lostfan

QUOTE (daa84 @ May 12, 2008 -> 10:57 PM) its about time AJ stopped getting a free pass in chicago...hes a below average defensive catcher and hes below average offensively.... Below average defensively yeah, but offensively, as a catcher? No not really.

Hits the nail on the head, IMO http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1e6a410a-1f6f-11...?nclick_check=1

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 12, 2008 -> 01:40 AM) 1.) I don't care about opposing fans; they are our announcers. 2.) Yes. the Royals announcers complain about calls A LOT. 3.) I personally like their banter about when they played. I think they are interesting. Kill me, but I do. 4.) Yes, to me he is. 5.) Dunno. His homerism about the other pitcher being Sandy Koufax might bother me once in a while, but not a lot. 6.) Already covered. I think he fills space pretty well. 7.) I'm not a big DJ fan. I really like Hawk. Hawk is fine but he has to be countered with another personality not named Darrin Jackson. DJ just lets him ramble on, and on, and on, and on and it's just unbearable to listen to. I find myself muting the volume quite often. If I lived in Chicago I'd have the radio on.

I thought this had been beat to death already but I guess not. This thing came up, and blew over way before I even gave Obama a second thought so there is no bias on my part here. It's a strawman creator's dream. There are any number of reasons you vote against a bill, but 95% of the time when someone uses that vote in a campaign ad it's reduced to a literal yes or no, one extreme or the other, and the intent behind the vote is lost. So if a lawmaker votes against, say, health care for poor kids, he/she is made out to be "endorsing the poor health of children" or some extreme BS. If someone votes in favor of a certain gun control measure (but not take away guns) it'll be "politician X wants to restrict the freedom of Americans while keeping the rights of criminals intact." And so on. They're always drawn out to their illogical conclusions. The same thing applies to these "present" votes. It's a standard political practice but it was blown into hyperbole by Hillary's camp, and by extension the GOP, to distort Obama's record and make him out to be a spineless coward. (Very rarely does anybody who repeats this even know what he voted "present" on or mention the fact that he did vote on an overwhelming majority of other things - and they also can't even be bothered to point to those votes or non-votes and find an inconsistency in his stances on any issues. Nor do they even really know why he voted that way, they just gleefully cite it all as fact, and it's plenty proof to them.)

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 12, 2008 -> 03:59 PM) I think Thome swings and misses a lot. I also think when he's going bad, he swings and misses even more. He's going bad. Given him a week or 2 and he will be on fire again. So basically Jim Thome is a more skilled version of Juan Uribe

It's only certain types of politicians that can do that though. Obama is one obviously. Paul would've been another and had his campaign caught on he would've been rivaling Obama for the stacks of money they're raising. In order for a campaign to do that they it has to get the candidate's base fired up at the grassroots level, and they have to be organized and highly motivated the way Obama's and Paul's supporters are/were. Only a select few have that ability and there's no guarantee the next election will be like that.

Pics of the Chicago skyline make me homesick. I would trade the entire state of Maryland, and maybe even DC and northern VA too for Chicago. The first time I went to Baltimore I was walking around downtown with my then-girlfriend (now wife) and I asked her "so when are we getting to the part with the tall buildings?" She kind of stared at me like "uhh this is it, look around." the building look so much taller from far away. Compared to Chicago, where you can't even see the buildings behind each other when you're on State or Michigan.

When considering the death toll you also have to factor in the fact that China's state-run media usually isn't into giving liberal estimates of dead.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ May 12, 2008 -> 02:10 PM) I agree, but that's the hardest part - I don't think many Americans would like the idea of their "leader" being elected by 20% of the vote (multiple parties - parliamentary system). It's a weird balance. I hate the fact that both parties veer as hard as they can toward their respective corners. I agree. When a politician, either Democrat or Republican, is campaigning he/she tries to promise a certain set of values and says they'll represent certain things while they're in office. Once they get elected they immediately get influenced by the lobbyists that are basically their life's blood as a politician, and more often than not vote in lock step with their parties. This is what makes me wonder about these "special interest groups" McCain and Obama seem to be railing against. It's nice to think about but without some major changes to the way we conduct campaigns, it's just not realistic. The Dems and GOP have basically cemented that in place and aren't going to volunteer to change it anytime soon.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ May 12, 2008 -> 01:57 PM) "Liberal" or "Conservative" has to do with whether you want to control your own desitiny with things. Get a government handout, expect it, want it, make sure that there's equality for all, and you'll see liberals more often then conservatives in the crowd. Understanding that there has to be a fair share, but there should be limits to what government can do for us, you'll see conservatives more often then liberals in the crowd. Even still, as you even alluded to in this paragraph, there's a lot of gray area where people differ on those overall ideologies. It annoys me to no end that there are only 2 major political parties in this country. I guess technically I'm a "liberal" but half the stuff the Democratic party does I can't really stand.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ May 12, 2008 -> 01:14 PM) So all those votes Obama missed or voted present on while in Illinois were because he was campaigning? Not that this is really the point or anything, but McCain has missed more votes than both Obama and Hillary. For the important ones they've all gone back to Washington to vote. Yes, campaigning is a big, big deal.

QUOTE (YASNY @ May 12, 2008 -> 01:29 PM) In my eyes, liberal is a dirty word. It has been since I was in 7th grade and had a liberal Social Studies teacher that tried to influence the thinking of the class. It worked just opposite with me. Stupid ass b****. I am incapable of having a serious discussion with anybody who thinks like this. They never amount to anything and immediately go downhill. Ridiculously polarized arguments are good for no one.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ May 12, 2008 -> 12:26 PM) I do care about Obama wanting to raise taxes. I pay enough already, and dont need him putting his crosshairs on my pocketbook because he feels like Robin Hood. Stop the crazy spending and the socialistic programs and we will be fine. Stop the spending first.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 12, 2008 -> 08:10 AM) That's probably because you have always known it as Burma... I thought I knew where every country in the world was but I probably can't even point to it on a map. I'm guessing from looking at how the people look that it's somewhere near Cambodia or Thailand?

QUOTE (Gregory Pratt @ May 12, 2008 -> 12:37 PM) Ripken's is not unbreakable. All it will take is someone whose name and ability allow him to call some shots and play through, with some health luck. I'm not sure Ryan's Ks will ever be beaten. Ripken's is unlikely to be broken but certainly not impossible. It was only last year that Tejada had the longest active streak of consecutive games until he got hurt. Ironically he just so happened to play SS for the Orioles.

I think Henderson's 131 stolen bases in a season is pretty safe too. Nowadays even reaching triple digits is virtually impossible.

I really don't care that Obama wants to raise taxes, that's whatever because we need to cover this crazy spending spree we've been on. My problem is he wants to increase spending. We need to spend LESS, not more. Otherwise there's no point in doing anything.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 12, 2008 -> 12:14 AM) I voted Carlos and Vaz. I wish our veterans' bats had the pop of Quentin's right now. BTW, I thought Hawk and Jackson called a great game on Saturday night. I watched it and was entertained and thought they had some great insight on things. Don't know why there seems to be a lot of anti-Hawk venom on here. Listen to a few other home announcers and national broadcasts (not counting Joe Morgan) and then listen to Hawk and DJ again, with the following questions in your mind: 1 - If I were an opposing fan hearing this, what would it sound like? 2 - Do other announcers complain about umpiring this much? Is it normal? Why does it only happen to the Sox? 3 - Are they talking about baseball? If not, has this happened at another time in the game? How many innings? 4 - Is Hawk making any sense at all? 5 - Is the other team really that good, specifically the opposing pitcher with a 5.84 ERA, or is this team just sucking at the moment? 6 - Is Andy Gonzalez (or insert your choice of awful baseball player) really that talented or is Hawk just talking to fill up space? 7 - Darrin Jackson was born in LA, how in the hell does he have a southern accent and when did he acquire it?

Can we start the talk of contracting the Twins again? For real.

Well there goes Gavin's no-hitter.

QUOTE (Brian @ May 11, 2008 -> 04:22 PM) Soxtalk would explode. I think Soxtalk could single-handedly vote him in to the All-Star game if that happened.

Come on Swish, walk to load the bases for Anderson so he can get that grand slam.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 11, 2008 -> 04:19 PM) So, what do we think of Jeff Cox so far this year? I haven't gotten to see a whole lot of games, but I can already tell he's no Cora. Cora could get a guy tagged out rounding 3rd on a home run.

3 singles in a row. Thome opposite field to boot. This is a White Sox game right?

Nice, first 2 batters aboard.