OGTEleven

I thought Turner was a Restricted Free Agent. That would give his agent license to talk with every team in the league. Did I miss something?

I love how they use the death of his father to sell the story. Good one.

What irony? Is there any indication whatsoever that if stem cell research had been funded by the government that Tony Snow would not have gotten cancer? Is it so hard to call a jerk a jerk? There are liberal and conservative jerks. Whoever made that t-shirt needs professional help.

I don't think the MEers will belive Iran about the waters. I do think Iran will show that they can use any excuse they want to push around the west. The MEers will believe that and that is exactly what Iran wants.

To show to the people of the Middle East that Iran is the real power in the region. They make the English soldiers look wimpy by allowing themselves to be led about like dogs. They purposely parade the woman to show that the English will not defend her. I think they could give a hoot about what the English government does or how the conflict looks around the rest of the world. If they come out looking like winners in the ME, and they will, it will further strengthen their standing over there. Making another country look wimpish helps them convince the rest of the ME that Islam can once again rule the world with Iran as its leader. It is a small step but that is the message they are trying to convey, IMO.

If that was their goal, why would they parade the english around and make them look silly and issue continuous letters of apology?

Hmmm. How would this outcry to the UN help them meet their goals?

Are you more inclined to believe the Brits or Iran regarding the location of the ship?

Why do you prefer AP over MT and a late firster? Do you feel there is that much of a gap between AP and MT? If AP were still there at 12, we could likely get a king's ransom in draft picks, move down to say 18 and still swap that for Turner and their first. That I can see. AP won't be there at 12 though.

I hate to ruin this contest for the other 63 but Martina McBride.

As much as I'd like it, I doubt it. They signed Lewis for 1 year. There is no way he is the answer for them long term anyway. He's too old for a young team. They are trying to build and need a long term option. Maybe if Quinn is still there he makes sense. 12 is a pipe dream. I don't think trading up makes sense for us unless he lasts until at least 8.

Man Jackson was running through some enormous holes. Are there OL prospects from Nebraska? From the short videos I liked Hunt, Bush and Irons. It is good to know that there will likely be a good RB available in round 2 if we elect to go that way.

It's funny they're saying stuff like that now. Murray had to know what was coming but he put out Spezza and Healtley anyway. Was he really surprised to see the Peters line out there? It seems like he put those guys out there so he could cry about it later. And he certainly is crying.

I read in the paper that Murray whined about the Sabres going after Spezza/Heatley. A good way to avoid that would have been sending out a different line. WTF did he think was going to happen?

Ear wax and bats (flying mice) are the two things to which I have irrational reactions. The sight of ear wax can make me sick to my stomach almost to the point of vomiting. I am afraid of bats to an extreme point. I would rather have a lion loose in my house than a bat.

Thanks all. Birthdays are good days to be snowed in. Work has generally been crazy and will be until the end of March. After that I'll probably be back to posting more.

So when a police department gets calls from 7 different parts of the city all saying there are boxes with blinking lights at major intersections and under bridges they should simply hang up? Good strategy.

As you say, Cops have to take appropriate measures. Odds are very strong that when the reports were called in the caller didn't identify the cartoon characters on the box but just identified it as a box with blinking lights. Once the cop saw the box, let's call it a 1% chance it was a bomb or other harmful device. If the 1% chance panned out, the same people now saying cops overreacted would likely be accusing them of not taking a threat seriously. The cops can't win. They do and should follow procedures. If someone thinks the procedure manual should contain an exception clause for blinking cartoons then they should make the suggestion. The press picks up on some things and does not pick up on others. That doesn't make things the fault of cops. Similarly, because something is so popular that it was featured on CSI really does not amount to a hill of beans in terms of how cops should react. The people at fault are either the advertisers who did not get proper permission or the city for not communicating that permission to the police. The police are not at fault here IMO.

So the police get several calls all reporting (probably with little or no detail) that there are lighted boxes near multiple bridges and important intersections. What are they supposed to do? Ignore it? Get there and see they are lit up like cartoons and assume everything's ok? Give me a break. If the advertisers got a city permit then the city should have let the cops know. If not, they should face the consequences of putting the police in a no win situation.

Neither Marsika H or Sara E holds a candle to Martina. and she's exactly 40

I agree to an extent but I think you leave out an important factor. The owners that are willing to pay out huge bonuses are from the larger market teams with more cash flow from operations. While in theory the cap would put limits on this, in practice it has not because the salary cap has increased at a rapid rate over the years due to the success of the NFL. I paid a huge bonus to player A this year and he takes up 8% of my cap, but next year that same dollar figure becomes 5% due to the increased cap. If these revenue increases go on forever I'll be able to pay big bonuses to players B,C and D over the next few years so I'll build it into my set of assumptions. The raw dollars I paid in the bonus came from my skyboxes, seat licenses, etc. I may have got these fees even after extorting my community into paying for a large portion of my brand new stadium. Teams like Buffalo, New Orleans, Jacksonville, KC and Cincy can't do this. The revenue stream will never stop growing at this rate in the eyes of these owners. They have delusions of grandeur and are kidding themselves. In real life, no business can sustain these high rates of revenue growth. One way these self-centered blowhards (in case you're wondering who I mean Bob Kraft, Jones, Snyder, Huizenga and to some extent the jerk in Houston) delude themselves into concluding that the growth rate will continue, is to lust after large markets like LA that are currently "untapped". They think they can just move teams around and that their customer base (fans) will grow. Maybe they're right but I seriously doubt it. There is a concept in accounting called goodwill. Based on goodwill, if you're selling your dry cleaning business that has been running well for 50 years, you'd get more than you would if you had opened it 2 years ago with identical assets and location. Goodwill is what makes that difference. It is hard to quantify but real. In the case of the NFL; particularly Buffalo, KC, and Cincy it is very real but fat Bob Kraft doesn't care because he needs to continue his dream induced perpetual rapid growth rate. It also seems to me that these owners like to plant crap into the brown nosing media types like Chris Motenson to continually write articles playing off guys like Ralph as old and senile.

You had to do that didn't you? Work has been busy but I get on at night sometimes and gave Amorost 2 a shot last night. I got through Chpater 1 and it wanted me to buy the rest. Did you buy it? If so, how many chapters are there and is it worth it? Didn't try #1. Is that the same deal? 1 Chapter then buy?

The name of our country is The United States of America. Does this not imply that the conecept of a State is important and should carry some weight? Might not each individual State have interests that vary? The system is set up to give that bit of extra power (if you will) to each State. What is the compelling reason to change?

The Pats owner is part of a group which is basically trying to run the Bills out of business so he can get one more dollar. He is a fat load blowhard. He complains to refs that Rodney Harrison is the VICTIM of dirty plays. I think I'll root for the Colts.

I personally saw the impact Ripken had on the game. That impact is not (completely) measured in any of your methods but is directly related to offense. Teams now look for shortstops in the "Ripken mode". That is primarily based on offense. How do you measure that? How can one deny it should be counted among his offensive traits? I did look at (and know) some statistics when making my assertion. I did not write a book or get a phD. Sorry. With that said, some significant factors are difficult or impossible to measure. The rule change based on Gibson is very similar. I'm sure Wee Willie Keeler stacks up quite well with your methods, but I'm also sure he got no bonus points for being so good at bunting that baseball had to change the rules. Regarding Pudge, I'm not sure how something can be important but not significant, but I'm not sure I want to learn. I have watched more than enough baseball to know that not everything offensive, defensive or otherwise is measured even if a book says it is. We've probably both have enough of this. I'm sure I have at this point.