Yankee4Life

I bought this many, many years ago on a winter day because I wanted something to read. It's called The Detroit Tigers An Illustrated History and it is by Joe Falls, who was a very famous writer in Detroit. It is 212 pages long and you can see what this book looks like if you go to this Amazon page right here. This is the exact copy that I have and it is a paperback book and is in very good condition. I'll keep this open for a few days and then I'll close the thread.

Yeah man, good point. Boras always inflates the value of his client and I am going to be very curious to see what happens if no one budges. You can't discount the Yankees here even though they have sworn up and down that they won't sign him but they are the Yankees and you have to compare their attitude toward free agents like this to a small child that you have to keep on reprimanding. As soon as your back is turned the kid will do what he is told not to and at the last second I can see them having a "change in policy" and Scherzer will be a Yankee. I hope not, but as someone who has followed these guys for years it won't surprise me. Not me. You know why? Because it's going to be ignored.

Let's use this to talk about anything baseball while we wait out this long winter. Talk about anything at all. I'll try to get it going. Who do you think is going to wind up getting Max Scherzer?

You have to search the download area because that is where

That is quite a timeline you got going Kyleb. I wonder how Kraw has been doing? He hasn't been here in awhile. I wouldn't mind helping more but with the 262 photos I collected that should be enough images for another mod.

Don't look at this post as anything else than what it is and that's just out of curiosity. We are getting into the middle of January and the news on this mod has been quiet for awhile. I understand that people have many responsibilities and interests besides this but again, I am just curious as to what's going on. Now let's get this damn winter over with!

How did you know? I was trying to hide my admiration for the people who can deal with this kind of weather so defiantly. I must disguise this a lot better in the future.

Excellent point sabugo. I am in no way saying that Christians have their hands clean but this happened six hundred years ago. What the hell can anyone do about it now? And since I don't see Catholics or Baptists or anyone else stringing people up forcing others to worship like they do this isn't something to worry about anymore. I am going to have to take your word for this Sabugo because I personally do not know any Muslims and at this point I don't want to know any. I don't care how it sounds but after all that has happened I don't trust them. Agreed 100% I think this right here was my favorite part of your post. I literally clapped after I read it. Isn't it funny? You can't name one person that you know that decided to uproot themselves or their family to go live in Syria or Pakistan or whatever toilet country these people come from. No, these people come to Europe and North America and instead of learning how to adjust to how life is here they want us to adjust to them. That's not happening with me. I'm sorry to find this out. I feel for you. He did a good job, didn't he?

Updated to 1-11 ...What I liked most about last week's Hall of Fame announcements was that the four cheaters (Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa) did not even get close to being elected. Forget about their statistics. It's how they got them. I'm glad Craig Biggio made it along with John Smoltz and Randy Johnson was a shoo-in. Pedro Martinez got voted in somehow but then again you can't have everything. I was planning on a trip to Cooperstown this year but with Martinez being elected it's going to be infested with Red Sox fans who will act like they own the whole damn town. The last time the Sox fans were in Cooperstown was six years ago when Jim Rice got in and the only way the town got rid of all of them then was to stop selling liquor. Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell got shut out again and if I was a voter they would have received one from me. In a way they did because for the second straight year I was able to take part in a voting process run by Jaxen, who is a member of our website. Three of the four guys that got in this year I voted for with Martinez being the exception. I have my reasons. ...Another guy who didn't get elected was Curt Schilling and since he's Curt Schilling he knows exactly why. He pointed out that the only reason why John Smoltz got in and he didn't was because Smoltz is a Democrat and he is a Republican. That cleared that up and it make perfect sense for no one except for Schilling. He played twenty years in the major leagues and only four with Boston but the way he complains and makes excuses you'd swear he played his entire career with the Red Sox. ...When I first heard of Charlie Hebdo I thought the news people were talking about a person. I didn't know it actually was a French weekly satirical newspaper and what they were famous for was their popular cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons must have really hit home because a bunch of Muslims stormed the place last Wednesday and killed twelve people that worked there, including the editor of the paper. With everything that has happened in recent years is this really surprising to anyone? These butchers killed a dozen people over cartoons. Think about that for a minute before I go on. When are we all going realize that it is time to declare war on Islam? It seems like every time you turn your head one of those bast**** are starting something. These people get worked up and offended faster than a group of old ladies. And I don't want to hear that the people that do this are only a small sample of what the Muslim community is, etc, etc, ad nauseam. Where were the peaceful Muslims after this happened? They were so quiet that they didn't even organize any protests about the killings at Charlie Hebdo. Sure, they were quiet. They were in their house having a party. This is getting so out of control that I would not be upset at all if all the Muslims in the United States, Canada, England and France are all rounded up and thrown on a ship to take them back to Syria or wherever the hell they came from. That way if they feel like they want to kill someone they'll be killing a fellow Muslim and will be doing the world a favor at the same time. I have no doubt that some people will have as much objection to what I just wrote as compared to what happened in Paris and that's really a shame. I wasn't born feeling the way I do about Muslims. Their actions and total disregard for life and human compassion have made me feel the way I feel about them. Whenever Muslims are around bloodshed is not too far behind. We still haven't caught that guy who was having so much fun chopping off people's heads. He hasn't done it in a while so he must be getting antsy. And now these people. Many families in France will never be the same because of some cartoons. Islam is the religion of peace? Don't believe it and don't laugh too hard the next time someone tries to tell you that. ...I can tell that the Dallas Cowboys are getting back to their old selves and it has nothing to do with their won-loss record. I have hated this team for a very long time and it dates back to the Tom Landry days with Roger Staubach, Drew Pearson and the rest of those lucky SOB's. Back then when you played the Cowboys and you had a slim lead late in the game you knew anything could and would happen. The officials would throw a flag at just the right time and it would turn the game around in their favor. Did your team just run for a fifty yard touchdown to make it a two score game? Forget it, it's going to get called back on a holding call. Or how about when it's third and long and Dallas desperately needs a first down? Staubach will go back to pass and before you can say North Dallas Forty there's going to be a pass interference call and the Cowboys will score and win the game. Ask veteran Vikings fans about what Dallas pulled in Minnesota during the 1975 NFL playoffs. I watched that game and even though the Vikings were dominating Dallas all game they only had a slim 14 - 10 lead and with that lead against that team you knew anything could happen and it did. With less then thirty seconds left in the game Staubach, who must have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, threw a fifty-yard touchdown pass to Drew Pearson that I can still see in my mind's eye as clear as day. The replays showed Drew Pearson pushing off cornerback Nate Wright of Minnesota and when a flag was thrown I had a moment's hope of having it called on Dallas but I should have known better because Wright was called for interference. And now almost forty years later the Lions know how it feels. ...The New Era Cap company gave David Ortiz his very own custom hat featuring a likeness of him doing his signature skyward point after every home run. If New Era was going for the gaudy and ugly look then I am here to tell you that they nailed it. Since the only photos of Ortiz that I allow in this thread are of when he is hit by a pitch I will not be posting a photo of it but if you are curious to see for yourself then just follow this link right here. Like I said, this is a custom hat made only for Ortiz and is not available for sale for any other damn fool out there (Red Sox fans) who wants it but if it ever became available to the public it would be in high demand for street gangs everywhere. ...Stephen Drew had a whopping .162 batting average last year but that didn't stop him from getting a one-year five million dollar contract for this upcoming season. Naturally the Yankees were the team that gave him all this money. They're probably hoping he makes a comeback and hits .220 for them. ...You will find no one that will disagree with you when you say that Alex Rodriguez has done more than his share of things to earn himself a lifetime of scorn and ridicule. Just the very sight of him this year will make him an easy target for every writer covering the Yankee beat. And that's exactly what's going to happen once the season starts. All that Jeter love we saw last year is going to be replaced by the constant booing of fans every time Rodriguez pops his head out of the dugout. If they want to boo him for what he did that's fine. At least they have a reason. But don't get on his case when he's not doing anything wrong. Last week he posted pictures of himself working out by taking batting practice and fielding ground balls and when one of the New York writers saw it he accused Rodriguez of trying to make trouble for the Yankees. In what way? He's still a player and he's missed a full year so getting started early with some spring drills will benefit him and in turn the Yankees. What's wrong with that? Would they rather have pictures of him going bar hopping with Johnny Manziel? ...A woman in Boston was arrested for bombarding a local police precinct with uncooked bacon and pork sausage because she said God told her to go there to "feed the pigs." You know, I've been saying for years that there are nothing but a bunch of animals in that city and people tend to think I am just exaggerating but this just confirms it even more. ...By now everyone has heard about that two-year-old boy in Idaho who accidentally shot and killed his mother after reaching into her purse and pulling out the gun that she had in it. The child, thinking it was some kind of toy, pointed it at his mother and the worst thing you would expect to happen did. I feel bad for this kid because there is no way to know how he is going to handle what he did when he gets older and understands what happened. The mother was twenty-nine-years-old and while you hate to pass judgment here you still have to wonder what the hell she was thinking by having her toddler in the shopping cart with her purse knowing that she had a gun inside of it? The victim's father-in-law, who must have been too blinded with grief to think straight described her as someone who was "not the least bit irresponsible." Right. Because responsible people let their two-year-olds handle their purse with a gun inside of it with the safety off. R.I.P. Mother of the Year. ...The city of Denver is finding out their homeless population is growing steadily because of legalized marijuana in Colorado. The older homeless people arriving there are coming for medical reasons and the younger ones are coming just because it's legal. Who didn't see that coming? The next thing that will happen is that some city will round up their homeless and throw them on a bus with a few bucks in their pocket with instructions to get off in Denver and have a good time. ...A nationwide atheist group called the Freedom from Religion Foundation is threatening to file a lawsuit against a Georgia public school district because bibles were being distributed to elementary school students. Their complaint was that by giving the bibles away to these children they feared that these kids would have become a captive audience to the teachings of the bible because they were so young and impressionable. You can't have that. If you get kids believing in God at a young age you might run out of atheists in the future and what are you going do then? What actually happened here was that representatives from the Gideons were the ones who passed out the bibles to the kids and not the school district. This is what the Gideons do, they pass out bibles. They have so many that they left one behind in every room in all the hotels and motels across the country. The next time you go on vacation when you are in your hotel open the drawers and eventually you'll find a bible and you'll know that the Gideons were there before you. Since the Freedom for Religion people couldn't fight the Gideons head-on they targeted the school district since they knew they could scare them without breaking a sweat. I'd like to see how fast they blow the whistle when they find out someone is passing out the Koran to junior high students. ...The recent drop in gas prices have put a big smile on everyone's face and even though I don't get gas as much as the next guy it still is a nice feeling not having to pay fifty dollars or more every time I fill up. But there is still one thing I don't understand and that's gas prices in different areas of the city. If I drive twenty minutes south of where I live I can get gas seven cents cheaper a gallon. Same city, same company (Sunoco) but different price. What's even more incomprehensible is the two Sunoco stations five minutes away from my house that are literally across the street from each other. The station that has west bound traffic is selling gas for $2.77 a gallon but if you are on the same road driving east you'll be paying $2.75. This makes no sense at all. ...That same day that I got gas it was four degrees outside and the wind chill was so bad that it was better not even knowing it. Halfway into it when I was filling up the tank my hands were starting to get numb and that's when you start dancing around a little to try and keep warm. I was so cold when I got done I had to go inside and buy a cup of coffee. When I was driving home I saw a guy walking with a T-Shirt and pair of shorts on and I swear to God this is not the first time I have seen people do this in this kind of weather. You really have to live in the cold area of the country to really appreciate what I am trying to explain here. If you live in Arizona or Florida and are curious about what I'm saying here just go into a walk-in freezer and stay in there for about twenty minutes without getting out once. Then you'll get an idea of how it is but without the wind of course. This is the kind of weather when you let the dogs out they find a spot right away and go and then they come back to the door without having you call them. But I see people all the time walking around like it's the middle of summer instead of the beginning of January. Maybe it's some kind of club. Every time I see one of them I say to myself that it "must be another person from Massachusetts" and I laugh all the way home.

Please don't be a stranger here!

Thank you for this Rising Sun. They look great!!!! どうもありがとうございました!!

Already??

Updated to 1-4 Many apologies for not posting this week's random thoughts when I usually do but last night around six o'clock my Roadrunner internet went out and they could not get a service technician to come to my house until twenty minutes ago. Everything's good to go now and I hope this never happens again. ...There's got to be a better way to break in the New Year than with Ryan Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy. ...My wife and I made plans on New Year's Eve to go and see the newest Night at the Museum movie but we ended up getting shut out. There's an AMC theater near us that has those comfortable chairs that you can extend your feet out while watching the film but I wasn't planning on doing it this time because the first time I tried that I fell asleep and when I woke up I couldn't follow what was going on. Anyway, once we got to the ticket booth we were told that there were only two tickets left and I said that's fine because it's only us two and we were not waiting on anybody else. Then we were told there was one seat available in one row and another one open four rows back. I told the kid at the ticket booth that all I wanted to do was go to a movie and not buy a plane ticket but he told me that they have assigned seating at that theater and there was nothing that could be done about it unless we wanted to wait a few more hours until the next showing. She didn't want to wait and I couldn't blame her and frankly neither did I. I think the last time I went to the movies was over the summer. It's hard to believe it's changed this much. When I was a kid and I went to the movies with my friends we never knew where we were going to sit until we got in there. Usually it was right in the middle but every so often it was on the right or left side. Now even something as simple as going to a movie is shot to hell. ...When I first heard that Selena Gomez was involved in a bit of controversy at a mosque last week I was kind of curious as to what exactly she did to get people so upset because based on my knowledge of her, limited as it may be, she does seem the kind of person that would go out of her way to antagonize anyone. But that's what happened. Gomez was in Abu Dhabi (a city located on the northeastern part of the Persian Gulf) with four of her friends and while they were there they decided to visit a local mosque. Being the tourists that they are they took some pictures of themselves while they were in there and these photos were posted later on Instagram. One of the photos that was uploaded showed Gomez posing with someone and her ankles were exposed for all the world to see. Gomez did not spray paint the walls of the mosque when she walked in there or carve her initials in a chair for posterity. What she did do was put her naked ankle on display for the whole world to see. As far as ankles go she has a very nice one although I must admit there are other parts of her body that are visually more appealing. Older Muslim men have been dropping like flies after looking at this picture and Muslim women everywhere have been getting an extra beating or two because they happen to be women and also have ankles. The Muslims complained that she is a visitor to their city and when visiting a mosque she should observe their rules and traditions when she is in there and that means covering everything up when you are in there. Ok, fine. But then how do you explain the Muslims that are in our country when they go around expecting us to conform to their way of doing things? You can't have it both ways. I hope the next time she goes to Abu Dhabi and visits a mosque she goes in there with a bikini on. ...The Yankees traded reliever Shawn Kelley last week to San Diego for prospect Johnny Barbato, a twenty-two-year-old righthanded reliever who Brian Cashman said “may need Tommy John surgery at some point." What the hell for? There are enough pitchers that pop up that end up catching you by surprise that end up needing this surgery and here are the Yankees trading for a guy who is probably going to need it. Talk about going out to meet bad luck half way. And just to show that they weren't done making stupid moves they also traded Manny Banuelos to Atlanta last Thursday. Banuelos was a highly rated twenty-three-year-old lefthanded pitcher in the Yankee organization that for some reason never reached his full potential. Personally I kind of think that the Yankees made a mistake here by giving up on someone that young who is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery and it would not surprise me at all to see in a few years the Braves turning this guy into a winner. ...The real reason why C.C. Sabathia was upset last week at the airport had nothing to do with missing his flight to Jamaica. That was no big deal because he didn't have to wait long until the next flight was scheduled to take off. It's just that when he discovered the McDonalds in the airport had closed he kind of lost it because that made the wait that much harder to handle. ...Chris Rock did not endear himself to women everywhere when he said the reason why he ended his nineteen-year marriage was that he was "just tired of being married." On the other hand no one asked his wife if she was tired of being married to him. ...With cameras all over the place how did that Texas A&M staff member expect to get away with throwing an elbow at one of the West Virginia players during the Liberty Bowl and then later a punch at another one? If Woody Hayes didn't get away with it back in 1978 there was no way this was going to be missed today. ...Things must be so bad in Buffalo that they are not even fast enough to fire their head coach or look for a new starting quarterback because both of those guys took off the first chance they had before being shown the door. ...The only way the NFL is going to deal with Ndamukong Suh is to have players on other teams start stepping on him and kicking him without worrying about getting fined for it. If that happens watch how fast Suh cleans up his act. ...Grand Slam, Redneck Style, Dept: Over the holidays a Florida man decided that it would be a nice thing to visit a sick friend in the hospital and he figured while he was going to be spending time in the hospital he may as well make himself and his friend as comfortable as possible. So to spread a little Christmas cheer he brought along some crack cocaine that he and the patient began to smoke as fast as possible just so they wouldn't have to share with anyone else that happened to come in the room. Considering what they were doing it was no surprise that they didn't think this all the way through because the bedridden patient was wearing an oxygen mask and the flame from lighting the pipe mixed with the gas caused a fire that rapidly grew out of control and the private two-person party quickly became a room full of hospital staff trying to put out a fire. Luckily the damage was limited to bed linens, the patient's gown and the oxygen mask itself and the patient himself was transferred to a burn unit. What hurt him more besides the burns was not being able to finish his crack. The gift giver here was charged with arson, five counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony. At least his heart was in the right place. ...Grand Slam, Redneck Style, Dept (Part Two):Why not one more Florida story before I move on? If they had a reality show just about what these people do down there each week the ratings would go through the roof. Every time your wife or your girlfriend or your mother gets on your case by telling you that you need to shape up all you have to do is have them watch a few episodes of Florida's Finest and they'll see that you aren't so bad after all. Driving under the influence is a problem all across the country but down in the Sunshine State they leave no room for interpretation as to how impaired they really are. A Tampa motorcyclist was taking a spin on his Harley last week and because he had a few too many he crashed his bike into a parked Florida Highway Patrol vehicle. He may have been drunk when he hit the parked patrol car but he wasn't drunk enough to hang around and wait for someone to come out to see what he did. So he stumbled back on his bike and sped off down the road but he didn't get that far because he was still sloshed. Since he could not find another police car to hit he pulled over and waited until his head stopped spinning and that was long enough for the police to catch up to him. He was arrested for DUI and leaving the scene of a crash and also for careless driving and having no proof of insurance. This all took place over the Christmas weekend, around a week ago. I don't want to imagine what this guy would have done had he been loose on New Year's Eve. ...Oh those zany Muslims, Dept: Saudi Arabia is sending two women to a court established to try terrorism cases because of their defiance of a ban on females driving motor vehicles. This is what a terrorist activity is defined as to these people. All these two women were doing was driving a car from one place to another and because of that they've been sitting in a jail cell for nearly a month. They didn't get in any accidents with another vehicle or hit any pedestrians. They didn't bother any camels or wake the head-choppers, snipers or kidnappers when they were trying to rest. All they were doing is driving. I can't figure out if Muslims hate their women or are deathly afraid of them. The only thing that is clear is that they can't do anything independently. ...Using your Noodle, Dept: On a charter flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Nanjing, China a Chinese couple got into a heated fight with the flight crew all because they learned that they were to be seated separately during the trip. Even when the attendants rearranged the seating to put the couple together it was too much, too little and too late to appease the couple as they refused to calm down. They were so upset that they threw their meal, which was a cup of hot noodles, right in the face of one of the hostesses, burning her bad enough that she had to go to the hospital for treatment after the plane was turned around. The couple was not immediately detained once they were kicked off the plane and Chinese authorities are still considering whether to prosecute them for their disruptive behavior. What are they waiting for, to see if they do it again? If this was the U.S. there would be a small army of cops ready to grab them as soon as they stepped off the plane and as far as those two being prosecuted here they would not have to wonder about that too much. Remember when air travelers had to take their shoes and belt off before passing through the screeners just because some Osama-loving Muslim tried to get away with something there? The same thing could happen here. Some copycat in this country is going to think of a way to burn the in-flight help a lot worse than using his noodles and before long anything that is served hot on flights will be a thing of the past, like common sense.

Of course he did. It took him this long to think of a response.

Much appreciated! Thank you.

Thank you very much!

Updated to 12-28 ...I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you received every gift you were asking for and that you also made someone else's holiday just as special. I got some nice stuff, mostly gift cards. That's what I get every year and Amazon and myself appreciate it a lot. My nineteen-year-old niece cleaned up like she always does. She got a digital camera and a Playstation 4. They have one of those huge hi-definition 3D televisions that go from wall to wall in their living room so she is going to have a lot of fun with that. The first day she had it she couldn't get online because of some more hacker bullsh**. She likes playing games but not sports so that leaves out any hope of her purchasing The Show when it comes out next year. She got this role playing game called Dragon Age Inquisition and I don't know what the hell she was doing but it looked nice. While we were watching her I told my brother-in-law that wouldn't it be great if there was a sports role play game? I'm full of ideas. It is either that or I am full of something else. Anyways, I suggested a Derek Jeter game for the PS4. In it you play as Jeter and your mission is to travel to all five of the New York boroughs to perform miracles like walk on water, deliver babies in taxicabs, find Jimmy Hoffa, etc, etc. In other words you do what he does every single day because everyone knows he can do anything. Just ask the New York newspapers. While you are out saving the world from itself you have to dodge evil villains like out-of-town reporters that ask tough questions like 'if you can't hit the ball anymore why in the hell are they still hitting you second in the lineup?' You will have to do all this and still make it to the Bronx to play in the game. If you do all that and help the Yankees win you can tell any woman you see to join you for a night on the town and in the morning she can do your laundry. Now that's a game. Don't tell me, I know. I got too much time on my hands. ...This year was the first time I did not watch any of the classic Christmas movies. It's not that I don't like them. It's just that I've seen them so many times I am sick of them. Movies like White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life are all good movies but after seeing them for over thirty years I have had enough. You know you've seen a movie too many times when you can quote the dialogue verbatim without missing a word. ...Christmas may be the best holiday of the year but Thanksgiving has them beat every year in sports. A triple header in the NFL will always outshine a triple header in the NBA. ...Ex-Yankee pitcher Phil Hughes had a good Christmas because the Twins gave him a three year contract extension worth forty-two million dollars because of his good performance (16 - 10, 3.52 ERA) for Minnesota last season. Many people thought that the Yankees "ruined" Hughes during his time there and if by that they mean developing a pitcher whose best pitch was the gopher ball then they could be right. The Twins are rewarding him for that one good season but if they start seeing balls fly out of Target Field next season when he's on the mound they should not be surprised. ...Miley Cyrus is dating Patrick Schwarzenegger right now only because he doesn't know any better. But his family certainly does. Cyrus was banned from celebrating Christmas with his family which happens to be the famous Kennedy family. You couldn't blame them for not wanting her around to welcome in the holidays because once she starts sticking that tongue out you never know where it would end up. ...Helping out the right way, Dept: Doesn't it always seem that every year right before Christmas there is a lunatic that crawls out from wherever he's been hiding and does something that is so terrible that it makes you stop and wonder what the hell is wrong with this world? This year it was a man named Ismaaiyl Brinsley who gunned down two New York City policemen who were sitting in their car in cold blood and in execution style just because they were policemen. It figures this guy had to be a Muslim. Shortly after killing the two officers Brinsley turned the gun on himself and shot himself to death presumably to join Allah and a room full of virgins. One of the officers had two children that he left behind and their education will now be taken care of by the New York Yankees, who have been sponsoring a foundation called the Yankee Silver Shield Foundation, an organization that pays for the education of the children of New York City police officers, firemen and Port Authority employees who died in the line of duty. The Yankees have been doing this quietly since 1982. The other officer was recently married and had no children. Not a lot of people know that the Yankees have been doing this for thirty-two years now because anyone who isn't a Yankee fan only hears about the high salaries associated with them and that they are the "Evil Empire," a name given to them by petty and jealous front office member of you-know-who. This is the right way to do something for charity. Quiet, behind-the-scenes and respectful. What did the Red Sox do after the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013? They wore special uniforms for one day and then auctioned them off for charity. Nothing wrong with that but the shipping and handling charges to send the jersey to the winning bidder were jacked up over 200%. And that charge all went to the Red Sox and not charity. The only other thing they've done is let some of the victims from the bombing come out and throw out the first pitch every so often at Fenway Park. Nice enough gesture but that was it. The Red Sox do special game-worn jerseys and gestures and they make sure the world knows about it. The Yankees take care of a child's education and the only time you ever hear about it is when the media brings it up during a tragic time like this. ...It's too bad North Korea lost their internet for a couple of days. Can you imagine all the people there who got shut out from getting mods from this site? ...The Oakland Raiders may have had a lot of problems in recent years but no matter what they've been at least they are not the Cleveland Brown and they don't have the headaches associated with Johnny Manziel. To put it kindly, Manziel has had a less than impressive debut in the NFL this year due to being overwhelmed and unprepared because it seemed he was more interested in being a celebrity than being a quarterback. Even Manziel owned up to some of this and promised to be a more committed quarterback. I think a lot of what an athlete does off the field is magnified by the press. You see a ballplayer at a night club having a drink and the next day he strikes out in the ninth inning with the game on the line and the press will say it happened because he was out late the night before. Same situation for an NFL player. They're out the night before and their "focus" is being questioned on game day. I don't think this is the problem with Manziel. I recall Kenny Stabler, a highly successful and effective signal caller for the old Raiders going out each week to have a good time and no matter what that guy did during the week he was always ready to play on Sunday. The problem with Manziel may not be if he goes out and is seen doing it but rather if he is good enough to be an NFL quarterback. ...On a Russian variety show Shamil Tarpischev, who is the head of the Russian Tennis Federation, got himself in a little bit of hot water when he referred to Venus and Serena Williams as the "the Williams brothers," and added that "it's frightening when you look at them." That got him fined $25,000 from the Women's Tennis Association and he was also banned from any tour involvement for one year. Poor guy, he spoke the truth and look what happened to him. ...Rush Limbaugh, a man who gets a lot of publicity for his radio show every time he says something controversial, got what he wanted again last week when he commented on a leaked Sony e-mail that suggested Idris Elba, a black British man, should be the next James Bond. Wow. Yippie. So what??? Since when does it matter what this guy says? About five years ago I used to work part-time for someone who did a big online business on eBay. The other guy that worked there was there for many years and he ran the place when the owner was gone and because of that he had control of the radio and every day he would listen to Limbaugh's radio show. It was terrible. I don't know if there was one thing this guy liked or tolerated except for the listeners who would call in and agree with everything he said. Limbaugh's favorite target of course was President Obama. It probably still is. He blamed him for everything. People who are like this are easy to ignore because if Limbaugh stopped to think for a second he would realize that the next person to play James Bond after Daniel Craig is done with the role will be up to the producers of the Bond movies and no one else. ...Last Friday afternoon I locked my doors, pulled down the shades, made sure all my windows were shut and turned off all lights because I was upstairs in my computer room watching The Interview while wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses. The movie was almost two hours long and I think if North Korea would have just stopped to watch the movie without getting upset about it they would have seen for themselves that it was terrible. All they succeeded in doing was making people want to see it. Like me. ...Call 'em as I seem 'em Dept: You can always tell when a child actress is having a hard time getting steady work. This time it's Emma Watson, who peaked with the Harry Potter movies and then nose dived as soon as she started getting taller. Now she's doing a movie where she will be doing a topless scene. The trouble with that is that if they don't show her face in the scene no one will be able to tell if they're looking at a woman. ...Note: Defenders of Emma Watson are directed to file all complaints to IloveEmma@gmail.com which will in turn be forwarded to me and will be promptly ignored and deleted. Thank you! ...The New Year is still a few days away and I want to take this time to wish everyone on this great website a very happy new year. It's you guys (and girls) who visit this site that make it as special as it is and this is something that you prove every single day and I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you. If you go out on Wednesday night please either don't drink a lot, have someone to drive with you or just don't drink at all. The calendar is changing from one year to the next and that is not a good enough reason to go out and drink so you put yourself at risk for injury or even worse. Have fun but be smart. Happy New Year and let's look ahead to pitchers and catchers reporting!

Happy birthday and best of luck with your surgery!

Hey mcoll!!!!!! I've wondered what was keeping you away! Good for you! Congratulations to you and your wife. I hope you have a wonderful life together with nothing but happiness!

Updated to 12-21 ...Today's the official first day of winter. Where I live we always get a sneak preview of it almost a month ahead of time. ...My Opening Day for my first annual winter baseball league was exactly one week ago. I decided to start this up to help me pass the time in the upcoming winter months around here because if winter is as bad as the storm we had last week I have a feeling I will be inside the house a lot. I'm going old school for this 154 game season as I will be using Tony Larussa Baseball II instead of Mvp 2005 and there's a very good reason for me using Tony 2 this winter. I have tried to start some seasons in Mvp and even used the short season projector mod but it is just too hard for me to concentrate on one mod only for a period of time. I'll play about nine or ten games in the 1941 mod and then I'll start thinking of the 1964 mod and that will make me realize that I haven't played the 1927 mod in awhile and when that happens I can't devote myself to a season of Mvp. That's why I chose this old Larussa game. Gamers that only care about graphics won't even last a half an inning with this game. The game's got a nice look to it but you can tell it had its day. But I still play it. There's no way I'll ever stray too far away from Mvp. Here's a screenshot of the Yankee bullpen. Allie Reynolds is having a good day against those SOB's. ...I wonder if Samuel L. Jackson is ever happy about anything? Every time I see this guy he has a scowl on his face and looks like he's two steps away from getting in someone's face. ...The Red Sox may hate the Yankees and be jealous of them at the same time but not even that will stop them from making money off of them. They are auctioning two different "unique" pieces of historic (their words, not mine) baseball memorabilia centered around Derek Jeter’s final Major League Baseball game which was last September in Boston's Fenway Park. First is the ball used to record the final out of Jeter's career and if that isn't exciting enough the Red Sox will be auctioning off the first base bag that was used that afternoon because that was the final base that Jeter touched after collecting the final hit of his career. They're not kidding. The sad part about all of this is that both of these items will be sold. ...Well, there's another American in North Korea and at this point you almost have to empathize for the North Koreans. They don't want the Americans there but they still come. Either they are passing out bibles to the heathen or making demands for political asylum. No wonder why they don't like us. Look at the type of people that show up there. The latest person to make America proud is a twenty-nine-year-old man from El Paso, Texas named Arturo Martinez. This is a man that the North Koreans just can't get rid of. Previously he tried to get into the country by crossing a river but before he got there he was stopped and shipped back to the U.S. He did some time in a psychiatric hospital because of this but when he got out he went right back to China and this time was able to cross the river successfully into North Korea. Martinez was asked later if he was nervous crossing a river to illegally enter a foreign country and he replied no because that's how he got into the United States from Mexico. Martinez has not been put into custody by the North Koreans because they figured why not, he'll just come back anyway. He is seeking asylum in Venezuela while criticizing America for their human rights violations. At least he knows how to keep himself busy. ...While on the subject of North Korea, I don't know if they were behind the hacker attack on Sony Pictures which by the way is a Japanese company and it starred Seth Rogan, who is Canadian and James Franco, an American. Look at that, finally someone to blame. If North Korea is really behind this they really made a mistake by wasting all that time and effort into crippling Sony because all they needed to know is that Seth Rogan's in the movie and that alone virtually guarantees that it's going to bomb. ...What a difference a couple of years make. The Angels have begun a feeling-out process as to who would be interested in acquiring Josh Hamilton from them because all Hamilton has done in Los Angeles since he left Texas was spend time on the disabled list and strike out. If those were credentials to guarantee you a spot in the Hall of Fame, Hamilton would be a shoo-in by now. They are so desperate to pawn him off on anyone that they even contacted the Rangers to gauge their interest and Texas could not say no fast enough. Someone's going to get this guy and I just don't want it to be those damned fools in the Bronx. We've already got one overpaid multi-millionaire returning next year. ...Speaking about the Comeback Kid, Alex Rodriguez told reporters that he fully expects to battle Chase Headley for the third base job in the spring. I wouldn't expect him to say anything different. Brian Cashman practically has him written off already when he said that the Yankees had to anticipate the worst and hope for the best with Rodriguez since he hasn't played in a game in over a year. My prediction is that no matter how well Headley plays the position Rodriguez will be back at third base for a lot of games next year and that's because of Mark Teixeira. Teixeira's bound to go on the disabled list six or seven times next year for major injuries like paper cuts, lack of sleep or hurting his thumb while changing the battery on his TV remote. He's had similar career threatening injuries like this in the past where he missed significant time and since Headley can play first base too, he'll end up on both sides of the diamond next year. ...I was no fan of Jorge Posada especially during his last few years on the Yankees when he was just an overpaid roster spot on the ball club who did nothing but kill rallies. It got to be so easy to steal off of him that opposing runners walked the last fifteen feet to second just to give Posada's throws half a chance. But my dislike for him did not extend to his family because right now he and his wife are in a legal battle with some con men who they are saying swindled them out of over eleven million dollars. I don't have that much money to lose. I'm not even close. I'm not even in the same universe but if I lost that much I would either be bed ridden or walking around like a zombie. The same financial advisors who tapped into the Posada's bank account did the same thing to Jose Contreras, although Contreras did not lose as much money as Posada. It's easy to say now that the Posada's should have gone to a trusted lawyer to look over the documents that they had to sign for these people but that's why they're con men. They make you feel relaxed. I hope that both ex-players get their money back. Not even these two slugs deserve this. ...There's a Methodist church down in Alabama that announced it will start holding services at a Buffalo Wild Wings to attract potential parishioners who feel intimidated by the church setting. Personally I don't understand why they feel anyone would be intimidated by going to church. You stand, you sit, you listen, you sing, you get the hell out of there. Simple. The minister of church says by holding services at that restaurant will be a more inviting atmosphere for some people. Sure it will. What better way to listen to someone preach while you are making a dozen chicken wings disappear? ...One Strange Morning, Dept: I had one odd morning last week when I was driving around doing some errands I had to get done that I was putting off. First I went to the bank to cash a check and when I walked in there was no one there. Not one customer. The bank had been open for twenty minutes before I got there but still there was no one but employees and myself. At first I thought I walked in during a robbery but when one of the tellers smiled and waved me over and since I didn't see any Muslims hiding behind desks I came forward. By the time I walked out a few minutes later there were four people in line. I must have just got there at the right time. After that I went for a haircut and where I go the place opens up at 10:00 a.m. I got there a few minutes before they opened up and no one's there. This is normal for these people because when they say they open at ten they really mean around that time. Finally at almost quarter after the only person waiting to get in there is me and I don't have the keys. I decided to walk across the street to have breakfast so I can wait for them to arrive and sure enough right in the middle of my eggs benedict they open up. Finally I am done with breakfast, I walk back over there and I am ready to get my haircut. It's now 10:45. I walk in there and the lady asks me if she can help me. I tell her I am here for a haircut and she tells me she does not give haircuts. I wanted to ask her what she does give but I decided not to. I left without finding out why a person who works in a place that gives haircuts does not give haircuts but luckily I found a place that same day that gave me just as good a haircut and it was closer to home. Lastly I had to get gas and when I got out to fill my car up there was a lady who was already there doing the same thing. But while she was filling up she had her iPad out and was leaning against her car playing some game. She must have really been into it because when she took the nozzle out of her tank it overflowed and some gas spilled on her shoes. That's a smell that takes awhile to go away and she was not happy at all. I hope at least she won the game she was playing. After that I went home because by then I had enough of the general public. ...For the first time ever People magazine gave an award to the Sexiest Woman Alive and after much consideration on the judges part that had to have taken all of two or three seconds they gave the award to model Kate Upton. I got no complaints about this at all since I would have voted the same way but did she really need to be given an award for something this obvious? ...One of the great things about baseball is that you can have a nice roundtable discussion with your friends on what you think is right or wrong with the game and steps you would do to correct the things you don't like if you ever had the chance to do so. Free agency, high salaries, steroids, inter league play, etc. Thanks to Bud Selig there will be something else but with this latest one I have a feeling that everyone will be unanimous on how they feel about it. When Commissioner Stuffed-Shirt finally steps down next month he will receive six million dollars a year in pension from major league baseball. That's for doing nothing but walking down to his mailbox every day in his bathrobe to collect his mail. He won't be serving any advisory roles for baseball because quite frankly he's done enough to set the game back many years. Six million dollars. This is nothing but legalized stealing. ...Lastly to everyone here at Mvpmods I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and no matter where you will be on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I hope you are safe and happy. Take care!

Thank you!

Updated to 12-14 ...Today is the second anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. Life has moved on for everyone and the same can be said for the people in that small town although for them the adjustments have progressed a lot more slowly than the rest of the world. Not even the media thinks about what happened much anymore until December rolls around because for them this is old news. They're having more fun chasing women around who are saying they were once in the same building as Bill Cosby and now that they look back on it had he been on the same floor as they were he may have made a move on them. This sells but not the lobbying these grieving families are doing to try to curb gun control. Just hearing about this two years ago was a shock and I can't imagine how it has been for the people who have lived through this. But there is one thing about this that I don't understand and this has just surfaced recently. Some of the parents of the children that were killed have filed court documents indicating they plan to file wrongful death lawsuits. These people have gone through a living hell but really when you stop and think about it who exactly are they going to sue? The shooter's gone. So is his mother. The woman that ignored the fact that she had a son with severe emotional problems living in her house. The father lives in another state. They're divorced. Again, who are they suing? The guy across the street? Who? Some lawyer must have talked to all of them and convinced them of this. These people have been through too much. Let the memories of their children rest. ...I have always wondered how good the Athletic organization would be if only they could have held on to their players. Around one hundred years ago Connie Mack held the first garage sale that the team went through and then he did it again at the start of the Great Depression. After he did it the second time he never had another pennant winner. The Athletics floundered in the fifties and sixties but just when they started fielding another good team Charlie Finley cleaned house and when he was done all that was left was a bucket of balls and a few broken bats. The A's once again fielded good teams during the late eighties under Tony Larussa and at the beginning part of this century. Each time the quality players were lost to other teams and they were forced to rebuild. If there is one thing this organization knows how to do is start over. And with the loss of Josh Donaldson, Brandon Moss. Jeff Samardzija and Jon Lester (these four so far) Oakland is forced to do it again. The only thing I've learned as an outsider watching this team all these years is to never count them out. ...At a Beverly Hills auction a piece of fruit cake from the Royal wedding of Prince William and Duchess Catherine in 2011 sold for the unheard of price of $7,500. Granted, the buyer did get some added bonuses like the tin that the cake was in as well as a blank invitation to the wedding presented on the Queen's stationery but for that price they should have provided the silverware too. It's ironic because $7,500 is the going price that someone would have to pay me to eat a bite of fruit cake. ...The people over at MLB: The Show announced that they will be putting Yasiel Puig of the Dodgers on the cover of next year's game. And if you haven't had a chance to see it yet it is a picture of Puig from the back with his arms raised and index fingers pointed to the sky. They could not have taken a better picture to show how self-centered this guy really is although I am sure that was not their intention. Why Puig? There is no doubt he gets a lot of attention but it's the wrong kind of it. He's a hot dog who does not seem to take any instruction from Dodger management, who seem to be slowly losing patience with him. He's the west coast's answer to Bryce Harper. Young, selfish and unteachable. Puig makes one wish that Cuba would step up their security so it would be even harder to get off that island. And this is the guy who gets the nod to be on the cover of this game. What a great choice. Couldn't someone like Madison Bumgarner have been a better choice? All he did was have a good year and lead the Giants to another World Series championship. His exceptional performance in game seven should have sealed this for him but he had one major flaw. He wasn't all about himself. With an attitude like that he'll be lucky to get on a magazine cover. ...Yesterday the Washington Nationals hosted their annual NatsFest, an event where fans can come and interact with the Nationals players. Bryce Harper, arguably the most popular player on the team decided not to show up because of a grievance over -what else?- money and ended up disappointing the Nationals fans who were in attendance waiting to meet him. I'll say it again, if there is one guy who was meant to play for the Boston Red Sox it's Harper. He's egotistical, childish and selfish and those are his good points. He's the kind of player the Red Sox gravitate to and the kind of player the masses around Yawkey Way end up worshipping. A future Sawx player? Maybe. But right now he's perfecting the Boston way down in D.C. ...If I remember correctly the last time we saw Jon Lester it was in the wild card game in Kansas City and he left that game after 7 1/3 innings after giving up eight hits and six runs, all earned. And now Lester is a Chicago Cub after accepting a six-year 155 million dollar offer from them. The Giants - the same Giants who have won three of the last five World Series' offered Lester around 150 million for the same six year deal. Putting myself in that position what is the difference of a few million when he is going to be getting that much? And wouldn't you think you would have a better opportunity to celebrate in October bye playing in San Francisco instead of having your home games in Wrigley Field? To the Cubs the World Series is something that other teams do each October. Theo Epstein must have some kind of hold over Lester. Maybe he lets him sleep with his sister or something. Years ago you'd want to play for the best team in baseball. Now players don't mind playing for the worst. ...At least he didn't go back to those entitled SOB's in you-know-where. They practically had Lester penciled into their rotation for next year. ...Scott Boras thinks the best place for Max Scherzer to play next year is in New York for the Yankees even though the Yankees have not got involved in the Scherzer sweepstakes (as of yet). But Boras says so and for the Yankees to prove him right all they have do is come up with with more money than the Cubs gave Jon Lester last week and because of that reason alone I am hoping that when the Yankees spoke of financial restraint this off season I really hope they mean it. ...A young couple in Utah "canceled" Christmas for their children because as the mother explained on her blog that her three young boys were continually acting up and their behavior had become disrespectful and entitled. After ignoring many warnings the children were told that they would not be receiving any Christmas presents this year and all the money that was to be spent on the gifts were instead going to be used to buy goods for the needy. After that bomb was dropped two things happened. First the kids threw a fit. They did that because that's what kids do best so why stop now? Secondly the mother went under immediate attack on her blog from people who accused her and her husband of being mean and lazy parents, comments that did not go appreciated by the blog's owner. I'm with the parents if they felt they had no other choice but to do this but I have no sympathy for the mother who did not like some of the comments that were written about her. If she didn't have the need to write about her business on the internet in the first place the family still could have done what they needed to do to teach their boys a lesson and no one would have known about it. But she did this for attention and she got it. It was just attention she didn't want. ...And come Christmas morning when those three kids come downstairs how much do you want to be there will be a room full of presents waiting for them? ...Yoenis Cespedes drives a $367,500 Lamborghini that shoots flames out of its exhaust. In case you were wondering what for it's because he's an idiot. ...Kim Kardashian said in a magazine interview that she blamed the weight she gained when she was pregnant on God because God was doing it for a reason just to show what he can do to her. She did not explain what God she was talking about, the fire-and-brimstone miracle working God or her husband Kanye West, who just thinks he is one. ...A Des Moines, Iowa man broke his wife's nose after she woke him to give him a McDonald's McChicken sandwich. The problem wasn't that she woke him up but rather what she gave him. He told her he hated those sandwiches and he then let her her know how much he hated them when he picked it up and threw it at her. To make sure he got his point across he grabbed the bun and smashed it in her face and at some point when his wife was getting up close and personal with the bread he ended up breaking her nose at the same time. All this because of a sandwich. When Ray Rice heard about this incident the first thing he asked was if there were any cameras around. ...Travel + Leisure magazine's readers recently voted Detroit as the least attractive city in the United States and it wasn't even close. It was like having a beauty contest between Kate Upton and Sarah Jessica Parker and finding out Upton won in a landslide. Some things just don't need to be said. ...Starbucks has introduced a new pre-order app for customers that do not want to wait in long lines. It gives them a pickup time for their order and it insures that their beverage will be there waiting for them when they get there. In addition, when you get there to pick up your order and you find that your coffee is not hot enough they will gladly remake it for you. Not bad if you are a fan of Starbucks and don't mind paying five dollars for a cup of coffee that you can get for a dollar any place else. So people don't like to wait in line, what else is new? Part of the fun of dropping in at Starbucks is seeing all the snobs who think they are drinking elite coffee because they get it from there. The rare times I do go into a Starbucks I never want to miss this. ...We got hit with fourteen inches of snow last Wednesday. What a joy that was. ...Even the people who win the lottery down in Florida make that state look bad, or at least worse than it really is. A convicted sex offender won three million dollars in the Florida lottery and since there are no laws that prevent anyone convicted of committing a crime from winning the lottery he gets to keep his winnings. This is what you call turning your life around in style.

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Good luck! I hope this job turns out to be 100% better than the previous one. Funny you should bring this up. I plan on bringing this up in next week's version here. Naturally I am not in favor of it. I hate that son of a *&$^# Hey, you're not going to come up to Upstate New York are you? There's only room for one cool guy up here. In all seriousness if I was getting ready to enter my thirties in a few years I would want to relocate to a warmer climate. You may be able to move somewhere else but in the winter time the snow will look exactly the same as in New York. The hell with that.