SouthsideDon48

For a second I thought this was something from literotica.com. Imagine my reaction at first... "Why is this dude posting a story from literotica on Soxtalk???" :

It'll never happen, but I wouldn't mind seeing Kenny trade John Danks for Manuel Banuelos, Dellin Betances, and Brandon Laird. I know some people think Yankees prospects are overrated, but I'd take a shot on Banuelos and Betances.

For some reason, I think Jermain Dye would've been perfect for a return to the Oakland A's. He seems like he would fit in there, but it's too late now since they got Willingham.

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Feb 4, 2011 -> 12:06 AM) I could be wrong but I seem to be remembering him getting a number of major league offers but none of them with a guarantee of being an everyday outfielder Wasn't he offered 3 million to be a DH or something like that?

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Feb 3, 2011 -> 04:55 PM) LOL Juan Pierre himself says he's a black man from the south with a hispanic first name and a french last name. Also, we should ban the mentioning of Oney. I wish he'd just go away. And Juan Pierre has an awesome middle name: D'Vaughn. Juan D'Vaughn Pierre, now that is a freaking cool name. Also, Juan Pierre and Jake Peavy are both from Mobile, Alabama. ...my great grandmother's also from Mobile as well, so I was always a fan of Pierre and Peavy because they're from the same city my grandma was from. Also... as for the Lastings Milledge minor league signing... I'm a big fan of it. He has so much potential.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 02:54 PM) Awesome info man. We are all poker guys, so we are hitting up the Horseshoe. Definitely appreciate everyone's advice, too. Leaving in about 30 minutes. Sweet. How was the trip? Did you all enjoy Horseshoe Hammond? ...and did you try the buffet?

I go to the casinos in Northwest Indiana all the time. The only ones I go to is Horseshoe Hammond in Hammond and Maestic Star in Gary. I never go to whatever casino it is that used to be Resorts/Ameristar/whatever it's called now in East Chicago, Indiana. I went there once, but their poker room sucked, so I never went there again. Also, what types of gambling do you and your friends like to do? If you're all poker players like me, you might like Horseshoe Hammond a little better. If you've never been to either casino, here's some information from my times there: Majestic Star, Gary Indiana: Easiest way to get there is to take Cline, and then when you get off Cline, make an immediate left on the first light and you're right there. You shouldn't even be driving through any residential areas in Gary, if you are, then you made a wrong turn somewhere. Despite being in Gary, the Majestic Star casino is perfectly safe. I've gone there so many times, I've lost count, and most of the times I went there I was by myself. Majestic Star has a funky design that's kind of cool at first, but becomes old, dull, and claustrophobic after a while. The casino consists of two boats docked side-by-side with a lobby in the center connecting them, kind of like an H formation. In the center of the lobby is where you sign up for the casino's rewards card. The boat on the left has 3 stories: 1st floor: lots of slots and some table games, 2nd floor: slots, bar, table games, 3rd floor: a 21-table poker room and a deli outside of the poker room with hotdogs, sandwiches, and delicious cake. If you play in the poker room, one cool thing about the Majestic Star poker room is that you can walk outside to the deck of the ship for a smoke, and if you're there during the day you have a very nice scenic view of Lake Michigan. It's pretty cool playing in the poker room during day and looking outside the window and seeing the beautiful blue water and the Chicago skyline in the far far distance on a clear day. In the 2nd boat on the right, there's 3 stories as well, I don't gamble in slots a lot because I usually only play poker, so I rarely go in the 2nd boat, but from what I remember, the 2nd floor is mostly a balcony where you can look down onto the ground floor and there's mostly slots, and some table games. Majestic Star has a nice buffet, but it doesn't have the "Wow" factor. It's like, slightly better than Old Country Buffet, but you do have a real nice view of the Lake. The buffet is located south of the 2 boats/lobby H formation in the same hallway that connects the boats to the parking garage. Also, another thing about the poker room, if you or any of your friends are big poker players like I am, they have lots of daily tournaments. They have about 15 tournaments throughout the week, but most of them are the lower buy-in tournaments with so-so structures. They also have a lot of cash games, but ever since the Horseshoe casino remodeled, a lot of poker players started playing at the Horseshoe instead of Majestic. And Majestic's strategy is to be a "cheaper poker alternative" to Horseshoe Hammond, but that just means the tournament structures won't be as great and the competition you'll face will be bad. Majestic Star food summary: Buffet, awesome Deli, and 1 or 2 other restuarants that I don't remember because I never ate anything else besides the deli and buffet. Horseshoe Hammond, Hammond, Indiana: I guarantee you that Horseshoe Hammond is the closest you will get to having a Vegas-quality casino in the Chicago area. This casino is like something right out of Vegas. They finished an extensive remodeling and the new Horseshoe is now all on one big flat barge and all the slots and table games are on one floor. Honestly, it doesn't feel like you're on a boat, it's so big and expansive that it feels like you're on a land-based casino. I've gone there many times, both by myself and with friends/family. If you go with friends, make sure you all stay close together, because it's so big it's easy to get lost and spend an hour looking for each other, lol. They have a nice big parking garage, and when you leave the parking garage, you take elevators to the main casino floor, and after going through security and the id-check process, you're able to enter the main casino floor. When you enter the main casino floor, you'll notice it's so big with so many options. Most of the game floor by the entrance will be slots, then there's a circular bar in the center, and past the circular bar are a lot of table games, and more slots. The poker room is in the far back left corner, and it has 32 tables. Speaking of the poker room, this is the best poker room in the Chicago area. While I also like Majestic Star's room, the room in Horseshoe is still very new. They have nice big flat-screen tv's on the walls. Their poker room only has 4 poker tournaments a week ($200 buy-in noon tournaments on Sunday and Friday, and a $100 tournament on 2 other days at noon). The past year now, I've only been playing the $200 tournament because of the higher quality tournament they offer. You get 6,000 in starting chips, 30 minute blind levels, fields of about 60-90 opponents in each tournament, and a higher quality level of play from your opponents. The last daily $200 I played in, I finished in 4th out of 83 people for $1,400 . The first place guy won $4,000+ in that tournament. Horseshoe Hammond also hosts two major poker events each year. The Chicago Poker Classic in the end of February, and the World Series of Poker Circuit in October. They use the Venue concert room with 100 poker tables to host the major tournaments and if they need more tables, they use the extra tables in the poker room. Really cool. Horseshoe Hammond also has a really nice buffet on the 2nd floor in the same area where the Venue is located in. Let me tell you this: the buffet at Horseshoe Hammond is like a buffet RIGHT OUT OF VEGAS. If I had to compare the buffet, it would have to be very similar to the buffet at Planet Hollywood. They have many different "stations" of food with Italian food in one station, Latin food in another, Asian food in another, Seafood in another section, American food in another, and some other section I'm forgetting plus a huge dessert island. This buffet is just awesome. Buffets like this costs $50 to enter in Vegas, but Horseshoe Hammond charges just $20, and that's a huge bargain for the Vegas-quality buffet experience. Horseshoe Hammond also has another section where you exit the main casino floor through another security checkpoint and you can take escalator steps up to a nice gourmet sandwich shop on the 2nd floor that has some awesome sandwiches and some HUGE cake. You can also go to the 3rd floor of the same area and go to a steakhouse, it looks nice but I never ate there since I'm more of a sandwich/buffet guy. Horseshoe Hammond food summary: AWESOME buffet, awesome sandwich shop, plus they also have a steakhouse which I never went to. Also, Horseshoe Hammond uses the same rewards card that you use at Harrahs Joliet and a lot of Vegas casinos. Since they're all owned by Harrahs, they use the same card and you can accumulate your points. I think the best way to get to Horseshoe Hammond, if you're from the south suburbs of Chicago, is to take the way I go: Take I-80 east to Calumet Ave north. Take Calumet Ave north to Indianopolis Blvd and make a left. You'll see a big sign for the casino and you'll make another turn onto a bridge that will lead right to the casino. A lot of people say that Hammond is scary to be in, but they're nuts. There's nothing at all scary about Hammond. I've been going there since I was 17 and never had any problems. People who think Hammond is bad are just not used to being in diverse areas that are kind of run-down looking. Hammond aint gonna be pretty-looking like Naperville or north suburban towns like Arlington Heights, but I'll be honest, I prefer areas like Hammond, lol. Also, I honestly don't see any reason to go to the Blue Chip Casino or any of the casinos in Wisconsin or Michigan. Why go that far when a Vegas-quality casino like the Horseshoe Hammond is in Chicago's backyard? Also, if your group of friends are all guys, there's a strip club on Calumet ave south of the casino called Industrial Strip. Look out for the neon palm tree and the sign that says "This IS it". It's a strip club that lets people 18 and over in since they don't serve alcohol, so my friends and I used to go there all the time before we turned 21. It's a nice strip club, with nice private dance rooms, but I haven't been there in a while since I turned 21 and started going to the 2 strip clubs in Harvey. Oh, one last thing about the Northwest Indiana casinos, since you're probably used to the no-smoking in public places laws in Illinois, you'll notice cigerette smoke in both Indiana casinos. Honestly, it's not that bad, and I didn't notice the smoke in Horseshoe Hammond and I'm usually one of the most sensitive people to cigerette smoke. If I were you, and you and your friends want to go to a really nice casino in northwest indiana, I'd definitely go to the Horseshoe. It's a casino that will give you the "wow!" factor and give you a Vegas-quality casino experience. You should have a great time there.

You should also be nice to people on trains. Even if they get a little too touchy-feely.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 13, 2011 -> 11:59 AM) Oh so Im a big survivor fan, and if I had to pick a survivor from any season to win 1million for me it would be Tom in season 10. 5 out of 7 immunities, killing a shark with a machete, and winning 6-1, that is domination. My pick would be Rob Cesternino from Amazon. That dude is one of my all-time favorite strategic Suvivors in Survivor history.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 13, 2011 -> 11:48 AM) I'm curious what the stipulation with them is because if they are on seperate tribes, the other people should get together and vote em off. The only way it would work is if you put them on the same tribe and let em go at it. I know a lot of people are sick of Russell but I want him on as much as possible. Best player ever and still pissed he didn't win his original season when it shouldn't of even been close. I don't even remember the girls name that won. I have a feeling they'll do this season the same way they did the Guatemala season with the return of Stephenie and Bobby Jon. Also, I agree with you about how Russell deserved to win. It pisses me off how there are so many crybabies on Survivor that doesn't take a step back and recognize the genius of strategists. It annoys me whenever someone like Natalie or Fabio wins Survivor. Also... since we're talking about Survivor, I wish they would put more overweight guys on. I was a HUGE Fan of the Fat Five Alliance (Chris, Sarge, Chad, Rory, Bubba) from Vanuatu, and I wish they had more guys like them instead of buff-looking guys.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 13, 2011 -> 08:42 AM) I don't know how many folks out there watch Survivor, but the long-rumored Rob vs. Russell season is official. I'm really looking forward to Survivor. I've been a fan since season 1. I watched the introduction videos for each contestant on the cbs.com Survivor site and I think I'm gonna be a huge fan of Ralph. He seems like he'll be another Big Tom type. I also like how there seems to be more tomboy girls instead of princessy Parvati-types that lay around on the beach all day. I'm also a big fan of both Russell and Rob, and I hope they both make it to the merge. But if I was competing on Survivor, I'd do everything I can to vote Rob or Russell off if they were on my tribe.

If I was the Angels, I would've rather keep Rivera and Napoli, and stay far far away from Wells and his horren-bad contract. I also agree with an earlier poster who said they're disappointed a Quentin-for-Napoli trade never happened. I would've been thrilled if the Sox got Napoli.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 12:21 PM) Guys, this wasn't supposed to be a debate. These are MY top 5 underrated players in the game. Underrated to me is guys who are relatively unrecognized or that don't get the attention that other players do even though their production warrants it. Players that fit that description are generally from small market teams. Teams that unless you have the Extra Innings package you don't get to see unless they happen to be playing your favorite team. And how the hell is Edwin Jackson underrated? Did you mean overpaid? I love how you're quick to say that it ain't supposed to be a debate when other people pick at your underrated picks, yet you're quick to debate my statement that Edwin Jackson is underrated. You crack me up a lot, J4L. : I actually think Jackson is getting paid exactly what he should be getting paid. I think he's a pitcher that's the same caliber as pitchers such as Danks, Lester, Johnson, Sanchez, Wainwright, Haren, Greinke, and Jiminez. And the fact that a lot of people thinks he's overpaid makes me think he's really underrated.

QUOTE (ChrisLikesBaseball @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 11:52 AM) Happy to see someone else around here is paying attention to him. His home/road splits leave something to be desired, but when he's in Seattle, he's a damn good pitcher. Hell yea. I agree about his home/road splits and how he's better at home. He still puts up good numbers and I'm the only one out of all my friends that thinks he's a good pitcher. I feel that a lot of people gotta put down the Haterade on Vargas.

Here's my top 5 underrated players, in no particular order... 5. Ty Wigginton 4. Aubrey Huff 3. Jason Vargas 2. Anibal Sanchez 1. Adam Dunn I'd also add Edwin Jackson to the list if I were to subtract someone.

I currently drive a 2001 Toyota Camry, it's a good car but my only complaint is that it's a V6. I wish it was a V4 because it seems like I'm filling my 2001 Camry with gas more frequently than my old car which was a V4. I still miss my old car, though. It was a 1993 Toyota Camry with 239,000 miles on it. *see pic below* I always loved that car because it was on the junky side and I thought it looked like a tough car because it was missing some hubcaps. It also had paint chipped off at a lot of places, so I named it Roadkill, after the car from the Twisted Metal video games. It was a great car, I had it for 6 years before it started wearing down on me when it needed $1,600 worth of repairs for the exhaust system, a new head gasket, and other things. The thing is, it was still driving great. Also, the day after I got my new car, I was driving my old car and an old lady ran a red light at 111th and Pulaski and messed up the front bumper. I ended up selling it for $300 to a mechanix family friend who is currently using it as his personal car, so I'm happy it has a new home. As for what kind of car I would like to have, if it's not a Toyota Camry (which I'm loyal to), it would have to be a used Dodge Magnum as long as I can get it at a depreciated price around $5,000 or less. But I'll be honest though, I always preferred junkier cars. I always feel like I attract less attention from people who might want to break into my car to steal stuff if my car looked like it belonged to a bum than if my car looked a fancy car that belonged to a rich person from out of town.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 15, 2011 -> 05:04 PM) Deaf people don't have a right to know what he's saying. Is this supposed to be sarcasm?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 11, 2011 -> 09:29 AM) Condolences Don. Thanks, dude. It was pretty sad at the wake, and it hit me for the first time when I saw him in the coffin that he is really gone.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jan 10, 2011 -> 11:18 PM) That won't be a problem. I'm looking for a slender fit as it is. I've got style, trust me. lol, I absolutely cannot wear slender-fit clothes of anything. They just never fit right on me and I always end up with a wedgie up my ass, or pants clinging too tightly on my thighs, or shirts digging into my armpits. Also, to answer the original poster... I always see a lot of suits at K&G Fashions, I'm thinking of buying a suit there the next time I need one. Speaking of suits, I'll have to wear one of mines tomorrow for the first time in 2 years for one of my friend's wake.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jan 4, 2011 -> 02:06 AM) Oh, and Hugh Jackman. If you REALLY want to piss him off, you should become a male porn star like Ron Jeremy and use the name Hugh Jackman as your porn alias. Can you imagine all the confusion that would create for conservative people who would never double-check the porn scenes to make sure it's the real Hugh Jackman? They'd all be like, "Oh my god, Hugh Jackman is doing porn." :-/

I'd like to fight: Glen Beck Rush Limbaugh Bill Reilly Sarah Palin George Bush the Pope Skinheads, Nazis, and KKK people Tea Party people yea, bring it on. >:-|

I'm surprised they didn't include "A Time to Kill" by John Grisham in that list.

I only read 7 books from that list of 100. I read: To Kill a Mockingbird David Copperfield Lord of the Flies A Tale of Two Cities Of Mice and Men Oliver Twist Charlotte's Web I guess they were right about most people only reading about 6 of the books from the list. lol

I'd rather see someone else pitch in the 5th starter spot instead of Sale (rather see him locking down the bullpen while gaining more experience) or Pena (ehhhhhhh, and rather see him lock down the bullpen) I wouldn't mind seeing the Sox sign Capuano to a cheap contract. Or even Duchscherer. I actually think Duchscherer could pitch very well for the Sox on a cheap contract, especially since he already pitched in the AL.

QUOTE (gatnom @ Dec 25, 2010 -> 10:23 PM) A middle of the rotation starter and a league average third baseman isn't a whole lot of trade value. I think it's also worth noting that Hudson had taken a slight step back from his previous season while in AAA. And, I'll concede the point about being more proven than any old draft pick. I personally think that until you show something in the majors you haven't really shown anything, though. Getting something for a soon-to-be free agent with 2 months left on his contract is better than getting nothing.