nitetrain8601

The whole Obama not wanting to go thing was not a spinoff. I've heard other outlets stating the same not using Chuck Todd as a source. And someone posted what he said before me, hell before Chicago was eliminated.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 2, 2009 -> 12:30 PM) Lots to not like about Richie, but honestly here, I do feel for him a bit. I do feel bad for him. The whole 3rd airport, the International Hotel and Casino he wanted to put in downtown and now the Olympics all big projects where he could leave a reminder for his legacy all failed miserably.

Apparently the South American countries finally ganged together and voted for Rio because they all wanted Rio to get it simply because they've never had it. With that said South American countries vote US. Europe is our biggest competition when it comes to things like this. They weren't going to vote for the US. So Rio went with the strategy, if we don't get it, f*** it, we don't care who gets it. They took a chance, and it worked out big time. If they didn't take that chance, Tokyo would've been eliminated first, so those votes would've went to Chicago, then, Madrid would've been next who would've gone either way. South America didn't want to take the chance of that and they knew everyone would not vote US in the first round since they're voting for themselves. So South America stood united for once and voted for Rio. Keep in mind, the US only probably got votes from Canada and Mexico. Chicago basically came to the gunfight with a pencil.

Daley has gone awol, but they're saying he feels like a failure because Daley before he goes out wants a big legacy project and he felt this was finally it. Well, he failed.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Oct 2, 2009 -> 11:55 AM) This was the least likely thought expressed in this thread By the prostitutes or the woman on the beach? Technically alot of them are both. Ah, I gotta go to Rio.

QUOTE (Nixon @ Oct 2, 2009 -> 11:24 AM) The IOC has always held that they look at cities not continents. You're not supposed to be looking at continents, but I guarantee, a ton of IOC members are.

Chuck Todd just said as stated earlier, Chicago political ties in Chicago that are connected with White House (Daley, R Emanuel, I'm looking at you) basically cornered Obama into going and Obama didn't really want to. He stated he thought it would be overkill and Chicago was being too over the top with the situation and they were twisting his arm. Todd ended up saying, If Chicago needs another favor from the White House or the president, they probably should hold off on asking because the president wasn't too happy on going in the first place.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Oct 2, 2009 -> 11:15 AM) I'm rooting for Madrid to get them now. f*** Rio. Why? Rio is a really nice city. Even with the vast amount of prostitution and corruption. But the people there are really nice, their presentation was great, and it would be the first time for South America.

I doubt he was the only one. I think Ozzie was pissed at the fact that the vets allowed that to happen and probably were joining in. Oz probably wanted someone, anyone to step up and say, "Hey, turn that s*** off. We got our asses kicked and you care about a meaningless football game?" and none of the vets ever said it. Again, it wouldn't surprise me if Dye, PK, and AJ were all watching too.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Oct 2, 2009 -> 11:03 AM) Which Daley will be mayor then? A different one. Daley was holding on strong for the Olympics. Despite the anti-Olympic sentiment, there was a tonnnnnnnnnnn of support for it. A nice percentage of those people don't like Daley, but believed this was a great idea. Everyone's going to see Daley come up with a reason to raise the price of living here and state it's for infrastructure, but alot of people now understand, it's not for that.

I guarantee Chicago will not push for another Olympic bid until 2024 at earliest.

BTW, sorry MHIZZLE, I just heard from my girlfriend, tour was cancelled. No reason given. It's all over the news outlets now.

To each their own I guess. Personally, I think today's culture has gotten too enamored with the production. It has to be something can vibe too and the lyrics are put on the backburner. I think Joe Budden's put it best on 5th Gear. "The game used to make ya sell your soul, not it gotta come with a dance." That's not to say, production is weak. To me, part of the instrument are the lyrics. It's as important as a strong bass line, or crazy melody. We need both, and nowadays, especially, it's only one.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 28, 2009 -> 04:29 PM) Rude, you are assuming he'd have woken up in a Sox uniform and played some ball for us. He wouldn't have. It was a bad fit. He was a total out machine in Chicago, do you not agree? But Rios will wake up in a Sox uniform? Sounds like that is wishful thinking as well as Swisher offensively has outproduced Rios over the course of their careers. And the numbers a page or so back prove that.

From what it sounds like in today's sun-times, it was a couple of people and they were watching already during the game with maybe more joining after the game.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Sep 27, 2009 -> 10:58 AM) Probably because for the most part those guys have been succesful offensive players, so they'll stick with what has made them be successful in the batters box. And a guy like PK basically struggles when he's injured, last season with the wrist problems he had early on IIRC being a perfect example. Swisher had success everywhere but here. His OPS+ since entering the league has been 101, 101, 125, 127, 92, 124. So maybe we need a new clubhouse considering his worst year came with us and three out of the last 4 years, he's had a pretty good OPS+. Rios, for all the awesomeness that his stats are portrayed for wasn't even as good as Swisher in his best years offensively. Rios since entering the league has OPS+ of 85, 84, 120, 122, 111, 79. With 79 being this year. At his peak offensively, he is an inferior player to Nick Swisher. Over the course of their careers, Swisher is the better player offensively and is more convenient. Again, Rios' defense doesn't make up for the salary he is paid, nor the average offense he provides.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Sep 27, 2009 -> 10:37 AM) When you hit .219, you've need to work with the hitting coach. Even if you're a veteran. So allegedly, why doesn't Walker tinker with guys like Thome, PK, Dye, or Pierzynski when they are struggling? And there have been definitely times where they've struggled for months.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 27, 2009 -> 09:18 AM) I wouldn't. Rios has been an All Star, can steal bases and play CF, and won't strike out 150 times if he plays every day. Money-wise, I think Rios contract is something I would rather not have, but as baseball players, I'd take Rios over Swisher any day of the week. He's a lot better player than he's shown. Its funny, it appears you want to throw out Swisher's year last year as basically a fluke, but take Rios' performance in a month and a half in a Sox uniform as how he will always perform. Rios is a good player. He's better than Aaron Rowand ever was. Vazquez was a salary dump. It freed up funds for Peavy. They couldn't have pursued Peavy is Vazquez were still here. I never uttered Aaron Rowand. In fact, I was never ever a huge fan. And I'm not taking just Rios' year in consideration. I'm looking at overall. And again, I don't care for Vazquez. In fact, I stated moving Vazquez was the right move. QUOTE (Disco72 @ Sep 27, 2009 -> 09:32 AM) Swisher is/was better than Rios this year, but not necessarily over the past couple years, especially considering Rios plays premium defense at a premium defensive position. You also can't say Rios has never lived up to his potential as Rios hit at/near .300 with a .350 OBP and over .850 OPS in back to back years (2006-2007) and had a good but not great year last year: .291 / .337 / .798. I'm not sure how Swisher is "miles ahead offensively" than Rios. Both players are completing their sixth year in the MLB. Swisher's career line: .245 / .357 / .816 at a non-premium defensive position (1B / LF). Rios' career line: .281 / .330 / .775 at a premium defensive position. Swisher's OBP is clearly the one big advantage he has over Rios, but that is more than negated by his production as compared to others at his best positions. Rios has been awful this year, but just as people argue that last year was clearly a down year for Swisher, this year looks like a clear down year for Rios. Just as some argue that it was obvious Swisher would rebound, it should be just as obvious that Rios will also rebound in 2010. Frankly, I find it funny that you call Rios a douche but ignore all the "douchey" things about Swisher that make him also a bad clubhouse personality. And Rios' potential is a 30/30 guy. Heck, with his talent, he should be 40/40, but who knows why he's never reached that. His defense is outstanding, and I'll never disagree with that. It's not enough to make up for his salary provided his offense stays near his career numbers. I'll take Swisher's higher OBP and OPS over Rios along with very good defense from LF and 1B positions. His CF defense was adequate, not great, just adequate. And my statement about Rios being a douche actually had to do with Swisher being called a douche. People say we got rid of Swisher because he was a douche, and he probably was, but so is Rios, so I don't buy that argument. Also, Swisher is the guy we're going to be looking for in the offseason. A LH bat with good power and OBP who can also play the field. Swisher happens to be able to switch hit. QUOTE (WCSox @ Sep 27, 2009 -> 10:17 AM) Unfortunately, those statistics don't account for the fact that Ozzie and Swisher didn't like each other and Swisher wasn't working with Greg Walker. If you and your boss don't like working together, you're not going to be as productive at work. Most people on Soxtalk, myself included, would say it's good that Swisher didn't pay attention to Walker. And whatever happened to Walker not messing with vets. It appears in Swisher's case, he does.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Sep 27, 2009 -> 09:57 AM) In all honesty... last nights game is keeping me from buying tickets to todays game. Who wants to see a team get thrashed by the team who beat you out for the playoffs? And I HATE the fact that Tigers fans are going to be all up in the house cheering on their playoff team louder than our fans. They have a reason to cheer though and we don't. This is depressing just line 2007. I hate when the Sox suck... Well stated

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 27, 2009 -> 07:58 AM) I was all for those trades so I can't rip them even if eventually they are mistakes, however, there's no guarantee Vazquez would be doing for the Sox what he's doing for the Braves. In fact there's probably a guarantee he would have been as bad as ever. Swisher wasn't going to play CF so he had no spot,and I still think you aren't going to want to be paying him what you will be paying in the next couple of years. Nunez and Flowers may pan out to be good. They claim they spend Swisher's money on Viciedo and I find it hard to believe Peavy and Rios, both of whom I would take in a heartbeat over the 2 dealt, (although I'm no fan of Rios' contract) would be here if the trades weren't made. The White Sox actually upgraded even if none of the players received in the trades ever pan out. Would you rather have Viciedo, Flowers, Peavy and Rios or Richard, Russell, Poreda, Swisher, and Vazquez. I'll take the former. I don't think you can look as it like that. I think you have to look at the trades seperately. If you look at it collectively, Flowers, and Peavy came from Javy(Flowers through direct trade, Viciedo probably was coming no matter what, and we got money for Peavy). For Swisher, you can say we got Rios indirectly, Betemit, Nunez, and Marquez. I'd take Swisher out of all those guys.

For those stating moving the salary allowed us to get Peavy and Rios, I'll argue. Javy could've and should've been gone. No doubt about that. Swisher though, when taking payscale into consideration, has proven to be a better player over the past couple of years over Rios. No way can you tell me Rios is the better player either. Rios is better with the glove, but Swisher is miles ahead offensively. Does Rios have more potential? Yes, but he's also always been a douche who's never reached it. Swisher at least has.

PK said the tv's were already on by the time the team got in the clubhouse. Me suspects, PK was one of the guys watching college football because in the article in the Sun-Times today, he seemed to try and downplay it. My other guesses would be AJ, Beckham, and probably JD.

Swisher trade in retrospect shouldn't have been made. Honestly, KW, from what it sounds like, is going to look for a guy like him who they could swap out at DH and place in different positions such as OF/1B/DH, he has a good OBP and has good enough power.

Twins. They never stopped fighting, always having to deal with injuries and are still contending. They deserve it.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Sep 24, 2009 -> 10:47 AM) In which, you're probably correct. I didn't think of the whole thing, just the way you thought of it.