Valascus

I personally think the Bears are a legit Superbowl contender and will win the whole sha-bang. They allow the least amount of points while scoring the most...pretty easy formula there. They are just dominating. Their hiccup against the Cardinals was just that...a hiccup...which was expected to happen eventually with a young QB such as Grossman. His defense bailed him out. But that shows how many dimesions this team has. They can win it with defense or offense. They can return punts and kickoffs for TDs. Just a great ALL AROUND TEAM.

Saint Louis will be a much better area downtown soon enough. There are A TON of MAJOR renovations being done downtown, trust me I know I have worked on 3 so far. Like GMAN said around the Satdium and whatnot is getting nicer than it used to be. There are a lot of building downtown that are essentially being gutted and turned into high dollar lofts and condos. Old run down apartment buildings, business buildings, and abandon lots are all being targeted for these renovations in hopes that the city can be turned into a much nicer place to live. Lets see...the Marquette Building, The PET building, Beehat, Ely Walker...all buildings I have worked on (except Beehat...missed that one...barely)..and those are only a few of the many many buildings being redone. It seems construction began on the riverfront and is working it's way out of the city from there. Here is my only problem with the direction this will go. Turning ALL of the city into thse high dollar lofts and such will draw many many ritsy folk into the city. They will buy up this property and spend money IN the city while living and working there. This will give the city a greater amount of tax revenues and help the city as a whole. NOW...here is the problem. All of the undesirable aspects of the city right now...the poverty, the crime, etc. etc...will not go away. I think in the years to come you will see it move away from the city and spill into the suburbs surrounding it in Saint Louis County. Mostly North Saint Louis County and the more easterly sections of West County were housing is the most affordable. These areas...which are already not really a walk in the park...I think will get a whole lot worse. The most dangerous part of Saint Louis...isn't really even technically Saint Louis. East Saint Louis...more commonly know 'round here as "The East Side", is BY FAR the most dangerous place in the "Saint Louis Area" to be by a looooooooooooooong shot. You do not wanna be lost, caught unawares, alone, acting like you don't know where you are or what your doing, or just around there without some sorta purpose...even in broad daylight and MUCH MUCH MUCH less at night. Whew...flat out bad area. BUT...all that being said. I still think there are more dangerous cities in this country than Saint Louis. I guess the point is that all cities, no matter where you go in this country have their "good" areas and the ones that you wouldn't wanna be stuck in, in broad daylight.

I hate Daylight Saving Time. What a pain in the butt. It just throws my clock off pretty bad initially (like right now...my brain still thinks it's almost 11:00pm and I am pretty tired cuz of it). I hate the short days and looooooooong nights. Just makes me tired real quick to see it dark out so early. Having a little one trying to make the adjustment to the time changes is a pain too. Throws her all off schedule for her naps, night night time, and ultimately what time she wakes up in the morning. So...DST sucks.

Boy it is still sinkin' in. How cool is this? Looks like I'll be asking for some WS Champs gear this Christmas. Let's see fitted WS Champs hat, WS Champs Shirt, and WS Champs Jersey...all authentic MLB. I don't like wearing the knock off stuff when it comes to my sports apparell...although baseball is the only sports apparell I wear. SO...now the season is in the bag. Baseball is ALMOST all but over. A couple more things will now be coming to pass. Baseball awards season! Who do you all have winning what awards? NL and AL MVP, NL and AL Cy Young, NL and AL Rookie of the Year, and Gold Gloves. Who do y'all think? NL MVP- To me this is the toughest one to pick. I am gonna go with Pujols since the Cards made the playoffs and probably would not have if not for his good Sept. But, Ryan Howard is also worthy of the award I believe. AL MVP- Derek Jeter, hands down. He was the glue that held that Yankees organization "together" during all those injuries and helped carry that team in those times. NL Cy- I honestly do not believe that any starting pitcher pitched well enough to get the award. If we would have had a pitcher with 17 wins they would have been the closest. Out of all the NL starting pitchers, Chris Carpenter is probably the forerunner. BUT, he is not my choice. I think Trevor Hoffman has a great shot at getting the award, and should get it. 46 saves out of 51, 2.14 ERA in 63 innings pitched, and 50 strikeouts to only 13 walks...all on top of surpassing Lee Smith's all time saves record. AL Cy- Duh...Johan Santana. Need I say more? NL Rookie of Year - Dan Uggla. He was the best on a rookie on a Florida Marlins team was basically ALL rookies. Can't they just give it to the whole Florida team? : AL Rookie of Year- Justin Verlander. He was the best starting pitcher on a LOADED Detroit starting rotation. Gotta give him the nod.

The Cardinals have just won the World Series...and what am I interested in now? Less than 12 hours before their World Series Title, I am looking at one thing and hoping that the Cardinals can do the one thing that no team since 2000 could accomplish. A World Series Title Defense. How will they do it next year? I am going to watch Jocketty and the Dewitt Group very closely to see what kind of offseason moves they make to try to hold the core pieces of this team together and add new pieces to the mix to try to be the first team to go back to back in quite some time. That's what's in the back of my mind. BUT...for now I am just sitting back and enjoying the first Cardinals WS title since I was born. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..... and that's a winner!

Yes they did Muddy. I believe they are the new record holders of that very unwanted part of history.

YES YES YES!!!! FREAKIN' AWESOME!!! CARDINALS 2006 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!! I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SAY IT, BUT JEFF WEAVER ROCKS THE HIZZY BIG TIME!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I am going to echo the greatness of the SPRO BronzEye frog. Awesome, Awesome hollow body frog lure. BUT...that being said I am going to give you some advice on them to help increase hook up ratios. 1) Equipment - Baitcasting reel on at least a 7' Heavy action rod. The heavy rod gives you the backbone necessary to horse a fish outta the thick stuff. The casting gear helps with the braided line. I don't know many folks that use braid on spinnin' gear. 2) Line - BRAID!! It's a must when using these frogs for a couple reasons. First it eliminates line stretch that you will experience with MOST monofiliments, which will help hook up ratios. Second, in most places you chuck this frog there is a lot of vegetation, wood, etc. etc. The braid will slice through the vegetation much better than mono and has better abrasion resistance against wood. As far as line size and brand goes, I prefer PowerPro #50 or higher for froggin'. 3) Tweakin' the bait - This one is more of an optional thing, but I think it helps hook up ratios. The BronzEye comes with Gamakatsu hooks. The hooks penetrate the fish when the fish bites down on the soft body of the frog. Sometimes, however, if the fish doesn't bite down hard enough or you react to fast for the fish to bite down enough you end up ripping the bait from the fishes mouth. First things first, patience is key. Don't set the hook on the initial blow up or you will miss a TON. Wait until you feel the weight of the fish, then cross his eyes. Second, what I do is bend the hooks a little further away from the body of the frog that way the fish doesn't have to depress the plastic of the frog as much to get to the business end of those Gammies. Don't bend the hooks too much. Just a little wee bit. The second tweak is too the legs of the frog. This one is a more necessary I think. I would take anywhere from a 1/2" to maybe an 1 1/2" off both legs (whatever you feel more comfortable with). I think it helps give the frog a more realistic appearance and helps "downsize" the bait. As far as soft plastic frogs go, for me I am not very particular to any particular brand. I use ZOOM Horny Toads in DARK colors on a 5/0 Gamakatsu hook just because they are pretty easy to find at your local Wally World. But Gambler, Stanley, and Manns all make a decent soft plastic frog. My biggest gripe with these is that the frogs almost constantly need adjusting after each cast too keep 'em on the hook properly. They do make hooks made specifically for the Horny Toad I believe, but I have yet to try them.

SWEET!!!! 1 MORE GAME!!! David Eckstein is da man!! Hopefully Game 5 doesn't get rained out!

Congrats JT!! My daughter is 19 months now. It's a fun ride. Enjoy it!! It seems like she was just born yesterday. When they say they grow on ya fast...they ain't jokin'! Best wishes to your family for continued health, happiness, and prosperity!

I have hooked a Canadian Goose with a Smithwick Suspending Pro Rogue. I cast thinking he was way to far out to get anywhere near. The gust of wind that accompanied the cast said otherwise. Thankfully he wasn't hooked well and after a few seconds shook itself free. I wasn't lookinf forward to hauling in an angry goose. I have almost nailed little black bats with baits a number of times at some of the places I fish...or I should say they have almost nailed the baits. One of the funniest things that has happened was a giant moth flew up my shirt one night and got stuck there...I was dancing around and screaming like a girl cuz it took me by surprise so bad. I didn't know what was in my shirt. After I got it out I felt like a total schmuck...my friends were absolutely dying of laughter. Still can't live that one down. Too bad you weren't shooting a video that night when your friend "sealed" ya. THAT would have been a scream.

It's been pretty slow in Missouri too. Seems like a lot of the fish are in transition. I have caught a few on jigs and a couple on senkos...but other than that all seems to be pretty quiet.

MLB is saying game on for tonight. Granted the game may not start until 9:15...but game on nonetheless. If the Cards take this one Detroit is in serious serious trouble. Hopefully Sup is the Sup we saw in Game 7 in the NLCS. Can't wait!

Let's see it get rained out and Detroit try and throw Rogers out on the mound in St.L in game 5. ;D But in all seriousness, I hope it doesn't get rained out. I think even if it does get rained out it doesn't change much for the Cards. They will probably still march Sup out for Game 4 seeing as right now I don't see any better option. I don't think it would really change much for Detroit either. What are they going to do, march out Verlander ,who got pounded, instead of Bonderman. I would stick with Bonderman, who I don't believe the Cards have seen at all this year, I think :-?. Leyland definately needs to shake up his line up though. No one is getting on in front of their real threats of Ordonez or Guillen, and no one is giving Guillen anything to hit because the hitters behind him haven't done very much. If it does rain, if nothing else, it keeps La Russa from having to trot anyone out there on short rest. The rain would allow Detroit to get to Rogers (pine tar aside) earlier, but he has not pitched away from home this whole post season. Rogers pitching at Busch would be a WHOLE different scenario I think. I don't think you would see the scoreless innings last much longer if that happens. If I had to predict this series...I would say...Cardinals in as early as 6, but I think 7 is more likely again. Why? I have a hard time believing the Tigers are done. The long layover may be hurting them, but eventually they are gonna come back to life. I just think it's gonna be too late for 'em.

I wish I could fish every day. That would be awesome, but I am like most other folks who have answered before me. I have a wife, 19 month old daughter, a dog, property to manage, a very stressful and tiring job, and a honey-do list that never seems to go away on weekends. Most of the time fishing is not an option. Normally just wishful thinking.

I am starting to find that deeper water fishing is a nasty weakness of mine. I can catch 'em in about 15 ft of water...you start going deeper than that and it seems I start having problems. Even if I stumble upon some deep fish, I don't do very well with deep water hooksets when a ton of line is out. Something I need to practice.

But anyway folks...enough about this whole instance. I am with senile here. Lets talk about this game 3. Gonna be a good 'un I think. Carp is a monster at home. 1.70 ERA at Busch Stadium. That is a nasty number. But on the flip side of that number is the fact that the Cardinals haven't been able to muster jack for offense against left handed pitchers all season. They need to change that tonight against Robertson if they wanna chance to win this game. If they can give Carp a few runs then they have a great chance. Carp has a gameplan on how to pitch the Tigers, and he has some pitches in his arsenal that will make him very effective at it...namely that cut fastball. It allows him to jam right handed hitters inside making sure they don't get full extension and whack one outta the park...heck out of the infield even. On lefties, most of them think it starts off too far inside then it cuts back in over the inner corner for a strike as they raise their arms to get out of the way of a pitch they think is coming at 'em. If he has that pitch working tonight in conjunction with that nasty 12 to 6 hammer curve you can kiss any Tiger offense good bye...ain't gonna happen. If the Tigers are gonna get Carp...they better do it early before he establishes that breaking pitch. The offense will have a look at another lefty tonight. But there is a huge difference between Robertson and Rogers. Rogers will finesse you to death getting you to swing at stuff outta the zone. Robertson is a power pitcher that tries to blow you away. I think if there is a lefty the Cards can break through against Robertson is that guy. There are a lot of good fastball hitters in our line up, and as long as they remain patient and force Robertson to throw pitches and work counts then not only will they wear him down...they will get more quality pitches to hit. Game 3 coming up in about an hour and a half...gonna be great.

Allow me to respectfully disagree with you here KU. Using ANY foreign substance to scuff, apply too, smear on , or doctor the ball is definately cheating. It doesn't take much pine tar or any other substance on a baseball to make it have some "funny" movement. The batters that faced Rogers in the first inning all said that the ball was doing some funny stuff out there. A little schmear of pine tar on a ball would effect the balls rotation in a way that would give it some pretty filthy (no pun intended) movement giving the pitcher a marked advantage over a hitter. Hitters use pine tar to keep a good grip on a bat in wet or humid weather. The hitters using pine tar isn't giving them any type of advantage over the pitcher. Just helps them grip the bat better.

What really bothers me about this whole thing now is that this isn't going to go away...the only way this goes away is if the Cards win the World Series. If they lose the media is going to jump all over La Russa saying "What if he would have raised a bigger stink and gotten Rogers taken out of that game?" And if Detroit wins now the games Rogers pitched are now suspect. This whole series will be questioned as well as the ALDS and ALCS. When it all boils down...it boils down to the fans not being to trust the game because MLB will not and has not done what needs to be done to make this game great again...and that is enforce it's existing rules while strengthening them and adding new ones to address new dangers to the games integrity...what little is left anyway. :-/

The substance on his hand didn't help him too much. Roger's worst inning pitched was the first, when he had the substance on his hand. After he washed it off, he still owned us and actually pitched better through the rest of the game. So I don't really think the substance made a big difference. I honestly don't know why La Russa didn't make a bigger stink about it. Maybe it's out of respect for Jim Leyland...maybe it was because the umps didn't seem to make a big stink about it...or maybe it's just because he doesn't want to be viewed as a whiny baby whose always looking for some sort of edge...who knows. I bet the A's are a bit peeved though. MLB seems like it's gonna do the same thing here as it did with roids. Sweep it under the rug and take the position of "nothing to see here...move along". And that's a shame...the Umps and the MLB officials at the game should have made an example out of him to show MLB fans that they are dedicated to keeping the game clean. Looks like another Selig slip up to me.

I really wish I did have a steady fishing partner. That would be great. Most of my good friends either don't fish, will only fish for short periods of time, get bored or frustrated if they aren't catching anything, and don't have the patience to try to put together the puzzle of how to ctach 'em that particular day. :-/

Definately, definately a Rock Bass...definately. I am not horribly surprised you caught it. Most bass species will eat almost anything they can fit in their mouth...and sometimes some things they can't.

I think SoCal has a pretty good chance of dethroning George Perry's "World Record". Not only does it offer the prerequisites Roger outlined, it also offers an excellent food source packed with protein to help grow these monsters. TROUT! I don't care what state or who breaks the record as long as it is legit and it stays in North America.

Good Luck Avid. I hope everything goes well for you and that you have a successful surgery and as speedy a recovery as possible. You'll be back stickin' pigs in no time.

As far as bass go, I'll fish for whatever species happens to be bitin' at the time. But...if all them are bitin' and I have a choice... 1. Smallmouth (never caught one and from everything I have heard I really would like too.) 2. Largemouth 3. Spotted 4. Stripers Those are the species that I am aware of in and around MO.