Balta1701

Don't worry Tex, in a few months, the only history version you'll be allowed to print is the one approved by the Republican Party of Texas.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 09:48 AM) That entire team took one giant step backwards in the second half. The offense went from an .829 OPS in the first half to a .778 in the second, the starter's ERA went from 4.60 to 4.71, and the relievers ERA went from 4.06 to 5.14. There are a lot of reasons that '06 team failed, and Mackowiak's defense in CF was just one of them. I know all of that. But like I said, I'll go to my grave saying that if all we did was change 1 thing...if all we did was put Mackowiak on the bench and Anderson in CF from June 1 on, we'd have won that division. He cost us at least 1 run in every game he was out there, and usually his misplay wound up leading directly to a big inning, longer workload for the starter, and a loss.

The NYT on how much the people in charge of the bailout shafted the taxpayers in the AIG case to protect the banks.

The Cisco Cius.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 09:20 AM) Anderson never had a good swing. I actually gotta disagree with this...there were times when he'd completely overhauled it coming into ST, better balance, more bent knees, etc., but he'd get sent down or benched or injured and by the time he'd be back, all the old habits would be there. Beckham flashes a good swing every few at bats but just hasn't had any consistency with it this year.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 09:09 AM) yeah, that's a tough call, because in the next 1-2 weeks it's a real possibility that outside of 2-3 teams in the east, rebuilding is going to take about 5 years due to the FA shakeup that is about to happen, hopefully the Bulls are in the 2-3 teams! The other thing to remember is the lockout, and I'm sure if I were running the Celtics I'd have revenue/cost projections that included the worst case scenario of no 2011 season. That could be a good time to rebuild anyway since you'd be killing your fan base and potentially get 2 drafts without having to pay contracts, or it could be a double-blow that you'd really struggle to recover from.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 09:12 AM) I agree that some of his struggles concern me, but, and I honestly have no clue about this, is there concerns about Beckham's partying like there was about BA? None that I've heard, but there have been other concerns about his mental state. He was, for example, obviously frustrated and down in the dugout on camera a week or two ago, and there have been games where it looks like those plate struggles go with him into the field. I kinda wish he could hang out with about a dozen of us for an hour and we could all prop him up emotionally with the confidence we felt in him coming into this season.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jun 29, 2010 -> 08:58 PM) The divide of the "who has" and "who hasn't" is much, much worse now then it used to be. And, the teaching to testing and not to real learning is a humongous problem. I'd argue that it's one of the major downfalls of our society... because one generation to the next seem to lose all ability to think critically. IMO, our society has been torn from within - the 8 minute show - commercial - 8 minute show - commercial - 30 second soundbyte - 30 second soundbyte - commercial - 5 minute show is a huge cause of it. I'm not sure I can agree with you on the Have/have not divide, because, for example, back in the 1950's, the Have not version was a segregated school with no opportunity for anything. At least to my eyes we've swapped out racial segregation for economic segregation that just happens to mostly exclude the exact same groups. I will agree with you that teaching to a test is a major problem, but I'm not sure how to deal with that one. Better tests don't work because the more complex the test is, the more it costs to produce and evaluate them, and you'll probably never get rid of that problem. Not testing doesn't work, because then you're not getting any benchmarks for students or teachers. I'm at a loss on that one. I have an 86 page paper on hydrous melting of garnet peridotite I can offer you.

So yeah, my state again this year just passed the "Bring your gun to the bar" bill.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 03:36 AM) There are also very strong rumors that Doc Rivers is indeed retiring. Add that to Ray Allen being a FA, the big three could be no more (though I still think Pierce and Allen will re-sign) and I would love to see how Rondo now deals with being pretty much exposed. So, if Rivers is gone and Rasheed is gone and you're Boston, how do you deal with this offseason? Is it legit "Throw in the towel and rebuild" time, at which point you let Pierce walk, or do you dump a lot of money into trying to hold it together for one more year. In their position, I probably say that their run is over and go for the rebuild, but I don't have a franchise's finances to manage.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 29, 2010 -> 09:53 PM) I REALLY hope we don't give Joe Johnson a max deal. Supposedly the Hawks are prepared to offer him a max deal at the start of FA according to a report in NYC the other day, which surprised me because they've given every indication that they're cost-cutting. I won't be mad if we give Joe Johnson a Max deal, but only if he's the 2nd option Max deal. If you sign Bosh or Lebron and also wind up with Johnson, then I don't really care about Johnson being overpaid, because all he is to me is a luxury tax payment.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 09:00 AM) beckham's swing, IMO, is far better than Anderson's ever was, IMO that would be way too much for a 3 month rental and with the other bat's likely to get traded I highly doubt the Nat's get anywhere near that level of player/prospect for Dunn, but doesn't hurt to ask. Clearly his swing is better...I'm just not sure that his head is better, and that's just as fatal of a flaw. (Side note...usually the more vehemently I express doubts about someone, the quicker they turn it around. The more I vent about Kotsay hitting some day, the more likely he is to get a couple of hits, I've noticed).

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 08:54 AM) for a 3 month rental though? hell no! I'm worrying about Beckham seriously going all Anderson to the point that turning him into 2 draft picks doesn't sound awful any more.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 01:26 AM) I was actually sad to see him go. I'd get pissed off when he'd play CF, it was obvious he couldn't do it and that was where he was worst on the field. Might as well put Konerko out there. But Ozzie kept putting him out there, again and again. And again. And again. I know it doesn't show up in the UZR numbers and such...But I'll go to my grave saying that if Mack didn't play CF from June 1 on, we'd have won that division.

QUOTE (Al Lopez's Ghost @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 07:19 AM) Today the Arlington Heights (Il) Herald says the Nats want Beckham for Dunn. Uh, no. You know...I'm not as adamantly no as I was beforehand...

Soxnet.net game wrapup

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 08:21 AM) Uh...I don't know. Just looked him up. He hasn't had many opportunities this year, but a .277 OBP last year? Yikes. I think it's fair to say he's been injured for a long while now, which played into that number for last year. Blalock has a better batting average this year than Kotsay, but a lower OPS (yes, a lower OPS than Kotsay). With Kotsay at least being passable at 1b, I don't see how this is a strong possibility of an upgrade.

Apple hiring iPhone antennae engineers for some reason

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 29, 2010 -> 06:33 PM) I don't think there is any question that this approach started with Windows 95. Fixed that for you.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 29, 2010 -> 05:41 PM) Im in the party that I don't believe the "Summit" took place. Someone would of been an eye witness or got a pic of them together on TMZ or something. Videoconference?

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jun 29, 2010 -> 05:32 PM) At any rate, if Dunn isn't serious about not wanting to be a DH, he'd fit in nicely on the Sox and I wouldn't mind if KW can get him for a package of Flowers, Torres and Rodriguez. He can't.

Nets trade Yi Jianlian to Wizards basically to clear cap room.

I can't help but find this funny.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jun 29, 2010 -> 04:55 PM) but if you type in ESPN.com, it redirects to ESPN.go.com. So, they already own that domain name. And moving databases shouldnt be too hard. Perhaps there's enough people that still use the go.com portal that Disney is making money off of it.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jun 29, 2010 -> 04:36 PM) What's the point of Disney and all their properties using go.com? espn.go.com, abc.go.com, disney.go.com It makes no sense to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go.com