Balta1701

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 02:09 PM) Anyone thats puts his name on a bill with "-Kennedy" is no conservative. Well, that knocks out the President.

By the way, while y'all have been voting, some numbers came out showing that in January, the U.S. economy took what appears to be a gigantic nosedive. A report on the performance of the Service Sector of the economy, which had been expected to show a slight increase in January, showed seemingly a large contraction. A mark of 50 on that scale is considered to be holding steady, 51.5 or so was expected, and it came in at 44.6. That's the 2nd lowest number on record, next to October of 2001. According to Paul Krugman's blog, this number typically tracks strongly with the monthly job numbers.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 11:48 AM) Huckabee wins West Virginia, and all 18 delegates with it. He won 52% of the delegates in the convention-style event, Romney 47%, and McCain 1%. FWIW, Romney had a lead on the first ballot but not a majority, and on the 2nd ballot, the McCain folks all threw their votes to Huckabee to prevent a Romney win.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 10:16 AM) 4 of the top 5 teams in OPS last season made the playoffs. 6 of the top 7 teams in OBP last season made the playoffs. And the White Sox were 26th in OPS and 30th in OBP.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 10:11 AM) Off topic, but I personally laughed at Arlen Specter having his panties in a bunch over the Patriots, since he's a lousy Senator and a general douchebag. But if that isn't enough evidence for you, maybe the following link will make you think twice before taking his side against the Patriots and NFL. http://deadspin.com/352760/sen-specter-is-...al-judgment-guy Classic example of a politician at work. Use lies, deception, and personal vendettas to go after things that don't matter. But hey, who cares about the possible recession and Iraq, the NFL destroyed some tapes!!! The NFL receives literally billions of taxpayer dollars in the form of government funding for stadiums, security, and other various infrastructure concerns around them. Furthermore, the NFL is broadcast over the public airwaves, which includes rules preventing any sporting event presented as being live competition as being pre-arranged or fixed. The Senator is fully within his rights to spend time on this. It's a matter of public interest, a matter that the government has rules governing, and for crying out loud, do you really think a few days spent by either one Senator or even by a full committee on this will prevent them from acting on the Iraq war or the economy?

By the way, 5 years ago today, Colin Powell made a little vial of talcum powder seem very scary. Interesting little memory for the vote today.

QUOTE(shipps @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 09:48 AM) If Nick hits over .265 and 22 hrs I would be shocked.I like his personality and everything that goes with the way he plays the game but I just dont think he is a good fit for our club.If SO and the inability to make contact and be crafty with the bat was our weakness in the past how is it good to add to that weakness? In a terrible year where we were playing a lot of rookies and guys like Andy Gonzalez with no business being in the major leagues, the White Sox were #8 in MLB in strikeouts last year. Teams 7, 6, and 5? Colorado, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. The best 6-7 teams in the league at strikeouts? Minnesota, Seattle, the Dodgers, the Angels, The Giants, the Cardinals, and The Orioles. Only 1 playoff team in the top 8. I find it very difficult to argue either way that making contact and avoiding strikeouts is a key trait of winning teams when there seems to be little correlation between strikeouts and wins or offensive effectiveness, etc.

Neyer does the Right Fielders today. The White Sox are holding on to #'s 3 and 14 on the list.

An interesting Verducci piece looking at the rule of thumb on how to increase the workload for a young pitcher without risking injuring them and which pitchers violated that rule last year. For him, the top 2 pitchers at the biggest injury risk are Ian Kennedy and Fausto Carmona. For what it's worth, Danks has pitched the same # of innings the last 2 years, 140 each year, which should tentatively put him on track for about 170 this year. Gavin Floyd has thrown 170 and 175 the last 2 years.

Here's some more info on whether or not McCain will be able to maneuver his way out of the spending limits that come with accepting public money for a campaign. The short answer seems to be that he'll probably be able to.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 03:39 AM) And he actually had the balls to criticize Congress for spending. Spending on the military and on wars doesn't count. You can't criticize that spending, it's not real spending.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 06:07 AM) So if McCain does cruise to an expected victory in Super Tuesday, he pretty much puts away Mitt Romney, and it is time to start thinking about VP candidates. Its obvious he has to find a right wing religious guy to balance him out. The rumor has been Mike Huckabee, and that might be a good fit if Obama was the Dem's nominee. That would cut into his strength in the south and religious areas. I got to thinking though, if it is Hillary, might you see McCain go to someone like Rick Santorium of PA, who get cut into Hill's strength in the NE? The one other issue that I'll keep bringing up...John McCain is 72 years old. He is a war veteran, he has been through an awful lot in his life, he's spent the last however many years in an incredibly stressful position as a Senator and on top of it has run 2 presidential campaigns...and is trying out for an even more stressful job. Heck, he took out a life insurance policy as collateral to secure a loan to fund his campaign. He's personally even suggested that he wasn't sure if he'd be up for a 2nd term if he won the first. Whoever he picks...they better be ready for the big chair on their own.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 07:34 AM) Dear John McCain, Please stop using my music at your rallies. I'm a Democrat, you aren't. Love,John Mellencamp Dude, they brought out Cheney to ROCK in the USA at the RNC in 04. They don't care. And if that doesn't cut it, I can always bring up the classic Reagan/Boss combo.

QUOTE(Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 07:04 AM) Obama +13???? WOW!! SurveyUSA has Clinton up 10. So that's a 23 point spread between those 2.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 07:43 PM) My weight has been about 127.5 ± 5. Walking everywhere and whatnot during the school year seems to keep my weight down. I refuse to take the bus, and I don't drive unless I have to. (Sends Heads to the Food thread)

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 07:22 PM) Sure. When you start seeing the jerseys in Wisconsin during Deer hunting season, the line is crossed. In all series-ness, this is about putting a different kind of jersey on the rack in the pro shop, and nothing else. And it's free advertising to anyone Mark runs in to while hunting.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 06:58 PM) I've got XBOX Live to keep me entertained until they finalize. I won't be going to bed until I know what went down. Piece of advice then...plan for your caffeine supply early. Because it's going to be a LONG night.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 06:52 PM) Tomorrow should be very entertaining regardless... hope I don't have to be in a s***ty mood before bed. In your time zone, unless you go to sleep pretty darn late, the odds of that are low. Because California could quite literally come down to the district by district counts, and there's no way that kind of detail will be available early in the evening.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 06:35 PM) For most people who didn't swim on a team at some point, 400 meters is a loooooooooong way. And between my knees and my lungs, the 4k run would be a looooooong way.

Some talk in the ether about a possible Arrested Development movie. If the strike ever ends.

QUOTE(knightni @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 06:34 PM) Anyone else getting a "LOL" picture in their heads like I am? I would be, except that the LOL picture is also wearing the Camo unis, and I just can't seem to see it.

QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 06:22 PM) I am trying to drop cola and other sugars and drinking more water. I have dropped 7 pounds since starting that...but I still have a way to go. I got lazy, I use to workout a ton and then started working a ton instead and don't feel like hitting the weights when I get home. I would rather watch tv and veg out anymore. Some day I'm going to own a large enough TV to be seen from the exercise bike I'll also someday own. And the Daily Show/Colbert Report will then be my workout time, and everyone will be happy.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 05:55 PM) Clinton raises $13.5M this past month compared to Obama's $32M. Which means...if she doesn't post at least a solid win tomorrow, she's in real trouble, because not only do the demographics favor Obama more later in this month/season...the money will favor him strongly as well.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 05:30 PM) Count me in.... I've REALLY struggled all my life with extra weight. A few times I have dropped big numbers only to regain it after some kind of lifestyle change. My eating habits are my biggest problem. I'm (and always have been) an extremely picky eater and that unfortunately I do not see changing any time in the near future. Green beans are the only vegetable I eat. Yep, that's right. No salads, no corn, no broccoli..... So dieting is difficult for me, though not impossible. I'll just say that I have lost 13 pounds since Jan 5 doing nothing more than trying to be smarter about what, when and how much I eat. I really need to kick things into gear this month and start exercising, but have yet to get over the bulls*** hurdles (excuses) I claim. My original goal was to lose a pound a day for the month of February, but I don't see that happening, so I need to figure out a shorter term goal and maybe one not quite so agressive. Though if I get my s*** together, that could be a realistic figure. I'm almost 40 so I need to do something big. I played in college at 180-185 pounds and could easily run 3-4 miles feeling stronger at the end than when I started. Now I couldn't run 40 feet. If you're not a vegetable person, one thing that's worked well for me is adding in the fruit. Just replacing part of my usual lunch with an apple has worked quite well as far as I can tell.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 4, 2008 -> 04:59 PM) With those distances, the swim will be by far the toughest leg. Hmph, for me it'd be by far the running. I'm doing like 8 mi on an exercise bike and 2 mi on a regular bike a day, a 400 m swim would be nothing for me (was on the swim team back in high school, that was about half a warmup) but 2.5 miles of a jog would not agree well with me.