cwsox

so many factors play into the schedule - I think I recall reading it is actually made out by some couple who have all the logistics down and been doing it for years - you've got a lot of facors including when some stadiums are in use for non baseball events, balancing holidays, team requests, etc. For example, the Sox never want to open the season at home (weather concerns), as KW was emphatic about at SoxFest, which is why we haven't opened at home in what, a decade or more? I think we hurt our attendance when we have a schedule like this one. I wonder - pure speculation - if we lost any "ties" for getting a s*** schedule in that we have the boost of the all star game. Last year's schedule, or any recent years, was not bad in anyway that I can recall. Hell, in 2000 we had Cleveland for Memorial Day which should have packed them in and then we had the worst non-game time weather imaginable which all cleared up at game time but kept the crowds down. The only good part of the schedule this year is we have Cleveland again on Labor Day weekend and Minnesota on Labor Day, and if memory serves we have had Labor Day weekend games for most if not all of the recent past (at least since 2000), since it seems I spend every Labor Day weekend in Chicago. Does that hurt attendance in that so many people do other things on Labor Day and are not used to September games at Comiskey (oops, US Cellular) meaning anything? Are the Sox trying to get a Labor Day tradition going? It would work for me -- We do not have July 4th this year, nor did we have it last year, but we did in 2001.

clue 1: thewre was no line at all to get in the garage sale on Friday at 5:55, when I got into SoxFest. clue 2: walking inside, there was f***ing nothing. I bought the only jersey they had that was under $50 (and it was $25, the one I wore Saturday), and it didn't take long for the $50-$100 jerseys to go either since there were maybe 5 at most. Last year's garage sale was so great, so well stocked, and this one had nothing, and on top of that, I thought the people who took the money were rude and unhelpful too. I had to ask for a certificate of authenticity for my Comiskey seat slats and the rest of my dealings with them I am not going to go into.

the only weekend series we have the last half of May is May 23-25 against the people's choice, Detroit. Yeah, i know that one feels.

thanks for that - I didn't see saturday's session so i appreciate the report. Mario: great article. As you say, who cares?

Ok, fill me in - I know little about Jim Bullard other than he roots for the As - http://ucsbgauchos.ocsn.com/sports/m-baseb...lard_jim00.html I suppose maybe that's changed now? for people like me unfamiliar with Jim Bullard, fill me in!

this year's garage sale sucked to the max, to the ultimate max.

you had something to drink at SoxFest? You should have been like the Mikes and gone to bed at 9! wasn't it fun seeing everyone? In answer to what i really got at SoxFest, I got a great time with great friends and more wonderful memories to always have. I will always argue that the real purpose of baseball is to have great fun wirth your friends, and that was abundently accomplished this last weekend. PS: Baggio, email me, I am not sure that I have a working email address for you.

put me down as a no way in hell. I was at the game against St Louis when Eldred went down and I almost cried and the only reason I didn't cry was I was sitting next to a Cards fan so I had to be macho. What Eldred brought to us was so miles ahead of anything Navarro and Snider would have done - and Valentin was a 2000 spark plug as we all know.

baggio, you make an interesting point and there is merit to that - but you know how thrilled I am to drive 205 miles one way from Michigan for three weekends to see the Tigers?

You are exactly right. You want attendance, you have to have draws, and we should get either the Yanks or BoSox on a weekend, and give us the Twins, not the Tigers on one of those weekends, and then even without another AL West team (which would be nice) our weekend schedule would have been decent rather than suck so bad.

True enouh good buddy, true enough! However, as much as I dislike JR at times (plenty of times), I never, ever forget one fact: I am old enough to have lived through almost losing the Sox in Chicago several times, especially 1969 and 1981. JR - despite all his failings - when he bought the Sox, he kept them in Chicago when another buyer may easily have moved them. Those of you who are young may not know how close we came to losing the Sox, just as when Art Allyn may well have sold the Sox away and John Allyn of blessed memory bought the Sox from his brother and kept them in Chicago. (The threat to move the Sox over the new stadium was always a bluff negotiating ploy, as I saw it.) What I know is twice we damn well almsot lost the Sox, and John Allyn and JR both tikmes kept them in Chicago so for me it iks always in the back of my mind when I am otherwise yelling about JR, and why this contract may mean a lot, lot more to me. This contract guarentees that when JR does sell the team, or dies and it passes to others, that we do not have to live with the future threat of the Sox being moved again, and that is the best news I will have this year.

another glance tells me that athletes have received this Congressional Gold Medal, including Roberto Clemente and Jesse Owens. This list of winners is on the link I placed above. Other winners include the Gershwin brothers and George M. Cohan and others from the arts, people like Lady Bird Johnson (probably her environmental work if one looked at it) and Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Gerald and Betty Ford, a wide variety of people that for whatever reason Congress chooses to honor: "Congress broadened the scope of the medal to include actors, authors, entertainers, musicians, pioneers in aeronautics and space, explorers, lifesavers, notables in science and medicine, athletes, humanitarians, public servants, and foreign recipients." The Congressional Medal of Honor is reserved for people in the military. Based on that, Jackie Robinson is entirely deserving of the Congressional Gold Medal.

what is the difference of the congressional gold medal as to the cmh they are two totally separate things http://clerk.house.gov/histHigh/Congressio...y/goldMedal.php a quick check on google tells me that everyone from Rosa Parks to John Wayne to Nelson Mandela has received a Congressional Gold Medal, which is a totally different thing than the Congressional Medal of Honor. Different things, different purposes, different meanings

cubkilla, until we get a link about what this story really is about, not much to get worked up about. I did the research. The Congressional Medal of Honor as far as I can tell ahs never gone to anyone not service related, and thus this story on its face as we have been given it makes no sense. There are other awards that Congress grants that would seem far more approrpiate for Robinson. I am waiting for the full story before I have an opinion.

" CHICAGO (February 3, 2003) - U.S. Cellular, a Chicago-based wireless service provider, and the Chicago White Sox have signed a naming rights agreement that creates the opportunity to pursue dramatic, fan-focused renovations and improvements to the ballpark over the next several years, now named U.S. Cellular Field. The terms of the 23-year agreement include $68 million paid over 20 years. In addition to exposure through significant ballpark signage, the agreement includes various hospitality benefits and joint-marketing opportunities. The White Sox will also extend their lease with ISFA for 15 additional years, through 2025. "U.S. Cellular and the White Sox have forged a unique partnership that will provide the resources for major design changes to the ballpark that will benefit every White Sox fan," said Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the White Sox. "Our goal is to transform U.S. Cellular Field and to provide a fun, family-oriented atmosphere for our fans. As a local company committed to its customers in the Chicagoland area, U.S. Cellular is the right partner to make this a reality." Currently, more than 50 percent of major league ballparks feature a corporate name. A major difference between the U.S. Cellular Field partnership and other agreements is that the naming rights revenue provided by this partnership will allow for major changes to the ballpark that improve the fan experience. That is the official WS email press release. Note the Sox have contracted to stay in Chicago through 2025. Thank you Jerry! People attack JR rightly and wrongly but he kept our team in Chicago when we could have lost it and now he has locked the Sox into Chicago for the time period after he no longer owns. Give the man his due respect and thanks.

You must not have been a member here when I started screaming about that schedule when it was first released - by the way, don't we have the cubs in June (27, 28, 29) and not July? In July and August the only weekend series that is good is the one with Oakland. As far as the rest of your post, it is almost verbatim from what a group of us were b****ing about on Saturday at SoxFest at lunch - glad someone else has discovered that we have been screwed by the schedule makers - that schedule is horrible.

What, I wouldn't cover your back? Your being there goes without saying! You are the guy supreme! (sorry, it was late and I was tired and not thinking - hope all went well with why you went home - my emails to you keep bouncing back - send me another and see if I can figure out what is going on)

At the Sunday session with KW, et. al., someone brought up Fick's name and was roundly booed - KW was very firm in saying that Fick would never play in a Sox uniforrm, that they give great weight to player's personalities and they would not destroy the clubhouse by bringing in jerks. The way KW described Fick, it made Clayton sound like Mr. Congeniality, and rather made the point that they learned something along the way...

He ignored me 3 times over the weekend the jagoff! I know you are steamed at AR - I have only had one experience with him and it was good - it is his wife who I think is a real b**** - a real b**** supreme -

yeah, i thought eveyone would know about the act in congress right now. Please don't assume that everyone knows about anything - please supply a link or copy the text of the story of whatever it is that you refer to --

The money gets paid up front, as I understand it, or at least is paid on a front end basis. Who cares if US Cellular goes under? Did Houston lose its ballpark when Enron tanked? No, they just got a new corporate sponser, and more money. The money cannot go to JR. The whole thing with the Illinois Sports Authority being in the picture means this is not money that JR can pocket. It goes towards stadium refurbishing in a structured deal.

The money goes to ball park improvements. Which is all good. Why be upset? Comiskey was a cheap-ass owner and a bad human being besides. I am all for tradition, but this was inevitable and it gives the ISA money to trfurbish the ball park. There was no sell out here. The only sell-out in the Chicagp area was when Dyche Stadium - named in perpetuity by Northwestern - was re-named to honor some new big $$$$ giver. That was a sell out and classless.

put me down for saying MB should start opening day and that I for one am very very happy with MB - he can say what he wants, which is almost nothing, he is team guy and he pitches and he delievers. That's all I ask.

RPS, he was dozing in another session I saw him in but he got all animated and angry when I made my comment about offering MB the contract he deserves - maybe you were sittiing too far back to see his face but he just glared at me (cubbyhubby's opinion) for the rest of that session. yeah, I think he will remember me - thank God I have HSC, you, and the Mikes to cover my back! (Can't count on baggio since he is the neck brace! )

Oh, along with the autographs that I got (Jack McDowell, MB, PK, Baines), I also got Rick Hahn angrier than hell at me (I have found a new culprit in the cheap ass tactics towards MB) and, MB is insisting that Supernuke take MB and me fishing in Canada.