GLENDALE, Ariz. — To escape his tortured thoughts after last season, Alex Rios returned home to Puerto Rico and dabbled with golf for the first time. Rios guessed he hit the course daily for two months.

 

"I took my head out of it a little bit and wanted a restart,'' the White Sox outfielder recalled Tuesday. "But it was very frustrating. I played every day, but I didn't get any better.''

 

Proof came in Rios' low score for 18 holes: 126.

 

So breaking 100 would make it a good day for the bad golfer, right?

 

"Definitely,'' Rios said, laughing.

 

-Chicago Tribune Article

 

 

 

So you have a terrible year at the plate...what should I do to fix my swing....i know, I'll play golf! Just what we needed more lazy fly balls from Rios. And how terrible is it that he cant even improve his game, the athlete he is, to a decent level after playing for 2 months? 126 is an average of 7 per hole. You can buy the nicest golf clubs and play any course you want, are a world class professional athlete, you play for 60 straight days, and cant shoot in the low 100s?

 

Alex Rios, congrats, you are my least favorite White Sox player in history. I have no hope you will turn it around, because you lack the ability to adjust. To say you are a professional athlete is a disgrace to professional athletes. What a waste. Just awful.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — To escape his tortured thoughts after last season, Alex Rios returned home to Puerto Rico and dabbled with golf for the first time. Rios guessed he hit the course daily for two months.

 

"I took my head out of it a little bit and wanted a restart,'' the White Sox outfielder recalled Tuesday. "But it was very frustrating. I played every day, but I didn't get any better.''

 

Proof came in Rios' low score for 18 holes: 126.

 

So breaking 100 would make it a good day for the bad golfer, right?

 

"Definitely,'' Rios said, laughing.

 

-Chicago Tribune Article

 

 

 

So you have a terrible year at the plate...what should I do to fix my swing....i know, I'll play golf! Just what we needed more lazy fly balls from Rios. And how terrible is it that he cant even improve his game, the athlete he is, to a decent level after playing for 2 months? 126 is an average of 7 per hole. You can buy the nicest golf clubs and play any course you want, are a world class professional athlete, you play for 60 straight days, and cant shoot in the low 100s?

 

Alex Rios, congrats, you are my least favorite White Sox player in history. I have no hope you will turn it around, because you lack the ability to adjust. To say you are a professional athlete is a disgrace to professional athletes. What a waste. Just awful.

 

Well now now there; he was swinging something at least.

LOL.

 

I dislike Rios as much as many or most around here, but you can't fault him for trying to do something to take his mind off the past season.

 

Dunn chose to lose tons of weight, but will anyone care 2-3 months from now if Rios is having another 2010 first half and Dunn's still striking out at record-setting pace?

 

Konerko and Buehrle never worked out at all, and they weren't criticized nearly as much. Then again, many fans grew up with them as franchise/cornerstone Sox players, and they have 2005, so the forgiveness factor is much stronger than with imported "guns for hire" like Rios and Dunn.

 

Golf is one of the hardest sports in the world. It's not easy at all, I can understand his frustration...maybe baseball will actually seem easier in comparison and he'll fall back into it, just like riding a bicycle.

 

I've played against some of the better Chinese badminton players, where the racquet/contact speed reaches 180 MPH before the birdie hits terminal velocity...and honestly, golf, even though the ball is sitting there waiting to be hit, is still 10X more difficult than ping pong, racquetball, tennis, basketball, baseball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, every sport I've ever played.

 

Maybe snowboarding and surfing (kite surfing or traditional) are harder, but I think with those sports, it's just a matter of gaining the confidence to stay up on the board and deal with the conditions. Same thing with water or snow skiing. Once you get it, it clicks in and doesn't leave you.

 

But golf...well, just look at how much Tiger Woods has struggled in the last two years. Like baseball, golf is 75% mental/psychological.

 

Whether struggling at golf will help his baseball game, I have no idea.

 

It's easy to say that Rios should be a great golfer because of his athleticism, but look how difficult it was for Micahel Jordan to play baseball.

 

Not everyone can be Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders or Jeff Conine (former US racquetball champion).

 

We have our version in Trayce Thompson, who is always going to struggle to translate a basketball frame and body into baseball success.

 

 

 

 

 

What about Will Cordero or Jose Paniagua? I actually like Rios. I can't stand jocks.

Albert Belle and Jaime Navarro come to mind.

 

Cory Snyder, but it's just because he sucked so bad with us.

 

Steve Sax, never liked that dude at all.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — To escape his tortured thoughts after last season, Alex Rios returned home to Puerto Rico and dabbled with golf for the first time. Rios guessed he hit the course daily for two months.

 

"I took my head out of it a little bit and wanted a restart,'' the White Sox outfielder recalled Tuesday. "But it was very frustrating. I played every day, but I didn't get any better.''

 

Proof came in Rios' low score for 18 holes: 126.

 

So breaking 100 would make it a good day for the bad golfer, right?

 

"Definitely,'' Rios said, laughing.

 

-Chicago Tribune Article

 

 

 

So you have a terrible year at the plate...what should I do to fix my swing....i know, I'll play golf! Just what we needed more lazy fly balls from Rios. And how terrible is it that he cant even improve his game, the athlete he is, to a decent level after playing for 2 months? 126 is an average of 7 per hole. You can buy the nicest golf clubs and play any course you want, are a world class professional athlete, you play for 60 straight days, and cant shoot in the low 100s?

 

Alex Rios, congrats, you are my least favorite White Sox player in history. I have no hope you will turn it around, because you lack the ability to adjust. To say you are a professional athlete is a disgrace to professional athletes. What a waste. Just awful.

My mind is officially boggled.

 

Albert Belle and Jaime Navarro come to mind.

 

Cory Snyder, but it's just because he sucked so bad with us.

 

Steve Sax, never liked that dude at all.

I loved Belle. He was a freakin monster. I'm also a Raiders fan, so I have no problem rooting for assholes.

My mind is officially boggled.

 

You mean bottled. You know, when things are so crazy it gets your thoughts all trapped, like in a bottle?

You sir, are an angry man.

Positive take on this news is that Alex Rios spent his offseason driving a white ball at least 100 yards in the air. He probably excelled at chip shots and putting.

Wow, Rowand, that was pretty brutal.

Maybe he cleared his head and he'll try harder this year.

 

Jack Parkman takes the cake.

Wow, Rowand, that was pretty brutal.

Maybe he cleared his head and he'll try harder this year.

 

 

Greg, are you considering adding RIOS to your "protected" list because they get picked on so much?

 

That would go against the prevailing anti-Dunn/Peavy/Rios/KW narrative, however.

How did this thread come up and no one mentioned Darin Erstad?

Unlearning a behavior is tougher than anything. Not swinging a bat for a couple months was probably a good thing. Maybe he ungrooved the problems. He wasn't sitting around the house getting fat.

 

I prefer to dislike him for what he does not do while wearing a Sox uniform. I'm not going to add his off season stuff.

Jaime Navarro is #1 for sure. Then Belle and Claudell Washington deserve mentions.

Belle probably has the highest ratio of hate to great season.

David ****ing Wells, for calling out the hurt for actually being hurt.

For whatever reason, I've always had a soft spot for Alex.

 

But 126 is brutal! I don't think I've ever scored that poorly in my life, let alone for 60 straight days!

 

Poor Alex...

 

 

Billy Koch

Billy Koch

+10

The way I see it, Alex is just being honest about his scores......most amatuer golfers simply don't report accurate scores, giving putts here and there, not counting penalty strokes correctly, etc.

 

The thing that's funny is most baseball players are good golfers because there is a great correlation to swinging a bat and a golf club.....so seeing how bad his swing was last year, it would make sense he's stuggling with golf that much.

The way I see it, Alex is just being honest about his scores......most amatuer golfers simply don't report accurate scores, giving putts here and there, not counting penalty strokes correctly, etc.

 

The thing that's funny is most baseball players are good golfers because there is a great correlation to swinging a bat and a golf club.....so seeing how bad his swing was last year, it would make sense he's stuggling with golf that much.

Actually, the best golfers are pitchers. There is a massive mechanical difference between horizontal and vertical swings, particularly the way your hips pivot and knees work within the swing. Pitchers don't have to worry about that, yet are often excellent athletes, so they tend to excel. Smoltz.

Brian Anderson. The most disappointing White Sox player ever to me. Beckham and Dunn could take that spot over though.

Rios is certainly on the short list.