iamshack

QUOTE (joeynach @ Feb 5, 2011 -> 02:11 AM) I dont get it, they have a division that basically gurantees the Yanks and Red Sox playoff berths. They added about $30M in payroll this year and for what. What is so special about 2011 that warranted Vlad on a 1 year deal, DLee on a 1 year deal, Ducescher on 1 year deal, trade for Reynolds, trade for Hardy, and a 2 year deal for Kevin Gregg. Im not saying they didnt get better, but they did all this to go from 66 wins in 2010 to maybe 74 if things work out for them in 2011. Whats the point, yeah they will draw some more fans, but id rather just keep a low payroll and let my kids and young pitching staff develop and get major league time. Their fans. This is one of the better baseball towns/fanbases in the nation and they have been stuck with a loser for the better part of 25 years. They're frustrated with Peter Angelos, and they are demanding the organization make some sort of effort to compete. Definitely a few steps away still, but I think it buys them time with their fanbase when they make signings of this nature.

I like how this thread has morphed from snowmageddon to coffee talk. I don't drink coffee every day, although I do find it necessary for days that I work. Two cups at the beginning of every shift sets me up for 12 hours of staring at 5 computer monitors (one with Soxtalk on it, of course). As for the showoffs, I think there are definitely some Starbucks customers who go there for show and drink their products for show.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 3, 2011 -> 04:23 PM) No, you misunderstand what I meant. I was referring to the "US was no imperialistic post-WWII." We didn't come and directly take over countries, but we did plenty of things to influence, control or remove governments based on our policy preferences. Well we're still doing that to this day, are we not?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 3, 2011 -> 02:54 PM) It was grandfathering in an existing project, and it was probably taken into consideration that Avenal has filed suit against the EPA over this. It doesn't seem fair to me to impose new standards on applications that were already submitted and were waiting on approval. And relating it to GE, GE's CEO and his relationship with Obama because they're using some GE equipment is a bit more than a stretch. NY Times article on the filing, which contains a link to the filing itself. The vast majority of natural gas combined cycle plants are built using GE turbines. The other big player is Siemen's. This really has very little to do with it being GE. As for the environmental consequences, this really isn't anything to be alarmed about. Natural gas combined cycle plants are very clean compared to what much of the rest of the country will be generating electricity with, especially a brand new one. This plant will most likely be out of service well before we are in a position to no longer be using natural gas as a source of generating electricity. As for GE's connections to this administration, GE has some very large contracts to deliver wind turbine rotors. Seems to me like there would be more shady business going on in that area than with combined cycle turbines.

If you look at the deals that the White Sox have handed out in recent history, it's not hard to believe that he hasn't accepted...We haven't really seen anyone break the bank recently, with the exception of contracts we have taken on from other teams...Are some of the deals they've handed out very lucrative? Yes...but nothing I would call irresponsible, which is probably what Danks is hoping someone will offer him...

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Feb 2, 2011 -> 08:11 PM) Yeeeup. They lost some plants on the grid up here and they can't keep up with the demand because of it, so rather then have the generators burn up due to too much pull, they are doing the rolling blackouts. It's terrible on a CNC shop (saw someone else mention that)... And Balta, the hotels (and JerryWorld ™ for that matter) that the teams are staying at for the Pooper Jerry Bowl are exempted from the blackouts. Ain't that nice of them? Stupid f***ers. Yeah, I heard that they were losing generators because of the cold temps...which surprised me. Texas runs it's own grid so even though utilities in the southwest were trying to help them out, there wasn't much that could be done. Power was selling for $3k a MW in Texas earlier today though, so it's certainly not because they aren't trying to keep your lights on...

I'm hearing from my co-workers that there are rolling blackouts in Texas today...the utilities are having all kinds of difficulties...anyone hear from Kap or Tex today?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 1, 2011 -> 04:47 PM) I do sort of like heat in the house though. Just start a cozy fire, Sqwert!

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 01:01 AM) Judging by the Cutler episode I'm guessing no. Oh jeesh....that was a completely different sort of issue...

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 30, 2011 -> 11:12 PM) The PS3 got off to an abysmal start while the 360 was hitting full stride and cranking out games left and right. It was absurdly expensive at launch and they were being thoroughly hammered in sales for an extended period of time, then they finally had to drop the price to where they were losing money every time they sold a console (also at this time, Nintendo was slaughtering everyone else, but nobody gives a f*** about the Wii anymore because it's not a real gaming system). It's righted its ship right now, obviously, but they had such a big deficit to recover from that there are still more 360 owners than PS3 owners even with the debacle Microsoft had with all the hardware failures. The first PS3's were costing Sony approximately $800 to make, I believe. They improved the design, and reduced the number of parts, to the point where they are about breaking even now, which is the goal with all consoles.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 30, 2011 -> 10:24 PM) Sitting in a hotel in Kansas with not much to do. hotel bar! hotel bar!

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jan 30, 2011 -> 10:04 PM) Probably??? Well, I'm pretty sure Miguel has learned a bit since you last saw him in a White Sox uni.

My guess is if they used to come packaged with Funyuns that they must be made by Frito-Lay. Frito-Lay Was it Munchos?

My guess is the only thing you could do is try to befuddle them on a technicality, such as raising questions as to when the last time the thing was serviced and maintained...and hoping they are not following proper protocol or unable to provide the required documentation.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 30, 2011 -> 09:50 PM) You could well be right, given that AJ is older, but I will note; career OPS is .710 for Miguel, .747 for AJ. With AJ also having the added benefit of batting on the left side of the plate, and virtually no difference in salary... Yeah, AJ is probably a better signal caller too. I have always liked Miguel's power though.

I would have been fine with either AJ or Miguel. I kind of actually wish we had signed Miguel, now that I think about it.

Working. It's either here or do actual work.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 11:05 PM) I'd thought about what I said earlier and kind of figured that to be the case. Mike Williams, the OT the Bills drafted in the early 2000s, quit playing for a while and then had an itch to come back, and when he did he was at like 400 pounds. Unless you are like 7'5 (which is an unhealthy height even though nothing can be done about that), 400 pounds is not good. At this point in time, the desire for hits and success is greater than the desire to prevent health problems, and quite frankly it's similar to the gladiator games during the Roman era. Sure, they aren't LITERALLY fighting lions and elephants and bears and whatever else, and people aren't being killed, so we have become civilized in that regards, but the fact of the matter is, people are being subjected to extremely violent actions for the sake of entertainment. Absolutely. It will be interesting to see whether the American public chooses to demand increased safety and health guildelines, or if everyone continues to look the other way while this stuff is swept under the rug.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 28, 2011 -> 03:27 PM) It's a league where you have to be the fastest, the strongest, and the biggest. That's all well and good, and there are some incredible athletes, but there are huge consequential effects that come from that too, and an issue not mentioned is that people who are overweight are at a higher risk for any number of health related concerns, including heart disease and diabetes. That includes pretty much every single lineman on either side of the ball. There are defensive ends who are about 6'5'' 270 that are simply freaks of nature and they are at a healthy weight, but there are plenty of others who are 300++ and are like 6'0, and that is simply not good on any level. I think Aikman is right. At some point, something has to give. This was actually addressed on the show as well. They revisited an earlier episode where they had looked into the health of the 300+ lb linemen. Apparently, because of the amount of working out they do while they play, they are usually not all that unhealthy during their playing careers, even though many of them are technically obese. However, once their playing days are over, they usually continue to eat as much, but discontinue working out, and so then they really balloon to higher weights and put far too much strain on their hearts. There are so many health issues that are beginning to come to light, between the head injuries, the weight issues, and the NFL's stubborn stance towards their pension plans, the future is definitely quite murky. They are going to have to find a way to sell the game in a less-violent and slower manner if they wish to continue as a top-tier professional league, IMHO.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 11:37 AM) Don't worry, the market will be back through the floor at some point...probably sooner than we expect, considering how many of the problems which led to the last collapse have not been solved. Did anyone happen to catch Tim Geithner on the Charlie Rose show last night at the World Economic Forum? It was a pretty solid interview.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 04:50 PM) What the heck is the Internet anyway? Oh that is just priceless. It's amazing to think that was only 15 years ago or so. And I've always thought Katie Couric was hot.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 28, 2011 -> 04:33 PM) Does the strike zone actually expand with 2 strikes, and why does home field advantage exist? Interesting stuff, Balta. Nice find.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 28, 2011 -> 10:42 PM) Wasn't it raining then? That would affect price too. I'd say that, with how large that Cowboys Stadium is, there should be nosebleed seats available for dropping prices on game day. It was raining a bit. Not sure how much it drove down prices though. If you go to the city hosting the Super Bowl with the intent on actually going, a little rain shouldn't stop you. We went with the intention of taking in the atmosphere, but not really seriously going to the game. My friend's dad was perfectly willing to pop for tickets, but we just decided that was silly to spend $3-4k on mediocre seats when we could have a blast at a bar watching the game on tv. Football is just such a made-for-tv sport... Your point about the extra seating capacity in Cowboy Stadium is a good one though.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jan 28, 2011 -> 10:38 AM) Has anyone on here ever gone to a Super Bowl? I think it would be cool, but tickets gotta be like 1000 bucks, I went down to Miami in 06' the year the Bears made it. Your best bet is to wait til right before the game and scalp them. You could have picked some up for that game for around $800-900, which was about half of what they were going for the afternoon of the game. We chose to pick a bar with a really solid open bar deal rather than go to the game. I think we paid $75 for all you could drink from about 2 pm until the end of the game, with a buffet at halftime.

QUOTE (WhiteSUX @ Jan 28, 2011 -> 10:19 PM) Ok guys. But seriously, what do you think of your team this year? Is Dunn going to make any difference? Jesse Crain really isn't that bad and wish we could have kept him. Best of luck to you this year and would like to hear your thoughts on us? Yes, I do think Dunn will make a difference from Kotsay.