The Critic

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 23, 2013 -> 11:21 AM) All I can think is you packer fans have no idea how spoiled you are when Mike McCarthy is your idea of a whipping boy for coaches. The guy frustrates me on a regular basis. I'd shed no tears if he was canned, but until they get a real offensive line to protect their most important player it won't matter who the coach is.

Really gonna hurt when the Bears beat GB for the division on Sunday.

Speaking as a Packers fan, I fully expect the Bears to beat Green Bay on Sunday. As bad as they looked against Philadelphia, the Packers' "defense" is going to make them look like world-beaters. Throw in the coaching genius known as Mike McCarthy and the Bears can't lose. The Pack will need to score 40 points to outplay their horrible defense, and that ain't happening.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 21, 2013 -> 07:02 PM) Our old friend Alexander Salak gets schooled. I don't think they're maximizing the income potential on that ice surface. I can clearly see several inches of white ice left un-logoed.

Had many, many beers at my friends' anniversary party last night, yet I was not hungover at all this morning. Not sure how I managed that.

He has done some good things, but their first concern should be the writers. The writing right now is sub-par and inconsistent. The most glaring example is the Wyatt Family. They kidnap Kane (while Kane filmed his movie) and then nothing comes of it when Kane returns. He's moved into a completely unnecessary and pointless role in the Cena/Orton/McMahons angle. Then they kidnap Daniel Bryan and cut a promo about how he's safe with them and he'll return as a monster. Bryan then returns on Raw like nothing ever happened and they change the story to say the Wyatts dumped him into "an abandoned parking lot" (which was first said to be outside the arena, then changed to "near" the arena). Also, that Strahan stuff was pitiful, the Bellas are pushed as babyfaces while acting as vile and unlikable as ever, Punk is floundering in meaningless stories, and so on. There are so many more examples I could name (Miz's weird almost-heel turns, Bad News Barrett, what they've done [or not done] with Sandow and Ziggler, that awful vomiting segment with Titus, etc etc) A lot of this gets blamed on Vince, but if HHH is in charge of creative this has to fall on him as well.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 4, 2013 -> 11:54 AM) AJ and Ziggler both had awesome promos on Monday that for some reason were relegated to the app. It's stuff like that I don't understand. Yeah, that is puzzling. I also would love for managers to make a comeback. They have so many guys they're not using who could be "endeavored" to hire a few managers to help the guys who can't cut a promo to save their lives.

QUOTE (Brian @ Dec 3, 2013 -> 08:40 PM) Who would I want to pay for a show featuring Shield vs Goldy Rhodes when I see it for free every week, twice. Wwe needs to reevaluate how to build a ppv. I do miss the days of the jobber matches on TV with one or two "TV main events". You got to see the stars be dominant, you could build storylines through promos, backstage/outside-the-arena angles, and run-ins, and the payoff would be at whatever "Supercard" they were holding next. Giving away as much as they do on TV, I'm always surprised that anyone buys pay-per-views anymore.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Nov 28, 2013 -> 11:28 AM) Happy Turkey Day all; from my office computer. =( I hate your company. Happy Thanksgiving to the Soxtalk family!

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 10:29 AM) 1st in goals scored, 22nd in goals against. The top 8 teams in hockey all are in the West, and only two points seperate those teams. Shows how strong the West is, and I think it's becoming obvious they need to change something with the OTL points, not enough seperation in the standings. Personally, I would go 3 points for a regulation win, 2 for a OTW, 1 point for an OTL. Nope. 2 points for a regulation win, 1 point for an OT or shootout win, zero points for a loss of any kind. I would never reward a loss.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 14, 2013 -> 11:03 PM) Decided to watch a full impact tonight and holy crap is that product awful. A lot of it is, but there are bright moments in the muck. Daniels and Kaz, Eric Young, Gail Kim (although I wish they hadn't saddled her with that Beyonce Monster), the Joseph Park/Abyss thing, Austin Aries and Bobby Roode. Also, they seem (for now) to be doing the "take the title and leave the company" angle more properly with AJ Styles than WWE and CM Punk did. I never thought I'd say this, but Jeff Jarrett's backstage involvement has been an improvement. Hogan and Bischoff being gone is a HUGE plus for TNA. They still need better writers and a more focused direction, but I am a little more optimistic about TNA than I was even two or three months ago. Dixie Carter needs to never be on camera again, though. I thought she had briefly made slight improvements, but she has regressed back to completely unwatchable.

Yeah, Dustin is super-motivated right now and it shows. He said he dropped like 60 pounds when the offer was discussed and he looks better than ever. He's definitely making the most of what seemed to be a short-term opportunity. Hard to imagine WWE "future endeavoring" him anytime soon.

Rumor has it that Billy Corgan is serious about wanting to buy TNA, and that he has partners lined up. It's an interesting thought - he does love pro wrestling, he runs an indie fed already, and he has name recognition.

I'd like to see Roode, Daniels, Styles and Eric Young in WWE, but the fact is, if Vince wanted them they'd already be there. I could see WWE bringing back Angle and the Dudley Boys, and the current trend towards smaller guys does give hope that some other TNA guys would get a shot, but for the majority of the roster, they better hope someone keeps TNA in business. Otherwise, it's the indies or Japan.

One good "real-life" friend from here and two Facebook friends.

I wish I could go today. No matter how bad the team is, I always miss baseball over the winter.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Sep 22, 2013 -> 10:21 PM) Phil Kessel. GIGANTIC piece of s***. Wow. Hope that suspension is LONG. What a coward.

I'm getting a little tired of Facebook, but I'm still on it a lot. I hate Twitter. Had it for about a week and deactivated my account.

My cousin had it done almost 10 years ago and has had no problems since.

Love Bill Burr. His podcast is a must-listen for me. Others who consistently make me laugh these days are Brian Regan, Patton Oswalt, and Brian Posehn.

Not softball-related, but something kind of unbelievable for me. A buddy of mine just told me about this 40-and-over Friday night rat floor hockey thing he does and I think I'm actually going to get back on the floor. I NEVER thought I'd actually play any kind of hockey again, but I am starting to get the itch back. I'm even going to.....(my fingers are not letting me type this).....I'm going to.....to.....join a gym to try to get in some sort of playing shape!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 10, 2013 -> 06:08 PM) The mind is the first thing to go when you get old... By "this decade", I actually meant my 50-to-59 years old decade. If I can get in any kind of playing shape, I may lobby to play a game with one of you guys. Most of my friends are dropping out of the game, too, so finding a team willing to take a charity case for a night might be tough.

Never did play my Minoso Game this year. Oh well, I still have 9 years to log one in this decade.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 23, 2013 -> 12:00 PM) Arlington Heights does roster checks before playoff games now because of the complaints. So, I actually do have to bring my drivers license to games. That's good to hear. That always made me crazy. There were a few seasons when my team would take first in the regular season, and we'd end up playing a bunch of A-league ringer strangers in the playoffs.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Aug 24, 2013 -> 04:22 PM) Excellent match by 2 veterans. Should of be called El Generico with mask vs Claudio Castagnoli. WWE to make these guys go to NXT to perform when they come in sometimes is a joke. I agree to a large extent, but there is a specific style to the WWE that the new guys need to adapt to, and developmental is a good place to do that. Not everyone is going to get it right away, and I think Zayn benefits by learning to work and do promos without the mask. (if he hasn't already - I knew of him as Generico, not sure if he's worked without a mask during that time) That clip was insane, by the way! Great, innovative stuff.