EVIL~! alkeiper

Part II....... REVENGE OF THE CHRIST!!!!! starring...Johnny Damon

I assuming McEwing is driving the bus that carries the other five players involved in the trade.

Amen. I learned most of it from taking a Philosophy course a year ago.

No chance. You need two months minimum between fights. If a fighter gets cut, he won't make the next fight. And that shoots your tournament all to hell.

Joe McEwing? That's got to be some kind of sick joke. There goes my draft plan. *revises checklist*

A tournament would be great, but its completely unrealistic within the current parameters of boxing. Plus you have the problem of blowing all your big fights. Who does the winner fight next? You've used up the seven best contenders. Since we're dealing in fantasy, we can have some fun. He could apply for a New York License. But for the purposes of this sim, we'll keep him in MSG.

Introducing a sim tournament to crown a new undisputed World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. With the help of Title Bout Championship Boxing, I will simulate a 16 man tournament, to determine the top heavyweight in boxing. In order to determine the seedings, I used Ring Magazine's most recent top ten, and then filled in the list with the rankings of the alphabet organizations. I considered using the computerized rankings from boxing.about.com, but I rejected these as they include fighters who have fought spradically over the last few years. For example, #11 Andrew Golota has fought twice over the last three years, against journeymen. He doesn't belong. All fights are scheduled for twelve rounds, and are contested at Madison Square Garden. Cutmen and trainers are of equal quality for both fighters. The judges are three of the most respected boxing writers in the world. Budd Schulberg, author of The Harder They Fall, and writer of the classic film On the Waterfront. Bert Randolph Sugar, editor of several boxing magazines and books, and Nigel Collins, current editor of Ring Magazine. Now without further ado, the first round bouts...... Vitali Klitschko 33-2 (32) Jameel McCline 30-3-3 (18) Wladimir Klitschko 42-2 (39) Fres Oquendo 24-2 (15) James Toney 67-4-2 (43) Lamon Brewster 29-2 (26) Roy Jones 49-1 (38) Evander Holyfield 38-7-2 (25) Corrie Sanders 39-2 (29) Joe Mesi 28-0 (25) David Tua 42-3-1 (37) Hasim Rahman 35-5-1 (29) John Ruiz 39-5-1 (27) Mike Tyson 50-4 (44) with 2 no contests Chris Byrd 37-2 (20) Kirk Johnson 34-2-1 (25) Obviously one of the interesting aspects is that the Klitschkos would meet in the quarterfinals. Results are forthcoming.

I could see Pedro visably tiring in the 7th inning. The hitters were hitting the ball further, and it was taking longer to get them out. Besides, when I find myself screaming at the tv for Grady Little to "take him OUT!", you can't help but second guess the manager. Overall though, I agree. Managers in baseball at least are overrated. There's only so much they do before the players take over. They can make personnel decisions, but ultimately they don't make the players hit, field, or pitch better.

If homosexuality is indeed biological, then preventing gays from marrying is a CLEAR violation of the 14th amendment. That's why the amendment is being pushed, because the conservative right knows what shaky ground they are on. And Pat Robinson and his ilk have been pushing this for a year now. Its only recently that the Bush Administration caught on to the rush. An amendment is needed if you intend to prevent gays from maryying. I simply don't want that language in the constitution. The Constitution is about the rights I have, not the ones I don't have.

I'm fairly certain Redding was confirmed as the #5 starter at some point.

Looking at the upcoming schedule, we've got #1 Vitali Klitschko facing #3 Corrie Sanders on April 24th, for the undisputed heavyweight crown. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with this fight being for all the marbles, but its the best we've got at this point. John Ruiz will face Fres Oquendo on April 17th for the WBA Heavyweight "Title". According to many onlookers, Oquendo deserved to win his last fight against Chris Byrd. Here's hoping Oquendo can finally put the Great White Dope firmly among the class of mediocre fighters where he belongs (yeah, Ruiz is latino, but Great White Dope sounds good). We've got Bernard Hopkins facing Oscar De La Hoya for the World Middleweight Crown on September 18. Here's hoping for a Hopkins victory, and it would be a nice note to retire on, as Hopkins is 39. In any case, it should be a good fight.

Tom, is there any way we could push the draft time to 7:15 or 7:30? Its a small change, but it would benefit my schedule greatly.

Ok, with six posters on board and no complaints, I've switched the drafts to Tuesdays. I set the time for 8:30, so hopefully a life or two shall be spared during Smell the Ratings! mad dash home.

Oswalt's great, but Prior's unbelieveable. 250 Ks in 211.3 IP. A 5:1 K ratio. I don't think there's a pitcher in the National League who matches up with Prior. And this is from the guy arguing FOR the Astros. You can predict future performance based on a single year. Dotel here, because he's pitched at this level three consecutive years. On what planet? You said you used last season's stats. Ensberg's OBP was 50 points higher, and his slugging percentage was higher. He's got better career numbers as well. As for stajack..... I started a thread on Christmas Day listing the Astros as the best in the league, before the Clemens signing. Here's why. Pythagorean Win Percentage.... Pythagorean winning percentage is an estimate of a team's winning percentage given their runs scored and runs allowed. Developed by Bill James, it can tell you when teams were a bit lucky or unlucky. It is calculated by (Runs Scored)^1.83 --------------------------------------------------------- (Runs Scored)^1.83 + (Runs Allowed)^1.83 The traditional formula uses an exponent of two, but this has proven to be a little more accurate. In other words, Pythagorean Win/Loss records estimates wins and losses using runs scored and allowed. Its an excellent way to measure the true quality of a team. Using that stat, the Astros had 94 wins, while the Cubs had 85. So basically, the Astros start out nine wins ahead. I don't see what the Cubs have done to cover that.

Gas at my local station just increased to $1.81 a gallon, the highest EVER. I'm officially getting sick of this crap. I'm now paying $29 a week in gasoline alone. Just another reason to oust Bush in November. Fun fact: If gasoline fell to $1.20 a gallon, I'd save over $400 a year.

THE RING MAGAZINE TOP TEN POUND FOR POUND 1. Roy Jones, Jr. 2. Bernard Hopkins 3. Shane Mosley 4. Oscar De La Hoya 5. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 6. Manny Pacquiao 7. Kostya Tszyu 8. Erik Morales 9. James Toney 10. Antonio Tarver Last Updated 2/19/04 USA TODAY SUPER SIX FIGHTER RANKINGS 1. Roy Jones, Jr. 2. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 3. Bernard Hopkins 4. Kostya Tszyu 5. Shane Mosley 6. Oscar De La Hoya Last Updated 2/13/04

Ausmus sucks, no question. But Michael Barrett sports a career .310 OBP. He's not much better. Jeff Bagwell has missed a total of ten games over the last five seasons. In his worst season (last year) he hit .278/.373/.524. That's still good. Hidalgo had 2 below par seasons beforehand, but that he turned 27 is an indicator that his improvement is for real. Morgan Ensberg emerged last season, and should continue to produce. The Astros simply have more firepower than the Cubs.

Would anyone have a problem if I changed the drafts to Tuesdays at the same time?

Well, depending on the time your league ends, you might be able to catch the latter stage of the draft. I could push the time back an hour if that works for you. I could even change the date, if that's agreeable with others in the league.

With auto-draft, the system will do the draft for you like it would have before we decided on a live draft. Just make sure your lists are set where you want them.

Once again, I have to ask why the Cubs are ranked over the Astros.

The truly great thing about O'Neill is that he holds absolutely no bitterness, and looks back fondly on his life experiences. For him, its not about what he didn't do, but rather what he did.

Of course Kevin Brown is an injury risk, but so are most pitchers. He only needs three wins to get 200. I never bought into the transition argument. Its going to take alot to make a guy who strikes out a batter an inning into a bad pitcher. I put alot of stock into peripherals. A pitcher's strikeout rate is the first piece of evidence when predicting future success. Maddux's K rate his been declining the last few years, while Clemens' is still among the league leaders, and Pettitte's is higher than Maddux's as well. As for the younger pitchers, Mark Prior is the best, without a doubt. Roy Oswalt, however, is better than Kerry Wood. Oswalt has a 2.92 career ERA while pitching in HOUSTON. The lineup is tough, even without a second baseman. The big problem for the Yankees is pitching. If injuries strike, the team is in a heck of alot of trouble. If they stay healthy, they win 110. Personally, I really don't know who the hell to pick. I do agree that the team is no better now than before Boone got injured.

I wanted to point this interview out for those of you who may have missed it. Buck O'Neill is one of baseball's true ambassadors, and a genuinely great guy. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...ions/buckoneill

What is Maddux going to do, sprinkle Clement and Zambrano with his magic pixie dust? Forgot about Lee, but he won't make up for 75 runs. Walker and Grudzielanek will equal last season's production from second base. The Astros have Morgan Ensberg, Lance Berkman, and Richard Hidalgo all in their primes.