NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 12:32 PM) Sox Interested in Takashi Saito By Jason Gage SoxNet Adding Saito for the right price is appealing, but I am confused as to why you think the setup role is one of the team's biggest holes. As has been discussed ad nauseum, Linebrink sucked last year, but the pen overall was solid, and unless we trade Jenks, it seems like we're pretty set in the back end of the pen. Don't get me wrong, for a cheap-ish deal, I'd jump at Saito. But I don't know that he'll be that cheap, and unless we trade Jenks, I think the need isn't nearly as great as filling the two actual holes still on the team (OF, DH).

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 10:06 AM) Billiards? Darts? Videogames get no credit for hand dexterity or hand-eye coordination? How about videogames with more-than-hands physicality like Rock Band or DDR? Billiards and darts, yes. Videogames are not real physical presence in a sport - its using a computer. Not a sport, IMO. Obviously, by the way, there are going to be corner cases where there is an argument. Golf is not one of those, in my view.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 09:17 AM) Cheerleading? Ice dancing? Videogames? Jenga? Hungry Hungry Hippos? --If done at a competition, then I suppose so, yes. --Same deal as Cheerleading, ice skating/dancing competitively is a sport. --Videogames have no significant athletic activity nor require any athletic skill, so no. this also applies to your last two.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 08:57 AM) I don't think there's really a pure dividing line between "sport" and "game". People tend to push the activities which require more athleticism and physical exertion into the sport category, and golf rates pretty damn low in those areas. Its pretty simple to me - any "game" that requires both specialized physical activity AND competition with someone else, is a sport.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 08:20 AM) Data storage is cheap, there is no good reason to destroy original raw data. Agree. These scientists really bring their research into question by destroying their base data shortly after publishing. And if the data suggesting anthropogenic climate change were coming solely from this institute, it would bring the whole theory into question. That is not the case, though.

Sport denotes competition - that is to say, an individual or team is trying to accomplish something against someone else, and its not known ahead of time if it will happen. Those are the two key factors to something being a sport. In golf, you compete against other golfers in a physical game - its a sport. Bowling, same thing. Fishing and hunting, well, I think that gets fuzzy, but maybe. Pro wrestling, obviously, is not a sport, because the outcome is pre-determined. It is more accurately categorized with, say, a musical, or a stage play, or a concert. Its a skilled performance, but not a sport. As to "athlete", I think all the above fit the description, except maybe fishing/hunting. They all require difficult phyiscal feats, and require they elite ones to be able to do special things athletically that others cannot.

The slippery slope arguments in here are just silly. Speeding tickets? Cheating your sister at monopoly? The only way its valid to say you can't criticize Bonds because others cheated too, is if all crimes and transgressions are seen as equal. And of course, they are not. So its a pointless argument to make. Bonds broke the law, lied to the authorities, broke the rules of the game, and broke sacred records specifically because of his choice to cheat, lie and be a criminal. He's not getting voted into the Hall, nor should he be.

alright, who picked Shane Reynolds, and why?

My votes: Roberto Alomar Bert Blyleven Andre Dawson Fred McGriff Dale Murphy Tim Raines Just missed, IMO: Edgar Martinez Lee Smith Harold Baines

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 12:08 PM) The DJIA is completely overvalued right now. Totally bubble. There is a going to be another crash, there is no way around it. Based on what data? Until today's Dubai debacle, most people saw the markets as being pretty centered value-wise, from the articles I have read. That's why its been treading water. Its only overvalued if you think that retail and/or manufacturing are in for a big fall in the near term, and that's not what most of the supposed experts are saying right now.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 12:04 PM) WTF! Yeah, i don't get what he is saying either.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 11:59 AM) They are buying futures today!! Putting a bid in the market to keep it up. Buying what futures? You mean they are buying indexes because they are trying to prop up the market? Or they are making a move on the financial futures? I'm confused.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 11:34 AM) The BEN and TIMMY SHOW!!!! Wait, what? You are saying the US is looking to bid into the debt being played with by DubaiCo?

QUOTE (WCSox @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 09:54 AM) I realize that Rongey gets a ton of "somebody, anybody!" phone calls from delusional fans during the post-game show, but I have to agree with shack that there are pitchers in the Sox farm system that could've done better than the 2.04 WHIP than Linebrink put up in August and September. The problem with Linebrink, that KHP pointed out here several weeks ago, is that he has had something like 5 straight seasons of horrible second halves. It's as puzzling as it is amazing, as it certainly didn't appear to be related to an injury or dead arm this year. I completely understand how Ozzie would be hesitant to demote a guy a veteran with a large salary and solid track record in early September after he put up a really solid April-June and a decent July. But as soon as it becomes apparent that 2010 will be Linebrink's sixth straight year of bad second-half pitching, Ozzie needs to put somebody else in his role. That doesn't mean DFAing Linebrink, but he can't be used regularly if he's pitching like that. If I'm Kenny, I'm thinking about this right now and will be working with my minor league coaches in the spring to identify potential candidates for the setup role in Chicago later in the summer. I'd bet that we will see two relievers in the 2010 pen from our system anyway - Hudson (likely to the pen for the short term), and Nunez. They will have the first half to show their stuff, and if Linebrink or one of the other close/late relievers begins to falter, they will probably flip roles. This also allows other relievers in the system who aren't quite seen as ready yet (Santeliz is a possibility) to show what they can do in AAA, and then we'd know better who is ready.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 09:51 AM) It also has the potential to be good news for the dollar, at least temporarily. Almost all the exposure from Dubai World has to do with European banks instead of US ones. And the debt on Dubai World is 100 billion dollars, roughly 100% of Dubai's GDP. Holy frijoles, I didn't know it was that high as a % of GDP. That isn't good. Also, strong dollar long term is good, but short term it will result in further losses in the equity markets.

Down drops 200+ within minutes of the opening bell, on fears related to an announcement from DubaiCo, who wants to delay/defer payments on loans. The gov't run company has over $60B in loans, and is just now hitting the first balloons. Investors see a possible ripple effect. Yikes. The long term game for the Middle East is uglier than just the current wars and religious/cultural conflicts. The region is realizing they won't be able to live off oil forever, so they go into tourism, with heavy debts. If the debts cause problems, the governments will have to pour more oil money in to cover. They then would likely reduce supply levels and increase prices, causing spikes in oil and gas. As consumers use this to go further and further away from oil, the loop feeds on itself, until the region plummets into economic hell. Scary stuff for them, and all the more reason for the US to get off oil before others do, so at least we don't have to get as entangled in that nightmare situation.

A guy who has multiple nagging injury problems, hasn't played in two years, is probably coming down off a variety of chemicals which will cause an ascending rate of medical problems, has a strained relationship at best with the media and fans, causes problems with other players, is incredibly high maintenance for managers, and who cheated his way to being the poster boy for what is wrong with baseball? Yeah, pass.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 07:56 AM) But managers never do a nonstop shuffling of the deck chairs in their pen. That's something the fans always want but never gets put into practice. More often than not they just ride it out with the losers theyre stuck with. Actually, that's what a lot of managers do, a lot of the time. Bullpens rarely stay the exact same 6 or 7 guys and 6 or 7 roles all season.

QUOTE (SockMe @ Nov 26, 2009 -> 08:02 PM) so can we put this rumor to sleep yet? No, the whole point of the story was that it was just initial discussions. That means it was never exactly likely, but it also meant that if it DID happen, it would likely take a while before it did.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 02:50 PM) The problem with that scenario is the fictional players that are 22 and 24 with similar physical and mental skill sets would be we don't know a thing about them. At what age were they drafted? 18-20-22? If and when did they struggle, at what stages, how many years of repeats? What are their flaws? There are way too many questions to be asked. More times than not, if a player is that good, but there is a player blocking him in the majors who looks to be that much superior for an extended period of time, and he is locked up for years to come, one of two things happen more times than not. Position change to fill another need, or he is traded to fill another need. You are kind of making my point here - the back story of WHY they are where they are, at the age they are, is more important than the number itself. That's really all I was saying. Now certainly, you get into your late 20's, if you haven't broken through, then there is a 99.9% chance you won't, and for good reason. I'm just saying I think people get hung up on small age differences without seeing the bigger picture.

QUOTE (BFirebird @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:22 PM) Very true....but that is not what I really meant. I am assuming that one of those 2 spots is going to be a "speed" or leadoff guy or *shudder* possibly even Danks. That to me makes that other spot almost HAVE to be someone that has some power or like I said at worst a guy like Matsui. I wouldn't assume that (about getting a speed/leadoff guy). To me, the whole idea of looking specifically for a leadoff guy is silly anyway.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:55 PM) Yes. I worked as a casual carrier (contractor) for 3 months and I suspect that direct mail subsidizes the cost of regular letters and that the USPS would have a hard time providing mail service to the whole country without it. There's a reason that mailing letters is cheap and reliable compared to the rest of the world. Now, whether all that waste is worth it is a question worth asking. I would imagine that the USPS, which (IIRC) used to be revenue-neutral pre-email and during better economic times, would run a much larger deficit if there were no junk mail and it was still expected to provide daily mail service and have an office in most every town. Its a classic example of an artificially propped up business. The less wasteful and better economic move overall is to make the cost of postage true and shift the money to private enterprise, IMO.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:23 PM) Wouldn't that destroy a large chunk of revenue of the USPS? Yes, and they'd be forced to downsize to reality, which I am OK with. Ultimately, they would still need just as many carriers and many other jobs - the only jobs lost would be some in the processing side of things. Essentially, you are transferring the money from a government agency (who are only there to provide something necessary), to private business and consumers, which I'd feel better about. USPS may have to raise postage costs to cover regular letters, and that's fine with me too.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:02 PM) When i still owned my print shop, it was harder than you might thnk to recycle the paper. most of the recycling companies wanted to charge me to haul it away, and wanted me to have space to leave a semi trailer until it is full. Didn't have any space for that, and no way I am paying someone to take my paper so they can recycle it and make money. i brought some home and dumped in the recycle bins by the school, and dumped some paper in the recycle bins around the shop, but that was a hassle, big time. I assume you had to pay to get your trash picked up, right?

QUOTE (BFirebird @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 02:35 PM) That lineup is still looking pretty weak at the present moment. Well yeah, most lineups with 7 guys would look pretty weak. We are still missing two guys.