NorthSideSox72

Unexpectedly high jump in new home starts reported. This is actually bad new, IMO. Still far too much inventory on the market, we need this number to continue declining. Real health will be seen if existing home sales rise (that report is due later this week, I believe).

I once saw a sign for a "SCOOL CROSSING".

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Sep 20, 2010 -> 09:55 PM) I used to rattle off that factoid for years when people would demonize wolves. That became harder to do this past March. This was pretty well publicized when it happened. I'm surprised you didn't see it. All in all though, I think humans don't have a lot to fear from wolves in the wild. Whoa... I didn't see that. Well, I guess the number is now 1 or 2, instead of 0 or 1. I suppose as wolves come back to strength, and populations continue to push into their territory, this was inevitable. Still highly aberrant though. StrangeSox, yes, wolves are threats to livestock, as well as pets occasionally. I own some property in New Mexico near where they reintroduced Mexican Wolves back in 2002, its been topic number one in that area since then. Very controversial. Ranchers hate them, and residents are convinced their children will be dragged out of their homes at night by them.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Sep 20, 2010 -> 05:47 PM) I don't think balance of the Senate is in question. I could see a 53 or 54 seat majority for the Dems in January, smaller - but 59 is pretty high historically anyway. The house is the big question, and theres enough question marks without reliable polling right now to give a strong indicator. A lot of places where Dems should be vulnerable in a year like this year, they don't appear to be. What looked to be strong challenges in NJ seem to be fizzling out (NJ-3, 6, 12) as an example, although no means assured. The question is whether or not the Dems can execute a great ground game. The tea partiers are energized, but the truth is - I don't know that many other Republicans are right now realistically. Energized isn't the problem on the right - organized is the problem. The Dems are like a bowl of soup, they have no cohesion to break. The GOP has been for a while, a block of ice. Solid as hell, until it fractures, like it is right now. I have said for the last few years the GOP would split like this, though I admit I was wrong in how it would happen. I thought the old school, small government conservatives would break from the social conservatives - and I think the Tea Party was originally just that. But now, its kind of all over the place, and has become just a group of people really far to the right, even by GOP standards, on nearly everything. I honestly do not think that's how it was intended to go, but, that's what its been co-opted to be.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 20, 2010 -> 04:55 PM) Rob Neyer's take Actually, the real cause isn't about players or the MLB. American Ash is a species leaving this earth thanks to the Emerald Ash Borer. Maple was the most highly considered alternative. Not to say they shouldn't continue trying to find ways to improve, but, people seem to have this odd idea that maple bats were some sort of MLB desire. They weren't.

Even at the peak of GOP fervor, which was weeks ago, I didn't see the Senate really being in play. Best case is they get 48 seats. Now its probably less than that, thanks to these far-right candidates shooting themselves in the foot constantly. House will likely turn red, but not by a lot. I'll go, as of now, Dems 53-47 in the Senate when all this is done. I think these fringey right wing candidates will not only destroy their own races, they will have a negative effect on other ones too. But the wild card is still, what does the economy doe between now and 2 months from now.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Sep 20, 2010 -> 05:00 PM) Wolves are pretty benevolent towards people aren't they? In recorded history in North America (recorded meaning, like, the past couple hundred years, reliably recorded), there has been either zero or one wolf predations of humans. There was a case in northern Canada some time back, a teenage boy walking home from work at night disappeared. The body was found having been bitten up by wolves, but they don't know if that's what killed him. That's it, ever, on this continent, in modern times. The list of animals more likely to kill you includes raccoons, for example, via rabies. Wolves, as a general rule, don't attack people. I'm sure it will happen some day, but it will be the definition of an aberration. That won't stop some people from wanting to go out and kill all of them, of course.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Sep 20, 2010 -> 03:48 PM) Has this been confirmed by anyone in the organization? I heard this was taken from his FB page but the more I see this kid the more I just don't believe it. I would have to ask ptac but how can this kid play with a torn labrum, why would the Sox risk playing him? Maybe he's healthy after all? 1. Its his non-throwing arm, I believe 2. It could be a very minor tear, which would explain their idea of not doing surgery right away 3. Depending on where on the labrum the tear is, certain movements may be painful, others not at all

QUOTE (Night Train Veeck @ Sep 20, 2010 -> 02:06 PM) Well, rest assured, this is ONLY going to Sox fans It is a really significant discount on some pretty good lower level seats. normally these are $39.00, so it's a considerable amount off. This deal is only for Sox Supporters, and not open to mass public consumption. It won't be any more than that, and I am trying to get as close to $20 as possible. As for getting the tickets in hands, I can handle that part of the pie, and I am also working on setting up a group portal link for people to click on to purchase them. That will be distributed only to Sox Supporters and people interested. Ah, that's what I figured - a "club" of sorts gets direct access, not through the normal channels. Still won't be perfect, but it should get you close.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 20, 2010 -> 02:00 PM) The $20-$25 price point would sound like something I'd jump at. I do have to wonder...how would you go about getting these tickets into the hands of the kind of rowdy die-hards you probably want there? If there's a significant discount on that section, wouldn't everyone purchasing tickets, whether they're a Twins fan or a Sox fan, want to get their hands on those tickets? I was wondering that too. But you could list them as a seperate section, with disclaimers like what you see for obstructed view (but instead it would say "beware, people in this section will be standing, yelling, etc."). You could also do a membership, like pay $10 for a card (like the Pride Club) to be eligible for the seats, so they wouldn't sell as normal seats through like Stub Hub and the like. So there are ways to handle that. Marketing is key, though. Make sure everyone knows what Section 108 is and isn't.

This year, the team will apologize to the crowd in unison.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Sep 20, 2010 -> 10:43 AM) I'm not sure if I've ever seen a fox, unless they have them in a zoo somewhere and I saw it a long time ago. I have had that reaction to seeing a coyote, though. When I was living in Massachusetts, I was driving down one of those streets with no lighting at night, and running right along the side of my car was a coyote. I had never seen one in person before, but it was definitely not a dog. After looking up more pictures of them and ensuring that they existed in that area (which a friend of mine absolutely would not believe), I was confident that it was a coyote. get used to seeing Coyote in the Chicago area, even the city. They've been adapting quickly here and moving in all over the place. And now, we had our first Wolf sighting in Illinois a few months back, as the packs in Wisconsin continue to thrive and push south. People are already in a panic about coyote in some of the suburbs (with, mostly, no good cause to be), wolves will increase that tension a lot (again, without any good reason, in terms of human safety).

Welcome to the board, and thanks for asking our opinions! I have never seen this sort of set up, so I am not even sure what to ask. Sounds intriguing, but... is this like a stand-up area to hang out? Or a set of seats dedicated to this particular group of fervent fans? And how would you determine who the fans were? I'm all for anything that gets more team excitement going among fans.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 20, 2010 -> 08:55 AM) If his learning curve this offseason is as steep as it was this season...I sincerely doubt you're going to want him in AAA after a few weeks of next season. He's got a chance to be destroying everyone in the minors next year. I am still scared by his lack of walks, but if he can improve that next year, I do think he'll be a force with the bat.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 12:51 PM) Back in early August, NSS and I had a discussion about whether the Sox were likely to get their average attendance up to 28k to avoid a significant drop from the 28,199 the Sox averaged last year. At the time, the Sox were averaging around 26,500. The Sox have gotten extra people through the gates, but it's only been enough to push the Sox to 27,300. Last night, on a Saturday, the Sox only pulled in 27,828. Friday was 28,500. There are 4 home games against the Red Sox remaining and 3 against the Indians. The season sure looks like its over, so I think it's getting less and less likely that we'll avoid losing about 1000 tickets sold/game. And as you may recall, that's what I said would happen. The number would go up towards 28k or perhaps even 29k, but that if the team fell out of it (as they did about a week ago now), the number would reverse. It was going up, the team fell out, we're headed back down again. The remaining series are BOS and CLE. If we are at 27,300 right now, I'll say that's about where we'll finish. HIgher than that for BOS games, lower for CLE.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 02:34 PM) You just me more depressed then I already was. I knew there was a reason(s) I totally stopped following our minor leagues in June. Oh there's talent in the minors, in fact I'd contend that the lower levels have improved a lot the last year or two. Problem is the higher levels are nearly devoid of major league talent. The system is uneven right now. So I wouldn't stop following them, I'd just focus on the lower level teams for now.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 02:56 PM) They would pretty much be the same type of managers. I don't see a chance in hell of that actually happening. You're joking about them being the same type of managers, right? Those two are nothing alike, other than they both have more respect for the game than many of the players. Beyond that, they are going to be very different. Fisk would have some downsides, but some serious upsides as well. Another name that has floated around before is Ventura. I think he'd be excellent, but he's also said he wants his kids to finish high school before he goes back to baseball full time. I am not sure if that has happened yet.

Does Chipotle have a mascot? Because that's about the only fast food joint that I eat at with any regularity. McD's has one and only one thing good - the fries, when they are just out of the fryer. Wendy's has the best burgers of the big names. Back Yard Burger and Culver's are better, though.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 12:21 PM) Please explain. For that matter, I'd like to see him explain any of those three posits.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 11:02 AM) here's what i don't like. While Williams would protest that the team's goal every year is to win the World Series and that anything else is a failure, in truth they're annually built to win 85 to 90 games, with the understanding that with some good fortune they might win 95 and a pennant, and that with a few injuries or off years they might slip below .500. 2010- Twins on pace for 97 wins 2009- Twins 87 wins 2008- Sox 89 wins 2007- Indians 96 wins 2006- Twins 96 wins 2005- Sox 99 wins 2004- Twins 92 wins 2003- Twins 90 wins 2002- Twins 94 wins 2001- Indians 91 wins 2000- Sox 95 wins So if that truly is the goal, we are undershooting what it takes to win a division. 85-90 win seasons won the division 3 out of the past 11 seasons. The average win total it took to take the Central was 93.27 wins. If you take 85-90 and cut it down the middle, to say 88 wins.. that would have won the division only 1 time!!! That's a trick of writing. Read the graf again. KW did not say that was the goal, and I don't believe that anyway. That is the author's opinion being tacked onto KW's words.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 11:19 AM) Absolutely not. QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 11:29 AM) PK is the man and the league MVP Agreed on all above.

QUOTE (scenario @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 10:42 AM) I think most levels of our organization will be interesting and competitive next year... except Charlotte. Again. Interesting though, this season, the rookie level teams, A- and A+ were fun and had some talent to watch. Next year, should be the same up to AA. I do think the system is starting to improve again a bit, but is severely lacking in guys who are near ready to make the jump, not including the guys who already jumped this year (Sale, Viciedo, Morel). Looking for guys who could do that in 2011, there's just nothing. So yeah, Charlotte will suck again.

Don't know where to put this, I'll put it here. The starting pitching situation for next year does look good, but its scary how little depth there is behind those six in terms of real talent. AAA had nothing of use this year at all. Next year, the two guys who are above the Harrell/Torres level that are closest to ready would be Leesman and Shirek, neither of which look ready for 2011 after their 2010 campaigns (Leesman was mid-season to AA before he really got strong, and Shirek had injury issues). Behind those two you have guys like Dylan Axelrod and a bunch of really young guys in rookie ball that are not anywhere near ready. Some of those may have the talent, but are multiple years from contributing in any case. This is an area the org needs to develop quickly, before an already expensive pitching staff starts reaching the end of their contracts or arb periods.

QUOTE (scenario @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 10:20 AM) I think they'll probably give Retherford one more shot and start him at 2B. He was solid at every level up til this year... and had a decent showing in the AFL. Andrew Garcia and Dale Mollenhauer don't appear to be more than organizational filler. I assume Retherford will be playing 2B in Charlotte. Mollenhauer/Garcia probably gets the AA slot, one or the other, because there just isn't much in the way of 2B prospects in the system right now (unless CJ puts it back together, or Saladino moves to second).

I was thinking about who would likely be in B-Ham in 2011 on Opening Day, and it seems like a really solid team to me. My best guesses for who would be there... C: Phegley 1B: Loman 2B: ??? SS: Escobar (I'd guess he starts back there again) 3B: Gilmore OF: Mitchell OF: Short OF: Greene OF: Williams (with one of the 4 OF's rotating to DH each game probably) SP: Leesman (if he goes to Charlotte, then pencil in Edwards here maybe) SP: Shirek (repeats after injury-plagued season) SP: Axelrod SP: Sauer SP: Doyle (I'm guessing Griffith and Serafin stay behind and repeat A+, and Leesman may or may not go to Charlotte) RP: Jones (I'm guessing he goes back to relief) RP: Bellamy RP: Remenowsky RP: Rodriguez RP: Corley That looks like a fun team to watch.