simonzelotes

To answer your earlier question,Bill,I also couldn't go into the Dbacks building and root agin' them....They're a great bunch of kids playing above par and deserving of hometown support....The franchise itself leaves some things to be desired (don't they all?),but I think I'll view it alone and watch my mother and girlfriend fight it out ... There are quite a few Chi-town expatriots in Arizona,and while there's been some jabbing back and forth in the media between the two cities,it's mostly been good natured...One line in the Az Republic,quoting a Chicago sportswriter was kinda funny regarding the D-backs: "...after all,there are five-year-old-kids who have never seen them go to the World Series in their lifetime".... On the down side, when I was listening to an oldies station today,I was cruelly subjected to the worst song to ever hit the top 40 charts when a caller requested and they played the song "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace....

I just saw the replay again Hap...Barret never went back and tagged him,'cuz the ump,even tho a delayed call,had already ruled safe,so he musta caught a piece of the plate....Congrats!!

I think Matt Holliday will be the MVP but he did look to be out at the plate....Great game...

Hey,thanks for inquiring....I talked to my bro' on the phone tonight about the end of the baseball season,and when the subject of the Mets came up,we described them with a phrase he and I used as kids when referring to somebody who choked or missed a two-foot putt or got nervous and went into a freefall like the Mets did...Not trying to be offensive here,but we simply said 'their balls popped'....

I've been debating for a couple of days as to whether I want to get at all involved in such an emotionally charged topic as holocaust denial...But I imagine that the subject matter isn't going to go away any time soon,not just here at greasespot,but in many other places as well... First off,I'll say,that I am in no wise anything resembling a history buff or an expert at anything particularly related to this topic...My knowledge of the holocaust is mostly from things remembered from history in el-hi schools,and various bits of piecemeal information absorbed according to how much it held my particular interest... I will say that my interest grew to some degree in my twi days...As far as what I remember VPW saying regarding the holocaust,I don't have total recall,but the "way I remember it" is that he really didn't mention it much...He seemed more prone to discredit major religions rather than single out an ethnic group...Starting in PLAF,he discredited the Catholics("How about the Pope in Rome,when he speaks excathedra? It's STILL private interpretation"), the Baptists ("you put water in there[baptism] and you'll be all wet"),the Pentecostals ("it [holy spirit] filled all the house where they were hanging from the chandeliers"),....even the Amish ("You can't stand approved before God if you wear buttons,you have to wear hooks and eyes,or something")....I'm sure there were many others...As regards to Judeism,most comments I remember him making were along the ilk of 'we are all God's chosen people,whether Jew or Gentile,bond or free,since the day of Pentecost...besides,todays Jews are not really descendants of Abraham,anyway'...I do remember Craig making the comment about the Apaches...I guess my question would be is it necessarily "anti semetic" to try and discredit any and all competing groups that claim to hold the truth and be God's household?... Regarding the phrase "anti semetic",it has become one of the most insultingly powerful stigmas one person can lay at the feet of another...You call somebody a racist,and you're telling them that they're ignorant....You call somebody xenophobic,and you're telling them they're afraid...You call somebody a white supremist,and you're telling them they're haughty...But if you call somebody anti-semetic,now you're telling them that they're hateful...And not just hateful,but hateful to a small minority of a people that was nearly wiped off the earth by Hitler and his mighty men(and women)...And while fear,ignorance and a sense of superiority can certainly fester into hate,it can be hard to accept that there was hate in our recent history---a bullying hate bestowed on a group of people that posed no threat of danger to the general population... I'm not sure what the authoritive concensus is on the holocaust...I think if you ask the average person on the street "what was the holocaust?"(I actually did this a couple of times since reading this thread),the answer you'll get is "When Hitler gassed six million Jews"...Whatever the actual numbers are and whoever else was included in Hitler's death list,the holocaust does seem to be a piece of history that is more emotionally safeguarded,rather than openly discussed or debated,and I find that somewhat curious,or disturbing...Discussions usually don't get beyond a revisionist being called a holocaust denier and finally,anti-semetic... While I certainly wouldn't call myself a "revisionist" since I don't believe I know enough about the holocaust history to make an attempt to revise,I'm also sure I don't know what motivates a revisionist...I suppose my question regarding the holocaust would not so much be the numbers or even the other groups of people involved...I guess I'd be interested in knowing if the holocaust was simply Hitler's thing against Jews,or was it a culmination of centuries and even milleniums old Jewish persecution...Personally,I can't understand why Jewish people in particular were singled out for persecution more than anybody else,but then,I'm no expert...

Hap,I gotta come clean...And to you too,excie...I cannot turn my back and ever root agin' the team that nursed me in baseball....The Cubs taught me that baseball wasn't all about winning (well, DUH),but just a wonderful,relaxed diversion from the stressful demands from every life...And as far as the Mets fans go,excie,well,1969 wasn't that long ago when the Cubs did their monumental collapse,and the um--snicker--Mets overtook them and won the World championship...And I'm not really vengeful or happy at all that the (tee-hee) Mets just completed a monumental collapse of their own,but trust me, their fans will get over it...Just look at how well adjusted I am after the Cubs swoon....I went out and joined a cult a couple years later....But in all reality,as Bill Clinton would say,"I feel your pain"....

Hap.you're right---at least a lot righter than I was a few posts up...I've been obssessing over these scenarios in-between football commercials and according to Yahoo Sports,in the event of a four-way tie,which is still possible,all teams still get to play more baseball and determine their own fate.... Congrats to Brett Favre!!

Yeah,in the grand scheme of things,who really gives a ........BTW Mstar,what year was that strike year when the Red Sox lost the pennant by a 1/2 game?

Well,of course I'm not sure...In 2005,the only tie,I believe was between the Bosox and Yanks---it wasn't a three way tie...Either way,'tho,it seems like no team is the odd man out without a one game playoff....

Ok,I think I got it figgered out...In the event of a three-way tie,such as with the Phils,Mets and Padres,the playoff would be to determine the NL East division winner...Since those tie-breaking games count in the standings as part of the regular season,(including personal stats like rbi's and homeruns,etc.) the loser of that one game-play-off would no longer be tied with the Pads---they'd have one more loss and therefore be behind San Diego by one-half game at season's end... BTW,in modern days,that is the only way a team can miss the post season by 1/2 game in a full season...Sometimes rainouts are not made up at season's end,and a team will end up playing only 160 or 161 games...However rainouts are always made up if it affects the pennant race...The last time in recent memory that a team missed the post-season by 1/2 game (and I'm certain Mstar would remember the year) was when the Red Sox lost their division by a 1/2 game in a strike-shortened season...One of the teams that year missed one more game due to the strike,and I guess strike games are not made up even if it affects the pennant race...

Holy cripe....I need an interpreter for those rules...All right,so lets say the Rockies win tomorrow and the Phils,Pads and Mets all lose....Four teams with the same record...I understand the tie-breaker to determine who wins the division and who gets in as the wild card(between the Mets and Phillies),but what do they do about the three wild-card teams with the same record....I've never heard of baseball eliminating a team from the post season by virtue of the tie-breakers---there's always been a one game playoff.... Oops....I just checked the standings,and no way can there be a four-way tie after tomorrow...Only a three way tie...

Hi,there sports fans...Thought I'd drop by and say hello to they who pi s s eth on the wall---and you too,Linda.... It's been a good season thus far,and we're ready to usher in the true holiday season---the baseball playoffs... Looks like most of us here will have somebody to cheer on,---except Tom,of course...But then again,his stRangers scored 30 runs in a game and they get to brag about that for years... The city of Boston must have hated the Tribe in 1948...The Injuns first defeated the Red Sox in the first ever one-game playoff to break a tie for the AL pennant....Lou Boudreau hit two hr's in that 8-3 Cleveland victory...Then the Tribe went on to defeat the Boston "Spahn and Sain and two days of rain" Braves in the World Series,four games to two....So,what looked like an all Boston World Series developing ended up getting spoiled by Cleveland twice...BTW,'tho he wasn't on the 1948 team,Eddie Matthews is the only guy to play for the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves... Speaking of the Braves,it was rather amusing to see and hear Cub fans doing the "tomahawk chop" near the end of their ballgames this weekend---emulating Atlanta fans and rooting the Braves on to defeat the Brewers and put more space between the Cubs and second-place Milwaukee...You gotta hand it to Cub fans....After 99 years of losing,they come up with some creative reasons to cheer at the games---even when the other team hits a homerun---after the fan who caught the ball throws it back on the field,of course... Yeah,Rocky and I are 0 for 4 at Arizona games this year...Diamondback officials have alerted security to not allow any open containers,weapons,contraband or a couple of guys named Rocky and Simon into the ballpark for the playoffs...The D-backs are baseball's freak of nature this year...I cannot understand how they ended up with the best record in the NL thus far---and that's after allowing more runs than they scored...Quick----somebody besides Rocky name somebody who plays for the D-backs...Who's their manager? (oops,Who's on first)... Don't worry,Lifted,I'm glad yer Injuns are in it....I only teased you when they choked like a pig with a watermelon stuck in it's throat a couple of years ago after their incredible late season run against the Chisox...Besides Albert (or was it Joey) Belle,I always had a soft spot for Cleveland...

Thank God for the 27 run mercy rule.... I wonder how many times Baltimore's pitching coach's mug was shown on the tv screen with his pitchers giving up 29 hits and all... They usually ice down a pitcher's arm after a game...They probably had to ice down both of the Rangers' third base coach's arms after waving home 39 runners in the doubleheader... I wonder what Oriole's manager,Dave Trembley,who was just awarded a new contract,told his team in the bottom of the ninth..."Ok guys,we're down by 27,we need baserunners to get the tying run to the plate---everybody takes the first strike"....

They(the names) were as of about 10 years ago shipper,I went up and looked around the campus when we were on a road trip... I saw most all of the 9th corpse signatures up there,almost in an alphabetic type order,except my own,and I can't remember for the life of me ever going up there to sign our names---There were still signatures up there from students as far back as like the 1920's so I hope they don't ever whitewash them...

Haven't checked in here in a while---good to see baseball keeps going on and on... Seems like there's a lot of parity in baseball these days.....Division races are tight,other than a few really bad teams,there are no Little Sisters of the Poor to really beat up on...Seems like anybody can beat anybody on a given night... One thought crossed my mind amongst all of this Barry Bonds hoopla,which,thankfully is finally behind us,'cuz I was getting weary of seeing his size xxx extra large mug on the tv screen...It's odd that in what will ultimately be known as the steroids era that there hasn't really been an increase in batting averages overall...Back in 1930 shortly after MLB juiced the ball,noting how the crowds(and especially the chicks) really dug the long ball.the collective batting average of the entire national league was something like .303....Power numbers certainly went up as well,but batting averages became phenomenal... One would think there would be a few .380-.390 hitters with the increased power capability of some of these line-drive slap type hitters...Any theories?....

I'm not 100 % positive,but I think the year Elvis died,the ROA was at the Lima County fairgrounds... Errr,check that...I mean the Sidney County fairgrounds in Lima (Ohio,not Peru)...

I always wondered about that verse...VPW always talked about "mathematical exactness and scientific precision" in the Word,and 'two or three' just doesn't seem very precise to me...Maybe it depended on the size of the firkins,but then it should have said "containing two large or three small firkins apiece"...

Cops lie all the time...It's one way of cutting corners to get people who 'know something' about the crime to fess up...I don't think it's a wrong thing to do in many cases...I came upon a wreck once where a guy and a girl stole a pickup truck,hit a car and then fled the scene...They caught the girl,but the guy got away....The cop told me "we'll get him"...I asked him how....He said "we'll just tell the girl that the other driver got killed or badly hurt and unless she wants to take the fall for her boyfriend, she'll fess up"... They're not going to send the finest CSI team to investigate a break-in where some kids stole cigarettes...If they can tell a few lies,get someone to get nervous and rat out the perpertrator,then the evidence will convict the criminal who will end up paying restitution,instead of the victims and their insurance eating the losses in a crime... Cops do seem to enjoy badgering teenagers...I guess they feel it's their way of nipping a sprouting criminal in the bud...But I'm not too crazy about them hassling kids just because they happen to be kids...

Don't they already use "SO" for shutout,Tom?...

Looks like the Cubs have been promoted from AAA Iowa to the NL Central of the Major leagues....They reached .500 today on a walkoff hr by Aramis Ramirez....I had thought if they reached .500 by the all-star break,they might have a chance...We'll see...

I think you all need to build up your shelves and pray in the holy ghost....

The beer wagon is much more to be desired than that blasted schittzenvagen used to pump clean those porta-lets all have a party in honour of our mother-in-the-word is that excie is starting to go backwards as far as her years go,so she's now younger than me and Christ Jesus got a good thing goin' on- ward Christian soldiers,marching off to war,what is it good for? absolutely nothing---can stop me from preaching the Good News for Modern Man,do I gotta quit rambling,Rose.... Happy Birthday,young one!

Oops.you're right....I read too many recaps too soon

That's a good question,Rocky....I don't know too much about Wang (the NY starter tonight),but I would imagine since he was the runner-up to Webb for the Cy Young award last year,he has pretty good 'stuff' and control...Those good pitchers can make a strike look like a ball coming at you and vice-versa,and they're also less likely to leave a pitch out there over the plate for a hitter...Good pitches to hit are rare to see in the course of a game,especially with a top-notch starter,so I think the tendency is for batters to be more aggressive at the plate when facing good starting pitching....

So Bill,when you abundantly share zero dollars to the way,is that 15% of your net or your gross?...