The Critic

..."and ONE American city".... OH BOY OH BOY OHBOYOHBOYOHBOY!!!!! It's GOTTA be Chicago!!!!!! Just LOOK at the PACKED HOUSES, the COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE, the STABLE OWNERSHIP.... ....seriously, I bet it'll be Detroit....

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/08/03/t...reut/index.html Holy Crap! FIDDY MEEYUN!!! Dave hits the jackpot!

If I had to choose who to throw cash at, either Nomar or Edgar, I choose Renteria. That guy is outstanding.

Not really. His numbers have been in decline since 2001. He's no longer a great defensive SS. It's not likely that the Cubs will even offer what he turned down from Boston Since they didn't deal any big names to get him, there's not going to be much fan pressure to justify the deal. His name is getting stronger than his game. If they lock him in for 4 or 5 years, I think they'll regret signing him by the end of the contract. Unless the Cubs make a long postseason run, I still think he'll test the market.

Probably both, to be honest. There are stories to be found in both scenarios. How did it happen to the Sox? What can be done to turn things around? The "talent-to-production" ratios of the Sox and Twins? If nothing else, some interesting talk can be had from the turnaround both teams have made relative to earlier in the year - the Cubs are pulling out of their funk a bit, and don't seem as tense and defensive as they had, while the Sox have tailspun and seem kind of lost and confused. Would a "veteran" manager have been able to pull them out before the 7th straight loss, seeing as how the last 3 losses were all by one run? See, nothing to talk about there....

If the Cubs fail to reach the postseason, that belief that "we're gonna come around sooner or later, we're too good not to" will be the reason. That was the Failure Mantra during the Jerry Manuel Regime - "it was still early", even in July and August, and "we're a much better team than we've shown" and all that blahblah. The Cubs ON PAPER have a deeper and more talented team than the Cardinals, but the Birds have gone out and played to their strengths and capabilites, while the Cubs have underachieved. And for all the good moves Hendry has made ( and there really is no denying the fact that he is one of the better GMs around, payroll or no payroll ), he didn't get them a consistent, reliable closer. That alone could come back to haunt them, unless Hendry has a waiver deal in mind.

Oooooooooo, that must have been FUN... Hope the 'Smores were yummy at least...

Maybe he's married to Nardi's niece, who Nardi considers to be just like a daughter to him....

Graffanino: "I'm a Christian and there are a ton of Christians on this team," Graffanino said. "All that helps. It definitely helps me feel a lot more comfortable." Good, Tony, now you and all the Christians on the Royals can pray for the season to end... and FWIW, Ozzie looked like he saw a ghost when Uribe dropped that bunt, so I highly doubt he called for it.

He did a lot of yelling at the top of his lungs during games. It's pretty annoying to people around him.

My friends who like the Cubs are not of the beer-swilling, bleacher-crawling, lawn-pissing, fight-starting frat boy asswipe variety. They understand baseball, and they don't start s***. We go back and forth in a good-natured way, but by no means would I lump them in with the bandwagoners who yell GO CUBS and then can't name more than 4 players. The fact that they know enough about the Cubs to be upset about losing a young arm with potential sets them apart from the alcoholic f***heads, IMHO.

Rowand has really raised his game, and he looks VERY confident at all aspects of the game right now. I agree, he must remain at the leadoff spot for the forseeable future.

The Cub friends I know are most upset about losing Francis Beltran. That kid's apparently got some nasty stuff and was being groomed as their future closer. And minor league uber-geeks were pissed at losing the A-ball lefty, Jones. I don't know s*** about him, so I couldn't say. Brendan Harris has already been tried as a C, 3B and 2B, so I don't know what type of prospect he is.

he got up.....and left..... That's OK with me - I can do without people who scream s*** all game long to get attention for themselves, if WOO you WOO know WOO what WOO I WOO mean WOO...

Thank God Ben Davis bailed his stupid ass out. Ozzie needs to sit Uribe down for a while.

Honestly, I dumped my Kazaa program months ago, because there's almost NOTHING I want to download anymore. I buy a CD here and there, but I get most of my new music off of music news boards like blabbermouth.net or punkbands.com, and I don't really have the desire to dig around anymore. I listen to radio shows like TBA and Local 101 on Q101, which play some decent stuff I haven't heard before, and I'll occasionally dabble in an Internet radio show if I stumble across a cool one, but that's about it, really.

Congratulations. Your prize is outside. Go away and claim it. :puke

I heard he'll start Tuesday vs. KC. As for me, my confidence is dwindling, but the hope will remain until the Sox are officially and mathematically eliminated. I refuse to believe that this team will continue to play this poorly for the rest of the season. There's a lot of talent on the Sox and they're going to need some help now to crawl back into the race.

What are you gonna do in November when the Bears season is in the s***ter?

Don't they play again tomorrow?

Does ANY team have more bases-loaded game-ending walks allowed? This loss is VERY discouraging.

I don't know if I agree with this - I think he WILL be expected to be outstanding, given the makeup of the Sox rotation and the still-alive expectations of catching the Twins. I hope he's up to the task.

My guess would be that if the team you try to make a trade with is NOT the first claiming team, you'd have to negotiate a 3-team deal with the first claiming team, or withdraw the waiver.

Thoughts are with your Dad, Minny. Keep the faith and be strong for him - I'm sure he's scared too.

the "Blind Squirrel" theory. I wonder if some of his "sources" leak inaccurate information to him just so watch him look goofy when the story falls apart. I know I would....