Balta1701

Is anyone else getting really annoyed at how everyone on TV talking about football seems contractually obligated to spend the last few weeks of the season finding every possible way to express verbally how the playoff possibilities are too complex for such a meager television correspondent to understand?

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 28, 2006 -> 12:05 PM) Yeah for two wrongs making a right! Doesn't make it right from either side, but blaming only 1 side (which is how I read that remark) for something done by both should elicit quite a few screams.

QUOTE(NCsoxfan @ Dec 28, 2006 -> 10:37 AM) He is only 29, and wont turn 30 until August... And people are saying he is washed up!! Some of this is just from my eyes. He has not been the same pitcher to me since the end of the 2003 season. And he's gone downhill further each year since then.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 28, 2006 -> 12:04 PM) So your saying there wouldn't be any significant fan uproar when we let Mark walk with nothing but two draft picks in return? How much uproar was there when the Sox let Ordonez walk for no draft picks? (And from genuine Sox fans, not from Mariotti, who would create uproar either way)

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 28, 2006 -> 11:52 AM) EM didn't refer to a specific party. I assumed he meant both. Certainly not how I read it, he was replying to a post that specifically mentionned Dems trying to improve the situation, and said that "They need to shut their mouths", so I figured he was targeting specifically the Democrats. Anywho, if I'm wrong I'm wrong, but that's how I read it.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 07:34 PM) By simply shutting their mouths they can increase the civility. It is amazing how much a few less Hitler comparrisons will do to increase civility. I always new Rick Santorum was a Democrat.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 28, 2006 -> 10:14 AM) Another thought on Bonds role in this... I'd be willing to bet a moderate amount that Bonds did NOT test postitive. Remember that he was on that Balco product that is still pretty much impossible to test for. I'll bet he flew under the radar here. By the time the end of 2003 rolled around, THG was something that could be tested for (and which is fairly routinely tested for today). The whole BALCO saga broke in 03, and it was in October and November of 03 that some of the U.S. National Championship swimmers from the summer and guys like Romanowski started testing positive. THG Timeline. The one other thing to remember with this testing...this was the testing that MLB warned everyone was coming, so literally the league had several months for everyone to get clean who wanted to, and so not only are the people on the list juicers, but they're idiots too.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Dec 28, 2006 -> 11:27 AM) Well, instead of speculating about what we would get for Mark if we dealt him right now, let's assume it would fall somewhere in between what Freddy and McCarthy netted us. Is that something we are ready to accept? No. I would want to get at least the equivalent of what McCarthy netted us...2 solid, ready or nearly ready MLB caliber players/top prospects, and something else thrown in to sweeten the deal. A lefty who should chew up 230 innings should be at the top of the list for a lot of teams. Hell, how much were the A's talking about for Zito last offseason?

Yankees complete a 5 year, $20 million deal with Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa. This gives the Yankees 5 starters, then the 2 rookies, and Pavano, so they're in a good position to deal away a starter if they want.

Yankees complete a 5 year, $20 million deal with Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa. This gives the Yankees 5 starters, then the 2 rookies, and Pavano, so they're in a good position to deal away a starter if they want.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 02:42 PM) Headlines aside, that all sounds like good news to me. Oh, its exactly what the Democrats should do if they want to do the right thing, but unfortunately, the other side may be in such a mood where they'll take anything the Dems do that one would consider "right" and use it to try to make sure they get back in power in 08.

I think a lot of you are forgetting the issue which is going to dominate the 08 race even more than it dominated the 06 race...the debacle in Iraq. As things currently look, it looks pretty likely that by 2008 there will be more U.S. troops in Iraq, not less, and the situation will probably be even worse, as it is getting worse every day, week, and month right now. That's going to be a hell of an albatross on a lot of these candidates, especially those who were in Congress when the vote on it happened. McCain has been even more hawkish on Iraq than Bush, and Bush is about to prove that his "more troops" strategy he's been advocating for a year won't do anything. Hillary is going to have the same noose around her neck, since she voted for the damn thing. It may even hurt Edwards, even though he's come out and called for the beginning of a draw-down, since he voted for it too. That gives a real advantage to some of these outsiders, the governors or Obama (since he wasn't in Congress in 02 to vote on it). Beyond that, a lot of it may sort itself out based on what they're saying after another year of casualties and no progress. You can talk about splits between fiscal and social conservatives or whether the liberal elites will back Hillary over Obama, but I think what's going to decide these primaries, and this election, will be the question "How the Hell do we get out of Iraq?". 2006 was just a preview of it.

See, here's why they don't let me write headlines and sub-headlines. Link. Headline: Democrats pledge to stop Congressional abuses of power Sub-headline: Republicans pledge to take full advantage of Democrats' good will.

QUOTE(BamaDoc @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 12:55 PM) I expect Uribe to be in shape and ready.....its a contract year! Actually not technically...Even if Uribe came out and hit .330/60/160 next year, he'd still only make $5.5 mil or so because the Sox have an option on him for 08.

Someday, we will see those names. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on how you look at it), it will include something like 20 White Sox players...because they all refused to take the tests to make sure that the 2004 tests were triggered.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 11:23 AM) Am I the only one that thinks a 3 foot tsunami would be really small? I know I've ridden a 2.5-3 ft wave before (as you can tell I'm not much of a surfer) and lived to tell about it. Yes, it would be really small, it would be hard for a normal person on a beach to notice it. However, the systems in place in the Pacific are sensitive enough to detect tsunami that are quite a bit smaller than that one, because they show fundamentally different signatures than normal wave action.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 10:48 AM) If it is about drying up existing tables, then that is definitely a more expensive ball of wax. But the possibility is still there. In terms of new oil fields, keep in mind too that many countries NOT in OPEC are increasing their internal production dramatically, or are about to - Russia and China come to mind for example. That will also have an effect. Yes, there is some expansion of supply outside of Opec, but first of all, it is not nearly on the scale of the potential drop in OPEC production, and secondly, it's in many cases not even enough to keep up with demand growth (China's oil demand is expected to grow by something like 7% this year, and those estimates on Chinese growth keep winding up on the low side)

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 10:41 AM) It depends on whether our doctors think Mulder will be healthy. If we think Mulder can come back and be 90% of what he once was than he'd be a great guy to hopefully use to replace Buehrle. Mulder is a southsider at heart and is a very good pitcher when healthy (which is the key). I understand he probably won't be ready for half of the season but I'm not opposed to this move if the money is right. 1yr deal worth a few mill guarantee (another couple in incentives) and than 2nd 3rd and 4th year options that would pay him pretty good (say 7 mill a year, 8 mill a year and 9 mill a year). Its not a bad idea for Mark since he has a chance to prove himself and the Sox get the potential to get him at a bit of a discount in future years (but obviously have some clauses that could even boost those options to higher dollar value or even give the player an out clause somewhere in there. You know that is at least an idea...if he could pitch at all, just as a stop-gap, it could give us more flexibility to trade Buehrle.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 07:38 AM) Looks like John Edwards is going to officially announce his run for President from the 9th ward in New Orleans. No one ever listens to me...

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 07:50 AM) So we're seeing this as a good thing here, in a way, because we may be able to avoid military conflict. And that is good. But here is a theoretical to consider - what if the Saudis or some other country in the region elect to help Iran get their infrastructure at least semi-functional, in exchange for financial gains from those operations? Maybe we shouldn't be so worried about a political or state-based regional power, but instead focus on the possibility of energy companies' breadth of control over the supply in the region. You're assuming that "Fixing their oil infrastructure" is the actual solution to the problem here. In reality, that may not be the case at all. Like most countries in the Middle East, Iran has been pumping on its oil stores for nearly a century now, and has been doing so for decades with no major new resources discovered. It may very well be that Iran's production has fully peaked, and no additional measure of technology will be able to bring Iran's production back up. That would leave basically Saudi Arabia and Iraq as about the only countries in the world who aren't on the verge of going over the other side of the peak and seeing production declines...and Saudi Arabia may be right on the cusp also (they have never been very truthful about their supply estimates).

QUOTE(knightni @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 01:35 AM) Would McPherson be worth a look as a platoon with Josh Fields at 3rd if Crede gets dealt? Yes. I think the kid has real talent, but he hasn't developed as fast as the Halos wanted and has been hurt quite constantly to boot. When the Garcia/Crede for Santana/Figgins deal was talked about, I wanted McPherson as a throw-in for exactly that reason.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 10:09 AM) If Mulder has a year anything like last year, you just pissed away $12 million and delayed the development of one of our potential 5th starters at the MLB level. Actually, I wouldn't say it would delay the development of anyone. Mulder would actually have to be able to pitch to do that.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 27, 2006 -> 09:20 AM) I'm sorry but 43 year old pitchers do not have "upside". Roger Clemens says hi.

QUOTE(LowerCaseRepublican @ Dec 26, 2006 -> 08:59 PM) Well, at least Dana Carvey was right -- he wasn't eaten by wolves. http://snltranscripts.jt.org/96/96dbrokaw.phtml Thank God I'm not the only one who had that sketch pop into my head. Man I felt bad there.

Former President Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States, has died at age 93.