hogan873

I'm way behind on movies, so these might fit the 2012 thread better. But... Premium Rush was a decent flick. Michael Shannon was great as a dirty cop with "impulse control issues." Reminded me of his tirade where he burnt the guy's face in Boardwalk Empire. Finally got around to watching The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Good movie. I haven't read the book yet, but I certainly will now.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 12, 2013 -> 07:53 AM) spring training is f***ing long... I believe spring training is way too long. But, at least there will be some more stuff to talk about over the next 6 weeks. Ugh, that's depressing. Six weeks until meaningful baseball.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 8, 2013 -> 09:44 AM) This statement implies that it was good last week. Okay, sorry. I'll rephrase. In my opinion, The Americans was good again this week. Better?

The Americans was very good again this week.

I didn't want to start another thread to ask this question, but I had a question about the bleacher seats. Do all or only some of the bleacher seats have backs? I saw the bleacher seats once, but I didn't take a close look. I'm looking at getting some tickets to a game this summer, and I noticed the bleacher seats are pretty reasonable. Thanks for any input.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Feb 6, 2013 -> 01:32 PM) Predicted Standings 2013 1. Detroit Tigers (95-67) 2. Kansas City Royals (82-80) 3. Chicago White Sox (79-83) 4. Cleveland Indians (74-88) 5. Minnesota Twins (65-97) The Tigers remain the class of the AL Central, and after needing a strong late-season push to overcome the White Sox last season I expect them to run away with the division this year. The Royals have completely overhauled their starting rotation with the additions of James Shields, Wade Davis and Ervin Santana as well as the re-signing of Jeremy Guthrie. If their young hitters can take another step forward combined with the new staff they could put together their first winning season since 2003. The White Sox collapsed down the stretch last year to miss out on the postseason, and there is always the threat of guys like Adam Dunn, Alex Rios and Jake Peavy regressing after bounce-back seasons last year. The Indians added some solid veteran pieces this offseason, highlighted by Nick Swisher, Mark Reynolds and Brett Myers and that should make for a solid upgrade over their 68 wins from last year and put some distance between themselves and the Twins for last place. Per Bleacher report I think 95 wins for the Tigers is a bit high, but around 90 seems likely. And then I would flip flop the Royals and Sox and boost the Sox wins to maybe 85 or so.

Another solid episode of The Following last night. So far they've done a good job keeping the suspense up.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 1, 2013 -> 02:24 PM) Considering we have a terrible start catcher, you think we might look for a decent backup. But no... We don't know that Flowers will be terrible. I for one doubt he'll be that bad. His defense is good, he calls a good game, and he has a lot of power. If he can do an okay job at hitting for average, he'll be fine. However, I am concerned about the lack of a decent back-up.

Tyler Flowers hits .250+ with 25+ HRs and 80+ RBIs

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jan 30, 2013 -> 08:05 PM) **bump** Driving cross country from AZ to Chicago last summer, we side-tracked to the OKC Memorial. I remember exactly where I was when the bombing happened, but I never really followed the story afterward. Not sure why. I wasn't expecting much, but the Memorial is very well done, and worth the trip if it's not too far out of your way. The letters that were taped up to the walls around the Memorial were heartbreaking. Back to books - I'm listening to 11/22/63 now (kills time while at work), and I'm near the end. Do we count listening to books as reading? So far, it has elements of what King does best, and some of what he does worst. I find his longer books a little slow to get going (100 pages) while he introduces characters, then they hit their stride hard and are great until just before the end. For whatever reason, I'm usually not too impressed with his endings on the long stuff. Hope this is different. Read "Gone, Girl" recently and liked it quite a bit. Easy read with some twists that I didn't expect. Absolutely. As a matter of fact, Stephen King wrote an article in EW a while back and talked about listening to books. He agreed that it is "reading" a book. I listen to probably 2 books a month driving to and from work. As far as 11/22/63, I thought it was one of King's best. And I liked the ending.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Jan 29, 2013 -> 02:34 PM) Yea. I have no idea how southsider didn't get that from my post. I'm stumped. I understood what you meant because you were talking about uniform changes, and the Marlins changed their uniforms when they moved into their new stadium and changed their name to the Miami Marlins. Actually, I'm sure just about everyone understood what you meant.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 25, 2013 -> 11:04 AM) Doubtful, he's a huge fan favorite there. I figured. He's from Pittsburgh, and he's the son of Tom Walker, the guy from Homeland...wait, that doesn't seem right.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 25, 2013 -> 10:52 AM) Seager? Callaspo? Neil Walker? Walker is intriguing. He'd be a trade candidate, I assume. Would the Pirates be willing to deal him?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 25, 2013 -> 09:36 AM) Heard the end of the interview, and it definitely sounded like Hahn was trying to bring in a lefty hitting 3B. I wonder who it could be, if that were the case? Would it have to be via trade, or are there any free agents left out there?

Math in general. Plus, once I got into high school I actually found calculus and geometry to be interesting and useful. Grammar is huge. As someone else pointed out already, the stuff you see on Facebook is horrendous. Oftentimes I will be reading someone's post (and many times it's those folks who love to rant), and I will discount everything they wrote because their grammar is so bad. And I cringe everytime I hear someone say "I seen..." It blows my mind that they do not teach cursive writing anymore. How are kids expected to learn how to sign their names or read the writing of their parents? Overall, as a parent, I've found just about everything I've learned in school to be useful as I spend time every night helping my kids with their homework.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Jan 22, 2013 -> 11:12 AM) I thought it was ok. It was certainly gory for network TV. Here's one "nitpick": Them not turing on the lights for like 5 minutes after they went to the female doctor's neighbors was just ridiculous. It was pretty gory, but I thought the suspense level was pretty high, too. I guess if you compared it to most network shows, it's a much better effort. It plays more like an FX or AMC show. As far as them not turning on the lights, I thought they were thinking the guys were still in there. But, they were certainly making a lot of noise. By the way, I think the creator and writer of the first episode was the same guy who wrote the screenplay for Scream.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 10:24 PM) I really enjoyed The Following One of the better pilots in a long time. I hope the rest of the episodes can maintain the suspense.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 10:07 AM) There is really only one problematic backloaded contract anywhere on their books. Also, he's about $20M too high on payroll (no idea where he gets the $119M number, because it looks like complete fantasy), he seems to think that Rios and Dunn doing well only "help" (LOL), rails on the Keppinge acquisition while failing to acknowledge that almost ANYTHING is an upgrade to what the Sox had there already, and seems to think the team overachieved (never mind their pythag says otherwise, and that only a couple hitters and 1 SP overachieved). Other than that, yeah, great article. Some of his points make a lot of sense of course, sarcasm aside. Paulie is on the wrong side of the curve and may not bounce back, Rios is unlikely to repeat his 2012, Flowers won't likely get anywhere close to AJ's 2012 numbers (then again, neither will AJ), Quintana is a regression concern and Sale and Peavy are injury concerns. All true. Yeah, I was confused by that, too. I thought the payroll stood at about $100 million right now.

Same guy predicted a last place finish for the Sox last year. However, he makes a few good points. The backloaded contract hell comment doesn't really make sense, though. If Rios has a decent year, Dunn hits 40+ HRs again, and Konerko is better after the surgery, the Sox have a chance to compete within the division. The pitching looks pretty good right now, especially if Danks returns to form.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 07:37 AM) He has been a special kind of asshole this season. Debs beating him with the sack of soap was awesome Does anyone know why Kev has a broken leg? Is it something real that was written in? Because I cannot remember anything happening to him last season. I think the broken leg must have been written in. I don't remember anything happening last season. I could be wrong, though. Yeah, Frank is about as low as they come now. The whole scene that ended with Debs beating him with the soap was outstanding. Fiona's reaction to Debs' flipping out was very real. The one person who still loved him now hated him, too. Shameless continues to be one of the best shows on TV.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 18, 2013 -> 12:54 PM) That's about 6x what he's worth. Maybe 2X or 3X. I would say his plus defense gives him some value. But he has got to start hitting the damn baseball.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 16, 2013 -> 11:38 AM) What should the fans punishment be for "not showing up"? I'm assuming this is a bit of a sarcastic question. Fans shouldn't be "punished" for not showing up to the games. We've discussed before that it's not just attendance that fuels a team's income. It's a big part of it, though. I think this might be one area where we agree (I think based on some of your previous posts). Many people, especially those with families, have better places to spend their money than at a baseball game. It's just so damn expensive anymore (as is attending a Bulls, Hawks, or Bears game). The Sox did drop prices, and that will help. I suppose eventually if the fans continue to "not show up", they will be "punished" by their team not being able to go out and get those impact players that would make the team better.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 15, 2013 -> 01:09 PM) Seriously, you have zero idea what Rick Hahn is actually doing, none at all. I'm not quite sure why you would be acting like you do know. I seriously wonder if you actually believe that because few deals have actually gotten done, that Hahn and his staff have been doing nothing all winter. If this is true, it is actually kind of sad. This is a cute little caricature you have built of Hahn, but it is delusional. Heck it is bordering on meatball Bears fan for over-reaction of the millennium. It's gotten pretty ridiculous. We're to assume, based on the thoughts of some here, that since Hahn has only signed Peavy and Keppinger that he's going to do nothing else before the season starts. It's January 15, and people believe that the offseason is over. Whether or not more moves are made (and I believe there will be), I'm certain that Hahn is not sitting quietly and doing nothing. He knows better than any of us what needs to be done to improve the team. If and when the right deal comes around, a trade will be made. He's not going to trade someone just to make a move. If he can move Floyd, Thornton, and/or an outfielder and acquire a left-handed bat he will, as long as a deal makes sense.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jan 15, 2013 -> 11:21 AM) People who rag on the fans for their support are really advocating franchise relocation. I'm not sure what this means. If you're saying those who rag on the fans who don't support the team are the ones advocating relocation, that doesn't make sense at all. If you're saying it's the fans who don't go to the games who are advocating relocation, that's still wrong. There have been enough discussions here about the price to attend Sox game for all to be aware that it's not something everyone can do. And most who can do it can't afford to do it many times. There are plenty of ways to support a team, and attending the game is just one. Merchandise is huge. Plus with agreements with the channels that broadcast games, the teams make money when people tune in.

*looks at calendar, confirms it's still January*