sfaJack

The only board game any of my friends have much interest in is Monopoly, but we rarely play. I usually play Scrabble with my mom whenever I visit. I think my winning streak against her is currently at 13 games. On the rare occassions we can get my old man out of his recliner, we'll play Monopoly. I like to think of myself as a pretty good Monopoly player, but he just destroys everybody at that game. His most impressive win was when we had him down to literally $2 and six properties before he stormed back and pulled off the win when I landed on his hoteled Park Place.

ASG tickets were pretty hard to get down here this last year, unless you went through a broker (and paid out the ass for them). MLB sells many of them to sponsors, corporations, and then I believe season ticket holders get right of first refusal, so I don't know if you should expect them to just be available for the general public. And if I remember correctly, they didn't start selling them until mid- or late April last year. Prices were ridiculous, at about $250-300 for even decent seats, but that's been stated here already.

Hey! You forgot to thank me for making some shitty picks!

I used to watch Smackdown two or three times a month when I lived in my apartment (and had no cable), but since I moved into my house, which was August of '03, I think I've watched maybe 3 or 4 episodes of either show, none in at least six months.

Though not on a TD, the greatest celebration of all time might be Bill Grammatica ripping his ACL after putting his team up 3-0 in the first quarter with a field goal.

5-2? It's Jeff Van Gundy's wet dream come to life!

Gold! I want the Buddy Ryan experience. What better way to release your aggressions than punching a Kevin Gilbride mannequin?

Yes, TO did stand on the endzone star this year. That's ok though...Roy got even a month later. I liked the Rams' Bob-N-Weave during their Super Bowl year, which, of course, was promptly banned by the league. And, as much as I dislike TO, his Sharpie thing was great, as was Joe Horn's cell phone.

I think he was talking about Favre's playoff numbers since the SB win. To me, the disturbing thing about Favre is how he's seemed to regress to 1994 levels with his decision-making. I remember the Cowboys used to always beat the Packers in the early/mid-90's, and in ALL of the games Favre was good for at least two retarded plays. He got out of that during the Packers' peak years, but has seemed to return to it lately. That indicates decline to me.

Ridiculously fawning praise for everyone on the field, bordering on verbal fellatio in many cases, particularly for Mike "Barry Sanders" Vick. Yeah, my favorite is Paul McGuire saying something like "Look at this play! Watch how fast he throws this ball! I've never seen anyone throw a ball that hard!" as Vick overthrows Alge Crumpler by 10 yards.

No. If you're excluding money from the discussion, why would you ever choose Pierre over Beltran?

Astros are supposed to be "very interested" in Jeromy Burnitz for CF, for god knows what reason. There are also rumblings of a Brandon Backe/Chris Burke-for-Alfonso Soriano deal with the Rangers.

So does Mike Holmgren.

This is the same argument I use against Marcus Allen. Allen: 1 rushing title Exactly 4 top ten rushing finishes ('82-4th, '84-10th, '85-1st, '87-10th) Only 5 top ten 'total yards from scrimmage finishes' ('82-1st, '83-9th, '84-4th, '85-1st, '87-6th) Playing a long time doesn't make you a great player, but if you put that overrated Marcus Allen in, you have to let Art Monk in.

Steve Francis needs to grow the hell up and get over it. This is the same guy who skipped a team flight to Phoenix last year (without telling his coach) because he wanted to go the Super Bowl, so if he's going to pout and stew over this for the rest of the season, fuck him. What has he ever done to earn the right to bitch about stuff like this anyway? The Rockets weren't exactly a contender with him, and the Magic don't appear to be infinitely better because of him. I know he and Cuttino are boys and all, but shut up.

Czech, better the Mets than the Astros for Beltran. Much better.

Chicago Cubs: grew up watching them and Harry Caray on WGN. They were on TV more than the Astros were and, because most of their games were in the afternoon, it was easy for me to watch them. this is also how Ryne Sandberg came to be my hero and why my trip to Wrigley in 2002 is my favorite vacation trip. Dallas Cowboys: my dad has loved them since their beginning in 1960 and it definitely rubbed off on me.

Blame Beltran all you want, but the Astros put themselves in this situation by basing their entire offseason around him. If they had set a drop dead long ago (like they should have), there might be moves left for them. Beltran, while a very good player, should not dictate a team's entire offseason.

I'm surprised, though very pleased, to see Beltran not come back to Houston. I wonder what the sticking point was.

I think Dunta Robinson got robbed out of Defensive ROY. He was the most consistent rookie defender and, given that Aaron Glenn played opposite of him, a target all year long. He handled it wonderfully.

Simple, basic designs are best. Pinstripe baseball jerseys (namely Yankees and Cubs) are probably my favorite. And the Cubs' blue "alternate" jerseys have it all over their usual road gray.

Make sure you convict.

Astros have only 49 hours left in the Beltran sweepstakes...

And it is obscene that said package is available only on DirecTV.

Watch out for tetanus.