Cheech Tremendous

It's been discussed here before, but can someone please explain poutine to me?

Lidge is the best reliever the Astros have, but they should deal him at the deadline. Teams always overpay to a ridiculous amount for relievers, especially ones that can close or set-up. The Astros have mishandled him to a ridiculous degree this season. They could have gotten quite the package had they been willing to part with him last offseason. And no, you aren't trading him to the Red Sox for Beckett, Buchholz, Ellsbury, Lester or any other pipedream you may be thinking about.

Culpepper will get another chance to start. Jacksonville is definitely interested, from what I've heard. Atlanta has to be at least thinking about him. The Raiders should be. There are a lot of opportunities for him out there, especially if he waits until a few weekds into the season to see how things shake out.

The Falcons are probably almost hoping that the NFL hands down a suspension before the season starts. It's going to be a shitstorm come that first week when they have to make a decision between Vick and Harrington. I don't think any team wants the face of the franchise to have the reputation of a brutal dog fighter.

Viva, did you sneek into Keith Law's chat today? Some crazed Astros fans said that they should deal Brad Lidge to the Red Sox for Ellsbury and Lester. I almost fell off my chair laughing. On a sidenote, I hate Keith Law. Every pitching prospect is a future no. 1 or a fringey middle reliever.

It's the Benoit stuff. I know a lot of people, including myself, were turned off on the whole industry because of this whole disturbing ordeal. It's going to take time and a lot of changes to win the fans back.

Someone notify those idiots up in the WWE folder that this is what a good joke looks like.

Call up the Rangers and ask for Teixeira, Sosa, Lofton, Otsuka and Gagne. It's like a match made in heaven.

Maybe if Steinbrenner was still conscious and making decisions for this team. Cashman has no intention of trading off the future for a rental or quick fix. This team is working to get younger and Hughes, Chamberlain and the posse of young pitchers will be a cornerstone of that movement.

For the Red Sox, a righty bat off the bench and another power arm in the pen is all they need to acquire at the deadline. The time has passed for Wily Mo to be a productiver member of this squad. He just doesn't offer anything right now that is useful to the team. He, along with the prospects that have no future here (Moss, Murhpy, Gabbard, Hansen, etc.) should be the cornerstone for future acquisitions. If they have the opportunity to acquire a power corner infielder of catcher for the future without selling off the farm, they should do it. It might cost them less to do it at the deadline than it would in free agency. I don't know how realistic that is though. Overall, this team has weaknesses and I am not sure they have a champsionship caliber squad in place. But there are no quick fixes to be had. If the stars aligned right, Coco and Lugo bounce back in a big way, Schilling becomes the answer for the back end of the rotation, Buchholz fleshes out the bullpen and Ellsbury steps in as a productive fourth outfielder. It's going to take a lot of good karma for that to happen.

Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart are 2 of the lowest drawing champions of all time......they were treated well as champion and didn't do good numbers. You can say it's the time frame all that....but it's still there. i hate when people say this..... It was a different time and wrestling just wasnt popular...The stars just aligned just right for wrestling to get to the levels it was when the Rock and Stone Cold were king and WCW was ruling the wrestling world But the point of the discussion is that regardless of context, those two were on top when business was down, but it was up for the larger superstars.

Waiver wire hot potato JD Durbin only gave up one run? That's the most shocking thing I've heard all week.

The feds get a conviction over 95% of the time. Like someone else said, they don't try to make a case. They only proceed when they know they are getting a conviction. I'm sure Vick has the money and resources to get off, but I wouldn't count on it. I believe that federal cases usually move much faster than normal trials. Its conceivable that he is on trial and a decision is made before the season even starts. Even if it doesn't, I still don't see Vick taking the field this year.

You idiot... he was upset from being demoted from the Serengeti to Raw.

1. Just testosterone? That IS a steroid and he had a freakish amount in his system. 2. Nancy's blood alchol was that high because of the decomposition of her body. People need to learn how to pay attention.

I wish that they would have won the series that year so that John Henry could have used his "First I'm going to fire Grady Little, then I'm going to Disneyland" line. By the way, I don't care what Dodgers fans think of him now, Little with the Sox was the most incompetent manager in the major leagues.

I'm obviously biased, but I think that the Red Sox would have steamrolled that Marlins team. Think about all the momentum they would have had vanquishing the Yanks in 7 and having a chance to win their first World Series in 85 years. It would have been like 2004 scenario but just one year earlier. That 2003 team was damn good in its own right. It was a better hitting team than the '04 squad and the pitching wasn't bad either. I just think they were patient enough to give the young Marlins fits.

It would have been Jerry Jarrett. A succession plan was already in place when McMahon went to trial.

Austin was like 6'3" and 250 lbs. That's a really big guy. I know that's not large in the traditional wrestler sense, but if you saw him walking down the street or in the gym you'd be awestruck. That's precisely the issue. Wrestlers as we have been conditioned to see since we were all little kids have been of unbelievable size and strength. You can't just expect steroids to go away and the business to continue as we know it. Also, it is very weird how so many on the board want to call Lashley and Batista roid monkeys, but call Jericho or Rey small guys. Roids are roids and they affect people in different ways. It's all about genetics and dedication in the gym. There are some that might be easier to identify than others, but everyone in the company who uses is guilty. We can't pick and choose who we want to blame or who should be rewarded. We just don't know which guys are users.

That line was good for a laugh for many reasons. You've misinterpreted what I said. It is true that Vince pushes big men, and that the only way most of these men get this way is because they are large. However, that is not necessarily because he truly believes everyone should do steroids. It's just a by-product of him trying to run a successful business that has only succeeded with large superstars.

I think Hughes was disqualified because he's spent the majority of the year on the 25-man roster.

But the biggest draws in company history were all huge guys. Whether it was Hogan, Andre, Austin, Savage or Rock, all were eithe ridiculously large naturally or roided to an alarming level. Flair, Bret and Shawn were all on top when business was down. It's hard to pinpoint how much of their success was tied to their size, but for Vince he has to feel uncomfortable about pushing the smaller wrestlers when he's made the most money from larger than life characters. We have to remember that Vince isn't telling these guys to use. He's not an advocate for steroids. He doesn't push Lashley or Batista as a reward for doing steroids. He pushes them because they are physically impressive and he thinks he can make money with them. He's only a business man, not a crazed drug pusher. Not sure how many of you are familiar with economics or game theory, but that is what has happened to wrestling. It's to everyone's advantage to take steroids because there is a notion, whether real or perceived, that being big will earn you more money. Vince can't make them clean up by himself. He needs the cooperation of the industry, and to do that he will need the help of congress or a strong wrestler's union.

The Sports folder is the only one on the board that is consistently good all the time. The crap posters are kept to a minimum, the amount of discussion is steady and there are just the right amount of active topics and catch-all threads to keep things moving along. Oh, and it is moderated by Al, which puts it on another level entirely. The other threads have their moments. LSD has been fun lately. CS is hit and miss. Food is great. Music was fine until it got taken over by the elitists. The wrestling folders, for the most part, make my head hurt. There are so many idiots in the WWE folder and the second you call one of them out for their stupidity, it goes completely ignored or ten others come back to defend the original idiot. It's like bizarro world up there.

1. Austin was on a collision course with fame at that time. I know it's hard to imagine his legacy without the Hart match, but it wasn't until early 1998 and WM XIV that he got over to such a ridiculous degree. It's nice for the whole Austin mythology, but not crucial in his development as a top player. 2. Vince would have used Kerry Von Erich and rode him until he self-destructed from his own demons. Either that or he uses Snuka or JYD and still attempts the national expansion. But it's all a chicken and egg argument. Did the WWF go national because of Hogan, or did Hogan become the superstar because the WWF went national? Not that I want to discount what Hogan accomplished, but from what I've read about that era it was McMahon's vision that succeeded in the early years, not Hulk's undeniable charisma and larger than life appeal.

1. Austin