NorthSideSox72

According to Gameday, its 64 and partly cloudy in CLE. Can't get much better than that for 3/31.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 01:23 PM) ok, so this comment is different then what Wright said, how? I suppose now we have to label CC as a racist. What a slippery slope. Its not different. And that's why its so ironic. I'd label that comment as racist, but I wouldn't extend that to CC as a person. And yet, by CC's own method (and DrunkBomber, and YAS), he would have to label himself as a racist. And for that matter, since I read his posts regularly, by extension, I must be one too! Damn right its a slippery slope.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 01:03 PM) I have seen enough and read enough to know how pastor Wright looks down his watermelon soaked nose at me and I will judge him and whoever associates themselves with him accordingly. Thank you for making my point so perfectly.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 12:53 PM) In terms of its affect on the election we know the far right will be going for McCain no matter what. Where I think it will hurt him is with Clinton supporters. The two candidates have created as much separation between the sides as there is between the right and left and a lot of Clinton supporters are going to vote for the third liberal McCain. I think that whether Obama or Clinton win the nomination, the democrats will fall behind the chosen candidate. The only question is the independents, like me. And if you look at the polls among independents, and who they choose for the Dem nomination, Obama wins overwhelmingly. So I think the number of independents who choose Clinton over McCain but McCain over Obama are going to be a rarity. It in fact indicates the flipside more likely - that Obama supporters may go to McCain over Clinton. I am in that camp, as it happens to be.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 12:34 PM) My use of the word racist is in response to specific things done and said by the people I am talking about and isnt being pulled out of thin air. Ive obviously said I think Wright and Michelle Obama are racist, and I honestly feel that way. Ive also questioned Obama based on the people he surrounds himself with and by his comments on the radio show about his grandmother being a typical white person. Im not trying to change anybody elses opinions, Im explaining mine and I absolutely stand by my comments about racism just as I did in the other thread that got locked. Im sick of the double standard in terms of racism and Im sick of it being ok to be so openly racist, such as Wright is, just because it is geared towards white "devils." If the shoe were on the other foot and it was a white person who said this level of stuff Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be protesting and calling for the person to be fired but its ok for this guy to say it because hes black. Now, its fairly obvious people are taking jabs at others in this thread to get under their skin and you guys can pile up on me all you want for sticking to my guns but as you CONTINUE to call my opinions wrong realize not one of you has said anything thats even in the realm of discrediting my views. You can use the excuse that the videos on youtube are only a sampling of Wrights sermons and repeat it 100 times but unless theres a big "just kidding" at the end of it then 1 time is all I need. This wasnt something that slipped out, this was a prepared sermon and he knew very well what he was saying and nobody has retracted it. So as unrealistic as Im being to some of you because Im offended by Wright and I have a big problem with Obamas relationship with him I suppose we will have to wait about 6 months to see if I am alone. While there might not be as many people that are as vocal about it as I am it will affect the polls and should be more than enough to keep him out of office as the party you guys so blindly follow continues to destroy their chances in the general election and lose what should have been the second consecutive slam dunk election for the dems. So you guys can label me anything you want and think Im wrong until the election is over but if I want to call someone racist I will. There isnt one person on here who has any more credibility than anyone else and you guys seem to think because youve got the numbers here that you are by default right. So if youre not offended by Wright comments why are you even in here criticizing someone else because they are? seriously, again, you keep making yourself out to be a victim of arguments that no one is making. No one is saying his comments weren't bad. And yet you still seem to think that judging people on one sermon by the pastor is, in your words, its :all I need". Since you are apparently incapable of seeing how that makes it impossible to have a cogent discussion with you, let's try a different topic you brought up - the effect on the election. Now here maybe we can have a good discussion. I certainly agree it will have an effect on the election - but ultimately, I think the effect will be negligible, and I'll try to explain why... who is it that is most up in arms over this? Clearly, its the conservatives/neo-cons in the center an right of the GOP. How many of them were going to vote for Obama to being with? Very very, few.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 12:31 PM) You know very well it wasn't only a one time thing. You may be trying to make Drunk look bad, but you come off as the fool when you make a comment like that. I know that? No, I do not. Do you know otherwise? I'd bet the guy probably has said divisive things before. Obama has admitted that is the case, and it makes sense. If I had to guess, that would be my guess - I just prefer not to guess. But my point stands - he is judging Wright, and Obama, as being racists, because of one video. Prove me wrong. Have you or Mr. Drunk or anyone else seen more than a couple of these videos? Heck, have you or they even watched the entire video of that sermon (which I have, in this case), not just the few "highlights"?

As a follow-up on Sadr's army striking out, there now appears to be a ceasefire in place. This is good news. Here's an interesting twist, though. The attempts by the Iraqi government to put down the rebellion were a failure, but, guess who succeeded in getting Sadr to back down? Iran. Lots of implications here. Lots to be concerned about. Very interesting in any case.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 12:12 PM) Cabrera just flew out with two men on. It's official - he's a bust. Heh. You say that, but, there will be posters here who will not hesitate to call a Sox player a bust after 1 games' results.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 12:05 PM) Like I keep saying it is my opinion and my opinion isnt on trial. I absolutely do not need to prove something beyond a reasonable doubt to form my opinion. Just because you think its too much of a stretch to call Wright racist doesnt mean I have to. You also have never sat through one of his rants so you are in no way more credible than anyone else. I will stand by my belief that I gathered more than enough evidence for me to think Wright is racist. Its not like he said something that can be misinterpreted. He is flat out spewing hate and I have a big problem with him or anyone that supports him. Your post is acting as an apologist and if thats your prerogative thats fine. If you want to make excuses for Wright go ahead just know that you havent said anything even close to a defense for such hate and if you want to turn the other cheek simply because youre liberal go ahead. I expect more from a presidential candidate and I am 100% confident in the conclusions Ive drawn about Wright and I think its pretty naive on your part to think you know any more about the subject. I don't know any more on the subject - that's the point. You act as if seeing one video gives you enough knowledge to label the man and all his followers racists. That is closed-minded in the extreme. Not once have I said Wright isn't a racist or bigoted jerk, because he might be - I don't know. If you want to delude yourself into thinking you can judge everyone based on one moment of poor judgement (or even more amazingly, on one moment of poor judgement by their pastor), then I wish you the best of luck in the dark place the world must be for you.

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 11:05 AM) yeah, it's pouring here in Crystal Lake, I can't imagine that game has much of a chance of going, if it does the outfield will be a disaster, even with Bosard's new field The game is in Cleveland. Or were you referring to the Cubs game?

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 10:34 AM) Are you really gonna try and compare the relationships of listening to someone on the radio and someones spiritual adviser who married him and his wife and baptized their children? There have been other concerns about Obama listed over the course of this whole discussion and for the most part everything brougtt up gets looked over and a lot of the Obama supporters pick and choose what arguments they want to address. To even imply that someone might be racist for criticizing Wright and Obama for his relationship with Wright is laughable. Two days or so ago when someone referred to Obamas comments on the view about if someone were to have the 5 worst things youve said over 20 years played in a loop for 2 weeks and I explained the difference, which was more than "logical," every single person in this thread completely over looks it and moves on to the next point that they figure they have a better shot at discrediting. Even the Obama supporters have at one point or another criticized things that Wright has done or said but since people with different views as you are more harsh on the subject all of a sudden were wrong and racist for it? Now, if anybody considers being outraged by Wrights comments racist then fine, call me a racist because I wont tolerate that level of hate and yes, I have a lot of concerns about a candidate of the presidency having any type of extended relationship with someone like that. You guys can sit there and make excuses for that type of hate or imply that there isnt enough evidence to call Wright a racist but Ill go back and quote another one of my posts that was looked over that my opinion isnt on trial and that every single one of you Obama supporters that thinks you somehow are automatically right because youre in the majority on this specific message board but you are just as close minded as you are trying to say we are except at the other end of the spectrum. That doesnt make you more knowledgeable, that doesnt make you right, that doesnt make you open minded. Ive made it clear in this forum that I am very critical of all three candidates and to be honest I dont like any of them at all but at least you wont see me blindly defending someone just to try and prove a point. All three of these candidates have flaws in their stances and Im sure there isnt one person that agrees with every single position their candidate takes yet there are people that will blindly defend them. Take a look at Athomeboy, critical of people that are critical of Obama but take a look at the articles hes posting about Hillary that are just as slanderous as whats being discussed in terms of Obama but I guess thats ok but why? Because race isnt involved? Because they belong to the same political party? Because there are more Obama supporters here than another candidate? So you guys can continue to discredit our opinions, continue to blindly defend a Pastor who is on the record spewing hate and intolerance and continue to think you are somehow winning this imaginary competition we are having about who is right. So go ahead and criticize me taking a step back and questioning my concerns with a candidate but as youre calling me close minded remember that I have clearly said I am being extremely critical of every candidate. I dont affiliate myself with either party and I am simply voicing my concerns about the substance of the candidates. I dont think Im alone when I say Im not happy with a lot of the things that are going in this country and you better believe Im gonna ask more questions this time around then in 2000 when I voted for Bush just because at the time I considered myself a Republican. There are a lot of people that vote based on the party instead of the candidate and that wont be me anymore but its painfully obvious there is plenty of that around here. So as you continue to call me closed minded even though I am holding all three candidates to the same standard and you are blindly defending the candidate of your choice just remember that I openly say I know everything I post is my opinion and anyone that has a different opinion isnt wrong to them just as mine isnt to me but I would like to have my opinions respected just as I respect others even if you dont agree with it. See bolded. That's exactly what I am talking about - the leap of assumption you continue to make. No one disagrees that the part of his sermon we've all seen on YouTube was bad. No one. But you then make the jump from the comments being racist, to the reverend being racist, then make a further jump to Obama being racist. Those are huge jumps to make, unless of course you have sat down and watched the man's sermons and can say this is who he is. Have you done that?

ComEd is still doing their math, but, it appears that the reduction in electricity used during Earth Hour on Saturday night in the Chicago area resulted in a reduction of 840,000 pounds of CO2 output. That's 420 tons less CO2, which normally would need about 104 acres of forest to soak up during that period.

QUOTE(JFields27 @ Mar 28, 2008 -> 11:24 PM) He'll have more then a leg injury if I ever see him QUOTE(WHITESOXRANDY @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 09:34 AM) One can only hope that he's ouot for the season. That's some classy s*** right there.

I think its OK, but, I wouldn't do it personally. I think I'd be silent.

QUOTE(JPN366 @ Mar 30, 2008 -> 04:44 PM) Pitchers: Justin Cassel, Lucas Harrell, Jon Link, John Lujan, Kyle McCulloch, Brian Omogrosso, Clayton Richard, Derek Rodriguez, Clevelan Santeliz, Carlos Torres, Joseph Torres, Matt Zaleski Catchers: Cole Armstrong, Eric Hollis, Jared Price Infielders: Javier Castillo, Robert Hudson, Victor Mercedes, Micah Schnurstein, Robert Valido Outfielders: David Cook, Stefan Gartrell, Noah Hall, Ricardo Nanita, Miguel Negron Hey BTW, where did you get this info? They still have last year's roster on the site. B-Ham will be fun to watch. I like Gartrell and Cook, and they don't get much attention as "prospects".

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 30, 2008 -> 09:00 PM) I see Valido is back in Birmingham... I'm still holding out a little hope for him, but I'm not gonna hold my breath. If Valido can't turn it around, and Miranda plays at W-S the way he played in GF and Kanny, then Valido will probably become a permanent bench guy before the season ends.

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Mar 31, 2008 -> 02:59 AM) Forgive me for not having read all 32 pages of discourse and discussion but I don't see anyone calling you a racist? To me this just appears to be a long winded way of saying you can't win this argument. I think he was actually referring to my post with the racism bit, not jackiehayes'. My point was that it appears to me, no real discourse can be had with the conservatives on this particular issue. They seem to have taken the stance that because Mr. Wright has been seen on YouTube saying something vile (which he did), that it automatically means two things - that Rev Wright must have spent his career spewing that sort of thing constantly, and that Mr. Obama must agree with it. Neither assumption is grounded in any sort of logical reality. If Rev Wright was spewing this stuff all the time, two things would be true - we'd be seeing a lot more videos, and the Obamas would almost assuredly tried to distance themselves from him long ago (like, when Obama started his political career). I further implied that this irrational leap to conclusions could be due to any number of factors - and yes, racism was one possible factor. So were a lot of things, but the biggest one, I think I made clear, was the simple fact that the conservatives were looking for a reason to beat the drum. And this worked nicely. Using the Imus analogy that some have brought up... lets ask this question. When Imus was criticized for uttering those now infamous lines, did anyone say or even think to themselves, "gosh, I bet that means that all of Imus' regular listeners must be racists"? Probably not, because that would be a ridiculous leap. And yet, here we are, seeing some portion of the population doing just that. As with Wright, I am sure that was not the only time that Imus said something questionable. Heck, he's a shock jock, its what he does. But let's ask another question: if it turned out that one of the Presidential candidates was a loyal fan of Imus' show, would people all assume that he/she must be a racist? The analogy has its limits of course. But you see what I am getting at?

GP, I'd contend that what the "genuine dislike" you are seeing doesn't really exist at all. Its the result of the moment in time when each campaign has begun aiming their cannons at each others' camps. In fact, their history shows the opposite - they have the disagreements, but they've actually worked together on multiple pieces of legislation, and ultimately, they'll probably have a much cleaner campaign than we've seen in either party's primary fight.

ahem... meee meee meee meee.... GO YOU WHITE SOX!!!!!!

QUOTE(YASNY @ Mar 30, 2008 -> 02:24 PM) How about Wright and Obama just go away? We don't need their type. Especially in the White House. He should have been taken to task on this issue instead of getting the free pass he has received from the media and his supporters. You are all being conned. We don't need "their type"? I'm going to eschew the usual self-editing here on this and say it. You folks that are pounding this Wright thing into the ground - YAS, bomber, BearSox - were looking for a reason. You were looking for a reason to write off Obama. You didn't like him, which is all fine (in fact there are some good reasons not to), but you couldn't find a specific reason to justify it. So now, we've gotten to the point where you are going to lump Obama and the pastor at his church into an inseperable tandem... you will further ASSUME, without anything like enough data to know a damn thing, that Wright's 20 years of preaching were dominated by racism and hatred... and you will use those two things to cast Obama as not only not a good Presidential candidate, but as a raving racist liar. The good news is, looking at the polls, most of the country doesn't fall for it. Mind you, I think the hard core Republicans are eating it up, and using it to re-energize the neo-con conservative base. And the far left liberals are of course ignoring the whole thing, acting as if Rev Wright doesn't exist. But the difference makers in this upcoming election - the independents and moderates - fortunately, are the "types" that will tend to take things on balance. Instead of being a blind homer, or masking their own racism and hatred by way of the Rove-style accuse-of-same marketing technique, they see Rev Wright as part of the whole picture. His remarks were racist and wrong, Obama made clear he disagreed with them for whatever that was worth, and they are ready to move on - which is not the same as ignoring things they don't like. That's the favorite game of the neo-cons and the ultra-liberals, isn't it? Live in denial of realities that don't sit well with them? Go ahead. Close your minds to anything that makes you uncomfortable. Meanwhile, those of us who are moderates and independents are looking forward to an election in November that we can finally be a little bit happy about - two candidates (Obama and McCain) who are NOT in the far gutter of their respective parties. Two people who are actually willing to work across the aisle and act like reasonable adults. Feel free to ignore that this will be the best available pair of candidates we've had for a long, long time. Take the easy route - hyperbole and pile-on mentality. Enjoy wallowing in your fear-dominated world. Just know that the middle of this country wants no part of it.

Well, I understand that Masset was out of options. But MacDougal wasn't. And it sucks that the bullpen has 2 guys in it that seem clearly to me to have a much lower chance of success than Wassermann. Bad move, IMO. Its unlikely the bullpen will be static all year though, so he'll probably be back up.

Obama now with significant leads in both rolling national polls: +7 on Gallup and +6 on Rasmussen.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 29, 2008 -> 11:48 AM) Actually he's had a pretty good spring. By what measure? He's got a 6.52 ERA, and a 1.76 WHIP. Those are nearly identical to Masset's 7.06 ERA, 1.80 WHIP. Wassermann is at a 3.09 ERA and 0.77 WHIP.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Mar 28, 2008 -> 07:27 PM) Obviously you havent read through this thread because you clearly would have seen that logic isnt a prerequisite. He may also have seen that no one has actually said anything remotely like supporting his rhetoric.

Enjoy your B-Day, sir. I hit 35 a few months back. Its ain't that bad. Really. *whimpers*