EVIL~! alkeiper

WM 2 worked at the time because it was commonplace to go to an arena/theatre for a closed circuit show. PPV wasn't tremendously widespread then, so the appeal was not only a live card, but a CC broadcast of the rest of the event. It might be worth another shot with the brand extension though. One card for raw, another for Smackdown.

Checking past Prospect Handbooks, BA writes that Adam Jones was moved because of Yuniesky Betancourt. Of course, he's also blossomed to a potential gold glover there whereas he was just average as a shortstop. I wouldn't pull the trigger on it, I think it would be harmful to change Jones' position yet again.

I picked up a few tickets for a house show in Wilkes-Barre next month. It's been awhile since I've been to a pure wrestling show.

Scott will not net the Orioles a significant pitcher. The Orioles have to hope that their improved defense gives their pitching a boost, and that their good young pitching prospects continue to develop.

Gotta throw in one of my co-worker's rantings about her husband. Seriously, unless you're planning on getting back at him by sleeping with me, I really don't care.

The Cubs dealt Felix Pie to the Orioles for Garrett Olson and another minor leaguer. Pie is a good pickup for the O's, though they already have a good young center fielder in Adam Jones. Garrett Olson could turn out to be a John Maine type starter.

Amen to the jobs. I had dinner last night with a bunch of friends, 3/4ths of whom work in education. The weather. I know it's cold out. I'm not impressed that you survived it.

Tough crowd.

Out of curiosity, what would be Bagwell's best ever match?

Yeah, Dusty Rhodes and Jerry Lawler both had significant feuds with Terry Funk. And Dory's trained so many guys (and girls) that you could easily pick a presenter there.

Basically my argument is that he was one of the ten best pure hitters of this generation. Had a .418 career OBP, as well as 514 career doubles. In a seven year stretch from 1995-2001, he hit .329/.446/.574. That's unquestionably a Hall of Fame peak. The two arguments against him are fielding and career length. I'd argue that 2,000+ games is not too few for a Hall of Famer. As for defense, no one else with those kind of numbers is kept out regardless of their defense.

1999

What a bizarre stretch for Lewis that was. First he had that McCall fiasco. Then he fought Henry Akinwande in a fight where Akinwande was actually DQ'ed for holding too much. And then a one round KO of Andrew Golota.

That turned out well.

The federal government over the last several years has spent millions trying to prosecute athletes, giving plea bargains to those who actually sold and distributed drugs in the process. It's time for this madness to end.

That would be a loss for the Brewers no doubt. Uecker is excellent, but he's also about to turn 74.

Game six of the 2004 NLCS. Astros tie the game in the ninth, Cards win in the 12th on Edmonds' home run. The win forced game seven for the Cards. Also game five was a scoreless game until Jeff Kent's three run walkoff in the bottom of the ninth. Here's the Mariners/Indians game. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CL...200108050.shtml

I think it's worth noting that seemingly most of the great games of the decade have been LCS games. Besides Yankees/Red Sox, we had a few fantastic games between the Cardinals and Astros. And of course Mets/Cardinals in 2006.

Looking over next year's ballot, I'd put all four of the major candidates in. My 2010 theoretical choices would look like this. Alan Trammell Mark McGwire Tim Raines Bert Blyleven Andre Dawson Roberto Alomar Barry Larkin Fred McGriff Edgar Martinez And I'd be awfully tempted to throw a vote towards Doug Glanville.

Let's keep this civil guys. Bob said absolutely nothing disparaging about 9/11 victims.

God that game hurt. My entire body was hurting for three days after that game. Do you read the comic strip Get Fuzzy by any chance? They ran a strip where the lead character had to get away to Canada to escape. For all the "oh it's easy to second guess after the fact" columnists, I was screaming at Grady Little when it was still 5-3 Sox.

That World Series game seven was probably the second greatest game of the decade. I think 2003 ALCS Game Seven is slightly better. It's painful to watch, but it's EPIC.

I think after the 2000 episode, I'll open up another post for great non-title heavyweight fights. That'll be an opportunity to post Foreman-Lyle, Bowe-Golota II, Marciano-Louis, and other goodness.

In 1990, Mike Tyson suffered perhaps the most shocking upset in boxing history. I kid, I kid. The 1990s kicked off with James "Buster" Douglas challenging Mike Tyson for the heavyweight championship in Tokyo. Prior to the fight Evander Holyfield was in line for a shot at the crown. Holyfield had established himself first with a bronze medal in the '84 Olympics, and then as a cruiserweight boxing champion. With Tyson defeated, Holyfield stepped in against new champion Buster Douglas. Buster Douglas would not fight again for six years. Holyfield's next challenge came from a great figure in boxing's past, George Foreman. After ten years in retirement, Foreman had returned in 1987 as more of a sideshow act than anything. Foreman's revival turned serious when he scored wins over Bert Cooper and Gerry Cooney. In this fight, Foreman proved he could hang with boxing's elite. Check out round seven. Holyfield prevailed by unanimous decision. Holyfield would have next faced the challenge of Mike Tyson, but Tyson was injured in training, and the rape trial posponed the fight entirely. Holyfield instead fought and defeated Bert Cooper, and followed that up with a decision victory over Larry Holmes. (Holmes for his part earned the shot with an upset win over Ray Mercer.) Holyfield next fought undefeated Riddick Bowe. Bowe's first defense resulted in a first round knockout of Michael Dokes. He followed that up with a second round TKO of Jesse Ferguson. (Ferguson earned the shot thanks to an upset win over Ray Mercer.) During this time the WBC stripped Riddick Bowe for refusing to defend against Lennox Lewis. Nonetheless, Bowe stepped into the ring for a rematch against Evander Holyfield in November of '93. Oh yeah, the fight. Though Holyfield defeated Riddick Bowe, he lost his next bout to Michael Moorer in a rather unspirited affair. Michael Moorer had begun his career at light heavyweight and ripped off 26 consecutive KO victories off the bat. He was 34-0 with 30 KO's at the time of the fight. Moorer for his part took his first defense against George Foreman, who had not fought in 17 months since losing to Tommy Morrison. Over twenty years after losing the heavyweight crown however, Foreman made history. A great night for boxing, but a bad omen for the title. Foreman showed no intention of defending against the top heavyweight talent. He took a fight against Axel Schulz and won a controversial decision. Before long none of the major boxing organizations recognized him. For the purposes of the lineal championship, Foreman defended against Crawford Grimsley and Lou Savarese before losing to Shannon Briggs. Briggs lost to Lennox Lewis in 1998, thus preserving the lineage. The pieces of the belt meanwhile flew about. Lennox Lewis claimed the WBC version in 1997 when he won a bizarre fight against Oliver McCall, when McCall simply stopped fighting. The highlight of Lewis' claim no doubt was an impressive KO victory over Andrew Golota. Golota had established himself with two DQ losses to Riddick Bowe. On the other side of the ledger, Mike Tyson returned and steamrolled his way to two titles. The highlight coming when Tyson beat up some jobber named Bruce Seldon. With Tyson knocking out boxing simply with the wind of his missed blows, most assumed that Tyson would make short work of Evander Holyfield. Ring Magazine predicted a first round KO for Tyson. Let's skip over the atrocity that was Holyfield-Tyson II. Holyfield followed that up with a TKO over Michael Moorer, and decision win over Vaughn Bean. Finally, Holyfield met up with Lennox Lewis in March of 1999. Holyfield held the WBA and IBF belts, Lennox held the WBC and lineal championships. It was a true unification bout. The rematch settled things. As we leave the 1990s, Lennox Lewis is the undisputed heavyweight champion. No matter what the alphabet organizations say, he is the champ until he either loses or he retires.

Bob, weren't you the one who criticized me for my blinding Yankees hate?