LVSoxFan

I finally watched this last night and all I have to say is what a strange, strange cat. All this talk with him referring to himself/"Hawk" in the third person and then of course the endless stories about baseball HOF-ers from back in the day which we've heard from the booth hundreds of times over the past years. It seems like all the players (non-Sox) he's knowledgeable about are from decades ago. I've never gotten when you've got a major market team with an announcer always dispensing down-home, old-timey southern wisdom in a southern-y accent and constantly firing off cliches like "can of corn" when nobody under 60 would even know what that means. It's time for a change.

Please Hawk, please... retire after this season. So yes mark me down for Team Idiot.

That's the way I heard it, it was basically the two sons fighting for Dad's (JR's) loyalty. KW won. It seemed like they were both jockeying for favor once we won the WS, each convinced that they were more responsible for it than the other. God I don't miss that soap opera.

Well I must say you certainly provide a plan when asked! Better than I could ever do...

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 16, 2013 -> 02:19 PM) Why wasn't the former manager run out of town in 2007? That team was hot garbage as well. Because he still had the glow of 2005 WS on him. I remember that season and how awful it was. I think this is even worse. I think what we're looking at is the ole' chicken-or-the-egg conundrum about an awful team: is it the managers or the players? How can you tell until one is removed? I'm fine with Robin for at least another year providing we make some big changes on the field. Then perhaps we'll have a better read. That said, and I'm going to get shelled for this: Beckham. Is he a bust, or isn't he? Somebody decide. Yes his defense is great but so was Brian Anderson's. I don't know what to say about him--personally I like the guy.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 16, 2013 -> 11:52 AM) Which is kind of relevant when you can build an offense pretty easily in an offseason or two, don't you think? I don't know, can you? I'm just tired of hearing for years about how our farm system blows as KW tries to make us a contender by making some "splash" trade, Adam Dunn being the most egregious example. What are we now, 28th? Another thing I didn't think about until reading this blog is how bad our draft picks have turned out: So what's the non-blowing-up way to fix the team then, since you're against it (no sarcasm intended)?

Which is kind of irrelevant when you can't hit, don't you think?

In my non-expert opinion you keep Ventura as a "placeholder" manager until you've started a rebuild and once that's taken care of then you can go get a Terry Francona. IMO priority #1 is blowing up this team and rebooting the farm system that has been neglected for so long. We're in for a tough couple of years but that's how it works unless you're the Yankees. Plus, would a big-time manager want to come in and take over with this collection of fading players and underperformers? I would think they'd be more interested in taking over a young team with a franchise player or two so they could mold them.

I too was booted from WSI for life. My terrible crime was posting during the September swoon in '05 that they needed to start playing better or they're going to blow this. Without warning I was banned for life. I emailed them a plea saying I had been a heavy regular there and contributed over 500 posts (I had joined that season) and received no response. And here I am, happily. The funny thing is, anybody who spends any time on a team board knows that the most traffic comes after a loss or when things aren't going well--after a win you can only post woo-hoo! so many times. Which is not to say only negativity increases traffic, but what kind of operation are you running when you set up a board where members can't be critical of the team? Too bad, it's a nice site with some cool features/content but who wants to live under those rules? I'm perfectly happy here. And while this has been a godawful season I'm finally in baseball mode after the Hawks and looking forward to getting back to some games. After all, summer = baseball and I need to get back to the smells, sights and sounds at The Cell that we all love so much, regardless of whether the team blows.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 3, 2013 -> 10:03 AM) From now on, your fraternity name is.....Flounder. LMAO! Nice tie... did your mother buy you that?

Niiiiiiiiiiice...

Right exactly. So yeah it's overpriced but I don't think it's all a total waste of money.

Drinking yes I get that but cmon some of the foods at the ballpark you look forward to: like the Polish or the corn off the cob or whatever. I don't know why people buy food from the counters because that all seems generic but hey, their choice.

The problem was the liquid definition of "badmouth," but I don't want to derail the thread. On-topic: I'm actually looking forward to getting back to the Cell now that hockey's over. I miss the sunshine in the stands and that smell when you first walk in (still my favorite smell).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 1, 2013 -> 04:51 PM) There's definitely going to be an inflationary effect in play. With all those dollars chasing fewer the same amount of talent (or even less, if you look at the free agent class), it's not going to be a HUGE advantage to the Sox. That money would be better spent on hiring more scouts, improving the minor leagues, upgrading our Dominican facility....building one in Venezuela, for example (there used to be almost 20 teams down there with academies and now it's back down to 6-8 with tensions increasing under the Castro regime)...or even Brazil. Or China. They need to start being more innovative and finding those niches they can get out in front of and exploit proactively. If they're going to go crazy and sign 3-4 bats (like the Mariners did with Morse, Morales, Bay and Ibanez), then that's fine. However, if they're only going to sign ONE guy, I'd rather they just completely sucked again next year and invested the money elsewhere. ^This. It's not how much money, it's HOW they spend the money IMO. I would rather see them reboot the infrastructure then go after another Adam Dunn, etc. WWTHD?

So let me get this straight: somebody has a bad experience during the make-up day game of a double header and that shows how the White Sox experience blows? *facepalm* I've only been to one so far but that's picking up now that Hawks are over and it was just like I've always loved it. The only difference noticeable to me of late has been the small number of vendors still around halfway through in the UD concourse because the crowds have been so small (speaking mainly of last year). Having gone to well over a hundred games in the past decade and sat just about everywhere in the park I'm paying no attention to this person. Remember with the tiny crowds it's no fun for the vendors either--they work on commission, a lot of them.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 2, 2013 -> 11:52 AM) I think the place will get a little better over the next month once the Sox start making some trades. There will still be frustration from a contingent of posters, but there will finally be some relief and resolution once some young players start making an impact. See, there you go right there. Your're right. Once the fire sale begins this place should be jumpin. Oh BTW let me emphasize that my worst day here still beats my best one at WSI. Whatever you think of the mods here, they're not Orwellian speech police like they are over there which is why a lot of us are refugees from there. *kneels down and kisses the ground at Soxtalk*

Seeing that I've been here since '05, I would say the convos generally follow the path of the team and the team has blown for years. So it does get to a point where it's like: what do we talk about? Clearly the team needs to be blown up--I don't think anybody has any reservations about that anymore. I personally feel like I've been watching the same tired team for years. When AJ left it felt like the last person with any fire (okay Peavy) took off. The only bright spot of late has been Sale. Becks has been whatever, Paulie's in decline, Alexi has vanished defensively and don't even get me started on Dunn. What would probably enliven the forum is laying out everybody's idea moving FORWARD and that can include management besides players. Something clearly needs to change. 2005 was obviously a fluke--but I'll take it--and we need to realize that the system in place isn't working. Before anybody whips out the whole "But we were in first place most of the season that year..." excuse, who gives a toss? Do you think the Hawks would use that excuse had they not made the playoffs or been ousted again in the first round? In fact, since they're the exemplary franchise in the city in everything from their farm system to marketing, maybe there's a thread right there: WWTHD?

Thank God that we still have another team in town to watch for now that doesn't blow. HAWKS MEATHEAD. That said, is there anybody--anybody--on this team where you can look at them and say: yeah, that guy is awesome?

I'm not sure what took the fun out of it--I used to live for this series--but I'm guessing it was when we won the World Series. That kind of put an end to the non-stop arguing about who's the better team, because until the Cubs can claim that, they really can't say anything, can they? That said, when they started taking it off weekends that was just idiotic. What used to be a for-sure tailgating weekend (at The Cell) now becomes a not-worth-it weeknight game. What used to be a before-and-after bar crawl (when at Wrigley) is not something people are itching to do on a Tuesday. Too bad. My favorite games were always going to Wrigley and talking trash with the Cubs fans--plus being a north sider, I can actually walk to Wrigley. But on a Tuesday night? Um, no thanks.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 20, 2013 -> 12:49 PM) Alot of that is because apparently Dunn relaxes and hits better when in the field, at least thats a theory. I do remember that and it... kinda seemed to work although this season? Er, not so much...

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ May 20, 2013 -> 12:24 PM) He's not on the DL but he's been struggling so much plus gotten 'extra' days off here and there so it seems pretty likely that he has some level of injury. You know, I did notice that Dunn's playing a lot of 1B so far...

Paulie's hurt again? What'd I miss?

Not sure what team you've been watching but I feel like I've been watching the SAME ONE since then, just replacing Thome with Dunn. I will say this, I should correct myself: they didn't suck last year until the last month or so, that's true. Don't know how that happened, but they were exciting for a while. Other than that though, meh. Me? I'm tired of the "patchwork" and hoping to "sneak in" to the playoffs. I'm willing to sacrifice to play the long game.

I feel like the Sox have sucked since the second half of '06. Before you mention 2008 and the Blackout Game, that season was more of a contest between us and Minny to see who could blow it. I'm fine with a blowup/rebuild at this point.