BrandoFan

I think Hawk's droping the gauntlet re: Mariotti was nothing short of AWESOME.

I think it's imporant to differentiate racists from race-o-phobes from the anti-poor crowd. All three kinds are present in every culture and nation. I think.

Say, don't have some more jokes to plagerize?

I just might. Drug addictions, mother disown-ment, infertility, casting couching, religious idenity, closet homosexuality, legal battles, delusions of grandeur, betrayal with Rome as backdrop..... and of course, the priceless ruminations on Life and Universe. It's all there.

And I am not a slave emancipator. Should I not read Lincoln's memoirs ever?

No, I wouldn't. But don't let it stop you from pulling out another bouquet of mocking generalizations about young people/students/readers/me. Then again, I know remarkably little about Augilera. She may indeed be Anne Frank/Ilia Kazan reincarnated as far as I am concerned. Or she may not be. BTW....since your class is called american colonnial lit or some such.....I am pretty sure the dicussion was not confined to Christina Augilera. I have a feeling you used the single stupidest remark (and Aguie-Mex immigrants fits that bill) to justify your thinly veiled contempt for Academia and to speculate about and ridicule the students' motives and thought processes..........which I in turn commented on, using MYSELF as an example that doesn't fit into the stereotype you described. I gave an honest answer, which you don't seem to accept. All I can say is.....read my two f***in' posts more carefully, and you'll see what I have a problem with and what I don't have a problem with....and why. I've made enough qualifiers and disclaimers to my opinion to last you a life time.

But she IS a military base child. Just sayiing.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/02/04/gay.marriage/index.html

You never came out and said "I was told Sid is staying in Baltimore" in November. AT least I don;t think you did. I remember back in December (it rhymes!) you and other people were still debating whether or not he will visit here, whether or not his agent met with KW, whether or not he will like it here, whether his labrum is frayed, etc, etc.....adding that if the deal is not done by December 9th or January 9th (don't remember which), Sox will never get him. Hell, I speculated that it would take 23-25 Mill over 3 years for Sox to get him and that 18/3 figure won't even work for Baltimore-- and he will surely give home discount. I guess I was right, too. But if you knew all along that Sid would sign with B-more.....Then tell me this: do you think 64 Mill payroll will stay the same, be revised upward or downward by the Opening Day. I could use some insight info for a change. Especially if it's good news. Thanks.

I don't disagree with you. It was possible to retain Osuna (or get Urbina in his place), Foulke AND get Colon AND still take a chance on Loaiza. All it required is literally 3-4 extra Mill, a few prospects AND GM's competence. But here at WS Land, we think small. Management is counting pennies all the while paying lip service to "going for it". Fans are jaded, b****ing about "product" oblivious to the fact that a few extra 100K in attendance in 2002, would have resulted in a higher payroll in 2003, which would have made it possible to keep Foulke and get a stud reliever to replace Osuna, etc and the team woulda surely WON the division. Just as it came down to "bargains" Koch, Rios and White last year sealing our fate....given how CLOSE the division is, it will probably come down to "bargains" Shingo, Uribe and Shoenweiss this year. I am serious. It's sad. 86 years.....

I know.

White Sox could go (and have gone) another decade without seeing a Loaiza-esque feel-good story again. Meanwhile.....their bargain-happy approach churns out SEASON-KILLERS like Ritchie, Koch, White, Rios, Daubach, Showenweiss, Parque, Clayton on annual basis. There is no free (ok, league minimum) lunch. Period. 86 years.....

I agree-- people seem to remeber only the few rumors that came true and not MYRIAD rumors that didn't. If someone were to tally them up, wrong guesses would outnumber the right ones at least 5:1. At least. As for Sydney....please.....It was obvious he wasn't coming to the Sox and would probably stay in B-more back when you guys STILL were giddy about his "audience" with the Sox and how if the deal wouldn't get done by a certain date it would never get done. Etc. Duh....Sox were about 5 Mill off AND their poor player rep. 2+2 = 4

Me too, Rafa, me too. One thing I love about soccer is its racial, national, ethnic DIVERSITY: Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Asians and everything in between....all had their moments in different tournaments.

1) Or do I? Don't get mad because I called you out on that tired hick BS. I tried to hold my tongue on so many occasions, reading your profundities about PA and his ilk hating stuff only because it's popular, etc, etc, etc......Enough was enough. It wasn't malicious. I wasn't mocking. I simply said what was on my mind.....as I do in EVERY topic, responding to EVERY poster. One of the few times I actually disagreed with you. Don't like it, don't read it. Simple. 2) I am sorry.....Where did I say I read/wanted to read J-Lo's auto-bio again? Clinton, Livermore, Stanislavky, Bergman, Eltzin, J-Lo. Hmm, something is not like the other.......I also mentioned that not all auto/bios are automatically ground-breaking, eye-opening, lesson-imbedding, didn't I? Many are useless, false and jaw-droppingly boring...... Finally, I stated in TWO different places that it was MY OPINION and that I wouldn't speak for everyone since I am not God and I don't know what their motives are....which is more than the courtesy YOU extended those "mindless and pretentious 19-year-olds".......Oh and for the record, pop group ABBA unsensored auto-bio I read as a teen was pretty damn informative, surprisingly so. Who knows, some day Christina Augilera may write or help write something relatively compelling as well. Life is funny like that. 3) How the hell do you KNOW? Because that's what YOU did? And the "people need to think for themselves" part? Where have I heard THAT before? Maybe they ARE thinking for themselves and, like me, read those autobios for the very "pretentious" reasons they gave.....Or maybe they are simply not bright enough to contruct and articulate an impenetrable defense to justify their personal reasons for reading? Maybe their professor is a brilliant teacher and they relate to him? Who the hell knows.....I don't. You apparently do......The contempt with which you speak of people as lemmings is sickening. 4) Don't switch subjects on me, my problem was with YOU and your smug generalizations, not with the art of AB narrative......But just to humor you: I know the pros as well as CONS inherent in auto-bios, don't flatter yourself as though you just solved some secret here, I am not that naive. As for the "truth".....did you just say your version would be the truth? Yeah sure 5) And you, in turn, remind me of a patronizing red-neck, jaded and washed-up, criminally anti-intellectual and vaguely anti-youth. Stay here. ROTFLMAO back at ya, partna. (Nothing personal, Tex. If I had anything against you, you'd known that by now.)

I saw the movie. Grisham and Clancy movies are hilarious.

I don't remember much about Shue's dealings....but I am sure they were as incompetent and short-sighted as anything KW and others have done. You don't JUST not win the WS for 86 years straight. Not when a pennant got you an automatic trip to the Series for so many decades. You literally have to TRY to fail. And try hard.

I know why I personally read auto-bios (anything from Stanislavsky's My Life in Art to Jesse Livermore's semi-fictional account): TO LEARN ABOUT THESE INIVIDUALS FROM THE SOURCE ITSELF, ABOUT THEIR WORLDVIEW AND SELF-VIEW AND EXPERIENCE.....TO EDUCATE MYSELF ABOUT A PARTICULAR IDEOLOGY.....ABOUT A CERTAIN TIME AND PLACE IN HISTORY......ABOUT LIFE AS A WHOLE EVEN.......ANYTHING I CAN DRAW UPON LATER PRETTY MUCH..... ANYTHING THAT FASCINATES AND INSPIRES ME.....SOMETIMES I DON'T KNOW WHAT I AM EVEN "LOOKING FOR" IN PARTICULAR--- THERE'S ALWAYS WORTHLESS FILLER YOU HAVE TO WADE THROUGH OF COURSE, DATES AND NAMES AND EVENTS GET INTERCHANGEABLE AT SOME POINT........SO IT BASICALLY IS ABOUT LESSONS AND EXISTENCE AND INTRASPECTION AND ALL THAT SOPHISTICATED AND PRETENTIOUS STUFF YOU DETEST......FOR ME AT LEAST, can't speak for everyone else. Some auto's are fantastic and resonate long after I put them them down, not looking at life the same ever again.....while others are pretty worthless and boring.. Whether such things are boring to you or if you consider me a mindless parrot I could care less. I am not about to stunt my growth because some jaded grown-up thinks everything could be boiled down to a few common sense aphorisms and wants to ridicule some student's earnest effort to expand his/her horizons......Sorry, a formally uneducated person such as myself could ill-afford to get bogged down in the anti-intellectualism and complacency. I aim just a little higher. If all you're interested in is an abridged history of Clinton's cum shots, then by all means. If it gives you further insight into who he is and into his reality, then all the better. I guess. (Oh and I also love independent films and think Britney Spears is a joke. Did I just make Tex's Most Wanted List? )

Oh, that surreal meltdown was DIVINE. I almost went crazy when their pinch-hitter split the gap against Farny and then again next day when Conine made the final out......Our neighbors were freaked out. I was truly happy, the amount of partying that week mysteriously tripled . In fact, one of the reasons I came back to this board a few weeks later-- I don't think I could have ever cared about baseball as much had the Evil Empire made it to the Series, let alone won it.

Forget about Gordon, he was a "safe", cheap choice that was lucky to pan out. I believe something else could have been offered in Osuna's place, a couple of prospects perhaps. Osuna was making a million too much and so was Foulke. 3 extra million would have allowed us to keep them both AND get Colon. 3 stinkin' Mill..... That's how winning teams with the eye on the prize operate. Bargains are nice, but worthwhile things cost just a little bit more and sometimes you gotta bite the balance sheet bullet. I do not exaggerate one bit when I say Rich White and Koch f***ed up everything in 2003. JM and Paulie get their share of blame, but those two clowns absolutely KILLED us early on (against some s***ty competition, too!) as to allow a then-struggling Minnesota to hang in there, stay close......and make their move at the Break by getting Stewart and moving Santana to SR.....The division was OURS, godamnit. The larger issue of Paradigm of Cheapness is not only with KW and JR, who we will agree are as cheap, but also with Sox FANS who didn't come out in 2001.....which affected the 2002 teams's chances.....which in turn screwed up the 2002 attendance.....which led to an unacceptably low 51 Mill payroll in 2003....which caused the Sox to let go of Foulke, Osuna or his replacement (Urbina?).....which killed the season.....which killed the attendance.....which led to another below-average payroll in 2004......The vicious cycle of Mediocrity and Greed continues. Opportunities are squandered. Fanbase is deteriorating. Stupidity is rinsed and repeated. Neither the short-sighted Sox fans want to come out and help the team's financial well-being NOR does JR wish to deviate from his profit-making plan and show some generosity and vision.........And then BOTH sides have the audacity to wonder what the f*** went wrong and why this team hasn't won s*** in 86 years.

Not only is it fun but it's also ESSENCIAL to "speculate" and project. How else can this dumbass franchise learn if not by examining its myriad mistakes? At some point, JR and Kenny need to realize that given how tight the 3-team race is, a couple of "low-key" aquisitions and a competent, hungry manager will mean ALL the difference in the world between a truly SUCCESSFUL season (winning AND making money to help the next year's budget) and the kind of pathetic mess we witnessed in 2002-2003. It is really that simple. A few smartly allocated Mill can mean EVERYTHING and usually do. That requires GM's utmost competence and the owner's generosity-- Sox failed to take advantage of 2002-2003 ALC. The "pathetic division" window of opportunity might only be open for a couple more years. Mortgaging the future (both winning AND profit) for the sake of small short-term gain has been the practice of choice for this doomed franchise for ages. I hope Jerry and Sox fans both realize how easy 2004 can go to hell as 2002-2003 seasons had when both sides don't want to sacrifize just a little.

For me, I am a simple guy, I understand OPS, RBI, RISP-- you get the picture. Watching Menkevich pant and sweat and choke the bat with his puny hands, I marvel at how this guy can even manage a 750 OPS. Paulie has one of the prettiest, most natural RH swings in AL. If this guy ever got his mental s*** together, he is a 950 OPS/120 RBI waiting to happen. He is in a different league than Menkevich IMO.. Last year aside, I think Paulie has only began his prime. His trade value is low and I think he is eager to atone for his 2003 team-killing sins. Put Kong in the 5th spot and F'GET'BA'IT!

What pisses me off most of all is the fact that: -KW only pulled the Koch-Foulke out of money and personal reasons, without bothering to check the particulars about the former's wear-n-tear -KW goy Rick White because he was cheap as well. Those goons cost us at least 5-6 "extra" losses not only because of their "beautiful" performances, but also because we had to use Adkins, Wright, Pantigua, Show as their replacements, and they did even worse. So even if I were to forget JM's incompetence AND Konerko's meltdown......the season was lost with those two moves before ST even began. (Which means that Robert Person and Shingo could potentially be season-breakers this year and we don't even know it!!) What makes me even madder are those MYOPIC bozos who say that attendance doesn't matter in the long run. Well, guess what, if just a few more 100K fans came out to the park in 2002, the 2003 payroll would have been 3-4 Mill higher, which would have likely meant Sox woulda kept Foulke AND Osuna (or replaced the latter with an equvalent FA talent), which woulda likely led to a MUCH better start and an easy divisional wrap-up as Twinkies would have been sellers at the 2003 ASB......VOILA, White Sox are in the playoffs! That's what you get when you bargain-hunt. If this year's team fiinishes 2 games out because the payrolll is 64 Mill instead of 68 Mill (as the case would have been had the 2003 squad been winning on a more consistent basis and attracted the crowds earlier), I wear I will go absolutely postal.

Wite, I edited the gimmick post with a Paulie comment.