The Critic

Personally, that's my entire opinion of the Offspring. I absolutely HATE that guy's voice. Makes my skin crawl....ugh....

You didn't know that he drums for a bluegrass band? And what do I think about bluegrass? "It Stinks!" ...that joke was too easy, by the way....

apparently, my namesake is a drummer for a f***ing BLUEGRASS band!!!! UGH!!!!!!

Batting .000? I thought maybe Willie Harris was playing winter ball!!!

It would be a lot easier to relax and ignore the offseason if we had any GOD DAMNED HOCKEY TO WATCH!!!!! ( Sorry, I just have to try and tuck in a SlackHawks slam wherever the opening appears... ) :fyou Bill Worst!!!! PS - I agree, it's too soon to get too depressed - there are a lot of non-tenders and other free agents out there, and the Sox WILL make some moves. Whether or not they're the right moves will ONLY be played out on the field next summer. The inactivity is nerve-wracking, but there's lots of time to see something happen.

Ahhhhh, you women with the Matchbox 20..... My wife LOVES Matchbox 20 ( or matchbox twenty - isn't that how they're spelling it these days, with the full word for twenty and no capitalization? TRENDY... ), and I figure it must be an estrogen thing. Like death metal and hardcore punk are largely a testosterone thing... Final show for awhile....at least there's some good news in your post!

The SlackHawks fanbase is going the way of the Edsel. There's no reason to cheer for them anymore. The ownership sucks, the coaches are saddled with young and cheap or old and cheap players, and if any young players should happen to develop ( read: get paid ) they are shipped out for young and cheap OR old and cheap players in return. Fans are expected to pay major-league prices to watch mostly minor-league talent. Players are expected to take less money for the HONOR of wearing the Indian Head sweater, and ownership tries to make them look greedy for asking for fair market value. The Hawks are dying, and I no longer care....

Kids In The Hall was an EXCELLENT sketch comedy troupe from Canada. You've probably seen most of the members of the troupe on other things. David Foley was on NewsRadio. Mark McKinney was on SNL for a couple seasons. Kevin MacDonald has been in a ton of movies, usually small roles, but you'd know him if you saw him. Bruce McCullough ( sp? ) and Scott Thompson are probably the least active of the former KITHers. It was really a very funny show, and if you get a chance to see it, you should.

Rumor has it that there's an ENTIRE WALL of boy's underwear for sale! Time to start guessing who buys the whole f***in' ranch when Wacko needs THAT money...my guess is Oprah.

That could wind up costing the Sox more than Albert Belle did... And I don't even want Wells WATCHING a Sox game ever again.

I hope you were being sarcastic, cw. Three other people referred to God in this thread and one other said Amen. No reason to snap on one and not the others. It's obvious that everyone is using their own words to respond to the idea of the Sox signing that GOD-AWFUL Alfonseca to a contract. Just releasing frustration in a way that each person's comfortable with. Nobody's trying to offend anyone on this thread - ya might have over-reacted a little bit. I understand WHY, I've read enough of your posts to have a VERY clear understanding of your religious nature. Fact is, though, that nobody's attacking anyone with a stray "God no" or "Please God" or even "Goddamn", so it might be prudent to let that slide. Sorry if this comes off as confrontational, it absolutely is not meant to. I just worry about making people feel so uncomfortable posting that they'll say f*** It and stop.

I think some people need to be taught that money is spelled M-O-N-E-Y, not R-E-S-P-E-C-T. I see a lot of athletes confuse these two words, and I really get the impression that their teachers didn't work hard enough with them. I kind of understand why he said that, but I'm just tired of players overusing and misusuing the word respect. He was with the team for half a year - the Sox can make any type of offer they choose. They don't owe Alomar anything, and he shouldn't think they do. He's been on a lot of teams in his career, he SHOULD know how the process works by now.

To be fair to Mr. Cash, I'm pretty sure that the whole pre-pubescent daughter thing was still underground at that point in history, so watching a man die might have been the worst reason he could imagine. And no, he said in the book that it was completely fictional, and not based on anything in particular. He did mention that he didn't fight the perception that he may have killed someone, since the publicity worked in his favor. Notoriety = record sales?? Some things never change....

Hopefully, they'll get ComCast SportsNet on their satellite systems!!

The line was "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die", but the line was fictional. I recently read Cash's autobiography, and he said he just tried to think of the most immoral possible reason to kill someone, and the idea of shooting someone just to watch them die was the worst he could think of. It never happened....well, I'm sure it HAS happened, just not with Johnny Cash involved.

Unfortunately, a .247 average would fit right in...

Maybe I'm screaming into the wind, but if PK goes away, I think Frank HAS to be given first crack at the everyday 1B job. The offensive benefits are well-documented, and cannot be discounted. WHY would you refuse to give one of your most dangerous hitters the best opportunity to succeed? I really think that Manuel stubbornly returning Frank to DHing after that HOT streak he had while playing 1B was a real indication that JM had an agenda that was unrelated to winning baseball games. PLUS I think he's not as bad as he's being made out to be. He's certainly not as bad over there as Fred McWhiff. A good point was made earlier in another thread - how many KEY plays are made by 1Bs on ground balls? Frank is better than most people think at digging out low throws, and he has average footwork around the bag, so the 'defensive liabilities" must boil down to grounders. I just don't think it's THAT huge of a problem.

EXACTLY right, but the longer they sit and wait, the more it looks like they're hoping that Minny will downsize themselves out of the race. Problem is, if the Sox don't OWN KC next year, and if KC wasn't a fluke, it could just become a matter of finishing second behind a different team.

Not a bad idea at all, but I wonder what JR's policy is about incentives? I don't usually hear much about incentive clauses in Sox players' contracts outside of the usual MVP/AllStar Team/etc. I do recall Lofton having an attendance clause in his Sox contract

Hey, like Billy Bob said in Bad Santa, "They can't all be winners, kid!"

Not a fan of Kim. Then again, not a fan of Koch either. I DO like Sullivan. Wow, I added a lot to the discussion, huh??

I agree with Aboz - the Sox don't seem to have many "ready right now" youngsters, and they have holes that need to be filled right now. There is a great opportunity to win the AL Central in 2004, with Minny downsizing, KC having to show that 2003 wasn't a fluke, and Cleveland still growing up. If the Sox pass on this opportunity, they may fall behind the Tribe by the time the cavalry arrives from A and AA ball. Another reason to be players in the off-season is to give the fanbase something to be hopeful about. If you sit on a disappointing team over the winter after blowing a great chance to make the playoffs, that will not inspire anyone to jump on the Sox bandwagon or purchase season-ticket plans. Bad for business to rest on an underachiever, or even to give the impression of sitting on it.

Ehh, I'll just wait and see. "Sources" have been saying both yes and no, so someone's gonna be right - let's see who IS right. LA does need offense, I think PK can still provide offense for them, the Sox need starting pitching and Perez will give them a fairly solid lefty, so it's not an absurd trade by any stretch.

Not surprised by this at all, considering the fewer number of seats. A lot of teams have "premium" ticketing plans for weekends, prime opponents, etc., so this isn't unusual or unexpected. But if the product on the field isn't worth seeing, they can charge whatever they want, because an unsold ticket at ANY price equals ZERO money coming in.

It's all about the money, the years, and then the chance to win, IMO. If the money is similar, and the years are similar, then I think he comes back. The Sox would have a much better chance to win the AL Central than the Angels would to win the AL West, I think.