Dick Allen

Any cheap bastards thinking about going tonight, $20 gets you in the k zone with a t-shirt, fireworks and $1 hot dogs.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 4, 2014 -> 06:50 AM) Where is he saying this? It is in his Tribune article today.

KC Johnson saying Noah is telling people he thinks Melo is going back to the Knicks.

Gar/Pax are the Bruce Weber of the NBA.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 08:10 PM) Then why have managers, pitching coaches and hitting coaches....outfield/infield/baserunning, etc.? I think you likewise don't believe it matters who the hitting coach is for the White Sox and that the Sox pitching results over the last decade would be exactly the same or better without Don Cooper. Because I don't think anyone would ever argue that college basketball coaches don't win games for teams that have no business being in a game against a team with superior talent. College basketball vs. major league baseball? Are you serious? Is you job performance based on your boss or you? If you are good at your job, it must be because you boss is good, and if you boss sucks, you are not to blame if you suck, correct? If you have bad players, you are going to lose. If you have good players, you will win. When you win, you become smart, because for some reason a lot of people, you included, think player performance is entirely on managers and coaches, except if White Sox pitchers suck.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 07:49 PM) Will Kobe be playing in 4 years? He's clearly breaking down. Does anyone actually enjoy playing with Kobe?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 07:48 PM) The Angels ran over us like we were a AAA team this year, and besides Abreu/Sale, we more closely resemble Charlotte than the best team in baseball. Let's put it this way. Other teams, their fans....when someone like Maddon or LaRussa or Scioscia comes to town as an opposing manager, they'll say..."wonder how we're going to get outmanaged or outfoxed in this series?" It doesn't happen as much with baseball as with being outcoached in college basketball, but managers still have their importance. But I've never in my entire life heard the fan of an opposing team say that about Ventura. Once. Ever. I actually think you believe the BS you make up. Are there any posts on this board that state the Sox are going to be outfoxed by these guys? And if you are so in touch with opposing fans you would know Rays fans have often called for Maddon's head. Angels fans have called for Scoscia's head (and if Robin managed the 8th and 9th like he did last night, You would have told us how awful he is. And LaRussa,,,,,Hawk was a hero when he fired him. No fool. White Sox fans wanted him fired. Opposing managers don't scare teams or fans. Players do. The other thing is all 3 were well under .500 as managers their first 2 years. I don't think anyone talked about being outmanaged by Joe Maddon when he was 70 games under .500. It is amazing how better players make you smarter. But there is no doubt Joe Maddon would have been considered an idiot manager if the Sox were 70 under in 2 years.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 07:36 PM) Respect is a better word, perhaps. And the White Sox are not respected because Robin Ventura is their manager? LMAO

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 07:05 PM) That never happened. You are right. I read a chart incorrectly.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 06:59 PM) Depends if he lives in Cook though. Not sure on Lake county. There is no county income tax. If you are paying one, you are being scammed.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 06:49 PM) I believe Cook County has an income tax though, right? Plus Chicago has by far the highest sales taxes. No and yes.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 04:49 PM) It even pisses me off at work when the following scenarios occur: 1: Overpaid VP in a pressed shirt arrives at a project meeting and tells us "We need to operate with a greater efficiency that best represents our customers' needs" where my typical response is "STFU and go man your spreadsheet. I'll write the code, dBag." 2: Project Manager asks "Where We Are" with a task or deliverable... Where we are? Well... you "work from home" so you are probably at the f***ing beach sipping a pina colada patronizing me from your iFruit smart phone while I'm sweating out here with my cubemate who had too much protein for lunch." It goes both ways, people. The we with sports teams has always been weird for me. If you attend or attended a college, referring to their teams as we seems OK, but why are the White Sox we if you don't work for them? If you are a big fan of a band, you don't say we have a concert in Portland tonight, or our world tour has 70 dates. People would think you are missing some marbles.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 02:07 PM) Knicks fans are also saying if they take Boozer we gotta take Smith....Which I'm all for. Smith has a little bit of Nate Robinson in him and Thibs kinda made that work. If they take on Smith that leaves 1 less hole to fill with the the 2 exceptions they have. That wouldn't make sense for the Bulls. It wouldn't free up as much money.

It is kind of funny Phil's girlfriend is part of the Lakers pitch to Melo.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 01:28 PM) At a certain point, it doesn't matter...fans buy into the "Robin was just hired to take the heat off KW/JR and they can't blame him too much because, hey, he didn't have any experience so what's the worst that could happen...he's a placeholder like Jerry Manuel or Jeff Torborg to get us to the next manager, etc." The perception around baseball from those announcers for other teams is that the White Sox don't play solid/fundamental baseball, they beat themselves too often with mental and physical errors and that while Ventura is a cool/nice/laid-back guy, he's not a manager they ever fear facing or one that will outmanage their own guy...or that he would be anywhere but in the bottom 5-10 out of 30 MLB managers in their own subjective evaluations. Now that's not to say Terry Francona would have won the division in 2012 or he would have this year's team at .500 or better, but lots of casual White Sox fans do believe managers can make a difference, and they also feel the Sox aren't serious about winning until they invest a lot of money into a proven winner like a Francona or Maddon type. It's why Guillen almost didn't get the job before 2004, with KW preferring Gaston's track record. Another issue is that it's hard to compare Ventura with say, Matheny and Ausmus, because of the talent on the respective rosters. That said, it's now become much more popular for teams to hire managers with little or no experience....all these decisions are giving them cover to do the same thing, instead of going with retread guys who have been recycled over and over again. So you are saying major league teams fear playing teams based on their manager?

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 12:59 PM) Quote was from 2012 FYI...Just pointing out Coops, who I really think runs the pitching staff, view on pitch counts....That's not his only quote from him on that subject either...Coop gives no (bleep) about pitch counts. It really is crazy people actually believe everything they don't agree with is all Robin. No one has a say about anything. Robin is clearly running the pitchers into the ground and there is nothing Coop or Hahn or KW or JR can do about it. They are all afraid of big, bad, dumb Robin. They gave him an extension out of fear he may hurt them apparently even though many experts on this board told us Robin doesn't even want to manage. I wish people would once in a while just think about things logically before they come to all of these crazy conclusions. Supposedly Robin's lack of experience was a reason he shouldn't manage, yet all of the inexperienced managers here manage every game perfectly.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 11:52 AM) Just remember - it isn't just Carmelo is either all about the money or not at all about the money. Each aspect of changing teams has a price. Winning is worth a certain amount of lost earnings, moving his family nullifies a certain amount of the benefits of winning, etc. He could reject the Bulls for their inability to make a max offer without him being greedy. If max is 4/96 and we offer 4/64, his turning us down does not mean that it was 4/96 or nothing. In other news, I've been impressed with Melo in this process. When he left Denver, I saw him as a big baby who strong-armed his way out of town. Throughout the entire mess in NY, Melo has been quiet about his intentions and likely dissatisfaction with the Knicks. He hasn't been making public evaluations of each suitor. By all accounts, he has been incredibly good at keeping his private thoughts out of the rumor mill. Every rumor is "NBA executives think" or "people who are friends of Melo but haven't spoken to him in months believe." Yes, but Carmelo was quoted as saying it had nothing to do about money, only about winning. If he goes back to the Knicks, he wasn't being honest. He said he had enough to retire on now, and it isn't like the Bulls lowest offer makes him Link Card eligible. There is nothing wrong with staying in NY and taking the money. What would be wrong is his quote from when the season ended.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 11:28 AM) Downs has been officially released. I wouldn't be surprised he winds up with the Angels. As bad as he has been, it is still better than Rich Hill.

Robin is also an idiot when he takes Danks out of the game and the bullpen blows it. Hindsight is great if you want to take pot shots at people about subjects you know very little about.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 10:17 AM) It's not unreasonable for Melo to talk things out with us and decide that he can't balance his interests and the Bulls interests. As long as it isn't ultimately about money, I agree. If it is about the money, the entire exercise is a big waste of time for all involved, except it gets Melo some free dinners and attention, and gets a few cities fawning over him.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 09:45 AM) Have we all stopped reading the reports on Carmelo? Some of it just doesn't make any sense. Yesterday on twitter, former NBA PG Kenny Anderson said that Melo wasn't happy with Bulls offer and would be going back to NY. I tweeted back and forth with Anderson and I asked him if Carmelo wanted Taj to stay. Anderson said Yes. I explained to him that if Taj stays, Melo will have to take something resembling like a 4 year $70 million deal. He said and that's the issue. So what is it? He can't have Taj Gibson and more $$. It just doesn't make any sense. He's probably going back to New York but when he does I hope he doesn't talk about wanting to win at the podium. But The Knicks can offer Anthony nearly $33 million more than other teams in free agency — with a five-year maximum of $129.1 million to stay. “If I was to go with another team, I’d be taking less money anyway. . . . Let’s be quite frank. At this point in my career, I’m not concerned about the money. The contract will be the contract regardless,” Anthony said. “Without a doubt, at this point in my career it’s about winning. Nothing else even matters. That’s not going to change. That’s still going to be my mind-set, it is my mind-set. You know, that’s going to be my No. 1 thing.” He knows and has known all along what teams can offer him. If he goes back to the Knicks, it will be about the money, which is fine, but makes him a phony.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Jul 3, 2014 -> 09:08 AM) Losing out on Lowry and/or Gortat kind of limits their options on adding difference makers in this FA class, assuming they can't get Melo. The Heat's time might be done, so I'm curious what the ring chaser ends up doing. I wonder is Wade and Bosh now realize maybe opting out while noble, wasn't so smart.

A newer one that really grates on me is "his hit tool is off the charts". Who the hell came up with hit tool? It also bothers me when people use the term for a potential draft pick they have never seen play. To me a hit tool would be a bat. The phrase reminds me of ESPN basketball guys using the term "score the ball", apparently in an effort to sound more intelligent than anyone else.

If anyone thinks if Garcia struck out or popped up or hit into a DP that this move that suddenly makes sense, wouldn't have been one of the dumbest moves of all time, cementing Ventura as a bigger bonehead than Bevington, you're just kidding yourself.

Scoscia was clearly outmanaged in the 9th.