Balta1701

Iguchi must be lonely.

Man, the Dominican went from an outfield of Manny, Vlad, and whoever, to an outfield of Whoever, Whoever, and Whoever.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Mar 1, 2006 -> 01:57 PM) I don't have a problem with that at all. His positions are well known, and they fall in the Focus on the Family beliefs. Whether or not it bothers you...it could be a pretty good indication of how he'll vote on a lot of things.

Seattle signed Raul Ibanez to a 2 year, $11 million extension.

Wells is going to have the surgery. There's no estimate of how long recovery will take.

See, now it's things like This which make me not want to pick anyone. Seriously, how many people have to withdraw before you wind up with AL LEITER on the team? Something tells me that it won't be a great estimation of actual talent in those countries.

That's justice Samuel Alito, writing to James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Mar 1, 2006 -> 09:48 AM) And that is the reason I'm going with Cuba. They're already good, and they've probably known their team forever. That's gotta help since they'll be working as a team and the other countries are kind of throwing teams together. Still, supposedly the talent level on the Cuban team has dropped quite a bit in recent years. On the other hand, they did win the Gold in Sydney, so who knows.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 1, 2006 -> 09:50 AM) I read an article that said that Soriano has been the worst defensive second baseman in baseball over the past three seasons. I can see why the Nationals want to move him to left field. Soriano's OBP is downright pathetic but he wouldn't be bad as a #5 hitter. But the Nationals knew that Soriano didn't want to move from second base before they traded for him and they did anyways. Bowden is a horrible GM. That was the big reason why Texas had trouble getting anything for Soriano before the trade...even Texas wanted to move him away from 2nd, but Soriano always refused.

Just remember, the argument "I was ordered to do it" failed quite spectacularly at Nuremberg, whether or not the defendants were actually ordered to do it.

Took em long enough, this is the blogosphere for crying out loud, I shouldn't have to wait a week for a reply. Here's their response. So based on my reading, what this guy did in the response was basically remove time as a variable. The 9% decline figure from TAP came from comparing donations over differing numbers of years, which is obviously stupid. So, he recalculated This Excel Chart (which appears in the piece 2k5 linked to in a shorter form) and says "Ok, what percentage of each tribe's total donations over the periods with Abramoff and Without Abramoff went to each party"? When he just uses that dividing line, yes the total contributions each year to Democrats increase, which is probably to be expected in an era of skyrocketing political donations (that was the focus of the piece SS2k5 linked to). However, the total donations to Republicans increase vastly more rapidly than those to Democrats when the tribes were associated with Abramoff. There are only 2 tribes which buck that trend...the Cherokee, which stopped giving to Reps entirely after talking to Abramoff (maybe they didn't like him?) and the Mississippi band of Choctaw indians, which gave 87% of their donations to Reps before Abramoff and 68% of their donations to Reps afterwards. But, before Abramoff, they were only giving $35,000 total donations, after him they gave $1.2 million, so the difference between what was donated to the Republicans over the amount they donated to the Dems increased by over $400,000. Just looking at the raw data presented this way, there certainly is a major jump in campaign donations from all of these groups (which is why that 9% number TAP put out was stupid), but the jump to the Republicans massively outweighed the Jump to the Democrats.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 1, 2006 -> 09:23 AM) Disagree, he is worthless outside of the ballpark in arlington. He put up good numbers when he was @ Yankee stadium too.

QUOTE(Felix @ Feb 28, 2006 -> 09:10 PM) Wait, you are complaining about Hinrich, but not Iverson? Iverson is better than most of the players on that team, and has been successful on the US team before. He's a leader, and expressed interest in playing again. He'll also be 33 by 08.

QUOTE(Mr. Showtime @ Feb 28, 2006 -> 07:13 PM) The tv contracts wouldn't change, and there's no way in hell the crowds would suffer. For every angry person who wouldn't want to go, there's 100 more that would love to go who never get the chance to. In markets that like Arizona or something where they don't draw now, sure it may dip. I believe MLB took that gamble in 94. It failed miserably. You shouldn't underestimate the ability of fans to hold a grudge for years.

QUOTE(Soxrock200 @ Feb 28, 2006 -> 06:11 PM) Who you choosing in WBC I'm still not even sure who's going to be playing on each team.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Mar 1, 2006 -> 08:35 AM) I could have swore both Derek Lowe and Dave Roberts were there for the ring ceremony when the Sawx won the World Series. Lowe, a Dodger, even wore his Red Sox jersey. Is this any different? Is it up to Aaron? I'm sure the White Sox extended an invitation; it's probably in the hands of both the Phillies and Aaron. I would imagine Aaron would love to come back for the ceremony and reunite with his Stooges, but, I could also just as easily see him decline and start a new chapter of his life in red spikes. Anyone hear anything? Yes, the BoSox brought back Lowe and a couple other guys who had departed after their title and even had them in uniform. A couple of the teams where our guys wound up do have offdays on ring-ceremony day, including the Phillies and the Diamondbacks. Seattle does not. A month ago or so, I emailed Brooks Boyer with this exact question about the ring ceremony, and his reply was "We know the schedules or our ex-players, and we're looking into it."

Knight Ridder Mind you, this isn't some report leaked with no one on record...they actually have a person willing to attach their name to the story.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Feb 28, 2006 -> 05:44 PM) oh, i thought you meant something else. i've never taken birth control pills so i really don't know what i'm talking about Nope, this is the "Morning after pill" I'm talking about. In only prevents conception, which is why it must be taken within 72 hours of the, um, ya know. But it's approval as an over the counter drug has been hung up in the FDA for years now for absolutely no medical reason, to the point that the states are taking action against the FDA.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Feb 28, 2006 -> 01:40 PM) The Hawks would definitely take Aldridge. They have numerous SG/SF types on the squad already that they are trying to force into other positions. They have Johnson, Harrington (who I suppose might be on his way out), Childress, Smith, and Williams. On top of that Stoudamire is a 2 guard in a PG's body, which takes up even more potential playing time for those guys. They really need a PG or a big man. They'd be really stupid to take another SF (although they did take Williams over Paul last year, I can't see them doing it again). The Hawks, happily, will have a worse record than the Knicks unless the Knicks hit a winning streak. So the Hawks will have to move up to draft in front of us. We have to hope that either we come up with the #1 or Charlotte comes up with the #1 and we come up with the #2. Both of those should get us the guy we want. Any lower than that, and we'd either have to try to trade up or hope for Oden next year.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 28, 2006 -> 04:18 PM) If they don't by the Friday deadline and there is no cap in 2007, there is going to be serious trouble after the 2007 season. The players have said they will never accept another cap if there is no cap in 2007 (ie there is no deal by Friday) and the owners aren't going to do a new deal with no cap. You may see a significant lockout in 2008 if there is no deal by Friday. Let me say this as clearly as I can: There will NOT be a work stoppage in the NFL. No league has EVER had as much to lose in a work stoppage as the NFL has right now. Even a short work stoppage could damage the NFL as much as teh whole 94 strike did baseball, and a protracted one could empty stadiums for years. That league is such a money making machine right now that they'd be better off having snipers at the games trying to take out the players and management than having a work stoppage.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Feb 28, 2006 -> 05:38 PM) well, i guess that would depend on your definition of an abortion. i don't consider ending early pregnancies to be wrong. in the first couple weeks there isn't a living person being terminated. just my opinion Plan B contraception in no way ends a pregnancy. It prevents conception.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Feb 28, 2006 -> 05:23 PM) you think? a man is guilty because you think so? I don't think I have a clue either way. I don't know him, but I don't know the Venezuelan justice system, nor do I know what the circumstances were. For all we know those guys might have had something to do with the kidnapping of his mother and he might have decided to do something about it. I figure we can just let their legal system figure it out. He probably has enough money to get off unless there's overwhelming proof, or at least he would if he was in this country.

As much as I want to say PK, I have to give this one to Podsednik. The reactions of both me and everyone I saw on video just did it all. A collective "No Way" from every single Sox fan watching.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Feb 28, 2006 -> 03:25 PM) it was so obvious too, if someone bought yahoo at those prices they shouldn't even be buying stock as an investment (they don't know what they're doing). If they bought in when the stock first reached the level I might consider "Overvalued", and then they held on until a couple weeks ago, they made out jolly well.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Feb 28, 2006 -> 05:19 PM) well, i guess that means they'll vote to atleast limit the practice of abortion. So, in other words, you're saying they'll get Bush's FDA to finally follow its own reccomendations and make plan B contraception available without a prescription?