RyDogg66

You would think with 7,711 posts and a long history here at BF.net that I would have gotten a personalized "user title" earlier than this. That being said, I am thrilled to be the Tom Petty Apologist. That cracks me up. Time to bust out Full Moon Fever and party like its 1990.

I've always thought Rage Against the Machine "Sleep Now In the Fire" would be good. Or the Black Keys "Your Touch" would be sweet.

I like Petty, I have seen him concert a few time and really enjoyed, but I wouldnt call myself a Tom Petty apologist or anything. That being said, 17 years without a hit?? What is your standard for a "hit"? He has released some good albums since 1991, also MJs Last Dance was surely a hit. His album Wildflowers was very good, that was released around 94/95 and I remember it still having legs into 1996. Even "Echo" had some good tunes. I am not as familiar with his latest, but to say he hasnt done anything in 17 years is a little off base.

Watching TV for the commercials? Am I in bizarro world or something. I just dont get it.

I really enjoyed the little 4 song set. Although, the OP is right, the days of tossing 15 one-hit wonders up there to lip sync were great. I really miss having Britney Spears/Backstreet Boys/Aerosmith/Busta Rhymes all on stage at the same time, doing different things and lip synching different songs. Those were the days, but until we can get them back again, I'll happily take Petty. It is almost like people are expecting some great rock show that will overshadow the Super Bowl. Come on. Its 12 minutes, you cant possibly have that much invested in it.

I worked with a woman who was dating Clutterbuck, this would have been circa 2002. I'd always joke with her about it.

The Welfare talk needs to stop right now or this thread is going to get locked.

This was good, got if from a link on deadspin, cleaned up for BF.net Howie Mandel: Hello Bill, welcome to Deal or No Deal. Bill Smith (Twins GM): Hello Howie, I'm here to win myself some big time prospects. Howie Mandel: Well Bill I just want to inform you that because of the 8 billion dollar contract we are going to have to elminate the million dollar case. Bill Smith: Well that's some big time B.S.. Howie Mandel: I'm sorry but those are the cases you were dealt. Ha cases get it? I guess not. Additionally we are not letting you choose you're initial case, you will get the case which has a year of Santana and two first round Sandwich picks. Bill Smith: Such nonsense. Howie Mandel: Eh shutup, you work for the Twins. Now, onto the Start please pick 5 cases. Bill Smith: I choose 24, 23, 22 and 21 and 20. Howie Mandel: How original of you. Oooh you knocked off a bunch of cases in the middle. Your current offer is Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson from the Red Sox. Bill Smith: That's it? Come on where is Jon Lester or Clay Bucholz? Howie Mandel: Not there. Do you want to pull down more cases or are you going to accept the deal? Bill Smith: No chance, let's go again. NO DEAL. I choose cases 19, 18, and 17.. Howie Mandel: You are friggin boring. Well the banker says you are about the same level. This time your deal is with the Yankees and includes Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera and one of their minor league prospects. What will you decide? Bill Smith: Do I look like a moron? NO DEAL. Give me cases 16, 15, and 14. Howie Mandel: The deal has gone slightly up. The Mets are offering you every single farmhand they have. Bill Smith: I want Reyes, screw them. NO DEAL. Give me cases 13, 12 and 11. Howie Mandel: The Yankees deal is back on the table but you have to decide by tomorrow. Bill Smith: Screw that I want Kennedy and Hughes. They will come back to me. NO DEAL. I'll take cases 9, 8 and 7. Howie Mandel: Ouch it looks like the Red Sox have removed Ellsbury from the trade and only will give you Coco Crisp along some other prospects. Bill Smith: Haha, you're funny Howie. I don't want no Coco, I'm a coffee guy. NO DEAL. Give me cases 6, 5, and 4. Howie Mandel: Sorry Bill but the banker doesn't even want to give you a deal right now cause you're being such a douche. So pick another case. Bill Smith: Uh Ok. No Deal I guess. I'll take case #3. Howie Mandel: Ok Bill you have two cases remaining along with the one in your possession. The Yankees are offering you a deal with Ian Kennedy as its centerpiece. What will you do? Bill Smith: No I said I want Reyes or Hughes. NO DEAL. Give me case 2 that'll bring the deal back up to where it should be. Howie Mandel: Alright Bill you're down to the case you have in your hands. 2 sandwich picks and a year of Santana or your final offer from the banker.... A deal with the Mets including Phil Humber and Carlos Gomez? Bill Smith: Umm, Umm, Umm.... Howie Mandel: Make a decision so I can bag one of these models already. Bill Smith: I'll take the Mets deal. Howie Mandel: What a moron. Well that's it for Deal or No Deal. Next Week we'll have the Baltimore Orioles in and their dealings of Eric Bedard.

All I know is that if you are single, employed and live with your parents that you should have boatloads of money saved up. If you dont you are doing something wrong.

It seems to me the Twins waited way to long to make this deal. I would have preferred a Hughes/Melky package with a few others, or a Lester or Ellsbuty package, but that is just my lay opinion. I suppose shipping him out of the AL had some value as well.

What if the parents drop the kid off at school, watch the kid walk into school, only to have the kid ditch school later on while the parent is at work? My guess is if the City were to implement this tactic and arrest and jail the parents that we'd be looking at a lot of orphaned kids in the city of Milwaukee.

Looks like Peter Angelos is going to grant your wish. He has to be the worst owner in baseball.

Ticket the same parents that wont keep their kids in school? Like that will have ANY affect whatsoever.

June.

That video was the reason for the thread. I thought it was pure genius. Gammons is awesome though.

A thread to a great sports journalist. Lets keep this thread updated with the latest from Peter Gammons.

Pinella has set his starting lineup 2.5 months before opening day and before spring training? Anyone ask him his rotation for the playoffs yet?

I thought this was a thread about older women. In all seriousness though, seeing one of these up close would definitely NOT be cool.

Actually, in pure irony, I will be using the rebate to pay my property taxes. Nice.

This will be based off of 2007 income, right?

I'll be using mine to pay down debt. I suppose that is helping stimulate the economy...it gets more money into the hands of the credit card companies.

That probably isnt a team that competes for a championship, unfortunately.

Scott Rolen seems to be the answer. You keep Gwynn out of the lineup, hope Hall can get to be about average and get a very good defensive 3b.

Great work Sam, that is exactly what I was looking for. A few things that may need to be adjusted might be Blalock's projection outside of Arlington, where he was traditionally performed much, much better than anywhere else, and Gwynn's CF defensive contribution. I would expect Blalock's offensive number to be closer to 80. (-11) Looks like you used different numbers for Braun, probably just by mistake, but take them out as Braun in LF is a constant, and that adds 21 points to the Gwynn equation. (+21) Finally, everything I've heard about Gwynn is that he is a superior defender in CF. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and adjust his number to 0, which as I interpret it would mean just average. (+20) Those three together make up for 52 points, Gwynn might even post a positive number in the OF, but he would have to a +20 or so to make it close, but it's a lot closer than just assuming Blalock > Gwynn. Perhaps Aaron Rowand is the answer?

Im clearly not arguing that. Weve had statistics guys say that 75% of Braun's offensive contribution was eliminated by his awful defense. We've had people on this site and others mention that team defense was a big problem for the pitching staff - namely Capuano and Bush, when Suppan came over via FA, one concern was that he may look like a worse pitcher because our defense is not as good. Arizona and Colorado dont have better pitching staffs than we do but they do have much better defenses. And that was part of their success. So defense has to be taken into account. Just a rough projection for 2008 I would say Hall's OPS will be about .810, Blalock, if he is playing here and not Texas would be about .765, and Gwynn if he played everyday, would be about .660. That is a difference of about .100 OPS between Blalock and Gwynn, however, I am going to go out on a limb and say that we give up more than that many .OPS points defensively by putting Blalock at 3B and Hall in CF. I think Hall is a little better at 3b than Blalock, and Gwynn is a lot better in CF than Hall.