SI1020

So many times as a kid I watched or listened to Bob Elson on the radio as the Yankees beat us just like we beat them tonight. Wins against the Yankees, especially in the Bronx are always special for me.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 26, 2012 -> 04:58 PM) I think it's more mental than physical...he's pouting like such a little girl. No he is wincing like a man in pain.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 26, 2012 -> 04:49 PM) He never was signed for his batting average. Rob Deer type hitters never did much for me.

I don't see how you can not put Billy Pierce at least in the top 10, let alone off the list, or have Luke Appling as low as number 13. This is just going to be a popular contest for Sox players in the last generation or 2. QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jun 22, 2012 -> 08:12 PM) I've always felt that people don't appreciate Collins near as much as they should. He was not only one of the great White Sox, but one of the greatest players, period. Very true.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jun 14, 2012 -> 12:49 PM) My blood pressure is up from all the damn grains of salt I've had to take so far this season. I take UZR with a grain of salt.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 10:15 PM) Sore iano to DH Dunn to lf Tank to 3rd There you Go kenny. Obviously you've never seen that horror show.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 12, 2012 -> 08:23 PM) No, No, No, No, No, No, and No. Let me add one more. This has got to be one of the worst ideas ever.

Just got back from a Florida vacation. I watched the Marlins and Rays TV teams and they bored me to tears. Except for Orestes Destrade on the Rays post game show. He has a bit of panache to his delivery. I regularly get the Atlanta Braves on my home cable. This is the age where people think Survivor is great entertainment, special effects make a movie and Eminem is high art. I'll still take Hawk with all his faults, and yes he has them.

It's not just here, elsewhere too it seems that every ex Sox player no matter how good or bad he was deserves to be savaged. It continues with Pods, who should be appreciated more than anything for his positive contributions. I'll never diss any player on that 05 team. It took 88 years to happen and now we're already up to 6 and counting without another one. Pods changed the whole dynamic of play from the all or nothing offense of 2001-04 that got the Sox nowhere. I wish him all the best.

QUOTE (IowanSoxFan @ May 23, 2012 -> 05:59 PM) You remember last year before the first pitch, Steve would turn it over to Hawk by saying something like "now I'll turn it over to the play-by-play announcer, Hawk Harrelson" and then Hawk would would reply "Alright, Stone Pony." How come they changed that up and now call each other by their first names? Anyways, I love Hawk. Look I'm younger, but I actually think Hawk gives pretty decent analysis and I don't think you are going to find a play-by-play announcer that can give you that much more analysis. I think they decided between the two of them, or else they were told, to tone it down and to work together better. The interplay between them is much more professional and pleasant this year. Hawk is not stepping on Stone as much and Stone has responded in kind. Yes, Hawk has an ego and is thin skinned. I liked the Hawk and Wimpy team the best. They were able to keep my interest similar to what Harry and Jimmy did a generation before them. Made me want to turn on the game despite the mediocre to lousy Sox teams of the late 90's.

QUOTE (Tex @ May 23, 2012 -> 06:42 PM) Sitting here in a classroom with 14-15 year olds and they all believe they have the world figured out. My career as a history teacher was very brief and unhappy. I was even fairly popular at one school. In the rapidly changing technological world, where you buy an item and it's obsolete by the time you take it home, history and geography don't count for squat anymore. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 23, 2012 -> 04:23 PM) I do think that Harrelson represents the "old guard," and, to an extent, that's what has turned SOME young fans off from watching Sox games. From watching my students not being able to understand or really care much about anything which happened before they were born...it's that short-term focus, the immediate now, that gets to me. From having taught history, it's annoying when many schools (especially here in Asia) are making it an elective or not even carrying it as a course. So I get the fact that maybe baseball history and anecdotes from the past, that's not everyone's cup of tea. Some people love his obscure name droppings and comparisons (I am guilty of the same thing)...others, it drives them batty and they want a more "insightful" commentary about what's actually going on within the game. They do want everything to be thrown at them in terms of roto world stats and more quantitative analysis. Which is kind of the opposite of Harrelson...the whole "Moneyball" thing all over again, except this time applied to broadcasting. I'm surprised that in Asia of all places, the study of history is going by the wayside.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 23, 2012 -> 06:15 PM) In the quote you posted, he clearly said he was better because "anything is better than Hawk". He didn't say "I heart Len Kasper!" Thank you. And I said "if".

QUOTE (balfanman @ May 23, 2012 -> 03:50 PM) Dave Wills I like him too. Better than his partner. Too bad he left town.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 23, 2012 -> 03:24 PM) I support this post 100%. Hawk needs to go. I spent Friday & Sunday listening to Len & Bob, cause anything is better than Hawk. If you think Len Kasper is good then I feel very sorry for you. I'd rather listen to a trained parrot. Just be patient. Eventually all life and personality will be driven out of sports broadcasting, everyone will have the appropriate amount of "eye candy" and people will think that it's progress.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 22, 2012 -> 11:31 PM) Why am I not surprised that the "Keep Hawk" demographic is aligning with the "no women on my sports network" demographic. It's just dumbed down PC bulls***. I have no quarrel with anyone competent in any job anywhere on the planet. We are just so far away from a meritocracy and quite frankly most women sports announcers and anchors I've encountered have been awful.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ May 22, 2012 -> 10:59 PM) I like Stacey king, gives a lil chuckle to the broadcast. I rather have hawk his passion is great, we could have Len kasper or chip Carey or Joe buck or mccarver Exactly. Most announcers today are tear and anger inducing awful.

QUOTE (Baron @ May 22, 2012 -> 10:41 PM) Getting rid of someone fine...the question is who do you replace him with? When he is replaced it will probably be by a boring, banal, cookie cutter type cliche spouting automaton so popular on the sports networks.

Most of the blow dried ESPN style modern day announcers make me mad enough to want to choke them. Very poor excuses of masculinity while being boring and banal too. Most of the really great baseball announcers are gone. Mel Allen was my personal favorite. I've supported Hawk because he is not a cookie cutter announcer and I like old stories between pitches, but all in all he has deteriorated and become too attached to some of his worst cliches. I am glad that he and Stone seemed to have reached a truce. A lot less of Hawk talking over Stone and also lot less of those awkward silences. As for Sox announcers I've listened to, Bob Elson was a cure for insomnia. Jack Brickhouse although first and foremost a Peoria native Cub fan was very fair to the Sox and one of the old time old school announcers. Harry Caray was still on or close to the top of his game when he worked for the Sox. Harry and Jimmy kept interest high among fans while some of the most hopeless Sox teams you'd ever want to see took the field. I would have to say my favorite announcing team was Rooney and Farmer. Farmer with his flat monotone Chicago accented voice is not a good PBP man but when teamed with Rooney it worked out well IMO. I was angry and sorry to see Rooney go and I still am. On the other side of town Kasper is a perfect example of the boring blow dried PBP man of today. Brenly is OK. Pat Hughes is a professional, I enjoy hearing him announce a game.

QUOTE (Cali @ May 21, 2012 -> 01:14 AM) Sox are the only team in the Central with a positive run differential... The AL Central is so lousy this year, making it winnable despite all the weaknesses on the team.

Excellent analysis here, better than anything I've seen anywhere else to date. KW really has lost his mojo, the evidence is hard reality that just slaps you in the face when you look at it. I don't have much faith in the current regime to right the ship.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 5, 2012 -> 02:08 AM) Axelrod can get his audition, but without Sale and Molina looking iffy for the rotation (nobody at this site can argue credibly he's looked like anything more than a back of the rotation guy), we're back to 1998/99 all over again. Attendance in the 1998-99 figures. At this point, Kenny Williams just needs to leave and wipe the slate clean. This is a 3 year fix, at best, without Sale. I agree and that is depressing.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 4, 2012 -> 01:48 AM) I liked him as a color guy with Rooney. Not play by play. Tries too hard to be "quippish" I agree completely. They were a good team and in fact were rated either #1 or 2 radio team in Rooney's last year. Farmer is not a PBP guy and shame on the Sox for letting Rooney go. Yeah I know I'm going to hear it about the stations hiring the announcers, but the Sox could have advocated for Rooney if they'd wanted to.

QUOTE (MAX @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 09:10 PM) That's not true. There are some real backward s*** holes out there still. In my experience, a lot of illegals from mexico are living in the '50s when it comes to sexism. The 50's were a different time to be sure but if you think all women in the 50's were obedient stepford wives under the thumb of a dominant ogre of a man, then you believe all the revisionist history taught to people in your generation.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 06:23 PM) One bad start...3.56 total ERA, 23:3 K/BB ratio. I think Molina has potential, and since we didn't draft him then maybe he will pan out. It's time for the Sox to bring guys up from the farm that can actually you know, play in the big leagues.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Apr 29, 2012 -> 05:54 PM) we stink at home because 1.) we are not a good team, and 2.) we are a team that is not built for our stadium (pitching and defense oriented, in a hitters ballpark) Yes, I've thought that too. The Sox historically have been a pitching/defense oriented team. Now they have this launching pad stadium (at least in the warmer weather) and the Sox don't have the personnel that fits. This organization continues to shoot itself in the foot time and time again.