Balta1701

Seriously, who in the Hell actually cares what the MLB TV ratings are on FOX? I understand in the NBA and NFL where they play far fewer games or in smaller venues that they have to rely heavily on the postseason ratings to determine where the salary cap falls. But think about this...in MLB, there is no salary cap. Teams can spend as much as they want, if they pay the luxury tax. Furthermore, the main source of revenue is not going to be playoff TV dollars, it's going to be selling 35,000 seats (and an occasional hot dog) 81 times a year, or 87 times a year if you're the White Sox. Nearly 75 million people went to baseball games this year. Up nearly 2 million over the previous record, set in 2004. That number will probably shoot upwards again next year just from selling more seats at the Cell and Minute Maid. The Mets are about to launch a new cable channel. The Angels are considering doing so. Revenue sharing is giving the smaller markets a chance to build teams if they use the money skillfully. New stadiums are popping up left and right. Washington D.C. is looking like a smashing success. Baseball is right now as healthy as it has been since before the Strike, maybe healtheir than it has ever been. So seriously...who cares about TV ratings? The number in my living room is 100%, and that's just about all that I care about.

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ESPN.com chat:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051025/ts_af...aq_051025110145

QUOTE(Steff @ Oct 25, 2005 -> 09:25 AM) Unless she's toting them around with her, or submits to an exam - ala Tyra Banks and her boobies - what are the "telltale" signs.. ? You know, a large weight gain that lasts a few months right around the time the kid was born? Surely there are photos.

Can we please stop referring to people as "Nobel Prize Nominees"? I mean, in 2004 alone there were 173 nominees for that award. Yeah, it's an honor, but it's not exactly the most exclusive group in history.

Usually it's fairly difficult for a female to, you know, have a secret child. Males...yeah it's understandable, but with females, there's certain, shall we say, telltale signs.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Oct 25, 2005 -> 09:12 AM) I'm not sure that what teams will pay for Billy Wagner is really overpaying. Maybe the years scare you but he was as good as anyone this year. His numbers weren't that far off from Mo's. The Mets have such a short window with Floyd, Glavine, Pedro getting on in years that I think they need to go for it all now Somehow, I'm always worried about guys like him...guys who throw that hard. It puts an enormous amount of strain on the joints in the arm. Think Gagne, Jenks. There's always a decent chance he won't be able to hold up under the stress of pitching like that for the next 3 years.

QUOTE(KevHead0881 @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 08:41 PM) Chris Widger - Even Flow - Pearl Jam A.J. Pierzynski - A Pirate Looks at Forty - Jimmy Buffett Cliff Politte - R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. - John Mellencamp Bobby Jenks - Girls, Girls, Girls - Mötley Crüe Luis Vizcaino - Lose Yourself - Eminem Paul Konerko - Walk On - U2 Dustin Hermanson - Black - Pearl Jam Aaron Rowand - Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd Like their taste: Hermy, Paulie, Widge, and ARow. B-town rules: Cliffy Luis: Play that in the bottom of the 9th in the clincher. AJ, Bobby:

I got my AL Champs T shirt (seen repeatedly below) today. Game 3: Sox Jersey. Game 4: AL Champs shirt. Both games: Old, falling apart, Vintage 91 Sox hat.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 09:13 PM) I hate all of you. I'm serious, I hate you. The next person to start a thread about the National Media dissing the Sox is getting a personal beating from yours truely. Every day in the playoffs, it seems someone starts about 3-4 threads b****ing about someone in the media. Every day in the playoffs except for 1 game, we've won. That's a high enough correlation for me. And I'm superstitious enough to just let em keep going. I'll b**** at them in the threads, but dammit, something's working. For all i know, it's these threads.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 07:35 PM) Let's just rid Washington of every f***ing Republican, because they're all assholes who are power hungry, puppy kicking, rich mother f***ers that are after assholes like you and me. I swear, that's what this is turning into. Dude, the only problem is that if you put the Democrats back in power, in about 5-10 years they'll have people doing the exact same sort of thing. Gingrich in 94 was complaining about how the Dems would change the rules on voting so that they would shut down Republicans tyring to debate, now the Repubs are doing exactly the same thing. Gingrich campaigned against Democratic corruption, now the Republicans have just gone after the exact same money pit. If the Republicans would you know, stop lying, changing the rules, and breaking the law, we might not have as big of problems. But then again, if the Democrats hadn't done exactly the same thing 12 years ago, we wouldn't have had to put up with these bastards in there anyway.

Our guys have hit Roger Clemens very well historically. Even though we only got 3 runs off him...he threw 50 pitches in 2 innings. Our guys know how to hit Roger Clemens, especially if he is just a little bit off. Go ahead, bring on a Clemens at 80%.

LOL, that's f***ing beautiful.

QUOTE(whitesoxmanager @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 10:04 PM) BTW is Roy Os(waldo) pitching for both the WhiteSox & Houston Disastros in the same game? JG getting no love. Just his picture. Trust me. It will just make that sinker dance more. It will just add another 1.5 mph to the 4 seamer. Every report I see on Oswalt makes me believe in Jon that much m ore.

I know it's a little early, but here's a salute to one of the best announcing tandems in baseball! In like 3 years, John Rooney will have Joe Buck's job. I hope. Or at least Brennaman's job with Fox, if Thom gets Buck's job. Here's an idea...replace Buck & McCarver with Rooney and Stone. I could live with that.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 10:23 PM) And in the moronic tough guy, department ... Ugh, why the f*** do people in our ballpark keep doing this? We're in the f***ing world series, and some dumb f***ing jackass has to go and make us look like idiotic hicks. That son of a b****. Someone put him in a room for like 20 minutes with a bat and big Frank and let's see how things end up.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 11:13 PM) RIP EM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time for Garland to step up once again and time for the bats to prove, yet again, that the pundits dont know a damn thing about this team. I hope Garland took about 10 minutes to listen into some of the pundits blaring about Oswalt. Or even 5 minutes. That Sinker's gonna be dancing like never before.

Oh s***. Get better rapidly MB. Freddy, Jon, Jose, let's make sure we don't need him.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 10:20 PM) Why exactly does MLB prefer the dome to remain open? Houston obviously favors conditions within the closed dome, as it assists their homefield advantage. It certaintly helps us cause not to hear higher decibels or experience controlled weather conditions in the dome. I won't complain. I will bet you its because of the TV Blimp shots.

Sad, the once daily "This sounds horrible for Frist" updates have now turned into bi-weekly updates. The only good part...the news for him gets Worse at every single step. So it's a blind trust, except he has Geordi LaForge's VISOR.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 07:22 PM) Likely. There's no way she will get nominated unless something earth-shattering happens. Um...she's already been nominated.

QUOTE(Sox Hustler @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 07:24 PM) If theres a save situation I believe ozzie when he said he will be back in there. He just needs to throw that curve more. That curve vs the Angels where he struck out Vlad was completely untouchable. I think he went 2 innings that game and struck out like 4 or 5. Even if his curve isn't at it's best just by locating it as a strike and showing it to the batters he will unhittable. When I first read this, I thought "What the Hell is he talking about...Bobby pitching against the Angels?" Man, seems like that must have happened a long time ago. Anywho...I think one thing worth remembering right now is that we still have a major weapon in Clifford who has been totally unused. Bobby can get the 9th tomorrow. But if we need a weapon in the 8th...well, that's why we have both Neal and Cliffy.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 07:19 PM) Big Bad Bobby will be fine, but I don't want to see him in game 3 at all. You keep messing with the bull and eventually you will get the horns. If Houston keeps seeing his fastball, someone will rock it, especially in that small park. I don't want to see what that would do his confidence. I want to see him in game 3 if it's close. After an off day, definately. Just not in the 8th inning. Give it to Clifford to get to the 9th...he was basically the best right handed setup man in the league this year. And I don't care how many times you see a 99 mile per hour fastball. That doesn't turn it into anything other than a 99 mile per hour fastball. Especially if he tosses in the occasional hook. You know, it's kind of funny...like in September, people were here were writing that Bobby was throwing the hook too much, now they're saying he's not throwing it enough. There's just never a balance with this kid.

A true pioneer and a great American.