bigruss

QUOTE (iamshack @ Oct 29, 2014 -> 03:23 PM) Why not? What happened? Is it all because of this new guy? Pretty much, he's the Sr Dir for the department, and he has shown a lot of preference over technical leaders compared to people leaders. Even if he viewed me as a future technical leader (which I don't think is my strength) it doesn't follow what I would want to do. While I fully think you need to understand the technology you manage in IT, I don't think the actual manager should be the technical leader, your engineers should be. He's looking (at least has indicated, again only 3 weeks but it's pretty apparent) they he wants engineers leading his teams. I don't agree with that since there's too much second guessing by the manager on his top engineers and the manager should be focused on developing/enabling his engineers to succeed rather than designing/building sytems. It's a difference in philosophy, and while there are cases it works I've seen it fail way more often then succeed, mainly because your technical leaders typically can't effectively lead people and that spawns way more issues then any pros you get from being the leader in that technical area. I've got a great reputation with his direct reports, but I honestly see a lot of them being pushed out or moving along. As mentioned, I'm just happy that I've been getting recognized outside of the department now, hopefully it leads to some good opportunities which may never have opened in Security anyways (it's a 40ish person department, much more limited then other departments).

My department has a new leader as of 3 weeks ago. I know it's only 3 weeks but man I've got this feeling that this is NOT the guy I want to work for. He's a 180 from the leadership that I've had and not in a good way, fortunately I've been put in really tough situations lately and have performed really well and i'm getting noticed a lot. That may come in handy real soon as I'm not sure if I have a future in IT Security at my company or if I really want a future there anymore.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 29, 2014 -> 02:06 PM) Hahn and company have a plan, but plans don't always work out as you hope they do. If they spend $75 million, they (likely) aren't going to win the division. Frankly, they're not likely to win the division anyways, but it will be substantially harder at $75 million. The idea, as mentioned above, is that they are not going to spend money just to spend money. They will spend money on players that fit. To your second point, you are doing that for pure nostalgic reasons, which is OK, but it would not be an efficient use of resources. Perhaps it's something that's revisted at the trade deadline next year if/when the Sox need a starter and if/when Buehrle's (new) team is out of the playoff picture. Exactly, the last thing we want to do is spend money on players that don't fit into our 3-5 year plan, or wouldn't have value in a few years and could be traded off. Spending money on players that fit what you are trying to do now and will be valuable internally/externally makes sense, giving someone a 3 year, 21 million dollar deal when you only have a need for them for 1 year doesn't make sense at this point for the Sox. Those deals are acceptable when it's the last or one of the last missing pieces on a playoff caliber team. We're not there yet.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 29, 2014 -> 09:01 AM) I agree with that, but that doesnt make me look forward to a new version of friday the 13th. I think someone needs to come up with their own Someone like, Gangie?

QUOTE (daggins @ Oct 28, 2014 -> 07:06 PM) At the GM meetings, Hahn trades a Sugar Daddy to Nats GM Mike Rizzo for a fun size Snickers. The deal is widely praised as a steal, though Morosi questions why Hahn got a Snickers when he had a full size Milky Way in his briefcase. Acquire all the nougat!!!

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 28, 2014 -> 12:20 PM) I don't get this "is this offer legit or not" stuff. If they offered (a simple yes or no question) and he takes it, that's a legit offer. Well that's not a good way to look at it, as a lot of these offers have contingencies. The rumor for this one is that it's only commitable if he reclassifies to 2016.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 06:25 PM) Yeah, I wasn't a huge believer in his initially because I don't think he's all that athletic. He works his ass off though (as you can see by all the videos his dad posts on loyalty) and I think,at worst, he's a 3 and d guy. He shoots too well and works too hard not to be successful I think. Downside is a DJ Richardson type I think (Jordan is much bigger though). I was in the same boat, wasn't sold on his mechanics early on (seemed to have a low release point) and looked limited to the 3. However, he's clearly put in a ton of work, has grown physically, and has a really good head on his shoulders. I think he's a great fit for what Groce is trying to build.

QUOTE (gatnom @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 05:49 PM) He does have several Big Ten offers. Not a fan, I take it? He had offers from Wisky, Indiana, and Georgia Tech, those were his most notable. He would definitely garner heavy interest if he opened back up, but that s*** ain't happening.

QUOTE (Brian @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 06:05 PM) No, I like him. Heard he's 6'6 now. Illinois should go all out on Nojel Eastern. From everything I've seen he loves Illinois and Groce, he's going to light it up in Groce's system the way he shoots 3s. On top of all of that, he's really progressed his game to be more well-rounded, hugely underrate imo. (If you can't tell I'm a big big fan). Illinois absolutely should be, and from all accounts they have been probably the most active team with Eastern thus far.

QUOTE (Brian @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 05:23 PM) Williams and Jordan going to champaign for their officials this weekend. Is Jordan a question mark despite verbal? Um what? Absolutely not.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 10:02 AM) But not getting caught is too difficult. Ok recruit, this booster is going to give you 50k. How does that stay hidden? Back in the day people would say, oh hey, that player drives a pretty fancy car for being a student. But that stuff can't happen anymore with the social media presence these guys have. They're too big on campus for that stuff to be kept under the rug. I can see shenanigans in the various summer league circuits. I can see a boosters giving money to a family member and that potentially staying quiet, but in very limited situations. But the crap about Anthony Davis and his family getting 200k? I don't buy it. Someone would have seen a weird purchase at some point and then it gets tweeted or emailed or whatever and a fan base will go crazy. Look at how fan bases follow recruiting, and you really think that stuff will go unnoticed? Also, the coach has to be involved. How else is the recruit going to (1) meet the booster, (2) have the "donation" be a part of the recruiting pitch? If they're not involved it's a situation where they know something is going down and they actively choose not to be a part of it but also not stop it, which is still cheating. Plausible deniability isn't a defense. Again, I think coaches know what happens but most details are left out. I think handlers (family and non-family) receive most of the "care" from the boosters. That way it's harder to trace to the recruits themselves.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 09:30 AM) I must be naïve. I think like 5% of the time there's cheating going on. Maybe a higher percent on fringe-violations/shaddy stuff, like giving an AAU coach or uncle a job in a program. But straight up cash and gifts? No way. Too much social media coverage and the penalties are too stiff. If I were a coach there's no way in hell I'm chancing losing millions in salary on an 18 year old keeping something like money secret. I don't think coaches are involved at all anymore, or in an extremely limited basis. I do however think handlers and boosters get dirty all the time, and that may or may not be encouraged by the head coach. I'm sure most coaches don't get in the way of that as long as they can trust the booster to do it the right way and not get caught.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 08:15 AM) Having never played Blood Dragon, I will just say that Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep was absolutely phenomenal and it's by far my #1 DLC. Bethesda has had some really good DLC too between the Elder Scrolls and Fallout too. I know we talked about that DLC in the past year, so freakin' good.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 21, 2014 -> 12:31 PM) Well that was fun for a bit. Still a great class for not winning anything yet. Jerry Meyer I'm now at a point where I will be shocked if it isn't Texas A&M for Elijah Thomas. http://t.co/j38XukWFL9 He still hasn't heard anything official, which is crazy that nobody actually knows yet. Pushed back to 2pm, I wonder if that means he's contacting coaches now or what.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 21, 2014 -> 07:01 AM) He is trying to force merchants into chip and pin, like the rest of the world is using. This is good. US merchants are resisting because nobody wants to pay for the upgrade in systems. Believe me, we want this. Absolutely. A signature basically is a non factor for authentication, a PIN is something that can be checked real time and is true multi-factor authentication.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 21, 2014 -> 10:44 AM) Man you guys drive yourselves crazy over this stuff. We're desperate to get back to the top, landing ET is a huge step in that direction (most likely a top 5/10 class then). I don't think it happens, I still think Groce needs to go on a run and prove that he can get one of these players to the NBA before the 5 star players truly start eyeing Illinois as a legit destination. He's still selling a vision, not a reality, and that makes it a whole lot tougher. That said, I think we have a legit shot at the sweet sixteen and a top 4 Big Ten finish and that will go a long way to landing these guys.

Shack that was a fantastic post, as always!

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 21, 2014 -> 09:46 AM) Is he really doing THAT much? Or are fans, Illinois fans especially, just coming to their own conclusions? The whole process has played out like Lost. The show is what it is, the fans have created a million theories to go along with it. He tweeted that he wanted to play football, hint hint. Clearly he loves having fun on twitter and I think too many people (in the know and not) read wayyy to much into what he says/tweets. The fact that it hasn't leaked from any teams yet is also impressive, that leads me to believe that no one has actually been told yet.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Oct 21, 2014 -> 09:20 AM) Jerry Meyer tweeted out last night saying he's hearing its between Texas A&M and Illinois with A&M leading. And this morning Thomas is hinting heavily at LSU, who the f*** knows at this point. Well done Elijah, nobody knows who you're picking and it's great seeing these national guys grab at straws.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 20, 2014 -> 05:49 PM) Whenever the bidding is over Ha, but really with his comments on his KU/UK visits I don't see him not going to one of those places.

I really don't think Thomas is going to Illinois but damn he's seemingly played everyone as a favorite at some point.

Way to easy for Miami, defense just wasn't ready for any of those plays.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Oct 17, 2014 -> 07:19 AM) Diamond Stone cut Duke and his final list is now UConn, Oklahoma State, Maryland and Wisconsin. Strange final four. Yea I'm shocked by Duke getting cut, figured one of Duke/UK would be in it til the end with him. Wisky makes sense because their local and hot right now, UCONN also because their hot, but the others? Just odd.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Oct 17, 2014 -> 12:09 PM) So what you're saying is that it's "up and coming." Buy now! Ha! Good info guys thanks, I had a look at some crime maps over that area and didn't look bad at all, but who knows how accurate those were. Between that and the schools getting decent grades (again, not sure how accurate) nothing seemed to add up considering there are a lot of really nice towns around it.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 17, 2014 -> 02:43 PM) So much going on in that video, so great. So much win, but those guys were definitely having a party of some sort there.