lostfan

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 10:45 AM) What's obnoxious is every time a guy goes into a slump, he's toast. Every time the Sox lose a game the season is over. Just look at the posts in the gamethread yesterday. Read Mike Downey's article about all the White Sox sucking. He did a good job listing all the complaints White Sox fans have made. Listen to Paul Konerko get booed by classless, clueless White Sox "fans". I've never seen a team in first place, playing way beyond any reasonable expectations get more s*** from their "fans" than this one. So 7 guys are in the top 64 of GIDP. Why does that warrant an "unf***ingbeleivable"? Its fine to b**** about things, I have done it plenty, at least have something to complain about. Should we complain Quentin added to his GIDP total yesterday? I agree with all the above (I recall a rant from a poster I won't name about how Dye is done earlier in the year). But I see nothing wrong with talking about how awful our defense has been lately, the bullpen's recent collapses, the team consistently getting owned by soft-tossing lefties, etc. Whenever somebody does that there are 2-3 snarky "we're in first place, kwitcherbichin" posts.

QUOTE (jackie hayes @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 09:51 AM) I dunno about this... Why did David Robinson serve for two years before playing? If true, that would be one of the most monumentally stupid rules I've ever heard. You have to put your life on the line as originally agreed. Unless you're going to be really rich. Then you're excused. Part of it is an urban legend among barracks lawyers but not entirely. I think maybe I explained that wrong. You can't just up and quit the military. But if, say, you suddenly became a millionaire and you're of some low rank and you're not a senior officer or something like that, your presence is disruptive to the general order of the unit and odds are they will discharge you (convenience of the government I believe it's called). On the other hand I think if you're a reservist and your budget is based off your civilian income, and being called to active duty for an extended period of time will hurt you financially, there is something that can be done about that too although I can't recall what exactly. In this case, from what I can tell, it doesn't sound like the guy has much of a leg to stand on. Also I think some people overestimate the forward thinking involved here, or lack thereof... I'm almost positive he is nothing more than a number and nobody realized who he was until it was brought to their attention (if it even was).

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 10:49 AM) I guess we missed Gibson, Couric, and Williams' reports then. He did one before that, and it was covered, but the Democratic primaries were a white-hot news story then. McCain wasn't complaining about it, he actually encouraged it, even joked about it on SNL. In fact, if his campaign wants to act now like they had a problem with it, I'd find it completely laughable. The general tone of the coverage was "While Obama and Clinton are fighting among themselves, McCain is more or less unifying his base quietly, and looking presidential on his foreign tour."

Basically, Hester doesn't have nearly as much leverage here as it sounds. Hester's going to get paid... he needs to calm his ass down. Everyone else who needed to get paid did. Does he think Angelo isn't taking this seriously?

No offense to any individual person, but this whole "let's not bring up anything negative because we're in first place" response to even the slightest flaw in this team someone brings up is getting pretty obnoxious. It's almost as bad as the hypersensitive negative responses to everything in the first place.

QUOTE (jackie hayes @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 10:16 AM) Pretty sure you need a family hardship to get a hardship discharge, "enough money" won't cut it. Which is good. Every time people have been allowed to buy their way out of service, it's been bad news -- the NYC draft riots, the bitterness over college deferments during Vietnam. I think the Army is entirely right in this, except for the wavering. (Iirc, they initially said he could play, then changed course.) I don't remember the exact rule and to be honest I don't know the details of this situation, but if you can make a reasonable argument that you make a lot of money (talking high 6 figures, 7 figure salary) and that being on active duty impedes that, you can get an exception. I do remember being in a unit once where the commander was talking about a reservist E-7 in the unit who was an exec somewhere who made probably more than any general in his civilian job, and saying how it made him proud to be commanding someone like that (he said he wanted to serve and that he was willing to take the financial hit).

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 02:46 AM) I heard he moved out of state and I bet he still looks over his shoulder. If knucklehead Cub fans hate him now, how do you think they'll feel about him if he begins profiting from it? That's a crappy way to live. I thought that was a myth and that he lived in the city and worked downtown?

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 11:59 PM) Have you ever been to Fenway? I haven't. If you have, what did you think of it? I haven't, but for the people I know that have been there (I work with 2 Red Sox fans) they say generally the same thing. Fenway needs to be renovated or something.

If you make enough money you can file a hardship if I'm not mistaken.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 09:21 AM) I respect Powell more than most Washington insiders. If he jumps onto the Obama bus, that would actually win some points for Obama, in my view. And it would probably also be a little help on the campaign trail. If only people had listened to Powell, taken him seriously, and realized that he (and maybe Rice) were the only ones in that administration that weren't bats*** crazy. Bush probably would've had a successful presidency.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 09:18 AM) I linked a blog post by Arianna Huffington in the Dem thread the other day that pretty much makes that same point. It's a thoroughly stupid question. I really hate the mentality of that opposite foreign policy approach too. "We'll do what we want and our allies will fall in line." Sure... if they want. And if they even want to stay allies.

And McCain's trips abroad did get coverage. He went to Iraq at the height of the Obama-Clinton drama that was drawing mad ratings, and he had a massive head start on his campaign, so I can't see how that was a bad thing. His trips to Colombia and Canada were also pretty big deals. There' just a general lack of enthusiasm for McCain's campaign and Republicans are going to wear latex gloves when they vote for him... don't blame the media for that. It pretty much offsets the love for him since 2000 anyway.

This is one of those things where the media starts running out of things to talk about and they start saying things just to fill space. I can't think of a single negative about Obama taking a foreign trip (ostensibly in his Senate capacity, and media coverage notwithstanding since that has nothing to do wit him) and getting to know world leaders. That is pretty much what's expected of him as president. If you already don't like him, then sure, you will find any reason you can not to like him, and I dismiss most of those opinions as irrelevant. But to anybody objective, why would you even bring up something like "is Obama getting too popular in Europe? Is he too close to the European governments?" If you were to re-word that, it would say "is he going to make our alliances too strong?" How dumb does that sound? I think we've seen what happens when we neglect our alliances and take them for granted. It isn't fun.

QUOTE (jackie hayes @ Jul 24, 2008 -> 04:52 AM) Even after Urlacher and Williams, that should be enough to get something done. Unless he's demanding a $30 mil bonus or something crazy like that. Bears are fine with salary cap space, always have been. They have enough money for an extension and they will do it, Hester is just trying to get as much as he can (he isn't worth upper-echelon #1 WR money yet though). I'm really seeing no reason to flip out about this yet.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 10:57 PM) You live in the city? I was there last night sitting in the bleachers. The guy 1 seat over had a retro Sox jersey on and we were loving it as the Yanks were pouring it on the Twins' bullpen. Got to make fun of some kids wearing Cubs jerseys too, just good natured stuff as they were about 7 or 8 years old. I don't think it's a dump, I've been to 4 games so far this year (and about 6-7 overall since I moved here) and all in all I think it's just an average ball park (for people living in the city the access to public transportation is rediculously good, I can take the D train 60 minutes from my apt in Brooklyn and be there), but the history is just unrivaled. That said, Yankee stadium has really changed for the worse. The whole thing is to encourage families (who will be buying lots of concessions) to come to the game. No booze in the bleachers, and quite a few sections in the nosebleeds as well. But the hardcore fans really are knowledable and get into the game, like standing and cheering on all 2 strike 2 out counts, going wild when the Yankes chase a pitcher, and generally staying till the last out. I'll be going back when the Sox come into town in September, got a couple hard core Yanks fans coming with me, should be a good time with both teams in the race. If any of you guys plan on going to that series let me know and I can recommend some things to do while in the city, etc. No, I took the day off and went to New York today (I'm back home now). I live near Baltimore, so I took the Amtrak to NYC as I do every now and again. Let me put it this way - Yankee Stadium is sort of like Wrigley. The park has lots of personality and history, but its age definitely shows, and it looks like a dump compared to modern ballparks like Camden Yards, the Cell, etc. The concessions are overpriced "meh" and the sight lines/seats are awful. It's no wonder they're tearing it down. I will say whatever stereotype people have about Yankee fans from ESPN and the internet probably isn't true though. I mean there are those who meet the stereotype b/c of the sheer size of the fanbase but most of them are actual baseball fans.

QUOTE (EvilJester99 @ Jul 23, 2008 -> 08:33 PM) Hester isn't even a very good reciever. The kid has a ton to learn about the routes. His "to-do" list: Learn how to catch Learn how to run routes Learn how to block ...he hasn't proved a god damn thing. This is because of all that talk from the Bears about Hester being a #1 WR. They went overboard with that, and now he's telling them to put their money where their mouth is. That's a self-inflicted wound if I ever saw one.

So I was at Yankee Stadium today to see the Twins lose in person, then to find out later the Sox win. Good times. Yankee Stadium is a dump, btw. An old, historic dump, but now that I've been there I can see why they're tearing it down.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 11:47 PM) http://www.foxnews.com/politics/ Well, that seemed to fill out the cable news thing for Republicans. They'll claim the are totally non-biased, and a lot of Republicans actually believe that. Also talk radio (as you mentioned). And Drudge on the internet. I wouldn't be surprised to see more conservative news outlets, as long as they are popular like the ones i mentioned before. I don't consider the Drudge Report to be either liberal or conservative.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 10:14 PM) Anyone who believes they understand the news by mimicking Stephen should be fed to the Bears. Because they're not getting the joke. At some level, you have to understand the news before that show before you can get the joke. I actually think I get the best news from Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 04:50 PM) It amazes me, as a culture, how we just are not receptive to evengelical thoughts anymore. People (Americans) just aren't interested. I blame well-meaning but overzealous and condescending Christians for that.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 04:52 PM) How did he whiff on Rowand? Did he ever even make an offer? Would it really have mattered though? KW wasn't about to give Rowand that much money and I can hardly blame him.

The Chinese are just going out of their way to try to make themselves look good in front of the rest of the world... they are basically making up all these fake threats and then doing the standard Communist government response of arresting a few hundred random people of a certain demographic in a "crackdown" for good measure and then broadcasting that they stopped some terrorist insurrection. If you read Chinese media (I do) you'd think the Dalai Lama was Osama bin Laden.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 07:16 PM) far more true than you realize. And I think the #1 reason fox wins is format. They pumped their lineup with vitalic, dynamic personalities, thin on news. I don't need another long post to say what's dangerous about fox news has nothing to do with ideology, but of shallow content. They have only like 3 hours of the day devoted to a news hour. That's been the trend for the last 5-10 years. Personality-driven journalism. Fox does it better than anybody. It's the equivalent of reality TV - people watch it, but that doesn't make it any good.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 07:09 PM) Overall they still easily beat CNN and MSNBC. During off-times on the weekend CNN seems to pick up steam. Here's some ratings stats. http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/default.asp They're still in the lead, I know... I just thought they were trending downward.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 06:53 PM) Unbiased news may sell, but the MSM isn't doing it right now so it won't reach the masses. The problem the left wing press is facing, with losing viewers or readers, is that there is too much competition for pro-Democrat news. Look at FOX, they don't even have a good presentation (CNN nad MSNBC are better in this category) but they are the only pro-GOP news on television; they destroy in the ratings. Hasn't Fox been slipping in the ratings lately?