DonkeyKongerko

Astros? Come on they have like no team speed and they are the biggest playoff choke jobs in recent memory.

Yeah looks like these guys are both the same age since Feb. 14th (happy belated to Damaso btw). The difference I see is the presence of a blazing fastball for Koch and a little more control on Marte's part. Marte showed me alot last year in his first season of full-time duty. He pitched surprisingly well in the clutch for such an inexperienced player. The point is Koch is a paid closer and that has been his role for a while now. Moving Koch to setup could shatter his confidence while Marte seems comfortable in pretty much any role.

LOL, i have to say this is a great assesment of the White Sox media bias. Hollywood just likes playing us as the bad guys in black. I still remember that big ogre from Major League in our beautiful white sox uniform. Is there a rule amongst directors that the antagonist team in a baseball movie has to be the White Sox?

Wasn't the governor of South Carolina three years ago a democrat? I believe he was the one fighting to keep the stars and bars flying above the statehouse in Charleston. Alot of southerners support the Confederate flag and consider it a symbol of heritage. The flag is disappearing everywhere, should they next start tearing down civil war memorials to fallen Confederate soldiers? How about anything named after Jefferson Davis? When the Union was first formed, most of our presidents had slaves under the stars and stripes. I don't think the Confederate battle flag is a part of racism, I think that racism is a part of the history of the flag. The point is the flag is history and we serve to learn from history. The moment we start erasing our past is the moment we give it more chances to be repeated.

Seriously, the US-Canadian border is the longest undefended, unfortified border in the world. How can we use our armies to perpetuate world peace while leaving ourselves open to attack. I say a quick strike from Windsor, we give the Quebequois some money and a piece of the action and boom - surrender in 10 days tops.

Some good words from baggio and sideshow. I just question the use of the word unilateral. Almost nothing is unilateral these days unless you are referring to a vast right-wing conspiracy. The United States has millions of people who can think for themselves. Recently many have been very vocal about their dissenting views on Bush's war in Iraq. We still count everybody equally, the dissent is nowhere near a majority. Polls have shown support for the war at or above 50% since last June. City councils have condemned the war in over 70 cities, well I do not expect any issuances of condoning the war, that just doesn't make sense. Nobody condones war but many agree it is a necessary evil at times. The global community is similarly divided. Anti-war demonstrators point out frequently the views of allies like France, Germany, and Belgium. Should these countries count more as supporters than other nations because they are more traditional allies. I think most of us have realized by now that NATO in the traditional sense has certainly changed. Many would call what France and Germany have been doing a sort of grandstanding and an attempt to gain more international spotlight by disagreeing with the United States. They didn't seem to mind when the war was in their own backyard (Kosovo), I seem to recall German airplanes and French soldiers getting a piece of that action. Then again as there was a reason to go to war in Kosovo, there could be another very different reason to NOT go to war in Iraq. We all know about the strong oil ties of Bush, Cheney, and members of the cabinet. Well be informed that Americans aren't the only ones participating in the get rich quick off of Iraq scheme. France supplied Iraq as we did during the 1980's. Would it surprise anyone to know that France has been the largest exporter to Iraq in the past two years? How about the French state-controlled TotalFinalElf sharpening their drills in anticipation of winning a very large oil contract on previously untapped reserves in Iraq. Don't think that Russia's (another dissenters) hands are clean either. Oil-rich or not, the Russians also have a fair share of the Iraqi oil indsutry with major pipelines in the region. Invasion could threaten these pending and existing deals. Just a thought to chew on while everyone points fingers at American leaders. Gallup Polls French Ties to Iraq

I just get all excited preseason every year no matter what the Sox are expected to do. For the first time in many years I think my optimism may be outweighed by others' expectations. Since 2002 was such a disappointing campaign, I am going to be a little cautious entering this season. Still there is nothing like the feeling that your team is in the race (and winning). Also this quote from MLB.com really makes me drool.....

The official White Sox site is usually a secondary source of White Sox information for me. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, though, when I visited today and saw how much had changed. Nearly every reference to the name Comiskey Park has been replaced with US Cellular Field in a sweeping overhaul. I just thought this was funny and maybe a little bit sad. The All Star banner at the top is nice btw.

Not to be disagreeable but this scam is partially based in truth. PBX systems are in use in a number of businesses; I remember we used a form of one at Target. I am no expert but our college dormitory system requires us to to dial '9' to reach an outside line which is common to most PBX systems. Therefore there is a chance, however small, that we are vulnerable to this at school. Hopefully our resepctives universities would have sealed this vulnerability by now seeing as it has been around for a number of years. I don't even know if people even attempt this scam anymore, but that's just some (slightly) technical background. Perhaps a phone expert could give some more information.

Cellular companies don't usually go under, they just get bought out by the larger ones. After all, why let those cellular networks go to waste when you can just use them to extend your own. If US Cellular gets bought out by Cingular, Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint our ballpark's name will just change. Actually I think Cingular Park wouldn't sound that bad. I mean at least we don't play our games at Minute Maid Park.

Speaking of Jose, does anyone know if Manos will be switch-hitting this year? I remember hearing something about him going to full-time lefty on account of his pretty much sucking from the right side of the plate.

That fits well into the "What's in a name..." speech. But wasn't it bought out by the Wrigley family and not the corporate entity known as Wrigley? I always thought it was named after the man which is different from corporate sponsorship.

my question is: do we get the s***ty schedule because we don't draw fans, or do we not draw fans because of our s***ty schedule?

Time.com reports that a few tiles falling off on launch/during the course of a mission is quite common and usually no cause for concern. The loss of tiles would have to have been pretty tremendous to cause this disaster. To sum up the article, the most likely cause is the re-entry angle causing the shuttle to roll and expose unprotected portions to the heat of friction. It has always been the toughest part of any spaceflight mission since the Mercury days even though we have never lost a space crew on this part of the mission before. The rest of the article can be found here

No, all news outlets seem to be making clear there is no reason at this time to suspect terrorism. I think what is sad is the state of our space program. I will admit I was one of the many that did not know there was a shuttle flying at the time. What's sad is that it takes a tragedy such as this for people to pay any attention to the space program. This could also mean the end to manned space flights for quite some time in the US. We have already invested alot of money in the International Space Station, though, so I hope we can resume missions safely as soon as everything is safe.

I think the name will grow on me. Especially if the Sox make some history there.

I thought I saw some plans for future stadiums. Most of them include an homage, if you will, to the Green Monster meaning there will always be a giant wall no matter where the Red Sox play their home games.

I can't see KC trading Beltran to a team in their own division unless we make a seriously one sided offer. That is just shooting yourself in the foot. Also Beltran is going to be looking for a hefty contract and we are already looking at some arbitration for our rising stars in the next few years.

I think I could have done without Jimmy Kimmel giving the old lady some tongue. Thats just my opinion.

Travis Lee and Robert Person are as of now unsigned free agents. I don't see the Phils re-signing Lee with the arrival of Thome. It seems every year the teams in this division have a hope of unseating Atlanta but that all gets quiet after Atlanta goes on a 23-7 run or something. This year the Phils and Mets both have some hope with the acquisition of two of Atlanta's studs although no one knows which Millwood will show up this year. Padilla is another mystery as he started out as a low-rated short reliever and turned in some big outings last year. Hopefully he can match his numbers this year with a few more IP to prove he can last.

We had to lose Perry to make way for Joe Crede's arrival (finally). I don't think the team needed another utility guy (like Graffanino) and Perry deserved to start somewhere. I liked his somewhat of a throwback batting stance and good old American look. I won't forget the season he had for us coming out of nowhere in 2000. When we first got him I remember thinking "Herbert?, wtf kind of name is that for a baseball player?"

A good point there YASNY. I will add that having rich people is inherent to capitalism. Our system is built on the basis that individuals can strive for and accumulate wealth. People can start businesses and fail or become the next Fortune 500 success story. The redistribution of wealth is not the responsibility of our government. Granted some people choose to hoard all their money over seas in tax-free accounts; that is their choice. Plenty of other individuals, businesses, and societies have donated billions to worthwhile causes. The fact that charity is tax-deductable is certainly an incentive and it gives people a choice. Taxes go to infrastructure and security for your nation while donations go to other people. This nation could become a welfare state and help alot of people, but that only encourages more people to join the system and get a free ride. Statistics on welfare-recipients are not good when it comes to how many are able to work themselves to self-sufficiency. Yes there are entitlement programs to try and improve these statistics, but they have not been successful for the large part in reasonable numbers. People are entitled to their returns and the freedom to do what they want with their money.

Many countries require military service of all their men of at least two years. If I lived in one of these countries I would comply. The only problem is this country is so large militarily that this has not been necessary for many years. The peace-time military in this country is one of the most attractive job offers to many young men and women making their way through college. Our nation's recruitment process is the most fine-tuned in the world. Last year about 80,000 soldiers enlisted in active duty and another 28,000 joined up with the Reserve. The military in our country is becoming a profession. Profession means that people devote their lives to something and are far more qualified to handle their jobs than those who are freshly recruited. Many families make a living off the pay checks of military officers and live the military life. A war that required the US to institute the draft would have to be so large and encompassing that it would seem impossible in this post-Cold War era.

A little competition might even encourage Jerry to spend some money. I mean when you can finish "second place" every year you aren't that bad in JR's book. I wish KC or Detroit could get their acts together and field a competitive team although both continue to boggle me. Detroit just gets their new stadium but really hoses themselves cuz they seem to scout only pitching talent and rely on .200-.260 hitters to power their team. Their pitchers ballpark helps, but not much. I really don't know much about KC but it seems like most people I meet from the area are Chiefs fans first and have little hope for their team. I do know they do a bad job with their emerging talent (see: Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon, Paul Byrd, and coming soon Carlos Beltran) they are unable to re-sign them and fail to trade them away before time runs out.

Cruz Jr. is definitely an upgrade over the departed Reggie Sanders. No need to invite him to our training camp.