Mplssoxfan

Marcus Vick=UFA Book it.

QUOTE(Spiff @ Jan 10, 2006 -> 07:47 PM) Minnesota was down 25-6 to Sconsin with 3:15 left in the first half, they're now up 50-49 Almost a fantastic comeback. Dropping two at home to start ain't a very good start.

I went to my first Sox game in 1973, when my family moved to Chicagoland Suburbia. I have lived in Minneapolis for many years, but never considered becoming a Twins fan (or a Vikes fan, for that matter). Minneapolis abbreviates to Mpls. Hence, Mplssoxfan. Clearly, I'm not very clever. The av and sig will change on the merest whim. I don't use smileys and rarely use green, so I'm probably percieved as a bigger ass than I really am. Oh, well.

One of the reasons their growth has been so slow is that they are apparently extremely picky about their distributors.

I'm so sorry, Steff. The little guy had a lot of fight in him, and he touched us all. RIP, Joey.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Jan 6, 2006 -> 02:48 PM) My cat smells like cat food. Maybe so, but my cat's breath smells like cat food.

QUOTE(Steve Bartman's my idol @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 04:48 PM) Here is a simplification of the issue...let's suppose your next door neighbor had a son that, for whatever reason, was thrown out of his house. Out of the kindness of your heart, you allow him to live in your house until he can go home. Eventually he gets so comfortable in your house (because he has many more rights and freedoms there) that he decides that your house is his house. Now he wants his friends and family to enjoy the same rights and freedoms he has, so he tries to get them to move in to your house. When you explain to him that you don't have room for all these people, he tells you that he will kill you and your family members so that his "people" can take over your home. (In case you were wondering, your home represents Israel, and your neighbor represents the "palestinians".) You left out the prefix "over" in the fourth word of your first sentence, SBMI. I think we all know that this subject is way more complicated than this.

I haven't eaten steak in Chicago for a looooong time, but is Gene and Georgetti's closed? I loved that place. So old school, and the guys on the grill really knew what they were doing. If you're ever in Mpls, eat at Manny's. It's fan-freaking-tastic.

Dan Rather was caught up in a similar event in 2001, though the money raised was less and his daughter was involved. And a criminal wasn't hosting the event. I can't wait to see how Matthews, Hume and Snow spin this, though. Original story from Howard Kurtz at the WaPo. Brent Bozell's reaction at Townhall.

So, if Notre Dame beats Air Force, Army and Navy next season, do they get to claim the Commander-in-Chief's trophy?

So what are the odds that Matt Millen takes Santonio Holmes at #9?

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Jan 2, 2006 -> 04:47 PM) I'm not going to say it's not well-played, but that's why Bowl season is retarded. I don't know why there's a month between the regular season and bowl games. Finals.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Jan 2, 2006 -> 03:18 PM) You're just off on this one, I'm sorry. All of your posts are based on one assumption, that there is no accountability. Just because accountability and discipline is not make public, does not mean it does not exist. In fact, I guarantee you it does. There are several things you are missing here... 1. Making the officials full-time is not possible. How much are you going to pay guys that work maybe 14 football games a year? Are you going to pay them benefits? Do you really think you could pay them enough to keep them from other jobs? What do you do with them in the offseason if they do not double up on another sport? Right now these guys get roughly $250-$300 a game (assumptions based on reasonably reliable info, not direct information). These guys might make $4,000 - $5,000 bucks a year. How much better are they going to get if you pay them $40,000? $50,000? Plus benefits? It sounds good, but with logical thought it becomes obvious it is not feasible. 2. You keep talking about how the NCAA bungles things, but the NCAA does not hire the officials. The NCAA really has nothing to do with these bowl games. The BCS was created to make sure the money stayed with the schools, not going to the NCAA. Each conference hires its own officials and contracts with bowl games. The NCAA is not involved here. 3. You talk about discipline when a crew has an awful game like today. Yet, you admit that you didn't see the whole game. The offsides call was made by one official (maybe two), so acting as if the crew was terrible is thinking based on emotion not on logic. 4. Until you have been an official, you don't know that you don't get to see multiple replays from multiple angles. You see the play once, at full speed and have the risk of a player flying by in front of you blocking your vision at any moment. As fast as the players are, it is easy to miss things. Officials miss potential calls every play, but if they don't have an obvious impact or if the TV camera doesn't catch it, no one says a word aside from a pissed off coach sometimes. Walk in their shoes first. See the play from the angle THEY saw it, not what angles the TV shows you. 5. Lastly, officials critique themselves more than you could ever imagine. If a guy misses a call, he absolutely hates it and genuinely feels bad. He works to get better and learns from situations to not repeat mistakes. But like you, me and every one else in this world, we all have days when we aren't at our absolute best, just like the teams on the field. All you can do is ask that they take their craft seriously and work at it. If they consistently make mistakes, their assignments will reflect it, I guarantee it. Humiliating them publicly is just not a good idea. Think rationally, and emotionally, not emotionally. Publicly disciplining officials would only make matters worse. Well said, Rex. I did not watch the game, but blaming losses on officials is one of the most pointless actions in all of sports. Did the White Sox win Game Two because of Doug Eddings? Of course not. I have yet to see a game where the officials were the cause of a loss or a win. By my (admittedly rough) calculations, there were 145 plays in today's Iowa/Florida game. According to ilsox, there were 2 or 3 bad calls. Let's say there were 6. I guarantee that most of the players and coaches made more mistakes than that today. They are accountable, true, but we don't see firings of coaches every week. There will always be bad calls and, as Rex said, no one takes a blown call harder than the official who made it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story.../051230/guillen

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Dec 30, 2005 -> 01:24 AM) Righhhhhhhhhht Here's more, if you'd like.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Dec 29, 2005 -> 08:01 PM) I know OK State is down this year, but UAB flat out killed them last night, 90-71. The entire Big 12 is down and overrated. In fact, they suck as a conference.

Pat Williams' dad died eariler this week, so maybe that will stem some of the yapping on both sides. Living where I do, I get to see a lot more of the Vikes than the Bears, and I'll say this: even though Sharper has had a great season for the Queens, Pat Williams is their Defensive MVP, if not their overall MVP. He's very good.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Dec 29, 2005 -> 09:20 PM) I dont really pay a great deal of attention to opinion polls anyway. You're always gonna have 40% that will back Bush no matter what, 40% that will oppose Bush no matter what and the fickle middle 20% that are actually swayed by news events. About the only exception to this was in the aftermath of 9-11 when Bush was like 89% approve or whatever. You're right on, NUKE. The 40% or so on either side are who I like to refer to as the "Cheeseburger" voters. "What would you like to eat, sir?" "I didn't get a chance to look... I'll have a Cheeseburger." Also known as "Budweiser" voters.

I love stories like this. From The New York Times:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/im-feeling-silly.html

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Dec 29, 2005 -> 03:30 PM) They are heavyweight hunting socks. I lost feeling in my feet this year at 0 F, but my dad said his feet were fine at -17 F with heavyweight socks in my boots, so I bought a pair. You should have bought three and saved.

I was watching some of that on the news last night. Pretty scary. Glad you're OK, kap.

Hail to the Victors, Josh! Happy Happy.

QUOTE(White Sox Josh @ Dec 27, 2005 -> 02:11 PM) .277 Career Average. 342 Home Runs. He made a ton of Errors. He had some good stats and he was a very good player however I think HOF players are elite. Not just very good. I think of him as good but not Hall of Fame type. Santo "made a ton of errors?" Lets look at some career numbers. Field% League Field % Range Factor League RF Player One .971 .953 3.10 2.76 Player Two .954 .948 3.07 2.58 So Player One has a better comparative F% than Player Two, but Player Two has better comparative Range. Player One? Brooks Robinson. That would of course make Player Two Ron Santo. Hitting? Brooks batted .267, hit 268 HR and had 1357 RBI in 10654 career AB. He averaged 48 walks per season and slugged .401. Santo batted .277, hit 342 HR and had 1331 RBI in 8143 career AB. He averaged 80 walks per season and slugged .464. One of these players in in the HOF, the other isn't. I'm as big a fan of Brooks Robinson as anyone else who posts here. It was a thrill when I met him. If I ever met Ron Santo, I certainly wouldn't be thrilled. But Ron Santo belongs in the HOF. I promise I'm not picking on you, Josh. You say that the HOF is for the elite. If only that were true. Mike Schmidt and Eddie Matthews are not the standard for the HOF. Pie Traynor and Brooks Robinson are closer to the standard, and Ron Santo is at least as good as Robinson, and is far better than Traynor.

I guess you could call it an acquired taste, but I like Scoop. I especially like the reactions arising from simply mentioning his name.