Article:Meet the Users: Tmil42

1. How did you learn about ArmchairGM?

Well, before I joined AGM I had my own blog (which, by the way, was just terrible in both quality and quantity. I hope nobody ever finds it. It's like the Holy Grail of how not to write.) Dan actually sent me an instant message (not sure how he got my screen name, really, it's a little creepy), asking me to join. I said sure, why not, and then proceeded to ignore him for a couple of months until I finally gave into his demands and joined AGM. And I'm exceptionally glad I did.

•2.       How do you see the Mets' season playing out?

Well, that depends on three things. The first thing, of course, is the health of Moises Alou. He's scheduled to come back this weekend, and if he can stay healthy (and that's like saying, that girl would be irresistible if it wasn't for her harelip), that'll be a huge help to the Mets. With Reyes turning his season around (after a very slow start, he's raised his totals to .295/.355/.481, with an MLB-best 9 triples), David Wright being his usual superb self (.294/.387/.517, 16 HR and 51 BB), and Delgado showing signs of life (a whopping 1.233 OPS in his last 7 games, starting when he had that 9-RBI game against the Yankees last Friday), the addition of Alou would give the Mets a much improved offense. Imagine, if you will, the Mets 1-8 lineup with Alou in it:


 * Jose Reyes
 * Luis Castillo
 * David Wright
 * Carlos Beltran
 * Moises Alou
 * Ryan Church
 * Carlos Delgado
 * Brian Schneider/Ramon Castro

I mean, I know the Phillies have a devastating lineup, but is there a better lineup, top-to-bottom, in the NL than that one?

The next two things are the respective abilities of Pedro Martinez and Oliver Perez to get their acts together. I know Pedro's stat line from last night (5 IP, 5 ER) isn't good, but after that first inning, he made just one mistake (the HR to Ankiel), and was just great.

Perez made a couple changes in his delivery before his last start (moving to the center of the rubber, rocking back in his windup) to great success, as he dominated the Yankees on Sunday.

I mean, there's still a lot of ifs in there, and it's just as likely that they'll hover around .500 for the rest of the season, but I (for whatever reason) feel optimistic, something I thought had been beaten out of me after last September.

3. Should they have fired Willie Randolph in the first place.

At the time the Mets fired Willie, it became obvious that he needed to go, as his dangling job status was a huge distraction for the team. It definitely could have been handled better by the Mets front office. Really, the best thing to do would have been to let him go after last season, because unless the Mets got off to an unreal start (I'm talking 15-2, 20-5, something like that), talk about Willie's job security would have been everywhere. And obviously, that didn't happen.

4. Last year was a dissapointing year for the 49ers because they were expected to contend for the playoffs. Will 2008 be just as frustrating?

I'm not entirely sure why everyone thought that the 49ers would be a playoff team last year. The year before, they did have a 7-9 record, but they were 29th in passing yards, 26th in total defense, and dead last in points per game allowed. Also, Alex Smith was/is their QB. And he just is not someone you can build around. A career passer rating of 63.5 is lower than Peyton Manning's completion percentage of 64.2. That's just awful. I mean, you could certainly argue that Frank Gore was merely good, rather than great, in 2007. I guess the addition of Nate Clements last year does help the defense, and Patrick Willis is a BEAST, but the rest of the defense is still behind the average. I think, and I'm just thinking (I haven't actually done much research on it yet), I think the 49ers are heading for a 7-9 record again, and I'm afraid they just won't be headed for a winning record until they get a real franchise quarterback.

5. It's nearly the 4th of July so I must ask, is the Cony Island Hot Dog Eating Contest a Real Sport?

Well, definition of sport is an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature.

Is eating Nathan's Hot Dogs (which are delicious, by the way, and worth the 5 dollars I paid for them at Shea) an athletic activity? Yeah, I definitely think it takes some activity. I get tired after eating Thanksgiving dinner.

Does it involve skill or physical prowess? Takeru Kobayashi would argue that it does. I mean, the strategy and training involved is certainly something resembling a sport.

Is it competitive?

You bet your ass it is. I mean, the sport is called competitive eating, after all. While it's certainly not as mainstream as other sports, it's definitely a sport and is certainly a more qualifying candidate than poker or "winter color guard" (which, in case you didn't know, was technically a sport at my high school involving multicolored flags and dance routines involving those flags. They may or may not have gotten more support from the school than our baseball team. I may or may not still be bitter about that).