Controlled Chaos

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 04:28 PM) Pat Buchanan's most recent column... Thanks...Good read!!

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 10:56 AM) It simply comes down to who gives this team a better chance to win. And with three questionable arms at the back of the rotation, I tend to think that BA's defense + extra base ability negates Owens' speed. I agree 100%. I'm a BIG believe in Defense. Brian's ability to stop singles from becoming doubles and his ability to play a little more shallow because of his jumps saves hits and runs. It saves pitchers. I think this year more than ever the sox will need someone of his caliber out there.

How do you misspeak about something that never happened. I can see if this had happened to her some other flight to some other place...and she was saying I misspoke, I was thinking of such and such. But when you just fabricate something out of thin air...how can you use misspeaking as an excuse. You weren't misrembering or misspeaking..you were bulls***ting...

QUOTE(shipps @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 10:21 AM) Luggage is kind of awkward to begin with,I would think it wouldnt be reasonable to strap a child onto it. Actually, it was very reasonable....I wouldn't come on here and post about it if it didn't work like a charm. It straps on very tight...you tighten the car seat straps just like you do to a car and it becomes one solid piece. It's the top strap that really solidifies the whole thing. I guess if it's awkward or not would depend on your suitcase, but it worked great on ours. The one thing I personally, wouldn't recommend is bringing the car seat on the plane though. That's what the airlines recommended, but when we did that it enabled our daughter to reach the seat in front of her with her feet. Which of course she would want to push on or kick. So we spent the whole flight either holding her...or watching her feet the whole time she was in her seat. Luckily, it was just a little girl in the seat in front of her...so the couple times she did do it and we stopped her, the little girl was very cool about it. On the way home she sat in the regular seat or with us. Oh I forgot to mention, 2 minutes before landing on the way home...a lady gave her a little stuffed animal to hold and my daughter held it and went to sleep. We were trying to get her to sleep the whole dam flight and she falls asleep during the landing. UGGGGGGGGGHHHHH. Then of course she wakes up when people all start getting their stuff....and starts crying again. We have another wedding in July and this one is in Jersey and our daughter is the flower girl. I really want to just drive there to avoid this whole thing. Anyone ever make the hike before?? It looks to be about 13 hours on google maps.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 10:18 AM) Hmmm. Now THAT's an idea. How'd your kiddo do on the plane? Uggh, On the way there she was fine...kinda fussy, cause she likes to run around, so she needed our full attention for almost 3 hours. Made our flight kinda miserable, but she was ok. But on the way home, not so good. She caught a cold either on the plane going there or sometime out there, so she had a runny nose and was congested. Which I can only assume made her ears real bad cause she had a tantrum where she was inconsolable for about 15 minutes. She kept putting her hands on her ears. We were trying everything to calm her down and she would just cry louder. Most people felt sorry for her, but I felt bad they had to listen to her screaming. She calmed down finally, but she was very touchy the rest of the flight. Any wrong thing we did and she would go off. I was willing to let her trash our portable DVD player if it kept her happy. She didn't want to watch it anymore...she just wanted to open and close it. Put the dvd in and out and play with the s*** inside. If we hit play she would freak. My wife was like NO you cna't play with that...and I'm like f*** it...for 50 bucks...let her break it if it keeps her from crying.

We just got back from traveling with our daughter and this thing was a big help. Well I should say the 'idea' was a big help. Once I saw whtat the strap looked like in the photo, I made my own. Just thought I'd share with any other parents out there. Our daughter loved being wheeled around plus it's one less thing to carry or two if you count carrying your kid. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JHN3A..._pr_product_top

I have a question that fits right in with this topic. I work with a lot of Jewish people. Our bathroom has two urinals, one regular height and one shorter. I have noticed everytime a Jewish person goes to the bathroom and both urinals are available they pick the short one. This has nothing to do with their height. They are all pretty avg height. Here's the other thing I find a bit odd.... they all kinda bend their knees a bit and hold their junk with two hands....like when you're a little kid and learning to aim....and then they look down and watch themselves pee. It seems really strange to me, but maybe this is how they are all taught? Can any Jewish people here confirm? or how about is it even a Jewish thing. Maybe it's just a weird coincidence that I only see Jewish people do it. I'm more of a stand up straight, thumb & forefinger kind of guy and I just look straight at the wall in front of me. I don't need to see my pee stream...I know what it looks like.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Mar 16, 2008 -> 11:57 AM) I remember an exercise my high school baseball coach made us do for wrists and forearms. He had a weight (less than a lb.) tied on about a 2ft. string attached to what basically was a shortened broom handle. With the weight hanging down and our hands palm down we would have to roll it up then roll it back down. My dad had me doing that when I was in little league. It was a b****...

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 15, 2008 -> 03:28 PM) Do tell? I didn't think he was that complimentary. Hawk said what a pleasnt surprise Brian's been. Ozzie said yeah, bout time. We been waiting a long time for this kid. but yeah he's matured and playing well...and something about him playing better when players start passing him up. He making ozzies job hard...or er easy if he keeps playing like this. he has good chance to make the club if he keeps this up. I don't know..I was hoping for a bit more of an endorsement.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 15, 2008 -> 03:19 PM) glad we sent paulie right there. had to be a missed sign by swish I think

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 15, 2008 -> 12:57 PM) Sweeney's problem isn't mechanics, he's got a great swing... he just has weak forearms and wrists and can't get the bat around fast enough to hit the inside pitch with authority. Plus, I never said mechanics can't be fixed. I'm saying Brian Anderson sucks as a baseball player. It would only take one year of offseason training to strengthen your wrsits and forearms. I mean I don't know much about Sweeney, I liked him, but if his only problem is wrist and forearm strength...they have tons of excerises for that and a trainer would have him fixed in one offseason program. Where do yo get this stuff? Has Ryan or a trainer or something come out and said his wrists are weak or have you just observed this? Maybe you should call and let him know...I'll bet he would be thrilled to know his only problem is he needs to work out a little.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Mar 14, 2008 -> 07:08 PM) Its getting scarier every day. This country is going to s***. The s*** that goes on with politics these days is why this country fought the Revolutionary War. To me the s*** that goes on in this threads is whats scary. Instead of just seeing this guy for what he is, and saying he is a fukcin nut job racist. People have to take sides right away, even to the point of some defending the dude. One has said he doesn't even see a problem with his speeches for christ sake. Would he really feel the same if this wasn't Obama's pastor and just some wacko that was caught on youtube?? I doubt it. Others want to turn the story to something else...Lets see who endorsed McCain...so we can rip him Let's turn to some conservatives who painted Obama a Muslim. It's hilarious and way f***in sad at the same time. I mean just look at the reactions here. Let's just try to imagine for a second this was just posted in the Buster because of the pastors comments and had no link whatsoever to Obama. I'm guessing the responses would be drastically different for some. It's like nothing can be wrong with your candidate...even some sick f*** like this that he has gone to for the last 20 years. You can't just say...I really like Obama and am still voting for him, I just wish he showed some better judgement here or I love everything obama, but this is f***ed up and I have to put one strike against my guy. I mean maybe I'm late to the political game. I never was big into politics really, but maybe this is just how it is. Defend at all costs. It seems like such common sense to me..someone is a wacko, I'm gonna call it like I see it. I can give a flying f*** if it happens to be the 'guy' I'm endorsing for something. I'm not gonna look the other way if I thought he showed bad judgement and that's exactly what I think Obama did. He showed terrible judgement here. He has ratcheted up the statements against this guy the last two days, because it has become a firestorm, but what has he been doing for the last 20 years. Why continue to listen to someone preach hate, if you don't believe any of it. This is not a crazy Uncle, as he has said. You can't choose your crazy Uncle...you are stuck with him. Obama chose to stay and listen to this guy preach hate and blame white people for everything from a poor black jesus to the 9/11 attacks. So yeah...I definitely question if Obama believes some of this stuff and I don't care if he is your favorite candidate...how can you not at the very least, give pause to some of this stuff. If this was my absolute favorite candidate, there is no way in hell I would just overlook this, or start searching for a defense or something, but maybe I'm just not as morallitcally corrupt yet. *Yes, I just made up the word morallitically. look for it to be added to webster shortly.

If the whole mantra behind that church was those things, then you're dam right it reflects on you. I would hardly compare this pastor to some things you heard in a homily a few times. I would compare his church to that nutjob's church that protests the funerals and stuff. It seems the whole reason for it being is to preach hate. If I had a friend at either of these churches, they can both go f*** themselves.

QUOTE(Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 14, 2008 -> 12:49 PM) Obama: I profoundly disagree He can say he profoundly disagrees with him. He'd be f***in insane to not say that. But still, he has followed this guy for 20 years. Why would you continue to follow someone who spews this kind of vitriol if you disagreed with it. Why would you have your kids introduced to this kind of speech? Forget about politics for a second. Forgot about Obama even. If you just had a black friend that attended this church for 20 years and you just heard these sermons from this guy now...would you not be like WTF???? Clearly you're buying what he's selling cause you continue to go there.

Not concerned. They've been saying all along they want to limit his innings this spring. He has said he is ready for the season to start and doesn't need any more work. Why put uneccesary innings on his arm? He's fine. I do hope Vazy starts opening day though so Mark gets home opener.

WTF is up with this dude? Has this been discussed here and I missed it? If this is who Obama has followed for the last 20 years, I have to think he believes some of this stuff. This is who married him... this is who he chose to baptize his kids? The dude is filled with nothing, but hate. Can any of the kids attending this church grow up and not have hate in their hearts? How the heck is what he's doing even considered attending church...it's like a townhall meeting for hating white people and hating this country. Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11 Obama's Pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Has a History of What Even Obama's Campaign Aides Say Is 'Inflammatory Rhetoric' By BRIAN ROSS and REHAB EL-BURI March 13, 2008— Sen. Barack Obama's pastor says blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but "God damn America." The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's south side, has a long history of what even Obama's campaign aides concede is "inflammatory rhetoric," including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own "terrorism." In a campaign appearance earlier this month, Sen. Obama said, "I don't think my church is actually particularly controversial." He said Rev. Wright "is like an old uncle who says things I don't always agree with," telling a Jewish group that everyone has someone like that in their family. Rev. Wright married Obama and his wife Michelle, baptized their two daughters and is credited by Obama for the title of his book, "The Audacity of Hope." An ABC News review of dozens of Rev. Wright's sermons, offered for sale by the church, found repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans. "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people," he said in a 2003 sermon. "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme." In addition to damning America, he told his congregation on the Sunday after Sept. 11, 2001 that the United States had brought on al Qaeda's attacks because of its own terrorism. "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost," he told his congregation. Sen. Obama told the New York Times he was not at the church on the day of Rev. Wright's 9/11 sermon. "The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification," Obama said in a recent interview. "It sounds like he was trying to be provocative," Obama told the paper. Rev. Wright, who announced his retirement last month, has built a large and loyal following at his church with his mesmerizing sermons, mixing traditional spiritual content and his views on contemporary issues. "I wouldn't call it radical. I call it being black in America," said one congregation member outside the church last Sunday. "He has impacted the life of Barack Obama so much so that he wants to portray that feeling he got from Rev. Wright onto the country because we all need something positive," said another member of the congregation. Rev. Wright, who declined to be interviewed by ABC News, is considered one of the country's 10 most influential black pastors, according to members of the Obama campaign. Obama has praised at least one aspect of Rev. Wright's approach, referring to his "social gospel" and his focus on Africa, "and I agree with him on that." Sen. Obama declined to comment on Rev. Wright's denunciations of the United States, but a campaign religious adviser, Shaun Casey, appearing on "Good Morning America" Thursday, said Obama "had repudiated" those comments. In a statement to ABCNews.com, Obama's press spokesman Bill Burton said, "Sen. Obama has said repeatedly that personal attacks such as this have no place in this campaign or our politics, whether they're offered from a platform at a rally or the pulpit of a church. Sen. Obama does not think of the pastor of his church in political terms. Like a member of his family, there are things he says with which Sen. Obama deeply disagrees. But now that he is retired, that doesn't detract from Sen. Obama's affection for Rev. Wright or his appreciation for the good works he has done." Click Here for the Investigative Homepage. Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures

QUOTE(Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 13, 2008 -> 02:37 PM) 1. Swisher (LF) 2. Cabrera (SS) 3. Thome (DH) 4. Konerko (1B) 5. Dye (RF) 6. Pierzynski © 7. Crede / Fields (3B) 8. Anderson (CF) 9. Uribe / Richar / Ramirez (2B) I can live with that PS: If Swisher and Owens BOTH make the roster, where does Swisher bat? He was a 2 or 3 last year and Cabrera is a 2. So does Swisher bat 3 and move the rest down? (THome 4, Konerko 5, ect...) I don't know...I was under the impression that if Owens is the leadoff guy, Swisher would probably be 6th....which I'm not too crazy about. I like Swish leading off. I have no problem with it. He'll have some RBI's missed, but he'll have a lot more AB's. He's just the kinda of guy I want getting that extra AB in a game when we're tied or down. If he bats 6th he loses approx 90AB's from the leadoff spot.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 13, 2008 -> 08:56 AM) I think BA has played himself into CF and I like Ozzie comments about OBP. Yeah....me too. Bout time!!

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Mar 12, 2008 -> 10:27 PM) This just means Buerhle will be the White Sox home opener starter... That's what I was coming on here to post. I'm all for that!

I was always for Brian and still am, but I'm one that feels solid Def up the middle is extremely important. I'm glad he is getting his bat on track and I hope it means he will truly get a shot because I think he could be a stabilizing force for years to come. To prove my stance(as if I have to) here's a post from 8/28/06 I'm willing to accept that Ozzie probably has more baseball knowledge than me. I'm not willing to accept that sub par defense wins games. I wanted Brian starting in CF even during his struggles at the beginning of the year. He is leaps and bounds better that Mack. Hell, he is leaps and bounds better than Rowand. I didn't like his sub .200 avg, but if he saved runs on defense I was willing to let it play out. So, maybe I was wrong. Maybe the way Ozzie played it was right. Platooning Mack, losing defense to get Brian on the right track, and putting him in a position to succeed so he can get his confidence up, worked. BA is hitting almost .300 since the ASB and still playing GG defense. Post all star he is .325 against lefties and .281 against righties. I didn't agree with Ozzies move because I don't believe in sacrificing defense for offense, but then again I'm hacking away on my keyboard and he's the manager of the Sox, so we'll go with his way. So now that the manager has proven me wrong, now that his way worked for Brian, albeit at the expense of some W's, why not bask in your spoils. We have our starting CF back. Why would we go into battle without a center fielder? What championship team would do that without their hand being forced by injury? No offense to Mack at all, I like him as a player and a person. In fact, I admire him for playing out of position when asked. A lot of players would shy away from that cause they know playing out of their comfort zone could make them look foolish. Mack stepped up when asked and continues to step up, but he's not a center fielder. He never was. He's just a guy doing his best to help the team. Would a football team start a running back at wide receiver? I'm sure they could get the job done, but not like a wideout can. Would a home builder build a house without a finisher? I'm sure a framer can fill in, but I guarantee, you'll see the difference. When Mack plays center, we are passing to running backs, we are putting up trim that isn't mitered just right. That may work in high school football and that may work if you're finishing your own basement, but that won't work when you're trying to win a championship in the most competitive league there is. In this league, positions, matter. In this league, a sixteenth of an inch, matters. We have one of the best defenders at one of the most important defensive positions in baseball. He saves hits, he saves runs. When he is playing, there is no uncertainty in the outfield. If the ball is catchable, he'll catch it. If it isn't catchable, he still may catch it. The ratio of what the Sox lose offensively from Mack to Anderson is minuscule compared to what they lose defensively from Anderson to Mack. There is no reason I can possibly think of as to why we downgraded that much defensively in 5 of the last 10 games. Games where every hit matters. Games where 'Piranhas' are trying to nibble you to death and if you give them a bite that should have never been, it just may be the one that kills you. Defense wins games. Defense wins championships. Ozzie said it when he was hired. Ozzie said it when we reached the playoffs. Ozzie said it when we won the World Series. Ozzie, say it again. Please!!

Just nailed a guy at the plate trying to tag.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ Mar 12, 2008 -> 03:19 PM) Shelly Duncan with a hard unecessary slide in the Yanks / D-Rays game benches cleared. Joe Girardi seems like kind of a punk. Heath Phillips ejected in the first for the Yanks as well. Why is it that the Yankees and Red Sox are the only temas hat are allowed to play hard or however they choose. 1-0 Sox 2 on 1 out. I thought I read something a few days ago about Girardi being upset about a play at the plate in a game between these teams.

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Mar 12, 2008 -> 03:23 PM) I agree. I felt bad for Mack (well, as bad as I could for someone making his $!!!). Seriously though, he did not belong in CF and never complained and did what he was asked to do. I agree and I think most people in the know do as well. Mack took one for the team, by going and playing out of position. It made him look real bad at times and he knew it, but he did what was asked of him.

I'll leave arguing over the little stuff to you guys. Brian is tearing it up. He is showing some plate discipline with 8 walks . Out of his 14 hits, 6 are extra bases. He is the best defender on this team and has 2 assists this spring. One where he nailed Shelton at the plate with a perfect throw. I believe he is and will continue to be right up there with the best defenders in the league. His defense saves runs. He seems to be what we wanted him to be in 06 and he grew up. So I don't see the problem? If Jerry beats him out, thats fine but he can't seem to stay on the field.