Balta1701

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 02:03 PM) And there goes a small chunk of the $15B. Frankly, it's probably one of the better uses of that money that we've managed to come up with.

It seems that when the FBI called this morning to tell Blagojevic that he was going to be arrested, his response was "Is this a joke?"

QUOTE (Hawkfan @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 01:35 PM) Saturday I will be Flying down to Orlando, Florida to have Christmas with my family. I am Flying with American Airlines and ever since the stewardesses have become less attractive, I've noticed the quality of service sink significantly. I'm going to need a steady flow of cold cold beer, and I know I can't count on them, so how can I sneak a 30 rack of Keystones on to the plane with me? Empty them in to the only container you have available beforehand; your stomach.

QUOTE (shipps @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 12:46 PM) Question:What do you do when you participate in a game and apparently have no idea what the point of the game is and everyone ignores you. Javy? Is that you?

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 12:42 PM) For establishing again why it's vital that KW shut up in the press and focus on improving this team for 2009. He's done enough for the long term health of this organization, but there's holes to fill for this current team. You know, sometimes it amazes me how much fans allow themselves to get caught up in believing the words that come out of Kenny's mouth.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 12:40 PM) I just hope you're right. But if the Sox were serious about signing any free agents, I think we would have heard something. These things leak out. Especially after the intelligent moves made thus far this offseason, the only FA's who really fit this team's current structure would be back of the rotation starters, and right now the market for them isn't even close to set, given that the top of the line guys still haven't signed.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 12:31 PM) Don't know if this effects Dye / Bailey rumor or not. Rosenthal with more info Rosenthal Keeping the updates coming Well, it certainly does...in that Cinci has now filled 1 of their 2 biggest holes for next year, the fact that their catchers were all backups, and now may be a RH OF bat away from being genuinely able to compete with the top teams next year. Now the question becomes...how much do they want to spend.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 11:49 AM) Question: My two favorite things are playing with high-voltage electricity and swimming, but I hate it when I'm doing activity one and can't enjoy the other at the same time. Any advice on how to bring these two great hobbies together? Dry suit.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 12:01 PM) I don't think either of them are worthy of s***. Break the public trust and go to jail. Being a public official should hold you to a higher standard, not a lower one. Ryan needs to serve his term. I will grant you those points, but without advocating personally for a pardon for Ryan...you do at least understand why a politician might want to make a statement by requesting one for him after his leaving-office death penalty commutations I hope.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 11:55 AM) DukeNukeEm's post on another board: Im wondering how a bill like that even makes it to the governors desk? Does the mob just fax new legislation straight to Blago's office? I get the impression that sort of thing happens quite constantly in our system of government...that people are signing off or voting on legislation that directly benefits people who also happen to be big contributors to their campaign.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 11:42 AM) I'm hoping it's the former, but in the current economic crisis, who knows what the Sox Brass may have done with the money that they may have made over the past few seasons (invest in the sharemarket for instance, which has gone downhill to say the least). The way that I understood JR was making money was off of the increasing value of the team, esp. after the renovations to the ballpark and the 05 season. The additional revenues from attendance and merchandise were going back in to the team, while JR was still making money off of the increasing value of the team and its assets. Not only are we expecting a decline in revenue due to the general state of the economy next year...but you have to figure that the value of the assets he now holds has significantly decreased. The team's value has probably dropped by some percentage, and more so, tangible assets like the ballpark would have dropped significantly as well.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 11:39 AM) Apparently Dick Durbin is calling for a special election... So kick one corrupt gov out of office, and pardon the other one? Ummm OK. Can you name anything done by Blago that would be worthy of a pardon, unlike the other one?

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 11:36 AM) I dont know about God. In close to late situations he is horrible ??? Close and late last year he had an OPS of 1.205. He was a healthy wrist away from being able to replace Andy Pettitte's "Oh My God" in my mind with another image.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 11:27 AM) We were a healthy Linebrink, a healthy Quentin, a better leadoff hitter, a healthy 2005-ish Crede (although I think we could have made it with Uribe, probably, the way he was playing defense and hitting there at the end) and exchanging a "bulldog" like Garland/Garcia as 4th for Vazquez away from being a World Series team. You could probably also add in there "normal/career average" seasons from Konerko and Swisher respectively. How about a Healthy Contreras? I think healthy Linebrink, Contreras, God might have done it. Even as a 4th starter down the stretch, Contreras would probably have shown some bigger cojones than Vazquez, and that would have given us so much more flexibility to dump Richard in to games that Vazquez started early, etc.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 01:30 PM) The Expos were great in the 90's and they do exist- just in another city with another name. The remarkable thing about those Expos teams was that they brought forth at the same time a ton of the talent that would just dominate the league for the next decade (Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, then throw in guys like Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker, Cliff Floyd, Jeff Fassero) but they basically didn't even get a division title out of them by selling off all their guys & throwing in a strike. At least when the Marlins did a fire sale, they got back some solid pieces.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 11:25 AM) Some crazy team is going to give Derek FREAKING Lowe $80 million over 5 years. Now I know why Jon Garland turned down arbitration with the Angels. Geez, that's a lot of Lowe at this stage in his career, especially if he goes back to the hitter-friendly AL. And Jamie Moyer asking for $20 million over 2 years. I'll believe that when I see it. If K-Rod is going to wind up around 3/$40...

QUOTE (spiderman @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 08:40 PM) Thanks for the links! I'm looking for a MGM Air Fare type discount type deal, but aren't seeing those. Should I be seeing that on the link? Haven't checked lately, not finding anything listed on the MGM itself...but Mandalay Bay has a couple with a "Fly back free" option that might suit your needs, not sure exactly what they're running right now. Not sure exactly when your travel plans are, but I'd imagine the next block of discounts will start appearing in January and Feb. to cover the spring.

Barry & the Stump .cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png') !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;} The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Barry & the Stump Colbert at Christmas Colbert Christmas DVD Green Screen Bill O'Reilly Interview

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 12:46 AM) I think Octavio Dotel making $6.5 million as a set-up man would qualify as well...that's a lot of money to pay someone who's not the closer, not to mention the money committed to MacDougal, Linebrink and Thornton. If anything, it was a reaction (or overreaction to some) to the 2006 and 2007 seasons, in terms of correcting past philosophical mistakes of going "cheap" on the bullpen and throwing lots of "good arms" without much experience into the melting pot and hoping to strike gold with a couple of them (like Aardsma and Sisco, for example) While that's a bit much for Dotel for what he brings to the table, given the glut of closers on the market I really can't see him being moved. He's only got 1 year left on his deal, it's plausible that if the market turns around he's a guy we could offer arbitration to next year, and relief pitching is the one quantity teams are almost always looking for at the trading deadline.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 07:56 PM) I liked the Quentin trade. They are 2 very different players. Quentin still hit the crap out of the ball in AAA in 2007. I get it. Every minor league position player KW acquires will be like Quentin. Are you insulting G*d's ears?

Yay, something I can do that doesn't involve powerpoint! Smartervegas.com will provide you with a listing of almost all of the available public codes that are put up by hotels. The discounts right now are ridiculous at the big ones. Cheapest rooms I've seen. If you're flying from wherever it is you're at, take a look at some of the MGM/Mirage owned hotels (the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay for example) as I've seen several of them offering to chip in several hundred dollars of your air fare if you book a package through them. Fatwallet.com offers up many of the same codes, and sometimes swipes some of the insider codes for cardmembers and things like that which a non-message-board like the first link won't post. Oh, and Encore opens up in about 2 weeks.

I have no words for how annoyed I am with Microsoft right now. Seriously, it's impossible to embed an image in to a powerpoint flow chart? Who in the world decided to add that function and then specifically say you can't add in an image?

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 07:45 PM) Some big hiccups to forget with Lillibridge, Marquez, and possibly Bailey We won a fancy trophy by curing a ton of hiccups a few years ago.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 07:09 PM) So at the end of the day, their is a ton of capital that is available to be leant (either by consumer deposits or via bailout plan) that are sitting in the banks and not moving. Which is of course why simply saying "Here's money, now go do what you do" like the big bailout plan did was never going to work...because unlike leaders in other countries, ours weren't smart enough to force the banks to do anything with the money they were given.

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 05:12 PM) Rauch/Majewski for Everett was one of KW's worst trades. And yet, without it, we may not win that world series. Even in trades we lose, 05 sort of winds up being the great equalizer.