The Critic

Frank sounds like he's happy and ready to get started. Cracking jokes and looking REALLY good too - they showed some video of Frank in the cage and he looks to be in great shape! The Sox are gonna NEED the Big Hurt this season, so I'm excited that he appears to be close to ready. Frank just left the booth. Great interview.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Mar 7, 2005 -> 01:01 PM) O.K., this was posted on another site I read all the time: Soooooo, it looks like it is NOT "Only In..." now then is it??? "Only on Earth"..... ...unless you check some Martian websites, too.... Then it becomes "Only in the Universe"....

http://stark-effect.com/ipw-web/bulletin/b...topic.php?t=340 Sony Music is strong-arming a parody group called Beatallica, who perform bastardized versions of Beatles songs in a Metallica style. The singer does a pretty decent impression of James Hetfield, too. They name their songs things like "The Thing That Should Not Let It Be". Fairly funny stuff, actually. Sony has shut down their website by threatening their ISP and sent a Cease & Desist order to the band, essentially claiming that Beatallica's existence somehow threatens the future earning power of the Beatles catalog. HA!!! Bear in mind that Beatallica has never sold ONE CD. They would post free mp3s on their website and play shows. Basically, Sony is playing bully-boy with them, because they know they have infinite legal resources and a small-time band like Beatallica do not. One more reason why the music industry as it now exists needs to be blown up and started over.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Mar 7, 2005 -> 12:41 PM) Picked up The new Mars Volta, 'Frances the Mute'. Very wierd, with a lot going on. I'll have to slowly digest it before I know if I like it........anyone else? I can honestly say that I can't remember the last music I've liked LESS than the two songs I've heard from this disc. I had to change the station - too long, too dull, too much. I prefer short bursts of aggressive yet melodic stuff, so I didn't think I'd like the Mars Volta - and I was right.

There's this place called the Cubby Bear....ohhh, wait.......

The World Hockey Association has announced the Bobby Hull Invitational Tournament, beginning on May 20th. There's a pretty impressive list of NHLers confirmed to participate, including Jeremy Roenick, Martin St Louis, Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios ( if he's not bobsledding then :rolly ), Derian Hatcher, Jarome Iginla, Tyson Nash, and many others. Right now, they don't seem to have the top-level goaltenders, but I'm sure some top goalies will sign on later. The tournament is being seen as a tester to see if the WHA has viability as an alternative to the NHL for some guys should the labor struggle go into next season. I think it would be foolish for the WHA to try to compete with the NHL, simply because the NHL is so entrenched as THE major hockey league. I feel that it's still seen that way, despite the awful f***ups Bettman and Goodenow put the League through this year. Thoughts, hockey fans? ( NO thoughts from non-hockey fans, please - there are plenty of Illini and NFL threads for you to participate in - thanks. I am not gonna piss all over the March Madness threads, please return the favor here. )

As I make sure to mention every time I post in a hip-hop thread, my knowledge on the subject is pretty limited. But these are some discs I own and love: De La Soul - 3 Feet High And Rising - I like a lot of their other stuff ( I really liked the song they performed on Chappelle's Show ), but 3 Ft is the only one I own 3rd Bass - The Cactus Album - they were a bit cartoonish with their image, but I like that disc a lot Dre - The Chronic - simply a great disc, IMO Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet - another of my favorites, does anyone know if they have any "greatest hits" CDs available? Ice T - OG Original Gangster - I also used to have Power, but it vanished somehow I have a few more rap discs, but as you can see, my rap collection is limited and stuck in a very short time period...

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Mar 5, 2005 -> 10:15 PM) i honestly think it was the ump who over reacted in this case... and you all are just letting your hatred for Sosa get in the way of that..... but hey if an ump wants his 15 mins of fame let him do it during spring training. Yeah, and screaming 5 minutes later from the outfield about a called strike in a Spring Training game is certainly NOT over-reacting.... If our hatred is blinding us, then logically that means your Sammy Love is blinding you, right??? Because apparently every opinion is based on an irrational emotional response.....

Absolutely NO WAY Luzinski rides pine while Knoblauch plays ahead of him if it's my team. And was Dybzinski Polish, by the way?

Look at me, pay attention to me, talk to me, talk about me..... That's all this was. That's what SamME lives for.

QUOTE(BridgeportHeather @ Mar 5, 2005 -> 01:59 PM) Apparently, I've heard that the Score might be dropping the Blackhawks even if a season is good to go for next season. This would leave The Score with an empty professional sport broadcasting schedule, so it wouldn't be a bad idea for the Sox to go over there. Plus, there are a ton of Sox lovers over there, so it would be strategically sound. It would be completely awesome if they were to bring back Julie Swieca to possibly co-hostess the pre- and post-game shows. She knows a lot about the Sox and baseball in general, and listeners do like her. Ummmm.....Heather.....the Sox don't play in the winter......or even into mid-October since 2000.....

QUOTE(CubKilla @ Mar 5, 2005 -> 12:56 PM) You mean JR the spend-thrift will refuse to open the purse strings to resign AJ? Where do you get such hair-brained ideas? I wasn't really coming at it from that aspect, since I don't have QUITE the same level of anti-Jerry angst as some people.... I was thinking that there aren't all that many high-quality catchers out there in free agency in a given offseason, and if AJ gets his rep back, he'd be pretty highly coveted, which could raise the salary and years above the limits the Sox impose on themselves. I suppose that could be construed the same way your comment was, but I really don't have a huge problem with a team setting a salary level for themselves and sticking with it. It doesn't fly with many people, but the Sox can't or won't pay like the Yankees, Red Cubs or Baby Bears, and whether we accept it or not, that's what they're going to do. I don't let it bother me.....not worth the hand-wringing, IMO.

QUOTE(Leonard Zelig @ Mar 5, 2005 -> 12:08 PM) I think we have an option for '06. I hope so.

In my mind, AJ has a clean slate. This story is exactly what I expected to hear about him, and exactly what I wanted to hear. My biggest fear about AJ is that he'll be one-and-done with the Sox - I'm afraid that after he re-establishes his reputation, he'll be more coveted, more expensive and gone.

I'm working on my All-Grudzielanek team...........I'll get back to you................

QUOTE(Steff @ Mar 4, 2005 -> 03:10 PM) 10. Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering. Only in America.......do they call them "ATM machines", unlike ATV's which they never call All Terrain Vehicle vehicles.

QUOTE(JimH @ Mar 4, 2005 -> 05:23 PM) Guys the Rave is not terribly far from the ballpark but you can't walk it, in fact you can't walk to The Rave from any of the hotels. If you're looking for some good live music, try the following: The entire Water Street area, which is basically downtown and just across the river from the Bradley Center ... walking distance from the Hyatt but not right around the corner. There are roughly 15 nice places (think bars/live music/restaurants) in a 3-4 block square area. There will always be some live music on a Friday or Sat. nite. Also, up near UW Milwaukee, which is on the north side, off of Oakland Ave. Lots of choices there. Lastly, Brady Street area, just north of Water St., lots of bars with a fair amount of live music. A little more upscale is the area around the Pfister, that's the Jefferson Hill area, there are about 5-6 nicer places over there as well. Jim, what style of music do the bands at these places play? He was looking mainly for alternative/underground bands. I'm guessing that a lot of the places around the college feature cover bands, which I personally try to avoid.

I haven't heard anyone make a bad play yet today....

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Mar 4, 2005 -> 12:51 PM) I doubt I'm going, enjoy the punches though. Thanks! I hate when I lose count, and then I have to start over.....always seems to happen when I'm already in the 400's....

QUOTE(KWs OK for Me @ Mar 4, 2005 -> 12:38 PM) Out of curiousity who do you like than? recent favorites include: The Wildhearts The Methadones Face To Face Rise Against The Riverboat Gamblers Superchrist All time favorites include: Motorhead Ramones Sex Pistols Metallica until and including ...And Justice For All Suicidal Tendencies The Angels ( known in the US as Angel City ) ...so you can see where the Grateful Dead would hold no appeal to me. Just not my kind of music whatsoever ...and no, 2K5, you must've seen someone at the ABBA concert who LOOKED like me.....but it wasn't me.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 4, 2005 -> 11:54 AM) Guys, this ain't going to happen, at least not now. So don't even speculate. You can leave out the "at least not now" part. It's an interesting story, but there's no way on Earth that all 30 owners would agree to sell. Plus, they believe their combined value is 5 billion dollars. I have a hard time believing that, but they do and that's the point. The story did spark some interesting conversations, such as what might happen if the owners tried "transferring" star players to teams in need of star power, "for the overall good of the league" and things like that.

OMG, I'm sorry you guys, but I'd rather punch myself in the face 600 times than watch a Grateful Dead/Pink Floyd cover band. Two of my least favorite bands ever......I honestly can't find ONE song I like between the two groups. If you go, have a great time, I mean that sincerely. But I would NEVER.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Mar 4, 2005 -> 11:00 AM) I'll be at Saturday's game. Anyone know of a good music venue in Milwaukee. Not a sports bar or hole in the wall tavern. More along the lines of a bar that has live bands, more underground 'indie rock' kinda stuff. Anyone? The only club I know of in MIL is the Eagles Ballroom/The Rave. Two clubs in the same building, one smaller capacity, the other obviously larger. They host a lot of metal/alternative/emo/punk stuff. Last time I was there was for the Wildhearts, opening for the Darkness. The same night they had Ben Kweller ( I think that's his name ) in the Rave. Not sure of the proximity to the ballpark, though. Edited to add that so far the only show listed for April 2nd is Dark Star Orchestra, an 8pm show. I didn't check ticket prices, sorry.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 4, 2005 -> 07:24 AM) I remember being in McCuddy's as a little dude and getting John Cangelosi's autograph You were probably taller than him even then.... My favorite John Cangelosi memory is that he stole my then-buddy's girlfriend away from him. My "buddy" turned out to be a prick anyway, so it was good enough for him. My favorite line from that whole situation: "Wow, Cangelosi really IS good at stealing...."

I'm going to the game against the Angels on May 30th - any idea who will be starting for both teams? 2 days into spring games and we're tracking rotations????