SI1020

QUOTE (SouthSidePride05 @ Oct 14, 2012 -> 09:20 PM) Could it be that baseball is just not that popular at the moment? Maybe it's not about the money, because even the cheap tickets aren't getting sold. I think popularity in sports goes around in cycles, and maybe in a few years, MLB will be all the talk at the water cooler. Right now it's all about the NFL. At the moment? Are you kidding? In 1958 the Colts and Giants had that epic overtime championship game. Between that time and the first Super Bowl (Janurary 15, 1967) football passed baseball and never looked back. It's not even close now in this country.

QUOTE (Rooftop Shots @ Oct 12, 2012 -> 10:38 AM) I'll tell ya. One thing that really concerns me about the attendance going uder 2 mil, and falling for the 4th straight year Attendance fell for the 6th straight year.

On successive nights Verlander and Sabathia showed how a true ace pitches when it really counts.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Oct 3, 2012 -> 05:10 PM) I don't know where you live, but no way in hell. I agree. Cub fans greatly outnumber Sox fans in the Chicago area. It's much worse than when I was a kid. Not only that, but when you talk baseball with someone from out of state, they almost always assume you're a Cub fan when you tell them you're from Chicago.

I've been a long time supporter of Hawk but for me he jumped the shark this year. The cliches are too often and too predictable now. Worse, he totally lost it when the Sox collapsed in September, and is on the verge of driving out another competent co announcer. Sooner or later we'll get the pablum bland "professional" announcer some of you seem so hot for. One more thing. Let me make my cyber voice as loud as possible. Let the computers logged in shake a little bit. Len Kasper is awful. He is everything I dislike in the current generation of borrrring sports announcers. At least he'll never yell "stretch!" or "he gone!"

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 30, 2012 -> 08:17 PM) Why did the Marlins pitching suck this year then? Not because of Mark Buerhle.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Sep 30, 2012 -> 03:47 PM) I guess I'm not allowed to defend myself. I was responding to a post that says I have no inside information, that few of my posts "make sense." Your post about Torborg made sense.

Why is this even being seriously discussed? It is a BS fantasy. Also FWIW I thought Jeff Torborg was a good manager.

Is this somebody's wishful fantasy? I have no in on 35th but after all that has transpired anyone who would let Ozzie near a t ball team is nuts.

QUOTE (Doc Edwards Shot @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 03:56 PM) I think Youkilis is in permanent decline and his best days are way behind him. No way I would pay $13 million for just one season of him now. $13 million is what All-Stars get paid and he most definitely is not an All-Star anymore. Plus, even though his OBP is good his BA sucks hard. He's only hitting .230. We need some balance between batting average and OBP. He's not that good defensively at 3B either. Figuring out an answer to 3B has to be one of Kenny's priorities for 2013. I sincerely doubt that he's going to pick up Youkilis' option. I agree.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 06:08 PM) Really? I Tought I heard hawk called him stonepony at the start of the season, maybe I'm wrong. Stone seems to be a lil grumpy at times... IIRC Hawk stopped calling him Stone Pony this year. I also felt that up until recently they had been getting along better on the air. I don't know if they decided it was in their best interests or if someone above them told them. Obviously that is now gone and we are back to where we were if not worse. I have been a supporter of Hawk but his style has become way too cliched and his ego won't permit anyone besides a yes man to share the booth with him. He ran Wimpy off once in a cruel way, and I thought the Hawk/Wimpy team worked very well. They kept me engaged in tough years similar to Harry and Jimmy over 30 years ago. Steve Stone is too smart and too proud to be anyone's lackey. Maybe it is time to blow up the whole thing and start all over again.

QUOTE (whitesox901 @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 09:58 PM) f*** no, Darren Sutton is awful, he is worse than Hawk. I love it how we have such a wonderful consensus on how is and isn't a good baseball announcer. I'm just making an observation so please do not take offense or think that I am singling you out. As for me, I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure of listening to Sutton call a game.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 04:53 PM) A lot of your posts lately are of this nature, almost like you aren't included as a fan. I find it interesting. I'm pretty sure the fans care. Just because the attendance isn't great, doesn't mean they don't care. That's not exactly the best measuring stick. As has been covered, it's hard to get people to come out this week when you are watching the team suffer a slow, painful death. Here's a good read, especially towards the end. http://www.southsidesox.com/2012/9/28/3421...te-sox-tailspin Jim Margalus is da man.

Well Jake did pitch like an ace tonite but unfortunately he's not going to have a damn thing to show for it.

Miami Marlins 13th out of 16 in the NL.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 05:22 PM) It is lazy lowest common denominator reporting. Meanwhile it takes the USA to break a story that actually matters on the field of play, that Adam Dunn is still playing with a torn muscle. If you want to tell me that the local sports media is lacking hell yeah I agree. I grew up with Carmichael, Brown, Gleason, Damata, Rollow, Munzel and Holtzman, just to name a few. This wasn't a major story but a blurb. I stand by my previous claims that the Sox are in a tough spot, not the least of which is the fact that the Cubs have a decided advantage both in numbers of fans and friends in the local and national media. The attendance issue should still not be out of bounds.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 05:35 PM) The expendable income difference between those within walking distance of Wrigley and those within walking distance of Sox park is enormous. Not too mention the difference in sheer numbers. Demographic studies have shown that Sox and Cubs fans are very similar overall, with some slight variations. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-06...s-wrigley-field

QUOTE (ewokpelts @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 04:18 PM) meanwhile, a hack job by the cub times (and a wsi contributor): http://www.suntimes.com/sports/15380578-57...ric-levels.html Sorry I have to disagree. This is not a hack job at all, but a timely issue with accurate statistics in the article. The Sox and their fans can't continually cry foul over the attendance issue. The fact is that it's lousy. Premium pricing and the moribund economy are definitely a factor, but the Sox blew a big opportunity to cut into the Cubs popularity when they couldn't follow up on 2005.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 02:06 PM) The Sox plan should be to take on short term deals for players that could catch lightning in a bottle, while drafting and developing their own players. No more signings or acquisitions of guys like Peavy, Dunn, and Rios. The Sox desperately need to have a couple 20-something stars over the next few years. Sale is there, but offensively, it would be nice if Trayce Thompson, Carlos Sanchez, and Jered Mitchell panned out. And then Hawkins in 2-3 years. I hope Hahn has some different views than Kenny, and he'll actually be allowed to do them. My fear is Kenny doesn't have to do the grunt work anymore, but Hahn has to execute Kenny's plan and get approval on everything. Great post.

QUOTE (Cali @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 05:10 AM) As negative as I was pre-2012, I see no way the 2013 team will compete. Too many pieces of this team will be gone, health concerns for Danks, Jones, Reed, Sale and Quintana (thought I think Hahn/KW will trade him in the winter) and its an odd numbered year so Rios should go in the tank. I'm not gonna say 100 losses but easily a .500 team. I agree, and think .500 may be optimistic. Of course I reserve the right to change my mind if Hahn or KW, whoever is in charge is able to pull some rabbits out of a hat in the off season.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 01:55 PM) I'm starting to think that the White Sox true fanbase just isn't that big, despite being in Chicago. I think you've hit on an important point here, and one that few want to acknowledge. A combination of shifting demographics over the decades, dumb moves by the Reinsdorf group, and most important of all the positive impact Tribune company ownership had on the Cubs have all combined to make Chicago much more of a Cubs town. Additionally the Tribune company and WGN created countless Cub fans out in the American hinterland. When out of towners come to visit Chicago a trip to USCF is rarely on the itinerary, but taking in a Cubs game at Wrigley often is.

QUOTE (Brian @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 02:11 AM) Darren Sutton seems to be on the outs with Zona. Replace Hawk with him and we have one of the best tv booths in baseball. http://www.shermanreport.com/strange-story...ants-wear-suit/ http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1233793...broadcast-booth

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 01:00 AM) Does anyone remember the biased announcing by Chris Berman, 2005 ALDS Sox vs. Red Sox? That's when I stopped watching ESPN. You mean when he yelled "Oh no!" when Graffanino booted the ball?

QUOTE (OsweGo-Go Sox @ Sep 25, 2012 -> 03:12 PM) Why? It makes sense. People who say "Hawk is great because he's just like one of us!" are missing the point, because some people don't want a professional broadcaster to be "just like us." They went him to be a professional broadcaster. Bob Prince was a professional broadcaster, and if you think Hawk was a homer you should have heard him do Pirates broadcasts. Same with Chicago's Jack Brickhouse. Harry Caray was a homer for every team he worked for. When the Cardinals would win a big game he would often shout "The Cardinals are coming." I can't even remember the names of the goofs that did the recent network telecast of a Sox vs Angels game but they like the recent Royals trio I suffered through bored me greatly. I say this even though admitting that Hawk sometimes has me cringing. I still prefer him to at least 80% of what else is out there these days.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 08:01 PM) None of us doom and gloomers are failing to realize Detroit also sucks. Those of us who are negative are simply pissed that the Sox have had a zillion opportunities to be 4-6 games up right now. Yes, we realize Detroit has been equally s***ty. Yes we realize it's not over by any means. Thanks greg. You put in the qualifiers that I should have. I'll add that once the NFL style playoffs begin anything can happen. Your team could be like the 87 Twins or 06 Cardinals.