[Good thing DT doesn't pay by the word.]

About 181 hours till the first ST game starts.

Actually a lack of boxscores leads to cases of rickets.

This guy has 'em bad:
http://tinyurl.com/29u3p3

I thought cricket led to box scores?

Best. Code. Ever.

i get to meet depo in couple weeks! he's a friend of a friend and we're all going out to dinner! why am i so excited! he's not even the gm anymore! why the excessive use of exclamation points!

6. Cool! Ask him what he thinks of the signing.
vr, Xei

Cubs take a one game to none lead over the Red Sox in the finals of the Simulation Madness tourney. In case you were up for some fake baseball. :) vr, Xei

noooooooooooooooo!

from wikipedia: "He is married and has a son and a daughter."

i guess what they say is true: all the ex-gms of the dodgers are taken.

Since DT doesn't have diaries, just thought I'd remind those interested in playing in either the H2H or Roto Friends of Dodger Thoughts yahoo fantasy baseball league to email me if you want to join. vr, Xei
xeifrank@yahoo.com

#7 didn't come out the way I had intended. I guess I should try the Preview option more often. I meant for you to ask Depo what he thought of the #### ###### signing.
vr, Xei

When Carolyn Hughes looked at Derek Lowe's wikipedia page and saw "He is married with two children," she didn't let that stop her...

11
I'm guessing you tried asterisks the first time around...They don't work that way because they're also used for bolding

13. Yep, I goofed. But what if you wanted to bold an asterisk? Perhaps it would bring the Baseball Toaster to it's knees.
vr, Xei

When Derek Lowe looked at Carolyn Hughes's wikipedia page, he saw "She is married" and then asked Charlie Steiner for her phone number.

So, a friend of mine told me to turn it to Fox at 9:50pm to watch some broad sing on American Idol. Since nothing else was on, I did. Whatever the gal's name is who was singing, she was downright unbefreakingleivable. They should probably just cancel the whole contest and give the lady first prize. She was amazing.

Also, Oswald, Tell DePo that he is gone, but not forgotten.

Andy LaRoche is probably an adulterer.

I can't believe the Lakers are gonna lose at home to the Blazers. After losing at home to the Knicks. And so on. Something's gotta give soon, with no frontcourt depth. I really hope they don't make a stupid trade though. Maybe they should miss the playoffs entirely and get a lottery pick.

17 Great Adulterers:

FDR
Ike
Caesar
Babe Ruth
Michael Jordan
Martin Luther King Jr.

17
Well, I bet hes good at that too.

Who can be dwelling on far-off Opening Day in the midst of the nonstop excitement of Champions' League knockout round play?

Also, Nelson Mandella, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon, Henry VIII, Caesar Augustus, Bill Cosby...And any more you guys can think of.

King David, Bill Clinton, Ted Haggard

Please tell Depo to please, for the love of all that's good and holy, DFA Scott Erickson. I can't take anymore. Please. Don't make me beg.

Abraham (the Bible guy, not the slavery guy).

Kobe Bryant

Steve Garvey

Magic Johnson

(Ironic name, in this context...)

not the slavery guy

Depends on whom you ask. . .

James Worthy and 90% of the NBA.
vr, Xei

28 I don't think Magic was married until after he "sowed his oats" as it were.

Also, I'd call an emergency meeting of the Irony Commission on that one.

The other 99.999% of the NBA not named AC Green.

32
Or John Amaechi

33 Touche

Bunny Lebowski

i'm having so much fun googling depo right now ... but i always thought he had more to do with the a's success than it seems that he did. he started in 1999, when giambi, tejada, chavez, mulder, zito, and hudson were already on board.

36
Depo was responsible for Swisher and the fat catcher

Jeremy Brown. Also Chad Bradford.

Are the people in 38 DePodesta signings, adulterers, or both?

And should that be a new Jeopardy category name?

"Alex, I'll take DePodesta signings, adulterers, or both for $1000."

"The answer is: JD Drew."

Oswald, when Depo says "so, I saw your comments on DT" you must report back your reaction. Video on you tube is preferred.

Yes, I have bags under my eyes like Jean Reno. And its times like these that make me think of Bill Matthews.

Thumbing through The Holy Bible, since I had to pull it out yesterday, I see that Kirk Saarloos is DePo's fault, too. And that Swisher, while DePo did like him, was a consensus front office pick. So, take him off the big board.

So, it looks like Furcal will lead off. For now...

http://www.insidesocal.com/mlb/

...the poet, not the rugby player or member o' Canadian Parliament, or the actor.

One thing that I am really psyched about this season is Ghame Over's return, I'm hoping it is sooner rather than later, which if he's throwing off the mound doesn't seem like too much of a stretch.

That's 20 fewer plate appearances for Pierre. Only 700 more to go.

44 How much would Pierre batting eighth help. Logic dictates that Pierre profiles poorly as a no. 2 hitter, while Martin is almost perfect. I recall teams using a Pierre type seventh or eighth and using the pitcher to bunt him over. Probably never happen--but it should.

Getting back to the original question, lack of Grapefruit League box scores may indeed lead to scurvy.

46 Well played, my friend. Well played, indeed.

Batting Pierre eighth would reduce him from outrageously unconscionable to merely annoying. There is no downside.

Good thing baseball is coming up soon bc the Lakers are horrid.

Phil Jackson lost his 6th straight game last nite---1st time in his career that that has happened.

I'm hoping the Lakers continue to tank, get in the lottery, win the lottery, and take either Durant/Oden.

Also, this has to be Kupchak's last year with the Lakers. I cant think of someone that could do less with more, than Mitch has. You got the best player in the league, and his prime years are being wasted...

Trading Shaq..
Caron Butler for Kwame...
Smush, Odom..

Hopefully the Shaq trade isnt a "curse of the bambino' type of deal..but its looking that way in the near term.

One good thing for the Lakers...they arent as bad as the Celtics. Solace in that.

i think maybe pierre should bat 9th. it'd be like having an extra leadoff man.

Nice piece on Randy Wolf in the Times today. Makes me root for him harder.

43.
"Ghame Over" still makes me laugh. Didn't someone at DT make tee-shirts parodying the Game Over ones?

There are typos and then there are really bad errors with names.

All I can say is check out the comments (I think it is comment No. 4) in today's entry of Inside the Dodgers for really in many ways, a horrible mistake.

I did get a chuckle only because it was so bad.

49 I have it under pretty good authority that there will a lot of Jan tonight so don't expect to hear from JoeyP between 8:30-9:00 tonight.

49 - Would you be this down on the team if they had won these 6 in a row?

Odom, Walton, Kwame, Mihm, Kobe and now Radmanovic have all been injured. When healthy, they're better than they were at the end of last season, which is a top 5 team.

I think talent-for-talent the Kwame for Butler trade was bad, but on this team I'd rather have Kwame than Caron. Smush is making next to nothing (It would be like Pierre making the league min). The Shaq trade wasn't Kupchak's fault in terms of making it or for what he got in return. Shaq cried & intentionally dropped his trade value as that would mean he'd be going to a more talented team.

"Ghame Over" was my 15 seconds of fame.

Ghame Over - Born April 2005, Died August 2005.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to The Stop the Parodying of the Phrase "Game Over" Foundation (TSTPOTPGOF), located at 1000 Elysian Park Ave, Los Angeles, CA, 90012. The Foundation is registered as 501(3)(c) organization with the IRS.

- This guy would be my trade target for some power. I expect him to be a Padre before the year is up.

From BaseballHQ:
"Gomes healthy after shoulder surgery... Jonny Gomes (OF, TAM) arrived at training camp and pronounced his shoulder 100% healthy after surgery last September to repair a strained right rotator cuff. He also added a significant amount of muscle during the off-season. The shoulder injury derailed the 26-year-old Gomes in his career trend:

On the positive side, Gomes increased his plate patience and Eye, and his low BA was partly caused by an unfortunate Hit Rate. Gomes discovered the rotator cuff strain in early July and tried to play through it as DH. However, the injury took its toll in the second half (.148 BA) and sapped his power (93 PX). With a return to health, Gomes should build on his burgeoning power (179 PX in first half), supported by a lofty Fly Ball Rate (54%). "

"Ghame Over" was my 15 seconds of fame

That, and serving Weird Al at the liberry

57 What would we have to give the Devil Rays for an actual good player? Billingsly, Kemp, LaRoche and a player to be named later?

I still where my Ghame Over shirt with pride.

52, yep, see 56. Hey Bob that T-shirt got my son a ball from Mariano Duncan!

I hear Oswald will be wearing his Team Depot shirt to dinner soon.

So does anyone know the status of televised games?

I was gonna take off work for the first Milwaukee game, but I see that it says "Prime"-- last year that almost always meant that it was not going to be shown on MLB Extra Innings/FSN. If I procrastinate any longer I'll be automatically enrolled again, anyway.

I believe "Prime" stands for Prime Ticket, which is pseudonym of FSN.

53 I didn't know James Earl Ray was such a big baseball fan.

While perusing Kevin Goldstein's chat on Baseball Prospectus, a questioner challenged his high ranking of young Dodger pitching prospect, Clayton Kershaw, on the grounds that has a statistics influenced website and publication, on what basis could he [Goldstein] rank Kershaw so high on such limited data.

To paraphrase his response, he said that while BP will always be stats heavy organization, it doesn't mean you overlook other factors, such as scouting and that is what he brought with him when he came to Baseball Prospectus. In Kershaw's case, when you combine the things that you can see, his size, his stuff, where he is in his advancement of throwing a changeup and curve, and his control, plus his lights out stats albeit in a very small sample size against overwhelmed competition, you have to make him a very good prospect, who may be in his top 5 in 2008.

64 I wonder how long that comment will stay there though it had to be just an innocent error. However, James Earl Ray is not a name that pops into my head when I think of the voice of Darth Vader, Kimba, oops I mean Simba's dad or CNN.

Not to mention he wouldn't be surprised if Kershaw is a top 5 prospect at the end of his 1st full season of professional baseball.
I get giddy but then I think of Greg Miller, Kiki Jones, Dan Opperman, and pre-surgery Kuo and I come back to earth.

Who else besides ToyCannon and myself have premium accounts on Baseball Prospectus?

Okay, now who else have a subscription to BaseballAmerica.com?

And buys the Baseball America prospect book, John Sickels book and the 2007 Baseball Prospectus book?

And in the end there will be someone I have no clue about that will make a big contribution to some team (probably not the Dodgers unless he comes from another team).

[67] i'm still a little giddy about greg miller and post-surgery kuo.

There's a Tom Verducci article about Dodgertown up on the front page of SI.com. It's an early obituary piece, but it has a nice (but brief) photo gallery linked at the end.

61 "wearing her Team Depo shirt . . ."

Unless she's going to be wearing Mariano Duncan's t-shirt. Or Sushirabbit's son's t-shirt. Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad move, if she were hoping to supplant DePo's wife.

RIP, Dennis Johnson.

To show how far hockey has dropped off the sports scene in L.A., both local cable stations are showing the UCLA/Cal, USC/Stanford games respectively while a home game between the Kings and the Canucks is left for radio.

Not that USC is not playing much better this year (and Jon can sneak a peek at his Cardinal) but to send hockey off television, not exactly what the Anschultz and Leiweke thought when they started running the Kings.

73 Agreed, part of a great rivalry with the Lakers and he was also the Celtics counter to Andrew Toney of the Sixers.

Perhaps the Kings should have thought of acquiring good players.

73 Quality player (even in shamrock green). Straight outta Compton. I must be getting old; he's not that much older than me.

I've yet to see anyone point this out, but from what I can tell, if Tiger keeps winning, he would be on course to break Byron Nelson's 11-tourney winning streak at none other than the 2007 Byron Nelson Championship.

It was just several years ago he was in the running for the Clipper coaching vacancy that eventually went to Dunleavy. I guess being the Clipper assistant coach took it's toll. I wanted him to get that job instead of Dunleavy, as I was never fond of hiring a coach who was part of one of the great playoff collapses in history.

78cont.

Now that I think of it, I wonder if that had an influence on Tiger's decision not to play the LA Open last week...

A baseball blog analyzes adulterers and the names Mrs. Ryne Sandberg (allegedly), Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich don't come up? (I'm also surprised that Wilt Chamberlain didn't arise in the discussion. Surely there had to have been some marrieds among the 20,000.)

78
How much does that mean now that he is cherry picking tournaments? Not a big golf fan, just curious what real golf fans think of his skipping a tournament he never had historical success in. If he had skipped it before I would give him some slack but it does appear on the surface that the streak played a major part in the decision or I could just not know what I'm talking about.

81
If you swap wifes is it really adultry? Can you imagine the media frenzy if that was to take place in todays world?

82 There will be some who will point that out but as far as I know the streak is based on PGA Tour events entered so its their rules.

Also, the fact that he has won nearly 1 out of 4 tournaments he has played on the PGA Tour is perhaps the most dominant performances in his or her sport in the last 25 years.

82
Well, his critics have certainly jumped on him and suggested that he skipped LA because he didn't think he could win and wanted to continue his streak.

I don't buy that, because I think he would have won LA, and I think he believes that too. He's not the type to back down from that kind of challenge. That being said, until just now, I didn't have a very good alternative explanation for why he skipped it. But I can see him thinking it would be cool to break Byron's streak at Byron's tourney, so maybe that's what he was thinking.

85. Who cares, it's golf. You may as well be talking about NASCAR.

Ack! Sorry oswald!

86
Amen.

Unless you are talking about Tiger Woods the video game. I love that.

87 It seems this thread is full of misunderstandings about oswald and James Earl Ray. Sirhan Sirhan, watch your back.

Winning 11 straight tournaments even if you cherry-pick them would be an amazing accomplishment.

Who cares, it's golf. You may as well be talking about NASCAR

Substitute hockey or soccer and I'll agree :)

90 Bravo. (But you do get two chances to get Sirhan right.)

Mark my words: if Tiger keeps winning, the prospect of him breaking Byron's record at Byron's tournament will be a big story in the media.

But you'll be able to look back and say, "Meh, D4P broke that story weeks ago"

83 It's adultery; it's probably not cheating. There was a pretty strong media buzz then too. I was pretty young and naïve then, so I didn't understand what "swap" really meant in that context; I thought it was like a "trade", divorce and remarriage all at once. Couldn't understand the fuss.

Time to root against Tiger, so D4P does not start referring to himself as Nostradamus.

94 Meh, D4P broke that story weeks ago but I only got 1/4 of the way through it.

I was always more of a Leon Czolgosz fan. More potential for misspelling than misunderstanding there I guess.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I've always been a fan of z's since being a fan of assassination is still a bit of faux pas.

97
With or without yawning...?

As far as Little deciding to start Furcal in leadoff with Pierre second, I'm not sure that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. It seems like the biggest complaint by Cubs fans from last year is that he has a real propensity to hit the ball on the ground (weakly, more often than not). Doesn't this seem like we're going to be seeing a LOT of double plays this way?

The only thing I can think of here (other than two leadoff hitters are better than one!) is that he's supposed to be a pretty good bunter, and that when he's bunting Furcal over he doesn't necessarily have to sacrifice himself in the process.

Do you think this whole thing is just Little doing the ego massage for Furcal? (like he was doing with the starting pitchers the other day...no number ones around here...just starting pitchers)

So I'm going to Vero Beach in a few weeks, which will serve the dual purpose of seeing Dodgertown before it's gone and also visiting my 50th state by age 30.

Anybody got any tips or can't-miss stuff I should know about?

Should take my Stanford cap and sunglasses so I can recreate the famous photo?
http://tinyurl.com/pukkb

100
If Pierre is going to be bunting himself out anyway, might as well move over a runner in the process

101. I'm very jealous, I don't think I'll be able to visit my 50th state by 30, sorry Oregon.

94. I tend to go into a coma any time there is any golf news on, so I probably won't be able to say that.

I don't think I'll be able to visit my 50th state by 30, sorry Oregon

Et tu, Penarol? Sheesh...

Now I just need to write and record an album about each of them.

I endorse Pierre bunting every time.

There is about a 0% chance I will visit 50 states by 30, because I have only been to two other states.

Sorry D4P, Oregon was not one of them.

106 Just fly into Hartford or Providence and drive around for a couple of hours.

You can triple your state count!

101.
I used to live in FL and went to Dodgertown a few times. I always enjoyed it. A player (a catcher who we had just got, somewhere around 1992??? not anyone who I remember making the team) gave my brother and I a chipped bat. That was pretty cool. I also got Jesus Martinez to sign a baseball card of his older two brothers.

As far as things to see, I don't think I could go there without going to Disney World. But then again, I'm a pretty big Disney fan.

FJM quotes HatGuy "reporting":
In the 1960s, most of the Dodgers had no use for Don Drysdale. . .

Is that an overstatement? (Obviously not an improbability, considering the source.) Anyway, I know they weren't all best friends or anything, but I never heard this one before, not like it was said about Garvey.

Note to Steve: It's probably too late to begin any pre-trade character assassination.

Eric, I'll be very interested in your Spring Training/Dodgertown reports and pictures. I can't make it and really wanted to go.

I missed a huge chance to get a tough state on my life list. A few years back I parted ways with an Elton John tribute band I was with to go on a cruise I had booked long before. At the time our Elton was not getting many bookings. They found another bass player, and played some gig in Idaho! Now that's a state you don't just pass through going somewhere else. Damn

It sort of bothers me that I know without clicking 101 that you also need a Camden Yards T shirt.

Meanwhile, what does Gavrilo Princip have to do to get a little respect from this crowd?

Meanwhile, what does Gavrilo Princip have to do to get a little respect from this crowd?

According to Saturday Night Live, he's the greatest comedy killer in history.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90mkillers.phtml

Gotta be Gen3Blue on congas.

http://tinyurl.com/2tze72

You can pass through Idaho on your way to (or from) Oregon depending on where you start, or where you're going. There are many additional good reasons not to go there, though.

Idaho and Oregon, for me, both came pretty early. The final five were the Dakotas, Alaska, Hawaii, and Florida.

My friend had to fly to Idaho for a weekend to do accounting work for a Potato company.

I am only in the low 30s, but I do have 7 years left. I have been to every state at the bottom of the Continentual U.S., but only two states at the top (MI and NY).

Yeah, Florida is pretty popular, but the other four are tough to come by.

Sportscenter is doing a story on college football (QB's who must step up) and UCLA is the first team mentioned.

KD's doing it guys!!

Man, I'm slackin'. Only 18.

Reading the comments over at ITD makes me a sad panda.

And baseball season is around the corner. Don't make me think about KD.

122
Do you want us to send you to the Island for Misfit Mascots?

Via Rotowire:
"Sleeper: Adrian Beltre. A poor two-month opening stretch in 2006 lead most outside observers to conclude that Beltre was following his disappointing 2005 Mariners debut with an equally rancid 2006. A closer look reveals that after he came out of his early season tailspin he was one of the best-hitting third basemen in baseball. From May 29 on, Beltre hit .289 with 23 homers, 33 doubles, 75 RBI and slugged .538. Only Aramis Ramirez homered more in that span among third basemen, and Beltre's slugging percentage was fifth best in baseball. Beltre flashed his usual adroit glove at the hot corner, making him one of the better all-round third basemen -- at least for four months....."

98
I knew Leon Czolgosz; I worked with Leon Czolgosz. And I can tell you he was no Gaetano Bresci.

Earth to Rotowire. Beltre does that every year.

Please, people, it's BASKETBALL season. "KD" stands for one thing, and one thing only: Kevin Durant.

122- Hey, I'm doing my best. I'm even sprinkling in the typos, so I don't get tagged for being uppity.

Back to states visited, I'm older than probably almost everyone here, only 15 states and that includes some airports and drive throughs. And the District of Columbia.

I've got 34 of the 48 contiguous, and neither of the noncontiguous. But I'd give Florida back if I could.

Apparently, Andrew has got an ally over at ITD.

My count is at 35, 34 in the lower 48. I've been to Hawai'i, but not to Alaska.

Strangely, I've been to both the Yukon and Northwest Territories and been north of the Arctic Circle. Lesson to be learned: 24 hours of sunlight does not imply 24 hours of warmth.

The states not visited:
1. Idaho
2. Montana
3. Wyoming
4. North Dakota
5. South Dakota
6. North Carolina
7. South Carolina
8. Mississippi
9. Alabama
10. Louisiana
11. Iowa
12. Nebraska
13. Alaska
14. Arkansas
15. Tennessee

My family has strict rules on what counts as "visiting" a country or state.

If you pass through on a train, you get credit.

If you change planes in a city, you do not get credit UNLESS you leave the airport.

So I get no credit for Tennessee, although I do get credit for passing through Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas on a train in 1971.

These rules were established at a family diner back in 1983.

So far no one in my family has done the complete 50. One of my brothers is over the 40 mark and may be close to 45.

My father got to 45 before he passed away, missing out on the Carolinas, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Alaska. He told me he regretted never visiting Minnesota. He never said why.

I lose one if I had to use the Timmermann rule. But it isn't Florida. So I'm not subjecting myself to the rule.

130 Me too! Bugs and stifling humidity...nothing else. Can we cede it back to Spain?

All in favor of abrogating the Adams-Onis Treaty raise your hand!

Oh man, nothing gets Bob fired up like some good treaty chat.

132 By your family rules, I've been lying for several years about having once been to Saudia Arabia. I was on a military plane that landed there. I actually got off the plane and used a port-a-potty kind of facility, got back on and when they finished refueling, we left.

For several years I've been telling people that I've been in Saudia Arabia, but...

Thanks for letting me know.

Hey, does your family still operate the diner? Maybe it could become a local hangout for DTers. (Sorry, probably not funny, but I like those kinds of typos.)

I have 43 states. Somehow I've managed to go all around SC without going to it.

137
Now I realize I had a typo.

"Family dinner."

A family diner run by my family would serve nothing but pot roast, meat loaf, and grilled cheese sandwiches.

AI coming on on the east coast.

Man, OJ Mayo is a ballhog.

138 Would that be a turkey meatloaf or just regular ground beef?

What, no apple pie alamode?

I'm at 42. But unless airports have been declared international waters, I see little reason to endorse the Timmermann rule.

By the way, sorry for the dearth of posts this week. Taking a quick breather before things get rolling.

I have always observed the Timmermann rule too. Although I never called it that until today.

I did cheat by driving out of my way to go over the state line into Oklahoma, then immediately turning around and leaving. As any good Longhorn would do.

I was in Kansas for about 5 minutes, driving over the Missouri River bridge in Kansas City and then right back again.

By the way, I've been to CA and 41 different airports.

138 Restaurants are run on that concept - they call it "comfort food"!

141 Cherry pie. And damn fine coffee. Thanks Norma.

After reading the last comment at ITD, I think Andrew and Brock just slammed their heads against their desks.

I've been to exactly 1/2 the states, and I also follow the Timmermann rules, which loses three states for me - stopovers in Dallas, Atlanta and Omaha(!).

My missing states are described generally as Alaska, great swaths of the Midwest and South, and the three upper NE states.

North Carolina is my biggest cheat (by far) - over the state line from VA and into the first town, quick look around and hit the visitor center for wife to obtain a copious amount of furniture brochures.

106 Am I the only other Sufjan Stevens fan around here?

I will be visiting Dodgertown this year as well, from March 6-13. When are you planning your visit, Eric?

148

I guess you are, alas.

March 16-21. I'll get to see four pretty good teams face L.A. -- Boston, Houston, St L and the Mets.

Hmmm, I ran through a lot of states when my family drove from California to Florida when I was 8, so I knocked a lot out of the way then.

Mine breaks down to:

Lived in
1. California
2. Florida
3. Arizona
4. Texas (briefly)
5. Colorado (for a summer)

Visited for work
6. New York
7. New Jersey
8. Alabama
9. Oklahoma
10. Ohio
11. Indiana
12. Wisconsin

Drove through
13. Utah
14. Arkansas
15. Tennessee
16. Georgia

Visited for one reason or another
17. Nevada
18. Oregon
19. Washington
20. Idaho
21. Pennsylvania
22. Virginia
23. Massachussets
24. Illinois
25. New Mexico

Half-way there!

140 OJ Mayo is a ballhog
I think there's a joke bursting the seams of this sentence, but I can't quite cook it up. Something about BLTs? Pork Salad? Aargh.

149 Ahhh, I guess I'll be passing the proverbial torch onto you then. The line-up when I'm going isn't the greatest (Cards, Marlins, Twins, Marlins, Nationals), but it should be fun to see Dodgertown once before it goes bye-bye. I'll be looking forward to heading down to Arizona more often when they do move though.

142 No apologies necessary. You have to take some time away from this, don't you?

Terrible news about Dennis Johnson. He was one of the good guys in the NBA. He was unable to complete an impossible task when he took over the Clippers head coaching job on an interim basis.

States I've never been to

1. Alabama 2. Arkansas 3. Delaware 4. Hawaii 5. Idaho 6. Indiana 7. Iowa 8. Kansas 9. Kentucky 10. Louisiana 11. Minnesota 12. Mississippi 13. Missouri 14. Montana 15. Nebraska 16. New Mexico 17. North Carolina 18. North Dakota 19. Oklahoma 20. South Carolina 21. South Dakota 22. Tennessee 23. Texas 24. Vermont 25. Wisconsin 26. Wyoming

I'm only 20 years old, so I guess that's not too bad.

Quote of the day:

"I've done nothing to warrant that I have to bat leadoff," said Pierre.

Andrew and I are engaged in one of the great teaching lessons of our time over at ITD.

It is not going well.

156
Which email address is yours...?

Well, that was unexpected.

156- I'm not teaching, I'm just tapping on the glass. It's no fun being a troll if you empathize with the animals.

159 I actually want to help people understand the game a little better and learn a little bit.

157 Look at the first sentence in 122

160
I figured it out after reading some of the comments.

I'm going to Vero as well, and have tickets to the Red Sox (3/16) and Astros (3/17). Vishal said he was going as well. We ought to find a place to have a drink or meet at Holman Stadium.
The only states I haven't been to are OR, ND, SD, AL, MS and AK, if you count being at the Honolulu airport as including HI.

Man, that ITD stuff is hard to read. The depth of human stupidity and stubbornness is an amazing thing.

BTW, is Sad Panda the one who got molested on South Park?

162 You hit Idaho. Thats where my father was from, and a hard state to get.

164 That was probably Kenny.

164 Yeah, the sexual harassment Panda.

Oh, we have a new ally over at ITD.

The name looks oddly familiar!

It's starting to look like a DT get-together in Oregon is in order

168
Andrew can run, but he can't hide

Because Librarians are what? Schmart!.
Thats my mother calling--I'll put it on speaker.

168

ITD?

I always thought D4P meant "Drugs for Popularity."

Jon would be ashamed of us, if he had time to waste reading through that slop. I think of ItD as a concubine. DT isn't interested in the topic anymore, so I need another outlet. One that I don't feel ashamed of myself for using selfishly. And not calling in the morning.

Andrew also tours elementary schools in his spare time (which he has tons of) and starts Choi debates.

172 Inside the Dodgers.

http://insidethedodgers.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/

With my pants up, at least. More than can be said for some, eh, Icaros?

174
Plus you have more people to insult, not just D4P.

177

The button broke. It wasn't my fault that time.

ITD has another new poster. And his name looks familiar as well!

Okay, everybody follow my lead. And if the locals try to talk about anything else, just ask what it has to do with Ch-i.

174 - I'm not ashamed - I just feel for you guys.

I'd join in the fun, but I've never commented on an mlb.com board (I'm sure I don't have to explain why) and don't feel like registering.

183- Psst:

http://www.bugmenot.com/view/mlb.com

182 In what way? I'm not over there to cause trouble (okay, a little bit). I earnestly want to help people understand baseball better. Understand the deeper aspects of the game.

I'm there to help. And cause trouble. But really to help. Okay, 50/50.

184

Doesn't work for me. Oh well.

My girlfriend has been to 49 states and has not been to Alaska and has no real desire to visit it.

I think she's just messing with my head.

187

We've been down this road before. Twice before, actually.

35 lousy years old. 20 lousy states.

(Well, 18 lousy states and 2 good ones.)

Mike Patrick just referred to Clemson's basketball team putting on a "tacit press."

I've tried different ways to interpret that phrase.

I've given up on making sense out of it.

188
Too bad the road wasn't the Alcan Highway.

190 Apparently it was, but just the Yukon part.

192 Nice to see you aboard over at that "other" place.

The Sharks game may prevent me from seeing the beginning of the UCLA game.

Great, now I hate hockey.

185 - Just that I know the challenge of explaining the obvious to those resistant.

People can disagree on Pierre vs. X, but how can people disagree on hits vs. hits + walks being more important?

Reading the ItD thread reminds me of what Deadspin did to ESPN.

196 Marty is the grownup at ITD.

That came out of nowhere and made me laugh for like five minutes.

Your count of total states visited should NOT include airport layovers. Airports are just temporal waystations, not really part of any state, place, or known dimension.

My total of states visited is 25, although it would be 28 with airports included. I think it's ok to count a state if you've only driven through it on an interstate, but that could be up for debate.

I think you should only get to count states you've spit in. I'd get to keep all thirty-four of mine.

How about states in whose general direction you've farted?

I hereby present Delaware and Oklahoma.

Jon does not like people speaking ill of Delaware.

It's the little known Dodger Thoughts Rule #1a.

200 - Hello, Colorado.

I haven't been to Michigan, but I did my 5th-grade state report on Michigan. Partial credit?

There is no Delaware. It's a government conspiracy to protect credit card companies. Have Bob send you his research on this topic. He'll probably make you pay for shipping (that many crates just isn't cheap), but it's totally worth it.

If you're not counting driving through a state, you're being truly silly. The highway can give you an incredible feel for a state.

I would go on to say that airports and the people in them have their own character. I understand that's more debateable, but I don't feel at all like I'm cheating to count an airport visit.

I wonder if people here would disagree on what constitutes losing one's virginity :)

Best baseball player from Delaware: Delino DeShields.

200 48, everything west of, say, Eureka, CA.

197 That was my mother's mantra on vacation trips.

I wonder if people here would disagree on what constitutes losing one's virginity

Should I make a joke about D4P, Andrew, or both? Or should I just stand back and watch them attack each other?

205 I have zero feel for Georgia, Texas or Nebraska based on my only experience being cooling my heels in the Atlanta, Dallas and Omaha airports, although visiting Nebraska might be just like hanging out in the Continental terminal.

Yes, don't knock Delaware until you've tried it.

What if you lost your virginity in an airport?

208 When it came to such matters, I eschewed OBP and focused (or focussed) on slugging percentage.

What I'm shooting for is to spend time in jail in 50 states

209- I've spent most of three hours in the Atlanta airport. It was hot and humid. People talked funny. The tv's were all tuned to CNN. There were smoking lounges indoors. Are you saying there's more to Georgia? I didn't see any peaches, so, unless that's just a myth there might be a little more to it. But I'm content with what I got out of it.

Chris Short is the best player to come out of Delaware.

Or possibly Hans Lobert, who was once portrayed by Edward G. Robinson on film. A film which also featured Al Campanis playing himself.

KAOS is a Delaware corporation.

209 - Fair enough. I'm counting mine :)

I wondered why nobody found that as surprising as I did, but then I realized I'm on the east coast and none of you have seen it yet.

Has one mind been changed at ItD? Because that would be cool.

But per my post the other day, I'm not expecting it.

Oh, man. Having Steve at ItD would have been the coup de grâce.

It would have broken the internets.

UCLA switched commercials! They used a sports-themed one featuring John Wooden.

The one with the skateboarders really blew.

220
LoL, I had that exact thought when you guys were just getting rolling.

220 There was one guy who went from "Pierre is good" to "Wait and see" to "Well, we may even trade him at some point." I guess that's kind of a victory.

However, that guy also advocated moving Pierre to left field, so you never know what is going on in a noodle like that.

One guy was impressed that there was "over 100 blogs" today.

I used to think Brock was alright. I've changed my mind. Does that count?

214 I've heard rumors about peanut farms, azaleas, banjos, moonshine and a pretty fair golf course (that I'll never get on).

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.

What if we could count virginity on a per state basis? Would we visit more of them?

222

You just wanted to say "rolling."

I have to wonder what the estimable Josh Rawitch will think. His comments per blog entry go from 8, 12, 23, 9, to...120.

He probably goes "Wow!". And then he opens it. And he reads it. And he dies a little bit inside.

Then he emails Jon.

218 Am I just totally clueless, or can I accuse Steve of pronoun abuse?

Looking at the timestamp, I assume it's something that won't be on t.v. for another forty some odd minutes. Which makes me suspect something big happens on The Office. Which, either way, nobody'd better spoil.

Maybe Steve already knows how ITD thread will end.

Being a Military brat and a family of 5 boys we moved every year until 1969. We drove to every new destination and every vacation was a driving vacation until we were stationed in Germany. I had hit about 40 states before I was 12 plus Taiwan, Guam, East and West Germany, and Italy. Luckily I just helped a friend move to Kansas and was able to remove Oklahoma from the list since I had always taken the Northern route when driving across the country. So just Alaska, HI, Maine, and Oregon are left for me. Most of them were drive by's but if Jon says they count then they count. Homes were Glendale, Taiwan, Glendale, Huntsville, El Paso, Boston(High Park, Brighton, Cambridge), Germany(Frankfurt, Heidleburg), Washington DC, and finally it all ended back home in Glendale where it all began.

My mom sent me a big envelope which I had no idea what it was. But it turns out she's cleaning out her house (really, it's our house, but that's not quite fair of me) and she sent me an envelope of old postcards and report cards and doctors notes and stuff. And I opened it not knowing what it was.

And now I am very much a mess.

My Dad sent me a postcard when I was 3. I just read it for the first time.

I went to Paul Westhead Basketball Campt in 1981. Lots of "fairs" and "goods" on my Player Profile (no excellents), and this: "Sammy, you have really shown a great deal of interest and desire at camp. Keep working on your skills."

And here are some report card names for you Jon: Corsello, Bjork, Cocker, Amato, Bennett.

And she sent my Selective Service registration from 1986.

Uh Oh. Someone has started dissing DT on ITD.

So just Alaska, HI, Maine, and Oregon are left for me

Is there no end to the conspiracy of irrational prejudice against Oregon?

235 The gravity-like pull of Mario's is demonstrated again.

Actually, he slammed the DT commentariat for slamming Pierre repeatedly, which is why we're slamming him over there instead of over here.

It's a vicious circle, really.

My mom saved her temperature charts when she was trying to have her first child.

There's a lot of info about my mother that a so REALLY shouldn't know after reading through all the details she kept.

She kept a lot of details.

Oh well, back to the therapist now!

As I recall the last time DT posters tried to educate ITD, a few came by and we had some trolling for a little while.

234 - try me.

Though, to be honest, we are kinda like trolls over there. But we're the cute kind.

244 No way, Marty. We're all being very nice and challenging some people on long held notions about baseball. It's an honest conversation, and a very real attempt to bring new ideas to people. I don't think any of us have said anything negative about anybody (except saying that trainwreck eats puppies, and Andrew saying that he grows up, and when he looks at me he wants to throw...well, you know).

Annoying them is just icing on the cake.

After reading and posting at Dodgers.com for so long, this is the sweetest revenge I have ever tasted in my life.

Actually I don't have any idea what you guys are doing. And you should stop doing it because its 830. And then you should watch 30 Rock, because it is almost transcendentally funny.

Okay, it's intellectual debate for some, revenge for others.

247
I'm a bit shocked at all the NBC sitcom watching that goes on among DT regulars. And a bit disappointed.

Some of us have these fancy recording devices that code programs on a magnetic discs using a string of 0s and 1s.

We will watch TV shows when we darn well please.

"I'm a bit...". That's all that gets through. Its uncanny.

Though I guess

(continued for non-Steves) I shouldn't expect any different from a bunch of Wal-Mart shoppers

I'm not in it for revenge or education. For me, it's just the joy I take in a random acts of simple cruelty.

236 - I had all those teachers except Bennett.

244 - I just visited ItD, and while great points have been made, some of the comments have been obnoxious. I don't think that helps the cause. It makes the good points you make so much easier to dismiss. And yes, if they connect you here, it risks marginalizing the work we do here.

I know I'm a killjoy, but combining rationality with irreverance, the way the Daily Show does, is a rare thing.

Please those long orations grow tiresome. Try two syllables at a time.

Twas actually Coach Bennet PE.

Bjork was a teacher?

I actually find the Daily Show to be quite obnoxious. But point taken.

257 She was. A kid in my class got in real big trouble one day for calling her "Mrs. Be-jerk" repeatedly. As it unfolded, and she got madder and madder, she smacked the eraser against the chalkboard and the rolled up slide-projector screen above feel down onto her head.

She was very mad after that.

259 - She became Rowland, at least for a while.

Did she happen to be an art teacher? The art teacher at my middle school had a crazy temper.

So, surprising, no?

262 Are you referring to "The Office?"

If so, great googly moogly.

254 - I suppose one could argue that if they can't see the forest for the trees, it's their loss. I just get nervous.

No I'm referring to the shouting at suitcases show. Geez.

For those watching NBC, UCLA decided to play to their potential in the second half.

48-72 with 7:49 left.

266 Or perhaps Cal did.

63 - I believe "Prime" stands for Prime Ticket, which is pseudonym of FSN.

You're half right. Prime Ticket =Prime=FSN2

Last season:

FSN = Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim
FSN2 (Prime) = Los Angeles Dodgers

D4P's Ducks in a tight one against the ... (wait for it) ... COUGARS ... at Mac Court.

The Ducks need a win desperately to keep themselves from a 9-10 seed in the NCAA tournament.

D4P's Ducks in a tight one against the ... (wait for it) ... COUGARS ... at Mac Court.

The Ducks need a win desperately to keep themselves from a 9-10 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Mata has gone 8/9 at the free throw line. I bet that is more shocking than anything that could have happened on the Office.

Did someone post recently that LuGo was voted best prankster, or something like that, last year? On the 2007 Dodgers, who is the Kirk Gibson?

I can explain that...

269 I stared so long waiting for it that I thought I was seeing double.

269 I stared so long waiting for it that I thought I was seeing double.

273
Yes, a 40-second-delayed-double-post needs some 'splainin...

If Lugo can win best prankster and only be on the team for two months, I am going to have to go with Grady Little.

"Make that "Angels of Anaheim."

271 Next you'll be telling me that Juan Pierre will walk 80 times in 2007 and that DT posters are active on ItD.

Before I hit submit, I hit one of the bookmarks on my toolbar. Then I hit "back" and then "submit", but I apparently had hit "submit" the first time.

277 I meant for '06.

281 - if only you would try to be clearer we wouldn't have these misunderstandings.

Sure ITD may be having its first Juan Pierre/MoneyBall/DePo/HSC comment war but its a bit disarming to see something like that somewhere else.

57 What would we have to give the Devil Rays for an actual good player? Billingsly, Kemp, LaRoche and a player to be named later?

Interestingly, LaRoche is no longer LaRoche. He is now La Roche.

La Roche said his father's surname was Garcia. At age 7, Dave changed it to La Roche, the last name of his stepfather.

"La Roche is French, but I have no French in me," Andy La Roche said. "My grandfather was 100% Mexican."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-laroche22feb22,1 ,6365329.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-mlb-dodger

I just didn't see it as that contentious. Mischievous, maybe. Funny, that's for sure. But not really that bad. I certainly didn't think it was obnoxious. Well, maybe that bokonon guy.

284 I got this:
Server Unavailable
We are sorry, but the server is temporarily unavailable. Please try back later.

Thank you for visiting latimes.com.

One DT link and the L.A. Times website is brought to its knees!

282 Implied prepositional phrase abuse. Guilty as charged!

Pac-10 standings
1) UCLA
2) Washington State
3) USC
4) Stanford
5) Oregon
6) Arizona
7) Washington
8) Cal
9) Oregon State
10) Arizona State

Oregon State and Arizona State are guaranteed to play in the Wednesday games of the Pac-10 tournament.

UCLA will clinch the #1 berth in the Pac-10 tournament with a win over Stanford and a loss by Washington State to Oregon State.

UCLA will clinch

"will" or "would"...?

How do you form the future subjunctive in English?

Let's leave conjugation out of this.

My favorite quote from the ITD thread:

"[Colletti's] building a team to be feared, OPS be damned."

Somebody told me that the main stat that I was overlooking was "versatility."

I actually felt really bad when I read that. Really, truly, cringingly uncomfortably bad.

30 Rock for the 1st time was the best show of the night. The "Hardball" scene was priceless.

288
USC now only one game out of second place. Playing Stanford since 1916 and we've now battled to a 115-115 draw.

Without which recent development I would never have been made joyously lightheaded enough to suggest to our host that the comment:

combining rationality with irreverance, the way the Daily Show does. . .

arguably raises a Rule 5 issue.

Research shows, that the sentence should be phrased:

If UCLA were to defeat Stanford Saturday and Washingon State were to lose to Oregon State, then UCLA would clinch the Pac-10.

Just curious, how many teams have won the world series who led the league in OPS since 1947?

297 That's a great question. I usually think about team ERA above offensive stats, but that's a great question.

I wouldn't even know how to look that up. And it sounds like it would take a long time.

296
Exactly. The "will" implied either certainly or prognostication, which I didn't think you intended.

The Red Sox in 2004 had the highest OPS in baseball.

certainly

Should have read "certainty." Don't want to confuse Steve...

285- It was sort of like a rest home panty raid. Do I feel bad about it? Not really. Am I proud of myself? No.

I have yet to figure out why one is branded a Giant fan just because they do not agree with our GM.

It was sort of like a rest home panty raid

You worry me sometimes.

303- It's easier to denounce someone as a traitor than rebut an argument. But, considering I accused someone of having been born with a tail, I don't really have the moral authority to object to the tactic. Today, anyway.

284 -- Andy La Roche? WTF? One doesn't get to change the spelling of one's name like that, willy nilly. I was a big LaRoche fan, but this La Roche fellow is a stranger to me, and I think Colletti should trade him for a middle reliever forthwith.

If you don't agree with me then you must be against me is the most commonly used logic of the human race. Evidently the supreme being put more effort into our thumbs then our logic cells.

Yeah, that was weird. We're talking about probabilities and statistics and analysis, and...

BOOM! Andrew says Ned Colletti was born with a tail.

That was out there. I laughed, of course, but it was out there.

284
100% Mexican! My wife will become a big fan but it also explains why his foot speed is not an asset.

For those of us who remember back in the day when Dave LaRoche played, the pitcher claimed that when he was a kid people made fun of his name Garcia because there was a character called "Sergeant Garcia" on "Zorro" who was very fat and people would call young Dave "Fats Garcia."

Now it is easier to chant Andy La Roche.

We've got another monster squid sighting...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6385071.stm

La Roche
Lo Duca

The space remains the same.

Andy La Roche would be the first player in the majors to use the "La (space)" spelling.

Andy La Roche would be

Good job.

309 -- Mexicans are supposed to be slow? I did not know that. What about Speedy Gonzalez?

313 -- But Lo Duca was always Lo Duca. We didn't get used to LoDuca only to be told years later that what we thought we knew was a big fat lie.

312- Like I always say, gigantic squids are a great palate cleanser. Thanks for the link.

The new UCLA commercial.

http://tinyurl.com/2e9ncc

Is Adam changing his last name as well?

Further analysis of the Pac-10 standings:

UCLA will finish no lower than second.
Washington State can end up as high as first or low as fifth.
USC can end up as high as second or as low as sixth.

Haven't checked in in a few days and this is the first thing I see:

It was sort of like a rest home panty raid. Do I feel bad about it? Not really. Am I proud of myself? No.

That may be the funnniest post of this enitre off season. Nice work Andrew.

ToyCannon, I was at the Clipper game on Tues. Came by but someone else was in your seats. A big guy in a black leather Clippers jacket and a blond woman.

Anyway, I was amazed by the game. Forget how "not good" the Clippers are but the Suns are really something. So fast and an offensive machine--who is going to stop them? Maybe Dallas but thats about it. I stayed to the very end and was rewarded with seeing Eric Piatkowski drain a nice three pointer. It was like being back at the Sports Arena.

Eric Piatkowski is back on the Clippers?

323. Nah he got tired of losing. He's on the Suns.

Thanks LAT.

Proof that clowns are out to get you:

http://tinyurl.com/2pddxj

326 Thanks for the new desktop wallpaper Andrew!

Anyone know who the woman staring at us on the right sidebar is?

Damn, the one time I don't record 30 Rock it turns out to be a classic (allegedly).