connoisseur series500

Thanks for your gracious donation towards the winner, Vajjy. Come on everybody! Sign up! I'll get my picks in tonight.

Just came upon this thread. Glad to hear you are recovering.

I think the Pats would rather trade a player with some years left than hold on to them until they decline. The pick the Pats got from the Raiders may turn out to be a good one, as long as the Raiders continue to stink for two more seasons. Good point - they sure picked a good trading partner. Seymour is getting older, and probably doesn't have much left in the tank - Conn probably knows better than I do about that. But getting a first-rounder out of the Raiders is gold. It strikes me as a great deal for the Pats. Seymour is disruptive when he's on, but he hasn't shown much motivation over the last few years. He has lost quite a few games to injuries, and has played many games while being rendered mediocre from injuries. He can still be a force, imo, but I'm not sure he will be on a consistent basis. He just doesn't show up for some games. He could still help the Pats, but the team is very deep in defensive linemen. His likely replacement will be Jarvis Green, who is no slouch. Second round draftee, Ron Brace, has had a good camp, as has rookie by the name of Pryor. In addition, quality backups exist such as Mike Wright. Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren remain on the line. Belichick knew he would be losing Seymour after this year. In addition, Big Sey has held out twice in the past, and has shown greater interest in his income than on his production. Getting a 2011 first rounder from Oakland, which may turn out to be a top 10 pick is an absolute steal, imo. Rumor has it that Belichick would have been happy trading Seymour to Kansas City for their second round pick next year. Bear in mind, also, that 2011 is the year where a rookie salary cap is being planned. Can you imagine picking in the top 10 without having to pay out massive guaranteed contracts to rookies? Belichick always seems to be playing chess while the rest of the league plays checkers. If you factor in production versus salary demand, Seymour was overpaid. It's okay to overpay a player in a position of need, but the Pats are deep on the defensive line. They've freed up some cap room, and are in a better position to extend the contracts of 2010 free agents, DT Vince Wilfork and OG Logan Mankins, who are younger impact players still in their prime. I've been hoping the Pats would trade Seymour for a couple of years now, and am delighted with the deal. Still have to check the latest news, however, as the media is reporting that Seymour is stonewalling the trade. He doesn't want to go to Oakland. But maybe that's the silly media making stuff up.

Even if true, he's at least twice her size or more- did he need to choke her, etc? Yes, it's starting to sound fishy. He could have grabbed her keys. Time will tell.

Merriman's lawyer now says that he was struggling to keep her from leaving the house as she was inebriated. Charges are being dropped.

Charger's linebacker, Shawn Merriman gets arrested for choking out Tila Tequila. I don't think anything can get better than this. (OK, I stole all this from the Patriots discussion board.) Hope this doesn't offend anyone. I'm focussing on the humorous side.

How is that hit of the year? You have a 350 lb man rolling on a quarterback? You Browns' fans must be desperate to see some real football.

Awesome! Look out everybody! I plan to ree-peet!

Do I need to register all over again, or are we returnees all set? Thanks again Vajjy.

Thanks! I used it today.

anything for books? thanks!

Anyone get any coupons lately?

Ellis Hobbs gave up a long td to Reggie Wayne, and apparently the Eagle's fans are jumping on him. Pats have suffered with Hobbs throughout the three or so years he's been playing for the team. He's a scrappy little corner, but routinely gets burned. He's good at returning kicks, but should never be a starting corner. Perhaps he will be fine as a nickel. He gets tons of PI calls against him as well. I think Bill Belichick knew what he was doing when he decided to let this young player go.

This link will take you to one of my games played in a tournament recently. I lost the game, but pretty much outplayed my opponent. Old guys like me don't finish very well. Read the report under "July Swiss." http://www.toledochess.org

Favre might be a tool, but there's no doubt that he makes the Vikings a legitimate Super Bowl threat. With that great offensive line and running game, and now Mr. Gunslinger, things will get interesting indeed.

Was that an online game? I marvel how you can get a diagram posted on the thread. Is it some kind of software?

Dan is Dan.

Here's the game (if you are interested): Ivanchuk,V (2703) - Alekseev,Evgeny (2714) [A13] 5th FIDE GP Jermuk ARM (4), 12.08.2009 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 d4 5.0-0 c5 6.e3 Nc6 7.exd4 cxd4 8.d3 Be7 9.Re1 0-0 10.Na3 Ne8 11.Nc2 f6 12.Bd2 a5 13.a3 a4 14.Nb4 Nc7 15.Rb1 Bd7 16.Nh4 Na5 17.f4 g6 18.f5 gxf5 19.g4 f4 20.Bxf4 Na6 21.Nd5 exd5 22.Bxd5+ Kg7 23.Kh1 Re8? [23...Kh8 or 23...Nc6 was necessary 24.g5! Kh8 25.Qh5 Rg8 26.Bxg8 Kxg8. Now it is a forced mate. 27.g6 Bc6+ 28.Re4 Bxe4+ 29.dxe4 hxg6 30.Qxg6+ Kh8 31.Qh5+ and mate in two more moves. 1-0.

That was a beautiful game Chucky played against Alekseev. Gotta love watching Aronian's games. No boring draws for him.

If I win, I'm taking care of my family, so where's the alienation? If I lose my friends, they weren't friends in the first place. And I'll buy new ones. Think about it a little deeper, Dan. No matter how much you would give to your family, it would never be enough. The dynamics of any existing relationship would change. The innate equality which exists between friends would be upset. Your identity becomes inseparable to the money. Again, I wouldn't want to wish that upon anybody. Moose is right: it would be best to win a reasonable amount of money, which wouldn't be enough to disturb the dynamics.

Perhaps. But I can't help but watch the final round anyway. There could always be a little drama.

I hate lottos. You can never "win" by putting your money into these kinds of things. The odds are stacked against you, and they pay out only a small proportion of the money that went into the tickets. And if you "win," you'll lose all your friends and alienate all your family. Who wants that?

Sometimes it's hard to explain why you like a musician, but I'll tell you that many times after listening to Bill Evans, it seems that all other "jazz" music sounds childish by comparison. If I had to pick my favorite jazz musician (and that's not easy to do,) it would have to be Bill Evans. It happens that people get tired of a certain type of music after a while, but Bill Evans' music sticks. It really does.

Seems to me that Chastain was primarily interested in promoting herself. The Firefly is fairly close to my home, and I would have gone more if I could see acts other than Ms. Chastain. But I am not gloating over this development at all. I did see Tony Monaco over there, as well as Organissimo a few times.

Happy Birthday Mike!