Former GM Ken Williams patiently waits to ask new GM Rick Hahn a question

SoxFest was fun this year. Although last week I was lamenting that there wasn’t a Festivus session, it turned out to be a perfectly good thing. There were plenty of great stories, good looks on the players (despite what some may think, Matt Thornton’s beard really is spectacular!) as well as learning that there is a ton of personality with this group and they enjoy each other.

In past year’s, I have done posts where you can read my timeline from twitter over the days. However, this year I just didn’t have time to do that. You can always go back and look at it and I may get around to compiling it to archive soon before it is no longer available. The best news of me tweeting this year was that I managed to stay out of Twitter Jail. This was surprising to me considering all the good tidbits the players and coaches had to share. » Continue reading “Lessons Learned At SoxFest 2013″

So far there have been two days of SoxFest. Today was the final day and it did live up to expectations. The first couple of days there was a lot of talk of chemistry.  How well do the players get along? How well does everyone like each other. How much is everyone working toward the same goal? Is everyone pulling on the rope in the same direction? Hopefully you followed along on twitter to know what was been happening in the sessions. If not, you should have as there were lots of fun little nuggets that come up. Such as me realizing I don’t despise Tom “Wimpy” Paciorek as much as I have in the past. And Tony La Russa doesn’t seem quite as douchey as I am used to seeing him be.

As I am sure you know by now, the 1983 team is being celebrated this season, including wearing the 1983 uniform on Sunday home games. There had far been a couple of panels with some members of that team as well as other panels where members of the team talked in general. Additionally, there was a panel featuring Aaron Rowand, Joe Crede, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko discussing the 2005 team. » Continue reading “SoxFest 2013 All About Chemistry So Far”

Hello Sox Fans!!!! Sorry that I have been away from talking to you. Unfortunately, my “real” job got in the way of me keeping up as meticulously as I should with White Sox news of late. However, hopefully you’ve been kept abreast of what has been happening with the team.

So far this off season, we’ve seen some decent re-signings as well as having to say goodbye to old favorites we all love for one reason or another. And now that it is late January, we might be starting to get itchy for baseball. The World Baseball Classic will soon be starting up, which will slightly fill the role of the game until Opening Day. Speaking of WBC, congratulatiosn to Jesse Crain (Team Canada), Alex Rios, Hector Santiago, Andy Gonzalez (Team Puerto Rico) and Andre Rienzo (Team Brazil) on their participation. But of course, the big news is that SoxFest is next weekend. Are you going to be there? If not, no worries as I will be there again to live tweet what is happening. Be sure to follow me on Twitter for all the happenings at SoxFest. » Continue reading “Spring Is On The Way”

Now that SoxFest is over, I feel like I can finally start to decide what I think of this team as it stands now. There seemed to be an overall feeling of trying to make fans feel good about what could potentially be a not great season. This hit me immediately in seeing some of the molds of Joe Crede and Juan Uribe that are in the monument plaza. I was also vividly reminded of the 1985 Bears team. Mainly because the way the 2005 was being celebrated.

Don’t get me wrong, they should be celebrated. When they won game four in Houston, I was beyond ecstatic and love that they did it. But now I am worried that 20, 30 years down the road at SoxFest, guys from that team will continue to be trotted out in a feel-good moment. » Continue reading “Final Thoughts On SoxFest 2012″

(l-r) Pablo Ozuna, Cliff Politte, Darrin Jackson, Chris Widger, Neal Cotts, Joe Crede

SoxFest concluded yesterday. It turned out to be a pretty full day. Lots more questions that were similar to what was asked previously. There was also some possible annoyance from some of the panelists about some questions that were constantly getting asked in the same session. Oh, and of course, more digs at a couple of players who are deemed as the ultimate bums.

Like Saturday, I did end up in twitter jail for a time. Fortunately, they let me out after an hour. Just like before, if you have any questions, please ask in the comments. I know the typing may have gotten screwy, especially with auto-correct. Also, be sure you checked out some of the various other publications out there. There were some really good news nuggets and stories people got. Definitely worth your time. Later, I will try to get you links to some of those great stories.

Happy Monday and here are the tweets from the last day of SoxFest 2012:  » Continue reading “Final Day At SoxFest 2012. Now What?”

(l-r) Jeff Manto, Brent Lillibridge, Ken "Hawk" Harrelson, Adam Dunn

Yesterday was day two of SoxFest. It was another fun day. There were moments of testiness as well as some questions that were asked that left me scratching my head. Below are the tweets of the day. There are a couple of gaps. For the first time ever, I ended up in Twitter Jail for tweeting too much in an hour. Fortunately, it only lasted for an hour. If it had gone longer, I am not sure what I would have done. Maybe create an account just for the jail time. In any event, enjoy. I will bring you day three today as well on twitter. As always, if you have any questions, please ask. I know the spelling gets wonky at times so some of the tweets might not make a ton of sense. (Like Ichiro turning into i crap!)

Day Two Tweets: » Continue reading “SoxFest Day Two. A Bit Of Drama”

Bud Selig presenting award to Jerry Reinsdorf at Sox Fest

Hey one and all. Sox Fest began last night. It was fun times. In all honestly, I was kind of wondering what to expect given the changes the team has gone through this off season. Not to mention, it is hard to figure out just what exactly this season is going to be. In case you missed it, I am live-tweeting from the seminars. Below, you can read my tweets from last night. I apologize for the spelling errors, but that can happen when you are trying to quickly type. If you have any questions about stuff, feel free to leave them in the comments. I will be back today live-tweeting and will have a recap of Saturday for you as well.

If you want to follow along during the day, just check out my twitter feed. I apologize in advance if I don’t respond to your tweets right away. Coverage can be spotty so I might not see it for a bit. Don’t forget, if you are around tonight, come hang out with me at Miller’s Pub around 7:30. And if you are at Sox Fest, come say hi

And now for the tweets from the Opening Ceremonies:  » Continue reading “SoxFest 2012: What You Might Have Missed On Opening Night”

Hello and happy Wednesday! I hope you survived the work day yesterday if in fact you were back at work. Fortunately, I was able to get a late start at work, which helped the day go faster.

As for news in White Sox land, not much happening. The news of the day was all about the Chicago Bears. If you are a Bears fan, congratulations. Yesterday must have felt like a late Hanukkah / Christmas present for you. with Jerry Angelo and Mike Martz departing Halas Hall for good.  Just be patient and maybe eventually, you will have a football team that resembles some of the ones you are envious of because they have good front offices, drafts and players.

As for baseball, the annual announcement of who will make up the 2012 Hall of Fame Class is coming next week. Chris Jaffe at The Hardball Times has an article up where he looks at predictions for who will and won’t get in this time. Of course we were all disappointed in the Golden Era committee for not putting Minnie Minoso in. However another former White Sox player, Tim Raines, is on the ballot again. Whether he gets the call remains to be seen.

Are the White Sox rebuilding? That is the question that everyone is asking these days and no one really has an answer. The Sporting news had the following to say about last season:

Everything that could have gone wrong for the White Sox did go wrong. It got so embarrassing that the organization decided to bench Dunn toward the end of the season so he wouldn’t break the franchise strikeout record in his first year with the club. But, thanks to some injuries that forced him into the lineup, he did it anyway.

We all know last season was monumentally bad for some players and the team as a whole. Particularly one that had a slogan of “All In.” We can only hope next season is better. Presumably, it won’t get worse, but you never know.  » Continue reading “Happenings At 35th & Shields: January 4, 2012 White Sox News”

The big news of the previous day? Mark Buehrle and the White Sox have officially parted ways. I was expecting this and had even prepared for it. Still sucks that he is gone, but given what he was looking for, what the Sox had in terms of money and the fact that KW used that dirty word, well . . .

In any event, here are some of the stories you might have missed while you were possibly dealing with the grief of the new reality that Mark is not a member of the White Sox anymore.

Robin Ventura gave an interview where he talked about a number of things.

I’ve been talking about the dirty R word that Ken Williams has never used in his tenure as White Sox GM. That is until now.

Ron Gardenhire says Ozzie leaving is kind of . . . well you should read it.

» Continue reading “South Side Hits: December 8, 2011 White Sox Links”

Texting and driving and texting and batting practice do not mix. ~Will Ohman.

The White Sox had another social media night event at the ballpark last night. In addition to getting to see the Sox take batting practice, there was a pre-game parade around the warning track for the fans who participated as well as may giveaways throughout the night. It was Ladies’ Night at the park where women could get manicures and massages around.

Joe Crede was on hand and it was also Roger “The SodFather” Bossard bobblehead night. In addition to signed items from players for social media night, there were two special prizes: a chance to sit in the Gold Coast Ticket club for an inning with Joe Crede and a chance to change a base during the game. » Continue reading “Adventures In Baseball”