Texsox

No the worse were the Juco jocks who beat up on the D1. I know, my Cross Country team finished middle of the pack in a 20 team All comers meet. We scanned to see who we beat and saw NIU, and Iowa. You would have thought we just beat Jim Ryan's records We were so stupid.

Before I moved here I would have cared. Now it's about as interesting as if Milwaukee signed him. Although, if they had him two years ago, they're in the WS.

I hate to sound like an old f*** but, when I was in school, it would have ended there and life goes on. Today, I'd be worried the asshole would bring a gun to school. What is really cool is that in the holiday spirit you gave rather than received Zero - Asshole

I just finished my second interview for a position that I would really like to do. They called almost as soon as I left the interview, and are flying my up to Houston on Thursday to meet with their regional management team. It's a major shift into a new industry, but will allow me to mentor, train, and develop a mix of employees from part time high schoolers to full time career minded individuals. I love developing employees and watching them succeed. I even will probably receive a nice cut in pay, so I know some will respect me her for following a passion and not the dollars For my friends on the board, please pray, send good vibratrions, or cross your fingers. For those who I've pissed off, it will keep me off Soxtalk for long hours So everybody wins.

Before it was against the rules, I imagine there were a ton of players. The only person that would really make me sad to find out about is Frank. I've always considered him the best non-juiced power hitter and the best batter in all of baseball for most of his career. If I found out he even juiced once, I may never watch baseball again. That would bring tears to my eyes. Anyone want to speculate on PK?

Now that's a pyramid scheme Don't count another man's money. Don't presume to understand what motivates him. If Maggs said, it isn't about the money, I just want out of Chicago, a couple people would be b****ing about that. Remember A-Rod wanting out of Texas, for less money, and a few people vilified him for that. And when you receive the $14,000,000 you better buy a damn spell check program for here, it't the least you can do. And whichever state you win the lottery in, you cannot ever move away from that state.

All I am thinking of SS for is a safety net. Imagine if we suddenly allowed ten million seniors to starve to death in the streets? That's what I envision if these dire predictions come true.

As long as we are in their homes, their schools, their shops, and traveling their roads with tanks, guns, airplanes, etc. I doubt the Iraqi people feel free to express their true feelings. They understand power, tyranny, and guns. They see pictures of the prison abuse, they see buildings knocked down, and are asked to trust us, that it will be better. That is a huge leap of faith for a society that has no basis in which to understand this "freedom" They have nothing to compare it to.

I guess players cannot make everyone happy. If you found out your employer was trying to get rid of you, how happy would you be? Would you trust your employer again? Did that play into your feelings about Maggs at all? That was before Maggs rejected all offers and said he wasn't going to negotiate until after the season. Loyalty is a two way street in my world. The team showed a willingness to toss him out. Seems fair to me if he decided to dump them first. Do you think he ever looked at Baines number and wondered why he should ever be loyal? And the joy in all this, the Sox may have dodged a huge bullet if he cannot play right. We already have an everyday DH, and at this point I would rather have Frank and his salary at DH then Maggs at what he would have signed for. We should be thanking Maggs for his decision.

Isn't the major investment that SS makes in US treasury bills? Since we are running some big deficits, it may have added a few years. In a strange contra-intuitive way. IMNSHO, we have asked SS to do too much. A roof, medicine, and some food, is about all one should expect. I see it as almost like public assistance. If you want cable tv, play some golf, and do some travelling, you better be savings some of your paychecks.

I have faith in America.

I just got a man crush as YASNY

You are welcome

I do feel some empathy for private people who are thrust into the limelight through no fault of their own. The Senatorial candidate (Ryan?)'s wife comes to mind. Her private divorce records were made public because her ex-husband ran for office. Sometimes a free and open society has it's drawbacks. But as I wrote earlier I believe sunshine is the best disinfectant.

neither works for me. But I agree, I prefer them seeing mild sex scenes to graphic violence.

I assume those that don't know they don't and disregard the comment. But thank you Steff for pointing that out. I do need to be more carefull when shooting a shotgun.

I am sorry I wasn't articulate enough to make the point a long time ago To recap I was not saying Maggs number should be retired I was not saying Maggs should be signed I am saying I respect a human for wanting to work for someone else I am saying I respect the team for deciding they no longer want a player I am saying Maggs should be given a hell of a lot better treatment than he gets here. I am saying I want players who are competitive enough to negotiate thier best contract. I am saying I want players to shut up and live with the contract once it is signed.

The numbers are irrevelant to my point. I think Sox fans would show a hell of a lot more class by saying "Maggs was a great player while he was here, he played with a lot of heart, and gave 100% to the organization. Too bad he couldn't spend his career here and we wish him the best of luck." That's the high road. Instead [a couple people] whine and b**** and talk about our best player over the last few seasons as a selfish, greedy, SOB. Nice way to treat the guy and nice way to present a positive face to the world. Who wants to follow a team who has a bunch of assholes playing for them? edited to say "a couple people" instead of "we"

Baines treated the Sox and Sox fans very well. So nice they retired his number. How was he rewarded for his loyalty and being "nice"? The greedy f***ing bastard owners traded him. But when a player leaves a team he's a greedy SOB. :headshake Why is it a one way street?

Can anybody read? I never advocated retiring Maggs number. I never advocated signing Mags. As far as the jersey thing, I am kind of wondering why they retired Baines so early in his career. Keep defending the ownership and their greed. Believe every athlete is a greedy SOB if he doesn't live up to your expectations. I never count another man's money. If he doesn't want to play in Chicago, doesn't want to accept their proposal, so be it. That doesn't make him an asshole. I agree 100% he probably doesn't want to be here. Signing with Boras is the first tip. I also think the club doesn't want him here. Trying to trade him in the offseason was a clue. I also think Sox fans don't want him. But all this speculation on his motives and accusing him of every underhanded, illegal, immoral, thing is silly.

Setting up the excuses for not signing more free agents.

The other thing that sucks in all this is the countries that are subsidizing the steel, if they fall on hard times, come running to the good ol USA for help. So their government stops the subsidies, their people lose jobs and are hungry, and we send them aid. :headshake

The thank you is paying for part of my washing machine, computer, car, stove, circuit breaker box, etc. If you knew that raising steel prices would save 1,000 steel mill jobs but cost 4,000 secondary manufacturing jobs, would you add the tariff and save the steel mill jobs? In my corner of the world, we have no steel mills but we have dozens and dozens of manufacturers who use steel. Rising steel prices are a major problem for people in my area. Many of these companies are on the edge of moving to China as it is. Rising steel prices cuts into the available labor dollars as well and could force these companies to look for cost savings. Guess what, China there they go. I happen to agree with you on the end result, but a different course of action. The correct thing to do is eliminate all subsidies and let the market decide. We will probably lose some jobs overall, but if we are to trust in capitalism, it is the correct path. Sometimes there is a price to pay.

No, I am arguing that any athlete who fights for every dollar is not being a greedy SOB, he is just being competitive and doing exactly what almost every other American would do. I believe in fighting for every cent (on both sides) then shaking hands and living up to the contract. Would it be a good decision to give Maggs 20% of the payroll? Probably not. It worked for the Marlins and Pudge, but I don't think we could catch that same lightning. Are we moving forward by digging yet another pot hole to fill another? Probably not. And really it isn't worth arguing about, we are at least six years away from our once every 10-15 year trip to the playoffs. I just do not think Maggs had major surgery, something that his career may depend on, in some backalley in Vienna, with some Doctor he pulled out of the phone book. I believe Maggs doesn't have a US_centric view of the world. Americans tend to believe that the US has the best in everything, that we are the only humans capable of higher thought. I see this with the Mexican nationals I am friends with. They would much rather be treated by Mexican Doctors than some US hospital where they are looked down on.

Every world body wants a piece of the US. We're the rich guy on the block. And we're going into debt to help these people. I was just pointing out that what is bad for one industry may be great for another. In this case there are more jobs using steel than producing it. We may save 100 steel producing jobs, but lose hundreds more in manufacturing products from the steel. Take for instance electric motors. There is a lot of steel in electric motors. Using cheap steel, American motor manufacturers could compete with foreign made motors. With higher steel prices driving up the cost of their motors, they couldn't compete. So now you should tag a tariff on electric motors. Many industries use electric motors in their products. The white goods manufacturers especially use biggins in washing machines, refrigerators, etc. In fact it is a big part of the cost. To keep NAFTA countries competitive, you need to add a tariff on all finished goods where steel is a major component. Of course it is consumers who pay for all this in the end. The whole point is that some government, to help their steel industry, unfairly subsidized steel prices. In effect they were paying for part of whatever American's bought that was made of steel. I consider that a thank you for us bailing the world out of every tragedy since WW2.