NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 11:04 AM) If the Sox had any interest in a player like Cust, they would have resigned Thome. Yes. The Sox are going to play out this Kotsay/Jones thing for a while, and then look for something much better than Cust in June or July.

QUOTE (The Baconator @ Apr 6, 2010 -> 09:22 AM) What's the new opener like that they play on the big screen before Thunderstuck? Did they use the same theme/song? Anyone have a link to a video of it? They had the same type of video from previous years, maybe slightly different images used, but same music. Additionally, they had a reel before that for opening day, where they played really dramatic action usic and had a sort of lightning with heavy metal-like font themed thing, that was... kind of funny.

I thought it would be interesting to have a thread for people who went to Opening Day, to share with the SoxTalk crowd some of the sights and sounds that people who watched/heard it broadcast would have missed. Here are a few to start with... --The radar gun at the park was not working properly at the start of the game. MB's first fastball registered at 93 - which we all thought was strange. Then it got weirder, when another one hit... 107. After that, the radar wasn't showing at all anymore, then later in the game it came back on, and seemed back to normal. --Not one of the four Blackhawks throw a pitch even vaguely near the strike zone. But they did get some real nice applause when they were announced. --Saw KW and Big Frank having what looked like a very happy conversation, while getting ready to go on camera. Surprised to see that. --They had a moment of silence reel on the scoreboard during the opening ceremonies, showing people who had died during the past offseason. A couple jackasses in our area decided this was their big chance, and start yelling and hollering during it. They eventually left the area, to the cheers of people nearby. --Ballpark looked the same, didn't notice anything new. The Red Line CTA station now has TSA guards all over it, instead of just CPD officers.

For those who want some background on Lucy, read his AAP Thread.

Its official - Lucy makes Opening Day major league roster, as Castro sent to the DL for his bruised heel.

Donny has been traveling with the team, because Castro is nursing a sore heel. Now, the Trib is saying that Castro may open the season on the DL, and Lucy may be on the Opening Day roster. If true, this is a nice chance for Donny, though he won't likely see much playing time. Ozzie Guillen was quoted saying good things about Lucy's handling of the pitching staff. His spring training batting line, in 21 AB (13 G): .238/.385/.286/.670

QUOTE (danman31 @ Apr 3, 2010 -> 02:40 AM) That's quite interesting. Especially because from the press release it looks like Gregory Infante will start the year in the bullpen. Both moves are interesting. I was thinking the same thing. INfante did seem to run out of gas as the season went on, that might be an indicator. And with Infante going to the pen, I thought that Serafin would start the year in W-S - but he's back in Kanny again. Also, Bellamy staying over in Kanny is abit of a surprise - the way people were talking about him, I thought he might be in W-S or higher.

Interesting. He's my AAP, and I honestly thought his already-slim chances at a major league job vanished with his injury in 2008. Ozzie was quoted saying good things about Lucy's handling of the pitching staff.

Remenowsky makes his first appearance in a major league "game" (exhibition). 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. The one hit and one run were on a Flowers HR.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 1, 2010 -> 10:18 AM) So the government is still going to lose out on this, right? They'll be taking the loses directly instead of paying out subsidies. I think that's what Mike was getting at. No, the default risk hasn't changed at all. Previously, they were federally guaranteed, now they are federally held - either way, feds take the default risk. So that hasn't changed one bit.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 1, 2010 -> 08:50 AM) Isn't Obama continuing the program or am I mistaken? That program ended in 2007, while still under Bush.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 1, 2010 -> 08:45 AM) I can't figure out a single reason why this would be a bad idea. The Catholic Church has spent the past couple decades doing everything they can to make themselves extinct. Its amazing how stupidly they have handled this whole thing, and how insulting vulgar their approach has been.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 1, 2010 -> 07:30 AM) But poll after poll shows much more Republican enthusiasm for likely voters this Fall. Big parts of the base will stay home in November with things like this on the headlines. How about riding some momentum as a strategy? That IS their strategy, but my calendar says April 1st, not November 1st. Have to set up the run, can't just floor it for 7 months, or you get the opposite effect.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 1, 2010 -> 07:48 AM) At least for the last 20 years, it's been because they had good lobbyists. While its true that they've had good lobbyists, I hope you realize that banks aren't going to make money on giving out student loans at like 2% interest delayed 4-8 years. They'd lose money, so frankly, it only made sense to subsidize it, since it was the government that wanted to be able to make sure the loans could be made that way.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 1, 2010 -> 07:07 AM) It's a great way to fizzle away the political capital of your base after a huge victory with health care. He knows his base isn't going anywhere. He also knows that what is going to come after this is big funding for renewable energy, and that any offshore drilling, if it even occurs, is years away. He just puts the policy idea out there now, for all the political reasons specified earlier. You want environmental progress, and you are going to get it - but its not going to be the full-on windfall you would have liked. This is the political reality at present. A fwe hundred billion more dollars for alt energy, and further wild land protection, is going to cost you offshore drilling RESEARCH, and a few nuclear plants. Its called compromise.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 04:10 PM) Well for whatever it's worth, rope-a-doping opponents to make them punch themselves out is part of Obama's playbook that he's been using ever since he campaigned against Clinton. That's what I'm saying, this is his method. You just said it cooler than I did.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 04:01 PM) The guy isn't stupid. He knows the quickest way out of office is $5 gas. Which has zero to do with this. There is no way that opening up areas to offshore drilling now, will do anything at ALL to gas prices in the next couple years. Furthermore, even when it does start producing - which is probably 5 years out - it will be a very minimal effect if any at all on prices. This is politcal expediency to be sure, but its all about two things. One, short term, its a way of getting what he wants on alt energy, which he all but said in his speech. Two, it continues his chosen methodology to try to make the GOP look bad - offer an olive branch, let the world see them burn it in his hand, then say "fine, they won't play nice, I won't play nice".

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 03:49 PM) If it's the middle of May and Freddy is 1-5, and Hudson is 5-1 in Charlotte, I don't think they'll hesitate to replace him. Pretty irrelevant. Let's see how Freddy does in real games, and Hudson in AAA, before leaping into a decision.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 03:27 PM) Funny thing is.. as of now the Royals (5) have more votes than Detroit (2). That's because its become a running joke now, people will vote for KC for fun. Oh well.

Scientist at center of "climategate" (leaked memos and emails from CRU), cleared of any wrongdoing by a UK Parliamentary investigation.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 12:53 PM) The cubs have one of the worst bullpens ive seen them have in a long time. Marmol (who has filthy stuff but walks a guy an inning) is their best guy. The rest are Marshall, Samardzjia, Grabow, Caridad, Berg and eventually Gorzellany when Lilly returns. That is ugly. Rotation of Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Silva and Gorzellany/Lilly. Not much prettier.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 12:12 PM) The problem with your theory Mike is you are blaming accounting rules for why the subsidy was given and that isn't really the case. The subsidy was given because these businesses want to make money and they aren't going to waste there resources on stuff that isn't as profitable as other avenues that they can utilize there resources on. Thus, the gov needed to provide a subsidy so that the Banks were making enough of a return to determine that being a part of this business was worth it financially. This. And Mike, I just don't understand why you think it takes an accounting rule to tell you that you do not need to subsidze yourself.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 11:16 AM) If I think it's a coin toss between the Twins, Tigers and Sox (do they make 3-sided coins yet??), then why would I vote for anyone BUT the sox? And come now, you can't tell me that the Twins are definitevely better than the Sox. You say offense, I counter with pitching. Ours is significantly superior to theirs (Slowey? Baker? they may outperform their projections as Twins usually do, but they are still Slowey and Baker), just as their offense is moderately superior to ours, and their defense is moderately superior to ours. It all adds up to a ridiculously even division, so of course 2/3rds of us are gonna vote for our guys. I think people are too focused on Mauer and Morneau. If the OF collection on the Sox plays up to their talent levels, the Sox offense will be just as good as the Twins if not better. But the Twins are heavily reliant on two bats, and the Sox are less spectacular at 3-4 but better overall. Of course, if Rios/TCQ/Pierre/Jones don't live up to expectations, that's another story.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 11:22 AM) That is what I have been saying. If the government does it, they are exempt from the things that they force private banks to do. They don't show these loans as losses, there fore they don't need the subsidy. Huh? The federal government doesn't need to subsidize itself - its not about valuation rules, its about the fact that the federal government equals the federal government. Being exempt is irrelevant here. They don't need to subsidize themselves for anything, ever, any more than you have to subsidize yourself.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 31, 2010 -> 10:45 AM) And it has absolute 00000000000000000000 correlation to SOX. Its also not where the savings come from. Indirectly, they are of course related - the purpose of the subsidy is for the banks to take losses on the loans, and that does relate to valuation. But the taxpayer savings is about not having to pay the subsidy, and partially about money made on interest, offset by the already-existing default risk (they were always federally backed), and the new implementation costs.