mstar1

HERE'S how one of my favorite and more humorous sox bloggers Jose Melendez wrote it: MASSACRED

There are alot of youngsters on this team (5 rookies on the pitching staff alone-plus a few position players at 22 and 23. They'll all be better than average in a year or two, but they lack the maturity to compete consistantly right now on a championship level. The Sox weighed it and didnt want to part with any of them at the trade deadline. In alot of ways it was a rebuilding year from the start when i look at it now. I dont know if its possible to rebuild and also win everything at the same time as they were trying to do, a good experiment, but looks pretty much like it will fall short

Nah. Its just all that California air ----dude For me its not that all bad-its disappointing, but I could see it happening even though I didnt want to see it coming , there have been signs building up that i was avoiding--- sort of like when you are in a relationship that you subconsciously know is bound to fail yet you ride it out because---- well----- this is who you are attached to and hope for the best. But '06 is all but done--its been collapsing for over a month---and what were 'concerns' are now gaping holes in the bow. The ship is not listing but daily tilted a little more upward like the Titanic getting ready to go down....Every time I see a call to the bullpen, if I listen closely, I can almost hear the band playing "Nearer My God To Thee" on the deck,

We're done -unless there is some sort of divine intervention. They tried to have a rebuilding year and a winning year at the same time and it doesnt really work that way. You can't go into a gunfight armed with spoons, or a pennant race with AAA pitchers The pitching, which was tenuous all year, collapsed at the AllStar Break, and they elected to keep what they had, instead of trading away the future. Time for me to watch the little leaguers for awhile

It costs a lot of people their souls.. I dont know what the dollar value of that is

If "Z"ipperhead is spending all this time and energy attempting to divert attention to you, my bet he is covering and hiding an awful lot of his own shadowself (most likely even from him/her own self), in fact I'd bank on it

I wouldnt mind having a short row of seats, or at least a brick or two when the time comes. Even though Im no fan of the renovated place its sort of sad to see a place with that much history torn down....Isnt about time the Romans built a new coliseum?

Well the first of five is done and the Sox looked like crap. No incidents, the only thing notable was the unfortunate pitching matchup of Johnson vs Wang... 1-1 in the 2nd of the second game

ROFL-- My ex mustve been in that study!

They tell people when to buy gas????? Holy Tapdancing Christ, What kind of drugs are they doing in Ohio? I buy gas when I need to buy gas, Is that hard to figure out? Now your question on the fillup part--this is a little more intricate, I always stick the card in and fill it up --but a month or so ago I was filling up my big work van and it stopped at $100.00 which hit some sort of weird psychological barrier for me (being the first time Ive ever put a hundred bucks of gas in a vehicle), so a few times Ive put in $40.00 or 50.00 which somehow makes me think Im getting some sort of better deal. I'll go back to filling it again soon.

memeories of that period? If you dont mind my random ramblings--I havent thought of it in along time so they are coming out asthey come..... I was moving around from place to place in 81 and more or less not associated in The Way but (my fault) reconnected in early 82. There was a huge promo blitz that year to get "4000 for the 40th", They did huge regional get togethers and pushed classes all year culminating in Living Victoriously, then corps week and the ROA. They didnt make the 4000. There were about 12(?) or so outreach cities where WOWS were concentrated. i was sent to one of them Tampa/St.Pete, with about a hundred others, where we lived without furniture or cigarettes most of the time for the first few months. The Wow family was a battle every few days. It seems the Wows in my area were always getting together that year. We had Wow teams of two or three families that got together most everyday, and get togethers of meetings, classes and events with all the rest of the Wows pretty frequently. The numbers dwindled steadily throughout the year. Some left, others disappeared and you didnt know what happened , and at least one corps guy was thrown off for getting some new twiggy pregnant I think we were for the most part kept seperate from the civilian believers. Martindale was 'installed' on October 3rd 1982 in an event ( It might have been a week long deal) that was built up like the coronation of a new king. oooooooo aaaaaahhhhhh. The whole branch of about 200 got together to either listen to it live or watch it on video and we all had to stand and vow to 'stand by this man' or some other bull. My wow team ran 3 classes and managed to hang together the whole year, athough my corps WOW sister tried to get me thrown off a bunch of times because she couldnt control me-- going so far as to call the trunk coordinator Ralph on one occassion. I felt like leaving usually about a 50 or a 100 times a day but got 4 or 5 people involved anyway. (sorry folks...). I went to the advanced class that year which was a disaster ( car got burned to crispy as we were going and we lost all of our belongings which is another story for another day, and the class was empty and vacuous to me 83 was my first apprentice corps year, but thankfully i dropped it. SInce there was a huge amount of Wows Pat Hughes was given the title of WowVet Coordinator that year and there were a whole slew of events and classes originally planned nationwide to take adavantage of us fools that never really panned out. The Wows of 82 were all encouraged to stay and alot did, and a series of way homes were set up and we pretty much did a Wow type thing-- work low level jobs, pool our funds, run fellowships and classes and genuflect to the people in power. I became a twig coordinator that year sort of by default when a guys life sort of became unglued. It was SSDD- classes, meetings, meetings, classes,, more meetings, then another meeting about how to do more classes, then another meeting about how to have more effective meetings about meetings about classes. I took it seriously at the time-- Our branch had changed around and we went from a more or less lovable goofball type of guy to a more controlling and demanding type of guy, who laid out a whole years worth of crap for us to do on the first or second day we met him.. when the classes were going to be, how much money we had to bring in--a ll that type of thing. He was a stand when i enter the room type of guy, who could appear kind but had a ferocious streak that could come blasting out at any moment. That was about as high up the way tree that I wanted to go, I had little or no dealings with HQ other than the ROA,listening to tapes, and reading magazines. I knew who they were but I never felt comfortable approaching any of them. My little twig was OK, looking back we were all screwed up, but I did like them, We stayed somewhat on the fringes but involved enough so that we were still feeding the monster. I was too naive to be aware of any massive corruption at the time . It was what it was, at the time it seemed good, now its like Lalaland

Seems that way but they havent played each other in quite while (early June I think) There were a couple of rainouts back then----so 5 this weekend, and 4 more again in a few weeks. Its gonna be competitive and hot and something may happen, but it has toned down a lot over the last few years -even though the media likes to keep it built up----The 03-04 stuff had a long slow buildup of all sorts of minor incidents and exchanges in the media over 4 or 5 years before it all finally exploded full force-- That part seems to be dying down--the last incident that I remember was when a fan reached over the wall and spilled a beer on Sheffield-The Red Sox immediately took away his season tickets ---that was a year and a half ago--now its like watching nuns play canasta--....... well not quite..but almost Generally I think that they have resumed for the most part to having a great amount of respect for each other and both teams working their own game to win-------But we'll see---i could be totally wrong-------..in baseball ya dont know nuthin'

??? YOU wouldnt have much of a Bible to read if those evil catholics hadnt been the ones to preserve it all through that period.

duh sorry-brain fart-I seem to do a lot of that lately I make stained glass church windows

good image ----that one sent me off my chair! California dreamin.............. ...I hope nobody gets hurt in all that stuff---once they start my experience is that they can go on for a few years, The Sox-Yanks are famous for going through volatile spurts of a few years at a time and then calming down for a bunch of yearsthen starting all over again maybe 5 or 10 years later, right now it seems to be calming-of course we are playing 5 this weekend and they are basically neck and neck so anything could happen.... and the Drays and Sox had a thing for a few years during the Lou Pinella years for some reason that seems to have waned away

We dont communicate much but I read most of your posts and your a real jewel Abi... You have nothing to be ashamed of....and dont be....dont buy it for a second. By our age everyone has some history. Everyone. Its how we learn. Ex is right pinhead "Z" is the only one who should be ashamed, his/her behaviour in the present has no redeeming qualities. See my signature \/ down there "illegitmus non carborundum"? Its latin for "Dont Let the bastard get you down" ive had it there for a few months and I mean it. Don't.

Hell Yea! If I was in the mood I just may be screaming words not fit for human ears at whoever was unfortunate enough to be behind the counter. I dont do it every time but Ive done it before -many times.... I hate scams , I hate scammers and i hate being manipulated and used and if i have the energy Im not afraid to let them exactly what i think of them, (sometimes to the embarrassment of anyone who is with me). Im stubborn that way, when i have an encounter like that I make a vow never to go there again and also let everyone else I know not to go either. Yea little crappy crap like that can get me steamed too Edit: HA ha I like Toms Idea make em come out and check your oil, wash your windows, wax your car, vacuum the rugs, polish the dog, adjust the radio, rotate the tires....until you feel vindicated

Gees I go away for a few days to NYC for a minivacay, stay away from the TV, and half the western division is suspended.What the hell happened? How about a synopsis from The Strange Report are the '06 Rangers-Angels becoming the updated version of the 03-04 RedSox-Yankees? I read today its there best streak in 107 years-- 107years? I hope your watchin this one Hiway

Good ideas--Thanks Most of the times if Im unsure the Hi Im Mstar approach works, If Im stuck in the secretaries office and have to explain Im there to meet His Holy Dudeness, or writing aletter, when I may only have Joe Smith or some other name to go by, I just like to be a bit professional and polite and get the wording right until I know them alittle better. Most denominations have a set of formal approaches that I am used to,(whether or not you refer to them as Rev, Father, Pastor, or something else...) that many times are dropped after the first few meetings, but still at times I feel compelled to give them the proper respect as a matter of professional courtesy. As I said a very large percentage dont really seem to care about their title and are very down to earth, which is strange because those are the ones that I would most prefer to get right as a matter of respect. The ones (generally speaking) that are a little too full of themselves are the ones that usually demand a title and the ones that I dont mind screwing up and may even do it intentionally from time to time just to .... em off. (not all of them by any means ) but for the others I was curious if there is some according to Hoyle rulebook that anyone is aware of...

Most of you know that my business requires me to almost constantly meet with clergy of different faiths. It used to seem pretty simple to be respectful but there are so many titles and different expectations in the various denominations these days that I am occasionally at a loss as who to call pastor, who to call rev, who to call father ...who to call ...whatever... and be respectful and right about it. About 75% of them seem to diffuse it immediately (depending on the group) by saying "Please call me Ed" or something like that after the formalities, but there still can be awkward moments for me initially meeting someone when i am a little unsure how to address someone properly either in person or in writing. Yesterday I had to meet a female Rabbi, and worried alittle overmuch trying to figure out how to introduce myself since I was had never met a female rabbi before. (FWIW she was great and came to me and said "Hi Im Donna", before I had the chance to stick my foot in my mouth.) So, do any of you who are better mannered than me, know any rules or rules of thumb that may apply here Thanks

Im sure he is thinking about it as Javy has been questionable so far--We got Detroit and 5 with the Yanks comin up--so this should be a heckuva a week....

I cant get the direct link to work if you go to THIS page its under August 8th

I think it was Kyle Carter--, he had about 15 K's through 6 and also got 4 (more or less ) intentional walks as Columbus Georgia won the regional game....I just hope that its not another Danny Almonte type fiasco. This has to be the quote of the day from Ryan Freel on the catch he made Dayton Daily News Brilliant I wonder if he knows Miss Jonassis

F I N A L L Y ...I get to see some good pitching The 12 year old from Columbus Georgia is throwing in the 80's from 46 feet! in the Little League tourney. Dang-he looks better than anyone on the Sox staff. 2-0 Columbus over Dunedin, FL in the 4th in the regionals