Dan Gould

Pujols or A-Rod, I would say. Interesting similarity is that as talented as both are, their teams still haven't won the big enchilada yet.

I love how its being pointed out that the last time they started 1-4, in '98, they finished with 114 wins. Top Five Reasons Why That Won't Happen This Year: 1. Unit, Mussina, Chacon, Wang and Wright/Pavano aren't close to the equivalent of Cone/Wells/Pettite/El Duque/Irabu (for comic relief, however, it is unfortunate that Steinbrenner is unlikely to call Wang "Fat Toad"). 2. Bernie Williams isn't 29 anymore. 3. Jorge Posada isn't 26 anymore. 4. Team defense: 2005 can't hold a candle to 1998 5. Farnsworth/Sturtze/Myers/Villone aren't even close to Mendoza/Lloyd/Nelson/Stanton.

Thanks. I don't think I've seen photos of Phillips other than after he hit 70. Hey Chuck, there's a female trombone player in that Slate photo series. Any idea who that is?

Who is Bird looking at so admiringly? More terrific jazz photos here

I really liked Kenny Drew Sr., but I LOVE Kenny Drew Jr. Everything he says is completely spot on, IMO.

...you must have me confused with the other man, I actually think your team may be pretty good........but it's 0.0186% of the way into the new season....I'm not sure you're dominating the league I'm quite sure they're not dominating the league. Detroit is unbeaten. The M's have a loss. They're further ahead in winning percentage (.250 ahead) than the M's lead the Red Sox, Blue Jays, O's and Indians (.083 ahead).

Eric Gagne Back Under the Knife Luckily for Dodger fans, they traded for Danys Baez from the D-Rays so they should be OK, but what does this mean for Gagne's career? Two major surgeries on his pitching elbow practically within a year of each other? You have to wonder whether he'll be the same again.

When exactly are you here in south Florida? April 12th its Benny Golson and Eddie Higgins at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

I'm not denying that women can report hard news or major/catastrophic events. What I am questioning is perky, smiling-all-the-time Katie Couric doing it. Its certainly interesting that when NBC was making a decision on replacing Brokaw, the powers-that-be talked about the "Voice of God" anchor with the requisite gravitas being the person that people would seek out on major news events, and that Brian Williams will have to grow into that. But he practically said "women need not apply". Now CBS, in a desperate attempt to lift the horrible ratings, is going straight for star power, regardless of background or public persona. I'd be willing to bet that folks will definitely tune in to see how she does, but when the shitte inevitably hits the fan, I seriously doubt that Katie has the chops and they'll desert her in droves.

Exactly. I asked my wife to picture Katie Couric gravely looking into the camera and announcing, "The World Trade Center has been struck by two passenger airliners" and there was no way my wife could imagine it. The first truly major news event, CBS will regret this move. Can't wait to see Rainy Day come out of the shadows to berate us as sexist pigs.

And Lowell just homered. I tell ya, if Schilling is back, and Lowell hits like he always did before last year, and Foulke is Foulke, this is a 100 win team. Bank on it. Just like the A's are gonna win the west right? Its not like I'm alone in predicting the A's will win their division, Johnny. The vast majority of pundits put the A's on top. Meanwhile you're beloved M's, by your own analysis, could be crappy or could be decent. This just in: For the first time in five years, the Red Sox have a chance to go wire-to-wire.

And Lowell just homered. I tell ya, if Schilling is back, and Lowell hits like he always did before last year, and Foulke is Foulke, this is a 100 win team. Bank on it.

I was going to say the same thing (there are several more grammatical errors you didn't note). This doesn't qualify as "evil" or "reasonable". Its a blatant attempt at phishing and I can only assume that the phishers are banking (no pun intended) on the general illiteracy of the population.

Well, I'd certainly agree that the conditions in April are sometimes quite uncomfortable, but that's why there are a lot of day games and off days scheduled in April. Personally, with so much commentary and predictions being written during Spring Training, games that actually matter are a true godsend.

Damn right you are.

Clcik My controls and Board Settings (on the left). Viewing signatures is the first option.

time for predictions, and the opening of the official MLB thread. Predictions: 1. Look at the last three years and the trend is clear: Yankees on the decline and getting older and older; Sox on the upswing and now getting younger. Coco outperforms Damon; Beckett buries Mussina, and as Pavano and Wright cash their checks on the DL, lightning doesn't strike twice for a group of never weres (Small, et. al). Red Sox by 5 over the Yanks, and the Yanks will not make the playoffs. 2. White Sox in the Central. 3. A's in the West. 4. Indians win the wild card. 5. Braves, Cards and Dodgers win their divisions. 6. In a stunner, the Cubs ride a healthy (down the stretch) Wood and Prior to the wild card. 7. Clemens returns in June to the Astros. 8. The streak continues and the baseball Gods smile upon the Cubbies. Cubs over Sox (Red) in 7 games.

IMHO, fake breasts should be nixed on Earth, too. But then again, what would we watch on Dr. 90210 ?

How exactly can one be "excellent" yet "inconsistent"? Doesn't the former negate the possibility of the latter?

I think this is a great idea. Can someone tell me how to do it? First, find an image of the Jackie cover you want to display. If it is online(AMG is the best source), right click on the image and choose properties. Copy the URL of the image by highlighting it and holding down 'control' + 'c'. Click "My Controls" at the top of the page. Click "edit Avatar Settings" on the left. Go to the box for "Enter a URL to an online avatar image" Hit 'control' + 'v' to paste the URL of your Jackie cover. Click update Avatar. If you have the image you want to use on your hard drive, you can upload it, but that gets complicated as there are size restrictions on uploads.

Actually, looks like Doubletime has it, if CD Universe can't get in a timely fashion.

Doesn't look like this one is too easily available.

Very sad news. Back when my jazz collection was growing based on musicians I'd heard on whatever my newest favorite was, I stumbled across a Liberty pressing of Bluesnik. I liked the cover, and I knew Kenny Drew from Blue Train so I grabbed it, and it was instrumental in solidifying my love of bluesy-style jazz and Kenny Drew, and I immediately went out looking for more Jackie Mac. Didn't love everything of his I ever heard but I surely enjoyed the exploration. RIP Like with Jimmy Smith, maybe we should add our favorite Jackie Mac albums as avatars. I'm going to do that right now.

Tim, Are you familiar with the bit-torrent download site, Dimeadozen.org? There were some awesome private recordings of Land available in the last few months, including a 1965 show in Seattle with Monk Montgomery and Philly Joe, a 1958 concert with Elmo Hope, as well as an appearance of the Land-Blue Mitchell group shortly before Blue died.