Southwest Sider

Not like we couldn't guess it would happen, but Patrick Kane has stated that he is playing in game 1. This.Is.Awesome. It's a shame we couldn't get home ice, but the silver lining of the injury allowed us to add to our depth. It's true that neither Vermette or Timonen have looked very good, but you never know if they will take it to the next level in the playoffs. Plus, Desjardins has looked like a solid 4th liner, which we really need. I'm excited about our forward depth, but I really hope we can get Vermette going in a center role and he can win a lot of faceoffs for us. Still a little concerned about the D depth though, and it could burn us.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Apr 13, 2015 -> 09:30 PM) Sure did deadspin.com/jon-doesnt-have-the-yips-lester-airmails-throw-to-fir-1697629188 It looks like he didn't even try to make a good throw. It's hard to imagine a major league pitcher would be that terrible at simply throwing the ball the 1st base. Can he field bunts at all?

Adam Eaton (6 pts): Melky Cabrera (3 pts): Jose Abreu (1 pts): Adam LaRoche (2 pts): Condor13, Aviasil Garcia (3 pts): South Sider Alexei Ramirez (4 pts): Gillespie/ Bacon (4 pts): Flowers/Soto (3 pts): Micah Johnson/Emilio Bonifacio (6 pts): Bench (8 pts): Noone ( 1,000,000 pts ): hi8is

I have tickets to the Sox game and the Hawks game on the 25th... I really hope they schedule the Hawks at night. What an epic day that would be. Otherwise, I have to choose one

It's an extremely small sample size, but Beckham has been awesome thus far. Here's hoping that less pressure on him to be the guy helps him become a solid ballplayer. He's still pretty young.

So glad I didn't get tickets to this game. The only good part about it is the weather.

Another ball hit hard, with nothing to show for it. Gotta love the baseball gods throwing bad luck into the mix too. FFS

For the love of.... this team needs a sense of urgency! They need to play like its the f***ing playoffs! Almost this entire month is against division foes, you can easily dig yourself into an almost insurmountable hole this month, and this is how they come out of the gate? I can almost.... ALMOST understand getting swept by KC. Really, they should have taken 1 game there. Embarrassing yourselves on opening day is just.... lame. No one can magically make the Sox play better, but these games f***ing count and it sure doesn't seem like they are playing like it. (Except game 2 in KC, they fought hard in that game to their credit. No thanks to Putnam for gift wrapping that game for their hottest hitter)

Just need to vent for a second. Between the hawks and this, this is one of the worst weeks for chicago sports that i can remember. What kills me is that almost any ball the sox hit hard, someone makes a play on. Very frustrating week. f***.

Great deal in my opinion... I'm a little extra happy because I bought an Adam Eaton jersey earlier today... Good timing eh?

I'll be at the game today, and even though I'm a Sox fan it's highly disappointing that the Maddon would send the B team. It's gonna be a packed house of Sox and Cubs fans, let all the people see the young studs. Pathetic. Good thing Robin isn't as dumb as Maddon.. at least I get to see the Sox opening day lineup.

Bickell wearing an extra Raanta sweater at practice today. Joel Quenneville urging #Blackhawks to "get pissed off" during practice. Quenneville is fired up for practice today and is letting his players know about it as only Quenneville can. Q trying to light a fire under the #Blackhawks' ***** Q starts a 2-on-2 drill by raising his voice, "Let's get (bleepin' bleeped off) around here!" (He didn't say bleeped tho). #Blackhawks Sounds like a fun practice.

Up to the Hawks to win it tonight. None of this playing down to your competition nonsense. Edmonton is going to bring it tonight and the Hawks need to be on top of their game. Nashvilles dropped 5 in a row and St. Louis lost last night too. If the Hawks can get on a roll here... first in the division may still be possible.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 3, 2015 -> 05:49 AM) Other than the weather, I can't imagine there is much positive about playing for the Coyotes. Major breath of fresh air for him. Ben Smith flew to SJ right after being traded, played last night and scored a goal and an assist, good for him. I love Smith. He became one of my favorites after that 2011 Vancouver series. When he finally made the team for good, I was stoked. I thought for sure he'd be a big presence in our lineup, being able to contribute regularly. For whatever reason, it just didn't work this year... I don't exactly think there was a lack of chemistry on the 4th line... but it is sure strange that when Smith gets a new home, he finally scores, and without him on his line, Kruger finally scores.

Vermette looks thrilled to be on this team, judging by his intermission interview. As a fan, that's really cool to see! I'm happy to have him here And don't look now, but the Predators might finally be coming back to earth.

If the Hawks love Darling as much as it seems, then the ideal scenario is that you still ride Crawford this postseason. I'm pretty sure Crawford will play well, again. He's a good goaltender and can turn it up for the playoffs. Ideally, he does extremely well and the Hawks are able to trade him in the offseason. Then, you have Darling ready to take over, for a much smaller price. You just have to be sure that Darling is going to be able to at least match Crawfords production going forward.

I've had some good sandwiches at Jersey Mikes. Their cold subs are awesome, especially done "Mikes way". I usually just get something from my work, though. Cheap, discounted, varied, and does the job.

Hawks up 3-0 on the Ducks. I guess it's time for the Ducks to activate goon mode because they aren't having their way with the Hawks like they do almost every other team. Anyone catch the water squirt at Kane from the Ducks bench after his goal? And Kesler getting upset that Roszival hit him, while the Ducks have been finishing all their checks all game. It would be nice to meet this team in the playoffs, except for I'd worry that Corey Perry and Whatshisname Maroon would injure half of the team.

This has been my favorite offseason, and by far the most exciting since the 04-05 offseason for me. 05-06 was a lot of fun, too.

This has been an exciting game up to this point. Great matchup, as always.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 10:50 AM) Phoenix has awesome awesome food. Are there any places in particular you'd suggest? There are some places that I've found to be good, but I'd always like to try some other stuff too! To anyone going to AZ: If you're willing to make a 45 minute- 1 hour drive up north, and you love "western" style towns, Cave Creek is a fun, touristy kind of place to go. The Buffalo Chip hosts bull riding events, and it's always bustling with people on weekends. The Horny Toad and Cave Creek Smokehouse both have awesome food. It's a fun little town.

I've got family in AZ, so I go to Spring Training every year for vacation. I have tickets to both Cubs Sox games (my grandpa, who is in AZ, is a Cubs fan) and I am stoked. It's my girlfriends Spring break and she is going too. After I purchased airfare and game tickets, I found out I was getting transferred to a new store that was opening in late March. I almost thought I was going to have to cancel the trip.. but my boss was really cool about it. THANK GOODNESS!!! I haven't been this excited about ST in a few years and I would have been very bummed out if I had to cancel.

It's been interesting to see how many are opposed to an idea such as this! Very enlightening for me. What I am grasping is that the rulebook says that position players can play anywhere on the field, regardless of "designated position". So, designated position is almost an arbitrary thing to have. To me, it would be just as meaningful to say to an umpire "hey, this is the order my guys are batting and this guy is my DH or pitcher, and the rest of them are out there playing whatever position. Primarily they will stick to what they are good at, but sometimes you might see them move around out of their designated area." These are the rules as we know it... but don't they seem a little... odd? Lets be real, perfection is not always achieved on your first go around, or your second, third, etc... Take a look at double switches. A legal substitution tactic because of one rule. That a player can play anywhere on the field. So you can actually replace the pitcher with a position player, replace a position player with a pitcher, and then just have them "trade" defensive roles without consequence, all the while allowing the team double switching to gain an advantage in their lineup. To me, if this commissioner wants to abolish extreme shifts, you also have to abolish the double switch. And I assume that would meet even more criticism then this suggestion because eliminating the double switch would probably hinder offense as much as abolishing extreme shifts would help offense. Honestly, I'm really surprised that 99.9% of people not only hate this idea, but call it stupid, dumb and idiotic. I appreciate those that appreciate that a subject like this can be discussed, because frankly, in my mind, it's a topic that merits discussion in the very least. I don't find it to be stupid. I find it to be an intelligent thing to discuss and throw out into the community. I think that those who so vehemently oppose and resort to insulting the commissioner for even suggesting should take a look in the mirror. You can never be afraid to change the rulebook. Our sports as we know them are constantly evolving and rules that were made decades or centuries ago deserve to be revisited, whether they need to be changed or not.

This idea is going to be very unpopular, but i actually appreciate that its been brought up. Im going to play devils advocate here, but ive actually thought of this myself... Extreme defensive shifts to me seem ridiculous. To me, the whole idea of a 3rd basemen is that hes covering the area around 3rd base. To see a 3rd basemen literally playing 2nd base, and a short stop playing.... 1st and 1/2 base and your 2nd basemen playing right field... when theres already someoene playing right field just seems ridiculous to me. I appreciate the strategic aspect of shifts and since theyre legal i expect them to be deployed... but let me just say i dont hate this idea as much as everyone else will. You fill out your lineup card for the umpires to inform them that such and such player is playing 3rd base. To me, having that player literally play 2nd base seems like it should be illegal and warrant a lineup switch. I mean, if a manager really wanted to, he could place any player in any part of the field. Need your right fielder around 3rd base? Ok go for it. Need your 1st basemen to cover 3rd for some reason? Ok. Not that those things would ever happen... but the point is that they can legally move players into other fielding positions without having to change your lineup. That just doesnt seem right. Excited to read some responses.

Nothing like getting paid to not work...