Greg Hibbard

RALLY CREDE

I'm a wreck guys. I've been unable to move off my couch for 2+ hours. I'm finally logging on to say what a f***ing game

thought I just heard them say on ESPN that AJ is 5th and Rowand is sixth to go righty-lefty-righty in that part of the order

Some facts to set the record straight: * Perry was not going solo in the mid 90s IIRC. He was set to go with Journey, then claimed he couldn't go because of personal reasons and because of a bad hip, and then Schon and Cain (along with Valory and Smith) decided to go on without him. It was a parallel situation to what happened in Styx with DeYoung and his replacement. * Randy Jackson, the african-american judge from American Idol, played bass on Journey's 1986 Raised on Radio tour after they threw out Valory and Smith. I believe he sported a pink polka-dot bass. * Say what you will about Perry's voice but "Don't Stop Believin'" has an impressive melody and arrangement for a 3-4 minute pop song. They have several worthwhile albums. Schon and Rollie's prodigious past with Santana, Cain's resume, and Dunbar credentials ought to be enough for any music fan to take them seriously beyond the fact that the lead singer sounds like a Eunich.

welcome to soxtalk! yes it has been quite a dream come true. never in a million years did I expect this to happen.

Edited By Soxtalk Admin Staff.

and yeah, there's a lot on there that you can feel free to fire on me about. I severely overreacted and used poor judgement when responding to a pie-in-the-sky fellow fan and good friend.

My my, how the times have changed. I'll say it now: I'm not sure whether I was a total buffoon back then, but I want everyone here to know that I just printed out this email, got out my plastic knife and fork and I'm tying a napkin around my neck as we speak.... > It doesn't matter if you thought the trades were good > for the White Sox when they occured, because the > General Manager has to ultimately be responsible for > the bottom line. > > And the bottom line is, Ken Williams is a failure as a > General Manager. > > In his 3 years as General Manager, I count two good > moves, namely Damaso Marte and Esteban Loaiza, and > several, several bad ones. > > He has emptied the farm system on a couple of > high-risk gambles (David Wells in 2001, Bartolo Colon > in 2003) and also made some outright stupid moves (an > overpriced Royce Clayton, Keith Foulke for Billy Koch) > and now he is, for the first time, doing the > impossible. > > This general manager is actually succeeding in > ultimately estranging me from my beloved team. > > I want to throw this monitor out the window every time > I hear another offseason boffo. The fact that Colon > wasn't coming back was one thing. We all pretty much > knew that wasn't more than a 50/50 chance. > > However, this assertion that the White Sox "need to > trim payroll" is ultimately absurd and I'm f***ing > tired of hearing it. > > Jerry Reinsdorf does not care to compete in the major > leagues. If he did, he would, like other owners > committed to winning, spend the necessary resources to > bring home a winner. Jerry Reinsdorf only cares that > his product is profitable. > > I don't know how much longer I can support this > lunacy: > > Example one: Today's announcement that Robbie Alomar > could not be signed by the White Sox for any more than > the f***ing 1 million dollars for 1 season that the > Diamondbacks put up. > > Example two: Ken Williams having Cliff Politte ride in > on his White Stallion to save the bullpen today. > > Example three: Trying to move Valentin, and if they > can't move him (I don't think they will now), he will > be relegated to his 2001 of occasional error man at 6 > different positions while Juan Uribe will start at > short and Willie Harris will man second. > > Example four: Still stuck with two first basemen who > are both kind of lost, and now nobody wants either > after we sat on both too long. > > Example five: A pitching staff that > post-farm-system-gutting can only be described as > "questionable at best" and a bunch of disgruntled > almost traded outfielders who know they are not wanted > by a second rate organization. Let me ask you > optimists this: Is Esteban Loaiza closer to a Mark > Buerhle phenomenon or a James Baldwin phenomenon? > > What about this am I supposed to feel good about? > > The more I think about this coming season, the more I > am filled with a singular feeling: rage. I am enraged > at the White Sox for their ineptitude, for their > mismanagement, for the atmosphere of half-assed effort > they continue to engender. That's right, I said the > WHITE SOX are ENGENDERING it. When your owner doesn't > commit everything he's got to winning, how can you > expect your manager or players to play like they are > inspired? How can you expect Frank to bust his ass > when it's clear that all Reinsdorf and Williams want > to seemingly do is play a continual nickel and dime > game with their players, driving more and more of them > out of town in droves. > > The Reader ran an article about 6 years ago imploring > the White Sox to be sold to the public, a la the Green > Bay Packers. The article urged that if the public > owned the White Sox, the "ownership" group would > definitively agree to spend whatever was necessary to > win first, and then reap the benefits after they had > fielded a winning product. You know, the way that > business NORMALLY works? Build a successful product > and people will buy it. Not the other way around. > > I hope that if I ever have the chance of meeting > Reinsdorf, I can ask him this one question. > > When you look back on your tenure as White Sox owner, > with the sheer lack of postseason success, the botched > ballpark and the bleak outlook for the future, how can > anyone characterize it as a success and why do you > keep doing it if you are a failure? > > Meanwhile, they are courting Greg Maddux as a f***ing > fifth starter on the North Side. At least they know > how to spend money. At least they've been to a > championship series in the last ten seasons. > > I'm sickened by the White Sox. If things don't improve > this year, I may be very close to finished with > actively following them. I never thought a single > owner or general manager would sicken me to the point > of partially losing my fandom, but it's honestly > happening, and I don't know that that will change. > > I hate Kenny Williams. No matter what you thought of > whatever at the time, he is a FAILURE. He has emptied > the farm and mortgaged the future.

Yeah, Dahl's had the tix for as long as I can remember too. I actually won his tickets one night when he didn't want to go, about four years ago. A buddy of mine and I went with his then-producer and another Dahl fan. My buddy and I went out with the producer later and got hammered with him. He was kind of a tool, but whatever.

I must've had six dreams about the White Sox in the past two weeks. Most bizarre one was last wednesday where I dreamed we were already down 3-0 to the Astros in the series and we were gonna forfeit game four. I don't think I've ever been so outraged in a dream.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 10:55 AM) Looking at the weekend plan, that looks pretty damn nice. You get a shot at playoff tickets then, right? Yes. The Weekend plan is what we're doing. You get playoff tickets for all series, but I think it's somewhat limited for CS and WS. We get two BOS (my wife is a Bosox fan), two CUB, two HOU (will be great games next year). It's a relative bargain at $570 for 27 games.

QUOTE(Steff @ Oct 24, 2005 -> 10:53 AM) Congrats!! Thanks, it really feels good to finally be able to afford to do this. I've looked at doing this for the last couple of years but the numbers didn't quite work. With my most recent bump in pay, I finally have enough to scrape together for this.

Very cool. Thanks, Steff. Looks like I'll be locking that one in.

I'm thinking about getting Upper Deck 27 game double play plan. I know for full season ticket plans in the UD they let you go all over the park. Is the same true for the split season plans? I'm asking you guys because the line is STILL f***ING busy at 674-1000

Thomas would take a $1 million contract in a heartbeat IMO, especially considering he's already getting a 3.5 million buyout. He just wants a chance to play. Think about it, there are only 14 teams he can play for, and many already have a DH. No matter what happens with Paulie, Thomas will be back. It's a drop in the bucket.

He's just not as funny sober. Sad but true. A ton of long pauses and awkward interplay make up that radio show. At least it did from 99-01 when I was last tuned in

also, you can buy ticketfast tickets....but you lick your thumb and run at across the ticket to see if it smudges.

also, generally there will NOT be that many people down there. There was only 40 or so people total looking for tickets, and since we got lucky, I'm assuming more people got tix after we did, although when we got in there it didn't look like there were many more empty seats. As soon as first pitch rolled around, at least 10 of those people gave up. I think they got down there early for some reason. DON'T GO EARLY. you won't get anything early. Time your arrival for right around 15 minutes before the first pitch. It's going to be EVEN colder tonight, from all reports, with temps dipping down to the thirties. It's also a weeknight. It's also game 2, not game 1. That's going to favor the buyer. If you want to go, and brave the elements, my gut feeling is that you will probably have a chance to get in at around face. I'm not sure what that chance is, but it's a chance.

here's what you have to beware of - they don't rip the tickets. So someone could go in, scan it and then pass it back to a buddy and it would appear to be an unused ticket. Once it's scanned - it's done. Make sure whoever sells them to you is going into the park with you. That's what we did. Also, just make sure the dude who's selling looks legit.

also, I'll give the full scouting report of what went down near Sox park tomorrow, when I'm significantly less drunk

we were in section 534, row 20. Second to last row, just behind home plate a little bit to the third base side.

some guy pulled up just before the game, offer two for 100 each, we happened to have $100s while everyone else was fumbling counting 20s. It was unbelievably lucky.

before first pitch. best game I ever saw in my entire life. that is all.

I'm really excited. It's been hard to wait a week for this.