lostfan

If Selig is gonna catch the flak for being an enabler of the steroid era, Fehr should get it 5 times as much.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 01:52 PM) The gambling with the state government doesn't bother you? I figured that was a given, I left it out on purpose (notice I used the word "incidental").

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 01:37 PM) I've been on the "Alexei will be at least as good as Jose Valentin" bandwagon. Not great defensively, but good enough. And his bat is a plus. I'll take an error-prone Alexei with 20-30 HR power over a defensive-stud 2005-2007 Juan Uribe who can't hit for crap. Yeah, I would too. Well, it depends on the number of errors. 23 HRs and a .285 average means a lot less if you're Wilson Betemit butchering routine plays at an embarrassing rate.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 01:30 PM) I don't quite get all the he was a musical genius stuff. He had a great voice, but he hasn't done anything remotely good since "Bad". I would never put him in the same book as Lennon or Hendrix. His biggest song ever "Thriller" wasn't even written by him. I think people were just into the freak show. The freak show came after his best albums.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 01:03 PM) Based on what I recall from scouting reports during the draft about Beckham, based on watching the two of them play (and yes, my watching Beckham play is very limited at SS, plus a little at 3B now too). Also note, I was careful to say "probably", because its just a future projection based on what evidence I have. I obviously can't say for sure. I dunno, I've never really been on the "Alexei will be a great SS" bandwagon. I figured he would be what he is now, because this is what he was doing at 2B last year. Maybe he'll iron out this inconsistency, I don't really know. I hope so but I'm not holding my breath either. I accept it because his bat is a premium if he can be average there.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 12:49 PM) Maybe i'm just to young to understand. In my lifetime (born in '82) Jackson was nothing but a weird child diddler. So I don't get the love, even if he did have the best selling album of all time. Idk, I'm the same age as you, and I guess I'll agree that by the time I was old enough to really start paying attention to music in the late 80s and early 90s he'd already done his best stuff, and his later career was weak in comparison. But throughout the 80s and up to about '94 or so he wasn't just leading the game, he WAS the game, he completely owned it. As far as all the other stuff goes... yeah, MJ was a f***ed up individual. Like WSF101 was saying it just seems that sometimes it's a consequence of being a genius.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 12:42 PM) It just shows you how much arrogance politicians have. They don't think they are in the same boat as everyone else and they can do whatever the hell they want to do. Narcissism. Blagojevich being an extreme example. It was like he literally couldn't even comprehend what was happening and he thought he was infallible.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 12:40 PM) I'm thinking they should just get rid of the party system. It's becoming almost pointless. It's almost like you have no choice because everyone's the same. The alternative isn't really all that either. Both parties are kind of broad coalitions that usually come together and act in unison but still sometimes break apart on certain issues. If we got rid of parties we'd end up having a European hyper-democratic type of system and we'd have all these smaller parties based on only a couple of issues. Then you can also end up having a mess like in Israel where Netanyahu's party actually lost but actually ended up running the government anyway (well, we had Bush get less votes than Gore and still win the election but that was for different reasons).

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 12:26 PM) Am I the only one who found/finds it absolutely repulsive the amount of coverage he's getting? He's a freakin' peder-ass. He was pyschotic. Yeah he was a gifted musician (25 years ago) with a difficult past, but that doesn't excuse the fact that he molested little boys and became a pain killer addict. I swear, flipping through the TV last night I was surprised it was Michael Jackson that died and not Jesus. And how about those awesome celeb statements? Madonna's says she can't stop crying. Quincy Jones said he lost a part of his soul. GMAFB. He's still Michael Jackson. You expected anything else? I mean, you can't deny his iconic status or his impact on the entertainment biz, he had no equal and still had a massive loyal following even in spite of all the s*** he had gotten himself into. When I was in Iraq I'd see little kids trying to moonwalk in the dirt.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 11:37 AM) I found it sad that the Fawcett death hardly got any attention compared to Jackson's death (at least where I'm from anyways). What's going to happen to the 3 kids now as well? Until about 5 pm EST, Fawcett's death and the Supreme Court decision banning school administrators from doing strip searches were the top headlines of the day.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 08:47 AM) Short memory? Alexei has been pretty good at SS this year after not playing there for a while. He needs some work on his range to his right, and he makes the occasional dumb mistake, but overall he's been pretty good. Also, those dumb mistakes aren't going to just vaporize if you move him somewhere else. No matter where you put him, he'll always be a player who makes some spectacular plays, but will also botch some simple ones. Moving him makes no sense right now. Next year, depending on how the roster falls out, maybe. But even then, Alexei is probably already a better shortstop than Beckham could be. How do you figure this? It sounds like you're talking out of your ass a little bit here. Not trying to call you out, it just seems like I've seen people say this a lot. Besides reading scouting reports, I'd bet most people talking about Beckham's defensive ability at SS have never seen him play there. That said, the only way you learn the position is by actually being in the field for an extended amount of time, and Alexei still has the benefit of the doubt, bad plays or not.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 12:23 PM) All those years? IIRC he didnt play SS that much in Cuba. Correct, he didn't.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 11:44 AM) I seem to recall hearing that whole natural spot thing was fallacy. I think Cubano or someone did the homework and showed he barely sniffed SS in Cuba and played far more in the outfield than anything else. I may be mistaken, though. No I remember that too. It was basically a conscious effort on the part of him and his agent to maximize his value by marketing him as a SS. SS > OF.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 12:08 PM) The senate would be the only ones to stop it because the house is filled with what seems to brain dead idiots who do whatever their party tells them to do. Goes for Democrats and Republicans. There are very few representatives I actually like. The House Dems are acting exactly like the House GOP did when they were in control.

Honestly the only part about it that I care about is the hypocrisy. I don't care about politicians' personal lives otherwise. People f*** up, it is what it is. But let's use a similar example in Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer had built a reputation as a successful attorney general, then it turns out he himself was involved in criminal activity (ironically he'd done a lot of work against prostitution). So he is exposed as a hypocrite and a f***up, so he resigns, as well he should have. Sanford on the other hand, same thing. He's a social conservative preaching family values, morality etc. then it turns out, after an incidental display of breathtaking stupidity, that he doesn't live up to these same values. When he was in Congress, he voted for Clinton's impeachment, but as of yet he's ignored calls to resign (he very well could change his mind, this hasn't been out there that long). So by doing that he's made his stance clear on what politicians should do in his situation, it remains to be seen if he thinks it applies to him. I think that's all pretty s***ty.

...didn't the Iranians used to buy US weapons? I guess that bullet was clearly marked "United States Central Intelligence Agency."

QUOTE (Soxy @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 10:07 AM) And the Iranian government is now saying that the CIA or terrorists were the ones that killed Neda. Yeah, nobody's buying it though.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 08:59 AM) He also took a government-paid trip to Argentina for a "business conference" or something. He did agree to reimburse the state of Georgia for that one. *South Carolina

I mean the affair in and of itself. All of the other stuff is another story.

Meh that is between the two of them as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't have anything to do with his job but I am still free to laugh at his bizarre behavior.

BearSox probably said it best a couple of weeks ago. Alexei has as much natural talent as anyone to be an elite SS, but he's a bonehead and will always be prone to making dumb mistakes.

I'm going to see Transformers 2 tonight. I've read some pretty brutal reviews though so I'm lowering my expectations. Michael Bay is such a horrible director. Some of my favorite lines from the bad reviews: (same can be said about the Cubs btw)

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 26, 2009 -> 02:17 AM) "The King of Pop" died a long time ago... who died was just a creepy billionaire guy who liked to touch little boys. http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30940

So, yeah, while the site is down, we get one of the most bizarre political scandals that I've heard of in quite a while to come to a head. WTF Gov. Sanford?

Yesterday was crazy, my Facebook news feed was blowing up. This is all anyone was talking about.