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Bailey-Dye Trade Report Shot Down By Tim Dierkes [December 7 at 10:06pm CST] 10:06pm: Walt Jocketty on the report: "Wrong. It's not even close." The Reds haven't had talks with the Sox since before Thanksgiving. 9:32pm: ESPN's Jerry Crasnick adds that Dye and his agent "haven't heard a word" about a trade. Reds assistant GM Bob Miller rejected the report, adding, "We haven't talked to White Sox since we got here." 8:51pm: Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune says "a source familiar with the talks" rejected the report below. The Sox want more than just Bailey. Gonzales' source adds that talks with the Mets for Bobby Jenks fell apart over Omar Minaya's unwillingness to include Bobby Parnell. 7:46pm: According to Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News, a Major League source told him a Homer Bailey for Jermaine Dye trade "is done and will be announced this week." It'd essentially be six years of Bailey for one of Dye (plus possible draft pick compensation), as Dye has a mutual option for 2010 at $12MM. Those almost never get fully exercised - if one side wants it, the other doesn't. It would be interesting to see what the White Sox could do with Bailey given their recent success developing young pitchers

Ohio State only got the bid because they bring in the dollars. They seem to be over rated every year.

Tim Tebow wins another title.

Doesn't seem to make sense for the Reds.

DATE/TIMENETWORK EagleBank Bowl Wake Forest vs. Navy Washington, D.C. RFK Stadium Dec. 20, 11 a.m. ESPN New Mexico Colorado State vs. Fresno State Albuquerque University Stadium Dec. 20, 2:30 p.m. ESPN magicJack St. Petersburg Memphis vs. South Florida St. Petersburg. Fla. Tropicana Field Dec. 20, 4:30 p.m. ESPN2 Pioneer Las Vegas BYU vs. Arizona Las Vegas Sam Boyd Stadium Dec. 20, 8 p.m. ESPN R+L Carriers New Orleans Southern Miss vs. Troy New Orleans Superdome Dec. 21, 8:15 p.m. ESPN San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Boise State vs. TCU San Diego Qualcomm Stadium Dec. 23, 8 p.m. ESPN Sheraton Hawaii Hawaii vs. Notre Dame Honolulu Aloha Stadium Dec. 24, 8 p.m. ESPN Motor City Florida Atlantic vs. Central Michigan Detroit Ford Field Dec. 26, 8 p.m. ESPN Meineke Car Care West Virginia vs. North Carolina Charlotte, N.C. Bank of America Stadium Dec. 27, 1 p.m. ESPN Champs Sports Wisconsin vs. Florida State Orlando, Fla. Florida Citrus Bowl Dec. 27, 4:30 p.m. ESPN Emerald Miami (Fla.) vs. California San Francisco AT&T Park Dec. 27, 8 p.m. ESPN Independence Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech Shreveport, La. Independence Stadium Dec. 28, 8:15 p.m. ESPN Papajohns.com NC State vs. Rutgers Birmingham, Ala. Legion Field Dec. 29, 3 p.m. ESPN Valero Alamo Missouri vs. Northwestern San Antonio Alamodome Dec. 29, 8 p.m. ESPN Roady's Humanitarian Maryland vs. Nevada Boise, Idaho Bronco Stadium Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m. ESPN Texas Rice vs. Western Michigan Houston Reliant Stadium Dec. 30, 8 p.m. NFL Network Pacific Life Holiday Oklahoma State vs. Oregon San Diego Qualcomm Stadium Dec. 30, 8 p.m. ESPN Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Houston vs. Air Force Fort Worth, Texas Amon G. Carter Stadium Dec. 31, Noon ESPN Brut Sun Oregon State vs. Pittsburgh El Paso, Texas Sun Bowl Dec. 31, 2 p.m. CBS Gaylord Hotels Music City Boston College vs. Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. LP Field Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m. ESPN Insight Kansas vs. Minnesota Tempe, Ariz. Sun Devil Stadium Dec. 31, 5:30 p.m. NFL Network Chick-fil-A LSU vs. Georgia Tech Atlanta Georgia Dome Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. ESPN Outback South Carolina vs. Iowa Tampa, Fla. Raymond James Stadium Jan. 1, 2009, 11 a.m. ESPN Capital One Georgia vs. Michigan State Orlando, Fla. Florida Citrus Bowl Jan. 1, 2009, 1 p.m. ABC Konica Minolta Gator Clemson vs. Nebraska Jacksonville, Fla. Jacksonville Municipal Stadium Jan. 1, 2009, 1 p.m. CBS Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi Penn State vs. USC Pasadena, Calif. Rose Bowl Jan. 1, 2009, 4:30 p.m. ABC FedEx Orange Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech Miami Dolphin Stadium Jan. 1, 2009, 8:30 p.m. FOX AT&T Cotton Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech Dallas Cotton Bowl Jan. 2, 2009, 2 p.m. FOX AutoZone Liberty Kentucky vs. East Carolina Memphis, Tenn. Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Jan. 2, 2009, 5 p.m. ESPN Allstate Sugar Utah vs. Alabama New Orleans Superdome Jan. 2, 2009, 8 p.m. FOX International Buffalo vs. Connecticut Toronto Rogers Centre Jan. 3, 2009, Noon ESPN2 Tostitos Fiesta Ohio State vs. Texas Glendale, Ariz. University of Phoenix Stadium Jan. 5, 2009, 8 p.m. FOX GMAC Tulsa vs. Ball State Mobile, Ala. Ladd-Peebles Stadium Jan. 6, 2009, 8 p.m. ESPN FedEx BCS National Championship Game Florida vs. Oklahoma Miami Dolphin Stadium Jan. 8, 2009, 8 p.m. FOX

He's just having a good time, on a good team, with a good coach.

Um, Texas didn't win their conference. It's Oklahoma-Florida for the Nat Championship.

How could they not? Let's get real here.

Bring it on Big 12! We're ready.

If we sign Pudge, is he willing to accept that he will not be our starting catcher? Shake and Bake!

Wow. Slipknot is touring with Coheed and Cambria. Something is wrong with this picture. Kinda like KISS touring with Simon and Garfunkel.

What a dumb chick. I like that after rolling around in pain, she is still composed enough to talk to the computer.

Hopefully someone other than Tank comes this year.

God, is Cena really that popular that they needed to take the belt from Jericho?

In response to my initial review of 6/10, I'm gonna have to lower it to 4/10. I really want to like this album. Unfortunately, after additional listens, there just isn't much on it that is holding my interest, other than the fact that Axl is singing. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't listen to it. Axl sings it, I can listen to it and attempt to like it.

I picked up the album today. If I had to rate it, I would give it a 6/10. Axl's voice is still there, the guitars are ok. The big issue here is that the songs wander a bit too much, with nothing really catching your interest. He has a few songs on there that kinda have a techno beat to them, and a few with an operatic sound. It's something I will keep in the cd player to give it a chance.

It gets my blood boiling when people complain about the location of Dolphin Stadium. Other than that, pretty good read.

Dec 3rd The Sounds @ Revolution in Ft. Lauderdale.

Preach it from the choir Eric. I actually think that Hermida might be a better fielder than he is, if that is possible.

Rumor is, the Devil rays and the Cubs are eyeing Hermida.

I don't think MD is cureable.

yep, saw that.

Michael Crichton, the million-selling author who made scientific research terrifying and irresistible in such thrillers as "Jurassic Park," ''Timeline" and "The Andromeda Strain," has died of cancer, his family said. Crichton died Tuesday in Los Angeles at age 66 after privately battling cancer. "Through his books, Michael Crichton served as an inspiration to students of all ages, challenged scientists in many fields, and illuminated the mysteries of the world in a way we could all understand," his family said in a statement. "While the world knew him as a great storyteller that challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us ? and entertained us all while doing so ? his wife Sherri, daughter Taylor, family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a devoted husband, loving father and generous friend who inspired each of us to strive to see the wonders of our world through new eyes." He was an experimenter and popularizer known for his stories of disaster and systematic breakdown, such as the rampant microbe of "The Andromeda Strain" or the dinosaurs running madly in "Jurassic Park." Many of his books became major Hollywood movies, including "Jurassic Park," ''Rising Sun" and "Disclosure." Crichton himself directed and wrote "The Great Train Robbery" and he co-wrote the script for the blockbuster "Twister." In 1994, he created the award-winning TV hospital series "ER." He's even had a dinosaur named for him, Crichton's ankylosaur. "Michael's talent out-scaled even his own dinosaurs of 'Jurassic Park,'" said "Jurassic Park" director Steven Spielberg, a friend of Crichton's for 40 years. "He was the greatest at blending science with big theatrical concepts, which is what gave credibility to dinosaurs again walking the Earth. ... Michael was a gentle soul who reserved his flamboyant side for his novels. There is no one in the wings that will ever take his place." John Wells, executive producer of "ER" called the author "an extraordinary man. Brilliant, funny, erudite, gracious, exceptionally inquisitive and always thoughtful. "No lunch with Michael lasted less than three hours and no subject was too prosaic or obscure to attract his interest. Sexual politics, medical and scientific ethics, anthropology, archaeology, economics, astronomy, astrology, quantum physics, and molecular biology were all regular topics of conversation." In recent years, he was the rare novelist granted a White House meeting with President Bush, perhaps because of his skepticism about global warming, which Crichton addressed in the 2004 novel, "State of Fear." Crichton's views were strongly condemned by environmentalists, who alleged that the author was hurting efforts to pass legislation to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. If not a literary giant, he was a physical one, standing 6 feet and 9 inches, and ready for battle with the press. In a 2004 interview with The Associated Press, Crichton came with a tape recorder, text books and a pile of graphs and charts as he defended "State of Fear" and his take on global warming. "I have a lot of trouble with things that don't seem true to me," Crichton said at the time, his large, manicured hands gesturing to his graphs. "I'm very uncomfortable just accepting. There's something in me that wants to pound the table and say, 'That's not true.'" He spoke to few scientists about his questions, convinced that he could interpret the data himself. "If we put everything in the hands of experts and if we say that as intelligent outsiders, we are not qualified to look over the shoulder of anybody, then we're in some kind of really weird world," he said. A new novel by Crichton had been tentatively scheduled to come next month, but publisher HarperCollins said the book was postponed indefinitely because of his illness. One of four siblings, Crichton was born in Chicago and grew up in Roslyn, Long Island. His father was a journalist and young Michael spent much of his childhood writing extra papers for teachers. In third grade, he wrote a nine-page play that his father typed for him using carbon paper so the other kids would know their parts. He was tall, gangly and awkward, and used writing as a way to escape; Mark Twain and Alfred Hitchcock were his role models. Figuring he would not be able to make a living as writer, and not good enough at basketball, he decided to become a doctor. He studied anthropology at Harvard College, and later graduated from Harvard Medical School. During medical school, he turned out books under pseudonyms. (One that the tall author used was Jeffrey Hudson, a 17th-century dwarf in the court of King Charles II of England.) He had modest success with his writing and decided to pursue it. His first hit, "The Andromeda Strain," was written while he was still in medical school and quickly caught on upon its 1969 release. It was a featured selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and was sold to Universal in Hollywood for $250,000. "A few of the teachers feel I'm wasting my time, and that in some ways I have wasted theirs," he told The New York Times in 1969. "When I asked for a couple of days off to go to California about a movie sale, that raised an eyebrow." His books seemed designed to provoke debate, whether the theories of quantum physics in "Timeline," the reverse sexual discrimination of "Disclosure" or the spectre of Japanese eminence in "Rising Sun." "The initial response from the (Japanese) establishment was, 'You're a racist,'" he told the AP. "So then, because I'm always trying to deal with data, I went on a tour talking about it and gave a very careful argument, and their response came back, 'Well you say that but we know you're a racist.'" Crichton had a rigid work schedule: rising before dawn and writing from about 6 a.m. to around 3 p.m., breaking only for lunch. He enjoyed being one of the few novelists recognized in public, but he also felt limited by fame. "Of course, the celebrity is nice. But when I go do research, it's much more difficult now. The kind of freedom I had 10 years ago is gone," he told the AP. "You have to have good table manners; you can't have spaghetti hanging out of your mouth at a restaurant." Crichton was married five times and had one child. A private funeral is planned.

Marlins Rumors: Max Ramirez, Pavano, Rhodes By Tim Dierkes [November 5 at 9:59am CST]Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald has the latest on the Marlins. The Marlins have had informal talks with the Rangers regarding catcher Max Ramirez. The Fish are willing to trade lefty Scott Olsen, though the Rangers are wary of his makeup and home run tendencies. The Marlins are OK with their in-house options if they can't work out a trade. The Marlins aren't interested in Gerald Laird. The Marlins may consider bringing Carl Pavano back to Florida, the site of his last success. Luis Gonzalez, Mark Hendrickson, Paul Lo Duca, and Arthur Rhodes are the Marlins' free agents. Of the four, Rhodes stands a chance of being re-signed. However, the Marlins have not spoken to Rhodes' agent in weeks. Juan C. Rodriguez reports that despite reports, the Marlins are not in on Junichi Tazawa.

Great