MattZ

I hope that's what it is. Because if its not the result of some bet or a joke of some sort, it means that some tool with the ability to vote players into the baseball hall of fame is secretly harboring the opinion that Dante Bichette is an underrated player and that the media never appreciated his ability to hit 6th in a below average California Angels lineup. Although I suppose he put up some nice numbers for a couple of years in Colorado. EDIT: by the way, if you were on steroids and played at Coors Field, is there any way to calculate the impact that these two things would have on your

I dont know about other people, but I find the bottom of the ballot much more interesting than the top. Bobby Bonilla actually received 2 votes. This blows my mind much more than the fact that Jim Rice got hosed again.

Start covering and recording other people songs and out come the lawyers... I'm just sayin' -- its a good idea, but it's not so easy.

I subscribe to: The New Yorker New York Times (weekends only) Atlantic Monthly Acoustic Guitar Harp and I am about to begin a subscription to the New York Review of Books which according to a friend is indispensible. Apparently, some of the best political writing around. If you lean left, I suppose, which I do.

I somehow lucked into Arcade Fire tix in NYC on Feb 14. All 5 shows sold out in 9 minutes. The shows are going to be at a small church downtown -- rumor is the venue does not hold more than 300 people. Schweet! Tickets are going for 1000/per on craigslist and ebay right now. Even though they are nontransferable. Idiots.

When I was a kid I saw Goonies in the theater and liked it so much that after it ended I stayed to watch the very next showing. I was a kid. The movie spoke to me.

Vegas has just set the over/under on # of posts until a "phish sucks" comment at 6 more posts from now.

D'oh! I like Caliber's and Cryptique's answers better. I am bummed that there is actually a real answer. I thought this thread had some real potential. Perhaps my first > 100 posts thread. Alas, it will have to be some other one.

No hints here either: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_8,_2005 Clearly someone should edit that page to make it clear the importance of this date in VC lore.

According to the front page of VC, the most users ever online was 234 on Jan 8 2005, 05:26 PM. What possibly could have precipitated such a massive overload of VC usage? The NYE show at MSG? A really awesome and mind-blowing NP thread? The first thread complaining about stale setlists?

Gary Matthews Jr is a scrub. This contract -- even more than the Speier and Juan Pierre contracts -- is a sign that the apocolypse is upon us.

Early 90s. Dennis Eckersley and Dennis Eckersley.

You know what? It's good. Let the Sox and Yanks battle it out now on the field and we no longer have to hear silly red herring arguments. They are the same team now. The only relevant evidence going forward will be what happens on the field. Play ball!

Music From Big Pink is pretty cool too. As is Elvis's Armed Forces (the one with the painting, not the elephants).

Weird, I didnt know that... The coolest thing about Sgt Pepper is the cover art -- the cover gets so much props, but I never really could appreciate it on my cd cover. I always thought it was cool, but when I got it on vinyl (a hand-me-down), I stared at it for hours. Just mesmerizing. Fits the music perfectly too.

Sgt Pepper or Blonde on Blonde. There is something so cool about Within You Without You leading off side 2 and Sad Eyed Lady leading off and closing side 4. Vinyl is aweome. I love vinyl.

Ok, so I was at the last show of the tour at the New York City Center. This was a show announced only a week and half ago or so and was clearly an add-on at the last minute in a small venue in midtown Manhattan. I think that the ballet usually plays here. Capacity is 2200 or so. Scored tickets in the very last row of the orchestra in the far far left corner. Actually could not see the lead guitarist from the angle we were at. I didnt care -- I'll take that 10 times out of 10 over the large venues he's been playing on this tour. Highlights from the set were obviously the MT tunes. The

Thanks - wish I could give you an impression of who the mets gave up, but I dont know anything about either of them. Seems like Minaya is going the very predictable "let's stock up on lefties" route. I remember seeing Vargas at one point last year and being impressed with him. I am starting to get frustrated with the Mets continuing to go after guys that have good stuff but just haven't put it together yet -- and its all because Rick Peterson has convinced the front office that he can fix any problem. News flash to Fred Wilpon: he can't (e.g., Victor Zambrano). Either way, its always int

I dont blame athletes for chasing the money. Not at all -- its what everyone would do in that situation. But I also think its naive to pretend that fans shouldn't become disillusioned with it. Especially since -- rightly or wrongly -- many fans develop what they perceive as a special relationship with their teams and those players. When the players from those teams go to a rival for a few more millions (e.g., Johnny Damon anyone?) it is a violent slap in the face reminder that sports are a business and that while Mets fans hate Yankee fans, most Met players couldn't care less about any per

For anyone who cares, the plot thickens -- famous former Village Voice rock critic Robert Christgau has weighed in with his thoughts in the comments section. Again, assuming its really him: I don't read the Voice music section much these days, and often don't like it much when I do, but thought I'd note for the record that I loved Ott's piece. Went to see the same Decemberists' show with fond hopes and found Meloy's "showmanship" so ordinary and his band's "musicianship" so static that I walked out fearing that I'd given their perfectly tuneful major-league debut--an impurity I've never bel

Ryan Adams on Letterman less than a month after 9/11. Wow. This just knocked my socks off. I have no socks left. I am sockless. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsAUzmR6DSU

I was at the concert and I can say two things -- and I honestly consider myself a Decemberists fan: 1. It felt like The Colin Meloy Band. I know that Colin is the leader of the band, but I have never felt like the other members were so invisible as I did at this show. 2. The band certainly did not play a show that demanded that an article be written about show. I agree with you that this article comes off as a petty attack that could have been written two weeks before the show. And frankly, it probably was. But that being said, given how I felt after the show, I didnt think that the a

Exactly. Value is not an absolute concept in baseball. When the Mets signed Pedro he was worth more to them than the Red Sox because (1) the Mets were looking for legitimacy whereas the Sox already had it (and were world series champs); (2) the Mets were hoping that Pedro would put fans in the seats whereas the Sox didnt have that issue (as World Series champs); and (3) the Mets were hoping Pedro would attract other big name free agents to come (which the Sox didnt need to worry about as World Series champs). So the Mets may have overpaid for Pedro in baseball terms. Sure. He may never t

I understand the knee jerk reaction, and frankly, this is why most people hate critics. But its pretty lame for Colin to email this guy and then Carson to post a message on a public website. Assuming that those posts are really by Carson and the author of the article of course. IMO they shouldnt care what this two-bit critic from the Village Voice says. Far be it from me to tell them how to act, but I just think they aren't going to solve anything by getting into the fray. They come out looking worse than the critic who everyone can tell from reading the article is a jerk with an axe to g