4/6/23 Giants @ White Sox 1:10 Game Time

[YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES!]

7 minutes ago, Sox80 said:

We?

I have a hard time believing anyone enjoys the misery of that poster in every game thread.

[Texsox]

39 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Apathy is the biggest enemy that Brooks Boyer doesn't have any practical way to counter...he's certainly not a visionary like Bill Veeck who knows/knew how to creatively operate with a shoestring budget.

I rarely disagree with you but I think the Veeck comparison is a stretch. The game isn't close to what it was when you could "rent a player".  

Could Bill have adapted and kept the world's biggest bar happy? Possibly, but it's too much conjecture for me. A shower in the bleachers isn't going to cut it with today's fans. I think the days of selling the sizzle are gone. 

 

[Texsox]

13 minutes ago, YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES! said:

I have a hard time believing anyone enjoys the misery of that poster in every game thread.

I know @fathomhas a thick skin and doesn't need anyone jumping in, but please let's not attack each other. The crap on the field today is nauseating enough. Let's not make it worse.

[Sox80]

16 minutes ago, YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES! said:

I have a hard time believing anyone enjoys the misery of that poster in every game thread.

Probably not.  

[Big Hurtin]

31 minutes ago, YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES! said:

I have a hard time believing anyone enjoys the misery of that poster in every game thread.

Since you don't have him on ignore, I know of at least one who does.

[ChiSox59]

2 minutes ago, Big Hurtin said:

Since you don't have him on ignore, I know of at least one who does.

Fathom is a fantastic poster; has been one of my faves over the years.  Does feel a bit like he’s in the the rooting for failure group lately though. 

[chitownsportsfan]

6 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

Fathom is a fantastic poster; has been one of my faves over the years.  Does feel a bit like he’s in the the rooting for failure group lately though. 

Nobody roots for failure. More cynical posters do take some pleasure in being proven right, as we should.

[fathom]

4 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Nobody roots for failure. More cynical posters do take some pleasure in being proven right, as we should.

For the record, I would love nothing more than this team to excel this year and make the postseason.

[chitownsportsfan]

2 minutes ago, fathom said:

For the record, I would love nothing more than this team to excel this year and make the postseason.

I hope they get hotter than s%*# just to stuff it up my ass, as always.

Edited April 6, 2023 by chitownsportsfan

[Greg Hibbard]

48 minutes ago, Highland said:

Of course, no one in their right mind would write off a team after seven games. But this team has no closer, already a key player is hurt, and their starting pitchers are lucky to get into the sixth inning. And giving up 28 runs in two losses two days apart will make any fan think. 

The bullpen just looks awful. And since the days of the complete game are long gone, the bullpen becomes more important. After all, now a bullpen is expected to pitch at least a third of the season. Things just don't look good.

In the next 155 games, the team has plenty of time to turn things around. I just have big doubts that they will. Kopech has been over-hyped from the start, and Lance Lynn looks like he's fooling no one other than himself. Looks like that bullpen will get a lot more work.

Yes but all of these things are happening early. 
 

Eloy is out for 2 weeks. Max he misses 19 games with this injury. If he has another injury, then I will worry. 

A lot of good starters league wide are getting rocked or injured early. Gonna write off Scherzer, Fried, Gonsolin, Robbie Ray while you’re at it? Might as well. 

Hendriks looks as though he may return and the bullpen is fixable by acquisition. 

The offense has plenty of pop and the defense is great. It’s going to be a rocky first 45 games but even if we are 5 under, it’s fine. It’s fixable.

TLR was NOT fixable. Neither were the rampant injuries up and down the lineup. 

 

[ChiSox59]

45 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Nobody roots for failure. More cynical posters do take some pleasure in being proven right, as we should.

I do not agree with that first sentence whatsoever. But whatever, not important. 

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, Greg Hibbard said:

Yes but all of these things are happening early. 
 

Eloy is out for 2 weeks. Max he misses 19 games with this injury. If he has another injury, then I will worry. 

A lot of good starters league wide are getting rocked or injured early. Gonna write off Scherzer, Fried, Gonsolin, Robbie Ray while you’re at it? Might as well. 

Hendriks looks as though he may return and the bullpen is fixable by acquisition. 

The offense has plenty of pop and the defense is great. It’s going to be a rocky first 45 games but even if we are 5 under, it’s fine. It’s fixable.

TLR was NOT fixable. Neither were the rampant injuries up and down the lineup. 

 

Can we honestly expect anything close to peak Hendriks, though?

He was off a bit more than usual LAST year...let alone with this type of health situation.

If Lopez falters, the pen is in a world of hurt even on the back end relying on the likes of Bummer, Graveman and Kelly.

[Autumn Dreamin]

5 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Nobody roots for failure. More cynical posters do take some pleasure in being proven right, as we should.

At a certain point, the overwhelming desire to have your cynicism validated, to the extent that you ignore any success regardless of magnitude or duration in favor of focusing on any failure regardless of magnitude or duration, is indistinguishable from rooting for failure.

As you say, it's a way of people setting themselves up to "take some pleasure" either way. "I hope they prove me wrong" isn't some kind of bold statement in that case...It's stuffing your face with cake and saying "And I'll have another one too!" 

Nice deal if you can get it, I guess. If the team wins, drink victory beers with everyone else, comfortable in the knowledge that the persistent, public pessimism will go largely unremembered. And if the team loses, rely on that same vocal performance of cynicism to prove (to who?) that you never believed anyway and knew they would lose all along.

It's like a "heads I win, tails you lose" version of fandom. Or maybe more like "heads I'm happy, tails I'm smug." 

I don't know. I just wish there was a single pocket of online Sox fandom where conversations weren't so dominated by people acting like they're afraid of being "caught" believing in the team in the event that they underwhelm in the future.

[caulfield12]

8 minutes ago, Autumn Dreamin said:

At a certain point, the overwhelming desire to have your cynicism validated, to the extent that you ignore any success regardless of magnitude or duration in favor of focusing on any failure regardless of magnitude or duration, is indistinguishable from rooting for failure.

As you say, it's a way of people setting themselves up to "take some pleasure" either way. "I hope they prove me wrong" isn't some kind of bold statement in that case...It's stuffing your face with cake and saying "And I'll have another one too!" 

Nice deal if you can get it, I guess. If the team wins, drink victory beers with everyone else, comfortable in the knowledge that the persistent, public pessimism will go largely unremembered. And if the team loses, rely on that same vocal performance of cynicism to prove (to who?) that you never believed anyway and knew they would lose all along.

It's like a "heads I win, tails you lose" version of fandom. Or maybe more like "heads I'm happy, tails I'm smug." 

I don't know. I just wish there was a single pocket of online Sox fandom where conversations weren't so dominated by people acting like they're afraid of being "caught" believing in the team in the event that they underwhelm in the future.

Isn't this the exact same as the Doubting Thomas story from the Bible?

The majority tend to be in that camp, rather than taking things on blind faith.

With all the analytics info out there now...and then there's Jay Cuda every day to give you 981 reasons Hahn will fail.  Or Jim M.  Or fill in the blank.

Basically, there's almost no reason left to invest our faith and hearts in Rick Hahn and JR when we perhaps as fans care just as much or more about the White Sox than they do about their own personal business interests.

What did Hahn do last year?  He got really mad and slammed a cabinet door, lol?

Harrelson living and dying with the team is the way many Sox fans used to be in their teens, 20's, maybe even 30's.

When you get to be 40 or older, you realize it's the same old story with this organization, just another day.

We don't even dare dream of a Shohei Ohtani or Roki Sasaki on the Sox.   The closest approximation is winning the bidding against StL for Luis Robert Jr.   But Benintendi being the biggest signing in team history where he barely held into his big league career with the Royals is par for the course.

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by caulfield12

[Greg Hibbard]

1 minute ago, caulfield12 said:

Can we honestly expect anything close to peak Hendriks, though?

He was off a bit more than usual LAST year...let alone with this type of health situation.

If Lopez falters, the pen is in a world of hurt even on the back end relying on the likes of Bummer, Graveman and Kelly.

But why are we all racing to the conclusion that it’s bad? Seriously. It’s like Grifol and the team had a week to be gangbusters awesome or everyone will jump off of a bridge. We are 3-4 and a new manager is settling in. 

[chitownsportsfan]

11 minutes ago, Autumn Dreamin said:

At a certain point, the overwhelming desire to have your cynicism validated, to the extent that you ignore any success regardless of magnitude or duration in favor of focusing on any failure regardless of magnitude or duration, is indistinguishable from rooting for failure.

As you say, it's a way of people setting themselves up to "take some pleasure" either way. "I hope they prove me wrong" isn't some kind of bold statement in that case...It's stuffing your face with cake and saying "And I'll have another one too!" 

Nice deal if you can get it, I guess. If the team wins, drink victory beers with everyone else, comfortable in the knowledge that the persistent, public pessimism will go largely unremembered. And if the team loses, rely on that same vocal performance of cynicism to prove (to who?) that you never believed anyway and knew they would lose all along.

It's like a "heads I win, tails you lose" version of fandom. Or maybe more like "heads I'm happy, tails I'm smug." 

I don't know. I just wish there was a single pocket of online Sox fandom where conversations weren't so dominated by people acting like they're afraid of being "caught" believing in the team in the event that they underwhelm in the future.

You're a good newish poster and I get what you're saying. It happens on sports message boards every season, some fans would rather be proven right then watch their team win. Other than maybe Parkman, I don't think we  have any of those types here.

[ptatc]

7 minutes ago, Greg Hibbard said:

But why are we all racing to the conclusion that it’s bad? Seriously. It’s like Grifol and the team had a week to be gangbusters awesome or everyone will jump off of a bridge. We are 3-4 and a new manager is settling in. 

Welcome to Sox talk! 

[caulfield12]

Even Bulldog Hibbard lost faith last year.

El rockin was the only true optimist left.

Flavum even abandoned his the team must go 14-3 and Guardians 8-9 to tie thing there at the end of the year.

Look at Balta with his self imposed or otherwise exile.

Tex and PTAC are probably the most grounded in the real world...and they suffered last season.

Edited April 7, 2023 by caulfield12

[fathom]

27 minutes ago, Greg Hibbard said:

But why are we all racing to the conclusion that it’s bad? Seriously. It’s like Grifol and the team had a week to be gangbusters awesome or everyone will jump off of a bridge. We are 3-4 and a new manager is settling in. 

Who is saying this team can’t compete?  I see the poll you just created, and I haven’t seen anyone saying they have no shot this year.  There’s been some very good things and very bad things in the first week, but being upset about the roster and/or performance doesn’t mean this team can’t squeak out 85 wins.

[Greg Hibbard]

Just now, fathom said:

Who is saying this team can’t compete?  I see the poll you just created, and I haven’t seen anyone saying they have no shot this year.  There’s been some very good things and very bad things in the first week, but being upset about the roster and/or performance doesn’t mean this team can’t squeak out 85 wins.

Plenty of people are slinging mud all over this game thread and saying Grifol can’t manage, or certain players aren’t good enough, or Eloy will never be healthy ever. Come on. Plenty of bridge jumping already. It’s fine to be upset but why piss all over the board for a 3-4 start? I’m exhausted by reading this s%*# already. Let’s act like we’ve watched baseball before. It’s a loooooong season. 

[Greg Hibbard]

4 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Even Bulldog Hibbard lost faith last year.

El rockin was the only true optimist left.

Flavum even abandoned his the team must go 14-3 and Guardians 8-9 to tie thing there at the end of the year.

Look at Balta with his self imposed or otherwise exile.

Tex and PTAC are probably the most grounded in the real world...and they suffered last season.

During the off-season I really struggled. Last year was the worst year as a Sox fan in my lifetime. Most diehards I know my age say the same thing. Once spring training rolled around and Grifol was seemingly saying all the right things, and many of the guys looked good, the old feelings came back. It’s hard not to get excited about the positives. Especially the defense. I’m not happy about the pitching at all. But the whole league is kind of getting rocked this week. 

[fathom]

2 minutes ago, Greg Hibbard said:

During the off-season I really struggled. Last year was the worst year as a Sox fan in my lifetime. Most diehards I know my age say the same thing. Once spring training rolled around and Grifol was seemingly saying all the right things, and many of the guys looked good, the old feelings came back. It’s hard not to get excited about the positives. Especially the defense. I’m not happy about the pitching at all. But the whole league is kind of getting rocked this week. 

I think you hit it on the head, last year was probably worse Sox year for some of us.  Just insulting and pathetic on every level.  The vibes were positive after Houston (besides bullpen), but to come home and have a historically bad series against a mediocre team just brings about a lot of bad feelings.  Also seeing their main slugger get hurt running the bases in the first week is too familiar IMO.

[2Deep]

10 minutes ago, fathom said:

I think you hit it on the head, last year was probably worse Sox year for some of us.  Just insulting and pathetic on every level.  The vibes were positive after Houston (besides bullpen), but to come home and have a historically bad series against a mediocre team just brings about a lot of bad feelings.  Also seeing their main slugger get hurt running the bases in the first week is too familiar IMO.

Fathom i agree with your disappointment for this series. I will say that watching these games the GIANTS would have pinched anyone right now. They were on every pitch and it seemed like they hit everything hard and out of the ballpark.

Throughout the year this will happen where a team is scorching. I hate losing but no one in baseball was going to win a series from giants this last 3 days.

Lets move on and tighten up the pen and play solid ball.

[T R U]

The Sox deserve all the criticism and lack of faith in game threads when they perform like this. It’s what the game thread is for, discussing what’s happening in that moment. 
 

play better and there will be much less complaining and doomsdaying. If they continue to play like this, game threads will be negative like today. 

[pcq]

3 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

How many Bulls' fans think they have any chance in the postseason?

Mavericks' fans would rather enter the draft lottery than the NBA version of the NIT.

Not only were the Bears the worst but Blackhawks have the least points. Super city suckage.