caulfield12

I’m 48. I watched a ton of those Bulls’ games back at that time. Pippen is a Top 50 All-Time NBA player, but if he’s drafted by an expansion team and has to play all by himself...I’m not even sure he becomes anything resembling the final product in Chicago. And Irving or Love (especially Irving if he can overcome injuries) both have a chance to be Top 50 (at least top 75-100) talents by the ends of their playing careers. As someone said, Jordan just had the the heart and soul of an assassin. That competitiveness has caused him so many problems both on and off the court, but it’s one divider between the two. Not saying I’m buying into all this “Lebron’s a nice guy, but not as good in the clutch” stuff either, but if you watched the Bulls like I did...well, it’s easy to have recency bias, there’s no way to compare the different defensive schemes both faced, we can go around and around in circles. Lebron’s definitely a more creative passer and has improved his outside shooting well beyond anything Michael did (of course, MJ would have adjusted and figured out a way to get more arc on his outside shots in today’s game IMO). He didn’t ever need to score from WAY outside, so he didn’t work as hard to add that one element. But Jordan, on a consistent basis, was clearly the better defensive player as well.

Reed in the 3rd? Nate Jones in the 5th? Hector Santiago went really late in the draft he came out of...although taking relievers in the 3rd-5th round is (still) higher than many/most organizations go. I would have to look him up again, but Marcus Semien would be a pretty good example. Trayce Thompson went relatively high, but he’s been disappointing (obviously). Micah Johnson? Saladino?

The one area that makes sense is due to our division...but we still can’t PUSH too much (although I do think they have to make some free agent splashes as quickly as this offseason, and I’ve already addressed who). Minnesota already find themselves 6 1/2 GB and could be knocked out with a sweep by CLE this early. They also are going to have to start rebuilding/reloading because they have expiring contracts for guys like Mauer (another competitor for Abreu?), Dozier, Santana, etc. Maybe Logan Morrison, can’t remember if he signed for 1 or 2. Odorrizi also becomes an interesting trade/don’t trade case. Addison Reed, who they just acquired as a FA? At any rate, what’s their core to rebuild? Well, Berrios and Sano, but both are having disappointing seasons and won’t sign long-term extensions into FA. Buxton is closing in on official bust status after the strong ending to last year. Finally, Romero and Kepler are “good/really good” players but not All-Stars. They’re really STUCK, after bringing in a bunch of reinforcements this offseason. The White Sox will have three divisional opponents WELL behind them in the rebuilding and only the Indians ahead of us...that’s awfully tempting to try to chase down CLE (who will lose Brantley, Kipnis and Encarnacion is falling off year by year) in 2019 instead of waiting for 2020/2021.

That’s part of his mystique...lol...same with Sam Hinkie, who’s really quite a fascinating guy if you read some of his (rare) interviews filled with discussions about philosophy, innovative practices and lots of areas outside of sports (Silicon Valley/venture philanthropy). Or simply download his resignation letter from the 76ers. Like something out of Jerry Maguire.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?446314-3/washington-journal-ryan-clancy-discusses-role-moderates-politics If you really believe in working together, commonalities over differences...well even that has gotten tricky. This C-Span segment is about an organization trying to build a coalition of “moderates” in the US House, in order to take the legislative agenda away from the right (Freedom Caucus) and left (progressive) wings. The problem is that some of the members of Congress who have signed on are the likes of Dan Lipinski of Illinois and Sean “Real World” Duffey of WI. The organization in the video spends (or claims they will be spending) millions of dollars to protect these “moderates” from primary attacks on the left (progressives, Marie Newman in the recent one) and from extreme right wing primary opponents on the right. The idea being that “moderate” legislation is the only type that has an opportunity to get through the Senate and its 60 vote threshold. I’m not sure that’s the correct approach to governing, either, but it’s a start? I also am going to guess they started out with the House because of the exponentially-increasing effects of money in politics...how much money/time/resources it would take to affect just 1-2 Senate races, especially in “big media” states.

I think that debate is a more personal one with you and Reddy, although I also have commented quite a bit on it...

Since my name was dragged into this. Why does the “bad deeds” of a tiny subset of Islam get entire countries labeled as not being worthy of entry into the U.S.? Or being judged as “lesser than” the majority, which is white/Christian? As a Catholic and former altar boy and someone who went to mass every single Sunday of my life before university....I’ll say that the Social Gospels have a lot to teach us, that the Properity Gospel is NOT founded anywhere in Christianity or the Bible, that abortion is an issue I’ll never agree with the Church on and that’s it is a real shame that forcing priests to remain celibate has led to so many issues with alcoholism/abuse/pedophilia....and it’s also a shame so many financial contributions to the church are going to lawyers and payoffs and not to mission work. I also believe the new Pope is a breath of fresh air and has shaken the foundation of the Church to drag it kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, and that’s probably a good thing. And I will always stand up against anything being forced upon people, whether it’s “false religion” or “false patriotism.” To protect the power of the majority from trampling the rights of the least protected in society. Finally, people should have the right to believe in anything they want...but proselytizing is a different matter altogether.

If not for Draymond’s technicals, Curry’s injury and Irving’s jumper in 2016....granted, that block on Iguodala from behind was the signature play of the series. Irving/Love are not that far off from Pippen/Grant/past-peak Rodman. We can easily compare 2007 Cavs with Jordan’s first couple of Bulls’ playoff teams, and this year’s Cavs.

#8 most valuable franchise at peak...now down to #14. The Angels and Mets yes, clearly upmarket, but Oakland in a new stadium and Sox should at least have the potential.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23650251/still-too-early-mlb-all-star-rosters

Neither are the Cubs. The Astros and Sox share similar franchise values, but we’re not going to average 99 losses from 2017-2020 or Hahn, KW and JR will all be gone.

For 20+ years, Pitt and KC were laughing stocks...

Congratulations to 3rd person The Greg775 for passing Balta for 7th place on the SoxTalk Leaderboard.... http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?/pastleaders/ They can’t stop you, they can only hope to contain you, haha...I noticed last week when I looked this statistic up there was no 9th place, only top 8. But you’ve improved 2 in the intervening time period. Ozzie would be proud.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/congressional-candidate-virginia-admits-pedophile-011921211.html Independent/alt-right admitted pedophile runs for Congress in VA.... According to Larson’s campaign manifesto, his platform as a “quasi-neoreactionary libertarian” candidate includes protecting gun ownership rights, establishing free trade and protecting “benevolent white supremacy,” as well as legalizing incestuous marriage and child pornography. In the manifesto, Larson called Nazi leader Adolf Hitler a “white supremacist hero.” He urged Congress to repeal the Violence Against Women Act, adding, “We need to switch to a system that classifies women as property, initially of their fathers and later of their husbands.” He also showed sympathy for men who identify as involuntary celibates, or incels, suggesting it is unfair that they “are forced to pay taxes for schools, welfare, and other support for other men’s children.”

Isn't there some statistic out there that out of the Top 5 Baseball American minor league systems going back to either 2000 or 1990...that only 1 or 2 of them haven't at least made the playoffs once in the 4-5 years following that ranking? It's something crazy like that. Now obviously, just making the playoffs once, making it only to the WC game or even a situation like Pittsburgh's might not be good enough for most Sox fans. But it's a start, at least. Rebuild Start Date: December 2016. The White Sox pivoted toward a full rebuild at the 2016 Winter Meetings, trading Chris Sale and Adam Eaton on consecutive days. They followed by trading Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, Tommy Kahnle, David Robertson, Melky Cabrera, Anthony Swarzak, Dan Jennings, Miguel Gonzalez and Tyler Clippard in summer 2017. Current Status:: The White Sox have a group of young players in the majors and more on the way from the No. 4 farm system in the game. Trade acquisitions Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez complement homegrown talents Carlos Rodon, Tim Anderson and Carson Fulmer, and most of the next wave—Michael Kopech, Eloy Jimenez, Alec Hansen, Dane Dunning—will begin 2018 at Double-A or higher. Next Step: Continue developing the young players in the majors. They all appeared to turn a corner at the end of last year, and now the next wave will join them progressively over the next year or so. Risk Factor: Timing. The White Sox have the most well rounded group of talent of any rebuild, limiting some of their risk. Still, ensuring everyone is brought up in such fashion that they can peak together is something Chicago will have to monitor. ETA: 2019 or 2020. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/state-of-the-rebuilds/ We probably have to cross Fulmer and Giolito off that list...and Hansen's taken a step back (but hopefully should be okay when he returns). Then there's the Burger loss. This was written March 19th, not sure if Burger's eventual fate was already known at that point in time (think so). The emergence of Cease and re-emergence of Collins are probably the biggest stories...with some of the glow fading (a bit) on the hot starts for many of the young W-S outfielders.

That was never the problem. It was always players #5-25. Quality of depth was non-existent. Plus, we had a long string of terrible free agent signings, beginning with Dunn. We couldn't have done ANY worse if we'd just thrown darts at a board and signed those players.

33 1/2 years old...will be 34 at the end of December. Amazing he has been in the NBA for 15 years now. I remember vividly watching all those high school games when he was back in high school on ESPN.

The thing is that Jordan didn't have any challenge like Lebron has had the last 4 years to push him to a higher level. He got bored, dabbled in baseball, golf, gambling, women...everything he went through with his father's murder. I do think it would be fascinating to watch the adjustments Jordan would have had to make playing with a team like the current Cavs mess against a team with 4 HoFers. Jordan was basically playing on that decade's version of GS...so we'll never know the answer, but fascinating to speculate about.

Thank god the Cavaliers won in 2016 (and thanks to Draymond's temper and Curry's injury) or it would be four in a row.

What happened? Can just follow online at work....Chris Webber lack of situational awareness with 4.5 seconds remaining?

Fathom consistently playing "Devil's Advocate." Although Hahn supposedly was a Cubs' fan growing up, so he'd have to be an exceptionally creative poster to pretend to have an anti-Cubs' obsession for decades when actually supporting them in secret.

Of course, Trump gave his critics reason to associate him with Barr by calling her and eagerly trumpeting the success of her show. Trump’s boosterism was characteristic of him—it’s all about the ratings—but also partook of a long-standing weakness of the right. Conservatives disdain celebrities, but dangle a C-list celebrity in front of us with a few rightward leanings and he’s immediately awarded a speaking slot at the next Republican convention. We have low regard for pop culture, but crave its validation. If it must come via a program that is a 1990s-throwback reliant on a ticking time bomb of a star, so be it. The genesis of the “Roseanne” revival was innocent and laudable enough. The president of Disney-ABC Television Group explained the show’s inception after the 2016 election: “We looked at each other and said, ‘There’s a lot about the country we need to learn a lot more about, here on the coasts.” He was right. The appetite for the show, which reflected none of the toxicity of Roseanne’s real-life personality, speaks of the hunger for more programming about red America. Surely, there must be other vehicles for it—assuming Hollywood doesn’t internalize the critique of Roseanne Barr as an all-too-typical Trump voter. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/05/30/roseanne-barr-lowry-america-trump-218578

As it stands now, even the Twins were just about to be 6 1/2 GB...although the Indians have now blown an 8-0 lead in Minny and could let them back to 4 1/2 if they can't salvage a win. Pretty big series for early June. Twins get swept and they might need to think about trading Santana (when healthy), Dozier and Mauer.

Indians' bullpen imploding against the Twins as we speak... 4 runs surrendered in the last 1 2/3 IP. Have blown a seemingly insurmountable 8-0 lead in "Justin" (I'm A) Bieber start.

Where does Lebron end up next year? Back in CLE? Philly? Houston? LAL? Any other legit possibilities?