Drew

Jermaine Dye was a gamble that paid off. He was the best at that price point. He is not Vlad Guerrero, but we could do a lot worse. He's an above-average right fielder that turned into a pretty good clubhouse guy. He delivered big for us in the no. 3 slot in the postseason when he is a natural no. 5 hitter.

QUOTE(watchtower41 @ Feb 15, 2006 -> 10:42 AM) Based off his postseason success, the 3rd spot should be Dye's to lose. Based on his career success and best production out of that slot, the no. 3 slot should be Thome's to lose.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Feb 14, 2006 -> 11:25 PM) Your going too far. Byrd to Millwood is not that big of a difference, and J.Johnson to Scott Elarton is a wash IMO. Crisp is a better player than Micheals, not huge, but Crisp does have the upper hand, but they might have a GREAT 3b of the future on there hands. There bullpen is in question, but so is ours. Why is our bullpen in question? Because we've only one lefty and we're minus our resident headcase?

For every deal that gets done, there are ten that never see the light of day. I count this as one of the ten, although I'm glad Rowand brought us Thome instead of Delgado. I think the Yankees got the wool pulled over their eyes with Johnny Damon. I laughed my ass off while ESPN showed him getting his Yankee haircut and putting on the pinstripes.

I started a thread on this earlier today but it looks like it didn't take. Virtually all the talk about Sox lineup changes have revolved around moving Uribe to no. 2 and Iguchi down to anywhere between no. 5 and 7, and some talk of putting BA in the no. 8 slot, moving Crede down to 9 to give the rookie a chance to see more pitches. But what to do with the 3, 4, 5 slots? We've got Paulie, a career no. 4 hitter, whose best years have been at that spot behind Thomas and no. 5 behind Ordoñez, and in whose limitid time at the slot hasn't produced as well at no. 3. We've got Thome who was ostensibly brought in to protect Paulie in the order, but is a career no. 3 hitter with his best production in that slot. We've got Dye who has hit everywhere between 3-6, and did well enough in the 3-slot to garner a World Series MVP. It'd make the most sense to me to bat them in the order of Thome-Konerko-Dye, but of course this is all conjecture because Ozzie spent the entire season fiddling with the batting order every few days anyway. With all this taken into account, I'd envision something close to: Podsednik Uribe Thome Konerko Dye Pierzynski Iguchi Anderson Crede Thoughts?

If it works, it works, and if it doesn't, Ozzie will fix it. This was a man who didn't use the same lineup for more than three days in a row during the regular season. The only sure things last regular season were Podsednik-Iguchi going 1-2 and Konerko at clean-up. We've seen what Iguchi can do as a rookie at no. 2 and I thought it was pretty impressive for a MLB rookie. Those are the most prototypical no. 2's we have. The other two guys that I think of who could do well in the no. 2 slot would be Crede and Pierzynski. However, that spot would be a waste of Crede's production if we've seen the real Joe Crede and Pierzynski, though a smart baserunner, does not have the speed to be dangerous.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Feb 13, 2006 -> 09:31 PM) Everyone circle July 21st on their calendars... This is the night that Neal Cotts should start.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 9, 2006 -> 06:45 AM) -The knothole won't have a view, like the Cubs said it would. -The Club won't be accessible to "regular" season ticketholders, it will be sold separately as a luxury suite. -The new bleacher seats will cost $60 or $20 more per game than the regular old bleachers. -The ballhawks are going to be SOL. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines In a related story, Chicago White Sox marketing director Brooks Boyer announced that the knothole view of the Bullpen Sports Bar and Grill in right field at US Cellular Field will be obscured by the Commissioner's Trophy.

I wasn't able to make it to any of the trophy tour stops over the holidays when I was back home in Chicago, but was hoping I'd get to see the prize when and if I'm able to make it back for a game or two this summer. Anyone got any word on this?

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Feb 13, 2006 -> 01:01 PM) I hope so. He was a lot of fun. I could never hate the guy. I could only feel horrible for him last year, when he was struggling. I really wanted him to still be the guy he was in '04. Best of luck Mr. Takatsu. Totally agree. I just remember Ozzie bringing him in during Game 2 of the Cubs/Sox series at Comiskey in '04, bottom of the 8th with 2 outs to get Sosa. Sosa had swung through the pitch before it even got to the plate for strike three. Making Sosa look like a doof is like taking candy from a baby, but he made a lot of guys look stupid with that frisbee change-up of his.

I love watching the Swedes play. Poetry in motion.

They Photoshopped her ego out of that picture, that's why she looks thin.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 9, 2006 -> 12:58 PM) I don't know, but in a poll which asked "Would _____ make a good president?" She beat Ted Kennedy. For the record ... McCain, Gulianni, Hillary were the top three. In that order. Funny. While this is a great story and I am glad Ryan was recognized publicly by the White Sox, there are no words to express my gratitude to the White Sox for not including Oprah in any of the ceremonial first-pitch duties at any point during the playoff run. I really don't understand why people are so compelled to do whatever this rags-to-riches, fat-to-thin-to-fat-again diva tells them to do. And now she's giving Rachael Ray her own show. Good God.

Sad. And not because Sammy Sosa was ever anywhere close to a favorite player of mine--the best opinion I had of him was when he played for the Sox--undisciplined but a ton of talent. But he was a kid then, and so was I. I was only 12 when he was traded for George Bell, and I kind of didn't get it because, well, I was only 12. He's in denial about his depreciation, not an enviable place for the human spirit. Then again, I am uncompelled to empathize. Spending one's prime using one's talents not for the betterment of the team but for himself isn't the greatest exercise of self-preservation, to say the least. And now what's probably best is if he lets the sun set on his career if he doesn't want to take a gift contract from the Nationals.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Feb 12, 2006 -> 08:28 AM) Here I was thinking it was a play on the word Giant. But who knows? Other ads included Jason Schmidt tossing a ping pong-sized baseball, Moises Alou holding a DQ helmet sundae-sized cap over his heart, and J.T. Snow standing over a business card-sized base. These were apparently so popular that they were being stolen by what Adrants describes as "fans with an insane love for their hometown team." But when I was in art school and would trade Absolut Vodka ads with classmates and we'd razor the back covers off periodicals in the art library for the 11 x 14 ads, it wasn't my insane love for vodka (probably my least favorite spirit), it was because the ads were just that damn cool. I'm not even a Giants fan because of who their left fielder is as well as my NL allegiance to the blue boys of Chavez Ravine. But this was one sports campaign that I stepped back and thought damn, I'd be ripping these off BART stops too.

The Oakland A's had a really good campaign that was recognized in Communication Arts, which is one of the holy books of the advertising creative community a few years ago, simple yellow boards that said clever things like "Rest Area: November 2004" and an ad appearing on the BART that said "A's fans: please be courteous by not eating or drinking on the train. Non-A's fans: Please be courteous and move to Saskatchewan." A Google revealed others recognized by smaller awards. I'm not sure if it's simply because there is so much sports advertising that's unimaginative if it doesn't just plain suck, or if Goodby-Silverstein (IIRC) was the agency that did it. The Giants' campaign last year was brilliant, done by Kirshenbaum/Bond. So popular that locals were stealing these ads from bus shelters and BART stops. One from the set:

I'm an ad creative, and I think you're overreacting. They won the division three times in a row. I really don't care how they advertise for their spring training games or season tickets this year, but they seem to be grasping for straws because they are using an overdue campaign, playing up on division titles the last of which is a year old. If this is what you call deceptive, there are lots of ads that you'd consider bald-faced lies. I look at it like so. Anyone who is in the market for ST tickets knows how they finished last year and how our White Sox did, but their successes are recent enough to still be marketable.

QUOTE(SnB @ Feb 9, 2006 -> 02:32 PM) This has come up in conversations with friends every so often and everyone seems to have the same experience. -You spend forever learning it in grammar school. -They make you write in cursive until 8th grade. -No one ever uses it in High school or above unless for a signature. Though saying that, alot of my print has little forms of cursive in it. I switched schools about two or three times when I was penmanship-learning age, so I learned print, two different methods of cursive writing--the Palmer method and some other which I preferred because I didn't like the extra loops and curls in the Palmer caps, and D'Nealian, which was a hybrid of cursive and print. Depending on what ADD medication I was taking or not taking was the difference between textbook beauty and utter chaos. Now I print, usually in caps unless I am writing a URL or email address. Have for years. I officially abandoned cursive writing sometime in 9th or 10th grade, but up until then I used it at my fancy. In junior high, I don't remember teachers caring how we wrote as long as it was legible, in ink (except math which was pencil) and some of them didn't allow spiral notebook tear-outs to be handed in. I never ever use cursive, even when writing checks, because I only write one check a month. I pay the rest either online or with cash. But not teaching when and when not to use caps? Proper names, beginning of sentences. Is that really all that difficult?

First of all, Coke >>>>>>>>>> Pepsi. I will not touch Pepsi. Haven't even had a sip of Pepsi in at least two years. Can't stand the stuff. Now, down to brass tacks--please oh please tell me that this means they will now offer High Life on tap. The rest of Miller's line, I could really care less. I'm all about the Champagne of Beers, though:

Well, we decided in the end to head over to the Fred and enjoy our last two hours of the poll with Ana and some clandestinely-enjoyed homemade piñacello. We just checked the results a bit ago. While we have our own opinions about the means of how the vote tallies were amassed, our methods weren't pristine, either. But that's not where I want the focus to be. All I have left to say is I could not be happier with the final product and the outpouring of support we've received from people across the country and beyond, and that friends of ours, many of whom we only know from what we read and post on the Internet, came out in droves because we asked for their help. The thrill of collaborating on a project that came together so quickly and successful well beyond our expectations, making the cut of the top 10, and garnering 1400-something votes in two days is really quite something, even if we have no Lenovo ThinkPad to validate it. We didn't need a PC laptop anyway. We'd also like to give a shout out to all the groups of people who voted for us. Even though some of you didn't know who we were, we appreciated the support. The following groups contributed en masse to our cause: People who read and post on the multitude of swing dance forums too great to name. Soxtalk.com Maricopa County Dept. of Corrections Bitterwaitress.com IntlNewsMedia.com Sony Pictures Studios LA Unified School District Distance Learning Program The Weinstein Company Foote, Cone & Belding, Chicago Florida State University College of Law Dave Ramsey Music City Motion Azusa Pacific University California Pizza Kitchen Glendale Fred 62 The Church of Scientology Baptist General Conference The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Judson College, Dept. of Art Design and Architecture USC School of Cinema/Television Sound Dept. most of the Apple Stores in Los Angeles County and a few in Manhattan Starbuck's The City of Burbank, CA Occidental College Erica's dorm floor at Colorado State University UC Irvine Our troops in Iraq Everyone on Matt's IM list And I am STILL planning on tailgating for the Angels series. Stay tuned.

QUOTE(q\/\/3r+y @ Feb 8, 2006 -> 02:35 PM) The team that is leading along with his probally will be anyway. How come they have 894368 votes and no one else does near them? Fishy to me. Gents, I will turn away no one who wishes to help. My roommate is catatonic from the stress so basically, I'm El Duque in the 6th of game 3 at Fenway. Ice water veins. Just don't create bots or anything. They log IPs and cookies and stuff. However, I can tell you the ins and outs of every wi-fi network from here to Pasadena, as well as every Apple Store and CompUSSR. If we win this, I'll have a magnum of champagne in my trunk when I tailgate for the series at Angel Stadium and will toast each and every one of you.

He certainly dresses the part.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Feb 7, 2006 -> 01:06 PM) Reminds me of Ted Washington Reminds me of the best United Way ad EVER.

mildly amusing, but for serious... WHO CARES?!?

thanks everyone...damn, "her name was Gizmodo" has rallied overnight and now we've only got a 5 vote margin. Polls close at midnight ET on Wednesday. Thanks!