Pastime

When and if Cotts arrives with the parent club and sticks around, I sure hope he'll hang around with Buehrle and talk with him every chance he gets. David Wells, the fat blob that he was, didn't do much for the White Sox, but one thing he DID do was impart valuable advice and knowledge to Mark Buehrle (according to Mark). It helped Mark tremendously (once again, according to Mark). Let's hope Buehrle follows the same karma route and takes Cotts under his wing. It could really make a difference. I would love to think of a 2005 rotation that includes Buehrle and Cotts, with Cotts being a Buehrle clone and winning 14 games and MB winning 17-20.

I agree with you, but putting a lot of our eggs in the basket of Jon Garland makes me about as uncomfortable as a person who just crapped his pants with diarrhea on a long bus trip. When I say that, I mean that I'm really leery about making Jon Garland our "trump card" as to whether we have a good season or not. I would prefer that we didn't have to put that much hope in the arm of a kid who is still finding his confidence and faith in his ability to pitch. He has the stuff - there's no argument about that. But he has the stuff PHYSICALLY. Until he gets the stuff MENTALLY, he's a huge question mark. Please, Lord, let this be the year that the light bulb goes off above his head. Please.

Right now, I'm so over everything that I am just sick of hearing rumors. I'm just going to wait, no point in getting overly exciting. This is how the entire offseason has been. I'm with you, buddy. Working full-time and going to school full-time takes a lot of energy, and I'm only given so much energy per day. I'll just sit back in the La-Z-Boy and relax and see what happens. I don't want to drain my mind any longer with rumors and "hearsay." If something happens, I'll be one of the first ones on here chatting. But until then, I'm just a spectator (with a few sarcastic posts per day, of course).

I don't know if anyone will agree with me, but this is the "make it or break it" season for Jon Garland. If he hasn't "gotten it" after 5 years in the majors, and especially with Coop as his pitching coach, then he will NEVER get it.

If she can find it on the Internet somewhere, "cut and paste" will save her tons of time, as well as unnecessary wear and tear on her fingers and wrists.

That caller was the earliest winner in the history of that segment, and no one will ever win that fast again unless they call in and then drop a piano on the person they chose. By the way, that's one of the funniest segments in radio, year after year.

If that's the Royals "big signing," then it's better for us than it is for them. You get what you pay for. And they paid for a dud. Kenny, here's your stage. Now perform and sing us a big-time song, man! Sing it with me, Kenny: "I like Sidney. I like Sidney. I also love my left kidney. I like Ponson. I like Ponson. I also love my young son. I like my 3rd starter. I like my 3rd starter. Ponson. Life is so much harder. Life is so much harder. Ponson. But I got my free agent guy. And I'm so high. I could touch the sky. My staff is good. And you knew it would - be so good. Do wap. Do wap. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. White Sox - word up!"

DBAHO, I'm not joking when I say that a team with a 79-83 (at worst), or a 82-80 (at best) record can win this division. It's the worst divison I've seen since the 1994 AL West, where (if I'm not mistaken), the Texas Rangers led the division with a 52-62 record (before the strike). They still would have won it anyways. Ugh.

The Cubs will be failures forever because that's all they know. Even if they're one out away from making the World Series, they will screw it up somehow because that's all they know how to do. The history of the team and the "aura" around them is the halo of failure. They don't know how to win, and they never will because they can't. Somewhere it's written in the stars or the mere spirit of baseball. The Cubs are losers, and their mystique is based upon losing. If they ever won the pennant, I don't think the dips*** fans could deal with it. They would probably blow their brains out in droves, because they wouldn't believe it and they would think they were in a dream or something. They are so used to being losers, I don't think they could deal with success. Let them win their one division a decade - it's like throwing a rubber bone to a starving dog. It satisfies them for an instant, but then it's dead and gone. They can't understand or conceive of success. Did any of you really think they would go the World Series? I knew, just by past history and Cubs lore that they would blow it and f*** it up somehow, someway. The Cubs and their stupid fans are the epitome of failure, and they have blind faith IN the concept of failure. Their fans are truly the biggest losers in all of the world. We shoot maimed horses to put them out of their misery - if we did the same type of euthanasia on Cubs fans, Chicago would be about the 156th largest city in the US - not the 3rd. I say let them suffer and rot. Steve Bartman should have not been chastized and ripped like he was. He was just what the Cosmos ordered - the key in a Cubs failure. That's all those dips***s know, besides drinking, getting tans, pissing on people's lawns, and being obnoxious assholes both during and after the baseball season. :fthecubs :fthecubs

That KC staff is full of kids, right? (Except for puss-arm Anderson). Well, those kids are not ready for the long haul of the major league season. We all watched some of them break down and fall to the wayside last year, didn't we? Wait until the humid and hot "dog days" of the Midwest gets to those young arms. It will have an effect, much as it did last year. Plus, does KC really think they can count on Kevin Appier for the season? That guy's arm is being held together with tape and bubble gum. Juan Gonzalez? Wow. They just signed the laziest piece of crap in the last decade - when isn't he hurt? Oh yeah, when he's spending his big money in the offseason. He doesn't work out, he doesn't exercise, he doesn't care - he just assumes he can get by on sheer "natural talent" alone. That mentality worked for him when he was a kid - he's not a kid anymore. He wouldn't know the concept of hard work if it bit him in the ass, and never will. He'll get some stupid nagging injury in May or June and sit out the rest of the season. His reputation and past history precedes him. A true waste of talent on a lazy loser who could have been a Hall-Of-Famer. Aww, too bad. Tsk tsk. I don't care about all the "little pieces" that the Royals sign. They don't scare me one bit. Tony Pena and his Royals had their little dance with magic dust and mirrors last year, and it did them jack s***, didn't it - they still finished in 3rd place. There's no magic dust on that team anymore because they have come down to planet Earth and leveled out. Wow, they signed Scott "Mr. Mediocre" Sullivan, Juan "Gone On-The DL-Again" Gonzalez, Benito Santiago (including embalming fluid), Matt "The Blob" Stairs, and other teams' garbage and castoffs. Whoopee. Oh yeah, they got Graffy from us. Now I'm really scared. The team I'm more scared of - EVEN NOW - is the Twins. Yes, they have tons of attrition on their roster due to trades and free agency this offseason, but their minor league system is overloaded and bursting at the seams with talented kids just salivating for their chance to prove themselves. Every time they lose someone, they seem to fill that vacant spot without even taking a crap in-between. I'd be more worried about them than the "one-season wonder" Royals. The Royals are mere gnats - they irritate you for a while, but once you smack them, they disappear. POOF.

I think Kenny has a plan. 1. Buy 50 bottles of Advil or Tylenol. 2. See what cheap FA's are out there in the next 2 months. 3. Attempt a trade offer in the next 2 months. 4. If #2 and #3 don't produce any fruit, then go into spring training as a heavy drinker, and hope for the best with what you have, of course mixed with minor-league call-ups. As for the Twins' MetroDump, I heard that they are changing the surface from that Astroturf crap to the new "Astroplay" - that surface you see around the sports world nowadays that looks, feels, and plays like real grass, even though it's not. I can't confirm nor deny that - it's what I heard on Sunday Night Football when the Vikings were on.

Rex, I love Jasper. I drove down there to pick up the Jasper engine for my '69 Monte Carlo 3 years ago. It's a nice little town here in Hoosierland. I was also happy to see Brian West last night. Congratulations to him and his team. He will probably just move on to a "normal" job in the working world from here on out, but he can always claim that he was part of a National Championship team, which is a nice - no, AWESOME- thing to have on your lifetime achievement list.

Hocking would be a nice backup utility man for several reasons. 1. He's a veteran with a good attitude and positive clubhouse presence. 2. He would come cheaply, IMO, which is a plus considering the payroll restraints. 3. He's a former Twin who knows the division, knows how to win, and knows the Twins inside and out - an advantage for us. As for him hitting only .220, well, that's about 20 points higher than any MLB batting average that Willie Harris has ever sniffed. As for Damian Moss, well, the only "Moss" you'll see on the White Sox this year is the moss growing on Paul Konerko as he plods to first base on a grounder.

Good 'Ol Ron Karkovice! And in case you didn't know, he was an actor for a short time before his baseball career, and appeared in "The Wizard Of Oz."

I might be in the minority here, (there's a shocker!), but I think Koch rebounds next year to a level that you all will be surprised with. And when it's all said and done, don't say that Pastime and Yasny didn't warn you.

If it makes you feel any better, the dumbs***s on the North Side of town have a payroll twice as large as ours, and they only get struck by lightning once a decade as well. The official motto - "Chicago Baseball - We win once a decade, whether we need to or not." Or maybe the official motto should be more down to Earth. "Chicago Baseball - Even a blind dog eventually finds an ass to sniff."

In a drunken stupor, all Ligue would do is try to rip the shower head out of the wall, (since he's probably never seen one before in his life). He would think it's an alien's head coming out of the wall to get him or something. If only we could be that lucky and fortunate.

Craig Grebeck, Warren Newson, Donnie Hill, Gary Redus, Matt Muerullo, Fred Manrique, Steve Lyons, Greg Pryor, Jim Morrison, Vance Law, Mike Squires, Barry Jones, Ken Kravec, Juan Agosto, Dave LaPoint, Donn Pall, Jeff Bittiger, Esteban Beltre, Paco Martin, Mike Huff, Shawn Abner, Charlie Hough, and last but not least - Rusty Kuntz (a name, not a condition).

It doesn't really matter anyway. The "white-trash" like William Ligue wouldn't use that shower anyways, even though they are the prime candidates for a little cleansing action. Larry Horse says: "Cubs fans who come to SoxPark drunk are too 'tinky'.

Brandofan, Actually, 65-70 million would be my realistic hope, but if we're going to waste the money on the Paul Konerkos and Jose Valentins of the world, then I would rather just go young and build on the cheap. What good is having a high payroll if you don't spend the money wisely? The more I look at HOW the money is being spent, the more I see that a higher payroll might end up as an exercise in futility. Why add more money to the coffer if it's just going to be blown in the wrong way?

I like "biggestsoxfansouthofchicago," because he's new, and mostly because he's BEASTLY!!

The one thing that we have to remember is that we face our inter-division rivals 19 times each, while we face the other divisions 9 times each. The Twins and Royals are okay, but they're not head and shoulders better than our team. That's what frustrates me. We just need a player or two to put us over the hump - (no camel references, please). I'm not joking when I say that this division could very well be won by a team that goes 82-80. Can we do that? Let's see what Kenny grabs off the scrap heap in the next 2 months.

Bonds was a young punk in Pittsburgh. Let's face it, if you are over 29 years old, you remember what it was like to be a young man who thought he knew it all. Bonds was just like that, but with the ability to really hit the s*** out of a baseball. He used to spout off and say things that he wouldn't say today. (So did we all). Add to that the fact that he left Pittsburgh for a big contract (and who doesn't nowadays?), and his reputation was tarnished. As we all know, sometimes when your reputation is tarnished early, it's really hard to shed that "image" that has been placed upon you, whether justified or not. Just leave the guy alone already. Yes, he's still surly sometimes, and he can come across as a tool on occasion, but he's a hell of a lot nicer and kinder guy than some ballplayers today - most notably Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Jeff Kent, AJ Pierzynski, Jim Edmonds, David Wells, Frank Thomas, etc. Bonds has earned the right to be "less than angelic" in terms of baseball players. If he's the biggest egomaniac jerk in baseball, then the game is okay.

Santiago may end up being another successful reclamation project, ala Loaiza. If he helps our bullpen, that's gravy. As for Valentin, YIKES. If the guy can't hit the pitching that he faced down there, how does that fare for his hitting eye come April? I truly think Valentin will never even sniff .230 this year, unless he's 2 for 4 in the opening game. He's fading faster than the paint on a '75 Chevy in Arizona. But, on a positive note, he's only costing the Sox $5 million next year. He's quite the bargain.

Nuke, Here's a tip for you. If you want the craziest taxi ride, one that is fun, scary, frightening, downright adrenaline-rushing, and a ride from "Hell", go to Manhattan at about 5:30-6:30 pm on a weekday. When you are choosing the taxi or "cab," look at the drivers carefully. Don't get a driver who is just sitting there and not moving much. Choose a driver who is rocking back and forth uncontrollably in the front seat or at least nervously twitching. Hop in, and then have them take you halfway across town - and tell them you're in a HURRY. It's the ride of a lifetime. We have done it 5 times. My wife leaves the cab white as a ghost and shaking, but I just get out and take a deep breath, and then smoke a cigarette. It's more of a rush than I ever got at any amusement park. My wife always says, "Oh my God, why do we always end up in a cab with a nutcase! We always get the scariest psycho drivers!" (There's a reason for that, but I've never told her the secret). When you hit my age, thrills are few and far between, so you gotta grab it while you can, my friend. . . . You know, maybe I need some help.