bmags

I think you are right, lost, but I tried to focus in on the pre-2005 years as well. That is why I thought of my Royals fans friends in 05. Maybe there is that tipping point after so many years of losing that can't be interesting no matter how much you care.

There is no real tl;dr of this post, though I'm sure I will write one part poorly enough that it will get argued about over and over. It's long and melodramatic. [edit: alternate possibility, nobody reads it ] But throughout this year I have been working with the idea that something just feels different about being a sox fan than when I was younger. It's hard to figure out whether something like this is just personal - change in social interactions, change in social life - or something actually happening so I wanted to write a post on it. First off, I'm 30. My white sox fandom becomes conscious around 93, takes a vacation after 95 strike, and comes back with a vengeance with the 2000 group and never stops. I basically grew up on this board, like many others. So it's very possible that older fans have seen this before. How can you tell they're a sox fan As the Cubs explode around us, it's hard not to notice the signs of being a cubs fan surpass ours. The W flag, that f****** song, the "try not to suck" shirts - whether or not these things make you want to vomit - there is a culture around being a cubs fan that extends beyond wearing a cubs hat. A shared experience of watching the team extending to memes and memorabilia. When I talk about culture of being a white sox fan, this is what I'm talking about. In a time that is more meme-able than ever, it feels like there has been a huge dropoff of these shareable experiences as a sox fan, and anything that's tried is very corporate, very astroturf (melkman tshirts, soxmath) In fact, the only thing that seems to hold us together at this point is misery. There were a lot isolated happenings this year that taken my themselves and put in more prosperous times, they'd have been no big deal. But with Twitter, the sale jersey cutups, the drake laroche scandal, the Guaranteed Rate change, it all feels agonizing. And the only thing that grounded me to other sox fans was that, that we were miserable, that we couldn't stand being the butt of the joke. "Hey you are pissed off, you must be a sox fan!" This frankly just reminds me of Royals fans when I moved to Missouri in 2005. In the face of all of the Cardinals fans, all they had was their camaraderie that they face humiliation every day but keep coming back. When we were young I compare this to just 10-15 years ago. Perhaps not-coincidentally, these were the formative years of my fandom. We were winning - to be sure. But it felt like I was soaked in a White Sox culture that extended beyond a box score. The thing that reminded me all of this was raBBit's post about his friend's all wearing their CORK shirts until they were full of holes. That was me! It was also 4 sizes too large. But there was more. There was the OH-EE-OH, MAGGGLIO chants. There was the JOSE OLE chants for Jose Valentin. There was the super embarrassing now, but certainly happened GONG phase from Shingo. Thunderstruck. Metallica when Jenks came out. Then of course - there was the co-opting of don't stop believing by the 05 white sox. I'll chalk this one up to the things that happen when you win. Some of these are as "astroturfey" as melkman. But there was a time when the white sox players and organization would feed us something and we would eat that s*** UP. New chant? I'll sing it ad nauseum. New player from far away? let's find a nickname and scream it. But now, I feel like I'm spitting up everything that they are spoon feeding me. There were always less sox fans, since I've been around. There was always a monopoly on "LORE" that the Cubs held. But there was a time when being a sox fan was different. It was an alternative pick. You were there for the baseball, and you mythologized and meme'd the players, not the losing (like the cubs). But now? Hey ... the k zone. Um, melkman. Oh those cool handmotions they do. What about Hawk? Oh he's old and incoherent. Am I just older? That's a definite possibility. But I guess you all can tell me. Being a sox fan this decade has been a bitter, bitter pill. And maybe all of this stuff is the stupid crap that doesn't matter. But damn if I can't wait for an intro song to play, a chant to start, that I can share with everyone, and it's ours. But until then, I guess misery is what we got.

Also I finished up season 3 of halt and catch fire. I'd like to say to all 4 other people in the world that watch the show that it was good.

Regardless of actual election, Obama being gone is good for SNL. They had no idea what to do with his character. Kate McKinnon and Baldwin have been among the best, but considering the materail not surprising.

QUOTE (Brian @ Oct 23, 2016 -> 06:16 PM) Fantasy football sucks this year.

I just did a terrible job redoing the silicon caulk around the shower tub. Gonna be staring at that for a while.

Nina Arianda in Goliath is the best character in a show I've watched in a while

QUOTE (Ezio Auditore @ Oct 21, 2016 -> 02:50 PM) goddammit I couldn't remember if that exchange happened on Facebook or here. Now I look like a dumbass. Well more than usual. I ghostwrote your entire facebook persona

Let's go full gimmick and hire Jared Lorenzen.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 20, 2016 -> 09:25 AM) Governor Pence would force you to have a funeral for your living son. Who wore it best?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 20, 2016 -> 05:13 PM) News from the other AZ Senator Flake says it might be Garland time I don't think McCain deserves much credit because he's still going along with the BS idea that simply refusing to even consider a President's nominee is okay. I didn't say give him credit, I am advocating giving them room. We all know that republicans pick their candidates based off of democrat feedback, so I'm trying to prevent armageddon again in 2020.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 21, 2016 -> 10:49 AM) It has been like six weeks now, right? It has to be about fully healed anyway. Name a recent bears injury where the information we were given was correct.

Also Michael Clayton has been on HBO again so

Denial looks like it could be good.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 20, 2016 -> 05:48 PM) if you followed any of the Lucas Museum troubles, you will realize a ballpark isn't going to be built on the lakefront. And unless JR wants to foot the bill, not in Illinois either. This, and frankly soldier field is a pain in the ass to get to. Along River much more realistic and interesting density wise. But Friends of the Park have concluded that nothing is ever allowed to be built on the lakefront. Even the parking lots are human wonders that must never be destroyed.

QUOTE (Ezio Auditore @ Oct 21, 2016 -> 10:31 AM) I remember Bush doing it and Clinton, but really only if you watched the news, and you'd see a few clips and that was it (maybe cable news would replay it at night). It wasn't an instant viral thing. The first time I ever remember seeing an Al Smith dinner was in 2008. Yes I think that's the case for me too. Don't recall Kerry/Bush in 04 but I have to believe it came up because wasn't there a thing at the time of catholic churches refusing Kerry getting communion?

I assume he asked the writers who gave the situation his routine during the trump roast to help him for this one.

Was the White House Correspondents Dinner covered as much pre-YouTube/broadband connections? I don't recall 90s seeing references to it, not really until Colbert and Lewis Black were hosts do I recall seeing it get much info. Now that more people watch that, the "comedic president" is getting better writers.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 21, 2016 -> 10:15 AM) Lol come on now, read this sentence out loud Sorry *I really wish Connor Shaw didn't get injured *Knowing now that the Bears would have a 1-6 record and 2 injured quarterbacks, at least I could watch one of my favorite college quarterbacks of all time play

I really wish Connor Shaw didn't get injured.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 20, 2016 -> 01:40 PM) His value is probably not as high as you think. While he remains a productive hitter, Abreu just ranked 11th among first baseman in wRC+ and just 14th in fWAR. Further, he is about to opt into his first of three arbitration seasons, and his raise will be beginning from a base of about $13m per year. Given that his cumulative RBI and homerun totals (which tend to be the types of numbers that drive arb prices up) overrate his overall production, he's going to be making close to his actual market value very quickly. If he produces like he did this season going forward, in fact, he may even be at market value on opening day of 2017. That doesn't mean we should dump him or anything, but it means that the return may not be worth much (if any) more than what we get by keeping him around. Plus, by all accounts, Abreu seems to be one of the only calm and stabilizing leadership personalities in the clubhouse, so his value to the White Sox may very well be more than it is to another contender. Agreed and considering the troubles the White Sox have had in finding an average DH the last few years he is probably more valuable to us than any other team in that respect too.

FYI McCain walked back. He is toeing line trying to gin up support for House/Sen republican races. McCain has done a lot of things I hate, but I'm going to give him some room here because at least he has now disowned the nominee but I don't expect him to also give up on the rest of the party.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Oct 20, 2016 -> 10:30 AM) Am I that delusional as I watch these playoffs to think the White Sox are not that far off? I don't see stacked lineups and deep rotations. Hell the Dodgers only have two starting pitchers and one of them is the definition of lightening in a bottle. The Giants offense was abysmal and the Dodgers are not much better. The White Sox had 2 players above .800 OPS and 1 just under, the Dodgers have 4 players above .800 OPS and 1 just under it. The Cleveland Indians had 5 players above an .800 OPS and one just under. It took us 3 of our top prospects to net Todd Frazier and his .760 OPS. How do you expect we double our elite offensive players without spending $200 million or gutting our already poor farm system. And that's before bullpens.

This came up last night post debate and worth watching: http://www.wsj.com/articles/rnc-asks-membe...ties-1476925215

QUOTE (Ezio Auditore @ Oct 20, 2016 -> 08:56 AM) I was going to say this My son was born by C-section. Is that technically an abortion? Should I stop taking care of him or...? Governor Pence would force you to have a funeral for your living son.