Jake

Any chance the Republicans had of getting my vote died when I started hearing about the tax pledges, etc and ESPECIALLY the collusion to make the chief goal of their terms in office to make Obama a one term President. I also am ashamed that I think there are many voting blocks where that is in fact an acceptable platform to campaign with, too. Part of me thought "hmm, I wonder what it would be like if we deregulated everything, ended Medicare, cut taxes on everybody, etc" but then I realized that these people are crazy and not looking out for the best interests of America, now. I understand that all politicians will frequently balance their own election chances and other things that are similarly self-serving with the public good...I feel that the Republican party by and large (there are some decent ones out there I suppose) has done away with that and focused way too hard on party politics. They are likewise incredibly unified. I'd imagine the Democrat leaders would like to be similarly combatant, but it is much more difficult to get the entire Democratic party to act as one. I think that's a good thing (for myself, the citizen)

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Sep 6, 2012 -> 12:12 AM) There is another angle to this story. The Hawk Harrelson angle. We do know that AJ and hawk have some connection. And AJ's mom has a last name of Harrelson (learned this on another thread on this website). Some speculated that AJ and Hawk are related. not sure. Hawk did help to get KW to sign AJ in '05 as a free agent. Has the Hawk sounded sad or acting/announcing differently the last few games? lol idk, he LEFT the booth before the end of Tuesday's drubbing If this stuff turns out to be true, I will be very interested in how Hawk addresses it if at all. I assume he will since it would be harder not to do it than to simply acknowledge it, even if he doesn't offer a real opinion.

It hurts me. I hold baseball, my team, and my team's players in very high regard. My propensity as a fan and lover of the game is to romanticize the game and those in it. It sucks when my heroes are publicly humiliated, especially when it is for cheating. For that reason alone I should be allowed to be mad at AJ if I want. I know that we are supposed to just see these guys as flawed human beings, yada yada. I don't care much about their personal lives if they want to be flawed husbands, fathers, friends, etc. This is a form of entertainment, and the nice thing about entertainment is that it often gives us something purer or simpler than reality. I support efforts to keep the on-field game from being corrupted, even if I generally think steroids are not morally offensive at this point it is still a performance advantage that others will not enjoy.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 11:20 PM) Couldn't disagree more. The guys who are using and getting away with it are ok and we can still root for them, but the guys who get caught are evil and should be ostracized? Ok. It's the same way with the law. We know we are among undetected criminals, but we aren't a dick to everyone just in case they're a criminal. No, we just focus on those that are caught. It's the only way to do it that doesn't make the innocent catch s*** they don't deserve.

If nothing is announced tomorrow, do we forget it? Or is it still looming?

I think the guys who get caught certainly deserve some ire, but we all just have to keep in mind that those folks are by no means alone. I actually enjoy Victor Conte's views on the subject, he explained to me via Twitter one day exactly how an MLB player could get around the steroid testing. He also said "The Clear" still wouldn't cause a positive in many organizations (can't recall if MLB was one)

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Aug 29, 2012 -> 03:58 PM) It's hard to draw the line between being mad at your kid for getting it trouble because they hit another student at school and being proud of them for standing up for themselves. I know from my own childhood experiences that telling an adult usually doesn't help the problem and can sometimes make it worse. There are definitely kids out there that don't know what the words "leave me alone" mean and knocking them to the ground is sometimes the only way to get the message through. When I was an 8th grader (not SO long ago, mind you ) I had kids picking on me for basically the sole reason that I wouldn't retaliate. I was the "good kid" so what could I do? They'd do the most tedious, annoying things; poking my shoulder, etc. It really started bothering me, I talked to my parents about it. My dad told me I had to stand up for myself somehow and they had to at least believe that I WOULD retaliate if they wouldn't stop. One day we were outside doing some all-class activity and someone decided to trip me so I fell down. I got up, picked the kid up by the neck (hooray for being a 6 foot tall 13 year old) and punched him in the face repeatedly until I didn't feel so angry. I served an in-school suspension and nobody f***ed with me anymore. The teachers weren't even mad

Congrats Balta, you made the WORST POST EVER!

I'm studying Spanish and have been trying to familiarize myself with Spanish-language music. It is difficult for me to find anything beyond the ultra-poppy type of stuff. Anyone here have any suggestions for Spanish-language jams? I don't care the genre, honestly, I've just had enough Juanes and songs with names that translate to "True Love" or "Without You" etc

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 10:25 PM) AJ did play today. If he knew that he was going to suspended then wouldn't he had acted differently or acknowledged The crowd in any way. I didn't see the game. Did he do anything differently? Also wouldn't jr/kw/rv bench aj or any other player if they knew a suspension was coming the next day? I don't think you do much of anything until the info is public. You have to give him a chance to appeal and you have to give yourself the best chance to win within the rules. We've also seen a bit more of T-Flow lately.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 09:59 PM) it was actually pretty bad. one of his worst speeches. but i was switching between that and football If that game was better than the speech, I won't waste my time

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 09:54 PM) Bill Clinton just gave the best speech in the history of mankind. Really? Should I go watch it? serious question

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 08:33 PM) Who cares? Just because other teams didn't have suspensions, in no way does that mean their roster is clean. Nearly every recent WS champion has had a PED user. It's part of the era. We had Pablo 2005*

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 08:27 PM) White Sox/Giants World Series!!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 08:15 PM) Huh? I mean, I'd like AJ's replacement to do well enough that it is as if we didn't need AJ anyway

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 08:13 PM) Ok I'll say it. If this is true I don't want to make the playoffs this year. If we do, I hope T-Flow goes ham all of September

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 08:10 PM) That seems very unlikely now I know and I've even gone as far as telling some of my closer friends what I'm hearing. I can still hope though and I'm trying not to go too far on this internet mentality. Very interested in what he'll say.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 08:06 PM) Not to start over Flowers, but to be the back-up catcher. I doubt the AAA guys in Phegley and Gimenez are going to be trusted much the rest of the way. Probably just didn't want to have to carry three catchers for any amount of time, especially for as little as that player will play. Or this is all untrue.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 08:03 PM) If Kenny knew this was a possibility a few weeks ago, I'm surprised he didn't try to get another catcher on waivers. Sox better hope Flowers' wife isn't having more kids the next month. Other than Mauer, were there many clear upgrades to be had over Flowers? Might as well see what we have in Flowers at this point.

Most stadium workers would have been at work when this came out

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 05:37 PM) But what's funny is that nobody cares as much about guys that get busted in the NFL. They sit out 4 games, come back, and it's almost like it never happened. In MLB, anything you will ever do in your career is forever scarred. I've noticed this too. I can't figure it out because it makes just as much sense to go crazy over it in the media. I wonder if that would change if a Tom Brady-esque figure got caught.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 05:31 PM) I feel like at least one of the beat writers would pick up on this already. Again...not if they ever want to come back to our dugout.

I'm conflicted about PEDs, honestly. They ARE against the rules, sure. We don't look so harshly upon other things that are against the rules in baseball though. I see no moral problem with steroid use beyond the fact that several institutions say you shouldn't have them (US Gov't, MLB, etc). Despite the aforementioned, this potential news has hit me very hard and I can't really explain why. I'm sure it'll feel even worse if comes true.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 5, 2012 -> 04:26 PM) Allen Thomas Our Allen Thomas was interviewed

FWIW, there had been talk earlier in the season about AJ having really put effort into a strength and conditioning program for the first time as a player, particularly in the offseason. Our S&C coach was interviewed as well. This was offered as an explanation for his resurgence. Of course, this goes both ways. I'd get more interested in lifting weights, etc. if I was doing a steroid run too. Just like people saying there are whispers. Of course there are when something crazy happens like this. There would be whispers if he were innocent.