Balta1701

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Feb 14, 2015 -> 12:15 PM) Um, the rest of us have jobs too. Many of us rely on cars and therefore gasoline to get to these to jobs and provide for our families. But I get it, it's ok for you to sacrifice your moral highground when it's your family at stake, but the rest of us are clearly monsters who support beaheadings when we fill up our gas tanks. Again, please scrap the ridiculous holier-than-thou act. Then stop pretending Daesh doing this is the most horrible, unbelievable proof of evil we've ever seen. There's my point.

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 14, 2015 -> 11:43 AM) I find it unbelievable that based on your beliefs that you would even consider working there. If you're given the choice between that and having your spouse no longer be able to see a doctor, isn't the choice obvious?

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 14, 2015 -> 09:10 AM) I believe a key difference is the entire university wasn't corrupt, only a very small handful. Actually five by most counts. The entire academic department had no idea what was gong on. I still fundamentally disagree with this concept.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Feb 14, 2015 -> 08:46 AM) Let me get this straight, Balta has accused everyone that uses gas/oil of somehow supporting beheadings, but at the same recently admitted to applying for a job at Penn f***ing State, an institution that enabled a child molester for years and still views one of those enablers as sacred. Talk about some holier-than-thou bulls*** right there. Like I said over there...you do what you have to do. I'm staring at unemployment in May and then having the Supreme Court decide my wife loses health care coverage in June.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 13, 2015 -> 10:03 PM) Have you been there? It's a creepy town. Very isolated. At this point? I don't care. It's better than food stamps.

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 13, 2015 -> 02:49 PM) They should be punished. They are guilty as well. They are the ones who have spent the last month cheering. That's what has bothered me. That and applying for a job there.

While we're up with it, Islamic Center in Houston burned by arsonist today.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 13, 2015 -> 04:58 PM) Scott Merkin ‏@scottmerkin 4h4 hours ago White Sox will have 64 players in big league camp at outset Is that a lot or a little?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 13, 2015 -> 10:38 AM) yea, this guy was unstable, religion or not. The neighbors had meetings about him, he used to walk around showing off his gun and make vague threats. As with always....exactly the type of person who should have more guns.

QUOTE (LDF @ Feb 10, 2015 -> 01:00 AM) man, this is going to be a rough prediction, sox picking #8 and then when is there next pick??? assuming if Jeff S doesn't sign, they will get an additional 1 rounder outside the top 10+. QUOTE (GreenSox @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 07:45 PM) In 2016 It's also not "outside the top 10", it's in the range of "30-40ish". No matter what pick the other team loses you still get the pick in the compensatory round per the new rules.

QUOTE (asindc @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 07:33 PM) So basically he says the Sox will only be 4 games better than last season even with no unforeseen injuries. Hmm. He kinda refers to injuries as a part of it when he adds in the phrases "Healthy chris sale" and "lack of depth".

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 06:09 PM) I'm not discounted that it COULD be a factor. I'm criticizing the straight away assumption that it IS a factor here. There's another, more concrete explanation. The facebook stuff and his opinions are just media fodder at this point. Racist claims are big for the media because both sides have strong opinions about it. Just to be clear...you're criticizing anyone who's certain about it and not criticizing the DOJ/law enforcement for investigating it as a possible hate crime also, right? Edit: One thing worth thinking about...even if it isn't true at all that it's a hate crime, "3 people in a small community" being killed would also drive a fearful response in that community whatever it is, so "reporting the fact that people in that community are now fearful" would probably be an accurate thing to do as well.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 01:40 PM) Even with age, I think you have a more accurate idea of what Adam LaRoche you are getting vs Adam Lind. I'd probably agree with that but then add the caveat that LaRoche seems like a greater "falling off a cliff" risk, mostly due to injury/age.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 01:23 PM) Lind has had some pretty scary years mixed in to some pretty awesome ones. I feel much better about LaRoche as a much more stable option. Lind feels like maybe a steroid case to me. No proof, just a suspicion. I dunno, the age thing is the counterpoint. Yes, better clubhouse presence, but guy in mid-30s who seems like he's putting up numbers that express a bit of an age decline (the increasingly bad performance against lefties could fit that). Even if he had a good season against righties last year, there's still some worry.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 01:07 PM) As far as the White Sox go, in all the articles you read, the mentions you get about computer analysis are more in the area of contract negotiation/s, but it could be they're deliberately tight-lipped on orders of Hahn. I actually interviewed Mike Gellinger 1.5 years ago (he was managing Bristol at the time) who was the White Sox director of computer scouting from 1999 on. He talked a bit about how the Sox had set up one of the earliest versions of a computerized system allowing them to determine player value & piece together a sabermetric roster, he said it was the White Sox and the Indians that were particularly out in front on that in the early 2000s.

Finally someone is punished for lying about Iraq. It's about f***ing time. (and yes we've all been thinking that since last weekend when this came out, and no I don't care I'm saying it anyway).

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 11:30 AM) At the same time, it has to be a worthwhile proposition for Tampa, which is why I view it less as "what other teams are offering" and more "what it would take for Tampa to bite." He's signed for another 8 years at a ridiculously cheap price, relatively speaking. Even if all 4 of those prospects increase their stock as the season progresses, you are still looking at a fairly raw player in Tim Anderson who has to prove over a full season that he can handle the rigors of SS or else he ends up in CF (which isn't a huge deal, but does cut into his value), two guys in Danish and Montas who you can easily pigeonhole as relievers, and a 19 year old who will likely be spending his season between the A-ball affiliates. Even a trade of all 4 of them is a risky proposition for a team like Tampa. I just don't see how it could possibly get done without Rodon being included. I don't think the Sox are in a position to be trading a mega package for Evan Longoria at this point either. We've been talking for 10 years or so about having the farm system feed into the majors, and they're at a point where it may actually be feasible. It doesn't make sense to damn it all and put all the eggs in one basket. As valuable and great as Longoria is, we've seen how quickly a 3B can see his career spiral downward with one twinge of the back. If the Rays were to trade Longoria, they should look back on it as better than the trade texas made of Teixeira. It should make them better for >5 years. They should get the young core of a franchise 2-3 years away. We can do that, but it's literally everything we have, including Rodon. If we get lucky and Montas, Danish, and Anderson all actually succeed at a higher level this year...suddenly next year we'll be looking at having a lot more ammunition for that kind of move.

Jon Stewart to leave the Daily Show later this year.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 10, 2015 -> 05:21 PM) It's not necessarily unjust just because we don't agree with their beliefs. It may be corrupt, I don't know. But as I said days ago, if the choice is cancer or cancer, i'm choosing the option that at least provides me with a chance to live. The one where your percentages of survival are much better. We gave you reports of people winding up beheaded for witchcraft after reporting sexual harassment to authorities. Other categories include sorcery and dissent against the government. There is also no written legal code, so it's up to the religious judges to decide who they want beheaded. Pretty much all your statements about this being an orderly or legal or just process applied to criminals are 100% false and everyone admits it. They've done more than a dozen already in 2015. They've been at a pace of 1 every 3 or 4 days for several years now. They also crucify the beheaded body publicly afterwards in many cases But that's ok.

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Feb 10, 2015 -> 05:04 PM) To me, however, this comes down to one crucial point: we are taking an obvious stand against ISIS - which is important and good. But we should have some power to put some pressure on SA - our ally - to come around on human rights. For strategic reasons (oil, stability in the region, etc.), we don't put that pressure on them. Take it farther than that. Why is Isis so well funded? Illicit oil sales and overrunning a bank in Mosul where oil revenues were stored. They're able to use that money to pay their fighters more than any army in the middle east. Why are they well armed? Oil revenues and arms that we gave them through aid to Syria and Iraq. We're bombing American made military equipment while they're selling oil and using that money to buy more.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 10, 2015 -> 03:15 PM) 1) 21% of our oil is imported from SA. Not even a majority. http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6 2) Let's assume it was 100%, you really think that getting rid of foreign oil will stop the fight against Islamic terrorists? We've been buying less from them over the last 20 years and terrorism has skyrocketed. http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandl...IMUSSA1&f=M (hopefully that link takes you to the graph) We've been buying less from them? Who do you think "we" is? We is the rest of the world. It doesn't matter that 21% of the oil consumed in the United States comes from Saudi Arabia when they're able to sell 100% of it. This is the definition of the resource curse. Huge benefits flow to a tiny sliver of the population, they spread that money around to keep people from overthrowing them, that money winds up in the hands of angry groups who then use it against others. As long as that's the case, and we look the other way when Saudi Arabia beheads a woman in a public square and and then video appears of it online because the world needs that oil, then we're not on some great humanitarian campaign against the evils of beheadding. We just like a different government better.

Like I keep saying...as long as that's your attitude, we may as well just get used to videos of people being beheadded and burned alive because it won't change.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Feb 10, 2015 -> 01:53 PM) Because I like to drive does not mean I support ISIS. Because I own an NFL jersey does not mean I support spousal abuse. Because I own an NHL jersey does not mean I support tooth loss. And the world is not actually black and white. If we didn't buy NFL jerseys that would not stop spousal abuse. If the group that became Isis wasn't able to finance their war by selling oil, they wouldn't have made more than a whimper in Syria. If Saudi Arabia wasn't able to keep itself propped up by oil, they wouldn't be able to feed money to groups like Isis and have a trump card that prevents anyone from reforming them.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 10, 2015 -> 12:52 PM) That has nothing to do with anything here. The NFL allows it to happen. It supports those players. You supporting the NFL, buying merchandise, viewing games, etc., means you support spousal abuse. That's no different than your claim that gas purchases=support of SA's capital punishment. And Isis's too, don't forget that, all their money comes from oil too.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Feb 10, 2015 -> 10:48 AM) Someone refresh my memory on why the Sox don't qualify for the competitive balance rounds? I believe the 10 teams in the smaller markets and/or 10 with the lowest revenue qualify for the lottery. The Sox attendance was among the lowest the past few years, ergo low revenue (unless we really save THAT much with the low rental cost of the Cell). I understand Cardinals are in because of their market size, but how did Mariners qualify again? I don't think anyone has figured this out.