Controlled Chaos

I wanted the Garcia trade, I have wanted it all year and we signed him. I like the Everett trade too...he was here before and is kind of part of the team already. What I don't want is all these new players everyone is talking about... Randy Johnson pitching, Hillenbrand at third, Finley in Center, Alomar at second, NoMah at short, Guardado in BP, Kendall behind the dish, Beltran in the outfield, Russ Ortiz etc etc etc...I mean I don't want to replace the whole team....I have rooted for this team up and down all year....and this is the team I want to win it. If we don't then we don't, but at least we have our identity. Not to mention throwing a bunch of new players together rarely works in such short time. Our guys will come around. I would like to address catcher cause we lost our starter, but not with a rent a player. I want a guy signed or one we can sign for a while so he will feel some team unity and the team will bond with him knowing he'll be here. I just think it's getting kinda ridiculous with people wanting to dump our players for the hottest guys out there. World Series teams have players on them that aren't batting .300. They pull together as a team...

I have my honeymoon September 20th...

Terror in the Skies, Again? By Annie Jacobsen A WWS Exclusive Article Note from the E-ditors: You are about to read an account of what happened during a domestic flight that one of our writers, Annie Jacobsen, took from Detroit to Los Angeles. The WWS Editorial Team debated long and hard about how to handle this information and ultimately we decided it was something that should be shared. What does it have to do with finances? Nothing, and everything. Here is Annie's story. On June 29, 2004, at 12:28 p.m., I flew on Northwest Airlines flight #327 from Detroit to Los Angeles with my husband and our young son. Also on our flight were 14 Middle Eastern men between the ages of approximately 20 and 50 years old. What I experienced during that flight has caused me to question whether the United States of America can realistically uphold the civil liberties of every individual, even non-citizens, and protect its citizens from terrorist threats. On that Tuesday, our journey began uneventfully. Starting out that morning in Providence, Rhode Island, we went through security screening, flew to Detroit, and passed the time waiting for our connecting flight to Los Angeles by shopping at the airport stores and eating lunch at an airport diner. With no second security check required in Detroit we headed to our gate and waited for the pre-boarding announcement. Standing near us, also waiting to pre-board, was a group of six Middle Eastern men. They were carrying blue passports with Arabic writing. Two men wore tracksuits with Arabic writing across the back. Two carried musical instrument cases - thin, flat, 18" long. One wore a yellow T-shirt and held a McDonald's bag. And the sixth man had a bad leg -- he wore an orthopedic shoe and limped. When the pre-boarding announcement was made, we handed our tickets to the Northwest Airlines agent, and walked down the jetway with the group of men directly behind us. My four-year-old son was determined to wheel his carry-on bag himself, so I turned to the men behind me and said, "You go ahead, this could be awhile." "No, you go ahead," one of the men replied. He smiled pleasantly and extended his arm for me to pass. He was young, maybe late 20's and had a goatee. I thanked him and we boarded the plane. Once on the plane, we took our seats in coach (seats 17A, 17B and 17C). The man with the yellow shirt and the McDonald's bag sat across the aisle from us (in seat 17E). The pleasant man with the goatee sat a few rows back and across the aisle from us (in seat 21E). The rest of the men were seated throughout the plane, and several made their way to the back. As we sat waiting for the plane to finish boarding, we noticed another large group of Middle Eastern men boarding. The first man wore a dark suit and sunglasses. He sat in first class in seat 1A, the seat second-closest to the cockpit door. The other seven men walked into the coach cabin. As "aware" Americans, my husband and I exchanged glances, and then continued to get comfortable. I noticed some of the other passengers paying attention to the situation as well. As boarding continued, we watched as, one by one, most of the Middle Eastern men made eye contact with each other. They continued to look at each other and nod, as if they were all in agreement about something. I could tell that my husband was beginning to feel "anxious." The take-off was uneventful. But once we were in the air and the seatbelt sign was turned off, the unusual activity began. The man in the yellow T-shirt got out of his seat and went to the lavatory at the front of coach -- taking his full McDonald's bag with him. When he came out of the lavatory he still had the McDonald's bag, but it was now almost empty. He walked down the aisle to the back of the plane, still holding the bag. When he passed two of the men sitting mid-cabin, he gave a thumbs-up sign. When he returned to his seat, he no longer had the McDonald's bag. Then another man from the group stood up and took something from his carry-on in the overhead bin. It was about a foot long and was rolled in cloth. He headed toward the back of the cabin with the object. Five minutes later, several more of the Middle Eastern men began using the forward lavatory consecutively. In the back, several of the men stood up and used the back lavatory consecutively as well. For the next hour, the men congregated in groups of two and three at the back of the plane for varying periods of time. Meanwhile, in the first class cabin, just a foot or so from the cockpit door, the man with the dark suit - still wearing sunglasses - was also standing. Not one of the flight crew members suggested that any of these men take their seats. Watching all of this, my husband was now beyond "anxious." I decided to try to reassure my husband (and maybe myself) by walking to the back bathroom. I knew the goateed-man I had exchanged friendly words with as we boarded the plane was seated only a few rows back, so I thought I would say hello to the man to get some reassurance that everything was fine. As I stood up and turned around, I glanced in his direction and we made eye contact. I threw out my friendliest "remember-me-we-had-a-nice-exchange-just-a-short-time-ago" smile. The man did not smile back. His face did not move. In fact, the cold, defiant look he gave me sent shivers down my spine. When I returned to my seat I was unable to assure my husband that all was well. My husband immediately walked to the first class section to talk with the flight attendant. "I might be overreacting, but I've been watching some really suspicious things..." Before he could finish his statement, the flight attendant pulled him into the galley. In a quiet voice she explained that they were all concerned about what was going on. The captain was aware. The flight attendants were passing notes to each other. She said that there were people on board "higher up than you and me watching the men." My husband returned to his seat and relayed this information to me. He was feeling slightly better. I was feeling much worse. We were now two hours into a four-and-a-half hour flight. Approximately 10 minutes later, that same flight attendant came by with the drinks cart. She leaned over and quietly told my husband there were federal air marshals sitting all around us. She asked him not to tell anyone and explained that she could be in trouble for giving out that information. She then continued serving drinks. About 20 minutes later the same flight attendant returned. Leaning over and whispering, she asked my husband to write a description of the yellow-shirted man sitting across from us. She explained it would look too suspicious if she wrote the information. She asked my husband to slip the note to her when he was done. After seeing 14 Middle Eastern men board separately (six together, eight individually) and then act as a group, watching their unusual glances, observing their bizarre bathroom activities, watching them congregate in small groups, knowing that the flight attendants and the pilots were seriously concerned, and now knowing that federal air marshals were on board, I was officially terrified. Before I'm labeled a racial profiler or -- worse yet -- a racist, let me add this. A month ago I traveled to India to research a magazine article I was writing. My husband and I flew on a jumbo jet carrying more than 300 Hindu and Muslim men and women on board. We traveled throughout the country and stayed in a Muslim village 10 miles outside Pakistan. I never once felt fearful. I never once felt unsafe. I never once had the feeling that anyone wanted to hurt me. This time was different. Finally, the captain announced that the plane was cleared for landing. It had been four hours since we left Detroit. The fasten seat belt light came on and I could see downtown Los Angeles. The flight attendants made one final sweep of the cabin and strapped themselves in for landing. I began to relax. Home was in sight. Suddenly, seven of the men stood up -- in unison -- and walked to the front and back lavatories. One by one, they went into the two lavatories, each spending about four minutes inside. Right in front of us, two men stood up against the emergency exit door, waiting for the lavatory to become available. The men spoke in Arabic among themselves and to the man in the yellow shirt sitting nearby. One of the men took his camera into the lavatory. Another took his cell phone. Again, no one approached the men. Not one of the flight attendants asked them to sit down. I watched as the man in the yellow shirt, still in his seat, reached inside his shirt and pulled out a small red book. He read a few pages, then put the book back inside his shirt. He pulled the book out again, read a page or two more, and put it back. He continued to do this several more times. I looked around to see if any other passengers were watching. I immediately spotted a distraught couple seated two rows back. The woman was crying into the man's shoulder. He was holding her hand. I heard him say to her, "You've got to calm down." Behind them sat the once pleasant-smiling, goatee-wearing man. I grabbed my son, I held my husband's hand and, despite the fact that I am not a particularly religious person, I prayed. The last man came out of the bathroom, and as he passed the man in the yellow shirt he ran his forefinger across his neck and mouthed the word "No." The plane landed. My husband and I gathered our bags and quickly, very quickly, walked up the jetway. As we exited the jetway and entered the airport, we saw many, many men in dark suits. A few yards further out into the terminal, LAPD agents ran past us, heading for the gate. I have since learned that the representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the Federal Air Marshals (FAM), and the Transportation Security Association (TSA) met our plane as it landed. Several men -- who I presume were the federal air marshals on board -- hurried off the plane and directed the 14 men over to the side. Knowing what we knew, and seeing what we'd seen, my husband and I decided to talk to the authorities. For several hours my husband and I were interrogated by the FBI. We gave sworn statement after sworn statement. We wrote down every detail of our account. The interrogators seemed especially interested in the McDonald's bag, so we repeated in detail what we knew about the McDonald's bag. A law enforcement official stood near us, holding 14 Syrian passports in his hand. We answered more questions. And finally we went home. Home Sweet Home The next day, I began searching online for news about the incident. There was nothing. I asked a friend who is a local news correspondent if there were any arrests at LAX that day. There weren't. I called Northwest Airlines' customer service. They said write a letter. I wrote a letter, then followed up with a call to their public relations department. They said they were aware of the situation (sorry that happened!) but legally they have 30 days to reply. I shared my story with a few colleagues. One mentioned she'd been on a flight with a group of foreign men who were acting strangely -- they turned out to be diamond traders. Another had heard a story on National Public Radio (NPR) shortly after 9/11 about a group of Arab musicians who were having a hard time traveling on airplanes throughout the U.S. and couldn't get seats together. I took note of these two stories and continued my research. Here are excerpts from an article written by Jason Burke, Chief Reporter, and published in The Observer (a British newspaper based in London) on February 8, 2004: Terrorist bid to build bombs in mid-flight: Intelligence reveals dry runs of new threat to blow up airliners "Islamic militants have conducted dry runs of a devastating new style of bombing on aircraft flying to Europe, intelligence sources believe. The tactics, which aim to evade aviation security systems by placing only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing militants to assemble them in the air, have been tried out on planes flying between the Middle East, North Africa and Western Europe, security sources say. ...The... Transportation Security Administration issued an urgent memo detailing new threats to aviation and warning that terrorists in teams of five might be planning suicide missions to hijack commercial airliners, possibly using common items...such as cameras, modified as weapons. ...Components of IEDs [improvised explosive devices] can be smuggled on to an aircraft, concealed in either clothing or personal carry-on items... and assembled on board. In many cases of suspicious passenger activity, incidents have taken place in the aircraft's forward lavatory." So here's my question: Since the FBI issued a warning to the airline industry to be wary of groups of five men on a plane who might be trying to build bombs in the bathroom, shouldn't a group of 14 Middle Eastern men be screened before boarding a flight? Apparently not. Due to our rules against discrimination, it can't be done. During the 9/11 hearings last April, 9/11 Commissioner John Lehman stated that "...it was the policy (before 9/11) and I believe remains the policy today to fine airlines if they have more than two young Arab males in secondary questioning because that's discriminatory." So even if Northwest Airlines searched two of the men on board my Northwest flight, they couldn't search the other 12 because they would have already filled a government-imposed quota. I continued my research by reading an article entitled Arab Hijackers Now Eligible For Pre-Boarding from Ann Coulter (www.anncoulter.com): "On September 21, as the remains of thousands of Americans lay smoldering at Ground Zero, [secretary of Transportation Norman] Mineta fired off a letter to all U.S. airlines forbidding them from implementing the one security measure that could have prevented 9/11: subjecting Middle Eastern passengers to an added degree of pre-flight scrutiny. He sternly reminded the airlines that it was illegal to discriminate against passengers based on their race, color, national or ethnic origin or religion." Coulter also writes that a few months later, at Mr. Mineta's behest, the Department of Transportation (DOT) filed complaints against United Airlines and American Airlines (who, combined, had lost 8 pilots, 25 flight attendants and 213 passengers on 9/11 - not counting the 19 Arab hijackers). In November 2003, United Airlines settled their case with the DOT for $1.5 million. In March 2004, American Airlines settled their case with the DOT for $1.5 million. The DOT also charged Continental Airlines with discriminating against passengers who appeared to be Arab, Middle Eastern or Muslim. Continental Airlines settled their complaint with the DOT in April of 2004 for $.5 million. From what I witnessed, Northwest Airlines doesn't have to worry about Norman Mineta filing a complaint against them for discriminatory, secondary screening of Arab men. No one checked the passports of the Syrian men. No one inspected the contents of the two instrument cases or the McDonald's bag. And no one checked the limping man's orthopedic shoe. In fact, according to the TSA regulations, passengers wearing an orthopedic shoe won't be asked to take it off. As their site states, "Advise the screener if you're wearing orthopedic shoes...screeners should not be asking you to remove your orthopedic shoes at any time during the screening process. " I placed a call to the TSA and talked to Joe Dove, a Customer Service Supervisor. I told him how we'd eaten with metal utensils moments in an airport diner before boarding the flight and how no one checked our luggage or the instrument cases being carried by the Middle Eastern men. Dove's response was, "Restaurants in secured areas -- that's an ongoing problem. We get that complaint often. TSA gets that complaint all the time and they haven't worked that out with the FAA. They're aware of it. You've got a good question. There may not be a reasonable answer at this time, I'm not going to BS you." At the Detroit airport no one checked our IDs. No one checked the folds in my newspaper or the contents of my son's backpack. No one asked us what we'd done during our layover, if we bought anything, or if anyone gave us anything while we were in the airport. We were asked all of these questions (and many others ) three weeks earlier when we'd traveled in Europe -- where passengers with airport layovers are rigorously questioned and screened before boarding any and every flight. In Detroit no one checked who we were or what we carried on board a 757 jetliner bound for America's largest metropolis. Two days after my experience on Northwest Airlines flight #327 came this notice from SBS TV, The World News, July 1, 2004: "The U.S. Transportation and Security Administration has issued a new directive which demands pilots make a pre-flight announcement banning passengers from congregating in aisles and outside the plane's toilets. The directive also orders flight attendants to check the toilets every two hours for suspicious packages." Through a series of events, The Washington Post heard about my story. I talked briefly about my experience with a representative from the newspaper. Within a few hours I received a call from Dave Adams, the Federal Air Marshal Services (FAM) Head of Public Affairs. Adams told me what he knew: There were 14 Syrians on NWA flight #327. They were questioned at length by FAM, the FBI and the TSA upon landing in Los Angeles. The 14 Syrians had been hired as musicians to play at a casino in the desert. Adams said they were "scrubbed." None had arrest records (in America, I presume), none showed up on the FBI's "no fly" list or the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List. The men checked out and they were let go. According to Adams, the 14 men traveled on Northwest Airlines flight #327 using one-way tickets. Two days later they were scheduled to fly back on jetBlue from Long Beach, California to New York -- also using one-way tickets. I asked Adams why, based on the FBI's credible information that terrorists may try to assemble bombs on planes, the air marshals or the flight attendants didn't do anything about the bizarre behavior and frequent trips to the lavatory. "Our FAM agents have to have an event to arrest somebody. Our agents aren't going to deploy until there is an actual event," Adams explained. He said he could not speak for the policies of Northwest Airlines. So the question is... Do I think these men were musicians? I'll let you decide. But I wonder, if 19 terrorists can learn to fly airplanes into buildings, couldn't 14 terrorists learn to play instruments? http://www.womenswallstreet.com/WWS/articl...1&articleid=711

Rooney: "They're doing the wave out here in Oakland" Farmer: "They love the wave down here" Farmer: Tomorrow they're celebrating the 30th annviersary of the 1974 World Series title. So I guess if they do they wave tomorrow it will be a "title" wave John.

Been around the world and found, that only stupid people are breeding The cretins cloning and feeding,and I don't even own a tv

First time I saw him do that.....he's an idiot

It looked to me like a team with a lot of pressure that is fallin apart, just like their stadium. Hey what do the cubs and wrigley field have in common? They are both falling apart piece by piece, but the fans don't care as long as the beer is cold. Ba Da Bum Bum...Thank you!! I'll be here all week...try the veal!! What did Zambrano tell Edmonds? "I told him to run the bases and don't try to be cocky,'' COCKY?? Are you kidding me? This is coming from his f***in fist pumping ass and show you up theatrics after every strikeout on a team with hop along hotdog sammy sosa. The media should be all over this hypocrisy. Not to mention Baker's comments.... Baker blamed La Russa for yapping in the dugout and Edmonds for admiring his home run, ''He did watch it, like a lot of guys do now,'' Baker said. ''What set Barrett off, he saw Tony come to the top step and was barking at somebody.'' And what of Zambrano's antics? ''Actually, it was working for him,'' Baker said. ''That's as well as I've seen him throw the ball in two years." For BAKER to even mention anyone's behavior after hitting a homer is the most assinie hypocritical thing I've heard in years. He managed Bonds and currently manages Sosa...two of the biggest admirers there are. LaRussa knows what was up.... "I remember earlier in the year, the Cubs were saying Jim just falls on the ground to get his uniform dirty [on inside pitches], which was a real [expletive] comment,'' La Russa said angrily. Hey, they talked s*** about Edmonds earlier in the year...they threw him up and in last game...they plunked him in his first at bat this game, then he hits a homer and you're telling the manager isn't gonna get pumped up and maybe say something from the top step of the dugout. Barrett should have known the situation and kept his mouth shut too. If anything he should have went to the mound and told Zambrano to shut the f*** up. Moistest (who I also never liked) said it best to Zambrano "Moises told me that after you get hit, and then hit the ball out of the park, anybody can stay a little bit at home plate,'' Zambrano said. "It's just human reaction. When Moises told me that, I was calm.'' Baker had a chance to show his players he was a stand up guy. It's like a parent when they know their kid did something wrong. You don't continue to defend them just cause it's your kid. You slap em on the ass and send them to bed and apologize for thier actions. Admit you know they were wrong and you'll straighten em out cause that's not how you want to be reflected. At least then the whole organization doesn't look stupid, but Baker blew it and the Cubs are showing the masses what us sox fans always knew they were...LOSERS...minus the lovable. excerpts from Sun Times articles interspersed with my comments

Yeah I did some research my own today and found some of the bogus stuff. I tell you what, it would've better seeing it if you didn't know that. It is still all very trippy. If you go on some of M. nights boards..1/3 of his fans think it's a hoax, 1/3 think it's true and they are saying hoax to cover stuff up and the other 1/3 thinks it's just half true and half fake. They say he likes to make a lot of his movies where you don't know what's real or fake...so that's what this is. I still recommend it....It was well put together either way. Somewhat similar to the blair with project...if you had no clue going in to the theatre...you're just not sure about it...

Well I don't work for SciFi. In fact, I have never even watched the dam channel, but I can gurantee you there is a secret revealed as well as a number of bizarre things surrounding this guy. Watch it and if you scare easy, then don't watch it alone.

Well, I don't want to give anything away, cause I didn't know anything about the guy and I think that made it even more bizarre. I will tell you that M. Night tried shutting the production down and didn't want the documentary released cause they found some REALLY spooky stuff.

Ok, so I was flipping channels last night and saw this thing about the guy that directed the new movie coming out "The Village" I saw the previews for it last week and it looked pretty good so I started watching. Well all I can say is HOLY s***!! You people have got to watch this. Do what you have to do, tape it, tivo it...whatever. There is definitely some freaky s*** going on with this guy. It is on tonight at 10:00. http://www.scifi.com/mnight/ For those that don't know who he is....He also directed The Sixth Sense, Signs and Unbreakable.

Bonds prolly has them. I heard hey shared the same needle

Fox Sports' microphone caught this priceless exchange at first base between Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi during Tuesday's All-Star Game. Giambi: "Stay healthy, big guy. Finish strong." Bonds: "Love you." Giambi: "Love you, too, baby." Observed analyst Tim McCarver: "That sound bite is further proof that in the history of baseball not one significant thing has been said by the runner to the first baseman—ever." Edit: Thanks to admin that fixed my typo!!

My problem is there will be tons of people rooting for this guy to win millions of dollars, cause they think it will be some victory against the police department. The fact is this bum could have killed people and only by luck didn't run over some little kid. He deserves to go to JAIL, not become a millionaire. Jesse jackson wil be there in no time. Instead of applauding the police for getting the guy stopped and pulled over without injuring innocent people, he'll want the criminal to benefit.

It seems amusing to me, albeit somewhat sad that the DNC supporters(which are out in full force in Chicago) are stopping people on the street with phrases such as: "Would you like to help stop George Bush now?" "Would you like to help remove Bush from office?" "Help get rid of Bush now!!" I have run in to these people throughout the city at least a dozen times walking to and from work and I have NEVER EVER heard one peep about their candidate. There is no "Vote for Kerry" "Help support Kerry" Just REMOVE BUSH. It seems like a pretty sad state for the DNC when they can only get support by bashing the president instead of promoting their own candidiate. I would want more than that. I think the whole "just remove Bush" thing will work for the people on the left, but hey they were gonna vote Kerry anyway. The moderate votes are the votes Kerry needs and the "Anyone, but Bush" cries that have been dominating the campaign so far aren't gonna get it done.

oops! delete...or merge please. Why is it over there....not really talking about sports. Talking about degenerate flub fans.

Anyone think this is gonna get any air time?? Clearly there has been incidents going on over there....why haven't they been discussed. Where is the back page story on fans pissing and puking all over their own park and neighborhood??

Alderman wants on-site hearings in Wrigley arrests July 14, 2004 BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter Advertisement Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) demanded Tuesday that police eliminate what one community leader has called the "Bourbon Street" atmosphere around Wrigley Field by cracking down on drunk and rowdy fans and holding court hearings the same day, possibly on a bus parked outside the stadium. Working with commanders of the Belmont and Town Hall districts, Tunney said he's exploring the possibility of using the bus to detain fans arrested for public drinking and urination, and either holding hearings on the bus or transporting them en masse to the Belmont District station, 2452 W. Belmont. "We still haven't fleshed that out yet. That's one of the ideas. They would be detained on the bus to either be adjudicated on the bus or go to the 19th [belmont] District," Tunney said. Town Hall District Cmdr. Gary Yamashiroya acknowledged that the idea of using a bus to "temporarily detain people until they were adjudicated" has been discussed in a preliminary "brainstorming session" with Tunney. "I don't know how operationally it would work or who would be responsible. . . . Obviously, we don't want to discount it completely and say we don't want to do it. He may have a great idea. We need to look into it. We need to do some research," the commander said. Police Department spokesman David Bayless said the idea of using a bus to either detain or adjudicate rowdy fans is "an idea at this point. We're going to take a look at it and determine if it's feasible." But Bayless said he's not at all certain that anything quite that dramatic needs to be done. "Considering there's been record attendance and more people coming down to the area, we've been hearing from business owners, elected officials and the Cubs themselves that things are going very smoothly," Bayless said. Not according to Tunney and community leaders. They contend that police officers "don't write enough tickets" or make enough arrests against rowdy Cub fans because they're afraid of being pulled off the street while transporting arrestees to the Belmont District two miles away. That attitude has allowed the sell-out crowds packing Wrigley for virtually every game -- and thousands more who jam area bars and restaurants -- to run roughshod over the community, the alderman said. "There's too much leniency about conduct around the stadium. There's this perception that it's a ballpark . . . and people like to party. It's a basic premise of containment -- a concern that if somebody is working on a small violation, that takes them off the street," Tunney said. "Instead of [police] turning the other way and saying, 'That's what happens,' people need to be aware that this is a different kind of baseball stadium. We need to arrest more people for disorderly conduct and have the ability to bring somebody to court that same day to send people a message that they need to be more respectful when they go to a Cubs game." The bus could serve a valuable purpose, now that the lock-up at the nearby Town Hall District, 3600 N. Halsted, has been closed, said Charlotte Newfeld of Citizens United for Baseball in Sunshine. "It's like Bourbon Street. People openly tell you, 'I'm gonna have 10 beers. They're getting drunk and throwing up. They pee wherever they can. They're treating our community like a bathroom," Newfeld said. "Their behavior is not in any way conducive to having fun at the old ballpark." Jim Ludwig, president of the LakeView Citizens Council, said the bus makes more sense than "transporting somebody 30 blocks across town in traffic" to Belmont and Western. "People would like to see an immediate justice situation. Put some fear in the minds of disorderly people and get some respect for the neighborhood." Community leaders have been demanding zero-tolerance against drunk and disorderly fans ever since May 6, when an altercation between a motorist and a pedestrian outside Wrigley killed 26-year-old Frankie Hernandez. http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-wrig14.html

Does anything more need to be said than this....

I love it!!!!!

I would guess ya got a wee bit of TEMPER....

oh I had that easy, but I wasn't at my desk.

OK fun discussion.... I learned a lot about japanese musical history. Ya know...in case that EVER comes up again. Oh and BTW, if anyone here ever says dago or wop again there will be hell to pay!!

Heian Period (794-1185). How much more traditional does it have to get??? Are we talking like BC here or what??

I would say that a "Japanese Gong" has plenty to do with Japan. We are not all idiot Americans. Speak for yourself. A gong may have orginanted with Chinese, but it was adapted by Japan and linking it to them is not in any way erroneous. The Japanese gong was introduced during the Heian Period (794-1185). The gong was one of the main percussion instruments used during songs, dances and court music. Percussion instruments like the gong were also used in Buddhist ceremonies and processions. Even though the rhythm of court music was different than the Buddhist music. The Buddhist had percussion richness in their life and ceremonies. http://www.musicinventions.org/shepherd2/kyle.htm This whole thing is stupid. A statement or action shouldn't be wrong or insulting to one race and perfectly acceptable if it's regarding another race just because the latter race isn't a minority. That is hypocricy plain and simple. If you think it's wrong to hear a gong....then you should think it's wrong to hear bagpipes for a scot and think it's wrong to hear godfather music for an Italian. But the fact is when you put it in that perspective...you realize it is ludicrous. That should be the end of the argument.... It's gettin to the point where if something is attributed to a specific race...it can't even be mentioned any more. That is how overly sensitive we are now.