clyons

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 1, 2013 -> 09:56 AM) The union is also bending over backwards for Bud, which surprised me. If they do go with the lifetime ban, I can't wait to see out play out in court. You know A-Rod will lawyer up and not go down without a fight. It appears that the union is also bending to a change in sentiment within its membership, which seems to have shifted in the last several years to the position and views of the Frank Thomas’s. It was one thing when the rules were loosey-goosey, and the prevailing players' view was: "If it isn't expressly forbidden, I'm going to do whatever I can to earn the biggest $$$." Then, the union could publically oppose testing and fight discipline on privacy grounds, while really fighting to protect the earning power of membership. Today, PEDs are expressly forbidden, and the players who take them put the ones who don't not only at a competitive disadvantage, but, more importantly an economic one. As always, it really about the $$$, but the pendulum has shifted as to whose backs the union most wants to protect.

The Carmines got screwed in an important game last night. Boo-hoo http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1720736...in-loss-to-rays

QUOTE (Sockin @ Jul 30, 2013 -> 09:27 AM) Garfein confirms that Peavy is not starting tonight. https://twitter.com/ChuckGarfien/status/362217477909917697 That's smart.

Cool double-play turned last night by the Rays: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-075054916.html

Crain > K Rod. With the season he was having, I think he still has lots of value. Reports I've read are that his shoulder is just "strained," not really structurally "injured" per se, which I assume could be verified in a physical. If so, teams should be willing to gamble he will bounce back with rest, given the way he was overused.

De-troit sucks! That was a good one. I liked that 2000 team; they had balls.

De-troit sucks.

I am an idiot for waiting 8 years to see "A History of Violence."

I've never seen The Wire, but I saw it recently ranked somewhere (Time? EW?) as the best television drama EVER. In light of that and the comments here, I'll definitely check it out.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 5, 2013 -> 01:37 PM) Stalberg to Nashville He obviously wasn't coming back to play for Q, but I hate to see him go to a division rival.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jun 28, 2013 -> 09:29 AM) One drunk teenager threw up on a woman's head. Another whipped his dick out and started peeing in a cup. I somehow managed not to kill myself during the ride. That early in the morning? I weep for our nation.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 26, 2013 -> 01:57 PM) That escalated quickly Yeah, but there are only gun charges. No tridents involved.

Karma dictated that I stay at the same friend's house I had watched almost all of the playoffs (on a 70" screen), despite no power. All of us stayed and watched in the dark, first on an Ipad, and when that ran out of juice, my Iphone. Couldn't follow the puck for s***, but it didn't matter. 2013 = 1985 = 1996. Really can't include 2005 in that, because even with a wire-to-wire lead and a one-loss postseason, it didn't achieve that same level of historic, record-breaking domination. Savor this boys and girls, it is special and rare.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 20, 2013 -> 10:18 PM) World War Z tmrw. Have been swayed by all the positive reviews. Same here. The reviews I've seen have been glowing.

Alain Vigneault has been hired by the Rangers. Maybe my Canuck-hate has clouded my judgment, but it seems a strange choice for a team that just fired its coach over a lack of playoff success (among other things).

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jun 20, 2013 -> 02:55 PM) I'm starting to think that Badger is actually a professional criminal, not a lawyer. You make it sound like there's a difference. Weird that its the week of the NBA Finals (again). OJ and the Bronco chase happened 19 years ago this week.

I just finished my annual, non-fiction "baseball book" (I try to read at least one per season). This year its was "56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports" by Kostya Kennedy. He did a good job telling the story of the streak and setting it against the backdrop of what was happening in America in the pre-war Summer of 1941, and interspersing comments from more recent "streakers" like Rollins, Molitor and Rose, although I could have done without the last chapter on statistical probability. I recommend it.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 18, 2013 -> 04:53 PM) I'm about 3/4's of the way through Devil in the White City right now. It's a non-fiction story of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Burnham's work to make it all happen and H.H. Holme's parallel tale of serial murders. I don't know how I've gone my whole life living near Chicago and watching and reading local documentaries without hearing this story. That's a great book.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 19, 2013 -> 08:20 AM) This all sucks, and is all garbage that you or I have already pointed out ad nauseum, but it also does not = the hot seat. EDIT: At least not in my eyes. We'll see how I feel after Game 4 tonight. If only I can find NBCSN. FWIW, I agree. These are all valid criticisms (and not, imo mere second-guessings, though they may seem like it down 2-1), particularly the power play, given Q's decisions to bounce responsiblity for it from Kitchen to Haviland to Kitchen to Kompon in the last two years alone. Furthermore, as I recall, when he brought Kompon over from LA, he had been the subject of criticism about his power play there, and there were not many tears shed in LA when he left. But I can't see that or any other issues buying Q the hot seat after a President's Trophy and a trip to the Finals. Then again, I was shocked they gave Tallon the shoe when they did, even though to me, his cap management sins were more egregious than Q's coaching ones.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 18, 2013 -> 09:52 AM) We're dealing with the current version of Marian Hossa. He's not now nor will he ever be again the sprightly young chap that lit the league up for 192 points in 162 games over his first two seasons with the "we don't care about defense Thrashers". His 15 points in 19 playoff games (0.79 ppg) is actually higher than his regular season (31/40 - .775 ppg). Given the Blackhawks have played formidable goaltenders and neutral zone trappy teams like the Wild, Kings, and Bruins - while facing a surprisingly stellar Jimmy Howard in the other series - I'd say he's been the least of our worries. Actually, I'll go ahead and say while providing stellar defensive play as one of the league's top two-way forwards while leading our team in points, he's been our best player. But you're right. No big deal. Eh, those numbers are basically equal and only because, by his standards, he had a pretty down regular season. I claim only my opinion, not that its gospel, and I certainly don't believe Hossa is close to our biggest worry, unless he is really hurt bad and misses more games. I do think both Sharp and even Kane have played better, despite all three of them having equal points. But like I said, we need Hossa to play.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 18, 2013 -> 09:30 AM) Yeah, ok, except for the fact that he's tied for the team lead in points in this playoffs. A truly elite regular season scorer needs to be more than just his team's tallest midget. His career playoff point totals are down more than 20% from his regular season numbers. Even accounting for tighter playoff contests, that's a big drop. To me, he has seemed hard to find out there on a lot of his shifts. I'm frustrated, obviously, after last night, but he needs to play in the Finals and play better than he has.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 10:09 PM) It's still early, win game 4 and you are back in control of the series. But like I said earlier, hopefully Hossa is OK because missing him changes everything. Unfortunately, he's been missing for a while now, which has been his m.o. in the playoffs most of his career. As good as the Hawks have been overall this season, their two consistent weaknesses, faceoffs and the power play, are killing them in this series. Frankly, I don't see how you can reasonably expect dramatic and sudden improvement in those two areas at this late point, and I fear they will cost them The Cup. The team is going to have to really step it up in other departments to overcome them.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jun 17, 2013 -> 12:06 PM) Wes Lunt commits to Illinois. Between Lunt and Bailey Illinois actually is going to have a ton of talent at QB. Just need to work on basically every other position now. Including Head Coach.

I was underwhelmed by Man of Steel, though its climactic battle was epic and worth the price of admission alone. I thought they squandered the chance to make a "realistic" Superman movie by focusing so heavily on his alienage that it veered too much into science fiction, and went so far in the other direction from the "camp" of the Christopher Reeve movies that they made a movie that was ultimately sort of "cold."

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jun 14, 2013 -> 12:40 PM) That's funny, but I give the guy props for wearing his colors. #BostonStrong