Dan Gould

Marty, I can't believe you can stomach those White Sox announcers. I've never been able to listen long enough to hear any honest or insightful commentary, they are the worst "homer" announcers in all of creation. I am absolutely stunned that they could manage to say a damn thing that would constitute criticism of their team. I hate announcers who act that way, and "Hawk" and the other guy are the very worst example I have ever heard.

I take back everything I said about the Red Sox making a push based on the schedule, and I take back absolutely nothing I said about the White Sox. They SUCK big time. But thanks for bending over for the Yankees. At this rate, when the Yankees take over the division lead, the Red Sox will lead for the Wild Card and the "CHUMPS" will be on the outside looking in, where they belong. Seriously, how can any team have a serious chance with one ancient ace and the rest are complete and utter crap? (I know, I know, you're thinking that Schilling is an ancient ace, and the rest of the staff sucks but I'll take Beckett and Wake over any other two on the White Sox staff. Hell, if Wells returns, he leapfrogs everyone the White Sox threw against the Yankees.)

Here's hoping that 5-inning Wright can show some stuff today and the Yanks can sweep. We still need pitching but if we can stay this close while our 250 RBI twosome of Sheffield and Matsui recuperate and then get into playing shape (and when will Cano come off the shelf?), we can be pretty dangerous once September rolls around. Don't know if I want Abreu but the Boss is stupidly upping the price by telegraphing that he wants him. I think Abreu makes more sense for the Yankees than he does for the Sox, yet the word seems to be that the Sox are at least as interested, probably to keep him out of pinstripes. Personally, while he doesn't have the intimidation factor that Sheffield carries, he's a better defender, is several years younger, has a better eye than Sheffield (career .400 OBP) and is likely to find that right field porch extremely inviting. Its also more of a Yankee move to get him, seeing as he isn't young anymore, has big bucks coming to him next year (even more than Sheffield would cost) and would insist on having his option year picked up at 16 mil for him to waive his no-trade. Yeah, that's a Yankee move. Yet, the Sox are reportedly deeply interested, too, and while I agree that Papi-Manny-Abreu is a lot scarier than Papi-Manny-(Nixon-Lowell-Varitek), the club intention to get younger and more athletic isn't served by committing so much money to an aging Abreu. Especially with Wily Mo Pena waiting to take over in rightfield, assuming that Nixon is allowed to walk. Its going to take a lot to get Abreu and I have to hope that the Yanks give up their remaining blue chips, including Phillip Hughes, to get him, and the Sox sit tight. But Abreu isn't my biggest concern with the Phils. No, my dark fear is that we're going to wake up on August 1 with Flash Gordon returning to the Bronx. That would do more to help the Yanks than anything imaginable. With Proctor and Villone and Farnsworth in the less taxing 6th-7th inning, they'd have the guns to do something that's never been seen: Make it a five inning game. That's how good their pen would be with Flash back. One thing to consider about Sheffield and Matsui: the longer they are out, the more likely it is they return when the minors are finished and there's no place for a rehab assignment. How much impact can either one have if the month of September is like the month of March, spring training games that really count? Interesting news for the Sox: They may, just may, be able to upgrade the rotation without making any trades of their prospects or young bullpen guns. David Wells had a very strong bullpen session yesterday, his first throwing off a mound. I know its a long shot, but this has to make the Sox think twice about giving up prospects for a rental of Jason Schmidt or John Smoltz. Getting a moderately effective David Wells into the rotation in August might be the highest impact move of any AL East contender.

Is it possible Texas can win with both offense and pitching? (well, maybe against the O's, right? ) Sorry for not doing anything to help you out this weekend.

Hey Jazzy Paul, I tell you this without fear of contradiction: Whoever thinks the White Sox are the best team in the majors is crazy. Ya should have been swept by the Red Sox and you're about to be swept by the Yankees. What makes you think the pitching staff can get it done? Contreras was beaten by the Sox if not for a fluke, now he gets beaten by the Yankees, and Buerhle gets his clock cleaned yet again. No way in hell will the White Sox catch Detroit. You look more like the 2004 Red Sox, with great hitting and a pitching staff that may or not put it together in time to win when it counts. Oh, and thanks loads for *&^%$# help.

I wouldn't be pissed off that I am not in a position to take advantage of the Concord/OJC sale.

It sure as heck looks like his comeuppance is finally near, and as you say, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. The NYT had an interesting report on an old friend of Barry's who got into the memorabilia business but had a falling out. Bonds apparently got paranoid about "counterfeit" Bonds merchandise and accused his friend of selling fakes and actually went to the FBI. Is there 'roid paranoia like 'roid rage? So the guy told Barry's lawyer "don't do this" and told him he'll bury Barry if he does, with first hand knowledge of steroids, tax evasion through the mistress (who was introduced by the friend's sister, or had some connection to her like that) and infidelity. The NY Daily News had their own report which kind of filled in the blank of why Barry would screw up the market for his own memorabilia by making loud claims about counterfeit. Apparently the belief is that Barry was trying to help cover up the cash he was making from these dealings (the cash he was hiding from his ex-wife and her attorneys/accountants) by roiling the market. As to your questions, I am sure that Barry will play the race card at some point. But the larger issue, to me, is where a trial takes place and whether it is possible (I almost suspect its not just possible, but likely) that in the Bay area there is enough continuing support for Bonds that he could beat the rap. I honestly think the prosecution should move for a change of venue. That may be the battle of the century in this case. It would certainly be ironic if the prosecution used the leak of the grand jury testimony to show that the jury pool is now tainted. Bonds' trainer will be lucky if the indictment does come with the current grand jury, I think it would have been nice to see him kept him jail for contempt while they impanel a new grand jury. But regardless, there is no claim he can make to avoid testifying when this goes to trial. Finally Pete Rose will have someone join him in baseball hell. Who would have guessed that two of the greatest players in history would allow their personal demons to destroy themselves?

Well, I guess that post to the Yahoo group helped. Two more seeders joined up and someone else came in as a leecher. So I'm even uploading now - and at a rate faster than my download. That probably explains how someone who joined later than I did has nearly twice as much downloaded. But overnight, I went up to nearly 40%, so as long as we stay status quo, this could be done by sometime Sunday morning.

It always sucks when size matters.

What could a pc cost in a month if left on 24/7? Three dollars? I have no idea but there's been a clear correlation between the months when I have left a Dime download proceed for several days and noticeably higher electric bills.

I have to say I am very curious what snide comments a person who listens to that crap comes up with. Care to share?

Big Wheel, if your Dad now has a "ditzy" and I presume younger girlfriend, I would strongly suspect that she has made a major impact on his music taste and listening habits. There may also be an element of trying to pretend he's younger by listening to a younger style of music, like the Chicks. As far as I am concerned, I can't express any problem whatsoever with my Dad's musical taste, for the following reasons: He's older and therefore his musical interests could never have been polluted by Spyro Gyra or any of the crap Big Wheel mentions. His LPs include plenty of classic 50s Sinatra, plus Ella, Louis, and Ella & Louis. The Ella and Louis albums were on the stereo with some regularity growing up, and when in the late '80s I was looking for new musical horizons, it was hearing those very same albums, serendipitously, that led me to think that jazz was of possible interest. I am sure it helped that they sounded so familiar. Last but not least, while his straight jazz interests never got past the swing era, ever since I started collecting jazz and would use his stereo or play CDs in the car, he has expressed appreciation for what he heard. Didn't make him want to go out and buy something - he's rarely been one to listen to music solely for pleasure - but he's always complimented me on particular tunes or artists. Heck, when I was living at home in the early '90s and planned a trip into NY for a show at the Blue Note or Vanguard, without my asking he would offer to meet me at the club from his office. My dad's one hip dude.

Track 1 - Definitely BN era Jackie Mac. Perhaps from The Connection? Doesn't sound like his usual BN piano cohort. Track 2 - another BN gimme, its Hank. Track 4 - I'm going to go out on a limb and recall (perhaps completely incorrectly) that Matt has at one time or another mentioned some level of respect for Woody Allen. Could this be him? Remainder of the disc was much like Disc 1 - varied from "OK" to "not terribly interesting" and none of it really demanded multiple plays. but thanks for those two gimmes, it makes me feel like I'm almost good at this game.

Well, I hate to say it but Disc 1 varied from "pleasant enough" to "not holding my attention". No names jumped out at me and frankly, none of the tunes made me want to immediately hit the back button to hear them again.

Thanks for the advice. At least the tracker has stopped the upward climb in the "remaining" message, now it just gives a big ? My problem is that our electric bill has skyrocketed lately (summer in Florida, what can you expect?) and I have a hard time justifying the PC being on 24/7 for some ridiculous amount of time.

Thanks Swinger. I'd forgotten about the Yahoo group. Hopefully some folks will jump back in.

Since there are many people here who are also members of that community, I figured I'd post the question here: Does anyone know what happens when you are way late to a torrent and you end up the lone guy in a swarm with just one seeder? I ask because while there appears to be one seeder, I downloaded for about three minutes and then the download rate went to zero, and in the meantime, while I am not downloading, the tracker indicates that at my current rate of zero bits per second, it will take a whopping 180 days to complete this download. Parenthetically, its an interesting existential question, when a download rate of zero still yields and estimated time of completion. Why doesn't it just say "never"? Of course, at the rate that the estimate keeps climbing, we'll probably reach "never" in about two hours. I'm starting to feel like the guy in that Progressive commercial. So, anywhoo ... is there any hope for me on this? Is there any point in keeping the connection open? Are there any Delbert fans who can help a brother out? I don't think my wife would appreciate it if I leave the connection, and PC, on for the next six months. Plus I really wanted to bring this concert with me on vacation in August.

While Direct TV did nothing to promote this little freebie, I decided to check the Extra Innings channels last night so I had the great pleasure of watching the collapse with the hometown television crew. When exactly does it end? If the Red Sox keep pissing away games, the end of the promotion may coincide with the end of my marriage.

Yeah, I was laughing about that signing all the way until Loretta non-chalanted the groundball and the tying run scored. Last night makes two games in a row that a total lack of clutch hitting allowed a beaten team to slip past us. Pisses me off even more having it happen at home. What should be a 4.5 game lead is instead a scant 2.5. Cash may not have to spiff up his resume after all.

Back to the important stuff: More reasons the Yanks should be worried: Red Sox had more away games than any other team in the first half, so they have more home games than any other team in the second half (44-32 is how the remainder split), and we know how the Sox play at home. Coming out of the break, the Sox are looking at a stretch of 26 out of 38 games being played at home. Definitely the time to get some daylight between us and the rest of the division. It might take a minor miracle - or a major trade - for the Yankees to make a move between now and the mid-August 5 game set at Fenway. In addition to the friendly split of home-away games, when the Sox are out of the Fens, its never for very long. Only five road trips remain, and all but one are two series or less (I will admit though, that 9 game road trip (Angels, Seattle, Oakland) comes at a critical time, as it is bracketed by the Yanks going and the Blue Jays and White Sox when they return. I dare say, the situation coming out of that stretch will be critical to the outcome of the race.

I'm not sure, but I'm pretty certain that Sunshine used to cover D-Rays baseball. Maybe its under another Fox regional channel now.

Well going back to cable would restore the local TV games on Sunshine, but the whole reason that we went satelite when we moved was because we heard horror stories about Adelphia from different people, basically that both price and service were outrageously bad. So I don't think that's an option. And no indication that DirectTv is a part of this Extra Innings promotion, either. I should mention that there is one advantage to satelite: I get "ESPNA" which I believe stands for ESPN-Alternate. Normally its blank but when there's regional ESPN coverage, like when the Yankee game got switched to 8 pm on a Sunday, I get both broadcasts.

won't help me. But what really makes me is the way DirectTV packages their sports offerings. NESN is part of all of those regional sports networks, and they have a package that includes all of them. But to get the baseball broadcasts of any of those regional sports networks, you have to buy Extra Innings, which I just cannot justify the cost. Bottom line is that, since buying our house and going to satelite TV, I don't even get standard cable offerings like Sunshine. So, NO chance to see Devil Ray games when they're playing the Sox, and no Florida State football either. Basically, unless I give in and buy Extra Innings, the only baseball I can get is national broadcasts by ESPN or Fox, plus those increasingly rare TBS broadcasts, plus WGN. And being in south Florida, anytime they can show a New York team they do, so half the time that Fox has the Red Sox as the national game, we end up with the regional coverage, be it Yankees or Mets.

The simple fact is that Ricci and Lois feel a need to bring out jazz "bigwigs" whether musical or otherwise, while this board has a completely different vibe and therefore absolutely no reason to even think about doing such things. Ya wanna debate Crouch? Go wherever he is. Don't invite him here or suggest that he be invited. Better yet, write a bad review, and then go hang out in his neighborhood. Soon enough, you'll get your chance. But keep your hands up at all times, and be sure to wear steel-tipped shoes when you try to find his testicles.