baggio202

wonder if cub fans would feel the same way if jose valentin ended up there??...oh , nevermind , they probably wouldnt even notice the only way i wouldnt give a guy a chance is if he was a thug or something like that..a criminal type...dougie is just a smart ass...heck i can relate to that

injury factor..i didnt think about that and i can understand your concern there

why cant thomas play first base???....so he cant make the 3-6-3 as good as konerko..thats about all konerko has on thomas...thomas has better range and can stretch on throws alot better than thomas....niether one of them is gold glove material...i think thomas is no worse than konerko when you look at the whole package at first base... thomas was a first baseman for the 1st half of his career...he's only 35...he's not ancient..though you youngins seem to think if youre over 30 youre washed up

guiliani almost gaurentees a second term.. bush needs to dump cheney..or reassign him to another job...just cite his weekly heartattacks as the reason...

my understanding of the difference between bulging and herniated is bulging is more of a braod based generic term...i think when the word herniated is used it usually means the bulding is a little more severe..but im not 100% sure

those are the only two serious medical conditions i have steff...so far

i had a disectomy at c4-c5 so ive studied up on this alot... the disc is a round gel - like substance...its used as a buffer between your veritbrae..like a shock absorber..when you do stuff like heavy lifting the vertibrae tend to compact at the area where the most pressure is put on your neck and back.. the vertibrae kind of squishes the disc..you do that enough by heavy lifting or using bad teqnique like when lifting boxes and stuff and eventually the disc starts to wear out and it stays in that bulging position and doesnt bounce back...the buldging disc itself , as long as it doesnt rupture (thats where all the gel leaks out of this disc , at that point surgery is the only option) is not a problem...almost every adult has bulding discs to some extent...the pain you are feeling is because the bulge in the disc is compressing one of the nerves thats located close to it...thats whats causing you pain...thats when problems occur.. if your injury was caused over time by repetive lifting and twisting you can develop bone spurs (calcium deposits) around the effected vertibrae...those arnt picked up on MRI's very well but are present to some degree in almost every back injury...when i had my neck done i had a bunch of calcium deposits and they didnt show up on the MRI...they can get real sharp edges to them and start to cut into nerves (thats where alot of the numbness come from in extremities)..thats why after i had my discectomy the numbness in my left arm didnt go away..calcium deposits were so sharp they were cutting into the nerve..if the damage isnt too severe the nerves will regenerate and over time you get feeling back..the more damage the less chance of returning to normal.. one thing you need to know about therapy like drugs (steriods) and physical and massage therapies (i dont how much you know so im assuming none of this was explained to you so i dont miss anything) is that they cant fix the buldging disc...once it has started to buldge there is no proceedure to put it back in place...the damage is done...what they are hoping to do now is to avoid surgery with steriods and stuff by aleaviating some of the pressure that the bulging disc is putting on the nerve (s) thats causing you pain...in my case that had temporary success but the symptoms always returned...usually with a greater degree of pain...but i also think therapy has a higher success rate on the lower back then it does on the neck so thats a plus for you.. im not sure of you age or your career but if your young and / or you have a physical type of job your are going to have to make some life changes to avoid surgery...if your in your 50's and willing to slow down and lead a more sedative lifestyle then avoiding surgery is alot easier then a guy in his 20's who is like a firefighter or something like that... the worst part surgery is once you have the discs fused then you are a higher risk for having the discs directly above and below the fused point also starting to bulge... now you have no flexibility at all where the fusion took place so the discs above and below it have more pressure on them...so surgery should always be a last resort.. hope this helped and good luck

it loooks like what warner said was taken out of context (gee, like thats never happened before...see frank thomas on any quote...mark buehrle on wanting to play for the cardinals ect ect ect) i think this quote is the jist of what he was trying to say..."If you can stand up for your faith when you're on top, you can stand up for it now that you're at the bottom."

simon and ozzie come from the same school of hitting....if the pitch is anywhere inside the park its hittable....so there might be a good fit there

i agree with brando...one of the special things about being a fan in this town is the crosstown rivalry with the cubs..chicago is the only city that has 2 teams within its city limits (new york is debatable but i say no to flushing being part of the city)...that and the fact neither team has won in such a long time really intensifies that rivalry...we have something that fans of no other teams really have...the closest i think of in terms of hate is LA-san fran but they are sperated by 400 miles...ours is unique and special and shouldnt be played down imo.. the big question should be why the team cant seem to play all 162 games with the same intensity they do against the scrubs...i guess thats ozzie's most impoertant job this year

the sox need to make a decision one way or another....are we keeping the core team together or not???...the problem is we try and build for the future and win at the same time..its leading to longest run of mediocre baseball (playing 500 ball year after year) in the history of the game...its time to either s*** or get off the pot if we want to keep this group together and are going to increase payroll enough to help this group win it all...(70 mill minimum) then by all means resign maggs as he is one of the best OF in all of baseball.. if its time to rebuild then do it...keep thomas because its the right thing to do and keep buehrle cause he locked up 4 years and can pitch his ass off...everyone else with multi million dollar contracts goes at the trade deadline...maggs , koch , lee , valentin , anyone else not fitting into our future plans...lower the payroll to 30 million then you can start all over with another 30 million or so next year in free agency to add to the team of prospects we already have plus the ones we get at the deadline...and rebuilding like that shouldnt take 5 years..cleveland did it in 2 years (if they play as well as i think they will this year)

lets have some fun here...sox make 2 big deals before the season starts...konerko and some crappy prospects for perez...thomas to seattle for soriano and wynn(adding garcia too is just too much to even dream about)..not that id trade thomas but KW wants to so lets give him his wish and see what the team looks like loiaza buehrle perez garland shoenewiess koch :puke marte soriano zero the hero pollitte wunsch wright cf wynn ss valentin lf maggs 1b lee rf borchard 3b crede dh rowand c olivo / alomar 2b harris uribe burke (he's an oregon state alum - he makes my team!!!) gload you know whats funny..i was just joking around witrh trading paulie and thomas but looking at that 25 man roster...i think it might be better than what would we would have if we did nothing...our pitching is definately better..our defense is better..our hitting is weaker and our bench really sucks...but overall...i think this 25 man roster might fair better than what we will run out there...atleast this roster stregthens the rotation and bullpen...gives us a legit leadoff hitter...and borchard , even if he hits 220 and k's 200 times will hit at least 40 homers , most from the left side... i could never bring myself to trade thomas but does anyone else think this 25 man roster is better than what we can put together doing nothing at all???

hey cwsox..guess what....we only have 2 weekend series at home with the tiggers this year

even if he rebounds he aint worth 8.75 million...if we awere the yankees it wouldnt matter..but moving him and freeing up some cash could lead to another deal to help this team....replacing konerko's bat is alot easier than finding a middle infielder /cf or a real lead off hitter..

the bears want a different RB because the OC already came out and said we wont be running power football (which is the A-trains forte)...he wants a scat back that can run draws , misdirections and also be more than just a swing pass out of the backfield..he wants his RB to be a downfield recieving threat (something the A-train will never be) myself i dont like this offense..i wanna put together a huge offensive line and run power football (so id love the A-train) and have a vertical passing game with speed on the outside so when we do pass its deep down field which i feel is the best compliment to a power running game.. but thats not the direction we are going in..we are gonna pass about 75% of the time and the run will be used to slow down a pass rush and keep the defense honest..the A-train , unless he has the ability to change his game , doesnt fit into this type of offense

my alma mater..oregon state caught a huge break with 6-6 320 lb offensive lineman tavita thompson...seems he was ready to sign a letter of intent to play at colorado but at the last second switched to oregon state because of the sex for athlete problem at colorado... go beavs!!!

i imagine something like that would make a dent in the fair weather or casual; fans...which is fine cause i laways liked the idea of those guys spending there money at our park... i think the 20-35 year olds are pretty much lost for good in this town...but that kind of winning streak could win their kids back..and eventually that would show up in attendance and stuff like 20 years down the road...kinda like the last 20 or years have been a sucess for the cubs but the sox making a 10 year playoff run??...cmon dude... it is fun to think about though...could you imagine actually not having to look forward to 7-9 seasons from the bears as being the sports hi-lights of the year??

if kw pulled this deal off id kiss his ass

a lot of people seem to have missed (at least imo) on odalis perez...he is 26 , a lefty that throws 95 plus...he averaged 205 IP the last 2 years...has an icredible WHIP over that time (1.12)..his control has been impeccable...right at one walk every 4 IP...and although his numbers went down from '02 to '03 his strike out / per IP went up..indicating he didnt lose his stuff and probably just needs a slight adjustment or two to get back on track...this kid is only 26 , he's headed for his prime years.. of course i cant answer for his clubhouse demeanor...if he acts like d'angeloser did than id never want him... with that said , i would never trade him straight up for thomas...never...its important , imo , that thomas retires a white sox...it has to happen with this guy..we need some kind of positive PR out of this organization and that would be a start in the right direction... konerko yes...id jump on that deal....id even be willing to send a prospect with paulie...just to dump his salary..he his so overpaid is rediculous...and that 8 million minus whatever perez gets could go towards us making a deal to land a real leadoff hitter..hopefully one thats a 2nd baseman or CF

thats wierd..they think thomas and bagwell will retire in 3 years??..i think both wil go to about 40 bagwell and thomas' career have so many parallels...they should both go into the hall the same year

i thought the option thingy had to do more with years than numbers...isnt it three years from your debut???..rauch came up in '02 so dont the sox own him until the end of the '04 season??....then if he isnt on the sox roster by then he becomes a free agent???... as far as being brought up..once your brought up you have used up an option and can be sent back down and brought up again an unlimited amount of times during tha season and it only counts as one option??? if im understanding the option rule right it really didnt matter if we brought up rauch at the end of last year or not cause if he is not on the 40 man roster going into '05 he automatically becomes a fre agent...and he has to make the team in '05..right??

yeah but you are going back 30 years to find your example....since free agency became part of the game chemistry has taken on a more important role..

i agree 100% on cleveland...im really impressed with the job they have done..they gutted that team and totally rebuilt it in two years...if they are willing to make a few moves at the break they could contend this year..but im sure they are on some kind of a 5 year rebuilding plan and will be in the same spot the sox were in '00...do we stick with the plan or make moves to win now?? btw..speaking of that '00 team..did any of those guys that we gave up for CJ and bainsey ever make it to the bigs???

i cant really blame pudge.. a 4 year 40 million dollar contract for a catcher at his age and his history of injuries ... but in the end its us fans that perpetuate this cycle...when we say , look we have had enough of watching hired guns and rosters turning over at alarming rates , and stop going to games and doing other things with our time then baseball will take a serious look at how it operates.. ultimately the fans have the power to change things..

if the sox win the world series this year this will still be a cubs town..granted we will get some cross over fans but in the end there will still be more cub fans than sox fans.. if the cubs win the world series only the die hards will be at the cell..im guessing attendance at the cell will drop to about 1.3 mil..worst case scenario..it gets so bad reinsdorf breaks his lease and moves the franchise... 3 moves killed the sox in this town...the worst being the move in the 80's to pay per view cable before most of chicago was wired for cable (for you youngsters - yes , it wasnt that long ago when people didnt have cable )while the cubs broadcast over the air locally and turn WGN into a superstation on cable...that just killed the sox...... the strike and reinsdorf being painted as the poster child of the owners unwillingness to negotiate despite the sox having their first real chance since 1918 to go to the playoffs in consecutive years...then of course the ill fated white falg trade when the sox were only 3 games out... we lost a whole generation of fans to the cubs..these people are now raising thier kids to be cub fans...i dont know if the sox will ever get the upper hand again