The Critic

excellent!

He wore 43 for the Giants....

I'd also imagine there's some perverse thrill to be had in watching a team and its fanbase wither up and die.

Cut off her breasts, use one of them to plug up her VAH-HEE-NAHH, and sew the other one on her back like a hump. Then use her as a warning to anyone that cutting off people's jumblies is WRONG and WILL be punished...

You called the club level people "slaves"...

The nice thing for Atlanta is that they get Drew AND the guy who replaces him every time he gets injured!!! If St. Louis can grab Maddux now, their rotation is much stronger. Never a big fan of Ray "Burger" King, though.

I remember this line: "Walker is not a horrible shooter." And here are Walker's numbers this season, as compared to his career averages: FG% This year - 44.5% Career - 41.8% ( an upgrade but still average at best ) 3PFG% This year - 28.7% Career - 33.3% ( A DROP from an already pathetic % ) FT% This year - 54.5% Career - 66.8% ( FIFTY FOUR PERCENT from the line???? ) Seems like my opinion ( which you seem to take great offense to - sorry about that ) is still pretty "informed"....although he does grab 10 boards a game, which is nice. And I guess 17 points per game is helpful, no matter how many shots it takes to get them. The reason that he probably appears to be doing better is the fact that he's on a very powerful team and his role suits his talents better than trying to be a go-to guy.

Stats alone don't tell the whole story. Again, I don't think Thomas was a problem last year, except when he over-thought his approach ( again! ) and robbed himself of his best chance to do even better. When Thomas is really "on" and most dangerous, he is driving the outside pitch to the right-center gap and drilling the inside pitch to left. When he decided that "I'm a power hitter", he started to try to pull everything. That's when his power numbers went up, but his average went down. Some of those outs came with runners on base, so his RBI totals could have been a lot higher. Sometimes the team needs a key base hit when trailing by 1 run a lot more than they need a 2-run bomb while trailing by 5.

Nope, it's never happened to me. When we argue, we both make an effort to discuss the problem right away, so we don't go to bed angry. The problem doesn't always get resolved that night, but at least we address the situation and don't hold any grudges. Communication is the key to marriage, and no marriage can survive without it.

All the more reason to step it up and try to separate your team from the pack. That's easier said than done, though, because Minny and KC are not exactly going to be the Brewers. They're both still very good teams, and the Sox had better NOT be trying to win solely by other teams shrinking.

I think Manuel's stubbornness and refusal to look at the stats hurt the Sox more than Frank did. Frank may have hurt them with his "I'm a power hitter" phase ( which is what I'm guessing you were referring to as well ), but for Manuel to put him back at DH when Konerko was sucking and Frank was KILLING the ball and playing good defense was stupid and blind.

I'd tell you that these are grounds for divorce - "irreconcilable differences" and all that - but after the scalping decision recently, it seems that judges are Cub fans, too, so you'd get taken to the cleaners. Better just sit there and take it - that's why I married a BREWERS fan - - although she still reminds me that the 82 Brewers made it to the World Series -

Easy answer would seem to be that the better a player is, the more of his crap teams are willing to put up with ( see Rasheed Wallace ). I think it's mildly important, but over-rated. It really depends on how the attitude manifests itself. If it's something like refusing what they consider to be a "lesser" role for the good of the team or refusing to go in if the play is not called for them, then I think that hurts a team. But if it's just guys who don't like each other socially, that doesn't mean too much to me. People should be professional enough to do their jobs. A good attitude and willingness to help and teach others what you've experienced can lengthen the rope, but ultimately you still have to produce.

That was my thought when I read that, too. KW doesn't want to come off like the ugly girl sitting in the corner at the prom, praying for someone - ANYone - to ask her to dance. So he's playing hard-to-get, hoping that other GM's will be "intrigued" by his apparent indifference. I really hope he is able to get something sensible done, although I will say that I'm glad he didn't give Thomas away for that career underachiever Jeff Weaver.

We've decided to spoil the daughter instead and just get ourselves one mutual gift - a digital camera. I also got her the George Harrison tribute concert CD, just to have something of her own to open on Christmas Eve. Yeah, except for the kid, we do the Christmas Eve gift-open thing.

....so if he weighs the same as a duck...... .....he's made of wood.....?..... And THEREFORE??? ..................A WITCH!!!!!!!!!!

The story I saw was referring to the fact that the Red Wings were still playing WELL while missing a lot of players. The SlackHawks have played just well enough to lose and lose and lose and lose. And aren't going to do a goddamn thing about it, because they are counting on a work stoppage next year, and don't want to commit ONE DOLLAR more than necessary for players. That would be the difference.

Red Wings had also played the previous night, not easy to do with the number of key guys they have on the injured list. SlackHawks will have to do a next-nighter tonight in Dallas. I expect the worst...

When Estes was dropped from the rotation for a brief stretch, the idea was floated that he could do some middle relief or mop-up work. Estes said something to the effect of "I'm a starter" and blew off the idea completely, and Dusty Baylor let Estes hide behind his back by making up some crap about how Estes "wouldn't know how to warm up as a reliever". ( Both of these statements were in the local papers, but that's the only "evidence" I can offer. I don't know either of them personally, and I don't have the time or interest to try to dig up the articles online. ) Sorry, but if you can't figure out how to "warm up as a reliever" ( whatever THAT means ) and try to help the club in some other way if you're not starting, then that doesn't show me much. And for the record, I didn't have much feeling either way when the Sox picked up Loaiza, but I also hadn't seen him much either. I have seen more of Estes, enough to know I absolutely do not want to see him in a Sox uniform.

Loaiza realized that he needed to improve and continued to work on new pitches. He isn't a stubborn head case who wouldn't accept a bullpen role to help his team. Loaiza is mature, Estes is delusional. He still thinks he's the 19-game winner that SF had. He is not. Maybe it'll work with Estes, maybe it won't. I have no desire to find out. Let someone else take that gamble. I'd rather see Cotts throw in the 5th spot than that jackass. And I'm really really sorry if you find my "threat" juvenile - but I guarantee you that it's no threat. I have ZERO interest in watching Shawn Estes pitch for the Sox - I think he's awful and that's all there is to it.

Could Pippen be crafty enough to trick Pax into signing him, knowing his knees were f***ed? NAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

Well, you've had it too good for too long....lazy ass.... Thanks for correcting my multiple errors - GOD, I feel like Valentin, f***ing up like this...

Holy s***! That would speed up the Injuns' progress a little bit! I hope that doesn't happen...

Gonna move this to the Sports Bar - sorry.

SlackHawks vs Red Wings on TV right now. RARE televised home game, due to NHL's contract with ESPN. Four minutes in, and Arnason scores to give the Slacks the early lead.