Iwritecode

Every year I hope to see a White Sox winner on my birthday, but it has yet to happen. It would be really nice to see it this year.

QUOTE (MuckFinnesota @ Aug 9, 2012 -> 06:03 PM) I hated Cleveland in the late 90s and early 00's. I couldnt stand the Twins when they were vying for first place and I now hate the Tigers the most. I don't hate the Cubs but I do hate their uneducated fans. Their educated baseball fans (>10% of them) I respect. But the rest of those clowns can go f*** themselves. I also hate ESPN and their lack of Midwest coverage. Yankees and Red Sox speculation is not news but Konerko's concussion is. ^^^This. I couldn't have said it any better.

I use FB for same reason as many others. To keep up with friends, family and ex-coworkers that I rarely get a chance to talk to otherwise. I actually connected with one friend that I hadn't seen since grade school. He's now my financial advisor and is helping me take care of my retirement fund. I've actually learned things about a few of my family members based on their posts. The ones that I only see once or twice a year for holidays and family gatherings. One of my cousins has become very religious. Never would have guessed that when we were kids. I also found out that my aunt's live-in boyfriend who has been with her my entire life is bat-s*** crazy. My wife made a comment on one of his rants about animal cruelty and he started going off on her and my daughter.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Aug 10, 2012 -> 10:08 AM) I think it depends on the age level of the children. If these are 8-9-10 year old girls, I think expanding the strike zone like that just to get the game over with is a bad idea because these girls are still learning what a strike zone is and how to decide whether or not to swing. That's the exact age group. QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 10, 2012 -> 10:15 AM) I'll give you an umpire's take...in literally a 20 run game, the zone is getting bigger for both teams (and once it's at 10, you're enough in to do that). HOWEVER, something that bounces on the plate...that's not a strike anywhere. You're expanding it on all sides, everything is still hittable, and if the coach gets it (yours seemed in the same book but not on the same exact page) you're having your team swing at anything "hittable." You instruct them to treat it like a hit and run, etc, learn on hitting bad balls. Taking some swings at pitches you know aren't strikes isn't going to mess you up later, you know you are just swinging to swing if it's hittable. That's the way to speed up what had to be a painful as hell game to watch, and isn't fun for anyone. That game just needs to end quicker than usual. If you call a normal strike zone at that point, you're clueless. But again, you're not calling something that's on the plate, or neck high, etc. You're expanding it enough to get it moving. For example in a HS game you're calling another ball or so on the outside, and you're going further above the belt. But again, in HS, both teams (and most importantly the coaches) get it, and want it, so you never hear a word unless it's like you said, bouncing in or something silly. I agree with everything here. Exactly what I was thinking.

My daughter's softball team played in their annual end-of-the-year tournament last weekend. On Friday a friend of ours gave her a different bat to try out. His daughter had been using it but her league was done for the season. She usually uses a regular aluminum bat that we picked up for $30 at Wal-Mart. This was a $250 composite bat. On Saturday she managed to hit her very first homerun with it and she was ecstatic. She's not very tall and the pitchers aren't very accurate so even getting a hit rather than a walk is exciting for her. On Sunday they had an umpire that seemed to hold a grudge when the coach complained about a called strike on a bunt attempt where the batter very clearly brought the bat back. There seemed to be 2 different strike zones for each team after that call. In the last inning I loudly mentioned something about an inconsistent strike zone when a pitch right down the middle of the plate was called a ball. The coach turned around and told me “It’s ok, settle down. We’ll get our calls too.” On Monday they played for the championship. The team they faced, to put bluntly, was horrible. In the last inning we were up by about 20 runs. In my daughter’s last AB, she watched a pitch literally bounce on the plate and it was called a strike. The second pitch was in the same spot but she swung at it. The third pitch also bounced on the plate and was called a strike. I again loudly mentioned the strike zone starting at their knees rather than the bottom of their feet. It was literally the worst 3 strike calls I had seen all season long. I heard the coach talking to my daughter in the dugout but all I caught was “I know they weren’t strikes and you know they weren’t strikes…” Afterward he came over and told me that he told the ump to “expand the strike zone”. I hate to be “that guy” at my kids little league game but that seems like a pretty BS move to me. Never in my life have I heard a coach tell the umpire to call strikes on pitches that the kids have been taught all season long not to swing at. He basically took her bat right out of her hands. If anything, he should have told her to go up and swing at anything no matter what. At least she would’ve had a chance then and not been frustrated at the umpire making horrible calls. Or am I wrong?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 7, 2012 -> 03:29 PM) Cause I didn't know how to put it in Slam. Go to the forum and click "new topic" just like you did to create this thread?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 6, 2012 -> 08:26 PM) I know I'm late here. But I just can't help myself. Look, when Jason created this board, you know, SOXTALK (a baseball team), I feel confident when I say he believed that the majority of the conversation would be centered around, I don't know, the WHITE SOX. wow. oooh. damn. whatever. And then we went into other teams, mainly chicago teams, that was fine. Sports should dominate, you know, a sports board. The last three years have been an atrocity. I feel like this board should be on par with that of nyyfans or sonsofsamhorn where they, **gulp**, talk about sports. But for some reason, old, crusty and flat out angry people have taken over. And it's sad. Would you old and angry people please get a life (I'm not talking about all of you, but you know who you are), and stop acting like you know everything. Total posts in the sports forums (PHT, Future Sox, Diamond Club, A&J's OTSB) = 1,381,373 Total posts in the off-topic forums (SLAM and buster) = 504,594

So I went to the auto parts store and put 5 quarts of oil on the counter and the following conversation ensued. employee: "Is that all you need?" me: "No, I need a filter too." employee: "What kind of filter? Air filter? Cabin filter? Fuel filter?" me (pointing at the oil on the counter): "oil filter" He goes to the back to get one and I look at my friend who's standing next to me and just shake my head and say "Really?" No genius, I'm buying 5 quarts of oil and decided I need a furnace filter while I'm here.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Aug 3, 2012 -> 09:19 AM) I would write a long paragraph about how my job confirms that statement, but I'm just not motivated enough to do it right now.

I find it hard to believe that this guy lives in the same reality that the rest of us do.

I got a letter in the mail the other day telling me that the elementary school that my youngest daughter goes to has failed to meet the state standards for 2 years in a row. We could transfer her to another school but every single elementary school in the district failed to meet the standards. Schools in the surrounding districts don't have room to take on extra students, so we are pretty much stuck. Registration starts tomorrow. I remember when I was in school our district was considered to be one of the better ones in the area. I guess that was only compared to Rockford schools.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 26, 2012 -> 11:07 PM) If I was a baseball manager I'd fail just like Ozzie, cause I'd go with the guy (for a long long time) that the GM and owner acquired for me in the offseason. I mean ultimately I think what Ozzie told Bell in that meeting is true: "We are not gonna win without you as closer." I find it pretty wild that the owner and GM wanted Bell demoted since they and their scouts wanted Bell in the first place. But I'd stick with the hi paid acquisition a long time and deal with the fallout in the offseason if the rotten closer didn't get me fired first. That's one of the big reasons most people are glad Ozzie is gone. We'd much rather have a manager that plays the guys that give him the best chance to win. Not just blindly go with the guy that has highest salary while continually losing game after game.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 26, 2012 -> 01:35 AM) Like or hate Ozzie, this is a special clip. Manager talking to prima donna closer; i love the part when he tells Bell that nobody wants him on the mound, not the owner, not his wife, nobody except Ozzie. Cool stuff to get to see on TV. That, in a nutshell, is the problem with Ozzie. Everyone else wants a closer that can actually close. Yet he stubbornly refuses to change. Now the team in second-to-last place and are getting rid of their best players largely because of it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 25, 2012 -> 02:11 PM) When women get to be 40 and over, its common to say they are turning 39 on their birthday. Just don't do it when they are turning 29. I'm pretty sure my mom has been 29 since I was old enough to ask her how old she was. I passed her up a few years ago.

http://gizmodo.com/5928926/chick+fil+a-got...irl-on-facebook

QUOTE (southsidepride15 @ Jul 24, 2012 -> 03:19 PM) Yeah, and hopefully Danksy comes back hungry. We need him to be better than he's been this year, even when he was healthy. Obviously just getting him back in the rotation will be a boost to the team, but I want to see some game 163 type performances before this year is over!! FIFY

Interesting quote. Especially with this next part right after it:

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jul 19, 2012 -> 03:14 PM) Ah another refugee. One time they went crazy and started doing lifetime bans for those with multiple email accounts. We live in a transient society and people still use gmail, yahoo and hotmail because they lose their other accounts switching ISPs. They operate on fear since it is a large site. They are no where near as popular anymore since the participation is quite small. You might see 10 people participate on a thread at the most. I don't like how their mods do things but I like reading some of their posts. I got banned there for 6 months for violating the political correctness religion. They have become the Disney of Sox message boards where you have to tip-toe around everything because might take offense to something. Their list of bannable offenses could just about fill an entire book. This place is more of a PG-13. There are other Sox sites out there that are rated R.

IMHO, you can't compare Pierre and Viciedo because they are two different types of hitters. One gets on base more for other guys to drive him in and the other needs guys on base in front of him to drive in. The only thing they have in common is that they both play the same defensive position. 162 game averages: JP runs + rbis = 135 Total bases = 228 DV runs + rbis = 137 total bases = 233

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 04:30 PM) Man I wish people could take years off at work in real life like Rios did It's difficult to compare baseball to real life jobs because most of us don't sign guaranteed contracts for multiple years. QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 04:30 PM) ... and have those people keep their jobs cause of their bad upper management team. Good to see you finally admit to this.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 18, 2012 -> 02:35 PM) I'm thinking KW re acquires Lillibridge to platoon with Dunn. Dunn has an under .700 OPS vs. LHP and strikes out about have his plate appearances vs. them. He makes too many outs. Lillibridge showed last year he hits lefties well. He'd look good in the 3 hole.

We just rescued her from the local animal shelter. She is a rott mix named Jade and they estimate that she's about 2 years old. She might have some lab or retriever in her but she has the rottweiler markings. She's kinda small for her breed but she's also very under-weight. We have no idea how long she had been out on her own. For a little bit of fate or karma or whatever you want to call it... Our husky was cremated on July 3. The same day Jade was found as a stray in the middle of a field.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 15, 2012 -> 09:19 PM) 2.) I disagree on that. We couldn't bunt under Ozzie and still can't bunt. What other poor fundamentals are you talking about? AJ still can't throw guys out. I guess we are hitting the cutoff man better. Kudos to Robin if that's his doing. This article says otherwise.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jul 13, 2012 -> 01:49 PM) Yeah, The Grey was f***ing awesome. I must be missing something about this movie because I've heard so many people talk about how great it was but I fell asleep watching it because I got bored. I didn't think I would like it based on the previews but my wife wanted to watch it. She didn't think it was all that good either.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 13, 2012 -> 10:00 AM) Tonight Zack Greinke will be the first pitcher to start 3 straight games in the same MLB season since Red Faber in 1917 for your Chicago White Sox. I think Red managed to do it within 48 hours. Although the second game he started he only went 1.1 innings and gave up 4 ER.