Chisoxfn

If the Off Topic board was the cause of most of the problems, why not just kill that board? This board is about baseball first and foremost. If people want to talk about other crap they can do it elsewhere. Could that not solve most of the problems? I know keeping a baseball message board about baseball may be a novel idea, but it seems like it would work to me. I think the baseball board has always stayed clean and the few problems over there have never crossed. I also don't ever really see a prob with the off topic board other then this one thing. I don't think it will ever come down to that. Question for ya though, what do you think of Backman if he really made those comments?

I really doubt Cito would go for the Chairman's guy, the heir apparent, coaching 3rd base. I really doubt Ozzie will be coaching 3rd for the Sox no matter who they bring in. Unlike Chisoxfn, I wouldn't mind seeing Buddy Bell make out the line up. He is a no s*** guy. It would be nice to see players held accountable for their laziness, and mistakes. My first choice would be Backman, but with that story that came out last week, even if it isn't true, he'd never live that down, so its best the Sox and Wally part ways. I think the big thing I dislike about Buddy is he's a retread manager thats never won anything. I know he never had talent, but I see some guys, like Garner who just went around a few times and seemed to always land a gig and never suceed. I'd prefer a new face like Yount/Guillen to Bell. I don't mind Gaston cause he's got the rings and that in itself commands respect.

Well, I agree, and I think that Billy is already preparing to face that possibility. He stated that he started to work on his off-speed pitches more. I love Billys work ethic, and I know that if it means he has to go Trevor Hoffman style, and learn to use breaking pitches to get the last outs of a game, then by all means thats what he'll do. Only thing was that Hoffmans best pitch was always the changeup, so it wasn't too big when he lost velocity on the fastball. I'm with ya 100% when it comes to Koch's work ethic. He seems like such a great guy and I think its why I pull a little extra for him. Always tries hard and yet he just can't get it done. I sure hope he can get things figured out. But a good changeup would definately be sweet. Too bad Foulke can't teach it to him.

Think of it this way, from all you've written you definately seem to have a special connection with her and she does the same with you. While it may suck being away from each other a lot for the first year or two, it will be more then worth it when your together the rest of your lives. I think the only long distance relationship worth it is the one where both parties feel that way and in your case you do. I wish you and her all the best

Welcome aboard. I think the comparison of Howry/Koch is a pretty good one. The only difference I can think of is they actually found something wrong with Howry's arm. I still believe something has to be wrong with Koch's, but you'd think now that its the offseason and they shut him down that something would come out about him having some type of surgery. I'm gonna hope that it was just overuse and his arm will get back into shape, but odds are it won't happen. I think the better shot and what Koch has to go with is to assume he doesn't get the fastball back and that he has to finesse his control and maybe add another pitch.

To those that are considering leaving, I'd like to say just one thing. Give the board about a week or two cause I Think it will be back to the great atmosphere it used to have. Thats my last post on this issue. As I just want to go back to talking about baseball and such.

That sounds like a pretty cool story. As far as Majewski goes, I loved what I saw of him in Charlotte and only heard great things about him. He's got a big league arm and a closers mindset. I say give him time, cause I think he will make it.

I want that or I'll just settle with Ozzie as the manager. I know one thing, I don't want Buddy.

I know the one time I called him it, heather was scared for weeks

Lol, I'm gonna be doing a different kind of trick or treating this year but your right, I have had this hanckering for candy as of late.

Miles will never be able to hold himself at the major league level because of his refusal to draw walks. Players like him need to do all the little things right and in Miles case he has a lot of trouble getting on base, other then with the hit. I know he's hit in AA, AAA but his avg isn't gonna be incredibly high in the majors and when you can't draw walks to get yourself on base, its gonna be tough to make it when the odds are already against you. Its really great seeing Hankins hit up a storm. I wonder how he's adjusting to catching. Also great to see Cotts control improving. He's pitching in a tough enviornment.

For the longest time when I was younger my friends and I would put on a haunted house (We used to do it the day before halloween, and then started doing it on halloween when we stopped trick or treating). It eventually got really big that we put it on at this huge mall area where and raised a ton of money for charity for a couple years. Now I'm too lazy to even carve a pumpkin, although I plan on carving one this year. Some cool things are like spider webs, putting some cold water above where they walk and have a drop continually drip on them, but have a red light pointing toward the area so they think its blood. Just thinks that can creep out some people. This halloween Im going up to UCSB, its supposed to be like Mardi Gras

Animal House and Porkys are some of my all time favorite comedies. American Pie is one of my favorite recent comedies along with the beauty of a comedy, Office Space

Cy Young Porzio and Asshat are my favorites. I still remember when my buddy was registering and typed in Cy Young Porzio, I was rolling. Everytime Porzio would start he'd give me a call saying Cy Young was on the mound Ribbie Rubarb is another fav cause the sig is freaking awesome

I'm sure that was tough. Hope you had a blast while you were with her.

I think something fishy is going on with the boards. I noticed a few things out of ordinary. Next time I see Mark/Alex I'll get some access and try to fix the problem.

What, I can't play some bocci ball and a little golf As far as me stepping down, it was mainly to give myself more time for school and friends. I don't want anyone to think that I'm not going to be around the site or am not going to be helping anymore. I will still be here and I talk to Alex and Mark all the time and will be helping them out. I consider myself more of a consulant now. I also plan on upgrading the board in the next month or so with Alex. Mainly just giving it better programming and maybe a few added features. I think what happened this weekend was ugly and I don't ever anticipate something like this happening again. This is a great message board that conists of a lot of great people. I wish the best for those people that left the boards because of that issue. Things will definately be taking some changes at Soxtalk over the next few weeks to ensure that things like this won't happen again. These changes are being made to make the site better, not worse. I want to commend all those people that handled this problem/issue in a very respectable fashion. Once again, this was the vast majority and only a small minority (I am not going to name names) were making things worse. This is a great communtity, with great people and I hope in the coming weeks this incident will be looked at as nothing more then a speedbump on a long smooth road.

That was freaking bs. I couldn't believe they called that. All that was, was great defense. The best thing about Tillman, is no matter what happens on a play, he's forgotten about it by the next snap. The guy is gonna be really good.

In my opinion no. I think the vast majority handled themselves well and I'm just sorry that everyone had to go through this crap.

My Semi Realistic Roster Pitching Colon Buehrle Loaiza Garland Scho/Wright/Jeff D'Amic/Sterling Hithcock/Cotts/Rauch Bullpen Wright/Scho Hawkins Sully or Shiggy Koch Wunsch Marte If Wright and Sho don't make the rotation, them two; otherwise, Munoz, Ginter, Sanders, Majew. Starters Castillo Guzman Harris Ordonez Crede Fullmer Olivo Lee Everett Bench Daubach Rowand Graffy Alomar Jr. Thomas gets a multi year deal elsewhere and decides to take it. Its for very similar bucks. Konerko gets dealt and the Sox pay a few mill. Not gonna speculate who they get, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was a higher paid type cf or something.

Here is an idea. The Cubs are likely going to make a push at 2nd to get someone to replace Grudzelanek. Grudz has one year left on his contract and we know koch is the same. Grudz makes less though, maybe you could do a Koch/Grudz swap. Not sure how great of an idea this is, but the deal would temporarily fill a hole for the Sox and then they could concentrate on getting a solid shortstop or something. Its not gonna be easy moving Koch, I know that.

That makes definate sense. They are gonna be adding a few arms.

Willie made some pretty good strides the last week of the season. Its about the first time i've seen him do that in the major leauges. The question is, was it a much due hot streak, or is he finally adjusted to the major leagues. I definately think he's valuable to have. If the Sox went with someone like Cabrerra/Matsui at ss, then I wouldn't have a problem with them going with Harris/Miles at 2nd and see what they got. This is presuming they are spending money on pitching and stuff. Option B of playing Harris and spending money at one position would be to sign Castillo and have him leadoff. Just sign a vet to play shortstop, cause the Sox have no in house solutions to shortstop. Then let Harris play center with Rowand.

Hell ya. If you aren't already desensitized, you will be when its all over. So freaking cool.

NEVER...you can't remove the dancing badger