Texsox

pitching has to be the trickiest position to fill. Anyone want to guess if Maddux will be healthy and playing in 2006? Even with position players it can be a crap shoot. Look at Pudge, Hawk wasn't totally wrong in trying to switch him to the OF and he becomes an ageless wonder. It is easy to spend $60,000,000 and get value for 2004. There has to be some responsibilty towards the 2005 and 2006 payroll as well. That is where the better teams excell. Giving almost any pitcher a longer than three year deal is risky at best.

Spiff, you know right now someone is combing through old posts looking for your wrong predictions Fasten your seatbelts, we may be running into some mid flight turbulence.

How much value would you put on attitude, leadership, motivation, etc.? Try and put it into stats. For example would you rather have a .280 hitter with bad attitude or a .260 with great attitude. How about the leadership would a great leadership guy who wins you 12 games be better than another starter who can win you 14 or 15 but sucks to be around? Do those guys multiply your success? It seems a team of brooding, can't get along with team mates, arguing with the coach isn't any better than guys who are less gifted physically but play the game better upstairs. There has to be a balance.

Spoken like a true Sox fan

I caught one a long time ago. The ball bounced off a really drunk guy, then rolled past a chick who was trying to get out of the way and into my hands. I spilled a beer to get the ball There was this really nice kid (about 10) sitting near us and he was so sad that he didn't get to the ball, plus someone must have stepped on his foot and bumped him out of the way. His dad offered me a beer in trade for the ball. Then he offered a beer to all my friends for the ball. When he asked how many friends I had there, about 20 people rasied their hands. I figured the kid would cherish the ball more than I would. Too bad he didn't get it.

At least those cities have major league sports.

The division was ours for the taking. Adding Carl was a great move. I've seen too many great prospects not pan out to believe not taking that move would have been a bigger mistake.

Is that after losing Colon, Alomar, Everette, Flash, etc.?

Spoken like a true conspiracy buff

I walk into my son's room and see a GameCube, PS2, and XBOX. (bought in that order) His career aspiration is to design video games and can recite stats on each system like I use to recite baseball stats. His opinion is that each platform has it's strengths and you should look at the games you want to play and make your decision that way. Also think about access to games. If you are going to be renting, look at where you will be renting and see what they have to offer. IMHO, check out eBay for great buys. He dumps a lot of his games after playing them for a month or two. Typically you can buy for 1/3 the price, sometimes less. There is a new controller for XBOX, slimmed down with a mod of button locations. I wish somoone would come out with a universal controller so I didn't have to relearn button locations between platforms.

Does that have something to do with masterbation? And wouldn't rope be more flatering? BTW, don't ever change your avatar

beastly, if you thought that was funny wait until you read this Beastly, are you beavis and BeGood butthead? Or the other way around

I was always able to manuever the bed for myself. I use to believe in never going to bed mad, but I was losing too much sleep. My current wife and I played "Divorce - the Home Game". We spent almost $10,000 on attorneys, had an agreement almost in place, sold our home, and divided up the photos then we reconcilled. Sleeping on the couch would have meant we were in the same house, I wasn't even that close. We tried to live in the same house while the divorce proceedings where going on. Bad move. Nothing like coming home from a Bulls game to see the For Sale sign on the front lawn. Or dividing up the ornaments while putting up the Christmas tree. I handled all the situation with all the dignity I could muster. Whenever I felt like screaming, yelling, pouting, throwing things, rude accusations, etc. I counted to .005 and did it. I was such an ass. Good thing I moved out. Thanks for that little walk down memory lane. I just upped the budget for my wife's Christmas gift.

I've lost track of were the payroll sits at today. Last I heard the team's stated max was 58 million. Assuming KW has at least $20 million to play with; where should he place his $6,000,000 bets? My feeling is: Starting pitching Bullpen OBP at the top of the lineup Which is why I yawn at any outrage over Robbie, Carl, Daubach, etc.

If we got Maddux a couple of thoughts We would be sticking it to the north side just like we stuck it to them with Santo and Kessinger and Sosa. "We had him when he was good" would be the Cub fan retort. Maddux would benefit from a switch to the A.L. and it would probably help him in his drive for 300 wins. I would expect 10-12 wins, not be surprised if he had 15, lead the parade at 18, and probably die from shock at 20. KW only has a few $$$$ chips to spend. This would be the spot I'd like to see him invest in. Won't happen.

Nah, wait for the all star break. If we're in it and the fans are coming out (it's always our fault) JR is certainly going to open the checkbook.

Let's review baseball economics. None of these decisions are made in a vacum, they always are part of a balance. Possiblities for example here: Is it Alomar and Cotts or Harris and Maddux? When the dominoes start to fall, the team takes shape. I enjoyed watching Robbie this season. I've been watching douple plays happen for 30+ years and I wasn't amazed at any of them. The only amazing double plays I've seen in a while have been made by 6 yeart olds in a T-ball league. If Robbie trots out there opening day, I'd be happy, if he doesn't and we have a #2 pitcher in his place, I'd be happier. It's how KW spends the money. Put another way if KW has (3) $6 milion dollar chips left who do you want him betting on? I'd like to see a starter and a bull pen guy before a 2nd baseman.

By DERRILL HOLLY Associated Press Writer STERLING, Va. - Two North Carolina men face up to 20 years in prison for allegedly operating one of the most prolific spamming operations in the world. Jeremy Jaynes - who uses the aliases of Jeremy James and Gaven Stubberfield - and Richard Rutowski each face "four felony counts of transmission of unsolicited bulk electronic mail," Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore said Thursday. The indictments, returned Monday by a grand jury in Loudoun County, Va., were based on Virginia's antispam law which took effect July 1. Kilgore's office launched its investigation into what he described as a massive spamming operation that used the America Online computer network which is headquartered in the county. The rest of the story

We may have to add that to the soxtalk awards, do we also count alumni?

Nominate all you like. THe committee will be narrowing the choices to 3 or so early next week and polls will be in place by Wednesday of next week.

OH s***, now I'm in trouble. Someone want to make me a lightening rod smiley I know we can make a poll only, can we hide results?

I think I have a good category list: Not too long so it will be manageable. I am in the processs of selecting a nominating group to comb through the nominees to limit each category to 3 to 5 choices. You can either kiss butt publicly or PM me with your nominations. Time frame: Nominations will close on December 15 Polls will be up by December 17 Voting ends December 22 Winners announced December 23 Admins: I was planning on making the poll vote only, no replies. Can we also hide the vote by vote results? The categories: Poster of the Year (soxtalk MVP) Thread of the Year (Best Picture) Best Poster to start a Thread (leading actor) Best Poster to add to a Thread (supporting actor) Admin of the Year Mod of the Year Mr./Ms. Underrated Special Effects (Who posts the best pics) White Sox Baseball Analyst Cubbie (poster who gets picked on, but like a loyal Cub fan, keeps coming back) Drinking Buddy (Who would you like to meet for a drink) LOL (who makes you laugh) Anger Management Award (who makes you mad) No prizes but feel free to add your award to your signature. Maybe we can have the winners names in gold. *Offical as I can make them.

Crap, by merging this got out of order. Somewhere in the middle is a post with 10 categories, I'm going to try and find it. I was trying to keep this simple. Trying to put together 20 or 30 polls will be almost impossible.

Arena 2? We're getting a team for next Spring

Shafer, 26, helped find the number as a volunteer on an eight-year-old project called the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. Tens of thousands of people volunteered the use of their PCs in a worldwide project that harnessed the power of 211,000 computers What a giant waste of time when they could all be logged on here