EVIL~! alkeiper

From my experience, there are MANY teams willing to depart with draft picks for free agents. Hell, the Phillies themselves gave up two for Jeff Lieber.

I'm more inclined to think 2004 is a better indicator of Kennedy's talent than 2003. Kennedy had a bad season for the Devil Rays, but otherwise he's been solid.

To be honest, I don't care who you cheer for. But don't insult my intelligence and everyone else's by referring to "we" when talking about the Eagles. We live and die by our sport teams in this city. You don't.

I'm not speaking as a mod here, just as a poster. Shut the hell up with the Eagles. If you've lived and died with Philadelphia sports, maybe that gives you the right to say "we." If you've endured years with Tyler Green on the mound, an 18 win Sixers season, and countless losses in various conference finals, then maybe you can say "we" in regards to a Philly team. But coming from a fair-weather fan in Oklahoma, its intolerable.

If you followed Philly sports, the reaction would make sense, in its own twisted way. The fans around here are quite impatient for results.

Failed Mascot, are you referring to Mel Kiper in the topic line? I can handle a barb, but it seems odd considering I barely watch football.

Yes. The contract locks in Beckett's value for this season. After the season, the Marlins and Beckett go through the same process. Most arbitration eligible players follow this route actually. Regarding Clemens, that $22 Million is the most ridiculous offer I have ever heard. The Astros will EASILY get their offer in a hearing. The question is whether Clemens will pitch. Quite honestly, if I were the Astros, I would tell Clemens to take a flying leap at this point. And Bored, how is Ed Wade an idiot? I've been less than enamored with his moves, but I would absolutely have offered Polanco arbitration in that instance, knowing that I get two draft picks in return. Given the insane market, who would have guessed that Polanco would have accepted the offer? Still, Polanco makes them better, and there's no reason Wade couldn't still trade Polanco if he had the opportunity. Polanco absolutely makes the Phillies a better team, and it is hard to get upset at that.

Essentially, Citizen Kane took all the technology available at the time, and fused them into one neat package. Yes, movies before Kane used deep focus, but Kane demonstrated the possibilities. As an aside, pick up the dvd set of Citizen Kane if possible. Roger Ebert's commentary is an invaluable resource.

An added note about the lineup. Alot of people are concerned about Sosa as the clean-up hitter, but most studies and simulations have shown little correlation between runs scored and the batting order.

Remember that DuBois will play left field much of the time. I know he is not a name to you Cub fans, but he has serious power in his bat. He hit 31 home runs in Iowa last season, and two different projection systems think has can slug .500 in the majors next season. The real problem with the Cubs last year was their lack of OBP (11th in the NL). They finished seventh in the league in runs scored, despite leading the league in home runs, and finishing second in slugging percentage. The biggest problem was lack of bench production. You can live with s guy like Corey Patterson, but you can not tolerate an entire bench of guys like Tom Goodwin, Neifi Perez, Paul Bako, and Jose Macias. Of course, that they re-signed Perez and Macias is a problem, but as long as the lineup stays healthy, I really think the Cubs should win the Central. Most teams in the league don't have an infield as good as Lee, Walker, Garciaparra, and Ramirez. There are few holes in the lineup, the rotation is the best in the league, and while the bullpen is maligned, its not going to kill the team.

Sega didn't have the ESPN license for a while, and it didn't seem to hurt. The only problem I think this presents Sega is that loyal customers might pick up EA's ESPN game, thinking its Sega's.

My first instinct is that of course, it would almost have to be against teams from their own division, since they play the Jets, Bills and Dolphins three times a year. Given that they've lost only four games over the previous two seasons, I can't see that stat having any added significance. Looking over game logs, Belicheck's Patroits lost their second meeting to Indianapolis, Miami, and the New York Jets in their initial 2000 season. They lost their second game against the New York Jets in 2002. Maybe all these teams changed quarterbacks mid-season, but now you've got a statistic with so many qualifiers to work it out to a nice round figure that it becomes suspicious in itself.

It is kind of ironic that both Chicago teams hit a ton of home runs, but didn't have anybody that got on consisently enough to make them really hurt. On top of that, both Chicago teams got hammered by injuries, and didn't have anybody in the bullpen to hold on to the slender lead provided by said home runs. Maybe it's something in the water? Well, the White Sox do have Frank Thomas, and they live and die based on if he's healthy and in the lineup.

Carlos Lee, and Ozzie Guillen.

I think Everett's been misunderstood here. Of course, the home run is better than the single, no doubt. But when you TRY to hit the home run, it can backfire. Who would you rather have, Ichiro Suzuki or Tony Batista?

Baseball has big home field advantage because a park can be unique enough to mess with a road team, basketball seems to have the home team get a lot of calls their way. Hockey's home ice advantage has seemed pretty negligible. Baseball's home field advantage is weak, home teams win about 52% of the time.

Just a reminder that the documentary airs tonight and tomorrow.

I get paid for six holidays a year. This isn't one of them, but neither is Easter, oddly enough. My job's in retail, so I usually don't get time off for holidays anyway.

Go to your control panel, and click "Edit Personal Info." The custom title is on top.

Why not? You've only been a Marlins fan since what, '93?

To answer Nik here... My arrival here was a case of the site finding a writer, rather than the site filling the position. I am not sure if the Smart Marks would have a different baseball writer in my absense, and personally I doubt it. If you read my columns, you'll find that they are almost never recaps of what's going on in baseball. They are more opinion pieces. I know there is little meaning in being a baseball writer for a small wrestling web-site, but I am honestly just doing what I want to do, with or without a web site. TSM just supplies me with an opportunity to have my work posted so others can enjoy it. I know I don't get as many readers as our wrestling writers, but I feel I do a good job doing what I do, and judging by some of the kind comments in this thread, I think others enjoy my work as well. I agree with this point. Like I said before, there are alot of areas we can address outside show reviews, and there are many, many topics a column can cover, that would offer fresh and innovative content.

Well, AGAIN I'll miss the Eagles game, due to work.

I pick the Steelers and Eagles. The Eagles are far better stat-wise than the Falcons. The Falcons barely scored more points than they allowed this season. I'm taking the Steelers because they've gone 16-1, and they beat the Patriots. At home, I feel no reason to think it will go different. Besides, I'd love to see an All-Pennsylvania Super Bowl. I might actually watch it.

Yes. He effectively retired at the time. He hasn't thrown a pitch in four years, and there is certainly no record of a player returning from two of these injuries. Saunders return the first time was a long-shot. But its only a minor league deal, and I'd love to see Saunders pull this off. http://www.sptimes.com/2004/12/12/Sports/E...ers_attem.shtml

Yes, but many, MANY Americans served in World War II. What did Ted Williams do that rates him better than any of our other servicemen? He had virtually no impact on American history, outside of the baseball world.