The Critic

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Oct 3, 2005 -> 11:46 PM) Champion Chicago White Sox Man, that's fun to read. Add "World" to it and I may not be able to handle it....

I played in Mayor Daley's 1973 All-City Series team, and Pat was one of the speakers at the awards banquet. He signed my team picture and was very nice to all of us little snot-nosed brats. I'm really sad to hear of his passing. R.I.P. Pat.

I'd like nothing better than for the 2005 Red Sox to have the same playoff result as the 2000 White Sox.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Oct 3, 2005 -> 03:13 PM) Ortiz was left off the roster because Francona wanted some more versatility defensively in the field. I do enjoy it when the green isn't even necessary.

I saw that hyperstupid Woody Paige trying to hang a curse on the White Sox this morning on that 1st and 10 segment. That guy is the Lewis Black of sports - all yelling and twitching and no substance.

QUOTE(Balance @ Oct 3, 2005 -> 03:01 PM) Damn. Ortiz and Ramirez made their roster. It was either them or a 3rd catcher and extra middle reliever. I heard it came down to a coin flip.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 3, 2005 -> 01:19 PM) Screw all you guys, I am going to be rich!!! You lucky f***er!!! No one EVER leaves me any money!!! Lousy broke-ass dead muthaf***as.....

QUOTE(Antonio Osuna @ Oct 2, 2005 -> 10:31 PM) Game 1 I got obstructed view seating behind the right field foul pole. Game 2 I got back row of the lower deck somewhere by the left field foul pole (in foul territory). The seats suck, but I don't care. As long as I'm inside the ballpark, its all good. Those "obstructed view" seats are not bad at all. It's not like the Deadly Confines, where the Cubs stick the "best fans in baseball" 18 inches directly behind a support beam. You might not be able to clearly see one isolated part of the field, but it's not a huge problem by any means. I had those seats twice this year, and they were fine. You'll enjoy the game, don't sweat it. As for me, I'll be on the f***ing train home during the start of game one - THANKS, 3pm start time!!! But I should be home to see the last 4 innings or so.

QUOTE(Carlo Paz @ Oct 1, 2005 -> 07:44 AM) Ozzie is as traditional a strategist as they come. Marte may be pitching like crap, and he may be more effective against righties, but Ozzie will keep him on the roster for those important lefty lefty matchups where you need a lefty to come in and be innefective against a lefty. That would be the page Ozzie stole from the Dusty Baker/Mike Remlinger playbook.....it was FUNNY when it happened to Dusty the Pitcher Killer, but now it feels like this: :puke edited to spell Remlinger correctly.

Blum is more defensively flexible than Gload. Gload's a little better hitter than Blum. With the emphasis this team puts on defense, I have to go with Blum. He gives Ozzie more options to make changes.

QUOTE(Y2HH @ Oct 1, 2005 -> 07:28 AM) I'd have to say leaving Duque off the playoff roster is a huge mistake. Not sure if anyone else noticed this, but when he came in to face the Indians last night, he was as SHARP as I've seen him all season. It's like he flipped a switch and said, "playoffs are coming". I think this is simply a case where you go with Duque no matter what. In the playoffs, when batters and pitchers are nervous with anticipiation with every single pitch, experience like Duque's is huge. Regardless of how good someone like McCarthy is pitching right now, if I was a major league hitter, I'd rather face him than see El Duque, the king of the post season, stalking that mound...it would simply make the nervousness factor go up 10fold because of his reputation. -y2 Can't disagree with this at all, especially since the idea behind getting Duque was at least in part because of his playoff experience and success. To not use him there seems to be a mistake to me as well. The only thing I think differently is like I said before, I'd sit Marte.

Finally, I'm above MEDIAN at something!!!!! I had to edit that since the average was 9.93. so I'm still below average... Nice work on the chart, TLAK!

Mark McGwire was at Busch to remove the number 3 off the "remaining games" sign, and there were a few boos when he was announced. They interviewed him after the game, and he was as evasive as ever. "What I said at the hearing is my statement, and that's the last I'm going to say about it. I'm a positive person, we need to move on".....blah blah blah. Thing is, he didn't say anything at the hearing. What a huge disappointment he turned out to be. Oh, and he did the Barry Bonds "carry the kid as a sympathy shield" thing.

As much as I dislike the Red Cubs and Spankees, it would feel good to eliminate the Toons from the playoffs. I wonder if Grady Sizemore is getting any backlash for that drop in KC?

Two things that I thought after reading this: How f***ing cool was it for the guys to walk into a Big Hurt Champagne Shower??? and Too f***ing bad for Magglio. I'd feel bad for Carlos Lee before Magglio, since Carlos didn't CHOOSE to leave the White Sox. Not surprised at all about Ordonez's reaction, either.

I would also go with BMac and Duque and leave Marte off the roster. f*** "matchups" - the matchup I like is this: Opposing Batter vs. Guy Who Can Get Him Out. Marte hasn't consistently been a Guy Who Can Get Him Out for two years.

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Sep 30, 2005 -> 10:48 AM) Yes but when you take a drink not everyone else is forced to do so. Yeah, but no one is forced to do anything in that scenario, really. I hate the smell of cigarette smoke, but I just think that smokers are kind of being piled on right now. Need a new tax? Tax cigarettes. But then make them stand outside and smoke, as if they were dogs taking a s***. I dunno....

I'm not a smoker, but I don't think bars should be smoke-free. Restaurants I can understand, but if you're in a bar putting OTHER harmful elements into your system, then what makes smoke worse than alcohol? If an individual bar owner wants to make the decision to be a smoke-free environment, that's his or her choice ( and his or her risk of alienating patrons ).

Those look kinda Laker-ish to me.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Sep 30, 2005 -> 07:53 AM) "Hardly" is one of the best Husker songs, IMO. Which other ones did he do from Du? My night would have been made had he just gone on stage and done "Standing In The Rain" and left. Not knocking Bob or Husker, as I do like them both a bunch, but that is such an amazing song. I didn't recognize any of the other Husker songs besides Hardly Getting Over It, Celebrated Summer, and one song I think was called I Apologize. He went way back for the Husker stuff. I'm guessing that the later stuff brings up bad memories, so maybe he stayed away from it for that reason. Of course, I got into a hockey conversation with a couple of guys downstairs by the merch desk during some of the encores, so I probably missed three songs during the chat. Oh, and I like Hardly too, just not at half-speed. It was sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssslooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwww. Plus, this batch of f***tards took the opportunity to screech inane s*** like "BOB ROCKS!!!!" and the occasional "WHOOOOOO!!!!" during that song. Completely appropriate to scream Bob Rocks during THAT song, cuz it's so upbeat and happy.... :rolly

So I went to the Bob Mould show last night at Metro, and here are some highlights, lowlights and weird happenings: I found a free, non-neighborhood-sticker parking space right across the street from the Deadly Confines. All the lights were on, there was an announcer announcing someone's names, I'm hearing cracks of the bat. Do they rent that place out when the Cubs are out of town? Weird. But not as weird as what I see as I round the corner - some f***tard is STANDING ACROSS FROM THE LEFT-FIELD BLEACHERS WITH A MITT!!!! Like whatever investment banker is taking BP is gonna crack one onto the street!!!!! I get to Metro just in time for the opening band, Uncut. I was not looking forward to their performance, based on the mp3s I heard on their webpage. They were SO MUCH BETTER live!! After a dreary, slow opening song, they kicked into gear and they were very good. The closest comparison I can make is Swervedriver. ( Hope someone out there knows who Swervedriver is.... ). All in all, a pleasant surprise. After a prolonged battle with the bassist's microphone , the Bob Mould Band took the stage. Bob looks good, if a bit weathered. The highlight of this tour for me is the fact that Bob's playing Husker Du and Sugar songs in concert for the first time in ages, and he jumped right into the Sugar catalog to start the show. "The Act We Act", "A Good Idea" and "Changes" off of Copper Blue, IMO Sugar's best disc. They followed the Sugar block with some of Bob's solo work, including the best song of the night, "Paralyzed" off of Bob's new disc Body of Song. He then slowed it WAAAAAAY down with the first Husker song, "Hardly Getting Over It" from Candy Apple Grey. I wasn't thrilled with Bob's choice of Husker songs - he played things like "Celebrated Summer", which was fine, but not what I really wanted to hear. Anyway, a few more songs for an encore and a FINE night of classic alternative rock was over. I was very glad I came out to see him. One minor complaint about Bob - he doesn't have the greatest singing voice to begin with ( it is distinctive and works fine for his studio work, he definitely has the kind of voice where you know right away who's singing ) but in concert he doesn't even really TRY to follow the melody of the song. His singing live doesn't even sound like the same song from his CDs. It's bothersome to me, although his guitar playing MORE than makes up for it. Bob seemed to be really enjoying himself on stage, even doing the old familiar drunken stagger he did in the Husker days. The crowd was VERY into him, and loved the older stuff as well as the new songs. The crowd was older and Bob's gay contingent was well-represented. This was NOT the place to be if you are young, male, heterosexual and on the prowl!

I'm guessing Grandstand has some stuff in the back storeroom already, but I won't shop there so I'll just look locally. ( In case anyone wonders why, I don't like the attitude at Grandstand. Just my own experience in the place. )

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 29, 2005 -> 11:25 AM) Do you ever go to the Around the Corner bar right there? It has awesome food and tv's a plenty. That's on Franklin, right? If it's the one I remember, the food was very good. It's kind of a smallish place for the HEFTY fellas, though.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Sep 29, 2005 -> 10:41 AM) You need to listen to more stuff on the actual records and not compressed on the radio. The 70's had TONS of upfront guitars. That's it, I'm doing that Humble Pie disc for you now... I thought you already gave me the Humble Pie disc??? ......I still haven't listened to everything you sent......

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Sep 29, 2005 -> 10:41 AM) You need to listen to more stuff on the actual records and not compressed on the radio. The 70's had TONS of upfront guitars. That's it, I'm doing that Humble Pie disc for you now... You obviously forget my advanced age. I heard 90% of the stuff I'm referring to on vinyl. Whippersnappers.....