If you ever go to St. Louis, MO just ask someone how to get to "The
Hill". It's the Italian neighborhood and as for a restaurant just pick
one, you CAN NOT go wrong; most of the places have been open 50 years or
more. If you're going to hold me to one though, go with Ahmighetti's (I
may have misspelt that), it's great and they make their own bread daily
(of course so do a lot of the places on "The Hill").

Actually Trae, what you said about those players not being accurate
isn't borne out by the numbers.

David Carr: 587 of 934= .628 CP (completion percentage)
Tim Couch : 795 of 1184 = .671 CP
Ryan Leaf : Couldn't find college stats but averaged 330.6 ypg and set
a PAC 10 record with 33 TD passes junior year- second runner up in
Heisman voting


By Contrast Quinn with his 929 of 1602 passes for a .579 CP is
actually WORSE than those three until you consider that his two years
under Weiss (sp) produced a CP of .633 (581 of 917).

You could also point out that Carr, Couch, and Leaf (drafted 1,1, and
2 respectively) went to teams where they had no offensive weapons (Carr
and Couch went to first year expansions and well, you aren't drafting
second if you have an offense) to work with and no protection from their
lines (Carr was sacked 75 times his rookie year) while Quinn is going to
a team that has invested in it's offense (Winslow, Edwards, and Lewis)
and it's line (#3 pick Thomas and FA Steinbach).

In other words the first three were set up to fail (Marino, Montana,
or Brady couldn't have done anything with those teams either) and Quinn
has a reasonable chance for success.

That might have been the best move of the day (Browns moving back up
to get Quinn) and yeah they had to give up next year's pick to do it but
you have to look at it like this- they got NEXT years pick a year early.
That said though, Dallas should have a top 15 pick and a top 10 isn't
out of the question.

I loved the Carriker pick but the Leonard pick has me scratching my
head. RB was not a need for the Rams (we do need a back up but that
could wait a round or two) and with other quality players still on the
board I was a little concerned; but maybe he'll be the second coming of
John Riggins and I'll be laughing all the way to AZ next january (but I
doubt it).

Me too! I'm still hoping Patrick Willis falls to us but I have this
ugly feeling that the Bills are taking him at #12. In any case it'll be
interesting, it's so muddled after the first couple of picks anything
could happen.

Damn skippy "Uh Oh". Now with a little defensive help we should be
set.

Sports are something most everyone can agree about; they transcend
language, culture, and religion. Without a doubt something like this
will/would be a good thing; at the very least it would let the folks
from those countries see we don't have horns sprouting from our
heads.

It's not suprising, I'm sure individuals with families in Russia or
other Eastern Bloc countries were subjected to much the same during the
Cold War. I'm also not sure how relevant it is to the conversation but
there was an article in ESPN the Magazine several months ago about US
players in the Iraninan basketball league and how their contry of birth
goes from U.S.A to Angola/South Africa/whatever. It also reports that
the vast majority of Iranians are huge sports fans and are chafing under
the rules put down by the theocracy there. Anyone else see that?

Actually I think that though it IS a ticky-tacky deal, the league did
the right thing. The NFL has to protect it's branding, that is they
have to protect the products that are paying for their right to be "the
official _____ of the NFL"; otherwise it makes no sense for anyone to
pay the NFL for anything. And if anyone believes that Vitaminwater is
unhappy about this (or Urlacher for that matter- remember the only bad
publicity is if they misspell your name) you're wrong and Vitaminwater
will happily pay the fine for him.

I haven't been to an AFL game in a while but the last time I went it
was pretty fun. Interesting side note though, the first AFL game I went
to it was the Iowa Barnstormers Vs. St. Louis ?Stampede? (I can't
remember what the name was) Kurt Warner was playing for the barnstormers
and torched us for like 8 TDs.

As just another working SOB I think about this every time we collect
for the powerball jackpots. So in order it would be:

1. Pay off all debts for myself, my mom, my brother and sister.
2. Set up college funds for my brother's daughter and my
sister/brother-in-law's kids (They'll prolly end up with about 5 *rolls
eyes*)
3. Take a REAL vacation.
4. Go to culinary school (I love to cook)
5. Open a restaurant with my sister and brother-in-law (she's a CPA
and he's working toward a business degree)

and somewhere in there I'd like to meet the woman of my dreams
(provided she doesn't know about the winnings, I want her to to love me
for me lol).

If you're going to leave your destiny in someone else's hands you got
screwed- but you did it to yourself. NJ did exactly what I would have
done, that is, rest your star players and keep them healthy for when it
matters.

Nutella on warmed tortillas.

I'm just curious that with the uproar over Mr. Imus' comments and the
reaction from Sharpton and Jackson that he needs to be fired will they
have time to appologize to the Duke University lacrosse players? These
are after all the same "gentlemen" who screamed racism in this case and
demanded justice for the young woman making the charges. It now seems
that justice WAS done... by exonerating the young men and bringing the
prosecutor before the the state bar for overzealousness in prosecuting
the case. I also wonder what should be done with regards to the "lady"
in this case for dragging not only these young men's reputations through
the mud, but also costing a coach his job, and creating a mountain from
not even a molehill.

"...the first time in history, steel was melted by fire..." Hmmm,
this is news to me and every other welder or steelworker on the planet.
What is it I do all day again?

In fact it looks like ESPN Classic will be showing UEFA Champions
League matches all night tonight. Enjoy all!

It's about right and as far as the appeals go, the NFLPA was on board
with this new policy so I wouldn't bet on any reductions (according to
Chris Mortenson on ESPN last night these player's conduct was a source
of emberassment to the league's players during their meetings last
month). It also seems that Chad Johnson (Henry's teamate) has zero
sympathy for the idiots who act like children.

Love it! I get FOX Soccer Channel and it's outstanding to see the
quality of play across the world.

The consensus here in Columbus (from talk and sports talk radio) is
that Imus was stupid for saying what he said, but it's his right to say
what he likes as long as he's willing to suffer the consequences. The
girls on the other hand need to suck it up and realize that no one can
take away what they've acheived unless they allow them to. The point
was also made that if what Imus said was so offensive that the
rap/hip-hop industry as a whole needs to be shut down for what they say.

Actually Garden, I read an article about a week ago (I meant to post
it but never got around to it) and the writer made the interesting point
that Iran is acting somewhat like a spoiled child right now and that the
last thing we should do is give them what they want (us bombing them).
It's an interesting point in that as I said in another response if we
bomb them they will be able to "rally the troops" and point out what a
"bully" the U.S. is being where if we continue to let them talk they
will eventually hang themselves with the slack we're giving them. That
said I like you cruise missle idea. lol