Controlled Chaos

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 24, 2009 -> 12:55 PM) So what's the ratio of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry? 33.3333333

100% Italian (50% Calabrese - 25% Sicilian 25% Neapolitan) 3rd generation here.

Happy Birthday Alpha!!!

QUOTE (AssHatSoxFan @ Aug 21, 2009 -> 07:48 AM) OMG what am I going to do now that Favre and Vick are back in the NFL and aren't on the list?!!!?!? You can be smart and NOT draft them!! If you do want to add them though, I have the players sheet protected, but there isn't a password on it. Just go to unprotect and add them in if you want.

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 18, 2009 -> 10:55 AM) I dig her, but isn't she contradicting herself with photos like this in GQ? No.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 17, 2009 -> 09:11 AM) That's f***ing awesome. Thanks for sending it to me. I use excel a ton and consider myself extremely proficient but even I had a difficult time trying to follow all the formulas. Great job Thanks. I can't take all the credit though. I tweaked somebody else's sheet I found online a few years ago.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 17, 2009 -> 09:11 AM) CC - did you send this to all in the thread who've requested it? I believe so. I sent it to you this morning. oops one thing I noticed and it isn't a big deal, but I usually hide the row and column headers on the picks page. Tools - Options -View - Uncheck row and column headers. Also, if you go to view full screen you will see more.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 10:54 AM) I tried creating one last year and it was so-so. A lot of guys didn't like that you had to scroll to see the entire board. I used the smallest possible font and formatted to fit as much into the screen at once but it still needed to be scrolled. We just ordered a draft board so it's too late to run with yours but I'd still like to see if you came up with a better idea. Can you shoot it over to me? Thanks! [email protected] Yeah, I don't think you will ever see an entire board on a spreadsheet...it would be too small. The thing I really want to know is who has picked which positions and I have that tracking at the top. I find that pretty valuable in determining if I can wait an extra rd before making a pick. You can see almost 3 rounds at a time on this and if a player is picked twice it will highlight both names...I wanted to make it scream IDIOT at that point, but figured it was overkill.

If any of you run a live draft. I have a pretty good spreadsheet to keep track of things. We usually have ours at a bar or something and I hook my lappy in to one of the tv's there. Everyone can see their picks. If interested I can email it to you.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 12, 2009 -> 11:20 AM) No way am I down with that. Off with yer head then! arr

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Aug 11, 2009 -> 03:01 PM) Yeah right, no ID to vote, but show an ID to enter a townhall? LMAO :lol: :lol: :lol: HAHAHA...

For every state listed, can someone else argue why the state is worthy of it's existence? If a state does not get defended, then we should indeed just start a petition and get rid of it.

Controlling your Chaos

*There was a cool graphic accompanying this article in the hard copy version comparing Beckham to other top picks and their initial impact on the game. *Edit: I found the text of the graphic. It's at the bottom. chicagotribune.com Gordon Beckham's major leap impresses many Brewers' Ryan Braun marvels at Sox rookie's success By Dave van Dyck Tribune reporter August 4, 2009 When the White Sox summoned Gordon Beckham to the major leagues after only 59 minor-league games, they were taking a huge gamble. Forget that Beckham was a first-round pick in 2008 out of college with a "can't-miss" label attached, virtually skipping the minor leagues is unheard in the modern game. "I know he was a great player and a first-round pick, so I'd have to say he would have been successful, but I marvel at the success he has had this early because that's really difficult to do," Milwaukee's two-time All-Star Ryan Braun said. Braun should know. He was the fifth pick in 2005 as a collegiate third baseman. But he played in 199 minor-league games -- about 3 1/2 times more than Beckham -- before his promotion. Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria? He was the third pick as a collegian but spent parts of three seasons and 205 games in the minor leagues. Of course, Longoria became an All-Star in his first full major-league season of 2008 and again in 2009. And Braun was picked in his second full major-league season, 2008, and again in 2009, as an outfielder. A check of other recent first-round infielders shows none made it to the majors sooner than Beckham. Could Braun have succeeded if he had been called up earlier? "I'd like to say yes, but I think the development time, getting to spend a little extra time in the minor leagues, is something that really helped me," he said. "The biggest thing was just dealing with the grind, physically and mentally, of playing every day. It's drastically different from college, where you're playing three or four games a week. "I think that's the biggest adjustment, just playing through it, dealing with some adversity, dealing with some failure. It's not something that as a college player you deal with too much." Beckham, who also had to deal with a switch from shortstop to third base, obviously doesn't know if more time in the minors might have changed his 0-for-13 big-league start. "It's never going to hurt to have more time," Beckham said. "I didn't necessarily want to spend more time, I wanted to be up as quickly as I could. They felt I could help the team right now, without more games, and I think that's why they pulled the trigger on bringing me up." They "pulled the trigger" on the advice of player development director Buddy Bell and general manager Ken Williams, not manager Ozzie Guillen. This is what Guillen said after Beckham went from Double A to Triple A after only 38 games: "If we have Beckham here, we're in trouble. That kid needs to play. A lot of people say the difference between Triple A and the big leagues is one jump. It's a huge jump. In Triple A, you're going to face a good pitcher maybe once a week. Here, it's an everyday thing." Yet Beckham, after a very slow start, has proved his now-believing manager wrong, even getting his batting average to .311 by hitting .411 in his last 20 games, proof that the exceptional talents will succeed if they have strong makeups. "To get through what I went through to start my career, I have an enormous amount more confidence because of that," said Beckham, who admittedly does not lack for self-assurance. "I was at 2-for-28 and I was at a point where I was going, 'What am I doing here? I don't deserve to be here.' "But I kept telling myself I know how to play the game, just keep working and it will all work out, and it ended up working out." Braun also remembers starting out in the majors sooner than most first-round picks. " Greg Maddux, Jake Peavy, Tim Hudson and John Smoltz were four out of the first five pitchers I faced," he said. "Welcome to the big leagues. "But for anybody to come up that early [as Beckham] and have success just speaks a lot about who he is as a person and his character. It's not easy, especially when you fail early as a player on a big stage in Chicago. Obviously, he has come back from that start and is having a great year." As for Braun's worries about the everyday grind, that's still ahead for Beckham, who signed with the Sox only last Aug. 14. "I know what [braun's] saying," Beckham said. "I think I'll be fine. That's what I have to deal with, playing every day. "If you can't get up for playing in the big leagues, you can't get up at all. I don't even really notice I play here every day, I'm just out there." [email protected] Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune chicagotribune.com Highly drafted infielders who made quick impact August 4, 2009 Infielders who were high draft choices and their time in the minor leagues, with a season usually consisting of about 140 games: Gordon Beckham, SS, White Sox. Drafted No. 8 in 2008, played in 59 minor-league games. Evan Longoria, 3B, Tampa Bay Rays. Drafted No. 3 out of Long Beach State in 2006, played in 205 minor-league games. First All-Star Game 2008, first season. Ryan Braun, 3B, Milwaukee Brewers. Drafted fifth overall in 2005 out of Miami (Fla.), played 199 minor-league games. First All-Star Game 2008, second season. Justin Upton, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks. Drafted No. 1 in 2005 out of high school, played in 231 minor-league games. First All-Star Game 2009, second full year in majors. Troy Tulowitzki, SS, Colorado Rockies. Drafted No. 7 in 2005 out of Long Beach State, played 106 minor-league games over parts of two seasons. Rickie Weeks, 2B, Milwaukee Brewers. Drafted No. 2 in 2003 out of Southern University, played in 209 minor-league games. Chase Utley, 2B, Philadelphia Phillies. Drafted No. 15 out of UCLA in 2000, played in 400 minor-league games. First All-Star Game 2006, third full season. B.J. Upton, SS, Tampa Bay Rays. Drafted in second round in 2002 out of high school, played 485 minor-league games. Stephen Drew, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks. Drafted No. 15 in 2004 out of Florida State, played 169 minor-league games. David Wright, 3B, New York Mets. Drafted No. 38 in 2001 out of high school, played 395 minor-league games. First All-Star Game 2006, second full season. -- Dave van Dyck Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune

QUOTE (VAfan @ Jul 31, 2009 -> 01:27 PM) Why did KW trade Nick Swisher this offseason and go into the season with DeWayne Wise and Brian Anderson in CF? When Nick hit his tying HR last night, I sat there wondering about this move. The fact that Wise came through with a single to win the game doesn't change this calculus. Nick Swisher has produced 56.2 runs created this season in 371 plate appearances. DeWayne Wise has produced 7.1 runs created in 112 PAs. Brian Anderson produced 17.7 runs created 205 PAs. The difference is that Swisher has 27.4 more runs created. Since he has 54 more PAs, we'll discount the difference to 25 runs. If you plug that into the pythagorean expected win totals, you'll see that the Tigers are +31 runs, while we are at zero. So, had we kept Nick Swisher, we could easily be tied with the Tigers at this point -- or ahead of them if Swisher had helped us beat the Tigers even one time. Meanwhile, KW ends up trading for Mark Kotsay to fill the same kind of role Swisher fills, yet he's several years older and dramatically less productive. So unproductive offensively, in fact, that I'm not sure he's much better than Brian Anderson at this point. Swisher would have given us a major league player in CF from the start of the year. He could have kept that job when Scotty Pods came over because Quentin went down. And now he would still be a super-sub for Quentin, Pods, Dye, Konerko, and Thome, giving him plenty of ABs that will go instead to less productive hitters for the Sox. I realize KW and Ozzie wanted to dump Swisher after last season. But it was a dumb move without getting someone to replace his role. That one position has been the weakest on the team, and has certainly cost us games, and very possibly another division title. We traded him because it was the first time I bought an authentic jersey with a players name on it and the baseball gods hate me for tripping that kid rounding second when I was 6.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 08:10 PM) Wait, what just happened to Alexei? Spike stuck on a slide. Looked pretty bad.

Ouch. He's done.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Jul 27, 2009 -> 10:30 AM) This is probably true. However, he has hit in every game since he was sent down. He is 6/19--and of those 6 hits two are homeruns and one is the aforementioned double. I think Brian needs a good batting routine. In between pitches he looks lost. He kinda looks around...he knows he's supposed to do something...so he'll take a half ass practice swing. He'll looks at the ground. He'll look at the sky. Get in the box....but doesn't seem to check if he is lined up perfectly or anything. Then he doesn't seem to do the same thing in the box either when looking at the pitcher. Somebody needs to work on a routine with him...Some people need it and some don't, but I see him as someone who definitely does. It helps improve your focus to repeat the same thing all the time. I'm not talking Garciaparra extremes, but he needs something repetitive.

QUOTE (robinventura23 @ Jul 24, 2009 -> 10:34 AM) Hopefully, they start selling these at the game: Dam they had that printed fast. No doubt they will be selling it.

Sweet. But what's with the attendance? Typical Sox fans!!

I'm posting...I'm posting. I can't see an Abe Froman post without saying. "The sausage king of Chicago" in that stupid dudes accent.

I thought it was a good read. There is a bit of whining there, but who the f*** doesn't shout "why me" once in a while. We just don't read about it in the paper.

QUOTE (SHIPPS @ Jul 21, 2009 -> 09:40 AM) Sadly I am still immature enough to feel weird when I order rice balls. Then call them what they are. Arrancini. Pronounced: ahh-rahn-CHEE-nee. If you want to be cool roll the R. They are awesome!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 21, 2009 -> 06:22 AM) I'm BA's biggest fan, but if he can't distinguish himself as being far superior to Wise, which he hasn't, this is what is going to happen. If a BA/Wise decision is the biggest problem the White Sox have from here on out, there should be an awesome parade in about 90 days. This move sucks for Anderson, but its not going to cost the White Sox wins. Can I hold you to that? Later in the year pitchers are tired...balls get left up...Defense becomes paramount. Just makes no sense to keep a pinch runner over a high caliber defensive replacement and that's really what was done here.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 14, 2009 -> 02:00 PM) Do you hold any controversial opinions? You don't necessarily have to justify or defend your opinions, only to state them. Here's a few to start: 1 - All guns should be outlawed. If you get caught with a gun you pay a $5K fine for your first offense. $10K for a second offense. Your wages and income tax return will be garnished until the fine is paid. EDIT: no jail time. 2 - If you decide to have more than 2 children you pay a one time $10,000 penalty for each additional child after 2. 3 - All drugs should be legalized. Lets hear what you've got. What's #2 about?