Soul

Strange thread :) Strange matchup too. Van Halen had 6 great albums with Roth until they took Hagar and became a poppy-rock version of their old selves (which was kind of strange, because Hagar's earlier solo work wasn't all that sappy). I know Skynyrd was legendary too----just a personal preference here. Eddie revoluntionized rock guitar playing for an entire generation; the latter albums with Hagar sullied his reputation, but that can't erase the volume of incredible work VH put together before. VH gets the vote.

Jane's Addiction is actually a really good, original sounding group. Nobody ever sounded like them. Unfortunately, so were the Police, and the lengthy track record of multiple good/great albums make them the choice for me.

Priest. One of the true greats of all time. I like Cream, don't get me wrong---but Priest was just so awesome. Sad Wings of Destiny, Sin after Sin, Stained Class, Hell Bent for Leather, British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith. For about 15 years there was no one even close to the Priest. And Halford is THE Metal God.

An astonishing interview. Baker even walked out on Sullivan. Wow. Here's an amazing quote: Insane. So I guess we should all accept the "it is what it is" mentality and just not try to get the most of the team? This is madness. Why is Dusty still managing this team?

It's close!

I think you're giving Girardi a little too much credit. Miguel Cabrera, Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Josh Willingham, Mike Jacobs, and Jeremy Hermida were good long before Joe Girardi got ahold of them. I think it's impressive what's going on in Florida this year but they have some really good young talent. Do you think with the same players, that Dusty Baker would be doing as well? Or do you think he'd have picked up players like Tony Womack or Phil Nevin to take over for one of the kids after they struggle for a week? Also, I don't see the Marlins' young players regressing like Murton & Cedeno. No, I don't believe a guy who was hitting over .300 for the last part of last season PLUS this season until June is really a .230 hitter and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Listen, I am fine if he thinks Hill is/was going to be a special pitcher, but to give him 3 or 4 starts early in the year, to watch him implode, then send him back down to pitch lights out in Iowa, only to not bring him back, but has no problem wheeling Rusch out there whenever we need a start or to fill in, is just ridiculous. Again, I have no problem with Hill coming back up here and not being able to cut it, and then we will all know. But to value a guy last year, almost to the point of making him untouchable, and then to keep him down in Iowa most of this year, I guess is the plan. Maybe he knows more than all of us, and Baker would only ruin him. Maybe Jim is just waiting until next year when there is new management in the dugout? Let's hope. BCB Unless he's thinking of trading Hill. In that case, having dominant numbers in AAA might give him more value that if he came back up and tanked again. Not saying that's what he is doing----but it might be one rationale.

Maybe Lou can use the Gold Glove award along with that manager of the year to tell us what is good and what isn't? Why do people think it's pure gospel when voters vote an award like that? Somebody ask Lou what young guys is he talking about...I'll bet he has no clue and is just preaching some junk Baker said to him while he was doing the game for ESPN. I guess Baker's in full-on excuse mode now. And it's spreading! "Waaah. I've got too many youngsters!" Wow, give me a break. Curse the Cubs for winning 3 in a row to go into the All-Star break. I'll bet Hendry agrees with Baker. 2 year extension for Dusty, comin' right up!

Tell that to Joe Girardi. The Marlins have good young players. The Marlins have young players they are teaching to be good. Big difference. We're busy tanking our younguns.

I just question what Cedeno is really "learning" with Dusty & crew at the helm. He's clearly regressed since the beginning of the year. There's no chance he's going to come out of it under Dusty. So, are we destroying the kid? It's hard to argue against it. Playing time can either provide the opportunity to improve, or just allow bad habits to set in so deeply they can never be overcome. Have a look at Cedeno. What do you all think is happening right now? I'd have to say the latter.

Silly me. I thought this thread would surely be about the Devil Rays or the Pirates. But the Astros? They're a perennial playoff team that just went to the World Series! You should take this thread, put it on the Astros board, change all the "Astros" references to "Cubs." "You think it's tough being an Astros fan? Look at the Cubs!" Stros fans haven't the first clue what it's like to suffer.

Springsteen should be in the "solo artists" tourney, not the "bands" tourney. The E Street Band is just something to add to the end of his name. He's a solo artist. If Springsteen's in, then how is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers not in the tourney? (OK, fire away, I've got my tomato-repelling rainjacket on :))

Not a big fan of punk? I am a big fan of punk, but not the Ramones. They bore me. I give them credit for giving punk a kickstart by repopularizing the 2:30 rock song and showing that you don't need to play great to start a band, but other than that I don't think they offered much. The bands that actually imitated their songwriting are mostly pop-punk, and I HATE pop-punk. The entire punk genre is all about attitude over playing ability. The Ramones are probably one of the more influential bands of all time. Their influence reaches far beyond punk---well into the rock genre, heavy metal, even some death metal and thrash.

Appetite was great, but it's one album. I don't think there's anything else by GNR that I really liked on a level that I would call "great." Still though, who is MOI? Never heard of them.

Bullet the Blue Sky live, man. U2.

High & Dry and Pyromania both gave me many, many more hours of enjoyment than anything Rush did, even though I realize Rush was a very influential band. Put me down for Lep, based on the early stuff, which rocked.

I realize the Dead probably impacted more people over a greater period of time, but I'm on the Pantera bandwagon in this matchup. I just never caught the whole Grateful Dead "thing." Plus, Dimebag's guitarwork was so sick.

Spice Girls? Gorillaz. Great band, but I couldn't justify them being pure rock. If I included Gorillaz, I'd have to include Beastie Boys and the like as well. Pandora's Box there True. And if you did that, Beastie Boys definitely would have to be in there which would knock off another really good Rock band. How long did it take you to assemble the list, anyway? Not too too long. I've had the idea for awhile, so it was mostly a matter of surfing the web for band lists so I didn't forget anyone. Then I had to narrow a list of 100ish down to 64. That was the tough part. That and the seedings, as I wanted everyone to be a 4th seed or higher :lol: That's cool. You could segment it down further if you wanted to keep everyone happy. Rock has become a pretty big category now. But nah; it's kind of fun to see Megadeth vs. Beatles, LOL.

Beltran he is not, ehem.

Spice Girls? Gorillaz. Great band, but I couldn't justify them being pure rock. If I included Gorillaz, I'd have to include Beastie Boys and the like as well. Pandora's Box there True. And if you did that, Beastie Boys definitely would have to be in there which would knock off another really good Rock band. How long did it take you to assemble the list, anyway?

Zep just too huge. Primus is cool; but no chance. Zep 8)

Spice Girls? Gorillaz.

If I could have my way I'd even leave Bon Jovi off. But alas, I cannot. I may not have ever liked their stuff, but the longevity, continued success decades later, the multiple million-selling albums, hit after hit.........can't deny the impact. They're from Jersey though; gives them a little buffer against the "Hair Band" tag. Can you tell I've given up on the Cubs? This is more interesting 8)

Capuano is certainly good enough to be there too. But nope. AJ shouldn't have gone over Liriano. I heard a bunch of Sox fans had their computers running all night long with a voting macro. Rolled up thousands of extra votes.

and that music scene is critiscized for having a crapload of fadbands as well as a flat out cookie cutter sound. Van Halen is the only respectable band in that genre IMO. Uhh, no. Not in my opinon, anyway....nor any of the people I know who lived through it with me :? Van Halen wasn't part of the same scene. They played the same clubs, but it was a different era. Van Halen had already put out their 2nd multi-platinum album and were playing arenas worldwide with the original Black Sabbath lineup in the '70s before Crue and Hollywood metal even started to resonate. Shall we call the Doors part of the '80s Metal scene, too? They played all those joints: Roxy, Gazzarris, the Troub, the Whiskey. No, probably not a real good idea. The Metal scene Motley came up with really took off when Quiet Riot put out their album and it hit #1 on the Charts. After that, every exec on the planet had scores of A&R guys combing Sunset Blvd for hair bands. And every kid who didn't want a job decided to grow his hair and form a band: that's where the problem started. Crue was far, far before all the dilution and crap came. As for being criticized, every music scene gets criticized for something. Pink Floyd was part of a music scene too. You never hear about all the other bands who opened for them in the clubs because there wasn't such a record company frenzy surrounding it. But it was there. The number of Floyd copy bands that came afterwards was, and remains enormous. And most of them are cookie-cutter, fadbands as well. So........judging the giants of the scene by the mediocre cash-in copies who come afterwards just doesn't fly.