greg775

I'll be at the game Friday night in good seats if anybody wants to stop by on the concourse to converse.

QUOTE (High Mileage @ Jul 13, 2012 -> 01:10 AM) No. Bill Self is 16-4 against Mizzou. Why would he want to stop playing them? QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 13, 2012 -> 01:15 AM) Yes. http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball...ept-realignment And it's because he said there's nothing to gain, seeing as it has no effect on Big 12 standings. But then why bother playing Duke, UCLA, Kentucky, and Ohio State? He's just bitter. Bitter about what? He's bitter about Missouri leaving the Big 12 and putting KU, K-State, Iowa State at risk for a few weeks of being left out of the BCS. Why would the teams agree to play once a year out of conference in basketball? If KU wins in Lawrence, which it would, MU gets no chance for a rematch. If MU wins in Columbia, KU gets no chance at a rematch. Out of conference it's NOT THE SAME. Game at Sprint Center? Stupid. Missouri wants to play KU. Then MU shoulda stayed in the league. They'd have played plenty. The teams need to never play again (cept in NCAAs which CBS will make sure happens plenty). There's no reason to play one basketball game per season. Football? MU would win 4 of every five games. So why would KU want to do that?? Even MU fans don't care about mopping up on a bad Kansas team. They proved that with lousy attendance at Arrowhead last year. Coulda packed the place if they wanted to mock KU. They didn't.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 09:12 AM) So in other words, nobody associated with the 2005 World Series team can be criticized in any way, shape or form? What do you think happened with Francona in Boston last year? He won 2 World Series titles. What if he did something like Paterno, won a national championship, but protected or excused Sandusky? Would you take down his statue? What would Ozzie have to do that you would consider indefensible or not part of his acceptable "entertaining Ozzie persona"? By the way, as to the earlier point, is Oney, Ozzie Jr or Ozney included in that comment about having sex with him or just Ibis? You can criticize Ozzie, but isn't it old news? Yes as far as Oz and Francona, managers wear out their welcome so to speak. Both had runs that had to end. Managers are hired to be fired. That's why poor Hal McRae is no longer a hero in KC and why Brett can never manage here. I don't know if Red Sox fans are bashing poor Francona now as you guys are bashing Ozzie. I do think there should be some respect from both fans bases for both guys. They brought their long suffering teams the gold. Or were in charge when they earned the gold. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 03:07 PM) Here's a crazy idea, don't reply. Something to consider. QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 05:33 PM) On The Franchise last night, the Marlins Team President asked Ozzie about three times "are you sure you're not keeping Heath Bell as closer only due to him making 9 million a year?". Ozzie responded that wasn't the reason why he wanted him to be closer, as he felt the team was better with Bell as the closer and the 9 million dollar salary was the fault of the front office, and not him. I don't understand this. How did he word these things? Did he blast the front office? And what was the team president's point? Who did he want to close? QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 06:01 PM) Bell has always been a big guy, but he's clearly out of shape. Jenks issue all over again, minus the alcohol. That's wild. These big leaguers get the fat contracts and many of them immediately slack off and loaf. What a bizarre world baseball is compared to real life. They get the contracts and get fat. QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 06:47 PM) It's an amazing show. Better than Hard Knocks, in my opinion. Do you agree it is unprecedented to show a conversation between a manager and his struggling closer behind closed doors? That is unprecedented access. Great stuff.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 09:04 AM) Um, Caulfield, I'm gonna stand up for Greg here. Idolizing Ozzie is one thing. Protecting him like the Penn State Paternites is different. Thanks. If Ozzie or anybody did something like that I would want nothing to do with Ozzie/them anymore. I haven't read today's Paterno stuff yet, but if he knew about it and did nothing ... wow. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 01:42 PM) Should we also leave Cowley alone? I like Cowley. And all of the Guillen children? I don't care bout the Guillen kids.

Oh boy. Sox are gonna have to give up a lot to get this duo. So who do Sox say goodbye to, forever. I'd say Jordan Danks, Mitchell, Flowers and Q will probably be the ransom.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 10:19 AM) Not only one, most obvious one. The fact you gave Humber a C because of one game is ridiculous. Guy deserves a big F, maybe you can say D- because of that one game. The fact he pitched a perfect game in the first half takes away the F right there. It does turn it into a C. A perfect game!?

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 06:30 PM) I've only been to a handful of games, but I've sat in the lower deck near the right field foul pole and in the upper deck. For the price, I have no problem with the upper deck. There really isn't a bad seat in the place. However, my son and I took a tour of the field on 7/6 as part of the Bulls Sox Academy, and now I really want to sit right near the dugouts. One of these days...just have to start saving. It really sucks to have to save to get good box seats at a baseball game. Baseball should be ashamed. It was a sport meant to be affordable. QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 07:08 PM) US Cellular houses 103 luxury suites located on TWO levels, located under the upperdeck which raised the upperdeck, this created one of the highest upper decks in baseball. The first row of seats in the upper deck at the new stadium is as far from the field as the highest row of seats in the upper deck at the old stadium. The pitch and angle of the upper deck give one the feeling of vertigo. Guess this is urban legend also! Let's face it, we love our team but our ballpark is easily the worst in baseball. The new Cell is OK at best.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 04:49 AM) You essentially have one point, and that's that Ozzie is awesome. You are pretty much the only person on the face of the planet who isn't blood related or f***ing him that believes that. Here's what it boils down to. ... You all believe ... • Oz is the devil for "quitting" on the team with a week left to pursue the Marlins' job late in the season. You think he threw in the towel early. I believe ... Oz and KW couldn't coexist and Ozzie, with the blessing of Jerry, simply agreed in principle to become the Marlins' skipper cause he wasn't wanted in Chicago anymore. You all believe ... • The White Sox are doing better this season just because Ozzie is gone. I say that is crap. Some players are having better years which has nothing to do with the manager. You all believe ... • Ozzie should have benched Heath Bell by now. Give me a break. You ever blame the guy throwing the f***ing baseball? He was acquired for BIG BUCKS and HAS TO BE the Marlins' closer. Ozzie has done what all managers do; replace him for a game or so. But Bell is earning mega millions. He is one of their big offseason acquisitions. He plays. Finally ... My plea to you. Can you lay off Ozzie Guillen for his time in Chicago? He was a good White Sox player for a long time, solidifying our ss position. He had his flaws as a hitter, swinging at too many pitches, but was a very good player. As a manager, he directed the team to one of the best postseason runs in baseball history. If you lay off him, I don't have to defend him. PLEASE PLEASE leave Ozzie alone. Or ignore him. Go SOX!!

Saw Ted tonight. Some great one-liners in that movie. I enjoyed it.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 09:31 PM) If you like unfulfilling endings, you'll love SAVAGES. Wasn't bad. Just felt more disappointed than pleased when walking out. That ending was freaky bizarre. I won't spoil it here, but I was simply stunned Stone went that route. I mean WTF? I liked the movie, tho. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 09:53 PM) Yeah...maybe. I really liked the first 3/4th's of the film, but I like Del Toro more than most (definitely an acquired taste) and also a big fan on the novel, so that probably influenced me too much. Watching Moonrise Kingdom, the Anderson movies blows anything out of the water that I've seen pretty much all year. Then again, many people don't love Wes Anderson or Aronofsky, for example Acquired tastes. Can you give me the Reader Digest version of the book? How was it different?

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 12, 2012 -> 01:23 AM) It's because this is the Greg school of arguing: 1) Feign ignorance and ask a question that he knows the answer to. 2) Wait for a large argument to be placed. 3) Cherry pick one point, repeat same argument. 4) Deny stuff. That being said Greg, these forums would be less interesting without you. What do you mean? You guys always pick one point in my longer posts and zing me on that.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 09:45 AM) Greg, u knew you weren't going to do a line-by-line rebuttal. Those are rules for attacking other posters, by the way, not a public figure like Guillen. I'll take a vote. Do you all really want me to go thru that long, well thought out post point by point and re-but? I will if you want that. I dont think people want me to do that. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 01:46 PM) You don't even need Hawk to say it, as you can see it on the field. Think of pitchers learning a slide step, guys missing the cut off man, blown rund-downs, bad stolen base attemps, throwing to the wrong bases, etc. Now compare that to last year. I love hawk, but he is going to make the current guy look good, which is fine. I like Ventura as well. QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 03:42 PM) A team w/o a closer changes said closer, regardless of what he's being paid, before an entire season is trashed. This is obvious to all but you, and Ozzie. Ugh. This argument confounds me. My god. they bring in a closer for a gadzillion dollars; you have to pitch the guy in the closer's rule. It's the closer trashing their season, not ozzie. Now I guess it's to the point he's going to have to do something; Oz has indicated that, but he STILL doesn't want to replace Bell. My guess is Bell will start the second half as the closer, as he should. See what happens. Or closer by committee, but you got to go with the high paid acquisition; why can't u guys see that?? It's called a TEAM; gm acquires players; you play them. Now the closer can be kept out of a game or two, but until the GM disposes of him, he's the high paid guy who plays. This is sports; this is life.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 03:00 PM) I don't see how interleague all season is a big deal. It's still 6 series. I think spread out over the season makes it easier to ignore. Very very easy to ignore. Who will care?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 07:14 AM) Heath Bell has given up 2 or more runs 10 times in an appearance this year. Fool me 9 times, shame on you. Fool me 10 times, shame on me. He did the same thing with Bobby Jenks in 2010 and it, along with his stubbornness in wanting Kotsay over Thome to be a full time player (Kotsay, you might remember, was as good at his peak as Thome was when he was, say, 37? And during his peak years, he was mostly valuable because he played a good CF. Lot of defensive value coming out of a guy DHing lemme tell you what Wimpy). He still doesn't know how to manage a bullpen period, and when he's not given a ridiculously talented group of pitchers that Williams brings in pretty much every single year, you are almost always going to be left with one of the worst bullpens in the NL, and lo and behold, the Miami Marlins are 14th in the NL in reliever ERA. And do you think perhaps there's a problem with the way he motivates and prepares players day in and day out? For all the hubbub about the park being a pitcher's paradise, it's really only hard to hit home runs there, because it's actually scoring pretty well this year. Yet Jose Reyes is about to have his worst offensive season since his rookie year. Hanley Ramirez, who has been healthy all year (well, until he punched a fan and cut open his hand) and is a career .301 hitter, is hitting .248. Gaby Sanchez, who in his first 2 seasons hit .270 and was an adequate 1B, was hitting .202 and was demoted to the minor leagues. John Buck, who's never been the greatest of hitters for average but can knock a few out and be a relatively good offensive catcher, has an awfully familar looking batting line after 64 games (hint: SCROLL DOWN). Note that I'm not attacking the guy who he's sent up to the plate 105 times this year in Chris Coghlan, each time lowering his average closer and closer to my skin-and-bones thin 5'6" brother's weight, because he's been without his CFer. You would have thought that he could get try and get creative and maybe play Stanton in CF a bit, even if he's bad out there, so you can get someone who atleast has a bat in the lineup as opposed to a guy so bad in Coghlan that it is literally the epitome of a blackhole every time he comes up in the order. Oops, I sorta did attack that, but I'm not holding it against him. There are only 3 guys in that lineup having even moderately good seasons, and considering Logan Morrison is in his 3rd year, yet has seen his OPS+ slip yet again, I tend to leave him in the "treading water" section as opposed to the "good" section. He's atleast found a AAAA bench player with a long, funny last name to catch fire, because through 96 plate appearances, Justin Ruggiano has been good. Regression will set in quickly enough and he'll fall by the wayside eventually. There's about 1 thing Ozzie Guillen even sort of does well, and that's manager a rotation, and even there, he has a guy who started for him opening day who put up an ERA of 2.64 in his previous 70 starts who is sitting at 4.06 right now. "But, but, but, none of that is Ozzie Guillen's fault! That's on the bullpen coach, and the hitting coach, and the pitching coach." Sure, I'll play along. But guess whose job it is to get on his coaches to get the players to work on what got them to where they are, to help these coaches get ideas on how to get players out of slumps and get them going, and to get creative about lineup ideas and how to score runs, and to figure out how to manage his pitching staff so he can hold a lead that his starting pitching and offense have given the team, and to just generally make the entire clubhouse strong and cohesive? Mr. Domino Drunky Guillen's job, that's who. And yet, the saving grace of Ozzie Guillen's entire 8 year tenure in Chicago - even when he was letting Will Ohman face a good righty or leaving the starting pitcher in too long or hitting Mark Kotsay 5th or 6th or anywhere but 9th or on the bench - was that he took the pressure off his players, particularly his veterans, and put it on himself so they could focus on the game and the media could focus on Ozzie. You stay classy, Domino Drunky. I think there are rules against attacking people. Domino Drunky is kind of mean. Your attack takes away from your well thought out arguments.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 06:26 AM) Can't sneak anything by you. FUN FACT OF THE DAY: At the All-Star break, Dunn, Konerko, Pierzynski, Rios, and Viciedo have combined to hit more home runs than the entire Miami Marlins team. Oh, and just to further prove that Ozzie is a brilliant manager and not some idiot who is the constant force behind all of his teams underachieving, HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THAT THE MARLINS RECORD IS 41-44 BUT THEIR PYTHAGOREAN W-L IS 37-48? OZZIE THATS WHO The most hilarious piece of all of this is that the Marlins are in the first year of their new stadium, and they are 12th out of the 16 NL teams in attendance. and just so I can sneak one in...Ozzie is a terrible manager who should quit at the end of this year because of how ridiculously poorly he has managed that club. If you gave that team to about 29 different active managers and 10-15 retired managers, they'd be over .500. Hell, they may as well name Joey Cora the manager because it seems like he's doing all the work anyways. VIVA LA OZZIE! How has he mismanaged that club? Heath Bell has been ridiculously bad. A team w/out a closer is in trouble.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 02:10 AM) Their Quidditch team. When said "we play next year" I mean me and my team actually playing them. I know, a sport based off Harry Potter, but with tackling and everything it still takes some athleticism. Oh, OK. I get it now. KU fans shouted s*** at a Quidditch match? Geez.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 04:04 AM) Dunn was here last year. Dunn was here last year and had arguable the worst season in modern major league history.

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Jul 10, 2012 -> 04:37 PM) Yeah no kidding I'd say A+ for that guy. What more could you want out of him, considering? So I screwed one up. Only one complaint in all my grades is pretty good.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 03:23 AM) WTF was Erin Andrews wearing? I've always been a fan of hers, but she has gotten insignificant very quickly That game sure sucked. Andrews IMO shoulda left sports announcing after that lunatic spied on her hotel room. She just doesn't seem very good. Ad you are right; that outfit was not good.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 11, 2012 -> 02:14 AM) At least we agree on this. I told my KU friends when they play at Mizzou next year, I'm throwing out any spectators that say any unreasonable things. Don't get your post. You obviously know they aren't playing anymore.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 10, 2012 -> 11:00 PM) I wanted Big 10 with KU coming with. KU is happy being in the Big 12. Lotta money to be made now. And KU wouls be left out of any megaconference. Football is too atrocious. Not if there are going to be four 16-team megaconferences; KU woulda been fine. And Self comes off as a dick to me. You knowing him changes nothin about my opinion of him based off his public actions. Trust me. He's not a dick. And don't talk about delusion when you're the most delusional poster on this board. KU didn't want to continue the rivalry becase when considering all sports, it's been hilariously one sided recently. KU sucks in everything except men's basketball. KU fans only care about men's basketball. MU is too tough a nonconference game in football for KU to play when you only have 3 noncon games. As far as basketball, see my previous reason for KU not playing MU. Can't support an opponent that put the whole future of the Big 12 in jeopardy. And KU fans are just as classesless as Mizzou ones (and all fanbases). When we played in Lawrence a spectator called three of my players whores. For Quidditch. Do you understand how stupid that is? That is true. I went to the KU-MU hoops game at Mizzou two seasons ago when KU happened to win. Some grandfather and his grandkid were standing up taunting MU fans, acting like complete f***brains. The MU fans didn't do anything when I wouldn't have been surprised or pissed if somebody knocked grandpa's block off.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jul 10, 2012 -> 08:20 AM) See all three. Saw Savages last night, decent flick. I think I will. I started with Savages. Enjoyed it. Pretty intense. Maybe just a tad bit too long? Good acting. I might get flamed for this, but I've always enjoyed Travolta. I'd give Savages a thumbs up. Not the best movie I've ever seen, but very enjoyable. I'll go see Ted tomorrow or the following day. Enjoy getting a couple days off in the steamy midwest.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 10, 2012 -> 12:58 PM) Probably because 1) Self is a dick 2) It was ultimately his decision to end the Border Showdown. Mizzou wanted to continue it, he didn't. And for reference, I've always hated Self, before I went to Mizzou. Self is not a dick. I've never heard one person say that. I've met the guy and have lived here a while and he's not close to being a dick. As far as ending the Border Showdown, why in the hell would Kansas keep playing Missouri in sports when Missouri left the league and for a brief period put the future of KU football and basketball in the Mountain West Conference. It would have sorted itself out and KU would have landed in one of the new 16-league megaconferences that are coming. The Missouri fans who want to keep playing Kansas are delusional. You can't have it both ways. If you want a new conference, the SEC (MU actually wanted to go to the Big Ten and the Big Ten laughed at them), then you get the SEC. You don't get the remnants of your former league.

I said a few weeks ago Robin was AL Manager of the Year and Ozzie NL manager. Obviously Ozzie has dropped out of that running with his team sucking the past month. If the season ended today Robin is AL manager of the year easily. Whatever Website that is thinks both are good managers. "Ozzie Guillen is not a bad manager, in fact I think he is a very good one, but in Chicago, it was time for a change. The fights between manager and GM grew to a point where it was more than a distraction. It was a cloud over the team that needed to be cleared. It got so bad here that even columnists were picking sides. If you wanted to hear from Kenny Williams or Guillen, you needed to read a specific writer and then you needed to decide what was real and what was fiction." I won't rain on Robin's parade, not at all. I always liked him as a player and he's doing a great job obviously. The reason for the turnaround is Robin, even more importantly the players. Go through the lineup and pitching staff and assess grades to players. It's difficult to give many if any as low as a C. Most guys get As and Bs. Hopefully they'll all keep it up.

QUOTE (RME JICO @ Jul 9, 2012 -> 01:15 AM) In one word: Entertaining Constants: PK and Thornton Welcome Back: Peavy, Rios and Dunn Pleasant Surprises: AJ, De Aza, and Tank Youk: Youk Almost There: Alexei, Beckham, Floyd Young Guns: Sale, Quintana, Reed, Jones, Santiago, etc Addition by Subtraction: Ohman, Stewart, Fukudome Great post. Did anybody pick up Fuko? DeAza may be my new favorite Sox player. My grades 3B - Youk, A SS - Lexi C 2B - Beckham C 1B - Paulie A C - AJ A LF - Tank B CF - DeAza B RF Rios A DH - Dunn A- Pitchers: Sale A, Humber C (for a guy who pitched a perfect game), Danks (Inc), Floyd C, Peavy (A), Q (B), Thornton (B-), Reed (A), Crain (C to C-), Nate (B), I'm sure I'm forgetting some guys. Robin (A) We have a lot of guys having good seasons when you think about it. Hopefully the team is ready to kick some ass in the Cell after last homestand to go with the steady road play.