NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 04:36 PM) Fixed. I don't want your jobs or your knowledge. I just want to post freely and not get crap about it. its a message board. You can certainly post freely, but you should also expect responses, and not everyone will agree with your posts. In this case, people are trying to point out to you what has been said numerous times by Cooper himself among others. This is just the reality of Spring Training. By the way, look back at the last few seasons of Sox ST records. I don't have them in front of me right now, but I can tell you they've lost more than they've won during the Ozzie/KW era. And yet, they won 2 divisions and were above .500 significantly in that period, when it counted.

Does the 72-76 voter want to say anything? Just curious because its the only vote below 82.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 12:50 PM) What kind of logic is it that they think they can just wait it out? IMO, a mass resignation would be GOOD for the church. You can't think things have changed when everyone who was responsible is still in charge. The Catholic Church is slooooooooooow to change. And its slowly destroying them. Oh, and, given the reason its happening, I have no sympathy whatsoever for the people who run the church. It really sucks though, for practicing Catholics, and the good priests. Wake the f*** up, dudes. Abusers get defrocked and turned over to the police without exception, priests should be allowed to marry, and allow women to be priests. Its just so obvious, but they are just so blinded by their weird little world in Rome.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 12:10 PM) Yeah anecdotes of one side of the story aren't enough to give it credibility for me. Agreed. No doubt the driver is a psycho who shouldn't be allowed to drive for a while, but I don't see anything I'd call "proof" that he did it because of the bumper sticker.

So the Office used to be my fave on the Thursday Night thing on NBC, but it keeps going downhill, and I'm now a much bigger fan of Community, and to a lesser extent 30 Rock. Parks and Rec is even getting close to The Office now. They either need some new characters on The Office, or need to wind down that program.

Wow. For all the doom and gloom people tend to throw around on this board, the 20 votes so far all put the team above .500, and seem centered on the 87-91 range.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 09:10 AM) There are too many question marks on the team. If you figure half of the players in question work out and half don't I see them winning about 85 games. A fast start would be most helpful. Obviously that is always good, but in this case it would be especially so. Put all the controversy aside and build confidence for the stretch run. All teams in baseball have many question marks. One thing that gives me confidence is the trends. I've noted in here before, if you look at career averages, the majority of players on this team had years in 2009 that were at or below their norms. That makes me think the team is more likely than not to see some good recovery from a majority of players. But this is all supposition of course, and its all very subjective. Assuming the team is mostly healthy... I think the key is the outfield/DH rotation (TCQ, Rios, Pierre, Jones). As they go, this team will go. The pitching looks awfully solid to me, though Jenks is in question. Defense and speed are improved. If that OF foursome can be healthy and produce as their talent levels dictate, this team wins the ALC and goes over 90 wins.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 09:14 AM) I understand that completely, but I also understand that they can do way more than 1 million per day. Way...way more. If they felt like flooding the market with oil and driving the price through the floor, they could...but where is the incentive in that? I get what you are saying here, but I think you are exaggerating a bit. Their margin for output change on the high side is significant, but its not as if they could make it $10bbl or something. Also important to note, that as demand continues to rise, and as mature fields peak and dimish (as they are just beginning to do in a lot of OPEC countries), that high side flexibility will decrease over time, giving them less power to do that.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 08:57 AM) That's the same reason I hate our federal government. They are the kings of the short term. That's because short-termism (I hadn't realized it was a word, but it works) isn't special to capitalism, or to democracy - its an American cultural trait that bleeds into everything we do.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 08:42 AM) I don't believe China's oil use will go down at all in the next 10 years. It will, despite your prediction, boom to levels never before seen. WITHIN the next 10? Yes, I never said otherwise. The next 10, it will begin to drop. That's more what I am saying here. This gets back to what I've said a bazillion times - the opportunity for the US to get in front of these technologies can pay enormous dividends later. And that is the only model that will work well for the US in the current global economy. We cannot compete at the stage of broad, mainline manufacturing. Our money has to be made in front of technologies, not behind them.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 08:37 AM) Funding means dick unless you create and fund a technology that is more efficient/cheaper than the one you have. That tech doesn't exist yet. Wind farms and solar are not it, either. And they just surpassed the US this year...ignoring the fact that the US has been spending billions on these alternative techs for years and years. Look where all that money got us. Nowhere. They both are still on oil, and their oil consumption is growing faster than ours once did. The tech to replace oil isn't ready yet, despite all that money spent. It is most certainly ready now, and is being implemented now, both here and there. There isn't some magic "ready" moment on these technologies. There is increasing efficiency and/or decreasing costs, which are on a constant change curve. But its pretty basic business principle that if they are funding more now, and they have a looser regulatory environment and more government power to act without recourse... they are likely to get ahead of us on this in the future. No one is saying that means that China, India, or the US are going to suddenly have 60% of their energy from renewable sources... that will take a long time. I doubt any of those three countries reaches more than 30% in 10 years. But that's still a huge increase, greater than their population increases, which means the oil use will go down.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 08:23 AM) Let's not forget that even if the US weens itself off of oil, other countries like China are gulping it up in record quantities, all they'll do is gulp up even more being that it's cheaper without the US buying so much of it. Except China and India are already ahead of the US in alt energy funding.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 07:57 AM) Here's the question then. Imagine in 1998 the West suddenly has zero additional need for oil. Does Russia's economy recover or is it still mired in corruption and disaster? I'd bet on the latter. 1. Russia's current economy is recovering AND is mired in corruption and disaster. Russia has the amazing ability to have all three of those things going on at once. 2. Without the continuing addiction to oil, Russia's rise would be slower. But still there.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 07:48 AM) And mind you...that's thanks to the West's dependence on oil. You make it sound like that's the entire reason for Russia's climb back up. Its really far more complicated than that.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 07:46 AM) Only to Americans is the cold war over. I believe a lot of Russian leaders believe it's still being waged. I'd pretty much agree with that. They just had so much of their own misery in the 90's and early 2000's that they couldn't stay focused on the evil U.S. Now they have a growing economy, and can actually pay to keep up their military.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 07:42 AM) People like that are sad, IMO. I don't understand, nor really want to understand their thought process. People like this are at their happiest when the world is burning, and miserable while it's not. Some of them. I think some of them THINK they'd be happy if the world was burning, but if they ever got into that kind of pandemonium, would wimper and cry in a corner.

?

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 10:13 PM) Russia can't be trusted and most countries know it. Its not that simple. Most countries don't trust most other countries. And as for the West and Russia, they never trusted each other, even after the Cold War ended.

According the live box, someone named Ozzie Lewis has come in to play RF, subbing for TCQ. Who the hell is Ozzie Lewis?

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 02:53 PM) OT: But Sergio Morales reminds me of another guy who we traded a year ago for "future considerations" to the Brewers. Sergio Miranda. Does anyone know if we got anything back from him that was reported? PTBNL? Cash considerations? etc.. He was my AAP. I never saw anything that detailed what, if anything, we got back directly. Possible it was cash, it was NOT a PTBNL in any official sense... seems like it was more of a "hey, you guys need a middle IF at this level and we have one, you scratch my back later for some other low level prospect" type thing. He played last year with MIL at High A, played like every position on the field at various times including pitching, but played every day somewhere, put up a good AVG (over .300) but otherwise pedestrian offensive numbers. He's currently in AZ at Spring Training with some team or another, but I can't see which one. I'll send him a note and ask where he's at this year. He's not making anyone's roster in any case, but I assume he'll probably be playing AA ball somewhere.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 02:38 PM) Ah I remember way back when it was a tragedy when our VP cursed off mic... I swear the only way you can tell the difference between the Bush admin and the Obama admin is by the letters after the names. They have just mirror imaged being the party of freaking out, and the party being a victim. They run their governments the same way, they use the same tactics, and at the end of the day it is just about power and money. What the... I was just making a joke. I didn't give much a crap about Cheney doing it, other than it was unprofessional. I didn't give much of a crap when Biden did it, except it was unprofessional. When did I ever say it was different here? And as for the idea that BushCo and ObamaCo do all things the same exact way... lol wut?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 01:46 PM) Nix was damn impressive at 2b, and the numbers back that up. He wasn't bad at 3b either. Look, i recognize that Vizquel is the better defender of the two, and that Nix is a flawed player, but there's no need for you to continue disparaging attributes that are actually his strengths. disparaging? QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 01:47 PM) Nix is a hell of a second baseman. And he did look like it last year. His range was definitely well above average last year. All the scouting reports I read said he was a plus defender at 2B. My eyes told me he didn't live up to that level, and the numbers I've seen indicate he was a slight plus there, but in limited playing time. That's why I said he was a disappointment there. But I added that he was supposedly a plus guy there, because I do believe he'll probably show that with more time. SS and 3B, he had even more limited time, and I'll just have to disagree with you that he wasn't bad there. What I was responding to, BTW, was someone trying to say that he and Vizquel were interchangeable defensively as a utility IF, which is ridiculous.

Some of those pitchers you have listed in Charlotte are going to be released, or stay back in long camp, or be traded/given away to other teams.

No idea where to put this, just thought it was interesting. Russian bombers and fighters have become increasingly active near (or in) western countries' airspace in the past couple years, remeniscent of the Cold War days, and in one case it resulted in some cool pics published by the RAF of a Britsh Tornado tracking a Russian Blackjack bomber.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 01:19 PM) Well, he DID bat this guy in the DH spot for 135 games in 2005: vs RHP .246 .317 .441 .757 vs LHP .265 .295 .419 .714 I'd bet that Jones/Kotsay do better than that this year. Probably not a LOT better unless Jones is comeback player of the year, but, still better than what looks like a more or less .250/.310/.430/.740 line.