Balta1701

QUOTE(qwerty @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 05:02 PM) The nba has more followers than any other sport besides soccer. In every other continent kids either have a basketball or a soccer ball. Kids in europe are not walking around with baseball bats and hockey sticks the majority of the time. One reason being is they cannot afford the equipment for either baseball/ hockey. Football is not nearly and big as soccer is world wide either. Kids in Europe aren't walking around very much with baseball bats, but what about Kids in Japan and Latin America? Seems to me like a heck of a lot of them have baseball bats. Korea too. China...well Yao Ming might have helped them corner that market, and that's a pretty damn big market. 1 thing though - it seems to me that lots of players in latin America (Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, etc.) seem to find ways to get their hands on baseball equipment. I think that Europe is probably a fair amount more developed than Latin America, so somehow I doubt that Europeans being unable to buy the equipment to compete in baseball is a workable reason.

QUOTE(peanut33tillman @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 04:30 PM) guys u knew beltre would be a 1 year wonder..or at least i did sure hes been a solid player with the dodgers, but he wasnt worth that phat contract he signed with the Ms this offseason and he wasnt as good as advertised last season..thats all Even if he was a 1-year wonder, if there was a moderate drop-off in his numbers this year, he'd still be worth that contract. He's getting like 12 or 13 million a year. If my 3b plays solid defense, hits 30-35 home runs, and hits .300, he's probably worth that money. Each of those numbers would be a substantial drop-off from his performance last year. And I don't put any of them out of his reach yet. If he'd put up 45+ home runs, .330 average 2 or 3 years in a row, I wouldn't have been surprised if he earned a bigger contract than Beltran. He was undervalued a bit because he'd only done it for 1 year.

QUOTE(ScottPodRulez22 @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 03:33 PM) We still have the beat the pads there not as easy as the indians and rockies! Um, forgive me, but didn't the Indians just take 2/3 from these same Padres?

QUOTE(TheDybber @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 02:59 PM) I have it. It's ok. Not the best, but it works pretty well. I have a friend that's a Cubs fan and he bought it last year and I just piggybacked off him, so I had to buy it this year. I don't really use it other than having the occasional day game on at work. If you really want to see the Sox, though, it's worth it. Occasionally, you will get the other teams feed though. I don't have DSL, but I tried it on my computer using the school's connection when they gave away a free preview week to start 2003. I was less than impressed, although that was probably in part a function of the quality of my computer - despite the fact its new, it's never played video all that well. Too many skips, not good enough images. I went ahead and purchased the MLB internet radio package, and I use that @ school instead. It's also not great in quality - lots of skips even over a fast connection, occasionally the audio will totally drop out and you'll need to restart, but it's better than nothing when you're sitting in an office processing data. I went ahead and got the MLB Extra Innings package from DirecTV, and am very happy I did. I wish I could get the Sox announcers more often, but at least i get the games and our guys 1/2 of the time. (Except when the games are on WCIU - don't they realize if they license to DirecTV, then more people will watch the game? AARRRGGGHHH) If memory serves...if you wait about another month, DirecTV et al. will start discounting their Extra Innings packages because of people like you who don't think 2/3 of the season is worth the full price. I believe last year they ran a free preview around the AS Break, and had a discount associated with it.

QUOTE(Soxnbears01 @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 03:01 PM) the country? doesn't the universal order go 1)NFL 2)MLB 3)NBA 4)NHL I think in the late 90's, right after the Strike and during the Jordan years, you could maybe have flopped #2 and #3. Those were rough times for Baseball, and Jordan made the NBA as big as it could get.

Man, thank God he's protecting our nation's family values. I never felt like we had Jesus in the White House before, but I do now. Wait, wha? (the 2nd part of that was a quote from one of GWB's town hall meetings last year)

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 06:38 AM) Didn't he get something like $65 million for 5 years? yes, that's about right. But that's still not ARod money we're talking. I still think the guy will snap it around, unless he had some help hitting those 40 some odd home runs last year. He's solid defensively, has a great bat, and is stuck adjusting to a new league right after getting hot in the other one. If he hits like this for 5 years, then yeah they wasted their money. But you don't expect guys to go from #2 in the MVP voting to garbage in 1 year if they're not hurt, especially when they're 26 years old. You know, I probably should have said $20 mil a year.

QUOTE(chi-guy2 @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 10:53 AM) should be a good matchup too bad bradley is on the DL I'd also say too bad Jose is on the DL for the Dodgers...if anyone knows the Twinkies around there, it'd be him. Plus, he's hitting like .290 career against Mays and .333 career against Silva, with 9 hr off those 2 (and he has 5 career blasts of Radke, the Sunday starter, although he only hit .243 against him).

QUOTE(Winnin Ugly @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 02:31 PM) Balta- I have all 4 years stats on the 1st page Can you offer up anything other than ERA and W/L? Remember, 83 and 93 are IMHO 2 totally different eras in baseball. The Canseco/Big Mac/Post 89 A's offensive (and possibly steroid fueled) surge hadn't happened yet. So it's hard to just look at ERA's between these 2 era's and compare. On top of that, the late 80's was really when we saw the proliferation of Middle Relief and closers, who could come in if a guy was struggling and cause a pitcher to get less wins. (When's the last time we saw a 24 game winner?) Therefore, it's also hard to compare a 24 win season in 1983 to any numbers in 93. I think that it's almost safe to compare 93 to today, even though I'd bet that the ERA number on an equivalent staff would still be higher this year, due to the smaller ballparks and/or designer steroids.

With the Bulls finally turning it around after 6 seasons of utter futility, you better believe it I'll be damned furious if they miss playing time. I just can't believe that people would be so stupid as to risk 2 work stoppages in 6 years. I think these guys will figure something out. Remember like 2 years ago in MLB, when it seemed almost certian that there would be a 2nd strike, and at the last minute they worked something out? I bet something like that will happen in the NBA. Last second they'll work something out. The only problem with my theory is that if there is a lockout, they don't immediately start losing games, so that makes the lockout a little more likely, and once its started it gets even harder to stop.

Roughly 1990, give or take a year or two. Started watching baseball in 89, watched mainly Cubs games because that was what was on WGN, was watching Sox games instead a year later. Plus, we lived a lot closer to Comiskey, so that helped in seeing a bundle of games every year Given that I was 9 at the time, that pretty much means my whole life.

I was 2 years old in 1983, so I'd have some difficulty voting for them. If anyone can pass along some stats to convince me, i'd love to see them. Otherwise, I still rank 93 the best...for now. If this pitching staff continues to carry us to the playoffs, then they can easily surpass that lineup. But man, wasn't Black Jack incredible in the early 90's? I never saw anyone be so dominant when he didn't have his best pitches working.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 01:57 PM) I like Lopez. He's just solid. "That show just perpetuates the stereotype that George Lopez is funny" -Chris Griffin

QUOTE(Steff @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 12:47 PM) What part of "And I am not saying YOU are doing it" did you not comprehend..??? The part of it that didn't stick in my head. My apologies...I kind of lost that statement when I was replying. Entirely my fault. Aside from that, I think my last 2 posts still effort the same point. It's not the "white woman's fault", but the media is going crazy for these "missing young white women", and it's really not a good thing.

Here's a WaPo piece from today on the same topic.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 09:43 AM) So is that all the "white woman's" fault...?? That gives the green light to talk s*** about her..? And I'm not at all saying YOU are doing that.. just a curious question. I'm not talking sh*t about her. I just don't care about her, and I don't think that she's national news. The only reason she's national news is that she's a white American female. Here's a quote from a former Dole Press Secretary on the subject. There are also links there to missing African American females who are simply ignored by the news media. Ditto Children.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 08:28 AM) I, for one, got a kick out of it. Fireronzook.com orginated this stuff and has yet to be challenged. And considering they won their fight (and really had money pouring in near the end - hell they bought ad space on a plane flying over Florida games last year), that's not a bad model to emulate.

QUOTE(Cubs Suck23 @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 09:56 AM) I would love for the Sox to win the AL Central but getting into the playoffs is the main thing.. If somehow the Twins over take us which i dont think they will.. The Sox have a 7.5 game lead on Texas for the Wildcard spot... This is not said in anger so please don't take it that way... I don't want to hear the phrase "wild card" when talking about this team unless the Twinkies pass us. It should not even be uttered. There should be absolutely no one on this team who wants the Wild Card. This team right now is good enough to win this division, and we're going to have to start playing worse to get to the wild card. The Twinkies are playing their hearts out right now and are still 4 back. There should be 1 goal and 1 goal alone for this team during the regular season, and that's to get that magic number down to zero. Anything less means that we let up and let the Twins pass us. Anything less means that we went into a slump. Anything less means that we are no longer the team to beat in the AL. Anything less means that someone else has home field advantage in the playoffs. The phrase "wild card" should only be mentionned in the context of the Wild Card coming from the AL Central instead of the west. That is all.

QUOTE(Queen Prawn @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 07:32 AM) I wonder if they will make the same big deal next weekend when the Sox play the dodgers? I believe that the Sox played the Dodgers last year (or was it 2 years ago?) so it won't be the first time that's happened.

QUOTE(Yoda @ Jun 10, 2005 -> 09:34 AM) Last appearance: 5.1 IP 11 H 5 R 5 ER 1 BB 3 SO ... and got the W. The Dogers as a whole have been a really wierd beast this season. They have the talent to get as hot as anyone, but then they keep making themselves look like fools in other cases. Their biggest problems have probably been inconsistent starting pitching and infield defense, which is exactly what people would have predicted when Depodesta put this team on the field. And when defense is a problem and you've got Izturis at short, that's saying something. The Twins are a far better team than the Dodgers. I don't think that LA has to face Santana, which is lucky for them, but the Twins will probably pile on quite a few runs onto the Dodgers, several of them unearned. The Dodgers best hope is that they can figure out the Twins' pitching staff. They'll need to outscore the Twinkies, because I doubt they're going to outpitch them.

I used to work for a sales business that had 2 shops in the NW Indiana area. During my last year there, the guy who owned the other office in the area was shot and killed outside of his office. It later seemed to turn out that his teenage kids had repeatedly tried to put out a hit on him. Btw, he was a millionaire. His wife had also been cheating on him. The person who they actually think pulled the trigger was a person the kids knew from school. He has since disappeared. One kid was arrested, but because of shoddy police work, he was never charged. The wife later ran off to Michigan with another guy from that office and blew most of the guy's money on drugs. If just 1/20th of the amount of coverage that CNN et al. have wasted on discussing missing white women was given to that case, I bet you it would be enough to find the killer. I bet you it would spur the local police to get their act together. I bet you it wouldn't be that hard to find the guy if his face was out there (last I heard he was cited in one of the Carolinas.) But alas, all we get is missing white women. No wonder I no longer watch cable news.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 9, 2005 -> 06:14 PM) I don't either, but apparently someone is still watching. Enough people to keep the damn show on the air. I do. I'm currently sitting at a grand total of 1 episode missed (damn DirecTV rainstorm effect)... And it's really pissing me off too. It was the episode where Marge's sister came out of the closet, and I think Fox is resisting showing in reruns because of the political content. I've seen every one of the reruns from that same month at least 1 or 2 times already. It's not Family Guy funny right now, but it's still worth watching, at least to me.

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Jun 9, 2005 -> 10:04 PM) Yeah, I'm not advocating trading Cotts, I just think that he would have some value now, and KW probably would be more likely to trade him over McCarthy at this point. I think right about now, even if we considered Trading him, we'd never get back enough value to make up for the loss of a quality left-hander. Especially since very few people have heard of him. No team's going to get excited if they give up someone for "Neal Cotts". They would for BMac. I honestly think the only guy in our organization we might get equal value for is BMac, just because of how dominant he was in the minors last year and in ST this year.

QUOTE(knightni @ Jun 9, 2005 -> 10:05 PM) Balta... I love that avatar! LOL Why thanks...I was waiting for someone to take note.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 9, 2005 -> 08:34 PM) If anyone ever showed up to the Cell wearing a shirt like that they'd probably get "heaved" into a trash can face first. And I can think of probably 20 people, including me, who would be happy to help. Even while sober. That man is the best marketing engine the Sox have. Look what having Harry did for the Cubs. The man was out there for years telling people to come to Wrigley, and all of a sudden people started listening. The Hawk is an icon. Every now and then the Sportscenter guys will do his homerun call or use one of his nicknames, and a lot of times they attribute it to the Hawk. I hardly know any other announcers who get their catch phrases on air. I've been listening to the Hawk since I became a Sox fan. I don't know if I can name a better home run call in baseball right now. I don't think there's an announcer I'd rather listen to. Hell, I practically bought MLB's extra innings so I'd get more games that he was announcing. The White Sox without the Hawk are the blandest White Sox around.