Cheech Tremendous

I concur. There's never been a definitive recounting of the Joker's origin. The most accepted version is the chemical burn, but from Wikipedia:

It's more like 6/$111 total because the last year has a player option.

An out is an out is an out. Doesn't matter if he's grounding to first, hitting a long fly ball, popping up or striking out. They all count as outs and they all hurt the team. As Bauer said, at least he's not grounding into a double play. There is nothing inherently wrong with a strikeout. Hanly has a .395 OBP this year. He's doing precisely what is asked of him as a leadoff hitter... getting on base. I know that some people think that by cutting down on strikeouts you will become a more successful hitter. It just doesn't work that way. Most of the time the batters with the highest strikeout totals are the best hitters in the league. Why? They're aggressive. They work counts, take big cuts and make pitchers pay for mistakes. If you lay off good pitches or try to make contact on bad ones just to avoid strikouts, the pitchers will adjust the next time. The hitters with the most strikeouts this year? Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, Dan Uggla and Grady Sizemore. Not exactly bad company to be in.

I'm just saying that I don't like him, have never been a fan and have no interest in reading about him or any stories he has to tell. Yet, You're a Petey Williams fan, and you liked THE Rock's book. Interesting. I know that everyone has their own tastes and preferences, but how could anyone dislike Ric Flair? The guy was the best promo man and in-ring performer in the US for the better part of two decades.

Is this sort of thinking ever going to stop?

That was the initial plan. The WWF always planned on continuing WCW as its own separate wrestling entity. However, TNN refused to give them any more time on their networks for the WCW product. Furthermore, they wouldn't let them take the show to another competing network or rebrand any of their existing programming to WCW. They were stuck as for as promoting WCW as its own brand. This is part of the reason that the Invasion was such a letdown. They weren't planning on bringing WCW in as a faction. The idea was to keep the brand alive while they worked out the kinks to relaunch. The relaunch never came and they were stuck with a bunch of no-name talent and nothing to do with them. The 24 weren't expected to be big players, they were just cheap filler for their new brand that never came. That's why most of those guys floundered or were released. There was no place for them after the invasion.

Hanley Ramirez is a fantastic player, but I don't think he's separated himself from Jose Reyes yet. Hanley's tremendous year is mostly batting average driven, which is not typically sustainable from year to year. He's got much more power, but Reyes is miles better as a defensive player, runs the bases better and thus far has shown more of an ability to take pitches and draw walks. We only have about 2-3 years worth of performance on these guys. This debate will continue for a long time.

I really liked Idiocracy.

I read somewhere the plan was for HHH to drop the IC title to Henry when they did the Chyna angle. It's funny how the original plan was to shoot HHH to superstardom after the ladder match, only to have The Rock come out as the bigger star between the two at that time. To be fair, HHH was an absolute monster babyface in the summer of 1998 and beating the Rock at Summerslam was his last step to becoming arguably the no. 2 face in the company behind Steve Austin. That knee injury really set him back at the worst possible time and the Rock seized the opportunity. For all the bitching over the years about HHH protecting his spot, he had to overcome a lot of start and stop pushes over the years. The fact that he made it to where he is a testament to his ability and perseverance.

I have to disagree here. Vick was automatically assumed to be guilty because of the previous acts of stupidity that he was involved in. The Duke lacrosse players were viewed as guilty and they're clean-cut white boys. Two completely different cases first of all. And you have to admit, Vicks "acts of stupidity" consist of not wanting to throw away a water bottle this one time. How does that equate "Well, its no suprise that he paid for the running of a dog fighting opperation. He didn't want to throw away that water bottle this one time." Vick's acts of stupidity also included the Ron Mexico ordeal, the smoking weed on myspace thing, and flipping off the fans. None of those are major crimes on the level of dogfighting, but they displayed ia lack of maturity and the tendency to make bad decisions. Vick has a horrible reputation as a guy who is spoiled. It was easy to make the logical leap to dog fighting charges given his checkered past.

Probably because Pena hasn't been traded yet and therefore Buchholz is not even technically on the roster. I'm nearly positive that Clay will start the first game and then get sent down immediately after for Ellsbury.

I thought Buchholz was starting the first game, then getting sent down to make room for Jacoby Ellsbury. Did plans change?

That isn't a suprised, the Yankees knew he probably needed surgery. I don't understand why they would sign him then. He was wreck most of last year with control problems and various injuries. Now it looks like he is going to be on the shelf for a year plus because of existing elbow problems? Why not forgo the signing and take the compensation pick in next year's draft? Look, I know the kid throws 99 MPH and has as high an upside as anyone, but the failure rate with guys of his type is astronomical. I know it worked once with Joba Chamberlain, but there is no guarantee they can do it again. I guess the Yankees would prefer the boom or bust type given their financial prowess, but that shouldn't preclude them from good decision making.

AWA, World Class, Mid-South... I don't think things bode well for WCW being remembered well by future generations. It was the most recent promotion to go under and since they owned the tape library it was easy to make a few bucks off of it. But the more years that pass, the less it will be mentioned or discussed. As we know, history is always written by the winners and before long WCW will only be a distant memory.

I'm not a buffet guy typically. However, the buffet at the Bellagio in Las Vegas may have been the most fantastic meal I've ever had. Kobe beef, lobster, king crab legs... stunning, really.

The Yankees signed their first round pick P Andrew Brackman to a $4.5 million major league contract ($3.3 million signing bonus) today. With escalator clauses it could reach $13 million. Shortly after, word broke that he might need Tommy John surgery. Ouch. At least if he's injured the Yankees can shuffle him right off the 40-man roster and onto the 60-day DL.

soxprospects.com, who broke the story of Clay's callup, are also repoting that Jacoby Ellsbury is getting called up Friday. Keep in mind, I haven't seen this confirmed anywhere else, so take it with a grain of salt. If true, it looks like the Sox got a little jealous of the Yankees showing off all their shiny, new prospects.

Kielty has the out clause because there were a half-dozen other teams that wanted his services after he was let go by the Oakland A's. He wanted the clause so that if he wasn't up right after he signed he'd be free to latch on with another contender. Soxprospects.com is saying that Buchholz will definitely start on Friday, but no corresponding moves have been announced. They are going to have to trade Pena or DFA Hinske to bring up Buchholz, then option him for Kielty. Better yet, they could just option Lester back to Pawtucket.

He probably doesn't die.

You're not seriously suggesting that Benoit's motivation for killing his family stemmed from being switched to the ECW brand, are you? Please tell me you're not that naive.

Those were actual pictures of him? I always thought they were there as a goof.

Wrong. There was too many comments about it scattered over the WWE folder. Not only that, but hasn't that been up since the movie originally opened months ago? I remember hearing about it back then, as well as the many polls on their site that were 300-related.

From biglead.com:

Every time I see a new post in this thread, I expect to see that the whole thing has been called off.

Here's a better what if involving Beefcake: What if the WWF decided to hold off on th Hogan-Warrior match for Wrestlemania VI and went with one of their back-up plans of Hulk versus a heel-turned Brutus Beefcake? Would the match have drawn very well or would it be remembered like Starrcade '94? Would Brutus have a strong run as an upper-card heel or would he have faded quickly? Would he get a short title run? What becomes of Warrior long-term?