thevoice@voicedup.com

Offwhite will become the outlet for producing and maintaining their brand of comedy while taping into an organic social network. Offwhite serves as an umbrella providing commercials, sketch comedy, animation, stand up comedy, promotional packages. Offwhite will also be a hub for new business endeavors such as beer distribution and clothing apperel with more to follow. While currently in its genesis, offwhite will be built slowly and steadily into one of the worlds most respected and recognized brands.

Go to Offwhiteproductions Channel

Zaytinya
The Washington Post’s 2009 Fall Dining Guide *** (out of four)

Voicedup rating: 4 forks (out of five)

Café Atlantico
2007 ZAGAT Survey
“Phenomenal” mojitos and “mouth watering” guacamole made tableside kick start a “mini-vacation” on this Penn Quarterite’s “three levels of Caribbean fun”; its Nuevo Latino kitchen “makes cutting-edge food deliciously edible”, while “terrific” pre-theater and weekend Latin dim sum keep it “affordable”; at its six-seat, reservations-only Minibar – an “interactive carnival” of “art and chemistry” – “daring types” test their “bravado” on 30-plus bite-size “creations.” — 2007 Zagat Survey Washington, DC/Baltimore

Voicedup rating: 5 forks (out of five)

Mini Bar
The Washington Post’s 2009 Fall Dining Guide ***1/2 (out of four)
“a shrine to avante garde cooking” — The New York Times

Jaleo
The Washington Post’s 2009 Fall Dining Guide *** (out of four)

Voicedup rating: 4 forks (out of five)

Oyamel
“José Andrés’ Oyamel takes you heart and soul across the border down Mexico way” – Gayot

Voicedup rating: 3.5 forks (out of five)

Up-Coming Catalysts:
1. Raising of 4Q09 EPS guidance depending on how sales come in.
2. 2010 outlook on 2/23/10

Valuation:
1.(M) currently trades at a 9.2 forward P/E, average multiple for department stores is 13.3.
2. 10-year historical range is 6.1-22.8, currently trading towards the lower end.
3. Department store average EBITDA is 6.2, (M) trading at 4.6.

Price Target:
$30

DISCLOSURE – No position

thevoice@voicedup.com

thevoice@voicedup.com

This was Johan’s Leap. This is the season Johan Santana firmly stepped into the upper echelon of pitchers, and he stayed there for the rest of the decade.

I’m sure you remember the stats, but here they are anyway. Santana threw 228 innings, with an ERA+ of 188, 265 strikeouts, and an absurd 54 walks (a paltry 4.91 K to BB ratio).

Further more, Santana led the AL or baseball entirely in the following:

Strikeouts
ERA
ERA+
WHIP
Hits per 9
Strikeouts per 9

The writers, bless their souls, gave him an unanimous Cy Young Award, and in retrospect, well, they were right. No one in the AL was close.

What else can be said? Well, Santana’s second-half was ridiculous, and if he’d played in New York (his whole career, not just the last two seasons) his second-half performances would be things of legend. Super Johan tended to be unreal after the All-Star Break.

2004 was no exception. From July 11th that season until the end, Santana threw 112 innings to a 1.28 ERA. He sat down 140 helpless souls and walked only 25. He was mind-blowing.

If you tack on his two excellent postseason starts against the 101-win New York Yankees (12 innings, 0.75 ERA, 12 strikeouts) it makes it even more obvious.

Johan Santana was pretty damn awesome in 2004. However, I’ve got more.

Santana always struck me as more finesse than power. That’s not a bad thing–Greg Maddux was a finesse pitcher too. But without a super fastball, how did Santana strike out such a high amount of batters?

First off, I don’t know if anyone this side of Curt Schilling had better command than peak-Johan, in particular the command of his dynamite changeup. His ability to set up batters and then unleash the nasty change with exactly the same arm-motion is what made him truly excellent.

There’s virtually zero change in arm speed or slot from fastball to changeup with Santana. There was no tell. Hitters were reduced to guessing, and evidently they failed. Miserably.

His reign of dominance continued basically until 2009, when some injuries coupled with pitching in front of a team roughly as good as the Little Leaguers down the road made it a rough go for Super Johan.

The future is a bit cloudy for Santana coming off some elbow problems, but there’s no doubt his 2004 season was awesome.

Correspondent: Adamdadkins@gmail.com

thevoice@voicedup.com
Follow me on twitter @voicedup

thevoice@voicedup.com

Politicians and pharmaceutical companies circulate ridiculous exaggerations for their own monetary gain that play on the fears of ignorant people who have no experience with marijuana. This bill has little to do with our health but everything to do with collecting state taxes. The direct effect will be an increase in revenues for the Port Authority via the GW Bridge, Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and a rise in people transplanting from neighboring states with a rise in real estate prices in New Jersey. The reason it has taken this long to legalize medical marijuana is due to the fact that this business will not be as lucrative as prescription drugs and politicians kickbacks will be much less from the sale of medical marijuana as they would through big pharmas. It is preposterous that lawmakers are currently overruling doctors who are forced to prescribe drugs much powerful as Oxycotin, Ritalin and Prozac than the much milder marijuana.

If the concern is about sending the wrong message to kids we should then ban ads for alcohol and cigarettes. Marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes and anyone with a fake ID can purchase these substances at the corner store or order PD’s from Canada. Minors already have easier access to marijuana than cigarettes according to nationwide studies thanks to the underground market that has grown over the last half century while the war on drugs has managed to waste away $1 trillion of our tax dollars and yet drugs are just as easy to come by as they were before the war started. This futile effort has limited economic benefits with no tax revenue but pales in comparison to what the drug lords and cartels withdraw from our economy. Marijuana is considered the least damaging and dangerous of the controlled list. Decriminalizing marijuana use on a broader scale is the only way to extract money out of the hands of drug cartels and start emptying our prisons. It is understood that if marijuana is consumed in large quantities it may be harmful but doesn’t this apply to all aspects of drugs? If anything is consumed in large quantities it may be harmful, this is no reason to make it illegal. The only time it will become difficult for minors to obtain is when the plant is legalized and sold in authorized stores instead of on the corner. Purchasing in a store would also deter the introduction to more destructive drugs. The crime rate would go down greatly and possibly alcohol use would go down to a certain extent.

Alcohol is a factor in most violent crime cases in America as well as responsible for a large portion of vehicular fatalities, but it is legal and cleverly marketed to minors. Cigarettes kill over 400,000 Americans a year and prescription drug fatalities hover around the same figure. During alcohol prohibition bootleggers were around every corner, people still drank and gang violence became a national problem. The year after prohibition ended, the murder rate in America was half what it was under prohibition. Why do we continue to waste resources in an unwinable war? Today marijuana is funding organized crime, the same way prohibition did in the 20’s.

Most of the scientific literature available to the public agrees that marijuana addiction has less detrimental effects than alcohol, cigarettes and prescription drug addictions. Yes, marijuana can cause cancer, same as cigarettes. It is not as harmless as is often stated but what makes marijuana similar to cigarettes are the pesticides/additives being soaked into the plant by the cartels. As marijuana becomes legalized the states and federal government could produce a substance with much less potent levels.

Watching state by state passing these laws is similar to how states adopted the lottery. In the 1980’s a handful of states allowed lotteries. States insisted lotteries were the root of all evil. But, as politicians slowly overspend state budgets lottery was adopted in all 50 states to fund education. As current state deficits balloon it is only a matter of time before each state adapts New Jerseys stance on marijuana.

thevoice@voicedup.com

The thing is, not one of those players is likely to be remembered as a Marlin. Due to ownership and other reasons, the Marlins never lock any of their stars up. They can’t afford to.

However, there are a number of teams that can.

The Yankees can sign anyone they want, whenever they want. They are, without question, the richest team in the sport, and can outbid anyone. Don’t let Brian Cashman’s posturing fool you.

The Red Sox, Phillies, Mets and perhaps the LA teams are also rich, but not on the Yankees level. They can outbid the smaller clubs pretty easily.

The main issue with small-market clubs isn’t that they can’t sign Matt Holliday. It’s that if they should produce Matt Holliday, signing him long-term is out of the question. That puts a tremendous strain on development–teams like the Twins understand this; teams like the Reds do not–because in order for the club to succeed, the farm system must be producing at all times.

I’m of the opinion that prospect development is very tricky business, sort of like the stock market. There’s little reason why Andy Marte or Alex Gordon didn’t (or hasn’t) panned out. They just didn’t.

The Royals needed Alex Gordon to become a star. He hasn’t. Welp! We’re screwed.

Without Gordon becoming Diet George Brett, the Royals remained… well… the Royals. Now they do have a superstar, Zack Grienke, but eventually the big teams will come calling, and what will KC do?

Trading him is the obvious move. But, if by some tragedy Dayton Moore is still in charge, the Royals might trade Greinke for the 2012+ equivalents of Yuniesky Betancourt and Scott Podsednik.

I joke, but the development of stars for a small-market is vital. You create a star, he leads your team, time comes for him to be dealt, you deal him, acquire new prospect, develop him into a star, and on we go. If the machine ever slows down–think Oakland after they produced Nick Swisher, who seems to be the last star they produced–the team suddenly falls into the abyss. Of course, random things happen in any business, and sometimes a no-name becomes a star, but sometimes a big-name fails.

Such is the life of a team with no money. Smart GMs can make it work, like the Twins have for years or like Oakland used to. But there are GMs who are entirely clueless, like Wayne Krivsky and Walt Jocketty in Cincinnati or Ed Wade in Houston. Resources are limited, fellas. Don’t waste them on relievers or old third basemen.

Spending what little money correctly is nearly as pivotal. There is no logical reason for this. Brandon Lyon? Are you kidding me? Wade proved that he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

The Astros are a great example of my machine idea. They haven’t produced a good player since Hunter Pence. Wandy Rodriguez developing was blind luck, by all accounts, so he doesn’t qualify. Pence, though, is hardly a star. He hit .282/.346/.472 last year. No one’s going to give the Astros a damn thing for that.

Houston could trade Roy Oswalt, of course. But his value is limited now too. Perhaps someone would want Lance Berkman, but he’s aging. If someone did want either Oswalt or Berkman, Houston should immediately trade them.

All of this information–which, by the way, was all available to Ed Wade–makes the money spent this off season by Houston all the more stupid. The Astros have a terrible farm system. They won less than 75 games this year. You can’t afford to build through free agency, even if you wish you could, Ed.

Anyway, back to the Marlins. I wrote all of that to get to this. Locking up Josh Johnson would be nice. The kid’s talented. But the goal of the Marlins should be signing Hanley Ramirez long-term. You keep Ramirez around, you show the fans you’re willing to spend, and perhaps they’ll return the favor.

Plus, Ramirez is one of the most wildly talented baseball players in the world. If he’s your best player, you damn sure can win a championship. He’s a top-5 player right now, and he’s young. Lock him up.

If you can’t, trade him when the time comes. And I know that’s the likely endgame here. Teams have money but won’t spend it. That’s fine.

The cycle repeats.

Correspondent: Adamdadkins@gmail.com

thevoice@voicedup.com
Follow me on twitter @voicedup