BrandoFan

If it's so sad, feel free to ignore what I say anytime. That'd be too easy. That's not my style as you probably have surmised by now. No offense to a f***o like you. Cheers I'm such a "sad loser", yet what I say keeps you glued to the screen and you can't help but reply. Hmmmmm.... What can I say? Slow weekday? Besides, I never said that SL's weren't a pleasure to bash. See, I am being very upfront with you, pal.

If it's so sad, feel free to ignore what I say anytime. That'd be too easy. That's not my style as you probably have surmised by now. No offense to a f***o like you. Cheers

Aka "speaking you mind and being true to your nature"? If only there was anything in your sad nature worthy of being true to...

I agree with your larger point (if we forget about roids and cork, Sammy's 1998-2002 numbers alone should reserve him a spot in HOF and that if he was still a 30/30 man, Cubs would have still lost 100 games). However, you are kinda wrong in your minor point quoted above: if you forget about HR totals for a second (homers are flashy but pretty meaningless, it's the RBIs that count), his run production is certainly excellent, but it doesn't rival that of Foxx, Ruth, Gherig, Ted Williams, etc best years....especially when you consider they played with unwatered-down pitching, dead ball, in huge parks, with pitchers throwing spitters every other pitch, high mounds, without steroids or even personal trainers, etc, etc, etc. OPS alone makes Sammy great, but not otherwordly so.

1. But he didn't take it like a man, not exactly anyway: just because there even more phoney/pathetic excuses out there (like hiding behind the agent, batboy, blaming white people, etc), doesn't mean his saying "I confess...it was an accident...now you evil media stop acting like I gased puppies between innings...I am a real man afterall, one who has enough courage to be sitting here talking to you!" should automatically reserve a berth in the Honesty Hall of Fame, know what I mean? It was very insincere and self-absorbed and I don't believe a word of it. 2. Sammy is stupid and stubborn with his power he didn't need it. To jeopardize your career because of a few extra homers a year and a few dozen feet on a homer is idiotic. I can see Royce Clayton do it (I am sure he does)...But the Freck Neck? Stupid, monumentally so. 3. Having said that, a really good corked bat (most are hack jobs, it's an art form in itself), doesn't add "less than 1%" to the flight of the ball as Steve Stone patronizingly prefers to remind the dirty masses. No, it adds between 3-10% which is the difference between a bases loaded warning-track flyout and a grand f***ing slam. It also makes a bat lighter, increasing batspeed...again, which could be the difference between being tardy on a pitch and weakly grounding out and hitting a vicious linedrive to the opposite field for a double.

If people would only admit that there is more to the game of baseball than batting average and error totals, there would be no need for me to stand up for Jose ad naseum. You point to DJ (who I myself used to praise more than anyone, no?) as having a higher OBP, well I point to the fact what Jose does once he is on base ie. going from 1st to third, scoring on doubles, scoring on infield popups from 3rd, takeing extra base on bounce in the dirt, stolen bases, etc. That's part of the reason why Jimenez and Valentin are tied with 27 runs scored a piece, but I guess like with errors, you are gonna atribute to luck/coincidence and not baseball IQ/superb baserunning, right? Couple with that Jose's ability to bunt (numerous sacrifizes and a couple of basehits), his more or less acceptable RBI production (24 on pace to 70+, more if he starts hitting) and his clutch defense (with Cleveland run finally included, he still has only 4 runs charged to him way less than Graffanino, Jimenez, Konerko, etc and he is gaining on league lead in things like DP turned, though he is still behind people like ARod who have played in 70 more innnings at SS)....But whatever I've been over this 10 times already. Still putting Jose (who's been disappointing so far I'll be the first to admit it) in the same boat as Rios, Konerko, Crede and Alomar would be Krazy! He is merely mediocre whereas they are terrible. Big difference.

1. Why would he cork so many bats in the first place? He may be an egomaniac and a wifebeater, but he ain't exactly stupid. Out of 80 bats, 3 or 4 were corked. One of them was seized during the game, and another 3 Corkmaster3000's could have easily and conveniently disappeared before the 4th inning confiscation. That simple. 2. MLB coverup theory, which is less likely. Either way, he is f***ed in my eyes, not that I could stand him before this incident.

After D-backs won it all in 2001, I dreamt of the following Tribune front page: a full-page photo taken at the post-game, champaigne-drenched celebration with Mark Grace show the camera his new precious WS ring...on his middle finger and some wiseass headline as his message to the Scrub organization. Wouldn't that be absolutely priceless?

You have to factor in the time that they are caught stealing. IMO being caught stealing cancels out 2 SB's, so in the end unless you have 20+ SB's with a great percentage of steals it becomes overrated. Is taking one base worth the chance of an out, especially when teams are hitting HR's at a record paces. Bobby Valentine brought this issue up on BB tonight and also agreed that the risk of taking another base is not worth the chance of making an out. There is more to speed then just stealing bases, but Sosa has decent speed even today. He is nowhere near as slow as a guy like Konerko. He scores from 1st on most doubles, from 2nd on most singles, and from 3rd on most fly balls. He still has decent speed. A valuable leadoff hitter like Henderson in his prime is just as valuable as a slugger like Sosa in his prime. But to suggest that Sosa had the potential to be the 2nd coming of Henderson is blind optimism. The fact is that he become just as productive as a guy like Henderson taking a different path, but because we don't like the Cubs or Sosa we find ways to critize him without just cause. I agree a CS should be counted against a player just like GIDP should decrease one's total bases if anything else....BUT to suggest that CS should cancel 2 SB's is a bit out there; afterall considering that you put pressure on the pitcher and make him waste pitches on pitchouts and nibble the corners which only helps the batter in the box, even a CS can be somewhat valuable....I don't need to tell you that a steal puts a runner in scoreing position which ion turn opens the first base and changes the whole defensive alighnement, to say nothing of, once again, malking a pitcher nervous thatthe runner might take for 3rd with less than 1 out if the ball touches the dirt, wild pitch, etc....There is no way to put the price on Jeter, Beltran, Alomar having 90% steal rate in their best years..to say nothign of take extra bases in many different game situations, staying out of DPs, etc, etc, etc....which at the end of the season comes to A LOT. Now, Sammy prodigious run produciton still elevates him above the rest...but for guys like Moe Vaughn, Edgar and Jim Thome, it's very crucial to slug a lot or their worth dips significantly. ammy is not nearly as slow as Konerko (whom you might as well walk if he is hitting well since he is gonna be stranded at 1st regatdless), but he is a realtive non-factor on the base pathts. I also mantioned running+defense as a combination, they are often related.

Thanks for missing the point, it had more to do with this naive idea some seem to have around here that baseball IQ and great BR is something any young player can achieve almost instantly...But anyway, shall I expose your homer-ific if not totally simplistic prospect breakdown, tough guy? I don't think so, you're overmatched against whitesox6834793 as it is. (DJ has indeed been pretty good this year, but his defense and no range have cost the Sox more runs than Jose's (4 so far inclduing that Cleveland one just to remind you), and his baserunning has been very mediocre while Jose has made the most of his bases-time. The difference between the two players is not as big as you think. If Jose raises his average to 250-260 range and gets a few more RBI under his belt, he could easily catch up with DJ as far as baseball worth is concerned...But, again, that's besides the point)

It can be argued that Ricky Henderson at his best as valuable as Sammy in his best 2001 campaign because a SB is as good as a double and often a triple. Almost. Add to it extra bases/advanced on ball in the dirt that are not scored as a SB and all those runs scored from 1st and 2nd......Whereas a slowass Sammy/Frank Thomas nowdays, when they walk they are often stranded on 1st since they are not going anywhere and they certainly don't score from 1st on a double, etc....Over a full season those extra 20 runs a year Sosa produced over a typical slugger are lost because his defense is subpar, arm inaccurate and feet slowed....Tack onto it his 20 Mill salary and what you get is an overrated player. Still HOF-worthy, tho. Speed+defense is a deadly combination, just ask Mariners fans about Ichiro in 2001.

Yes Chisoxfn, Molto and Co, smart running skills and baseball IQ are so easy to replace as perfectly exemplified by DJ a few minutes ago to nothing of the reast of the team for the last 2+ years...Jose who?

Staying with a pitch, putting modest level swings for grounder and linedrive singles, taking extra bases, mounting a late comeback...Who are these Sox? Why weren't Graff and Daubach playing everyday for the last month I'd like to know?

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are so f***ing off base - in both of your equations you blame the woman human psychology is not the simplistic 7th century dark ages piece you make it whenever you enter the real world, email us all, so we can rejoice Look at who you're talking to, cwsox, this guy refered to a precious cutiepie singing "Jose-Jose-Jose-Jose" in one of the WS ads spots as "stupid little whore".....this guy has MAJOR mommy/women issues and yet he is the one who considers the rest of the world to be in "severe need of psychiatric help". Hate to be all ahead-of-the-game-y about this, but I didn't call him a presumptuous, hypocritical loser a while back for nothing.

Judging by the content and the manner with which you offer it, what are you, Gigolo McGuru? No offense, ok? I mean well.

This has been said before I am sure, but...are you for real? That's about as cartoonishly dumb teenager-y as one can get. Wow.

So what, should I just start being a stupid greedy selfish asshole just because "many" adults are? Humans are always going to be fundamentally fallible, but moral and otherwise relativism and weary cynicism ain't the way to do either. Leave Kenneth Lay out of this, will ya? He has nothing to do with Martha's transgressions, however mild you think they may be. Had she made 10 mill instead of a much lesser sum, that would mean how many 100s of investors would have lost hard-earned money, or do middle classers not figure largely in your scale of priorities? I am not and my family isn't, we ain't scammers. And I am damn proud of it too. Mother Teresa would be happy to hear that on your scale of worth/goodness, she is the same as some drunk pub rat, a dork playing Nintendo all his life or a crook like Martha to say nothing of hardcore criminals and assorted human waste scum...when it's all said and done. Oh, please just because she didn't sponsor child genocide, doesn't mean she is clean. What a crock! I agree with T. Williams that deliberate cruelty is the only thing that is unforgivable, and I certainly hope Lays of this world will roast in the pits of hell for all eternity....but think of the ramifications if they do let it slide for Martha, another win for the white collar criminals, another win for celebrity... - Speak for yourself- it's very real, Sox are a big part of my life and people on the net as I mentioned before are real people first and foremost. I am not going to be sorry for being passionate and alive, nor for not treating my fellow Sox fans with apathy and insincerity....Besides, if you strip "real" life of all the small , seemingly unimportant stuff like art, entertainment, sports, dicking around, passionate arguements, etc, etc, etc....there will be hardly anything left worth living for. I do agree with many of your other points though.

1. Even before Heaven of anonymity known as Internet came about, insider trading and assorted golden pen crimes were virtually everywhere, show me a CEO, a Mutual fund officer, an R&D project coordinator, etc who hasn't dabbled in some sort of scam or hasn't looked the other way upon encounter with IT at least once in his/her lifetime....cynical but very true. Feds can't possibly cover them all so they must choose and pick and make public example out of people. Martha just got a bad break, that's all, but as someone already mentioned, this is a shrewed and b****y woman who certainly knew what she was doing. Crying dem crocodile's tears was to be expected. As was the media circus- we are living in 21st century America afterall. 2. The myth that insider trading is a borderline vinctimless crime is just that- in the stock market for every dollar Martha Stewart made, somebody has to lose it. As is usually the case with overhyped, bubble "miracle cure" drugs, the whole FDA approval process and of course the stock exhange/market/Wall street itself...for every Martha privy to "special information", there are a 100 restaurant cooks/working stiffs out there with their kids' college funds on the line who are being deceived into believing the hype, into thinking that they can succeed without cheating... and end losing A LOT of money as a direct result more often than not. They don't have the "It's not what you know, it's who you know" maxim in the stock market for nothing, you know, the game is definately rigged...Martha and her ilk can rot in jail for all I care. Feds are good guys here as hard as it is to believe, and if they need to pit one indictee against another and use somewhat ethically dubious means to achive results and get those bastards, then so be it...And who f***ing cares if they get "notches on their belts"--if there were no insentive, ambition, honor or prestige in becoming a prosecutor (or a military man), why would anyone want to do it in the first place? Reality being what it is, expect it to be celebriticized or even political, that's the price to be paid if you can call it that...

Ah, it's not french art if it doesn't have an explicit cranial bludgeoning and an even more explicit, horrific 9-minute scene in which Monica Belucci is getting sodomized in a train statatim by a gay pimp (how's that for homophobic!!) while a cowardly bystander is callously walking away instead of calling the police or at least scaring the attacker off.... Time destroys all indeed, Mr Gaspar, expecially your pathetic excuse of exploitation filmmaking....

I'm a fat white guy. I'm not. This is a recent picture of me: Where's your little gerbil then?

How do "we" know that? Because he played int he 60's and ran 100 meters slower than 14 seconds whereas modern players are all in the 11 range and some like Michael Owens are uinder that? Or you think they'd just liet him take the ball up the middle, is that what Paolo Malidini would do? Ask Rivaldo what it means to play against today's D... How does it feel to be so wrong all the time?

I also loved Aerton Senna, the greatest driver of all time.....is that because I am the White Devil who hates Brazil?

Did you like CIDADE DE DEUS? That Ze mofo was mean and Bennie was indeed very cool.

How do you mean, rafa? I guess a lecture on the unimitable virtues of Brazilians chicas is in order.