Milkman delivers

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 25, 2010 -> 08:22 AM) I personally loved this finale. It was 10x better than the Lost finale and it stayed true to the series. I hope the movie is 24 hours long. I watched both finales, despite the fact that I saw almost none of either series (I often do that with big series finales of shows that I don't watch). Based on the quality of the actual episode, the acting, and the closure, I'd have to go with Lost being much better.

QUOTE (smalls2598 @ May 25, 2010 -> 07:35 AM) I think you hit the nail on the head.... Sox fans "on here" see the 2005 as a team that jelled together, got the timely hits and pitching to win the World Series. The team really wasn't full of All-Stars, but more of players who nearly ALL played above their career averages in one hell of a season. However, if you talk to the "casual" Sox fans who don't visit this board, I almost guarantee you that they still think Pods, Rowand, Crede, etc are gods. As for the Jenkins/Banks/Williams love....come on dude, they're Hall of Famers; they deserve to be cherished by Cubs fans. I'm pretty sure everyone will agree that no one from the 2005 Sox team really has a chance to be a Hall of Famer. Well, Frank and possibly Buehrle, but I know what you're saying. QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 25, 2010 -> 07:54 AM) You act like people forgot that Pods hit a walkoff WS homer. Everyone on this board will remember him for that and be grateful for it forever. However, that was 5 years ago, and we want the Sox to get back to that postion today. If he isn't the best player to take them there right now, then people are gonna say that. His baserunning cost the Sox a few games last year, so people have the right to b**** about him. It doesn't change their memories of 2005. Banks, Williams, & Jenkins are hall of famers, I don't know how you can compare Rowand & Crede & Pods to them either. If the Hawks pull out this series, it won't change the fact Brent Sopel is awful at hockey. I'd be glad he helped win the Cup, but I can still comment on his play. Cliff Levingston, Bobby Hansen, Randy Brown, etc, weren't great basketball players at all, why should I act like they were because they helped the Bulls win NBA titles. It's not worth it. All the logic in the world wouldn't change his mind.

Another season in which a Canadian team does not win the Stanley Cup. I usually find joy in that, especially when the team that wins is from a hot climate (Lightning and Hurricanes). You just know it pisses Canadians off when something like that happens.

QUOTE (WCSox @ May 24, 2010 -> 11:35 PM) Carl Everett was a starter on a World Series team as well. What's your point? Rowand was a really solid defensive CF who had a couple nice seasons at the plate. From what I've heard, he was also a good clubhouse guy. But he never figured out how to hit the ball consistently, and hasn't posted a .750 OPS since Sabean stupidly gave him $60M. I like Rowand on a personal level and appreciate what he did for the Sox, but I'm still happy as hell that Kenny traded him for Thome, and then acquired a much more talented and accomplished CF four years later. And I can't be the only one who is pretty sure he was a roider.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 24, 2010 -> 10:25 AM) I think Floyd has better stuff, Danks just has more drive. Yeah, Floyd has the potential to be better than Danks, but Danks will always been better than him. Always.

And here come the pretzels!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 24, 2010 -> 03:34 PM) Lemme give you this in reply: Floyd Landis Vs. Jose Canseco. No matter how bad Canseco's motives may have been...the game of baseball is a better game for what he did.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 24, 2010 -> 04:12 PM) Well a few of them already are on different shows. Charlie, Penny and Juliet. My guess is that the ones who want new jobs in television are going to be back pretty quickly. I don't know about that. The only person on the Sopranos to do anything worth note since that show ended is James Gandolfini...and he hasn't done much. The same thing will likely happen here.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 23, 2010 -> 11:23 PM) The only thing open to interpretation was the powers and mythos of the island which is probably the best way to go since there is no acceptable explanation for this. The reveal in the church is in and of itself a cop-out since it's a convenient way to give everyone a big shocking finale but avoid having to come up with a true explanation for the island's powers. The thing is, I just find it tough to get my ire up over the finale because I didn't expect any grand answers for the light at the heart of the island and any lame-ass crazy explanation they could come up with just wouldn't suffice so leaving it open to interpretation was the way to go, the alt universe being purgatory is neither horrible nor awesome because I didn't really give a s*** about the alt timeline to begin with, the on-island stuff was the only interesting action in the final season up until the in-purgatory flashbacks started happening. Basically, they're trying to get a rise out of us with the purgatory angle because it distracts from them not answer any questions about the island's powers and I'm just not going to get upset over a possible lame explanation to a question that didn't interest me in the first place. The finale for me is flock killing Jack, Jack killing Flocke, Jack knowing that he's f***ed so he sacrificed himself to save the island, Hugo is the new Jacob, Ben in the new Richard, Miles, Frank, Kate, Sawyer, Richard and Claire all get off the island and the rest is open to your imagination, the end. Works for me. What about Hume?

QUOTE (Brian @ May 23, 2010 -> 06:55 PM) Good points, Milkman. I think Chase got what he wanted out of the finale. Constant discussion. I actually may go back and watch my Sopranos DVDs after I finish The Wire. Yes, he certainly got that. I don't think he meant for the ending to be one of those "it's up to you" scenarios. When asked about the final scene, he said that "it's all there to figure it out." Of course, that's not the exact quote, but that is the gist of what he said. It's also interesting to note that Chase only directed two of the episodes in the entire series, the pilot and the finale. He was meticulous about it, so you know that every detail in the episode was meant to be there. Even the tiniest of details were put there with intent. When the writer I mentioned before slowed the final scene down frame by frame, he noted that the line "Livin' in the lonely world" played exactly at the first frame of Carmela stepping into the diner. That's just another thing that popped into my head.

QUOTE (Brian @ May 23, 2010 -> 06:00 PM) I never bought that because all the enemies we knew of of Tony's were taken care of. He made peace with NY before having Phil killed, Paulie got promoted, Uncle Jr's money went to Janice and Bobbys kids. Would if of been better if it faded to black? I'm not going to get too into it, as I have a tendency to go on and on for hours discussing that finale. I'll just say a couple of the points that this writer talked about. In mafia movies (especially The Godfather Trilogy, which Chase often said was a big part of his inspiration), the color orange is associated with death. Vito Corleone had just bought a bag of oranges when he was shot, Carlo and Johnny Ola are both seen wearing orange suits and both are killed, Michael Corleone dies holding an orange in his hand, and Vito dies with the orange slice in his mouth. In the Sopranos, Tony buys a bottle of orange juice before his attempted assassination in the first season, he drinks orange juice before Junior shoots him in the sixth season, and he eats an orange in the final episode while he and his family are in their safe house. The man who comes into the diner in the finale is wearing a Members Only jacket. The name of the episode in which Junior shot Tony was Members Only. Tony also said that his favorite part of The Godfather was when Michael shoots the guys after coming out of the bathroom. The diner in which the scene was shot has a completely different layout than in the show. The bathrooms are not actually directly to the right of Tony, so they intentionally set up the scenario of the bathroom being out of Tony's line of vision. Also, remember that dream of Christopher's where he went to Hell? He told Tony and Paulie the message of "3 o'clock," and the bathroom is at Tony's 3 o'clock. The background of that final scene has a big orange tiger painted on the wall, and this is not in the actual diner, so it was added with intent. The family is all wearing black while they're eating, too. They even eat their onion rings in a manner reminiscent of Communion wafers, all three of them. Again that suggests a Mass, or funeral. Tony even offers the onion rings to AJ saying (this might not be the exact quote) that they're the best in the city. In the Godfather, Sollozzo tells Michael at the restaurant right before he is killed to "Try the veal, it's the best in the city." And of course there's the conversation that Tony had with Bobby on the boat in the first episode of season 6B about what happens when you're killed and how it probably "just goes black." During the week before the finale aired, HBO showed that episode, which is weird. Usually a station will air the most recent episode, not the first one of the season. David Chase also apparently wanted the blacked out silence after the episode to last for 3 minutes (the length of silence customary for a death/tragedy), but HBO didn't want it go on for that long. So, they cut it down to 30 seconds and even that had people flipping out thinking that their cable went out. On a personal note, I feel like NY wouldn't miss the opportunity to take Tony out. Sure he got the OK to take Phil out, but Tony's mafia family was a shambles. The crew was wrecked. Carlo (another similarity to the Godfather, by the way, in that the betrayers have the same name) was turned by the Feds, Bobby was killed, Silvio is in a coma from which he'll never get out, and Tony himself killed Christopher. That leaves only two made men in Paulie and Patsy. We all know that neither one of them would be able to step up and take the reigns if Tony were to be killed, and NY knew that as well. They discussed taking Paulie out when they agreed to go after Tony, Silvio, and Bobby, but they decided that Paulie was an afterthought at this point. Paulie was just a guy that would follow whoever had the power, a disloyal coward (remember when he was ratting to Johnny Sack to improve his standing with NY?) And then Patsy, well he's no better than Paulie. It seems Patsy never even made his bones. Hell, he knew Tony killed his twin brother and he didn't even have the balls to shoot him when he had a clear shot. All he did was take a leak in Tony's pool. The only other members of that entire crew that had more than one line of dialogue in the series were Benny and Little Paulie, and neither of them were even made. Take into account the obvious personal vendetta that Butch (who would clearly be in line as the next Boss in NY) had against NJ and specifically Tony. It would just be too good of a payoff to take Tony out and take over NJ, and it'd be easy. I know I said I'd keep it short, and sorry to muddy up the Lost thread with Sopranos talk, but this really is a short post. I could write a book about the Sopranos.

QUOTE (Brian @ May 23, 2010 -> 05:21 PM) I'll get ripped, but I liked The Sopranos ending. I have no problem with a "Life goes on" conclusion. I hated the Sopranos finale when I first saw it, but have grown to love it due to all of the little nuances. I'm not sure where the article is now, but a writer from some other show has a blog that completely breaks it down. It basically says that Tony was killed.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 23, 2010 -> 04:33 PM) Well, the Phillies know questionable relievers when they see them. Ha, nice.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 23, 2010 -> 04:00 PM) FYI, "fiancé" is male, "fiancée" is female. That's what I said.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 23, 2010 -> 10:09 AM) Just 5 days till I get married. Have my vietnamese ceremony today I take that as meaning your fiancée is Vietnamese?

I've never posted in the drunk thread before, but I'm going to take this opportunity to point out that I can drink more than most of you, and we need to set up a chat crew outing. I've known a few of you guys for years, but never met you in person. Who's in?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 22, 2010 -> 10:00 AM) O. M. F. G. Bullfight goes horribly right....for Bull That's fantastic. If only that bull got into the stands and did the same to some of the spectators. EDIT: There's also a great comment on that page. I'm wondering if it was someone from this site. "Greg Luzinski finally exacts vengeance for Aparicio making the Hall of Fame."

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 20, 2010 -> 06:11 PM) Very nice. Yeah. I get confused for George Clooney quite often. Who's that in your avatar?

QUOTE (Tex @ May 20, 2010 -> 03:31 PM) I kind of did the same double take. I'm guessing it has some health, and defiling the body as temple angle. That's pretty much it. QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 20, 2010 -> 03:48 PM) Yeah my 14 year old daughter isn't the biggest fan. I had no idea you had kids, let alone that old. That beard of yours going a little gray?

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ May 20, 2010 -> 02:08 PM) I think you can make the argument that he's too important to the sport to never have a positive result publicized. There have always been rumors of a positive EPO test in 2002, and I think there's enough smoke around Lance Armstrong to think that he's doped - just like nearly every pro cyclist in the game. It sucks that Landis was doping in some ways, but the test results were really odd. His positive in the TdF looked like a set-up, he tests positive on a day he basically wins the race through a miracle but tests positive for a steroid that wouldn't have the desired effect for that day. But the more his whole situation spiraled out of control, the more it became obvious that he doped. He was an exciting cyclist to watch, and really was the anti-Lance cyclist. I really wanted him to be innocent because I think a rider with his personality who won clean and free would have been awesome for American cycling. No offense, but I find this humorous. I think Glidden is the most exciting paint to watch dry.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 20, 2010 -> 12:40 PM) I'm having a weird issue with iTunes. I always have my music on shuffle, and the little indicator says shuffle is on, but now it's just stopping at the end of songs instead of moving on to another one. Also, when I skip a song, it just ends the current song I'm on and doesn't move to another one. Anyone have any idea what is wrong? It solved itself about 20 minutes after I posted this, of course. It was like this for days.

That's just weird, Sqwert. I also kind of find it weird that you would even have a tattoo. I know it has nothing to do with being a vegan and all, but it just seems like a vegan also wouldn't do something like that to their own body. I probably won't ever get a tattoo. I can't see any tattoo being as cool or funny in the future as I might find it when first getting it. The only exception I can think of is a veteran. It's still really cool to see a veteran from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc. still have their unit's symbol. The coolest thing ever would be to meet someone who actually has a battleship on their chest.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ May 20, 2010 -> 01:55 PM) Here is more of a realistic formula. 1.) Magic - Maybe a spell, a curse, or some other wishing potion might wreck both the twins and the tigers. 2.) Act of God - Natural disaster, end of the world type s***. 3.) Ped use - Maybe their the nutritionist gets caught spiking horsey testy juice to all of their good players. All at the same time. 4.) Intimidation - Maybe the Chicago outfit can start to pressure the other teams to give it up, make an offer they can't refuse. 5.) Massive injuries to large parts of their teams and to most of their minor leagues at the same time. In reality. Just hit the f***ing ball like you have a pair, and catch it like you don't have two stone hands. That should do wonders for the winning percentage. Ooh, I hope they use Alka-Seltzer tablets like in the Little Giants!

QUOTE (SoxAce @ May 20, 2010 -> 01:40 PM) He is not suppose to be great at SS and 3B, two positions he never played in his career prior to last season (not counting the occasional LF, etc.. as well) Hard to get in a groove at 2B also when you only play once.. maybe twice a week (or 2 weeks), not to mention are consistently being moved around. Like you pointed out though, his UZR was still pretty good with all that happening. Imagine if he stayed there, playing everyday, at one position the whole season. Like Teahen at 3B?

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ May 20, 2010 -> 12:26 PM) You know what Floyd...don't "clear the air" or your conscience...just shut up. You f***ed up...you said you weren't doping, you got caught, you were suspended, and NOW you say you did. Here's a great way to clear the air. Shut your yap. I wouldn't be surprised if Armstrong or any cyclist was doping...s***, if any athlete was doping. This is old. Don't be a jerk and just take your medicine, do your job and close your mouth. I disagree. The more he talks, the more likely another cheater goes down. I'm not going to applaud honor among thieves.