BrandoFan

I dunno I almost died laughing at the airport interpreter sequence.....

Hey, I realize it's tough to stay interested in the drama if you didn't grow up on the game and are not emotionally invested in invidual player's personalities. (Hell I couldn't give a s*** about women's tennis when I was 10 but Gabby Sabatini was all kinds of hot! lol my future wife, lol).........There are 3 players I would watch-- Agassi, Federer and Safin-- other than that I'd rather play the game myself or do something else. Then again, if I could learn to love a COMPLTELY foreign game, baseball, so can you tennis some day....

He first came back from a big deficit (including match point) in the 1999 FO quarters against Carlos Moya who won the 1998 FO. But the guy you are thinking of is a Ukranian Andrei Medvedev who had Agassi down 0-2 (2-6, 1-6) in the '99 FO Fina before Andre stormed back....Amiable, fluent English-speaking, WTO player-dating Medvedev had a Top 10 talent and was at one point ranked as high as 4th or 5th, but at the end he comes from a long line of late 90's Soviet under-achivers- Safin, Kafelnikov are in the club as well. Tennis is an awesome game, a true SPORT (which is more than you could say for golf). Especially to play.....with awkwardly coordinated girls, the hotter the better.

Oh no...I could tell you hate it, you hate the kitty...Waaaaa.

Aawww....No one understands me like Jim's woman does. Re: BTW...

Maddux brings intangibles FAR greater than Colon: --Leadership and mentoring the youngsters --Chicago icon....you'll get bandwagon Cub/Maddux fans in the park or at least TV. --Sign to Sox fans to wake up and gloat all over their Flubbie friends. My Bitter Sox Fan Conspiracy Theory of the Day is that the Cubs may have already reached a discount agreement with Maddux and are waiting to unveil it during-- MWWAHAHA!-- Soxfest.....Mommy!

Umm....that's not enough. Not if 1999 atty was 1.2 Mill. Remember the rule of thumb: each extra 100K = 2.5 Mill. And 2000 team had a good Spring Training AND a great April/June start. And yet, with all the freebies and one of the cheapest seats in the majors, you had games with under 20K against playoff teams. I am sorry....there is NO excuse for 2000. None. 2.5+ Mill fans should have been out there supporting their team. Maybe we would have gone after Maddux this year if Chairman had just a lil' more faith....f*** Sox fans. Edited: did you not notice, I dunno.... a 30 MILL jump in payroll from 2000 to 2001??

Why can't we have Greg Maddux? I wanna feel good about this team and stealing the Professor from the Cubs will put a giant f***ing smile on me face and might just force me to double my game-attending budget. If we were willing to commit almost 7 Mill per for Frayed Labrum (career ERA in mid-4.00s) or 12 Mill per to an overweight hard-thrower (career ERA of 4.00).....WHAT is the BIG deal about giving a soft-tossing HOF'er/fan draw/Cub dahrling 14 Mill over 2? Trade Konerko and a couple of prospects for Perez, give him away, anything-- just make the f***ing room, Kenny!!!! As seemingly unspectacular as GM was in 2003, his walk to K ratio was better than in 2002 when he had a 2.60 ERA AND he had an impressive outing against the red-hot Cub (2 ER, 1 of them totally Robert Fick's fault) on the road in the playoffs...... I see Maddux as a low-to-mid-3.00 ERA pitcher in ALC and at least create some buzz 'roud the franchise. Which is more than I could say for Ponson and to a lesser extent Colon.

No hard evidence... yet, eh? Hell, I'll settle for flacid evidence at this point. Anything. OT: My favorite emoticon has triumphantly returned! Oh happy days.

No mo' Hewitt. Philli is gone, too. Now let's go Safin!

Wow....of all the snubs and injustices and stupidities that Academy Awards has perpetrated on the gullible public in the last 75 years......you're indignant about a towering achievement such as LOTR rightfully getting recognition?! Common....Where were you when wooden Julia Roberts won over Ellen Burstyn? And why are you so perplexed by the peculiar way the award mechanism works? Don't tell me you aren't familiar with the Process, whereby different studios campaign and make under the table deals with each other and the Academy for who should get what and when and why; when noms cancel each other out and are traded off; when actors get awards as consolation for past snubs (ie Lifetime Achivement award, see: Pacino and Denzel); and finally when hugely profitable and technically ground-breaking Trilogies get recognized as ONE..... Lost in Translation is quirky and poignant and all, but common, this indie flick has no chance of winning as Bill Murray getting an unlikely nom will be in itself a.......Cold Mountain would have TOTALLY sucked if not for Jude Law's charisma. It's remarkably soul-less and cliched-- wanted to fuse the best of English Patient and Gone with the Wind and ended up as forgettable dreck..... Mystic River should net acting noms for a couple of vociferous left-leaners in Penn and Robbins, with Penn winning Best Actor, and that as far as Academy is concerned is more than enough. Perhaps old Clint Eastwood will be thrown a bone in a Non-Best Picture category, but then again Martin Scorsese is still waiting for his big moment, lol.......Master and Commander has TWO very marketable stars in Russel Crowe and up-and-commer Brit Paul Bettany (his wife Jen Connely is gorgeous and an Oscar winner herself; might be nominated this year again, too) who will get acting noms in Best and Supporting, plus it should get special effects props-- no way, no how it wins Best Picture in any other year let alone The Year of the Rings. As I see it, since there is no Godfather or even Schindler's List competing against it , Rings Trilogy which was shot as ONE film btw, should justly win it all. Simple as that. It's 3 times the movie Titanic ever was and it won.... And sitcom Emmy? I remember the late 90s when it was between two hilarious masters of scenery chewing, John Lithgow and Kelsey Grammer....Who do we have now? Talentless Matt LeBlanc and a one-note Annoyer Extraordinaire Ray Romano? Kill. me. now. If you're Kiefer Sutherland fan (I prefer his old man myself), I suggest picking up Freeway? It's very dark though, but funny too. Very good. Amanda Plummer and very young Reese Witherspoon's in excellent performance in it too.

LORT is gonna win, trust me on this one. Just trust me. It's a Star Wars-esque money-maker that future generations will be be watching in awe. Money makes the world go 'round, rememeber? This is OSCARS afterall....not some snobby untelevised NY Critics' Circlejerk Award. It's also a critical/undustry dahrling-- which you couldn't say for Titanic or Armaggedon or Jurassic Park or some other mindless FX fare that people have in mind when they talk about Academy not recognizing the genre's credibility---which further boosts its chances....Hell, even it's director is well respected if only because he accomplished a technical feat that NOONE thought was possible under the current studio system. As far as performances.....Cate Blanchett is one of the best actresses of her generation.....Serena (Gay Sir Ian McKellen) is an AWESOME actor.....Cristopher Lee who uncannily played Saruman will be a textbook on how to play fantasy villains....Viggo Mortensen makes the ladies go wild lol.....and of course Elaja Wood and that Aerosmith chick have the teen demographic covered. So if you're worried about the trilogy's chances being hurt because of lack of good acting and/or internationally marketable stars, you needn't be-- it's represented on both fronts pretty well. And them not getting acting hype/awards before will actually ADD the voters' sympathy element-- everyone loves the underdog. Finally, the fact that it didn't win in Best Picture the first two time outs is PRECISELY why it's gonna win this time--- as a Trilogy Achivement.

Yes. Roger Clemens had also just as repeatedly made clear that he shall retire after 2003. Once Maddy realizes nobody is paying 20 over 2 and considers his options: a) go to Cubs who originally dissed him and be overshadowed by Prior, Wood and Sosa......while going up against Astros, Cardinals and Reds (Kearns, Dunn, Jimenez, Griffey, Casey, etc) offenses, something that can't be to good for one's ERA. b.) go to Cubs' rival.....prove to Clemens that he can outpitch him even in the AL and maybe even contend for the WS ring in a different league.....all the while padding his ERA and increasing his 2005 value against such offensive powerhouses as Tigers (terrible), Tribe (really bad), Twins (below average) and Royals (average if either Sweeny or Gonzo have any sort of nagging setback and team BA with RISP drops below .305....which it will). Of course this is White Sox we are talking about.....It was a rather pleasant crack pipe trip while it lasted.

Old Man Pohlad is one of the wealthiest men in the WORLD-- estimated to be worth 20 BILLION dollars. Now get out yer calculators and see how many seasons he has to lose 20 Mill (and I think the actual number is much closer to 5-10 Mill than 20) per in order to make a serious dent in the INTEREST he is making off his assets alone.......LMAO!! Incidentally, the Wal-Mart heir and owner of KC Royals is also capable of buying BOTH JR and Steinbrenner and hanging them on the wall.

Oscars routinely produce as many mind-boggling snubs as Golden Globe do, but at least GG are refreshingly UPFRONT about their glamour party/popularity contest nature.....whereas Oscars are pretentious and delusional to what they are REALLY all about. And I don't doubt for a MOMENT that Bill Murray is gonna get shafted in March. If he had Jim Carrey's 1990's international/maintream appeal, then his excellent portrayal in LIT would have a solid chance at the statuette. BUT since we know Murray is washed-up in terms of age and box office draw, the powers that be threw him a bone in a form of a GG so they can give the much more prestigious Oscar to their younger, more promising player. The only prayer BM has winning the Oscar is by grabbing unto the sympathy/lifetime achievement angle-- they give a lot of those in the Supporting Acting Categories-- but when it comes to Best Actor, it's Russel Crowe/Tom Hanks/Jack Nicholson time! Sorry. Last year I got all but one right in the 7 main Oscar categories, but this year it could go either way. The only shoe-in is Charlise Theron as Best Actress and The Ruturn of the Trilogy, er King as Best Picture.

You know what the funny part of the whole thing is Cali? Those oft-ridiculed butt-kissing Foreign Press trolls have been MORE on the money with their awards lately than the ever-so-solemnly-worshipped Oscars. Oscars: Ron Howard's Beautifully Trite Mind, Chicago, Nicole Noseman, Gwyneth Nepotism Paltrow, Julia Roberts, Kim Bessinger, Roberto Begnini, etc, etc, etc. 2004 GGs: Angels In America, Lost in Translation, Jeoffrey Wright, Tim Robbins, Charlise Theron, Sean Penn, Rickey Gervais (the office dude).....all solid choices. The only beef I had with GG is giving it to Pacino over Tom Wilkinson who had to carry the Natural on his shoulders. Pacino wasn't even the best one in his movie-- Justin Kirk was.

I can forgive Kenny for 2001 because: 1) Tribe had a better team 2) Half of the key players from 2000 were either on DL or with nagging injuries. 3) GM learning pains. 2002 and especially 2003 were UNFORGIVABLE and should have been MORE than enough to get him FIRED. (I don't even want to THINK what will happen should we fail this year and Cubs go deep into playoffs....) And before anyone points to the Great Unpredictablity of Baseball and Life when talking about Kenny's season killing trades, aquisitions and signings (Ritchie, Koch, White, Konerko, Klayton, Baines, Durham for Adkins, Ramirez, Pantygua, Show, Rios, Daubach, Jimenez waiver fiasco, etc).....Hey, guess what fellas, that's why HE is up there earning the chex and getting the chix and NOT us blue-collar grunts-- to make TOUGH close-call decisions and be RIGHT. Just like a big-time corporate stock trader entrusted with millions of dollars, he's gotta show SOMETHING that makes us go "Oh, he is good!" on consistent basis. Especially considering that with Sox payroll, ONE big mistake and you can kiss the season good-bye. Nobody said it was easy or fair. A's GM did it. Angels GM did it. Marlins GM did it. Twins GM did it. Expos GM kinda did it (with healthier Guerrero, in ALC, they are a 1st place team). Royals GM is doing it. Not having enough luck is NO excuse. Not in big-time sports, not in the markets, not anywhere. The fact that KW was not gone by June 2003 is yet ANOTHER testament to the mind-numbing ineptitude that has enveloped this franchise.

I'll burn in Hell for this, but now I can't stop thinking about Woody Allen and the Braille Porn in Bananas.

I've always been fascinated with Helen Keller and I think Miracle Worker can't begin to do her justice. Blind, deaf and dumb...that's some way to go through life! (That's also 3 Oscars for Sean Penn right there.) Come to think of it, Helen Keller got off easy-- she could have been a Cub fan....stupid, drunk and impotent.

I am better with gynocologically correct analogies....but point well taken.

Won't happen is damn right. Between dirt-cheap Shingo and Maddux, that's one potentially high-reward move too many for this inept franchise. I mean, if we were willing to commit 36/3 to overrated Phatolo, giving 12/2 plus performance-based insentives to 1st ballot HOF'er/Chicago icon/fan draw Maddux one year removed from a 2.60 ERA season......to pitch in a very weak hitting ALC.....simulteneously keeping him away from WS-bound Cubs....no, that makes too much sense. Let's pin all our hopes and the welfare of the franchise on Ownedweiss and Judy instead. After the embarassing 2003 (all star year; special 1983-1993-2003 historical connection) choke-job, with ongoing park renovaitons AND with the impending headlines saluting Cubian triumph, where did people get this krazy idea that White Sox are in a DIRE need of instant success in 2004.....

Hell yeah, way to represent CW!!! I just hope all this newly-found fame doesn't go to your head. "Alright, Mr. DeMille, I am ready for my close-up"

If the best people can come up is the "25-year" arguement, then JR's case is looking strong: 1. Sox aren't just another business. It's a MAJOR city SPORTS franchise that made him famous beyond his wildest real estate-themed dreams. His name is uttered on every other thread here for crying out loud! He is also a HUGE baseball fan. Those two things combined are worth a few Mill losses a year ALONE, don't you think? 2. His sweet lease/tax issue has been debated to death, so I think it's entirely possible that he is keeping this franchise NOT because of some mythical profits but simply because it's a fairly LOW-RISK proposition-- if you aren't gonna lose much money owning a business even in the worst-case scenario AND that business just so happens to be a storied franchise in a big market, meaning the best-case scenario will prove to be quite lucrative....why the f*** NOT just keep on owning it? Jerry is getting up there in years, Brooklyn Dodgers are not coming back in the foreseeable future....Sox don't need to be a profit machine to be of VALUE to HIM. Far from it. 3. So why doesn't he just go on a spending spree losses be damned? Well, because he doesn't OWE Sox fans anything AND because he has majority-holding partners to answer to. Try to understand that. 4. Even if we forget about the tax/lease double whammy that protects the Chairman from the ruthless economic reality and Sox fans' moodiness/spending whims and about the sentimental value of owning a team.......The fact that the VALUE of this franchise has been increasing many times over in the last 25 years, in spite of the team's mediocre performance and waning fan interest, alone means it's definately WORTH owning.....But he CAN'T spend that money on payroll for obvious reasons. 5. You say everyone knows MLB owners are making out like bandits.....Are they, though? I am sure Yankees and a few others are....But are the Sox? Since we have established that it's possible/probable that JR would have the incentive to keep owning this team for 25 years WITHOUT seeing great returns that could be converted into extra payroll AND we agree that he is entitled to at least BREAK EVEN (or show some minimal profit for his partners whose mistresses gotta eat) year in and out, I guess the only way for you, Pastime, to convince Great Sox Fandom that the mediocre payroll is the Evil Chairman's fault rather than their OWN is to produce HARD EVIDENCE proving beyond the benefit of the doubt that he is sitting on a mountain of spendable cash. Afterall, since *everyone* knows all JR excuses are nothing more than Rhetoric of Greed, it shouldn't be hard to do. And NO, knee-jerk fallacy-ridden agruements along the lines of "why would he keep the Sox for 25 years if he wasn't gettin' rich off of it?" will not do.

BS rumors can always be traced back to PHG's DNA.

When we played b-ball during 8th grade PE in a dilapidated gym with s***ty rims, if you missed 3 uncontested lay-ups in a row, nobody would pick you for their team for the rest of the year. It's nice that these days, you'd be considered an NBA team-building pillar. Again, Heinrich-Jamal-Tyson-Eddie-Dup/ERob combo sounds good to me. A couple of huge "?" such as can Tyson be healthy and can Eddie play in 2-3-4th Q's, but other than that it's all good. Jerome, Antonio Davis are stictly supporting cast.