The Man in Blak

Post-lawsuit, yeah. But, when they did Maximum Carnage, I believe they still had the "offensive" Jello name.

If anybody had taken Carnage seriously as a villain, nobody would be bitching about the vicious plotline decompression or Spidey's alarming drop in IQ. However, the fact that he's a Venom rip-off made the whole thing far too transparent of an attempt to ultra-push Carnage as the heir apparent for Venom (who was being transitioned into the happy mid-90's realm of Tweenerdom). Steviekick is dead on with his observation of the writers trying to dress up the crossover as an event with a huge number of characters. I do kind of dig the team of B-list superstars, though, and the video game (complete with music from GREEN JELLO~?!) was good fun.

... ... Actually, I think there's a credible argument for the Beatles' "first" pop song being their best: "Please Please Me" exemplifies the form, has the all-encompassing hook introduced with the harmonica, brings the call-and-response in the chorus, pulls out a very singable two-part harmony in the verse, and compresses it all into a song that doesn't touch three minutes. Plus, the lyrics are catchy and, as a bonus, are sufficiently edgy for their time. It's a solid pick.

That pretty much sums it up. I think bringing him into Baltimore to act as a tutor is a tremendous idea, but Tim Brown still feels he's a viable NFL receiver and, the fact is, he wasn't even mediocre last year. Thanks for the memories, Tim, but please hang 'em up before an injury forces a sour end to an underrated NFL career. Oh, that's some disgusting bullshit. If Williams is even talking with Oakland representatives at any point through this season, I hope that he's suspended indefinitely and that the Raiders get hammered with some heavy fines.

*ding ding ding ding* And just think - we're bringing up ANKIEL in a month. I sure do hope he receives the pair of vintage Rick Vaughn "Buddy Holly" glasses that I took the liberty of buying for him on eBay.

Man, that Scott Rolen trade is looking better with every passing day. *shit-eating grin*

Yeah, OPS is OBP + SLG...as in OBP Plus SLG, I believe. OPS is a weighted calculation that takes the player's OPS and compares it against the league average, centering the average at 100. Therefore, if somebody batted a 125 OPS+ like Grich, he had an OPS that was 25% better the league (which is pretty significant).

It's probably seen more baseball history than any other stadium out there, but lets be honest: it can't stay up forever. That being said, it's not like the Yankees need to move to increase their revenue and Yankee Stadium did have renovations recently...so I'd say this one is going to get vetoed somehow. Keep it up as long as possible. I'm not sure I'd call Busch Stadium unique - there's hardly anything distinctive about the stadium itself - but it's certainly not an offensive place to watch a ballgame and I'm not sure that the St. Louis baseball fanbase is really the kind of people that are going to go to a baseball stadium to ride a ferris wheel or eat gourmet sushi. The idea stinks, personally.

I would edit that to read "*shoots fish in barrel*", but that's just me. Honestly, I'm surprised I didn't take more fire for my original contention that the X-Men villains were second best.

In lieu of taking the time to formulate a real defense, I'll just direct you to Kevin Smith's Quiver. As for me, I'll second the nomination of Moon Knight, with Darkhawk coming in a close second.

No, no, no, no, NO. Wait until next year. His career implosion was triggered by the pressure of pitching the playoffs, and now we're going to stick him back in the fire, when our bullpen ain't really broken in the first place? Good fucking GAWD.

...you're kidding, right? Just take a look at some of the "powerhouse" teams that the Braves put on the field during their streak of pennants: Sid Bream? Mark Lemke? Rafael Belliard? Keith Lockhart? Juan Berenguer? Mike Bielecki? Actually, better yet, why don't we take some actual numbers into this? Let's compare the Braves' actual win-loss record versus their pythagorean win-loss record on a year-by-year basis: 1991: +2 1992: +4 1993: 0 1994: +1 1995: +6 1996: +2 1997: -2 1998: 0 1999: +5 2000: +5 2001: +2 2002: +5 2003: +5 Now, the Pythagorean win-loss record is typically used to indicate how "lucky" a team is during a given year, but the fact that the Braves have had such a consistent boost throughout such a long run of success (only one negative year) is not a matter of luck. Such a boost points to the fact that this "dynasty" has perenially overachieved and Bobby Cox is a huge part of that.

Uh, yeah. That's pretty much why I said they were two of the four good villains that he ever had in the first place. Of course, out of the four that I mentioned, Kraven's dead and Venom is in Mid 90's Tweener Character Hell (unless he FINALLY made a "heel turn" back to normal), leaving Osborn and Ock. And, personally, I tend to agree 100% with this comment on Ock: So, if you really get down to it, it's the Green Goblin and...well, the Green Goblin. And, while he's a great villain, you can't have Spidey fight him four times a month for every month of the year, can you? Get back to me whenever somebody comes along and writes "The Killing Joke"* for Electro. * Yes, Sass. I'm conceding defeat and realizing that this actually is a pretty decent story.

Given the Smackdown World Title scene, Kamala should slide right into the main event. *as straight of a face as possible*

...so I've got to ask. How does Stephen A. Smith handle all of the non-BIGDOMINATINGSHAQDIESEL sports? Honestly, with all these "vacations" and other extended absences, I wonder if it's time to shelve Pardon the Interruption, since the show is nearly unwatchable when both Wilbon and Kornheiser aren't on. (The Summer of Dan LeBetard is proof enough of this).

Getting rid of Sweeney is a good thing, if you get a decent return. Getting Gil Meche and any prospect not named Jeremy Reed is a very, very bad thing. Getting Gil Meche period is pretty bad. Of course, Sweeney's so injury-prone that there's no way that any worthwhile prospect is coming...so the Royals are just absolutely screwed for trading him. And the Royals aren't going to get any of those guys on the market - that would require them outbidding other clubs, all of which have more payroll room to throw around. If they were going to get anybody, I actually think it could be Troy Glaus, just because he's so injury prone that his price might drop within reach.

Not this year, you don't. You've got young arms to save and, in George's case, young arms that need some bad experiences to learn from. The Royals aren't going anywhere this season - time to let them see what the "kids" have in them, exactly.

And that scenario would leave the Blue Jays with...?

I'd say Adam Dunn, Brandon Claussen, and Wily Mo Pena are your best shots.

Sweeney gets $11 million a year to hit around .300 (which he isn't doing), hit 25 homers, and sit on the DL for a third of the year. Meanwhile, Carlos Beltran, arguably the best talent the franchise has seen since George Brett, is packaged away for three carbon-based trinkets (tm, BPro) due to monetary concerns.

Or it means that defenses will key on Tiki first, knowing full well that they've got a rookie quarterback. Given his propensity for fumbles and the fact that he's not a bigger, stronger back (and, thus, able to take more abuse), I'd let somebody else take Tiki and sneak away with somebody like Domanick Davis, who's got the same "two-way threat" capabilities as Barber.

You know, the Cubs aren't my team, but I've absolutely got to play dissenting opinions on the choices thus far: My keepers: Mark Prior Carlos Zambrano Matt Clement You can never have too much pitching. Prior, Zambrano, and Clement can easily form an NL version of "The Big Three." You may not have noticed it, but Matt Clement has absolutely turned the corner this year, Zambrano's continuing his breakout, and Prior is Prior. Kerry Wood may never play a full season ever again. The early years of his career were plagued with arm injuries and then Dusty Baker decided it would be a phenomenal idea to run him out there for 217 innings last year. He's hurt (again), they have three other pitchers, and Wood still has the name recognition as being one of those Texas fireballers. As insane as it sounds, I'd say trade him for a big bat and put Glendon Rusch (or Sergio Mitre or another pitching prospect) in his slot. The only way he supplants Clement on that list...is if the Cubs put him in the bullpen and let him close games out. Sammy Sosa? What about him? The man is going to be 36 later this year, his outfield work is bordering on embarrassing, and he's on pace to have his worst offensive numbers in 10 years. The guy has been a great player and one of the franchise's cornerstones for a decade, but the end is coming, and it's coming in a hurry. Just my opinion, though, and no - I'm not trying to sabotage the Cubs for my own benefit.

Heh. You know, the super-angsty adolescent in me likes a couple of tracks off of the new Slipknot...which is bizarre because their other two albums were some of the worst shit I've ever heard. If you just focus on the music and not the words (a technique perfected through years of listening to Stone Temple Pilots and Nine Inch Nails in high school), "Duality" and "Prelude 3.0" (!) can actually be kind of listenable. Kind of. Well, at the very least, they help me get through work. The rest of the album's fucking awful, though.

Cardinals: Albert Pujols Scott Rolen Edgar Renteria Edmonds probably has one or maybe even two years left, I'm not quite sold on Wainright yet, and Isringhausen has had more than a couple of injury issues. I'll even do one for the Royals, since Rob was having difficulty (and rightfully so): Zack Greinke Jeremy Affeldt David DeJesus Honorable Mention: Matt Stairs, Ken Harvey Greinke's obviously a keeper and Affeldt has ridiculous stuff that would be best suited for the closer position (where his finger wouldn't combust every other outing). Once DeJesus learns how to, you know, hit, he should be a decent CF (though the "heir apparent to Beltran" insanity has got to stop immediately). Harvey's not amazing, but he's decent and, even though Stairs doesn't seem like a worthy option, he's got plenty of value as a hitter and (most importantly for Kansas City) he's CHEAP. Sweeney's an unmitigated disaster - the contract was a great show of loyalty, but it may set the franchise back at least two years. As for the others, it's ain't much better: Gobble might as well be called Captain Mediocrity, the Real Angel Berroa was last seen playing cards with Bob Hamelin, and MacDougal's too busy shooting the next entry in the Major League series. The Royals are an absolute mess...and the last decade has been decidedly L.A. Clipper-esque for the team. Here's to 2024, I suppose.

Actually, I'm going to play dissenting opinion and choose Hasselbeck. McNabb's rushing capabilities are certainly a perk at QB, but they also frequently put him into position to have the tar beat out of him (which, in the scope of a long-term keeper league, ramps up the risk factor). Hasselbeck, however, has steadily improved the last two years, has a great corps of wideouts to throw to, has a running game to keep defenses honest, and a style of quarterbacking that doesn't necessarily put him in harm's way on a regular basis. Make no mistake, I'd take McNabb if I wanted a leader for my real football team, but the potential risk of him losing time during any given season from running drops him down a very small notch below Hasselbeck.