The Beast

I suggested that kids should be masked in schools and the teachers should be mandated to be vaccinated and my former state representative, a Republican, said Pritzker wouldn’t do it. Well he just did. It’s better news for my wife since she’s vaccinated and her coworkers will have to get vaccinated too. Now if only my son, a 9 month old, could only get the vaccine, then we wouldn’t have to worry about covid at daycare even if he’s already battling his first cold and another common condition from daycare. My employer mandated vaccines the other day, making it so that if you aren’t vaccinated, you can’t travel, go on appointments or meet with the general public unless you have a medical or religious exemption (I’m no theologian, but I would love for someone to explain that to me) approved through HR. And masks need to be worn if people go back to an office. (Until I find a new job, I won’t be going to the office since there’s no point.) Anyway, I am curious if people who I know are more conservative or live in rural states will actually get the vaccine or will leave. I wonder if we see a mass exodus or if people will stay and comply, since it is likely other employers may follow suit. Lastly, I wonder if vaccine mandates will make it to the Supreme Court and if they will be upheld because of Jacobson v. Massachusetts. We will see…

I’m trying to remember when they really started to cool off from the good start they had. Maybe the Brewers series?

Weak first place team. Gonna get smoked in the playoffs at this rate.

Goodbye

I can think of other games I’ve been more disgusted in. Blowing like a 6 or 7 run lead to the Royals in the ninth a few years ago sucked worse in my opinion.

Anyone get a Foulke or Koch vibe with Hendriks? Would love to know what the team stats are since the Brewers series. They must suck. This team is too streaky to compete for it all. I don’t even know what they need to win it all, the super bullpen they had looks like trash and the offense is inconsistent. Can’t sync up.

How do parents set up a 529 savings plan? What about an IRA for my wife who is a teacher in Illinois? We would use her 403b but I thought an IRA through Fidelity might be good. Not sure what I’d need to do though.

Please be Lamb.

No, but what I would do is price shop the lower corners. They are cheaper than the other lower deck seats (except for maybe the outfield). Check their website for deals too.

I blame the fact that they couldn’t stop the bleeding with the five runs given up in the middle of the game, nobody warmed up and replaced Kopech during that inning, until Kimbrel they couldn’t get a scoreless inning and they couldn’t execute with the amount of men left on base. I’m more upset with the way they lost after being up 6-1 more than anything else. I don’t pin this on La Russa but it was evident early on that Kopech didn’t have it tonight.

So, did anyone go to the game this evening? I wondered if people had any feedback from getting to the ballpark, parking and inside the park. I heard Brooks Boyer on 670 on Friday and he said to get there early, follow the parking rules (lots north of the park prepaid, south of the park paying the day of), consider parking at the overflow lot at IIT and that some of the kinks of getting into the stadium and food service have been fixed. Overall, the game was a positive experience. The outcome was bad as the pitching couldn’t have a scoreless frame after the first few innings until Kimbrel came in, so the way they lost sucked after being up 6-1. I was able to get food relatively quickly and got to the bathroom and back to my seats quickly as well. However, they need the city to commit more people to direct traffic. I don’t know if it was Lollapalooza or what, but we left Woodridge at 3:30, got off the Ryan at 4:10 and stalled on 31st street trying to pass the first intersection and make our way past the housing (where cars are parked on game days) while we waited for two lights to let a bus in, cross traffic go through, people push through lanes and cut others off and see nobody directing traffic. When we finally turned to go to lot A, we couldn’t make a hard left and went to lot B, but it was closed and had to go to lot C to park, only to realize we couldn’t tailgate (I did remember hearing about that but by the time we got there my mind was fried and I just wanted to get out of the car). We unfortunately got out of the car around 5:20 and got to our seats by 5:48 pm. After the game it did take a long time to get through the neighborhoods as opposed to pushing people towards the highways. I suppose we could have gotten off on Damen but I have not been very impressed with the amount of time it takes to get to and from the park lately. But I doubt they can do anything and the city needs to be the one to supply the people directing traffic.

That’s sort of where I’m at too. Over the years they have had so many second basemen, Durham, Graffanino, Iguchi, Harris, etc. it seems like such an easy position to replace. My concern is mostly the team control they gave up and that he becomes a star with the Cubs, but in the small sample size I’ve seen, I don’t see that yet. I’m also not a fan of Kimbrel’s age, but it’s no cause for concern. Hopefully he pitches well and doesn’t get lit up in the first outing like Tepera (or as Guillen says Tempura).

Exactly. More overreaction.

Abreu got hit in the head on the helmet.

Konerko got it worse but I hope Abreu is ok.

Exactly. Too much bitching on this board thinking they can give up AAA pitchers for Kimbrel.

Hahaha yes! Totally fine with this move because they didn’t give up Crochet, Madrigal won’t be a super star (I hope) and Heuer has been underwhelming this year. Let’s fucking go! Stop whining Soxtalk! Don’t worry, I’m sure someone else would be glad to do so.

No, but if the deadline passes without another deal I won’t be very disappointed. The Sox don’t usually make many deadline splashes. Instead, I want them to play better and beat teams like the Royals and beat the good ones too. I haven’t been satisfied with the team’s performance as of late.

For all of the Cubs fans tomorrow on the Score.

I would just stick with buying parking at the lots if you don’t mind using credit cards. It should cost less than if you used a parking app since you avoid the service charge.

I predict they add a reliever or two but for they find that the cost for a good second baseman is going to be steep and they roll with Mendick or Garcia.

Does anyone know where I can find the record against .500+ teams?

I wonder what was said that pissed him off that bad. It couldn’t have just been the calls that set him off.

I can think of two candidates who he might be…

I am vaccinated and so is my wife. We had our son last year on Election Day. He can’t be vaccinated yet and probably won’t until next year. For the moment and until at least 2022 when I am able to change jobs and switch our insurance back to hers, I work from home. She is going back to teach after nine months and he is going to daycare. While I am okay working from home, I am concerned about what could happen at my wife’s school since the debate right now is either an honor system where if you aren’t vaccinated you have to wear a mask and if you are you do not have to or they will start the year with masks and assess how things are going before removing the mask mandate. Without wearing masks and knowing how many kids have gotten vaccinated, we remain concerned that it is possible that she could potentially bring the virus home and it could impact our son. We are also concerned that Covid could break out at daycare because of unvaccinated parents but we don’t have much control over that, we have to work. More nationally, I remain concerned that the unvaccinated and vaccine hesitant won’t get the vaccine and variants will emerge that will get through vaccines and eventually we will have lockdowns, economic impacts, overwhelming deaths and hospitalizations and not be able to have a normal life like we couldn’t for much of last year. I am also concerned that many people can’t be convinced to get the vaccine and instead believe in misinformation. Getting the vaccine makes more sense than getting a virus that may have long term impacts. People’s stupidity and stubbornness really makes me angry, especially if it is because of a political motive (2022 and 2024), individual rights or if it is because of believing conspiracy theories.