Collateral Damage

[TaylorStSox]

Message boards are just dying. This board used to be fun even when we sucked bad because there were a lot of funny personalities. 

Edited September 13, 2023 by TaylorStSox

[South Side Hit Men]

2 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

I honestly don't know what the area around the park is like these days, my experience has always been "It's a giant sheet of parking lots that are practically walled off by the highway on one side". This is very different from places like Cleveland and Pittsburgh, where the ballparks have been integrated into a downtown area that needed the infusion of cash and needed the foot traffic to help grow businesses in a downtown needing revitalization. There might be areas like that in Chicago, but it's certainly not a city in need of bringing new visitors to the downtown area to revitalize foot traffic. Maybe there's some areas in the city this makes sense for?

Pretty dead yesterday, though there were under 1,000 for the first game, a few more thousand for the night game.

Went to Red Hot Ranch pre game, great as always. Thought about buying a beer or two, but the decent options (Anti-Hero, Oberon) were $14 + tax and tip, so passed giving Jerry a penny (bought the tickets from resale, as normal.

Also don't like the fact everything is through a cell phone or credit cards (tickets, concessions). Excludes a good segment of society, but catering to the well off and mining / selling credit card / personal data is where the real money is at these days. COVID was an excuse to turn to this direction, same with many other areas of society.

[Milkman delivers]

3 hours ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Pretty dead yesterday, though there were under 1,000 for the first game, a few more thousand for the night game.

Went to Red Hot Ranch pre game, great as always. Thought about buying a beer or two, but the decent options (Anti-Hero, Oberon) were $14 + tax and tip, so passed giving Jerry a penny (bought the tickets from resale, as normal.

Also don't like the fact everything is through a cell phone or credit cards (tickets, concessions). Excludes a good segment of society, but catering to the well off and mining / selling credit card / personal data is where the real money is at these days. COVID was an excuse to turn to this direction, same with many other areas of society.

Yes, and now the people who depended on cash tips are SOL. The government knows how much you get in tips, as well as the owners likely taking a percentage.

 

And I’m sure the amount of stolen cards being used is not insignificant.

[BamaDoc]

If the Sox were to move somewhere else, anyone care to describe what happens to the area where they are currently located?

[Milkman delivers]

18 hours ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Pretty dead yesterday, though there were under 1,000 for the first game, a few more thousand for the night game.

Went to Red Hot Ranch pre game, great as always. Thought about buying a beer or two, but the decent options (Anti-Hero, Oberon) were $14 + tax and tip, so passed giving Jerry a penny (bought the tickets from resale, as normal.

Also don't like the fact everything is through a cell phone or credit cards (tickets, concessions). Excludes a good segment of society, but catering to the well off and mining / selling credit card / personal data is where the real money is at these days. COVID was an excuse to turn to this direction, same with many other areas of society.

I tried replying to your post in yesterday’s game thread, but the thread was moved while I was typing haha.

 

Regarding your statement about the 300 level:

 

I completely agree with this. The first time I sat in the 300 level was about 15 years ago. I got them from someone on Soxtalk (can’t remember who, but thanks again if you’re reading!). I’ve gone back there once every couple of years, and it has taken a noticeable downturn. The food used to be much better and more varied than the 100 level. Now it’s just the same old crap. And there’s, I believe, only two full open stands on the entire level. The carpet and seating seem ratty. It’s just a huge disappointment.

Edited September 14, 2023 by Milkman delivers

[Balta1701]

1 hour ago, BamaDoc said:

If the Sox were to move somewhere else, anyone care to describe what happens to the area where they are currently located?

Presumably the land would be sold off or converted into something else? It would technically be owned by the state I believe, if there's no events happening there then the state could decide how they wanted to use it, there would probably be a rezoning step and then some money put towards development. No reason to keep a bunch of parking lots if no one is parking there. It would be a big plot of land available for development ideas.

[chitownsportsfan]

20 hours ago, TaylorStSox said:

Message boards are just dying. This board used to be fun even when we sucked bad because there were a lot of funny personalities. 

I've been here 18 year or so, when were these glory days? I remember before the site redesign, when the Sox were terrible and other Sox websites were much more popular than they are now relative to this one, and traffic was absolutely dead. The last few years on the site have been some of the best imo. 

[GREEDY]

16 hours ago, Milkman delivers said:

Yes, and now the people who depended on cash tips are SOL. The government knows how much you get in tips, as well as the owners likely taking a percentage.

I'm very pro-cash but if service workers have it so bad that they can't afford to report cash tips or they will be broke, they likely aren't paying much income tax if all of their income was on the books anyways.  

[South Side Hit Men]

50 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

I've been here 18 year or so, when were these glory days? I remember before the site redesign, when the Sox were terrible and other Sox websites were much more popular than they are now relative to this one, and traffic was absolutely dead. The last few years on the site have been some of the best imo. 

I was on WSI from 2004-2006 or 2007, was banned like most there. They have some sad site up now, with perhaps 1-2% of the "slow" traffic here the past month or so.

The Getz move is a big one in terms of deflating hope of meaningful change, the Hahn canning was the one possible chance at competence and of course Jerry failed there as he nearly always does in terms of baseball operations. I backed off a few months here the past couple years, may take longer / until Jerry dies before I've return to following the team regularly. Perhaps @The Kids Can Play is Getz, since he's been AWOL since Hahn was fired. 

[Dick Allen]

21 hours ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Pretty dead yesterday, though there were under 1,000 for the first game, a few more thousand for the night game.

Went to Red Hot Ranch pre game, great as always. Thought about buying a beer or two, but the decent options (Anti-Hero, Oberon) were $14 + tax and tip, so passed giving Jerry a penny (bought the tickets from resale, as normal.

Also don't like the fact everything is through a cell phone or credit cards (tickets, concessions). Excludes a good segment of society, but catering to the well off and mining / selling credit card / personal data is where the real money is at these days. COVID was an excuse to turn to this direction, same with many other areas of society.

I just don’t understand the card only policy. It’s killing vendors as well. And I agree, they used Covid for this switch, but that makes no sense. The cash passed around  supposedly would have spread the disease, but the vendors grabbing your card and everyone else’s wouldn’t? And it seems pretty ridiculous to have to tip someone 20% or feel like a cheap ass,  for pouring you a $14 beer, suddenly making it almost $17. I’ve only gone to 4 or 5 games this year, and have bought nothing at the park. Red Hot Ranch double cheeseburger with fries and a coke is $10. McDonalds probably costs more, and isn’t as good.

[Milkman delivers]

8 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

I just don’t understand the card only policy. It’s killing vendors as well. And I agree, they used Covid for this switch, but that makes no sense. The cash passed around  supposedly would have spread the disease, but the vendors grabbing your card and everyone else’s wouldn’t? And it seems pretty ridiculous to have to tip someone 20% or feel like a cheap ass,  for pouring you a $14 beer, suddenly making it almost $17. I’ve only gone to 4 or 5 games this year, and have bought nothing at the park. Red Hot Ranch double cheeseburger with fries and a coke is $10. McDonalds probably costs more, and isn’t as good.

Without getting into the various ways Covid was used to push through changes that would’ve otherwise been unpopular, I’m sure that the cashless system greatly benefits the owners while hurting the individual vendor.

[caulfield12]

15 minutes ago, Milkman delivers said:

Without getting into the various ways Covid was used to push through changes that would’ve otherwise been unpopular, I’m sure that the cashless system greatly benefits the owners while hurting the individual vendor.

This is the case in the US.

I haven't touched paper currency since 2019 except when traveling.

Imagine everyone in the US had a cell phone that they used for every single transaction you make in daily life...and every single one went through the equivalent of Visa or MasterCard, except it was Alipay and Weixin Wallet instead.  

That's China.

It's much faster...it's outside of the traditional banking system...but the government still has a ton of oversight and essentially or ultimately control in terms of regulations.

One of the benefits is that let's say literally anyone can open a market stall and sell their wares online or off. Heck, lots of former teachers are making huge money livestream selling everything from lipstick to agricultural products.

And it will be delivered to your door within hours...no more than a day or so, for less than $1 with no tipping.

Labor costs being so low is what makes the entire system work...along with the cultural mores where tipping just doesn't exist.

(Japan also has no tipping but perhaps the best customer service level in the entire world.  And it's not even close.)

 

And speaking of Covid...one of the first storylines pushed out there was that paper currency could spread the disease.  So that false belief and propaganda pretty much overnight pushed the entire country of 1.4 billion to accept this type of cashless payment system without any serious/significant pushback.

Edited September 14, 2023 by caulfield12

[FloydBannister1983]

2 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

I've been here 18 year or so, when were these glory days? I remember before the site redesign, when the Sox were terrible and other Sox websites were much more popular than they are now relative to this one, and traffic was absolutely dead. The last few years on the site have been some of the best imo. 

Yeah people should go to WSI if they want to see a ghost town.

[Milkman delivers]

1 minute ago, caulfield12 said:

This is the case in the US.

I haven't touched paper currency since 2019 except when traveling.

Imagine everyone in the US had a cell phone that they used for every single transaction you make in daily life...and every single one went through the equivalent of Visa or MasterCard, except it was Alipay and Weixin Wallet instead.  

That's China.

It's much faster...it's outside of the traditional banking system...but the government still has a ton of oversight and essentially or ultimately control in terms of regulations.

One of the benefits is that let's say literally anyone can open a market stall and sell their wares online or off. Heck, lots of former teachers are making huge money livestream selling everything from lipstick to agricultural products.

And it will be delivered to your door within hours...no more than a day or so, for less than $1 with no tipping.

Labor costs being so low is what makes the entire system work...along with the cultural mores where tipping just doesn't exist.

(Japan also has no tipping but perhaps the best customer service level in the entire world.  And it's not even close.)

Yeah, I wouldn’t be worried about that. It’s not like China is known for human rights abuses or cracking down on dissent. I’m sure they’ll give you access to your money if you step out of line in the slightest.

[caulfield12]

2 minutes ago, FloydBannister1983 said:

Yeah people should go to WSI if they want to see a ghost town.

It has been that way for at least 3-5 years over there...yes?

[FloydBannister1983]

2 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

It has been that way for at least 3-5 years over there...yes?

At least.

[caulfield12]

6 minutes ago, Milkman delivers said:

Yeah, I wouldn’t be worried about that. It’s not like China is known for human rights abuses or cracking down on dissent. I’m sure they’ll give you access to your money if you step out of line in the slightest.

Lol.

There are two sides to every coin.

There isn't the FDIC system here to insure bank deposits for example.

OTOH...with the entire country and economy being so shaky and uncertain right now, the LAST thing the government can afford to do is something that will be universally unpopular that has to do with money.

Just a few protests in December (mostly university students) last year crushed a three year old government Covid policy imperative.

American politicians...OTOH...have almost zero fear of the electorate.

It's a bit ironic that democracy worldwide has become increasingly non - responsive to the needs and wants of the majority of people.

(All that said, freedom wins out for now...in the end. The problem is who is deciding the limits and scope of that freedom, though.)

Edited September 14, 2023 by caulfield12

[tray]

Red Hot Ranch ? Where is that?

Edited September 15, 2023 by tray

[Milkman delivers]

Is there no game thread today? Yikes.

[South Side Hit Men]

1 hour ago, tray said:

Red Hot Ranch ? Where is that?

500 West 35th, a block past the viaduct / train line west of the park. It’s greasy  but for occasional visits it’s great (double burgers or Polish). I haven’t tried the shrimp yet, need to do that next.

https://www.redhotranchchicago.com

Have to agree with the other posts regarding credit card only, and digital currency being an issue. Could be potentially worse than the cash and property grabs local governments perform under civil forfeiture laws with no timely due process or access to your lawfully earned cash, cars and other property, because mandatory digital currency will impact everyone.

[Milkman delivers]

32 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

500 West 35th, a block past the viaduct / train line west of the park. It’s greasy  but for occasional visits it’s great (double burgers or Polish). I haven’t tried the shrimp yet, need to do that next.

https://www.redhotranchchicago.com

Have to agree with the other posts regarding credit card only, and digital currency being an issue. Could be potentially worse than the cash and property grabs local governments perform under civil forfeiture laws with no timely due process or access to your lawfully earned cash, cars and other property, because mandatory digital currency will impact everyone.

The shrimp are pretty good. I know a few people that say it’s the best thing on their menu. I wouldn’t go that far though.

[Dick Allen]

14 hours ago, tray said:

Red Hot Ranch ? Where is that?

It’s under the Red Hot Ranch umbrella, it’s technically 35th St. Dogs.