whitesoxfan101

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 11:37 PM) So if the Cubs fans can pay to go to their bar, why can't the White Sox fans pay to go to their team's games? Because our fanbase is much smaller and less economically blessed than the one to the north, as we've all known for a long time now.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 11:34 PM) I'm talking about the general lack of knowledge the average White Sox fan has about the team. This is due, as I have argued in the past several times before, to the fact that Chicago beat writers, at least those that cover baseball, are absolutely brutal. They do not do their homework and it shows in their reporting. There are probably 25-50 posters on this website alone that are more knowledgeable about the White Sox organization than our beat writers are, and this isn't a well-paying job for those posters! Our fanbase might be more apt to support the team if it actually understood the position the team was in, why it was doing what it was doing, why we had no leadoff hitter, why Corky Miller is the backup catcher, etc. There are reasonable answers for these questions, it's just that no one bother to give them to the fanbase. It's unfortunate. Well this I actually do agree with 100 percent, but I don't think it's an explanation for the attendance drop.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 11:25 PM) I'm sorry, some of you may certainly have been affected significantly by the economic downturn, but you will not convince me that that is the reason for the drop in attendance. It's not an actual change in earnings. It's an attitude. The fans are not happy with this team, they know fewer and fewer players from the WS team, their are probably lesser company season ticket packages that were purchased, etc. But there is still PLENTY of money in the City of Chicago and the suburbs to support this team at a higher clip. It's being proven year in and year out on the Northside. This is just another instance of White Sox fans being less than educated about the team and it's players, and being whiny and stubborn. The Cubs draw year in and year out because they play at a bar, and they are now even more popular since they have been a contender the last few years. The Sox aren't drawing less fans per game this year because of the business men in the lower deck not showing up, they are drawing less because the college kids and blue collar families and people like that who sit in the upper deck aren't coming out as much because they're broke and can't afford 23 dollar parking and more expensive tickets to watch a .500 team play ball.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 11:20 PM) it wouldn't make up for the 4,000 a game, but didn't one of the Tigers game count as a zero attendance? I do not know, but if that's the case, that does hurt certainly.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 11:17 PM) I'm sorry, but I really just don't buy into this. I think people are going waaaayyy too far in crying about this economy. Sure, the economy is bad. Sure, people are losing their jobs. Sure, people lost money in the stock market. But honestly, how many of us here have had their lives changed in the past 18 months so significantly so that we can no longer afford to go to White Sox games? It's like a massive social excuse for everything bad that happens to people now...the economy, the economy, the economy. While it's certain some people have had their lives significantly changed, whether it be through losing their jobs, losing some of their 401k, etc., this has not been such a great disaster that 95% of our fans cannot continue to support the team as they always have. Attendance is down like 4,000 a game from 2008 right now, and if we continue to remain in the race, I'd bet by the end of the year the drop per game is even less than that. Fact is, there are a couple/few thousand people a night who aren't going to games this year because they can't afford it right now. That's a fact, not an excuse.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 11:12 PM) I hope people realize that Peña is viewed as a developing closer prospect from his days in Az. He's not DJ Carrasco, who's ineffectiveness lately has probably also contributed to this deal. Maybe we think Flowers can't catch, and he's more our future 1B/DH, and if that's the case and we wanted to move Brandon Allen right now while he still has a good deal of value, that's fine. But he had a lot more value than Tony Pena.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 11:01 PM) I really don't get the anger over his comments. He didn't say the fans sucked, he didn't say the team was unappreciated, he said their numbers are off of what they expected. I don't understand why that is such a venomous statement. I swear, White Sox fans are incredibly thin-skinned and defensive, whether it comes to the Cubs, the attendance, or an outsider being objective about the organization. My anger is the comment that the Dodgers series was an eye opener. When I got my magnetic schedule at the 3rd game of the year, I looked at it and was appaled they were charging premium for the Dodgers series, and also assumed it would be the lowest attended series of the year. To call out the fans over a mistake YOUR ticket office made in pricing is idiotic.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 10:58 PM) Not to be cruel, but I laugh at everyone during the memorial asking "what did he do to get taken from us". The answer is a whole lot of drugs. This isn't a situation like Steve Irwin where it was just a freak accident. The attempts of the media and MJ fans to ignore his flaws and try to lift him into being some sort of Christ like figure now that he's dead has been pretty sad.

I understand that Michael Jackson was the Elvis of his generation and all, but really, the oversaturation of this story by the media has been laughable.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 10:45 PM) Marte for Guerrier Thornton for Borchard Cotts as part of the Foulke/Koch trade Jenks from the scrap heap Takatsu Hermanson DJ Carrasco Politte, etc. Just relax. Sisco and Aardsma went south on us, but if the Sox under KW are BEST at any one thing, it's finding underperforming or "miscoached" talent in other organizations...just not drafting it (until Beckham.) He also added salary with the addition of Ramon Castro, who hit a crucial 3 run homer for us in our winning streak. None of those excuse trading one of your better prospects for a dime a dozen middle reliever, so I'm not sure I am getting your point.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 10:40 PM) God, this drives me nuts. This economy is terrible and a lot of people are suffering horribly. If it's really an issue shut-up about it Not only does the economy suck, but ticket and parking prices were raised, plus we made moves more in salary dump mode than trying to win mode this winter, so ripping the fans is just stupid. And how is the Dodgers series an eye opener? It should be an eye opener that the people in our ticket office are freaking morons for charging premium prices for a midweek series against an NL team in June right before the Cubs visit. The idiocy of whoever made that decision is the eye opener.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 10:40 PM) Futuresox, baseball cube, minorleaguebaseball, etc.. all has him born as January 12,1986. Unless I can't count I'm assuming/taking a shot at the dark here that he's an early 23. I believe he's February 12, 1986, because I remember noting he had the exact same birthday as me when he was drafted.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 10:36 PM) At least the trade wasn't a salary dump. Well yeah, but he still took dump #1 on us by blaming us for not being able to make a payroll adding trade, then took dump #2 on us by making a trade that's indefensible on paper. As far as I'm concerned, Kenny can go to hell right now.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 10:30 PM) I know it's silly, but that says something about how even they think about this deal on paper. They know it doesn't look good, so they must be darn certain they can get something out of Pena. Either that or they've completely lost their minds. If they liked Pena, fine. They could have got him for a lot less than Brandon Allen.

So Kenny blames the fans, then makes an AWFUL trade. So today, he basically took two gigantic craps on the fans. Well SCREW YOU Kenny, jerk.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 10:27 PM) Even Rongey's trying to sell this based on the improvement Thornton made after he came to the Sox. That's a dumb argument because Brandon Allen has a lot more return value than a mediocre middle reliever. This trade may work out, but it's indefensible on paper.

The ONLY positive spin I can put on this trade is that it is BY FAR the worst trade we've made on paper since the Pods trade, and that one worked out very well. But besides that, wow, what a terrible decision. I couldn't even enjoy the win tonight because of this.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 11:27 AM) Andrei Kirilenko says hi! And we don't know, they could have been in the process of getting a divorce. Or legally separated. I have to admit, when I was in the process, I was banging every chick I could...technically, I wasn't divorced, but since my wife left me for another guy and lived in Cali, I figured...what the f***? So, don't judge until you know all the facts. It's possible this all is the case, but you know as well as I do that it's very, very unlikely. Odds are, McNair was cheating with a younger woman who he thought he could have a good time with, and it ended up having a bizarre and tragic ending.

The Cubs would not be anywhere near the business entity they are today if they played at any stadium other than Wrigley Field and at any location other than Wrigleyville. I would be willing to guess your average crowd of a 40,000 person Wrigley Field sellout includes: 10,000 to 15,000 real baseball/Cubs fans 10,000 to 15,000 idiots on bus trips from Iowa/the tourist crowd in general. 15,000 drunken idiots looking for a good time at the world's largest bar. Obviously, the real baseball/Cubs fans would show up at the new place, but the vast majority of the crowd is a bit of a toss up. They will have to rebuild Wrigley eventually, but if they don't just rebuild it in the same spot, they are very stupid.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 10:04 PM) I have been hearing rumors lately about Wake Forest football and PED's. Will be interesting to watch Aaron Curry's results over the next few years. Wouldn't surprise me if Wake Forest had PED stuff going on. You don't just take a bunch of 2 star prospects and turn them into gold without some sort of artificial help IMO.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 6, 2009 -> 09:01 PM) It's amazing how the Sox and Cubs are in almost the exact same spot after tonight. Not really. They're both mediocre teams in mediocre divisions. Makes perfect sense to me!

QUOTE (High Mileage @ Jul 7, 2009 -> 01:00 AM) AFFAIR McNAIR Yeah, his legacy is going to definitely take a hit based on what we know so far and what we are going to know as more info comes out. I personally don't agree with it, his playing career is a total seperate thing than what kind of person he was. It doesn't sounds like he was a bad person either, just one who made a few bad choices, one of which proved to be fatal.

I guess the moral of the story is don't cheat on your wife, but if you are going to cheat on your wife, don't cheat on her with a psychopath. (Note: I obviously don't believe McNair deserved such a grisly fate just because he was unfaithful.)

Not unless it's the olympics or I know somebody on the team, although as I get older I will probably continue to at least pay attention to like NIU and Illinois women's teams. But overall, I guess my answer would generally be no. I don't hold anything against women's sports or women's athletes though.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 5, 2009 -> 03:47 PM) I would bet you we heard the exact same stuff about Danks in 2007. That is simply silly. Richard doesn't have 1/5th the celing that Danks or Floyd did as they developed, and he doesn't have 1/5th the ceiling that Aaron Poreda does either. Richard is at best a 4th or 5th starter and more likely a long relief arm. He shouldn't be in the rotation right now, especially since Poreda is on the major league club and double especially since this team is in contention.