Chisoxfn

Wait...I already have a stache that I just grew out for halloween. This is for a good cause...now I just got to convince my boss its cool.

QUOTE (The Critic @ Oct 31, 2008 -> 04:45 PM) My buddy got a last-minute invite to a party tonight, and he has no costume. I told him to write a huge "Fe" on a t-shirt and tell people he's Iron Man. Hey, why is it that most of the trick-or-treaters come to the house after the supposed cutoff time of 6:00 PM? We've had as many people in the last 45 minutes as we had in the 2 hours before that. Or just tell him to grab a few pieces of paper and go as a paper shredder. Whenever someone asks him what he is, he can just start ripping a piece of paper and say I'm a paper shredder. That or just put a sign over his regular clothles that says, "Nudist on Strike".

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 31, 2008 -> 06:36 AM) Enjoy the spooks! Anyone got any good costumes they are putting on this year? I'm going as a pornstar. I just shaved my beard into a stache with a flava sava. I than borrowed my buddies UPS shirt and hat and bought a pair of brown shorts on sale for like 10 bucks and cut them super short (it looks terrible...all you can see are the white/hair on my thighs). The reason for going in the UPS gear is because I'm going to be "delivering a package". No idea how it will go over, but I look ridiculous regardless (the stache with the flava sava and short shorts looks terrible). I'll try to post some pics tomorrow.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 01:20 PM) I haven't seen any discussion on this here. It's been a pretty big topic on the political blogs I read. There has been tens of millions dollars spent from both sides of the argument. Anyone have any opinions on the matter? Being the über-liberal of Soxtalk I'm sure you can figure out where I stand on the issue. It's ridiculous that its even up for vote. I'm going to vote No on Prop 8 and the Yes ads are absolutely disgusting. There is one with someone saying that there kids are going to come home believing that marriage is solely for a man and a man. It's utter bulls***. It's the 21st freaking century and I can't even believe something like this is up for debate (and I'm as conservative as it gets).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 30, 2008 -> 09:54 AM) Ever see the footage from 89 Loma Prieta of the couple cars driving off the section of the bay bridge that just collapsed? Yes I have....but thats why I'm getting my hover car conversion. I'm actually kind of creeped out because it's been so long since we've had an earthquake and I remember growing up as a kid here going through numerous earthquakes.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 11:03 AM) We may be hesitant to trade Kirk because of the role he fills, the backup point guard...but I have a simple response to that...you're paying him $11 million a year to be a backup point guard. In a capped league, that just isn't practical over anything but the shortest terms. But really he is much more than that. He's a starting caliber PG coming in off the bench and a starting caliber SG coming in off the bench.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 10:53 AM) Mully and Hanley were discussing Kirk this morning. They were saying how great it was this year because when Rose comes out, you have a more than capable backup PG in Hinrich, whereas last year when Kirk went out Gordon was handling the point. If Kirk goes in this deal, then you see the same thing, Gordon coming off the bench to play point. Yikes. Kirk is going to be great off the bench. He'll get tons of minutes playing the 1 when Rose is sitting and he'll play the 2 at times with Rose as well. I really really like the depth in this back-court. I'd say Hughes needs to go but Gordon could be the odd man out since he is going to be gone at the end of the season. The problem is Gordon is the only shooter in the Bulls back-court (although Hinrich is also a legit 3 point shooter, but not with the frequency of Gordon). I'm excited for Friday's game. The Bulls will lose but it should be a great early test. I also want to see a lot of Tyrus Thomas this season.

Jason Caffey was one of my favorite players on those Bulls teams. He was fun to watch off the bench and horrible once he left.

So I looked it up and apparently Newport-Inglewood is capable of a 6.0 – 7.4, which is obviously lower than the San Andreas. However, its the fault I know of closest to me so I'm just being selfish, haha.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 12:56 PM) To start us off here, I'll give you a primer on the kind of problems this area will be facing when the San Andreas goes by picking a particular problem and running through what will happen. I'll save some of the truly scary ones for later, but for starters...transportation. It's possible that there may be some severe damage to local transportation that will prevent people from getting around. In the 89 San Francisco Earthquake we saw 1 highway totally collapse. Given these sorts of ground motions, it's likely that there will be a few bridges that will go down and block major transportation routes for days that way. There is also a lot of topography out here, and that is going to mean landslides. You can probably expect a few thousand of them large enough to block roads, especially up in the mountains in areas where there's only 1 road in and out. Getting to these people or getting help to those people is going to be especially difficult. The real fun though is the San Andreas itself. Typically, we're talking about something like 5-10 meters, or 15-30 feet of movement on that fault if it snaps. A lot of the major highways around here go across that fault; the only one that really doesn't at any point is Highway 1 along the coast. The 10, the 14, the 15, and the 5, the routes connecting L.A. to Arizona, Vegas, and Northern California, and the associated rail lines, they are completely severed. The road is instantly impassible and every one of them will be blocked until they are completely rebuilt in the destroyed sections, which can take weeks. On a given day in L.A., there are a couple hundred thousand people who commute from one side of the fault to the other, who work on one side of the fault and live on the other. If this fault snaps while they are at work, then a few hundred thousand people can't get home, and with communications down, they literally don't even know if their families are alive or not. Even beyond that, the counties in L.A. aren't drawn with the San Andreas in mind, so at various places, the Fault cuts right through the middle of San Bernadino, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Kern counties. The big ones are the first 2; the fault splits them almost in half. Any county level emergency response system therefore...if it is run from one side of the fault, it will have no ability to communicate to the other side of the fault. Imagine sending a group of fire trucks to fight a new fire, the trucks head out, and suddenly they realize they can't get across the fault. Or the call never comes in because there's only 1 side of the county in touch with the county seat. Any service run at the county level therefore needs to have 2 command centers, one on each side of the fault, because otherwise, the fault will render it impossible for emergency services to reach anyone. Going one step further, for everyone else out there...a huge fraction of the merchandise you buy at your local Walmart, all those things imported from China, Taiwan, Korea, etc., flows through the ports of L.A. and Long beach. The goods are unloaded there, loaded on trains or trucks, and shipped out across the country. The Earthquake will destroy those transportation routes. It will be weeks to months before a normal flow of goods can resume out of the city, maybe more. The rest of the country will suddenly see goods they thought were plenty vanish from storeshelves, because some of the biggest port complexes in the world can no longer reach them, and there's not enough spare capacity on the west coast to make up for those areas being cut off. So, to summarize, everything goes to hell. You can't drive, you can't ship stuff, you need a lot of bulldozers, your roads are destroyed, and help can't get to you. And thats why I have my 4x4 SUV, haha.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 12:37 PM) There are quite a few other faults inland of the San Andreas, the Mojave desert is made up of dozens of 10-20 kilometer long faults that have moved around for the last 10 million years. In the past 20 years we've had 2 earthquakes on them, the Hector Mine earthquake in 99 and the Landers earthquake in 91. Both were magnitude 7 events. But the rub of these type of faults is...the rupture magnitude and intensity scales with the fault length. The San Andreas runs for hundreds of kilometers, and past ruptures along it have run for hundreds of kilometers. If you look at this map I stole...the section of the fault they're rupturing, which again is not the worst case scenario, basically runs from the Salton Sea up through Palmdale. We're talking about a fault breaking along a couple hundred kilometers of its length. The San Andreas is the only fault in this area capable of producing magnitude 8+ events, and for this simulation, they're shooting for "Average", not "Worst case scenario". There are also some smaller faults that run within the L.A. basin that can do a lot of damage locally if they go (Northridge in 94 happened on one of those) but for raw power, there's nothing around here that can match the San Andreas. Isn't there like a Newport-Ingelwood fault that is relatively dormant but has the ability to have a more powerful earthquake than the San Andreas? It also happens to be in an area where a quake on the fault would have a significant impact on Orange County & LA. Or am I talking out of my ass?

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 12:03 AM) Yeah, trading a pre-arbitration pitcher who just had a season that is worth $15 million on the free agent market for more prospects is a pretty dumb thing to do. Floyd shouldn't be available for anything less than the elite of MLB. If Paulie goes to the Angels I hope it's because we had just somehow picked up a better hitting 1B than Nick Swisher. My whole feeling on the glut of sluggers is that if the Sox are going to move someone, do it for the right reasons. Do it to get younger and better, preferably both with the Major League team and in the minor leagues. Don't do it simply to open a spot for a guy who was the P4P worst regular position player on the team last year. Excellent post, couldn't agree more.

Interesting....I hate Noah so I wouldn't have a problem with him going. I still would cringe at the thought of losing Hinrich. He is an asset in a secondary role.

That team looked far better than I expected. I liked the rotation Del Negro used with the guards and realistically the Bulls are going to have starting caliber guards on the court at all times. If they keep doing this they might have to consider doing something else with Larry Hughes. Tyrus Thomas was my player of the game though. I say that because he played so much better than he did last season. Still made a couple mistakes but offensively he looked much smoother and he just looked much more "aware" out on the court. Overall I couldn't be more pleased with the first game. Gordon/Hinrich looked great off the bench, imo. I think Rose will help get Gordon a lot of good looks which should prevent Gordon from turning into a black hole on offense. Pretty excited for this season. I think playoffs are a possibility but also a bit of a reach but it should be fun seeing these guys play because they all play hard.

44 Secs for me.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 06:29 PM) In the right circumstance, I would trade Paulie to the Angels. That would mean Morales coming back, because as hopeful as I am for Swisher returning to decency next season, I do not want him as the 1Bman (though LF would be just fine by me). The only "bold" prediction I will make, and I emphasize bold because I don't think it really is that bold, is that one of Konerko and Dye is dealt for pitching and perhaps a hitting prospect of some type (I don't have anything brewed up in my head, just a thought) or that Swisher is included in a package for a better player, which I think would be a shame but something that, at this point, you can't really be opposed to. As nice as Swisher's contract is - paging Dick Allen - it's too expensive to be sitting on the bench as an OF/1B so you either need to make room in the lineup for him somehow or you should trade him. It is nice to have that insurance policy on the bench, but that's an insurance policy that's more expensive than Juan Uribe was last year, is signed to a longer term deal, has had success in the past (so there is some precedent for value), and has never proven to be able to produce consistently while coming off the bench, which Juan Uribe has done. You shouldn't force any moves, and it would suck to trade Swisher at an incredibly low value, but what has to be done in any manner is what has to be done. I realize the benefit of keeping Swisher around hoping that he will come closer to his prior production but the reality is this guy doesn't hit over .260 and that is just bad news. Sure it would be acceptable if he hit for 35+ Hr's and posted a ridiculous OBP (which he typcially does) but when you already have a team that struggles to hit for a high average it's just a bad bad idea. Swisher needs to go, imo. I don't expect him to come close to playing as s***ty as he did last year but he just isn't a good fit on this team (especially now that Ramirez/Quentin have established themselves).

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 06:23 PM) 32 is old? Really? The worst thing in baseball is an aging speedster. Figgins hasn't been able to stay fully healthy for the last two years, and his lack of extra base hits are troubling. With that said, he is a very good fit for this club. That doesn't mean you have to overpay for him, which Konerko would be. He's an excellent fit for the club but will be pricey. I'd consider a Morales/Figgins for Konerko swap solely because I like Morales more than almost anyone (aside from Cubano). I'm convinced with consistent playing time you are talking about a .300 hitter with an above average OBP and 20 hr's. Sure it isn't the typical production of a first baseman but it would be a nice bat from the left side of the lineup. I just don't think Figgins is the player he was a couple years back. He's had some injury problems the past couple of years and will lose a lot of his value as he continues to slow (plus aging speedsters become more and more prone to further injuries).

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 06:11 PM) Want a surprise? Gavin Floyd (SP) and Josh Fields (3B) for Chone Figgins (3B/2B/OF), Sean Rodriguez (2B), Anthony Ortega (SP) and Rafeal Rodriguez (RP) Don't ever bring up the name Sean Rodriguez. He makes Brian Anderson look like Babe Ruth at the plate. And there ain't a chance in hell I'm trading Floyd without getting another young potential front of the rotation starter in return.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 06:34 PM) I'm just going to say very quickly that I don't understand how Gavin Floyd was "stolen." He had fallen out of favor in Philadelphia and was included with a talented pitcher who had stunk in AA the year before for a pitcher who had thrown 200+ innings the previous 6 years, had World Series experience, and was coming off a solid season. Perhaps KW knew he was injured and he dealt him for chump change, but that's more than a bit unethical as it is. KW traded Freddy Garcia for the best package he felt he had on the table, and Gavin Floyd was a highly valued commodity coming back to the White Sox. Carlos Quentin and Bobby Jenks were stolen much moreso than Gavin Floyd was. The Sox gave up an A-ball slugger and a 40-man roster spot respectively for the aforementioned; compare that with a guy who helped the White Sox win a World Series. You tell me who was more stolen. I realize Quentin was ridiculosu this past season but its hard to say he was stolen at the time of the trade. Chris Carter is an above average power hitting prospect (40+HR Power and he hit for ridiculous power this season in the minors). Problem is he has absolutely no position.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 04:19 PM) Yep, he's nothing more than a AAAA player. No way we go into next season with a Getz/Nix platoon. Seriously, 2003-2004 is a long ways away from 2008. The reality is he's not much of a prospect. He has some athletic ability and could project nicely off the bench but I wouldn't count on him being anything more than that and I'm pretty damn sure Kenny isn't expecting more than that either. Sure he has some tools and could turn into a fluke type of pick-up but you can't make a hobby of banking on those type of pickups. I still anticipate the Sox making a serious run at a 2B or a CF that could lead off. If they get one, you'll see them potentially go cheap at the other position (ie, Getz at 2B).

QUOTE (Cali @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 10:20 AM) Rise Against - Audience of One Finally a Rise Against song I really like. Mainly because it doesnt follow the same "Quiet Quiet YELL YELL!! Slow Slow Fast Fast" formula ALL their songs usually follow.... The Album as a whole is pretty solid but that one song definitely stands out as being the best on the album (imo).

Sorry for the outage, but we have just upgraded the forum software to help improve the security on the site.

What type of suspension are these guys facing?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 25, 2008 -> 02:00 PM) I've always thought Hinrich would be an ideal #3 guy on a team with a dominant scoring guard. Put him next to Wade, or Kobe, or TMac, somewhere that he doesn't have to generate shots for people but where he can help out by being the solid guard defender that gives the big name guy a break on the defensive end, and he'd be in the perfect role. Exactly, give him a team with a good big and scoring guard and you are talking Hinrich up as a very good player. He could be very much what Manu was (obviously in a different position) to Duncan and Parker. Obviously Manu has more ability than Hinrich at this point though.

I go back to events at my school quite often and try to talk to people about careers in the industry so I consider that a pretty good way of giving back, but I definitely plan on donating to my alma mater in the future. I loved my experience there and the combo of cost and education couldn't be beat. I got a job at a top firm and really received a tremendous education and I'm very proud that I graduated from there.