Bixby23’s profile

wfrazerjr: Thoughtful of you to go to the trouble of making revisions. As for my part, no more offhanded and flippant comments with inflammatory content. Had meant it to be mildly humorous, but it wasn't even vaguely so. I look forward to the next set of predictions.

posted at 10:28 AM on October 27

Many apologies. Didn't mean to hurt feelings and ruffle feathers. My predictions would be no better.

posted at 04:12 AM on October 27

wow , denver over indy and minnesota over the pats? that's making a statement, hoser. -- posted by lil_brown_bat lbb , i look at it like this -- if you're going to suck in a very public way ... at least do it with some gusto. -- posted by wfrazerjr I think not using a splell chkeker makes you suck in a very public way. Dude needs to proofread those predictions.

posted at 10:48 PM on October 26

Over the past week at Athletics Nation (A's blog), lots of fans have been praying for a matchup with the Tigers. Not that playing Detroit would be a ton easier, but at least there's no Santana over there. Now everyone's just saying "We're all gonna die!!!" That said, I pick the A's in 6 over the Padres.

posted at 04:27 AM on October 02

I don't share the Tuohys enthusiastically religious attitude, which I find ignorant and largely backwards, nor Sue Mitchell's overly liberal arts-minded attitude (Big Mike is going to somehow relate to the rags-to-riches themes of "Great Expectations" and "Pygmalion"!? Fer cryin' out loud, lady, get a grip!) . . . . . . but I've never considered doing anything as charitable, so before I get too self-righteous and smarmy about all of the things I find wrong with these people, let me just shut up.

posted at 12:44 AM on September 25

I've conducted some thorough research (erm, I checked one or two sports-med websites) and it doesn't seem particularly rare for people to be playing sports a week after undergoing an appendectomy. That said, Cowher's gonna look like a Grade-A doofus if Big Ben gets hurt as a result of not forcing him to fully rest up for an additional week. Batch did a decent job with the (mostly) dink & dunk passing game last week. Even though it's MNF, I'd still let Batch take snaps for an additional week.

posted at 01:48 AM on September 13

Brilliant quote. Caught him right at that crossroads between, "Gotta push myself harder to be the best" and "Hey, pass me some o' them li'l yeller pills."

posted at 01:24 PM on October 13

I don't know if anyone saw yesterday's Financial Times, but Sepp Blatter (president of Fifa) wrote an article claiming that football has fallen victim to "a wild west sort of capitalism." He asks what could be the value in paying "sometimes foul-mouthed" 20 year olds sums that their fathers couldn't have earned in a decade. It's a really good article for those with FT subscriptions or access to Wednesday's print edition. Though it borders on preaching socialism, I think it's worth reading.

posted at 08:19 PM on October 12

mcstan, I think the writer was also a bit skeptical about "intimacy" in saying that intimacy is baseball owner-speak for "artificial ticket scarcity." This is different from your point, I know, and good ol' Bud S. has long since declared Oakland a small-market venue, but I do think the "intimate" setting is intended more with an optimistic outlook on demand and is more likely a scheme to gouge fans' wallets than just a realistic take on what the market will bear -- though I've long believed baseball owners actually make all their profit on the $5.00 hot dogs. Whether the final product looks much like this or not, I'm glad the A's will finally be free of McAfee Downs or whatever it's called these days. The "Black Hole" definitely suits the Silver-and-Black-Attack Raider machismo, but it's always seemed to me to be too dark and dank for the cheery gold and green colors of the Athletics.

posted at 12:53 AM on September 16

I don't disagree with you at all Stealth_72, but I wonder if there really aren't lots of hard working, community-minded, quiet types -- perhaps not nearly so talented as Rice in his prime -- that simply don't get the accolades they deserve. If so, I suspect it will always be thus. We just can't help but stare at bigmouth, mirror-kissing standouts like T.O., screwups like Ryan Leaf, potheads like Rickey W., and every other walking Jerry Springer show in the NFL. Either way, Rice has earned his spot in history, and not only can nobody catch him -- nobody's even close.

posted at 05:54 AM on September 06

A good estimate of his statistical legacy is provided by John Clayton on ESPN: Moss has 574 catches and would have to average 100 catches a year for the next 10 years to catch Rice. That means he would have to play until he was 38. Harrison has 845 catches and he's 33. To catch Rice, he would have to average 101 catches a year the next seven years and retire at the age of 40. Owens, who has 669 catches would have to average 100 receptions for close to nine seasons to get there. Ray Ratto's article on the same topic is, however, a far better read than either the rather stiff Clayton or the way-too-flip-and-clever-for- you Gene (obscure reference) Wojciechowski, who gets a bit tiresome for my taste.

posted at 09:16 PM on September 05

I like whichever one screams the loudest.

posted at 08:31 PM on September 04

lilnemo, maybe I misunderstood the source of LIONSROAR's ire, but as I read it I'd thought he was referring specifically to that point about the writer changing the by-line from "Chris" to "Christina." Still, there are only two ways for even that to be distracting to a reader of Kahrl's material. If the reader had known Kahrl's original gender somehow (i.e., that Chris originally stood for "Christopher" or whatever), then the sudden appearance of "Christina" would, I agree, be distracting, at least until the reader encountered the article posted above or else convinced himself that, no other explanation seeming probable, the writer's wife or fraternal twin sister had taken over Christopher's job. Given the relative anonymity of most sportswriters, though, it seems unlikely that a reader would have known for a fact that Kahrl was originally male. Conversely, if the reader had no knowledge of the writer's original gender, then the only other way this could be distracting for the reader is if he's just another sexist prick uncomforatble with reading articles and baseball stats not prepared by a man. On the other hand, if LIONSROAR was referring to the article in its entirety and not the mere change in by-line, then I agree that he should have read the article more carefully. For shame... LIONSROAR, regardless of what you were referring to, I think your all-caps posting, criminal misuse of "whom" (should reference an object, not a subject), and blatant misspelling of "acceptance" are at least as distracting as the "Christina" factor. Edit thyself.

posted at 08:50 PM on August 29

Love the "Chris Codiroli years" bit. I suffered through those, as did every other A's fan, but had never heard that expression before. Perfect term for that sad era when the most exciting thing the A's could deliver was Shooty Babbit blowing a bubble while rounding third base. And about the sex-change thing... I must respond with an enthusiastic "ho hum." Just keep the stats coming.

posted at 10:11 PM on August 28

Maybe Cincy could lure Jerry Tarkanian out of retirement (been done before...)

posted at 12:13 AM on August 24