Vic Sage

]assuming that getting on base is a learnable skill, is it better learned at a younger age in the minors or in the majors? I question your assumption. I do not think getting on base IS a learnable skill. I think it is, like hitting itself, an innate talent that can be IMPROVED with proper training. The "skill" is actually related to the cognitive ability of pitch recognition, the intellectual ability to read the pitcher and the situation, and the emotional ability to show patience. While situations can be studied and patience developed, and even cognitive recognition improved, all of those abilities have physical dimensions and limitations for each person. This is why Billy Beane drafts the way he does, and others are starting to follow suit.

BV shot down my "don't you think we need a stronger top 3 for the rotation" with his denial that a front-loaded rotation has any kind of advantage over a deeper but less dominant rotation, even in the post-season. He was wrong, of course, so he was either being purposely dense or just trying to support his current team. I didn't see any point in pursuing any other points with him that night. I don't remember Bret being particularly tight-lipped, howwever.

http://movies.msn.com/movies/musicals_intro This is an interesting article, but I think it defines "modern musical" much too narrowly, and I think comparing musical adaptations of stage works to original movie musicals is difficult to do, much less comparing either of them to animated musicals. How do you call "Cabaret" modern, but not "Chicago", while leaving "Rocky Horror" completely out of the conversation? How do you champion "Dancer in the dark" without first giving kudos to "Phantom of the Paradise"? How do you promote "Little Mermaid" over the superior score of "Beauty and the Beast"? And once you mention "Hard Day's Night", you're going beyond "musicals" into "music films", and such other works as FAME, PURPLE RAIN, SPINAL TAP, HEAVY METAL, NEW YORK,NEW YORK, STOP MAKING SENSE and VICTOR/VICTORIA enter the fray. So that should be a separate discussion. [u:252bc9z7]My top 10 stage musical movie adaptations since 1960:[/u:252bc9z7] *Cabaret (1972) *Chicago (2002) *Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A (1966) *Hair (1979) *Hedwig (2001) *Jesus Christ, Superstar (1973) *Little Shop of Horrors (1986) *Oliver! (1968) *Rocky Horror Picture Show, The (1975) *West Side Story (1961) [u:252bc9z7]My top 10 original movie musicals since 1960: [/u:252bc9z7] *Absolute Beginners (86) *All that Jazz (79) *Moulin Rouge (01) *Pennies from Heaven (81) *Phantom of the Paradise (74) *Robin & the 7 hoods (64) *Starstruck (82) *Tommy (75) *True Stories (86) *Willy Wonka (71) [u:252bc9z7]My top 10 animated musicals since 1960:[/u:252bc9z7] *Aladdin (92) *Anastasia (97) *Beauty & the beast (91) *Lion king (94) *little mermaid (89) *Mulan (98) *Pocahantas (95) *prince of Egypt (98) *south park (1999) *yellow submarine (68) [u:252bc9z7]Culling these, this is my top 10 `modern' musicals:[/u:252bc9z7] *All that Jazz (1979) *Beauty & the beast(1991) *Cabaret (1972) *Chicago (2002) *Hair (1979) *Jesus Christ, Superstar (1973) *Lion king (94) *Little Shop of Horrors (1986) *Moulin Rouge (2001) *Rocky Horror Picture Show, The (1975)

When ever i hear the phrase "golden globes", i think of Raquel Welch. I'm sorry. It's just the way i am.

true dat. As a screenwriter, Lucas is an excellent director. And as a director, he's a terrific technician. He just sucks with words and actors.

5 bananas. I was slightly disappointed. It wasn't BAD, by any means. And definitely worth seeing. Still, a disappointment. I'll wait a few weeks before i go into details.

the reason that critical opinion has evolved favoring EMPIRE over STAR WARS is that it is... (drum roll, please) ... (wait for it) ...a better movie. Yes, SW had the advantage of being new, for its time. It also had more stilted acting and dialogue, slow expositional sequences, and less impressive effects. EMPIRE uses a non-stop narrative structure, with 2 parallel story lines... one a long chase for the supporting characters (an outward journey, if you will), the other a journey INWARD for the hero... with a convergence at the climax. By moving more quickly, the film has less time to dwell on the wooden characterizations, and more action means less bad dialogue. The film also has a darker edge than the "gee whiz" nature of the 1st. EMPIRE's overriding problem is the one inherent to the middle chapter of any trilogy... it ends before achieving a satisfying climax (which has to wait till the final chapter). Since SW had to be self-contained (with no guarantee there'd ever be sequels), its heroic conclusion gives it a better payoff. EMPIRE holds up better, thus allowing critics time to get past the "fallacy of the new" which overvalues SW, and appreciate the superior story-telling going on in the sequel. Don't get me wrong... i loved SW. Saw it opening weekend at the Loew's Astor Plaza on 44th St in Times Square. When that massive ship came into view overhead, after the opening "Chapter IV" crawl, the place went nuts. and nothing is ever like that twice. But getting past the thrill of nostalgia and taking a hard look at the qualities of the 2 films side-by-side, it seems like no contest to me.

it is.

i think letting Looper go was a mistake. 2 years ago, he was a perfectly decent closer for the Mets. Last year, he tried to pitch through an injury and was wildly inconsistent. with the ridiculous money being thrown at middle-inning and setup guys, It seems to me that re-signing Looper for $4.5m/3yrs would've been a perfectly good way for the Mets to have a setup/backup closer type in the pen. That seems to be what those guys go for now. And, since he was willing to sign for that elsewhere, might he not have been willing to take that, or even less, to avoid having to leave? Minaya seems to be sanguine about Heilman filling that spot more cheaply. Well, maybe he can and maybe he can't. Personally, if Zeig Heilmann really has turned the corner in his career, I'd prefer him to get 200+ IP as a SP, than 60+ IP as a RP.

avi

If i'm Omar Minaya, and im working for Fred Wilpon, I know Freddie won't want to eat any part of a bad deal (and if i make him do so, my job hangs by a thread), so if Jose goes in the crapper, i'm stuck with him. Therefore, until he shows me more than speed and an arm, i'll go one year at a time, thank you very much. Of course, if i'm freddie, i would take the chance on Jose's upside and, if he goes south, i eat it and move on. But i'm not freddie, apparently. AS for David Wright, he's as close to a Pujols as this organization has ever gotten. A 5-tool 3bman with 5-tool production, plus an unquestioned work ethic, a good guy in the clubhouse, no real health issues, and YOUNG. If there is EVER money that would be well spent by Mr. Wilpon, it would be locking him up to a bigbux 7-year deal.

i wouldn't mind having Baez, and I certainly wouldn't miss Matsui, but its just absurd to think such a 1-sided deal could ever happen.

yes, he avoided the bidding war by trading valued prospects for an older, inferior catcher, when he could've signed one of 2 younger, better catchers for slightly more money and a draftpick. BRILLIANT! He deserves a gold star.

i agree that Belle is worth consideration, despite his personality issues, but he's not a more impressive candidate, IMO, than Jim Rice, and certainly not the all-around player that was Andre Dawson. I'd have to put him squarely behind those fellas. And none of them had the impressive career of Blyleven or the absolute dominance of Gossage. I think, sometimes, the short-career guys get OVERvalued, because they didn't play long enough to have the inevitable bad years at the end of a career dragging down their overall numbers. If you look at Dale Murphy, for a while there he was an absolute LOCK as a HOFer...but he crashed and burned too soon, and kept playing anyway. I don't think you should be overvalued simply because injury prevented you from putting up the inevitablely mediocre late-career seasons. I'm not saying that a protracted career should be preferred, but merely that the peak/plateau periods for each HOF candidate be compared, not just the career totals, which can be shortened by injury at the zenith or extended through a protracted and mediocre twilight. My criteria continues to be at least 10 excellent seasons, of which at least 5 were amongst the top 10 at your position in your era. then, specific accomplishments (ROY,MVP,CY,GGs, post-season) are factored in, plus "impact on the game" (if any), "dominance", etc. This is why the 4 "tests" are so useful, as they do factor all this into consideration. My HOF enshrinement for this year: - Goose - Cap'n Bly with Rice, Dawson and Belle sittin' on the fence. Next year: - Rip - Tony the Tiger with Bash Bro #1 on the fence, and Bash Bro #2 cleaning toilets

ooh, i like THAT idea!

If Alfonseca gives the fans the finger, which one will he use?

Hey, BS (I love calling you that!), doesn't this remind you of all those pointless debates where we were actually on the same side of the argument? memories, in the corners of my mind, hazy, water-colored memories of the waaaaay we were.......

I can't go till Sunday night. BWAAAAAH! (sniff, sniff) i love the scene in the DeLaurentiis remake where Kong pulls down Lange's dress. I'm sorry. It's just the way i am.

i miss the days of clubbing Ms. Met like a baby seal... I still have one of the Bard's poems in the archives, in which he commented on the latest YGB / Ms.Met contretemps: YGB was his tag and posting his bag as he jousted with Metfans illogical He fought with Ms. Met Her goat he did get She found his attitude rude, pedagogical They swashed and they buckled as the Forum all chuckled at their badinage, crude and rhetorical Ms. Met called for peace hoped the fighting would cease trumpeting truce that was truly historical And so all waited reply YGB's taunting to fly would it be something mean, allegorical? Or would he just be a "gentlemen", he Creating peace that was not metaphorical alas, peace never came to that MoFo of yore, and Ms. Met was driven out from amongst us. she was such an easy target. I do miss her.

Tony Fernandez

i love that his initials are BS. And you can send me a No Prize. I've always wanted one.

"The Cooler" is a great movie with William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin.

i'm pretty sure i was not amongst such small-minded rabble.

it wouldn't be enough for me, if i were GM-ing Baltimore. I'd want more than Benson + Matsui, to go with Reyes. In fact, I'd view taking on the contracts of Benson + Matsui as an obligation, not a benefit, so i'd be looking for something else in that deal. If i'm B'more, i'd ask for Reyes, Heilman and Milledge, but i'd settle for Reyes, Seo and V.Diaz. If you're Omar, do you pull the trigger on that? why or why not? discuss.

="Edgy DC"]Vic Sage: It works for me. Is that INCONSTANT of me? Edgy DC: You're the one with the whole blow-against-the-ubermensch position. Vic Sage: Does that mean I have to fall in line with your RELIGION? Is religious observation compulsory again? Edgy DC: Nobody mentioned anything about religion. Or any of that other crap your trying to stick to me. Vic Sage: No, you just forward your doctrine and expect me to kneel. And that's crapCAKE. (Yes I do all-caps because I don't use your fascio-elitist coding tools.) So you're acknowldging that religion is crap? Edgy DC: You're getting way far away from the argument. Vic Sage: You're AVOIDING the argument. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT (Exodus 20:2-6) I am the Lord, your God, you shall not have any other God besides me... Edgy DC: Oh, Jesus. metsmarathon: is that a curse? now that is... i mean, THAT is funny. why? because its true...