Greg Hibbard

I'm not sure if it works. I will pm to those that request it. Radio in if it doesn't work.

a buddy of mine did the equivalent of a YSI (a free service that creates a link to a downloadable file), but for some reason the avi is having a hard time talking to my realplayer so I may have spoken too soon. I will keep any and all posted

okay to post here?

lol 17/17 so far

I think Garland gets at least 7 million, I guess 8 might be a little high. I was a little pie in the sky with some of the other numbers, trying to shoot at the high end of the range. When it comes down to it, isn't Garland a 60 game winner already? I mean, that's almost as many games as Kerry Wood has won

2006 Contracts Freddy Garcia $10mil Jose Contreras $7.0mil Mark Buehrle $7.75mil Jermaine Dye $5.0 mil El Duque $4.5 mil Tad Iguchi $2.4 mil Juan Uribe $3.15 mil Rowand $3.25 mil Hermanson $3.0 mil Marte $2.25 mil Politte $1.2 mil Podsednik $1.9 mil Grand Total of $51.4 mil in guaranteed contracts Arbitration Eliglble Players and 2005 salary - Estimated 2006 Salary Garland ($3.4 mil) - ($8 mil) Pierzynski ($2.25 mil) - ($4 mil) Vizcaino ($1.3 mil) - ($1.75 mil) Timo! ($1.0 mil) - ($1.25 mil) Crede ($0.4 mil) - ($2.5 mil) Harris ($0.365 mil) - ($.775 mil) Ozuna ($0.330 mil) - ($1 mil) It's hard to say what these guys will get in 2006, and the Sox could end up releasing some of these players. An interesting side note is that the Salary arbitration hearings are set for Feb. 1st-21st, which means if the Sox wait on too many of these players it could hamper them in either resigning Konerko or going after another free agent. Overall it will cost approximately $19.275 mil to keep these players Option eligible players: Frank Thomas has a club option of $12 mil or a $3.5 mil buyout Carl Everett has a club option of $5 mil or a $0.5 mil buyout My guess is that the Sox will buyout both these players, and will first offer Big Frank a low $1.0 mil base salary with incentives. If he refuses their offer they may try to bring back Carl at a lower price also. It is highly unlikely they will keep both of these players. So 4 million to buyout Frank and Carl, plus 1 million to bring back either/or. players under club's control Neal Cotts ($0.33 mil) I am not entirely sure what this status indicates. It may have something in regards to being arbitration eligible next year. Players likely to be on or considered for the roster RP Jeff Bajenaru SP Brandon McCarthy RP Either Arnie Munoz or Felix Diaz or Jon Adkins (possible long reliever replacement) 1B/DH/LF Ross Gload OF Brian Anderson OF Joe Borchard All of which are at or around the major league min of $330,000 Other Potential Minor Leaguers who could make an impact in 2006 Jorge Toca 1B R/R Josh Stewart SP LHP Dave Sanders RP LHP Ryan Sweeny OF Jerry Owens OF Dan Haiglewood SP Leo Daigle 1B (not really but we can all dream ) Noah Hall 1B Gio Gonzalez SP LHP So.... 51.4 million in guaranteed contracts plus 19.275 millions in estimated arbitration eligible contracts plus 4 million in Thomas/Everett buyouts plus 1 million for a 2006 DH plus 330,000 for Cotts that's already 76 million in guaranteed contracts. The real question is....is will the White Sox go to 90-91 million in total payroll. It will probably not cost more than 14 million to get Konerko. What do you think?

titletown baby

I think I'm gonna try to write everything down while I still remember it, and I would encourage everyone to do the same. Before we forget - let's remember exactly what we were doing when everything happened - the Iguchi homer - the AJ ball - the Podsednik game winner- the Blum dinger - the clincher. This also begs the question - will we see a White Sox book in the near future?

oops, I guess I was balls to the walls through October 27th. You get the idea lol.

thanks! classy post....

QUOTE(GoArow33 @ Oct 30, 2005 -> 09:28 AM) I'm starting to get sad that it's over til Soxfest. Anyone else suffering from this? I was personally ready for it to be over. I put a LOT of things in my life on hold for the playoffs, and I'm finally not going to sleep amped up on adrenaline and stress. I was balls to the wall about this team from March 15th til October 15th. 7 months is enough

It was not 100,000 people. Tens of thousands, yes. Probably 20-30k.

I'm pretty damn sure they clipped the PA with the music.

more like "the BALL is in the your court now, Jerry" AM I RITE

I hate that we don't have the info now. I hate not knowing.

I just came in on the Green Line. As I was pulling into Clark and Lake, I took a gander north to Wacker/LaSalle....pretty much completely packed as of 9:24. By noon, it'll be hopeless. My advice is to catch the parade further south. I'm not sure you'll be able to see much of the rally. Why didn't they do this at Grant Park?

sorry. mods please delete/merge

I don't know how real this is, but with a name like Carroll being dropped, this seems a big f***ing deal http://journals.aol.com/dcsportsguy/mrirre...nt/entries/2162 Thursday, October 27, 2005 5:05:00 PM EDT Hearing Sports Bloggers Live @ sblradio.com Yes, Delete Entry AL Playoff Outfielder Tests Positive for Steroids Deadspin's 'Who's the Mystery AL 'Roider?' post from yesterday included the following excerpt from this week's USA Today Sports Weekly: "An American League outfielder on a postseason team tested positive for steroids, according to his agent, but the player is appealing the results." Certainly interesting, but I didn't make much of it until we talked to Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll on today's Sports Bloggers Live. Will writes a weekly column for BP that Peter Gammons has called an "industry standard," and he also wrote a book called 'The Juice' earlier this year. His response when told of the rumor? Carroll: "I really can't talk about it right now. It should be coming out within the next two weeks." SBL: "Is this a name we're actually going to care about?" Carroll: "Yes." SBL: "Is it a World Series champion?" Carroll: "I really can't talk about it." SBL: "I would hope not, because that might turn those White Sox black... Will, cough once if he's on the White Sox... Cough twice if it's Gary Sheffield." Carroll: "I was involved in the appeals process so I can't comment at all." Here's the full audio interview. The dialogue dictated here takes place between 6:20 and 7:00. If this is true, there's a 1-in-4 chance someone on the White Sox used steroids this season and then contributed to Chicago's first World Series victory since 1917. And there's a 100% chance a player used and then participated in the playoffs. So... Who was it? And what would Selig do if that player was the World Series MVP or the Game 2 hero? Would it be a Black Sox-level fiasco? Say it ain't so, Jermaine! Given what we presume to know -- that the guy is in the AL, made the playoffs, is relatively significant and plays outfield -- the list of possibilities is only 12-deep: · Chicago: Podsednik, Dye, Rowand · Anaheim: Anderson, Guerrero, Finley · New York: Matsui, Sheffield, Williams · Boston: Ramirez, Damon, Nixon As a fan of the game and none of the teams or players involved here (actually, Vlad is rad), I hope none of them are guilty. But if one is, I certainly hope he isn't on the White Sox.

seriously sorry, couldn't resist

can anyone give me an approx. timetable? What time do they leave comiskey? what time do they expect to be going down lasalle?

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Oct 27, 2005 -> 12:28 PM) Great Post! We've got some awesome posts coming out of this. Thanks! it helps to be really inspired by this incredible team

It is the bane of the Sox fan to naysay. To criticize. To doubt. To disbelieve. As much as it is the bane of the northsiders to be pie-in-the-sky optimistic, it is forever the disposition of the South Sider to be realistic. As much as every Cubs fan says "Wait till next year" every Sox fan seems to say "If only we had..." What were your feelings on September 15th, 2005 when the Sox lost 2 out of 3 to KC? What about September 20-21st when their lead shrunk to 1.5? Did you think that this team would win the division? Win a playoff series? Win a championship series? Win a world series? I'll be honest. I figured they would win the division and probably get swept or lose in maybe four games in the first round. I never thought that they would lose the division, not for a second. Do I deserve some sort of medal for this? Of course not. The outcome that I predicted might as well have been second place, because it was hollow. Empty. Another year without a playoff series win. Maybe another year without a home playoff game win. But I needed to be realistic, right? This team didn't have a .300 hitter. This team hadn't pitched well in August and early Septmeber. They hadn't hit well since July. Their relievers were starting to stack up innings. Injuries were beginning to become an issue. Their record against the better AL teams was mediocre. I didn't believe. I can't say that I regret it, because the organization, the franchise hadn't shown me that they had something for me to believe in during that stretch. 3 early months of hot baseball? Seen it before. And what's that you say, Kenny only got Geoff Blum at the deadline? We needed Griffey! This was supposed to be our year! Yet I stuck with every heartbreaking game, just like every Soxtalk member did. Just like every Sox fan did. I couldn't watch, but I couldn't not watch. That week in mid September was the most draining week of my lifetime as a White Sox fan. Do you remember? Every night I couldn't sleep. Every night my blood pressure rose. Every night my anguish compiled. Every night I would get taunted by non-Sox fans. But we got through it. And the team got through it. And we got through it TOGETHER, Soxtalk. I don't care if you didn't believe they would win the division. I don't care if you didn't believe they would win any more games. We got through it. Together. Because we had to. This was our trial by fire. This was our trial of faith. And you know what? Something magical happened. We got through it, and they got through it, and we were gonna keep getting through it. As long as it took. But we finally caught a break. A break on a sun-splashed field in kansas city in a game the White Sox never played in. Shoeless Joe turned the sun up while Kid Gleason and Pants Rowland distracted the Big Man upstairs and a ball dropped into play in front of an Indians outfielder. Suddenly, something flipped. A switch. They say it's the little things in baseball. This little thing was like waking up from the worst nightmare I had ever had. Slowly, this team picked it's beaten body, left for dead, off of the ground. It dusted off the black "Chicago" logo on the front of its grey uniform and picked up a bat and a glove. It stumbled a couple of times while pulling itself to its feet on a Detroit ballfield, but once it stood, it stood proud. Suddenly, the script logo began to glow. It glowed when it clinched a division title five days before the season ended on that same Detroit field where we got one of our own onto the Allstar team on a last minute ballot. The team began to do something else. It began to win. A lot of games. It fielded a C team in Cleveland and everyone cried "foul" until their C flight team took it to the Indians. The Indians would not win another game. The White Sox would not lose. And the logo glowed brighter as the calender turned to October. And it didn't stop winning until they had pummeled an excasperated Red Sox team that looked like it was sucker-punched in the gut hard. They never trailed in that first game laugher where they gave their fans another gift, the first home playoff win in nearly 50 years. And after stealing one on a misplay by a former teammate, it went back to Boston and fantastically swept the defending champions, highlighted by an old gun returning to a once-immortal form. And the logo glowed brigher still as the team celebrated on that Boston field. The team stumbled against Anaheim and quickly regrouped, aided by a heads-up play by a man who never quits. They did something no one ever believed possible. They swept a west coast trilogy. The four aces completed their games and showed the world that we had the best pitching staff this year, and maybe the most complete postseason rotation in recent memory. And as they celebrated on that Los Angeles infield, the logo glowed brighter still. The team won its final four games the hard way, which is to say they made the hard way look easy. We all know that story. We all lived it this week. And yes, the White Sox would never lose another game while wearing the glowing "Chicago" script on its uniform. And the logo glows brighter still. As we drown ourselves in celebration for the next while (I'm not going to set a time limit on this), let's harken back to the song that I mentioned in the title. Don't Stop Believin'. Sox fans, Don't Ever Stop Believin'. As a great man, Jim Valvano, said while cancer was destroying his body (but not his mind, and not his heart and not his soul, god bless him) "Don't give up, don't ever give up." Many of us did stop believin'. But now that we've seen one of the most improbable teams assembled to give us the best roller coaster ride of my life with the best ending possible, I have to say I'll never stop believin'. Never again.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Oct 27, 2005 -> 11:00 AM) It seems like these polls usually favor recent or current champs. I remember when they did this after the NCAA Tournament this year UNC finished as the #1 team (think they did 1985 on). There's no way they were a better team than 1996 Kentucky, and I picked the back to back Blue Devils, the 90 UNLV team, and the 2001 Duke team ahead of them, plus there could have been arguments for several other teams. People will often just go with whoever was the charismatic or recent champ, like Boston. Franky, I wasn't impressed with their team as a whole. They had two great sluggers and two great starters, but Damon, Varitek, and Foulke are the only other guys I'd really want. I think star power has something to do with it too. it's interesting because I think years from now, this team will be underrated by history because of its lack of starpower UNLESS they can either win it all next year or at least make it back to the series.

And it was Brooks who said it, so I'm inclined to believe him