Tracer Bullet

I've only listened to De Stijl and Elephant more than once, but they are in no way a Christian band, based on those 2 albums.

I agree, but my favorite quote from that song is just a bit after what you quoted: Don't let the past remind us of what we are not now I am not leaving Oh, and I voted assuming that CSNY included the work by CSN (like Suite: Judy Blue Eyes). It wouldn't change my vote in this particular poll, but it could in the future.

Is Bob Dylan being considered folk? If so, that's fine, but if you're considering him to be rock, his omission from this tourney is a travesty. There are no solo acts in the tourney, which explains Dylan's absence. Given the rest of the list, I'm quite confident Derwood wouldn't have excluded Dylan.

As much as I hate DMB, I respect Beauford as a drummer. My hate of DMB most stems from Dave himself.

I spent about 10 years studying percussion and at least 15 playing the drums and I simply can't stand Tool (not my genre). Thus, I haven't listened to a ton of Carey, but I'd disagree that he's the best rock drummer alive.

No.

WS shouldn't be a nine, but I'm surprised Megadeath even made this tourney.

when i was in college back in the late 90's) it was the same thing but replace DMB with Phish or Blues Traveller I wish I were at your college. Mine was like CFICT's apparently. I couldn't get away from DMB. Well, I guess it was mid-90's. I was at DePaul from 92-96, so basically before DMB broke big Oh, I was 96-00. I think their 2nd CD came out my freshman or sophomore year. Couldn't take 5 steps w/o hearing it blaring from somewhere.

Must give credit where credit is due.

First, I appreciate your willingness to come to the board and discuss this. Second, there is almost no way that a single player would change the outcome of 5 games that the Cubs lost by 3 runs or more. Sure, it's possible that those particular games Barrett would have gone 4-4 and drove in the 4, 5, 6, or 7 runs necessary to win each game, but HIGHLY unlikely. Maybe Barrett makes a significant difference in 2-3 games, but we lost 7 games during the suspension, 1 by 1 run, 1 by 2, the rest by 3 or more. Third, I'm pretty surprised that you're using 6 handpicked ABs to support this claim. Blanco hit .341 with 3 HRs in the 13 games Barrett missed; he had an OPS over 1.000 in June (15 total games, so only 2 games other than these 13). Yes, you can handpick a handful of situations where he didn't succeed, but I'm positive that I can find 6 games this season in which Barrett didn't get a hit with guys on base or whatever. That's really not a strong argument. The fact that Blanco stranded 1 runner in an 8-1 loss means Barrett's absence was a significant cause in the team being 20 games under .500 at the break? Finally, and this is probably the biggest issue with laying blame on Barrett, I think the Cubs were 27-42 when Barrett's suspension was enforced. They were already 15 games below .500. I don't know how many games back that was, but they were out of the race. They were 3/10 without Barrett, but they were only playing .390 ball with him. So even if you want to say his being out cost us 2 games (we'd play .500 ball w/ him) or even all 7 games we lost - we'd still be 13 games under .500. Our team has been terrible and Barrett has been very good and steadily playing well all year, I just don't understand why you'd want to blame him for this mess. Maddux has sucked since April. Z sucked in April when he was supposed to be the ace. Walker struggled in May and was horrible in June. If you want another player, I think there's a long line in front of our C with the now .903 OPS.

That makes pretty good sense.

when i was in college back in the late 90's) it was the same thing but replace DMB with Phish or Blues Traveller I wish I were at your college. Mine was like CFICT's apparently. I couldn't get away from DMB.

Maybe b/c PJ has sucked since Vs.?

I totally agree about Grohl on Queens of the Stone Age. Don't like the group really, but I like having Grohl behind the drums again. And I have to agree about Peart as well. But I just can't stand Rush at all.

I won't argue that a lot of Aerosmith's songs sound similar (Amazin' is right there w/ Crazy and Crying for me), but they're in a poll against the White Stripes. Are you saying a lot of their songs don't sound similar? I'm not really a fan of the White Stripes at all. I just think Aerosmith is one of the most overrated bands of all human history. There are some songs by each group that I like, but neither is my favorite band. I just found your argument about the similarity of songs being a strike against Aerosmith to be interesting when the other option was the WS. I defy you to find two songs that sound alike on "Get Behind Me Satan' I shall not be defied! I've listened to that disc once and didn't like it, so I haven't again. So I can't really name any of the songs on it, let alone compare them. I'm thinking more of Elephant/De Stijl.

Never heard their music, or never heard of the group. If you've been alive for the last few years, I just find the latter surprising.

Yes, in hindisight, I shouldn't have said that about Grohl. Because I remember immediately learning the drum parts off "Nevermind". My favorite is the drum part on "In Bloom" Watts is also a fav of mine. Most musicologists put him in the same field as Ringo Starr or Mick Avory i.e. british drummers who come from an almost minimalist approach to drumming. Steady those guys were. They normally didn't try and do anything too elaborate. If you listen to both Stones and Beatles songs you will hear that Watts and Ringo rarely do fills while there is a vocal part playing. I agree about In Bloom. And I'd put Ringo right there with Watts. Sometimes the minimalist approach is perfect for a given song. Although it'd be interesting to hear what Bonham would have been like with the Stones on some songs. BTW - no Mitch Mitchell?

I'd put Dave Grohl in that list. I remember seeing him on Letterman a few years back after he'd won some award for "guitarist of the year" or something. He turns to Letterman and says, "that's funny, b/c, you know, I'm a drummer." I'd also add Jon Fishman, but it's hard to convince others that he's as good as he is. I'd say Grohl is an excellent musician before I'd say he's an excellent drummer. The fact that he's great a drums, vocals, and guitar make him an excellent overall musician. As far as what he has contributed to the modern drumming community, i'm not sure. Definitely not as much as Carey or Chamberlain. While I do recognize that Fishman is a great drummer from both things i've read and his drumming that i've heard, you don't have to convince me of that, I just don't care for Phish. my favorite drummers list is, in order: Bonham, Peart, Danny Carey, Keith Moon, Jimmy Chamberlain, Alex Van Halen, and Matt Cameron. That's a great list. Bonham and Moon are my two favorites. Fishman's drumming is just unique, at least to me (and the man plays wearing a dress). But as for Grohl not contributing to the drumming community, I can't agree. I was in HS when Nevermind came out. Suddenly, everyone and their brother was playing the beat from Smells Like Teen Spirit. I realize he wasn't the first to play that style, but every HS drummer I saw started playing that way after that album came out. But my favorite drummers include guys like Charlie Watts, who was more subtle. He wasn't playing like Bonham and Moon, but he was smooth.

I won't argue that a lot of Aerosmith's songs sound similar (Amazin' is right there w/ Crazy and Crying for me), but they're in a poll against the White Stripes. Are you saying a lot of their songs don't sound similar? I'm not really a fan of the White Stripes at all. I just think Aerosmith is one of the most overrated bands of all human history. There are some songs by each group that I like, but neither is my favorite band. I just found your argument about the similarity of songs being a strike against Aerosmith to be interesting when the other option was the WS.

I won't argue that a lot of Aerosmith's songs sound similar (Amazin' is right there w/ Crazy and Crying for me), but they're in a poll against the White Stripes. Are you saying a lot of their songs don't sound similar?

I'd put Dave Grohl in that list. I remember seeing him on Letterman a few years back after he'd won some award for "guitarist of the year" or something. He turns to Letterman and says, "that's funny, b/c, you know, I'm a drummer." I'd also add Jon Fishman, but it's hard to convince others that he's as good as he is.

Absolutely, I could not have put it better. Throughout my teenage years in the mid 90's, when I was drumming for rock bands at party's and stuff, we played ALOT of Pearl Jam and Greenday stuff. I personally enjoyed playing drums on Green Day tunes because they are so quick and fun. Tough decision, but I went with Pearl Jam because I feel that Green Day has alot of songs that sound very similar. I'm not a fan of bands that stick to one formula of tune. I realize Green Day has improved in recent years with that, but I still went with Pearl Jam. Tough call for me too, but at their peak I liked Green Day more.

Very good article. It also says something about Hendry too when you're talking about the leadoff guys but Baker and his conventional wisdom likes leading guys off that shouldn't bat above the 8 slot. It's nice to see the abuse point system out there and with Wood and Prior at the top many some will figure out there really is a pattern out there. The horses are broken because they were rode into the ground. I'm really glad to see Bruce mention pitch counts. I'm so tired of hearing how Prior and Wood are wimps. They were destroyed in '03. And I've had the same concerns about the way Dusty uses Z. Maybe Cora hit him with a fungo b/c he likes him and wanted to give him a few extra days w/o having to throw 130 pitches for a team that's on pace to lose 100 games.

Surprising 5-0 start by GD.

Great idea!