Cheech Tremendous

Dama is quickly morphing back into old Dama. OU's gotten every break this year. They are no. 1 in the nation and playing for the national title. How anyone can think that they've been disrespected is beyond me.

It was clear that Bailey was never going to succeed in Cincy and needed to be moved, but talk about selling low on a guy. Dye doesn't have a whole lot left in the tank and he makes a boat load of money. He won't do much for a lousy Reds team. Once again, good deal or not, I can't figure out what Ken Williams' plan is. Last year they needed to rebuild and he bought all winter long. Now the team looks like a potential contender and he sells. His style works more often than not, but talk about a schizophrenic GM.

Wow, I hate college football so much. Nine fucking teams have a legitimate argument for the national title, and we get one phony "championship" game between the prettiest one-loss teams and a bunch of lousy bowls that I don't care anything about. What a sham.

So what would we do for year-end awards? Thread of the Year Folder of the Year Feud of the Year Post of the Year Dumbshit Moment of the Year Worst Poster Funniest Poster Something in that vein...? I love the idea of doing year-end awards. It just feels right given the season. It seems like that whole week between Christmas and New Year's is bombarded with magazines and tv shows doing their end of the year lists. I always advocate TSM being self-aggrandizing.

This is the greatest thing ever. Bob pontificating on why gays run together is amazing. Yes, Bob, their cocks get harder when they run.

It's starting five days earlier this year. Is that really enough to get your panties in a bunch, Mr. Ombudsman?

I object to the tourney be held on January 5th*. *I solely object due to the fact that I will be away from the internet that week and thus unable to stump for myself. I was hoping to squeeze out a top 16 finish this year. EDIT: Also, how did you still not fix Milky's name? We pointed out that mistake weeks ago.

Call me crazy, but I think his plan is good. In fact, if I were the GM I'd practically do the same thing. I question his notion of trying Weeks in centerfield with Pierre and Jones already on the roster, but the fact that he can play second lessens that concern. Where exactly do you see fault in his ideas? Concentrating on pitching and defense is the easiest way for that team to compete.

Does Ned Colletti have a complete aversion to playing young guys? Why would trade you Chin-Lung Hu for Jack Wilson of all people? Just start Hu instead. Hu's every bit the defender that Wilson is, and it's not exactly like Wilson is setting the world on fire with his bat. Save that money and use it to resign Derek Lowe.

I believe that the fourth guy was Curt Hennig, not Bob Backlund. The timelines are a little fishy, given the fact that Hennig didn't turn until they had already ruled Warrior out. Still, Hennig was the guy that I've always heard was the back-up plan.

The Red Sox officially announced the signing of Junichi Tazawa. This is the Japanese pitcher that skipped the draft in order to come directly to America. Scouting reports differ heavily on his ceiling, but most agree he would have been a first round talent in the MLB draft. Major league contract worth about $3 million over three years. He'll still be arb-eligible at the end of the contract; he will not be a free agent. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/reds...a_announce.html

Music is just a loss leader for a store like Best Buy anyways. As long as they recoup 90-95% on the money spent on the exclusivity rights, they are in the clear. Like Edwin pointed out, since their only expense was the $14 million they only need to sell a little more than 1 million copies of the album to come out even.

I like that there appears to be a market for all these shitty shortstops. It increases the chances of the Red Sox being able to unload Julio Lugo with minimal subsidies.

Shortstop roulette continues as Jack Wilson is apparently headed to the Tigers. Still looking for a confirmation source. EDIT: http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2008/1...re_ss_jack.html - Bastards even stole my "shortstop roulette" line

Scott Hall would have been an excellent challenger for both Diesel and Shawn. The history was there, and they obviously had the backstage connection that would have lead to a good match. The problem with that is the fed was really committed to their choices of champions. It'd be extremely risky to turn your #2 babyface in the event that he became another flavor-of-the-month challenger, a la Mabel or the British Bulldog. Every time we do one of those "should have been a world champion" threads, I always default to Scott Hall. He definitely had the look, the personality and the in-ring skills as a face or heel to carry a company. It's a shame that he never god the opportunity. Like Roberts before him and Jeff Hardy afterwards, the personal demons never allowed him to reach his full potential. Had he stuck around in the WWF, he would have gotten the title eventually. Probably would have gotten a WCW run at some point had he not been an utter wreck. For as much as he derailed himself along the way, he also had a history of bad timing. I'm sure he'll take the money made in the NWO over a title run, though.

At least you were able to keep that bookmark for forums.thesmartmarks.com. All is not lost.

And someone's trying to argue that this dude wasn't on coke?

I'm going to second (third? fourth?) the love for Good Eats. Not only is Alton Brown an interesting guy, but the show is informative for beginning and advanced cooks. It's nice to not only learn a new recipe, but understand why it should be cooked the way that it is. The tools I've picked up from that show are the most valuable thing in my developing cooking arsenal. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is fun for what it is. Same with Throwdown. I get annoyed by both of the talents, but the concepts behind their respective shows are winners. Iron Chef America is good, but I've grown a little tired of the set-up. Don't really watch much of Ray, Emeril, Sandra or any of the other Food Network talents. I might throw them on when I can't find anything else to watch, but they aren't exactly can't-miss television. Giada's food looks like shit, but I'll watch if the spank bank is getting exceptionally low.

That deal for Pedroia isn't that much of a discount. He only has two years service time. He's not even arbitration eligible yet.

The heel turn didn't work out, but it wasn't the worst idea in the world. He was one of the most over wrestlers on the roster during the Spring and Summer of 2000. But heading into the fall he was behind the Rock, Austin, and HHH on the face side (and probably Jericho too). I think the feeling was that there was an open main event slot for Rikishi on the heel side. Things obviously didn't work out that way. The biggest problem with the heel turn was that there was really no motivation. He wasn't even in the company when Austin was hit, and there wasn't any foreshadowing or motivation. Couple that with the fact that he had to put Austin over big in his return program and really, there was no place for him to go. Bad timing and bad booking.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3742934 Tommy Tuberville gets canned

This has been coming for a long time. I'm sure Colangelo wanted him out from the moment he took over the team, but there wasn't really a justifiable reason until now. He should have done it in the offseason so that he could have gotten D'Antoni. They already had the history together and Toronto would have been a good fit.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Red Sox signed second baseman Dustin Pedroia to a six-year deal worth about $40.5MM. The deal buys out two years of free agency and also has a club option for 2015. Credit: mlbtraderumors.com

What a bunch of misogynists! Can't you just appreciate her for her beautiful music? Yeah, but didn't you have a thing for the ugly singer with the extra Jew-y nose? I can't really speak to your judgment in these matters.

According to espn.com, Javier Vazquez is headed to the Atlanta Braves in a five-player deal. That gives them one of the two starting pitchers they are supposedly looking for this offseason. I'm not much of a Vazquez fan, but it's a low-risk deal for Atlanta. Lillibridge has lost a lot of the luster he had a few seasons ago.