Two of LSB's most prolific posters are engaged in a tight, fight till the death, battle to see which one can get to 20,000 comments first.  With the finish line in site it is now time for bets to be placed. 

The current line: pick 'em

Current Standings:

Rodney                                              boomer1
18,393 comments                           18,091 comments  

In a less publisized battle it appears boomer1 will win the LSB mad dash to 1,000 comments containing "lol".

He currently sits at 988 with Rodney trailing with only 727 "lol" comments.  Third place is too far back to even be mentioned(iorange555 with around 550).  Amazingly "lol" accounts for roughly 5% of their respective comments.  More impressive is that added together they have posted 14% of ALL "lol" comments on LSB.  Good work gentlemen. 

These #'s are indeed unscientific in nature.  Different "search" methods may reveal slightly different results.

If you are aware of any other "fascinating" comment revelations or quirks of various posters please post below.

INTRODUCING: KFC's new Double Down.  Lets hope Oprah doesn't offer a freebie to all her viewers.  or should we...

WTF is that thing.  Is it awesomeness?  The colonel' s revenge?  An outright attempt to to make a mockery of its recent introduction of KGF?  The colonels ultimate creation? 

Will insurers ask if you ever had one of these prior to giving you a policy?  and then deny you any future coverage in regards to heart conditions?

But most importantly,  is this what OMFT will reward himself with after his next big game?

This is the most amazing analysis I've ever read....

I implore all of you to read this article and post your favorite quote.

My favorite:

"He(Elvis) has tremendous defensive talent and charisma, and he has learned how to handle himself in the big leagues from manager Ron Washington." 

Wasn't Elvis brought up because he was "mature beyond his years"?   Management stated over and over how Elvis was ALEADY prepared to handle MLB and was therefore ready to supplant FACE.  But Rick gave ALL the credit to Wash?  This quote is too amazing to even get my arms around, much less my mind.

I must now paste a potentially more amazing quote from Rick:

"I bet that within the week, you'll see Neftali Felizin their bullpen."

Okay Rick, if you say so....

I know I took two of the best, but there are plenty of other nuggets in that gold mine.  Let the easter egg hunt begin....

I had an encounter the other day that got me thinking...

Background:  I am a 32 yr old(male) 4.0 tennis payer(above average).  I grew up playing the game and played on my high school team.  I'm just taking the game back up after a 10 year layoff.  I've been playing in a league and had a few lessons over the last two months.  I think my game is back to the level it was at when I graduated high school.

The encounter:  After a lesson the other day my instructor said his next lesson was with a 12 yr old girl and that she is ranked 17th in the state of Texas.  He wanted to know if I would mind playing a set with her?  He said she beats many of the grown men up there.  I said sure, what the hell.  She held her own early, it was 2-2 after 4 games.  I went on to win the set 6-2(mainly due to a superior serve).

This got me to wondering if I could beat the #1 12 yr old girl in Texas, in the US?  Based on her skill level I doubt that I could actually beat the #1 ranked 12 yr old girl.  What about guys?  Would I have to go to the 10 yr olds to be able to beat #1?

The hypothetical:  Pick your chosen sport.  What age would you have to go down to in order to be able to be considered the #1 player in the sport?  I've decided I could be the #1 ranked 9 year old male tennis player in the state of Texas.   Damn that is humbling.

'09 Starters:

1st - Chris Davis

2nd - Kinsler

SS - ?

3rd - ?

LF - ?

CF - Hamilton

RF - ?

C - ?

DH - Bradley(when healthy)

I know MY/FOTF will be starting at SS or 3rd but wherever he starts I wouldn't consider it a position of strength.

Rotation: guys you can count on....

1 - Padilla

2 -?

3 - ?

4 - ?

5 - ?

Bullpen:

FF, Wright, Madrigal, CJ

Closer - ?

This team has way more questions than answers.

I know there is a "glass half full" way to look at '09 but getting beat by the venerable

R A Dickey will not allow me to drink from that particular glass tonight.

Rangers lose 8-5 to Seattle.  They split a 4 game home series against the last place team in their division.  Not the kind of thing a post season bound club should/would do.

The culprits in tonights loss?  Are you ready for this?  PITCHING and DEFENSE.  It is groundhog day in Arlington.  Nolan and/or JD might want a do-over regarding today's trade deadline......

Please discuss the game hear, as well as any other late night Ranger ruminitions you may have.

For the first time in my life I think I am in need of an attorney......and based on all the law talk(bar exam, etc) I figured this would be a good place to start my search....

My situation:

I own and operate a foundation repair company in the Dallas Metro area.  I completed repairs on a home in The Colony(Denton County).  My contract was signed by a general contractor who was working on the home.  I do not have a signed contract with the owner.  However, I have the name and address(and phone number) of the owner of the home.  The home is not a homestead(the tax roles have it owned by XYZ Trust).

After completing the repairs the GC issued me a check(at another house he was working on in Garland....I drove over there to get paid.)  I deposited the check($2,800).  A week or so later the funds were removed from my account and the check was returned NSF.

My uderstanding is that I have to pursue the hot check in Dallas County(dallasda.com) because that is where I received the check.

I called Denton County to get the procedure for filing a lien but was told that they could give me NO info as that would be seen as legal advice.  So, here I am......seeking legal advice.

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.  The GC swears he is paying me on Monday...but I heard the same thing this past Tuesday and Friday(today).  At this point I want to move forward using any avenues that may be available to me(or be told that there is nothing that I can do and that I should just move on).  Also, I had the check put in "collections" at his bank(on the off chance that he makes a deposot that would cover the check.)

Thanks to all who took the time to read this.  I know it is way OT, and a little long to boot.

The point of this exercise is not to shoulda, woulda, coulda the Rangers roster.  I just find it amazing the roster you could put together using players that have played for the Rangers.  I would like to(with the help of LSB P1's) come up with the best possible roster(40 man) comprised of Ranger exes.  The players must be on a current MLB Roster....

Secondly I would be interested if another "team" of exes could match the ex-Ranger club.  I'm relying on the deep reservoir of LSB knowledge in regards to other "teams".  My first thought would be that a team of ex Oakland A's would be pretty strong given their philosophy of trading or letting go there players when it is time to pay them.

I'll get this started:

DH:                    Travis Hafner

1st base:          Adrian Gonzales

2nd base:         Mark DeRosa

Shortstop:         AROD

3rd base :        Mark Teixeira

Left field:           Alfonso Soriano

Centerfield:      GMJ

Right field:        Ryan Ludwick

Catcher:            Pudge

Rotation:

1-Edison Volquez

2-Chris Young

3-John Danks

4-Justin Duchserer

5-Harang

Closer-CoCo Cordero

Bullpen:

Ron Mahay, Armondo Gallaraga

Im sure some obvious names are left off but I think the above roster would be in good shape to make a run at a pennant......

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/post/Avery-Johnson-quot-the-future-is-bright-quot-?urn=top,80032

Click the link above to get inside Avery's head.  This guy is as dense as Josh Howard when it comes to seeing the light.  Avery seems to be tha last person on earth who would ever own up to his own mistakes.  It is ALWAYS the players fault in Avery's mind.

2 questions: 

1- If someone hires Avery does Mark get any of his $12 mil back,

2- How in the hell is this the first place i've seen Avery quotes?

Ive been thinking for some time that Ranger players are overrated by their fans. 

Unfortunately, I'm no stat guru...I have to settle for formulating my opinions based on my own history of observing the great game.

Lets play a game...Is the Ranger above, below, or simply average?(at his position, taking into account all facets of the game,  and not just based on this years performance)

1st- Ben B.                 below average

2nd- Kinsler              above average

SS- MY                       average

3rd-  Hammer          average

C- Laird                     below average

CF- Hamillton           above average

LF-  Murphy               below average

RF- Byrd                    below average

DH- Milton                 average

Pitchers...same thing(rated against his spot in the rotation

1- Millwood              below average

2- Padilla                 below average

3- Jennings             below average

4- Gabbard             average

5- Mendoza             below average

That gives me:

4 average players 

8 below average players

2 above average players

I'm sure you guys can bring stats into this discussion and legitimize or discredit my thoughts.

I said all this to say....Its Wash's fault, OBVIOUSLY!