Baseball Done Right.

If you missed that game you missed a thing of beauty. This team may not be built for power and runs, but a couple of timely knocks as well as some inspired bunts to move the runners along was more than enough to provide the runs we needed. The pitching was masterful. Maddux threw six innings of some of the nastiest junk I've seen. Right up until Cla Meredith came in and got just a shade nastier. Linebrink and Brocail got outs just like their mamas told them to get a good girl. Just be yourself. All in all, we take the Giants 4-0 to register our third shutout on this young season, not to mention our third straight series win. What a fantastic effort and a sweet win. Now bring on the filthy Dodgers. Go Pads!!!

Not For The Squeamish.

Here's the 2007 schedule:

Sept. 9 – Chicago, 1:15 p.m., Fox
Sept. 16 – at New England, 5:15 p.m., NBC
Sept. 23 – at Green Bay, 10 a.m., CBS
Sept. 30 – Kansas City, 1:15 p.m., CBS
Oct. 7 – at Denver, 1:15, p.m. CBS
Oct. 14 – Oakland, 1:15 p.m., CBS
Oct. 21 – BYE
Oct. 28 – Houston, 1:05 p.m., CBS
Nov. 4 – at Minnesota, 10 a.m., CBS
Nov. 11 – Indianapolis, 5:15 p.m., NBC
Nov. 18 – at Jacksonville, 10 a.m., CBS
Nov. 25 – Baltimore, 1:15 p.m., CBS
Dec. 2 – at Kansas City, 10 a.m., CBS
Dec. 9 – at Tennessee, 10 a.m., CBS
Dec. 16 – Detroit, 1:15 p.m., Fox
Dec. 24 – Denver, 5 p.m., ESPN
Dec. 30 – at Oakland, 1:15 p.m., CBS

I ain't skerred, but that's a vicious 1-2 punch coming out of the gate. Getting Indy and Baltimore at home helps some though, and there are some definite rollovers in there. I say bring it on, bitches. Go Bolts!!!

Update: Wait aminute! Not one Monday Night game!!! That is utter bullshit!

Update my update: Denver on Dec. 24 is a Monday. Christmas Eve, though, hardly counts.

Some Stuff About Some Stuff.

What's up with Khalil Greene's straw hair anyway? Is everything made of straw on that guy? I don't want to get too metro here, but it's called conditioner, man. Give it a shot. Oh, how it must have made my cohort happy to watch the vegan lower his batting average about 80 points in one game at this early point in the season. Way to not be clutch. You're no Spiccoli. Spiccoli was never that tense.


I'm going to be all over the board here for a minute. Unless you're not even slightly into sports (and if you're getting your sports news here, that's not entirely unlikely), you've heard about the Zeusian punishment's NFL Commisioner Rodger Goodell layed down upon perennial fuck-ups PacMan Jones and Chris Henry. Them's some mighty lightning bolts, and I don't hear too many people complaining either...yet. We'll see. Anyway, Canepa had his take on it today. You can read it here. At first, I thought Mr. Nick had found a new schoolgirl crush, going on and on about the big muscles and fast cars Goodell's sporting. Then he gets to the meat of the matter. As impressive as the punishment's were, Goodell is still merely Steven Seagal to AJ Smith's Chuck Norris. Smith has been handing down disciplinary actions like those since before you were a glimmer in your daddy's eye youngster. If AJ were running the whole show, and not just ruling his own team with an iron fist as he feels other owners should be doing, the entire Bengals and Titans teams would likely be suspended for a season or two. And like it!

Ugh. Enough about that. Back to the Padres. Apparently Chris Young either doesn't think that much of himself or he really likes playing here because he signed a four year deal on Monday that, in an era where Gil Meche is shopping for a third house in the French Riviera, would make a back-up ball boy happy. Well, extremely happy, but we got a deal all the same. I guess people are starting to buy into the "San Diego Discount." I think this is a lot like Global Warming. If you say it enough, people will believe it exists whether you can prove it or not. Good for us.

"Hey Mike Cameron! It's coming right at you!"

Hot girl:



5-3 on the way to the World Series. Cool. go Pads!!!

I'm Making Observations...

I realize that being a part of today's sports scene requires diligent fact checking, constantly perusing of the numbers, and operating your fantasy team as if you were actually a general manager and not some basement dungeon master. But, I think it's safe to say that simply watching games and observing the level of play will tell you a lot about a team and the quality of the product on the field, numbers sometimes be damned. I spent yesterday doing just that in between fits of vomiting and I came up with some noteworthy items. More Bullet Points... I love them so...

*The Bad News Bears reference from Thursday night was more apt than I had originally thought. During that debacle, as Termell "Sledge" Hammer (aptly coined by Max here) failed to take control of the situation and call off the surprisingly powerful of late Vegan, Max began humming that little diddy of a tune from the movie. The YouTube clip yesterday was never more fitting. I worry a bit about Sledge Hammer's defense, more on that in another post. Last night's home run was great, the 'Secret Pop' moniker that Mud and Matt have attempted must be murdered prior to it's acceptance by the masses. 'Sledge' is the nickname, get it right 'professionals'.

*Greg Maddux made his Padre debut last night and there's no nice way to say it, he looks fucking old. Not like shit yourself while piloting your walker to the early bird garden buffet, but definitely on the brink of adult diapertown. He was lobbing puss filled junk balls near the plate all night long, that surprisingly weren't pelted. "You put snot on the baseball?" High(Low)light of the night: Matt Holliday's 6th inning mash out to center off the Vaseline Warrior. Heath Bell was warming up in the bullpen. Without so much as flinching on the mound in center, he casually caught the ball and flipped it into the nighttime crowd. Damn YouTube for not having a clip for my inept ass to find...

*Open Message to T-Rex: You're little brother is a significantly better baseball player than you, he even has normal length arms. What the hell is going on with you? If you think that not swinging the bat and trying to draw walks is a good thing, think again. You went 15 consecutive pitches over a short span without attempting a swing. You reached base zero times in that stretch. How about you quit running around the locker room naked and you try actually putting the baseball in play. I know your disability with the short arms and all prevents proper extension, but Christ, try a bunt or something. No, don't do that, HIT A FUCKING HOME RUN from time to time okay? How 'bout this, if you hit more home runs than your brother, I'll get off your case. Until then it's shitlist for you.

*Completely off Topic: I only like getting into the craw of Nick Canepa and Skip Bayless when the remark the absurd, but yesterday Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post was being nonsensical on the PTI. I like Mike, he's a very good sports guy, but we need a good scandal or something for him to talk about. Yesterday, he was venting about the weather effect on some East Coast baseball games and how the scheduling was so poor not to play those games in protected stadiums to prevent early season cancellations of games. I agreed to a certain extent, but Mike continued with this gem..."It's the dumbest thing. It's dumber than college football not having a playoff system." Uh, no. It's not. There's still 189,499 games, 18 months, 871 Yankees/Red Sox stories and 275 more Joe Buck nonsensicals to go in the season. Postponing a few games is neither a correct comparison or even relevant to college football's struggles to adequately determie a champion. Now, someone go catch Dice K doctoring up a cute coed with his gyroball so Wilbon has something to do. And hurry up.

*Oh, and Red Sox fans, don't you find it funny that you are calling the new sensation out there Dice K? Nice work using the nickname from a Brooklyn born comedian (term used very loosely). The new pride of Boston, named after a New Yorker. It's no wonder no one likes the Red Sox anymore. You are pretty fuckin' stupid fans sometimes.

*It appears that the Vegan is trying to make me look bad. Good work Buddha. Keep it up, try not to injure your sensitive fragile digits.

*Sunday afternoon, I'll be sitting near third base. I'll have whatever you're drinking as long as it's cold and beer like.

There's A First Time For Everything.

All signs seem to indicate that Michael "The Burner" Turner will not spend the 2007 NFL season as insurance for TBE getting injured. "Experts" say a trade will happen within the next week, with Buffalo, Tennessee and Green Bay the likeliest destinations. No word on exactly what we'll get yet. So there you have it, it looks like I was wrong. For the first time ever. Don't get used to it.

In Case You Missed It...

Footage from last night's outfield collision between Kouzmanoff and Greene. I didn't even see Sledgehammer take one in the balls, it happened so fast, but this is a great angle.

WE SUCK!

Well, it was a nice ride while it lasted, but I think it's time we all admit to ourselves that this team is shitbox. Maybe next year.

Just kidding, 161-1 ain't so bad! Go Pads!!!

Show Us Your VaGiants!

Nice to see CJ back in the fray and I sure hate to push him down the page so soon, but I felt it was necessary to point out the latest Nick Canepa filler article in the San Diego Union Excelsior Newsletter Paper Magazine. It seems Nick has realized that baseball season is upon us and that means he must pen something regarding the only months away from World Series Champion Padres. Since AJ Smith doesn't seem to have anything to say about the Pads, Canepa is forced to write yet another article in the great pantheon of Nick Canepa articles that actually say nothing at all.

Handcuffed by the fact that he apparently has not kissed Kevin Towers ass enough to get any hardcore bad ass "my way or the highway" quotes from him*, Canepa decides to instead compare the Padres to the Chargers, a subject he believes he knows something about. You see, both the Padres and the Bolts won their respective divisions, yet both failed to advance in the playoffs. Schottenheimer was fired shortly thereafter and Bochy was allowed to walk. The pressure is on Norv Turner to win a Superbowl. The pressure is apparently on Bud Black to win a World Series. And before I can so much as start screaming at the screen, Nick actually manages to point out that the talent disparity may be a bit of a factor. You think? the Bolts are the best team talentwise in the NFL. There was no reason for them to bow out in the first playoff game. Conversely, the Padres are about the 10th most talented team in the National League and had no business advancing to the later rounds. There's probably no one in the world outside of me expects them to go to the World Series, and I only expect it because I might be an actual retard. No, Nicky my boy, Bud Black was not brought in here to win the title, he was brought in here to make the team seem less boring somehow. Or to at least make it look like the team was trying to justify ticket price raising and awful, overpriced parking at our glorious ballpark where only other teams can hit home runs (boring).

The fact is, though, Canepa's entire pointless article that said nothing you didn't know, unless it is his own ridiculous opinion, was only to present his new super funny at first, but gets more serious the more you think about it" nickname for San Diego. Wannabe Titletown. Precious. What a douche.

That all being said, last night was fun to watch. We haven't started 2-0 since 98'. I'll take that. Sure, it was no big surprise to watch Bonds hit his first HR of the season off Chris Young (Bonds loves two things when it comes to bombing homers. Doing it against the Pads, and big, fat fastballs right in the wheelhouse.). In fact, my roommate, who is a Cubs fan and a bona fide dickface, actually called the bomb in that at-bat. Fortunately, we had a few dingers of our own, including the game winner from our own slugger in the making and at least one person I know's favorite "bean," Adrian Gonzales. First look at Linebrink and Hoffman and they came out unscathed, although I have to admit I was a bit concerned by how many pitches were hit hard off of them. Good D prevailed, though, and after what is admittedly only two games I can safely cling to my positive vibe about this season. Awesome. Go Pads!!!

*I realize Canepa has some quotes from Towers as well as Black, but those were likely general media quotes and not the super special quotes that AJ gives to him personally. Believe me, Canepa would have made sure to let us know.

It's Not Football...

Sitting here absorbing my first live action view of the Home Squad against the Ex-Padres, I'm struck with a few random thoughts about the Baseballing Season that is now officially upon us. For you, our faithful, BULLET POINTS!! This lazy man's post...

* I know that we are primarily a footballing site, but since the football team is currently in a vegetative state to me, I'll talk about baseball, if you don't like it, email me for a full refund of your subscription fee and hold your breath.

* Jake pitched a gem yesterday, congrats there Alabama Madman. Now do it for the entire season, try not to hurt yourself celebrating your greatness, and don't sit to close to Wells, that shit he's got might be contagious.

* I'm not one to whine about the umpiring, but tonight's crew to this point is abysmal. The strike zone is a moving target through four innings.

* To all of you who felt obligated to tell me that Tyranasaurus Giles doubled twice yesterday should go get your fucking heads checked. It's one game. Let's wait to annoint him the chosen one until at least the all-star break okay? Guys like Ruben Rivera had good games too, prior to stealing other peoples gloves and trying to sell them on ebay.

* I'll be attending this Sunday at the Home Field, to anyone who may be there, email me so I can tell you where I'll be sitting and what kind of beer you can buy me.

* It's a long season folks, don't hit the panic button and don't get too out of sorts during the first week of the season. We'll be here all year, and I expect all of you to call me out on my bullshit in the comments this season. Your opinion is valuable, express it, or just go jump off a bridge. Either way you'll get recognized.

***UPDATE****

I guess even Vegans can hit home runs now. Weird...

And So It Has Begun.

And in high fashion with a 7-0 shutout of the vaGiants in Frisco. 6 scoreless innings for Peavy, followed by 3 scoreless from the best pen in the biz. Linebrink and Hoffy didn't even have to come in for this one folks. Sorry, Bocch. Nice start, Bud.

Only Two Hours Away!

Let the 2007 World Series run commence. I know I said I'd put up some of my thoughts on the upcoming baseball season before things got under way, but I lied. Fuck it, though. It's baseball, I could wait three weeks to make predictions and such and what's the difference? 162 games buys a man that sort of lee-way. Is that right? "Lee-way?" I don't think I've ever put that term to print. Is that a term or an actual word? Shit. Anyway, I do have a couple of things to point out from yesterday, though keep in mind that it is only one game in:

1) The highly favored in the West Dodgers got pitched retarded by Ben Sheets and the Brewers yesterday.

2) The always annoyingly yakked about $300 million Cubbies likewise were pitched retarded by Aaron Harang and the Reds.

Just two little things that brought a smile to my face. I won't even bother mentioning the Schilling shelling. Oops!

Here's two more things that bring a smile to my face:



Go Pads!!!

We Are Not Dead.

Seriously, we are alive and kicking. We are just sort of hybernating. But Padres baseball is just around the corner and I have a feeling that in the next couple of days I'm going to be about as excited about the Pads as I'm going to get this season. Then they'll start playing. And I don't think they'll be bad per se. Just boring. Boring like they've been for three years now. Except maybe more boring because this year? 100% more Giles. Awesome. I fully intend to break down my feelings on the upcoming baseball season soon. Hopefully before it starts. But not today. Maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, schoolgirl uniforms are hot. Cheerleaders are hot. Hey, you got your cheerleader in my schoolgirl uniform! That didn't sound right. Whatever.

Again?! What The Fuck Is Wrong With This Guy?

Having gone somewhere around a whole week without praising his Lord and Savior AJ Smith, Nick Canepa once again let's the compliments fly with this article. AJ doesn't do much in the free agent market, and apparently, unlike teams like Denver and New England, he doesn't have to. You see, those teams are trying to replace guys they don't like in order to catch up with us. We don't have any guys we don't like, so there is no point in us doing anything at all. I see the logic. I mean, you can't dislike your free safety when you don't have one, can you? Let me get all your hopes up with this real quick:

"Based on what newly acquired safety Adam Archuleta has been told by the Bears, he has been given Mike Brown's job. Which means that Brown, a Pro Bowler in 2005, will either be cut or moved back to free safety.-- Daily Herald"

Now, I doubt the Bears are really going to let Mike Brown hit the open market unimpeded, but if they did, wouldn't that be a sweet free agent pick-up. Sure, the guy gets injured, but he's so good when he's playing isn't it worth a shot? Unfortunately, I doubt he's in our price range, which tends to hover around 20-30% lower than what the market will bear. Which leads me to my favorite part of Canepa's piece:

“We're trying to build a championship team and the Dielman thing was tormenting me,” Smith says. “So we did go after a free agent – hard. That free agent is Kris Dielman. He was on the market, remember. He no longer was a Charger. We put a full-court press on Kris Dielman, and he was a free agent who chose to come back to the Chargers.”

Damn right he CHOSE to come back, cause your full court press had nothing to do with it from where I sit. You dodged that bullet, AJ, when Dielman decided to leave $10,000,000 on the table in Seattle, citing strong relationships he had developed within the organization here. I doubt you were one of those relationships.

The article goes on to talk about how teams are still calling about Michael Turner, even after AJ put a 1st and 3rd round tender on him. He won't name the teams, but I imagine it's just about everyone, and what they're really asking is when they can get a shot at LaDainian.

AJ Smith seems to be beyond reproach at this point due to some of the solid drafts and acquisitions he's made, but it seems as though there are at least a few people out there that are less than thrilled with the way he treats individuals, and that's the sort of thing that can slowly poison a club. Watch how Donnie Edwards plays against us twice this season. But Canepa fuels the fire and consistently updates Smith's PR docket with gung-ho crap like this:

"I don't know what to call A.J. Smith. He may have fans worried, but he has other teams concerned. Because he has the touch."

I'm so sad that I missed Nick's online chat the other day. I won't miss the next one.

Football Related At Least.

Here's an interesting little piece on how the NFL tries to bully people around and a bit about the laws governing the use of broadcasts without the express written consent of the NFL. Or anyone else for that matter.

And here's a ridiculously hot picture of Christina Aguilera:

How'd We Pass On This Guy?

A few people expressed to me that they were less than thrilled to see the Chargers show absolutely no interest whatsoever in linebacker Joey Porter after the Steelers released him. Well, Porter is a well known hothead, and while I wouldn't have minded seeing us add a player of his ability (whether he'll ever live up to his promise again is questionable), it seems in light of this article, that he is likely not the kind of element we'd prefer to have on a team that would have been far and away the most morally, ethically and legally challenged in the league if not for the Cincinatti Bengals. The gist of the article is that Joey Porter punched Levi Jones outside of a casino after some heated trash talk at the blackjack table. At the blackjack table? Did Levi take the dealers bust card? Unforgiveable.

Now Porter faces a possible penalty of up to a year in jail and a $1000 fine. I say throw the book at him! Yeah, right. Porter will likely have to take, like one anger management class and show up for a high school assembly somewhere. Honestly, though, who really cares? I give the guy credit. At least he didn't punch his wife, his coach or Naomi Campbell's personal assistant. Levi Jones is an O-lineman for crying out loud. That's a fair fight, damn it. Levi Jones should feel like a pussy.

They Ain't No Powder Blues...

...but there's some promise. New Uni teaser:



Not too different from what you can see here, I just hope they don't go all blue with the pants or some horrible Arena League shit like that. Here's the new logo:



Here's the old:



Not much of a difference there either, but I prefer the old. Your thoughts, people?

Some Thoughts To Keep Things Going.

Free agency has been blowing up with crazy, out of control money being bandied about like there's no tomorrow, so I figured I'd throw in a couple of my personal thoughts on a couple of things that have come to pass so far.

First, it seems the Ravens have come to terms with disgruntled Bills RB Willis McGahee. This is a scary signing for us in the AFC. McGahee is an upper tier back who's numbers last year didn't reflect his ability to perform. If I'm not mistaken, he was nursing some nagging injuries last season. At any rate, he's certainly an upgrade from Jamal Lewis, who doesn't even try to hit the hole anymore. Good luck with that guy, Cleveland. With the McGahee signing the Ravens will likely be an even bigger force this year than last, and we meet them in the regular season. That should be fun.

Second, I have heard concern about the apparent upgrades that have been happening in Denver so far this offseason. I have to say I'm not impressed just yet. Forget the fact that so far I have not seen any solid evidence that Jay Cutler is the second coming of Elway, let's take a look at what they've done. I count two "big" signings. First, Daniel Graham came over from the Patriots. His offensive numbers are negligable, which is to be expected coming from an offense where every single player gets to have their very own touchdown during the season. The big deal about Graham is supposed to be his blocking, which I suppose is suppose to help manage a talent like our very own Manimal. I just see more sacks for Phillips personally. This signing is unimpressive. Then you've got Travis Henry coming over from the Titans. Henry is certainly a more talented running back than any of the guys that Denver was platooning out of their stable last year, but I really don't see the overall numbers matching up that differently. Essentially, all that Henry means is maybe an extra roster spot. The Shit Ponies will be also-rans again this year, the question is, what will Shanahan do to save face this time? Crack Cutler in the knee and bring Plummer back?

Lastly for today, I'd like to address the situation wherein I constantly bash our GM, AJ Smith. I'm not blind to the many solid moves that AJ has made. It's just that I hate the manner in which he carries himself at times, as well as his overbearing bravado. Badmouthing players for taking their beefs to the media while at the same time using Nick Canepa as his own personal human bullhorn? Running quality players out of town because they were a "Marty guy" and/or he didn't draft them? A lot of my animosity with AJ has to do with Donnie Edwards, obviously. AJ laid down a constant barrage of shit about Donnie in the media and all I ever hear Donnie say is that he felt disrespected by the organization because they never gave him a reasonable offer. Now AJs line is that it would be money poorly spent to offer a long term contract to a player at the stage Donnie's at in his career. Sure, but it would not have been so bad to give him a 4 year deal three years ago when he asked for it. I'd take one more year of a player that productive. I don't want to get into how he let Foley go before any details of "the incident" came out or how he let go of Kiel as soon as the season ended. I suppose you can justify those things by saying you're trying to avoid a Cincinnatti type of atmosphere and that's fine. I understand that AJ has built us a powerful football team and I'm thankful for that, but remember, this team goes as LaDainian Tomlinson goes. AJ did not draft Tomlinson and Tomlinson is the only pre-AJ guy who's ever gotten his due from Smith. Notice, however, that Smith more or less locked up Michael Turner for at least one more year. Something honestly tells me that Smith would like to see what Turner would do if Tomlinson had to sit out for a while, and if it was "good enough" that would be the end of TBE in San Diego. He's seems to have the sportswriters believing it as well with Tim Sullivan calling the drop-off from TBE to The Burner nearly indiscernable (in this column the other day. Turner is an AJ guy, and TBE is the only thing left that's keeping AJ from stamping his name firmly across the face of this team. Consider yourselves warned. Go Bolts!!!

Oops, almost forgot, here's a hot girl:

Thanks For Stickin' Around, Big Guy.

So, I suppose some of you expected me to jump all over the news that Kris Dielman re-signed with the Chargers over the weekend. I suppose you're probably thinking it took me so long to get around to mentioning it because I was drafting some epic poem of apology to AJ Smith for doubting his negotiating acumen. Well, I wasn't. I was not feeling up to typing as even the tips of my fingers were hurting the last couple o' days. But now I'm ready.

Nice Homer, AJ!

I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am that Dielman is returning. One of the most important things a football team can do to sustain greatness is to retain exceptional talent on the lines. That being said, it was pretty apparent that Smith was ready to let Dielman walk. There's no way in the world he could have expected Dielman to leave $10 million dollars on the table in Seattle and stay in San Diego just because he has built some solid friendships. I've only seen one other athlete take the "San Diego discount." His name was Tony Gwynn. Maybe you've heard of him. He never made as much as Dielman's going to get. Still, it's nice to see that kind of attitude in a professional athlete again. Just don't any of you geniuses out there give BA GM AJ much credit for this. He probably had Kyle Turley on the phone when he got the news. Go Kris Dielman!!! Go Bolts!!!

Now, go get this guy:



And bring me back this girl:

Oh AJ, Just When I Think...

...you've done the stupidest thing you could ever do, you go and do something like this...and totally redeem yourself!

Ultimate Weapon Lorenzo Neal finally gets his cheddar in the form of a three year contract worth $5.1 Million, making him the highest paid fullback bad-ass motherfucker in the league. Check his wallet, you know it's on there.

I have no problem with this move. In fact, I like it. $5.1 Million over 3 years is not a lot to pay for the Mack FB of the league. Although, it is enough jack to make me wonder whether he should maybe be returning punts or longsnapping on field goals, but hell, I'm excited for up to three more years of big blocks and pass receptions that make you pull your hair out yelling, "Why are you throwing it to the fullback? He doesn't even remotely resemble Tomlinson!"

I'm curious as to what my cohort CJ has to say about this, considering he's the one who sent me the article along with a request to post on it. I'm betting he poo-poos the whole affair. In case you've never met CJ, he's a hater. Go Bolts!!!

Good News, Bad News.

First, the good news:



Now, the bad:

Well, it looks like it's time to say good-bye to Kris Dielman, widely considered the anchor of last year's stellar offensive line. Kris is ready to join the free agent pool tonight at 9:00 after the Chargers were somehow unable to come up with an offer tantalizing enough to keep him off the open market. Here's another hit single from BA GM AJ on the sitch:

“This will hurt,” Smith reiterated yesterday. “I don't blame him. He deserves everything he gets. He's a great kid, a great pro. But the only way to make him stay is to give him what he wants.”

There you have it. Dielman is being unreasonable. You really have to look for it, but that's what Smith is saying. I consider myself fluent in AJ these days. Check it:

"He deserves everything he gets," means, "Some desperate team is going to pay the greedy son of a bitch more than I deem him worthy of. Fucking pussies!"

"But the only way to make him stay is to give him what he wants," means, "Believe me, if I could force him to stay I would, but I'm certainly not going to pay him actual money. The bottom line is that unless your name rhymes with MaDainian Momlinson, if you want to play for my glorious empire, you'll take what I want to pay you."

I've seen this at the poker table many times. Hell, I've lived it. You're rolling along, getting all the cards you need. You don't feel like you can lose. You've made all the right plays, and even some of the wrong ones, and luck has rewarded you every time. Then you run into a couple of bad hands. But instead of tightening up and playing it straight for a while, you try to gamble your way through it. You think, "I'm better than these guys. I can get it all back." Most of the time you don't.

Donnie Edwards was a bad hand. I think Dielman will end up being a bad hand. Norv Turner is a split pot, which is pretty much annoying, so that blows. Players like Edwards and Dielman are not so easily replaced. BA GM AJ better think about playing a little bit safe for a bit, or he might turn out like another "Genius" GM I remember. Who will be your Brian Still, AJ? Your Aaron Hayden?

Update: Michael Turner has been saddled with a first and third round draft pick tender, more or less insuring that he will stay with the team for one more season. Personally, I don't mind this as I love having that insurance policy back there. But more importantly, to everyone who said to me that Turner was gone for sure: Suck it!!! You all looked at me funny when I told you not to be surprised if AJ made him unattainable, because AJ loves HIS guys. Suck it! Suck it! Suck it! Why do you question me?!!!