NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (Texsox @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 05:26 PM) How do we know they are such a huge risk? Different banks are more comfortable, or less, lending in different industries. Could this just be BoA is not strong in manufacturing? I know plenty of business owners that spend a great deal of time finding lenders familiar with their industries.Just ask anyone in Ag how it goes when they need capital and LoC. If they weren't a significant risk, they wouldn't have dropped the line of credit.

QUOTE (G&T @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 04:11 PM) What are the chances that Beckham can play 3rd? B&B were talking a couple hours ago about Beckham and felt he was going to be in the majors early in the year and playing 3rd. If that's the case, then it opens up the possibility of Furcal. Beckham has played, what, a month's worth of minor league baseball? No doubt he's a big talent but let's not get out of hand here.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 04:08 PM) Frankly, it's probably one of the better uses of that money that we've managed to come up with. Forest for the trees, Balta.

I hate this time of year in Chicago. Go to work in the dark, go home in the dark. Cold and wet. Crappy crappy.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 03:56 PM) The joke was that we re-elected that clown. For the record, I haven't voted for him.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 03:54 PM) It seems that when the FBI called this morning to tell Blagojevic that he was going to be arrested, his response was "Is this a joke?" He also, apparently, was arrested in (and showed up for arraignment in) a pair of skin tight spandex running pants.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 03:04 PM) CHICAGO – Bank of America says it will extend credit to a Chicago window and door maker whose workers have occupied the factory for five days. The bank said Tuesday that it's willing to give the Republic Windows and Doors factory "a limited amount of additional loans." That's so it can resolve claims of employees who have staged a sit-in since Friday. The factory closed Friday after Bank of America canceled its financing. Workers were given three days' notice. But they refused to leave and vowed to stay there until receiving assurances they would receive severance and accrued vacation pay. The bank has been criticized for cutting off the plant's credit after taking federal bailout money. So company management f***s up, and screws the workers. The bank gets made into the bad guy. The bank is forced to make a loan they know will probably never be repaid - basically a grant - in order to try to save face for doing exactly what they should do. Nice.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 02:41 PM) Trib employees having nothing to lose at this point. Except their jobs.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 02:40 PM) I just hope you're right. But if the Sox were serious about signing any free agents, I think we would have heard something. These things leak out. Not really. Sometimes leaked stuff happens, but often, especially with the Sox, the deals are not leaked - they just happen.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 02:37 PM) This is the best post in weeks. For predicting something that doesn't happen, and won't happen?

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 02:34 PM) The sox need to compete every year for the division. Sox fans aren't going to wait for a 3 year building project. If they go that route, the death-spiral will begin.....lower attendance leads to lower salary leads to lower attendance ..on and on until we're a "small market" team again. Which is why you never see KW do a "rebuilding" year, and you won't this year either.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 01:55 PM) JR must be anticipating a hell of an attendance drop to account for $45 mil. Calendar.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 01:48 PM) The way that I understood JR was making money was off of the increasing value of the team, esp. after the renovations to the ballpark and the 05 season. The additional revenues from attendance and merchandise were going back in to the team, while JR was still making money off of the increasing value of the team and its assets. Not only are we expecting a decline in revenue due to the general state of the economy next year...but you have to figure that the value of the assets he now holds has significantly decreased. The team's value has probably dropped by some percentage, and more so, tangible assets like the ballpark would have dropped significantly as well. The Sox do not own the ballpark. The Illinois Sports Authority does.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 01:44 PM) If Carlos Torres lights the world on fire with the Royals, it will be the first time a young White Sox starting prospect has amounted TO ANYTHING, unless you want to count Brandon McCarthy. Buh? Buehrle? Garland (from Cubs)? Any number of relievers?

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 11:38 AM) The sox will start the season like this, guaranteed. Noted.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 11:54 AM) Playing advocate, this doesn’t mean he’s a citizen, it just means that no one wants to make him prove it. He's proven it time and time again, and other courts have agreed. What it means is that SCOTUS specifically doesn't want to have to prove it.

QUOTE (G&T @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 10:39 AM) Cowley is on the Score. Despite what he wrote this morning, it doesn't sound like Dye will get moved unless he gets a better offer than Bailey. Anything we've heard about Jenks is likely not true. There's no interest in moving him. Doesn't look like an FA's will be signed, even if Dye is traded. Cowley has proven to be nearly useless in this kind of thing. He knows nothing. The organization despises him, as far as I can tell.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:55 AM) This guy is delusional! He thinks a governor that had 10% approvals could eventually be president? Truly he is. I mean seriously - a governor with a 10% approval rating, who is under federal investigation, and can't get along with either party... and he thinks he could run for President?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:50 AM) Broadway’s iffy, yeah, but I figured my point would lose meaning if I listed a series of players backing the guy I was refuting up. Broadway might make a decent long-man. Who knows? And I’ll throw my hat into the Milton Bradley ring. Assuming we have a decent backup option to spell him from his injuries, he’s a professional hitter who would wreak havoc in the Cell. I would rather avoid Bradley's attitude, I just don't like him at all. Just my personal opinion, which I am sure most don't share. But no doubt he could be a huge bat in the lineup.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:45 AM) I Do. Don't put words in my mouth. Everyone (but Owens) that you just listed has serious potential to help the team win now. I'd make the slight difference that Broadway, probably, isn't going to help much. But Owens as a 4th OF isn't a bad option, and I agree that the rest of the list is people who can and probably will help the team now.

Trib is continually updating the article. Most recent update:

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:14 AM) Dude I would've f***ed a cardboard cutout when I was 13. I didn't care. I had a thing for her, and Cybill Shepherd. Oh and Melissa Joan Hart from Clarissa Explains It All. Cybill I get. Also, when I was 13, Kathleen Turner.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:14 AM) Sorry for the hijack, but what's with that "Colonel Tribune" character wearing the paper hat on the Trib's website? God, that's silly and lame. They've been using that icon on Twitter and Facebook and Digg and what not, to try to drive web traffic.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:11 AM) I see all that, offering jobs, basically putting the Senate appointment up to the highest bidder, etc. I don't see the attempt to bribe Obama though besides trying to get his foot in the door. OK, I see what you are saying. You are correct, the "bribe" of Obama in itself is probably not illegal, if he literally was just saying "I'll nominate who you want for your seat, if you make me SecHHS". So maybe I shouldn't have said "bribe". What I was trying to illustrate was... what moron, while under a known federal investigation, makes ANY kind of a quid pro quo offer like that, to the friggin President Elect.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:07 AM) Kotsay is a much better player, but I'd say a Kotsay signing would be more comparable to the Erstad signing. Kotsay would actually help if he's healthy, but like the Erstad deal, I don't think you want to give him any more than one year with the possibility of a team option for a second. A low base with incentives would be ideal, but he hit well with Atlanta last year so he might get a little bit more, like maybe $5M or something for one year. A relatively low base deal, with incentives, 1 year with an option, might not be a bad move.