EVIL~! alkeiper

When I read this, my first reaction was that I was going to have to yell at Frigid Soul again.

To clarify, I intended my Johnny Damon comment as snark. No, Johnny Damon is not likely to hit 30 home runs this year. It doesn't take an effort of statistical hoop-jumping to come to that conclusion. He's never hit 30 homers before, his career high is 24 and he's past the stage where we'd expect improvement in his player. Now, if the prediction came from a scout or someone with inside insight, the prediction might carry weight. But it's Michael Kay, a capable broadcaster but not a person I'd feel carries substantial weight when it comes to inside analysis. As for future seasons, he might become a burden on the Yankees, I don't know. The problem is that you either have to suffer back-ends of contracts or miss out on the free agency market.

I don't have Beckett but one thing I like to do is run an Ebay search and see what they're getting.

I thought the main program lasted far too long (just over two hours). The extras are the selling point of this disc, IMO.

Your only mistake was not screaming "The Smart Marks dot com will hear of this!!!" as you were carried out.

One of the troubling aspects of professional sports in the last twenty years ago is the rush for profits. Inevitably it would filter down to the minor leagues, as operators realize there is more money out there. It is great for the bottom line and well-heeled fans, but for the average fan it creates a more sterile environment. Last year you could go to a Red Barons game, buy a ticket at the window and sit up close. This year the team has sold out the entire lower deck for season tickets. With so many tickets sold in advance, the team has no need to offer giveaway items. At the concessions, more prepackaged food (and more expensive at that). You go into the park and you watch a game, but you don't feel a part of it anymore. And really, with all the money coming in it's hard to blame them. But it makes me less enthusiastic to attend games. I don't know if it's the extreme cold or the pace, but these games have not been fun at all.

Michael Kay has never played Major League Baseball either. Why should I give credence to anything he says?

That's perfectly reasonable. He's got what, five to seven more seasons left? I think he can make it.

Part of the problem with Piper/Hogan was that Piper adamantly refused to job in that feud.

Yeah. But, that's a given with Horrible Ramirez on the other side. Boston's guaranteed another double digit battering. King Felix is scheduled to start tomorrow. That's a HELL of a matchup.

I don't know what's worse. Larry having sex or the part where he compares it to a game of chess.

Maybe the Make-a-Wish kid can settle this!

Shane's starting to look like his father.

That said, John Helyar's column on espn.com is very good. Helyar gives the topic fair treatment and doesn't embrace the same tired talking points.

I think the big reason is that football and basketball offer more college scholarships. Black athletes aren't widely discriminated against and baseball has no shortage of talent, so it's not a big problem.

The sad thing of this is that it's our third 1-6 start in four seasons. This gets tiresome after awhile.

Slightly off topic, but I'm seriously considering developing a drinking problem. Can anyone lend advice to a newbie?

Well if you used three pitchers to get three outs in the bottom of the twelfth (or another inning), you would get two holds out of it. Otherwise you can't rack up holds in extra innings.

I honestly think those categories are only there until the programs expire.

Any closer pulled before he surrenders a run has not earned the confidence of his manager.

A couple upsets in round one, but nothing too surprising. Some good matchups this time around. Voting will run until Tuesday afternoon. Hulk Hogan vs. Eddie Guerrero Tito Santana vs. Roddy Piper Jerry "The King" Lawler vs. Mr. Perfect Greg Valentine vs. Bret "The Hitman" Hart Andre the Giant vs. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Sgt. Slaughter vs. Superstar Billy Graham Harley Race vs. Jimmy Snuka Magnificent Muraco vs. Dusty Rhodes Nick Bockwinkel vs. Mr. Fuji Gorilla Monsoon vs. "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd Pedro Morales vs. Mean Gene Okerlund Afa vs. Pat Patterson "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers vs. Vincent J. McMahon Bobo Brazil vs. Argentina Rocca Fred Blassie vs. The Sheik Killer Kowalski vs. Verne Gagne Just to clarify, remember that it's Vince McMahon Sr.

I'm looking for the RoH/CZW Cage of Death match.

Also, you would have to account that some of those convicted of merely selling weed were suspected of larger crimes, but lacked hard evidence.

No Blazer/Poffo match, but the Genius did manage the Beverlys against Owen/Koko around 1992 on several occasions.

A couple of promotions working together is different than one promotion absorbing the other. CZW/ROH is different because in the end, you still have two separate promotions. The problem with an angle the scale of WWF/WCW is that at the end of it, you have one promotion. You can't continue to run two separate promotions with the same number of wrestlers because it is simply not cost-effective. At the end of it, you have roughly the same jobs for wrestlers, the same openings for main-eventers, etc. The problem is that someone is going to be left out of it all. Is the winning promotion, WWF in this case, going to step aside and work in full cooperation knowing that some of them will lose jobs/status as a result? Of course not. The thing that makes it different was that it wasn't simply an invasion angle, it was a full scale acquisition.