Dick Allen

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 27, 2017 -> 06:12 PM) Through personal observation. Year after year I never heard "Merry Christmas" uttered anywhere except on Xmas Day at church. Or I never heard in weeks/days leading up to Christmas, the words "Have a merry christmas." There was literally no mention of Christmas. None. Now this is personal observation. Contrary to what is stated on here, when I heard "Happy Holidays" or "Have a happy holiday" I never got mad or thought, "Dammit, say merry christmas!" I did however make a mental note of this and went on my merry way, no pun intended. Suddenly this year, I happened to catch some of the controversy about Trump going nuts ,even saw the clip of him saying "Merry Christmas" is back. I may have read a thread on here ripping Trump for it or something as well. I didn't think much about it, then I start hearing "Merry CHristmas" or "Have a merry christmas" at some restaurants, coffee shops, SW Airlines on a few different flights. I can guarantee you I never heard it on SWA before. I thought to myself, "Damn, Trump must have had an effect on this." I actually in my mind credited Trump for something. I didn't go run around screaming, "Glory be! Christmas is back!" It wasn't that big a deal as some on here make it out to be for me. It was something I did notice and approve of. It did not affect me saying "Merry CHristmas" to anybody as I've been trained in PC well enough to not go there. I finally returned the Merry CHristmas the other day and it felt very very weird coming out of my mouth. To me, these all were holiday observations, not a huge deal. I didn't scream to the heavens, CHRISTMAS IS BACK, THANK U MR TRUMP" I just noticed it which has really really bothered some on here. To me it was a sequitir not a non sequitir in that because I NOTICED A CHANGE and Trump had spoken out, I deduced perhaps Trump had something to do with it. IT has been pointed out to me Obama also said it. That is good. I like that. But I do not recall Obama going on a tirade saying we all should say Merry Christmas, hence I have not credited Obama enuf for some people on here. In conclusion ... thank you for your question. I want to know what about my response(s) make me the scumbag I'm being portrayed to be. I think it stems from nobody believes me and also because i listen to Rush and Hannity on occasion in the car for brief periods of time I am considered to be their disciples/clones. Continue to flame me, I'm used to it. up Thank God for Teump. It is nice this country finally has a President that allows us to say Merry Christmas again. Greg, do you even realize how stupid the whole argument is? It was a Faux News Bill O'Reilly made up production to rile up Faux News viewers against their non Christian non Faux News viewer fellow citizens. Trump latched on, and you fell for it hook, line and sinker. Good thing you weren't born a fish. You would have been a shore lunch long ago.

Trumps golfing, which he would have no time to do if elected, too busy making deals, has cost taxpayers over $100k in golf cart rental alone for the secret service. Since he golfs at his own properties, guess who benefits? You would thin a guy who wants to make America great again (insinuating it is not, how dare he) and want to cut spending, would either golf where it is cheaper, or cut the taxpayers a break on the carts, and the lodging, and the food.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Dec 27, 2017 -> 05:58 PM) Look at these contracts. their length and the ages of their highest-paid players. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SF...contracts.shtml It's the price you pay for winning. Boston, the Yankees, Dodgers, Tigers, and the Cubs, have had and in the Cubs case, will have, the same issue if they want to keep their players or bring stars in. Even if all goes perfect for the White Sox, at some point, the kids grow up and have to be paid, and the 5 WAR player. Has to be paid like one, and those contracts almost to a fault, don't end well for the team.

QUOTE (cjgalloway @ Dec 27, 2017 -> 02:58 PM) My point is you'll never be able to sign a SP the caliber of Arrieta for the contract he is going to get this offseason BECAUSE all the big market teams are saving for next year.. This may be the time to bite Boras is his agent. He isn't signing for cheap,and in the 1,000,000 to one shot he does, he would make sure there was an opt out after year one. So you would have him for a worthless year, if he's as good as you say, he leaves or you pay him, if he falls apart, you are stuck with him. If you trade him, you won't get too much, for 2 months considering what people here thought Machado would cost for a year. So you would basically buy a mediocre basket of prospects for at least $15 million, plus the risk of him getting hurt or being ineffective. I don't think JR could or should be sold that.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Dec 27, 2017 -> 02:07 PM) I just don't think someone's race, sex or religion is important to a conversation. If greg was a black muslim woman would it be okay for Balta to articulate that is why he doesn't understand something? Funny you thought it was important when you mentioned your minority friend's "advantages" over you.

Trump tweeted back to work tomorrow on Christmas Day. He spent yesterday and today golfing. Sad. I thought he would be back at the WH making deals. Didn't have time to golf. Probably sick of winning. “I’m going to be working for you, I’m not going to have time to go play golf,” - @realDonaldTrump

QUOTE (Brian @ Dec 27, 2017 -> 12:46 PM) No cartilage in my left knee. Bone spurs for me. I think it was my left foot, I do have the best memory maybe of all time, but it also could have been my right. At any rate, they worked themselves out, and I probably am the healthiest person in history, many people have said that.

I guess I don't have the fascination some have of once great players that can't play anymore suiting up for the White Sox. This guy is basically JB Shuck at this point, and he is only going to get worse. There has to be someone a little more interesting available to take up a roster space.

QUOTE (KagakuOtoko @ Dec 27, 2017 -> 07:32 AM) Good lord. I'm trying to be respectful of other people's views/posts but greg really knows how to grind people's gears. I cannot believe the drivel he wrote. It's so overtly trollish it's not even funny. He just buys what guys like Trump and Hannity and Rush say. The fact that it is made up doesn't appear to faze him in the least. He just has the attitude if it is, it's messed up, but not really either not wanting or caring to know if it is. You can show him Trump is a phony. Show him he said happy holidays when the evil Obama was saying Merry Christmas. Show him his kids and his company still use happy holidays, and because it doesn't fit with what he listens too, he just acts like it isn't so. These guys said Trump brought back Christmas, so he did, and that's that. Someone at Southwest Airlines said Merry Christmas. According to what he listens to, that would never have happened if Trump wasn't POTUS. Someday, maybe he will see how ridiculous this is.

Don't see a real reason to bring him in. Give guys like Engel and Tilson, and WGarcia a shot. They probably will suck, but at least there is a slim chance they can help you in a couple of years. Wouldn't have mind having Ichiro previously, but now? No thanks.

QUOTE (cjgalloway @ Dec 26, 2017 -> 02:51 PM) Can you give me examples? His innings have gone down, his ERA higher, walk rate higher, BAA higher, HR allowed, spiking, velocity down. He's still really good. You can't expect him to be what he was at his peak, but the trend is down, and for the White Sox to sign him, his best years are probably 2018 and 2019 , and at least in 2018, they really don't need him. To think you will get a bargain is nonsense. He is going to cost a lot for a long time.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 26, 2017 -> 01:21 PM) Christopher Kamka‏ @ckamka 2m2 minutes ago Carlton Fisk drove in both Luis Aparicio (with #RedSox) and Ozzie Guillen (with #WhiteSox) during his career. #Pudge He also drove into a corn field.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 26, 2017 -> 12:35 AM) I dream of America where you could (I won't; like I said I'm trained well and will never go there again) say "Merry Christmas" and the other person could laugh politely and say "Thank you," back to you, then quickly say in an equally friendly tone, "I actually am Jewish and celebrate Hannukah." And then I smile and say well I certainly wish you a happy Hannukah and we both feel good and go on our merry ways. Or vice versa and a person who is Jewish says Happy Hannukah to me and i say, "Thank you, but I celebrate Christmas" and we both smile and chat and go on our merry ways. Instead, I can only imagine the backlash in saying Merry Christmas to somebody who is an atheist or another religion that does not recognize Christmas or Happy Hannukah to somebody who does not celebrate Hannukah. Do you realize how PC the world is? Like I said, Midway Airport today was full of raging angry people who just wanted an excuse to scrap with somebody. there was no holiday spirit in the air, just anger. Trump is the first person to take this on by the horns and tell people to say Merry Christmas. By the way, I'm all for ending Christmas as a gift giving extravaganza. Christmas has little to no religious meaning in the secular world anymore. You can't imagine the spoiled kids I saw this Christmas accepting gift after gift, NFL and NHL jersey after jersey and I yes saw some signs of brattiness of the kids wanting more more more. It's become a ridiculous gift giving extravaganza (I know gifts have been given for years but I feel like part of being a truly entitle Millenial was being showered with so many gifts year after year. I feel each kid in a family should be given one gift in terms of a fun game or toy and some clothes and the family unit take part in a volunteer project instead, then if they are Christian, go to church and worship the true meaning of the holiday. Yes I can say the highlight of Christmas for me was church, the music and the excellent homily from the pastor. I'm sick of the gifts and spoiling the kids year after year with gift after gift. How bout change the culture. Yeah right. Chrstmas is 85 percent gift giving/hoarding and 15 percent religious (taking into consideration the amount of people who believe at all and if they believe the fact they do something about it on Xmas Day). Do any of you agree with me at the gluttony and monstrocity of a gift giving holiday it has become now that more and more people do not believe and/or practice faith?? Non Christian people berate others that say Merry Christmas to them? It is funny, you are totally offended by Happy Holidays, but see no reason a non Christian should be the least bit offended by Merry Christmas. Tolerance Greg, tolerance. Not everyone is going to have your same beliefs, and people aren't going to be offended if you say Merry Christmas and they don't celebrate it. Maybe they would be offended if they went to stores or other businesses which did all Christmas and ignored anything else, but the "return" of Christmas is just another made up Trump line. It never left. It is celebrated longer and longer every year. All Christmas music comes on at the end of October. Quit buying what Trump is selling. You wind up regretting it just about every time. You do live in the America you dream of.

QUOTE (2005thxfrthmmrs @ Dec 26, 2017 -> 08:24 AM) You must have a different definition of intriguing. These teams played 20 or so Finals games in the last 3 years, and 2 Christmas games before this one. Warriors have won 80% of the games when both teams are healthy. I think all the intrigue are out the window by now, and that not factoring in the loss of Kyrie. Why not showcase a game with the two best players from last season, with the new stars they added to their teams in the offseason. That is by far the most intriguing matchup to me. It's about ratings, and no matter what your opinion on the match up is, even if it was totally legit, Lebron, Curry, KD...those guys bring viewers. There may be a more intriguing match up elsewhere, but not as many people will watch it. Besides, they now have about 4 or 5 games on all day long, so you get to look at plenty of other games if you don't like the marquee choice. Back when the Bulls were at their peak, there may have been 1 in the afternoon, and one at night, at most, and the same teams would be on year after year.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 25, 2017 -> 06:50 PM) I also would like to thank Trump for bringing back Christmas. Say what you want, but I've noticed it this year. Now that Trump said it's OK, Southwest Airlines, store employees, etc., Starbucks have been saying Merry Christmas to me. I've noticed cause I now get to say it back and I like it. I will say for some reason at Midway today people were in s***ty moods. I got yelled at for getting tripped while getting into space No. 31 in the A group on SW and nicked somebody's boot and said, "Sorry." She was furious that I nicked her and she was in space 31 instead of her 35 which I didn't say anything of course as I don't care bout that. Then somebody at the Avis rental place yelled "I was here first!" and I wasn't even trying to go ahead of them. I'm a little puzzled at the Scrooge like behavior today. But anyway, there was a war on Christmas. I haven't said Merry Christmas to a stranger in years til this Christmas since it's now OK to do so. Don't discount the P.C. in America. It's very very bad and this is one thing Trump did that was OK. The War on Christmas. OK. It is funny ivanka, Eric, and even the Trump hotel in DC tweet happy holidays, just like the con man did in 2010 when Obama was wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. But facts aren't nearly as fun as things made up so there can be fake outraged. Trump has the lowest approval rating of just about any president. Why would his take make more people end their supposed war on the holiday? One of Trumps properties in the early 80s, residents were banned fro putting up Christmas decorations or trees. In 1999, he called the Christmas tree like decorated tree at Trump Tower a holiday tree. He went years on twitter not saying merry Christmas, but happy holidays. Why do you buy anything this guys sells? He is a con.

BTW, the guy that "brought back Christmas "? Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Wishing everyone a very Happy Holiday season! 10:26 AM · Dec 23, 2010

Corey Lewandowski, you're on the clock.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 23, 2017 -> 01:02 PM) So then why not just give every American household $12,000 back? Wouldn’t that be fairer? It would cost exactly the same as this tax cut. Wouldn’t that at least give all those in the middle class more of an opportunity to pay down debt, invest in education or start a small business? All studies would back up empirically that the middle class and poor are much more likely to inject cash directly back into the economy. They could have repaired every deficient bridge in America, for example. Continued to stabilize the health care market instead of allowing those costs to pass down to everyone who was old or sick (the expected 10% increased will negate most or all of the tax cut benefits for the majority of Americans). Treated the opioid crisis. All of these would have led to greater than 0.8% GDP growth over the next decade. Scholarships for junior colleges. Research money for AI, AR and VR, as well as alternative energy vehicles. They chose instead to go with their corporate overlords...who have spent $1.63 billion on lobbying so far this year. That's what I don't get, if all these things are actually designed for the middle clas, why not give it to them directly?

QUOTE (Quin @ Dec 23, 2017 -> 02:30 AM) I tried to argue with a friend the other day that from 2004-2011, the Bulls were the best drafting team in the NBA. For recap, in that time: Rose (#1), Noah (#9), Butler (#30), Mirotic (#23), Gibson (#26), Deng (#7), Gordon (#3), Thabo (#13), Asik (#36) 9 productive NBA players in a 7 year span, including 4 multi-time All-Stars, an MVP, MIP, DPOY, 6POY, is pretty stellar. Since then, they've fallen off hard. His rebuttals were: Golden State: Curry (#7), Klay (#11) San Antonio: Kawhi (#15), Udrih (#28), Splitter (#28), Hill (#26), Blair (#37) Dallas: ??? Kawhi and Curry are the two best players in there. Now Lauri looks like a turn towards the better. They loved Dunn last year. Portis is finally playing like not garbage. But they definitely aren't drafting like they did in their heyday. https://www.blogabull.com/2015/5/18/8610703...-matt-lloyd-and

Allen Hanson to the Giants. They are clearly going for it.

This is incredible. Since Theo took over in 2012, the Cubs have only had 38 1/3 IP from pitchers Theo drafted or signed internationally.

QUOTE (wrathofhahn @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 02:21 PM) Normally I'd say no. He doesn't fit with the timeline but with the Marlins low, low prices everything must go sale it would be a shame to not get in on it. So yeah if the trend continues and they are willing to deal him for non top prospects why the heck not. He could always be flipped later. What would their motivation be to trade him for little return? He isn't making a lot of money.

It does boggle my mind why people can't be as respectful towards Trump as he is toward anyone who doesn't kiss his ass.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Dec 22, 2017 -> 02:09 PM) Well maybe it was Burdi or bust. At that point just snag some quick cash from Texas. Also, maybe they have a really concrete plan for the 25 man roster already and couldn't spare a spot with the anticipation of having slots filled by guys like Cordell, Engel, Delmonico, Davidson, L Garcia, Sanchez, Adams, Stephens, Viero etc. Maybe the "give young guys a chance" spots are full. The bullpen seems wide open. Worst case, you return him. A pretty cheap look especially if you really think Coop is magical. Obviously, this guy can still go down, but 95 is kind of meh anymore, and other than that, it doesn't appearl like there really is too much to like. If he threw 100, that might be a little different. It is just hard to imagine there was not one guy available in the rule 5 that wasn't as least as interesting as this pick up. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but it just doesn't add up to me.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 21, 2017 -> 11:38 AM) US life expectancy dropped for the second straight year. This is the first time it's happened here since influenza caused it to dip twice in the 60's, and it's essentially unheard of in modern developed countries. A 26% increase in opioid deaths seems to be the main factor. http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/21/health/us-li...udy0247PMVODtop You just have to tell people not to take them.