Controlled Chaos

Alright Dankster...let's get out of this. QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 16, 2007 -> 02:15 PM) 4-1 yanks? um no...

f***!!

yeah baby!!!!!

Way to pitch over it John!!!!!!!!!!

3-0 now on the last 2 batters? Is Danks gettin squeezed? Looks like it on Gameday?

sounds like a good play by Gooch. Sterling says he thought he was out, yet Damon and Torre were coming to argue

K K K K

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ May 16, 2007 -> 01:33 PM) Doesn't it seem that in just about every series there is a player that struggles and then gets really big hits and gets hot against White Sox pitching. With Terraro and Molina starting in the next game Wang may throw a perfect game. Guaranteed WHIP for the game of 0.667. We'll end up with 6 base runners. oh you are offering guarantees now? any money on that?

nice Danks!! A lot of rookies would be rattled after that pass ball with Abreu at the dish. Danks?? nah the boy just delivers!!

nice inning dankster!!!!!!!!

haha listening to that chick on the yanks radio is a riot He gone!

The Black and White of 'Ho' Culture By Kathleen Parker Wednesday, May 16, 2007 CHARLESTON, S.C. -- In a new twist in American race relations, a federal court has ruled that a white teacher in a predominantly African-American school was subjected to a racially hostile workplace. The case concerned Elizabeth Kandrac, who was routinely verbally abused by black students at Brentwood Middle School in North Charleston. Their slurs make shock jock Don Imus look like a church deacon. Nevertheless, despite frequent complaints, school officials did nothing to intervene on Kandrac's behalf, arguing that the racially charged profanity was simply part of the students' culture. If Kandrac couldn't handle cursing, school officials told her, she was in the wrong school. Kandrac finally filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and subsequently brought a lawsuit against the Charleston County School District, the school's principal and an associate superintendent. Last fall, jurors found that the school was a racially hostile environment to teach in and that the school district retaliated against Kandrac for complaining about it. The defendants sought a new trial, but U.S. District Judge David C. Norton recently affirmed the verdict. However, he did not support the jury's findings of $307,500 in damages for lost income and emotional distress. Although Kandrac clearly suffered -- she was suspended from her job shortly after a story about her EEOC complaint appeared in the local newspaper, and her contract was not renewed -- her case didn't meet evidentiary requirements for damages. The judge said a new trial would have to determine damages, but the school district and Kandrac settled for $200,000. While the dollars-and-cents issue may have been of paramount importance to school and district officials -- and would have lent heft to the verdict -- the more compelling issue for students, parents and society is the idea that a particular group of people can be allowed to behave in a grossly uncivil and threatening way by virtue of their racial ``culture.'' The key legal question was whether a school could be held responsible for students' behavior. In this case, the black children of Brentwood had been given a pass for their behavior because vulgar language was considered normal for their culture. Defense attorney Alice Paylor told jurors that the kids heard this same language at home and there was ``no magic pill'' to make them behave. Paylor is probably right about that, though a magic paddle might have worked wonders. Back in the day, if a student talked the way these did, he or she would have received a well-deserved thwack, been suspended and sent home to face the wrath of his or her father. That process likely would have put a swift end to the tribal tyranny now often tolerated in the service of self-esteem. Let's be clear: What these children called this teacher is beyond reprehensible and could be only be construed as hostile and threatening. Here's a sample: white b----, white m----- f-----, white c---, white a------, white ho. Other white teachers and students corroborated Kandrac's account, including a male war veteran who testified he would rather return to Vietnam than to Brentwood. Kandrac's attorney, Larry Kobrovsky, argued that the repeated use of ``white'' made these slurs racists in nature. But school officials insisted that because black students were equally abusive to other blacks, the language wasn't inherently racist. Here's what we know without question: If majority white students had used similar language toward black students and teachers, the case would have been plastered on the front page of The New York Times until heads rolled. A black Kandrac would have a million-dollar book deal, a movie contract and hundreds of interviews to juggle. Her oppressors and those who passively facilitated her abuse would have been pilloried by the media -- their faces all over the evening news -- while the reverends Al and Jesse organized protests. But a white Kandrac -- who faced a daily barrage of insults, who had books and desks thrown at her and her bicycle tires punctured -- was treated like an incompetent wimp. She was just a lousy teacher out for money, the defense attorney said. Though Kandrac lost her job, the real losers are the children deprived of an education by the actions of a tyrannical few. And the worst racists are those teachers and administrators who denied these empowered brats the expectation of civilized behavior. May the rest of America now be emboldened to act decisively in the interest of students who want to learn. Kathleen Parker is a syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group. Be the first to read Kathleen Parker's column. Sign up today and receive Townhall.com delivered each morning to your inbox. Copyright © 2006 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOUS GUYS!! Chi-town speak.

QUOTE(tonyho7476 @ May 15, 2007 -> 01:14 PM) that chick he tripped out on payote with was so f***ing hot. Seeing Tony with his grubby, fat fingers on her, gave me hope. Sarah Shahi...She was hot. I had to look up who she was cause I knew I saw her before. She was the chick that was blowing the cucumber in that one scene in Old School. Here's some other pics for ya http://members.fortunecity.com/noops051/sarah_shahi001.jpg http://members.fortunecity.com/noops051/sarah_shahi002.jpg http://members.fortunecity.com/noops051/sarah_shahi003.jpg

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 15, 2007 -> 12:29 PM) I wonder if this Tinky Winky finally got his revenge? He gone.

QUOTE(Brian @ May 15, 2007 -> 09:37 AM) There is NO WAY that Tony gets flipped. The FBI goes after bosses, see Johnny Sac, they don't try and flip them. I'm starting to agree that killing tony would be a cop out. I wouldn't be surprised if the show ends with Tony behind bars, when was the last time we heard about the RICO case against him? Or with Tony, still as boss, AJ working with him, or something like that. Who knows? Could go in any direction. Yeah I don't see it either. Tony is the top dog...he's the guy they want.

One thing that interested me was when Jack talk to Marilynn after getting Josh back. Something was weird in that conversation and she was like is that all he said? I don't know...I think something is going to come of her. I don't know if it's back to when I thought Jack was the kdis real father or what. But she seemed to be worried that Phillip told Jack something.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 15, 2007 -> 08:43 AM) Ramirez is better than Crede in just about every category besides defense, and even there, he's really not nearly as bad as some people think. I'd take Erstad over Pie though, but Pie's not their CF. The Cubs bench is far superior to the White Sox's bench this year. He's not better than him in attitude. I'd have a real hard time cheering for someone like Ramirez.

QUOTE(rangercal @ May 15, 2007 -> 03:19 AM) Players on the Cubs That I would not mind having On the Sox: Derosa over Iguchi Derek Lee at 1b Over Konerko Zambrano over Contreras Rich Hill Over Vazquez Aram over Crede Alfonso Soriano at LF over podsednik Felix Pie over Erstad every other position is too close to call or favors the sox. I wouldn't want Zambrano or Aram no matter how talented they are.

Sopranos Rewind: Kennedy and Heidi Posted by Alan Sepinwall May 14, 2007 12:12AM Categories: The Sopranos WARNING: This column contains major plot spoilers for last night's "Sopranos" episode. It's not Vegas. It's Hell. It may not seem that way to Tony right now. He's high on life, winning big at the casino tables for the first time in forever. He has a gorgeous stripper on his arms and an even more beautiful desert vista before him. When he collapses on the casino floor in a fit of giggles, it's the happiest we've ever seen him, and even that's quickly surpassed by the image of him giving a victory salute to the desert sun. But all that joy comes with the roughest butcher's bill of the series. Tony's this ecstatic because he just killed Christopher. Coming as suddenly (and as early in the episode) as it did, Chris' demise at Tony's hands was one of the series' most stunning moments, but it was also foreshadowed throughout last week's episode. Tony was separating himself from Chris, Chris was falling off the wagon and getting into his revenge fantasies again, and Tony was even singing the lyrics to Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb." The same song happens to be playing on Christopher's car stereo at the moment of the crash that inspires Tony to murder him. (The lyrics as Tony realizes Chris is high: "I cannot put my finger on it now / The child is grown / The dream is gone.") "Comfortably Numb" might have made a better episode title than "Kennedy and Heidi" (a joking reference to the two girls whose car Chris nearly ran into, causing the accident), as that sums up Tony's attitude throughout it. His eyes are flat and lifeless as he smothers Chris to death, taking advantage of a golden opportunity to remove a threat to his freedom. His only reaction to the grief of Carmela and Kelli and Chris' mother -- grief he created directly -- is irritation, and after he gets taken on one guilt trip too many, he packs his bags for Las Vegas and floats through the rest of the episode, self-medicating with wine, pot and, eventually, peyote. Surprisingly for an episode that spent half its time with Tony staying in a hotel and had him taking hallucinogens, the only actual dream sequence appears early on, as Tony imagines confessing his past killings to Dr. Melfi. (The dream turns out to be a useful rehearsal, as he later recreates most of his dialogue from it in less self-incriminating fashion.) But the entire episode had the air of a dream, or of alterna-Tony's trip to the Purgatory (or fantasy, or alternate universe, or whatever it was) of Costa Mesa. Only this time, the imagery wasn't of Limbo, but the hotter place. After Tony vomits up the peyote, he and Chris' old stripper friend Sonya (Sarah Shahi from "The L Word") head down to the casino floor, where he's transfixed by a cartoon devil's head on a slot machine. (It's a smiling devil, of course, because right now Tony's enjoying his descent.) After breaking his losing streak at the roulette table, Tony takes Sonya for a trip into the desert where the rising sun casts everything in a crimson glow. When the red sun flares at Tony for a second, it resembles the white Costa Mesa beacon, which seemed to signify Heaven. Moments before the crash, Chris reminds Tony of the "every day a gift" talk he was throwing around after emerging from the Costa Mesa coma. Turns out Tony really has changed, but not for the better. Instead of stopping to smell the roses, he's grown colder, more paranoid, quicker on the trigger. When Tony felt he had to kill Pussy and Tony B. -- for reasons far more pressing than here -- he stalled as long as possible. When he realizes Chris will forever be a drug-addled liability to him, Tony barely hesitates before clamping his hand over Chris' nose and mouth. Everyone is a threat to him now, garbage to be disposed of just like the asbestos one of Tony's guys spent most of the hour trying to unload. Asbestos, of course, is hard to get rid of completely, and Chris' presence in Tony's life no doubt will linger, even if it's just as evidence of how little humanity Tony has left. In contrast to Tony's non-response to Chris' murder, we have A.J. retreating back into his depressed shell upon realizing what he was becoming by hanging with the Jasons. He could go along with being a budding sociopath for a while, laughing at the misery of the kid whose toes got amputated after Jason Parisi's acid bath. But deep down, A.J. still has a conscience, something his old man said goodbye to a long time ago. Tony responds to hitting rock bottom as a human being by going to Vegas, having sex and getting high. A.J. responds to the same by going about in pity for himself and raging against the meaningless violence in the world. (A.J. being A.J., though, he quotes Rodney King's "Can't we all just get along?" like it's the most profound thought he's ever had. In fairness, it probably is.) Several times in the episode, Tony makes reference to the smashed infant car seat in the back of Chris' car. Privately, he's trying to justify the murder of his surrogate son as something other than nuisance-removal. Given how Tony has been behaving all season, I believe he would have killed Chris, car seat or no. But it wouldn't be the first time Tony's thoughts have turned to murder at the notion of innocents being killed. See his reactions to Ralphie and Tracee, Ralphie and Pie-O-My, Chris sitting on Adriana's dog, etc. And yet the innocent creatures he has always felt most protective of are his damn ducks, and I distinctly heard a quacking sound as the asbestos was being dumped in the water at the end of the episode. Tony probably had no idea where exactly the stuff would get dumped, or what wildlife would be affected, but at this point I don't think he'd care. He's in Hell, and Hell is no place for happy ducks. Some other thoughts on "Kennedy and Heidi": -Chris wasn't the only significant death, as Paulie's mother/aunt Nucci died of a stroke (on the way back from seeing "Jersey Boys," of course), giving Paulie the unusual opportunity to act jealous of a dead man. He went so far as to clock the amount of time certain people visited Nucci's wake before heading over to Chris's. -The only people who seem happier about Chris' death than Tony were Phil and Butchie, who were practically giggling as Phil gave Tony his condolences. These guys are like predators toying with their weaker prey. -Wiseguys are no good with natural death (or what they think is natural death), are they? The small talk around Tony's bed was beyond clumsy. -A side benefit of the Vegas trip for Tony: for a few days, he gets to become Chris, taking drugs and sleeping with one of his women, when he could never seal the deal with Adriana or Julianna, for one reason or another, when Chris was alive. -Does anybody in the business play grief better than Edie Falco? Carm's reaction to Chris' death was almost as devastating as her hallway crying jag in the first Costa Mesa episode. Almost as brilliant, in a different way, was her delivery of the line about Julianna -- who reeked of mistress to Carm -- being a good-looking woman. (Imagine how cold Carm would have been if she knew Tony almost slept with Julianna, too.) Alan Sepinwall can be reached at [email protected]

no prob. Glad I went to listen to the post game show and saw it. It's pretty sweet and a good price if you compare it to these others... http://www.steinersports.com/ssm/control/c...;lc=home_banner

QUOTE(watchtower41 @ May 10, 2007 -> 03:06 PM) Couldnt find it on there, what are those fetching for?? Just click the baseball in my post. They are $99.00

Just saw this on the score website. In case any of you are interested.