New Adventures

Jan11

So . . . for the past month or so, I have been sitting on big news for me and I have been DYING to talk about it.  Well, I finally can and my big news is that is that I am going to be joining the G9sports.com network of blogs!!!  You can read more about it here, from founder Julie DiCaro. I am really excited to be doing this and I will be covering none other than the White Sox!  I hope you all get a chance to check it out once we launch on February 1, 2011.  Rest assured, I will continue to post things here, such as the long awaited post on sports learnin’ that I have been meaning to get around to.  And who knows, I might even get my fangirl hat on and go to SoxFest 2011 this year.  We shall see.

This is a really cool thing for me because of the purpose behind it, and to be included in the 30 women so far who will be writing about sports is amazing.  I can’t wait for you to read their work in addition to what I have been writing.

In the mean time, keep reading things here and as things progress with G9, I will be sure to keep you updated on what is happening!  Of course, you can always follow me on Twitter for the latest happenings with a girl’s perspective and G9sports.

We are still looking for female writers who know their stuff to cover ALL the teams in NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.  And it is not just a midwest sports thing, so if you live on the coasts or know some fans of teams on the coasts, contact me so we can bring you on board.  We could really use some Red Sox and Yankee loving ladies (with baseball season fast approaching).  There will also be coverage of the various college teams as well.

Fantasy Ruins the Real Thing

Jan5

It’s a new year and that means that we are that much closer to pitchers and catchers reporting!  For me, it is also a time when I start to seriously start planning for my fantasy baseball league.  This is because I am the commissioner of a 12-person league consisting of me and 11 boys (which is hilarious in so many ways) and I have a bit of prep work to do to get ready for our season.  Fantasy baseball can be a great way to learn more about the players in the game as well as the game itself.  But in some ways, it also have a detrimental effect on how you enjoy the real game.

Sandy K's Brothers team's logo in honor of the team's namesake

My first year of playing fantasy baseball was fun because the boys (the league I play in has always been me as the only girl) all thought they were playing with someone who had zero clue about the game.  You can read why I generally do badly in the game here, but today’s post about fantasy baseball has to do with the effect it has on the real game.  There are many formats in fantasy baseball and in my particular league, we play with 13 scoring categories (5 pitching and 8 hitting categories).  In fantasy, you are obviously trying to put together a team that has players that excel in all the various categories that you score in to win.  Each spring, a few weeks or maybe even days before the real baseball season begins, my league begins the process of drafting players for our teams.  The first few years I was playing fantasy baseball, I always drafted a 2nd baseman because there were usually only 2 or 3 players who were the elite at that position and if you didn’t get one of those players, you might not be able to make up the lost production in other spots depending on how the remainder of the draft goes.  After getting my 2nd baseman, then I would look to complete my outfield.  Last year however, I ended up in a mini dilemma as far as who to take.  I had the third pick in our draft and was faced with do I take A-Rod or do I go for one of the top outfielders?  I wasn’t even thinking about taking a 2nd baseman yet because, there would be plenty of them in rounds 3 until at least 6 and there was plenty of depth at that position where I would be quite happy with many of the eligible players for that position.  Ultimately, I ended up taking A-Rod for one simple reason:  third base has gotten really thin in terms of picking up a productive guy.  If I didn’t take A-Rod with my first pick, I might have been left wondering when I could get a great third baseman and who he would be.

Inevitably when I go to games, I always find myself getting into discussions with some of my fellow baseball fans because they will wonder why a particular guy isn’t playing when he has “better numbers” than someone else.  Most of the time, I am usually able to explain, in a rational way, why the guy they think has better numbers shouldn’t actually be in the game.  Of course, my opinion could just be me being a curmudgeonly person and preferring to have a balanced team with great pitching, stellar defense and enough offense to score one more run than the opposing team.  However, in fantasy, because you are looking to fill a roster with the players at every position that have the best offensive numbers and with pitching, you want the pitchers who have the best stats for the categories you score in, you lose sight of a player who does just enough to win the real game.  Those players somehow are viewed as bad at baseball because they don’t put up those stellar numbers.

There are a few positions on the field that seem to lend themselves to this type of thinking and ironically, they happen to be some of the most important defensive positions, in my opinion.  Consider you have a player who bats .275, has a few stolen bases, not much pop in his bat (1 home run) with a stellar glove and has 15 rbis.  Now, there is a guy on the team who plays the same position, but bats .248, also a few stolen bases, 10 home runs and a so-so to bad glove with 25 rbis.  Oh and the position the guy plays is second base.  I know many people who say, I want the second guy because he hits home runs.   Personally, I’d prefer to have the first guy because he plays a middle infield position and I would much rather my middle infielder be spectacular at defense.  That is a position that I think is more important to have a guy who is strong defensively than to be spectacular offensively.  If I get power numbers out of the player / position in the real game, it’s a bonus.

It seems to me that many people who play fantasy baseball will tend to look at all the positions on the field as needing to have players who are spectacular offensively and when they get a Second Baseman, Center Fielder or Catcher who doesn’t put up monster offensive numbers isn’t considered as good.  This inevitably leads to fans thinking the team needs a better second baseman, center fielder or catcher on the team.  I don’t count the Short Stop in this category because over time, that has changed to being a bit of a power position with the likes of players like A-Rod and Cal Ripken, Jr. who showed that a big guy can play a position that previously had been played by small guys with no power to hit the ball at all.  The same fantasy-warp also applies to pitchers as well.  If you have a pitcher who is a power pitcher (guy who throws a lot of strikes and gets guys out via strikeouts) he is deemed as more valuable than someone who is more of a finesse pitcher (or as I call them a pitching pitcher) i.e. someone who pitches to contact and must rely on his defense to get outs.  The power guy generally should have a lower WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched) because he is striking guys out so not many hits will happen.  This of course is assuming he isn’t walking a guy for every one he strikes out.  (see Carlos Marmol as someone who is close to doing this).

In any event, I enjoy playing fantasy baseball, but I wish that it didn’t have such an influence in how people actually view the game on the field and what the players can do.  I think in order to have a successful team that wins, all you need is great pitching, stellar defense and just enough offense to score one more run than the other team.  Now to work on setting up the various things in my league and to figure out what this year’s draft strategy will be

Opposites Attract

Dec31

I love sports.  They are dependable for ensuring that if I am having a crappy day, that watching a game, whether it is an old one or currently happening, I will be cheered up.  They rarely let me down in terms of knowing what is going to happen.  The thrill of finding out how the ending will occur is so much fun for me.  If I am let down by sports, it is usually because the team I am rooting for didn’t end up with my desired result.  Though, this disappointment doesn’t last long as I always look forward to seeing the next game.  Even if I am having the best day ever, sports just are icing on my fabulous cake for keeping the party going.

I will watch most any sports, but my favorites are about as opposite as one can get.  Fortunately, they are also in opposite times during the year, so that I am occupied with sports year-round without a break.  Some may find this strange because you should take a break from your loves just for sanity purposes, but for me, there is an inherent break given the sports I follow closely. 

Hockey and Baseball.  Fast, heart-pounding, brutal, ice, clock.  Those would be things that come to mind when I am thinking about hockey.  Slower, long grind, nine, grass, timeless.  Those are some of the words that come to mind for me when I think about baseball.  In almost every way, these two sports are opposite.  Both are team sports, except that baseball is deceptive in that while it is a team sport, it is more about the individual players coming together to do something.  Guys can still be superstars even if only one person is putting up stats while the rest of the team is just blah or in some cases, just bad at the game.  With hockey, sure, there are superstars, but every guy on that team needs to do his thing in order for the points to be put up on the scoreboard and the team to win.  Sure, at times a team will get a win that can and should be credited to a goalie who stood on his head, but for the most part, you need all the forwards, defensemen and the goalie to work in concert for things to equate to a win.

The biggest difference for me between the two is the speed of the game.  In hockey, you are up against a clock.  The guys are athletic and moving around on skates!  Things happen quickly and if you aren’t paying close attention, you can miss something in the blink of an eye.  When I watch hockey, it can be the most intense 60 minutes ever (spread out over about 2.5 hours).  If a guy with the puck gets a breakaway to the net and then shoots and JUST MISSES the goal or the goalie makes a great block, it is super intense, waiting for that score to happen.  I think it is probably more intense when it is a potential goal that the team you aren’t rooting for shoots.  When your team’s goalie makes a great stop, you will realize you were holding your breath waiting to see if the puck crosses the line.  In baseball, there is none of this type of heart-pounding stress.  You know you are in for at least 3 hours of time to sit back and relax while watching the game.  Sure, there are times when you will hold your breath — usually when a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter or making a bid for a perfect game, but generally, guys get hits and you just want to make sure that the base runners don’t score.  Sometimes, the game can go really quickly if you get two pitchers who like to get the ball and throw it to the plate.  Those type of pitchers will not allow for batters to play games to mess with their rhythm.  Those are also games where no one is getting very far on the base path.  Honestly, I love those types of games because anytime there is a great pitching duel, sign me up.  I know a lot of baseball fans out there don’t care for them because they would like to see lots of home runs (and the ensuing fireworks that some parks will shoot off when a home run is hit).

The inherent heart-pounding with hockey is a great change for when it is not baseball season.  And conversely, the relaxed games of baseball are great to get away from the heart-pounding that is hockey.  Hockey is just intense and I love it.  The fact that you have guys going after each other and even the fights are just amazing.  Seeing those guys do that, it is a way to enjoy getting out aggression without being an angry person myself.  With baseball, it is just more relaxed in terms of being able to watch, but you don’t have to do it super closely to know what is happening.  Once in a while there will be a fight, but the whole team will get involved.  Personally, I like the way hockey goes about dealing with the aggression and hits.  Unfortunately in baseball, it doesn’t always happen. Especially if you happen to be watching an American League game where the pitchers don’t hit.

Overall, each sport has its own unique rhythm and beauty and watching to see what the beauty in each game is, is a wonderful thing.  Speed, athleticism and skill in each are all on display in different ways.  Every sport has its own rhythm and beauty, but for me, the beauty in hockey and baseball is the best kind of beauty to behold.  If you haven’t experienced the beauty, I’d encourage you to take a look and appreciate it for all its glory.

I just don’t fit the demographic

Dec28

Now that espnW has been up for a few weeks, I thought I would revisit the issue of a landing spot for women who enjoy sports to look at.  As I stated in my original post on this, I was at first skeptical about how this would work and was worried that it would be an attempt to pink up sports and possibly further push sports-loving women into a box and possibly further separate women’s sports from men’s sports rather than just being another topic of the general sports conversation.

The site officially launched on December 6, 2010 and as soon as it did, I quickly went to go check it out.  Upon first perusal, I was excited about it.  I saw that two writers whose work I already follow were contributors to the site, Amanda Rykoff and Sarah Spain, both of whom I follow on Twitter.  In addition to seeing those two writers, I also saw some other female writers whose articles I will occasionally read.  This was exciting because it meant, for me at least, it wasn’t going to be a site that seemed to pander to women and would just talk about the sports in yet another forum for the sports obsessed.

Some of the things I like about the site include most of the writers because I think they are good writers.  I am also impressed that there is no pink to be found.  I know in general that is a bit of a lame thing to notice, but when this concept was first talked about, this was a HUGE fear of sports loving women — that the site would pink things up to attract more women.  I also enjoy that I get to see a few more of those behind the story types of posts about sports.  It is nice to have a place where a lot of this information is so I don’t have to go hunting for it like I normally would. I also appreciate that there is coverage about sports from ALL OVER THE COUNTRY and not a New York / Boston focus, which is a problem I see with ESPN in general.

Sadly, after reading stuff, I am coming to the realization that I am not the demographic that this site appears to be aiming for.  I already love sports.  I already seek out more information about my favorite players, teams, sports.  A lot of the stories that I am seeing on the site are what i refer to as “behind the scenes” types of stories.  These are things such as the dad who sent a letter saying a girl shouldn’t be on the hockey team because she wasn’t good enough or the story about the chauvinist sports writer and his book signing.  These are stories that I would seek out on my own if I found a snippet on the internet about them.  Having then in one place is nice.  But that kind of sports reporting to me seems to be more of the type that my non-sports loving female friends might enjoy.  They are also the same ones who find the olympics more enjoyable because in addition to seeing a sport, they get all the “heart-wrenching and heart-warming” stories of triumph” that sports can tell.

I do hope this succeeds because I think sports can be such a valuable thing, aside from entertainment value.  If this site can bring in more women to watching sports, great.  However, it would be nice to also cater a bit to ladies who are already into sports.  Right now, it seems there is a focus on bringing in a new audience at the exclusion of an already existing one.  I still stand behind my original ideas that the mother-ship ESPN can do some things on its other brands to further engage women without resorting to putting up a website that specifically caters to women.  I love the idea of women writers who are out there engaging in sports and even at times schooling the boys on “their” sports.  Therefore, I am all for more women writing about sports and engaging fans, both male and female.  Ultimately, I just want a place where women writing about sports is just as respected as the boys writing about it and that coverage of women’s sports is just ANOTHER PART OF THE SPORTS CONVERSATION and not a special “oh, let’s talk about this amazing feat by ___ women’s ____ team” because as I have said before, as women we may not play sports in the same way, but we sure can talk about them with the same passion men do.

Definitely a Hot Stove or at least it is warming up

Dec2

Just when I thought the White Sox hot stove was going to barely turn on, today they turned the burner on high and made huge news.  Such huge news that LeBron’s return to Cleveland took a backseat on sports talk radio this afternoon and there was no Bears talk.

In case you haven’t heard, the White Sox signed free agent Adam Dunn.  The same Adam Dunn that Kenny Williams has had an obsession with (because he wants more power and if it comes from the left side, like Adam does, BONUS).  There were other moves involving the Sox, which I will get to later in this post, but the huge news was Dunn.  The signing won’t be official until tomorrow afternoon at a press conference at 2 pm CST, when presumably Dunn might be introduced.  In any event, KW in his usual manner is keeping quiet on the whole thing even though every media outlet is reporting it is a done deal.  So done in fact that the Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley said it had been done for 24 hours from what he was hearing.

In any event, I know I should be thrilled about the Dunn signing, but in truth I am not sure how I feel.  This is probably because I am not a complete sabamatrician.  I appreciate stats in baseball because they can help to compare players and tell you things about them, but I also like to judge players upon what I see them do.  In my opinion, fantasy also contributes to this over reliance on stats as well (more on that in another post).  I know that thanks to Money Ball, stats are far more important in the game in evaluating talent and players, but I still can’t bring myself to put more stock in them than what I see on the field.  In any event, next season will be fun listening to Hawk Harrelson call games because he will actually have to start discussing stats potentially as opposed to just watching the game.

I GET that Dunn is superior to ANYONE who filled the Designated Hitter role for the Sox last season given the abysmal numbers put up primarily by Mark Kotsay and Andruw Jones last season.  However, if Dunn gets his hands on a glove to be used a ton in the field, his offensive output will be negated by his lack of being able to play defense.  There is no place to hide him on the field.  I am still not a fan of Dunn’s strike out rate and I fear he is going to do it at times when I least want it to happen.  I know many say that outs by a strike out are the same as if a guy hits a liner or flies out because it is still an out (unless it is in a situation where a guy is at 3rd with less than 2 outs or a guy is at 2nd with 1 or no outs), but I think that a strike out is worse because no contact has been made and with a liner or fly ball, I believe the baseball gods have a say whether that ball finds a piece of fair ground to land on.

My other issue is with Dunn is I think he is old.  Yes, he is only 31, but I still see that as on the wrong side of awesomeness.  He’s been relatively healthy, but the deal he is getting is 4 years at $56 million.  I am not a fan of the amount of the money spent on Dunn.  The years I can live with, but if for some reason Dunn starts to break down, then this deal will just look horrible.  It may be premature to think horrible deal, but it isn’t unprecedented in sports for a guy to get big money and years and then turn out to be a huge bust.  Finally with Dunn, I still question whether he is a guy who is committed to being a full-time DH.  When the Sox tried to acquire him at the 2010 trade deadline, he balked because he feels he can play the field and that he is not a designated hitter.  Only problem with that is that Dunn is the only person in baseball who thinks he can play the field.  I hope he is fine with being a DH because he is terrible with a glove.

As I started writing this post, I found out that the White Sox have reached an agreement with AJ Pierzynski for 2 years at around $8 million.  This is good.  I have thought that of the free agents we were losing, he was the one that needed to be a priority.  I didn’t think that Tyler Flowers was ready to handle the pitching staff and after Victor Martinez went to Detroit, the available free agent catchers left a lot to be desired.  This news I know made a friend of mine on twitter extremely happy as her twitter handle is about Pierzynski.

In brief comments made today by KW, he has said that Paul Konerko is now the priority in bringing him back.  There are rumors that he is close to signing and if he does come back, The King, Dunn and Rios in the middle of the White Sox lineup makes me think that I won’t need to prepare for a 4th place division tie finish.  Apparently, there has been money found to be able to land Dunn and still bring back The King.  I really do hope PK will come back, but if he doesn’t, I do understand why he wouldn’t as I have said previously.

Other Sox action today:  As expected, Bobby Jenks was non-tendered.  For those not super baseball contract savvy, it means that the Sox chose not to offer him a contract and he is now a free agent.  Jenks still had arbitration eligibility and the Sox decided after his declining production as the closer (he was still getting the job done, but just not as well) along with his expected raise getting him close to $9 or $10 million to walk away.  Alexei Ramirez opted out of his contract for 2011 and the Sox picked up a club option on him for $2.75 million.  This was a great move.  Ramirez deserves every bit of the money he will be earning over his previous salary of $1.1 million.

Overall, I think I am mostly feeling positive about moves that are occurring. In some ways I wonder if my not being fully happy about the Dunn thing makes me a bad sox fan, but KW has done some things of late that have made my white sox lose their luster they have had for so long.  Granted, he isn’t the only culprit, but I feel like he is more to blame than others might be.  This could  be because I am so hungry to win again and make Minnesota look silly.  Because I HATE the Minnesota Twins (but maybe not completely hate them).

There are still questions to be answered, such as who will be the closer.  Matt Thornton is more than capable, but I think he might think too much and doesn’t have a short memory, which are things I don’t want my closer to have.  I want him thinking very little and I certainly want him to have an incredibly short memory.  Plus, Thornton is the best set-up man and he is a great lefty specialist if you need him there.  There is still possibility that JJ Putz could be closer, but I think he is going to walk for the best deal and I don’t see that coming from the White Sox.  The bullpen aside from the closer still needs help and the middle relievers out there are very underwhelming.  Also, I still think Carlos Quentin is an issue.  If he can be traded for a productive bat that can FIELD, then please send him packing.  As great as he was in 2008, I won’t miss him.  His “intensity” thing is getting old really fast and I think he is more destructive than productive.  I am sick of waiting for him to be good for a bit then getting in a huge funk because he had a bad at bat.

2011 is looking like the final hurrah in getting another championship.  The starting pitching is there and the offense clearly looks better than it could have been.  Really all I want is a team that has top notch pitching top to bottom, stellar defense and enough offense to score one more run than the opposing team.  I don’t need a team of sluggers but want a good balance of everything needed.  (Guess that makes me kind of old school in terms of not wanting a team that out slugs everyone to win it all). If the teams doesn’t go all the way in 2011, then maybe there could be whole sale changes in the front office with the GM going and the Manager going.  Not to mention that if KW does stay, he will have to do the one thing he has never done here and that is the dreaded rebuilding.  With the state of the farm system, I might have to prepare myself for a number of years of bad baseball on the south side.

Best of

Nov24

It is the baseball off season and it can be a lonely time in the world of sports for baseball fanatics like me. Fortunately, in January of 2009, the MLB Network was launched and that was something to pacify my time until real games began. It became a place where if I were not watching a hockey game (my “winter” sports obsession) or some tv show, my tv was usually on this network.

Surprisingly, there is a lot of good stuff on the network and over the past two years it continues to evolve and get better. Aside from having shows that tell you the latest goings on with the Hot Stove, there is also original programming.

One of the shows I have come to enjoy a lot is called Prime 9. It is a show that does a countdown of the top 9 whatever in baseball. Some of the subjects include best pitching seasons, best short stops, left fielders, cinderella season, etc. There are usually ground rules as to how they went about assessing things and they even say the point is not to make a definitive list, but to start debate.

This past week’s episodes were the best double play combos and (unique) worst uniforms. The episode about the keystone corner duos was fun to see. Only 2 of the combos on the list have i actually seen in action and from what I remember, I understand why they were listed. The other 7 in the list, I have only seen highlights from. The show also does a good job of not only showing highlights of those who played before I was aware of baseball, but also having others explain why those made the list.

The list of best double play duos is

9.  Joe Morgan and Dave Concepcion

8. Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese

7. Lou Whittaker and Alan Trammel

6. Roberto Alomar and Omar Vizquel

5. Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio

4. Joe Gordon and Phil Rizzuto

3. Bill Mazeroski and Gene Alley

2. Johnny Evers and Joe Tinker

1. Bobby Grich and Mark Bellanger

The uniforms episode was awesome to see.  This was a chance to look back at some of the fashion choices that teams have had over the years.  Of course, most of these choices came from the color tv era.  Some of the uniforms you just couldn’t appreciate unless you saw them in full technicolor glory.  And at times, it would look like your tv was puking with all the fanciful choices made.  Of course as I watched this, I was wondering who on earth the owners of the teams at the time consulted in coming up with the particular colors, etc.  It was also interesting to hear what some of the players had to say about wearing some of the worst uniforms that could have ever been thought of.  This show also reminded me of some teams, like the Dodgers and Yankees that have only had a couple uniforms throughout their history and imagining those teams wearing anything other than their normal uniforms would probably cause me to keel over from shock.  Camouflage uniforms were not included because those are to honor the troops (and I am all for doing whatever can be done to honor them and what they do for me.)

The most unique (worst):

9. San Francisco Giants and their orange jersey (back when it was a regular part of the rotation and not just on fridays) and the orange stockings.

8. Florida Marlins (in particular, the teal colored sleeves when they first came into existence)

7. Anaheim Angels (this was the uniform pre-2002 that had the wings, pinstripes and the periwinkle blue sleeves)

6. Cleveland Indians and the RED uniforms of the 70s.  The players they talked to about this uni were united in their dislike of looking like giant peppers or ketsup

5.  San Diego Padres’ uniforms from the 70s that were brown and mustard colored.

4. Kansas City / Oakland Athletics.  These uniforms were due to Charlie Finley with the Gold and Green and it sort of fit in with his marketing of the players and various nicknames they had.  Seems to have worked as there is still the green, gold and white that you see in Oakland.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates.  These uniforms were from the 70s and while the Yellow and Black colors wasn’t a big deal, the sheer number of uniform combinations was mind-boggling.  Their poor equipment guy

2.  Houston Astros of the late 70s / early 80s.  These uniforms had a bit of a rainbow look to them.  Surprisingly, it is one of the common ones for throw-back uniform looks and you can see a lot of people wearing them in the stands at times.

1. AND THE MOST UNIQUE / WORST UNIFORMS?????  Feel free to guess.  As I was watching the episode, I was thinking the entire time, if this particular team’s uniform didn’t appear on the list, the people who put the list together really just did a huge injustice with the concept.  Seeing it as the worst however, I couldn’t agree more with the list makers.  Fortunately, on throwback uniform days, this team has NEVER sought to resurrect these uniforms, which is the best thing ever.

RIP 2010 White Sox

Oct26

So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, good night.  Rest in Peace 2010 Chicago White Sox.  You provided me with a lot of fun, a lot of frustration and a lot of what if for a season that was better than 2009, but somehow felt far worse in 2010.  Perhaps the feeling that 2010 was worse than 2009 was because of the acute awareness that we were going on 5 years of the last time you got to the promise land.  Maybe it was because I was listening to sports talk radio more and the various hosts and pundits were speaking with such urgency and hunger for a championship, that I was starting to crave it more.  Or, perhaps it was the bravado of the general manager who put this together with the pitching that made it all seem like it should happen.  In any event, a toast to the season past and looking forward to another long grind in hopes of a championship in 2011.

It is fitting that I write this today on the 5th anniversary of the Chicago White Sox winning the World Series in 2005.  I know in the coming weeks, there will be lots of changes coming to the team.  I’m pretty sure Mark Kotsay (who felt he was underappreciated) and Andruw Jones (who did his thing for a couple of months then went back to bad) will not be back with the team.  I don’t think Omar Vizquel will be back, but he still is in great shape and may want to play and mentor young players.  Questions remain with whether Paul Konerko will be back and I don’t think he will be.  There is also a question at catcher.  My guess is the White Sox will low ball A.J. Pierzynski and it will be up to the market to see if a team wants A.J. for more years and money than the White Sox will offer.  Of course, there are issues at 3rd base.  After the 2010 season, I don’t see Mark Teahen getting that job unless he goes to Camp Cora (assuming Joey doesn’t get a managerial job) and becomes a better 3rd baseman than Brooks Robinson or Mike Schmidt defensively.

The middle infield looks good.  I expect that for 2011, Alexi Ramirez will continue to develop into an elite shortstop and I have no doubt that Gordon “Bacon” Beckham will also continue his development as a 2nd baseman.  The outfield for 2011 also appears up in the air to me as it seems to me that only Center Field is set.  Alex Rios was quite the pleasant surprise for 2010 given how he was a disappointment when he came to the Sox in 2009 after a waiver wire deal.  Carlos Quentin still frustrates to no end.  After watching what he can do and then seeing how he gets in his own way when it comes to hitting, he is clearly his own worst enemy.  From what I see, he looks like a guy who over thinks everything and could benefit from some days of just going out, playing the game as just that – A GAME and having fun.  I know that is easier said than done, but if he could do that, he might actually be the player that everyone thinks is there.  The other annoying thing with him is that in 2010, he was playing Right Field as though he had never fielded there in his life.  Some of the routes he takes to catch fly balls made zero sense and he at times would make the worst left fielder look like an all-star if that guy played in right.  Given how much of an enigma Quentin is, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him traded this off season. 

Juan Pierre was much better than I thought.  Although, at the beginning of the season, I was not one of those fans who was pining to bring back Scott Podsednik as I think he is beyond baseball stupid and while Pierre and Podsednik are basically the same type of player and would put up similar numbers, I’d much prefer to have a guy who had baseball intelligence to one who was just as dumb playing the game as you could find.  Granted, Pierre didn’t make as much contact or get on base as much as sabermatricians would like, he was serviceable enough in the job that I was ok with things for the most part.  Whether he will be back next season, not sure, but if KW can find a better lead-off option then I am all for that. 

The pitching staff.  Those were the guys who were touted at the start of the 2010 season as being the savior of the team and would-be leaders to the Promised Land.  With a starting 4 of Buehrle, Peavey, Floyd and Danks, how could this team not go far?  Not to mention having Freddy Garcia as a number 5 could be fine.  And if he wasn’t, you had a few guys in the minors who would work as a serviceable 5th starter.  Sadly, the pitching staff got off to a bad start.  That, going along with lack of offense made of a recipe for a bad start to the season.  It seemed if the hitting was there, the pitching wasn’t.  If the pitching was, there were not enough runs scored to support it.  Eventually, it all did come together, but then the bullpen faltered down the stretch and alas, the season came to an end for the White Sox. 

I can only hope that the ensuing off-season will bring together a group of guys to fit with the existing starters (and all those guys come back healthy – I’m looking at you Jake Peavy) and few position players that will not only compete, but actually win in 2011.  Some advice for KW:  for the love of god, please get off the obsession with Adam Dunn.  And while you are at it, stop obsessing with other players you’ve been looking at / after for quite some time and trying to make them members of the White Sox.  Go get the best players out there, hell even dream and get in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes.  And please stop going after washed-up has-beens who you think you can catch lightening in the bottle.  News-flash – you won’t because there is really nothing to be caught (see how that Jones experiment worked?  Good while it lasted and not there when it was needed most).  Stop trying to bring the Kansas City Royals to the south side, unless you are talking about bringing Zack Greinke or Joakim Soria here.  Lastly, please don’t disappoint me and other fans with bringing in bad players or giving out bad contracts that make it impossible to move those players later when you realize those players are bad.  

And now back to my regularly scheduled watching of post season baseball, hockey and the occasional football game.

Love-Hate Relationships

Oct12

Relationships. So many different kinds we have in life. We have so many with relationships with people such as lovers, friends, parents, siblings, co-workers, frenemies, virtual friends. We also have them with objects. Some of us even have them with sporting teams.  And yes, I would be one who has a relationship with sporting teams.  Most of the time, I have a great deal of love for my White Sox.  But there are times when the team plays so badly that I hate them.  On the flip side of that, I generally have a bit of a hate for the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers.  Rarely do I have much love for either of those teams.  I can’t say that I have that kind of emotion for the Cleveland Indians or Kansas City Royals, but that is because those teams have been so bad for such a long time, that they don’t worry me as being any real competition or threat to the White Sox.

However, the Minnesota Twins really test my patience as far as a love hate relationship goes with something.  I was very excited and actively rooted against them in the 2010 playoffs against the Yankees.  I was an unabashed fan of the Yankees and it was because I dislike the Twins getting to the playoffs so much.  Granted, the reason they were there was because they played well and my White Sox blew it on so many occasions.  The Twins have also owned the White Sox like the Yankees have owned the Twins.  As much fun as it was to enjoy the Yankees making the Twins look silly, it was also painful to watch.  Mainly because I missed that my team wasn’t in the playoffs.

Of course, at the same time, watching the Twins make the playoffs yet again, made me wish that my team had an organization like the Twins do in a lot of ways.  If there is one nice thing I can say about Kenny Williams, the general manager for the White Sox it is that he is aggressive and will take a chance at finding lighting in a bottle and getting that key piece that is needed.  Something that truly irks me about the organization though is that from top to bottom, I don’t see everyone being on the same page.

In examining the Twins organization, they stress that what players do at the Major League level is the same stuff they expect from players in instructional league.  Players don’t advance to the next level until the organization is satisfied that a player will do things the right way.  This was super important for the Twins because they are a small market team that didn’t have a lot of revenue to go a buy the necessary pieces that were needed for a championship.  Because of this, they had to ensure their home-grown players were ready when they moved to the next level.  What is so cool about this (and irritating if you support a team NOT the twins) is that if a player at the Major League level gets hurt then the guy who is in the minors can easily be plugged in to that position and fill that void left.  It is as if the MLB player didn’t disappear because the guy who replaced him is more than adequate to handle things.  This is especially noticeable when it comes to defense.

I truly hate, yet am supremely envious of this.  Generally, the Twins are one of the best defensive teams in MLB and they rarely beat themselves with dumb mistakes that will lead to runs being score by the other team, whether by error or giving the other team extra outs to make plays.  When guys go down, they don’t miss a beat.  And this fact about the Twins makes me love them and hate myself for loving an “enemy” so much for what they do top to bottom.  Great examples from the 2010 season was early on, Joe Nathan, their closer had to have Tommy John surgery, which meant he was done before the season even began.  The guy who filled in for him, did an ok job and then at the trade deadline in July, they went and picked up a guy to help them out even more to help solidify the bullpen.  The 3rd baseman, Danny Valencia who ended the season did not appear in the line up for the Twins until June and he just slide right in.  He came up big for the team late down the stretch run as well.  Very few of the players on the roster are not home-grown.  And seeing how well they play, I am envious and kind of hate that they have so much GOOD home-grown talent. Of course, the player i love-hate the most is Joe Mauer.  He is their catcher and the way he goes about playing the game as well as the daily beating he takes as a catcher is just amazing.

On the other hand, when I see these things, it makes me sad that my team’s farm system is so depleted.  For the most part, I am on board with the idea that prospects are good for using to obtain pieces that are proven that will help you with the ultimate goal of winning a championship.  However, when I see the major league players who seem to be completely lacking in any concept of fundamental play, such as if you’re throwing a relay play from the outfield to make sure you hit the cut-off man to prevent the base runners from advancing, I get very sad because it seems to so rarely happen that those fundamentals are put into play.   In the past 10 years, the white sox have had VERY FEW players on the roster who are home-grown talent.  On the 2010 roster, only 1 pitcher and 1 position player for the entire season were home-grown.  And when injuries happened, it seemed like the replacements were just not quite ready, but as a fan I had to deal with those guys because there wasn’t anyone else to fill in.

I know many sox fans may disagree with me because there seemed to be a lack of hitting during the season and some of the players who filled in were relatively good with the bat, but in my opinion, those guys were horrible with the glove and that hurt the team more due to possibly committing an error and the pitcher being  unable to pitch over it or maybe giving the opposition more than 3 outs to work with.   What I can hope is good news is that in the last few years the White Sox have been doing some overhauling of the minor league system and perhaps there will be a little more focus on truly developing prospects as opposed to developing enough to trade them away.  Thus far, none of the prospects trade away have burned the team, but who knows when that day will actually come.  I would just like to once in a while see some home-grown talent and if the team needs to call upon those guys, I won’t be watching that guy playing with a bottle of tums worried he is going to be beyond horrible handling a glove.

I just don’t get it

Oct11

Now that baseball is in the post season, most people i know are very much into football at the moment.  I have a few friends who are into hockey, but given the slow the start the Blackhawks are off to, most of the sports talk is about football.  At one point in time, I actually had a huge working knowledge of football and was a huge Bears fan.  I would have been able to carry on a conversation about football to the same extent that I can baseball.  However, now, I am not so much interested in football anymore.  Not because of some sort of dislike of violence (have ya watched a hockey game lately and seen some of the vicious hits those guys take), but because I find it dull.

Due to this new-found boredom of watching football I can root for whoever you tell me to.  I will often go to bars to watch games because I am *that* fan who will yell at the tv at players who do dumb things.  Not normally a problem except my upstairs neighbors are elderly and probably hate hearing me yell for dumb things that happen on the ice, the football field or the baseball field.  So as a courtesy to them, I give them the occasional break from my yelling and watch at a bar.  Because I have very little interest in football, I have actually seen more than my fare share of Packers games with some friends who are Packers fans.  So many in fact, that I know most of the Packers cheers even though I grew up in an area that was decidedly Bears country.

All of that is fine and good except that I don’t understand college football (passion — i understand the game perfectly well) and the madness that accompanies those games.  This may be because I missed out on that fun from college.  I went to DePaul University and we did not have a football team.  During football season, my school got a little “nutso” in the head and would root for Notre Dame during football season.  I suppose mainly because it was the closest catholic school with a decent football program (although, that is hugely debatable).  In any event, all love for Notre Dame ended when it was basketball season because the Blue Demons do actually have a basketball team (although, there is tons of work to do to make that program great again).

If I were a college football fan, then I should be a Fighting Irish fan.  Personally I never became a fan of Notre Dame because I thought it was dumb to root for them just because of my school’s lack of a football team, the whole catholic school connection and because of my waning interest in football.  Due to this, I never understood the whole devotion of saturdays to college football games and wondering who was ranked where and who was going to be in the BCS title game.  However, lately, I have found myself expanding my horizons and occasionally watching games.  And of all the teams to be interested in following, I have been interested in the University of Michigan Wolverines.  I have to blame this on the fact that I know many people who went to Michigan and because one of the beat writers for the White Sox went to Michigan as well.  That alone wouldn’t really do it to make me have a passing interest in Michigan.  However this writer will also talk about the many White Sox players who have ties to Michigan.  And if White Sox players are involved, somehow I find a bit more interest in something.  As some people know, somehow many things I do in life somehow will relate back to the White Sox.  I suppose that makes sense as to why I have a passing interest in Michigan.  Although for picking a random team to follow, Michigan State would make a bit more sense since my sister went to school there and I actually own a sweatshirt from that school.

My biggest reason for just not understanding the whole college football experience is probably because of knowing so many people who root for teams that they have ZERO connection to.  Or those who spend so much time rooting for their alma mater that I wonder if they have lives outside of keeping up with what their college teams did.  I suppose the same could be said of my sports obsessions (White Sox, Blackhawks), but in my mind those are justified because they are professional teams as opposed to college.  But the college games are a HUGE business, so maybe they are equal in some regard minus the college players getting paid.

Anyway, I am going to try to just enjoy it for what it is and not necessarily root for anyone, but at least see who might be the next great players in the NFL may be one day.  And I won’t let anyone in on my dirty little secret when it comes to discussing football with many hardcore fans 🙂

Ten 10 Ten

Oct10

October 10, 2010.  A fun date for many because it is 10.1o.10.  Last time that happened was September 9, 2009.  And the other fun date this year was September 2, 2010.  That was beverly hills 90210 day.   In any event, the big fun with today’s 10-10-10 was that it was the Chicago Marathon.  This is my hometown marathon race and it always happens on columbus day weekend.  I have done it previously (more on that in another post) and it is always a fun time.

As I have done in past years, I went to Chinatown to watch the race.  This year, I was actually up early enough that when I arrived at the welcome gate in Chinatown, the only people around were those who were local to the neighborhood and people who were helping to set up for the events.  I really wanted to arrive early because I wanted to see the elite runners, both men and women.  This year’s elite field consisted of some of the best in the world as well as Sammy Wanjiru and Liliya Shobukhova, who were the winners last year.  Shobukhova set a new Russian record today with her time.  Ryan Hall, who was going to run the race pulled out early due to basically being over trained and his training getting progressively worse before the race.  I was sad to see him have to pull out of the race because he is one of the new crop of elite American men who has a very serious shot at winning some of the marathon races instead of it always being a Kenyan to take the title.  It was super cool to see Joan Benoit Samuelson running as well.  She is 53 and was trying to qualify for the olympic trials.  She JUST missed the time, but in the process set a new American record for the 50-54 age group.  Not gonna lie — if I could run that fast now, I would be so excited.  And when I am her age, I’d probably kill to run that fast.  She looked amazing when I saw her run past me in Chinatown.  For complete coverage of the race with all the various stories, such as the fantastic showing by American Women, the stories of Wanjiru and Shobukhova, the 2:11 time of the first American male, etc., check out runner’s world’s coverage as it helped keep me informed while I was on the sidewalk watching and cheering on the runners.

All of the stuff that I saw today was even more impressive because of the temperatures.  It was extremely warm out for running.  In the mid 70s and only going higher.  And I can hear the non-runners out there saying: ‘but wait, if I were to run, wouldn’t you prefer it to be warm?  I mean, who wants to run when it is cold’?  Well, if non-runners were to ever take on such a feat, then you’d realize that running in much, much cooler temperatures would be the ideal.  As you start moving, you start to heat up and if it is also humid outside, it is much harder to cool off as you are running.  The last few years of the Chicago Marathon have been rather warm of late.  In fact, in 2007 it was the warmest time for the race and it actually had to be canceled in the middle of the race which was the right call given the extreme heat and humidity, but also devastating to so many runners doing their first marathon who could not finish as well as to seasoned runners who were used to the heat and humidity and wanted to finish regardless.

The big question is, why do a marathon when there are so many things about it that are so grueling.  Some other common things I hear about running marathons from people who don’t do them are: 1) i hate running [good excuse because if you don’t like something, you will never get wanting to conquer the “gold standard” distance], 2) do you understand how you are damaging your knees, 3) you’re crazy, 4) you’re insane, 5) it is not a real sport, 6) who wants to watch someone exercise, and my personal favorite 7) you know people die running this distance! even the first marathon the guy died!!  All I can usually say to those who don’t understand why people want to do it is that you probably won’t understand until you try it.  Anytime I mention running a race, (which is usually some distance over the usual weekend 5K) I hear some combination of these various excuses that people have.  When I pry a bit deeper about the excuses, I usually find that people think that running hurts and that is why they don’t like it.  I know that running can hurt, but I find that is usually because of not being in the right shoe for that particular runner and once you get soured on something, it is really hard to get yourself motivated to try again.

As for the whole not being a real sport and it being an exercise of watching people exercise, well that is just crazy talk to me.  Running is a huge sport.  If you are defining a sport by it having competition, it absolutely qualifies.  Or as I like to say, if running isn’t a sport, then neither is golf.  If you ever watch a race and see how the top runners jockey for position to win the race and how they go about it, you realize there is a ton of strategy involved.  This strategy involving the elevation of the race course, the temperatures, and the wind conditions.  It is amazing watching what happens to ultimately come out as the top dog in the race.  Not to mention that if you are at such an elite level, you can win some big money coming in as the winner.

Overall, it was a great day (although any race is always great) for cheering on the runners.  I saw a lot of women wearing running skirts, of which I am a fan of.  I also saw a man running barefoot, which is always impressive to see.  I also saw a few people wearing the vibram five finger shoes, which is a way to simulate running barefoot but not actually be barefoot.  It was super fun to see the wheelchair athletes competing as well.  Those men and women have some amazingly strong arms and to see the various types of chairs they had to get through the race was amazing.  I was most impressed by the double amputee who ran.  Seeing a guy like that always makes me grateful for what I can do and am able to do because I am not limited in some way.  Now, I cannot wait to start training for a marathon that I will do next fall.  But first, I need to get my butt in gear for a 5K next month.  What could be a better race than loads of hot chocolate at the end?

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who ran the Chicago Marathon on 10.10.10 and any other races that happened today!