35thstreetswarm

It's like how I always laugh at the suggestion that a poor record in a single season will somehow force Jerry (to force himself?) to sell the team.

Everybody cites "81 wins" as if it's the definitive and precise mathematical measure of team quality, but let's face it -- there are different ways to get to 81 wins. They were 5 games over and very much in the race going into that September Cleveland series, and frankly took their foot off the gas for several weeks once they lost that first Cleveland series game in a heartbreaker. They were in free-fall for a while after they realized they were out of it. They were probably an 85-win team that fell to .500. A meaningless and negligible difference, really, but then so is the difference between 81 and 83.5. 83.5 seems reasonable. As a sidenote, I love threads like this where neutral, outside reality creeps in to the Soxtalk doom chamber for a moment. The cognitive dissonance can be fascinating to watch. I swear, we could be heading into the ALCS next year and somebody would post that "the people celebrating the ALCS are missing the real point, which is that Rick Hahn failed to sign Zach Wheeler in the 2019 offseason and..."

I do feel for them. Bottom line is season tickets make much more sense if the tickets are a tough get during the season. But you can walk up to the G-Rate box office on any game day and get tickets. Why inconvenience yourself by reducing your choice of games to attend?

Yep. It's just not worth it to me. I'll get my pick of the games I actually want instead of getting locked in to arbitrary dates months in advance, then buy 2024 season tix if they're in the playoff push and secure playoff tickets that way.

Photographs can be circumstantial evidence or direct evidence. The relevant distinction is not between "circumstantial" and "physical." It is between "circumstantial" and "direct." Photographs can be offered as either direct evidence (photograph of suspect shooting the person), or circumstantial evidence (photograph of suspect covered in blood holding a gun outside the victim's house minutes after the murder occurred.) Again, though, calling something "circumstantial evidence" does not suggest that it is not powerful or even case-dispositive. The example I just provided is an example of very powerful circumstantial, physical evidence.

"Circumstantial evidence" is one of the more misunderstood legal terms by laypeople. This is true both in terms of what kinds of evidence it describes (DNA evidence, for example, is "circumstantial," as are fingerprints) and what it means. People tend to use the term as some sort of pejorative description, when in fact a huge percentage of evidence that ends up leading to criminal and civil liability is inevitably "circumstantial," including some of the most powerful. You can absolutely convict someone of a criminal offense based on 100% circumstantial evidence. There's a standard jury instruction that says just that. None of this is to comment on the specific evidence available in the Clevinger case, about which I have no idea. But attempting to denigrate the quality of evidence by saying it's "just circumstantial" is pretty meaningless.

Thanks. I hereby spit virtual tobacco juice in the general direction of Mike Clevinger and Rick Hahn

OK, but the discussion was a factual comparison of murder rates as between Kansas City (higher) and Chicago (lower.) It was not political. In fact, I took pains *not* to veer into any political discussion about why one city gets more attention for its crime than the other. These discussions go well over the political line with some frequency. This one didn't even get within 100 yards. I only mention it because I think over-policing that line poses actual danger to the discussions around here.

How is the price of season ticket plans related to that topic? The UK criminal legal system? All topics explored in this thread. In other words, it's not directly related -- but it was directly responsive to a post, and no less relevant than the hundreds of other responsive but not strictly-on-topic posts allowed to remain on the forum on a daily basis without being heavy-handedly deleted.

Why was my post citing the murder rates of Kansas City and St. Louis (#8 and #1 in the country, respectively) deleted? That is not remotely political, it's a fact.

I think it's because the city's large size (relative to the highest-murder/crime rate cities) leads to high gross murder *totals* that catch peoples' eye. (I also think there are lots of other reasons people like to try to dunk on Chicago, but those are for another forum on another day.)

#8 in the nation in 2021. In-state neighbor St. Louis was #1. Chicago was not in the top 25.

I do—so much so that it’s only fair to ask whether some of the responsibility for the Clevinger debacle falls on him. I mean, I’m not saying he’s the only one at fault, but when you have that level of organizational access, information and authority you have to share part of the blame.

Cubs

This is not true. You may be thinking of North Korea?

Disagree because I’m a White Sox fan.

I'd settle for #1. I think if these core players are on the field for 150 games a lot of the "will to win" and "110% effort" and "grinder" and "lunch pail guy" issues will abate for those fans who spend time diagnosing and thinking about them.

Your signature should be "well AAActually..."

I'm as frustrated as anybody about 2021 and the FO, but the Sox have to be high on any knowledgeable fan's list of teams to watch for big turnaround years. Last year was cursed in almost every way, and the TLR phenomenon seemed to infect everything. A little health and just a league-average, non-destructive manager could go a very long way. Lots of ifs, though, as other posters have said.

The Cubs "did more" than the Sox in the 2023 offseason. They "did more" than the Astros, too. The thing is, the Cubs still stink. So who cares?

“Teach me how to understand baseball…”

FYI, it’s Chas Jizzhome.

I'm not sure I fully understand the logic behind "wow, the Twins are lucky Correa's medical risk profile turned out to be serious enough to scare multiple other teams away". I guess time will tell. Anyway, that cheater's presence on their roster continues to be another reason to hate the Twins.

Late to the party, but I think I like it. Definitely more "Carolina Style." That said, there's something I don't like about the pinstripe version -- I think it's the nearly borderless light blue font that doesn't pop out from the pinstripe background...makes it look kind of cheap. The blues and grays look good, though.

All this. Sad when this happens to anybody but doubly crushing when it’s one of the best and most inspiring humans in the game.