The Critic

I almost never shop at Y'all-Mart. Too many people, not enough stuff I want to buy. I get dragged there every once in a blue moon by the Mrs., but I don't like the place one bit. I did get a pretty decent Sox t-shirt there last year, though.

The only prediction I feel safe in making is that there will be claims of shenanigans on both sides of the ticket, and that the final decision will be delayed again for at least a week or two.

I'm just giving ss2k4 some s***, as usual. It's easy and fun, you ought to try it! oh and by the way, WELCOME to Soxtalk!

You mean off the grass and driveway and trees and house next door? Your aim sucks...

DUDE, are you a PSYCHIC??? You figured out that "USAF" referred to a MILITARY MAN??? ....you're scaring me.....

That's so nice of him to spare the Kerry states.... That wackjob would NEVER influence my vote for a second. And notice the use of the term "wackjob" in my message....rather than using the more general term "nutjob", which could refer to any number of idiot psycho ballsacks, I used the term "wackjob", which as any linguist can tell you, often refers to bin Laden specifically.

Seems like when the Jack Ryan thing blew up the Pubs just gave up and called in the Sacrificial Lamb, Alan Keyes. They didn't really have time to establish a viable candidate so they sent in the Rick White of politics to take the beating.

Well, if he turned down 3 years at 9 mil per, then for sure he'll be looking for 10 mil per at least, and probably more than 3 years, which the Sox never give. So it sounds like no go for Lowe, at least here.

You can make that same statement about balls falling in front of players about ANYONE. I saw some fall in front of the GODLY Jim Edmonds during the playoffs. The fact is, Carlos Lee was NOT a defensive liability in LF last year. He played a VERY aggressive left field, made a LOT of plays that he hadn't made in years past, and overcame a slow power start to end up with 30+ homers and doubles, and damn near 100 RBI - I was really hoping he'd have gotten that last ribbie. I'm very happy with the way Carlos has progressed.

Bova's the guy who runs WSI.

Ha, nice one. But on the other hand, Stone wasn't really hounded like that before this year. He had Harry to distract people from what he was saying early on, and for the most part the team was bad enough to reinforce any criticisms Stone might have aired. This was the first year that anything was expected of the Cubs, and they cracked. Then they needed scapegoats and decided to target the announcers.

Heard on AM1000 this morning that the Cubs have contacted Bob Brenly about Stone's job. They could do worse, Brenly's solid. Brenly better know going in that he can't criticize the paper-thin-skinned Cubbie players, though....just so he understands that they can't take criticism, or even PRAISE if it's not spread around evenly enough ( referring to Alou's b****ing that the pitching staff got too much praise and not enough for the hitters ). BEST NEWS I've heard yet is that The Moth, Mark Grace is NOT being considered at all!

Steve Carlton had pretty good career numbers when the Sox picked him up, too....

The difference is, he often states the obvious BEFORE it happens. That's called baseball knowledge and experience. Stone is one of the best analysts in the game, nasal voice notwithstanding.

Using your curse theory, if a curse brings attention, fans and revenue, there'd be no incentive to win the World Series. The longer the curse was in effect, the better. The reasons the Red Sox won are these: 1. They were sold to a guy who DIDN'T want the stupid "curse" any longer 2. He hired a sharp young GM that most other teams would probably have dismissed as "too young" 3. He gave that GM enough financial leverage to acquire GOOD players those 3 things can bust up a "curse"...

He does fill in some of the void of jackassery left by Carter, but it was SO MUCH BETTER to have 3+ hours per game, 100 or so times a year for Carter to babble. Kruk doesn't get enough time to let his mind wander like Carter's used to. I'll tell my favorite Carterism again, for those who haven't heard it yet: During a game, Carter meant to mention the cumulus clouds overheard, but actually called them "cunnilingus clouds". There was more than a moment of silence, and the calling of the game continued. The Astros were retired in their half of the inning, and in the single best moment of Chip Caray's career, he said "The Astros still haven't licked Cubs pitching"!!!! That was the ONLY time I've ever felt like THIS about Chip Caray!

Personally, I LOVED Joe Carter! You just don't get that much unintentional comedy anymore....

"Hooo, I'll tell ya, Babe, that pitch was so far outside that it got hit by a car! No respect from the ump at all....." "Hey, Rodney, can ya get me a hot dog and a hooker?"

It's cool, Addy - I think it was a joke.

I DON'T BELIEVE IN CURSES, GODDAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somewhere out west, I think. I know he was looking to be in an ownership group for the A's but that fell through.

? Chip's with the Braves broadcast team now. You're losing me now....

I wonder if he's got an eye on a GM position somewhere? It's no secret that he wants to work in that capacity.

WOW. I'm stunned. The Cubs must have tried to put limits on what he could say in the booth. I'm glad he's free of the North Side Asylum.

While I understand the anger and agree to a point, he is right in the sense that the White Sox are not very big of a story on a national level. In that sense, he's correct in what he said, even if it is a slap to the loyal Sox fans. Nothing surprising in what he said at all. Seems like the negative is overplayed when it comes to the White Sox ( fan misbehavior being the prime example - stuff happens everywhere, but the stuff that is Sox-related seems to have a longer shelf life. When the Giant fan and the Dodger fan had a parking lot confrontation, that died down quicker than the Ligue thing or the Dybas thing ). Just the way it is, and I guess we shouldn't let it get to us.