Dan Gould

I think the far more significant question is why was he so damn careless with the exacto-knife when he edited those session tapes?

Well, I think that the window of opportunity is really from now til whenever Clemens either drops his suit or he stands trial for perjury, and isn't at all dependent on whether he plays or not. So long as he is out there, protesting his innocence, or facing a charge of perjury, I think the designs have sales potential. But I'm also reminded of the Onion piece about the entrepreneur who found himself, six months after 9-11, up a creek because he bought too many rolls of "Osama Bin Laden toilet paper". The one main plan I have for promotion is to make the drive across the state to Fort Myers, so I can wear them at the Red Sox spring training games (hopefully bringing my wife so we can display both designs). I think they'll be a big hit there, with a lot of people seeing them, liking them, and asking about getting them. I don't want to put any money into stock because the potential for a massive loss is too great. But if I pre-print business cards with the URL of my "gallery" and just hand them out to anyone who asks, I think I'd get a few sales. I also plan to do the same thing at Orioles stadium in Fort Lauderdale. And no, I'm not expecting to make a killing on this. But with a few visits to Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers, I think I could see a half-way decent number of units sold.

I'm pretty sure that the eve of a recession is the wrong time to launch such an exciting new product line... At $18 a piece?

Nobody likes my designs?

Just call me a t-shirt designing entrepreneur. http://www.zazzle.com/dan_gould Prices start at $17.95, but you can choose other t-shirt styles. I get 10% on all sales. The company manufactures to order, within 24 hours and shipping is around $6. And get this: the messier font is called "Memory Lapses", while the cleaner one is called "Shortcut". How appropriate is that?? (note: these designs are the originals, but I decided to only offer "shortcut" as the font - but you can customize the design if you want) Edit: Funny how you can look at a design forever and then have it dawn on you both how it can be improved, and what is wrong with it in the first place - I've now replaced the original "Injection Sites" because I realized the arrows weren't pointing the way they could at the shoulder, and they were pointing at the wrong shoulder, anyway. D'Oh! The new design is here but I have to replace what is being offered on the zazzle site.

Mel hasn't (yet) made 15 albums, as far as I know. MG Shouldn't be too long, unless something terrible happens: 10 listed on Criss Cross as leader or co-leader 1 on Jazzland 1 on Savant

What's good to see is that ESPN.com has picked up on the Times article, so more people will see it than just the readership of the NYT. I like how the article points out that nowhere in the report did they detail changes in his pitch selection, or decline in his fastball. And I really like the comment that unlike most pitchers who peak around 30, Clemens was actually declining - proof that Duquette's comment about the "twilight of his career" was based on his performance. It puts the spike in his career, the steroid part, in proper perspective.

Excellent column in the Times about why the Clemens report that tried to establish that his late-career numbers are "in line" with others is a lot of hokum, for the simple statistical problem of "selection bias". By only comparing him to other pitchers with late-career success like Schilling and Ryan, Clemens people have ignored the universe of pitchers with increasingly poor performances. And here are the accompanying charts:

Well now Clemens' side claims to have "proof" that Roger didn't attend a party hosted by Canseco in which, presumably, Clemens discussed steroids with Canseco and shortly thereafter first approached McNamee about steroids and needing help in getting injections. They even have Canseco confirming that Roger wasn't there, and a "greens fee receipt" to prove he golfed on the day in question (of course, a receipt with a date on it doesn't prove he wasn't at Canseco's at some point during the day). So, bully for them, but ... Canseco is still confirming multiple discussions about steroids with Clemens ... what is the significance of "proof" that he didn't attend a specific party at Canseco's residence when Canseco is still saying that he and Roger talked steroids many times? I'm guessing that McNamee wanted to give some indication of what led Clemens to start using steroids. He probably should have started simply with the date and location that Clemens asked for help.

Blue Note until it was sold to Liberty epitomized the idea of "independent" - small, not always having great distribution, and at the mercy of those distributors to pay for the product. And John Patton recorded several times after his Blue Note years ended - his Nilva album was the focus of one discussion recently as it appears to be set for a reissue, and there were two recordings for the Japanese DIW label. Edit to say D'OH! I got confused and thought I was in the other thread - yes, I'd say Big John qualifies.

Though it seems these days that Concord is more of a behemoth than it used to be, but Scott Hamilton has recorded for them plus a couple of dates for much smaller labels at the beginning of his career.

This clubhouse is definitely better than the original.

Why, dumpy? You have such a cool collection. I hope everything's OK. Yeah, but I really want to know why 'Dumpy mama" who stated she's a woman previously, then made contradictory comments elsewhere and now talks about "tumescence" and "boners" ... its time to come out and tell us once and for all. In the words of House, are your genitals aesthetically pleasing or do they dangle?

Wrong, on every count. Two legal analysts at ESPN (Cossack and Munson), and the legal analyst working for SI both say that the evidence would be accepted, with the defense given the opportunity to impeach based on McNamee's handling of the evidence, the length of time in between, the potential for "contamination". As for the syringes in the beer can, it was McNamee/Clemens method of disposal, and it actually makes sense. You don't want to prick yourself with an exposed needle; the needle fits through the opening and inside the can. And by the way, beer won't effect the results of the DNA tests. Insert Weizen joke here. As for their bellowing about "manufactured" evidence, doesn't it kinda suggest that they expect a positive result? Its as if they already know what will happen when they provide a DNA sample, so they better start muddying the waters now while they can.

Well, Radomski faced six months in prison, max, but only got 5 years probation. That may seem pretty lenient and it will be when Clemens is sentenced but as I learned in the Game of Shadows book, the penalties for steroid trafficking is very little jail time. Victor Conte, who surely was a more committed drug trafficker than Radomski, and far less cooperative a witness, was looking at two years before he ended up accepting the plea deal.

Alt+0153 = ™ Alt+0174 = ® Alt+0169 = © Or alternately, they're all available on your computer at charmap.exe. edit - Sorry, I wasn't Tom, so I can delete that if you prefer... Thanks! You don't need to know the code to post on the board. Parentheses around tm, c and r will make it happen. © ®

Well, the Globe may have gotten the latest news right, but the Herald scooped them because Schilling gave his doctor (the one who recommended surgery) permission to talk to them about his situation: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/basebal...ticleid=1071967 What is probably most disconcerting is this: In addition to Tavarez, the Sox also have Kyle Snyder as a potential fill-in starter, and there is talk about using Coco as a bargaining chip to get another pitcher, though I have doubts that Coco would bring anyone decent, or better than those internal options. The Sox re-signed Bobby Kielty which made people suggest that now Coco is expendable, but the reality probably is that Kielty was resigned specifically so that Coco could be shopped for pitching help, because they knew last week about Schilling's problems.

Agreed on all points except the presumption that the physical evidence "can't" prove that Clemens is lying. Its one thing for Clemens to claim that the evidence was "manufactured" - a desperate ploy that I think I've shown to be highly illogical above - but if Clemens did turn over unused steroids and syringes, how would Clemens explain any fingerprints, should they be recovered? That was the thought I had when I learned exactly how McNamee came to be in possession of it. What will be crucial though is what Pettitte and Murray have said and will say in public testimony. If they say anything that support McNamee, its game, set, match.

Well, the Herald broke the story originally but it looks like the Globe has nailed it down. The latest on SCHILLING (I'm going to keep typing it that way to make sure I don't make any more embarrassing mistakes ) is that, as per a new provision in the Player's Agreement, a third doctor, independent from the player and the team, is consulted when a course of treatment is in dispute. Apparently SCHILLING has a "partial tear" in his rotator cuff, and the independent doctor felt that the correct course of action is rest and rehab, just like the approach they took with Pedro. Its expected that SCHILLING would not pitch before the All-Star Break under this treatment plan. Sounds good to me, if he can contribute, great; plus his arm will be relatively fresh if the rehab works and he only pitches half the season, when the playoffs come around. If he regains his health, that's a nice near-the-trade-deadline pickup.

I've got him so much on the brain, I actually wrote "clemens" the first time I meant to write "schilling" - but didn't even notice the other mistakes! I actually wrote the entire post without writing Schilling correctly once!

He's been a starter; some project him as a setup man or closer. So the jury is still out.

How could anyone not expect it to be pretty darn good to begin with? You seriously had expectations of mediocrity? The Mingus at Cornell '64, although highly touted, was somewhat underwhelming to me despite the fact that Mingus's '64 squad is one of my favorites of all time. I am also normally not that much into Horace Silver. Additionally, sometimes live recordings suffer from sound issues that distract from enjoyment. This one did not. Also, I was unfamiliar with Louis Smith, and did not know that he was such a heavy hitter. This served as a great introduction. So no, I did not have "expectations of mediocrity" or any other "expectations" so to speak. Sometimes things that are highly touted are ultimately underwhelming for various reasons. To me, this release was just the opposite. OK, now I understand if you weren't a big Horace fan going in. I expect that anyone who is will have high expectations when they get this.

Buchholz was going to start in Pawtucket because they were more likely to give the last spot to Lester. Otherwise it would have been Lester in Pawtucket if he looked bad in the spring and Buchholz looked great. I can't understand why you think he isn't ready for prime time, but the loss of depth in the rotation is a greater concern because of the likelihood of innings limitations on Lester and especially Buchholz. I think they wanted to use six starters at different times - by resting some pitchers like Beckett and Schilling (because they saw how much fresher they were at the end of the season after missing time during the year). That's where the loss of depth hurts. Masterson won't be ready to help before mid-season at the earliest. Unless they make a trade, it looks like Tavarez is the sixth guy, and he probably gets more starts than you realistically want to give him. At least he'll make up for it by being entertaining while he plays (bowling the ball to first base, trying an unassisted pickoff at second). But I totally disagree about going after Santana because of this. They didn't want to give up their best young players since Nomar to get Santana, then have to commit so many dollars for so many years. We've got the youngsters, they may just have to perform sooner. Like I said, I'd rather watch Buchholz than Clemens. A Clemens start could turn on a dime at anytime. As far as when his injury happened, he had a physical before the deal was announced. He must have hurt himself at some point when he started his off-season throwing program. Its not unheard of - the Angels are already possibly missing one of their best starters, out with a sore shoulder.

Well, there's big news out of Boston today. I presumed that Schilling was dedicating himself to both improving his fitness (to make those "weigh in" clauses) plus doing his shoulder exercises to ensure that he'd have a decent final season. Turns out he's got far more significant shoulder woes than he had last season, may be lost for the season, and the Red Sox looked into cancelling his contract. It certainly hurts from a depth perspective, but in a way, this actually is sort of pleasing: Number one, we get Clay Buchholz in the rotation from day one. I can't wait to see how he does after tossing the no-hitter in his second start of the year. Number two, as impressed as I was with the results Clemens got with his diminished velocity but expanded repertoire, I lived on pins and needles everytime I watched him. There was a perpetual fear that if he missed his spot, he could give up a tape-measure shot at any moment. So it may hurt to have lost a front line starter, but on the other hand, that could leave Julian Tavarez as the number six starter - he wasn't entirely awful last year in that role, so maybe they hold onto him in the spring as an insurance policy. That will give Justin Masterson a little more time before he gets called up if there is an injury or a string of bad starts by Lester or Wake.