NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 02:43 PM) I have been watching John Adams the last few days, great miniseries by the way. But while watching it, I repeatedly find myself wondering why they haven't made a miniseries or epic based on George Washington's life. Someone pointed out to me that there was a movie in the 1980's starring Barry Bostwick as Washington, but that doesn't exactly cut the mustard for me. With all of the epic movies and miniseries in the recent past, why haven't they done one about the man who most consider the greatest American ever? If you like that history stuff on film, watch for Blood and Thunder, which is targeted for film release next year. Its basically the story of the "winning" of the west, through the lens of the life of Kit Carson. Fantastic book. And that John Adams book is also quite good.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 02:21 PM) Wow, you do not know how wrong you are here. Nix is the best fielder on our team. Not this year he isn't. And that is what he is seeing. I'm not saying Getz is better than Nix necessarily, but this season, he has been. Nix has had major issues this year defensively, in comparison to his previous reputation.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 01:20 PM) Former Bush and McCain strategist Mark McKinnon wants the congressman who shouted at Obama out of office and out of his party—and he's donating $1,000 to his opponent. This is why I like the fact that Wilson is getting crushed on donations now (though I am sure Wilson will get some big ones too). If we, the voters, want better, then we need to do our part. Voting is part, so is donating if you want to do more. Having this sort of response to his actions is a great thing, IMO, regardless of what party Wilson is in.

QUOTE (son of a rude @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 12:04 PM) Why do you say that? They have both had their share of boneheaded plays. Nix has much, much better range. Nix has a history of being a plus defender at both middle infield positions, whereas Getz' rep is good but not great at 2B, so going in, Nix looked better. But this season with the Sox, Nix has looked not nearly as good as Getz at 2B. That's not to say it will stay that way, but, that's been the story this year.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 11:30 AM) While that's fine for you and others, I'm perfectly happy with what I have and what I've had in the past. And therein lies the rub...in order to make you happy, we have to take away what I currently have/like having and that, in turn, makes me the sad one. I offer no solution...because to me, there is no problem. It's a pretty complicated issue, so I won't pretend to have the answers...all I know is I like what I have, and because you don't like what you have, I'm going to lose what I have...so you suck. The reason there is so much yelling about healthcare is that for MOST people, the current state is not good. You are among the fortunate few. Also, under the NSS Plantm, you wouldn't lose anything you currently have.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 11:21 AM) They could give Justin Cassell another look too. He's another possibility - it will be key to see how he does in the AFL. Also, one or more of Ely/Shirek/Hudson/Torres/Cassel/Long/Omogrosso/Harrell will probably be somewhere else on Opening Day next year, more than likely. But I like that field of 7-8 guys that we'll have 5 from to get a good look in AAA.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 11:08 AM) To reply to my own thread -- this is also probably why I don't have ill will toward insurance...I've never had a problem with it, and every job I've had provided it...so it's kind of an out of sight out of mind thing to me. Most don't, and even if they offer a couple or three plans, they are with the same provider. That isn't really choice or competition of any kind.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 10:56 AM) http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2009/03/inception.html Nice, thanks!

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 10:57 AM) You can opt out of paying for company provided insurance...they can't force it upon you. I work for Blue Cross and even I can opt out. But herein lies one of the major problems with the current setup. If you are lucky enough to have an employer that even provides it, you generally have only one choice for a plan. You can indeed opt out, but then you have to pay many times over as much for someone else, partially because of losing the company pay-in, but also because the insurance companies charge higher rates for non-group policies. This is why I've said that ultimately, the best situation is to have health insurance not be tied to employers.

So, Charlotte's season is over, but I was thinking, their rotation next year should be interesting to watch. Assuming Freddy gets the #5 slot, which I think is likely, and that they like Hudson as a starter (also likely), it would probably look something like this... Hudson/Torres (I figure one of them is in the pen in Chicago, and Torres may go away) Ely Shirek Omogrosso Harrell If Omogrosso is converted to a reliever, which seems possible, then Matt Long or some reclamation project slides in there. Could be a pretty good AAA rotation right there.

Anyone know anything yet about Nolan's new movie Inception? Saw a preview in the theater the other day, looks interesting, but can't tell much about it from the preview.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 08:43 AM) So walking out is worse than booing? Democrats LOUDLy bood and jeered Bush when he told them social security needed major fixing a few years back. Don't recall much condemnation there. Definitely worse than booing, yes, IMO. But not as bad as shouting down the President and calling him a liar. The booing thing, and the stupid one-sided uber appluase thing, are both annoying and very prevalent on both sides.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 04:16 AM) Podsednik - DH Beckham - 3B Pierzynski - C Quentin - LF Konerko - 1B Kotsay - RF Ramirez - SS Rios - CF Getz/Nix - 2B it's not spectacular, but at this point, this is the lineup that gives the team the best chance to win. With that lineup, you get good defense in the outfield, good defense in the infield (outside of Konerko...scooping is nice, but ranging to your right saves hits), and a lineup that may put up some runs. When a pitching staff is struggling, the best thing you can do for it is to save any balls in play that would normally be hits. JD is relegated to 4th outfielder, meaning when PK needs the day off (knowing Ozzie, and what would atleast be preferable under his lineup management...Kotsay to 1B, Rios to RF, Pods to CF, and Dye to DH on those days that Dye plays and Konerko needs/should have the day off) or Kotsay needs the day off (Dye to RF). Come the 8th inning and later, Wise takes over in RF, Kotsay shifts to 1B, and Konerko is removed...assuming it's extras or the Sox have the lead. This lineup allows for pinch hitting opportunities within the actual 25-man itself...Nix and Dye will both be available to hit lefties, Getz and Kotsay for righties. If a lefty starts and a good right handed reliever comes in, look for Timo2 (that's Wise) to pinch hit when a lefty comes to bat, and if a righty starts and a lefty comes in, Josh Fields can try and catch up to 88 MPH junk. just an opinion. I think that is the lineup that allows for the most reward, with an actual bench to use. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 06:38 AM) I'm still not 100% convinced that Ryan Sweeney sucks. Do you ever read the posts or threads you reply to, or do you just throw out random stream of consciousness in whatever thread is nearest the mouse pointer at that moment?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 07:53 AM) He had better. Heck I am sure he owes a few favors around these parts. Yeah, looking at the Trib this morning discussing this, all three of the other countries are sending their Prez/PM and others, so if the US doesn't, that will end up looking pretty bad.

Turns out Illinois Republican House Rep John Shimkus walked out of the speech early. Not as bad as the shout-out, but still inappropriate and unprofessional. This isn't a baseball game, jackass. I'm now going to go find out where his district is, and see who his likely opponent will be in 2010.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 10, 2009 -> 08:22 PM) Right now, every report seems to suggest that there's no obvious favorite and it will likely come down to a couple of votes. Those votes may well hinge on whether or not the nation's most well known Chicago White Sox fan makes a trip to Copenhagen to lobby on behalf of his country, as previous successful leaders (i.e. Tony Blair) did. I'm betting he goes, and I think you are right, Obama may be the difference maker here between Chicago and Rio.

Too bad no Gameday for the W-S game, it looks like a good one - tied 4-4 in the 8th. B-Ham with an early 1-0 lead in the 4th, Ely cruising - 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K.

B-Ham underway, scoreless in the 2nd. W-S and S tied at 3 in the 7th.

I like the Ozzie kissing Ozzie.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Sep 10, 2009 -> 05:22 PM) Can't hear him screaming through the book pages. lol. My co-worker uses the word "statist" a lot (doesn't really get into using words like "liberal" or "progressive" as pejoratives") and I figure he picked that up from Levin. Yeah that's it. I was reading some reviews on Amazon and they all sounded pretty positive but I figured those were mostly conservatives and fans of his and they'd all be biased. I just want to find a book written by a conservative that sticks to breaking down conservative ideas, when they start bashing I just tune out. A number of my more conservative friends have been recommending I read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, lately. I've already read it as it turns out. The small government conservatives (not the screechy preachy social agendaites) are of the opinion that is where we are headed.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Sep 10, 2009 -> 05:19 PM) Winning doesn't matter, but development does. You don't need to win to develop, you just need to play and that's what Dayan and co will be doing in Birmingham, something they wouldn't be doing in Chicago. If Kenny and Ozzie felt that the Sox would be a better team with Viciedo or Santeliz or whoever it may be on the Major League roster, then you can bet they would be there. Daisuke was the same situation, sure the timing was unfortunate for the DASH, but if the Red Sox feel that it's in their best interests to give Matsuzaka a rehab start then that's what they're going to do, and in this case, what they did do, the fact that it came during a Carolina League playoff game is irrelevant to them. Also caring about winning and actually winning are not the same thing. I'm sure the Dash players will have been pissed off at the fact that they faced Daisuke and it probably spurred them on to try even harder, but they still lost. That doesn't mean they didn't want to win, they just weren't good enough. I wouldn't go so far as to say that winning doesn't matter at all. There is something to be said for having your players develop on teams that play cohesively and win together. Its a secondary consideration, but it isn't meaningless. The Twins and Braves both do this sort of thing well.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Sep 10, 2009 -> 04:59 PM) You might not want to call a Soxtalk admin a "douche." Eh, I was indeed giving him a little bit of s*** for his post, so I can't really complain about the response.

Links added to the initial post. W-S with an early 1-0 lead, Marrero 2-2 so far (and an error). Paiml already has 3 errors in the 1+ games played in the playoffs.

MIN lost today, DET is done 7-4 in the 8th.

KC now up 5-4 in the 7th. Go Royals.