Yubs

The arcade doesn't have a hard drive, which I think might be the only difference between its more expensive versions. You can opt to go with the repair route, which I think costs $150. Just call MSoft and send it in. If you want to buy a new console, then the $299 version would be best I'm guessing. The PS3 is also $299, if you're interested in that.

AI?

Send it to Sony and pay the $150 for repair. If it's under warranty though, repair is free.

It's called "moving on." A franchise has to move forward eventually.

I'm going by the definition too. When I hear somone call an athlete "transcendent," I automatically think, "an athlete who goes above and beyond. The near-perfect specimen. Someone who has few or no weaknesses. The total package. The undeniable superior player on the field/court." Am I wrong in thinking that? I don't think I am. And to me, Michael Vick just doesn't fit in. And I wonder. Are you only counting his physical ability? Why are you ignoring the mental aspect? True transcendent athletes are superior in both aspects. Jordan, Kobe, Tiger Woods - all incredibly smart players who also have all-universe talent. You don't often hear people throw around "transcendent athlete" haphazardly either. When they do, its usually reserved for true legends. How can Vick already be that when he has only been in the league for a handful of years? When the prime of his life was stripped away by jail time? You imply Vick will be remembered and admired for years to come, hinting that future generations will mimic his game, a phenomenom you say is already happening. Besides Vince Young - a mentally unstable player who wasn't even the starter last year - and Pat White - an untested rookie who only had an ounce of the fanfare Vick had - who are these myterious players using Vick as a blueprint? Do you have a quote where a kid says, "Vick's playstyle was an influence. I try and pattern the way I play after him." Just because a QB scrambles to find the open receiver or the hole in the line, one can safely assume, "Oh hey! That's just like Michael Vick!" ? QB's have been doing that for decades before Vick was even born. Perhaps not with the fervor Vick had, but its been there. And that's somehow game-changing? Because Vick opted to run and not throw? The QB position is not going to change. Teams want the next Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, not the next Michael Vick. You also imply that the team and staff around Vick wasn't very good, blaming the ho-hum pieces around him for lessening his impact. Are you saying Vick is above the blame? That it was the entire team, sans Vick, that should bear the brunt of those disappointing seasons? Why is it easy to blame the team, but not Vick? Was Vick not part of the team? Did he not have a hand in losing some of those crucial games? How could their supposed leader, the guy that was supposed to make things happen, the guy who had a hand in almost every play, escape blame? You're right, those teams were overrated. And Mike Vick was apart of them. And I don't think its as much as the team around Vick that "failed him," but because the rest of the league figured him out. We were a grossly one-dimensional team, an offense catered around Vick. Call it what you want, but Vick could not adjust. Vick and the Falcons went 6-2 or 5-2 (don't remember which), during the season in which they finished 8-8 and 7-9. The league adjusted halfway through the seasons, and he didn't. His vaunted leg and arm strength and playmaking abilities couldn't translate to just one more meager win. Blame the coaching staff or the players on the field if you want to (and believe me, they do share the blame), but Vick is not free from the blame. Vick wasn't transcendent. He was controversial. He's the walking, living, breathing definition of "hype." And thats how he's going to go down in the history books, in my opinion. I think we're interpreting transcendent differently. And have different criteria on what makes up a transcendent athlete. It's obvious we won't convince each other, so this'll be my last post in this matter.

I think some of us are getting transcendent mixed up with exciting. They are mutually exclusive terms. Case in point: Josh Smith. Awesome athlete, can jump a million feet in the air, dunks are pretty nasty. But is he transcendent? Do you consider Josh Smith transcendent? Doubt it. But he sure is fun to watch. Michael Vick was very much like that. He was a great athlete, he was fast, fun to watch, etc. But how can he be transcendent when he could never put 2 and 2 together? When he would get flustered so easily to give the fans the middle finger? Yes, he was a good athlete, but on the field, with some of the decisions he made, he came off as a mental midget. Too often it seemed like he was too concerned about making his next great run down the field, rather than just methodically moving the chains and picking his opponents apart. Yes, he had the stats, but where were the winning seasons? The championship banners? The MVP's? The respect he was supposed to bring to the Falcons? How can you label someone with such a lofty title as "Transcendent" when he wasn't even a winner? Like AHF said, great athlete, poor football player. Although, I'll have to respectfully disagree with his assesment that Vick was a transcendent athlete. A transcendent athlete - to me at least - is not just someone who is gifted physically. A transcendent athlete is someone who is the complete package. Physically and mentally. Someone who excelled in both. A natural born leader. A "god" on the field/court if you will. Again, much like Jordan or even Kobe. A player who is just so gifted that no others can hope to match them. Michael Vick is not in that category. Michael Jordan's name resonates with everyone. Michael Vick's name - doesn't. Well, maybe it does, but not in the way Vick would like. If you want to make the argument that he could have been transcendent, then sure, I'll agree. He had the tools, just not the brains. If he developed his mental game a bit more, then yes, he could have been on his way. But unfortunately , he didn't.

Michael Vick was never transcendent. Ever. Michael Jordan was transcendent. Muhammad Ali was transcendent. Babe Ruth was transcendent. You know why they were transcendent? Because they were larger than life personalities. They were feared. Future generations mimiced them. But most importantly, they were champions. Michael Vick has never been to a superbowl. He's never won the MVP trophy. We have highlight reels, and thats it. Where was his transcendent ability when the Falcons went 7-9 and 8-8? Well, firstly, he is not even the Kobe Byrant or Lebron James of Football. They were MVP's, and in Kobe's case, a champion. Again, something Michael Vick does not have. True, teams had to adjust, and what happened? Rendered him ineffectual. Once they figured him out, he couldn't adjust. So... he was transcendent because a lot of people knew him? And he had a fat contract? That's all it takes these days? Then half the NFL must be comprised of transcendent athletes.

Transcendent? lol, easy with the hyperbole. He hasn't done anything of note in the NFL to garner such a label, except run around a lot. There's nothing "transcendent" about Michael Vick. Is he an exciting player? Sure. Is he transcendent? Hardly.

Anyone here hope they give Javier Vazquez an extension? I know he's the popular name to throw around in trade deals, and I'm sure the Braves will get some interesting offers for him in the offseason, but we've been trying to get this guy for years and i'd hate to see him be one-and-done for us. The guy is an inning-eater, strikes out a lot of people, doesn't really have an injury history, and he seems like an all around good guy. Plus, I think he feels comfortable for the first time since his Montreal Expo days. I'm sure he would be receptive to the idea of staying here beyond 2010. With Hudson coming back too, 2010 will be interesting.

The link to the article is here: Heyward VS Stanton . Very in-depth and well-written. Even has animated gifs of their swing progressions/adjustments.

Martin Prado batting 2nd and dropping Escobar to 5th-6th has been a stroke of genius. Long overdue, probably, but a stroke of genius nonetheless. We're finally trotting out a competent, dare-I-say fearsome lineup out there. Not really an easy out in there. Shipping Failcoeur to NY, and more importantly, getting him out of the 5th-6th spot has been a huge addition by subtraction.

While I would like the Hawks to win game 7 - and I expect them to win game 7 - I can't help but think that the Hawks might be better off losing game 7. I'm not sure if I can stomach the EPSN/TNT crew fellating Lebron James and his picture-taking friends while we (in all likelihood) get destroyed by Cleveland on national t.v. It's either us or the Heat that stand in the way of a bulldozing Cavs team, and at this point I think I rather see the Heat get victimized in a four game sweep. But yeah, we win game 7. And it'll be great, no doubt, if we do win. But if we lose, I'll just shrug my shoulders and watch in delight as the refs send James to the line 20 times a game while a confused, saddened Dwayne Wade stands in the background.

I'm still not convinced the Spirit will fire Woody, even if we lose out. They've stuck with him for five years, what's another year to them? They'll say, "He got us our first winning season in years, he deserves another year." In a recession, with the Spirit Group mired in a legal fight with Belkin, I can't see them paying Woody to stay home, and paying a new coach to coach this team... A coaching change won't happen until 2010, imo.

Welcome to the show, Schafer! 1st homer of his young career! :thumbsupsmileyanim:

The ASG is hemorrhaging money right now, and in this slumping economy, they're not going to pay Woody to stay home and pay a different coach to coach this team. We get swept in the first round, second round, lose in 5 games, etc., doesn't matter what happens in the playoffs. Woody will be back next year.

So are you going to actually propose a trade, one that legitimately makes us better, or are you just going to continue to stay silent on the subject? After 5 pages, I'll just take your silence as acknowledgement that you can't think of a legit proposal, and that you just wanted to vent. I mean, it's fine if you have issue with his play, you can say whatever you want, but if you make a post suggesting that we trade JJ and can't even end it with a viable trade proposal, then you might as well have titled this topic, "I don't like JJ." Trust me, you'll still get your 5+ pages of replies. Don't get me wrong, I too am disappointed with his play as of late, but without his solid play the first two months of the season, we're not relevant. I even sat here, trying to think of trade proposals that would work and actually make us better, and I can't really think of one. Maybe trade him for expirings, start over, tank the rest of the season, and hope for James Harden? :white flag:

Great hire imo. Despite the debacle with the Knicks, Brown has been a success at every team he coached. If they can retain Emeka, they'll be pretty darn good under Brown's tutelage. There could potentially be four teams from the Southeast Division going to the playoffs next year: Orlando, Washington, Atlanta and Charlotte. Talk about a stacked divison.

Quote: It's not Avery's fault that the Mavs are soft as hell. He didn't put that squad together or trade away their young PG or defensive center to get Kidd. The fans need to direct their anger toward Cuban and the GM. It's amazing how much better Paul is over Kidd. And watch . . Paul won't even be the starter for Team USA in China . . Kidd will . . because of seniority. Never thought Avery was at fault here. Theres not much Avery, or anyone else, can do about Jason Kidd's fast decline, who is showing his age out there and is straight-up getting schooled by He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named. Not to mention the Dallas GM gutted the team's depth for said aging point gaurd. Oh well. Cuban can go ahead and fire AJ. I would be glad for the Hawks to take him off their arms.

With the Mavs getting destroyed in game 2 by the Hornets, and The-Hawks-Should-Have Drafted-Him-In-2005 having a monster game with 32 pts. 17 ast., the Dallas fanbase have been calling for Avery Johnson's head(well, the fans at the realgm website at least). And with last year's embarrasment and this year looking like another laugher, AJ may very well be dismissed by Cuban. Question is, do we get him if AJ is fired and Woody is not retained? If you read some of the comments on RealGm, insults such as "Avery is an idiot," "Avery is a horrible motivator," "Avery is a poor game planner," etc. are being tossed around. Hmmm, sounds kind of familiar, don't it? But IMO, if he is fired, I think we should definetely go for him. A change in scenery may do him some good. Look at Byron Scott. Takes the Nets to the Finals twice, and gets fired because he couldn't get the job done against a juggernaut of a Lakers team. He lands in New Orleans, and look at him now... had a rough first year or two, but now hes coasting against a supposed Dallas powerhouse and has a pretty decent chance of getting into the Finals. I think Avery can do the same for us. Anyone else think so? Thoughts? Opinions?

Josh Smith with the CLUTCH THREE!! Who would have thunk it!

Wow, could you imagine the uproar that would bellow from these boards if they counted that last basket? It would be utter chaos in here. Thank god the officials ruled it correctly.

Anyone see it? Excellent, excellent movie. Highly recommend it. Who knew everyone's favorite whipping boy -- Ben Affleck -- had a great deal of talent when wielding the camera and directing actors. His bro Casey was great in this movie, with a very subtle but intense performance. Makes me want to watch The Assassination of Jesse James now, just to see what Casey can do in that.

Same AP article up on Yahoo! Sports also. Link

Quote: Do teams hold PC during the season after making a big move? If they do then I don't remember them. I think the Suns had a PC with Shaq after their trade.

Quote: Maybe Knight thought it best to not give fans a chance to second-guess him.