The Man in Blak

Yeah, any of the singles from the Get Back/Let It Be sessions should probably be in that discussion. "I Feel Fine" is one of their more obnoxious early ones as well.

That's correct.

The lyrics are sappy and the beginning almost drowns the song right out of the blocks but, once it gets actually gets going, "All You Need Is Love" is actually kind of interesting, musically speaking. It's a perfect example of Lennon's knack at escaping meter without making it sound unnatural. The textural mix between the symphonic stuff and the conventional rock instruments fares pretty well. The little symphonic jig at the end (including Paul throwing in, out of nowhere, lyrics from "She Loves You") is kind of funny too. Don't get me wrong, it's probably one of the weaker singles that came out of their psychedelic period...but I wouldn't even consider it the worst single they ever released, let alone the worst song they've ever done.

Thanks, alf. Soul Calibur (Dreamcast)

Okay, since it looks like it's finally come around to my turn, I'll select: Yo La Tengo - I Can Feel The Heart Beating As One Instead of doing a write up, I'm going to take a few minutes to send a PM for the following people, all of whom are currently on the clock for this draft. Currently on the clock: mw679 Can Pick At Any Time "Hail" bps21 StevieKick The Coat is My Father Cowboy Numbers (came off the clock at June 19th, 1:09 am CT) Mr. Slim Citrus (came off the clock at June 19th, 1:09 pm CT) Milky Korova (came off the clock at June 20th, 1:09 am CT)

For future reference, can people please post the title of the game that they're picking, in addition to the box art? I don't know about other participants, but I'm accessing the board from work (slacker!) and a lot of the gaming websites (and the images hosted on those sites) are blocked by company filter.

Al, I'm not arguing that the American League is completely devoid of strategy - the examples that you've outlined are prevalent in any baseball game, regardless of the DH or not - but I am saying that the pitcher's obligation to hit in the NL introduces more opportunities for strategy that don't occur as often in the American League because there is less of a reason to pinch-hit. And yeah, I agree that there are general requirements for position depth - obviously, nobody's going to carry five outfielders instead of having a backup catcher - but the skill sets of each player can impact how successful a player can be in a PH situation and that impact can influence roster construction in the NL, where PH situations occur more frequently.

How much effort does it take an AL manager to pencil a name on the lineup card to hit for all pitchers for the entire game? The fact that an optimal strategy has been identified doesn't completely remove the fact that there is some strategy is taking place. (Never mind the fact that the situation you outlined isn't even always the case: there are pitchers who do hit well enough to get the green light to swing away and/or, later in the game, these situations usually prompt the manager to use a pinch-hitter from the bench in lieu of letting a reliever go up to the plate.) As standard as they may be, these kinds of strategies or substitutions help create different game situations that don't usually occur in the AL. As a result, there's a little more nuance in putting together a bench for a National League team because these diverse situations occur a little more often. You may see more specialization on the NL bench for a "lefty masher" to combat left-handed situational relievers or a "contact guy that rarely strikes out" to make sure that runners advance on a given play; American League bench players, on the other hand, are typically acquired to give the everyday hitters a day off every once a while.

Currently on the clock: Cowboy Numbers (Until 1:09 am Central) Can Pick At Any Time "Hail" bps21 StevieKick The Coat is My Father

Since the last pick was made over 40 hours ago, here's the current draft status: Currently on the clock: The Coat Is My Father (Until 1:09 pm Central) Can Pick At Any Time "Hail" bps21 StevieKick the Sperm And, if there is no objection from the folks who have already picked this round, I would put forth the suggestion that the next round (Round 18) be the final round of the draft and we allow for three album picks from each player, to finish off collections at 20 albums. I think it's already pretty well established that many of the albums that people would be competing for are already off the board; if people are just going to be rounding out their collections with personal favorites or bizarre obscurities, then there's no point in taking another month to run through the useless formality of rounds.

Actually, I agree with you to a point - it's probably not worthy of being a first round game, but I took it in the first round because: - I wanted to escape out of the opening rounds with a Mario and Zelda game (since they are flying off the board). - Even though both of the Zelda games listed were probably superior, there were two of them and, thus, I could "float" them for four picks with favorable odds that at least one of them would come back to me. - I felt that there was only one really top-flight Mario game left (once again, SMW is great, but I think Galaxy is significantly better).

Of course, now that you've broached the topic of broken gameplay, it's probably worth mentioning that you can get through many of the "outdoor" levels in Super Mario World by using a cape, flying to the top of the level and gliding through to the end.

Actually, I think that's exactly why I lean more towards SMB3; Super Mario World is very methodical at times (a point that was not lost on Sega when they started marketing Sonic the Hedgehog against it), as it integrates more puzzle-solving than pure platforming. And though that integration makes the game seem more well-rounded, it also introduces a little more tedium and, personally, makes the gameplay a little too easy, even without taking the save points into consideration; there's nothing in SMW that even scratches the surface of something like the nightmarish platforming of the Level 8 airship levels in SMB3. And, all of that being said, I don't think either of them really compare to Super Mario 64.

Super Mario World is great and everything, but I'd hesitate to call it the best one in the series, when most of its virtues were lifted straight out of SMB3's playbook.

Okay, so we're past two separate 12-hour blocks now (RHR and Ravenbomb). Does that mean that TheOriginalOrangeGoblin is up?

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

A little eerie, given that it's Friday the 13th and all, but the last time the Cardinals gave up 20+ runs in a game happened almost two years ago against the Chicago White Sox. Sidney Ponson was ejected from the game for throwing at a batter after the game had gotten out of hand. The Cardinals' record at the time was 42-26.

What's even better is that, apparently, the club is supposed to make an announcement after the game that Carpenter encountered some kind of setback during his rehab.

I'd still favor In Utero over it, but it's easily one of my favorite albums. And that's two picks now (Blood on the Tracks over Swordfishtrombones would be the other) where I was absolutely convinced beyond all reason that an album would still be there for the next round, only to have Ravenbomb fuck up the whole thing.

I agree that the Del Negro hire is laughable, but I think you (and Mariotti) are a little too eager to ascribe that to Reinsdorf when the Profound Incompetence of John Paxson is just as likely a factor. And the column you linked is almost unreadable, by the way. He spends about a third of the column crutching his argument on Vinnie Del Negro's name. "My Cousin Vinny", "Vinnie Barbarino", "Rose doesn't know Del Negro from Del Shannon", one masterstroke after another. And then he almost compromises his entire rant by posting a number of positive quotes about Del Negro from Steve Kerr at the end, just to muddle the waters even further. Sometimes the delivery is just as important as the message. Jay Mariotti is one of the most toxic, apoplectic writers that the mainstream media has to offer today. He's like the kid in the Updike story about the three bikini-clad girls who get lectured in the grocery store for their attire; his outrage is completely designed to draw attention to himself and it is, more often than not, inversely proportional to the severity of the actual offense. He's a literary hemorrhoid, throbbing with an absurd sense of moral superiority and self-importance, but startlingly oblivious to the fact that he's still stuck on an asshole of culture (sports journalism).

So was this afternoon's downtime expected for the server move? Or was it an unrelated outage?

Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk at Cubist Castle Post-modern? Hate that word. Psychedelic? Well, sure, it's an Elephant Six record, so invocations of the Beatles, Kinks, and Beach Boys are to be expected. But it's not just a case of a band simply tipping a cap at what precedes it for a couple of tracks or mindlessly applying the aesthetic of that time; Dusk at Cubist Castle fully digests the entire context of those albums and that time period, not just the idealism or the experimentation, but the artistry that makes the songs feel timeless, irrespective of the crappy four-track that recorded them.

I'd be interested in participating, but there are already over a dozen other draft threads running on the board right now; I'd hold off for a bit.