Soxbadger

What Jurgen said wont get much traction because English is not his first language so his comment was not as elegant as it could have been. What he meant (I believe) is that as long as soccer is pay to play in the US, you are excluding many of the most talented players. Conversely if you go to the city you see kids playing basketball for free, developing their skills. And I wonder if Jurgen has a shot to become the next US coach, I know there was talk before Bradley, but it kind of seemed like Jurgen had the fire again. I think the other problem that was commented on is that the US league is way behind many of the Euro leagues, and if the US really wants to start making an impact in soccer, its pro teams are going to need to become world class so that kids dream of growing up to be rich like Messi.

From my perspective, attendance has been really bad before the Braves series. At the game they listed the attendance at 30k, and that was the first game I attended with that high, some had been under 20k attendance. I should have said that if attendance continued at the sub 20k rate, then they may become cash strapped. And thats why there has to be caution here, because right now we are averaging less fans than Arizona (around 24k according to espn.) As for Laroche, I guess Im always skeptical on White Sox spects and how other teams value them. Who would really interest Arizona outside of Danks, Flowers, Hudson? I mean does Morel even make sense for the Sox? Or should they be looking for a more permanent solution (if possible?). I guess Im just saying that the White Sox need to take some time and evaluate what is going on. They dont have a ton of pieces to work with, so they need to use them well (imo) and not just buy the fist thing available.

Trading him 1 month early saves about $1mil. I think it depends on how good the spects are, and White Sox mid tier spects arent good enough to convince me (if I was Arizona) to trade now, instead of taking a wait and see approach. Conversely, the Sox would save $1mil if they dont trade till the end of the month, and I think the Sox are kind of strapped themselves. (Edit) Its no problem and I actually dislike it too, and was surprised that I did it, but I was just being lazy and trying to get the point across that if our GM did what people said on a message board, wed never even be here.

I guess I could have said "almost" everyone. But I figured that people would clearly understand that I was speaking about the majority and not using "everyone" literally. I tried to be positive, but I just stopped posting because I couldnt really read all the doom and gloom. I guess that was just my frustration with how some people act. (Edit) Are you guys serious? I use everyone like 1 or 2 times in the history of my posts and people are making a huge deal out of it?

Jake Peavy was a drastically different situation due to the financial position of the Padres and the fact that there were only a limited number of teams that could afford and/or would trade for Peavy. The Padres seemed to have to trade Peavy due to his salary. Laroche may have a few suitors, and Im not sure the Sox can trade Danks while they have not signed his brother to a long term deal. The Sox dont have a ton of bullets and Arizona isnt just going to give Laroche away for junk today, when they could conceivably get more in July. Well see but I dont think the Sox middle tier spects really wow anyone into making a trade immediately.

Yeah Shin-Soo Choo is only going to cost Hudson? Choo would cost Beckham + more spects. No one is going to be giving away players for free.

Sox dont have unlimited money and with the additions of Peavy and Rios they were strapped for cash so couldnt add a bat. Unfortunately attendance has seemed to be bad, not really helping to add that bat. Now they have to be patient and see if fans show up. The season was never over in June, it was like a football team who was 3-5 saying that theyd never make the playoffs. It just was way to early to be giving up on a team that had one of the most talented rotations on paper. But its always easy for people to play both sides of the fence. The slow start and lack of fan support is really going to limit KW's ability to be aggressive this year. Im not blaming people for not showing up, but when you are at half capacity and a pretty high payroll, something has to give. The farther the season progresses, the more the contract is prorated. Laroche will be about $1mil cheaper on July 31. I just think that Laroche is going to cost significantly more than what people are expecting.

Really so when the Sox were 9 games under .500 the board was saying the Sox should trade spects to add a veteran bat? All I ever read was about trading AJ, Paulie, etc. And obviously none of these bats are coming cheap, you are going to be giving up a potentially important piece of the future of the Sox. I guess Id rather wait to make the right decision, than all of a sudden have a bare farm system, a veteran getting paid money and a team under 500. Maybe Im wrong, but I seem to pretty clearly remember everyone saying that this team was dead, and this was in June.

Id say what 75% of the board were talking about trading all veterans as recently as 2 weeks ago? Its been a great run and hopefully the Sox take control of the division and dominate. But the thread premise is ridiculous, that some how Kenny Williams needs to do something immediately, as if he has just been sitting around doing nothing. I would rather the Sox take a second to make the best decision, instead of knee jerk reactions this board suggests on a daily basis. I mean if Kenny Williams acted as fast as people wanted, all of the vets would be gone and we wouldnt be in the hunt. The guy does whatever he can to win, I have absolute faith that he is going at whatever pace he feels will help the Sox win. So I guess my problem is more with the threads implication that Kenny needs a wake up call, or to be paged, when he is probably one of the only people on the face of the planet who had faith in this team. Not to mention you have no clue what Reisndorf is saying about money. Sox attendance has seemed pretty bad (not looking at the numbers but judging by how many people were at games). Jerry may have told Kenny that he has to wait to see if fans are actually going to show up this year. So I entirely disagree with the premise of the thread that Kenny needs any sort of paging. If the Sox are in contention, KW will get the best player that the Sox can get. That much im sure of.

Yeah I definitely think that the White Sox should start tinkering with their team because theyve been really doing poorly lately. I still think wait and see is the most prudent course.

Sounds like a future 2nd. Just a straight salary dump

Tribune is making it seem like the deal for Hinrich si basically done, so odd choice by Washington but they are the Wizards fora reason

That pick makesme think its not so certain that 17 is part of an alleged Hinrich deal. I cant see why Washington would want a project like that, makes more sense for the Bulls who want to save cap space.

Thank you sirs!

I think the US should be the favorite against Ghana (I assume that England has betting lines on the game and checking on them it does appear that the US is a slight favorite by almost all betting sites). Whether or not they win, who knows. But without Essein the US is probably the stronger team.

There really are maybe 10 teams or less that are in a different class than the US. It appears that the US will not have to face any of them. Even Germany is a team that the US matches up with considerably better than a Spain, Brazil, Argentina or other teams who play a quicker Spanish style pace. US tends to give up a lot of fouls and set pieces against teams like that. Unbelievable turn of events.

Yeah USA got one of the most favorable draws, and could potentially have a great round of 16 match up. For all the b****ing about FIFA, the refs, etc., the US got huge breaks in how their group and draw may work. It doesnt really matter now, US wins the group and some one has to actually beat them. It would have been sad if the US didnt lose a game, but still had to go home.

USA has gotten this far before. But it will be one of the first times where in the round of 16 they may be a favorite to advance.

WOW. The whole game it looked like Algeria was playing for a tie, they go on the offensive and give up a huge counter goal.

Rios creates a run with the sb.

Id say it happens very rarely in the grand scheme of things. But each of us have our opinion.

Id bet a lot of money on the fact that FIFA would rather the US advance than Slovenia or Algeria. Look at the advertisements, look at the sponsors, they are American. US means big money in sports, even soccer. It was a bad call, but there is no way I believe that "the fix was in". The refs could have ended the US chances if they wanted to, but in the end the US came away with a draw and the chance to advance.

Im shocked myself, although I knew that there had never been a playoff in the World Cup, so I thought maybe they had changed the rules. It would seem that FIFA could allow for an extra day in case of a playoff, but that is not how the rules are written. Based on my reading, Im 99.5% confident that my interpretation of the rules is correct.

There are 2 different rules on tie breakers. 1) Before the World Cup, which allows for a playoff. 2) During the World Cup, which only allows for a drawing of lots. This part of the rules: Only applies pre-World Cup. It does not apply to section 39, the World Cup group stage.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 12:12 PM) The scenario was changed recently (within the last 4 years or so) and a playoff would be the deciding way if they were still tied. According to the FIFA rules (posted above) the only time there is a playoff is if there is a tie prior to the World Cup competition. The World Cup rules are clear, its drawing of lots. Unless FIFA did not update their own website.