greg775

I think every owner of every business is trying to figure out if AI can save them millions of dollars. That probably includes coverage of sports in publications. Fans aren't stupid though. Nobody is going to pay for that s--t. You can get mlb.com for 120 a year or whatever and get your box scores and any info you need. And frankly you'll know exactly what's going on with the Sox just reading this message board. As a customer, tomorrow I have to purchase for 13 bucks the IHSA coverage of the 3A and 4A illinois high school state title games. So that's a way to get a person's 13 bucks. I would not pay that to get articles about the games.

Well, Benet won tonight so the two high schools I attended are in 3A and 4A finals. That's pretty crazy when you think about it. Anybody have a link for me how I can purchase both games livestream? I fear I'm gonna go 0-for-2 on Saturday night. Rice and Benet playing tough foes in their finals.

At Brother Rice, Mr. Perry the English teacher (he also sold me track spikes at his second job at some southside sporting goods store) assigned us 20 books to read and do reports during a class that lasted a semester. 20 books and real ones like Mockingbird, Animal Farm etc. There were like 40 on the list and we had to read/review 20 of 'em. I don't know how I made it through high school and college. So much work. So much memorizing of b.s. Our brains are capable of so much storing of b.s.

Yeah the Sox even have a bad play by play guy. Sad but I can't listen to a guy who can't pronounce Veeck's name correctly. Inexcusable.

Proud of the players and coach Conte Stamas. First trip to state finals in school history. So can we win? DePaul Prep for some reason is a powerhouse going for their third title in a row. Guess we have to hope the 3-ball is falling. I think Rice beat Prep by one earlier this season on the road.

That's wild the good players "elected to not play," in your words. Man I'd have given anything to make the basketball team or baseball team. Of course it'd be no fun being noncompetitive if he was picking lousy players. It's amazing how times have changed. From picking a damn roster from the performance of kids in gym class to now high school coaches knowing which grade school players are must-gets in recruiting ... incredible. I bet Rice's head coach never watched our Q of M city championship team play one game. We had 3-4 guys who should have started for Rice or at least made the team. ... Back in the day there were too many kids trying out for baseball. They had to have tryouts per position. The days I tried out were for third basemen and shortstops and there was no hope of making the team. Rice did have a good baseball coach then who may have scouted the Little Leagues a bit.

The challenge the first 8 weeks for a fan will be to learn who these guys are on the White Sox roster.

Rojas sounds like the guy. Perfect fit, seems Nicky Lopez-ish. No bat but will not be embarrassing on D.

You mean like the Royals who rushed Witt in the lost season of 2022 and he struggled at .254 BA, .294 OBP with 80 RBI? And 135 strikeouts? He learned the game while the team lost, lost, lost. So in 2024 after improvement in 2023 he hits .332 BA and .389 OBP with 32 HR and 109 RBI? Witt was rushed and he's a star.

So Montgomery starts the season in AAA and Sox have no shortstop cept Sosa? That's what The Score said. Why did Sox dump Nicky if they had no SS? He'd be OK defensively while hitting .240 or so. I know the tank lovers really don't care about this season at all, just having the calendar flip by heading into another winter. But I think Getz should be fired just for putting together the worst roster in club history (even in a tank year you can get a few better players than this collection). The pitching staff on paper is the worst in team history when you look at the four-inning starters and bullpen guys. The lineup is full of nothing. surprised there's no Nicky or DeBong to at least field 85 percent of the grounders hit that way.

Wow! Was it coach Kellogg I think his name was? Was there a poor tryout system when u were there, too? I had a bold friend who was our best player at Martyrs who got cut like me. He went up to the coach and said 'I am better than anybody here. I want a real tryout.' Coach let him come to play with the returnees and he got added to the team. He only lasted a year or two and transferred to Naperville. I still want to hear why he transferred. The coach at Rice ultimately added a kid from Martyrs who didn't even make our grade school juggernaut team. WTF? Talk about a good team ... the Martyrs squad won the St. Anselm tourney and we only lost one game all year and our coach had us entered in a ton of events. Fun.

My two alma maters, Brother Rice and Benet, are both going to state in different classifications. I went to BR my first two years; Benet the next two. I'm more of a BR fan for some reason (probably since you always have a soft spot for where you grew up) but I do love the Redwings, too. I enjoyed the coed aspect of Benet, but Rice was outstanding as well. Happy memories. Anyhow I've watched some BR games this year and third-year ageless coach Conte Stamas must truly be a genius. Three seasons of incredible winning records and now his first trip to state as a coach in 25 years or so I think I read. Would be a shame to lose in the semis to St. Patrick especially since we proved we can beat DePaul Prep earlier this year. Benet is ranked No. 2 overall in the state and has placed second I think three times but never won it all. I don't think Rice has won it all either, but the Crusaders are in a smaller class this year; Benet the large class. I forget who Benet plays in the semis, Evanston I think, but Benet is for real. They've got a major college guy I believe in the starting lineup and a great coach. Rice hit a rough patch late in the season where it lost to Marist and Mt Carmel and St. Larry but now has won six in a row. Benet is a juggernaut. Hope they both win it and hope the lack of a shot clock is not a factor in any of the state games. p.s. I love Rice despite getting hosed over by the basketball coach. Back in the day they didn't scout grade schools. Rice's old coach held tryouts in gym class. We scrimmaged and the ball didn't come to me and I was just average in the scrimmage and got cut despite being on the city league champ Queen of Martyrs team. Only one guy from our team made the Rice team because of the stupid tryout system. ... I also got cut from Rice baseball tryouts. I survived the first one. The second one i was competing with 30 other kids at 3B. No errors. But when we got to bat, some pitcher was busting off curves (even though coach said they'd all be fastballs) and I kept fouling them off. As I feared my name was not on the list the next day. Sad memories of getting cut. Skills rusted too much much by the time I headed to Benet and didn't try out. I had to settle for CC. Yuck. Go Rice; Go Benet.

I've said it before, but how can baseball owners justify throwing big bucks at any starter who hasn't yet had Tommy John surgery? I mean it seems like it's what happens to all pitchers nowadays. I realize baseball owners make so much money it doesn't matter, but still, how can you justify giving any pitcher a 3, 5, 7 year deal if they have yet to undergo TJ surgery? Cole was great last year but he's now old news. He's gonna be out a long long time. Wasted $$.

Early in the year it could be a matter of luck more than anything. Wat if the Sox get lucky and we are at 7-7 with Robert hitting .420 with six early homers?

Can u imagine how happy we'll be if the Sox go 7-7 the first two weeks and let the world know they are a .500 club?

There's absolutely no reason to believe we can win 50 games. Even the rare games we do well we could blow it via closer, set up guy or absolutely no bats on certain nights. If Sox are as bad as last year I hope the word 'contraction' comes up in the national media at least.

Is it ok with the board if I call DeLoach DeBong? I miss Mr. DeBong.

And in typical Sox fashion the name of the game now is HR hitting. It's all any hitter tries to do and doesn't care if he K's as long as he tries to hit a HR. And here it's our main weakness. No pop in the bats. Hilarity.

Sounds like he'll be fine very soon. So no big deal.

I got a feeling Michael A Taylor will play every single day and be my least fave player. I smell a .150ish BA from the guy.

Serious question: Could any of the guys mentioned in your post here play for any other team besides the Sox? I'm talking the 11 guys you mentioned. I think Vaughn and Elko could play for somebody but none of those other stiffs. Our team is gonna be shut out prolly 25 to 35 times IMO.

I was just thinking it's time to reacquire Sheets.

Holy smokes. Just logging on and saw this. I was starting to actually like Beni and consider him moderately valuable. Like Fathom said recently this team is not going to score runs. I'd say our offense will be historically bad. How the hell did Beni hurt his hand? I will like this if Colas plays. I might even consider buying mlb.com to see him bat a lot. I always liked Colas and that big fat outfielder the Sox would never give a chance to, Yermin.

I figured some people like to post things and would be willing to inform their friends what is going on with the team. But I forgot $$ rules the world in all instances I guess.

If somebody has the time you know what would be greatly appreciated? A thread every day by one of you that watches every game to summarize the things we want to know and not the propaganda of mlb.com. Example: Thread title: Sox vs. Cubs (Feb. 27): Things you should care about: Montgomery played 8 innings and was flawless in several opportunities on defense. He raced in the hole and threw out xxx; so and so pitched four innings and struck out 10 and was great; so and so played right field for the third game in a row and did xxxxx. What I learned watching the game: So and so appears to be a lock to make the team; Vaughn looks lost at the plate. Etc. Thanks in advance for your consideration.