Patrick

As someone who suffered the LeBron crap, yes there is no comparison. On so many levels. You've only been going at this for what, six weeks? Last big name free agent the Tribe signed was future HOF-er Robbie Alomar (already in the Canadian HOF). At the time, I felt that one took forever, but the deal was signed November 24, 1998. And there wasn't an urgent bidding war like the current situation. So good luck to retaining sanity. Anyone think the decision won't be made before Christmas?

Was thinking of this thread while watching part of the "30 for 30" documentary on $MU football last night.

Just to clarify, my "nuclear winter" statement has a lot more to do with the Yankees' overall situation than it does with the possibility of not signing Cliff Lee. And I certainly understand that being a Yankee fan on their worst day is probably better than being a fan of KC, Pittsburg, Houston etc. on their best. Nonetheless, having become accustomed to New York inserting themselves deep into the playoff on a regular basis, I fear that those days are coming to an end. Sure, signing Lee would probably make me feel better about our immediate prospects, but the Yank's troubles go much deeper than that. Understood. It will be interesting as a non-Yankee fan to see how they go about replenishing a farm system, and whether it takes them as long as other organizations.

Exactly!

With a tear in the eye, and a big smile thinking of the great listening past and present (saw only two fairly recent shows, but enjoy several recordings), just gotta proclaim ......... MOODY!!!

Nicely stated. It's a bit rich [pun intended] to hear any Yankee fan complaining about a "nuclear winter" coming soon because they couldn't get the best free agent available. Move to KC, or Pittsburgh, or Houston, or Milwaukee, or Oakland, or ... Cleveland. (to name a few) An extremely successful and long run, 1995 - 2010. Isn't it reasonable that it might end sometime soon? Or is there some big market (or NY) birth right? I think I've witnessed the Indians golden era of the past 60 years and the next 10 years or more. It was 1995-2001. They lost two World Series, one in ultra heartbreaking fashion. Has there been recent Yankee trauma more severe than the '97 Series for Tribe fans? Indians got lucky by having a ton of young players blossom at exactly the same time, but that's the only way for small mkt teams. Stars mostly aligned again in 2007, ...but they didn't have Cliff Lee in good health, so they had only a little fun with Joba and then the Sawx. All the stars need to align. If Manny, Thome, and Lofton arrived as young Yankees, I somehow think their first (and second for Thome) free agent contracts would have been with the Yankees. Such is life for a tightwad owner in a small or mid-market. Vent over. Who are the Indians pursuing in free agency you ask? Anyone familiar with catcher Paul Phillips? Yes, the fellow who batted .217 in 12 games for the Rockies last season (and .238 at AAA Colorado Springs). Phillips would get an invitation to big league camp and compete against Luke Carlin and Lou Marson for the backup spot behind Carlos Santana. I'm so excited.

Happiness!! Stay warm by whatever means necessary!

Bertrand, How was the music?

I'm nearby (end of the Orange Line in Fairfax VA)--in the suburbs, in an affordable home, with a spouse, 2 cars, and no cats. Real estate is fairly expensive, and at the time we weren't too excited about plowing nearly all of our modest wealth into a home (or relying on Marion Barry for any city services), so we invested less of it, and I get a seat on the metro. Will have to miss the house party that Bertrand mentions--will be visiting folks in Cleveland and seeing the winningest home team in town, ie the Cleveland Orchestra.

It depends on what you buy. For example, if you bought titles at the $8.98 price point, got the discount, free shipping and the free 6th disc, the average disc price would be just under $6.00 per disc. Agreed. I did do a cursory check and saw very little at $8.98, so it doesn't look too compelling. But if the custom here continues of folks posting their orders, perhaps I will place a late one if enough interesting cheap items can be found.

Come on. Toughen up. It's only 20%. Does that even get Concord into the reasonable pricing zone? [...I'm not going to check...] If/when Action Jackson (or successor) steps up for a major final clearance/warehouse cleaning thang, I'll get interested.

I believe the SI version was actually Avalon Hill's Statis Pro Baseball. Played in a couple leagues of this in high school. The beast pitcher in the year we played was JR Richard. He was "2-9" so most plays appeared on his card. If I recall correctly, on his card any batter had a 1/8 chance of single, 3/8 striking out, 1/8 walking, and 3/8 retired some other way. My rotation also had Nolan Ryan, who did throw a no hitter! Ahh, memories. This definitely a better use of the term fantasy baseball.

I guess he is (at least) as good as Cliff Lee after all.

I haven't kept track of the seller, but one (or more) sellers have been trying to move the set for about $150. Perhaps the price is too high?

Happy Birthday. Enjoy the extra hour of it!

Like everyone else, my discs arrived quickly and in great shape! Thanks Paul.

Happy Birthday. You contain to remain extremely youthful!

Thanks my fellow Organisms. Talked a few coworkers into leaving work early for beers at the District Chop House, met the spouse for a great dinner at Rosa Mexicano, and then caught the early set of the Heath Brothers at the Kennedy Center. First time for me seeing Jimmy and Tootie. While I turned 44 today, Jimmy turned 84 this past Monday. Great music and I was definitely impressed by the life force on display. Jimmy stood up throughout the whole set, save for a feature for piano player Jeb "General" Patton (Horace Silver's Cool Eyes), and was smiling and dancing throughout. Returned home to find two packages waiting for me--one from amazon.uk with the George Russell Black Saint/Soul Note box set and the other from Newbury Comics with the Bill Evans Last Waltz box. Thanks for the tips on these!

Eric, Discs arrived quickly, in fine shape! Let me know if some more SteeepleChase titles get added.

It's only fair, I'm not yet sure the Phillies traded away more than 3 toilet flushes to acquire Cliff Lee from the Tribe. [Must take the long view...]. I'll admit I'm much more of a Josh Hamilton fan in recent months than I was prior to that.

Me too. Definitely have a rooting interest for Cliff Lee, but a lot to like on both teams (stories, players, youthful enthusiasm, etc).

Not really. Only one team showed up. Yeah, no kidding. As far as Jim's rant about the Yanks go, it's is not about money but because they have national, strike that, international following. It's been that way for years and ain't going to change. I mean you've got Ghost and Dave who love them as an example. Naturally, Cashman is going to be asked what's next. I'm not a Yankee fan but I want to know what's next. I follow them ad much as my own team. Rangers are a nice story but come next season the attention will decrease somewhat even if they win and people will want to know what the Yanks are doing, what the Dodgers are doing, what the Red sox are doing and so forth. It's just the natural order of things. As a Mets fan, I'm used to second place status; just the way it is. When your heritage is the Babe, Gherig, Dickey, DiMaggio, Mickey, Yogi (I could go and on), you've won 27 titles and play in the most famous ballpark in the world (maybe next to Wembley), you've earned that attention. Which is fine. But can we please start talking about it after this Yankeeless World Series is over? Right after the game ended last night, I flipped around the channels a bit and saw that ESPN1 (Chris Singleton and another explayer) were already discussing how Cliff Lee was going to sign with NYY next year. Please. Every other team's hot stove machinations don't start until November. True Yankee problem may have been too many ex-Indians (Sabathia, Wood, Kearns). It wiped out the Dodgers last year.

Indians magic number is much less than 45. If they can hold on to their 6-run 9th inning lead at KC(sign me up for the Choo crew: 3HR, 7RBI), their record will improve to 61-86. Thus their magic number will fall to 2.

Conversation with Jackie McLean and a moving story from Brubeck about race relations were worthwhile. I even liked Wynton's demonstrated enthusiasm for Monk. Agree that the narrative clung to Armstrong for way too long (especially with so much other interesting events/styles completely ignored or quickly glossed over). Fortunately, I don't think historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was consulted for this Burns extravaganza...

Nice to see Cliff Lee back in form. If only back in 2007... wouldn't have needed Paul Byrd for anything... ahhhh. Is it correct that the MLB/TBS game next week really is NYY/Orioles??? Is there not a more interesting national matchup out there, or is MLB really trying to drive everyone outside of Yankee Kingdom to watch the NFL? I haven't checked the schedule, but is there really not a better matchup than the best and worst records in the AL? Are we really suffering from Yankee underexposure? Ugh.