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QUOTE (Tex @ May 30, 2014 -> 11:20 PM) I believe the freedom of speech amendment is the least understood part of the Constitution. But U of Kansas is going to lose tons of faculty over this policy and no other states are enacting it. Don't you think Kansas once again is acting like a bunch of clowns?

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ May 31, 2014 -> 04:26 PM) She is a career politician. Run or die. I thought her "husband" was the career politician. It should be very interesting to see her demeanor during the primaries. Will she embark on a rigorous traveling schedule or just assume Americans will vote for her in a landslide no matter what and not even campaign hard? At her age, if she wants to get after it and go stump all over the country, wow, I guess more power to her.

I disagree with Hawk. That's got to be an error.

.500 is rearing its head again. Sox can't make any distance north of .500 minus Abreu and Garcia.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 31, 2014 -> 06:46 PM) The White Sox have Jose Quintana under contract through 2020. How long are you hoping we're bad for? Seriously, Quintana is under contract for so long that if they traded for someone and brought that player up, that player would be able to hit free agency the same year Quintana would. The White Sox would have 6 years of control on Quintana and 6 years of control on a guy they traded for. It literally does not push anything back at all except makes it harder to win in 2015. Which I guess is probably why you want to do it. I agree. It's like some people are comfortable in "rebuilding" and sucking as long as we are rebuilding. It's a weird dynamic.

Awesome win. Crawford haters can shut up; he played well. And Kane!!!! Game 7 should be one of the great atmospheres. Hawks will be sky high with those fans and a chance to get back to Stanley Cup.

That's more like it. Hawks tie it up following some great action.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ May 31, 2014 -> 03:16 AM) LA 3-2 this is not looking good. How many 5 hole goals is Crawford going to give up............Besides 1:37 back to back goals of this game Hawks offense is MIA. Sharp and Hossa might as well be on a milk carton this series. The Hawks back off and let these guys pass it around calmly and shoot the puck even when there's not a Kings power play going on. Non aggressive play.

The party appears to be over. 3-2 Kings with 10 minutes and change left. Man, Hawks have nothing going on since it was 2-1.

Disgusting loss. Cmon BLACKHAWKS!

Disappointing loss tonight at home to a lousy team. We need Abreu back badly. So badly.

WGN is totally irrelevant now. No reason to watch that.

Just out of curiosity. Does Hillary even have a reason to run except that people say it's "her turn?" And she "deserves the office?" Does she have any vision? Does she have any burning desire to lead? Does she have any big-time goals she hopes to accomplish for our once-great land? Not that I've seen. I see this as a coronation of Hillary. Like she simply deserves this office for being Hillary. Never heard anything like this before.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 30, 2014 -> 08:25 PM) I don't disagree that it was a dumb thing to tweet and that it's pretty dumb even with "nuance," just not sure if the consequences should necessarily be losing your job or having the state legislature change the law so that you can lose your job. Professors that are very upset and as a result are looking to leave KU as soon as they can, are pointing to the fact no other state has this policy. The guy was blasting the NRA and brought their kids into it. Should he be censored? Free speech? BTW I would be fired in a fast second if I tweeted something radical at my job.

QUOTE (Reddy @ May 30, 2014 -> 08:46 PM) Totally not preventable You guys realize how ludicrous you sound when you say that right? Totally not preventable? The American dream is officially dead. Our society just gives up now on so many things. We should have a ban on people having babies because these poor kids don't know what kind of an America they are being born into. Wow.

QUOTE (beautox @ May 30, 2014 -> 06:03 AM) A+ Alexei Ramirez - Best short stop in the AL right now, second best overall. Playing at an elite level on pace for a 5WAR season Chris Sale - I won't ding him for being hurt he has been the definition of an ACE Conor Gillaspie - In terms of what my expectations were and what he has actually produced I would be foolish not to list him as an A+, he has a higher wRC+ then Alexei at 136, I'm sure the home runs will come, and while his BABIP is sky high so are his line drive rate and his BB% & K% leave me very optimistic. With any luck he can continue his respectability against left handed pitching .281/.314/.344 wRC+ 78 and develop into that 2.5-3WAR player. A Jose Quintana - Everything is in line where it should be, very glad to have both him and sale with us for a long time. A- Jose Abreu - Power and hit tool as good as advertised, defense a pleasant surprise. As other posters have said he needs to take his walks. Tyler Flowers - Defense has been good, approach at the plate has been solid, if he can become Saltalamacchia-Lite, that will do wonders for this organization. B+ Ronald Belisario - Has been shaky as the closer, great as the set up man, terrible the first two weeks, Glad to have him in our pen he has electric stuff. Gordon Beckham - Hitting like its '09 all over again, I'm want to see him how he performs up till the trade deadline before Hahn makes a decision on his future with the Sox. I want to believe in him but I've been burned too many times. B Adrian Nieto - Defense is rough, but the fact that he is holding it together at the major league level is pretty awesome. I think as he matures at the major league level we've got ourselves a .5-1WAR backup catcher; hello Jesus Flores! Adam Dunn - This is what his decline phase was supposed to look like when we signed him. Zach Putnam - nice minor league pick up, isn't as good as his ERA would have you to believe but he is above average. B- Adam Eaton - I'm not going to knock him for health, looks to be the catalyst this team has desperately needed for a long time. Andre Rienzo - Has the stuff to stick at this level, the question is, will it be as a back end starter or a middle reliever. Dayan Viciedo - Defense isn't doing him any favors but I like his approach and walk rate, I don't think his value will take too much of a hit when he transitions to DH. C+ Hector Noesi - You can see why the mariners wanted him originally when they traded Pineda, has major league stuff but he is in the same boat as Rienzo. Jake Petricka - solid performance so far. C John Danks - Hes trending up, looks to be healthy and should settle into a 1.5WAR pitcher on this team, he still might provide some surplus value on his contract as it plays out but I'm sure he'll earn his paycheck. Daniel Webb - Needs to demonstrate that he is the late inning reliever many on this board myself included believe him to be. Marcus Semien - Love his plate discipline, his defense is slightly above average but he needs to lift the bat off his shoulder when he gets deeper in the count, still have high hopes for this kid. Moises Sierra - I like what he has done so far with the sox, solid pickup by Hahn. C- Matt Lindstrom - an ok reliever. Leury Garcia - an ok bench piece. Scott Carroll - He is getting the most out of his ability but he looks to be a long reliever at best. D+ Scott Downs - Against left handers he has been sub par but servicable, when he isn't walking them .194/.293/.278, Against right handed hitting he is horrible. Robin for some unknown reason thinks he is capable of more than being a LOOGY. Alejandro De Aza - His BABIP is way down to .277 vs his career of .322 his walk and strike out rates remain the same, even though he has appeared comically bad at stealing the bases he is still an above average base runner and his defense is above average as well even if it appears pensive at times. I'm confident he will turn it around and get back to his career norms. Erik Johnson - where did his fastball go? I hope he eventually finds it down at AAA, still think he is part of the future. F Paul Konerko - Love what this man did for the sox, but he is toast and a horrible waste of a roster spot. Felipe Paulino - Not every low risk high reward pays off. Jordan Danks - Even with his defense he has spot on this team going forward. Coaching Ventura - D, this team plays hard and doesn't give up but they win inspite of him not because. Cooper - A, Not every project pitcher can be fixed but he makes it happen more often than not. Stevenson - A+ breath of fresh air, the team has really bought in. INC: Avisail Garcia looked to be putting it together before he went down, still think he should be moved to LF in the very near future. Beautox, how the heck do you know the team wins in spite of Robin? I used to have to hear that on here about Ozzie. So you give Cooper and Steverson A's and Robin a D. That's crazy. I personally think Robin is nothing special in the dugout, but he gets the last laugh at this current date at least. There's no way you can give him anything but an A, A- or at the worst B plus for RESULTS right now. Assuming the team is winning in spite of him being a clown is kind of dumb.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ May 30, 2014 -> 02:59 PM) sometimes it seems people are more concerned about the Sox being #1 in prospect rankings than actually keeping good young players under reasonable salaries. Unknown prospects are usually more sexy than the guys on the current roster in all sports, except for the superstars. Don't know why that is.

So it's a simple question. What are the odds Indy still fires Vogel and OKC fires Brooks?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 30, 2014 -> 03:27 AM) How is that stifling free speech? They aren't getting arrested or losing rights as a citizen. They're mad because the policy is vague. It all stems from the professor at KU tweeting that he wished violence on children of NRA members following the death of 13 people in DC at the Navy Yard. He was put on leave and eventually forced out.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 29, 2014 -> 12:57 PM) Coffee has several health benefits but only in moderation. Drink that with little to no sugar, unsweetened iced or green tea and water and you're good. I like unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my coffee. Try that. So it seems my one medium cup of hot coffee with one sweet n low and one dip of cream is not that fattening. I'm shocked about the juice thing. Guess I'll stop drinking orange juice now. I'm kind of pissed. I'm 6-foot-2 and shockingly now 240 after gaining 20 pounds the past year somehow. I haven't had a beer in 6 weeks; gave up all soft drinks, gave up coffee. Haven't had a potato chip or pretzel in 6 weeks aside from a small bag of baked chips if I go to Subway or somewhere (before that I was buying Lays chips late at night and sometimes gobbling almost the whole bag). I'm Eating just one full meal a day. Breakfast is a banana and juice (I'll stop the juice), lunch is an apple and I'm not losing the weight. I was walking/light jogging for a month straight, 3-4 miles a day is all, and sensed I was doing pretty well. Then, as has been my wont, I broke a bone in my foot (only a brace from my orthopod not a cast) 4 weeks ago and haven't been able to walk/run. I don't know what's going on, but the weight isn't coming off and now I want the coffee back.

OK, such a huge game coming up in L.A. Now, to you fans out there who really follow this team. ... Considering the way this series has gone, do you sense the Hawks have it in them to force Game Seven in Chicago? Or is this team pretty much tapped out and worn out? What are the technical issues regarding this game? Is it all on Crawford? Is it on the Hawk defensemen to do a better job? Is it simply a matter of the Hawk offense clicking? My take is in this series the Hawks' defense and goalie have not been Stanley Cup sharp. Is this true or false? And finally? To the experts on here who follow the team religiously. ... How do you see Game Six? What are the keys and all homerism aside, do you see a Hawk victory or season-ending defeat?

Kansas is such a joke. State Government that turns down money from the federal government for its people and other groups. For instance, the Board of Regents recently passed a policy indicating teachers could get fired over stuff they put on social media, in a sense stifling freedom of speech. Lots of teachers at the university are so upset they are immediately looking for new jobs.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 29, 2014 -> 08:36 PM) Agreed. We don't publish information about suicides, but we do with murder suicides. It makes no sense. But like with Boston, don't we need to know who did these things in case it was a terrorist group or something? Maybe you guys are right. I just can't imagine one of these things happening and the gunman surviving and getting arrested and the media not covering it. Like the asshole who killed all the people in the movie theatre. I guess the media could say, "Police say the assailant, who survived, acted alone and was not part of any terrorist group or any violent group trying to make some statement. We are not printing any further about him in accordance with this media organization's policy." Maybe that would work. Or would family of the victims want more? You tell family of the victims and they'd leak it to the press probably. It's an interesting debate, but I'm so used to every thing being reported on, I can't imagine media outlets not reporting on who the assholes are who commit these crimes.

Is anybody getting banned? I think when I last got suspended it was for something I did in SLAM, which I thought was a free for all. I'm pretty sure I got the boot for a thread that got my emotions boiling.

It's too early to grade players so I'll grade the coaches. ... Ventura: A- As much as many of us do not like him, nationally this will be the grade. A- if not a straight A. To have a team with this many key players missing time, a game over .500 is a miraculous turnaround from last year. New hitting coach: A. So many guys are better this year. Lot of clutch hits. Lot of smart plays like last night when Semien hit the fly ball to move up the runner. Lots of stuff like that and even hits to the opposite field. Coop: B. Some of the worst bullpen pitchers in history and he's been able to make them adequate much of the time. And he's gotten some very lousy pitchers (on paper) to have a lot of quality starts. Team MVP: Abreu. Inspirational MVP: Gillaspie. Didn't think he was a big leaguer and he is hitting like an all-star type candidate.