SI1020

Wow! You really are a gentleman and a scholar and a hell of a White Sox fan too.

I hardly ever vote for a Democrat on any level and guess what? I can read write and spell and I'm also a lot of fun to be around. There is too much demonizing and stereotyping. Today's American Left is weak, tiresome, idea challenged and in my opinion BORRRING. Oh and while I'm on the subject taxes are legalized theft. High tax governmental bodies strangle freedom and creativity. Worse than that it promotes dependency and people today are far more dependent on government at all levels than their ancestors ever were. What if almost all families and individuals were prosperous enough not to need the government for many of the basics? I know one political party that would be instantly out of business and another that would be on life support. (Guess which is which?) As far as the Marlins situation is concerned I agree that this is bulls***. However I do agree with CW from a legalistic point of view. Major League Baseball is within its legal rights to set these hiring rules and even though it may appear phony and ridiculous it was necessary for Florida to go through the charade even though McKeon was who they wanted. As far as the "old boy" thing I think that was a little bit of cheap shot CW, although I do agree that they may have introduced themselves to a candidate who might have helped them down the line or in another capacity. I'm not stupid, I know my country's history. Think of how black americans like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson or my personal favorite the inventor Garret Morgan were held back. It is an injustice that can never be righted. Unfortunately and this is one reason why I left the left, the "cure" often causes many more problems not anticipated by those well meaning idealists who put these new rules and procedures in place. Affirmative Action has screwed up lots of companies and has destroyed and maimed a lot of careers, however well meaning the original intentions may have been. Time is going to change this, the US is no longer overwhelming white, our nation is now 1/3 so called minority. Intermarriage is becoming more and more common, particularly whites intermarrying with Asians and Hispanics. In a half century or less race will be almost irrelevant. Can't happen soon enough for me. Pardon the rant, I've been disconnected from cyberland for several days, I'm making up for lost time. I don't like guilty hand wringing, and in spite of my criticisms of the Left here I tend to get along with most Liberals just fine in person, so hopefully the bashing will be political and not personal.

Believe it or not, he IS a nice guy. He's been to my house. He treated me great in cyberland. No problems at all with Daver.

One more thing. The music in The Wild One is jazz of the highest order. The Album Jazz Themes From the Wild One is a collectors item and if anyone knows where I could get one I would be greatly obliged.

The reviver of old dead threads would like to list a few of his favorite off beat movies in no particular order. 1. Asphalt Jungle 1950 2. The Wild One 1952 I think 3. Invasion of the Body Snatchers -1956 4. Mean Streets one of Scorceses earliest think it was early 70's 5. Blue Collar - both serious and a laugh riot with three of my favorites Richard Pryor, Yaphet Kotto and Harvey Keitel around 1975 I think. 6. The Conversation- Gene Hackman and a pre Laverne and Shirley Cindy Williams. I always wanted to have a brief but torrid affair with her, needless to say it never happened. Harrrison Ford also had a small role. 1974 I think.

Rios was a big disappointment in Pgh. He has limited range and not much of an arm in the outfield. He didn't hit either, but blamed those troubles on a bum knee.

2000 is looking more and more like a desert mirage every day.

I'm somewhat concerned myself.

Don Drysdale was as tough and as mean on the mound as anyone. He had a "two for one" rule. You hit one of his teammates, he hit two of yours. Honestly, if guys like Sal (the barber) Maglie, Early Wynn, Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale and Stan Williams pitched today I don't know what the batters would do. They'd think twice about charging the mound every time a pitch came close because these guys were fearless and they would kick your ass.

Who do you think they are? I'm just asking , not challenging.

Amen. Somebody who can do something please read this and act accordingly.

As long as JR owns the team, KW GM's it into the ground, and JM practices tantric management, all I gotta say is..... we ain't seen nothing yet. The White Sox can't afford this. Chicago is way too much of cubs town now. If the team tanks this year the franchise is staring in to the abyss. I don't care how long the deal to keep the Sox in Chicago was extended by the contract with US Cellular.

Good points. KW is inferior and unacceptable. Be gone already.

Roy Hobbs wasn't too old why not give Cliff a chance, it's not like this team is exactly tearing up the league.

I am by nature patient and forgiving. That being said, I would have fired KW immediately for the Berry for Barry thing. Completely unacceptable. It's one thing to be aggressive and get the short end of the stick in a trade. It's another to not even know who the hell you're trading for.

It does seem to resemble a morgue doesn't it?

Yes you did and caught some flak for it too didn't you?

I'm not Pauline Kael, or Siskel and Ebert or anything like that either. I am a great admirer of the late Akiro Kurosawa the great Japanese director. Rashomon is my all time favorite movie, and no I don't speak Japanese. Also liked his movie Stray Dog. My favorite American movie is High Noon the 1952 classic with Gary Cooper. The scene at the end where he throws his badge in the dirt is classic. Grace Kelly always gets to me, I can't think of a modern actress with anything close to her beauty and for the lack of a better term sex appeal. I shall stop now before eyes glaze over or start to roll. I don't care much for Siskel or Ebert either, but Pauline Kael was the best American film reviewer in the last 50 years IMO, and two of the 3 pics I mentioned just happened to be her favorites as well, by coincidence naturally, lol...I absolutely love Kurosawa's take on King Lear- Ran...which was made largely thanks to Scorsese securing much of the financing. Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood (Fisful of dollars, The Good, bad, ugly, etc) totally ripped offf Kurosawa's Samurai Trilogy and Magnificent Seven is just Seven Samurai set in the West...not to mention that f*** King George Lucas shamelessly used The Hidden Fortress idea to make the original Star Wars without any credit or compensation whatsoever...Master Akira would be on my top 5 directors of last 50 years list easily, up there with Bergman, Kubrick, Scorsese and Triffaut. As far as regal Grace Kelly goes, ironically enough she was the biggest slut that ever slutted, a regular carnivorous man-eater, sorta like the hybrid between Julia Roberts and Wanna Ride'er....Sorry. Nothing to be sorry about. Whatever she did and whoever she did it with she still beats most of the so called "starlets" of today.

Hate to burst your bubble, but the following guys you mentioned are not legit prospects. They are either Minor League vets or marginal prospects... Brumbaugh - AAA/AAAA guy Gload - AAA/AAAA guy Miles - Still has to be considered marginal. He is doing everything he can to change that, but there will still be skepticism until he proves it in the Majors. Many guys with similar talents make it, have a colid year or two and then fade back into AAAA status. He still has a great chance and is doing exactly what he needs to do. Aceves - organizational guy/backup catcher type Alvarez - was a prospect in 97 and spent parts of 98-00 in the bigs with Detroit and San Diego. Bikowski - Marginal. Solid average hitter with a decent amount of walks but not much power at all. He's a solid outfielder with a decent arm. Overall, his skills are good, but not great. To make it, he'll have to keep getting better and hit so well that they can't keep him down. There are lots of guys in AAA with his talents that never make it. He has a chance, but he won't be near the top of any prospect lists. He is also 26 and repeating AA which is not in his favor. Holt - Marginal at best. He is 24 and back in Class A after AA last year. He strikes out way too much and doesn't walk much. You could say he is almost Borchard without the upside and doing it at 2 levels below. Martel - Don't know a lot about him, but his numbers don't favor him. He's 24 and still in A ball. Has no power and doesn't look like a lot of speed. Only has 69 AB's this year, so either he is playing part-time or has been hurt. Reed - From all indications he is the first real position player prospect on this list. He is tearing up high A in his first full professional season. He should get bumped to AA after the first half of the season. If he excels in AA, he should jump right onto the fast track. Very much a pure hitter from I have been told. Stats do nothing but back that up. Yan - His only drawback is he is repeating High A right now. He's only 21 so he still has time. He should be dominating at W-S since he is repeating it, but increasing his average over 100 points so far is impressive. He really should be in AA right now (don't get me started on Schaffer). If he continues and doesn't drop back into the .250 range then he'll have a legit shot to be a nice Major League player. He doesn't walk enough at this point to support an average in the .250 range so he'll need to keep it up. Julio Reyes - Don't really know much about him except that he has never played more than a half season. Played only 55 games last year at Kanny. He is hitting very well right now, so I won't try to grade him. Webster - Have never seen him, but everyone seems to rate him highly and his numbers don't make you want to think differently, so he has to be considered a legitimate top level prospect at this point. Have great respect for your take on the minor league scene. What you say doesn't fill my heart with hope for the future. What happened to the team that supposedly had the best farm system in the majors a few short years ago?

Well SI, you spent all that time in Pgh, what do you think of McClendon? Whoops nobody asked but I'll try to answer. To Sox fans Mac may look good compared to the seemingly comatose Manuel. He is fiery and that night he ripped the base from its moorings was great theatre. I think he has a tendency to overmanage and he is too much of a "by the book' manager to suit my tastes. He is religious about his pitch counts and his determination to get the exactly right matchup. Sometimes he paints himself into a corner and is outfoxed by a wiser manager like Dusty Baker who took him to school earlier this year. Kind of like Piniella outfoxed Manuel in the playoffs. Despite his strong temperament he always talks like the Pirates are about to turn the corner and make it to the post season. He sometimes makes Chuck Tanner look like a pessimist. Tanner who formerly managed the Sox, Pirates (79WS) and Braves was famous for his rosy pronouncements. That kind of attitude doesn't play well in a tough city like Pittsburgh and for that reason McClendon has worn out his welcome with many fans in Pittsburgh. In short, I think McClendon is a work in progress. He's not the best chess player in the dugout, but he does have energy and the desire to win. In that respect he's in the mold of a Weaver or Piniella. He needs to learn to push the right buttons and sometimes that means not going by the book. I always liked managers who trusted their gut.

Mike Curtis would be proud.

A sweep of the AAA Tigers would be a good start. I don't want to hear anymore "it's early".

I didn't want to be accused of being negative but I always worried about MB. He pitched really well the last two years, but you could see on his off days that he can be really hittable. What I'm saying is that some guys can win without their best stuff, not so for MB. He's got to move the ball around and paint the corners. On top of that, his velocity which was never that high seems to be down a little this year. We need him to turn it around soon, just Loiaza and Colon aren't going to cut it. We have no nos 4 and 5 starters at this point.

I would have never thought it. He totally underwhelmed when he was in Pittsburgh.