caulfield12

Being older has nothing to with being smarter...although, good judgement is a result of experience, and experience is usually a result of bad judgement. Well, you get the idea. The idea of some kinds of "means testing" of Sox fans is a little bit ridiculous. So automatically, the best fan is the one who has attended the most games in person? I guess that guy who has gone to 1,500 consecutive Kentucky basketball games since 1947 is the greatest sports fan in the world then. It's about as logical as requiring only the fans here who can afford to send $100,000 to Jerry Reinsdorf to become "minority owners"...and creating a website where only those fortunate fans could post. Let's face it, in this economy, reality is that making any Sox fans feel guilty (many of those with families) for not buying season tickets or supporting the team as they deem fit, that's a little messed up. I listen to as many Sox games as I can, and a lot of the games I've listened to have started between 1 am and 3 am in the morning. I would actually prefer to subscribe to mlb.com for the entire baseball package, but the countries I've lived in (until now in South Korea) wouldn't support the live streaming because of bandwith limitations.

Unfortunately, I'm in this City Slickers/Space Cowboys club, lol. 41. For someone who suffered through the 80's and half of the 90's after the strike, I've become a lot more tolerant, for lack of a better word, than I used to be about the White Sox, and 75% of it's related to 2005 and the World Series championship. Sports fans, in general, are definitely becoming more and more impatient. It's all a matter of perspective. Seeing Yankees and Red Sox fans upset because their team has "only" won one or two in the last decade pretty much amuses me. Maybe it's because I don't have children, sometimes it takes that for some here to get some perspective about the bigger picture in life. One doesn't have to spend 14 months in Haiti like Sean Penn to appreciate the world at large, but sometimes taking a step away from things can be helpful. I've found that in recent years, I've posted a lot less in the offseason than I used to. Part of it's simply my dislike for arguing with people who throw 25 different abbreviations and acronyms for statistical formulas that have made baseball forums more and more combative over the last decade or so. Baseball, of all the major sports, is more driven by the numbers than any other, and yet I've found that stories and memories are what make it wonderful...remembering the sound of the ball off Bo Jackson's bat or Old Comiskey Park, the way it just felt so big when I was a little kid. If it wasn't for the Minnesota Twins, I would have had a much happier life this past decade, haha. For some reason, I've never been able to be AS happy when the Cubs lose (although 2003 was sweet) as when the White Sox win. In the end, this is the greatest time of the year, with hope springing eternal and the Final Four approaching along with the NHL and NBA playoffs. I really hope we can win the ALCD, simply because failure PROBABLY means some time of inevitable rebuilding project which Ozzie, KW and JR might not have the patience for. In reality, I wish I could feel as optimistic about the future of the United States as I do about the White Sox. I would gladly sit through another 90 loss season IF the trade was that unemployment would return back to 4-5% and there was some sense of hope that the kids graduating from universities these days would have a better life than their parents and grandparents enjoyed. Having lived outside the US for much of the last five years, I've definitely gained more appreciation for how much I miss baseball (that's why I have subscribed to MLB Gameday Audio during that time)...but also how beautiful the game is, how in sports something new can happen every game that you've never seen before (thinking of Gonzaga/Pitt last weekend). When things don't go well, my escape has always been movies or books. The most important thing in life is to have things you feel passionate about, and the White Sox have definitely been there in the Top 5 throughout. The only thing I would share is that dying with wins and losses over a 162 game season....it's just not worth it, not when you can spend time with your family, travel, go to church, take care of those less fortunate (or just read a Joe Posnanski article). We can always be thankful we're not Cubs fans! But maybe I'll be a little jealous for that feeling they might all experience one day when their team finally wins a World Series...at least I experienced that in my lifetime, and how many family members (I'm thinking of my Uncle Frank who introduced me to the White Sox in the late 70's...my other uncle on my mother's side was a Cubs fan) never lived to see the White Sox win it all.

Sucker Punch has been absolutely ravaged by the critics and is hovering around 20% at Rotten Tomatoes. Some of the most scathing reviews I've ever seen, most of them directed at Zach Snyder, naturally, and a few at Emily Browning, the lead actress, if you can even use that term in this movie. The only kind words have been for Abbie Cornish. Saw Battle LA and was actually suprised it wasn't QUITE as bad as some have stated, Aaron Eckhart's not a bad action hero type at all and I always like Michael Pena, even though he's only a bit player here. And Brady made the right choice on Bridget Moynahan....she's not nearly as appealing as she used to be. Win, Win looks like one of the few movies on the scene I'd like to see...and I suppose I'll give Limitless a look on DVD. Thankfully we're only about another month or so from an uptick in summer movies, because the box office is down nearly 20% from 2010 and sinking even further after this weekend, when How to Train Your Dragon dominated a year ago. It will be interesting to see if Sucker Punch or Diary of a Wimpy Kid wins out.

I don't think you'll see any more of those McCulloch and Broadway types simply because KW has gone back a bit to the "best athlete available/highest upside" theory in the last couple of drafts. Even someone like Poreda, theoretically, if everything came together with his offspeed stuff, had the ability to be more than a back of the rotation starter. I guess when you look back at all those first round busts, for some reason Royce Ring is still the most mystifying and the biggest reach, even moreso than Broadway.

And, there's always the possibility we take another "MLB ready" collegiate pitcher in the draft again... While that won't please the minor league followers, KW has never really cared about ranking our farm system #1. With that full emphasis on the major league club, we'll see how the lack of depth might hamstring him finally if it comes down to a full-scale rebuild. Here's hoping we never have to find out. And wondering if either KW or Ozzie will be around to patiently see it through. Doubtful.

Serious: Sergio Santos becomes the closer at some point this season, Beckman and Ramirez make All-Star team as reserves, Dunn breaks Borchard's record for longest homer in USCF history Wacky: Lastings Milledge finishes in the Top 10 in the AL MVP race, Oney gets a job at Baseball Tonight

But you can also go back and look at how things "appeared" or seemed going into both 2005 and 2008. I don't think many Sox fans would have made large bets that either of those teams were heading for the playoffs. It always seems to be that way with the ALCD, with the exception of the Twins, whenever the Sox, Tigers and Indians have been the prohibitive favorites, they've failed to live up to expectations. As mentioned, besides Peavy and Teahen, there aren't any contracts that are prohibitively untradeable. Of course, they'd have to think long and hard if they wanted to trade an Alexei Ramirez or even a Gavin Floyd, because Quentin/AJ/Rios/Jackson/Buehrle/Danks/Thornton are obviously the players with the most immediate value and/or likely to be dumped to playoff contending teams. What to do with Konerko and Dunn in the case of that major rebuild is yet another question, not sure it makes any sense to hold on to either of those guys if you're not sure about competitiveness until 2014 or 15. It is a bit scary when you look at the minor league depth, or lack thereof. Then again, the ALCD has never been like the AL East, so even if you trotted a team out there with a Milledge or Mitchell, Viciedo, Flowers and Morel....if you could get the starting pitching somehow, anything's possible. It still remains to be seen how strong Mauer/Morneau/Nathan will be in that 2012-2014 timeframe, and Liriano's the only starter over there that scares you, and he will eventually get too expensive for the Twins to risk a long-term contract with his injury history. I guess it all depends on your faith/confidence in KW and the front office in procuring the right talent back in terms of those mid-season dumps. Historically, a lot of them haven't worked out, but you don't have the willingness on the part of JR to take losses throughout an entire season....they'll wait, as usual, until the last possible moment to pull the trigger on acquiring or dumping. Last year, it seems they were so in-between on which way to go that it really kind of bit them in the butt. That and the fact that Manny Ramirez turned out to be a shade of his former self. I, for one, am glad they still have Viciedo. It would be nice to see his develop as a young player at the major league level, rather than watching the Kansas City Royals "retreads mixed with prospects and suspects" approach.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 26, 2011 -> 03:18 PM) Wow, Ozzie should have just STFU. Oney did enough damage by calling him out a few months ago, and if Ozzie didn't think Jenks was going to say anything in return, then he's very naive. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Jenks has gone back to some of the bad habits that he was involved with. At this point, I just hope he can live a healthy life. Bobby Jenks=Charlie Sheen? Minus Denise Richards and a string of prostitutes, but the guy's been enabled by too many others ever since his fastball lit up the scouts' guns and he was a top prospect (then busted) with the Angels. I guess Sheen's worst due to the more varied hardcore drugs he's put into his system, but both are still very much in denial of having problems.

Jenks was babied and coddled by the White Sox, in his mind, they turned on him and didn't show him loyalty and now he's pouting. I'm sure if you asked anyone in the Sox clubhouse if they wanted him around this year, the answer would be "no way," not with the way he's pitched the last two seasons and how he's let himself get completely out of shape. As far as Ozzie goes, if we don't make the playoffs this year (barring massive injuries)....then he should go. Ozzie and KW have never learned how to let an open microphone or opportunity to justify themselves go by, and, if you took Oney out of the equation, I'd argue KW does just as much damage as Ozzie.

Just saw Drive Angry. All I can say is it's so bad that it's almost good. Ebert gave it 2 stars, I have to agree. It's not quite atrocious enough to be 1 star, and Cage/Finchtner were actually half decent. The funniest part was Billy Burke (the sheriff in Twilight) as a cult leader. His accent cracked me up every time he opened his mouth. And Amber Heard is pretty darned hot. I think she would have been better than the Victoria's Secret model that Bay selected for Transformers III. We'll see.

What does everyone think about Sucker Punch? It has a Tarantino/Rodriguez vibe to it in not only appearance but also marketing materials... I guess I have always had a crush on Jamie from Real World SD (the Korean one with implants) as annoying as she was/is and can be.

I've seen everything but the Javier Bardem performance in "Biutiful"....

I can't say Winter's Bone is an "enjoyable" movie but it's excellently directed and performed....especially by the girl who was nominated for an Academy Award and the actor who plays her uncle suffering from the meth problem and dealing with the conflict between helping and his immediate family and retribution from the police and the other part of the family who want the problems to disappear. It definitely stays with you....unlike most movies these days. Wasn't part of "Up In The Air" also filmed in Michigan? Or "The Company Men"?

Unknown... 2 1/2 stars, not nearly as good as TAKEN, preposterous plot, January Jones looks like she's on Dawson's Creek and Diane Kruger, for some reason, is playing a Bosnian refugee taxi driver even though most of the action/movie takes place in her native Germany Cedar Rapids....3 1/2 stars, very funny movie, you just have to see it, it's a bit quirky but the lead actor (from Hangover) and Anne Heche and John C. Reilly were all cracking me up throughout this movie, plus I'm from Iowa (fyi, the majority of the movie was actually filmed in Michigan) Hall Pass....DVD/rental, not worth the admission price but probably worth a rental for diehard Owen Wilson or SNL fans Just Go With It....same category as Hall Pass, Jennifer Aniston actually was pretty decent in this one

Let's see, the Twins have traded Johan Santana, Kyle Lohse and Matt Garza when they were important parts of the rotation. They were looking to deal Slowey or Blackburn at different points last year as well because of the logjam in their rotation...and for salary/non-performance/injury reasons. Off the top of my head, I can't remember if Carlos Silva left as a free agent or was traded. He was another of those classic guys who "overachieved" when pitching for the Twins. Of course, in the middle of all that, you have Brad Radke bulldogging his way through a decade of pitching for them.

And let's not forget the "hometown hero/Paul Bunyan" side of this... They really had little choice but to give him that contract. Now, with the Cardinals and Pujols, that's a somewhat different story...because they would be giving Pujols contract dollars far into what could be the downside of his career in his 30's. I can't remember what website does the "true financial value" analysis which incorporates souvenir sales/marketing "Q" ratings, etc., but the Mariners until recent years have always felt they were getting a good ROI on the Ichiro contract and this is definitely one of those situations. Now a Morneau that's not healthy/productive or a Nathan that requires at least a year to work back to prior levels as the closer, that's going to hurt them a lot more than a down season for Mauer.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 01:57 PM) I assume you mean "dan in real life." If so, all I can say is that that movie was absolutely terrible. Borderline unwatchable for me. 64% positive on Rotten Tomatoes (this has become like OPS quote in refutation, lol) Usually the movies that are at 50% or above have SOME redeeming qualities to recommend to at least a majority of filmgoers. Not a great film to me, but certainly head and shoulders over lots of similar movies from that genre.

Fincher will clearly win Best Director for The Social Network. King's Speech could still pull the upset for Best Picture, although I'd say the odds are only about 20-25%. A lot of critics have read into the Mila Kunis character and many parts of The Black Swan....that she didn't even exist but in Natalie Portman's imagination, to goad and push her (just like the director, Cassel) along the way on her evolution (literally and figuratively) into the black swan, a complete physical and mental metamorphasis. I agree the Barbara Hershey as Mommie Dearest (can I also use Tiger Mother now?) character was a bit over the top and too grating/stereotypical...but you need those kinds of one-dimensional, simplistic characters in the background to make Natalie's descent into artistic hell (and ultimate "rapture") more credible, that everything around her, "dark forces," are pushing her in this direction. It's strange her next movie being released after she probably wins the Academy Award (it's her or Anne Benning for The Kids Are All Right) will be a two-star romantic comedy with Ashton Kutcher (Bruce Willis' dad, and the one surviving Univ. of Iowa basketball fan left).

Remember Jon Van Benschoten or whatever his name?....although I think he must have had more injury problems, about the last players who have come out of nowhere to make the Sox pitching staff have been Loiaza and Boone Logan. I guess you can count someone like loogy Williams, but he hardly made a huge contribution, I suppose he was "okay" in 2009 when almost nothing was expected out of him but he was quickly overexposed ala D-Weezy. We hardly turned around Jeff Marquez...another high draft pick that a lot were hoping could turn it around with Cooper. Another pitcher that kind of comes to mind in this category is Jason Grilli with the Sox...although he did his best work in DET, the White Sox are the team who resuscitated his career. And... If Bruney looks like the Bruney of old (doubtful) and less like Jeff Nelson in the last year of his career, he's got a definite shot. Dolsi is another candidate....he's definitely got a live arm, it only takes one or two pitchers having Politte/Hermanson/Cotts career years to really make a bullpen.

Saw Dinner for Schmucks, I remember at least one or two posters here really didn't like that movie....but actually thought it wasn't bad at all, and definitely not a Steve Carell fan (unless it's offbeat like Little Miss Sunshine or Life of Dan). Really like Paul Rudd, Role Models and I Love You, Man are two of my favorite comedies of the last 5 years or so. If I remember correctly, he was also in Knocked Up, too. I know Katherine Heigl has a lot of haters these days (because of her movies and her "attitude" in interviews and a few controversial issues with Grey's Anatomy)....but I liked Knocked Up, and I'm really getting bored with Seth Rogen. The only thing I liked about Green Hornet was Cameron Diaz (horribly underutilized) and his tech-savvy sidekick, the famous Chinese singer Jay Chou. Christopher Waltz from Inglorious Basterds was a barely tolerable villain, seems like the role was way underwritten and he was trying to hard to force it, but not good at all. Definitely not the type of movie you pay $10 to see.

The Way Back, looks like an excellent movie with a fine cast...my kind of historical tale. http://www.boxofficemagazine.com/reviews/2...12-the-way-back

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jan 20, 2011 -> 09:32 PM) Nobody on this site is less of a Teahen fan than I am, but the last thing you ever do with a rookie is make it out like a starting job in the Majors is his to lose. Teahen, Omar, Lillibridge, and Viciedo should all get good reps in Spring to push him and for good reason, because it'll benefit everyone. The team as constructed though seems to point to our starting rotation and middle of the order offense are our key strengths, which means we can afford a light-hitting 9th place hitter in theory so long as he helps our strong pitching become even stronger. Nobody we've got aside from Omar is going to outplay Morel defensively, and Omar can't be relied upon every day, so it really is Morel's job to lose. You won't find a positive quote from Greg775 or myself on the Teahen debacle either (since we are/were both witnesses to his atrocities committed in Kauffman Stadium)...I still wanted Uribe back in 2009. He was always my favorite player. Well, Teahen's a great interview, always available for a quote, good sense of humor, stellar clubhouse guy, etc. It's the Erstad/Mackowiak/Kotsay thing all over again. On the other hand, when Wise and Anderson faced off in ST coming into 2009, Ozzie at least temporarily gave the job to Wise when conventional wisdom says you have to give it to one of your own home-grown prospects and a former first rounder. Wise was the dictionary definition of a journeyman player with limited upside if overexposed. Ozzie's not blind, if Morel can hit somewhere between Crede and Anderson (2006)/Beckham first half of 2010, then the position is his. Everyone knows the impact Vizquel had not only on 3B but on Alexei as well....it's the old domino effect.

Watched Blue Valentine. Had the same feeling I did watching Reservation Road, I respected the acting performances, but it's not the kind of movie you really want to watch again. Actually, Gosling performed in a similar lesser-known movie about the dissolution of a family and marriage (based on a real life story) called "All Good Things" with Kirsten Dunst that I enjoyed twice as much as Blue Valentine. I would still recommend anyone watch B.V., but it's not close to the movie that Half Nelson is in terms of his best performances, or even All Good Things. Finally watched "She's Out of My League" and you can't help but root for Jay Baruchel and his "aw shucks" niceness....his character is so helpless and passive at times, but that's the whole point of the movie. The best part, at least to me, was the constant banter amongst the 3 friends who are all rooting for him while simultaneously jealous and masking their own relationship insecurities by putting up bold and brave fronts. I'm sure TSA didn't exactly appreciate their portrayal in this movie...especially the harassment of cute/hot female passengers when going through security, guess they didn't have the invasive full-body scan when this picture was wrapped or the director would have had another scene to make hilarity out of.

I guess this is Colin Firth week for me so far. A Single Man and The King's Speech. Although Love Actually, still, is my all-time favorite of his. Has anyone seen Hereafter? The reviews were so mixed (Ebert gave it a 4), I didn't know what to expect. It's obviously a BIG topic to deal with in a movie, but I thought it was quite well-done and thought-provoking. It wasn't Gran Torino or Million Dollar Baby, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. Damon's perhaps evolving into one of the top 3-5 actors of his generation. You can put him right up there with Bale, Russell Crowe, Depp, DiCaprio and anyone else you might care to name...Will Smith when he has the right role, too.

I'll echo the comments about Vanguard. My dad a long time ago put me in a very conservative/traditional stock fund called Nicholas Fund out of Milwaukee. Of course, in the late 90's, like everyone, I got greedy and sold low on it (just like everyone giving up on the antiquarian Warren Buffett) and bought high on one of those "high tech/computer driven" model funds at American Century in Kansas City. I've made the same mistake before picking up Bill Miller's funds (Legg Mason Value Trust) when he had beaten the S&P 12-13 years in a row. Bill Nygren and Oakmark weren't too far behind, both had impeccable track records and have underperformed. I actually have Berkshire stock now (3 shares, haha) and mostly Vanguard Index funds, international/emerging markets, small/large cap, some gold (and mining stocks), utilities, a good mix. It's always those basic rules like never have more than 10% of your net worth in any one asset (including houses) and take 100 minus your age for the amount of money you should have in stocks....100-40, I still should be at least 60% in growth stocks, and I'm probably closer in reality to 80-85% (the rest is in bond funds, some CDs and money market, etc.) in a bid to make up for the last decade of lost growth in the market. Should have listened to my dad and not been overcome by hubris. I still remember buying JDS-Uniphase at $110 per share (it was only 100 shares, but still) riding it to $140, not selling, and seeing the whole thing collapse...as my uncle said, there's no such thing as a bad profit, I could have made a great 27% return on investment in less than a year and I got greedy. Well, I'm sure there are millions of stories out there that involve losing a lot more than $10,000 the last 13-14 years. At least I wasn't a Madoff investor. Something like that just makes u sick to your stomach, all my mistakes were made with nobody to blame but myself, I won't blame brokerage houses and places like Edward Jones, everyone was caught up in the same spirit, and it happened with houses too, luckily I sold my house in 2004 and made a pretty good profit.