vivalaultra

I don't know if it's something in the water around here that causes women to become crazy. First, there was Andrea Yates in 2002. Then there was Clara Harris who ran over her husband. And now there's this crazy astronaut that drove 900 miles wearing a diaper to kill some other woman with a mallet and some rubber tubing. And all three of those women live like...less than 15 minutes from my house. I should start doing like one of those 'Celebrity Homes' tours. I'd call it 'The Crazy White Bitch Tour'.

1. LF Crawford L 2. CF Beltran S 3. DH Ortiz L 4. 1B Howard L 5. RF Berkman S 6. 2B Cano L 7. 3B Cabrera R 8. C Mauer L 9. SS Reyes S Damn straight.

Joy Division +1. I like New Order as a singles band and can listen to their greatest hits CDs, but I find myself getting distracted by their proper albums. Joy Division is great; I have no problem listening to "Unknown Pleasures" or "Closer" all the way through. My preference of Joy Division might be enhanced slightly by the saga of Ian Curtis (knowing how everything turned out, it certainly makes listening to songs like "Isolation" or "Shadowplay" or "New Dawn Fades" or "Heart and Soul" more visceral and powerful), but still, musically speaking, I just prefer Joy Division, and I like Ian Curtis's voice-very powerful.

I think we all know who Chicago needs to sign... Get rid of Jones, stick Juan Gone in RF, bat him 2nd. That gives the Cubs: Soriano Gonzalez Lee Aram and some other guys Hell yeah!

Yeah, the quality of opponent wasn't that great, but Cheick still showed good skills in the fights. Looking at his history of opponents, he hasn't really faced ANY quality fighters yet. When he faces Cro Cop, he'll obviously lose, but it'll be a testament to his possible skill as to how he hangs with an elite fighter. And whaddya mean talking shit about Kensuke Sasaki?!?!? He's a former WCW U.S. Champion! Recognize, yo!

Yeah, I still don't know what to make of Kongo. He's got pretty god striking and decent wrestling and he doesn't seem to have a problem finishing. His fights with Wellish and Aldana were impressive enough that I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for that Carmelo Marrero debacle, but...I just don't know.

It's probably his foot problems, which are an issue to teams, since he wants to play center...and I heard his asking price was high, higher than Darin Erstad. I heard the Marlins were interested in Stewart, don't know if anything came from it. Bruce Chen got a minor-league deal with the Rangers. Ameriquest doesn't sound like a good fit for Chen.

They're going to have to put Soriano batting leadoff if only because they don't have anybody else, but in Soriano, there's a guy that hit 46 homeruns last year and had less than 100 RBI. I know that has something to do with the collective futility of the Washington Nationals, but imagine how much MORE production they could get out of Soriano and his ungodly power by hitting him behind a high on-base guy like Derrek Lee and a great contact hitter with great power like Aram. Personally, I think a more intimidating 3-4-5 is Lee, Aram, Soriano than is Lee, Aram, Jones. I'd even bat Soriano 2nd before I'd bat him leadoff. Edit: Wow. I didn't realize that Tomas Perez had a better .OBP than did Pedro Feliz. And I guess based on statistics lineups really don't amount to much except the first time through the order, but...I really don't have an argument against that. Hell, I'd be ok if the Cubs batted Henry Blanco 3rd and had Jae Kuk Ryu roaming centerfield; I'm an Astros' fan, dammit!

The Cubs don't really have a leadoff hitter. Izturis doesn't really work as a leadoff man, but he's a switch hitter. DeRosa could lead off, but he strikes out too much. Matt Murton might work as a leadoff man, but would probably be better served in a better RBI spot. For all the signings the Cubs made, they didn't get anybody that really works and is best suited for his abilities and for the team as a leadoff hitter.

I assure you, my previous post was total sarcasm. Cro Cop is one of the top 3 heavyweights in the world and Cheick Kongo is a tall Frenchman who lost to Carmello Marrero by decision in his last fight. Kongo won't last as long as Sanchez did.

The Cubs do have the potential to have the best lineup in the NL Central, but you know they're gonna screw it up by batting Soriano lead-off and leaving Matt Murton on the bench. Put the lineup thusly: Izturis ss DeRosa 2b Derek Lee 1b Aram 3b Soriano cf Jones lf Barret c Murton rf and that's a formidable 3, 4, 5. And I still don't get all this about how the Cubs are gonna go from last place to first place in the span of 1 season with a new manager and a buncha new players, but there's still the good sign that they seem to have moved past the "If Mark Prior and Kerry Wood are healthy..." phase.

Man...Cheick Kongo IS gonna be tough. What they should really do is have Cro Cop fight 'Irish' Jake O'Brien, see if O'Brien can pull that same shit he did with Herring.

I guess I won't mention I was rooting for the Colts yesterday...if only because I'm a longtime Saints' fan and Peyton is kin to Archie Manning.

When was that? Was it recently? Clemens does lots of golf tournaments, so I'm not sure of when this one was, but I hadn't heard any comments where he said that he'd only play in Houston if at all. If he did say that, YEAH BOY-EEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Dear god no. If that happens the baseball thread will be unreadable all summer. viva posting about everything Astros makes the baseball threads unreadable. The reason I post about everything Astros is to make them unreadable so that you won't read them and, thus, won't post. Huzzah!

Damn...Cro Cop got paid. He made $350,000 and the rest of the main card fighters made a total of $366,000 put together. So, he's got 5 UFC fights left on his contract and presuming that he'll get a title shot eventually, who should his next fight be against? I'd stick him in there against Frank Mir. I think that would be a good fight. That all could be moot, however, if UFC does indeed buy Pride. And I'm 100% sure that Rampage/Lidell will happy before the end of the year. Probably give Rampage one more fight and give Chuck another title fight against...somebody and then go for the money match.

People should definitely be talking about the Brewers. Personally, I think they're the scariest team in the Central. I think their lineup is maybe the most balanced lineup in the NL. They don't have a perennial slugger like a Lance Berkman or a Pujols or a Derek Lee, but they have a good balance of power and speed with Prince Fielder, Bill Hall, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks, etc. And they have a really, really solid rotation with Ben Sheets at the top (pray he stays healthy), Capuano, the underrated Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan, and whatever rookie they put at #5. They've got a proven closer in Cordero and, if Turnbow recovers, that gives them even more depth. Their bullpen isn't spectactular, but it's extremely solid. As of right now, I'm picking the Brewers to finish no lower than #2 in the Central (of course I'm pickin' the 'Stros at #1, oh eternal homer that I am).

I know I care about this deal. If Bill Hall performs like he did this past season, $6 million a year for 4 years is going to be a bargain, especially if he cuts down on strikeouts. Why are the Brewers so insistent on sticking him in the outfield? Put him at third. It's not like Craig Counsell or Tony Graffanino are as good as him at 3rd (and Corey Koskie won't be back any time soon, right?), and they have more options in the outfield.

Nah, I like Okami from what I've seen of him. He's definitely a legitimate MW contender, but that Anderson Silva face-kick is, for better or for worse, the way that alot of people know of him...that and the fact that David Terrell is apparently scared shitless of him.

Hot diggity damn! UFC's coming to Houston, tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10 AM, and I'm going. $50 upper deck tickets, but still... The card doesn't look half-bad. The two confirmed fights are GSP vs. Matt Serra and Diego Sanchez vs. Josh Koschek with WW Title implications. Also on the rumored card is Clear Lake, TX resident Mike Swick vs. Yushin "A DQ win over Anderson Silva is still a win, right?" Okami, Joe Stevenson vs Caol Uno, and Heath Herring's second chance fight against somebody.

Anybody wanna buy some vinyl? Anybody have a good idea how much vinyl is worth? I bid on an auction with a couple boxes of records and, after going through them, I've found a buncha Talking Heads LPs, a couple Residents, and a few Kraftwerk. I have little to no knowledge of how much any of it is worth, so does anybody have any idea (all of the records are in G to VG condition): Talking Heads: 77 More Songs About Buildings and Food Speaking in Tongues Little Creatures Fear of Music Songs from "The Catherine Wheel" by David Byrnes The Residents: George and James The Residents Commercial Album Kraftwerk: The Man Machine Radio-Activity Exceller8 Autobahn Yeah, so those are the interesting records that I found. I have a shitpot more, mostly like...mid 80s New Wave (Oingo Boingo, Wall of Voodoo), etc. and a buncha movie soundtracks-most James Bond movies, a buncha Monty Python records, and a double Pink Floyd LP (Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Saucerful of Secrets), and an original Pac-Man Fever LP. Yeah, so that's most of what I acquired. Anybody know if it's worthless or not?

Watching this Tyson Griffin fight, I have just one question... When did Steve Mazzagatti grow a moustache? It's a good look on him.

Lutter ain't looking that bad. If he wasn't half dead and feelin' shitty, I think he might have the upper hand. Edit: I take that back. Well, he won the first round anyway.

"Do you have any special qualifications?" "Yeah...killing threads."

Where did all of these Croatians come from?!?!?! Like...everywhere in the crowd you look, it's Croatians. I didn't know that Las Vegas was such a hotbed of Eastern European immigrants.

I hope this leads to an Invasion angle...At the UFC PPV in November, they can have a 5-man tag team match between Pride and UFC...FOR ALL THE MARBLES!!!!