strummer

Yes, I know, I was wondering how well he did against the lesser heels, such as Hercules, Sika, Warlord, Typhoon, etc. During certain periods, he would main event against midcard heels, did they do the same business as with the big guys?

Mets C-Piazza 1B-Mientkiewicz 2B-Matsui 3B-Wright SS-Reyes LF-Floyd CF-Beltran RF-Cameron SP- Pedro Martinez SP- Tom Glavine SP- Chris Benson SP- Victor Zambrano SP- Steve Trachsel RP-Jae Seo RP- Matt Ginter RP- Mike DeJean RP-Orber Moreno RP-Bartolome Fortunato RP- Scott Strickland RP-Felix Heredia CP-Braden Looper

When the show was centered around Al, it was tremendous, but when the peripheral characters (well really just Marcy, Steve, and sometimes Jefferson) were highlighted, I found it hard to watch Christina Applegate has tremendous comedic timing and is great at deadpan. She is a very underrated comedic actress I could stand Peg in small doses, when she was featured too much, it was hard to take. Bud was definitely better at "horny, sex depraved young male" than "frustrated 20 something who is smart, but has no money to be educated and make it big" It was very difficult to accept Bud as the "more mature, a sense of reason" Bud towards the series end.

Here's my take on Scherer. The guy is not as bad as people say. When it comes to backstage news at Raw, Smackdown, PPVs, he's usually dead on. He leaked the Flair/Bischoff fight, Steph/HHH engagement, Heyman's demotion, the infamous "pre-show talent meetings" in 2003, etc. But when it comes to long term plans and encompassing stories, he usually is wrong or gets things confused. He's no Meltzer, but he's solid, and IMO, better than Keller. He does deserve criticism here though

from PWBTS: (Courtesy: BGWWrestling.com) The Oakland Tribune earlier this week ran an article in which they claimed that WWE SmackDown! would be cancelled from UPN when their contract expires next year. Leslie Moonves, co-president and co-chief operating office for Viacom, which owns both CBS and UPN had the following to say in the article: "It still makes us a decent amount of money. When you think about the powerhouses of CBS and NBC on Thursday night, it's great counter-programming. (But) it doesn't fit into the overall (programming) strategy." The article originally made a pun about their being "no smackdowns" after the show's contract runs out next year. The wording of the online version of the story, which can be found here, has already been changed to say that UPN has not yet decided what the future of SmackDown! will be. When contacted for comment about the article, UPN representative David Gardner had the following to say. "That story was completely eronious. They said they are going to be running a correction tomorrow, as well as correcting the story online." Gardner further said that the author of the Oakland Tribune article misinterpreted the statement made by Moosves, so there is "no need to panic."

Everyone realizes that they still have nearly 2 full years left on UPN? A lot of negotiations and bargaining can happen in two years. I wouldn't count it as a lock yet that it will be cancelled.

yeah, still 22 more months of JBL to go!

I bet Vince is already on the phone with the WB

When Nash turned at Survivor Series 94, he became the stereotypical bland WWF babyface. The crowd didn't want that type of Diesel, they wanted the Diesel that kicked everyone's ass at the Royal Rumble and that looked and talked tough. They didn't want a 7 footer playing a humble, "Down to earth", "Stand up for the common man" wrestler. I'm not saying that he would have done better as champion if had kept his previous persona, but it would have been a little better. They wanted to market him to children like Hogan, which was a terrible business plan.

Stacy always struck me as the girl who doesn't want to settle down just yet and wants to explore her options, so to speak. Most relationships in wrestling result in quick, often short-sighted marriages. I remember some interview with Stacy and marriage came up and she just laughed, like it was the furthest thing from her mind. I mean compare that to Jackie Gayda, who is younger than Stacy by a few years and is already engaged. Stacy seems to not have the "I'm young and am going to have fun" mentality out of her system yet.

Most of those games the Mets had Wilson Delgado, Jeff Koepinger, Gerald Williams and Eric Valent in the starting lineup. Not an excuse, but the Mets had a AAA team out there in Aug. and Sept. They were a .500 team at the All Star break and totally collapsed in Aug/Sept. due to injuries.

Curbed, you should be happy about the lineup, but the backend of the rotation with Leiter and Valdes if far from a sure thing. If Beckett and Burnett are healthy and Willis returns to 2003 form than it's a very solid first 3. And this will be Mota's first year as a closer, which is a question mark.

Speaking of Braves bullpens, I remember the early 90s Brave bullpens, Pete Smith, Mike Bielecki, Jay Howell, Steve Bedrosian, Alejandro Pena Greg McMichael. If they can win with those guys, they can win with Reitsma, Kolb, etc.. During the run, the Braves have never really had a truly dominant pen (except maybe 2002) They always had a group of guys that came in and threw strikes.

Beltran is in center

The Mets not getting Delgado will probably drive Minaya to re-open talks for the Sosa deal. Omar wanted to get the deal done a few months ago, but the Wilpons put the kabosh on it. Omar wants him in RF and if the Wilpons give the green light, I think it could get done. The one thing it would do is get Clifford Floyd of the team, that fact alone makes it a tempting deal

It's official, Carlos Delgado is a Marlin. Mets Inside Pitch proves to be more reliable than ESPN again. And once again, he never had any intention of going to the Mets, he always wanted to go to the Marlins. This whole deal was Sloane.

well, it's tough to know who to believe and this has been a mess with Delgado, but MIP is usually very reliable. But who knows with this deal, I haven't seen anything like it before.

Sources from Mets Inside Pitch are saying that Delgado is signing with the Marlins and it will be announced around 4 PM. They are a very reliable source, so it looks like a done deal. I wonder what the hell took so long, as it was clear he wanted to go to the Marlins to begin with. I can understand bargaining to up the price, but this was ridiculous. And now according to other talks, Delgado really had no intention of ever going to the Mets and his agent out right lied to Omar Minaya. I know agents do this, but this was a damn circus. Sloane makes Boras look like Danny Kay.

HTQ, SD ratings have increased significantly in the past month or so, have you seen the numbers, whose responsible for the increase? I would guess it would either be JBL, Angle or Big Show as the show as centered around those 3 since the SD after Survivor Series.

now WFAN is backtracking, saying the Mets are still in it for Delgado. I can't believe the big deal of the off season is over Delgado of all people. Everyone thought this would happen with Beltran or Pedro.

ESPNEWS just said the O's backed out of the Delgado race, well, only one team left

I second that Finally Mets and Braves fans unite!

according to WFAN, the Mets have been contacted and they are DEFINITELY out of the Delgado race, so it's down to the Marlins and Orioles

According to the NY papers, now that the Mets are out of the Delgado mix, they are going to strongly pursue the Sosa deal. Looks like Travis Lee or John Olerud will play first.

TD Falcons, 14-10. Eagles could still get points before the half.