Oops! I'm sorry, underdog. I could have saved so much time if I had paid more attention upthread [in the previous thread].

I remember the comment about "rat face" though.

Likewise, I hope for better luck to those of you out in the SF Valley and around Sylmar. I hate to see anyone lose their home and have to evacuate. I'm really pulling for the firefighters to tackle the Sylmar fire.

I'm not familiar with free agent history before 1998, but my impression is the Dodgers don't always go after the best available hitter. They do go after pitchers a lot, with Kevin Brown and Jason Schmidt as good examples.

It's going to be one of the more interesting offseasons in recent history.

The D-Backs don't want Johnson because they have no money (thank you Eric Byrnes contract!).

The D-Backs didn't want Carlos Quentin either. If he were a free agent, would he not be desirable? (and yes I know Chris Carter was used to get Haren, but Quentin for Carter straight up was one-sided).

God, it's hot here again today. Whatever happened to autumn? I'm calling Al Gore right now.

Kent was a little grumpy and Johnson would replace that grumpiness all too well.

Or what if they get turned off by the fact that the Yankees are going after other frontline starters and go elsewhere? Just seems risky to me... but I guess they know the odds are they will "only" end up with one or two of them.

Johnson is past his prime, but relative to the league he is still effective.

I guess the good news is that Dempster's grand slam giveupedness will go down. :)

>> Those who know Sabathia say he wants to sign quickly and has no desire to visit possible destinations. <<

## Sabathia's agent, Greg Genske, did not return a telephone call. But if the Yankees' offer is considerably higher than any other team's, the players' union will be eager for Genske and Sabathia to take it. Because the offer would set a new standard for pitchers' salaries, it is hard to envision Sabathia's turning it down. ##

http://tinyurl.com/5c72sl

Lawrence, Kansas seems to have found it. There's enough cold and wind for two states :)

Ya know, if owners expressed support for a player accepting a low contract that would lower the standards for other player salaries, they'd be accused of collusion.

The team right now consists of average to slightly-better-than-average players in need of superstar talent to complement.

Even if they wind up being the rotation for 2009 there is a need for depth to back them up and limit the innings on young arms.

For me, CC at 3 years $75,000,000 and a Randy Johnson type at 1 year and $6,000,000 would allow the 5 existing young pitchers to evolve into the long term rotation sooner.

Expressing glee would not be the same thing.

No, but the owners couldn't get away with it in the same way that the MLBPA can.

I'm predicting the S. Carolina/Florida game will be more interesting than you think. I have my reasons, over on LOCKS of the Week.

Half way through the game, I realized Dan MacLaughlin, the voice of the St Louis Cardinals, is calling the Texas/Kansas game.

I can't remember the argument for why he was happy, but that's what the author claimed.

"The Myth of Sisyphus", but Albert Camus.

According to Wikipedia, the essay ends thusly:

"The struggle itself...is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

Camus presents Sisyphus's ceaseless and pointless toil as a metaphor for modern lives spent working at futile jobs in factories and offices. "The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks, and this fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious."

Camus is interested in Sisyphus' thoughts when marching down the mountain, to start anew. This is the truly tragic moment, when the hero becomes conscious of his wretched condition. He does not have hope, but "[t]here is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn." Acknowledging the truth will conquer it; Sisyphus, just like the absurd man, keeps pushing. Camus claims that when Sisyphus acknowledges the futility of his task and the certainty of his fate, he is freed to realize the absurdity of his situation and to reach a state of contented acceptance. With a nod to the similarly cursed Greek hero Oedipus, Camus concludes that "all is well," indeed, that "One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

As of this moment.

Well...(wink wink...nudge nudge...)

Even Mark Sweeney made $600,000 last year, for Ch-i's sake.

Not worth it. I know what to expect in that one.

So Flight of the Conchord fans should know that the NZ movie "Eagle vs. Shark," which stars Jemaine, is on Starz today, now and again tonight. Not a great movie but very cute, amusing.

With a 7-5 record.

(23) CC just got the biggest contract ever for a pitcher at 6 years. He has absolutely no reason to take a 3 year deal. At the very least we'll need to offer a 5 year deal, more likely 6-7 years, otherwise no CC.

Side note: Anyone watching the Navy-Notre Dame game? Completely crazy.

I foresee something like a 45-0 game.

I see the USC-UCLA game ending something along the lines of 34-3 USC.

Must be the home-field advantage.

Other than that, I think UCLA will be lucky to get double digits in first downs.

Stupid real estate terminology.

I can't remember the last SEC game on ESPN/ABC or CBS that wasn't in HD. It seems like every week just about every non-USC Pac-10 game on ESPN/ABC is in regular definition.

Anybody listening on the radio, I could use some updates.

http://tinyurl.com/5fr9lu

46-31 Trojans early in the second half.

The USC broadcast you have to pay for. I swear they've taken more money from me since I graduated than I ever paid them in tuition.

There really were good old days.

What's the over/under for "How do you do?" from Eric today. I say three.

?

They have Billingsley at 129 ERA+

We just need one frontline starting pitcher, not three. We need just one frontline outfielder, and wouldn't even need one if Ned hadn't invested so heavily in the GM and Chrysler of outfielders.

We need just one frontline infielder because we can choose from Loney, DeWitt, Hu, Dejesus to fill the other three slots, who'll all be okay and will get better.

Most teams would equate losing a pitcher as strong as Derek Lowe with the end of the world. We're shrugging it off; we figure we can upgrade from him.

How do you do?

Too bad UCLA can't run the ball to save their lives.

Pepperdine isn't in the Malibu city limits either, but still uses Malibu as an address.

138 - a long time ago. But Palo Alto is very close.

I'm guessing that hasn't happened before.

But there's a very, very, very long time to go.

Another thing blowing my mind is that my right Shift button kept getting stuck, so I popped both Shift keys off to see what the deal was and realized that only the right Shift key had a little plastic bar that sprung up and down. I simply took the bar out and now it works splendidly.

If my wife gave me a look like that, I'd be all like, "Hey...woman...you get out in the kitchen and make me a pot pie!"

I don't think that's happened with many of the season-ending Pac-10 rivalry games outside of USC-UCLA.

>> The strongest message, though, clearly is being sent to Sabathia. As the Post reported Thursday, making a swift, overwhelming offer is designed to accomplish two things: 1. Assert in the strongest way just how serious they are about Sabathia's services. 2. With that approach, work to dissuade Sabathia of his desire to play on the West Coast and/or in the NL where he can hit.

The Yanks are not deluding themselves. They know there is a form of bribery going on here. They recognize all things being equal, Sabathia would prefer to be a Dodger, Angel or Giant. So they want to make sure that all things — notably the money — are not equal. <<

## So Sabathia probably would have to leave a substantial amount of money on the table to avoid The Bronx, and the Yanks are hoping that the differential will be just too great for Sabathia to reject. ##

http://tinyurl.com/592thd

Final Score: Golden State 121, LA Clippers 103

>> In his first career start, undrafted rookie Anthony Morrow tallied 37 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 121-103 victory over the hapless Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center. <<

## "I was going to go to Ukraine (to play basketball)," Morrow said of being undrafted. "But Golden State gave me a chance. I didn't know I was going to start until this morning. ##

%% Morrow, a guard, averaged 14.3 points in 32 games last season for Georgia Tech. %%

http://tinyurl.com/5mhga5

"The final game in the Civil War series with Oregon had the Rose Bowl on the line for the Beavers, and a possible 5 way tie for first place if the Oregon Ducks won.4 All five teams would have 3 losses. Oregon State would have the most conference wins and also the best overall record"

Oregon State won and earned a trip to the Rose Bowl.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1942_Rose_Bowl

Btw, I just heard Sterling Sharpe on the NFL Network say "Ricky Williams smoked the defense last week," and had to chuckle.

Today's 12:30pm broadcast on big boy ABC between a ranked Oregon State team -- leading the Pac-10 -- and Cal, who was ranked as early as last week, was not in HD.

It's all about the final minute.

If -- and I realize this is a big if -- USC happens to beat Stanford, Pete Carroll will have completed 100 games at USC, with a 85-15 record (and that was after a 9-8 start).

Oregon is not that good.

I'm not even watching the UCLA-Washington game.

Same with Oregon.

(No offense to people interested in those other games; just speaking about regional coverage.)

26 Nice prediction, haha I can't make fun of you because I agreed with you I took USC and the points.

For instance, the Sagarin ratings have USC 5, but after removing the margin of victory (per BCS) USC is 10th. The #10 is what is used in the BCS rankings.

What do think of signing Teixeira and the packaging Loney plus others for Peavy?

Or somebody other then Peavy.

Teixeira has a higher upside.

Ooh, did not notice 164

38-17 SC... Jon, I gotta give credit to Stanford for playing well in the first half. The certainly came to play, initially.

Wow, that's harsh. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

They had not given up a 2nd half point in the last 117:22 of 2nd half game play (a TD by Arizona).

And yes, BH, one of the TDs was against OSU. :)

I did get the USC half of my prediction for tonight correct (I said it would be 45-3).

And Jim Harbaugh is on my list.

I agree. I do think the Dodgers will make another offer, having taken the existing one off the table. I suspect the next one won't be as "insulting".

My bet the final Dodgers offering will be 3 years, 65 million, with a $18 million option or a $5 million buy out. And no bonus money.

I give it a healthy C+

Foot Fist Way was kind of fun, by the way. Looks like it cost about 10 bucks and it definitely was short in less than three weeks, and it's basically nonsense, but Danny McBride is funny and many of the jokes work. B-!

Pacino's facial expressions and especially his eyes really make that scene. It's so freaking good.