whitesoxfan101

The Bulls regular season ownership over Detroit is bewildering, but fun nevertheless. The problem with tonight is Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich continue to play like doo doo, as they were a combined 7 for 21 tonight from the floor. Kirk did contribute 6 dimes and 6 boards, but just not good enough and he also had 1/3 of the teams turnovers. Tonight was just utter dominance up front, as Smith, Wallace, and Deng combined for 33 points and 36 rebounds, and Nocioni added 22 points and 5 dimes. Even Joakim Noah has looked like an NBA player the last 2 nights, although taking Tyrus over LaMarcus Aldridge will be looked back upon as a dark day for the franchise. If the Bulls can win over Boston tonight, they take a 7-11 record into a stretch of games that is very soft the rest of the month, outside visits to San Antonio and Boston (yikes). Gotta get that record at least to .500 by the new year if you want to be playing at least into late April and early May.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 7, 2007 -> 03:29 PM) Lots of teams have lost out on their top targets because players can't go to more than one team. Hell Kansas City chased Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Aaron Rowand, and others. Then they go out and their 4th choice, a guy who is getting suspended for about 10% of the season, and yet they aren't on the list. Nobody expects KC to be good, hell they were so bad last year they somehow finished with a worse record than us. People are naturally going to jump on the big market team who won a championship barely more than 2 calendar years ago, missed out on top targets that THEY couldn't shut up about, and have done nothing to improve a 72-90 team outside of overpay for a relief pitcher on the decline, trade a quality SP for a 33 year old SS in a contract year, and acquire an OF with a really bad shoulder problem.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Dec 7, 2007 -> 03:27 PM) You are probably right, but for the White Sox it became public knowledge. Yeah, since our GM and manager can't shut up, and then blame their own loud mouths on the media somehow after they fail to get their top targets and the fanbase understandably gets pissed.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 7, 2007 -> 03:23 PM) Then why didn't they call the list, winners who won a lot of game last year, and the losers who lost a bunch of games last year and reliving those moments? if being a bad team was the prerequisite for being on the list, how come the rest of the bad teams weren't on the list? It was the winners and losers of the winter meetings, how hard is reading? Winners and losers of the winter meeting isn't just who made the best moves, it's who got better and who got worse, which is why we're such a loser. We sat idle except for one modest trade, while Detroit made the biggest move of the offseason, and Minnesota and Cleveland have stayed together and thus remain much better than us. The only way we are a winner this offseason in any regard is if KW makes tangible and major moves to fix this disaster, and that doesn't seem likely considering plans A through E are already on other teams.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Dec 7, 2007 -> 11:51 AM) Small point, but didn't Shingo actually start 2005 as our closer? Then he became in-effective and we moved Hermanson in? Then when he got hurt we moved in Jenks? If I remember, Shingo was all the rage in 2004, leading us to being very comfortable in the closer spot. Correct on all counts, the 2005 White Sox are the only team I'm aware of to ever win a championship with 3 different closers over the course of the championship season. It's a testament to how great our middle relief, Hermanson, and Jenks were that year, as well as the starting pitching.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 7, 2007 -> 03:19 PM) I'm just going to say three more things, and then leave this thread to the soothsayers... 1. The Sox made one deal in the winter meetings - and it helped the club. 2. Do any of you own a calendar? 3. If the Opening Day roster looks like it does right now, then I'll be right there saying this is, at best, a 3rd place-caliber team in the ALC, and maybe worse. The Sox made a deal that helped the club, but that was putting a band aid on a severed artery. Much more needs to be done, it wasn't done at the place where lots of things tend to be done (Winter meetings), many of the best FA's and trade options are off the market, and that is why we are a loser, not because the media has a vendetta against our mentally unstable GM. And yes I own a calendar, and it says it's December and our team has lost out on a lot of free agents and trade options that it needs if we are going to "win now" like our GM always preaches.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 7, 2007 -> 02:41 PM) So if missing out on big players was the standard for being the biggest losers at the winter meetings, why weren't Anaheim, the Yankees, the Red Sox, and Cleveland on this list after missing out on Cabrera, Santana, Santana, and Bay respectively? They aren't on the list because they all made the playoffs last year and we won 72 games and finished in 4th place, thus unlike those teams, we have to get A LOT better. How hard is that to understand??

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 7, 2007 -> 02:28 PM) What a joke. The Sox made one move - Quentin for Carter - which improved the club. And they are the biggest losers? There is exactly one reason the media pundits are panning the Sox' winter meetings performance - KW's speech. He outright lambasted them, and now they are getting him back for it. I guess since they were among 5 teams (at least) trying for Hunter, and probably that many or more for M-Cab, those other teams are losers too, right? And before anyone responds "no", think about what that means. That's cute and all, but your aware we have the 4th best team (out of 5) in the AL Central, the 29th best (out of 30) minor league system in baseball, and have gone from the best to one of the worst teams in baseball in a matter of 26 months right? We were the biggest loser, KW and the Sox fans in denial need to get over it, quit whining, and realize we suck unless MAJOR changes are made. And KW in general needs to fix this disaster before we go back to having 10,000 fans a game at The Cell. Was the winter meeting a small positive for us based on one move? Yes, but Detroit got A LOT better and Cleveland still is A LOT better than us, while Minnesota is also still better than us.

Anybody see 61 year old Mercury Morris rapping on sportscenter last night as he promotes his rap career? It was painful to watch.

Our minor league system is barren of talent, our major league team is (at best) very thin on talent despite costing over 100 million dollars, our GM has overseen an on field team that has failed to make the playoffs 6 of his 7 years, and we can't make trades due to lack of talent and won't make FA deals since we continue to show up to the gun fight with a pocket knife, continue to bring 50 cents to the dollar show, etc. These points combined with the fact that KW and Ozzie won't shut up as we continue to fall far behind the rest of the division leads to some anger from everybody outside of the most unrealistic and optimistic fans.

Sex is actually supposed to be GOOD for your health I thought. And any woman who says that women don't masturbate is not only a liar, but also a person who likes to "make themself feel good" quite a bit. I'm sure your friend is a lovely woman, but she probably is in love with her hand if she's in denial in that regard.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 5, 2007 -> 04:12 PM) Thanks for the laughs. No shot, in early December. 3 or 4 years. Ha! Like we even know yet what this team will look like on Opening Day THIS year. We are nowhere near even being respectable. Here are the ways you fix an organization with a talent deficiency throughout: 1. Draft well, too bad our GM has proven he can't do that. 2. Spend in the free agent market, too bad our GM has proven he won't do that. 3. Don't give up a solid RP prospect every year in the rule 5 when your bullpen sucks, too bad our GM has proven he won't do that either. 4. Make trades to fill holes, too bad our organization doesn't have the depth or talent to go that route. 5. Fill holes via the minor leagues, too bad our organization has the 29th best system out of 30 teams. 6. Trade your veterans at peak value, but instead of doing that we sign them to extensions after they are washed up and past their prime. 7. If all else fails, be like the Cubs and hope your division sucks, too bad we are in the best division in baseball. You could say it's only December, but you can't fill holes when you won't spend on free agents and don't have the talent in your system to make trades, other than giving up a #3 starter with two 18 win seasons for a 33 year old SS who won't sign an extension. And with all this said, we STILL somehow have one of the biggest payrolls in the game due to all the bad contracts on the 25 man roster. We are screwed for a long time, I wish we'd at least hire a GM who has a clue how to rebuild a laughably pathetic franchise barren of talent, but I'm not getting my hopes up since our GM is an impressive 6 for 7 in failing to make the playoffs in his tenure, has the 2nd worst system in baseball, and has a 4th place team

Shoulda been LeBron (even with the injury here recently), but whatever.

I hate Roberto Luongo, damnit.

Duhon needs to start at point, Hinrich is a 2. I feel like a broken record since I've been saying it for years now though. And it was nice to see Noah look like a real NBA player for once tonight.

The people with power here at NIU LOVE McCarney apparently and he's a high up candidate on the list. I guess they think what McCarney did at ISU is simlar to what Novak did here, which is true. He took a program that had never done anything to it's greatest heights ever, yet always found a way to not quite win the conference. He even has the signature collapse game when a conference title seemed near, just like Joe (McCarney had the disaster at an awful Kansas team, Novak has the 2005 MAC Title game).

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Dec 6, 2007 -> 12:36 AM) Greg McDermott 0-6 vs MVC. It'd be one thing if it was Creighton or Southern Illinois 0-2 vs Bradley 0-2 vs UNI 0-2 vs Drake At least you kept it close tonight, if you had just went on a 42-1 run like Texas Tech, you'd have won.

getting rid of Kenny Williams, and when will be a better time than now? At minimum, we have no shot at going to the playoffs for 2 years, perhaps 3 or 4 is more accurate, and things need to be blown up. The biggest problem with this is you can't "blow it up" without having assets to trade, and we have very little that anybody would want. Regardless of what we do, it's clear this team will be a 4th place team for the forseeable future, and I just wish we'd get a GM who will do something other than whine about the free agent market and give players in their 30's who have shown they are washed up contracts extensions. Can we please just hire an adequate GM Jerry Reinsdorf??

QUOTE(whitesoxin' @ Dec 4, 2007 -> 03:17 PM) I changed my mind on choosing what college to go to many times. First it was DePaul, then Butler, and finally I chose Indiana. (Just like EJ) I would imagine the choice would be much much harder if I was the best basketball player in the country. Lay off him and stop being jealous because we're going to win it all this year. Indiana isn't even the best team in the worst Big 10 I've ever seen, not sure how they plan on winning it all. Anyways, changing your mind is fine, but don't verbally commit to a basketball program as their crown jewel recruit, lie that you have no interest in Indiana for 7 months, then "re-open" your recruitment for 3 months when you actually, it turns out, verballed to Indiana without telling anybody at Illinois.

They better keep Briggs, Urlacher's back is only going to get worse with that arthritis and it's not like he's a young guy by football standards.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Dec 4, 2007 -> 01:49 AM) Saying he's not a really good person seems over the top -- maybe you know something about him I don't. He changed his mind about which University he wanted to attend. It's not a big deal -- other people do the same thing all the time. Athletes transfer and it's no big deal. Sure, he should have told UI as soon as he knew he wasn't coming. But that's a pretty minor misdeed, I think. And even if he had, you know that people would still be seething over being jilted. The hatred is really just about choosing Indiana over Illinois. Not with me. The fact he chose Indiana is fine, but the fact he lied to the Illinois staff about it for several months and in part (admittedly, along with ignorance by the staff, but it's not ALL their fault) cost them a chance to replace Gordon, along with the fact that's he's just generally not a good dude, does make him a bad person. Doesn't mean I'm bitter towards him (I'm still mad at Bruce, he lost him and then didn't have a backup plan in case Gordon did leave, which seemed possible the whole time since he kept beating around the bush) or that he's not a great player, but he's still a bad person, although that's a seperate issue.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Dec 4, 2007 -> 01:23 AM) Jailed?? What exactly are the charges?? To answer your question, I'm not easily shocked, but that was some shocking footage. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years...071onecup1.html I stand corrected!! He plead out and only got 3 years of unsupervised probation and had to forfeit 98 grand before going back to Brazil. He must have a good lawyer.

QUOTE(He_Gawn @ Dec 4, 2007 -> 01:09 AM) Glad some of the Illinois fans over on Illiniboard can take joy out of Gordon's injury. At least some of them have some decency though. Sloppy game tonight. Lets hope we absolutely smash UK this Saturday! The Eric Gordon anger is odd. Yeah he's a liar and not really a good person, but he's a great player and one of many great players that Bruce lost out to in recruiting. It happens.

I saw mentions of it in the thread for stupid and hilarious videos, I've been told about it, but I refuse to watch it other than the reaction shots on youtube because they are hilarious. I assume I am making the right move? If you have thoughts on this video, put them here. All I know is that the dude that made it is Brazilian and I think the U.S. government put him in jail (thank God).

Illinois also has their first verbal for the 2009 class, stud d end Melvin Fellows of Garfield Heights, Ohio. I've never seen Illinois get a verbal for a football recruiting class this early (ie before the signing day this year, they get a verbal for next year). Wow.