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I think you should stick to watching them on TV.

Stumbled upon this fun trivia story by accident: Last week, Albanian player Bajram Sadrijaj came in to a German cup game for Dortmund in the 71st minute as a sub. He was redcarded for a tackle after twelve seconds, apparently a new world record. And it was on his birthday as well.

No, why would it be? How can you represent another country if you don't live there? Careful, you're about to get in to trouble with the fans of the US soccer team. :lol:

And he did a fine job. 8-)

He would actually like to bat him nine times, but that would get noticed.

In the Olympic soccer tournament, Belgium got past Italy despite being a man and a goal down after 15 minutes to advance to the semi-finals. :D

All right, let's turn the argument around: given your background, whom would you prefer to be the next owner of the Cubs, and why?

Does Yost like to fish?

They are also rumoured to be after Andrej Arsjavin (now with Zenit St-Petersburg)

Because in our hearts we all want to manage the Cubs, and like to think we could be good at it.

If that isn't motivation to put in more shifts, I don't know what is.... :wink:

The Cubs have my permission to kick his Dutch ass all over the place.

Walk-off please.

I don't think Castillo will pitch again for this organization.

Considering Marquis' real value, I'd guess lots of it.

And maybe not the source for support in international baseball you want, but I found this entertaining: Castro Blasts Olympics for Dropping Baseball

It is growing steadily. The comparison between baseball and soccer is unfair imho - both sports have a completely different history and organization. Just looking at the organizational side: soccer governing body FIFA accomodates it's calendar for international tournaments and competitions (like the World Cup) and national leagues are obliged to follow. When something takes place that doesn't fit in to the set scheme (like the upcoming Olympics) it creates all sorts of problems - clubs are reluctant to release players for the Olympics and when they have very little choice (i.e. in countries that have qualified) games have to be resheduled for teams that will be missing several players. Just to give you an example: Belgium have qualified, and the big traditional clubs here have already stated they will demand that their games during the Olympics be resheduled (creating all sorts of problems because those clubs are also the ones that have qualified for the Champion's League end UEFA Cup competitions). On the other hand, foreign clubs don't want to release their Belgian internationals for the Olympics (e.g. Hamburg with Vincent Kompany). In international soccer, FIFA rules and the national leagues have to follow, although it must be said that clubs are gaining more influence and power, as is now obvious with the Olympics, where FIFA rules don't oblige them to release players. Baseball is organized in a completely different way - MLB rules and international bodies have very little power. And as long as MLB does not accomodate for the international game, you'll be stuck with a WBC in it's present form. On a side note, there are actually two WBC's: there the Classic (1 edition - organized by MLB/MLBPA) and the Cup (37 editions - organized by IBAF). This doesn't stop baseball from becoming more and more international, just look at the diversity of players: a small country like the Netherlands currently has 42 players playing pro ball in the US (list - yes, I know, a lot of them are from Curaçao, but they are still Dutch nationals).

And ... cue the offense. :D

hey what'd we say about not doing this? It makes me smile every time, though.

Really going out on a limb with that guess. :D You can't be that positive about that with the Cubs. :) It would be hilarious if they messed up the paperwork twice in the same season. Then again, this is the Cubs....

ESPN has the story

The IOC doesn't, but in the case of the Olympic soccer tournament, I believe FIFA does (mainly to avoid eroding it's own World Cup)

Soriano showing some common sense - good to read.

Any player selected must also be added to the 40 man roster from day one, which means there must be room to do so. A team with a full 40 man roster cannot select anyone in the rule 5 draft (major league part).

As things stand today, only Veal and Atkins need to be protected from the rule 5 draft IMHO - there's little chance any of the others would be taken, and even less chance they would stick on a 25 man roster for a full season in 2009.