The Critic

He wasn't married - he dated a girl I work with for a while. Whatever he may have done while he was alive, joke's over now that he's dead. At least for me, it is. Too young to die, period.

s*** like this is bad for the game. People seem to love it, though....

The list of teams I'd rather see the Sox play than the Cubs: Oakland Boston Philadelphia Anaheim Minnesota Cleveland Seattle Toronto Atlanta Baltimore Kansas City Detroit Teams I'd like to see LESS than the Cubs at USCF: Tampa Bay New York Texas

I'm very hopeful. Oz certainly seems to know what he's doing. The test will be how he gets the team out of a slump. But I do like Oz so far. I think the Dusty comparison is good, although premature - Dusty didn't become the Pied Piper until his teams started winning.

Yes. He will. He will be cheap. He will ALWAYS be cheap. He will be in the future the same cheap-ass he is in the present and has been in the past. He knows no other way, and he doesn't care if the team is competitive, as long as enough suckers buy his beer and Indian Head sweaters.

Legal experts' early prediction for "jail time" is 8 to 16 MONTHS ( yes, months, not years ) in a minimum-security Club Fed. Plus a fine, which she can certainly afford without much hardship. If that's all she is sentenced to, that is hardly a deterrent to anyone.

That is typical, low-level sports journalist "humor". Stupid, predictable and unfunny.

ZING!!!!!! That's kinda harsh....funny, but harsh.....

Fingers are crossed for you, 2K4. Good luck.

I got the 2CD set for the Mrs. for Christmas and was underwhelmed. Maybe it comes off better on DVD, but the performances were rather bland, IMO. I think I'd have preferred studio renditions of the songs instead.

Hey, Nuke, whatcha doin', reading about the SlackHawks???? You're just stalkin' Heather, arent'cha????

I wonder if he can just go home now, or if they'll want him to sit and watch that crap team flounder through the rest of this lost year. They'll probably have him bring his entire family in to sit in the stands and make it look like people care....his family will have to BUY TICKETS, of course...

NO WAY!!!! Who wouldn't take less money to wear the Indian Head sweater??? Pully says he wants Berard to stay, Berard says he wants to stay....once Wirtz hears how much it'll take to keep him ( more than the league minimum ),his ticket out of town is already punched....

It really has gotten a little weird around here lately. If people do have "favorites", it may be because they've had an opportunity to meet the person behind the screen name, or because they happen to agree with a lot of what that "favorite person" has to say. What the hell is wrong with that??? I try to take everything with a grain of salt, and keep a sense of humor about it. Of course, I'm so perfect and correct that no one EVER has a problem with me!!! Oh and Steff, I caught a little blurb about your guy Sid Ponson in the paper over the weekend!! Seems he came into Orioles' camp with a little extra around the middle - 15 pounds was what I read! Jim Palmer was quoted as saying something to the effect of, "No wonder he got such a big contract - there's TWO of him!" Just wondering if you'd seen or heard of BIG SID's newfound paunch??? Or is that inside information that might start a NEW WAR????

MAN, it must suck to be a Crapitals fan right about now... http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1749847 Jagr, Lang, Bondra, now Gonchar, Kolzig still rumored to go....when did Wirtz buy the Caps???

Forgive me if I shed NO tears. Vile woman.

Great news! Damaso is my current favorite Sox player!

Fresher churros???

Angelina's brother says that she ALWAYS looks hottest...

True. You have to perform for a long time at a high level to earn that tag. But to say he has "First Ballot HOF POTENTIAL" is not ridiculous at all. Fact is, that team is setting themselves up to be very good for an extended period of time, and if he stays healthy, Prior will have more than a couple 20-win seasons and will continue to be seen as one of the game's premier pitchers.

Can't say I blame you. You have to make your decisions based on what you're able and willing to pay. I'm doing it this way this year: Bought my daughter a membership in the Silver and Black Pack, so I'll go to 3 games with her. ( We'll probably upgrade the seats to the lower level ) Going to maybe 2 or 3 other games on a single-game purchase. Going to 2 games at Wrigley ( my wife's a Cub fan ). Probably going to a minor-league game or two ( Schaumburg or Joliet ). That's a decent amount of baseball for one year.

If Borchard has a good spring, I hope they bring him up instead of Benard. Borchard has much more long-term potential for the Sox than Benard does, I would think, and if the Sox are expecting Maggs to leave, then it might do Borchard some good to have already been on the team if he's the guy who has to try to replace Maggs. It might be more difficult to have his first extended stint in the bigs happen with the expectations that replacing an All-Star would bring. Of course, that job might go to Jeremy Reed instead of Borchard anyway, so maybe my point is moot. I hope that makes sense to you guys - made sense to me when I wrote it...

Feh. They've done this before. I remember seeing Reggie Jackson whiff against the last well-known softball pitcher ( can't remember her name, though... ) It's fun to watch MLB hitters strike out against a woman, I suppose. I, for one, am not surprised at all that these guys don't hit softball pitches - different release point, different eye level, different distance from mound to plate, different trajectory. Nothing they're used to seeing. I have a feeling that Curt Schilling or Mark Prior might have some success against her as well....

Trust me, YAS, I don't think anyone's been blinded to the question marks this team still presents ( starting pitching, manufacturing runs, closer, etc ). I'm just saying that it's REALLY nice to hear positive things from camp and NOT to hear about disagreements and controversies. Also really good to see that Oz is getting good early reviews from baseball people on his camp. The true challenge, as always, is how he manages in games and how the team applies what he's trying to teach. The feeling is just way better than I was expecting it to be at this point. Gotta take the good news where you can get it.

AHHHH, what do you EXPECT him to say???? Paulie will be just fine. He won't be our leadoff hitter, but I think he'll have a good year. I'm much more worried about Willie and Miguel's bats ( and to a lesser extent, Aaron's ) than I am about Paulie's.