hammerhead johnson

Okay, from the Ditka thread (which was closed for what reason?), I posted this response to dickallen's statement that Ditka was hated by a fair share of players: Yes, and those guys who disliked him weren't willing to break their backs for the team. Name me one hard-working player that disliked him. They don't exist.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Jun 22, 2006 -> 07:18 PM) You built your straw man when you said I was "flipping out" about the Swoon. Your words, not mine. Straw man. Then you said I said I thought they were GOING to blow the lead, which I also did not say. That's two straw men. And for all your huffin' and puffin about what a great fan you are who never complains, you certainly haven't heard me complain about the Sox this year--what's to complain about? In fact, when they had their crappy start I was one of the many who told everybody to relax. You're all over the place on this. Too bad nothing you wrote about me was true. Oh well. And you supposedly hate Mariotti for the same thing. Irony alert! Did you or did you not get banned/suspended last year for being a douche? Or is Zoom thinking of someone else?

QUOTE(zach61 @ Jun 22, 2006 -> 07:06 PM) And like I said, from what I remember. Yeah, the media had fun with Ditka, but he did a lot of crap that pissed off the players and they didn't have the same respect for him like the Sox seem to have for Ozzie. I'm not in either clubhouse or locker room, so I'm just giving my opinion on the things that I see. And I could be completely wrong about the players not respecting Ditka, but it did look to me like they didn't respect him the same way the Sox seem to respect Ozzie. And my opinion on why is that Ozzie looks like he will back his players, where Ditka seemed to throw them under the bus. I encourage you to read more Ditka books. The players absolutely loved him. He praised hard-working individuals to no end. Walter Payton used to call him up frequently and do his best "Mexican Whore" imitation. Ditka thought there was some chick out there who was obsessed with him and wanted to f*** his brains out, but he later found out that it was just Walter Payton. That's just one of the many examples to be found in great books such as "In Life, First You Kick Ass" and "Da Coach".

QUOTE(lukeman89 @ Jun 22, 2006 -> 07:04 PM) Beware: RANT oh by the way..has anybody heard any gay people call in to the radio stations and say that they are offended? i haven't. but you certainly hear a lot from the media about how it SHOULD be offensive to gay people. as soon as we teach our kids that stuff like that isnt offensive, it wont be a problem any more. same thing with racism. stop recognizing that different races even exist, and it will go away. Do you read the papers? Gay-rights activists are heated. The Gay Games spokesman, the executive director of Equality Illinois, and the entire Queer Eye production crew want the Sox organization to tell Guillen to stfu and maybe throw on some tight leather pants. /I apologize in advance

QUOTE(VAfan @ Jun 22, 2006 -> 01:48 PM) But what about those whose kids are 10, 11, 12, etc. -- old enough to listen to the post-game show? Would I want my son to be listening to what Ozzie Guillen is saying? No. Those kids hear much worse than that on a daily basis, let me tell you. You're being hella HELLA naive if you think otherwise.

QUOTE(whitesoxin @ Jun 22, 2006 -> 06:17 PM) I heard this too and started laughing because I had read the topic on Soxtalk hours before the Score mentioned it. I really don't think it was just a coincidence. Yeah, they got it from soxtalk. There are obvious similarities between Ozzie and Mike Ditka. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to put two and two together. Some random dude who brings up the topic on a message board is not innovating, by any means.

QUOTE(zach61 @ Jun 22, 2006 -> 05:24 PM) From what I remember about Ditka, he brought the attention to the team. From what I'm seeing with Ozzie, he takes the attention off of the team. You let me down, superzach. Some quotes from "In Life, First You Kick Ass".

QUOTE(wallyburger @ Jun 21, 2006 -> 07:38 PM) WNBA players are Lesbians (I am sure the standard percentage of players are, just like MLB)?

QUOTE(AbeFroman @ Jun 21, 2006 -> 08:09 PM) I thing slurs can be actually very hurtful And I speak from experience. A few years ago, these 19 year old kids came trick-or-treating at my house on Halloween. I refused to give them candy cause they are too old. Then, later that night, someone TPed my house and spray-painted "Bald Asshole" on my front door. They didn't deserve candy I didn't deserve this: "Bald Asshole?" Thats a hate crime. Bald people are a group... we're a set. I didn't know it was going to be felony-or-treat. What's next trick or bang-bang? Larry David is a personal hero of mine.

Let's put up a 20 spot on 'em.

Minimum: 65 IP 1. Pedro Martinez 0.93 2. Johan Santana 1.00 3. Roy Halladay 1.03 4. Mike Mussina 1.04 5. Jose Contreras 1.05 6. Curt Schilling 1.06 7. Dan Haren 1.09 8. Jason Schmidt 1.09 9. Chris Young 1.10 10. Kenny Rogers 1.10 11. Brandon Webb 1.11 12. Bronson Arroyo 1.12 13. Ervin Santana 1.14 14. John Lackey 1.15 15. CC Sabathia 1.15 16. David Bush 1.16 17. Brad Penny 1.16 18. Jeremy Bonderman 1.16 19. Josh Smoltz 1.18 20. Chris Capuano 1.18 Francisco Liriano has a 1.10 WHIP in just under 60 IP. I see him and Johan going heads up for the AL WHIP title. God damn, the AL Central is f***ing insane. Eric Milton has a 1.16 WHIP in just under 60 IP, which boggles my mind. We're talking about a guy who put up a 6.47 ERA/1.55 WHIP/.302 BAA line with 40 HR allowed in 2005. Chris Capuano has 14 quality starts in 15 games! He has walked 23 batters through June 20, as opposed to 40+ at this time last year. His raod WHIP ratio in 2005 was 1.43. This year, it's at 1.26. Huge improvement. Danny Haren just continues to get better and better as the season progresses. He is 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP ratio against the Yankees this year, and both of those contests took place in the Bronx. He also baffled the Texas lineup recently. This dude appears to be a legitimate big game pitcher. How is that Angels pitching looking? Weaver, Santana, Lackey, Colon, Escobar? Not bad. The BAA rankings: 1. Carlos Zambrano .187 2. Pedro Martinez .194 3. Chris Young .203 4. Jason Schmidt .214 5. Jose Contreras .214 6. Josh Johnson .215 7. Jeff Francis .215 8. John Lackey .216 9. Barry Zito .222 10. Matt Cain .224 11. Johan Santana .227 12. Mike Mussina .227 13. Derek Lowe .228 14. Mark Hendrickson .229 15. CC Sabathia .231 16. Brad Penny .231 17. Jeremy Bonderman .234 18. Tim Wakefield .235 19. Kenny Rogers .236 20. Ervin Santana .238 Like I said last time, Chris Young has to be the most underrated starter in the league. A .203 BAA and a 1.10 WHIP? He has a 0.91 WHIP on the road, and a 1.28 WHIP ratio at home, so you can't just merely chalk up his success to Petco. Mark f***ing Hendrickson? Matt Cain continues to show signs. His other numbers blow, but he has a Top 10 BAA through June 20. Cubs fans don't deserve to have Zambrano. Maybe he'll come to the Sox, Venezuelan mang that he is.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 20, 2006 -> 06:16 PM) Edgar Renteria says hi. Elaborate. His instincts and/or recognition have sharply declined? And even if that were the case (although it can't possibly be IMO), as a general rule in life, you should never base any argument on exceptions. If I say that all crows are black, you can't pop in and say "Well god damn, I saw a brown one in the Rare Animals Exhibit at the Dells!" I shouldn't have to tell this to you, Mr. Valedictorian.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jun 20, 2006 -> 06:07 PM) They can if said player is still having problems with a groin injury. In terms of recovery speed? Yeah, I agree. But really, I'm mostly referring to recognition and instinct, which are the most important defensive qualities. Pods has had tens of thousands of fly balls hit to him in his life. Repetition will teach you plenty, but some things could never be taught. You either have "it", or you don't. As a designated leadoff hitter, he would be valuable. I can't dismiss him altogether. It's kind of like Ben Gordon with 3 point shooting, but I'll save that for another thread.

Defensive qualities don't just drastically change from one year to the next if we're talking about a player who is in his late 20s/early 30s. To say that there is a difference between last year and this year is some total bulls*** if you ask me. He sucks just as hard as ever when it comes to reading fly balls, taking the proper angles, etc. Those are the things that you look at when you talk about OF defense, not some rare drops here and there (inflation of his error totals). This guy was stuck in the minors for TEN YEARS, and it wasn't plate discipline or baserunning skills that held him back.

QUOTE(Maverick0984 @ Jun 20, 2006 -> 03:43 PM) of the nearly 70 games this season, i've watched over 55 of them, the other 15 i was at work at followed them on espn's gamecast. i have followed and been involved in every game this season, as well as last season, except for a 2 or 3 games. not counting previous seasons before these 2. Okay, so you're obviously not paying enough attention, because Pods is pretty much the equivalent of Stevie Wonder out there in LF. Kalapse gave a nice review that 99% of soxtalk would agree with, so that's why I quoted it. He's playing because of his plate discipline and speed on the basepaths, but make no mistake about it: he is a major defensive liability. He will do more harm than good over the course of an entire season. You're not supposed to win games with Scotty Pods. Scotty Pods is a career minor leaguer that somehow slipped through the cracks. His fundamentals are atrocious.

QUOTE(Maverick0984 @ Jun 20, 2006 -> 06:50 AM) for whatever reason, it sounds like some of you are focusing on a few bad plays. now i know a few of you are gonna say "oh man it's been soooo many more than a few," so just save it, don't waste more time on the topic saying the same thing in the 30 other topics about this. at the end of the day, he's doing decent, nothing special, but he's doing decent. i'm not calling him an allstar left fielder, but Pods is far, far, far from "horrendous" or any other adjective with similar meaning. And yet another guy who simply does not watch enough games. But you played baseball for 12 years? That's great. I wonder why Ozzie Guillen is chastising Pods for his defense? It's a f***ing mystery to me. QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 20, 2006 -> 01:09 AM) You're seriously not going to find anyone who's watched the guy consistently (especially in person) who's going to say he's anything but horrendous. I can watch him out in LF, getting horrible jumps, taking the worst routes imaginable to get to the ball, throwing with no authority what so ever, jogging to balls in front of him that should not be dropping but are, flat out dropping balls in LF, losing balls in mid flight, diving unnecessarily and many many many other blunders he's committed over the past 2 seasons. Sabermetrics are not needed when anyone can simply watch the guy and see that he sucks. Here, reread this. Yeah, just a few bad plays is all.

QUOTE(SABR Sox @ Jun 20, 2006 -> 03:03 AM) Thats exaclty why I love Sabermetrics. I don't watch players and evaluate them solely from what I see. Whether its hitting, fielding or pitching I always turn to stats. Are you a converted Sox fan? If we're talking about other baseball teams, then fine, you can put a greater emphasis on statistics if you like. But you can not bulls*** people who follow this team religiously. Scott Podsednik is a defensive suckfest. Sox fans who feel otherwise are few and far between.

QUOTE(SABR Sox @ Jun 19, 2006 -> 09:15 PM) LF is an easy position to play and he was TERRIFIC there last season. If by terrific you mean atrocious, then yes, I couldn't agree more.

Scotty Pods is basically a designated leadoff hitter. There is nothing in the rulebook that says a DH has to be a big beef motherf***er. He'd fit in well on teams like Anaheim and Texas, for instance.

QUOTE(Ndgt10 @ Jun 17, 2006 -> 10:41 PM) Can somebody tell me why Crede deserves the gold glove over Chavez? I have a better question: Why are you still able to post on this site? You should be gone with the wind.

QUOTE(Hangar18 @ Jun 16, 2006 -> 02:35 PM) Hey, no problem with gushing about a great year, but Sutcliffe was slightly boozin', and never once said "too bad we didnt go all the way" or acknowledging the shortcomings of his team. How anally retentive of you. Sutcliffe is cool. s*** man, he went 16-1 in 20 games started for the Cubs that year. They were up two games to none in a Best-Of-Five NLCS. That was probably the greatest year of his life. Let the man reminisce. QUOTE(tealeafreaderii @ Jun 16, 2006 -> 06:10 PM) verbally fellating Heh, that's a good one. Do you mind if I use that?

QUOTE(Benchwarmerjim @ Jun 16, 2006 -> 04:56 AM) I am glad he is not facing the Twins anymore. He hit something like .600 this year against them in that series at Safeco, Ichiro has 12 hits and Joe Mauer had 9. Just an unbelievable display of hitting I saw Ichiro at a game a few years back. The man is super fast. He hit one in the right feild gap, he ran all the way to third and was standing on third a split second before the ball reached the infleid. I have never seen anyone do that Yeah, I mean, 10 for 18 with a .550 average against the best young duo in baseball is insane. Consider for a minute that the Oakland Athletics, a first place team, are hitting 3 for 33 against the Santana/Liriano combo (.091 average). Just looking at some of the Liriano splits, this guy is obviously incredible: Baltimore is hitting .047 against him (1-21) Anaheim is hitting .130 (3-23) Milwaukee is hitting .167 (2-12) New York is hitting .000 (0-5) Oakland is hitting .143 (1-7) This dude has ace written all over him, and Johan Santana is arguably the best SP in the league. Talk about a headache for the Sox.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jun 16, 2006 -> 01:20 PM) You had 2 ways to present yourself to a somewhat virginal audiance

QUOTE(RibbieRubarb @ Jun 16, 2006 -> 03:11 AM) Maybe we should combine the Zachs and create a SuperZach84! What I learned from this thread: If your name is Zach, you are genetically predisposed to hating Hangar posts.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 16, 2006 -> 02:39 AM) All the ID and knocking does is allow criminals time to flush drugs or hide other incriminating evidence. Nobody's rights are being trampled here. Right. I'd imagine that "cops who knock" get shot from time to time as well, upon entrance. This law will actually save lives in the end. Sounds good to me. QUOTE(minors @ Jun 16, 2006 -> 03:26 AM) or attempt to kill the officers like the case in Alabama that someone on here mentioned ( I think Barons was it) where the officers were gunned down because the killers knew that the officers were there if this precedent had been established these officers would still be alive. There you go.