Balta1701

Yesterday, Hillarity was asked whether or not she agreed with the remarks of General Pace, that homosexuality was immoral. Her answer: And of course, this promoked a backlash from the homosexual interest groups within the Dem caucus...and it took what, 24 hours, for her office to issue this statement. For crying out loud, just answer the damn question honestly. If you think it's immoral...say so. If you don't, say so. Don't try to have it both ways until the interest groups chime in. I think this is one of the things I hate the most about the Dem party...in the Republican side, the interest groups make noise when someone does something they don't like, but it never seems to matter. On the Dem side, every single time they seem to be kowtowing to one group or another. The Republican interest groups get mad when Bush doesn't push the gay-hate amendment, but Bush tosses them some fig leaf statements during election season and they're placated and still vote. Clinton makes an indecisive statement on an issue, the interest groups chime in, and 24 hours later she's issuing a correction.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 11:51 AM) Realistically, you figure we'll receive three compensation picks; perhaps four if both Dye and Buehrle have great seasons. These many draft picks in the early rounds shouldn't be overlooked unless both players were to give us an obvious advantage through trade. Problem is, these last two summers, how many true blockbusters have occured? One or two? People just don't seem to remember all the discussions around here about general managers asking the moon for 1/2 year rental players. I know people have hounded me on this belief in the past, (including you several days ago ) but I rather our team be within 5 games of first place/wild card or completely out of it (ie, 10 games). No where in between. The problem I foresee is local media members and the baseball retarded bringing up talks of how Cleveland and Houston overcame their odds. Or the dreaded words, White Flag trade. I honestly believe we'll be 7 games out come midseason. Just to annoy the hell out of me. If it were to occur, you'll hear everything I'm mentioning here and more. People saying "sell," others suggesting players with first bad halves could turn it around. You do have a point on pretty much all of those. If you're giving up Dye or Buehrle, you have to be getting talent back that is more valuable than 2 top-level draft picks, and that means you need to get back 2 players who are on the cusp. I just hope that if we do wind up in a sellers position, we find someone who's really wanting to make this year be the year. There are some teams that would match up really well with Buehrle or Dye who have talent they could offer up (Angels, Dodgers, Mets come to mind immediately)

And now it's time to test out one of my 5-12 upsets.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 11:30 AM) Oral Roberts clap clap clap clap clap That was the other "Below 12 seed" I considered picking, but I decided to go with Davidson. Given that the one I did pick just lost, I'd say Oral Roberts is in good shape.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 11:21 AM) It was a good, ballsy pick, I thought about it too... #13 seeds have 8 wins in the last 10 years, so the numbers strongly suggest there will be one of them.

Damn. That's what I get for picking the upset.

CBS having an annoying amount of difficulty keeping the audio straight between the internet feeds. That Curry kid has just disappeared the last 10 minutes or so as far as I can tell, and that's let Maryland build a 4 point lead.

And I'm pretty sure that skyline in the background of the Honda Ridgeline commercial was Chicago. That's like 3 turnovers in a row for Maryland. They just did not come out focused this half.

Make it 10, Beautiful pass, time out Maryland! Booyeah!

QUOTE(Balance @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 10:29 AM) Additionally, Louisville has a virtual home game for the first two rounds. They play in Lexington, a little over an hour from home. A&M will have virtually the same thing in the 3rd round if they get to San Antonio.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 10:32 AM) The Mega March Madness package is worth every penny. As is the free online MMOD setup, now that it's actually working :-)

So, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service did a study of the recent history of the in-term turnover of U.S. attorneys since the Reagan years. It appears that during the Clinton years, there were 2 U.S. attorneys who were forced to resign before the end of their usual term. So let's see...reasons for removal of an attorney during the Clinton admin; biting a stripper. Reasons for removal during the Bush admin; investigating too many Republicans. I guess they're right, Clinton did ask attorneys to resign mid-term too.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 10:15 AM) There doesn't seem to be anything special about the second tag, although 120% of the prior year salary could still be enormous, obviously. Briggs's salary only goes up if he plays in at least 6 games next season. If he sits out the whole year while tagged, then he can be tagged at just about the same price next season.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 10:14 AM) I think in my Soxtalk bracket I have the Ville going to the Elite 8. Most brackets picked them to lose to A&M just because that was the safer play but I really feel that Louisville has been coming on strong. I took A & M all the way to the final 4 because their defensive numbers this season were that good, so yeah, I have Louisville in the 16.

Maryland has a 1 point lead at the half in my 13 over 4 upset pick game. Come on red shirts!

Let's see, Walter Reed, U.S. attorneys, and the usual Iraq war...I wonder how long they've been holding onto this "bad headline blocker".

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 09:15 AM) If things go well (and assuming no trades are imminent), Pods will be ready for opening day, Anderson will start in CF, and Erstad with be the 4th OF. I may be the only one who feels this way, so I'll say it. I have a feeling that, if he does indeed get to start in LF, Pods will have the best year of his career all-around. OBP of .350-.360 with another increase in his walk total, 75-80% SB% by not forcing as often, decent situational hitting, and defense in LF getting a bit closer to average (though as usual his speed has to offset his weak arm and not-great judgement). I think there's a reasonable chance you'll be right on the 2nd paragraph. But every one of these Ozzie quotes i keep reading in the paper keeps suggesting to me that you're going to be wrong on the first paragraph; if Pods is ready for opening day, it keeps looking more and more to me like Anderson will wind up in the minors and Ozzie will go with Erstad and either Terrero or Perez as his backup OF (depending on that calf strain).

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 04:31 AM) And that would be exactly how I would sum up the last 6 years for Bush as well. Except in 1 case, the opposition had 0 power, and in the other case, they had an awful lot of power. And in 1 case, the media did it's job.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 05:17 AM) It was funny when the Dems were ducking the Presidental debates because they were moderated/on Fox. Now the Dems are being told to avoid Colbert too, who doesn't carry the scarlet "R" that Fox does. Well, he did get a Congressman to say he likes doing cocaine because it's a fun thing to do I for one was darn happy to see my Congressman appearing within the first 20 or so that Mr. Colbert better-knew. And if nothing else...none of the actual sitting Congressmen he had on for that segment lost their elections last round, so Stephen clearly is a kingmaker. And he's riding with Kansas in the Tourney, btw.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 05:18 AM) The next two days are going to be fun. Friday is a quadruple witching. Yeah volitility! Am I supposed to have a clue what that means? I can give you a description of quadrupole splitting (one of the things you measure when you use a Mossbauer spectrometer on Fe), but that one is over my head.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 08:59 AM) And that is what makes him such a poor excuse for a professional, right there. "Finally continued to admit his guilt"???? He's been lying over, and over, and over, and over again, to all of baseball and its fans, for years. He denied it all, then admited a little but said never on baseball, then he bet on baseball but not his own team, then his own team only rarely, not almost every night. I mean come on. No way a guy who disgraces the game that gave him everything should be enshrined in its Hall of Fame. The Hall and its selections may not be what we all think is perfect, but I'm quite proud of the fact that unlike other sports, votes for the Hall are in part judged on total impact on the game, beyond just in-play performance. Ultimately, if you love baseball, its not just the stats that matter. And of course, he didn't actually admit that he bet on baseball until he could get a book deal out of it.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 12:34 AM) especially seeing as how Alex Gonzalez is the true scapegoat of that game. And...you know...Mark Prior.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 08:12 AM) I don't understand why some label him a "mediocre" fielder. I can't recall many plays--and I'm always out in the field right behid him--where I thought "Oh crap! So-and-so would have had that!" (like I do with Mack). Rowand, if healthy, is clearly an above average fielder. The only sense in which he is mediocre is when he's compared to Brian Anderson. Because Brian Anderson is that good out there.

QUOTE(quickman @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 07:57 AM) of course we will see a fire sale. he cannot come out and say that because it will anger the season ticket holders, but it will happen unless we are in first place. at all star break. Fortunately for sox fans and management we know what it takes to be a World series contender or playoff team. We knew last year we didn't have it, we will know this year as well. Given that we have 2 really big quality guys hitting the FA market at the end of this season, if we're 5+ games out of first at the AS break, a fire sale certainly doesn't seem like a terrible idea if it brings back good people.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 05:47 AM) Erstad plays a really good CF if he is healthy. And while we know Gold Gloves aren't the greatest measure of defense, he has won two for outfield play. One in 2000 (for mostly LF and some CF) and one in 2002 for CF. I'm sure he's not as quick as he was in those days, but his instincts have to be pretty darn good. Erstad PLAYED a good CF when he was healthy. But you know that whole thing about how injuries can cost a player a lot of things even if they return fully healed from the injury? Like speed, quickness, strength, etc.? Erstad last year, even when he was "healthy" was no where near the fielder he was in the OF a couple years ago. He has not been nearly as good in the last 4 years or so, IMO. He is probably still quite a bit better than Mackowiak out there, but he's not going to be anywhere near Anderson out there.