whitesoxfan101

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 17, 2011 -> 11:38 AM) Yes, but they are being told over and over dont do this, dont do that, and their consequence is losing their scholarship and possibly their future either in pro ball or in another career. There is risk there and they are made very aware of it. There is no way you cannot fault these players for that. Well I will say if they get caught while they're still in school, I really lack sympathy for them. They know the risks when taking benefits, and if you get caught, it's part of the deal. But for someone like Devin Hester, he got his benefits, made it big in the NFL, and this will have no impact on him at all. As far as I'm concerned, he has nothing to apologize for.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 17, 2011 -> 11:28 AM) Today at 3pm, its supposed to be revealed who the bag man was that paid for Cam Newton. That'll be interesting. I still don't think it'll come close to topping Miami giving (at least) 80 some players illegal benefits though. A funny part of this is Miami didn't even get every player involved in this to sign with them. My question is what did those kids get offered from the schools they went to that caused them NOT to go to Miami? I'd bet anything they weren't free.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 17, 2011 -> 11:28 AM) Even if you had some magic button to push that could eliminate all the shadiness, its still not going to make teams outside of the 10-20 top ones automatically contenders for championships. They simply dont have the facilities nor the actual location to pull in the top talent. You can clearly trace where the top college programs are by looking at the areas where more of the top recruits are from. If you took all of the illegal stuff out of recruiting (not sure if that's possible, but for the sake of argument we'll throw the scenario out there), the top programs would mostly stay the same. There would be a few changes, but I think in this scenario most kids would just play close to home. And home for most of the top recruits is Florida, Texas, California, Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana, South Carolina, etc.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 17, 2011 -> 11:31 AM) Isnt that kind of like never blaming the criminal because the guy whose stuff he took illegally had it all laying around? The kids are just as at fault in this as the boosters and the institution. The kids are repeatedly told not to do what they did. With that said, who cares, Devin is an NFL player now. With very rare exceptions, these kids aren't doing that that risk them being thrown in jail, though. They are just doing things that an athletic association says are illegal. If I had nothing, and somebody offered me benefits that did not put me at any risk of jail time, arrest, etc, I'd have an awfully hard time saying no. While these kids are getting way more than nothing (a college education), they still aren't seeing much of the money they make these schools, either. They are just taking advantage of the system when accepting benefits, just like the schools are when they sign them.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 17, 2011 -> 07:52 AM) Does it surprise anyone that Devin lands in the middle of this? Pictures/PDFs at link. http://sports.yahoo.com/investigations/new...ter_allegations If you were a kid who came from nothing, and somebody offered you all that stuff, would you say no? Very few people could honestly answer that question yes IMO. I never blame the kids for these scandals. Never. They are on the schools for lack of enforcement, the boosters/people of that ilk for just ignoring the rules, and the general attitude in the NCAA. This stuff has happened at most schools for a long time, and little has been done overall to stop it.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Aug 16, 2011 -> 07:43 PM) Well maybe this is why Yahoo doesnt spend much time going after SEC schools. I gotta think Rivals makes atleast 60% of their revenue off of subscription services bought in SEC country. I think it's more that the SEC schools do a better job covering their tracks. While almost everyone cheats, those schools are basically professionals at it now. However, your point about the percentage of revenue off SEC subscriptions is probably true, so maybe you're right. Either way, I've never seen a story even in the same galaxy in terms of severity of cheating as this Miami one. While they aren't the only school who took cheating to this level, they are really the only one (in my lifetime anyways) to get caught at this level. I seriously think the death penalty will be in play for them in punishment discussion.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 15, 2011 -> 08:22 AM) For once he is right. Everything I have ever read said Kenny wanted Cito, and Ozzie stole Jerry's heart. You're right, but I thought everyone knew this. Additionally, Jerry is the only reason Ozzie hasn't been removed from his post already.

The only way Sale isn't starting next year is if Buehrle and Danks are both back, and I see no way that happens.

Honestly, this season sounds like a box office smash to me. The 127 million dollar little engine that could. Who despite horrible management, general management, and multi-million dollar players who perform like they're actually stock brokers, still fights back and manages to reach the enviable position of mediocrity. Somebody get Spielberg on the horn, STAT!

Incredibly sad. Honestly, looking at that video, I think one small positive that can be taken out of this is that the death toll isn't higher than 5. I'm not sure why that pit wasn't evacuated by that point either, but I find myself asking such questions frequently about weather-related decisions at outdoor events. I really don't blame anyone for this with that in mind, I just feel it's inevitable it'll happen again unless more caution is taken.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 04:04 PM) Hurray for mediocrity! Well, we've won our 60 and lost our 60. Let's see what happens with the final 42. Haha it's Hawk's dream! This team still hasn't been over .500 in 4 months. Winning the next one and getting there is a big and necessary step if this team wants to somehow scramble at the last second and get into the playoffs, after everything that has happened this year.

Paul Konerko, apparently, could put up a .900 OPS from a wheelchair. I can't believe he's still hitting this way despite being in so much pain.

Never thought I'd see the day where Matt Thornton pitching up 4 in the 8th with nobody on would make me nervous.

Might not be all that good at baseball, but Flowers is so strong. Didn't get all of the homer to center last night, and definitely didn't get all of that ball he just hit to the edge of the center field warning track.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 03:15 PM) Doesn't really affect anything at the moment. A&M has to meet, and then apply for the SEC. The SEC will then vote on whether or not to stay at 12. Ha, I didn't even know they hadn't done that yet. It would certainly make sense for the SEC to say that today, in that case.

I'm not going to react strongly to last night, but the Bears can't say they have their best 5 guys out there if Spencer isn't starting.

SEC statement: So they're staying at 12, for now. Texas A&M is still not long for the Big 12, but I think everybody got a little ahead of themselves here, kind of like we saw last summer. Even I, the guy who says the Big 12 isn't going to last long, didn't think things would happen this fast.

Carlos has (approximately) 23 million reasons to not retire. Except a big apology sometime this weekend.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 12, 2011 -> 10:49 PM) He will work out over the winte and hit 45 homers in 2012 :lolhitting

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 12, 2011 -> 09:51 PM) Just saw where Zambrano "retired" tonight He'll take a look at the money he's still due the rest of this year and next year and change his mind in a hurry. This ends the myth he's "cured" of his temper problems though. As if anybody ever bought that anyways.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 12, 2011 -> 09:50 PM) I was wondering this question earlier: Is Dunn having the worst season in modern day professional sports history for an established player? I don't think a player who had been that good for that long and was still in his prime years has ever had a worse season in any sport than Dunn. When I typed Adam Dunn on google, the first suggested result was "sucks". If you had told me that would happen even 6 months ago, I'd have laughed hysterically at you.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 12, 2011 -> 09:46 PM) Some boos for Rios!! He was getting booed more than that earlier. He and Dunn need to have a joint retirement announcement this winter.

We can't win at home, we can't beat the Royals, we can't hit Bruce Chen, and we can't get above .500 overall. NOBODY in the White Sox organization should be surprised at our attendance problems. Who in their right mind would pay anything, let alone the insane prices we charge, to watch this?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 12, 2011 -> 09:34 PM) If they give you 200 innings, that's 2-3 in my book. I could see him being a 3. He's a 3 at best and 5 at worst IMO, that's why I put the 4 tag on him. Not sure he has the stuff to be a 2 though, but I'm still happy with him. He looks better than I was expecting, for sure.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 12, 2011 -> 09:21 PM) What do you consider a 4th starter? As a sinkerballer with offspeed stuff and a legit four seam backup, he could easily give an era in the low 4s, maybe 3s. A guy with stuff that looks solid and consistent, but not overwhelming. Kind of like Stewart.