DePloderer

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Nov 2, 2005 -> 05:41 PM) Minging, yes. Gipping, gopping, and gouting even, sez this here septic. Stop Brit Language Abuse! A'hem.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Nov 2, 2005 -> 06:11 AM) No more than a week. IIRC, you didn't follow RICE with the initial injury. Rest Ice Compression Elevation You should be fully healed in 2-3 weeks, at your age, and I'm guessing being average weight and fitness. The swelling should have been negligible in 4-5 days. You may have a severe sprain there. It took me 12 months to recover from a badly sprained ankle last year. It still bothers me now after any hard runs.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 1, 2005 -> 02:11 PM) That's what a healing brush does. Come now, you don't realy believe I used a healing brush here do you?

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Nov 1, 2005 -> 05:48 AM) Awesome wall but am I the only one who see's "JENKS" everywhere??? Subliminal messages

If you want it.

Have a look here.

What is the world coming to?

I placed an order for a cap, sweatshirt and T shirt with MLB.com, used the 20% discount code and felt rather chuffed with myself. I just got the same email from them that I get whenever I order stuff there, telling me there are problems with my card. This is never the case, it's all ways because I have stuff delivered to the States to save on postage and my billing address is different. Long time readers will know this usualy goes to my oh so sloooooow sister in law to post on. This time I could't wait so had the stuff sent here direct and sod the postage. But I get the same damn email. So as we finished sorting it I complained, said I'd never use MLB.com again, the guy goes away and when he comes back discounts me 50% of the postage. So what you say, well the postage for this order to the UK was $59.98. So a further $30 saving is all mine. Do I look smug or what?

Does anyone know where I can find next seasons full schedule? Whitesox.com only has the home games. As we're visiting family in Virginia next August I'm determined to take in a game or two. As it looks like it will be too expensive to get up to Chicago, although I'm still working on it (the wife that is), I hoped I might be able to get to a closer city or fly into somewhere from the UK and then fly on to Washington DC.

I have a large sox logo in the back widow of my wifes car and other decals in the back and passenger side windows of my car. They do get some quizzical ( Texsox) looks around town.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Oct 29, 2005 -> 01:44 PM) festooned, damn I love that word. I also like accoutrements, or as we say in the south cootermints. Happy to help keep the English language alive and strong. I am however interested in those Cooter mints, never tried them. Are they used to make your breath smell of Cooters?

Exuberant White Sox bring an end to the suffering David Hannigan on Chicago's blue-collar club and their overdue shot at World Series redemption Monday October 24, 2005 Guardian Almost half a century since the team last graced the World Series, the Chicago White Sox had only to wait until their third batter up for the home run that started them on the way to a 5-3 victory over the Houston Astros in Game One on Saturday night. Three hours after Jermaine Dye dispatched a Roger Clemens fast ball over the right-field wall in that first inning, the south side of Chicago suddenly started to look like the better part of town. The sky lit up with celebratory fireworks and if the festivities appeared a tad premature so early in a best-of-seven contest, the fans can be forgiven their exuberance. They have suffered enough during this past century. Last time the Sox reached baseball's October ritual, the mayor Richard Daley marked the achievement by setting off the air raid sirens still in place all over the city. It was 1959. They did things differently then. Their defeat by the Los Angeles Dodgers that year was the only decider appearance by the Sox since the 1919 side carved an unwanted place in sporting folklore for throwing the Series. Eight of those players were banned for life as a consequence and during the present dramatic run through the play-offs, journalists have been desperate to pin the decades of spectacular failures on some perceived curse bequeathed by "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and his cohorts. Sox fans are too pragmatic to entertain such notions. Rather than seek other-worldly excuses, they will recite a litany of bad players and ill-equipped managers who let the side down. With particular venom, they lambaste the ownership styles of Charles Comiskey (he made the 1919 team pay for their own laundry and his penny-pinching supposedly made them vulnerable to bribes from bookies), and his successor Jerry Reinsdorf. If Reinsdorf's most famous contribution to the game to this point had been facilitating Michael Jordan's short-lived flirtation with the minor leagues and playing a key role in the baseball strike of 1995, even he will be forgiven almost everything if Ozzie Guillen can lead this team to three more wins over the next week. A charismatic and profane manager dubbed "The Blizzard of Oz", Guillen peppers his comments with swear words, boasts of receiving congratulatory phone calls from his compatriot, Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez (currently near the top of America's hit-list) and has threatened to resign at the end of the season. More animated and unorthodox than any other coach in the sport, nothing summed up his unique style better than his trip to the mound in the eighth inning during what looked like an Astros comeback. When changing pitchers to avert such disasters, most coaches call the bullpen by telephone or motion from the field to indicate whether they want a left-hander or right-hander sent in. In the middle of the biggest night of his managerial life, Guillen strolled out and with his hands far apart and then over his head, requested with a classic schoolyard gesture they send in the 20st behemoth Bobby Jenks. "I think it's pretty funny," said Jenks. "He does a lot of things out of humour, and I take it with a smile." The Sox's closer subsequently hurled a few pitches that touched 100mph past a bemused Jeff Bagwell and prevented the drama turning into a crisis. Although greatly assisted by the departure of Clemens with a hamstring injury after two innings, the power of Jenks and the defence of the third baseman Joe Crede were features of a typically gritty White Sox performance. A team with no bona fide mega stars who have adopted Don't Stop Believing by Journey as their locker-room anthem, they strung together one more display where the sum was greater than the individual parts, the perfect metaphor for their own place in the Chicago landscape. The Sox have always been less fashionable than their city rivals, the Cubs, who have not won a Series since 1908 but their peculiar failures are put down to a colourful curse involving a billy goat called Murphy being refused admission to a game. They play at the ancient ivy-clad Wrigley Field, arguably the most bucolic venue in all of sport, tickets to their games are infinitely more prized, and no matter what happens this week, they are still regarded very much as Chicago's team. By contrast the Sox, blighted by constant references to their cheating predecessors, defeated the Astros at the 14-year- old US Cellular Field, just another corporate-sponsored park. Their main bequest to folklore in recent decades was 1979's Disco Destruction Night, a fans' promotion that culminated in thousands of Donna Summer records being hurled on to the field at Comiskey Park, their previous home. When criticised for the amount of empty seats at regular-season games, the Sox delightedly point out their supporters are too busy working for a living. Neither their supposed inferiority complex nor the fact the club have not won a World Series since 1917 appeared to bother the present Sox in Game One. The nearest they came to cracking was Guillen almost crying at the sight of his fellow Venezuelan, Luis Aparicio, a veteran of the 1959 side, before the game. The Astros twice came back to tie the game but each time the Sox edged in front again and the starting pitcher, José Contreras, one of two Cuban defectors in their squad, hung in for seven tough innings on a night that grew increasingly chilly. Earlier in the week it was announced that "Black Betsy", the prized bat used by Joe Jackson (who remains a cause célèbre because many believe he did not fully participate in the conspiracy), will be put auctioned in December. By then, the White Sox faithful hope the notorious relic will not be worth as much, its currency having been devalued by recent events. The 1919 Black Sox The 1919 World Series resulted in the most famous scandal in baseball history. Eight Chicago White Sox players - including "Shoeless" Joe Jackson - were accused of throwing the Series against the Cincinnati Reds and the team were later nicknamed the Black Sox. The conspiracy was allegedly the brainchild of the first baseman Chick Gandil and Joseph Sullivan, a professional gambler. Details of the scandal and the extent each player was involved have always been unclear but despite being acquitted of criminal charges, the eight were banned from the professional game for life. The White Sox had clinched the American League pennant that season and were installed as the bookmakers' favourites to defeat the Reds. Cynics were tipped off before it started, however, the White Sox were made underdogs and lost the Series 5-3. Despite the rumours most fans and the press accepted the Series to be honest, but all that would change in 1920 as suspicions turned into confessions. To this day all eight have been denied entry into the Hall of Fame.

Here's one from yesterdays Guardian. Dye colours White Sox sweep in World Series Dave Hannigan Friday October 28, 2005 Guardian In the build-up to game four of the World Series, the fact that the Houston Astros did not have a single African-American on their roster suddenly became an issue for debate. It seemed almost inevitable then that with the teams still scoreless in the eighth inning, Willie Harris came off the Chicago White Sox bench to hit a single before eventually being driven home for the game's only run by Jermaine Dye. Two African-Americans combined to undo the Astros at their own Minute Maid Park and hand the White Sox their first championship since 1917. The ghosts of the team that infamously threw the 1919 Series were finally laid to rest. Having scored the first and last runs of the Series, and hit consistently throughout, Dye was voted Most Valuable Player for his outstanding form in this clean-sweep by the National League champions. Harris, though, had a story worthy of a moment in the spotlight, too. After a season spent on the substitutes' bench, during which the mother of his 10-year-old daughter died in a car crash, his appearance at the plate on Wednesday night was his first in three weeks. Less than 24 hours after Geoff Blum, another bit-part player, unfurled a home run to win an epic game three, the Sox introduced another batter cold and watched him deliver a crucial hit. "We all worked hard to do whatever we could to help this team win and guys came up with big hits in a lot of situations," said Dye. "It's just special for me to be thought of as MVP and become an MVP from that group. And it means a lot, not only to us in the clubhouse, but to the organisation, to the fans and to the city. It's a great feeling. We're just happy to be able to bring a championship to the city of Chicago. It's really special." Perhaps nothing better encapsulated the Sox's business-like approach to ending the 88-year drought than their refusal even to discuss how the nefarious activities of their predecessors might have hexed the club. This was a team rooted in the here and now, unconcerned with so many decades of well-documented losing and romanticised curses. With the minimum of fuss, a blue-collar outfit boasting arguably just one bona fide superstar brought the trophy back to the south side of America's second city, where for a century they have been regarded as the poor relation to the more vaunted Cubs. The balance of power in the Windy City may well have shifted permanently. The statue of Michael Jordan (who once disastrously dabbled in the minor leagues for the Sox) standing outside the United Center, home to the Chicago Bulls, has worn a White Sox jersey all week. When Juan Uribe threw to Paul Konerko to record the final out and clinch the 1-0 win in Houston, the Reverend Dan Brandt at the Nativity of our Lord Catholic Church immediately rang the bells in salute to the team. At the Sox's own stadium, US Cellular Field, hundreds of fans gathered to celebrate a moment only the most supreme optimists among them could have seen coming. After all it had been 46 years since they had even qualified for the Series. If one half of Chicago had been waiting several generations for the victory, it was celebrated from Tokyo to Caracas to Havana. Apart from boasting three more African-Americans than the Astros in their line-up, the Sox's locker-room had a Japanese second baseman, a sprinkling of Cuban defectors, a Dutch trainer and a Venezuelan manager in Ozzie Guillén. Although Major League Baseball had long ago earmarked game four to introduce the all-time Latino Legends team, as voted for by fans, the Hispanic flavour to the pre-match ceremony lent credence to the view that Wednesday was going to be the Sox's night. A proud Venezuelan who often ends television interviews with a declaration of love for his homeland, Guillén cut a strangely subdued figure at the finish. As his players and staff jumped about the field in front of Astros supporters shaken by how their team disintegrated during the first Series appearance of its 43-year existence, and a surprising number of Sox fans who had somehow wangled tickets and made the journey south, he stood to one side. The game's most animated and loquacious coach was deep in thought. "I was thinking about my country," said Guillén. "I say, wow, I wish I'd be in Venezuela right now to see how they're celebrating. With all due respect to Chicago fans, I know in my country they're going crazy. I think finally I do something real nice to make Venezuela real happy. And I was thinking about, well, that now Jerry Reinsdorf [the Sox owner] can hold something he wanted to hold for a long time, the trophy, World Series trophy. That's all I was thinking about. I was thinking about my country and Jerry Reinsdorf, but more about my country because I think we need this happiness back there and thank God we did [win]." While Guillén deserves enormous credit for the way he has moulded a team into far more than the sum of its parts, their cause was helped by the Astros' bats falling collectively silent when they were needed most. Not even the presence of the former President George Bush and his wife, Barbara, behind the plate could help them to rediscover their form. Having experienced a September slump that threatened their qualification for the play-offs, the Sox won their last five regular-season games and then won 11 out of 12 on their way to collecting the trophy. Twelve months ago, the Boston Red Sox ended an 86-year famine and nobody in baseball thought they would see anything as remarkable. They were wrong. Party like it's 1917 Nicholas II deposed as Tsar of Russia. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin seizes power in the October revolution. The United States enter the war. The Balfour Declaration commits Britain to support Jewish settlement of Palestine. Charlie Chaplin becomes the first actor with a million-dollar contract. Anthony Burgess, Heinrich Böll, Vera Lynn, Ella Fitzgerald, John Lee Hooker and Zsa Zsa Gabor are born. Edgar Degas, Auguste Rodin and Buffalo Bill dies. Mata Hari is shot as a spy by a French firing squad that is reportedly blindfolded so as to render it immune to her charms. The Chicago White Sox win the World Series, beating the New York Giants by four games to two.

Here are two reports that appeared in The Times over here this week. I thought you might be interested in reading them. The Times October 28, 2005 White Sox sweep away curse of 1919 From Keith Blackmore in Houston WINNING the World Series for the first time in 88 years may not banish the ghosts of the greatest scandal in American sports history, but for the Chicago White Sox it’s a start. For 86 of those years the disgrace of the so-called Black Sox, who threw the World Series of 1919 in a gambling coup, has hovered like a long, dark cloud over everything Chicago’s second team have done since. The scenes of jubilation on the field at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday night, after the Sox had beaten the Houston Astros 1-0 to complete a four-game sweep of this year’s series, should mark the start of a new era for the team from the Southside and it will be all the sweeter for the knowledge that their Northside rivals, the Cubs, are still stuck with a curse of their own: no championship since 1908. Most important of all, though, will be the separation at last from the “curse of the Black Sox”. Eight men were banned for life from the sport in 1921 after the scandal was revealed, among them some of the greatest players of the time and one, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who even now has the third-highest batting average in baseball history and whose name still resonates down the decades. All eight had been cleared by a grand jury of involvement in the fixing of the best-of-nine series, which the Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds, the underdogs, 5-3. Some money certainly changed hands between fixers and players, but it has never been clear who were the truly guilty men. In a sport given to self- mythologising, the story of the Black Sox has always added an irresistible whiff of authentic corruption to the game’s annual tale of triumph and disaster and if baseball has always stood for the best of American life, the Black Sox have provided a reminder of how it could be debased. None of this, it must be said, is likely to have been much in the minds of the modern White Sox players as they cavorted in the champagne fountains on Wednesday. For them, the result was simply confirmation that they really were the best team this year. Not only did they lead their division from start to finish during the regular season, they also romped through the play-offs, winning 11 games and losing only one. The last of these wins came in the closest game of the series. Brandon Backe, the least famous of Houston’s starry line-up of starting pitchers, gave the performance of his career, striking out six while giving up only five hits and no runs in seven innings. But he was bettered by Freddy García, the forgotten man of the White Sox rotation, who kept the Astros’ feeble hitting line-up quiet, too. The deadlock was broken in the eighth inning, when Jermaine Dye singled off the reliever, Brad Lidge, driving home Willie Harris for the winning run. Dye had struck the first real blow of the series, smashing a home run off the mighty Roger Clemens on Saturday night in the first inning of the first game, and he was named Most Valuable Player of the series for his consistent hitting through all four games. There was one other moment of high drama, in the bottom of the ninth, when the Astros were trying desperately to claw their way back into the game. With a man on second and a man out, Chris Burke swung and sent the ball spiralling into the sky. It looked as if it would drop safely into the seats in foul territory, giving Burke another life, but Juan Uribe, the Chicago shortstop, dived head-first into the crowd and emerged triumphant seconds later, ball in hand. The catch perfectly embodied the virtues that have made the White Sox champions: speed, skill, commitment and determination to make the most of every opportunity. In that, they also resembled their manager, Ozzie Guillen, a Venezuelan like García, whose fractured English and fiery temperament drove them to ever greater heights. The White Sox may not be a great team, but they are a very good one. One by one, baseball’s great “curses” seem to be lifting. Last year it was the Boston Red Sox and the “Curse of the Bambino”, this year it is the Black Sox. Chicago Cubs fans will hope that next year it will be their turn. CURSED TWO OUT OF THREE AIN’T BAD THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO Cause: The Boston Red Sox sell the young Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920. Effect: The Red Sox go 86 years without winning the World Series, while the Yankees win it 26 times. Lifted: 2004, when the Red Sox finally win the series again, beating the Yankees on the way. THE CURSE OF THE BLACK SOX Cause: Eight Chicago White Sox players banned for life for throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Effect. The White Sox go 88 years without winning the World Series. Lifted. October 2005. THE CURSE OF THE BILLY GOAT Cause: In 1945, the Chicago Cubs refuse World Series admission to a tavern owner and his pet goat. The tavern owner curses the Cubs. Effect: No World Series for the Cubs since, stretching their run without success from 1908. The Times October 27, 2005 White Sox sweep Astros for World Series title From Keith Blackmore in Houston Winning the World Series for the first time in 88 years may not banish the ghosts of the greatest scandal in American sports history but for the Chicago White Sox, it's a start. For 86 of those years the disgrace of the so-called Black Sox, who threw the World Series of 1919 in a gambling coup, has hovered like a long dark cloud over everything Chicago's second team has done since. The scenes of jubilation on the field at Minute Maid Park here on Wednesday night, after the Sox had beaten the Houston Astros 1-0 to complete a four-game sweep of this year's series, should mark the start of a new era for the team from the South Side and it will be all the sweeter for the knowledge that their rivals to the north, the Cubs, are still stuck with a curse of their own: no championship since 1908. Most important of all though will be the separation at last from the curse of the Black Sox. Eight men were banned for life from the sport after the scandal was revealed, among them some of the greatest players of the time and one, Shoeless Joe Jackson, who even now has the third highest batting average in baseball history and whose name resonates down the decades. All eight had been cleared by a grand jury of involvement in the fixing of the best-of-nine series which the Sox lost to the underdog Cincinnati Reds, 5-3. Some money certainly changed hands between fixers and players but it has never been clear who were the truly guilty men. The players were banned for life from baseball anyway. In a sport given to self-mythologising, the story of the Black Sox has always added an irresistible whiff of authentic corruption to baseball's annual tale of triumph and disaster, and if baseball has always stood for the best of American life, then the Black Sox have provided a reminder of how it could be debased. None of this, it must be said, is likely to have been much in the minds of the modern White Sox players as they cavorted in the champagne fountains on Wednesday. For them the result was simply confirmation that they really were the best team in baseball this year. Not only did they lead their division from start to finish of the regular season but they romped through the play-offs winning 11 games and losing only one. The last of these wins came in the closest game of the series. Brandon Backe, the least famous of Houston's starry line-up of starting pitchers, gave the performance of his career, striking out six while giving up five hits and no runs in seven innings. But he was bested by Freddy Garcia, the forgotten man of the White Sox rotation, who kept the Astros feeble hitting line-up quiet too. The deadlock was broken in the eighth inning, when Jermaine Dye singled off Brad Lidge, the reliever, driving home Willie Harris for the winning run. It was Dye who had struck the first real blow of the series, smashing a home run off the mighty Roger Clemens on Saturday night in the first inning of the first game, and he was later named Most valuable Player of the series for his consistent hitting through all four games. There was one other moment of high drama in the bottom of the ninth when the Astros were trying desperately to claw their way back into the game. With a man on second and one out, Chris Burke swung and sent the ball spiralling into the sky. It looked as if it would drop safely into the seats in foul territory giving Burke another life but Juan Uribe, the Chicago shortstop dived headfirst into the crowd and emerged triumphant seconds later, ball in hand. The catch perfectly embodied the virtues that have made the White Sox champions: speed, skill, commitment, and determination to make the most of every opportunity. In that, they also resembled their manager, Ozzie Guillen, a Venezuelan like Garcia, whose fractured English and fiery temperament have driven them to ever-greater heights. The White Sox may not be a great team but they are a very good one. One by one, baseball's great "curses" seem to be lifting. Last year it was the Red Sox and the curse of the Bambino, this year it is the Black Sox. Chicago Cubs fans will hope that next year it will be their turn.

All the best.

Southsider2k5 sent me here. My car is festooned with the stuff, only one in England?

I've touched up these for you.

QUOTE(uksox @ Oct 28, 2005 -> 10:40 PM) Dude thank you very much Your very welcome.

I've got to sign of soon guys, it was really nice to have shared this with you all.

QUOTE(AnthraxFan93 @ Oct 28, 2005 -> 06:50 PM) Great Job, but you are missing 2 pieces to the puzzle.. Kenny Williams and Brain Anderson. You noticed that then, for all the pedants I also missed Shingo, Joe Borchard, Raul Casanova and Jeff Bajenaru. I had to draw a line somewhere.

Wow, i'm glad I logged on. This makes me feel part of it. No one around here is interested when I mention the world series and the White Sox. So this is what Chicago looks like then.

:headshake Take a look here.

Ahhhh! They won't let me subscribe because I live in some strange 3rd world country.