SenatorShriv

Do you feel like you need to get a diamond? There are a lot of really cool rings out there that you can purchase on a significantly smaller budget. My girlfriend and I are personally not fans of the diamond industry and the chaos it has caused in Africa. I was really glad when one day after a Jared commercial she announced that she would kill me if I ever gave her a diamond. If you decide to go with a different type of stone there are some really great local shops in the madison area and most of the "diamond" stores will have some other cool options for you.

Green is not even on the list which is just wrong. No kidding. I would want to see another year of success before putting him in the top tier, but he should definitely be in the second tier. I also found it interesting that the put Salome in the top tier. I'm interested to see where some of the other prospect rankings place him. I am personally getting over some of my concerns about his defense and would rank him on equal footing with any of our other prospects but not everyone else seems to agree.

Rickey and Blyleven are my votes. Rickey Henderson defined the role of a leadoff hitter. Should be a sure thing. I really don't get why Blyleven isn't in already. He is darn close to 300 wins, and has some HUGE strikeout numbers. I guess his All-Star #'s are low, but I don't think that should be one of the main factors when looking at HOF candidates. Are there other major diggs against him that I'm not aware of? Dawson, Raines and several others on the list fall just short for me. (As I mentioned in the Pleasac thread, I err on the side of keeping the HOF more exclusive.)

I don't think that Plesac will be seriously considered by most voters, but the more general question regarding what standards to use in evaluating relief pitchers is intriguing to me. I'm not a fan of using Saves to judge relief pitchers, so I guess ERA might be the best stat. It's tough because the role of the bullpen has changed significantly over the years so there isn't much of a historical precedence. While this may not be completely accurate, I generally view middle relievers as failed starters. I would have to be pretty blown away by a middle reliever to begin considering them for the HOF. (I subscribe to the notion that the HOF should be limited to the super-elite players.)

I would be seriously upset if Powell left. His play by play is unbeatable. Don't get me wrong, I love Uek, but Powell compliments his style perfectly. That combo is one of the only things that kept me actively tuning in to every Brewer game I could when I was traveling a lot for work during some of the "bleak" years of the organization. Jim - If you read this PLEASE don't go! You're years of service have made you an integral part of the organization and your presence would not be replaceable.

I travel a lot for work and having the email access is really nice. Some of my co-workers have different phones that accomplish all of the same tasks and don't seem to have as many random problems as my phone does. My biggest complaint is that my version is a bit bulky and occasionally I forget to lock the keys (which leads to some awkward phone calls from my pocket. This is particularly neat when my boss is getting a bunch of 2:00 am phone calls while I am out at bars.) I've just now gotten good at using the internet and some of the extra functions the phone provides. Overall I find that it is worth while.

I got hooked on Brewerfan by following the "first wave" of minor league talent coming through the system. I really got excited the year Fielder, Gwynn, Weeks, etc... were all in Beloit. I haven't followed the current crop of prospects nearly as closely, in part because I don't see any potential "super-stars" in the group. There was always the potential that at least one or two of the Fielder, Weeks, Jones, Hardy crowd developed into a perenial All-Star. Once Braun and was added to the system it was clear there was going to be a handful of players that were going to put up huge numbers in the big leagues. I don't necessarily feel that way about the next class of prospects. It seems like there are some guys that will fill in the cracks and a few that will put together some really solid MLB careers, but there isn't anyone that has me excited to the point where I wake up every morning anxious to check the box score to see what they did.

I didn't know what to do when they turned that double play to finish the game. I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs, jump around the room, and in general make a giant scene. I only had a split second to make my decision. My girlfriend was sitting on the couch and my dog was laying quietly on the floor. I knew that the appropriate response did not involve tackling my girlfriend so I mauled my dog instead. I made the correct decision.

I didn't know what to do when they turned that double play to finish the game. I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs, jump around the room, and in general make a giant scene. I only had a split second to make my decision. My girlfriend was sitting on the couch and my dog was laying quietly on the floor. I knew that the appropriate response did not involve tackling my girlfriend so I mauled my dog instead. I made the correct decision.

i'm not trying to single you out or come of like a total jerk senetor I understand that you're not trying to single me out. You're trying to say that everyone who listens to Rage Against The Machine is a misguided frat boy, and my point is that I think that is a gross generalization that detracts from some of the great musicianship in the band. he best chance at getting whatever political message they had across was at the tibet freedom shows. I'm pretty sure they also played a protest show outside the Democratic National Convention (one of the reason's I don't understand the Senator Byrd comment) and the WTO protest in Seattle. I personally learned a lot from Rage. I started reading the books that were on the inside cover of the Evil Empire album and researching song references when I was in my early years of high school. Many of those books were certainly influential in my ideological evolution. While I don't continue to believe everything those books or songs lyrics stand for, they helped to guide me towards the career I currently have and the causes I get involved with. I like to think that I make a difference in the world every day when I go to work or participate in activities to support other causes. Perhaps I'm the only one, but I wouldn't be familiar with a lot of those issues without being introduced to them by Rage. This argument aside, there is only one band I saw that I was disappointed with and that was because I had such high expectations going into it. I was super pumped about The National and I didn't leave impressed. I was also disappointed that I missed Sharon Jones... she is fun as heck to shake booty to.

so more importantly, how much was a bottle of water? 4? 5? 10? We carried in our own booze, food, water and ice every day so that kept the cost down. 180 for a pass? fer crying out loud, in my opinion no band or fest is worth that much, not 6 bands are worth that much. I would disagree. I'm apparently joined by the 75,000 + other people who attended Lollapalooza this year and the tens of thousands who payed more than that for the Rothbury festival, Bonnaroo, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and any number of major festivals taking place across the country this summer. It is an expensive industry and festivals like this require a HUGE amount of production to coordinate, promote and set up. For the record I only payed 160 for my three day pass. for what it's worth, you prolly didn't miss much with rage, even in their hey day, you prolly wouldn't have missed much with rage. "F you I won't do what you tell me! I'm so anarchist and anti establishment that we can make someone pay 180 dollars for a wristband!!! now pass the Grey Poupon!!!! Fight the power, gimme yer money!!!!!" rage is a joke Zack de la Rocha is an awesome lyricist, Tom Morello is a fantastic guitar player and they created a completly original sound. I guess a band can only suffer away in obscurity or they get labeled as sellouts and their music is cliche. I have been waiting to see them for years now and I had a blast at their show. Excuse me whilst I go chug a bottle of Grey Poupon!

Wow. I'm still kind of shell-shocked from so much great music. I had to drive back to Madison after the festival so I didn't get home until almost 4:00 am. I've kind of been a zombie at work but there are a ton of great tunes dancing through my head!

I remember there being a lot of discussion back in 2001 / 2002 that Pujols was probably older than his listed age. Is that still the general consensus?

Pujols needs to average almost 200 hits for the next 8 years to make it to 3,000. He is listed as being 28 years old. I think he can (and will) make it to 3,000 but I see absolutely no way he makes it to 4,000. He has to play just as well in his next 8 years as he did his first 8 years in the league just to make it to 3,000 by the age of 36.

Go to La Tigre for some drinks. It is on the corner of Midvale / Verona road and the Beltline intersection. The entire place is blacklight and done up in all sorts of strange velvet tiger paintings and old tiger statues. They have live piano music in there some nights to add to the odd lounge lizard atmosphere. The old guy who runs the place can be pretty cool too. It is the perfect place for a first date because there is a TON to talk about and it is super memorable. This would fit in well with minigolf or other activities on the west side / near the beltline. The Costa Rica Cafe off the square is a cool atmosphere for a dinner date. Jolly Bobs was a good suggestion. The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art has some cool stuff sometimes and is worth wondering in to. The Piano Bar can be fun if you're in that kind of mood. Consider having your palms read. It is pretty cheap and can create some funny inside jokes that build a connection between the two of you.

Who do you think will be the next player to 3,000 hits? Here is the active list: Bonds - 2935 Griffey - 2,644 Vizquel - 2,630 Ivan Rodriguez - 2,584 Gary Sheffield - 2,572 Obviously Bonds would have done it had he played this year, but I don't see anyone else on that list making it. So, who among the next wave of stars do you think has a chance? Jeter - 2,468 A-Rod - 2,346 Manny Ramirez - 2,313 ** All the numbers are from Wikipedia so they may not be completly up to date.

I've had a freshwater tank for about 6 years now. Over the years I've had two (purple) freshwater lobsters and a ton of different fish. Everything is super easy to run and use but our motor started making a TON of noise about 1.5 years ago and I've been too lazy to replace it. I want to get one of the filters that actually sit in the water so they won't make noise but I don't know much about them and am broke as a joke right now. I would also recommend avoiding live plants. We have tried live plants three different times with it ending in a mess every time. Overall I really like mine. I think it classes up my otherwise trashy establishment.

I was against giving him his current contract and I continue to cringe at the fact that he is a starter on this team. One hot month and two well timed home runs doesn't change that for me. I would love to see him stay hot and earn some of that money, but I think that it is safe to say that a .230 average (even after a very hot month) isn't exactly awe inspiring. That doesn't mean that I wasn't running around my house last night acting like a fool and trying to explain to my girlfriend why I loved Bill Hall more than her!

I wish that Prince wouldn't push Billy so hard. What if he breaks his neck? We might need him to win the game tomorrow night. Great win! Edit: The win is feeling even better with the Cubs down a run to AZ. Too bad it is only the 4th inning.

hall showing some D too!

I would definitly take out Weeks now that we have the lead. Counsell or Durham?

I did watch last nights game and almost had a heart attack thanks to him! MOOT POINT!!! BILL HALL

I would leave Weeks in. His defense doesn't scare me that much any more and I want him batting / on the basepaths if we go into extra innings.

Thanks for the explanation of the play. I get frustrated sometimes that big league players don't always hustle to wherever they are supposed to be on routine plays so I when my roommate described it I wanted to blame Soup for not getting his butt over there. But I'll take your word for it on this one. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

One of those runs would have been prevented if Prince didn't get caught in no mans land on that ground ball in the first. I was out of the room for this play. Why wasn't Soup covering? Was it that routine of a play that he was correct in assuming that Prince would (should) be there?