southsider2k5

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 12, 2015 -> 07:27 PM) "Winning team" doesn't mean just counting the number of wins that our many second place finishes have garnered for us. Winning team means one that makes the playoffs. We did that only once in the '90s, and just twice in the last 15 years under the Reinsdorf/Wiliams/Hahn management team. Again, the last time the team made the playoffs, attendance fell, both that season, and the year after.

That sequence with Taj is exactly why the NBA is such an awful product. How in the world do you screw that play up so badly?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 12, 2015 -> 07:01 PM) Man that's some spin. Yes attendance dropped after a 90 win season, because they missed the playoffs and then won 70 the next year. And they have a 45% winning percentage in the 2010s. So maybe try fixing that. Pretty much the only way Sox fans show up is if the team won the World Series last year. Yeah, that isn't fickle or anything.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 12, 2015 -> 06:48 PM) Hey, great speech, now welcome back to the point I was trying to make. Let's try some sustained winning by this organization for a change and see if that doesn't help cure what ails us. We haven't seen it in our lifetimes, of course, but I believe it can and it will. The "reality" is our fan base responds remarkably well to winning. Just look at how that one year of real winning we had in '05 brought a waiting list for season tickets the following year, and almost three million fans through the turnstiles to boot. Nothing fickle or compromising about that. And I can only imagine what the attendance would have been like during the next three or four years subsequent had the team gone on a run and continued to win the division, like the Indians, Tigers, and Twins have somehow managed to do since the Central came into being. You start winning at that clip and then all of a sudden the park is routinely inhabited by 2.8, 2.9 million fans, just like in '06. And then all of these superficial arguments about hands being tied behind the back and lack of resources and irrelevantly comparing us to the Cubs go away. That loser mindset coming up with those excuses is completely borne of this lifelong lack of a winning culture of which I speak. Simply put - I want reality to be about more winning. Period. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. I literally lol'd at this statement. White Sox fans are the king of excuses. Your last two posts have quite literally been two long lists of excuses for fans. The White Sox were something like the second most winning team in the 90's and the 7th most winning team in the 2000's. The White Sox won 99 and 90 games in back to back seasons, attendance fell after the second year. The last time the White Sox were in the playoffs, attendance fell the next year. A few years back when the Sox spent all but 5 days of the season in first place, attendance fell. Tell me again about winning curing all?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 12, 2015 -> 05:21 PM) 2006 (second half), 2007 and 2009 hurt as much as the strike because that was their window to take advantage of the momentum gained through 2005. Sox fans began to lose faith. Borchard, Anderson, Fields and Quentin...not to mention Floyd, Danks and eventually Beckham, all ended up disappointments. Peavy and Rios got a lot of publicity but were inconsistent at best. While Sale and Abreu have kept the franchise alive and relevant, they haven't played well together as a full team or unit for three years now. Plus, we have been absolutely dominated by the Tigers and Royals when the games really mattered in second halfs. What franchises have fans to overlook that? Minnesota. Cleveland. Seattle. Toronto. Arizona. Colorado. All those teams are in similar boats with the White Sox. Oakland, too. Pittsburgh and Cincy. Atlanta...although they have the new stadium. TB. Not every team has a fanbase like St. Louis, the Cubs or Milwaukee. Detoit's also an anomaly due to Illitch's spending. We are literally surrounded by four outliers. Houston made the right move....they suffered historical bad seasons, tv and radio disasters, eventual bankruptcy of the network, Appel over Bryant, Brady Aiken, Singleton...and have still emerged whole on the other side by sticking to their plan no matter what. Houston also has the 4th largest media market entirely to themselves, along with a gigantic TV contract.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ May 12, 2015 -> 05:55 PM) Exactly. Rodon has probably been pitching since he was a young kid. He has to have built up enough stamina at this point where he could go 200 innings this year if he had to. There's a difference between not wanting him to over his innings limit and saying he physically CAN'T go over his innings limit, because that simply isn't true. By pitching 130 college and minor league innings? Um, no.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ May 12, 2015 -> 05:44 PM) Seriously, so tired of this being said over and over. Dude is a pitcher. Dude will pitch. 10-20 innings is not going to destroy his arm. If it did, he shouldn't have been a pitcher in the first place. Actually this is exactly how arms get ruined. You have to be conditioned to run whatever race you are training for, and pitching is no different. Some silly meatball machismo doesn't change that.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 12, 2015 -> 04:38 PM) It is neither a fickle fan base nor one comprising fans that aren't good. It is a base of human beings essentially giving as good as they get. And for White Sox fans, unfortunately we just haven't gotten a product over the course of a very long time now worth supporting at a level that will fill our ballpark on a routine basis. Do you know that since the advent of the current divisional structure in the mid 90s, the Cleveland Indians have gone on a run where they won the Central division five times in a row? Or that the Detroit Tigers are on a current run of winning the division four times in a row? And the Minnesota Twins did it three years in a row? Even the once lowly Kansas City Royals - if they make it to the playoffs this year, that will leave only one team in the Central who hasn't made consecutive playoff appearances since 1995 - US!! The Chicago White Sox who, interestingly, are the only big market team of the bunch. I bring these comparisons forward to illustrate the kind of accomplishments our competitors are achieving but for which the Sox never get close to achieving. This is the root cause of the attendance problems - the lack of winning. And so this occasional slamming of the fans around here when talking about attendance is really, IMO, so very misguided. The team just hasn't won enough over the years to generate the kind of interest needed to draw well. Start winning, and you'll eventually start drawing. It's that simple. Hey great speech, now welcome back to reality. Reality is that the White Sox will always be limited by their fan base. It is the reason why our rebuild is rushed as soon as reasons for any optimism can be found. Even the Cubs after six years of perpetual sucktitude were outdrawing the White Sox by 12,000 a night. Even in 2006 after a World Series title we drew 3000 a night less than the Cubs. It gives them resources that the White Sox will never have. It allows them flexibility that the White Sox will never have. Even after a playoff year, and after a very near playoff year, attendance fell. If that is what being a non-fickle and not compromising fan is, then you should also have the intelligence to understand that this organization will always have a hand tied its back when compared to most of the rest of baseball. You can't have it both ways. It means periods of success will be shorter because they won't have the resources to hold the team together that others will. It means that recoveries will be shorter, and less robust, as they can't devote the time needed to full rebuilds that others can. It means there will be choices made between spending in the majors and in the minors because both can't be afforded. It isn't slamming fans. It is reality.

Daryl Van Schouwen ‏@CST_soxvan 1m1 minute ago Carlos Rodon starting Friday. He's in the rotation. No innings limitation set yet for 2015. Sked set thru AS break, sez Hahn.

Vincent Goodwill ‏@vgoodwill 2m2 minutes ago Gasol out tonight, Thibs just revealed. Gasol was doing some exercises in the hall. Thought it might've been a sign

Doug Padilla ‏@ESPNChiSox 1m1 minute ago Rick Hahn confirms Rodon will start Friday at Oakland. Dan Hayes ‏@CSNHayes 3m3 minutes ago Rick Hahn announces that Carlos Rodon is being transitioned into #WhiteSox rotation, incl. Fri.

Scot Gregor ‏@scotgregor 7m7 minutes ago #WhiteSox GM Rick Hahn to talk with media momentarily. Rodon announcement?

Dan Hayes ‏@CSNHayes 25m25 minutes ago #WhiteSox have Hector Noesi listed among tonight's available relievers again.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ May 12, 2015 -> 03:48 PM) *goes to Patrick Kane's doctor...comes back in a week* *Consults Reggie Rose, comes back in 12-16 years*

Daryl Van Schouwen ‏@CST_soxvan 33s34 seconds ago White Sox lineup at Milwaukee, 7:10, CSN Eaton cf Cabrera lf Abreu 1b Garcia rf Gillaspie 3b Ramirez ss Flowers c Johnson 2b Sale p

ESPN Stats & Info ‏@ESPNStatsInfo 3m3 minutes ago Bulls at Cavaliers Game 5: In NBA history, Game 5 winner of a tied best-of-7 series has won series 81.7 percent of the time

Dan Hayes retweeted Christopher Kamka This would be the 1st time #WhiteSox have ever started 2-13 on road if they lose, according to @ckamka. Dan Hayes added, Christopher Kamka @ckamka The last time the White Sox started a season 2-12 in their first 14 road games of the season was 1942.

Chicago White Sox ‏@whitesox 54m54 minutes ago FLASH SALE: Enter code CWI102 to get tickets in select lower-level seating areas for just $10! Offer ends at 5pm. http://atmlb.com/1cORTkS

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 12, 2015 -> 02:02 PM) the only solution is for everyone to refuse to compliment the white sox in the PHT forum. Though the offense has started to rebound since the posting of the Dead last in Runs Scored thread.

Jim Callis ‏@jimcallisMLB 50m50 minutes ago Best LHP in the @MLBDraft? Consensus says @TyJay_11, which seemed improbable three years ago: http://atmlb.com/1zYeuWy

Tracey Myers ‏@TramyersCSN 13m13 minutes ago #Blackhawks: Michal Rozsival underwent successful surgery on his fractured left ankle. Can resume "full hockey activities in 12-16 weeks."

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ May 12, 2015 -> 12:28 PM) Ok Jo, time for the throw back. f*** Mozgov up. Triple double time. Brilliant, give Jo a reason to get fired up. I fully expect a Noah 20 rebound night.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 12, 2015 -> 12:14 PM) And even if you called the Bulls the "healthier" team, Cleveland was playing as good of basketball as anyone down the stretch and this "healthy" Bulls team had very limited reps with each other, which is a factor. Bottom line, I expected this to be a hard fought series and that has been what it is. The thing that gets me is game 2. That lack of intensity the Bulls displayed was just pathetic. This has been a great series, and I have no reason to expect that will change in the last three games.

Scott Merkin ‏@scottmerkin 60m60 minutes ago Per @MLBNetwork, White Sox starters have allowed 68 runs (59 earned) in 73 innings on road this season. Their 7.27 ERA is worst in majors.

QUOTE (bmags @ May 12, 2015 -> 12:06 PM) It's the playoffs. So why does that only factor in for one team?