CanOfCorn

If you could take the Spin Doctors and the Gin Blossoms and stick them in a Super Bass-o-matic 3000... I think you'd get a Mediocrity Smoothie. But this comes from a man that loves him some Bobby Brown. So...there you go.

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Dec 14, 2006 -> 11:23 AM) Yes, after Sox games were over on Channel 44, you could get pay to get ONTV and if you were like my family you had a Black Box. Of course after 11pm you got a "special" treat. My friends used coat hangers and got the "treat" for free. Didn't it have a knob on the front of it with three channels or something like that? Man, I TOTALLY remember that...and now I feel old. Thanks for that. Jerk.

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Dec 14, 2006 -> 11:12 AM) but there have been some good opportunities to spend money which KW has eschewed. Give me a f'rinstance. Lugo, no thanks. Abreu, he wouldn't come here to leadoff. Guillen, maybe, but doesn't solve our leadoff problem. With the way these contracts are, $10 million for Garcia is a drop in the bucket. This wasn't a White Flag trade. It was a, "we aren't going to be able to re-sign all of these guys" trade. I mean, c'mon, we haven't even signed Cintron or Crede yet and they are going to get raises. Do we REALLY want to be the Red Sox, Yankees or Mets? I don't.

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Dec 14, 2006 -> 09:54 AM) I don't think KW is just going to spend money to spend money. If the market is out of control it seems like he is just going to wait out the storm. If all he does is add a backup catcher and one more reliever, the payroll will be lower for 2007. This situation will give him huge flexibility at the trading deadline. Excellent post. /end thread.

QUOTE(longshot7 @ Dec 13, 2006 -> 12:59 PM) I got you beat. Not only do I have everything ever released by the Spice Girls, I have all of their solo album and singles. (that's my dirty lil secret.) I also love S Club 7 and have all their albums, but not all the singles. Good fun disposable pop music. Spice World is one of my guilty pleasure movies. Ohhhh, Emma Bunton. Rawwwwrrrrr. Another movie is Return to Me. Cheeseball, but it's got Minnie Driver. Ohhhh, Minnie Driver. Rawwwwrrrr. I have also seen George Michael in concert...twice. Although anything after Listen without Prejudice, Vol 1 is pretty much crap. I also have a soft spot in my heart for Pat Boone-In a Metal Mood. Oh Pat Boone. Rawwwwwrrr.......wait, that's not right.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Dec 13, 2006 -> 03:50 PM) It's regular $379 at best buy on sale right now for $350. I have this camera, although I spent more on it...AND I LOOOOOVE IT!!! Although, I really am not a big fan of Dell, this seems like a great deal.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 05:23 PM) You are correct that it is VERY difficult to tie specific advertising to an increase in sales. But it is pretty widely accepted that as soon as you stop advertising, sales go down. How to best spend advertising dollars and measure their effectiveness is next to impossible unless you have a very targeted campaign to drive traffic with a specific promotion. And that, is what makes advertising so random and why ad companies use words like impressions, exposure, etc. I had a guy today trying to sell me on the effectiveness of advertising on grocery carts. He was talking about how radio is not good because not everyone listens to the same station. I guess he forgot that not everyone goes to the same grocery store. It was comical anyway. Yes, but there are companies that have very limited advertising or don't advertise at all...who, you ask? Whole Foods. Not a thing and look at their success.

QUOTE(WkdJstr13 @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 09:55 PM) You wouldnt happen to be an Angels fan would you? I dont know of any Sox fans that would trade a proven #3-4 starting pitcher along with 2 solid position players for 2 would be prospects. Ive heard alot of great things about both prospects but come on. Now if you add Sheieds and Santana to go with Kendrick, Wood and the K-Y, I think this deal could happen. 2 out of 3 proctologists prefer Astroglide... I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

Aaron Guiel Joel Piniero Marcus Giles Alexis Gomez Victor Zambrano Jason Bulger

QUOTE(kwill @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 08:47 PM) They have swung and missed twice and i think they need some starting pitching. how about howie kendrik, and brandon wood for uribe, iguchi and garland. Sounds like a deal. Who shot who in the what, now?

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 04:36 PM) This should be us making this deal. Horrible. Totally disagree. We should have gotten at LEAST one more prospect out of that...just basing it on what the Rockies gave up.

I work for an "integrated marketing agency" (see: advertising) and let me tell you...it's a friggin' crapshoot. Nothing works for everyone and you'd be hard pressed to get someone to completely commit to the thought that advertising DIRECTLY affects sales. To me, it's selling crap to people who don't need it and it certainly isn't rocket science... ...but it pays the bills!!!

QUOTE(Soxy @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 02:07 PM) Well, it's almost Christmas vacation time. And I am completely unmotivated. Anyone have any good ideas to keep motivated? Yeah, every time you say Christmas Vacation, you should try to remember to say HOLIDAY vacation! Us Jews don't celebrate that crazy holiday.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 02:39 PM) But you are a Sox fan. Would you be saying that if you grew up in California? If you are a soft drink marketing guy and as a kid drank Coke, would you work for Coke for less than Pepsi, because you are a fan? It's not like a player has free will in this. I love South Texas, if I was a ballplayer, I couldn't choose to work in South Texas. How many players get a chance to work in their hometowns? They are drafted, traded around, and most never achieve the level of success that allows for them to make that choice. And teams aren't any more loyal. Frank demonstrated over and over again a willingness to stay with the Sox. Now he's on his third team in three years. I will also say it's better for baseball that players compete in the boardroom as well as on the field. How would baseball look if players wanted so bad to wear Yankee pinstripes that they would play there for less? That they valued winning so much that they would congregate on one team for much less? But my main point is blame Boras all you want, but it is misdirected. He can ask all he wants, it takes someone to write the check. I blame the owners. I think that is oversimplifying it. Owners are to blame for writing the checks, but Boras over-values his players. The problem is, all it takes is one agent to inflate an entire market. Even though Zito hasn't signed yet, 9-figures were talked about from the get-go. Same with Carlos Lee. Boras single-handedly inflated the market with any of his players signing. Yes, the player has to want that money...yes, the owners sign the checks...but Boras has an uncanny ability to get more than his clients are TRULY worth...and that makes him a jackass.

3 yrs/$27mil yikes!

If I hear silence for more than a second or two after I say 'hello' then a simple click will do. Otherwise, a "no thanks, not interested" followed by a click works. One day I came home to 10 messages on my answering machine. ALL OF THEM FROM TELEMARKETERS AND ALL HANG-UPS!!! Now, I just pick-up and hang-up the phone in VERY quick succession. And from Milpitas Mom: http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/humor/007.htm

Man, you guys are forgetting some of the best ones: Jimmy Somerville Barry Gibb Vienna Boys Choir The Weather Girls /green

Happy Birthday! We all chipped in and bought you a 2k7 name change. Enjoy!

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 07:20 AM) Would you have actually been happy had the Sox offered $28 million for Batista? or $40 million for Lilly? I am not so sure I would be. That's exactly what I thought of. I mean, he's 35 or 36...down side of his career and the Mariners give him 3 GUARANTEED years at more than $8 mil per year. That's just a wow.

QUOTE(thedoctor @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 07:14 AM) austin, brent, wilson expected to choose illinois I think you meant McCray. Man, if they could pull off Hughes, Ray and Cornell...Zook should be demoted to Assistant Head Coach/Recruiter!!!

As long as Ozzie is the manager, there will be a chance. Good luck with the Phillie Phans Phreddy......

From Ken Rosenthal: I know people are paying a lot for pitching but, COME ON!!!

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Dec 11, 2006 -> 04:32 PM) I think of those as belonging to the Garfield Goose set of memories as well. Back when there was just Frazier Thomas with his his cool jacket with the medals and epauletts. Before he took over the Bozo ringmester gig from that scary, scary Ringmaster Ned. Ringmaster Ned scared the cr@p out of me. So. . . what about these guys?? V V V V THERE'S NO MAIL!!! Oh man, Gigglesnort was the best.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Dec 11, 2006 -> 12:12 PM) Career ERA of 4.34, even with his two incredible seasons in Montreal. Career record of 100-105. He's sucked both years he pitched in the AL, also. We're unfortunately in the AL, not in the garbage division that was the NL East when he pitched there. Ooh, he strikes out a lot of guys. Wowie! So does Kerry Wood. Anyone who uses "Wowie" in a post needs to be immediately baninnated!

QUOTE(Texsox @ Dec 11, 2006 -> 08:26 AM) The lines have been blurred on both sides, reporters and consumers. The consumer actually is showing strong trends for not wanting pure news. They prefer to find a news show that mirrors their values. Fox News didn't gain ratings because they are fair and unbiased, they appear fair and unbiased to conservatives. Other networks appear fair and unbiased to liberals. Evil and I could watch the same truly unbiased news show and find bias all over the place, but each would be pointing to different stories. More interesting is I've read more and more where people claim they get all their news from Rush, Air America, or whatever. And, (speaking for shows like Rush, Hannity, etc.) perhaps getting news in this fashion isn't the worst thing in the world. The issues are complex, so packaging the news story with an editorial and tossing in letters to the editor is convenient and fast. And that is basically what talk radio shows are. Here is the news story (front page), here is what we think about it (editorial page), and here is what the public thinks (letters to the editor). Getting back to this style of reporting, beginning forty years ago ratings became important to network news. No longer was the news departments insulated from any monetary pressures. Then the world started to change. Entertainment value crept in. A truly unbiased newscast would get zero ratings. The language would be so neutral it would sound like something that FlaSoxxJim would read to his grad students to put them to sleep at night. Conservatives would think the news was too liberal, liberals would think it was too conservative, and both would be right. And to the KoolAid question. I'm not certain of the subject, but if it was something he said, then in fact he did make the koolaid. That would be accurate. Read all the accounts of the Monica affair. If someone screws up,the article will not appear unbiased. You have to report negatives as negatives and positives as positives. That is an excellent explanation. But I'd like to add one thing. I think "biased" newscast will have a slippery slope effect. It'll make this country divide more based on conservative and liberal issues, instead of dealing with issues one at a time (which I admit is already happening). What I worry about with the rise of "biased" news is that the real news isn't getting out. It's getting twisted to fit the viewership. That's not news...it should be called something else entirely. Most news outlets are becoming or have become op-ed pages.