whitesoxfan101

Cincinnati, in a bizarre turn, is RED HOT right now (best record in the NL at 29-19 since July 3rd when they fired their manager), and has moved to within 6.5 games of the Cubs with a 3 game series against lowly Pittsburgh to start Tuesday. Plus, they have 6 games left with St. Louis, 6 with Milwaukee, and 6 with the Cubs, with their other series being the just mentioned 3 at Pittsburgh, 3 vs. the Mets (at home), 3 at the last place Giants, and 3 at home vs. the last place Astros. They also have the best pitcher in the race in Aaron Harang, the IMO best offense now that they are healthy, and are getting great bullpen work from 4 different guys right now in Majewski, Weathers, Burton, and Bray. Not saying it's going to happen, but nothing in this division would shock me anymore.

I keep seeing it, all over the boards. It's always the same argument, one person says "we suck, we need a new GM, we need a new manager" and the other person says "Why? We just won 2 years ago. Yeah this year is horrible, but don't panic so fast, Ozzie and KW led us to glory in 2005. I'd rather be us than the Cubs". It's not always like that exactly, but it's pretty much close to that at all times, you see my point. Now, I'd assume that person means it's better to have won and lost than never to have won it all as the one thread here says, but why can't we have it both ways. Why can't we be like the Angels, who won it all in 2002 and have been in contention/in the playoffs every year since? Why can't we be the Yankees, who yeah "haven't won" since 2000, but are also in the playoffs every year and won all those titles. What about the Red Sox, who are always right there as we saw this weekend and did win it in 2004? Why can't we even be the damn Cardinals, who have won all but 1 division title this decade, won it all last year, and are 2 games out of 1st place right now? (I could keep going on with examples like the Braves and Mets and such, but people will just say "but we won it all", so forget it). Well, the problem is some of our fans have lowered their standards and lost the hunger they had that made our fanbase so great before 2005. I don't think our fanbase has fallen into a post 2005 post bandwagon depression and turned awful after our title like the Red Sox, but it seems that a lot of our fans are saying "well, that's it, we won a title, time for me to be happy and wait to die". Didn't 2005 feel good? Don't you want that to happen again? And most of all, do you find the 2nd worst record in baseball and a farm system barren of talent acceptable? If so, continue to defend our manager and GM until the death, but when a team is this bad and has a system that might be even worse in a division full of talent all around, I think questions need to be asked and changes need to be made.

Rongey is a Cardinals fan, which really fuels his hysterically optimistic view, along with being JR's puppet a la Hawk. But this is GREAT to hear, I have all the respect in the world for Jason Goff after seeing this thread and wish I had heard what he said live, because he's right on.

I will say this, the set of events in 2005 and winning it all is MORE than worth the suffering we have going on these days. But you are right, the title blinded JR into thinking Ozzie and KW are good at their jobs, and neither of them are, and as a result it's going to take several more years of this inevitable suffering before we can try and get competent people to run our club. Is it worth it because of what happened in 2005?? Hell yeah, but I just wish JR would look at this objectively and realize our manager and ESPECIALLY GM are lousy at their jobs.

The White Sox, as their rich tradition suggests, screw the fans over by making them sit there 2 hours for a game that never had a shot at starting. And boy was it cute how they said "this game will start!" a couple times on CSN too, liars. Then again, any of the fans that showed up tonight are on the hook for being idiots too, nobody could have really thought they'd start tonight. And yet again, the man screws it up for tomorrow. We schedule a doubleheader for tomorrow, despite the fact that the forecast is severe weather and rain most of the day and then it's going to be clear and cool Saturday AND Sunday. Good luck getting even 1 game in tomorrow.

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Aug 23, 2007 -> 07:56 PM) The only reason this game has not been cancelled yet is Mr. Reinsdorf is trying to milk a few extra dollars out of all the Boston fans at the concession stands. We have a winner!! Only reason it hasn't be canceled yet is financial, there is no way they could play tonight.

Another bow line of storms is forming to the west of us here at NIU. Lots of red on the radar to the north and west of here, here we go again potentially. I doubt they play tonight.

Hope everybody is safe in the city and nearby suburbs. If it is as bad there as it was here, I hope everybody is inside and away from the windows. Today is move in day here too at the dorms, luckily I don't live at the dorms and have been here a couple days now, but those poor people.

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 23, 2007 -> 03:08 PM) Tornado warnings in Lombard. Any anywhere else? ALL OVER. There have been warnings in De Kalb, Kane, Du Page, Will, and Cook Counties already. I saw a small tornado near NIU, so I know of at least one. There was another sighted near Bolingbrook, a warehouse collapse in Carol Stream, apparently there is one near Tinley Park, they are all heading for the city too. Pretty nasty.

Have a great birthday!!

QUOTE(Markbilliards @ Aug 23, 2007 -> 11:14 AM) How bout some love for Allen too? He might deserve Winston Salem. I have love for the guy, after all he's a fellow 2/12/86 DOB guy. Problem is, he's a DH, has a 34/116 BB to K ratio, and only has a .327 on base and .786 OPS. That ain't getting it done for a 21 year old at low a ball.

LOL did I actually put that? Yesterday was move in day and I was EXHAUSTED, so forgive me.

Gartrell and Shelby (but especially Shelby) are simply on amazing tears right now.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 22, 2007 -> 11:39 PM) What a shocker....a couple of horrific defensive plays give the Cubs the lead. This season is just so predictable at this point (I have no clue why I didn't bet today that the Cubs would win and Brewers would lose). You really need to chillax about the Cubs. The Cardinals are still on the charge, and even if the Cubs make the playoffs, the NL at least has a few good teams. I know your worried because of what the Cardinals did in 2005, but that's a once in a lifetime thing. Plus, the Cubs starting pitching really isn't 1/100th as good as people think and will be exposed in October if they get there. Relax, enjoy life.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 22, 2007 -> 11:51 PM) As an alumni, I'm embarassed that Smith is still with the program. I always thought it was pathetic that Iowa redshirted Pierce during his issue, and now Illinois is doing the same thing. I would bet anything this ends the same way too. After Smith screws up AGAIN he'll be gone, but the program will suffer cosmetic damage that won't go away for a long time.

Every poll ever taken among african americans about their opinions of everything from O.J. to Vick, along with what every person of prominence in their community says, supports what I'm saying. It may be contoversial, but it holds a lot of water.

The Watkins clearinghouse stuff is a lie, the reason he's back in Cali is he's homesick and the staff is trying to convince him to not change his mind and go to school back close to home. The academic stuff is pure nonsense, and the fact Bruce added it in the presser proves he's trying to quell that notion that some of us know. Also, I hope Jamar does something minor enough to not hurt anybody again but get kicked off the team, I dont think Bruce realizes how many fans he'll lose by having a convicted felon on his team.

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 22, 2007 -> 04:12 PM) Wow. If your wowing the term African-American as a race because I used it wrong, sorry I'm still working on my grammar. If your wowing the content of that statement, keep wowing. The majority of black people ALWAYS support their own, even if the damn crime is on videotape or something, for the sole purpose of not letting the evil white people that had them as slaves 2 centuries ago win (and btw, almost any white person would say they are embarassed about how we treated blacks in the past, but we can't control it either). "Stop snitching, can't take the boy out the hood", getting mad at Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods for not being the next Martin Luther King, it's all the same anti-white person nonsense and racism in it's own way. I have spent most of my life being colorblind and for the most part I'm still that way, but the way black people act when anybody in their race of significance gets in trouble is a joke, a complete joke.

QUOTE(joesaiditstrue @ Aug 22, 2007 -> 04:10 PM) so have any of you guys noticed any holes/weaknesses in fields swing that would allow the league to catch up to him next year, that would severely hurt his power numbers? or will his raw talent be enough? He has holes in his swing, but the league already is attacking them. I think Fields kinda is what he is, he'll be a .260 hitter that produces a ton of runs with home runs and RBI's. I do think though as time goes on he'll end up hitting 6th, and without guys like Thome and Konerko behind him, he'll walk more. To me, Fields is a .265/.340/.485 or so kinda guy at the plate that will whiff a ton. Needs to keep working on his d though.

Have fun.

No your 110 percent right, my comments were based on a house like mine that does not have HDTV anything on any of the TV's. If you have 1 or more HDTV style sets, the pricing situation is way different.

To call what the Twins have done over the years luck is beyond asinine. And as for Porcello, everything I've ever read and seen on him has grave concerns over his mechanics and long term health, so we'll see.

Assuming this is a suicide, I just feel so torn. Suicide is such a selfish act that hurts the people around you and close to you, but if you go out on your own (ie not hurting anybody else) and show a history of demons like this man did, it just....it makes me feel so horrible. Sometimes the difference between a person who ends this way and somebody who turns their life around and becomes a success can be as simple as 1 or 2 good people who really care about them, and that often times can be just luck to find those said people. RIP.

To compare hunting and dog fighting is mind boggling. I admit up front I never have nor will hunt (I've never even touched a real gun before), but it takes all kinds of licencing and practice just to be able to hunt legally, and a large amount of hunting, the majority in fact, is for the simple sake of population control. Plus, hunting doesn't involve weeks of training and torture like dog fighting does for the animals. The African-American race as a whole is doing more to set back race relations than any group I've ever seen, they are BEGGING others to hate them. And by others, I mean ANYBODY who isn't black, that is white people, hispanics, asians, middle easterners, everybody.

QUOTE(ChWRoCk2 @ Aug 21, 2007 -> 11:33 PM) Yeah Garrets doing alright lol. What is the record for most RBI in a game isnt it 12? Yep the MLB record is 12, shared by two NL guys, and the AL record is 11. Garret came up with 2 outs and men on 1st and 3rd in the 8th, so a single would have tied the AL record, double scoring 2 ties the MLB record, and a homer would have set a new all time MLB record with 13. But he grounded out harmlessly.