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Perspective Desperately Needed


soxfaninfl

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Everyone is mad and frustrated. Me too. We were promised better and, yet, here we are, fielding teams that probably would not beat our teams in the rebuilding years. A lot of that anger is directed at LaRussa and Hahn and rightfully so. This team has been mismanaged and the way the team conducts business needs to change. Unfortunately, that has been an ongoing problem for the Sox since, well, forever. Really, I became a fan when Bill Veeck still owned the team.

But I can't buy into this 'sell the team' or 'burn it down' mantra and we need some sense of perspective before this all goes to hell. We are fans of the second team in the second city. In other words, the perpetual underdogs, the gang that can't shoot straight. We had a pretty good run in the Frank Thomas years but still had some bumps in that road too. Honestly, it's the Sox. As a fan, I like the building part, the dreaming part, the hoping part. It's all about hoping for a better team and the frustration that has completely boiled over now has led to some non-sensible reactions.

Sell the team? What new owner would pay the price and still keep this team in Chicago? I lived through the 1988 season when JR threatened to move to St. Pete. I was living in Madison at the time and had an interview in Chicago since I graduated earlier in May. The date was 6/30/1988. We were having another sub-par year and all the news on the radio was the Sox were gone, the new stadium bill was dead, and 'Florida White Sox' tees were already being sold in St. Pete. I actually pondered whether I should stop and buy a Cubs hat on my way home or maybe a Brewers hat when I returned home. I didn't do either, but, oh, the agony. (Side note: yeah, no Amazon, MLB.com or Fanatics or even an internet connection on the road.)

However, this is the agony of being a Sox fan. I have no illusions. The chances of the Sox always being in Chicago are slim. The only chance is to build a team that can consistently compete with a Cubs team and show Chicago is still a viable two-team town. The temperature surrounding the Southside right now indicates otherwise. Put the blame where it lies - TLR, Hahn, and even JR - but hope for JR to realize the mistakes and BE BETTER! Outside of a young nucleus that can't stay healthy right now, everything else about this team is a complete mess - from the draft to the minors and development to acquiring needs to keeping players healthy. TLR and Hahn need to go, yes. In my opinion, so does KW. The team needs a new perspective but we need to keep ours. You should have a real fear that we are seeing the final years of the Sox in Chicago. I do. Selling the team and burning it down just feeds into that narrative. Sometimes I even think that may be JR's master plan anyway - to sell at a premium with an exciting young club. Well, that took a hit this year. Until then, though, I don't want to wrestle with buying a Cubs or Brewers hat again and I don't want to see 'Carolina White Sox' tees popping up in stores in Charlotte.

Thanks for reading through my diatribe. This may not be popular but hell, it made me feel better.

Go Sox!

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I wish we lived in 1988 again… the world was better without the internet and all I cared about at that time was a combination of waffles, bugs, dirt, dogs, a bike, and Saturday morning cartoons.

Modern life is an insane hell relative to simpler times.

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49 minutes ago, soxfaninfl said:

Everyone is mad and frustrated. Me too. We were promised better and, yet, here we are, fielding teams that probably would not beat our teams in the rebuilding years. A lot of that anger is directed at LaRussa and Hahn and rightfully so. This team has been mismanaged and the way the team conducts business needs to change. Unfortunately, that has been an ongoing problem for the Sox since, well, forever. Really, I became a fan when Bill Veeck still owned the team.

But I can't buy into this 'sell the team' or 'burn it down' mantra and we need some sense of perspective before this all goes to hell. We are fans of the second team in the second city. In other words, the perpetual underdogs, the gang that can't shoot straight. We had a pretty good run in the Frank Thomas years but still had some bumps in that road too. Honestly, it's the Sox. As a fan, I like the building part, the dreaming part, the hoping part. It's all about hoping for a better team and the frustration that has completely boiled over now has led to some non-sensible reactions.

Sell the team? What new owner would pay the price and still keep this team in Chicago? I lived through the 1988 season when JR threatened to move to St. Pete. I was living in Madison at the time and had an interview in Chicago since I graduated earlier in May. The date was 6/30/1988. We were having another sub-par year and all the news on the radio was the Sox were gone, the new stadium bill was dead, and 'Florida White Sox' tees were already being sold in St. Pete. I actually pondered whether I should stop and buy a Cubs hat on my way home or maybe a Brewers hat when I returned home. I didn't do either, but, oh, the agony. (Side note: yeah, no Amazon, MLB.com or Fanatics or even an internet connection on the road.)

However, this is the agony of being a Sox fan. I have no illusions. The chances of the Sox always being in Chicago are slim. The only chance is to build a team that can consistently compete with a Cubs team and show Chicago is still a viable two-team town. The temperature surrounding the Southside right now indicates otherwise. Put the blame where it lies - TLR, Hahn, and even JR - but hope for JR to realize the mistakes and BE BETTER! Outside of a young nucleus that can't stay healthy right now, everything else about this team is a complete mess - from the draft to the minors and development to acquiring needs to keeping players healthy. TLR and Hahn need to go, yes. In my opinion, so does KW. The team needs a new perspective but we need to keep ours. You should have a real fear that we are seeing the final years of the Sox in Chicago. I do. Selling the team and burning it down just feeds into that narrative. Sometimes I even think that may be JR's master plan anyway - to sell at a premium with an exciting young club. Well, that took a hit this year. Until then, though, I don't want to wrestle with buying a Cubs or Brewers hat again and I don't want to see 'Carolina White Sox' tees popping up in stores in Charlotte.

Thanks for reading through my diatribe. This may not be popular but hell, it made me feel better.

Go Sox!

I lived through the times in the late 60's / 70's when rumors were rampant...the Sox are moving to Milwaukee...to Seattle...to Denver...to New Orleans...even to Toronto.

Didn't happen.

They have a stadium lease that runs (I think) to the early 30's plus I seriously doubt the American League would cede the third largest TV market in the country to the National League. Just my opinion. If somehow this franchise did move at some point in the future (which I doubt) Chicago would get a relocated franchise or an expansion team.  

Edited by Lip Man 1
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18 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

I lived through the times in the late 60's / 70's when rumors were rampant...the Sox are moving to Milwaukee...to Seattle...to Denver...to New Orleans...even to Toronto.

Didn't happen.

They have a stadium lease that runs (I think) to the early 30's plus I seriously doubt the American League would cede the third largest TV market in the country to the National League. Just my opinion. If somehow this franchise did move at some point in the future (which I doubt) Chicago would get a relocated franchise or an expansion team.  

Theoretically there is no more American and National Leagues, they should be renamed Conferences. 

At one time your statement about ceding Chicago to the NL had some truth, I don't think it applies that much anymore, sun belt cities continue to grow while rust belt cities continue to lose people. 

Edited by The Mighty Mite
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1 hour ago, soxfaninfl said:

Everyone is mad and frustrated. Me too. We were promised better and, yet, here we are, fielding teams that probably would not beat our teams in the rebuilding years. A lot of that anger is directed at LaRussa and Hahn and rightfully so. This team has been mismanaged and the way the team conducts business needs to change. Unfortunately, that has been an ongoing problem for the Sox since, well, forever. Really, I became a fan when Bill Veeck still owned the team.

But I can't buy into this 'sell the team' or 'burn it down' mantra and we need some sense of perspective before this all goes to hell. We are fans of the second team in the second city. In other words, the perpetual underdogs, the gang that can't shoot straight. We had a pretty good run in the Frank Thomas years but still had some bumps in that road too. Honestly, it's the Sox. As a fan, I like the building part, the dreaming part, the hoping part. It's all about hoping for a better team and the frustration that has completely boiled over now has led to some non-sensible reactions.

Sell the team? What new owner would pay the price and still keep this team in Chicago? I lived through the 1988 season when JR threatened to move to St. Pete. I was living in Madison at the time and had an interview in Chicago since I graduated earlier in May. The date was 6/30/1988. We were having another sub-par year and all the news on the radio was the Sox were gone, the new stadium bill was dead, and 'Florida White Sox' tees were already being sold in St. Pete. I actually pondered whether I should stop and buy a Cubs hat on my way home or maybe a Brewers hat when I returned home. I didn't do either, but, oh, the agony. (Side note: yeah, no Amazon, MLB.com or Fanatics or even an internet connection on the road.)

However, this is the agony of being a Sox fan. I have no illusions. The chances of the Sox always being in Chicago are slim. The only chance is to build a team that can consistently compete with a Cubs team and show Chicago is still a viable two-team town. The temperature surrounding the Southside right now indicates otherwise. Put the blame where it lies - TLR, Hahn, and even JR - but hope for JR to realize the mistakes and BE BETTER! Outside of a young nucleus that can't stay healthy right now, everything else about this team is a complete mess - from the draft to the minors and development to acquiring needs to keeping players healthy. TLR and Hahn need to go, yes. In my opinion, so does KW. The team needs a new perspective but we need to keep ours. You should have a real fear that we are seeing the final years of the Sox in Chicago. I do. Selling the team and burning it down just feeds into that narrative. Sometimes I even think that may be JR's master plan anyway - to sell at a premium with an exciting young club. Well, that took a hit this year. Until then, though, I don't want to wrestle with buying a Cubs or Brewers hat again and I don't want to see 'Carolina White Sox' tees popping up in stores in Charlotte.

Thanks for reading through my diatribe. This may not be popular but hell, it made me feel better.

Go Sox!

Have to renegotiate their five year local media rights deal in another year or two.

Not exactly in a position with much leverage right now to dictate terms.

Finding "non-embarrassing" advertising/marketing corporate sponsors will be tough enough.

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The Sox aren’t flushing their 1/4 CSN ownership down the toilet to chase down some hillbilly 30th tv market in the country. Las Vegas and Portland will also offer horseshit TV revenue.

Montreal is the most viable city and baseball is not returning since Canadians aren’t building these billionaire fat cheapass fucks free stadiums.

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3 hours ago, hi8is said:

I wish we lived in 1988 again… the world was better without the internet and all I cared about at that time was a combination of waffles, bugs, dirt, dogs, a bike, and Saturday morning cartoons.

Modern life is an insane hell relative to simpler times.

For me, 1994 but yeah, same. 

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48 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

If you're the type to buy a another team's hat during a fallow period you're not really a hardcore Sox fan and shouldn't be posting this.

Were you around in 1988? Every Sox fan was mad as hell. Even more mad than now. So, yeah, no way I was following that team to St. Pete.

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3 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

I lived through the times in the late 60's / 70's when rumors were rampant...the Sox are moving to Milwaukee...to Seattle...to Denver...to New Orleans...even to Toronto.

Didn't happen.

They have a stadium lease that runs (I think) to the early 30's plus I seriously doubt the American League would cede the third largest TV market in the country to the National League. Just my opinion. If somehow this franchise did move at some point in the future (which I doubt) Chicago would get a relocated franchise or an expansion team.  

2029

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2 hours ago, The Mighty Mite said:

Theoretically there is no more American and National Leagues, they should be renamed Conferences. 

At one time your statement about ceding Chicago to the NL had some truth, I don't think it applies that much anymore, sun belt cities continue to grow while rust belt cities continue to lose people. 

Chicago is still the 3rd largest TV market in the country.

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1 minute ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Chicago is still the 3rd largest TV market in the country.

But we share that market with a bigger brother. Just being honest and it doesn’t matter. My whole point was if you want JR to sell, be willing to accept the consequences. Someone has to buy and there are suitors.

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Just now, soxfaninfl said:

But we share that market with a bigger brother. Just being honest and it doesn’t matter. My whole point was if you want JR to sell, be willing to accept the consequences. Someone has to buy and there are suitors.

My only point is that one way or another Chicago will have an American League team in my opinion.

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I am mad and depressed as it is and this topic isn't helping matters. The revenues from some of these sun belt states are not that great. Do you think Reinsdorf regrets that the White Sox didnt move to St. Pete? The Rays and the Marlins arent doing that well financially as the White Sox. Didnt anybody notice the White Sox World Series parade in 2005.? If the White Sox can play championship style baseball for a few years then they will dominate the Chicago market. Let the Pittsburgh Pirates or Detroit Tigers move to Charlotte or Portland.

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2022 Series the White Sox Won by Ten or More Runs

  • +22 @ Minnesota July 14-17 (32-10)
  • +21 @ Detroit June 13-15 (27-6)
  • +12 @ San Francisco July 1-3 (19-7)
  • +11 @ Detroit April 8-10 (19-8)

2022 Series the White Sox lost by Ten or More Runs

  • -10 @ Minnesota April 22-24 (17-7)
  • -10 @ Toronto May 31 - June 2 (21-11)
  • -10 vs. Baltimore June 23-26 (17-7)
  • -11 vs. Arizona August 26-28 (20-9)
  • -14 @ Cleveland April 20-21 (19-5)
  • -14 vs. Houston August 15-18 (29-15)
  • -17 vs. New York A. L. May 12-15 (32-15)
  • -20 vs. Boston May 24-26 (33-13)
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