NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 4, 2012 -> 09:09 PM) Not that I miss Colorado and Nebraska when it comes to basketball, but I do miss the old 12-team tournament. Felt a bit grander. Well, it gets back to 12 next year, right? TCU and WV? Then A&M drops out, and is replaced by Louisville? I am actually not sure about how all that works out timing-wise. By the way, my pick for the team to upset someone in this tourney is Oklahoma State.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Mar 4, 2012 -> 09:00 PM) My problem is determining what a "more deserving mid-major team" looks like when they don't play anyone (Iona) or do the exact same thing that teams like NU and UConn have done when they play real opponents (Long Beach State). Well that's obviously the hard part. And I agree about Iona. But what about a team like Colorado State? They've got 2 wins against ranked teams, 3-4 against top 50, they're 19-10 in an MWC that is tougher than usual. Their SOS per Sagarin is 61st out of 300, way better than a lot of other teams on the bubble. Compare that to a UConn team who has only one win against a ranked team, only 18 wins overall, 4-7 against top 50, and UConn is on the down trend. The only plus for them I see is an 18th SOS overall vs CSU's 61st. Which of those teams would you choose? Seems like a really tough call, but I'd lean towards CSU. Also, let's compare some major-conf teams to NU. Texas is interesting and similar... Texas is 19-12, 1-8 against top 25, 3-10 against top 50, SOS is 15th. NU is 18-12, same against top 25 as Texas, but 1-10 against top 50. SOS per Sagarin is 7th. Don't you have to give the edge to Texas there? Obviously it depends on how each does in their conference tournament.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Mar 4, 2012 -> 03:24 PM) I'm not normally anti-mid-major, but I'm going to get highly annoyed if NU loses out on a bid to someone like Iona that choked and didn't beat anyone all year (though if NU loses to Minnesota it's their own damn fault). What will upset me is if teams like WV or UConn get in over more deserving mid-major teams.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 2, 2012 -> 08:05 AM) What do Javier Valentin, Bengie Molina, Darrin Fletcher, Benito Santiago, Michael Barrett, Mike Napoli, John Buck, Wyatt Toregas, Hank Conger have in common? I'll always remember being at the game when Thome and PK did a double-steal, when the pitcher was just not even bothering to look over at them.

I was a bit surprised by this. Apparently, Spring Training ticket sales for the Sox are up 15% over last year. Possible factors include price changes and changes to the schedule. Maybe the economy is better as well.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 29, 2012 -> 08:06 PM) Dang. I had a big ol response and the dang computer lost it. Anyway, long story short, car bailouts, stimulus, excess government in everything, health care, drilling leases were in place before he got there, etc. does not equal moderate. Far from it. The car bailouts I give you, I even said that earlier. Thing is, it actually worked, and better than I honestly thought it would. But still, yes, liberal way of thinking. Stimulus bill was half tax cuts, as I noted earlier, which is pretty much a GOP thing, especially during down times. So at best the stimulus was a compromise. Excess government in everything? Aside from health care - which, again, was based on plans not just from Romney but also Congressional Republicans in the 90's - where is Obama putting excess government into everything? He's cut government in lots of areas, but I am having a hard time finding more than one or two areas he has increased it. Show me. Drilling LEASES were in place, what was't in place was opening NEW areas to BE leased. He's been a moderate. He only looks further left because the Republicans decided to go running as far to the right as possible (which I think they are now regretting).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 1, 2012 -> 09:34 AM) Much like the lying charge for insider traders, they will get people for misrepresenting the company's financial position in the final days when they were looking to try to sell to Jefferies, Interactive, or anyone else who would listen. And as for the "time" argument, let me put it this way... They still haven't figured out the "Flash Crash" officially. We've talked about this before. Consolidate financial markets regulatory bodies, create data warehouse systems that log each trade event temporally as a constantly running catalog (will require some tech coordination with exchanges), and then create a similar warehouse for money movement for every regulated firm covering all regulated areas. Instead of turning in audit reports and a bunch of paper, they just have to run software to scrape and pull data for the reg bodies each day, and then your audits are also much simpler.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 29, 2012 -> 06:20 PM) There are still some pieces to come together. They haven't even hit the easiest parts. Yup. Plus the nature of the regulatory data being so convoluted and poorly/inconsistently structured, makes the job harder. But they haven't even gotten through most of the docs yet. Give it time.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Feb 29, 2012 -> 09:05 PM) Mizzou wins by six. Not a fan of the officiating tonight, but whatever. We're not going to get those calls on the road. Sure as hell hope we get Mizzou back next week. I'll take it. I'd love to see them knock off Baylor at home to put an exclamation point on a pretty fantastic B12 season. I had a good feeling Freddy would get the team better, but this team has exceeded expectations, especially once the B12 season started. That loss to Drake still stings though. QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Feb 29, 2012 -> 09:37 PM) Giant sad face plus USF and Cinci probably got in tonight as well. Cats are in trouble. Agreed on all three, I think NU is headed for the NIT.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 29, 2012 -> 03:10 PM) How else do you think you'll find the kind of legit top prospect studs that people want when the team's first draft pick shows up in the sandwich round? Exactly. Contrary to apparent belief, there are very few prospects in any given draft with a very high likelihood to make it AND a very high likelihood to be a superstar. Like a few, or none in some years. Even if you spend big money, most or all your draft picks will end up being a compromise on floor and/or ceiling. That is just reality.

Good read. A few years back, everyone was complaining that the Sox were taking too many safe picks. From the 2008 draft to today, they have really gotten more aggressive, and their draft performance has improved noticeably (which is amazing when you consider they still weren't spending enough, just scouting and selecting smarter). Guys like Walker, Mitchell, Thompson, will obviously have high bust rates, but the ones that make it have a chance to be superstars. I'll take the new philosophy over the old one. Just don't be as afraid to spend a bit more too.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Feb 29, 2012 -> 01:31 PM) Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway, Hides For 80 Years Cool read, thanks for the link.

Going north, IMO, makes you skip some cool stuff, unless you wait a bit to do it. I've got family in the PHX area, and I've driven around the west a lot. First, I'd take two different routes - one out and one back. Get some variety. For the more southerly route, try this to make it a bit more interesting... From PHX, instead of taking I-40 to I-25, or taking I-17, take a route more mountainous. Go east of PHX on US 60 to Globe, which takes you along the south of the Superstitions and Four Peaks. Then grab US70 east at Globe, to US 191 (just past Safford), to Hwy 78 taking you into New Mexico. You get some stunning scenery along the way. Hwy 78 ends at US 181, take that north to Reserve, which is a windy but gorgeous drive through mountains and canyons of the Gila area. Then its NM HWY 12 to Datil, to US 60 east, the Plain of San Augustin, and the VLA (Very Large Array - stop there and check out their museum, its fun). There is a great B&B in Magdalena, then US 60 hits I-25. I-25 is interstate, but its scenic, follow it all the way up to Denver. From there, there is no "fun" way to get east, because everything from Denver to Chicago is pretty damn boring. For a northerly route, do the Devil's Tower stuff you mentioned, and drive south through Utah. You can get off I-80 around Green River in Wyoming, and follow US 191 south literally from there all the way to just east of Phoenix. If goes through or near places like Arches National Park, Moab, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, Canyon De Chelly, and with a short detour: Four Corners and Petrified Forest. Just some ideas!

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 29, 2012 -> 09:14 AM) I'm just a horrible typist. Romney. see? I can do it. lol Seriously, no, completely accidental. No worries, I just couldn't figure out why it was misspelled the same way so many times. I thought maybe I missed a joke somewhere.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 29, 2012 -> 06:48 AM) Sarcasm meter doesn't work? When you are on the same side of BHO's stated position on a policy 64% of the time, who isn't a moderate by the way despite the broad politic-blind paint brush you all keep painting him as, you're not even "moderate", you're liberal. Kap, I know you are smarter than this. Like or dislike Obama - and obviously you dislike - to say he's been a liberal in terms of policy is absurd. He, like basically every President before him, has governed far more moderately than he campaigned as. He's done a few liberal things (the stim bill, though that was half tax cuts), the auto industry moves (which worked pretty well, but I'll agree it was a liberal), and putting a temporary hold on the Keystone XL pipeline. But he has also volunteered to cut large amounts of government spending, asked permission to consolidate and reduce a bunch of agencies, signed off on continued and even increased tax cuts including for the wealthy, aided in military intervention in Libya, had Osama bin Laden killed, and opened up a whole slew of new areas for oil drilling. He's been a moderate. I know you really don't want that to be true, but its right there in his record.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 28, 2012 -> 08:44 PM) I am conflicted who I should be rooting for. I think Romeny, but I'm not sure. OK, I thought it was a typo at first, but I've now seen you call him "Romeny" at least three times. Is that a nickname or something? Does he smell like Hominy?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 28, 2012 -> 01:26 PM) Obama had a pretty fiery speech today: edit: apparently I forgot how to embed youtube videos. I didn't agree with ObamaCo's approach on the auto industry at the time the decisions are made. And I still think some aspects could have been done better. But I have enough honesty to say that they do deserve some credit for making their plan work, and work pretty darn well. They didn't have to pay a dime to Ford, just changed some rules a bit to make them able to survive what was done for the other two. They paid GM, but are going to end up being paid back, with some nice gains, so they actually made money on the deal AND saved tens of thousands of jobs. They paid Chrysler, and got some of it back, pretty soon to be all of it (I think - not as sure it is truly all on that one). Their plan worked, and it is one of Obama's biggest successes thus far.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 28, 2012 -> 12:46 PM) When I was looking the difference between midtown and wall street was $100 a night. Yeah, as I said later in that post, you can stay in the financial district area for cheaper, you just can't as easily crawl home from the bars. Short cab ride, no biggie. If you do stay down there, avoid the Club Quarters. That room I had there was the weirdest hotel room I've ever stayed in. It was - I kid you not - taller than it was wide. It was the size of a small bedroom, and for whatever reason, had like 15 foot ceilings.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 28, 2012 -> 12:42 PM) If one wants to spend 2-3 days covering the touristy things on the Manhattan list, is it plausible to stay outside the city, perhaps on the Jersey side, and then commute in? Sure you can. I've never stayed in NJ, but I have flown in there and took the train or a cab into Manhattan. And I'd have to think hotels are cheaper.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 27, 2012 -> 09:05 AM) ESPN Chicago ‏ @ESPNChiSox Spoke w/pitcher Dylan Axelrod this AM. Looking forward to proving himself for a bullpen opening. Worked a lot on changeup during offseason. I still think he is a better starter in the future than Stewart, so I am hoping he is in AAA starting.

I had a couple consulting gigs in NYC a few years ago, I was there 4 or 5 days a week most weeks for like 6 months. First, think of NYC as multiple cities. Manhattan is Manhattan, Brooklyn is very different, etc. Most people think of NYC as Manhattan. That being the case, there is really nowhere inexpensive to stay in Manhattan. I was staying in nice but not super-nice hotels, like the Hilton in Midtown, etc. Depending on time of year, the rate was $400 to $600 a night. You can go a level down, to like a Hampton Inn type place, and do just fine, but still it will cost you $350-$400 a night probably. Just be ready for that. Food is also expensive, even the simple stuff. If you are comfortable using a combination of subway and cab to get around, then don't stay in Midtown or Times Square. You can stay in, for example, the Battery, down near the financial district. Less going on, but cheaper stays. And you can still get anywhere on the island pretty quickly via taxi or subway. Chelsea is a nice compromise, a little more going on, a little cheaper than the big spots. Some of the best places I ate were not the chain places, or the renowned ones, but the local pubs and eateries found on every block of Manhattan. Check Trip Advisor or the like, and find local places near your hotel or the sights you will be seeing. Lots of good places that are only moderately expensive (as opposed to stupidly expensive). And if you have time, spend an evening over in Brooklyn. Easy train ride or cab or shuttle boat trip, less expensive everything, and IMO, better bars and restaurants unless you are made of money. Less touristy as well. The good news in, there is one thing that is cheaper in NYC than Chicago - taxi rides. I have no idea why, but they are.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 28, 2012 -> 11:54 AM) I prefaced that post with "real" for a reason. What you really mean is a "real" Libertarian, or close to it. The Tea Party as established by its current set of leadership and the people who identify as such, has departed from that significantly.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 28, 2012 -> 11:02 AM) Michigan is going to be down to the wire: RCP Averages - Romeny - 37.3 Santorum - 35.8 Paul - 13.0 Gingrich - 10.3 Spread: Romney +1.5 Here's a fun topic... if by convention time, Romney doesn't have a true majority of delegates, and they enter a brokered convention... could anyone see the other three candidates getting behind one among them? I just don't see Ron Paul jumping on board with ANYONE, and Gingrich is similar that way.

QUOTE (SnB @ Feb 28, 2012 -> 07:27 AM) Just don't get a lillibridge, I still want to be the only one in the stadium w/ one. I had an Erhen Wasserman t-shirt. Actually still have it. Pretty sure I was the only one of those in the stadium on any given game day. Always love the NDFA guys who make it against the odds.

I'm in. Haven't done a bracket in a few years, used to do a bunch. We'll see how rusty I am.