Drew

Subterranean Homesick Blues / Bob Dylan "Isis" is my all-time favorite Dylan tune, but if you want to rock, go Subterranean or 115th Dream. Making Time / Creation Rent Rushmore and watch the opening Yearbook sequence if you don't know what I'm talking about. {edited down to two}

rad. Thanks guys, you rock.

So my roommate and I entered a little contest that involved making a 60-second film noir movie and the grand prize is a new Lenovo ThinkPad. I act in it (the tall and slim one), do the voice-overs and art directed about half of the shots. It took 23 hours from concept to delivery and was shot entirely in and around our house in Burbank. Now, my roommate and I are two of the biggest Macophiles you will ever meet and as such have little use for a PC, but we are making this a good cause. Our friend Ana, our favorite waitress at Fred 62 and the femme fatale in our movie, will get the laptop to replace her aging lappie. All you have to do is go here: And vote for our movie (called "Sucker for Dames"). You don't need to register or give your email address or anything. Just click and vote. You can see the first five finalists (including ours) here: The second five are here: We're really proud of our little film and we truly think it's the best one of the ten. We'd really appreciate your help in making it number one! Again, you don't have to register or give an email address or anything - just go to the URL and vote! It really doesn't take any time. Thanks so much!

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 03:08 PM) Well, yeah, if Kenny can find another quality lefty, that's great. I just don't see the obsession with having two lefties. If we have righties that can get lefties out, what's the problem? The Angels are a perfect example. I don't think there's any problem with Cotts as the only lefty.

If I'm not mistaken, the Grandstand offers the same thing MLB.com does, but at $40 cheaper for an authentic numbered jersey.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 02:14 PM) I agree with what A.J. said. Everybody wants specialists. If a righty can get lefties out, there shouldn't be a problem. If KW can find a good lefty, he should get him, but that we only have Neal Cotts in the bullpen really does not worry me, if everyone we have is getting the job done.

Four of the players listed in the starting lineup that he is citing as above the league average in OPS also didn't qualify with enough plate appearances. One of those, Magglio Ordoñez, has spent the last two years primarily on the DL. Oh, and...not enough pitching.

True, but Ozuna is more versatile in the field than Harris, as WH didn't want to learn how to play shortstop. Ozuna can play at least two, probably three infield positions and outfield. Harris is strictly 2B-OF. The addition of Jim Thome does a lot for the bench as well, when you think of the options that open up in NL parks with a Konerko/Thome platoon. And I'd like to throw my log on the fire to replace Ross Gload. The guy is pretty much useless and hasn't contributed much if anything in the past couple of seasons.

I got teary-eyed during the National Anthem when I was in the stands for Game 1 of the World Series. I thought I'd never see the day when we made it that far, much less did I ever think I would be there to see it in person. When I watch the highlights, I can't help but throw a fist in the air. Going down to the ALCS Game 3, I was fraught with all the anticipation of going to a game I had when I was a kid. Friend of a friend works for Bud Selig. I was working my waitstaff job the night of Game 4, and I was screaming and jumping around in the drink station after Uribe's play for the 3rd out. I'd watched Game 2 of the ALCS about a week or so beforehand, that dropped third strike on that fuzzy little piece of s*** TV came through loud and clear--this was our year. Both occasions, everyone else thought I cut my hand off or something with all the commotion I was making. Months later, it seems like it all just happened.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Feb 2, 2006 -> 05:37 PM) Good post. I've never really liked the early 1980 jerseys. I think the logo's cool, but I don't think I own a piece of merchandise with the logo. I really like our jerseys right now. I have trouble picking a favorite of our current variations. I hope these jerseys are our permanent ones now. I don't see the need for new jerseys every few years or what not. I understand it brings in money, but teams like the Yankees haven't had problem pushing merchandise with the same product they've had since the beginning. The only reason I really have any sort of fondness for that logo is that is what they had when I was a kid, with both the butterfly collar and pullover red and blue striped jerseys. I had a heather gray t-shirt with that logo in the center of it and a cap waiting for me from my dad when we moved back from Kansas City when I was about 5 or 6. With their current jerseys, I've always been about the road gray and even moreso now that it was what they wore on the field when they put the Astros away. The vests are pretty sweet too. The Yankees haven't had a problem selling merchandise because wins grease the wheels of consumerism just as slick graphics do. I remember, though, that when the San Jose Sharks debuted for the 1991-92 season, their color scheme of teal and black was decided upon when the marketing department researched what shades of blue sell best, and teal was tops. Put black with it, men buy it too. Put silver with it and it's that much cooler. Stores were backordered on Sharks gear for months and the team sucked ass. Am I ever glad that Reinsdorf did not go down that route. The Diamondbacks uniforms look like they were an art project at the summer camp for gay fat kids.

The number color scheme on the '85 Seaver jersey looks wrong. I only remember them having Navy one-color block numbers on those jerseys, home and away. I don't think they ever deviated to red and navy. I've looked for photos online and found nothing from that season that would confirm or deny. And didn't the '83 versions have a circular 6/46 patch on the right sleeve and the 50th Anniversary All-Star Game patch on the left? (Or maybe the 6/46 patch wasn't until '84. What it meant has long escaped me.) What's funny is that I remember as a kid thinking those pullover jerseys they wore from '82-86 were at the height of fashion, but it didn't take long for me to change my mind on how ugly they are. I think it's hilarious that they are being made, sold, and bought for over $300, especially since most of the time the Sox spent wearing those jerseys they had seasons not worth remembering. But if everything else in the 1980s is again cool... The butterfly-collar "Chicago" jerseys, however, have a certain retro-chic and wouldn't mind wearing one, but not for what they're going for. Then there were the "White Sox" script unis that were so plain they were forgettable, including the 'e' caps that Eddie Einhorn must have had something to do with. But if you have three bills, you can remember Frank's 1990 rookie season. I forgave all fashion faux-pas when the Sox unveiled their current silver and black. The most perfect neo-classic aesthetic. They led all MLB teams in merchandising for at least that first year. The Sunday Blacks were so popular everyone else had to have a third jersey. Teams like the Mets, Royals, Reds, and Rangers all started putting black into their color schemes. I'm acutely purist, and as such I think the addition of black for most teams looks out of place if not excessive and ugly. I hope they stick with their silver and blacks for a long while. For a team that has endured more (ugly) uniform changes than any other major league team, they really got it right with what they've been wearing for the last 15 years.

It was a bummer he couldn't be a part of the World Series run, but then again when you forget where the strike zone is...

God, I hate it when people call it Chi-town.

Will probably have to settle for the series at Angel Stadium.

What I agree with Morrissey on is that a change such as this will not happen overnight. It's more likely to take a generation or two, because that's how long it takes for a paradigm shift like this to happen. As much silver and black as you see around now is a welcome sight but it takes a sustained amount to really make a change, and those take years. But really, there are only two teams in the MLB with National fan bases, and those are the Cubs and the Yankees. The Cubs have WGN, the Yankees have East Coast media bias and they have the Yankee tradition of winning championships and buying players. Point being that aside from the Mets, there is really no other team that competes with another hometown team with a National fan base. The American League has always been in my blood, with my Detroit-born dad and Kansas City-native mother. I've always sided with the Sox, though, because that's who my dad rooted for. My parents' first and best friends in Chicago were die-hard Sox lifers who started taking them to games the summer of the South Side Hit Men. Sometimes they'd even bring months-old me with them. But growing up I just simply loved baseball. I'd watch the Sox on WFLD, and when I was able, the Braves on TBS, whatever ESPN had going on, whatever the major networks carried, and yes, even the Cubs on WGN. Why? They were usually on after school. Like I said, I just loved baseball. Couldn't get enough of it. I've since got sick of the Cubs broadcasts and Cub journalists, but back then I remember just watching whatever was on and loving it because it was baseball.

I like good stuff, but generally stay away from vodka and Cuervo of any kind. No mortal aversions, I just prefer gin to vodka if I am going with a light liquor and I think Cuervo just plain sucks, even 1800. Sauza is a good brand at that price point, but Herradura, Cazadores, and del Dueño are all a nice step up. I tend to go with bourbon (Maker's is my call-brand of choice either with water, soda, or on the rocks depending on my mood), or Gin. I like Junipero the best of all the gins I've had, but find that it only really matters in a martini. With tonic or as a Salty Dog, the well's all right. Rum is just much too much to do all night long, but an occasional mojito or proper Mai Tai in season is all right.

My high school hockey team voted on who would wear the 'C' and both 'A's at the beginning of the season, as do most teams in that sport. While I can understand Ozzie's excited Paulie is back for all the reasons we're excited he's back, I think it is best left to the players to decide who is their elected voice. Granted, they'd probably end up giving the 'C' to Buehrle or Paulie, but it's the decision of the players who represents them as the captain. There are game situations in hockey that dictate Captains and Alternates' intercession with referees on the team's behalf. As we will see a week from today, in football it takes a delegation representing about 20% of each team to decide on heads or tails. But in baseball, there are no game situations in baseball that really call for a captain. But do baseball teams need captains? I'd venture to say they don't need any formalized institution of calling someone a captain. Every team has leaders, and these rise to the top. The players know who their leaders are, and everything else is window dressing.

Frank is a great player and his mouthing off is was always his lone downside. Had he not been injured this year, he would have been running his mouth again. Sure, he's earned some of that because of the numbers he's put up in silver and black, but there comes a point when the guy needs to just shut his mouth and be a pro. But how short-sighted do you have to be to overlook your health problems over the past five years? It goes a lot deeper than just one season. Thome has consistently played at least 140 games a season for most of his career. Thomas, OTOH, has had three mostly-injured seasons in the past five years and the extent of his injuries pretty much limit him to DH, while a healthy Thome can be counted on to play the field.

The four word rhyme scheme happening with Tampa Bay Devil Rays is bad enough, their uniforms make it even worse. Somewhere between the minor leagues and NASCAR.

QUOTE(SnB @ Jan 26, 2006 -> 09:11 AM) Does anyone have any reccomendations on a private student loan company? I need some little extra money this semester to pay off books and put deposits down for my apartment next year, so the money would need to go straight to me and not through the school. Anyways, i'm sure alot of you have had to go through this process, which company is best? A few years ago when I lived in Minneapolis I had a desk job with a student loan servicer, three different private lenders we worked with. Minnesota Higher Education Servicing Office (MHESO). Unless they've changed their policies, you can get them even if you are not attending a school in the state of MN, or a non-resident. I am pretty certain U of I was an eligible school, as were several other schools in IL, both state and private. The private lenders we serviced disbursed the money to the school who then applied it to your account, and any overage you were allowed to withdraw, depending on the school's policies. For the rest of you, for the love of God and all that is holy don't ever get a CEFA loan. Like Terry Benedict, they'll kill you, and then they'll go to work on you. Of course that only applies to about two dozen schools in California, but I can tell you tales of students calling in tears because CEFA was relentlessly demanding $800 a month on $80,000 balance for some poor second-year Pepperdine kid.

God these people are idiots. The Yankee fans who put their team at the top because of their offense blindly sure have a short memory for how the White Sox won 110 games in six and a half months. (and should a Yankee fan be reading this, it was pitching and defense, dumbass.) The Red Sox high rankings I think are flat-out hilarious. Who is their infield? Has that Crisp trade happened yet or will we have another four weeks of media posturing before he puts on a jersey?

I don't think it's accurate to call Jim Thome a health risk. His price tag was steep, but so is anyone worth getting. Health risks are players like Nomar Garciaparra or Frank Thomas, who have consistent problems with injuries and staying healthy over the course of several years. Thome was sidelined for most of a season and while that doesn't make him Cal Ripken, it also does not make him a liability on the level of Frank Thomas, either.

Good for Paulie. The 'C' doesn't make him more of a leader, or more valuable than any of his teammates. He is what he is with or without the 'C'. For the past couple of years I've considered PK the captain because he seemed to embody what a captain should be more succinctly than anyone on the team, IMO. I never got the 'C' on baseball uniforms anyway. Only some teams do it and I think that's best left for the ice, where every team does it and always has. I remember Keith Hernandez wearing the 'C' with the Mets in the 80s, and of course Sosa and most recently Jason Varitek. With the exception of Sosa, the 'C' appeared only after their respective teams won a World Series, and it didn't help them get back for another. With Sosa, the added imbalance created by the excess tackle-twill letter on his right sleeve drastically eroded his performance, not to mention his at-best underdeveloped leadership qualities, over the course of several years.

Harry Caray was a horrible announcer, but everyone loved him. Bleacher bums in particular because he drank as much as they do. Goes to show if you drink enough and have a major stroke, you, too can become a patron saint.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 09:53 AM) The pic that didn't post ... was it by any chance Bill Murray? good call but it was a different pic of this guy: