TomSeaverFan

I was on the road and watched a movie on HBO the other night in a hotel. It was called "Wanderlust" I believe with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd. It's about two people in the rat race who become hippies in a commune. I would give it a D or one star. Has anybody seen it? I don't even think Aniston looked that hot. I thought she looked GREAT in Horrible Bosses.

When he's healthy he's been pretty darn consistent. He's been quite a ballplayer through the years.

Anybody worried Paulie's hitting too well this spring? Is he wasting the power in meaningless spring games? My dad used to worry about stuff like that so I guess it's been passed on to me.

Is this Blackhawk team the best potentially in NHL history?

I did a google and can't tell if he's still with the Yankees. Is he still pitching?

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Feb 24, 2013 -> 02:35 PM) Location and ballpark, that's it. It's really easy. It's not about welcoming casual fans by either organization. I agree 100 percent. What I wonder is, if you go to a Cub game and get a really s***ty seat, like behind a pillar or where you can't see the scoreboard, did you truly enjoy the experience? To me it'd be like playing Marquette Park golf course instead of Butler National. How uncomfortable can it be to go to Wrigley at times depending on your seat?? QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 25, 2013 -> 01:34 PM) Honestly, if you have the opportunity to attend games at costs that are relatively cheap, it'd be a shame if you didn't go. They won 85 games last year and could and should be just as good this year while offering cheaper ticket prices. They have one of the best young pitchers in the game and a great all around pitching staff. They also have some pretty good, though not necessarily household or star, players offensively as well. To see a few Sox games, it literally either costs me about 24 hours in a car or $500 for airline tickets plus the price of game tickets and possibly lodging to see them in Chicago. I can't make it this summer but plan to next summer if just to make it to Chicago, and I plan on doing so during a period where I can see 2-3 games while I'm there. I hope you reconsider and attend a few games this year. It's going to be a good show. If Sox pitching staff is truly "great" as you say, the team will win the division. I'm not convinced it's great. I hope you are right.

QUOTE (Jake @ Feb 21, 2013 -> 07:48 PM) I call you "target 1" Yeah, someday I'm gonna get robbed or lose my wallet and regret it. I know a lot of people who literally carry no cash. Ever.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 21, 2013 -> 12:10 PM) I want to hang out with the two of you. I can flash the $35 in my wallet and get all the ladies. I have $1,117 dollars in my wallet right now. Does that make me certifiably insane? Being poor as a kid I've always wanted to carry a lot of cash around as an adult. I'm far from rich but I think I have some sort of mental illness that requires me carrying around a lot of cash. I wonder if there is a name for people like me.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 21, 2013 -> 06:41 AM) Wow, begging for a 3B coaching job already? How the mighty have fallen. I'm sure at his age, if he can't satisfy his ego managing, he at least wants to make sure he can go to the ballpark everyday. Unfortunately for him, his only hope is getting a broadcasting job and we know he's too damn difficult to understand to pull that off. So Ozzie is done and he's not even 50? So much has changed since 2005.

But Dick, why did he want a highly-paid manager in the first place? Did Loria go "all in" for one season with the players he signed and the manager? Did he know he would be selling off ALL pieces if the all-in failed? Or was there no "all-in" to begin with? The Grantland story tells me Loria is a mastermind at making money. Not sure where the one season of spending money was coming from.

Thanks for the Grantland story and all the comments. I had no idea. Wow. What an education I received. With Loria being smart as a fox, I'm a little surprised guys like Guillen fell for it. All Loria did was ruin Guillen's career. Now, Guillen I'm assuming has to be paid the full amount of the contract, which was a good contract. Guillen is the proverbial "set for life" I guess. But my final question to you is ... why did Loria bother signing a guy like Guillen in the first place? Did he truly care at that point of signing Guillen about the popular perception that the team would be attracting Latino fans? I don't see where signing a "big name" manager would have mattered to Loria if he has this genius master plan of just making money. Where did Guillen fit into this??

What is Loria's motivation in owning a major league baseball team? Seriously. It's like he played a huge joke on the rest of baseball before last season in acquiring some highly priced real players and hiring Ozzie Guillen. Have they not gotten rid of all the high salaried players now? Are the Marlins going to win 50 games? Arguably they will have the worst team in baseball, right? So what is the motivation to own a team if you are going to strip it to nothing? I don't get it. Why not let somebody else own it? He can't be a popular figure in Miami.

Saw that quote from Mark in the deadspin story on Buehrle. Glad to see he's willing to blast Miami Marlins ownership. http://deadspin.com/5985005/mark-buehrle-w...nned-in-toronto The Marlins single-handedly screwed over two White Sox, Mark and Ozzie. At least that's the way I see it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 14, 2013 -> 02:00 PM) If they really wanted him, they would have made him an offer before free agency, like they did with Jake Peavy. I'd rather have Mark Buehrle on the team than Jake Peavy, that's for sure.

QUOTE (southside_hitman @ Feb 14, 2013 -> 06:01 PM) Exactly. Ventura never aspired to be a Manager and he doesn't look like he really wants to be out there. Nobody is suggesting that we neede someone to rant like Ozzie, but I expected more of a baseball strategist, a guy that was always thinking, and making good decisions before and during games.. So let's be specific about Ventura's managerial skills in 2012. (And please, forget about your perceptions about how hard he worked) What were the decisions that he made or did not make that cause you to believe he is a top Manager in the Major League? Did he have a good sense of when to hit and run, when to pull a starting pitcher, when to call a pitch-out, when to steal , who to bat second in the order, when to pinch hit, etc? Any specific examples of that in games that made a difference? Not that it is that relevant to anything but marketing the Sox, but his post game interviews were truncated and uncomfortable and gave me the impression that he had as much interest as Cutler had in the game when he went on the exercise bike during the playoffs. He did say that he just wanted "to get through the three years." Even though he qualified that I think his words speak about his attitude when he signed the Contract. This is just a job for him, not a passion. At times it appeared as though he was following directions from Mark Parent rather than leading. As far as AJ, he does have the baseball IQ that Ventura lacks and a whole hell of a lot more personality. And that is not rant and rave, like Ozzie but it would be a lot more interesting to fans and the media than the smug straight guy routine from Ventura. I personally shrugged off the fact he declined an extension. Robin struck it rich as a player, didn't he? It's not like he needs the cash and he said he wanted to take care of his coaching staff in the article, which is pretty damn noble. It seems (to me) he feels comfortable in his own skin and will let this year play out and if he's enjoying baseball still and the Sox brass likes him, I bet you he'll sign a sizeable extension. If the Sox have a s***ty year, well you could say he blew it not taking the year when it was offered, but for some reason I don't see it that way.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 04:42 PM) I remember an answer about them adding a timing mechanism for him in the form of a shot leg kick, that's about all I remember hearing about him. Sounds good to me if they've added something to help him become even better than he was last year.

As spring training begins, I am hoping Viciedo becomes a true star. Was there any straight talk at Soxfest about what the White Sox brass considers Viciedo? Is he a star in the making in their eyes, an average prospect or ?

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 05:39 AM) I'm curious whether you mean that our bullpen is bad in general or just not set up for long relief? Because I think our bullpen is going to be pretty good. No bullpen is set up to regularly succeed for 4 innings a game, but all of them have to do it occasionally. For what it's worth, the average Sox starter lasted 6.2 innings last year. No idea where that ranks in baseball, but approaching 7 innings seems pretty good. EDIT: For some reason, B-R and Fangraphs have different stats here, but they're roughly similar. AL average start was 5.2 innings. Sox starters were 5th in the AL in innings pitched, but only 20 total innings behind the leader. Thank you for the stats. Interesting.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 12, 2013 -> 08:48 AM) This is like going to the bar to try and hook up with a super hot chick and ending the night with a handjob from a fat chick. It's NOT what you were hoping for, but it'll do. That is one great analogy. Fat chicks aren't my thing, though, in any instance.

It's a good thing the Sox re-signed Peavy. I think had they not done that, the team would be in deep trouble. I do hope the team can overcome the loss of AJ in the lineup. I can understand giving Flowers a chance. I hope the Sox scouts that think he can play are correct. If he is a black hole in the lineup and Beckham doesn't improve drastically we could be in for some anemic offensive performances on occasion. But as far as the offseason ... signing Peavy was huge. At least now on paper the Sox have very competitive starting pitching. I do hope Robin and Cooper figure ways to get these guys to deliver 7 innings reliably. Five-plus innings doesn't cut it with our bullpen.

I do sense a double standard sometimes on TV. I think a lot of people offend religious people, especially the Catholics, and would never go anywhere near there on sexuality issues or other issues.

Excellent podcast. It was interesting to hear the experts' opinion of the White Sox. Sounds like they expect little from Dunn, the one man saying, "it isn't going to end well the next couple years." They don't like Sale's pitching delivery and almost expect an injury in coming years. The general opinion is they are a 4 over 500 team and really have no chance the next couple years of competing with Detroit. Very very interesting stuff.

Sometimes I get a thrill out of watching old TV series on cable that my mom and dad told me they watched as children. I have examined many episodes of Mr Ed, Leave it To Beaver, Andy Griffith, All in the Family, Dick Van Dyke and Dennis the Menace and The Munsters. I would say I have laughed out loud at some things that took place on The Munsters, Dick Van Dyke and Mr. Ed; I have been entertained but not overwhelmed by Andy Griffith, did not like Dennis the Menace and have been intrigued but somewhat bored by Leave it To Beaver. Any of you like any of these series?

I love reading Jake Peavy's comments. Glad to see him point to an intangible - fading under pressure (choking may be the right word, but is kind of harsh)- down the stretch. I hope the Sox can be in the same situation heading into late August this season and see how they fare the final month this time. This team IMO has what it takes to be a maximum of 10 over .500 beginning in September. That's if everything goes well. I'd say the team will be anywhere between .500 and 10 over on Sept. 1. If the team is .500 it won't be contending. 10 over will be good enough to be right there with Detroit and Kansas City.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 25, 2013 -> 09:57 AM) Lopez, Flowers, Hudson and even Johnson should have all played more, IMO. Forget Olmedo, he was useless. I'd agree on Flowers and Johnson. Lopez and Hudson do not thrill me at all.