minor league park I have ever seen. The main seating area is spacious, plenty of seat and leg room. The concourse is entirely open with a full view of the park from concession areas. Prices are reasonable. Reserved Seats are $9, parking is $3 and concessions are not tremendously overpriced. The same owner is building the park for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, and the design for that stadium looks similar. As if a baseball team wasn't incentive enough, the new park is absolutely going to blow away the park in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The game was my first taste of baseball in the Sally League. In lower-level baseball, you will tend to see a few more miscues and mistakes. The players are still learning on the job, after all. The highlight of the game involved the Blueclaws employing the delayed double-steal. Quintin Berry stole second base and Julian Williams stole home. Michael Dubee walked two in the seventh however, and the Blueclaws fell to the Hagerstown Suns 7-6. It was a quality game, well worth the drive. Sometimes you need to get a different look at the game. After the sub-par outings in Scranton, this was saving grace to the baseball soul. All that said, there's a reason I don't like to drive in New Jersey. The Garden State Parkway is elusive and if you miss it, you find yourself in Staten Island. At $6, that's an expensive wrong turn. I got lost twice finding the ballpark.

Incredibly well. So well that no fans attended any game after August 12th. The boycott only ceased when Major League Baseball agreed that they too would return to the field.