flosses like fossas

i know i'm a little late on this, but i'm bored. here goes: 1. a track and a train - shout out louds 2. the cold swedish winter - jens lekman 3. the perfect fit - dresden dolls 4. 12 - alexi murdoch 5. push the panic - since by man 6. o stella - pj harvey 7. i remember - figurines 8. hospital - the lemonheads 9. the man who was too loud - frank black 10. grounds for divorce - wolf parade 11. know - oneida 12. couldn't find love - coachwhips 13. a sunday smile - beirut 14. easier - grizzly bear 15. the source - built to spill 16. listening to otis redding at home during christmas - okkervil river 17. fiddle riddle - frank black 18. that one pop gem - we are scientists 19. when it comes to elements, hydrogen is titz - thunderbirds are now! 20. hold on, i'm coming - sam and dave 21. lycanthropy - fear before the march of flames 22. guyamas sonora - beirut 23. black eyed dog - nick drake 24. beautiful dreamer - mates of state 25. they tell me - cat power all jams.

i used to live out there, so i've been more than a few times. in my experiences the fans in new york tend to be - while often vocal and at times crude - very knowledgeable baseball fans. beware that if you sit in the bleachers you do not have access to the rest of the stadium, a la county stadium. also, sitting in the bleachers will not get you access to the monument park in center field which is rad. however, if you are going bleachers, the aforementioned right field corner is the wildest (beware of a plethora of yankees/american/irish/italian flag tattoo combinations), but left-center will get you a great look into the bullpens despite being a mile from the field.

rotoworld is reporting that barry bonds is considering playing in japan. who does this guy think he his? (i'm thinking of someone....he has a mustache...) http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e34/johnpaulmurn/mrbaseball.jpg

anybody else use this site? i've just joined up and partaken in a couple drafts. i'm hoping it will be a useful tool for the coming season. i appreciate that it's too early to really tell anything too steady or substantial from a mock draft, but i've got the itch and it's fun. i think it's a pretty solid site and most of the users seem kosher, though i seem to have a little trouble maintaining a connection to the java draft set up. thoughts?

while the bar trip is not usually ideal, i can offer these reviews: - i went with axel's once. chock full of drunks. sitting around them was miserable. - i went once with mcgillicuddy's and the other bars that guy owns. this crowd was surprisingly a bit older. the set up was more sensible, and the people were bearable. these were both a few years ago now, but should be fairly accurate. i'd say the best gauge of what the crowd will be like is to think about what the crowd at the bar is like when you go there.

that article could've been written by any of the millions of cubs fans who've grown accustomed to doomsday theories and the drastic big-spending moves that have characterized the club the past few years. not only does the article over-dramatize a move by a team in a different division, it assumes that bedard would be a patch for any of the myriad problems that are certain to befall the cubs this (and every) season while freely bidding adieu to the club's best prospects. digression: i couldn't be more sick of hearing about eric bedard.

1. Mets - no question here. 2. Phillies - so much offense, can the pitching hold water? can they compete with the mets? 3. Rockies - the rox have developed solid pitching for the first time in years (ever?) 4. Brewers - still need to produce to justify the talent 5. Diamondbacks - pitching upgrade + lots of improving youth 6. Cubs - offense, offense, offense...and? the pitching can't possibly follow last season 7. Dodgers - well-rounded, but how good? 8. Braves - solid veterans, but the nl east is finally too much for the braves 9. Padres - needed offense, didn't add any 10. Reds - biggest unknown in the nl, lots of "ifs" 11. Astros - ramshackle is the word that comes to mind 12. Cardinals - with pitching they could be on the verge of respectable 13. - 16. Marlins, Giants Nationals, Pirates - take your pick

i know there have been multiple book and reading threads on the board, but recently i've been considering my membership at www.goodreads.com. i really like this site; it's easy to use, not bogged with ads, and people you don't know rarely approach you. perhaps the best thing about the site is that there are a lot of people rating and reviewing the books and you can look to see those peoples' tastes etc. to see how much weight you want to put in their reviews. beyond that, i've run across tons of books i want to read just by reading reviews and following threads. is anyone else a member of goodreads and does anyone have a recommendation for similar sites?

flyglobespan.com is a british company - few people in the u.s. seem to be hip to it - that flies cheap to manchester. you can take a scenic train ride to london. i flew with them out of new york in august and was very happy.

as has been said before me, many good points here. my 2 cents... - i think the crew will likely have a couple young guys getting shots on the opening day roster, most obviously parra, hard to say who else. - i don't want to see the brewers spend the money to keep cordero and am neutral on linebrink, though it might not hurt to have a couple veterans out there. i do like the ideas of trading for chad cordero or trying to sign affeldt or seanez, but spending too much money on bullpen help is not high on my list. - i hope to see the brewers invite a number of waiver claims, journeymen and career minor leaguers to camp. we've had plenty - if short-lived - success grooming guys in this situation (kolb, turnbow, etc.); i still have faith in jack z and DM in this respect. it's a cheap, expendable way to build a team and you've got to bank on someone stepping up. like TLB said "It'll be really hard to move in any direction but up in terms of this bullpen for 2008." in closing, i'd like to note that i appreciate how well-rounded and interesting this thread is. people are really investing solid thought and commentary in it.

regardless whether the brewers make the playoffs at this point or not, they have put the fans through the wringer by not putting the division away in july and hanging on just enough the rest of the way. i'm a huge fan, i consider myself a die hard, but i'm near exhaustion from all of the suspect decisions and lack of clutch performances. that said, i was thinking today, which would make me happier - if the brewers had choked outright by the end of august/beginning of september and saved us the grief, or if they hung around as they have only to fall painfully short? on the one hand i'd be disappointed but could be fairly content to chalk it up to such cliches as having been "a good run" but the decline was inevitable for "a tired young team" and be excited about watching young guys get plenty of playing time the rest of the way in low pressure situations. on the other hand, i get to be excited about a real-deal playoff run but have to agonize over every single questionable - if not outright poor - coaching decision, every player left on base in one-run games, every baserunner allowed by our clown car of a bullpen, and in general go through a vicious 24-hour cycle of something like the following: 1) watch the game (with one eye on the cubs score) 2) check the standings after the game, win or lose 3) critique play, coaching 4) furrow brow, rub eyes 5) scrutinize what can be done to get over the hump until i go to bed (to be continued when i wake up) 6) check the next days probable starters 7) furrow brow, sigh; get another beer out of the fridge 8) rescrutinze; joke about/lament the cubs 9) go to bed, repeat steps 4-6 and 8 from morning coffee until an hour before opening pitch i'm a young buck, and despite my fatigue, i have to say i'll take the rollercoaster and playoff run. in closing, please make note that i have not written them off yet, but this is a what if topic that may be more applicable in a couple days. obviously i want them to make the playoffs. where do other people stand on this?

where is cordero in that situation? playing for the sweep in a momentum game, and him being the only reliable arm in the pen, why wasn't cordero brought in to face the middle of their order?

the cards control their own destiny almost as much as the brewers and cubs. 7 of their remaining 18 v. the crew and cubs and only 4 other games with teams that are still playing for something (philly/mets). that leaves 7 games with pittsburgh and houston. the calendar is stacked against them - an older team playing 35 games in 34 days to finish the season - but it's not solidly out of the question just yet.

But on actual comparison with Tulo-witzki, going into Sunday's games, judging the whole season and not some fanciful projection of it, Tulowitzki has more RBI, more runs scored, more hits... this is the real gem for me, right after pointing out the legendary caliber of braun's simulated full season, dude reins in his argument to point to three stat totals that tulowitzki leads almost entirely because he has played more games and has more plate appearances (rbi, runs and hits), and braun's not far behind. way to undermine your whole article with hard stats. still, much as i laugh at this there have been so many occasions on which i have maligned michael hunt in the the urinal-sentinel for hopping the bandwagon in both directions with lovers and haters of both the brewers and the packers. it happens everywhere.

brewer beard woot! check www.flickr.com/photos/johnmurn for pics of me and avrock's brewer beards. i should be getting pics of a few others up soon. message me if you want to send a pic.

is it possible that braun will get enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting crown? i forget if it's total plate appearances or if it's a percentage with respect to an average of the rest of full-time players in the league... edit: answered my own question, thank you wikipedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batting_average) braun has a very very slim chance if he can maintain his current average or improve it slightly and pretty much play everyday from here out.

i gotta put on some weight quick to make bidding on this thing worth it! http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Milwaukee-Brewers-Dave-Parker-Jersey-Rawlings_W0QQitemZ190148482659QQihZ009QQcategoryZ15687QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

they are excelling in the key areas where the brewers are melting down. they are riding the backs of solid veteran starters into arguably the steadiest bullpen in baseball. they are a top five defensive team, and while their offense is nothing to write home about, again, they are buoyed by a few clutch vets and they generally score just enough runs to get the job done. if i'm not mistaken, the brewers are the photographic negative of this right now. the starters are regularly turning over subpar starts to a bullpen full of holes, we're a bottom five defensive squad, and we can't manufacture key runs. take notes, DM.

no spellcheck in that giant head, huh, joe?

it's especially tough - probably outright magnifying - to be objective about watching rickie struggle with other young big names putting up. with braun and fielder and even the young arms starting to come to form it does make you wonder. i hope weeks gets it straightened out (a la billy hall last year), and i agree that his potential and tools are undeniable, but i can't shake a skeptical feeling i've got about him.

i'm heading for bed, go brewers! make our beards stand up!

time to check in! dudes, pm me your photo updates or to get my email address. i'll be posting beard-a-thon updates on my flickr account (www.flickr.com/photos/johnmurn). i don't want to jump the gun, but this ship certainly seems to be floating a tiny bit steadier since we started with this manly show of solidarity. edit: added positivity...

the nl east and west races. and the american league. and the reds and pirates.

only one way to find out.

disclaimer to the wary: do not question the strength of your beard alone. if you must, question the strength of all our beards itching and annoying our girlfriends/(boyfriends?)/wives in unison. sparse and spotty or course and dense, curly, straight, scraggly, whatever, we need you. besides, one of the inevitably great biproducts of a thing like this is seeing peoples' combined meager and impressive contributions. i, for one, happen to already know that my little brother is going to grow the scraggliest, saddest, perhaps most disgusting "beard" of anyone participants, so fear not.