vivalaultra

Pfft. They coulda just got Aaron "Gritty" Rowand back. In Astros' news, super utility man Eric Bruntlett has decided to willingly give up his jersey number, 10, so that, when he makes his glorious return, the great "Hall of Fame" bound veteran Jose Viczaino can return to wearing the number that he wore so proudly during his time in the JuiceBox.

Yeah, but it's still a horrible ring name. I mean, he could've enhanced it like Heath Herring did, but I guess "Irish Crazy Horse" is a pretty shitty name, too. I guess he's banking on the stereotype of Irish people being brawler-esque, but he could instantly become one of my favorite fighters if he goes the other way and comes out wearing a big green top hat and carrying a shillelagh and telling Herring that he'll "never get [his] pot o' gold!!!!!"

'Irish' Jake O'Brien? That's gotta be the worst nickname for a fighter since Jason "The Athelete" Macdonald. Any card with Rashad Evans in the main event is weak. They do have some decent fights...the Spencer Fisher one, Thomas vs. Guida, Lister vs. Marquardt, and it's always fun to see Ed Hermann get beat up...actually, the card might not be half bad.

I don't think Phil Garner's overrated...He's got...intangibles~! and a sweet moustache. But, of course, I'm a homer...

I was looking at reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a while back ago, but I didn't because I heard somewhere that it's a 'self-help' book. Is it a self-help book? Does it have anything to do with all of those other Zen and the Art of... books? What's the deal with those anyway?

I'll add some love for the old NES games; in particular Shadowgate, Maniac Mansion, and the old Ultima games. I also thought that Who Framed Roger Rabbit? had a good storyline/writing. Personally, I think that Maniac Mansion had one of the best storylines and writing in any video game, primitive or current. A remake of that game for PS3 would be outtasite.

The first time I heard The Wrens was in 1999, when I was still kinda in the latter-days of my (I loathe to admit this) poppy-punk/emo phase. This one Drive-Thru records sampler that I bought had "This Boy Is Exhausted" and "Miss Me"on it samwiched between the Rx Bandits and Midtown. I never thought, then, that 8 years later I'd have both of their CDs on my iPod and listen to them with a semi-high degree of regularity. I do prefer The Meadowlands, though. As for I, I recently got the Long Blondes CD, which is good...and the Pearl Jam Greatest Hits CD. Some of those songs have aged well and others haven't.

I'm never going to voice my like of a team again...at least until baseball season. Then...it's on~! Ohhhhhh yeah!

Wait...I'm...hated?!?!?! I just thought I was quirky.

Former Tigers, Astros, and Indians, and Angels pitcher and former Astros, Mets, Phillies, and most recently Reds pitching coach Vern Ruhle passed away last nite after battling cancer and missing the entire 2006 season because of it. He was 55. For his career, he was 67-88 with a 3.73 ERA. R.I.P., Vern.

I haven't posted in a football thread since my conception here, and I don't wanna come off as a bandwagoner, but I've been a Saints' fan since...long before I was an Astros' fan. I've been a Saints' fan since the early 90s, when I lived in South LA about 50 miles out of NO. I remember in 4th grade every class after the Saints had played, the whole class would get bonus points if they Saints had won. Needless to say, we didn't get that many bonus points. Even after the move to Texas, I've still been a Saints' fan, despite getting very few games on TV in preference of the lousy Texans. With that said, I'd just like to say how utterly unbelievably awesome it would be the see the Saints win today. I'm predicting same score as the last Saints' game. 27-24, Saints.

X2 post...to tha max!

I'm going to turn in a blank ballot, becuase there's no way that I can be sure that none of the applicants were under the use of PEDs (post-enhancing drugs).

Well, when you put it THAT way.... Still, I'm looking forward to seeing Machida fight, although from the other comments on him and my limited knowledge of him, I'm not expecting as much outta the fight as I did a few days ago...

Ohhh yeah, he did get choked out by Schafer last summer. He was on injury leave? I just thought he was ashamed. He was the first LHW that popped into my head that would make for a better debut fight for Machida. I might be wrong since I've never seen a full fight, but I was impressed with what I've seen from him, especially him KTFO on Rich Franklin.

Yeah...Hoger's pretty much a slug. I'm not sure why UFC would put Machida up against him, especially if they're trying to introduce him on good terms, especially after his stinker versus Vernon White. Where's Rob Macdonald when ya need him?

I don't know how exciting Machida's fights are in full, I've only seen clips of him, but he's gotta be pretty hot shit, he's 8-0 with victories over Steroid Bonnar, Rich Franklin, Michael McDonald, and BJ Penn.

Damn, Lindland's staying busy. He's fighting Carlos Newton Feb. 2nd in Houston for the IFL. On a similar note, I'm considering going to to see the show, but I've little to no knowledge of the IFL and I haven't heard of very many of their fighters. Anybody have any info? Are the fights generally...good? I read through the topic posted about it, but I haven't seen any of it firsthand, and alot of the fighters look like shlubs.

Main Event for the UFC Middleweight Championship Anderson Silva (Champion) vs Travis Lutter (Challenger) It'll be an interesting fight. Lutter has no chance against Silva if it stays standing, but Silva might have a tough time defending takedowns and Lutter's world class on the ground. I'm saying Silva knocks him out, but I wouldn't be overly surprised to see Lutter get the fight to the ground and sneak away with the MW title either by a submission or decision. Main Card Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs Marvin "The Beastman" Eastman Well, it'll be fun to see Rampage avenge a loss and Eastman should at least be competitive. Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic vs Eddie Sanchez Eddie Sanchez gets to play the 'undefeated sacrificial lamb' role, but the best that he can hope for is that he doesn't get knocked out in under a minute. Melvin "The Young Assasain" Guillard vs Dustin Hazelett Scott Smith vs Patrick Cote (likely the swing bout) Undercard Jorge "El Conquistador" Rivera vs Terry Martin Tyson Griffin vs Frank Edgar Lyoto Machida vs Sam Hoger I hope this fight makes it onto the show. I really, really wanna see Machida fight. Roger Huerta vs John Alverston I don't think there's a blowaway fight on the card, but there's still a few fights that I'm really looking forward to seeing.

The Braves made a logical move today. They singed Craig Wilson to a one-year deal. I would imagine this will create a platoon situation with Wilson/Thorman at first, which will probably be as effective as Adam Laroche would have been, plus they got a killer SS prospect and Mike Gonzalez. I guess that makes the Braves the winner of the deal.

If your coolant's not leaking, there might be blockage in your tubes somewhere. There's a buncha stuff that it might be. We should turn this into a contest where the person who guesses correctly as to what the problem is wins. We could call it "The TSM Car Pool 2007".

I'm by no means a gearhead, but... Does it only overheat when you're idling or at a stop? If so, it might be that one of your fans is out. Or maybe it's your belt. How's your belt? If it's not a cracked head, it might be something with the radiator or the manifold. I dunno. What kinda car do you have? Is it new, used? My Dad's got a Cadillac STS that was doing that overheating thing like yours where it only overheats every now and again. He brought it to his mechanic and turned out he did have a cracked head (even though there wasn't any white smoke coming outta the tailpipe or anything), and, in addition, his whole engine block was cracked. Yeah, but like I said...I'm no car guy.

According to the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette (and ESPN), the long rumored Adam LaRoche for Mike Gonzalez deal is complete. No word yet on who else was involved. Tough to say who got the better of this deal. LaRoche is a realy good left-handed hitter and Mike Gonzalez is just filthy.

Edit: Damn you, Tommy Tomlin...you usurped me.

A Devil Rays' prospect...in trouble with the law?!?!? Surely, you jest... Color me surprised... In Astros' news, this week the Stros have signed My Clam to a 1-year deal worth 2.3 million + incentives and today signed Brad Lidge to a 1-year deal worth 5.3 million plus incentives. The only arbitration eligible players left for them to sign are Ensberg, Qualls, and Everett. I find it interesting that so far all of the arb. players the Astros have signed so far have been 1-year deals with heavy incentives. I also am interested to see how Spring Training will play out. If they carry 12 pitchers, that leaves 13 position spots, which means that, since Loretta signed and I don't see Hidalgo not making the team, Jason Lane and possibly Ensberg (or at least one other person) will be gone next season.