The Sir

I remember him. Seemed like a good guy for a bit, but was ultimately a mega asshole. Don't know how it all fell apart.

Hey! That's another one of mine. Forgot all about that one. Psycho, TheOldRoman, Spaniard, and quite a few others. Spaniard might have been an ESPN nic though. I don't even know if those boards still exist. I am morbidly curious whatever happened to my old "friend". Weird mf'er was messaging me to say he wanted to come to my HS graduation in another state. I put it on the board for one reason or another, and everyone flipped out. That's how I remember it, anyhow.

Is it because of how bad we've been, or did growing up just put it all in perspective? When I was 16, my emotions rode on every single game and even every single play. At younger ages, bad losses could totally evoke tears of rage. Maybe it'd be different if we'd been competing for the last ten years, but these days, when the game isn't going our way, I just change the channel to something for the kids and call it a day. I'll be a fan 'til I'm dead, but I can recognize it's just a game, at least. Disclaimer: I was present at the loss in Arlington that started the rebuild (where we were 23-10 and blew a five run lead in the eighth). No matter what I just said, that one got to me.

Well, psycho2003, an angry teenager who everyone hated because he called a popular elderly poster a pedophile because said poster was trying to arrange a meeting with a 15 y/o in PMs, turned into The Sir, an angry adult who doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks. So there’s that.

I picked a random game thread in September of ‘05, and lo and behold, there was fathom being negative (at least he was talking about pre-ALDS El Duque). ElRockinMT was still being super positive, too. Or is EMinor3rd the eternal optimist? Wish I remembered my old screen names. Seems like getting banned every few months on ESPN, then MLB, then Soxtalk was an online teenage tradition for me. I don’t think I ever lasted more than a week or so on WSI, for what it’s worth.

So you're telling me we're signing Harper and Machado and Pollock? Sweeeeeet.

I know some people think Peavy writes like a moron because English is a second language, but I became fluent in another language when I was a child, and my grammar in that language never approached his level. Just sayin'. Anyways, what's the latest? Are we really resting our emotions on eleven seconds of Jim Thome facial expressions? Do we need hobbies that bad?

Hey, I’d sign a contract to work in a less desirable city if I could afford this bad boy with the tax savings. Or 18x of these. ?

Forget the World Series. Winning a playoff series of any kind is still on Bryce's bucket list.

Ok, to be honest, I don't view it as a bad thing (Call's not going to do anything), but more as a pointless thing. I think we are waaaaaay overblowing the Machado connection.

I hate to break it to you, man, but even with the Machado connection, it doesn't make much sense. Machado is going to sign with the highest bidder. If it's us, great. If it's not us, then we helped a strong division rival with their salary dumping goals by acquiring a mediocre 1B who was marginally better than multiple players we non-tendered.

I get it if someone thinks a side benefit to getting Alonso is that he'll help recruit Machado (I don't think it's that powerful or meaningful, but whatever), but what proof do you two have that that is the primary reason for the trade? Seems like you're taking a fan forum hypothesis and presenting it as absolute truth. Well, based on what?

Fuck, this motherfucker curses more than I fucking do.

Desperate enough that they're open to helping a rival resuscitate itself by acquiring one of the best FAs in years?

OK, if we're all strapping on our tinfoil hats, I'll join in. If this is clearly a ploy to recruit Machado, why would a division rival help us in that? Surely, they'd see it as well, right?

Pretty sure Adam Jones is a disaster in CF these days, IIRC.

Ah, thanks. My following of the NBA died instantly when I was 11, moved to another continent, and heard the Bulls lost Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman all at once.

Who is Eddie Robinson?

The Yankees also hit on these often enough. We don't. Hahn and company haven't earned the understanding that Yanks and Red Sox fans ought to give to their leadership cadres.

I'll join the pessimist train. First, Alonso sucks. Look at bWAR and OPS- he's basically Davidson. Second, I don't buy the BIL thing at all. A soon-to-be gazillionaire is going to determine where he plays for a good portion of the rest of his career based on his journeyman brother-in-law? No f'in way. Ever heard of this thing called a "jet"? Third, this another of Rick Hahn's hedges. Fail on Harper, fail on Machado, but, "after much analysis and heartache, we determined that a major signing was not right for this franchise at this time, and decided to stay the course with the long-term development of our prospects." Our decision to trade for two other scrubs and sign one backs me up here. We're hedging and acquiring the second rate guys so management can shrug and say we tried. I'll be happy to eat crow.

You took my comment the wrong way, buddy. I want baseball to be great. I want the White Sox to be great. Childhood me was totally capable of moping through a vacation or anything else fun if that didn't happen. Adult me is a lot more laid back. If this isn't fun, whatever, I'll spend more time playing with the kids and doing things with the wife. No sense getting bent out of shape about it in the long run. Like this past year, honestly. I've watched Sox games every summer almost my entire life. I moved to Spain before the internet and MLBTV were a thing, and I had relatives still in the states mail VHS tapes to me so I could watch games. So I'm dedicated and have been for a long time. I bought MLBTV just like I do every year. But gradually, I drifted away (with a few exceptions, like Kopech starts). I had other things to do, and this just wasn't fun enough. I want it to be fun again, because I do like watching and following box scores and so on, but if it's not, I'm not going to mope about it. That's all.

Yep. In October 2000, I was 13 and had just woken up in Paris when I found out the Sox got swept out of the playoffs by the Ms. Spent most of the weekend on vacation and totally butthurt by sports. Not anymore. This is supposed to be fun, and if it's not fun anymore, go do something else.

That's kinda where my thoughts go after heart-breaking sports losses, generally. I get down, and then I wonder why I'm intertwining my emotions with the actions of a bunch of physically-fit millionaires who will never know my name, and then I feel better. Circle of life.

Ron, can you PM it to me? I'll verify.

And yet, he's still here, posting junk for no purpose.