Steve J. Rogers

I didn't knock Jay's, well I will knock their ridged chips, not too salty for my taste, I just thought they might be a Lays knockoff when I first saw them.

Was in a Chicago 7-11 and picked up a bag of Jay's Chips and from the name and the slogan "Can't Stop Eating Them" I thought it seemed AWFULLY familliar to Lay's and "Betcha can't eat just one" but after wikipedia-ing and going to their website it does seem that Jay's came first and the name came about due to the negative connotations post Pearl Harbor of the name Japps. It wouldn't be untill the 1950s that Lay's went national. That had me wondering about how many food company knockoffs are actually out there. I'm not talking about the generic store brand or America's Choice but are actual food brand names meant to confuse the consumer into buying their inferior product.

I'm not trying to outdo anyone, I'm just saying I had a couple of really, really not so fresh beers that bookended a couple of fresh ones and resulted in a lousy day the next day.

Actually, he was placed on 15-day as of yesterday. It's retroactive to July 25th, so he'll be eligible to come off of the list on the 10th. AHHH wonder why I didn't see it when I was purusing the transactions on Mets.com Hmmmm Or I just missed it most likely

I'm guessing that would mean that he would be able to have a much sharper taste as to whether or not a beer has gone bad, as he's developed a pretty mean palette. Yeah that also makes sense. Still don't know why I had a killer hangover though

100 years since The Big Train made his big league debut I wonder if the Twinkies are planning anything.

Heading to Chicago for some fun this weekend! I hope to be blogging away over there but who knows with hotel internet accommodations. Either way, look for plenty of pictures and stories coming next week, right here.

Speaking of Canada, I WANT A TIM HORTON'S HERE IN NYC! Hey Tim was a Ranger for two seasons, so we should have at least one!

F the Yanks, Omar had better read that and realize Santana would look quite nice in Blue and Orange.

I'm just realizing that I will be missing Glavine in Chi-Town. Ah well. Going home Sunday so I can catch the ESPN telecast. Am I the only one that thinks Willie Randolph sent a not so subtle message to Omar Minya about the state of the Mets bullpen, and lack of pitchers in general with sending Thursday's starter Jorge Sosa out there last night? Speaking of which, why is Carlos Beltran not on the DL as of yet? Right now I'm still feeling good about our divisional chances, with the Braves 4 back in the loss column, but if the Braves do well this coming week at Shea and our bullpen falls apart against them, I will officially be worried.

I can't seem to find that function. Thanks Steve

http://forums.thesmartmarks.com/index.php?...;blogid=98& Put the first couple of entries up, hopefully my writing juices will be flowing!

Anyone know why the Braves didn't use that excuse coming out of Spring Training in 1974 when the purposely tried to sit Aaron for the opening series in Cincy so he'd hit both the homer to tie the Babe and #715 at home in Atlanta? What would Kuhn really have pulled a "If he sits then put him on the DL!" ultimatum or something if the Braves decided to say "Yeah Hank tweaked his knee, can't play this weekend, nudge nudge, wink wink?"

Anyone drink beer that was quite a few months after its expiration date? Maybe it was because I drank a couple that bookended a few fresh beers for a total of 4 or 5 beers on the night within a 6 hour time frame, but I did that recently and ended up with nasty, real nasty hangovers the day later, one that included a mild offering to the procelin God. Should this be a normal reaction? I found one barely drinkable, handed it to someonelse who told me that it was fine and drank the rest of it. Or it could be because the guy has been drinking beers of varying degrees of taste for over 45, nearly 50 years now that he doesn't have a discerning feel for when a beer has gone bad or whatnot.

It's Wawa, not wah wah. WawaaaaIT DOESNT MATTER WHAT ITS CALLED! Sorry couldn't resist Went there once out near Rumson, New Jersey around 2AM and was able to get a freshly made sandwich and decaf coffee. Now THAT is pretty darn nifty.

What if Chris Benoit never became smitten with Nancy and/or the split of Kevin & Nancy had been more amicable therefore providing Benoit a "better" relationship with the head booker and therefore Benoit would not have felt all "Fuck it, he's gonna fuck me over, I am OUTTA here" in January of 2000. Chances are that more than anything caused Benoit's real hatred for Sullivan, and vice versa and essentially was the "last straw" for Benoit in WCW.

There are Wah Wahs (glorified convience store/sandwich shop) in New Jersey but I don't think there are in NY

BTW one of the things that really had me wondering about the whole, well I guess I can call it Faith Based fanbase of country music was listening to a great Johnny Cash live album called Live At Madison Square Garden. A concert he did, in New York on December 5th 1969. And while sure NYC has it share of religious backgrounds as that is part of the makeup of the giant melting pot, but it seems interesting that along with Cash's classics such as "I Still Miss Someone," "Big River," "Folsom Prison Blues," "Long Black Veil," "Wreck Of The 'Ol 97," "Boy Named Sue," and "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" that several songs were on the setlist with very strong Christian content and imagry; "He Turned The Water Into Wine" a song Cash wrote after visiting the site where Jesus Christ performed his first miracle. "Jesus Was A Carpenter" a song penned by a friend of Cash that lashes out on how secular the Catholic world had become, and this is in the late 60s! "Daddy Sang Bass" its more of a gospel music feel, but it does reference a better life beyond this one which is a thread in a lot of early country music (Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, ect probably due to the roots going back to Ireland) and very interestingly, "Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)" which is a traditional Easter season song and Cash is performing it during the height of the Christmas season in New York City. Interesting choice considering the plethora of non-secular Christmas songs to choose from. The song was a single though from the late 50s-early 60s from an album Cash did with The Carter Family and the voice of Anita Carter shines through on this recording. While if you were there in attendance, you'd had to expect Johnny Cash to do religious imagry in some of his material because of who he sang with and some of the songs he recorded, but I wonder if going in you knew nothing about Cash's music aside from his wild nature early in his career and just the songs of a complete secular nature (the songs mentioned above and many others during his career) and if you really weren't that big on religion or weren't of the Christian faith, what would your reaction be after sitting through the songs I just mentioned.

Well The Devil did go down to Georgia

Major restaurants and stores not in your area? Can I also get a ruling based on all major bookstores (other than outlet express shops) have some sort of cafe in them?

Also as Tom Glavine tries to get win # 299 tonight and inch closer to being the 23rd guy to win 300 here is the current movement on that particular all-time list The Rocket won his 351st and stands just 13 wins shy of being the all-time winningest pitcher of the post-WW II era (Warren Spahn 361) and vaulting himself into the 6th greatest winner of all time, which would also put him two away from the top 5. Currently he is in the 8th slot. Not happening this year, wonder if a good year will bring him out of retirement AGAIN? Greg Maddux has been in the top 10 for a while, and his 340 total leaves him 2 shy of Tim Keefe and the 9th slot. Glavine we know Randy Johnson has sputtered a bit with his back situation and is stuck on 284, good a tie for 28th place with Fergie Jenkins. One wonders if he'll keep pushing to get to 300? He's a HOFer for sure, but with 300 so close to his grasp and all. Then we go down to 51st place (tie with Juan Marichal) for Mike Mussina and his 243 wins. Moose is inching closer, one away in fact, to Dennis Martinez's mark of most wins without ever winning 20 once in his career. Cracking the top 50 of a list that spans over 130 years though is nothing to sneeze at, even if Moose doesn't rank HOF status Next is David Wells who just cracked the Top 60 (59th) with his 235th win, and others currently in the 200 club are Jamie Moyer 224 (68th place), Curt Schilling 213 (84th), Kenny Rogers 210 (91st), Pedro Martinez 206 (99th all time winningest pitcher), and John Smoltz 203 (102nd) Andy Pettitte is 8 wins shy of 200 so he should be the next to do it.

I guess here is a good place as any for a "Movement in the All Time Homer List" check Barroid is still stuck on 753, could not do it on the same general site that Aaron launched # 755 and most likely a great majority of his 755 homers so he will attempt to do so at home vs the team Aaron hit the great majority of those 755 homers for. Ken Griffey Jr is at 587, 13 away from 600 now while Sammy Sosa is on 602. Sosa is 4th all time and Junior is 5th Little lower on the list, Frank Thomas has stalled a bit and is at 503, while Alex Rodriguez is knocking on the door after crushing # 498 Sunday. Both are #s 21 and 22 all time. Unless ARod goes into a massive slump or has a horrific injury he will surpass Jimmie Foxx as the youngest to 500, Foxx was 32 years and 337 days old, ARod is just a week shy of his 32nd birthday. Jim Thome 489, Manny Ramirez 485, and Gary Sheffield 478 should be the next three entrants to the 500 club, if not late this year then defiantly early next. Currently they occupy slots 25, 26 and 27 respectively Carlos Delgado and Mike Piazza are the other current active 400 HR guys, both at 39 (423) and 40 (422) respectively. The next to 400 should be Chipper Jones (61st) at 374, and Andruw is at 361, tied with Joe DiMaggio for 64th all time.

I can tell you that the third largest brick & motar book seller in this country, Books-A-Million has yet to come to at least the New York City area, while there are TONS of Borders/Waldenbooks and Barnes & Nobles stores around.

Nope. It's time to make some trades. Anyone want Luis Castillo? Carlos Silva? Juan Rincon? I'll take Johan Santana for Pelfrey, Heilman, Milledge, Humber, and Beltran.

I think the biggest problem there is that the artists that came "Post-Outlaw" have all been obvious attempts to reach a certain market and make money instead of further the form of country music. They all have the "Nashville" sound. It's hard to find modern country music without a token steel guitar and fiddle in the band, or a snoozer ballad and song about looking at the past. But maybe I just proved your point... Heh, I agree with your point, but the point I tried to make was more that the fans just hate on ANYONE that breaks out of the muck with such venom that you'd think the stars of today killed their parents or something. And that includes artists like an Alan Jackson or a Tim McGraw who attempt to honor the artists from the past. BTW for the record, I sure as heck don't hate the older artists but I can see how having conversations with their fans might turn you off to them. Especially the fans of say a Johnny Cash as A) Cash did face tons of backlash with the Nashville community when he left the rockabilly sound to be a country star and B) Cash through the years, especially the last 15 or so years of his life always branched his music out in virtually any way possible and one of the main points that the anti-today's country side makes is that it has gotten "too pop." Course the song is everything, and was with The Man In Black, and there really is a lot of cruddy stuff out there masqurading as "good music" which is bad when the genre was built really on the backs of song writers and the power of the lyric rather than a Phil Spector-esque sound. Speaking of country, or maybe any other genre that this would apply to and maybe its also because there is so many imagry in country songs, but I wonder if the fact that so many fans, and artists themselves, reference some form of Christiantiy in what they do would cause for someone to be turned off to that music for whatever reason. A non-believer wheither an outright atheist/agnostic or another denomination, or someone that believes you shouldn't wear your religion that outwardly as it appears many artists and fans do. I really wonder how far a song about atheism or an atheistic artist (I'm sure they'd be outed in some fashion) would go in country music