NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 03:43 PM) Pierre7 Vizquel5 Rios8 PK3 CQ9 Teahen DH Missile6 AJ2 Beck4 E. Jackson P Good to see Teahen in there instead of Kotsay.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 03:27 PM) What is the other path? For the sake of argument Im going to say that Jesse Jackson Jr. was going to buy the seat. Holder hears from Fitzgerald that JJ is going to buy Obama's seat. Obama doesnt want JJ to go down with Blago. Obama cant call or tell anyone in JJ"s camp to "walk away" that would make Obama an accessory and he could go down to. He cant tell anyone in his circle to tell JJ because that would implicate him and could lead to the end o fhis presidency. So Obama tells Holder, get Blago now, and uses the excuse that this is such a horrific crime that you cant wait for it to happen (its not murder you can easily prevent some one from being admitted to the senate). Some one tips of the Tribune. Now you have Holder telling Fitz to go forward and the tribune threatening Fitz's case. Look at the evidence, why do you think the Prosecution barely went into who was buying the seat. In order to sell something you have to have a buyer. I cant sell cocaine if I have no one to buy it. In almost every transaction there is a buyer and seller, in criminal prosecutions you have facts of X was going to sell to Y. This case unraveled because you have no clear concrete facts. Either A) Blago was not really that close to selling the seat and did not commit a crime or B ) Blago was close to selling the seat and some one does not want collateral damage in terms of who the buyer was. The govt cant have it both ways. The sale of the seat could not have been imminent if there was not a specific buyer. So I believe that there is a lot more to this than meets the eye. And its not that Blago was giving it to some one at the behest of Obama, its that one of Obama's "guys" may have got himself caught up with this, and Obama was trying to make sure he didnt go down with the ship. Having a US Attorney arrest Blago on trumped up charges as you allege is just as potentially criminal as telling JJ Jr to not go for the seat. Your theory makes no sense. Further, if there was evidence that something like that was happening, the defense would have used it and called witnesses. Lastly, do you really think that Obama would do ANYTHING to get his hands dirty in order to defend Jesse Jackson Jr? There is no way he'd put himself at that level of risk for that guy.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 03:14 PM) I just cant imagine that Obama is going to sit on the sidelines and potentially watch one of his allies go down because of Blago's nonsense. The only way to stop it is to go after Blago before it can be tied to any specific person. I would like you to read this sentence you typed. You think the ONLY way to stop his buddy from being tied to it, is to arrest Blago early? Not, I don't know, tell them to stop? I mean seriously. If this was some Obama pal, who he had that kind of influence over... you think he has the complex power and time on his hands to orchestrate a whole arrest scheme... but can't just and say, "Hey dude, I really think you shouldn't try for that seat"?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 03:14 PM) You mean how did the Tribune get information on what should have been secret wire taps? Probably from some high ranking Democratic fed who was worried about who Blago was selling the seat too. Its better to distrust the govt and be wrong, then to trust the govt and be wrong. So I distrust almost everything that the govt says (Democratic and Republican) and try and piece together what I think the truth is from the facts. Why would Fitz be afraid? Perhaps because the "other" Illinois politician happened to be his bosses boss, Mr. Obama. Fitzgerald reports to Holder. Holder reports to Obama. I just cant imagine that Obama is going to sit on the sidelines and potentially watch one of his allies go down because of Blago's nonsense. The only way to stop it is to go after Blago before it can be tied to any specific person. Otherwise you just wait and see what happens. You have just as good of a case no matter what the trib does. And many times its the cover up that actually is what nails people, so its hard to say whether Blago trying to cover up would have helped or hurt him. This is just so bizarre. If he was going to sell the seat to some guy who was working with ObamaCo... then one of two things has to be true. Either it already was underway and evidence already existed - in which case, you are f***ed anyway... or it hadn't happened yet, so you do the really, really easy thing - WALK AWAY. Seriously, why all the unnecessary drama? There is absolutely no reason for them to take the path you are suggesting, when there is a lower risk and easier path available to them.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 03:09 PM) I am guessing he is talking higher than an Illinois politician. Still makes no sense. If someone higher up - like someone in the White House, I suppose he is getting at - was going to try to work with Blago on something underhanded, then having him arrested is just pointless. There is no motivation there. They'd instead try to call of Fitzgerald, or just walk away. And if Blago ALREADY knew something, then it doesn't matter in any case, early or late in the game. I find conspiracy theories where the conspirators have no motivation for that action to be amusing.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 02:57 PM) Yeah ive heard the excuse, I find it to be lazy and uninspiring. It would be like saying that they finally went after Al Capone because the trib was going to run an article that Fed may be investigating him for being associated with the mob. The article could have only prevented future misconduct, it could not have undone any of the wiretaps (almost the entirety of the evidence the govt had). I dont buy it, my belief is that Blago was going to sell the seat to some one who had far more powerful political allies. That when the powers that be got wind of the fact it wouldnt only be Blago going down, but instead it would be Blago + Politician, they forced Fitzgerald to move before he had a concrete case. I believe that the Democratic party did not want any potential senators/reps going down with Blago, because that would hurt them on a federal scale (which actually matters in terms of house/senate seats). Losing Blago, no one cares about. Losing a house or senate vote, when things are close, is a major deal. Thus the premature arrest. Once again, this is just my opinion. But this was not a case where you really had to worry about Blago covering up physical evidence. They guy cant use email or computers, hes not writing memos outlining the sale of the seat. It was all done over the phone. I think the Tribune is a convenient excuse. You are one paranoid dude. Fitzgerald has always had a reputation of being an absolute bulldog, for good or for bad. He takes down people from both parties, with great vigor. He's also considered one of the most successful people in his job. Why in the hell would he suddenly decide he was OK with arresting the sitting governor, but somehow afraid of some other Illinois politician? That makes zero sense.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 02:44 PM) No, there's another board that they don't want any of their members to know about. Well please do tell us what it is! Because now I'm curious.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 02:39 PM) Or disable it entirely. So far, I see no such option, even looking through the help page. How did you accomplish this?

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 01:44 PM) Bumping an old thread but I guess I'll be more of a regular member over here. Apparently they don't like people posting on more than one White Sox message board over there. They got on you for posting on SoxTalk? That's odd, some of the Mods and Admins here are members over there too. I post over there occasionally.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 10:13 AM) It's pretty deliberate on Facebooks part. Giving FourSquare a big middle finger. Not only that, but, it appears you cannot remove Places from Facebook at all. Your only options for who sees your "Places" are Friends, Friends of Friends and Everyone. How about "no one"? How about, don't let that application even go near me?

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 12:20 PM) I looked back...21-6 is their record over the last 27 - that's a pretty unreal clip against AL competition. It's a miracle we aren't further back. Yeah, its also unsustainable. There is almost they play like that for 6 more weeks - that would mean they'd go 51-16 to close out the season, which would be just unreal.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 11:44 AM) The differences in schedule: Sox play one more road game in detroit than the twins, they each play 3 home and 3 away in addition. (edge to twins) We play 6 games @ LAA and Oak, Twins have 6 against them at home (big edge to twins) They play Texas for 7 (3 home /4 away), we play Boston for 7 (4/3) (slight edge to sox) We host NYY for 3, they host Toronto for 4. (edge to twins) We both play 15 games vs. bottom feeders (they play Cle, KC and Sea, we play Cle, KC and Bal) - but we have 9 home games, whereas they have 6. (slight edge to sox) I think we need a sweep at the Cell to have a shot... The Sox tend to do well against DET most of the time, so I'd call that first one an edge for the Sox, not the Twins. Otherwise I agree with your analysis. That said, that would make 3 edges for Sox, and 2 for the Twins. I think our overall SOS is slightly tougher, but we play 16 of our last 22 at home as well. I think the remaining schedule is pretty dead even.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 09:38 AM) It's such a logical and obvious upgrade. Its possible they asked about him, and the price was too high. But since he cleared waivers, that seems unlikely. I'm not sure what the reason would be to NOT go get him, since he'd be such a massive upgrade over Kotsay.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 11:11 AM) I think he uses his curve or slider for that, but when you through as fast as he does and can LOCATE it right he is unhittable Its a slider, which he only throws about 5% of the time last I saw. Multiple people have suggested he throw it a bit more, and I think I agree, if he can have some decent control with it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 08:07 AM) Depends on how you define "Great clubhouse guy". There have still been some rants that people thought wound up directed at AJ...example, there was that one day last year where the team lost a game and Ozzie was furious about someone having turned all the TV's in the locker room to some college football game and a lot of people thought that it was AJ... Look at the quotes from both Tyler Flowers and Donny Lucy over the past couple years about their interactions with AJ. I remember both of them, in different articles, were asked about their relationship with AJ. Both answered with some variant of "um, well, he's AJ".

After struggling upon his promotion to AA, Infante has settled down nicely. Last 9 appearances: 10.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 13 K.

Outscored Minny by 9 runs in that 3 game series. 11-0 rout is a nice way to launch into a little run, while the Twinkies come back to earth. Need to gain 1 game for every 10. say it loud... GO YOU WHITE SOX!!!

A talk radio icon is complaining about not having her 1A rights. Read that again. A talk radio icon is complaining about not having her 1A rights. Awesome.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 04:00 PM) You know what? You're right. f*** kowtowing to these bastards. f*** some 8-1 twins. Dammit 10-2 SOX!!! Let's get this s*** done tonight and roll into the KC series with a head full of steam. It's time for the bulls*** to stop!! um... full head of steam maybe? Or are you saying the Sox need to be really, really vapid?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 03:36 PM) What kind of tactician do you want? I see on here in some game threads people want pinch hitters in the fifth f***ing inning. People want to pull our established starters in the fourth or fifth. No manager does such a thing. People want to bring in relievers for lefty/righty matchups and start that parade with one out in the sixth inning. Sometimes even in the fifth. It's one thing if you want to blame Guillen for the Thome/Kotsay mess and the theory behind smallball of this year's team and his lineups which some people think would magically get better if some other guy was manager. It's another when you say you want a "tactician" yet the technical things people ask for in game threads are just silly, things no manager would ever do. This guy has used Jenks, Putz and Thornton late and they've all failed to some degree. What tactics do you want?? I'm not one to pick at the little things - heck I was even defending Ozzie for not pinch-hitting for Kotsay in the game you are referring to. I am talking about basic stuff. I am talking about not batting a barely major league player (at this stage in his career) like Mark Kotsay fifth in the damn lineup. I am talking about realizing that if you attempt steals so often your guys are running a 65% success rate, you are probably running them too often. I am talking about not taking the bat out of the hands of hot hitter by bunting every damn time you get someone on base. I am talking about understanding that not every single hitter in baseball hits oppo side pitchers better. I am talking about not pitching a guy like Putz three games in a row when you have fresher arms available in the pen. This is stuff other managers seem to understand just fine, but not Ozzie.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 03:24 PM) It's the devil you know versus the devil you don't. What are the odds that there is a great motivator of men and tactician of baseball sitting around undiscovered on some other team's roster awaiting plucking? At any given time there are 30 managers in baseball. I am pretty confident there are more than 30 people in the baseball world who would be good managers, possessing those skill sets. But of course you won't really know whether or not the guy you hired is one of them, until they actually manage some games. That's the risk you are getting at of course. I just think at this point, its become clear what Ozzie is, and is not, good at. He'd be a fantastic Bench Coach, doing what he does best - keeping all the guys on the same page, marching together, and having the right mindset for the sport. He can also add in some help on defense, which he excelled at and knows quite well. Let him work under a manager who is more of the tactician type.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 02:54 PM) Which goes against our entire criminal system. You dont single out an individual defendant to send a message. You treat everyone equally under the law. I dont believe in sending messages, they dont work. The only message that is being sent to politicians right now is: 1) Dont be as stupid as Blago. 2) If youre going to be as stupid as Blago, make sure you play ball with the more powerful politicians. In my opinion this is all about Blago not playing the game with the Madigan's, Mell's, Daley's and Obama's of the world. If you want to send a message, take down a big fish, not a small one. Goes against the entire criminal system? What? I'd say quite the opposite - if you are prosecuting purely for punishment, that goes against the purpose of the institution. The penalties are in place to discourage people from doing these things at all. Blago was the SITTING GOVERNOR - that's a pretty big f***ing fish. It doesn't get much bigger than that. Mell? That guy is tiny compared to a sitting governor.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 01:41 PM) I am of the mind that if you punish the coverup and not the crime, it just encourages politicians to be more brazen about the wrong that they do, when and if they choose to do wrong. Because if the crime is just politics, why bother lying about it? Exactly. This isn't about punishing Blago, its about sending a message.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 12:58 PM) Good. f*** you, Roger! I was just about to post that.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 12:38 PM) Pew Survey http://people-press.org/report/645/ Well, I guess that means they all forgot about Rev Wright already.