caulfield12

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 7, 2015 -> 08:00 AM) There is a very in-depth 2014 MiLB attendance report available out there now, which is like 150 pages long. But some highlights for Sox clubs... --Charlotte Knights led all of minor league baseball in attendance, both total and per game --Birmingham Barons led the Southern League in attendance. Even more amazing, their attendance actually went up in the 2nd year of their new stadium, and they had the 6th largest per-game jump in baseball --Winston-Salem Dash continue to draw well, they were 2nd in the Carolina League --Kannapolis Intimidators continue to be middle-ground in the SAL attendance-wise, which is actually pretty good considering their stadium is not very new and they compete with nearby Charlotte --Great Falls is on the lower end of the Pioneer League, in fact they had their lowest attendace since the 60's. Another older stadium. --AZL Sox are non-rev and do not track attendance Here is the full report. Some cool historical info too. Overall, that's a pretty darn good performance, with the three highest level teams all drawing quite well, and another managing to be average-ish in an older stadium and a tough market. New stadiums help. Kanny is just kind of a "blah" mid 90's cookie-cutter minor league stadium. I was there once and have not one single memory sticking out in my mind about the facility. Hickory was THE team in the SAL that did really well in attendance (and they with the Sox then) in that era...along with Charleston (SC) after they built a new park. Most would argue 65-75% of minor league attendance is related to promotions and the niceties of the stadium/s (especially in the lower minors). Obviously the horrendous records of the Charlotte team recently didn't have much of an impact...3-5 years down the line, of course, the presence of top prospects and competitiveness of the team will return to being more of a factor.

Congrats to the Illini. With the Rice injury, it definitely looked like they were joining Minnesota in the unenviable 0-3 position and buried early. MD probably was a bit overconfident they could just walk in and ILL would roll over. No easy wins in the Big 10 on the road, except for maybe Penn State. Now, let's go Hawkeyes and finally win a HUGE home game against MSU. Aaron White is 0-7 on his career (against the Spartans), and unless they win tonight, they don't play again unless it's the B10 Tourney in March. And imagine the Badgers with Uthoff, too? Of course, Iowa would be even better with Tyler Ulis in their backcourt, too. Finally, STEVE ALFORD still sucks.

QUOTE (Douglas Rome @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 02:07 AM) 20 homers, are you saying a 20 homer guy is a home run hitter? I say no way, a 40 homer guy is home run hitter, but not 20. thanks, douglas Ten years ago, no way. Now....20-25, pretty close. Although in today's environment, I think 27.5 or even 30+ is the magic number to be considered a "home run hitter."

Bring back Beckham. Thanks, Caulfield Actually, the major problem's going to be if Eaton is injured...which would pull Bonifacio off 3B and the Gillaspie split. Of course, one would assume if it's a major injury they would have another OF in Charlotte to bring up, along the lines of Danks, Shuck or Campana. But are any of those three a better option than Bonifacio? Perhaps they would prefer Saladino splitting time with Conor and playing Emilio in CF in that situation.

Whiplash was simply excellent (albeit uncomfortable at times) with a Supporting Actor nomination due for JK Simmons and possibly one for Miles Teller (will believe it when I see it). Selma, as mentioned above, happens to have the advantage of being incredibly timely to revisit and one of the best "historical" films in ages...right there above Spielberg's Lincoln. The recent trend of taking one slice of history to encapsulate a person instead of doing a 3+ hour biopic seems to be catching on with screenwriters/producers. Will be incredibly shocked if Oweleyo doesn't win the Oscar for portraying MLK so well. About the only criticism I've seen of this film so far has been the historical accuracy of ANYONE really standing up in a confrontational manner to LBJ in that way. Supposedly, the FBI tapes say it never happened. But it definitely makes for a better, more dramatic script. But back to MLK and Whiplash's "Tiger Mentor/Conductor" Terrence Fletcher...the actors absolutely inhabit those roles to the point where they become someone else and you almost forget you're watching a performance. With Foxcatcher, you can never quite separate yourself from Carell, Tatum and Ruffalo, as a counterexample.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jan 3, 2015 -> 08:36 AM) I've known several guys throughout my time in baseball who learned to ID offspeed pitches, but for whatever reason still had little ability to be disciplined on them. They'd be tickled s***less that they recognized the curveball, so they would swing without even realizing it was an unhittable location. I do wonder what level he'll start at in 2015. A+ would still seem appropriate, but it's hard to imagine any team having a player of his caliber repeat that level a third time. That's especially true when considering how small the SAL is. Carolina League?

Iowa with the nice road win over Ohio State. They've already lost to Texas, Syracuse, Iowa State (massacre) and flopped against UNI at a neutral site. On the other hand, they've already gotten two big victories at North Carolina and OSU. IF IF IF Uthoff can keep building his confidence and they could take down Nebraska and Michigan State at home...a 3-0 start would go a long ways towards an NCAA berth. With the way they played against ISU and UNI, that didn't seem possible a week ago.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 28, 2014 -> 09:06 PM) I think his bullpen management was great. He would pick a closer and go with them until it was obvious they had to be replaced. Not crazy of all the situational lefty/righty crap, but it's not Robin. All managers do it way too early in games. I was incensed that game he ran out of pitchers. Hope that never happens again. But Robin's bullpen management was fine. He had one of the worst collection of pitchers to work with, expecially the few lefty hacks he was provided. Were you equally incensed with Ozzie Guillen when Pablo Ozuna would have had to relieve Mark Buehrle in the World Series had the game gone on any longer? Sometimes situations like that can happen...especially when the relievers who come in early simply fail to get the job done.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 28, 2014 -> 09:00 PM) Way to miss the forest for the trees. I am equating taking the same "profession" and asking them to do two completely different things within that profession. Tex is a middle school teacher. Asking him to teach K on a moments notice is akin to asking your middle reliever to close. Having taught high school and university my entire life, I actually did go into this exact situation in South Korea in a KG/hagwon just to see if I could do it. It wouldn't have been very easily without a South Korean assistant teacher to help manage the kids. Having your own classroom in a situation where they don't understand you well in their 2nd language would be darned-near impossible. In hindsight, it was challenging because there is that assumption that "teachers can teach anything/anyone" and that's simply not true. There are teachers with great content knowledge who fail to communicate or instruct, and great classroom managers and motivators who are lacking in knowledge. In the end, to go back to the middle reliever changing to a closer role comparison...it takes a LOT more energy. 20-30 minutes with those kids is like 2-3 hours with high school or univ students. The amount of preparation and the need to vary your instruction (or you will completely lose the students' attention) is something an "adult" teacher would never be ready for. Most good middle relievers can't close. Most high school or uni teachers can't teach KG effectively.

QUOTE (Brian @ Dec 28, 2014 -> 06:49 AM) Want to see Selma, Inherent Vice, American Sniper, Big Eyes, and a Most Violent Year before i make my top 10 list. Doubt anything replaces my current #1. Big Eyes is coming out of the gate as a bit of a disappointment. Am really looking forward to American Sniper, though. Selma seems to be on nearly every single Top 5 list out so far. Whiplash hopefully will get Simmons or Teller some acting nods.

Some funny moments but I'm not sure it's worth $6. Interestingly more information is coming out that the leak didn't originate in S.Korea. Maybe Sony can collect an insurance payment for a movie that was going to seriously underperform if they can blame it on foreign espionage.

They're not going to replace Ventura now. That's the kind of thing that Daniel Snyder or Donald Sterling would do. If the White Sox are a huge disappointment in 2015, he will be held accountable (presumably) unless there are major injuries.

Groot

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ Dec 22, 2014 -> 11:24 PM) Its Hughes Nolasco Gibson Ervin Santana then some sort of combination of Mike Pelfrey ($5 mil contract ugh. But I think he would be an awesome bullpen arm in the Wade Davis mold. But I think he doesnt want to go that route)/Trevor May (again, probabl better suited for bullpen)/ Alex Meyer/Trevor Milone (traded from A's last year)/Jose Berrios (the Twins denied his request to pitch in winter ball to rest up his arm)/ another FA signing/spring training surprise like a Mark Hamburger. While Nolasco is probably better than what his stats show (he was hurt most of the year, and got no help from a pathetic defense), he is probably suited to play in the National League and I think if any team gave the Twins a fair or even slightly below fair deal, they would unload him in a heartbeat. Tommy Why do you think Ryan's had more trouble adjusting his second time around as GM? Is there an internal struggle over traditional scouting vs. the new age quants/sabre/Moneyball model? Of course, the Twins do have Sano and Buxton...what's their most recent medical prognosis? Is Santana going to end up at SS or CF? Is Vargas the next Ortiz or the next Pete Incaviglia/Steve Balboni?

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ Dec 22, 2014 -> 08:20 PM) There is 0% chance Nolasco is a Twin in 2019. Or 2018. I bet he gets traded before Aug 1 The White Sox and Twins will have a competition to see who can more cheaply auction off their unwanted starters, with Danks facing off with Nolasco. What is the Twins' rotation right now? Hughes, Santana, Gibson, Meyer, May? What will they do with Nolasco? Long man? If he's not a starter, it's going to be increasingly difficult to dump that contract, not unlike the Giants using Zito or Lincecum in the bullpen (or Verlander for DET).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 22, 2014 -> 04:01 PM) I enjoyed A Million Ways to Die in the West. Neil Patrick Harris was awesome in his bit... stole the movie. Perfect example of hubris run amok. That movie would have been much better received had a different lead actor been in the role. It's the same reason we wouldn't want to watch Quentin Tarantino in more than a bit part. He could never carry a movie by himself.

If we hadn't acquired Me.Cabrera, we'd have about a 68 page thread on SD's "expendable" outfielders. Thank god we were spared that at least. Kind of boring when we only have the back end of the rotation, 3B, C, 2B and Avy Garcia to wring our hands about.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 22, 2014 -> 06:51 AM) Loved everything about Guardians of the Galaxy. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was weird, it had actual moments where it was watchable and had some good nods to the 90s movie and show. And then it had moments where I should have turned it off You must have a secret crush on Megan Fox back from the original Transformers movie...that would seem to be the only compelling reason to watch.

Homeland Is it crazy to like The Flash more than Agents of SHIELD? For some reason, The Flash just seems to be a "tighter" show, in the sense the cast isn't quite so big and the stories are more concentrated in Central City compared to spanning the entire globe. It feels a bit like Smallville when it first started out. Maybe with SHIELD it just feels like the storyline is a big forced (and there isn't the immediate tie-in with an Avengers movie at the moment)...or the fact that there isn't the three-way tension between Ming Na Wen, Ward and Skye to sustain things, and the whole thing with the lab geeks has been annoying as well. They used to be a bit of fun. And a little Patton Oswalt goes a long way.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 18, 2014 -> 08:45 PM) I'm not scared. I wish the Lake theater would pick it up. Some daring owners are showing Team America: World Police again.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Dec 18, 2014 -> 06:08 PM) Taking suggestions on the next show to binge watch. I've been considering Boardwalk Empire, Orange is the New Black, House of Cards and Banshee. House of Cards is really good, especially the first season. I just did that with Prison Break and Homeland. The high school students here in China seem to like Scorpion, too. Their current favorite is Sherlock. Try youku.com, iqiyi.com or watchseries.ag if you want to watch older shows.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Dec 18, 2014 -> 02:24 PM) Hollywood should be pissed off at AMC and all the other movie theaters that pulled the movie because they were scared. Sony pulled the movie because they were going to lose tens of millions of dollars. Think about it....AMC is now Chinese-owned, and China has a relationship (albeit wary) they need to protect with North Korea (if for no other reason, economic stability in the region), something like Big Brother/Little Brother. Maybe I've been watching too many episodes of Homeland recently, but it's impossible not to see a connection. https://www.yahoo.com/movies/sony-pictures-...5530367442.html More in-depth article about the financial consequences of the Sony leaks/cyber attacks.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Dec 18, 2014 -> 04:31 PM) Not sure what SD is thinking here. Its bad enough they thought Kemp could play the outfield at Petco Park while he ages but now he has arthritis in his hips? Don't know why SD is still interested. Kemp would benefit more from being traded to the AL where he can spend more time at DH. If I'm SD, I'm backing out on this fast. If I'm the Padres, it's a cash-grab for as much of an extra subsidy as I can get because the ONE thing LA doesn't want to deal with is Kemp coming back to their organization. This reminds me of the Grant Balfour situation, although that was a signing and not a trade. Or Brady Aiken, lol. By the way, WHERE IS HE? It's hard to find information on the internet. @chrisrod13: Heard of a rumor that Brady Aiken is heading to Yavapai JC in Arizona. Came from numerous scouts.

Homeland

Homeland