Middle Buffalo

QUOTE (ChiSox35 @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 04:25 PM) Anyone else get annoyed when a celebrity starts a foundation for an ailment that somehow effected him/her? They're doing good, but how novel would it be if you had a guy who doesn't have cancer or diabetes (or a daughter with some eye ailment) to start a cancer or diabetes (or eye ailment) foundation? I don't like Curt Schilling, but he has an ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease) foundation, and I don't believe he has anyone in his life that has been affected by ALS. That said, it's kind of unlikely that someone would just randomly start a charitable organization.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Sep 11, 2008 -> 08:37 AM) Armstrong would have to be more than just a freak of nature to be so dominant in the sport. It is possible, though, that he is a freak of nature. His heart is 33% larger than the average man's. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/statitude.../armstrong_btn/ That gives him a pretty distict advantage athletically. Granted, I don't know how his heart compares to other cyclists, but it is possible that he has a God-given advantage. Maybe he's like cyclings version of Wilt Chamberlain - ahead of his time athletically. As stated earlier, he has been tested for all the banned substances - repeatedly, and the cycling organizations seem to be pretty good at catching cheaters regardless of their stature in the sport. That said, I wouldn't be totally shocked if he, or any athlete tested positive for PEDs. Sad, but not shocked.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 24, 2008 -> 11:37 PM) I'm going to try and knock out 2 or three tomorrow (err later today). Is that a masturbation reference? Try sextalk.com - it helps.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Aug 30, 2008 -> 09:46 AM) BlackJack was one of those pitchers that pitched just well enough to win. In fact, he's the one example I use when I run into that argument that W's is a bad stat to judge a pitcher by. BlackJack was the exception to that rule. He was the type of pitcher that when he didn't have his best stuff and the game was close, he'd battle his ass off. He was also the type that if he had a 5 run lead, he'd come right after a hitter and if that guy hit one out, so be it. ERA be damned, Jack McDowell was a winner in every sense of the word. I can't tell you how many times I've had this exact "discussion" with people. Spot him a five run lead, he'll give up 4 runs and take the win. That's what's so frustrating about guys like Vasquez and Jon Garland (when he was young), they would always follow up a good offensive inning by the Sox by relinquishing the lead. They try (tried) to be too perfect, and they got burned by it.

His HR call is really weak, but I really hate that he says "YES!" with Hawk when Hawk calls a HR. It sounds terrible.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 15, 2008 -> 05:35 PM) Anyone who goes to CO's deserves two black eyes. Well, because of swelling, I'd say I had one and a half black eyes. And who could turn down quarter beers?

QUOTE (Texsox @ Aug 14, 2008 -> 11:08 AM) So the cops released us first because we were on the losing end and would probably be smart and follow their orders to leave town. Nope, we found a hidden away bar, down the end of an alley, and drank some more. As we were leaving, and turning a corner, we bumped into our buddies. I had a very similar experience. During Summer School at U of I, a few friends and I were out at CO's for quarter beers. I ran into some friends from high school who I really hadn't seen since freshman year (I was going into my senior year). So we're talking, and it's one of their 21st birthdays, but the guy's had enough. I couldn't have been with them more than 15 minutes when my newly 21 year old friend leans to the side and pukes. Right at the bar. Unfortunately, the splash gets a guy standing near us. And he's big - an Illini football player. So the football player and one of his friends start getting rough with the guy who puked. I stepped in to try to break it up. I'm apologizing and explaining that it's his birthday, etc. Trying to be a peacemaker. The bouncers see it differently. I get tossed, and so do the football players. No one else gets thrown out. They send the football players out the back door and tell me to wait a little while, then they send me out the front. A friend comes with me. So we're walking home, and La Bamba is between CO's and our house. I decide to go get a burrito, and my friend says he'll see me at home. I walk into La Bamba and get in line, and I notice that the football players are at a table eating. I try to avoid them seeing me, order to go and walk out. As turn the corner, the two guys are outside waiting. One of the guys starts to talk to me, and I again say that I was just trying....BAM. The other guy nails me in the eye. Really hard, and I'm seeing stars. Total cheapshot. I didn't really have time to retaliate or anything before they walked away. That was the extent of the fight, but I had a terrible black eye. The next day, I saw the guy who puked on the way to class, and he had no memory of seeing me at CO's, and he found it funny that his puking led to my black eye. I should have given him the cheapshot treatment right there on the Quad.

I really thought he was going to be great. I was wrong. Injuries and being out of shape really derailed his career. He has a career arc that is pretty common among White Sox players in the last 3 or 4 decades. A few really good years, and then injuries ruin their careers. Then they kick around MLB for a little while and disappear.

Seems Julia Child was more than just dead sexy. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080814/ap_on_.../spies_revealed ps Add Moe Berg to my list of favorite ex-Sox players.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Aug 12, 2008 -> 11:32 AM) No it doesn't invalidate your list at all. My comment was partly tongue in cheek, if you read this thread you will see how much I agree with you. BTW, based on the date you mentioned, you would have seen his play. No problem. I didn't read the whole thread, and I did put Baines on my list. And I was just explaining how I voted and how if others here were in their early 20's, they might not have much of a memory of Baines playing. Based on the results so far, it seems as if most people only voted for players they saw play. Unfortunately, that leaves out a bunch of really good players. In fact, the players left off the list are probably better than those who will make it if the voting keeps going like it has.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Aug 11, 2008 -> 11:01 PM) If Baines is not in the top 5, then some Sox fans need a history lesson. It's "favorite" white sox players, so his achievements are only part of the equation. What makes someone a favorite is different for every person who took the time to vote. I didn't vote for anyone who I didn't see - which dates back to 1978 or so. That left quite a few of the all time great Sox - Fox, Aparicio, Pierce, Shoeless Joe, Appling, etc - off my list. Does that invalidate my list?

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 9, 2008 -> 01:35 AM) And Wilbur Wood was more than a baseball sideshow, he won twenty four games in 1973, while losing 20. Add ‘em up, 43 decisions in one season. And you say it with such confidence. Hope you're not in charge of the head count at the jamborees.

The thing I loved about Chet was that no matter how routine the fly ball, he'd manage to lose his hat in pursuit of it. Don't know if he had an ill fitting hat, lop-sided head, or if (as I suspect) he knocked it off to make the play look more difficult. Whatever the reason, he was a one of my original Sox favorites.

I've been a groomsman seven times, and only received a few gifts that I have used in any way. I have a money clip, a flask, a couple of monogrammed steins, and a few other things I don't recall. When my brother got married he gave us all a pair of Chuck Taylors that we all wore to the reception. The groomsmen wore black - groom wore green. The rest of the stuff sits in drawers or holds pens. One of the steins is actually quite nice, though it's never used. The groom got each of us a stein with our nationality on it. Mine has a shamrock and says Ireland (for example). I had another guy give me Blu Blockers as a gag - in addition to a monogrammed gym bag. I also received a mini-Bears helmet one time (there was another small gift as well). On second thought, I've received some pretty good stuff. I like the idea of going to a Sox game with the groomsmen, but it's only good if everyone can make it. However, you have to do it big. See if you can get a suite. Regular seats won't do. It has to be special or it's just another game. Whatever you do, don't be cheap. If you can't afford to do it up big, don't do the game. I know the wedding is a big expense, but you'll remember that game forever. And think of how much your wife to be is wasting on flowers and center pieces and get a little selfish. If you're going to go with one of the less expensive options - I like the Jersey option. I don't think I would differentiate between the groomsmen and best men, though.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 25, 2008 -> 11:15 AM) I only really have a problem when rookies do it, especially first-rounders. STFU you dickhead, take your millions in guaranteed money you get automatically but haven't earned because the team has no idea if you'll amount to anything or not, and go out and show you can play. Then they go on to be guys like Cedric Benson and Cade McNown. Especially troubling and confusing because the salaries are basically slotted.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 25, 2008 -> 08:59 AM) At the same time - and I'm just talking semantics at this point - some GMs like to front-load salaries and give as much of the guaranteed money up front as they can when they have a big chunk of salary cap space, especially when the bonus is massive. It gives more flexibility with the cap later in the contract. Angelo does this sometimes, I think Tommie Harris's contract is like that. Urlacher's was too, if I'm not mistaken. Freeney made something like 30 million in actual dollars last year (dollar amount is different from the cap value). In cases like this, I think it's horrible for a player to holdout. What has to be considered is the average salary (including bonuses) when compared to players of similar value. If a player is by all accounts a top five player at his position, but his average salary is 20th in the league at his position, I think he has a strong argument for renegotiating. If the player was being paid top five, but his performance was well below that, the team would be justified in cutting the player and saving on the salary.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 25, 2008 -> 05:33 AM) You still have to pay the bonus money regardless, or whatever the guaranteed amount is. What you don't have to pay is the base salary and the incentive money. Right. And GMs purposely make the contract longer in order to spread out the salary cap hit over a number of years, though. So a $6M signing bonus on a six year contract only counts $1M (plus the base salary) against the cap each year. By the fifth or sixth year, however, there's a good chance that the market will have changed or a player like Hester will totally out perform the contract. If players aren't able to holdout, management would basically win every contract because the lack of guaranteed contracts gives them the opportunity to get out of any bad situation risk free. It's the lack of guaranteed contracts makes it a necessity for players to holdout when they feel they are not being paid what they are worth. NFL players essentially have a one year contract. When we hear about a player signing a long term contract, we have to remember that it is basically just an accounting tool used to manage the salary cap. All that matters to the player in an NFL contract is the signing bonus.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 06:12 AM) The NFL is the ONLY league where I can understand players trying to negotiate new contracts, because the contracts aren't guarenteed. once you get outside of the upfront money, you can tear up the deal at will if you are the team, and have no committment to the rest of the deal. Places like MLB, NBA, and NHL where the guys get all of the money they sign for are different. I used to hate all the holdouts, but now I agree with this. If a player uderperforms, the team can cut him and take the salary cap hit for one year (due to the signing bonus), but they don't have to pay any more money. If the player outperforms the contract, ahouldn't he be allowed to renegotiate to get market value for his services? In Hester's case, he wasn't picked in the first round. If that draft were held today, knowing what we know now, he would definitely be picked in the first round and get first round money that is slotted for the number that he was picked. So, Hester's only "crime" is that GMs weren't able to accurately predict his value. Players know when they sign contracts that they may never see the money on the back end of the deal. If Peyton Manning signs a 12 year contract eight years into his career, he knows he won't play the last several years of that contract, and he'll never see that money. The length of the contract is made for salary cap purposes in order to spread the signing bonus out over the length of the contract. FYI - I don't know the actual terms of Manning's contract. I just used that example to illustrate that GMs purposely make contracts long to make the signing bonus count less against the salary cap each year. Since the contracts aren't guaranteed, they can do this and not worry about having to pay the entire salary amount.

This is actually quite hard to do. The Sox have so many guys that were only on the team for 2 or 3 years, so even if I did like them, they lack longevity. They also were kind of a last stop for many players. The 1995 roster is really sad. Filled with guys who used to be someone. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/...=1995&t=CHA

I got the easy .pdf to work by deleting it from my programs, and then re-downloading it.

I need to create a .pdf file, but I don't have a .pdf program on my computer. I used to be able to use a free download from easy .pdf creator, but it won't work now. Anyone have any links to a .pdf creator that I can download?

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 11:56 AM) Yeah we went to both. Used to have our baseball pizza parties there. It's weird if you google nick and vito's there's a couple sites that call it that. If you look at the main website though they have a sign that says vito and nicks from like 1930 or something. I did a yahoo search and found it listed as Nick and Vito. http://local.yahoo.com/info-17449582-nick-...izzeria-chicago I'm confused. I usually make it a point to go to Palermo's when I go back to Chicago. Next time I'm making a trip to Nick &Vito's or Vito & Nick's. I've gotta get to the bottom of this.

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 11:35 AM) I have no idea why, but I remember it as Nick and Vito's. I grew up at 79th and Pulaski and went there all the time. Have I lost my mind?? I remember it as Nick & Vito's, too. It was accross the parking lot from Groucho's. I don't know if I ever ate it, though. We always got Angie's (which was about a block down on the other side of the street.

My email account has a "spam" folder that fills automatically with junk emails. When I try to delete them, I get asked TWO times if I'm sure I want to delete them. One time, I get. Twice? Is that necessary?

Hurricanes were the only thing I ate in New Orleans. Of course, there are large patches of time that are missing from my memory - so it's possible, but unlikely, that some of the local food was sampled.