greg775

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 28, 2017 -> 04:28 AM) The players should be getting paid anyway. That might be a popular refrain in all this if this wasn't a federal crime. The fact crimes are alleged here puts the coaches in an extremely vulnerable position. If it was "just" paying players that's one thing. You'd get some analysts saying players should be paid anyway and the NCAA should be dissolved. But throw the federal crime in here and all the coaches that get nailed in this are doomed. First of all, some of the head coaches (so far four assistants) are going to get booked as common criminals and they'll have to defend themselves in court or get plea bargains. What this all means is anybody implicated in this (the FBI I read is 99 percent conviction proof when they go after somebody) is done coaching and also is going to have a crime on their record. You are talking about these rich beyond belief coaches with no defense or avenue of support of public opinion at all. Schools will have to fire them (ADs will be canned as well) because you can't keep somebody who has been convicted of a crime by the courts. Even the analysts in favor of players getting paid won't dare back a coach on this. Truthfully most of these coaches that find out they are in the bullseye of the FBI probably would be smart heading to NBA benches and fast, that is if they want to stay in coaching. Just my take. The "everybody does it" thing doesn't work here because of CRIME being involved. Sorry if I'm repeating myself. This post isn't so much in response to your comments; you just got me to thinking of this take.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 27, 2017 -> 04:40 PM) Jose, I like that you play for the White Sox and that you are a nice person. I'll take it. OK post. Man this is a mean board. No love for a 33-homer guy and 100 plus ribbie guy. The guy is a stud. There's always something. Just cause he was an older rookie. Damn, it's a tough crowd here refusing to praise anybody but one of the young guys Hahn got in a trade or Robert. (not everybody but the majority). He attacked the baseball (again) last night.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 27, 2017 -> 04:48 PM) Are you talking about Julio Franco? Because I'm pretty sure you're talking about Julio Franco. If Tim Anderson hits like Julio Franco, then Tim Anderson can walk however much he damn well pleases. Yes. Franco. Watch a tape of Anderson and that huge bat. It's like Franco waving that huge piece of lumber. Anderson needs to use a smaller, lighter bat and he'll see the results of Moncada since he switched bats.

I think they protested by the stadium tonight. I think protests are ongoing nightly. Any updates from st. looie?

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 26, 2017 -> 03:41 PM) Asterisk Jose Abreu has 33 home runs! My gawd. I like it. So let's try it again, for the next 3 pages of thread, let's PRAISE the man. I'll start with ... "Way to go Jose. You have had one helluva season and I just love your approach at the plate. You are killing the baseball! Yes I'd pay 8 bucks for a hotdog and 30 for parking if I was told you were gonna get 3 hits like tonite." I love Jose Abreu. Congrats big guy!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 27, 2017 -> 01:29 AM) I would just assume that nothing about your life is private from the US Government. I kind of agree. I think the government knows us and TSA knows a lot about us and if we are safe or not. And in 99.9 percent of cases of business travelers as Rock Raines can attest, most of us are safe. I think Rock has said he travels a lot.

In Timmy Anderson's case, a smaller bat. Like Moncada did, he needs to suck it up and go to a smaller bat. He looks silly waving that big piece of lumber ala that former Ranger who played til he was 50, I forget his name.

QUOTE (Tony @ Sep 27, 2017 -> 12:38 AM) Donald Trump would probably receive 45-50 million votes if we had an election tomorrow. U really think so? I disagree. Cmon. Americans hate him. You know what? As much as you know (if u don't have me on ignore) from my posts, how much I despise Hillary, if I knew Trump was going to be THIS divisive, I actually 'may' have voted for Hillary instead of writing in xxxxx (did great write in Ozzie Guillen, that is the question?). Even greg is sick of Trump and sick of his stupid ass Tweets that are meant only to divide. I find it hard to believe it'd be a close race if we were to have a repeat election in November. At least Saturday Night Live should be amazing this week in its season opener. They've got to have a skit on North Korea. Maybe an opening on the NFL and then a skit later on North Korea? Give me David S. Pumpkins baby!

QUOTE (Quin @ Sep 26, 2017 -> 07:37 PM) Because, I'll be blunt, most people don't give a s*** about others unless it's convenient for them. I know. Yet the minute we have a natural disaster, we see strangers driving 200 miles to go rescue people in Houston area. We see people risking their lives to help others during times of crisis. But during NORMAL times? We see road rage; we see rudeness; we see case after case of meanness. Like I told everybody that's one reason I like my hour at Mass every week; whether it's genuine or not peole are so damn friendly for that one hour a week. As far as what you said relating to why is the world so cruel? Well in my friend's case it was a 69 year old driver not seeing her cross the street at 8:30 pm. Bam. Taken off this earth in one crash. I don't think that lady had anything nasty on her mind. Now if she was usuing her cellphone that's another thing. No tickets were issued. I do agree with your first sentence mostly though.

Here's an interesting point IMO. Trump may be one of the most unpopular individuals in US history. Right now he's pretty much despised by all people around the world and all Americans. Yet in a total 2017 non sequitir, he won the election for President of the United States. I won't take a pot shot at his esteemed opponent (again; it's well documented by me why I feel Trump prevailed) but only in 2017 can this happen. By that I mean a truly despised individual winning the oval office. He's pretty much drawn the ire of every country's leader outside the USA. The U.S. sports world and its legion of fans despise him. Everybody hates Trump except for his family. The people who work for him can't possibly like him. Now they like having a job and all that, and properly kiss his butt (as we see in the working world every day) but everybody despises this man and yet just a few months ago he won the presidency. Oh my gosh, what a world we live in. p.s. Somebody tell Donald to kill his twitter account. After a week he'll feel better not being on Twitter.

if he could be a fifth starter in the realm of the good Humber (before he got bad) halleluia. Bring it on next year James. But I still won't watch any game he pitches in, til he proves to me he's good again. I can't believe I pulled it off but as I told u afore, I watched zero games started by Humber or Pelphrey and maybe one early by Holland when he was good, before he turned into a batting practice pitcher. We need a veteran fifth starter. If coop fixed Shields and he's our GOOD No. 5, fine. But if he's this year's James, ugh.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Sep 26, 2017 -> 04:01 AM) Really sorry to hear about your friend Gregg and wish her the best. Losing loved ones is very difficult to cope with. IMHO, the biggest thing to consider is the human free will. We all have choices to make in life and unfortunately sometimes our choices not only affect our selves but others as well. I lost a close friend in '99 to a contstruction accident. It was his day off but his boss called and asked him if he would come in to work that day. Being a new guy on the job he didn't want to say no and since he and his wife were planning a family he decided to go in to make a few extra bucks. Unfortunately his bosses decision to work on a very windy day ( friend was a jack man for a crane) that they normally would not work, it cost my friend his life when the wind caught the load mid air and toppled the crane onto its side and I'll just leave the rest of the story at that. Sigh, not a pretty picture. As for the natural disasters. I'm not going to try and explain it because mother nature is far beyond my understanding. Geez, that is sad story. Same type deal. Sorry about all these deaths. Very sad.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Sep 26, 2017 -> 02:43 AM) The bible was literally created for this exact purpose - to explain the unexplainable and to make people feel better about tough things. That said... to me it's just stories to give people a reason not to confront the difficult aspects of life, and to make hard things somewhat easier to get through. In reality, life IS random. Good things happen to bad people and bad things to good people. Nothing is fair. I have a mentor who I've known all my life who's the greatest human on the planet - a composer and choral conductor who has worked with kids for decades and changed so many lives all over the planet. Got hit by a drunk driver, mangled his whole body including his right arm - the one he conducts with - immediately after getting hired to be the artistic director of one of the most prestigious choirs in the country. Boom. Life changed. Forever. I'm sure we've ALL got that story. But to me, running and hiding from it by telling yourself and others that there's some magical afterlife isn't doing anything to help anyone. I'm a rock climber. I have a lot of friends who climb. At some point one of them is going to die climbing. It's a given. Every climber has the experience of losing someone. But the reason we do it in the first place is because of how much we LOVE climbing, love the community, love to experience life to the absolute fullest. Climbing has taken me to incredible places, all across this planet, and I'm so grateful for that experience. I handle the tough s*** by immersing myself in the things I love, telling the people I love that I love them, and doing what I can to make this world a better place. I channel my pain into loving life and loving people. Because if I think that this is all I've got, and that there's no magical fairy land waiting for me, it'll make me bust my ass that much harder to APPRECIATE every damn moment. You handle these tough times by practicing gratitude - being grateful for the life you've led, and making sure the one you still have to lead is worth living. Great post Reddy. I do respect your perspective and appreciate it. I can't prove there is an afterlife. I do take solace in the fact I think there is one and there are still a lot of smart people out there who think there is a God. I will ask them about it, these are smart people, too, and they believe so that makes me think I could be correct. I like your take, though. This was a brilliant post.

Korea says we have declared war so they will shoot down our planes even over airspace that is neutral. Again ... if they are that dumb, they will be blown off the map, but so will many other countries. I still say we are in crisis mode. Accidents can happen.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 25, 2017 -> 11:37 AM) All of your answers to why are in the Bible. Interesting.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 25, 2017 -> 01:48 PM) It is kind of amazing that Jose is both our biggest contract of all time, and one of our best free agent contracts of all time. Congrats to a true leader and all around great guy! Now that's a good post. Congrats to Jose and no need for the word "but ...."

QUOTE (iWin4Ron @ Sep 25, 2017 -> 04:20 AM) Why is the world so cruel? Because humans aren't the centerpiece of it. Our society values us above animals, the earth, and pretty much everything, yet, the reality is that there is very little difference from us humans and an animal or even a plant or bacteria. There is no 'purpose' in life. Once one understands that we are nothing special, we are simply star dust, can you see that the world is indeed not cruel, it is simply continuing the evolution set forth from the big bang on. With that being said, the better question is why is society so cruel? To that I answer, well, we are working on it. In the 21st century we are actually the least cruel society that humanity has known (that is, over large periods of time and not samples of minor societies here or there). An interesting book on this phenomena is Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels of our Nature". I'm sorry to hear about your friends terrible luck. I may read that book. Interesting stuff.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 25, 2017 -> 12:42 AM) Trump said we have a great country, so he must have already made it great again. I wonder if it was OK to kneel last season. Uh oh. Chiefs Justin Houston took a knee to pray today not protest. Made it public with statements about the power of prayer. Uh oh. Many Americans aren't gonna like hearing about praying.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 24, 2017 -> 12:59 PM) Aren’t you a big believer? Yeah but I'm human and have no answers to the earth's most unkind/unfair moments. I forgot to mention one of her other kids for some reason last year had a stroke in her 20s and was told she'd have brain capacity of a 6-year-old the rest of her life however is doing better than that at this time. And her ex husband had the nerve to tell her today he would not let her have any say in the daughter's funeral unless she paid for half. She is decimated in debt cause of our country's great healthcare plans and the ex is thinking money at a time like this. Unfair I tell ya.

.331 now, 18 homers, 80 RBI. Nice job, Avi. Nobody can ever take the 2017 season away from you. It was a very good one. I can't believe how much it takes to impress some posters, but color me impressed. If there is ever a time I can't appreciate a young player's obvious improvement, I don't want to be a sports fan any more. Even defensively he had some big time highlights this season. AVI BABY.

Jose Abreu is now the third player in major-league history to begin his career with four seasons of 25-plus home runs and 100-plus RBIs. The other two? Joe DiMaggio (1936-39) and Albert Pujols (2001-04). Are you kidding me? This is a huge accomplishment and I applaud him. Way to go, Jose. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0924-story.html

QUOTE (iWin4Ron @ Sep 24, 2017 -> 09:43 PM) National anthems at sports game is a stupid nationalistic tradition that has to be done away with anyway. Perhaps the recent news will start a discussion on that. . And yes, I second that the democrats utterly failed to present anything competitive against the Republicans Trump. Otherwise, we wouldn't be in this mess right now. I think I agree. The anthem has to go cause of all the protests. Also I disagree with Rock. Today's amped up protests are because of what Trump said. They didn't all of a sudden get hundreds of players to protest cause of the initial issue.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 24, 2017 -> 12:38 PM) http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-a...0e1bd9ebee.html The St. Louis police have definitely been aggressive (some might say out of control) any time the protests have become violent at all. If they hear glass breaking, look out, they attack. Yesterday at the mall some folks started throwing garbage cans and all hell broke loose. Say what you want but they are kicking ass when ANY violence begins. Of course I am against them attacking innocent bystanders. I hope those people sue the police department and I hope they win. It's pretty unfortunate (could happen to any of us) that u get maced and beat and arrested when you are merely in the neighborhood you live in headed to the coffee shop. Problem is like I said when the destruction of protestors begins, they announce that it's time to leave, and if people don't immediately leave ... there's some head knocking going on. They even arrested (later released with no charges) a 13 year old and his granny (charges stuck on her I think).

Well, Trump is showing what happens when a rich guy (one who likes Twitter; most old rich folk don't embrace Twitter) who also is an opinionated loudmouth after years of yes men kissing his butt becomes president. This taking on the sports world is troublesome obviously. Now there are going to be protests during the anthem pretty much at every sports game played the next 3 years. However, the protests will be against Trump more than the actual social injustice issue. So now, we are going to have to hear incessantly after each game and during each game about which players protested and which didn't. Then we are going to have to hear from the players themselves to explain if they were protesting against Trump or the social issues or both. My point is at every sporting event now, I'd say 1/4 to 1/2 the coverage of the game itself will be political bulls***. The NFL players and NBA players need to just stay in the locker rooms during the anthem and say, "Until we comment further, the reason these players (then list them) are not on the court for the anthem is a protest against Donald Trump." Then put "the reason these players (and list them) are not on the court is a protest against Donald Trump as well as social injustice." Then put (and list the players) 'The reason these players are not on the court are they are responding to social injustice; they are fine with Trump." And then put "the reason these players are not on the court (and list them) are a sign of support to groups a and b." Otherwise this is all gonna be all politics during our sporting events all the time. The nonsequitir here is the playing at the anthem at NFL games is usually an amazing spectacle with jets flying overhead and sometimes those big flags that cover the field. And at most games some military (who wear the flag proudly) are honored. So the NFL has embraced the anthem big time. Most sports have. Now it's going to be all protest all the time, because if players don't protest they are going to be afraid it's a sign they approve of Trump. I'd prefer the NFL players and other sports merely hold signs during the anthem saying, "We demand Donald Trump's resignation." Otherwise this is a messy attack on the anthem when the current anger is over Trump the chump.

Didn't see a thread to put this in. Not asking for sympathy of any kind just asking why the world can be so cruel? A good friend of mine (a kind special ed teacher in suburban Chicago) was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple years ago. Instead of her battle having a happy ending her body has been fried from all the chemo and radiation and she's in intense pain day and night. Needs more surgery; cancer free at this time but saddled with some severe health problems related to the breast cancer. Her husband divorced her a few years before she was diagnosed and I don't think has been involved in helping. She is a kind soul who is supporting not only her 3 kids but a nephew who lives in the house too. Last night her 20 something daughter got hit by a car leaving work and immediately died. Gone. My friend is in shock and engulfed in sadness. People are stepping up and trying to help. Why are all these things happening to a good person? Why? Why did so many die in the earthquake in Mexico? Why are people dying in hurricanes? Just fate? So sad. My friend is devastated and not for herself, but having her daughter unable to live life past the age of 24.