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Should Israel be held responsible? Of course, not. Is Israel responsible? Partly. Should Israel take the upper road and work on building relations? Yes. Is Israel doing that? No. Ironically, I just finished watching HBO's documentary on the 1972 Olympics. So after taking everything into account I have the same opinion I had when we debated this topic in December. Israel needs a new policy towards Palistinians and other militants.

That was a war!

I am about middle of the pack in the Soxtalk pick 'em, and I don't see where I am going to gain ground

Very interesting question. From what I have heard Wright's stuff is perfect for the bullpen. Wright has shown he can be effective (and streaky) as a starter. Wright also has more experience. Grilli on the other hand has a nice upside but has not shown durability. So do you just put Wright in the pen now and give Grilli a chance to prove he can pitch at this level...IMO, No. I think we are in this thing to win, Wright has more experience and has shown the ability to win 14 games. He looks healthy this year. Put him in the rotation. When we have enough quality starters developed to fill a rotation then we can move Wright to the pen. Grilli will get a chance to pitch a full major league season as a long reliever/spot starter. Hopefully he can get 90+ innings and put up some quality numbers.

odd that he didn't feel a bullet go into his stomach. Seems like something of that nature would be extremely painful.

March Madness is having an impact on my social life. Last night I went out with a group of friends so we could plan our prom. My date became upset when she noticed I was paying more attention to the tv by our table than I was to her ideas

I noticed once that the correct spelling of Chacon has an accent mark over the 'O'. This implies that he is of latin american decent.

I think it would take a great deal of research to prove what turned african americans away from the sport. I find it very odd that the decline seemed to have occurred when guys like Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Barry Bonds, Kenny Lofton, and Albert Belle were some baseball's most recognizable athletes.

There was a SI article last season about the african american baseball player. The article pointed out a trend I am sure most of us have noticed, that the African American baseball player is disappearing. The article in this thread concentrates on the pitching staff, but in general there are fewer and fewer african american baseball players. I will use the White Sox for example... 1993: Frank Thomas, Tim Raines, Lance Johnson, Ellis Burks, George Bell were all starters that were african american, as well as Bo Jackson who rotated into the lineup often. 2000: Charles Johnson, Ray Durham, Chris Singleton, Frank Thomas all started. 2004: Willie Harris, Frank Thomas. If you look at our minor league system, it is void of African Americans as well. Joe Borchard, Jeremy Reed, Brian Anderson...all white. I do not believe prejudice is the cause. I believe that competition between sports is the leading factor. In the urban areas more and more kids are turning to football and obviously basketball. I go to Yankee stadium often, and on the ride over I pass a park in Washington Heights (an area with a high concentration of african americans), and last july I saw at least three different fooball games taking place in the park. No baseball games were taking place, and the football teams were playing over the baseball fields. I have an African American friend who is a star basketball player and football player at my school. I once asked him why he doesn't play baseball in the spring, he said it is more of a white persons sport. Though many will say it is not a problem if certain groups do not like baseball because there are still plenty of ethnic groups represented. Still, it is hard to deny that urban trends affect society as a whole. Many white suburban kids are impacted by urban trends (music, clothing styles, hair styles, etc.) So the loss of urban interest could ultimately lead to an overall lack of care for the sport. Fortunately all it takes is one star to bring people back. I love to see guys with style and funk like Dontrelle Willis succeed, because a few Dontrelle Willis type players can bring the same sort of urban enthusiasm to baseball that football has been enjoying.

who would we give up?

Your own worse critic Goddamn! I am so stupid! I can't even do well on a f***ing happiness exam. What the f*** is wrong with me! I am such an asshole! I am never going to get a head in life

Absolutely Horrible.

I can't wait. I hope that russian guy that escaped in the woods comes back and plays a role in this season.

the NFL has a basic farm system, its called college.

I thought so, but I could be wrong

That guys hair is pretty insane!

8:45 central or eastern?

But leaving the starters in will exhaust the hell out of Jon Rauch. He is not durable enough to pitch 185 innings at this point. I remember watching him throw the ceremonial first pitch at the Sox last regular season game in 2000. He was fresh off of a 16-1 gold medal season. I don't think he will ever live up to the expectation I had then. But, if he sticks as a 3rd-4th starter in his career, I would be blown away.

2 and 2. But when the media owns the team, championships go to the wayside.

I thought the Giants were good last year, I don't think they are good this year. They still have a basic core...am I a momo? I don't think we can rip a guy for saying that we aren't talented. Because compared to many teams in the league we aren't very talented. Luckily talent doesn't win division titles...saavy and smart baseball win titles.

lol, good ol' chicago media bias. My dad actually canceled our subscription to the Trib and switched to the Sun-Times several times. After a while he always switched back. Now that I live in NJ I get the Yankee bias, but the Times does a nice job of reporting both. (Even the Times will acknowledge that winning 26 titles has earned the yanks a little more room in the paper than the lowly mets)

Happy birthday! And may God bless all of those with 4 numerical digits in their name!

rotfl. I can't argue God's will.

hardly a freefall. A freefall will be if we march into Syria, Yemon, Iran and anyother countries Bush doesn't like at the moment. But as long as Iraq is slowly heading towards self-rule and the economy continues to rebound. We have a pretty nice thing going.