Sen. John Blutarsky

I'm in favor of the Running Man solution. Make it entertaining.

2,000,000 shares of exxonMobil I'll take, if we're talking about 2,000,000 shares of Enron I'll take the 4.60.

It's not so much that you have earthquakes. It's that you have earthquakes during wildfires which destabilize the earth due to the lack of vegetation which causes huge landslides in addition to the flooded concrete rivers. Oh, and occasioanlly the earthquakes happen off shore which would cause a tsunami. Not to mention the gang violence, LAPD and smog. And that you're basically running out of water, illegal immigration is running rampant and killing your healthcare system, and every now and again you have rolling blackouts, and Paris Hilton....but it's sunny. God I love LA. Philly may have it's problems but it's pretty unlikely that I'll die by wildfire, earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, flood (at my house at least), or landslide. On any given day in LA you can be killed by 2 or 3 of those things at the same time.

When Nick Saban uses it in that sense I am sure that he is using the Royal We. From Wiki: A nosism is the use of 'we' to refer to oneself[1]. A common example is the royal we (Pluralis Majestatis), which is a nosism employed by a person of high office, such as a monarch or pope. It is also used in certain formal contexts by bishops and university rectors. The expression was first used in 1169 when English King Henry II (d. 1189), hard pressed by his barons over the investiture controversy, assumed the common theory of "divine right of kings," that the monarch acted conjointly with the deity. Hence, he used "we" as "God and I...," or so the legend goes. (See Rolls Series, 2.12) In the public situations in which it is used, the monarch or other dignitary is typically speaking, not in his own proper person, but as leader of a nation or institution. Nevertheless, the habit of referring to leaders in the plural has influenced the grammar of several languages, in which plural forms tend to be perceived as deferential and more polite than singular forms. This grammatical feature is called a T-V distinction. Popes have used the we as part of their formal speech with certain recent exceptions. The English translations of the documents of John Paul II dispensed with this practice, using the singular "I", even though the Latin original usually continued to use the first person plural "We".

Did you due a title check to make sure there are no leins against the property? Don't skimp on the inspections either, these people seem flaky/shady. Make sure they actually own the house free and clear and that there are no major issues with the home.

Seriously. Get the deal done as quick as you can if you really want the house. I'd at least talk with a real estate lawyer or at the minimum a real estate agent before you continue. There a lot of paperwork involved and it gets UGLY if it gets screwed up. I sold my house to my father w/o listing it with an agent but I had an agent I know do the paperwork for me. She agreed to do it all for $1,000. It was well worth it to have a professional handle the headaches.

It amazes me. Favre makes millions of dollars and he STILL gets a company cell phone as a perk. You'd think the Vikes would want to know which line he was using idf they knew they were breaking the rules.

Of course, what's 30 yards of distance when you need a machete and a sherpa to find your ball i used to have the same problem when iw as a teenager. I took a couple (5) lessons, fixed my swing path and address (I had unknowingly been standing with my shoulders open and hips closed, instant cut/slice everytime) and now everything moves right to left. I get the odd hook when I get too handsy and I still push the odd ball to the right when I overswing, it just doesn't resemble a banana in flight anymore. When I do start to have the problem again I know what to look for and I can usually iron it out in a round or two. Rather than coughng up a couple hundred for a driver go find a good pro and have a lesson or two to see if they can help you. I found those 5 lessons to be much more helpful than any piece of equipment I ever bought. He fixed my problem but also showed me what to look for if it happened again so i could fix it myself.

Well, Sabathia would be a rental and would walk in the off-season, you'd at least have Holliday for 2009 as well and if you didn't want to pay him the Phillies could deal him again next year to re-load the system. That seems to be a common thread with Philly, no rentals. Blanton is under team control, they nixed Fuentes because he's a rental, etc. It's smart if they can pull it off because, as I said, at the bare minimum they can move the player next July to re-load if they can't get a deal done. I'm not sure they don't need Fuentes. Tom Gordon is a mess and he's supposed to handle the 8th inning. he's on the DL and has been fairly brutal this year. That leaves them a little short as it moves everyone else around. it would be nice have another decent late inning arm because they are burning up Romero and I don't trust Madson. I would like the Holliday move because it would also insulate them from Burrell. Right now he's the only right handed bat of any consequence (even though he sucks). Going into the off-season he can command a king's ransom from the Phils because they have no other legit right handed bats. If they get Holliday they take the upper hand in negotiations because I think Burrell's value is higher to Philly than anyone else. With Holliday in the fold that value drops and the Phils won't have to bid against themselves for Burrell and can get him abck at abetter number, or let him walk entirely and spend the money elsewhere. Right now he makes 12 million which is embarassing.

Name me one male racer in any motorsport that has won exactly one race that gets that type of publicity. I don't care that she doesn't win every race, nobvody wins all the time but she's won ONCE, ever, in multiple seasons with different teams. Once. Yet she's the onyl driver ever talked about on TV, she's on every single promo, we all know her name. one race...in Japan...when the top drivers stayed home...

bagpipes. I think I'm genetically programmed. When i hear the pipes I'm ready for battle.

They still planning on suiting up 47 QBs?

Well it does kind of matter when you're wondering if you had the ammo to pull off the deal antoehr team pulled off. If you're the Indians and you're looking at potential deals and team A has 5 blue chip prospects and you can get 2 of them and you compare it to team B who has 0 blue chippers and you can have your pick which deal are you going to take? The point is that Philly's #1 prospect would crack the top 5 in Milwaukee's system so he is less valuable to toher teams. Prospect #1 from team A does not equal prospect #1 from team B so to say that because the Phillies already dealt the (presumably) 2nd and 4th ranked players in their system they had enough to acquire Sabathia is kind of silly if those players were the 15th and 20th best players they had offered to them. There's been a rumor down here that the Phillies nixed a deal for Holliday and Fuentes that would have included Victorino, Carlos Carrasco, AJ Happ and Ben Marson in part because Fuentes was a rental. I would have done that and pivoted Fuentes to Tampa to replace a couple of the prospects they dealt. I don't believe that Colorado would have taken that and I think the Phils killed it because they want to bring Marson up soon but that deal could have made a big difference.

Danica Patrick = Anna Kournikova only about a tenth as hot. They were both hyped way beyond all reasonable boundaries because they were attractive. Kournikova never won a tournament and Patrick has won one race, a race in japan, that half the top drivers wern't even at. Watching a Kornikova event was at least entertaining because you could benefit from the eye candy. Watching a Patrick race is jsut like any other race because her car isn't any hotter than the other cars...until she hits the wall and it catches fire...or runs over a pit crew member...

Kendrick's been OK but Eaton has been an absolute disaster and simply getting him out of the rotation is significant improvement. The Phillies simply do not have the depth within the organization (I think at one point recently, every team at every minor league level was in last place) to have gotten Sabathia and probably not Harden. I see Burnett and Blanton as a push so they were wise to take Blanton because he is cheaper, younger, more durable, and cost less in terms of prospects. Regardless of stuff, Burnett is a .500 career pitcher. I'm not saying Blanton is better than that but when you look at who is available and what they have to trade the Blanton deal isn't bad. They gave up an A ball 2nd baseman who is blcoked in the organization by Utley, a AA set-up guy and a throw in. We're not talking about ready to play sure-fire locks to be stars. Who else is available for less than that that's an upgrade at all? The fact that two of those guys were top 10 prospects in the organization is as much an indictment of the Phillies minor league system as a compliment to the players. The only way the Phillies do anything is if Myers comes back and pitches well. I give that about a 25% chance of happening.

I've been to SoCal several times and I'd rather live at Gitmo. Can't fault him for Boise, it's a pretty place to be.

Those are good numbers for Buffalo for a solid goalie. Plus they are low enough as to not make miller untradeable in the future if Enroth turns out to heal lepers with his glove hand. Stability is good. Now, if they could only deal with the gigantic CF they have at wing right now and jettison Peters' useless self they'll be getting somewhere.

Now we can TRADE him to Detroit I kid, I kid.

The cardinals should, they are the third best team in their division behind the Cubs and Milwaukee and are doing it with smoke and mirrors right now. I think the Rays pitching gives them a decent shot so they should be adding, not subtracting right now. They need another bat. I'm not sold on Minnesota but they have a decent nucleus. They aren't in a position to add so they really need to evaluate whter or not they have the legs to make it or if they can subtract to be better next year. Being a GM is poker and you need to be able to read the hand that is dealt before you see all the cards. A good GM has a feel for his team, where they are going and whether they have a real shot or not. Example, the Bills were nominally in the playoff race in November, did you legitimatly look at that team and think Wow, if things fall right they can make a run? Giants fans could have done that given their defense and the way their offense got it together. Half our team was on IR, we had mediocre to terrible QB play all year and our defense was a seive. Sure we were nominally in the race, but not really if you were honest with yourself. A bunch of these MLB teams are in the same boat.

So those 13 days would have made the difference then? You have to win the wild card to get into the playoffs and they didn't have the horses for it this season. There are at least 3 teams going for the WC that are significantly better than they are.

Buh-Bye Buffalo City Tower. Another Buffalo News conceptual drawing bites the dust. Also note in that article where the same developer stopped the Statler reonvation in April due to lack of funds. More pie in the sky plans from half-assed developers up in smoke. Link Cue the annoyed response in five...four...three...

And they just dealt two pitchers out of their rotation and will probably move thier closer too. An important part of being a GM is knowing when you may be OK, but really not good enough to do anything. half the league is in the position they are in. Were they going to win the World Series this year? No. So why not sell high on some assets and plan for next year and let the kids play now. Why hold on to a false hope of a miralce run?

Over his 10 year career, Burnett averages 128 innings per season. As of today he's thrown 127. The last two years he's started 21 and 25 games respectively. This year he's started 20. The annual breakdown is coming, and it's coming soon. Buyer beware.

I couldn't disagree more. The don't have the prospects to have gotten Sabathia so forget him. Why would you want Harden? He's constantly on the DL. If you're going to trade for a guy you want to be reasonably sure he's going to pitch. Rich Harden is the gamble of all gambles. As for Burnett, he's 5 games over .500 for his career but he's got a big name. He's been terrible this year (4.96 ERA) and would have been a rental because he can opt out after this year. He's also a fan of the DL. He would have been more expensive in terms of prospects (and salary) so why pay a preium for a pitcher just because of his name? Can Burnett occassionally twirl a gem? Sure, but more often than not he's mediocre at best which explains how he's a .500 pitcher. Blanton is young (27), under contract through 2010, and better than average. I'm aware that Blanton is also a .500 pitcher and has an ERA close to 5 this season. He also doesn't have a history of arm or blister problems like Burnett, he makes about 10 million less than Burnett, he's under team control for for 2 more years, and he was cheaper to acquire. Because he's relatively inexpensive that leaves the Phils with room to maneuver this off-season. Burrell will be a FA and they can either bring him back or use his 12 million plus the 10 additional million they won't be paying Burnett to go get a better left fielder. Frankly I'd love it if the Phils could find a way to convince Colorado to take Burrell, Myers (to close for them), and a prospect or two for Holliday. It won't happen, but I'd like it. Would I have like Sabathia? Yes, but they didn't have the ammunititon to trade. Gimmie Blanton over Burnett though. I wouldn't touch Harden with a 10 foot pole and I think the Cubs will ultimately pay for that deal when Harden breaks down again.

Right, but name a pitcher he's dealt or let walk that's been successful afterward. Mulder? broken, Zito? crap, Hudson? mediocre I guess you could say Isringhausen was pretty good for a short time and Haren has been ok, but they got a beast of a hitter in that deal.