Gregory Pratt

I've always said that I expect him to be out of baseball in a handful of years with injuries from his mechanics and I've also been very critical of his stuff. A 91 MPH fastball with no movement, an okay curveball and a changeup that he doesn't always has a feel for? Also: I expect him to give up a s***load of homeruns. Straight fastballs at modest heat? Mmhmm.

Bolton is a pervert, a liar and a bully. I don't care if he hasn't set the UN on fire as some suspected he might -- he isn't fit for diplomatic work or any civilized work and I don't want such a man representing this country. (See: his first wife, and the intelligence analysts he used to harass, for more information.)

I guess you're the one Ozzie was talking about when he said, "When the team's going good, they love me. When it's not, they want to send me to Mexico!"

Japan, Taiwan, they're all the same color in the end, eh Flash? /green

If it costs us anything worth a damn, no, not worth it.

Is this guy set to be a minor leaguer for us?

I think that the article speaks for itself, frankly, and I think it means more than your firsthand testimony about Ford being a nice guy who probably just forgot things and would've excused himself if he remembered specific cases, and since we're going to get into that, I know a couple of Judges downtown -- one Federal (on the circuit court), and a few criminal judges -- and they make sure they know about their cases before they hear them just to make sure there're no conflicts of interest. I can't believe that Ford wasn't aware of his past involvements when he decided it be a good idea to rule on a confession that he himself had written. As for my suggestion that you write a letter to the editor: I don't mean that to be flippant and would like to elaborate. The Reader is known for publishing dissenting views all the time, and if you feel so strongly in his defense, I really think you should write them and defend Mr. Ford, and if they don't publish it, I'll have a good deal more respect for your position. On a final note, You worked with him when he was an ASA, not a judge, correct? So, no, you don't have unique knowledge about the Judging situation. I understand that just because something's in print it doesn't necessarily have to be true. What I don't understand is where you come to the conclusion that just because you knew him and he was hard-working he would have no interest in ever doing something that might keep his dirty laundry out of the public's eye. You are aware that we live in Chicago, correct? I do apologize for the flippantness and rudeness of my prior responses. I wasn't trying to be, and I do hope you accept my apology.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Dec 4, 2006 -> 10:23 AM) I am glad that you made up your mind from a silly article, and not take reference from a person who worked in that office first hand for 7 years. He is not my friend, he was someone that I worked with. In my 7 years of being in that office I saw only hard working, ethical people who worked hard for the citizens of cook county, making a crapload less than your average lawyer. But forget what I said, and just read a slighted article in a newspaper because if it is in print it must be true. Here is the quote from the article. “There is no indication that Judge Ford was aware of this conflict or that he was motivated or biased in his decision,” McBride wrote. Suppose he wasn’t aware. Did Judge Ford, known to some courthouse regulars as “Quick Nick,” read the petition so hastily that no bells rang? Nice cute nickname. Uh actual he is not known as quick nick, probably some Public Defender or defense attorney gave him that cute nickname probably one of the sources of this article. The case loads are high as an ASA, so if you think that he was aware of this and still ruled on this whatever. Uh yes there could be times in the thousands of cases that a trial lawyer goes through that the endless line of defendants that you see, you may not recogize a name and say Eureka, that is Bob from 1991, the case at 10am on a Friday. I think you should write a Letter to the Editor if you're so upset over the treatment of Mr. Ford.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 3, 2006 -> 11:03 PM) No, I just remember him saying he plans on fullfilling his contract. Obviously its not 100% but he's said that quite a few times. I know TMac has said something similar as well. Well, okay, but I couldn't find anything on Google about A-Rod ever having said he'd "retire" after his contract was up.

Crede is not going to be worth the contract he'll eventually get from Boras/Dumb Teams. Your criticism is fair, and notable, IMO, otherwise.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 3, 2006 -> 10:23 PM) And he's consistently said he plans on retiring when that deal runs out. Whether he does or doesn't, I don't see him walking away from that deal. Got a link?

Hard working doesn't make you a good man. Ford may well have been a good friend of yours back in the day but his ethics and his judgement appear to be faulty. And you know what? It doesn't surprise me. People are crooked.

This article that I posted is a Sequel to the Police Torture Story the Chicago Reader did a long time ago. It's ridiculous. http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/blindjustices/ God, damn, do I hate it when authority figures of any sort abuse their power, and this is just ridiculous.

Vote Pratt. I, too, believe in prospects as suspects and The Critic.

Just picked up the DVD set. God, I loved that show. I used to stay up oh-so-late into the wee hours of night when I was oh-so-small and now I don't have to rely on Comedy Central to maybe play it once every four months at some point in the middle of night. Last Winter, I was with my girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend, and we were talking about favorite shows and I told her about The Critic and wanting to watch it with her because she'd never seen it and then, well, and then I looked it up on Comedy Central's site and it said that it wouldn't be aired for over half a year and that even then it'd just be one episode. Thank God I don't have to ever worry about that now.

Uh, Perfect Dark isn't the sequel to Goldeneye. You might call it the heir to Goldeneye as far as great console FPS' go, but it isn't, ah, a sequel. Haha.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Dec 2, 2006 -> 01:50 AM) You're talking in convenient generalities. Suppose the US agrees to talks on the condition that Iran's nuclear capabilities are not up for discussion. We go to the talks and insist on talking about Iran's nuclear capabilities. Talks fall apart. We say, "see they didn't want to talk after all." Iran says, see, they didn't want to talk after all. They even broke the conditions that they agreed to. But at least we'd have the moral high ground. Our policy is pretty clear. We're willing to talk if Iran's nuclear development program is part of the discussion. It's damn odd that 2 countries famously pissed about this administration's diplomacy support our position on Iran (France and Germany). Odd, since this is merely another example of the administration's hatred of diplomacy. Exactly.

Well, no, I suppose I'm just irked by the fact that you've made cracks about my age in the past and I've told you how much it bothers me and others have, too, and it's such a pain in the ass. Frankly, I think I'm just as bright as any old guy on this board was when they were my age. Just posted about it on the Catch-All thread but I've got two old guys who are lying about me and smearing me and insulting me all around and have stripped me of the one thing I enjoy and benefit from in CPS and I'm just tired from it. With authority and insults and am a little on edge. Which isn't to say that I wouldn't have reacted with umbrage at your comments a month ago, as I certainly would've because I'm sick of people insulting me because I'm young. It's just that, I'm particularly...vulnerable, if that's the word. Beat down, and then it bugs the s*** out of me to have a person who moderates at a forum I enjoy -- the only forum I habit -- insult me and to feel like I can't say a damn thing in response because if I'm not extra-careful someone'll suspend me.

The worst thing in the world -- the worst feeling besides heartbreak, I mean, whether it be romantic heartbreak or the break that comes when you've lost something you desperately wanted -- is when someone with authority over you hoardes it over and uses their position of power to abuse you or be rude to you and nasty. Right now, I'm dealing with a situation like this at school. I'll get into it further when it's resolved later in the week but the whole damn thing is a pain. Nothing's worse than dishonesty, IMO, but especially so when someone lies in an effort to paint you a liar because they dislike you.

Well the thing that bothers me is that there are rules against snark and stuff like that and I know that if I made a mild comment to NorthSide I'd have a couple of PMs from Staffers at the site yelling at me and he'd tell me that it's wrong to "call someone else out" and besides that, it isn't as if he's being rude to PA for doing the same thing I did. Guess it's just my problem with authority and abuses of it -- not that I'm accusing anyone here of abusing their authority but all the same I suspect that I'd be in some sort of trouble with The Law at SoxTalk if I were to, I don't know, make a similar crack to him. EDIT: I accept your apology, then, I suppose.

You will not. QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 1, 2006 -> 10:20 PM) Well, nice to see that GP answered for me. GP, are you even old enough to own a gun yet? I like it when moderators take potshots. So classy. And then, if you reply, they sit on their thrones and shoot at you. Is it called for to insult me because of my age? No. It's not, but whatever, man, you can call me out all you want. It's not like I have any authority to do anything about it. Not like I did anything to provoke such a rude response. All I did was answer a question asked you with MY thoughts on the matter. PA does it all the time, too in these political threads -- reply to questions posed to others. I imagine that you don't give him such a snarky response. Hell, SF1 is a Senior in HS, too, and I'm sure there're plenty of other posters. I hope this causes you the youthful demographic.

QUOTE(shawnhillegas @ Dec 1, 2006 -> 08:02 PM) You are approaching this like its an even split, but its absolutely not. Its not BMAC in the rotation, or BMAC in AAA. Its BMAC in AAA without trading a SP or its BMAC in the rotation with new assets on the team via the trade. So.....BMAC in the rotation + return from trading one of the starters > the traded starter. Err, I said that. I said, if we can get some good youthful pitching in a trade, then do it, but if we can't get something good then keep the five.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Dec 1, 2006 -> 08:00 PM) Push for looser restrictions on what? Gun control? Hunter licensing? Bag limits? What specific current restrictions are now so stringent that they need loosening? Just thrown out there like that it seems an ill-defined position on the issue. Easier hunter licenses. Less bag limits. More hunting grounds. I'm not going to go deeper because I already have his vote.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Dec 1, 2006 -> 07:07 PM) Then I guess my follow-up question can be directed to the both of you... What would you do to help preserve the sport of hunting and reduce the Anti-2nd amendment/anti-hunting groups such as PETA? I would allow PETA to be itself. I would push for looser restrictions and get rid of the stupid ones.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Dec 1, 2006 -> 06:39 PM) I have a question for you Mr. NorthSideSox72... What are your views on hunting and gun rights? You know MY views. I decry the pansyfication of society and am a stern believer in hunting and the second amendment.