False Alarm

Best Lurker/Occasional Poster? or, in anticipation of the response to this post, Most Ignored Poster? cripes.

much love, hurt.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 05:36 PM) Yeah, I didn't catch that either. $11 mil or so. Mugh. Still...Think of it this way...the marlins signed a guy for 1 year, paid him basically the salary worth 1 year, and they get 2 potentially very good and cheap players out of it. That is still a heck of a way to build a ballclub. We've done some of the same things - think about signing Loaiza and turning him into Contreras. Overall, the Delgado signing is probably a masterstroke for the Marlins. indians're doing something similar with millwood: one year, $7 million, now they offer him arbitration--which he'll decline in favor of a long-term contract elsewhere--and could get a first-round pick plus a sandwich pick outta it while millwood declines for some other team.

QUOTE(hi8is @ Nov 10, 2005 -> 08:29 AM) hola there.... ive been in the process of writing a book and im now ready to begin sharing it... i created a myspace account for it.... it would mean a lot to me if you check it out and read the opening chapter. new chapters will be added weekly... im currently in the process of submitting the idea to publishing houses in an attempt to get some funding for the project, any intrest you show can only help. enter the world of phobia if you have myspace and are intrested, send me a friend request. and cant forget....GO SOX! hi8is, if you're submitting this to publishers, you might wanna do some research on electronic rights and what constitutes publication etc. i'm fuzzy on it myself and don't feel like digging it up, but i think posting it on a web site can be construed as publication, and no publisher'll buy reprint rights on a first-time novelist (i'm assuming the first-time thing; my apologies and please disregard, if you're already established). i mean, a chapter here and there shouldn't be a problem (as when novel excerpts are published in literary rags), but putting too much of it up could be a snag. not a very likely scenario, but i've heard of it happening, and i'd hate to see it become an issue if you get a publisher interested. also, this appears to be a work in progress that you're already querying publishers about. with fiction, most publishers will consider only a finished manuscript unless you're a big name. something to keep in mind. just tryin' to help.

maybe relevant: The Problem with Music

illinois st: i liked normal. unpretentious, for a college town. music scene not so good--everyone was basically an uncle tupelo knockoff or a s***ty jam band. the best show that came through in my four years there was digital underground (although beck played with red red meat there the semester before i arrived). housing was cheap when i was there (graduated '01), but i guess i dunno what you're comparing it to. good school? ISU = I Screwed Up. affectionately, of course. i mean, there were a couple of worthwhile people on the faculty for what i studied, but it's not looked at as a prestigious school. dunno how much value you put on prestige. and it's too far from comiskey. couple of hours. guess that's better than southern, anyway.

much love y'alls go sox!

for the statheads in here, pods' fielder RAA (runs above average) in left is 9. for comparison to some other LF, garret anderson's was -5, manny's -12, and shannon stewart's 2. i forget carl crawford's but his was also a negative. i remember reading a baseball prospectus piece when pods was on the shelf talking about how, judging just from his offense, pods was the worst LF in the AL, but that his defensive value raised him to the middle of the pack overall among everyday AL LF (can't remember by what measure, though i imagine his VORP is s*** by this point). i can probably dig up the quote if anyone gives a s***, which i doubt you do, so i won't since i'm at work right now. note that this isn't me endorsing or dismissing pods or BP or stats or scouting or the importance of LF defense or anything else; just seems like a relevant point that should be raised in the discussion.

nice piece. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/050902dish.html

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Aug 29, 2005 -> 06:42 PM) False Alarm, how good is stuff like De La Soul, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Rakim, RUN DMC, etc? And that's really only the tip of the iceberg. And yes, I am of the opinion that one must be damn near braindead to enjoy the subject matter in Tupac or 50 Cent songs. But you don't have to listen to that nonsense, as there are literally hundreds of great old school/underground hip hop acts out there with conservative lyrics and jazz fusion based beats. It's really a wonderful genre, but you need to surround yourself with the proper influences. And sure, there are exceptions out there. I have a good buddy who likes Tupac. He's an intelligent, family-oriented man, so hell yeah I'm baffled. It turns out that he's just a glorified head-nodder who doesn't even pay attention to the lyrics. But you can rest assured that exceptions are few and far between. They say that you are what you eat. I'm saying that you are what you listen to. gospel.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Aug 29, 2005 -> 05:35 PM) You dont see a difference in Hip Hop and Gangsta Rap? Just because Big Boi and Andre 3000 can rap, doesnt mean they are Gangsta rappers which is what i was saying. In fact, many songs that Outkast and Jurassic 5 perform completely rip on Gansta rappers and their songs. The attitudes in this thread are not against Hip hop, they are against Gangsta Rap. The violent, thuggish "hacks" may only make up a small percentage of what is out there(doubtful), but alot of the mainstream rappers came from that background. Ludacris, 50 Cent, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, even Bone Thugs n Harmony could be considered among this group, even though alot of these guys are considered fakes because their background wasnt tough enough for the critics. The MTV generation likes the violence and thuggery, and they have a big say in top 40, whether we like it or not. I, for one, love Jurassic 5, GURU, Common, Mos Def, Outkast, etc. And you will never hear me calling them rappers just because they can flow. you said, "outkast is more hip hop than rap." that's what i was responding to. if you'd've said, "outkast is more hip hop than gangsta rap," then i'd've had no quarrel. cuz yes, all those acts you name rap: the rap is the vocal line of a hip hop song. thus common sense and all the rest are absolutely rappers. they MC, they flow, they rhyme, they rap (granted that most peeps who listen to hip hop don't use the terms "rap" and "rapper" anymore)--all the same thing, ie the MC's role in hip hop. i don't think either of us are much interested in an argument over whether gangsta rap really constitutes hip hop so i'll leave that issue alone. anyhow, peace. just a misunderstanding over our terminology i guess, and then i kinda responded to the rest of the thread in the same post. wasn't clear to me that they were differentiating gangsta rap from the larger hip hop picture.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Aug 29, 2005 -> 02:56 PM) Outkast is more hip-hop than rap. And i dont really think LL Cool J was considered Gangsta Rap either. Suge Knight is nothing but a bully who has been in the right place at the right time all too often(business-wise). I watched the Documentary about Death Row Records(the life and death of death row). What an eye opener, absolutely scary s*** went down in that place. from what i've heard of him, big boi's a good MC, which means he raps, and he's been a pretty important part of outkast over the years. just cuz andre 3000 wants to be prince doesn't mean outkast isn't (or wasn't, anyway) rap. the term "hip hop" pretty much assumes rap anyway, as i understand it. also, the attitudes about hip hop in this thread aren't really fair. the violent, thuggish hacks that compose most of mainstream hip hop are a small minority. there are, like, a kajillion hip hop artists outside of the dozen or so that get regular radio/MTV rotation, and plenty of them deal with issues other than violence, misogyny, etc. just thought i should put that out there. and no, suge knight has never rhymed.

QUOTE(BMAC3520 @ Aug 25, 2005 -> 06:15 AM) Wait... is that me on the right or on the left? I'm offended if it's me getting my ass kicked. Unfortunately... the rest of the pic is pretty accurate. hey much love and good luck in the future, bmac. lookin forward to seein' you with the big team for good soon.

thanks you guys.

car CD: it takes a nation of millions to hold us back, public enemy. i'd have to think about which desert-island albums for a LONG time.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/...cuprosters.html one projection: UNITED STATES C—Jason Varitek (Red Sox) 1B—Todd Helton (Rockies) 2B—Jeff Kent (Dodgers) 3B—Scott Rolen (Cardinals) SS—Alex Rodriguez (Yankees) LF—Lance Berkman (Astros) CF—Jim Edmonds (Cardinals) RF—Gary Sheffield (Yankees) DH—Barry Bonds (Giants) SP—Roger Clemens (Astros) SP—Mark Prior (Cubs) SP—Ben Sheets (Brewers) SP—Mark Mulder (Cardinals) RP—Billy Wagner (Phillies) Manager: Bobby Cox (Braves) Skinny: USA Baseball has been one of the major players on the international scene in the last 40 years, as it should be, and is the only nation other than Cuba to win an Olympic gold medal. The United States will be the favorite at the World Baseball Classic, though its biggest advantage--depth--might not be a major factor in this tournament. A team of U.S. reserves would have a good chance at the gold, but it won't be a cakewalk. Players with previous Team USA experience, such as Mulder, Prior and Sheets, could get priority.

i dropped $30 for 12 gallons of 87 this morning.

don't forget kelvim escob--oh, wait.

QUOTE(Cerbaho-WG @ Jun 17, 2005 -> 05:48 AM) Bought The Brothers Karamazov today. This should last me the rest of the summer. when i bought crime and punishment, a couple of kids stopped me outside the bookstore and asked me to buy them a porno rag. (this was before the web was everywhere.) i refused. still, very awkward.

anything by morphine. well, maybe not anything, but a lot of things.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 07:38 PM) Novarro without question. Although in his short (1/3 inning?) stint in 2003, I got to hating Paniagua about as much as anybody could become hated in that span of time. He hasn't been heard from in MLB since, right? cripes.

not as sexy as navarro or ritchie, perhaps, but this dude did an impressive job of pissing me off in his 5 minutes on the team: http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/paniajo01.shtml

i'd feel better about our chances if his brother wasn't a top prospect for the rangers. i assume he got a pretty coin for being their 2003 1st-rd pick, and just from a practical standpoint, it seems to me more likely that a guy'll sign if his family could use the money. but knowing that his brother got a big signing bonus (and is on the fast track to the bigs) and thus that his family should be comfortable, jordan'll have less incentive (other than wanting his own loot [which could be enough]) to sign even when we throw big money at him.