Chisoxfn

Shaun of the Dead was great so I'll definitely have to check this out.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 05:37 PM) Not to combat the Duke bashing, but I haven't noticed a HD game for them yet. The Va Tech game might have been, but that was ABC and I missed it. CBS is the first to do HD games this year that I've seen. I believe the LSU UConn game was the first HD game this year for the ESPNs. Maybe all there camera's were being taken up by college football? Still no excuse, imo, because they should televise every major sporting event in HD.

If Garret Anderson can find a way to get healthy for a few seasons, he has a shot at being an Angel his entire career (since no one would take his contract) and if he did get healthy he'd have a shot at 3000 hits which would obviously get him in.

Last years was ridiculously over-crowded (my guess is this years won't be as bad in that area).

Next year will be as good a year as any for Goosage to finally get in. In addition, anyone else that hasn't gotten on even though they may deserve it would have there best shot next year, since next years class lacks total star power.

QUOTE(bmags @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 01:42 PM) i liked jill from home improvement. Yes, I'm so in on that.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 01:55 PM) I used to feel the same way. But the last 6 years, the GOP (at the national level) has been nothing but fiscally irresponsible. They are now far more concerned with interfering in people's lives, than keeping government under control. I wouldn't disagree with them being more fiscally irrisponsible than I'd like. However, they are still far superior in that category to the dem's. So for me it is the lesser of two evils at this point. Kind of like when I voted for Arnold who I actually think is pretty terrible (just better than Gray Davis) because my guy (McClintock) had on chance at winning.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 01:51 PM) Smiths numbers and game are far more comparable to Heisman runner up Brad Banks than they are to Drew Brees or any of the elite QBs in the upcoming draft. Banks was amazing that season. Its too bad we couldn't have had a few seasons with him running the show. I also still think that had Iowa played like they did all season they could have beat that USC squad (that absolutley dismantled us). Heck had it not been for the Clones and Seneca Wallace, Iowa probably was playing in the national championiship game that year. Oh and I think I'd say thats a very good comparison. I think Banks was a better runner while Smith is a bit better passer. Did Banks ever even stick on with any team (I thought he'd have had the ability to play wide-out or sometihng).

McGwire is completely deserving, imo, and its a sham he isn't in there. The guy was single handedly the greatest power hitter of the last 50 years (although Bonds had an amazing couple year stretch as well). That said, when you look at Big Mac's overall stats, they aren't near as impressive (although the total Hr's are still there and he was possibly the most powerful HR hitter ever cause god could he hit bombs). Plus even if he did juice, they were not banned from the game of baseball (yes they were an illegal substance in the US, but they were not banned from baseball) so I can not possibly hold him out because of that.

In regards to Frank Thomas, I think last years season made him a first ballot hall of famer. Prior to that I think anyone that didn't follow the Sox would have had doubts because of Frank really fading later on in his career due to health issues. However, his overall career numbers are crazy and than when you factor in a 6 or so year run where he ranked amongst the best to ever play the game and well you have a first ballot HOF. I've never seen a man hit for as much power, avg, and show the ability to draw walks as Frank Thomas. Of course one player that I think is a better overall hitter would be Manny Ramirez, who is an absolute phenom as far as I'm concerned. I even remember telling buddies of mine that the Cubs would have been smart to dump Sammy at his peak and sign Manny because Manny was twice the player Sammy was (and boy was I right). My question is will Roger Clemens get 100% of the vote? I'd like to think a guy like him, Pedro (best I've ever seen when at his prime) or Maddux would absolutely clean up, the guys are legends considering what they did in a pure offensive era.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 01:12 PM) Albert Belle 19 3.5 That surprises the hell out of me. Belle's s***ty attitude keeps him out, because it sure as hell isn't the numbers. 373 homers and 1673 hits in 10 years are both pretty impressive, and a .933 OPS to boot as well. Jose Canseco 6 1.1 That has to be the lowest number and percentage of votes for a player with as many career homers as Canseco has. My twisted side really can't wait to see how many votes Palmeiro gets, because I imagine it could be similar to Canseco's. Eric Davis 3 0.6 That's a lot of talent that got wasted. I can only imagine how ridiculously good he looked coming up. I don't think Belle deserves it. I tihnk part of what makes you a HOFer is the ability to be good for a long peirod of time and while Belle was good for 10 years and was one of the best players in the game for a few of him, he didn't have the longevity to be in the hall. And in case you were wondering, no, I don't think Kirby Puckett should be in the hall either. However if they vote Kirby in (and he wasn't near the character guy everyone thought he was) than those same voters should give Belle the same shot (cause he was one of the very best at what he did for a few year stretch). Of course I am very strict when it comes to HOFer's. Mike Piazza isn't in my hall simply because I consider him a first baseman and as a first baseman I think he should have been great for a long period (and 99% of the world will disagree with me on that one).

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 01:13 PM) Not sure who Brown is. But Smith was somewhat of a late bloomer as far as passing goes. Last season he was almost exclusively thought of as a running QB, which hurt his passing numbers a bit. Not to mention OSU is and always has been a run first team. Brees was in a wide open spread offense that does inflate numbers quite a bit much like the system of Texas Tech. I would put him in the second round mold where it may take some time for him to adjust to the NFL system, but I think he will still be a successful NFL QB based on how quickly he came along and his propensity (except for last night) to play well under pressure. Whoops and now I understand Rowand's reference to the Pats any better.

Duplication of what he did the past two years. Ie, be a very good #2 hitter who plays steady defense. Guchi does nothing flashy, but everything good. I would like to see him improve against LHP and see his strikeouts go down a bit.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 12:48 PM) After attending for several years I have come to the opinion that Soxfest is overrated. Your thoughts? Completely agree. I think the seminars are interesting, but I'm not a huge fan of autographs, plus I figure if you want auto's your better off going to spring training. That said it is a fun environment and there have been many a classic night had at the Hyatt (back when it was there).

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 01:01 PM) Someone has the Patriots on their mind. Except Booty has actually played QB, while Cassel was purely a clipboard holder. But yes if the Bears go down, my focus will be the Patriots and my favorite current QB in the NFL, Tom Brady. However, I am now predicting a Pats/Bears superbowl. Of course first the Bears got to win a playoff game and than another and than we'll see what happens in the big game. Did I mention how great Brady is.

QUOTE(AssHatSoxFan @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 12:39 PM) Pam Ward is the woman in the booth in that awful duo but she isnt nearly as bad as the other guy is from wikipedia: 5. Pam Ward, Mike Gottfried, & Jimmy Dykes Yep thats the crew. Ward is made a lot worse because of who she sits with. She'd at least be bearable on her own, but when combined with Gottfried & Dykes...WOW.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 12:45 PM) Smith has too good of an arm to be a pure athlete in the NFL. His height may look bad on paper and he did play a horrible game last night, but he has proven to be accurate when his line actually blocks for him, and I see him as a Drew Brees type with better feet IMO. Keep in mind he is only 1 inch shorter than Grossman and has a higher release point than alot of QB's. I dont think it was his height that held him back last night, it was his timing, and his blocking which made him make poor decisions. I would be surprised to see him slip to the 3rd round, especially with Cle's need for QB, but I think his performance last night basically assured that he slips out of the first round. Grossman also put up ungodly passing numbers for a couple seasons and had a rocket ship of an arm. And even than he went 24th overall and had the Bears not taken him (although there was speculation the Packers had interest) he probably would have fallen to the 2nd round. I do think you are right, his arm is good enough but I wouldn't even think of comparing it to that of Grossman's. Brees was a 2nd round pick and took some time and I could buy this comparison a bit, however, Brees was 3 times the passer Brown was at the collegiate level. I would rather draft Booty than I would Brown.

I am a huge fan of both and I'm pretty sure hillarity will ensue.

I am utterly happy and excited that two of the classiest guys in baseball (Gwynn and Ripken) were annoited to the hall. Both of these guys stood for the game of baseball and would make outstanding commissioners for the game. They played hard every day and while one was one of the most consistent players of all time (Ripken) the other was possibly the greatest pure hitter to ever play the game. Best of all both of these guys were clean, unless you think Gwynn's donut diet consisted of roids . I am not one to watch the speaches these guys give and I probably won't watch them when they get inducted but with all the gray area around steroids I don't think there is a better time for these two to be joining the honorary shrine that is the hall of fame. Gwynn = one of my 3 or 4 all time favorites to ever play the game. He had such a pretty swing, a great attitude, and played in just one city because he loved it.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 12:33 PM) I hope Lavin never coaches again, just so we can hear his greatness on TV. Lavin spits these crazy lines out like nothing all the time, and they work and make so much sense after the fact. That group is awesome. I love how they're the premiere Big Ten trio on ESPN, and Vitale never does Big Ten games outside of the Challenge. And Majerus is great too on the West Coast games with his discussions about OHHffense down in the POHHst. And they used to have a great college football crew but at a lot of points this year we had this guy on there (whose name escapes me) who is singlehandedly has the worse voice and the lease amount of knowledge of any broadcaster I've ever heard of. And the women in the booth with him is terrible as well (Heads would know the crew as they did the ISU-Iowa game and eventually I had to mute it). The guy sounds like Lou Holtz, but not near as funny (since Holtz can crack me up on senility alone). I think Lavin is a lot like DJ....its an acquired taste and obviously we got taste (especially you since you can apparently stand our podcasts, lol).

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 12:25 PM) Take a good look at the Iphone. Now in about a month or maybe 2 you will see a side announcement with a new video Ipod that has all of the same wide screen, touch features that the iphone has. That is what I am waiting for. I was a bit disappointed. I know that they wanted to really push the iphone and itv. But I was hoping to see more of the next version of OSX Leopard and of the high end Mac Pro's with quad and octal core systems. But as my boss just commented, Apple likes to trickle some of these out to keep a sustained spin going. The cingular move is the same thing that a lot of cell phone vendors use. The Treo700 series came out on Verizon only. Eventually the exclusive contract runs out and different version of the product run on different plans. Apple is much like Honda in that they release a new version and than have plans to slowly add new features. The end result is that you have the same product out for a long period of time, all while every year they make minor improvements and upgrades before finally starting back over. On the other end you have car companies that roll out brand new stuff more often, but rarely make any changes between years aside from some minor design flaw changes they make pick up on (with the engine, suspension, breaks, etc). I think its a good ploy because you are consistently making a product better, however, people aren't going to not buy something because they know no major major changes will be made right after they buy the product (although obviously they'll be a bit peeved when a minor change or two gets made). Apple is flat out a kick butt company and if they ever decided to let other companies produce mac products you may see a real battle with Microsoft (obviously soft would have the advantage with the insane amount of capital they have).

Smith proved that his lack of height makes him a total tweener in this league. He is'nt near the passer Quinn is nor the physical specimen that Jamarcus is and I'd be stunned if Troy went in the first round. In fact, I could see many teams looking him as a WR (unfortunately he isn't blazing fast) and I'd have to think he's a late 2nd, maybe even 3rd round pick. Quinn is probably top 10-15, Jamarcus is #1 overall material (and if the right team is there, Quinn is a top 3-4 pick). QUOTE(T R U @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 12:23 PM) Dude, a 41-14 ass whoopin cant be ALL Tressel.. Florida was still a better team regardless No doubt and as I said a lot this year, Florida and LSU were the two best teams in the country and I think they both showed it to some extent.

The game should be in HD. Than again the MSU-Iowa game was dissapointingly not in HD. On a sidenote, why does ESPN2 even bother with HD since they don't appear to televise much anything in HD. And to think I was really excited when I got the channel. Please, broadcast all major sporting events (college bball, fball, NBA, NFL, MLB) in high def. For cripes sakes I've noticed that ocassionally some NFL games aren't broadcasted in high def (ridiculous). QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 12:19 PM) Can't wait for that game tonight, and the glorious trio of Steve Lavin, Brent Musberger, and Erin Andrews. The best bball crew in the land. The next best is the one that features Majerus (if its still there). I love Musberger and well I really love Andrews plus you get really good analysis from two of the better no longer coaching coaches (Lavin and Majerus, although Rick was obviously a superior x's and o's guy). And Lavin always says some dandy things that are so odd that you just are left laughing. Yes I am one of Lavin's biggest fans and if we ever lose Alford, I want to hire Lavin. The guy is like Zook but a wee bit better coach (guy made it to like 5 sweet 16's in 6 years).

That is why there are calling it the Apple Iphone. Basically put Siemens already has a patent on the simple name Iphone and they already sell it (check amazon). Its nothing like this phone by Apple, just the name is the same. I will admit, this new phone looks amazing. Unfortunately I never buy anything but the free phone I get every 2 years with my contract (Verizon). However, if my company is willing to pay for my phone I'll be all over this in about 8 months. QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 9, 2007 -> 11:58 AM) Supposedly the iphone is only going to be available with Cingular I'd have to think like most phones, it will eventually be had by pretty much any company (since I can't see Apple wanting to just share the market with a few people).

I had heard the iphone is actually not made by Apple. Or at least I remember reading that a week or two ago. I actually thought it was someone like Siemens that was making it.