NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Nov 19, 2010 -> 02:58 PM) My guess would be public transportation issues, though Metra could probably cover it, depending on where it went A long train ride, only reasonable from downtown or along that train line. Whereas in the city, its a short ride from downtown or the south burbs, and other burbs can still get there via downtown in fairly short time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 19, 2010 -> 02:54 PM) Out of curiosity, if hypothetically the Sox moved outside the city limits to somewhere in the Southern Suburbs, brand new stadium like 15 years down the road, why would that be a fan-base disaster? Go to any weeknight game at The Cell. Huge portion of the crowd is people who worked during the day downtown - those people aren't trucking out to Orland Park, at least not nearly as often. And further, that business crowd is a big chunk of the suite/club/scout seat holders, where they make the big bucks. So that's problem number one. Number two, moving to the south suburbs would be great for one area, and terrible for the other 80% of the Metro area, as far as getting in and out. They'd go a lot less often. The city is central, it can draw from all over much more easily, and its south of downtown so you already get big south suburban draw. You gain little, and lose a lot. Third, you lose a significant chunk of the tourist crowd. I know its popular to point out the Cubs fan base being a bunch of people from Iowa, but fact is the Sox get some of those two. If the stadium is out there on the fringe, a lot fewer of those people will go.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Nov 19, 2010 -> 02:34 PM) They'd be out of Wrigley for 2-3 years. I doubt it. Judging by other recent stadiums, I think they miss only one season, with the build-out taking 18 months or so. They'd start while they were still in the park, then in late September really ramp up the rebuild, finish in time for Opening Day 1.5 years later. They'd play mostly at The Cell. Another possibility is the Cubs build a temporary stadium on the north side somewhere, like maybe that strip of empty land between Elston and the river south of Division, just to play for a year in, a la the planned Olympic stadium. The core of it could be kept with some small facilities as a practice and rental venue.

Moving to the burbs would be a disaster for the fan bases of either team, but even more so for the Cubs.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 19, 2010 -> 02:45 PM) I'm about 99% sure that if you are going to be a minor league free agent and the team adds you to the 40-man roster, you lose your free agent rights. I'm also about 99% sure that there are players who are still probably 3 and 4 years removed from the draft (depending on their age) that haven't been added to the 40-man that will be eligible for the Rule V draft. I can't imagine that list has many big names on it at all. I'm kind of surprised that Santeliz was not added to the 40. I thought the club liked him. Also, surprised that Freddy Dolsi still is ON the 40.

Interesting. Who else is exposed that my need to be added? There is a thread in FS with the list of Minor League FA candidates. Anyone know how these rules work? For the minor league FA's, do they need to be on the 40 to be protected? Are there players who are not FA eligible but still need to be on the 40?

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Nov 19, 2010 -> 12:51 PM) When asked why President Obama comes across as aloof to many Americans, Biden replied: “I think what it is, is he’s so brilliant. He is an intellectual.” LMAO!! Yeah that's it, Joe... http://www.gq.com/news-politics/politics/2...?printable=true It kind of is right. He's usually the smartest guy in the room, but he acts like he knows that, so he comes off as aloof and not connected to the reality of most Americans. Its the flip side of the problem with Bush, who felt much more like the everyday person, and therefore could connect with Americans better.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Nov 19, 2010 -> 11:30 AM) hmm, I mostly have seen Z/OS IBM machines at the banks and financial places. I've seen both zOS and iOS (AS-400), depends on the shop. There are some major financial systems that still use AS/400.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Nov 19, 2010 -> 09:05 AM) rpg as400 programming. There's actually still a decent size market for that, particularly in the finance realm in Chicago. All the shops that do heavy derivatives use GMI running on an AS/400. Then there are some 400 systems in the retail banking area as well.

I'm very lucky in this regard. I pay $60/month for full family PPO through BCBS. Another $8/month for combined dental and vision.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 02:56 PM) I don't think we'd be overextended in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Mexico. Yeah, because another Pancho Villa run-down would do wonders!

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 02:16 PM) It's the 21st century. Being able to watch replays, see highlights, read stats on players are all very appealing to the common baseball fan. Even Cubs fans. You don't need to do all the videos and games in between innings, but there is a lot of stuff you miss out on without even a single video screen. Very few replays are ever shown at The Cell. Especially anything controversial. Mostly what's up there is trivia, stats, and silly inning break games.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 01:58 PM) If they came out and were winners for 10-ish years right after opening a new park, sure. But I think there'd be such a huge strain of "I'm there for the ballpark and the experience" rather than "Im there for the baseball" that would be lost QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) Plus, if they demolished the old one before it collapsed on its own, they'd infuriate their fan base, while if they wait for it to collapse on its own, they're in trouble that way too. I think you are way overblowing the concerns here for the Cubs. They'd survive the one season just fine. The bigger key is, making sure the stadium is a lot like Wrigley of old, but with better bathrooms, food, concourses, etc.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 01:53 PM) Even if they did that, they'd murder their ticket base in the down years. They have a waiting list for season tickets that is on par with the total number of actual holders. They'd be down a year, probably. I don't see that making a gigantic dent in their base.

the Cubs know damn well they need Wrigley to continue doing what they do. Even if they tear it down, they'd just rebuild an almost identical stadium in the same place (but with better bathrooms, walkways, etc.). They'd play a year someplace else, probably multiple other fields, mostly The Cell.

UE claims stay low again at 439k, beating expecations. 4 week moving average now at 443k, part of a 6 week downward trend, and 4 of the past 5 weeks have been below 440k. 425k seems to be the threshold where they start to consider it serious steam in the market, and things seem headed that direction. CB leading indicator index went up 0.5% again in October, just as in September, indicating further growth ahead. Current-loop UE rools shrunk again as people went to the extended segment and weren't replaced as quickly by new ones. That's another good sign.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 11:38 AM) Lol, I know what you're saying, but I think "magical man in the sky" religion kinda fits into this. Yeah I know, like I said, its all very subjective. But, I agree with Rex when he says that labeling a billion followers of Islam, just as with labeling millions of followers of Christianity/Catholicism/Judaism/Hinduism/Buddhism, as the same as being in the Westboro group and/or a cult, is insulting, inaccurate, and inappropriate.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 11:28 AM) Well, "cult" is exaggerating, but what he said is true Definitions: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cult Oh hell, by those defintions (all but #3 which is entirely vague and subjective), every religion on earth is a cult. To me, the line between cult and religion is found in two parts. One, followers of a cult actively avoid any discussion of the values of the belief - they literally give over thought control to the cult. Two, and this is the difficult and subjective part, the belief is founded on articles or stories so far outside the logical realm of the society around them, that no reasonable person outside said cult can believe it. Islam, to me, is no more and no less cult-ish than any of the other major religions.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 11:11 AM) Ya know, i'm not gonna defend the "cult" comment, but there's a bit of a double standard here. Someone calls a religion a "cult" and gets this random warning that it won't be tolerated. Someone else posts a video clip about how stupid the Bible is and there's not a peep. I get what you're saying, and I've never been one to just throw down a line in here and not be open to discussing it. Also I have to admit, I can't watch videos at work really, so I don't know the content of most of the videos posted here. Where is that video? I can watch it later. People have posted here, for example, cartoons making fun of Islam. I think its in poor taste and not helpful, but I never said anything about not being able to post it. I've also seen cartoons about Catholic Priests and the usual child molestation theme. Same thing, seems counterproductive to me, but we allow it. Now here, what was done was labeling an entire religion as members of a cult on par with the Westboro psychos. That, IMO, is a few steps beyond the examples I just gave. That's why I said something.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 09:04 AM) So when someone makes jokes about priests molesting kids, that's not mocking the religion in general? Nobody takes those as singling out just the few (or many?) priests that have and do molest kids, they all hear and take it as an inditement of the religion as a whole. That's mocking the church on a particular issue, which is done here all the time, about Islam and Catholicism and all sorts of other groups. Its not exactly healthy dialogue, but its not a huge problem either. QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 09:04 AM) And I refered to it as a cult because it made the 'two cutls enter, one cult leaves' flow better. But let's see. It has members willing to die for it, members that follow rules that most of the rest of the world think are silly and/or arcane, has its members so devoted that their life centers around it, not their family, work or anythgin else. Devotion to it is higher than devotion to family or country. Sure, most other religions fit into a few of these, but that first one, it is a biggie. On that note, I am done with this thread, and site. It has been a pleasure chatting with most of you, a headache cahatting with a few others. Go Sox. Most of this is just patently false, and you are applying the behavior of some to a BILLION people. Every religion I knwo of has some people who fit all of those, but never all of them. This is exactly the issue here - you are taking the lazy path of seeing a few examples of something bad, and applying it to a whole category of people. People on the right get mad when this is done to the Tea Partym and rightly so - you have seen me, in this forum, fight against people doing that. I'm just doing the same here about religion.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 08:49 AM) It's very much like the Orr-Hallihan dynamic. Lutz does most of the coaching, like Hallihan did. Hoiberg's more of the figurehead. I'd be ecstatic of Hoiberg/Lutz end up as successful as Orr/Hallihan were.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 08:38 AM) I'm sure the Catholic Church has been raked over the coals a few times here over the pedophilia issues and how they handle it. But they deserve that. That's my point - people rail on the Catholic Chuch on a specific action, one that pretty much everyone agrees is awful. Similarly, people rail on the more fundamentalist Ismalic atrocities, like the Taliban, or stoning women who supposedly commit audultery. What no one other than Alpha Dog is doing, is referring to either religin as a cult, as if they millions or billions of members are all drones or something.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 06:48 AM) There has been much worse written here about Catholics, so I am not worried. Really? Show us. I do know there are a few people who post in here who have derided all religions as a group. Some people find the very idea of religion as repugnant. I've also seen people criticize the catholic church for specific policy or doctrine, just as people do so regarding Islam. No problems there. What I haven't seen anyone do is "much worse" than calling a major global religion a cult. What would be worse than that, anyway?

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Nov 18, 2010 -> 08:06 AM) Rinku Singh Dinesh Patel Looks like Singh made some nice progress repeating Rookie ball.

Sale, for his part, feels he's goint to be ready for the rotation.