Dan Gould

Thanks for that link! This one's definitely leaped to the top of my wish list, and since I anticipate some cash gifts for Christmas, I will definitely be ordering this soon.

It's true that when they launched the new site, AMG said that it was optimized for IE.

Sox sign Clement, and it looks like the Yanks have crept closer to getting the coveted Unit. I'm pleased to get Clement because I think he's got more upside than Pavano, has been more durable, and cost significantly less. And anyone who's seen Clement's facial hair knows he'll fit right in with the rest of the idiots Seriously, ESPN had a chart comparing the cumulative stats of Pedro/Lowe vs Wells and Clement, and on ERA, batting average against, and ratio of strikeouts to walks, there's no comparison: Wells and Clement are superior. The only difference is winning percentage, and that's all about run support. Lowe was awful but got more wins than he possibly deserved because of the offense he had. Clement was excellent but lost 13 games because the Cubbies never hit for him. I think the Sox will be fine this year, just as long as they cross off the last thing on the checklist: SIGN VARITEK!

Maybe its the Holidays getting me into a sentimental mood, but this guy was one of my favorites growing up (and probably as much as anyone inspired me to take up guitar) and as I was driving today I heard one of his biggest hits, "I Got a Name" and it just sent me down memory lane. He really was a very talented guy, taken way too soon.

First the Red Sox win the World Series, now Aric agrees with me. The end is near, I tells ya! And here's another clue. Anyone seen Shurdlu lately? It probably turned out he was the only one right with the Lord, so he's the only one raptured out of the joint.

And I was there afterwards, and you know he was at least as happy then, too. Maybe there's hope to get an invite back in 2005, since it will be two years since the one you played?

Not five minutes from my boyhood home in Connecticut is one of the first revolving houses. We moved in '76 and I think it was relatively new then. I remember it was featured in Architectural Digest. Had a nice setting, on the edge of a huge reservoir, but it was awfully small as a single family home. Still thought it was way cool when I first saw it. I think the new apartment building has a bigger motor-I don't think this one rotated all that fast.

Also, Charlie Brown specials must be sponsored by Dolly Madison. Now that's a bit more important to me than the spinning thingamabob.

Yeah, and since at least 1996!!! See "TROMBONE OF CONTENTION" at http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/trombone.asp What was it that tipped me off? Oh, maybe "Weekly World News"? And maybe Paging Dr. J for confirmation -- but IMHO that was the goofiest line of the whole story. Funny how this story is refuted simply by referring to the newspaper in which it appeared. But isn't a stopped clock right twice a day? Isn't it possible this could occur? There's nothing in the snopes piece to refute the possibility of a blunt object hitting someone's head in just the right way to cause death. Remember that there are documented cases where athletes-or just young people engaged in athletic events-have died by being struck in the chest by a hard object (a baseball, a hockey puck) just in the split second between heart beats. The compression of the chest disrupts the heart's rhythm and the kid dies very quickly. This is serious enough that some little leagues have considered switching to softer balls. So, on the face of it, I don't think the story is simply impossible.

And in the hands of people smart enough to record them off the air or get into trade relationships with collectors of such material.

Shouldn't you get back to proctoring the exam?

Maybe that's cuz he played alto?

Well, I think the plan was to package him for Tim Hudson, but that went by the boards because I don't think that the A's were gonna deal Hudson to an AL competitor. What I'm hearing is that while Ramirez is the most valuable prospect they have, they shouldn't jump to make a deal. If they can sign Clement, than Ramirez can remain a bargaining chip for the future-maybe for Ben Sheets at the trading deadline? OR Ramirez is such a talent, he might be moved to second base or centerfield. He has tremendous potential, probably the best Red Sox prospect since Nomah or Bagwell, so they need to be careful in what they do. ******************** And how about the Braves? Adding Hudson and Smoltz to the starting rotation and picking up a solid closer, I think the Braves can very possibly defend their division championship yet again. They've really done the best in improving their pitching staff of any team, by far. The question is, will they spend the money to keep Hudson beyond this year? If anyone is worth the four years/56 million Pedro extorted from the Mets, its surely Hudson, who has Pedro numbers and is 29 years old. ***************************** As far as the Mariners go, who knows if Beltre is a bust? They threw a huge amount of money at someone who's had one decent year. I think its ridiculous what they've spent. And Sexson-good power hitter, lots of K's and two bad shoulder injuries. The Mariners might be very good, or they may be the American League version of the Mets. And who is handling the pitching? It looks like the old lefty has finally hit the wall-who else do they have? I think the Mariners may end up more like the D-Backs or Mets than competing with the Angels.

Most consistent BN leaders were Hank and Horace, hands down.

I misread "big base stealer" as "scrawny", sorry. But actually, the adjective isn't exactly wrong. Have you looked at pictures of Bonds when he broke in??? As for hitting 40, Bonds reached that level in his eighth year in the league. Before that, he'd only had two 30 homer seasons and other than those seasons, he averaged about 25 homers. So that's a nice fat jump there, followed by the much bigger jumps by the end of the decade. As for McGuire, he hit 49 in his very first full season. He was a sensational home run hitter right from the start.

We may debate McGuire. There can be no doubts about Bonds. After all, McGuire didn't have a trainer accused of distribution of steroids, who distributed steroids to each client and told them what they were but {cough cough} didn't bother to tell Bonds. On top of which, McGuire was always a big man. As you say Bonds was a scrawny base stealer when he reached the bigs.

Steroids were always illegal, regardless of whether or not baseball had a strong policy or not. They're a controlled drug and its illegal to distribute them improperly. And you really find it plausible that his old buddy never told him? This man who is so suspicious of everyone took stuff only from his friend and didn't know. That is stupefying. And if Bonds always hits five hundred foot "no doubters" why wasn't he doing it before? He never hit over 46 homers before the 1999 season. IN 13 + seasons, he had only three seasons of 40 homers or more prior to '99. "I don't see any reason to not believe Bonds." Call off the search, we've found the single most gullible person on the planet.

David, I found this one used earlier this year: Not sure how easy it is to locate, but its an early 90s Chicago gig put out on the Hindsight label and it has the added attraction of John Young on piano. Nice disc, both brothers sound good.

Number one, I'm referring specifically to what Gabe Kapler told the Globe, which was exactly along the lines of "don't hit it on the sweet spot, but still hit it out" and he referred to minor league players who had "warning track power," juiced, and started hitting it out. So to me, its a no-brainer that bigger bulk means more margin for error when you're swinging for the fences. And I think you're wrong about Bonds and McGuire. McGuire was a home run hitter right from the start. I think he set the rookie record, in fact. Bonds was not a home run hitter and in fact I don't think he'd hit more than 40 or so when he started assaulting records at such a shockingly advanced age. Look, the irony is that he had numbers that justified induction long before he got so huge and started doing what he's done. He didn't need to juice. but I don't see how you can come to a conclusion otherwise. Rat, You're correlation is far from perfect: Aaron was never a big man, and neither was Ted Williams, "the Splendid Splinter"

I understand where you're coming from, Paul, but don't you think that if you don't have to hit the ball on the sweet spot everytime, but can still muscle it out, your homer numbers are going to increase? And as far as Hank goes, he never hit 50 homers in a season. That's the amazing thing-he was so consistent for so long, he finished with 755. The swing really isn't the "thing" if you can muscle the ball out because you've juiced. The swing-and his quick wrists-was the thing for Aaron. But not for the muscle bound behemoths of today's game. And one more thing. I read an article not too long ago that made a pretty good case that juicing can improve hand-eye coordination, too. The reason being, muscles react quicker to brain signals. It looks like we'll have to agree to disagree on this, however ...

That's a nutty statement if I've ever seen one. Of course added muscle helps. As noted above, if 15 warning track flies go out because you juiced, you enter pretty heady company. And to an extent, Eric is right in that the pressure to perform when in the minors can be so overwhelming, players go to any length to get that extra edge. The Boston Globe had an article about Gabe Kapler, who is one of the biggest guys in the game but talked about how intent he was on getting stronger and doing it naturally. The man would get up in the middle of the night just to eat something, to keep his fuel at a constant rate to aid muscle mass. And he talked about guys in the minors who had warning track power, then started to juice, hit homers, and rose through the minors. Another factor to consider is the comparison between Bonds in his late thirties and the medical fact that starting at 35, the body starts to lose muscle mass. There was an article I saw which compared Bonds numbers to his 'expected' numbers and the difference was just sick. Even accounting for Bonds considerable skills and the likelihood that he would continue to perform at above average levels, the difference was still ridiculous. And the last thing to remember about Bonds is just how plausible his denials are. Let's remember his trainer is his lifelong friend. The life long friend meets Giambi when he and Bonds go to Japan on one of those major league tours. Giambi approaches him and asks how Barry does it, says he wants to be like Barry and perform at that level at that age. Bond's buddy takes him on as a client and Giambi knows all about what substances he's getting, how they work, etc., etc. And yet, we're supposed to believe that this trainer told Giambi exactly what he was getting but never told Bonds. And we're supposed to believe that Bonds accepted "flaxseed oil" only from his trainer, when you can get it yourself at any healthfood store. Bonds should go to the hall of fame, and when he gets there, the crowd and the members on the stage should all walk out or turn their backs on him. Everyone except Gaylord Perry that is.

Yeah, but do the overwhelming majority of FA give lip service to the idea of coming back? Do they talk about how much they want to stay, and I'm not leaving, blah blah blah? I'd have no problem with Pedro taking the money had he not blown so much BS smoke up our asses. That's the problem with how he handled it. He acted like he would do a McGuire/Radke but it was all bullshit. As far as the D-Backs go, its even worse actually: This is a team with gigantic debt problems, including the fact that on a bunch of deferred contracts, they decided not to bother to fund them!

If you're downloading to your hard drive, couldn't you extract wav files and make sure the indexes are right?

Did you learn nothing from Greg's pontificating? SACDs have dual layers. One plays in SACD players, one plays in regular CD players. The CD layer has standard CD mastering and is supposed to sound like a decently mastered CD (that may be circular, but you know what I mean).

BTW, I think the ranges used for this poll is kind of silly because they are too wide.