sfaJack

Oh, Christ, the audit isn't even fully complete yet. Let's wait until the whole thing is finished before we go declaring KBR to be a big evil here.

I have a Master's in accounting, if that counts for anything.

That guy died. Death = Ratings

"Whoever" = Tim Redding

A 1987 two-tone blue Dodge pickup. The air conditioner was broken, and I lived in the Houston area. That summer of 1995 sure was fun....

I don't know that I'd worry too much, Bruiser. Pettitte is going to help the Astros, but: - The bottom third of Houston's line-up is still a gaping hole of offensive suck. Brad Ausmus, Adam Everett, and Pitcher's Spot don't exactly instill fear in many teams. - Leadoff spot is still a problem. Outisde Biggio, who isn't an effective leadoff guy anymore, they don't have anyone to fill that spot, barring additional moves. Biggio's defense in center is also adequate, at best...and he turns 38 this season, I believe. His downhill slide will likely continue. - The Astros are average at third base; Ensberg's a nice player, but Jimy Williams's insistance on a platoon there with Geoff Blum brings it down a bit. - Bagwell can still scoop 'em out of the dirt pretty well at first, but he can't throw for shit, and his offensive numbers, while still good, aren't what they used to be. Jeff Kent is average defensively at second base. - Without Wagner, and the Astros failure to sign Chad Fox, the bullpen will probably slide quite a bit. Their Lidge-Dotel-Wagner method of finishing games is no more, and Dotel is largely unproven as a closer. They better get another setup guy, or else they might be in trouble. Dan Miceli sure as hell ain't it. - Oswalt/Miller/Pettitte is a good 1-2-3 rotation, but it's no better than and, my Cubs' bias notwithstanding, probably not as good as Prior/Wood/Zambrano. Clement is definitely a better 4th starter than Jeriome Robertson. On the whole, the Cubs' offseason has been better than Houston's, and I think they still have to be the favorites for the Central. Pettitte helps a lot, but I don't think he's the be-all-end-all for the Astros' hopes. (Note: can we start spelling Pettitte's name right, folks? There's four T's in it...not three. Just a minor annoyance of mine....sorry.)

Whatever the reason, I'm glad they're passing on him. Catcher was a problem area for the Cubs in 2003, but Pudge's ridiculous demands are laughable. Four years (at $10 mil per) for a 32-year-old catcher who's gone exactly one season out of the last four without spending some time on the DL? No thanks. I wouldn't say they have no shot. Given today's news, it seems they have a pretty decent shot at him. The real question is what would the fallout be if they sign Pettitte? The Astros are already at their "budget" figure ($70-75 mil) Drayton McLane claims they have to be at, so who will they cut to free up some money? Last year, it was Shane Reynolds...who would it be this year (barring a Hidalgo trade or some other salary dump)? Yikes. $3 mil per for a guy whose production has slipped and has become a relative fixture on the DL? Seems pricey to me, but at least the Tigers are trying.

Houston sports radio (KILT 610 AM) just said this morning that "sources close to Andy Pettitte" indicate that the Astros are leading in the race to sign him, though the Yankees' offer is expected to be much higher than Houston's. Supposedly, the Hendricks brothers (Pettitte's agents) want to get a deal done with either team by the end of the winter meetings.

kkk, I request one of the enlisted ranks. My very infrequent postings in CE prohibit me from being anyone important, but I'll be more than happy to be part of the evil-fighting force.

Ah, Derek Bell. The "giveaway promotion" was hilarious. I saw it replayed once on ESPN, and laughed my ass off. My most memorable Derek Bell tantrum came in 1998 (or '99...I don't remember exactly) when he was playing here for the Astros. Bell was off to another of his fabulous starts, hitting like .200 a month or so into the season. Larry Dierker demoted him in the order, dropping him from fourth to sixth. Bell complained incessantly, saying how could he perform up to his standards hitting that low. Dierker relented, putting him in the #2 slot, between Biggio and Bagwell (when both were in their primes). Bell went on to have a pretty big year hitting in that greatly protected spot and then declared himself amongst the greatest in the game. It was rather hilarious.

I don't disagree with OU being #1, but your having Florida St. at #3 is a joke, right? No way in hell they are #3 in the country. No way. Oh, and Texas would beat both Tennessee and Ohio State if they played tomorrow.

Remember Crunch Taters?

Give a source for this, please. Your posting of random "facts" or "breaking news" seemingly from nowhere is really quite annoying. None of the sports news sources in town (KRIV-TV, 610 AM), have said that Pettitte has even received a counter-offer from the Yankees yet, which is almost sure to beat, by several million, whatever Houston offers. None of these sources are optimistic about Pettitte coming here at this point, either, and in fact have reported nothing new on the Pettitte front. Hell, according to the Houston Chronicle, Pettitte has only had two actual meetings with the Astros, one of which was informal and arranged by Texans' owner Bob McNair, of all people.

Try Houston. Ice gets us pretty good as well (snow? what's that??), but the really annoying thing is how everyone flips out now every time we get even a hint of heavy rain. All the news stations run constant "flood alerts" and I've seen people actually leave work early "so they can get home" before the rain. Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 has made people absolutely paranoid.

Write a letter to whomever owns the Reds and demand that they sepnd more money. Problem solved. I'll miss Johnson. And I've given up on them signing Andy. Eh don't say that yet AS. Chances are the Braves will half ass it for a while then drop out, leaving the Yanks and Astros. Steinbrenner offers something along the lines of 3 years/$40 mill. just so he can say he tried. Pettite and the Hendricks go to McClane who says "Well, we can offer 3/22, but that's not much less what with a hometown discount and all." Bang, AP's a Yank. Never underestimate the frugality of Astros' ownership. Drayton doesn't seem to realize that owning a baseball team is usually a way for rich men to lose money and be in the public spotlight. The Astros have already offered Pettitte 3 years and $30 million, according to news sources here (KRIV TV, KILT-AM). Supposedly, a good chunk of the money is deferred though. The Astros, of course, are publicly saying that they're only "in contact" with the Hendricks brothers and Pettitte. Take that for what you will.

As a Cubs' fan, I too do not see why the Cubs are getting killed over the Choi/Lee trade. Choi looked absolutely lost at the plate for most of last year, didn't hit for a tremendous amount of pop, and I can't count the number of times he struck out with a runner in scoring postion. It isn't as if the Cubs got a garbage player in return. Derrek Lee is a damn fine fielder with a proven, reliable bat, which is something the Cubs need in the middle of that order. He's fairly young as well, only a few years older than Choi. Perhaps Hee Seop wasn't given a "fair" chance this year, between splitting time with Karros and after the run-in with Wood, but when you can get a proven major league talent for a prospect that didn't show too much last year, you do it 90% of the time. Or at least I do. Nobody really knows who wins this trade until at least two years from now...

Where the hell is Michelle Branch?

Fuck all this Black Friday nonsense. Online shopping is the way to go. Quick, painless, and you don't have to face one single crowd to get all your useless crap. I'll be making all you guys' lives easier by staying home.

Fuck that. The Cubbies need to keep him so they'll have a decent leadoff guy/fourth outfielder, at least until Corey Patterson gets all the way back.

Be sure to run Ad-Aware in addition to Spybot. Often, it will find something that Spybot misses, and vice versa.

I also have two dinners to go to (my aunt's house on Thursday, my parents' house on Saturday), which is just perfect because nobody in my family has any idea how to talk to each other. We all just sit there staring at each other, while listening to my uncle Greg smack his fucking lips every time he chews a damn bite. That and my aunt's dressing is basically warmed over shit. You have to eat some too, otherwise she gets all pissed off and makes the rest of us even more miserable.

Oh, come on...you know you'd hit it.

God, my high school was so boring.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/2235422 Man chokes to death trying to hide bag of pot in mouth Associated Press FORT WORTH -- A man changing a flat tire choked to death on a bag of marijuana he stuffed down his throat in an apparent attempt to hide it from police who stopped to help him early today. Cpl. Frank Lott of the Corinth Police Department said officers had no idea Nickolas Sandoval, 24, of Ponder, had drugs when they spotted him on Interstate 35E in Corinth, about 45 miles northeast of Fort Worth. "Officers went from 'Oh, hey, here is someone with a flat tire' to 'Hey, this guy is choking,'" Lott told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for its online edition today. Officers noticed a plastic bag lodged in the man's throat, but it was too far down for them to extract. They kept trying to dislodge it until an ambulance arrived, and medical personnel were able to remove it, Lott said. Sandoval was pronounced dead at Denton Regional Medical Center about 3:30 a.m., said Linda Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office. The cause of death has been ruled as "asphyxiation due to aspiration of plastic bag," she said. Sandoval had been convicted in Denton County of multiple counts of marijuana possession, a Class B misdemeanor, between September 1999 and December 2001, court records show. He pleaded guilty to the charge in September 1999 and received a deferred adjudication sentence after 12 months of probation. In August 2000, he pleaded no contest to another marijuana possession charge and was sentenced to 40 days in jail. In December 2001, he was convicted of possession of marijuana and sentenced to 95 days in jail. Also in December 2001, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and was sentenced to another 95 days in jail.

Thumbs down.