Old AmrapinVA

Good call LASam....but 111-86, damn who knew? If the Suns get knocked off somewhere down the road....the East has a better than fair chance of getting the title again. I dare say it, but maybe finally it's the Cavs turn. We'll see,

That's too funny and too true. I remember going to Indians games back in the Brook Jacoby, Mel Hall, Phil Niekro days when the highest home attendance was vs. the Yankees due to all their fans.

Ever since Dolan has owned this team...the attendance has been poopy. I think Tribe fans would be more willing to go if they knew their owner was invested in winning a championship and not trying to compete to be the stingiest owner in baseball. Not that Mr. Jacobs was free wheeling with the cash, but he'd fork it over if Hart said we needed it. While we never won a championship with Jacobs/Hart....we had division titles and pennants. With Dolan/Shapiro...we have zippy. Dolan wants asses in seats, then he needs to prove it if we are still in the playoff mix when the mid-summer trade deadline shows up. He was eerily silent when we won 93 in '05.

One mil is a drop in the bucket if the Shia and Sunni have free reign. And the Iraq/Iran was 1 mil over decades, I bet they could top that number in a year. Since you brought up Saddam...he's the one that played the two groups off of each other. If these groups had their own nation-states to begin with, it would have been a bitch for Saddam to get into power in the first place. BTW, if that 'CCCP' comment was some sort of slam at me, son...I've kept in communications with my extended family in Vilinus for over 25 years. You won't EVER catch me in some Soviet garb. Lithuanian tye-dye is always a possibility. If it wasn't meant as a slam...shingai nemasu.

Allega loses fight to block contract City can hire next-lowest bidder, judge rules Thursday, May 03, 2007 Mike Tobin Plain Dealer Reporter Anthony Allega Cement Contractors Inc. is no different from the handyman who leaves customers with leaky roofs and dripping faucets, lawyers for the city of Cleveland argued Wednesday. Allega's shortcoming wasn't shoddy work, though. It was using front companies to get around city rules requiring work at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport be set aside for companies owned by minorities and women. "Just like any good homeowner, if you have trouble with a contractor, you don't do business with them again," said Thomas Kaiser of the city's Law Department. "They weren't about to get their hands on another $40 million." Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Michael Russo agreed, rejecting a motion filed by Allega's lawyers to block the city from awarding a $40 million contract to do work at the airport. Kokosing Inc., the second-lowest bidder on the project, will begin the project later this month. http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1178181168224960.xml&coll=2

Well Carmona got sent down yesterday....and guess who's starting tonight? Mr. 7+ ERA Westbrook. I hope they can score 9 runs again tonight against the Jays...I have a feeling they might need 'em.

Columbus airfares lowest in the state Business First of Columbus Wednesday, April 25, 2007 The average price for a flight out of Port Columbus International Airport was 12 percent below the national average during the fourth quarter of last year, according to report released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Ticket prices in Columbus averaged $332.39 during the quarter ended Dec. 31. Local prices were better than other large Ohio cities. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport had the second-highest average airfare during the quarter at $503.38, behind Anchorage International in Alaska, which reported an average price of $537 a ticket. The average price for a ticket out of James M. Cox/Dayton International was $337.73 during the quarter, and $363.73 from Cleveland's Hopkins International. The lowest airfare in the United States was $235.34 at Dallas' Love Field Airport, followed by Chicago's Midway International Airport, where the average ticket cost $270.04. MORE: http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/04/23/daily15.html

X and The Last Don, I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I'm really just throwing out another option. I actually think about this alot...because whether we like it or not, if America leaves there will be good likelihood of death on a scale maybe not ever seen in the Middle East in modern times. Iraq as a nation-state will never work without an American or multinational military presence or a dictator that can suppress it's rather large minorities. Which goes back to my original point. Iraq should never have been created in the first place. This problem could have been solved 90 years ago with seperate nation states when the region was a helluva lot more peaceful. At the time the Ottoman Empire had collapsed and there was no strong central government in the region. Instead of talking to locals and working on long term plan for successful nations...the area was carved up like a suburban subdivision. You guys bring up some good points why it wouldn't work now. Again, why the US thought it should take complete ownership on this issue because of 9/11 is beyond me. This is something that the US should have forced the Europeans to figure and solve, they created the original mess there. One clarification though, the Kurds are mostly a peaceful people and just want to be left alone. Would they claim territorial rights in other countries? Yes. Would it lead to border skirmishes? Maybe. I think they'd be willing to sit down with other countries to hammer out issues and come to a common agreement. The real problem to a successful Kurdistan would be the Turks who are very territorial not just to Kurds but to groups like the Armenians as well. BTW, I still can't believe Turkey is being allowed to enter the EU with the way they treat their minorites. As for the ethnic cleansing thing, I have trouble buying it. Shia and Sunni aren't different ethnic groups. If the Shia and Sunni decided to invade Kurd territory...the Turks would probably invade Kurdistan in order to 'maintain the peace' on their border.

Ah, but you see at least you'd have an idigenous area for these people to live. What if France streched from Spain to Germany. Do you think the millions of Germans or Spanish would be happy? Currently the Kurds are divided between Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran, even Russia. Having a homeland is really a beginning towards peace. They want to be left alone. As for Shia and the Sunni, giving each the piece of the pie gives Al-Queda and its buddies some problems. They play the each group of each other to incite violence. It would be hard for them to keep it up if each country had a homeland that they could call their own. Now they may bitch and moan and try to say this is mine and that is theirs....but just like in Europe...over time it'll get old. Keeping Iraq in it's current state isn't gonna work, ever. Just like splitting Vietnam in two didn't.

An interesting article on Skybus from the NY Times: A New Low-Fare Airline on a Web-Only Approach By JEFF BAILEY Published: April 25, 2007 The extreme low-fare airline, already well established in Europe, will try for a comeback in the United States on May 22 with a well-financed start-up, Skybus Airlines, beginning service that day and promising at least 10 seats on every flight priced at $10 one-way — before taxes. If it sounds like People Express and Laker Airways — low-price carriers that made a splash, expanded too fast and then collapsed — there are similarities. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/business/25sky.html

Draft grades for the AFC North: Baltimore Ravens: Grade: B Cincinnati Bengals: Grade: C Cleveland Browns: Grade: A- Pittsburgh Steelers: Grade: B Read more at http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-afcdraftgrades043007&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I know it's UrbanOhio and all that...but you do you guys think the Mavs are done?

Carmona pitched a gem yesterday even though he knows he's going back down to Buffalo. I hope Lee is in good shape, that guy's pitching is erratic as hell.

only 30 years in the making! Can't wait for that Cavs-Bulls ECF. :)

>>That is a foolish assumption. Shi'ites were dumped on every day of every year since British and French politicians created Iraq out of the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I.<< The fundamental flaw of our policy in Iraq (just like in Vietnam) is that we are trying to keep a country together that was not created by the indigenous people of the area...but by colonial Europeans who thought they knew everything about everyone. Iraq would probably be better off split into thirds....One Sunni nation, One Shiite, One Kurd. Of course...a fair election would be one where they decide where the boundaries are. This stupid "mapmaking" the Europeans did created alot of the economic and social mess you see in Africa, the Middle East, South America and Asia. America is perpetuating what the Europeans created for our own interests....which is shitty to the people who live in these countries. That being said, the world map you see today was mostly created by the Europeans with their silly colonial idealism and I wish they'd pony up and take responsibility as well instead of playing naysayer and saying the world problems today were created by the US.

The problem with using Evolution is that it has holes that open up this rather ludicrous debate that the Universe is 8000 years old. Want one with no holes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_Light The formula is a mathematical fact not a theory. If I were to believe in the 8000 year old theory....than I would ignore the fact the light travels at a speed of roughly 186,000 miles per second due to the fact we see stars way beyond the arc of 8000 light years. Or in other words....why send up the Hubble to do Deep Space Imaging when there should be nothing to see. Also, I'm sure a fair amount of creationists use GPS in their cars or whatnot and they blog all over the net ont their computers. If they really believed in Creationism they should remove these items immediately, since it's accuracy is based on a mathematical model using the speed of light that proves their theory wrong. The funny thing is I believe in God, but that museum is perputating a bunch of silly stuff that falls along the lines of "the earth is flat because the horizon is straight" bs from 600 years ago.

Make it 3-0 Cavs 98, Wiz 92. If they can beat the Wiz on Monday night it'll be the first seven-game series sweep ever for the Cavs! :)

I miss the days of Butch and wasting a high first-round draft pick on a center. Now THAT was drama. :)

Well Indy Air was covered by the national news media during it's startup as well. It's a new airline, it's going to get pub.

I've lived in DC for 10 and spent plenty of time B-more as well. Never seen this type of behavior in either place. Never saw it much in Cleveland either for that matter. Maybe, like CDM said, it's a city by city thing. Who knows, if you don't care about it, maybe you don't notice it.

Wow! Not even to go out to eat? I don't mean to embarrass you. I just find it interesting. You might be the only person posting on this forum who will respond 'No' to these categories. He lives in DC. I'll correct myself....I'm a yes for W. 6th although it was 10 years ago. I forgot. When I go to C-land now I go with my kid in tow, so I'm more apt to hit the zoo or a museum.

1) The Old Arcade - Yes 2) Westside Market - Yes 3) Cleveland Musuem of Art - Yes 4) Cleveland Musuem of Natural History - Yes 5) Botanical Gardens - No 6) Servance Hall for Cleveland Orchestra - No 7) Playhouse Square (any of the playhouses) - No Cleveland Metroparks Zoo - Yes 9) Rock n' Roll HOF - No 10) Great Lakes Science Center - Yes 11) Cleveland Browns Stadium (preferbly home game) - No, but went to plenty at Muni 12) Quicken Loans Arena (preferably home game) - No 13) Jacob's Field (preferably home game) - Yes 14) International Women's Air & Space Museum (Thanks 30 Rock!) - No 15) Little Italy - Yes 16) Lakeview Cemetery - No 17) President Garfield's Monument (best view of Cleveland IMO) - No 18) Slavic Village - Yes 19) Rockefeller Cultural Gardens - No 20) Rockefeller Greenhouse - No 21) Western Reserve Historical Society - No 22) E. 4th nightlife - No 23) W. 6th nightlife - No 24) Cleveland Public Library downtown - Yes 25) The Nautica Queen Cruise Ship (dinner or cruise) - No 26) Edgewater Park - Yes 27) Case ImPROV/play or West Bank comedy club - No 28) Great Lakes Brewery - Yes 29) Shaker Square - Yes 30) Ohio City - Yes 31) Tremont - Yes 32) Goodtime III - Yes 33) Steamship William G. Mather Museum - Yes 34) On top of Terminal Tower? (just curious ) - No EVENTS: 1) Feast of the Assumption (Little Italy) - Yes 2) St Patty's Day Parade - Yes 3) Cleveland Air show - Yes 4) Cleveland Grand Prix - Yes 5) International Film Festival - No 6) Harvest Festival (Slavic Village) - Yes 7) Ingenuity - Hessler Street Fair (not this year though!) - No 9) Greek Orthodox Festival - No 10) Cleveland Marathon (Anyone run in this?) - No, but in '80 I did a walk/run for Museum of Nat History with mom 11) Gravity Games - No 12) CMJ Rock Hall Music Fest - No

Nonstop to Denver begins from Dayton Tuesday, April 24, 2007 DAYTON — United Airlines begins offering nonstop service from Dayton International Airport to Denver today. The flight will depart Dayton at 3:31 p.m. and arrive in Denver at 4:31 p.m. Passengers returning to Dayton can depart Denver at 10:17 a.m. and arrive here at 2:57 p.m. The service uses 66-passenger United Express regional jets. Last week, AirTran Airways announced that it will begin offering Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nonstop flights to Las Vegas from Dayton. Full article at http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/business/2007/04/24/ddn042407flights.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=2

Skybus is planning to fly to Oakland as its 'Bay Area' flight. I'm not gonna repost the article, it just repeats previous info already on here. Link is below. http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_5745947?source=rss

Simply put: Skybus = Independence Air with less money. Don't you mean Skybus = Independence Air with a different business plan, shiny new planes, and MUCH MUCH more buzz? I mean, did Independence Air have 60,000 seats booked by 5pm on it's first day? OK, just to clarify...I'm not dissing Skybus because it's not in Cleveland. In fact, if this plan was being implimented at Hopkins I'd probably complain about this even more. I'd rather have CAL expand. Independence Air had $300 million and blew through it in about 18 months. Mind you...it was charging more than $10/a seat and Jet A was cheaper during it's reign than it will be Skybus this summer. Also, what buzz? Sure in C'bus. Where else? Who knows about this airline outside of Central Ohio? Skybus has $160 million. It has 60,000 passengers. That's great. But how full does the plane have to be before it makes a profit. 80% full. 90% full. 110% full. Those numbers have yet to be released to the public. We'll know by 3Q, when Skybus posts its financials. I'm guessing 12 months before it files for the dreaded B word. I actually hope I'm wrong, C'bus is growing market that deserves better air service, but I don't see it through this vehicle.