NorthSideSox72

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 03:13 PM) *Cough*DukeLacrosse*Cough* Sort of a good example, given people's quick reaction to take a side and be outraged. Although there, that was a public servant hyping an unfounded criminal case for politcal gain, which is much worse. QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 03:21 PM) Wait, what don't you agree with? That they can dictate what the public likes or dislikes by the amount of focus they put on it? Makes sense to me. You can't know if you like or want something if you don't know about it. Businesses and media have a hand in deciding what they are going to bring the most attention to and, therefore, some of the blame should fall on them for overhyping crap. I don't agree that they deserve blame for that. They hype (a.k.a. market) what they think will sell. If it doesn't sell, they stop hyping. Are you serious that you only know about what is hyped in the media? You have the power to decide what you do or don't buy, watch or read. There are nearly infinite choices of what to do with your time and money. Pick whatever you want, just don't blame the media or businesses for giving some segment of the market what they want.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 03:07 PM) Businesses can dictate what we do or don't like/want by what they do and don't put out. They create some of the hype by flooding us with the crap they choose to put out. That's the part where I think they deserve some of the blame. I just don't agree. I see this similarly to personal responsibility. No one EVER makes you buy ANYTHING. If you buy it, fine. Just don't complain that its out there, and that stores are going ga-ga over it. I buy Sox tickets, but you don't see me moaning about how popular the team is. That would be hypocritical. They create hype, because thats marketing. The question is, do we buy into it? If not, guaranteed, that hype will die out mighty quick.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 02:37 PM) They should get some blame for how they present things and what they do and do not report. Sure, there's interest from the public, but I'm sure some of this crap gets force-fed to the public. Again, like any other business, that is only true in the very short run. If people didn't read it, they'd eventually pick other media outlets running other information. This is especially true now, with so many options out there. And if people don't pick other outlets and continue to read this stuff, then, they are getting what they ask for. So in the long run, I think the media themselves only get a very small part of the blame. Businesses don't last when they sell what no one is buying Mind you, there are exceptions - I am not saying some idiot papparazzi photog who rams Zsa Zsa's car isn't to blame.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 02:29 PM) Not really worse, there's just more forms of reading about it. I'm also not saying it makes sense, I'm just saying things have always been the same. The whole reality thing isn't even new, there is just more of it because there can be, with cable and all. There was an old radio program called Nightwatch, which was basically Cops. It's just that we like to knock our present society for being a bunch of scuzzy creatures, when in all reality, the human race has always been the same. The only difference was that in 1926 you only had magazines. Then radio rolled around, and you got more gossip shows and game shows. Listen to the old shows and tell me Star worship has changed. Watch the old Ed Sullivan show and tell me people still react the same to seeing their favorite bands play. Nobody cries anymore when the bands walks on stage. TV added another dimension to the whole star attraction, then it moved into cable and internet. We are just as obsessed as ever, there are just more ways to be. Anna Nicole is no different than somebody like Jane Manfield. Pretty dang similar as a matter of fact. If Monroe had not done a few good movies, she would be in the same boat, as she also made some poor movies, but her personal life was a wreck. FWIW, I don't mean to say our society is full of scuzzy creatures. I'm just saying the media doesn't deserve the blame - they just deliver what we want.

I would love to see us get rid of the electoral college, which is frankly worthless at this point in history. Democracy isn't, and shouldn't be, about land area. Its about people, and one person should be one vote. Instead, we get the current situation where the only votes that matter are those in the 4 or 5 "swing" states. We disenfranchise 45 of the 50 states this way, ones with both rural AND urban populations. Its a horrible system. But, unfortunately, I don't see this state-level initiative getting it done. Only way this would work is at the federal level, I think, and that isn't going to happen.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 02:09 PM) But the publics obsession with stars, and the craze a stars death reaches, has been the same forever. On the death of Rudolph Valentino in 1926 from Golden Silents: http://www.goldensilents.com/stars/rudolphvalentino.html Just because its been around, doesn't make it any more sensical. And I'd venture a guess its worse now than it was before, for a number of different reasons.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 12:29 PM) My ears are starting to perk up to Romney. I like what he's been saying. Even though he was for abortion before he was against it? I'm going to find it amusing to see people who say flip-flopping was OK for Kerry or Romney but not OK for the other. And I'm not picking either side here - just saying the reaction SHOULD be the same, but won't be. I'm all for a fiscal conservative, but the more I read about Romney, the more I see a man whose views on specific issues blow back and forth with the political wind. And before you say anything, Tex, I am all for someone re-evaluating and taking new approaches when something isn't working. This is not the case here, or with Kerry's war views. In both cases, its someone changing their views to get elected.

QUOTE(Balance @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 01:27 PM) This is such a non-story. It's absolutely shameful how the MSM is running Anna Nicole Smith stories instead of, you know, actual news. But that's not where the money is, right? Thus, my previous point... the media plays what sells, like, you know, every other business on earth. Therefore to me, the blame falls squarely on the people dumb enough to buy into this garbage. If no one buys all the gossip rags and no one watches the celeb stupid TV shows, then none of this makes it to the surface.

QUOTE(Steff @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 09:03 AM) Tickets in the UD, up $2. In the lower, up $3 Average LD price to attend a game at Yankee Stadium... $89. Speaking of tickets... my season rep said that the Season Ticket holder pre-sale would probably be the week of 2/12, which is coming up. But I haven't heard or seen anything about it yet. Anyone hear any specifics on that yet?

QUOTE(Steff @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 09:03 AM) Tickets in the UD, up $2. In the lower, up $3 Average LD price to attend a game at Yankee Stadium... $89. When the annual article came out last year listing the cost of a game at the various ballparks (tickets, grub, parking, etc.), the Sox were still pretty reasonable compared to other teams. I wonder how they will look this year.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Feb 9, 2007 -> 01:18 AM) Hmmm; And this sad part of the story I place directly into the laps of the people who soak up all this garbage every day. That tape doesn't sell for 500k or anything else if not for the celebrity rubberneckers. Its the people who spend all day reading websites and magazines like that who pay that money, not the media companies. I'm sorry but I just don't get the obsession people have with the personal lives of the galactically overpaid.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 09:25 PM) Note to Senate, never elect the Senator from Hawaii as Speaker. Note to Tex - there is no Speaker of the Senate. But let's avoid the house rep from Alaska too.

I think its about time the debate moves past this argument, and moves on to the now more important and relevant topic - what do we do about it, exactly? There are of course lots of ideas out there, but let's start studying which ones have the biggest impact, which are the cheapest or most efficient changes from a value perspective (so that we don't completely bankrupt businesses and countries), etc. And, even if we reduce man-made effects dramatically, it won't be enough to stop this thing cold (probably), so let's also start asking ourselves what we can do in response to the consequences that are pretty much inevitable at this point.

Oh year, one other thing - there was a blimp or balloon of some kind floating in the air as well. Not sure if it had cameras or what. I have to say, in a way, I was glad to see the cameras, surveillance and mobile teams. I think that's a much more practical solution, with a lot less long term negative impact, than a giant wall.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 08:48 PM) To be honest i thought they just picked the poster of the year nominations out of a hat this year. I've got your... hat... nevermind.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 01:28 AM) 21 years in Illinois and 18 in Florida, so I've been pretty much evenly split between the extremes. I'll take the heat over the cold, but winter cold and snow never really bugged me. It's the months on end of gray days without enough sun that would get to me after a while. Truth is I'd have never moved if Chicago was coastal, but my gig kinda requires an ocean nearby so Florida it was. Then again, this age-old aphorism that Grandmama FlaSoxx used to offer up gets to he heart of the up-side of cold winters: When the weather's hot and sticky Ain't the time for dunkin' dicky When the frost is on the pumpkin That's the time for dicky dunkin' Had to love old Grandmama. . . Chicago is coastal, sort of. I am sure there are marine biologists who make their living studying various things in the Great Lakes.

QUOTE(knightni @ Feb 8, 2007 -> 12:13 AM) Ahh dammit!!! I better be getting some best threadadder votes out of this! LOL Nice.

A couple weeks ago, I went on vacation in New Mexico. Part of that trip was for me to spend a few days hiking through some of the remote mountain ranges of the Malpai borderlands region – the southwest corner of NM and southeast corner of AZ. The trip was great for lots of reasons, but I wanted to share one specific aspect of my experience with my fellow Busters. I’ll try to avoid partisan politics, and just report my experiences… A little background. I was last in this area in 2002, when I led a small trekking party along the newly-christened anchor leg of the Continental Divide Trail (we were in fact the first group of any size to do so). We covered 75 miles in 5 days carrying all our gear and water, as we wound our way from the border, through the rugged terrain of the Big Hatchet Mountains, northwest then north across the open basin and range province to I-10. We saw only one other person during that entire 5 days – a county sheriff’s jeep, as we crossed a road. We had informed the sherriff and the Border Patrol of our trip ahead of time. Flash forward to last month. My first day in the Bootheel of New Mexico, I drove down from I-10, south along a road that went gradually from paved, to dirt, to a muddy two-track. My destination was the Coronado National Forest, and the Peloncillo Mountains, just a few miles above the border. As I made my way 45 miles south of the last “town”, I saw not a single other vehicle. Just me, the strikingly beautiful Animas mountains, and a grey oak savannah. I found some trails, did some hiking (saw some enormous cat prints), and started the sloppy drive back out. A couple javelinas showed up to check out the ruckus. About halfway back up the road, a Border Patrol vehicle passed me going the other way. He slowed, turned around and proceeded to follow me. After a few minutes, he turned on the rollers, and I pulled over. He was just checking me out, and said my license plate was covered in mud. We chatted a bit, then I continued on. I remember thinking, well, I guess there are a few of those guys down here after all. Turns out I was just getting a glimpse. My route out of the area that evening took me to New Mexico highway 9, which I took east towards Columbus. For the latter half of that route, the highway roughly parallels the Mexican border, just a mile or two to the north. As I approached that section, I noticed another BP patrol car. Then two Humvees with soldiers. Then a pickup truck with a couple rifle-toting locals in the back. I hit the border-adjacent section, and I realized that virtually all the vehicles on the road with me belonged either Border Patrol, or New Mexico National Guard. I noticed repeatedly that I was being visually assessed by a variety uniformed personnel carrying a variety of weaponry. More Humvees, more BP cars – some strolling the fenceline, others along the road. Then when it got a little hilly, I saw the spotter teams – on top of each rise was a handful of military vehicles, with some sort of crane-operated watch tower jutting into the sky. In stretches between, there were light towers with cameras of various sorts, pointed generally at the southern frontier. With the sun setting, the light fading and the surrounding mountains turning eerie shades of yellow and orange as they do down there, the whole scene was surreal. It was downright unsettling. I felt like I was somewhere I shouldn’t be. It felt like something I had never really seen in person before. A war zone. I reached Columbus, which is at a border checkpoint, then turned north for Deming. I had to stop at not one, but two roadblock checkpoints over the 30 miles to Deming. Even in Deming, on I-10, there were BP cars making regular appearances. For all of those who wonder if our borders are being looked after any more now, after all the debate and discussion... the answer is a resounding yes. I am not describing this scene to complain, or to make a political point. I’m not offended by it, nor do I blame any particular person or party. In fact, the base emotional reaction I had, after getting past the shock, was simply this: it’s a shame it has to be this way at all. It’s a shame this beautiful, haunting place has to be exposed to so much of humanity’s underbelly. It’s just a shame. So, here’s to hoping our oft-incapable government can find a way to address the issue in some healthy, long term way. And here’s to hoping we can all feel more secure, and that the land of opportunity can be just that for those who are willing to be a positive part of society.

QUOTE(shoota @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 05:18 PM) Pretty gay offseason post. Fixed.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 04:13 PM) Actually its called baiting dumb cub fans to put a lot of money on the cubs to win it all. That's actually pretty much true. Those odds are not just calculated on actual winning - they are calculated on making money. Vegas knows two things for sure about the Cubs... One, some fans will bet on them regardless, so, why make the potential payout higher? Two, as SSI71 says, you are trying to entice fans with those odds, and there are a lot of Cubs fans fawning all over the team's moves right now.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 03:34 PM) First of all, we've heard it before dude, and it's already been discussed. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56373 Secondly, you name 2 players as to why this season is going to suck and why the offseason was bad. Completely disregard the amount of depth brought in to the bullpen - proven or not - and the amount of pitching brought in that will be ready for the future. And, finally, may I ask...what did the other teams in the division do to improve themselves? The Tigers added Gary Sheffield, the Indians added 200 years of experience in their bullpen and a couple solid OFers, and the Twins added Ramon Ortiz and Sidney Ponson. Maybe it's just me, but I'll take the Sox offseason over their's. But maybe that's just me.

I wish some of these morons who are offended by the occasional breast or vague reference to body parts would devote their energies to violence in the media, instead of nudity and sex. It amazes me that there is a part of our culture that is so hyper-sensitive to the exposure of someone's body, but could care less about the stunning (and desensitizing) amount of violence out there in movies, video games and TV.

QUOTE(knightni @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 12:45 PM) Your life motto You're Special Done.

This team, on paper, improved a LITTLE for 2007, and a LOT for 2008 and beyond. Considering the already very high talent level and payroll level of the team, as well as the absurd market prices, I'd say that's a successful offseason.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 7, 2007 -> 12:34 PM) Yes there is, it's called a "Fan". Ha.