Balta1701

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 12:58 PM) If I were to believe local sports radio hosts Boers and Berstein, she has since died. What's important here is that national news outlets not jump to conclusions. You just don't spread false rumors concerning the death of someone of Nicole's stature. Hell, spontaneous vigels may be arising right now as I type this. Did she put that many people in her will after the billionaire died?

QUOTE(3 BeWareTheNewSox 5 @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 12:52 PM) rumor that Anna Nicole Smith is dead CNN front page.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 06:02 AM) HE'S A COMMIE!!! He's Brian Anderson?

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 12:45 PM) yes, the curse has nothing to do with a GM who spent $300m in the offseason and didn't improve OBP and still have shaky pitching depth (I've posted it before, but after the dust settled, the fact that the Cubs spent all that money and didn't sign Schmidt blows my mind) I think their pitching depth is fine. Their pitching talent on the other hand...is troublesome. They're sort of the polar opposite of the Mets. The Cubs have a lot of guys who can throw the ball but very few with decent stuff. The Mets have very few guys who can throw the ball, but the guys they do have have a lot of talent.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 12:03 PM) I wonder what "government coach fare" looks like? According to the OMB:

I have no words that can possibly express how unbelievably stupid I feel this article is and how angry I am at having spent a minute reading it.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 11:48 AM) Another completely irrelevant thought on this... Do the people who aren't government employees have to pay taxes on these "free rides" that our reps are handing out? After all, anyone who is on that plane, and not on the government payroll (the rep and the people assigned to guard them) are getting gifts, and they should be paying taxes for them, not to mention the airline taxes they aren't paying to pay for the costs of preventing terrorism. From the first article posted in this thread:

QUOTE(Jimbo @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 11:01 AM) him with TO...haha Just wait until he cuts Tony Romo to give Rob Johnson the starting QB slot.

The Reds also have given Bronson Arroyo a 2 year, $25 million extension on top of his current deal, which runs through 08 and has about $8 million left on it.

I think this ranks up there with the stupidest media-manufactured controversies I have ever seen. Here's an LA Times bit on the actual plane in question.

QUOTE(knightni @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 11:23 PM) I'm concerned that Brown is prone and will get hurt every year. At this point, isn't he due for a full healthy season?

Jon Walsh doesn't believe there's a connection.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 07:17 AM) I think the debate isn't as much if there has been a climate change, we can prove that empirically. It is the cause and effect and what to do about it that is part of the debate and what makes science so interesting. Scientifically, there's very little actual debate left right now about the cause part of that. We think we've got that part down pretty well. The questions now are the magnitudes of the impacts on all of the systems that interact with the climate, and yes, what if anything can and should be done.

Based on the performance of everyone in that rotation last year, I'm going with Haeger.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 09:40 PM) Sometimes parliamentary tactics use the same tools for different purposes. A cloture vote can be used to prohibit a vote on a measure, but I do believe - if I understood what this cloture vote was for - can also be used to prohibit debate on a measure because it doesn't allow any specific resolution (which may be different than any kind of binding legislation) come to debate without it. I think. But this whole thing confuses me right now. I think this WaPo piece gives a good summary of what happened with Monday's cloture vote.

The Oakland A's have agreed to a 1 year deal with Shannon Stewart that could be worth as much as $2.5 mil including performance incentives. Link.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 08:38 PM) So the only answer is to withdrawl? *sigh* Name one candidate who is going to propose bringing back the draft to figure out a way to put more troops in Iraq beyond the 160k?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 08:33 PM) I have an idea! How about Congress set forth the plan for Iraq???!!!??? Oh wait a minute, all they can do is have a non-binding resolution that says George Bush's plan is wrong. How cool is that? As soon as the Republicans allow people to do something, something will happen. Blasted obstructionists! In 2002 being an obstructionist was the worst crime ever, if I recall. And the Filibuster was something so evil that as punishment for stopping George W. Bush's court nominees, we needed to get rid of the Filibuster in its entirety. Seriously though, pretty much each major candidate already has put out a plan calling for specific benchmarks and withdrawal dates. And at least a couple of them are trying to get the Senate to bring those forwards. We may well see some of them appear when the Senate brings up the 9/11 commission reform legislation here in a week or two. Regardless of the Filibustering of the Republicans, these proposals will gradually be brought up.

Linkiness.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 06:49 PM) Why so low? How long did it take Joe Crede to figure things out with the bat once he got to the big leagues? I think Anderson could and should be a lot better than that this season, but there's an awful lot of pitfalls that could prevent it.

Ho-hum. Let's simplify again for those who don't want to read all that. 1. Bush Administration says they're going to give victory one last shot, swears they really mean it this time, they need the Iraqi government to step up an be held accountable. 2. Iraqi government fails to meet simplest of requirements set by either them or us. 3. A lot more people die. 4. Repeat until January, 2009.

My guess is that if we really let the 2 compete, Haeger would wind up winning the job. If nothing else, he performed a lot better than Floyd in his few outings wrapping up last season, while Floyd struggled at AAA. That said, I think the fact that Charlie throws a Knuckler and the fact that Kenny gave up a lot to get Floyd is going to give Floyd the edge. I think Floyd wins, and I'm not sure it's the right call. Hopefully he proves me wrong and lives up to that #4 draft slotting. And under no conditions do I want to see anyone else from that list in the major league rotation before the All Star break rolls around. The others all need at least some work in AAA, if not a significant chunk.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 11:28 AM) Foo Fighters aparently covered a Prince song a while back as a tribute. I know that, but as far as I know, they didn't do that @ the Super Bowl.

I'm still trying to figure out why Prince covered a Foo Fighters song in front of a hundred million viewers.

I'm fairly indifferent about this offseason for the short term, because to my eyes, unlike post-05, the White Sox didn't really make any moves with a high probability of making the team better in 07. That's not to say that none of the moves we made will help us in 07, especially if the Bullpen lives up to potential, but just comparing the last 2 offseasons; during the 05 season, our biggest weakness was the lack of a left handed power/OPS bat. So what do we do? We get one of the 2 or 3 best in the game and stick him at DH. Coming out of 06, we showed some more weaknesses, specifically in the OF and in the bullpen, and unlike 05, the moves we made don't have a high probability of improving those slots. Erstad is the only OF addition unless Terrero does something, and the Bullpen didn't really get anything I'd consider a "Sure thing" added to it. In 2 years or so, it's entirely possible we'll look back on this offseason and thank KW for all of the moves he made. Hell, if Aardsma, Masset, and Sisco put up good numbers in the pen this season, we may well be playing deep into October. But my biggest concern is that we seem to have made much bigger bets this offseason than last offseason, and since I'm not a gambler, that doesn't leave me feeling hugely confident.