Agent Cooper wrote:

Alot of ballplayers aspire to play for the Yankees because of the prestige factor.  Love or hate them, they are the most storied franchise in baseball and it means something to put on those pinstripes.  

But I'm betting with A-Rod it was mostly because NY could ultimately offer him the most money.  (Which is the OTHER reason players like the Yankees)  

Plus, a guy like A-Rod wants that NYC star treatment you get as a big time athlete there.   Going to all the clubs downtown and rubbing shoulders with all the hot entertainers and politicians and gangsters and such.  I can see how an egotistical moron like him would be really attracted to all that.

Which is why I don't think he would have gone to Boston even with a comparable offer.  A moot point since Tom Hicks offered him a $250 million dollar offer when the next highest on the table was $98 mill.  He immediately regretted it though from all accounts as his heart was set on schmoozing with the jet set in New York, although he eventually got his wish.  Texeira is exactly in the same mold as AFraud, his ambition was always to end up in NY, and he was not shy about mentioning it every chance he got (obviously not endearing himself to local fandom when he played in Texas).  Which is why most Rangers fans were laughing our ass off when he injured himself running to 1st base in the ALCS this year....karma, baby.

Mike B.

Next up... Crunchy Frog and Lark's Vomit.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Sour ... hia-121310

I'd wager that the Philadelphia Phillies now have the most feared pitching rotation in Major League Baseball history.  

Agent Cooper wrote:Cliff Lee to Yankees in 3...2...

Yankees fans complaining that Cliff Lee really isn't that great in 3...2....



Mike B.

stratochamp wrote:when you write feared, i assume you mean to say best.

Actually no.  I dont necessarily think that next years Phillies are going to have the best rotation that the game has ever seen but they have the potential to be is all I really meant.  And I hope you arent gauging the quality of a pitcher by the amount of wins they have.      ERA, WHIP, and a few other statistics paint a much better picture of how good a pitcher is than the number of wins (which is why Zach Greinke won the AL Cy Young with a 16-8 record in 2009).  As good as the Braves rotation was in the mid-to-late 90's, the Phillies rotation this next year could be even better from top to bottom.

These guys seem to think so:
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.ph ... tion-ever/

I dont know much about the WAR index crap that some of these statisticians use but it makes for an interesting comparison.

I just think that in the long history of baseball, only a handful of pitching staffs have, from top to bottom, been as good as these four could be.  When you play a three game series against most teams you normally go up agains a good pitcher or two and then an average pitcher.  Or maybe a great pitcher and a couple of average pitchers.  You usually dont get three aces in a row.  And I think that if they stay healthy, the Phillies have the best chance to win the Series this year....especially with their offense.

Oh and personally, I think that the 1998 Braves pitching staff was the best ever.  Even better than the '71 Orioles with four 20+ game winners.  The 1954 Indians are probably up there too.  The '86 Mets were a scary group as well with Gooden, Fernandez, Darling, and Ojeda.

Kingofpain89 wrote:The '86 Mets were a scary group as well with Gooden, Fernandez, Darling, and Ojeda.

Just what I was thinking... recall their postseason bullpen had Jesse Orosco, Roger McDowell, Rick Aguilera, and Randy Myers     That team has my vote for best pitching staff.

Terrell Owens throws entire Cincinnati Bengals organization under the bus:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Terr ... les-121410

I guess it was only a matter of time.  And frankly someone needs to do it.  Surprised he stayed quiet as long as he has.  

Two winning records in the last 20 years!?!  That's it?  

The Bengals is the worst run organization is professional sports, much less football.  Same team whose owner (Mike Brown) was content to put out a substandard product for a decade so he could pocket millions of unspent NFL revenue dollars. This organization makes Jerry Jones and whatever idiot owns the Texans look like Einstein and Tesla.

Mike B.

Agent Cooper wrote:
After having spent the weekend in the hospital blitzed on massive painkilling drugs, I present the following PSA:

Note to Acaeum Members:  DO NOT get kidney stones.  They are the most painful medical condition known to man.  Before I had one, I always thought "blacking out from the pain" was just literary hyperbole.

The doctor who treated me in the hospital told me he once flipped his motorcycle on the highway and rolled down 100 yards of pavement, breaking pretty much everything.  He'd also passed a kidney stone.   He said he'd rather flip the bike again than have another stone.  He was being completely serious.  And I believe he is correct.

I had one and it's pretty much indescribable.  After I had mine and passed it, I went to a few sites dedicated to kidney stones.   There were a few women who posted who had had both a kidney stone and given birth in their life, and they were universally united that a kidney stone was far more painful.

There is a simple solution, drink more water and less pop and tea and coffee.  One of my best friend's dad is a pilot for American, and he told me once he's had seven kidney stones....SEVEN!  He said his doctor told him he was too sedentary and drank too much coffee....I think after a couple of those stones I'd be gulping water like nuts.

Mike B.