caulfield12

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 07:50 PM) Finally watched Gone Girl last night. I think if you didn't see it right away it was probably sort of ruined for you. Or it was already ruined when you read the book...since the whole movie turns on that plot twist. That's why I am hesitating about learning anything more about The Walking Dead animated series...would rather be surprised. http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2015-02...nt_19603830.htm Speaking of strange documentaries, you have The Wolfpack...about a Lower East Side/Manhattan family (it seems they are half-Peruvian/Hare Krishna and half Eastern European by the names) whose parents lock up all the children in the house and home school them...and their only interactions with the outside world are through re-enacting movies and some tv programs.

QUOTE (LDF @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 06:51 PM) ya.... she is banned and all her movies from china b/c of her making that movie.... she showed her ummmm many wonderful assets, which is, to put it simply as being great. wow. i am now a fan. back to the movie, it is a shame, it had a chance but they screwed it up. oh, i just saw John Wick. it was ok, nothing great, a 1 1/2 - 2 in stars. a brain dead movie, lots of actions and violence. the guy in it played the org Girl with a dragon tatoo. bloomquest. (sp) Nyqvist, Swedish actor....who has become more famous for playing a Mission Impossible (the one in Dubai) villain since then. John Wick is awesome...it's 50X better than Taken 2/3 or The Equalizer. For me, it's comparable to Man On Fire, although Denzel gets the nod because he's a much better actor. Keanu's kind of an anti-actor, whereas he can only not get in the way of a really good movie, but he can't make a so-so or bad movie bearable to watch. As for Tang Wei, she's really become China mainstream popular and the ban on filming in the mainland was lifted awhile ago.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 07:01 PM) Congrats on the baby...............March looking good for you. 82 wins sounds pretty fair. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-01...nt_19287298.htm Everyone's in a rush not to have a "sheep" baby (Chinese Zodiac) or to waiting until next year because they believe they're too docile and pliant...on the other hand, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were born in the Year of the Sheep. 82 sounds right, 77 is too low (Baseball Prospectus)...and whatever fangraphs or baseball-reference are projecting.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 04:58 PM) Carson Fullmer's 95 MPH heater, look at the movement on this thing, good god. https://twitter.com/cistulli/status/567449985122574337 Sounds like a high QB from California. Is he related to Brad Fullmer?

QUOTE (AlSoxfan @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 06:03 PM) First baby? who're going to name him after?..lol Agreed that is a good time of the year an it looks like Vegas is picking an Angels/Nats WS I was fighting for Robert because that's my dad's name, Roberto Clemente and Robert F. Kennedy.....but it sounds like "robot" in Chinese English so I have compromised to Ethan Robert if it's a boy. For a girl, Chloe or Zoe(y). Probably Zoe(y), because Chloe is a perfume and also for the Salinger short story. Chloe sounds too much like a celebrity kid's name, although Zoe kind of does, too. "One Dog" or "Lance On Point" are tempting. Or The Deacon. As for the Angels' pick, a lot depends on Richards' health. He was their ace last year before the injury. And I wouldn't be betting on anything more from Hamilton and Pujols than what they provided last year.

QUOTE (lvjeremylv @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 05:33 PM) That's why they play the games, though. It's a loooong season, and as we've seen before in sports, ANYTHING can happen. The Sox have question marks just like every other team in baseball, so let's get out there and see what happens. If they can manage to stay healthy, I like their chances at being competitive day in and day out. That's all you can ask for as a fan. Yep, can't wait for March 4th...first spring training game (and first baby's due date March 3rd). Seems like it is taking forever this year. Maybe that's because there's so much more excitement this year....definitely the most since 2011, and maybe going all the way back to 2006. (Normally, fwiw, the first weekend in April is the coolest because of the Final Four, start of the regular season and the Masters all hitting at the same time, along with the nicer weather).

http://i.imgur.com/lLBXsuK.png I thought this was the closest thing to accurate out there right now...compared to all the stats-oriented sites. Sox at 82 wins, Cubs at 81....Tigers at 86 1/2, Royals 83 and Indians 81. Twins at 68 1/2. Btw, the Astros have a lot of work to do to face the Cubs in the 2017 World Series, still at only 73 1/2. Can't say that I would be supremely disappointed (because it would be another big improvement record-wise) but it depends if most of those wins come in the 2nd half when the team's too far out, or the record is even better and someone runs away with it and guys like Samardzija are dealt (or maybe there's an injury in the pitching staff, Ramirez or OF, etc.) Probably it's setting up to feel more like 2012, except with a lot more optimism for the future as opposed to feeling the results that year were kind of fluky with all the rookie pitchers overperforming until the end.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Feb 14, 2015 -> 02:32 PM) Roger Moore James Bond camp meets Kick-Ass, meets Quentin Tarantino, with a bad guy played by Samuel L Jackson who lisps heavily and is terrified of blood. It's perfect. Haha Kick Ass 2 was pretty unwatchable...unfortunately. Am looking forward to this one, though. The "new" actor (sidekick/mentee?) to Firth is getting lots of kudos as well. As far as Blackhat goes, normally Mann's a much better director. I think this movie was made as Hemsworth was just starting to get more notoriety...as far as Tang Wei goes, she's a big star in China but I haven't seen any mention at all of this movie coming out here. She's most famous for starting her career with an Ang Lee movie named Lust/Caution that ended up getting her banned from filming in the mainland because of its NC-17 scenes. It was a big career risk for a debut movie, opposing China's leading male actor, but it really worked out for her in the end. At any rate, she's trying to become a "crossover" star and no Asian actress has fully succeeded because of the English issues....Maggie Q and Lucy Liu to a lesser extent, and the performances of Fan Bing Bing and Li Bing Bing in movies like Transformers 4, Iron Man and X-Men have left a lot to be desired. Audiences here knew they were being pandered to, rather than respected. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2169322/ Finding Mr. Right/Beijing Meets Sleepless in Seattle This is one of Tang Wei's earlier attempts at the US market. She ended up marrying her Korean co-star, fwiw.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 10:39 AM) Their pitching was fantastic, especially the relief, and it minimized Yosts bad managing. Because everyone had defined roles...the only time he departed from that pattern from July on was bringing in Ventura as a reliever in an effort to shake things up and because they were all over Shields, he was hanging by a thread the entire game.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 10:24 AM) Yost gave away outs like it was going out of style. His team succeeded despite him, not because of him. I am not comparing Yost to Ozzie in 05, or Robin today. They arent the same situation, nor the same people, http://m.mlb.com/news/article/106374740/mi...lieving-in-team The thing is, the Royals were challenged offensively (until the playoffs) to drive in runs with homers, everyone knows that. Bunting/sacrificing made a lot of sense for that team, in that ballpark...because of the incredible track record the bullpen had with just 1-2 run leads...and how important it was for that team in the 2nd half to take the lead early, as they collectively believed it meant a sure win, just like the 2005 White Sox believed as well, especially the first 2 1/2 months or so in 2005 when Pods and Iguchi were in synch. As an organizational philosophy, it worked. You can't expect hitters like Escobar, Infante, Dyson and Aoki to pound out victories...so they basically played a different style with half of their line-up while still hoping for SOME power from Hosmer, Butler, Moustakas, Perez and Gordon. Part of that philosophy was a belief in team playing and making every out count, as well as making contact. The White Sox could learn a thing or two, because ever since 2005/06, and 2008 when Quentin was on fire, their offensive attack has been pretty one-dimensional, all things considered. In the end, those types of offenses (like the A's) built on power and OBP but without the ability to manufacture runs on the basepaths always tend to wilt in the off-season.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 08:34 AM) He made a case that Kevan Smith should be talked about because the Sox failed on all of their high potential, high K guys but the Sox haven't converted on anything in the way of position players. If we're hanging the Sox banner of "success" on Kevan Smith as an example of progress/development...that would be a pretty low bar to jump over.

QUOTE (LDF @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 09:53 AM) the idea of getting a young Trout, a young Stanton, a young Jeter how ever he develops, the price is worth it. the salary is hard to get used to, but look at the positives, fans in the stands, when the sox are making a run for the playoff, in the playoff, the on the field positives, let alone the media coverages, and for the financial aspects the commercial side, it is a win win situation. now totally unrelated question, Yoan is eligible to sign now, but at what point can he sign after spring training and it will count as next yr int't signing and the penalties., We have arguably two of the Top 10-15 players in baseball already and the positives have been fairly limited in terms of media and attendance. The bar would have to be set INCREDIBLY high for him to end up better than Sale and Abreu. Not to mention the fact that he probably wouldn't be a regular contributor until the end of 2016 or early 2017...any team throwing him right into the majors at 19 would be very shortsighted. It has only worked out a couple of times in the history of the modern game.

QUOTE (brett05 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 10:09 AM) Stats do not make a player an icon. Actually he wasn't. His antics was reaching new heights, but he was still doing a good job handling the managerial part (at least compared to Robin) and an even greater job controlling the media away from his players. What did Guillen do well from 2009 through 2011? Quitting on the team at the end of 2011 when he already had left the Sox for the Marlins the last week of the season?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 08:59 AM) LMAO not only is this completely unprovable, but it is very likely WRONG. Yost made so many bad moves along the way, it is amazing that the Royals got as far as they did Do you also believe the White Sox would still have won the World Series in 2005 if they fired Ozzie when the Indians were only 1 1/2 games back? Of course, nothing is provable. Other than bringing in Ventura in relief for Shields, what did Yost do wrong? BTW, I've read all off-season that Shields was terrible in the playoffs and not "Big Game" James, so maybe it wasn't the worst idea in the world... The Royals and Giants had basically the same amount of regular season victories...so why is Bochy a "genius" and Yost is just lucky when there wasn't a single All-Star caliber hitter on that roster?

QUOTE (brett05 @ Feb 16, 2015 -> 07:22 AM) I'd not have Robin ranked as high as he is. I'd also rank Sandberg ahead of him quite easily. I'd love to have a replacement for him ASAP. If we start out like 2-6 please Jerry, can him and bring in somebody to manage the club. We have a shot this year. If the Royals did that at mid-season with Yost, they probably would have missed the playoffs. The hardest thing about managerial changes in-season is that the best options are usually under contract and can't be tampered with. Who do you have in mind that you're absolutely sure would be a better option AND would be available to jump in (step over White Sox icon Ventura's still warm body) and take over?

Aaron White and Woodbury have been laughably terrible in this game. At this point, I don't even care about this rest of the season. Pathetic. But no Iowa fan should really be surprised if they've followed this team carefully the last 3 seasons. Last year, there was Twittergate. This year, it's Woodbury eye-pokes. McCaffrey always seems to be his own worst enemy with the media.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Feb 15, 2015 -> 03:46 PM) I will truly never understand this. ??? The jury's still out. Collapse in 2012, but the Tigers had the better team. Borderline lost the team in 2013, then kept them competitive for most of last season. He could be rated anywhere from 16th-27th and most fans wouldn't have a strong opinion on it either way.

I'm sure Hawk leaving will eventually lead to us getting Gordon Beckham as his replacement. Oh, joy.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 15, 2015 -> 03:10 PM) And the Sox are converting on all these quasi-prospects who hit at levels they are too old for? Converting? What do you mean? Like trading Semien, Ravelo and Phegley for Samardzija?

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Feb 15, 2015 -> 02:56 PM) Zero evidence, so far, he shot them SPECIFICALLY because they were Muslim. I know you can read. And the shooter has offered statements against all religions, and religion in general. He hasn't just singled out one for his scorn. And I didn't present evidence that they DID make it up. YOU said not likely. I showed you cases where it did happen and offered my OPINION that I thought it was even money they did it themselves. And I have told you both of these at least twice now. So once again, zero evidence that he shot them because he specifically hated Islam. Hating all religions and shooting someone because of that is different that 'Islamophobia'. But don't let that detract from the narrative that Muslims are always the victims because of their religion. 1) He hasn't targeted any Christians before in the neighborhood, even though they comprise roughly 90% of the North Carolina population. 2) He's never said anything specifically anti-Christian, although any of his FB comments can be considered to be anti-Muslim by their context. 3) Dawkins, his role model, has been outspoken against Islam specifically 4) Interjecting the arson comparisons have zero relevance to this particular situation. Let's put it this way...if our own children were Muslim and they were executed in this fashion by this particular lunatic, I think it would be hard to convince us that religion wasn't at least a POSSIBLE factor. In the last couple of days, there was ALSO a fire in Alabama with McCants' $1.5 million home. Does that mean all NFL football players set their homes ablaze to collect the insurance money? I'd say there's better odds in those cases (when the player is having financial problems) than the fire being deliberately set to provoke anti-American sentiment within the Muslim-American community. Or do we want to say 50% of the time a crime is committed, that a white victim is likely to blame a minority for doing it to cover themselves?

If Iowa loses at Northwestern, you can stick a form in them. They were down 23-13 but managed to go into halftime with a more manageable 3 point deficit...mentally fragile now for three seasons in a row. Continuing to struggle in their set offense, and continuing to have trouble defending the 3 point arc. Why in God's name didn't NW foul? Uthoff has single-handedly been carrying Iowa the whole second half.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 15, 2015 -> 01:02 PM) I mean, have you been reading the news the last decade? If there were newspapers during the Inquisition, wouldn't the headlines have looked even worse?

Shields also has a clause in his Padres' contract where he can opt out after the 2016 season, fwiw.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Feb 14, 2015 -> 11:16 PM) He said the Sox OF is now in beginning of interview, he said Royals were last year. That's worse than saying Beckham is the best defensive 2B. Eaton's well above average, but unless Garcia has lost another 30-40 pounds and spent all off-season working on his defense (in which case at best he'd be around Viciedo 2012 levels)...and Cabrera is just average in LF, it's borderline idiotic. Not to mention that Dyson's even better than Cain in CF, when he comes in as a defensive sub and moves Cain to RF. Right now, our 4th OF is Shuck or Taylor, neither of them highly distinguished players defensively.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Feb 14, 2015 -> 10:41 PM) Best defensive OF in baseball comment Hawk was in mid season form. Hawk and his GB love is a little unhealthy at this point. The Royals?