caulfield12

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2011 -> 09:37 PM) Teachers are greedy bastards destroying the country. No teachers anywhere should have health care!!!!! I had a good health care package in Kansas City, but a lot of my fellow teachers were spending an additional $400-500 to cover their spouses and children. I'm not going to get into the whole Wisconsin fiasco here, I'll just say I have great health coverage from my international school in China. When I had kidney stones, I think I paid something like $75 total for two ultrasounds, an ambulance (well, it's more like a long jeep), all my meds, 2-3 consults with doctors before they could diagnose correctly because they were so small (and PAINFUL!!!)....morphine/IV drip at hospital, etc.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 18, 2011 -> 09:27 PM) Then they have no reason to raise ticket prices every year. We will agree to disagree because I think guys like Alex Rios, even if he were halfway decent, making $12 million a year, is silly. Seriously, $12 million is a lot of money. It's all relative, though. What about John Bon Jovi making over $125 million last year??...Lady Gaga, etc. Is he 10X more valuable to society than Alex Rios, lol? Then you get into very esoteric arguments about music/culture having more creativity and intrinsic entertainment value than sports....it can go on and on. As a teacher, it's a common argument about how much is enough.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2011 -> 09:26 PM) Why does it matter if long term seat holders cancel their rivets if they have replacements for most? That's a huge revenue increase. The other problem is you're losing those potential generations of future fans...going to baseball games is a habit, the shared memories of going with your father or grandfather to the game. Once you lose a loyal customer after so many years, it's 10X harder to get them back in the fold. If you give up your tickets...a lot of people are finding new hobbies and interests, or they're simply just trying to survive financially. Just not as much time for sports/entertainment spending.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 18, 2011 -> 09:24 PM) Many of the people they sent invoices to are cancelling, some have had their seats over 30 years. Salaries cannot continue to go up if you expect the paying customers to foot the bill. I don't think televison ratings have been particularly stellar with Fox. Rios with a homer. I think I read somewhere that we were in the bottom 5. Still, because of the larger base of media customers in Chicago...it's not completely bleak. They just have to start winning.

Alex Rios sighting. Fathom, where are you? This might be the 2nd or 3rd time he's played a memorably significant role in winning a game this season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2011 -> 09:18 PM) The Knicks are screwing ticketholders because there is demand for those tickets Comparing this to wall street is just nuts. No one is using baseball tickets to hide losses or betting 100x on the future price of tickets. Don't think he was trying to do that. The idea simply was that people feel a lot more financial insecurity because of the declines of their retirement nest eggs, their 401-k's, profit-sharing...and they can no longer count on their home appreciating and borrowing against that asset. Liquid assets are becoming more and more important....so it's understandable that families are thinking long and hard about this. I have a cousin in Plano who's had Dallas Cowboys season tickets in his family for 30+ years and he finally gave them up because of the escalating costs and the struggles his IT company has been having the last 3-5 years during the recession.

Almost another great catch by Lillibridge. Danks is smelling win #3. Excellent job pitching out of that situation. Owings has 9 career homers, he's no slouch at the plate.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 18, 2011 -> 08:58 PM) No. It probably shouldn't cost someone $200-300 to take their family to a game, but people have been willing to pay it, although I believe the tide is turning. And those corporations that used to buy box ticket packages or suites are hoarding their cash...it's definitely a different economic landscape for most American families, and sooner or later the NBA and MLB will have to acknowledge that and readjust accordingly.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jun 18, 2011 -> 08:59 PM) Rios would make a pretty good fourth outfielder. That's a pretty expensive fourth outfielder, but the cost is sunk anyway so might as well pay him for the role he is suited for. How much better would the Sox be this season if Viciedo and De Aza were on the 25 man roster in place of Pierre and Rios? I'm not convinced De Aza would make much of a difference, but Viciedo in LF/RF and having Hudson back and we'd be a lot more competitive. Of course, we can't just take Hudson's stats and project them to the White Sox. It seems part of the problem in Chicago is that he wasn't listening to the coaching staff and was trying to do things his way because he'd been so successful at the minor league level doing just that.

Poor Ubaldo Jimenez, going all Dontrelle Willis. He went from a 15 game winner at the ASB to 5 wins in the past 5 1/2 months and is now out of the Tigers game with an injury. I'm sure a lot of unhappy rotisserie league drafters aren't so amused. So much for Lillibridge. They're going to have to let him play everyday to get back into an offensive rhythm. Unfortunately, that will never happen.

I'm starting to think they need to bring in a sports psychologist to work with Beckham and Rios. It's pretty obvious Walker doesn't have the tools in his toolbag to get through to either of these guys.

Upton's not getting cheated. In his last 19 games, he's hitting a crisp .452. What a talented family.

I think we're another 2 weeks from Beckham going back to the minors. He made solid contact in his first at-bat...but at some point his long-term viability (2012-2014) as a player has to take precedence over one season. They're going to have to re-engineer a Tiger Woods swing change and get rid of that hitch in his swing somehow.

3 weeks ago, you would have said Santos. Now it has to be Konerko, with Humber (if they need a pitcher), Quentin and Ramirez on the periphery of the discussion. Minnesota on a 13-2 run (another 1-0 win) and still only 8 GB now. At least the Tigers are cooling off against the Rockies. C'mon Gordon, we need a bases clearing double to break this game open and give Danks some breathing room for once.

That's 51 interleague homers now for Konerko, tied for 3rd All-Time behind Thome, Griffey JR and tied with Farmer in the Delgado.

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Jun 18, 2011 -> 08:13 PM) did the ball hit off his head? or his shoulder? they keep saying his head, but never really showed a good replay. I think it was his shoulder/upper back/lower neck area. At first, it seemed like it went off his head. Scary moment. Correction: they're saying it was his head.

Since the start of the 2003 season, the White Sox lead the majors with 746 quality starts. Pretty good argument for Cooper, especially playing 81 of those games at USCF each year.

Duke had only TWO walks the entire season coming into this game. Amazing. Not that he's that good, but that's some control.

Rios now on an 0/15 streak and 4/7 against Duke. Unfortunately, he left Ramirez at 2B. Setting up the DP against Beckham? Castro was also 3/7 against Duke lifetime. 7/46 against lefties, 2 for his last 17. Beckham... Dadgummit Upton....covers too much ground. Well hit ball by Gordon, at least. Unfortunately, we should be up 2-0.

DBacks announcers raving about Michael Morse...lol. Even KW's old trades are coming back to haunt us. Joke. OFC, without Garcia, there's no 05-06 and no Floyd, but it's crazy how he's a more potent offensive force for that Nationals team than Dunn for the White Sox.

Bring back Pierre. Seriously Ozzie, why you didn't stick with Lillibridge when he was hot offensively is beyond me. Now he's probably going to go 0 for 4 and Ozzie can make the argument that he's not hitting.

Well, there's no "easy" solution but it most assuredly doesn't involve Teahen at 3B. Doesn't anyone remember last year when Vizquel over there changed the entire composition of the infield almost single-handedly. Heck, Ramirez played the best defense of his career with Omar to his right. You can't blame Morel for Alexei's errors this year, but it's hard to overstate the importance of good defense in the infield for the majority of our "contact" pitchers.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2011 -> 06:48 PM) Those are the tickets sold. They're absolutely off of capacity. They're only at 86.4% full. How horrid. The sox are at 56% of capacity and are down what, 50% from where they were a couple years ago? And don't give me "people didn't show up" to cubs games either, there's been a ton of that at the Cell this year. They were 7th in 2008, 6th in 2009 and 7th in 2010 in attendance. So down to 10th overall is a pretty significant dropoff. Psychologically, it has never been easier to get a Cubs ticket for face value or less than face value, correct? I don't live in Chicago or use stubhub...and I'm not saying the Cubs are suffering to the same extent the Sox are, but their magical appeal is eroding a bit, there's no arguing that. The sad thing is we're not doing anything to take advantage of the void and reassert ourselves.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2011 -> 05:44 PM) Why, because only 35,545 are showing up per game there? Are those actual numbers or tickets sold? Because they're still 15-20% off what they've been historically drawing over the last decade or so.

If you really think about it, it's White Sox fans that are being mocked by this "All In" campaign. The reality is there was really very little choice for ownership, was there? KW put himself in this position of desperation. Fans on both sides of Chicago really aren't buying the product anymore. Give Cubs' fans and random grandmothers from Cedar Rapids and Des Moines credit for being more discerning about their discretionary spending. I'll give credit for KW TRYING last year with Jackson and Manny. Obviously, it just didn't work. What I won't tolerate is trading Viciedo for anyone over 30 years old. Unless they're planning to sell the White Sox, Viciedo now is the brighest hope for this team having a future offensively. If it's not going to be Beckham and Sale flops as a starter, Viciedo has to be another Bobby Bonilla or we're doomed. To have a team that's 100% healthy (except for Peavy) and not make any real changes for almost half a season...that's a bit disconcerting and a pretty good reason why even Friday or Sunday home games in the heart of the summertime are only drawing 20-25,000. And good luck enticing any but the most morbid fans to come out and watch the Sox lose to the Twins.