Gene Honda Civic

XBOX 360 core systems will be $100 tomorrow at 1PM Central time. (Limited supply, obviously) http://crunchgear.com/2006/11/22/xbox-360-...find-out-today/

Farney is the little voice that lives in Freel's head that tells him what to do. Farney likes to drink and drive, and generally cause trouble. Why would Cinci want to get rid of a cheap, versitile, excellent defender, with a high OBP?

On this day before we give thanks... I'm thankful you're not our GM.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Nov 22, 2006 -> 08:50 AM) How much are all these ridiculous contracts going to increase Pods' arbitration number? I think the odds of Pods getting non-tendered even if KW doesn't acquire anybody is increasing with every overpriced contract that is signed. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?s=...t&p=1314090

I saw that little guy do some crazy ninja action in another video.

Collusion probably isn't the right word, but my vocabulary isn't deep enough to come up with the correct term right now. There was discussion, and somehow Morneau emerged from the primary as the democratic candidate for '06 MVP. Jeter, it was decided, would represent the republicans. Santana, the oddball, was the green party's representative. The voting should have looked much more like a presedential race without primaries. Lots of differing top horses. There was legitimate arguments for numerous candidates, yet 2 dominated the list. I'm quite interested in why this happened.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Nov 22, 2006 -> 12:44 AM) You guys are kidding right? An AL MVP ballot box stuffing conspiracy? Okay then. Let's try it here. Sealed ballots between 28 posters. No way there are only 3 guys who get first place votes. There was collusion. I'm not claiming conspiracy. I'm claiming that many discussed who they were voting for. What else is there to do, day in, day out, during a KC-Tor game in early September, aside from write the game story (which takes all of 25 minutes, tops)? There's no other explanation. Thomas appears second on both Oakland ballots. Why second? Why not first?

It's 14 for first, 9 for second, and one fewer for each spot lower... I don't think it's that complicated. I just struggle to see how 28 writers only came up with 3 different first place choices, and only two hitters. It seems to me that they probably talked it over with each other first. We did voting in through the blog network, and I just assumed since many of the blogs aren't stat heavy at all that I'd see Jeter and Morneau top the list. (I voted Jeter first, Mauer second) I was shocked when Joe Mauer was named the SBN winner when our voting was conducted. There was no discussion between our group, and somehow Morneau wasn't given a single first place ballot. 8 different players got first place votes, and we only had 18 voters. The top spot was not nearly as cut and dry as the official voting made it seem. There had to be some kind of behind the scenes discussion before the ballots were due.

Stewart's most redeeming quality is that he'll invariably get hurt, freeing the way for Sweeney/Fields in LF. The rest of his skillset sucks. His defense is worse than Podsednik's,

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Nov 21, 2006 -> 11:35 PM) Yelton averaged 37.4, Fenstermaker 37.2 Damn, I didn't think it was possible. I'm sure Fenstermaker's long (53) was when he punted from his own 48 so that it was a touchback too. QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 21, 2006 -> 11:50 PM) Michigan, Wisco, OSU would all be so much worse. Tate folds under any pressure, and does not play well in big games, or against pressure defenses. well so does A-Rod so I guess he's got good company.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Nov 21, 2006 -> 11:13 PM) I know it wasn't you. Can i factor in our rugby style punts into the punting 'competition'? No that's Zook being Zook. You can't blame the (admittedly poor) first string punter for that. Here's another crazy Iowa stat, because the season's finally over, and I can finally vent... After averaging about 4 block kicks a year under Ferentz, they didn't block a single kick in '06. They had zero punt or kick return touchdowns, and had zero defensive scores on the season. Worst special teams ever.

Ballots.... Joe Cowley put AJ 10th, and failed to include Mauer. I think there is a bit of collusion going on here. How did so many writers, including the Twins writers, come up with Morneau as the top choice when his numbers are strikingly similar to Konkero's.

Well I know that wasn't me. And I posted "Drew.Tate.Is.Good" after every game in '04. -------- Yeah, Iowa had punting problems. Ferentz likes to play for field position, but you can't play for field position when your kicker and defense suck ass. And Yes, Fenstermaker was worse than Illinois everyday punter, the one they kept trying to replace. Look it up.

Tate's getting s*** because he doesn't have a defense. Give him a defense like he had in '04, or even '05, and you're not talking about any of this. He's not Peyton Manning. He can't win by himself. Ask yourself this question... What's Michigan's record with Tate at QB? what about Wisconsin? I don't think either record would be any different. What about Penn State? I'd bet they'd have 1-2 more wins. What about Michigan State with their "first round quarterback?" Ah that's probably the same. They'd be too busy mugging for the camera and planting flags for first downs. Iowa was terrible this year, and arguably their worst loss was to Northwestern. A game where Tate went 33 minutes without throwing an incomplete pass, and they couldn't score more than 7, losing by 14 points. You can't even blame him for that loss. When your defense allows tons of yards and doesn't turn the ball over, while the offense racks up similar yardage but continually turns the ball over -- Some of which is obviously Tate, but I'd say 4-6 of his INT's are poor plays by his WRs, and about 3 are him forcing the ball late in games when they've been in a big hole thanks to the previous turnovers -- you're not going to win many games. All you need to know about the Hawks this season is they rank in the bottom Ten in all of football in turnover margin. Thank god for the Illinois game or they'd be last by a mile. 6-6 is actually a pretty amazing record considering their turnover problem. Maybe that's a compliment to Tate, himself. QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Nov 21, 2006 -> 10:40 PM) Not sure what that has to do with the fact that Drew Tate sucked the last 2 years, and Iowa will be better with Christensen next year though. Not if the playcalling doesn't change. Throwing every first down, never establishing the run, and refusing to go for it on 4-and-short in the opponents territory with a s***ty defense, were huge reasons why the Hawks were terrible this year. And ANDY F'n FENSTERMAKER. I've never hated a punter before. That guy sucks.

NOONE IS CLUTCH AS JUICE. ESPN KNOWS IT!

I bet the farmer shoots himself in the other leg 9 days from now.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 21, 2006 -> 05:01 PM) As soon as Drew Tate leaves, I expect Iowa to perform much better, especially in tough and important games. well they don't play Michigan or OSU the next two years, so they'll perform much better by default.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Nov 21, 2006 -> 04:26 PM) Sounds like Alamo Bowl for Iowa. They get a better bowl in 2006 when they are 6-6 then we got when we were 8-3 in 2000. Boo. Travel. There were as many Iowa fans as Minnesota fans in the humpdome on Sunday. And in the previous two games up there it was 60-40 Iowa fans. They've sold out every bowl game they've ever played in. They drew the best non-BCS game ratings for their last 2 of the last 3 years. (they were the second highest rated non-BCS game in the other) When the choice comes down to Iowa and Minnesota, it's no choice at all.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 21, 2006 -> 01:19 PM) I'm gonna go with... Democrat trying to poke fun at Republicans. No way anyone is actually that closed-minded and can still write complete sentences. QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Nov 21, 2006 -> 04:23 PM) I would have wrote it. Delicious!

My (fictional) Ballot went something like this. Jeter Mauer Dye (homer vote) Ortiz Santana Guillen Hafner Morneau Sizemore Verlander (I just wanted to leave the AL West off my list)

QUOTE(Jeckle2000 @ Nov 21, 2006 -> 12:57 PM) Yet you have no problem with trading an established starter for a minor leaguer who had a 4.6 ERA and projects as a career minor leaguer to anyone with a clue... HAHA! -1 if that's exaggeration, -10 if that's just stupidity

He should get Jackie Chiles to defend him in the court of public opinion.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Nov 20, 2006 -> 09:19 PM) BA chose to put Matt Long in the top 10??? It's not so much BA as Phil Rogers. For some reason, the White Sox (Cubs and Rockies?) are the only teams that they don't have their own writers do the lists for.

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ Nov 20, 2006 -> 07:51 PM) Fields and Sweeney are good, but both have significant weaknesses, something Chris Young didnt have. Young did have a significant weakness when he was traded, his strikeout rate. He's since corrected that though.

PSU's offense is terrible. They do have a top 25 defense though, top 10-15 probably.