Chisoxfn

A's have some nice arms but they don't have the bats to contend and some of those arms will end up flopping, getting hurt or eventually getting traded. The A's have spent some money internationally though and that could help them.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 09:46 AM) (1) Neither recruit is a one and done caliber player ala Wall or Cousins. At best they'll be good component pieces to the starting five, but they won't be a focal point. (2) You're losing Turner, the national player of the year, the triple double machine, the guy that led your team the entire season. He's not replacable IMO (3) There's talent there, don't get me wrong, but you guys won a ton of games with the 3 ball as a result of Turner's ability to drive and dish. That component will be gone next year. Clearly I'm not saying they'll be awful. I expect them to contend next year for the conference and get a 1-5 seed. But I don't buy the top 5-10 hype. I think next year it's going to be a very similiar Big Ten. I'd rank them as follows: PUR MSU ILL OSU WIS MINN NW MICH IU PSU IOWA Purdue and MSU are going to be a step ahead of ILL/OSU/WIS who are all going to be about even. It obviously depends on which of the top 5 gets "lucky" with the schedule too. How much money do you want to bet that Iowa will not finish last? They have an improved coach, are a very young team, and seem to be keeping all of there recruiting class (which is though to be a top 35 or so class nationally). I'm not going to say they will win the big ten, but they should be much much improved and the cupboard finally isn't bare at Iowa. Now things could change between now and than, but as of now, it sounds as if everyone is eager to stay and learn Fran's new system and Fran seems to be saying and doing all the right things so far at Iowa. The big question is going to be whether he can recruit the athletes necessary to run his high octane offense successfully in the big 10.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 02:36 PM) That pull was what smacked me as so ingenuous. Democrats consist of 8% of that 51%. Also Gallup, in depth, about the independent number: In other words, people who lean toward the Dem side consist of the 8% who identify as Democrats and the 13% of the independents who say they tend to lean more Dem (by my rough math, that would be about 5.5% of the total number of tea party members). In fact by my math, if you look at the Gallup data with all the crosstabs, it seems like 84% of the tea party members lean Republican, even if nearly half of them don't self identify by party. Well I guess my initial assessment was correct, haha.

Dino is a good recruiter, not a good coach. But I'd like to get him as an asst over at Iowa. That would be nice.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 01:27 PM) Well crap, the job career I am choosing will not get me to that pay scale for quite awhile, even with a Masters degree. That's so disheartening in a way. Weren't you talking about going to law school? If you go that route and do fine, you'll get a job starting at one of the big companies at double that (if it is out of a top law school). Albeit, right now it is really really hard to get a job in law unless you are coming from one of the big schools and are graduating near the tops of your class.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 01:23 PM) Neither is Alex Rios who is signed to a long-term deal that demands contributions to the team on both offense and defense. Andruw Jones is a reclamation project who has no business being treated like the player he hasn't been for four years, not until he proves he's worthy of that treatment outside of the cactus league. Well in spring training he looked like a guy that can play cf and that has to count for something. Rios has excelled in RF too so there are some that might say he's better off there anyway.

I'm fine without Thome. I like the idea of a more diverse lineup, I just wish the Sox had the resources to find a better player than Kotsay/Jones. They did not and we will live with it for now. And for you people that call Ozzie a moron for playing Jones in center, well, quite frankly, you will be proven wrong. Jones is not some hack of a CFer.

I'd give him a round of applause. The guy is class and deserves to be treated with class. But I hope he strikes out every AB.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 12:37 PM) I saw the Gallup poll, and I think it got talked about in the way that it would get the most attention, but a lot of the reaction there was spin. Gallup said 24% or something like that was sympathetic, but that doesn't mean they are teabaggers or whatever they are. The Quinnipiac poll asked people if they thought they were part of the Tea Party movement - only 13% identified as tea party members. I think the truth is that "Tea Party" is code for Republican or lean Republican these days, for people who don't want to admit it. I'm curious to see what the Republican's put out this year just before the elections as there newest version of the "Contract for America". The Republican party has a shot to do what it did in the mid 90's and take back everything but the White House. I think the fact that the Republicans have a shot at the independents of the country is huge as that ultimately is who you have to sway to win the elections anyway.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 12:35 PM) Where is that part of the poll? I did a quick google and couldn't find anything. Here is the entire gallup poll on the subject http://www.gallup.com/poll/127181/Tea-Part...mographics.aspx

I was a bit wrong in my assumption Rex, it seems as if it is pretty split down the middle (but Republican and Independents as opposed to Republican and Democrats) according to a recent gallup poll in regards to who considers themselves a member of the tea party:

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 12:27 PM) I believe the same poll suggested that a similar number of people identified themselves as being Socialists as did Tea Partiers. Where is that part of the poll? I did a quick google and couldn't find anything.

Cohen is awesome but Berman is a jag. I used to like him as a kid but its been a long time since he's been good. I love Scott Van Pelt though. Good anchor.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 12:17 PM) Colt McCoy from Texas? Gerald McCoy, Dlineman from OU is who I assume he's referring to.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 12:16 PM) I don't think that would be the best bet. It puts you in the same situation you were 2 years ago. You have to implement a whole new system in which you do not know if it's going to work or not. Players have to go back to learning the system, learning the ways of their new head coach, rotations, etc. You need some type of continuity. That's why it's only best to fire a coach if he completely sucks and there's a clear upgrade out there. Right now I think the Bulls are looking like they will be screwed this off-season. Thats why I'd throw all of the money in the world at Coach K. Get him and you might just be able to land Lebron and than you are instant contenders. Hell, I don't care who Lebron had around him, he's that good.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 12:18 PM) I think there's a couple caveats to the poll. Rasmussen has developed a significant bent to the right in their polling. The degree that they shift the perception of popular opinion is pretty astounding. I'm not disputing their methodology or anything like that, but I will say that I've become pretty suspicious of whatever they put out. I think its pretty clear that Rasmussen has an agenda in how they poll. The generic congressional ballot for the last week. YouGov/Pollmetrix - Dems 47, GOP 44 Gallup - Dems 46, GOP 46 Rasmussen - Dems 38, GOP 47. They consistently poll to the right, generally between 5 and 10 points higher than nearly every other pollster. (BTW, I also think the left leaning YouGov poll is s*** because of their methodology). They also seem to push for people to make a decision. I've never seen any other pollster have every single Obama approval poll have 0% with no opinion, but thats what Ras does. 53-47 for disapproval right now, when nobody else is showing a spread in either direction of more than 4 or 5 points, and no other pollster shows him upside down by more than a point or two unless its a s***ty internet poll (Zogby and the left leaning YouGov should never be included in the same sentence with other, better pollsters.) Is it possible Ras is right? Maybe, but I think they use models that overestimate the presence and power of people who would fit into the tea party mold. I think you are right in regards to the polls, but I had seen where Callup also did a similar poll and had very similar results to the Rasmussen one that I posted, hence why I posted it. And you are dead on, the poll companies can easily significant the way the results turn out by the demographic they ask, the tone of the questions they ask, etc.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:55 AM) I doubt it at this stage of his career. Also, Rios is locked up with a large, long-term contract. He's the Sox' centerfielder of today and tomorrow. Jones, if he has a "comeback" year and proves to be an above average CFer again will be gone after this season. Boras will see to that. Why move Rios, your long term player around to accomodate a one year rental who may or may not be as good defensively as the excellent defensive CFer Rios? Let Jones move around from LF to RF to CF depending on who is being rested and leave Rios settled as your starting CFer. I do think you make some good points as to the longetivity aspect, but I think if you are looking from a pure defensive standpoint, it would be real close between Jones and Rios in CF. I think the reason I'd go with Rios in RF and Jones in CF is the fact that Rios has far more experience in RF and thus would be a more premium defender there than Jones (who I grade out relatively even, albeit it is hard to say since we haven't seen a healthy Jones in CF in a while). Either way, I'm ok with the move, but you are right, we could be setting ourselves up for failure by moving both Q and Rios a lot.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:54 AM) Would you play Rios in RF and Carlos in LF then ? Yep. Although, I could see a case to be made for letting Carlos just adjust to playing RF again full time. However, I think our best defensive alignment has Quentin (or Pierre), Jones, and Rios. Pierre has that bad arm but his range is quite good. Probably not as important though since Jones still has very good range due to the jumps he can still get. I think people are under-estimating Jones defense. If he's healthy and he certainly looks healthy, he's still an upper echelon defender, imo.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 10:28 AM) Since I turned 25 I just can't take sugar-rich cereal in the morning like I used to. Raisin bran, Total, Special K Protein Plus is up there. If I want a snack later in the day and I have some lying around...Frosted Mini Wheats are like candy (eaten dry). And I can still then down a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Fruity Pebbles and Cinamon Toast Crunch were my two favorite cereals growing up. Coco Puffs were pretty money too as were coco crispies. Now, honey nut cheerios, frosted mini wheats, and Special K with fruit in it are what I opt for.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:52 AM) The problem with this movement is it doesn't have any leaders of any consequence (or at least any supporter would admit to having as a leader), and it doesn't have any real purpose or aim. I can tell you what the Democratic Party stands for and what they would want to do on a substantive level, I can do the same with Republicans (in most cases), I can even do the same with Socialists, the Green Party folks and many other third party and non-aligned party movements. I can't do it with the Tea Party, because I just don't know. I think that makes it easy to say I stand for the "Tea Party" because there's nothing to stand alongside with. I did think that the fact that more people stood behind the Tea Party as opposed to Obama was quite interesting though because I think when most people think about the Tea Party (and this is me making a pure assumption so I could be completely wrong) they think of Palin who wasn't all that liked recently. However, I think in this atmosphere (the tea party), the general consensus is that she brings a fresh perspective and voice that many many middle of the road American's (including women) can truly relate to. And I was reading a couple opinion articles talking about how the Tea Party could actually become its own political party but I think we know that will not happen. Right now it is distancing itself from being an official tie to the Republican party but I think we all know it certainly leans farther to the right than it does the left.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:48 AM) Jason, a lot of how you feel about your network depends on how it works for YOU personally. I had Sprint for years and years and always battled with their customer service reps (who, in my experience, were brutal), and I always struggled to get service in my own house. Granted, I could get service out in the middle of nowhere where no Verizon users could, but not in my own home. I have AT&T now, and I have not had any issues with it. But that probably has everything to do with the fact that AT&T is solid here in Vegas and I get great reception in my place. But who knows, maybe if I lived two blocks over the reception would not be good and I would think AT&T was brutal. As for the phone, well, the iPhone/Blackberry debate is very similar to Mac/PC. I'd say a lot of the debates have a direct impact on what your use is for them. From an email perspective, I really like a blackberry. For everything else (aside from the fact that I'm an anti touch person), the Iphone does better, imo. And you are right on phone networks, I was basing my comments on the annual nationwide surveys that are done which pretty much bashed ATT. ATT has really dropped the boat on there network and focused more on the iphone market than anything else and when Verizon gets the Iphone (and Verizon's network nationwide is the best in the US), ATT is going to take a beat. Sprint on the other hand, has the 2nd best network in the US and some very interesting technology that could jump them to the top (WIMAX) plus the fact that they are going to be the 1st network to be 4G. Sprint does have the s***tiest phone selection though as they have focused more of there attention to the networks as opposed to negotiating phone deals and for long-term business use that might have been a bad idea because they lost a hell of a lot of customers to ATT/Verizon. Verizon has the best Android phones and ATT has the iphone. Sprint basically has the blackberry (which isn't unique), and a few android phones (but not the best one..imo).

QUOTE (CryptviLL @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:47 AM) Why is Jones playing CF not Rios. :@ SMH Jones is the beter Cfer, imo.

The Tea Party movement seems to be growing steam. While it isn't technically tied to the Republican party, it certainly seems that as of now it has rallied up the Republican base and that the Republican party will be making some serious noise come November. Interesting, since most everyone had been dismissing this movement to ignoring it in the main-stream media.

Texeira!

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:16 AM) I really don't think that's accurate. People rip the iPhone, but only because of the carrier that Apple has it's exclusivity agreement with... I am not an iphone person and I rip the fact that it is on the nations s***tiest network ATT. But as a pure phone, if the price was even for everything I probably wouldn't buy an iphone. My carrier doesn't offer the iphone so I have a blackberry which I love. And the reason I wouldn't buy an iphone has nothing to do with the OS and everything to do with the fact that I can't stand having only touch as an option. I like buttons for my texting, etc. One day that might change, but as of now, I'm old fashion with my phones. The Iphone outside of the fact that it has ATT and data plans are expensive through ATT (and Verizon for that matter) compared with the plan I have through Sprint an the non touch is as good of a phone as there possibly could be.