hammerhead johnson

Awesome signature, man

Bad, bad, bad baseball decision by ndgt10. In my best Bill Cartwright voice: Terrible

Nomar Garciaparra is hitting .333 on the road this year, and .309 at home. That's what they said on ESPN 1000 earlier today, anyway. Now, who told you that he couldn't hit outside of Fenway? The guy is a hitting machine, no matter where you put him.

George was one of the top 4 or 5 running backs in the league back in the mid to late nineties, up there with Marshall Faulk, Terrell Davis, Jamal Anderson, etc. How does that not qualify as impressive? And name me one running back in the entire NFL who averages 35 carries per game, let alone a guy who is past his prime! Hell, name me one running back who averages 30 carries per game. Guys would be dropping like flies with all kinds of injuries if they handled the ball that many times per game. George should get 15 carries per game, at the most.

Roger Ebert absolutely ripped that movie to shreds. He gave it one star & he indicated that it was a generous rating.

I shook John Fogerty's hand when I was out in Vegas back in 1998. He was actually kind of shocked that I recognized him. I told him that "Proud Mary" was among my favorite tracks of all time. He was really cool. I also saw Kevin Garnett at some arcade out in Schaumburg back in 1995, when he was still at Farragut. I didn't say anything to him, though. I saw Ruben Sierra in his big white truck outside of Comiskey Park a day or two after he had been cut. He was just sitting there, right in front of the players entrance. I felt bad for the guy. :headshake

Well, considering that the Marlins still have Beckett, Willis, Burnett, and Pavano, I think that they just became a much better team in the short term. Los Angeles got the better of the deal if we're talking about the long term, though. Penny is merely "very good" at the current time. I can see him making a run at the Cy Young award in maybe two years from now. Juan Encarnacion is not as bad as some of you are making him out to be. He had 37 doubles, 20 home runs, and 6 triples last year for the Marlins. He also drove in 95 RBI and had 20 stolen bases. His OPS might have sucked, but those are some nice numbers to have out of the 6th or 7th spot in your order. And the Marlins definitely need some offense right about now. Paul Lo Duca is overrated? We're talking about a lifetime .290 hitter who is batting .300 against righties and .315 against lefties this year. Don't forget that he hits in a park where .270 is a good average. And from what I've seen, the man can call a great game from behind the plate, and play some mean defense while he's at it. Good trade for the 2004-2005 Marlins, but very bad for the 2006 Marlins and beyond. But then again, they might know something that we don't. How often does Penny get injured? What are his long term prospects of staying healthy? I seem to recall numerous injuries over the past couple of years.

posted by winninugly83: Yeah, tell me about it. AJ Zapp, Ron Wright, Wes Helms, George Lombard, Damian Moss, Jason Marquis, a shortstop from Australia whose name escapes me (Glenn something), etc. The list goes on and on and on. Hell, the only guy that they traded who ended up working out is Jason Schmidt. IIRC, he was their #1 draft pick in 92 or 93. Boy, that one really came back and bit them in the ass, eh? I used to be somewhat of a minor league expert back in the nineties, but I'm too lazy to get down with the get down nowadays.

I hate condoms. It's almost like taking a shower with your socks on.

Holy s***....35,000 unique hits per day? I'm going to assume that there are thousands and thousands of wrestling sites. How did you attract so many people? That is unbelievable.

Happy Birthday! I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.

Van Exel was damn good when he was with the Mavericks. He averaged more than 20 per game in the 2003 playoffs, IIRC. And that was with scorers like Dirk, Finley, Nash (to a lesser extent), etc. Basically, if Van Exel is on a winner, he plays like a winner. He played uninspired ball with the Nuggets and Warriors (when he was healthy, anyway). I'm not so sure about Abdur Rahim, though. Damn near a decade with the likes of Vancouver and Atlanta? That can't be good. Can he coexist with Zach on the offensive end? The Blazers' primary weakness towards the end of last season (from what I could tell) was their propensity to clog the lane on the offensive end with Ratliff, Zach, Abdur Rahim, etc. That killed them in their matchup with the Pistons, for instance. They need to open it up a little bit. But guys like Ratliff and Hassell are wonderful to have if we're talking about team chemistry. They take it personal when they're losing, as opposed to the vast majority of NBA players at the current time. They're a nice combination on the defensive end, just like Ben Wallace and Tayshaun, Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan, Ron Artest and Jermaine O'Neal, etc. You can compare them to those three tandems, just like you could compare Garnett and Hassell to those three last year. Garnett said that Hassell was his "Defensive Player Of The Year" last year when the award was announced. That's quite a compliment coming from arguably the best player in the league. Shareef could still be traded, and guys like Ratliff and Van Exel have been racking up the injuries over the years, but I like what I'm seeing.

During the 2002/2003 season, Stepania (then of the Miami Heat) came into a game against the Bulls and absolutely went to work. He was a terror on the boards. I mean, yeah, the Bulls are terrible, but they're still an NBA team. When Portland signed him last year, I thought that it was a smart move. He might turn into something one of these years. Who knows. I think that he's a good 8th or 9th man off the bench right now.

I see. I don't remember Bowen, because he never played. I know that he was an undrafted free agent.

You don't remember that 1 hour "Bangin In The Hood" HBO documentary? It was all about bloods and crips in Little Rock. They have their fair share of rough areas down there in Arkansas.

Hassell is not worth 4.5 million per year? And why is that? Because he can't score? What you fail to understand here is that if Hassell holds Kobe Bryant to 15 as opposed to 35, he just cut down the opposition's score by 20. Do the math. Defense wins championships. And Portland is looking good right now due to the fact that they have Ratliff down low leading the league in blocks, Hassell on the perimiter playing shut-down defense on the opposing team's #1 scorer, Zach Randolph crashing the boards and putting up a good 20 to 25 points while he's at it, a healthy and inspired Nick Van Exel running the point, and Shareef Abdur Rahim? The guy is only 27 years old. Check the career stats: FG% / FT% / REBOUNDS PER GAME / POINTS PER GAME 96-97 VAN .453 .746 6.90 18.7 97-98 VAN .485 .784 7.10 22.3 98-99 VAN .432 .841 7.50 23.0 99-00 VAN .465 .809 10.10 20.3 00-01 VAN .472 .834 9.10 20.5 01-02 ATL .461 .801 9.00 21.2 02-03 ATL .478 .841 8.40 19.9 03-04 ATL .485 .880 9.30 20.1 03-04 -- .475 .869 7.50 16.3 And they have a solid bench with Ruben Patterson, Derek Anderson, Damon Stoudamire, Vladimir Stepania, and if they resign him, Darius Miles. So, please, don't call the 2004 Portland Trailblazers organization dumbasses, because they're pretty f***ing far from it. At least in my world, anyway.

Stupid money?????? They just signed someone who can cause havoc on the defensive end, and you think that it's stupid money? I suppose that Bruce Bowen would also be a dumb investment? What basketball school of thought did you graduate from? You sound like Don Nelson. Avoid defense at all costs! Seriously though, I know of at least one NBA expert in Sam Smith who has called Hassell one of the three best perimiter defenders in the NBA. The other two: Bowen and Artest. Sadly, the Bulls have had all three since 2000 (we cut Bowen in 2000- undrafted free agent).

I couldn't have said it better myself.

He still can't score, but the guy is a madman on defense. Portland already has scorers in Randolph, Van Exel, and Abdur Rahim. Hassell can guard guys like Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Peja Stoyakovich, Michael Finley, Tracy McGrady, etc. Holy s***....the west has the vast majority of the outstanding shooting guards. Even the second tier guys like Latrell Sprewell, Jason Richardson, Quentin Richardson, and Manu Ginobli are damn good. And I'm sure that I'm leaving someone out. Hassell is valuable beyond words.

When I examine football teams, I look at defense, the offensive line, and rushing first and foremost. Everything else is secondary. The Bills appear to have a very weak defensive line. It's pretty much NFL law that if your defensive line sucks, so does your defense on a whole (because LBs have to take on too many responsibilities & the secondary suffers from the lack of a pass rush). Miami, on the other hand, has some beef to work with. The Bills offensive line doesn't appear to be anything special. I like Mike Williams and Trey Teague, and they signed Chris Villarial, but I can't say that I like anyone else. They're in the same boat as the Dolphins in this case. Henry is very good, however. He's one of the top 15 backs in the league. Bledsoe and Moulds were beyond pathetic last year. Moulds can't seem to get healthy. A new head coach as well..... As far as I'm concerned, the Dolphins are still the better team. But I could be wrong.

gotcha

I wouldn't go as far as to say that. Many a great set up man, including guys like Damaso Marte and Latroy Hawkins, have failed miserably when it comes to closing games. It takes a unique individual to get the job done.

ayoooooooo, check the signature.

Yes indeed....a huge, huge advantage in the playoffs.