Cheech Tremendous

The Rays aren't going to choke. No way, no how. Have you seen that team play? There is no evidence whatsoever that this Rays team would blow a lead down the stretch. I still think they'll win the AL East comfortably.

Minnesota should be on the phone with Tampa right now trying to swing a deal for Jeff Garcia, even if it means overpaying in draft picks. This team was assembled to be a Super Bowl contender and it's slipping away with each passing day. I'm sorry but Gus is not the guy that's going to lead the charge to a championship.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09172008/gossi..._000_129397.htm Well, there are upsides to being a dictator. Or should I say dick-tator. Amirite?

Fidel Castro has reportedly slept with over 35,000 women. Screw it, I'm making a thread in General Chat.

I don't even understand what that whole Wrestling Draft in General is, and now it has its own folder. Huh?

And he's a awesome wrestler Let's not get carried away here and start another Cena war with an over the top statement. Guy's done a great job in his role, but he's still fairly limited in the ring. He's far from an awesome wrestler.

It's definitely Lidge. Outside of the many saves (which are just a by-product of his gross number of opportunities), K-Rod's having a fairly pedestrian year. He's barely a top five closer in the American League.

I think you're right on the money with the selection of Anderson. You might find some Boston fans who'd argue for Michael Bowden, but I'm not of the opinion that his stuff will translate to anything more than a back of the rotation starter. Funny thing about Lars Anderson. I brought him up on this board about a year ago during an argument about the Yankees and Red Sox farm systems. One of the Yankees fans laughed at me for bringing up "some guy named Lars." One year later and the guy might be a Top 10 prospect.

Most of the posters here are a lot older now as well, which I think would bode well for a literature folder.

This is a topic idea that I essentially stole from one of those crappy ESPN promotions. However, I thought that adapting it to wrestling might be a lot of fun. Essentially the idea is to pick the one person that defines the company. That is, who is the one person that you think of first when you hear the words "WWE" or "WWF". I've avoided making this a poll so that we can get some discussion. Defend your choice. Some suggestions: Hulk Hogan - Probably the runaway favorite, he was the face of the company's national expansion in the '80s and defined the look of WWE superstar in the McMahon world. Steve Austin - The star of the Attitude era and the top character during the company's most successful period. The Rock - WWF's first true crossover celebrity. Vince McMahon - The owner, voice and booker for the company for the last 25 years. Bruno Sammartino - For all the old school fans that never got into Rock n Wrestling. The Undertaker - The company's most consistent star. A major part of the promotion for close to 20 years. John Cena - The most recognizable star in the company today.

The only work I am familiar with is Consider The Lobster. My impression after reading the essays was that Wallace's writing was at times brilliant, being equal parts engaging, insightful and funny, but ultimately something that was not my cup of tea.

I still think of Beane as being an excellent evaluator of both talent and market inefficiencies. The most serious flaw he had was the development of the farm system, which just collapsed under his watch. Some teams can overcome such a setback, but not one as cash-strapped and dependent on cheap talent as the A's. It's clear that he now understands this and has worked diligently over the past season and a half to rectify things.

I'd be careful about placing emphasis on Theo Epstein. He's no doubt one of the best minds in baseball, but remember when people thought that about Billy Beane? Look what happened there. Are we no longer in agreement that Beane is a top 5 GM? He's been through his ups and downs, but the track record is one of proven success on a limited budget.

This is my attempt to contribute positively to the music folder. Each week I'll dip into my vinyl collection (comprised mostly of rock albums from the '60s-'80s, with a few notable exceptions), pull out an essential album, drop the needle and post the results. This isn't so much designed to be a review but more of a jumping off point for discussion. I'd envision us debating the merits of each album and whether or not they are rembered correctly by history. Since my collection is in alphabetical order, the first choice was rather simple. Aerosmith - Rocks Released in 1976, this is generally regarded as the peak of Aerosmith's drug-induced '70s output. It is often cited by many musicians as one of rock's most influential albums. This was simply Aerosmith at their best. If you aren't familiar with this era of the band, think Stones with less sensibility, or Zeppelin without the folky mysticism. Side 1 "Back In The Saddle" "Last Child" "Rats In The Cellar" "Combination" The first side starts with two of the band's radio classics. Not much new discuss here, as we've heard both of these millions of times. "Last Child", however, may be the funkiest the band ever got. "Rats.." is something of a companion piece to "Toys In The Attic" from the previous album. The side closes with "Combination", Joe Perry's first vocal performance for the band. I consider it a lost classic. Side 2 "Sick As A Dog" "Nobody's Fault" "Get The Lead Out" "Lick And A Promise" "Home Tonight" This is the basically the prototype for all '80s hard rock, for better or worse. It has the bluesy numbers, the heaviness and the ballad. "Nobody's Fault" is probably the hardest number in their entire catalogue. "Home Tonight" was a staple of their early shows, complete with a Joe Perry kitchen-sink solo. Top notch stuff. Thoughts on this album? This is a band that's historical place has been diminished by their late career output. This might not be the best hard rock album of the era, but it is definitively American, and as influential as it gets.

That's actually the one I was considering as well. What's the story on Dell laptops? I've heard good things in general, but every once in a while you get a horror story. Like I said earlier, I'm going to be using mine mostly for work. That means a lot of Microsoft Office and internet, but not much else. I want a solid machine, but nothing extravagant.

The Red Sox avoided the possibility of any offseason gorilla suit antics by finalizing a new deal today for Theo Epstein. Somehow they managed to do this without the normal circus that surrounds all of their front office moves. I am thoroughly pleased. Epstein is the most valuable piece of this team's success.

What is up with WWE giving their new talent the most uninspiring, generic names possible? Would it be that awful to give them something marketable? Just think if the current creative team was around in the eighties. Instead of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior headlining cards, we could have had Todd Simpson, Lance Buchanon and Gary Lloyd.

Can't Book Club just co-opt the existing Comics folder? Just move the recommendations and DFW threads there and we've doubled that forum's content in seconds. Do we really need to continue the dialogue regarding a potential lit folder when comics still roams free?

Sad to hear. I was reading a news article that mentioned he wrote "Great Gig in the Sky", "Us and Them", "Echoes" and "Shine on You Crazy Diamond." Holy shit, that's like four of their best songs. I also wasn't aware that he has such a role in the group's artistic development pre-Wall.

I would like to piggy-back on this thread and take suggestions for a new laptop. I don't really want to spend much more than a grand. It will be primarily used for work purposes.

I cannot believe that a team would fire their manager with two weeks left in the season, especially when said team is leading the Wild Card. This is either absolutely brilliant, or tremendously stupid. I'm going to lean toward the latter, but we'll see. And Dale Sveum is taking over? I remember Sveum's work at third being something of a running joke during his tenure in Boston.

Have we ever figured out why "neutral" games end up in Milwaukee? Is this a Bud Selig thing or is there a legitimate reason?

HHH/Cactus is the only one I'd have at ***** for post-'97 WWF. I've always liked Rock/Austin from X-7 (even with the finish) and Angle/Benoit from the '03 Rumble. I can see the arguments against both of those though. HHH/HBK/Benoit is a great from an emotional standpoint, but I've never been overly impressed with triple threat matches. The pacing is usually poor and a lot of the spots are really contrived.

WWE shows to seek out: WM III WM VI Royal Rumble '92 WM VIII Summerslam '92 WM X WM XIV Summerslam '98 I'll have to think a little more about WCW and ECW stuff because I don't remember the show names as easily. EDIT: Ha, I should have read Kamala's post first.

Feeling okay today, but tonight's Oktoberfest. Take the kids to the neighbors because I'm coming home plowed.