Flash Tizzle

I NEVER thought this day would arrive. As someone who doesn't live in Beverly I'll admit I'm a bit upset, but I understand for everyone who lives around the area the take on the parade is different. These committee members represent people from the area, so it's not as if Daley is strong arming the community full of hated city workers to abandon their tradition. I'm kind of torn. I've been to quite a few Southside parades and have fun everytime, but even as someone who is half-Irish I know full-well it's not the parade that has become the attraction. I didn't go this year, but last I did and parked around 109th and Kedzie. So while we're walking to Western we pass near train tracks, as a train is approaching, and these underage idiots are attempting to climb aboard as its moving and they're obviously intoxicated. One made it, then jumped off a few hundred feet later; narrowly missing several people. After the train passed we walked through the cemetery along 111th and notice just the sheer amount of people stepping over graves, using them as beer coasters and trash cans, and no doubt irritating the people who came to see their loved ones. This is just a small example of what happens. It's not just the area around the parade route that is affected by these people, but damn near several miles in every direction. Anyways, Tinley Park has their own Southside Irish parade. Watch this explode in popularity over the next decade. It's more accommodating for commuters (Rock Island is literally right downtown), there are reasonable places to park (shopping center including KMart/Walts/etc. along Harlem), and if the south side parade is any indication it'll be awhile before the neighbors are fed up with everything!

I've noticed at some of these intersections the flash bulbs taking photos of cars passing through have the same effect as someone shining halogen lights in your line of sight. It's distracting to be driving at night and all the sudden seeing the light of God flashing before you. You just can't help but look, even if you're expecting it. I know personally whenever I approach an intersection with red-light cameras I either take extra precaution to stop (if possible) or speed even quicker to pass through the intersection. In the past I'd casually pass through while yellow, perhaps even as the red light went on halfway, but always thought if I'm pulled over by a police officer it's for running a red light and not speeding. Now, it's a toss up between receiving a ticket for speeding, or one for running a red led. And everyone who drives knows it's not as easy as "just be careful and don't go through intersections when it's yellow." Some intersections extend far; others have yellow lights which seem to switch quickly to red. Other instances you're traveling more than 40 miles per hour and it's not reasonable to stop in a short distance.

This was definitely the funniest episode of the season. There were more laugh out loud moments, for me, then the previous five episodes combined. The entire sushi restaurant conversation with April and moment where the Tampa scout talks to Kenny were hilarious.

So, no one watched The Knowing over the weekend? A friend of mine said he was shocked at how good it was. Ebert seemed to enjoy it to, if that means anything to anyone. I read through spoilers of the movie and it sounds interesting. If you walk in expecting only a disaster movie with a happy ending you'll be in for a surprise.

I usually don't remember my dreams, but when I do they're strange. I had a dream recently where there was this wide-eyed, scary looking doll at my friends house that seemed to be in every room I walked into. It was in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the bedroom; everywhere. And no matter what, it was always looking at me. . So I said to myself, I'll just close my eyes; but when I closed my eyes I still saw the doll. It was as if I couldn't avoid it. I'm sure the obvious message here is there's something in my life I'm trying to avoid but can't. What happens less frequently are moments when I'll wake up from a deep sleep and think to myself I'm seeing someone else in the room. Most of the time I'll come to my senses, but there have honesty been a few times I've freaked out and ran out of the room thinking someone else was in there with me. I want to say last year I did this, and I actually woke up my parents because I was yelling.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Mar 19, 2009 -> 06:53 PM) if anyone can dig up some of these famous NCORGBL threads I would love to spend a couple minutes checking them out. I think i got here right as he was ushered out, or shortly thereafter Here are some good old fashioned banter threads. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...c=9312&st=0 http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5467 The last thread reminded me of Heather. I believe she posts on WSI. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22144 (briefly notes Ncorgbl's claims) There are probably many more out there.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 19, 2009 -> 05:16 PM) Someone outted him on never being on the board for the sox. I'm almost positive it was JimH who exposed Ncorg. Baggio, I want to say, followed HSC off these forums and has never returned. Atleast under that identity.

QUOTE (tommy @ Mar 19, 2009 -> 03:13 PM) Jermaine scores Owens on a double. What a courageous sequence for Owens: Walk, SB, R.

It almost makes you want to purposely tank the season before he's eligible for the draft!

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 11:29 AM) Id really hate if we pass on a better player to draft a "leadoff" guy. In baseball you never draft on need in my opinion, atleast in the early rounds where the top talent is available. Unless someone drops to #23 overall due to signability concerns (which I doubt), there probably won't be a consensus top player available. After a certain point in the draft, even in the first round, it's difficult to judge who's better than who. It's always the same -- there are raw players with good tools in the latter part of the first round, but they're usually missing something or else they'd be lower. Minnesota drafted Ben Revere 28th overall in 2007. I recall many questioning this selection. If we do our job isn't unreasonable to find our leadoff hitter around our position, if that's what Williams is looking for. Last year's draft, even outside of Beckham, convinced me they're moving in the right direction.

Honestly, I've grown to appreciate soccer. I work at Toyota Park and have seen nearly every Chicago Fire game since 2006. When Chivas USA or a foreign national team (mainly Poland) arrive to play, and the stands are full, the players definitely respond. It's typical of Americans to suggest the sport is ruining our country, since we're the type of people that like to think of ourselves as unique and special. If we say something is dumb, it's dumb -- regardless of what the other 95% of the world thinks. I believe we'll know when soccer is here in America when hooliganism comes around. I pray everyday for this. I remember laughing last summer, I want to say, when fans in some midwest city had a large brawl during a soccer game. The stories read, "Is European soccer coming here" and everyone was speculating about the possible escalation of violence. This wouldn't even grab a headline in Europe. I hope it gets to the stage where, like in Europe, motes have to be created to act as a barrier for fans. Or to the point where teams are threatened to play in an empty stadium. All Chicago Fire fans do is ignite smoke bombs in the stands, throw the occasional piece of garbage, or on the rare occasion run on the field and experience a free ass-whooping.

Nice. It'll be easier traveling to Midlothian and paying $1 for parking instead of driving downtown. I heard before that if any station was going to be made near The Cell it'd be the Rock Island, since the Southwest Service Metra line (which I ride and passes directly near the park) has too much freight line traffic to guarantee a path near the platform. You wouldn't want people, possibly drunk, walking across the tracks -- especially with Amtrak and other Metra trains whizzing by at 50+mph.

Harrell has a good changeup. I've never seen him pitch but like what I see. Of course, forgetting the errant throw he just made or the single to lead up the inning.

Great, the epitome of a Chicago meathead Jim Belushi is signing the 7th inning stretch. The wrong Belushi died.

YES!!!! Extend the school year! Limit summer vacation! After I'm done with school next fall they can do anything they want!

I've thought about this before. I've been on Soxtalk for 5 1/2 years, and as long as myself and Soxtalk are alive, there should be no reason to think I'll abandon the site. Even someone with a busy career and family should find some time to browse. Many on here are doing exactly that. It'll be strange when, in the future, members start joining and we can truthfully say "I've been on Soxtalk longer than you've been alive."

With tomorrow being the first televised spring training game I thought I'd remind everyone of Soxtalk's chat feature. It's usually where many of us go to discuss the game, among other topics. If you're looking for intelligent baseball discussion, well, I can't always guarantee that; but I can guarantee a good time. I notice it's no longer linked on the main page, so here is the link I dug up from last year's thread: Tomorrow's game is at 2:00 ct. Many of you will have already returned from church, or however you waste your Sunday, so there is no excuse for not showing up. I guess the only excuse for not showing up is if the chat link above doesn't work. I'm on my downstairs computer, and it's crap, so I don't know if it does. EDIT: NEW CHAT FORMAT AS OF MAY 22ND. http://mike.westernave.net/chat/chatroom.html

Jesus, imagine how much sunlight that building would reflect. I'd hate to be working across the street.

I was watching the Godfather several days ago on AMC and noticed their shameless promotion of Breaking Bad, so I decided to watch the first season on OnDemand. I honestly believe this is the best show on television. Even for a cable network original series I was blown away with the subject matter they discussed. Just the idea of a chemist teacher dying of lung cancer, with his wife pregnant, and him having to resort to creating a high quality of meth to help finances after he's dead is a great plotline. Additionally, so were the issues facing Cranston of whether or not to kill to gang member in his partner's basement, and his families intervention to convince him to seek chemotherapy. I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow survives the disease, though. Or it atleast goes into remission.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Feb 19, 2009 -> 06:15 PM) Don't like great actors? Not Spacey. I don't believe he's a bad actor, like Paul Walker, I just can't stand watching him. I'm tired of him playing the "arrogant, yet softspoken father/brother/criminal with a heart of gold who has deep secrets" character. Don't you have an actor that everyone recognizes as great yet you just can't follow?

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Feb 21, 2009 -> 04:26 PM) I fear that Fields is going to get a lot of undeserved hatred this season from a LOT of fans because he took Crede's spot. He's going to have to be perfect to gain a decent following. Just wait until until the Twins face us, Fields goes 0-3 and strands five, whereas Crede goes 3-4 with 2HR and 4 Rbis. People will lose it, and I'll be right there to instigate the trouble. Crede should never hit against us considering his weaknesses, which are fairly noticeable in "I can't hit a pitch anywhere on the outside edge of the plate." Buehrle should own him. What annoys me though is, like Rowand, he'll be rumored to return here for YEARS to come. Even if third base is filled by Fields, or Crede is all but out of baseball and hanging by a thread, we'll hear "he should end his career with the team that brought him up," or "give him a spring training invite and battle out for the third base position. Low risk, high reward!!1"

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Feb 19, 2009 -> 11:52 AM) The argument could be made that Marmol is the best set-up man in the League, so yeah, making him the closer is an atrocious decision on the Cubs parts. While Marmol may exceed Woods statistics as closer from last season, even assuming so, who replaces Marmol's position? Marmol/Wood is better than Marmol/Gregg. I'd be a little frightened of Gregg's walk total and Marmol's mileage on his arm if I were Cubs fans. There are going to be some headaches leading to the 9th inning.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Feb 19, 2009 -> 09:39 AM) I also watched 21 for about the 3rd time in the past month last night. Good film I thought with an absolute class soundtrack (Time to Pretend from MGMT and Young Folks from Peter Bjorn and John for instance). Jim Sturgess reminds me of a taller version of myself also (for some reason). I thought it was entertaining, if nothing else. The best component of the film, aside from the soundtrack, is how Fishburn's character is at risk of losing his job due to the advancement of face recognition technology within casinos. It gave this sense of urgency for him to prove himself, and for all the players (including that douche Spacey, who I f***ing hate as an actor) to avade detection while collecting their money. Here's another tune from the soundtrack:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Inspired Blade Runner) by Philip Dick. Afterwards I'll tackle "Swan Song," which is a novel similar to The Stand in its plot of a group of people surviving a post apocalyptic world.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Feb 16, 2009 -> 11:15 AM) Just watched it. It was decent, but I'm sure it will get much better. I agree. It was decent, but nothing outrageously funny. Although after having watched Summer Heights High, where its best episodes were towards the middle and end of the season, I'll hold the same reservations with this show. I trust HBO. Also, anyone think the main characters brother looked a lot like Viggo Mortensen's character in A History of Violence? They even have the same tone of voice.