C.Rector

That's the mentality that lead to the loss of Ron Artest, Brad Miller and Elton Brand. What the team needs is patience in building up a core long-term and a patient coach. They had one in Bill Cartwright before they dumped him in favor of the grossly unfit Scott Skiles who has clearly lost his team. If the Hawks dump Brian Sutter after the season ends, perhaps the Bulls could hire him as an assistant coach whose job is to take problem players out to bars........

Have Grilli as the starter so we can keep him on board. Wright has always been better on long relief than as starter anyways.

Steff: I did not want the Sox to re-sign Fat Pig Colon. He is only a .500 pitcher and if we have to have a 242 inning pitcher, it should be a guy with both a better attitude and a better W-L record than 15-13. As for the Sox spending money, I want it to be spent wisely and not give out big contracts like that Arte Moreno moron did just for the sake of making a big splash. YASNY: Since when is a pitcher who only goes 15-13 a "valuable asset"?

The Dark Horse Duo: Campos & Santiago

His thumb? Is that all? Back in the good old days before free agency and the pampered jocks of today, the players would laugh it off and go back to the game. Now, they search for any excuse they can to just sit back, slack off and live it up. Meanwhile, we the fans pay for these slackers through excessive ticket prices.

Originally, Reinsdorf was free-spending and wound up wasting a lot on the likes of Julio Cruz. Eventually, he learned the error of his ways and hired Larry Himes as GM to rebuild the Sox farm/scouting system. If Reinsdorf kept up his spending, Sox ticket prices would be a lot higher than they are now and you'd be complaining like crazy about how its so expensive to go to ball games. Remember, sports team owners who buy a team to take a vow of poverty exist only in fannish fantasies.

While I didn't like her show a whole lot, its also clear that this J. Hood version is a lot of nonsense. It was reported by Robert Feder in his Sun-Times column that the reason for her resignation was over the control of her show's content. Remember, the week before her resignation, she had been ordered by Drew Hayes to drop the subject matter that she had already announced on the show in favor of only talking about Greg Maddux all the time. J. Hood is doing a whitewash for WSCR management.

Serves that free spending Anaheim owner Arte Moreno right for mindlessly throwing his money around on the likes of that apathetic, lazy fat tub of lard and on that Vlad character as well. Here's hoping that the Angels finish in last place.

Yes, a new beginning ending in unnecessary injuries due to overuse. JM erred on the side of caution. Looks like Buehrle's already fading career might come to an end this season and all that $18 Mil will be wasted.

Interesting how you complain about both the high prices and how the Sox have a "low payroll." There's always minor league baseball, college baseball, high school baseball and lots other baseball games that you can take your kids to for only a "couple bucks."

Absolutly yes.

From: http://www.chicagoblackhawks.com/team/inde...&right_cont_id= Blackhawks Trade Ty Jones To Florida For Future Considerations March 2, 2004 The Chicago Blackhawks announced today that the team has traded the rights to forward Ty Jones to the Florida Panthers in exchange for future considerations. Jones was selected by the Blackhawks in the first round, 16th overall, 1997 NHL Entry Draft. He appeared in eight NHL games with the Blackhawks during the 1998-99 season recording 12 penalty minutes. Jones appeared in 37 games this season with the Blackhawks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals. With the Admirals this season he recorded four goals and five assists for nine points and 93 penalty minutes.

What's Black Saturday?

Whatever else she may have said or done, she was a lot better owner than the clowns who have taken over from her and run the entire Reds team and organization into the ground

You guys complained forever about how the $58 Mil. payroll was inusfficinet, so they raised the payroll but also had to raise ticket prices and parking fees to pay for it. If you find the increases too much, then stop complaining about the payroll. Owners who get into pro sports and take a vow of poverty to get the best team on the field at the lowest prices, exist only in fan fantasies. Next time any of you get the notion about posting about how Reinsdorf should sell the team to an "owner who will spend," better hesitate because any new owner who spends a lot more than what Reinsdorf did will also raises prices a lot more than Reinsdorf did too.

Fantastic.

That's still not obvious. Prior still has not had even one 20-win season. There are a lot of guys whose stats are of HOF quality who can't even get in period. To say at this very early stage that Prior is "1st-ballot HOFer" is ridiculous.

If this keeps up, the whole team will be on Injured Reserve come Opening Day.....

Please no. If Soxtalk is ever to have an "official voice," let it be a voice of sanity such as cwsox and not some fluffy headed dolt like Julie Swieca.

From: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...el_caple/040225 Last words from the Bartman ball By Eric Neel and Jim Caple Page 2 columnists Just 48 hours shy of his planned public execution -- he will be blown up on Thursday night in Chicago in an effort to put an end to all Cubs' curses -- the famed Bartman Ball finally broke his silence and addressed the media for the first time since that fateful Wrigley evening last October. The following is a complete transcript of his statement, delivered in the Grand Ballroom at the Chicago Hilton and Towers: [The ball is accompanied to the podium by the donut ring from Luis Castillo's bat. The donut ring speaks first.] Thanks to Steve Bartman and Moises Alou, the ball will now pay the ultimate price. "I'm here because I wanted The Ball to know that he isn't in this thing alone. We were all a part of what went down. And me, the bat, and Moises' glove, we all just want to say that we think it's wrong the way The Ball has been singled out like this." [The Ball then approaches the mic.] "The Ball will read a statement," The Ball says. "The Ball will not take questions. "To begin, does The Ball look great tonight or what? The Ball is lean, mean and 30 grams lighter. And before you start stirring up any s---, This has nothing to do with fallout from the BALCO hearings. The Ball got this way on the Atkins Diet. "Next, the Ball wants to say that $113,824.16 is chump change. The Ball is insulted at the price he brought at auction. The Ball wants a recount. And, more importantly, The Ball wants his share of the money. "Most importantly, The Ball has had it up to the Commissioner's signature with the blame game. Blaming The Ball for the Cubs giving up eight runs and blowing a three-games-to-one lead is ludicrous. Hate the playahs, not The Ball. Point your pyrotechnics at Moises Alou. Look at The Ball: He's round. He's small. How hard is it to catch him?! "And another thing, too ... where is your Dusty-hate? In Boston, a town where they know a thing or two about curses, by the way, they ran their slow-hooked manager out of town on a rail. But you guys, you just sat back and watched while Baker left Prior out there until his arm turned to linguini. "You want a ball worthy of your contempt? Try that pathetic little dribbler that skated under Buckner's legs in Beantown once upon a time. Sorry thing couldn't even get in the air. I was in flight, boys and girls. In flight and carrying your whole sick, twisted history with me, right into Moises' glove. I did my job. Get off me. "But if you really must blame a ball, blame the ball that bounced off Alex Gonzalez's glove. If that was The Ball, Gonzalez would have scooped him up for an inning-ending doubleplay and we're all still celebrating on Rush Street. "Speaking of which, The Ball could use a little something to drink right now. These lights are killing me.'' [A Cubs assistant pours him a glass of water.] One last look at the infamous Bartman ball. "The Ball is going to the big glove in the sky tomorrow and you bring him a lousy glass of water? Take this back and get The Ball some scotch. And make it The Macallan, 18-year.'' [A Cubs assistant brings a shot glass.] "What? Did someone just declare prohibition again? Is this all The Ball gets? Gaylord Perry couldn't throw a decent spitter with this.'' [A Cubs assistant brings a bottle.] "That's better. Now, this drink reminds The Ball that the madmen plotting his demise are claiming Harry Caray would 'want it this way.' To that, The Ball just says this: The only thing Harry would want right now is a nice, cold Old Style and a clear lane from the booth to the bathroom. "And do you really think you can kill The Ball anyway? Do what you will with the horsehide and the yarn, my friends, but The Ball has a solid rubber core. The Ball's spirit was here long before you (ask the Billy Goat) and it'll be here long after you've had your flashy little party tomorrow night. You want The Ball? You can't handle The Ball. Kill The Ball and The Ball goes martyr on your sorry asses. He goes immortally yard. "The Ball goes yard in Wrigley and St. Louis and Houston and Arizona and he goes yard in California and Texas and New York! And he goes yard in South Florida and Pittsburgh and Milwaukee and Detroit. And when the Expos move to Washington, D.C., The Ball goes so yard there he sails through the window and right into the White House. Yeeeeeaaaaah!" [The Ball collapses. There is a long, awkward silence that is broken by the occasional reporter sniffling and holding back tears. Then a Cubs assistant steps to the podium.] "Thank you for attending today,'' the assistant says. "And if you'll hold on a minute, we'll have the cork from Sammy Sosa's bat up here for you.''

My prediction for Thomas: BA: .290 OBP: .420 HR's: 45 BB: 110 RBI: 115

In addition to the above, the Blackhawks also.......... From: http://www.chicagoblackhawks.com/team/inde...&right_cont_id= Blackhawks Claim Eric Nickulas From Blues February 24, 2004 The Chicago Blackhawks announced that they have claimed right winger Eric Nickulas off waivers from the St. Louis Blues. Nickulas, 28, stands at 5.11 and weighs in at 200 pounds. He played in 44 games for the Blues this season and scored 7 goals while adding 11 assists for 18 points with 44 penalty minutes. Of his 7 goals, one was a power play goal and one was a game winner. Nickulas is a native of Hyannis, Massachusetts. He was originally the third choice of the Boston Bruins in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft out of the University of New Hampshire. He broke into the NHL with the Bruins in 1998-99 playing in two games. Nickulas was signed as a free agent by Worcester of the American Hockey League on November 10, 2001. He was subsequently signed as a free agent by the St. Louis Blues on July 16, 2002. Nickulas played parts of three seasons in Boston and the past two years with the Blues. In his NHL career, Nickulas has appeared in 81 games scoring 12 goals and adding 18 assists for 30 points with 66 penalty minutes. Nickulas is expected to join the Blackhawks in Columbus tomorrow night.

From: http://www.chicagoblackhawks.com/team/inde...&right_cont_id= Blackhawks Trade Ville Nieminen To Calgary Hawks Get Jason Morgan and Conditional Pick February 24, 2004 The Blackhawks announced today that they have traded winger Ville Nieminen to the Calgary Flames in exchange for forward Jason Morgan and a conditional draft pick. Morgan, 27, stands at 6.01 and weighs in at 200 pounds. He was currently playing for Lowell in the American Hockey League where he appeared in 21 games scoring six goals and adding 13 assists for 19 points with 16 penalty minutes. Morgan also appeared in six games for the Nashville Predators this year and had two assists and two penalty minutes. Morgan was originally the 5th choice of the Los Angeles Kings in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft. He played parts of two seasons with the Kings appearing in a total of 14 games scoring one goal. In his NHL career, Morgan has played in 20 games scoring one goal and adding two assists for three points. Nieminen was signed by the Blackhawks as a free agent on July 29, 2003 after playing last season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. This season, Nieminen has played in all 62 games for the Blackhawks scoring two goals and adding 11 assists for 13 points to go along with 40 penalty minutes. He has one power play goal and one game tying goal. In his NHL career, Nieminen has appeared in 252 career games scoring 36 goals while adding 47 assists for 83 points with 209 penalty minutes. He has appeared in 23 career playoff games scoring four goals and 10 points with 20 minutes in penalties.

You mean like "The Curse of Rocky Colavito"?

On what basis do you call her a Sox fan? I've heard other folks say that, and I'm puzzled by that. Now, I only started listening to her last September, but I haven't heard anything much from her that made me think that she was a Sox fan. For instance, she was against any of the Sox winning either the MVP or Cy Young on the grounds that since the team did not make the playoffs, then nobody on the team deserved those honors. Fair enough. However, she soon came to strongly support Halladay for the Cy and A-Rod for the MVP even though their teams did not make the playoffs either. What the Hell kind of reasoning is that? On Loaiza, she also said that since he blew some of his starts, he did not deserve the Cy. Halladay blew some of his starts too. It just seemed like she was groping for a reason, any reason, to oppose a Sox player getting honored. She even criticized Loaiza receiving the AL Comeback Player award. Likewise, when Cubs GM Hendry ever did anything, she always hailed it as being "putting the pieces together" which was the phrase that Offman used too. She praised Hendry as being the single best Chicago sports GM even though he hasn't upgraded his team anywhere near as much as Houston GM Hunnsicker has done on a smaller payroll than the Cubs. For what its worth, she came across as a raging Cubs fan. Having said all that, it could be that I had discovered here earlier, then I would have heard her support the Sox. It could also be she was forced by station mgmt to take this pro-Cubs approach too. If so, that could be the reason why she resigned and also why Hood has all of a sudden taken on this Cubbie tack as well. Just my 2 cents worth.