southsider2k5

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Dec 31, 2008 -> 07:27 AM) No, its huge here too. Repeat offenders have to buy the key breathalyzer now and penalties are doubling In Illinois a single time offender will have to buy the key breathalyzer now. Its the strictest standard in the country.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 08:21 PM) Cubs are about to trade Marquis for Luis Vizcaino so that they can sign Milton Bradley. Getting rid of Marquis is a great thing for the Cubs. And signing Milton Bradley in that fishbowl will be a disaster.

QUOTE (Gregory Pratt @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 09:01 PM) With an outstanding caught stealing percentage. The relevant number for a strikeout pitcher, K/BB, is lousy for Ryan (2.04 K/BB); further, he leads MLB history in wild pitches and walks. They're not really comparable. You really discredit the latter half of his career when his walk totals were way better. This was a guy who figured it out. Looking at his year by year numbers you can see his walks per nine innings falls by about half, while his strikeouts per nine innings stay above 9.00 pretty consitantly. You can see it in his WHIP falling by about .2 from the first half of his career to the second half. Besides it is narrowminded to excuse a man's knowledge just because of his career numbers on the playing field, you of all people should know that. Afterall what did Tony Larussa hit for his career? How about Kenny Williams and Mike Scioscia? Hell John Shurholtz never even played in the majors. None of that doesn't mean they don't know what they are talking about.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 07:42 PM) One could certainly argue that as long as he's only the President elect, he shouldn't be making statements about state policy matters that would interfere with the work being done by the current governor. Yep. Its kinda like that. Anyways, you could make the arguement, that is if he had been silent on all things so far, because he had deferred to the current President. But he hasn't. He has sure had opinions on a lot of other matters, but this one he has run away from.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 07:19 PM) I think its wholly appropriate for Obama to keep mum on this at this point, especially since his policy will likely differ fairly greatly from the current president. That hasn't stopped him from advancing pieces of his agenda in other places... here it is just a cop out.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 06:04 PM) FWIW, here's the statement from the closest thing this country currently has to a President. So Obama has time to break from his Hawaiian vacation for talking about Burris, but won't say a word about Israel and Gaza? Interesting priorities.

Because there is nothing else going on, how about a birthday thread for the guy who can stir a controversy like Rachel Ray stirs a mix. Happy 32nd AJ, its been a fun ride with you here on the South Side

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 11:59 AM) The funny thing about it. You can actually see Aaron Eckhart breathe a few times just as they pan the camera over to him. Interesting. I wonder if that was a gaff, or intentional. Something little like that could totally be a hint.

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 11:41 AM) The script says that . Sure, and

The soap opera rolls on... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1230657827...=googlenews_wsj

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 10:14 AM) The irony here is that Pohlad and Lerner are two of the richest owners (worth between $3-4 billion) and they run their franchises like middle level managers afraid of losing their Sam's Club middle management golden parachute. David Glass, penurious as any, looks like a free spender compared to those two (although I'll give Lerner credit for okaying a go at Tex, something we might never see out of Pohlad...if it happens, it will be with the new stadium opening for 2010). The wealth an owner has doesn't concern me nearly as much as the owners who are refusing to put their profits back into their teams.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 09:52 AM) Well if they were in a small market or didn't earn a lot of revenue for whatever reason, and had to spend all the revenue sharing cash, they probably wouldn't be making much of a profit, which is what I was getting at. I'd say the rules should dictate the team should (at least attempt to) spend the sum of whatever their normal budget would dictate, plus the revenue cash, so they are still allowed to turn a profit like the other teams. How that happens is subjective though. Low payroll teams like Florida, Tampa, and Kansas City have been on the most profitable lists for years, while collecting a lot of luxury tax money (granted things have recently changed in Tampa, and KC upped their payroll in the last year). They should not have been allowed to stuff that money into their pockets.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 09:22 AM) I wouldn't say a team should be obligated to spend its profits on operational costs since it's a business and all, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say a team has to spend a certain amount, just to maintain the integrity of the system. If you're receiving money from revenue sharing, I think it's fair to say that money should be spent (and it very well may be for most teams, I don't have access to their books or anything obviously). For a team that is receiving money from the luxury tax revenues, there can be rules made up on how the money is spent, after all the team is making a choice to participate in the program. If you don't want to be forced to spend that money, don't participate in the program. Teams should not get to receive these funds and sit on them, as long as their teams are making a profit. If the team was in the hole and needed the money to survive, it would be different.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 08:10 AM) If we signed Pettitte or Mussina (less likely) for something like $10-12 million per season, I think we'd immediately jump to co front-runners in the AL Central. Along with bringing in Manny Ramirez and moving Dye for pitching...there's almost no market for Manny right now, only the Dodgers (and they still have the almost impossible task of moving Pierre and A. Jones) and the Red Sox (that's going to happen, not!) being the teams in the best position to bring him into the fold. KW would be in a great position to make a 1-2 year offer. The only problem, and it's huge, is the last time the White Sox tried this, his name was Albert Belle, and he put together one of the most statistically misleading seasons in the history of baseball. OK I will bite. Why would either of those guys want to come to Chicago for a gigantic paycut? Both have made plenty of noise about retirement. What about here would convince them that this is better, for half of their former salaries?

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 08:38 AM) It's not the Yankees I have a problem with, they're just doing it because they can. It's MLB's salary system as a whole, it's so top-heavy that it's just ridiculous, and the revenue sharing system sucks. There's no cap, and there's no floor, no real rhyme or reason to anything, it's just a collection of 30 individual teams all doing their own thing. Or at least it appears that way in contrast to the NFL or the NBA. The lack of a floor with the luxury tax is the biggest problem I have with our existing system. If you are taking in money from the system, you should be obligated to spend it if you are turning a profit.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 08:38 AM) No one I can think of. I don't have many recent enemies, really. I used to work in law enforcement, but that was now 10 years ago, in a different state. Also, I should note, the car loan inquiries were phone or online too, so no one actually went in person as me. I wonder if someone phished info off of your computer?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 08:15 AM) Are you sure about that? When you say "support staff," do you mean specialized coaches (like position coaches) and trainers? I would think the average NFL coaching staff soaks up a much bigger percentage of overall payroll than a baseball one...although maybe the average baseball manager's salary is 1.25-1.5X as much? Then again, there are quite a few very highly paid NFL head coaches, and their coaching staffs are also tremendously costly, because their contracts give them a lot of freedom to bring in their own people and pay them top dollar. As far as concessions, parking, and the day-to-day overhead, like police/security, ushers, etc., obviously much much higher for MLB teams....who don't generate much revenue for many of their weekday and non-summer games. The entire ball of wax. I am talking about all of the people it takes to put on a baseball game versus a football game, hockey game, etc. Then you also get into the minor league system which is unmatched in professional sports. Even hockey's minor's are much more loosely aligned, with basketball and football basically non-existant.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 29, 2008 -> 06:38 PM) They really should've made this game at Soldier Field. Cooler conditions and way better sightlines for such an event. Everyone, even the people in the "close" seats will have a terrible view. I have been saying that ever since they started talking about Wrigley as the locale for this game. Not to mention 25,000 more people could have gone to the game. Wrigley was just a dumb idea.

One minute thing I would like to point out in regards to the percentages of revenue being spent on payroll... Baseball has by far the longest schedule of all professional sports. This means more travel, more stadium personel, more office staff, etc. Baseball teams pay more people and they pay them more often than any other professional sport and it is by a factor of 2 times when compared to hockey and basketball, and by a factor of 10 when it comes to football. It makes sense to me that baseball would have the lowest percentage of revenues going to players, while football had the highest. Football also has the smallest schedule, which means they also need the smallest support staff.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 10:18 AM) One of these days I will see this movie. Then i will read all of those damned spoilers So I picked up TDK from Redbox last night and loved it! Then of course I went back and read the spoilers, just like I said I would.

this was really interesting to me... Anyone know more about the solar winds?

If the market stays close to what it is now, Jermaine exercizes and the White Sox will not... that is assuming he is still with the team at that point.

QUOTE (shipps @ Dec 29, 2008 -> 01:14 PM) And where would one find these? Craigslist and Stubhub if you are quick, but I have also heard some tickets getting offered around the office and mutal friends. The best deal I have heard so far was $300 for two of the middle tier of seats.

QUOTE (shipps @ Dec 29, 2008 -> 01:11 PM) I dont want to answer because I dont want to have to write up a who am I. Iam way too lazy to play this game. you are Shipps!

FYI, there are getting to be some Winter Classic tickets around for less than face value if people are still wanting to go to the game...