Balta1701

Oh for crying out loud you've got to be kidding me. Seriously. JPL, pass the hat. I'm good for a chunk.

A bit of concern from one of the more connected members of the Dem blogosphere world: It's entirely possible that the campaign continuing to drag on for another 4 weeks or more will be more than enough to hamper the efforts of the lower level Dems to fundraise from the same group of supporters.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 05:46 PM) I agree with you that it is a shame that some white students who might have otherwise been accepted to a university were not because of artificial quotas instituted into the application process. And I don't necessarily agree that Affirmative Action is the best solution to the problem, if it is a solution at all. However, you seem to be discounting a whole host of societal advantages that work in the favor of whites, beginning at birth. I just think some people really hesitate to sympathize with the plight of a people who've been at the top of the totem pole throughout this nation's history. And the beauty of this whole discussion, to my eyes, is that its exactly the discussion that Barack wanted to initiate with his speech last week, and I've been waiting for it to get to this point before pointing it out. If you read his speech, he pointed out that yes, people like Rev. Wright are angry. But at some level, they certainly have a right to be angry. This country has been inhabited by people from Europe for almost 400 years now, and we've actually treated people who don't look like white people as 2nd or 3rd or 3/5 class citizens for all except the last 30-40 years or so in the actual law of the country, and even after that there are built in disadvantages. But on the other hand, there are people who on the other side have legit grievances also. Is it appropriate that qualified people are left out of jobs or universities because of race? No. But is it appropriate that people can't get the appropriate qualifications they need to get those jobs or admissions because they were unfortunate enough to be born to the wrong family or in the wrong socio-economic status? Similarly no. THere isn't an easy solution to this except to fix the system itself. Affirmative action is a band aid. Compared to doing nothing, it's probably a good thing. But it is certain to have repercussions, and those are worth acknowledging as real. Both sides have grievances, but as long as they spend their time blaming each other, being angry at each other, swearing at each other, and using those lines to divide us, we'll never be able to fix the actual problems of people being unable to get ahead in this country.

I believe after all the snow-outs last year there was a short study of some sort which suggested that all you had to do was avoid playing a home game in like the first 10 days of the season in a few cities (Chicago, Minny, Cleveland) and you pretty much bypass the chances of losing whole series as happened with Cleveland last year.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 04:26 PM) So, did the Bears get SF's 5th rounder? Or did they just forfeit it? It seems like SF Simply loses it.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 04:22 PM) That's the problem. He's also a 1 inning guy. I was surprised they cut Ohka so quickly. The long man doesn't have to be Cy Young, but it would be nice if he could keep the score down. The good news is if the long man is the White Sox biggest issue this year, there will be a lot of wins. I don't believe Ohka was cut, but he was reassigned to minor league camp. The team would only have had to cut him if they signed him to a major league contract.

QUOTE(Princess Dye @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 04:18 PM) any other long relief candidates? I'd be fine with seeing MacDougal in that role til he proves he's a setup guy again. Well, let's see. Dotel's had enough arm trouble that 2 innings for him will probably be pushing it. In the past 3 years, Linebrink has pitched 219 innings in 217 games appeared in, which screams 1 inning guy, although he can probably give you 2 in a pinch. Jenks is closing. Logan is a solid LOOGY but has enough trouble against righties that you don't want him being a long man. Thornton can probably give you a couple innings, but who knows what to expect from him, just like MMac. I think the reality is that Masset is out of options, and if the team believes he has any talent at all, they're not going to give up on him for nothing.

I read the title of this thread and immediately thought it meant he had the last roster spot in the bullpen.

Because I'm all about being fair and balanced, here's a different perspecive on Mayo:, via Bill Simmons.

QUOTE(TitoMB345 @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 03:51 PM) Someone said it before, but I still believe the only way BA gets more than 2-4 ABs a week is if Owen's hurts his groin pretty badly.. sad. But I am a huge BA fanboy, so take it for what its worth. Personally, I can't wait to see his flowing golden locks and huge muscles patrolling CF at the Cell... makes me drool. Whether Ozzie likes it or not...if BA can actually hit anywhere like he's hitting this spring when the actual show starts...the right decision is to have him playing 4 or 5 days a week, and using the fact that we're strong on OF's and Swisher can play 1b as a way to get Dye, Thome, and Konerko more rest or more days at DH to rest their legs.

Hillary gave an economic policy speech this morning, outlining some moves that could be taken to try to patch over the housing market collapse. Some of them included; having the Federal government purchase some packages of the poorly performing mortgage backed securities from investment banks (Basically what the Fed has been doing except on a more permanent basis with the government footing the bill for the ones that fail), a freeze on sub-prime mortgage rates, and some amount of legal protection to make it easier for investment banks to restructure people's mortgages without being sued by investors. I think I liket the sound of the latter one, I'm not sure I like the bailout concept, but there's one that seems to have pissed a bunch of people off, including me: Yes, that's right. In order to fix the mortgage mess, we ought to turn to people like Alan "Yes, here, take out this ARM...yes...yessss" Greenspan and Robert Rubin of Citi "as big of a part of the problem as anyone" Group. Somehow, I just can't see that as being a great idea.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 02:57 PM) monday afternoon = new friday night. kind of. in regardes me to me gettingdrunnbk If you're not on spring break right now...then this isn't healthy.

QUOTE(Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 02:21 PM) Best Line: "There is no reason to believe that today’s African Americans would be better off if their ancestors had remained behind in Africa." See? We did them a FAVOR! *gags* Pat Buchanan's most recent column...

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 02:02 PM) Did you happen to see the pop up Ramirez let drop yesterday? Cost the team 2 runs. Crede hit over .280 with 30 homers in 2006. He was hitting over .300 with 28 homers in August when his back locked up worse than normal. He's healthy now. No hit is not a good description.ut I really hope you're going to be proven right, but no hit Crede is a pretty accurate description of his performance this spring so far. He wouldn't be the first player to suck during ST and turn it on when April hits, but you can count me amongst the "Concerned" right now.

QUOTE(sf_soxfan @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 02:19 PM) Count seems to have settled down, need some fargin' offense off Jarrod fargin' Washburn Are people still hitting him hard at all? 5 innings so far, only the 2 runs in the first, 5 SO, I don't think he's walked anyone since the 2nd inning.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 11:32 AM) It's really starting to look like that's the case. I don't see how she gets away with blatantly lying all the time. Dude...with what the current administration has manged to get away with...

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 11:16 AM) I wouldn't write off Pauly so quickly. If he gets another contract extention, we could be talking about the all time leading home run hitter in Chicago White Sox history. That isn't a light statement to make. He's also the only ALCS MVP in team history. That's gotta count for something too.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 24, 2008 -> 10:02 AM) The only way that can happen is in a sign and trade... Actually I think you're wrong. If the Bulls don't resign Deng or Gordon, or even if they do but they manage things correctly (I have no idea where the cap will be that year in relation to the guys they already have), they've got a big expiring contract for that year in Hughes, which could leave them in a position to have space that year if that's the way they wanted to go. There's also I believe a re-negotiation of the CBA before that year hits, which is IIRC why Lebron structured his contract so that he could opt-out that year.

Every year he comes up as a suggestion it seems, and every year it's a bad idea. Uribe is a decent option at that spot. But if Uribe can't swing it, then we have 2 young options, one healthy enough to step in right now and one who will probably be ready by the end of May.

I'm really hoping it doesn't carry over, but at least from watching the game yesterday, Dye looked terrible. He was no where close to ready for Greinke.

To ask the question in a different way...what exactly would an African American have to do in your eyes to not be classified as a racist? From what I can see, you're basically saying that because anyone either the Obama family or the people around them have acknowledged race in any way that you as a white male do not find perfectly appropriate for your community and background you're concluding that they're all racists and are going to send Whitey to concentration camps. Clearly I'm exaggerating the last part, but what exactly are you alleging here?

He still has some stuff to learn, and Greinke overpowered him quite a bit, but that is a wonderful swing from Alexei. Short and quick, limited stride, head was totally frozen. He just needs to see the pitchers now.

Nice play in the hole by Cabrera to end the inning. He's not looking great with the bat so far, but he looked good with the glove.

And Anderson turns that in to a DP.

Masset comes in and immediately plunks a guy in the top of his helmet with a curve ball.