FOR SALE: One billygoat-bearded closer.

Good to see KC with worse relief pitching than the Sox.

Phew!

Bob Melvin is proving to be one silly braindead dude.

Anyway, Marte is looking much better today! So far...

poop on the two guys in my office. bitter bitter men.

Arrrggh...wasn't that the incident where at least one of the guys started out the day drinking at Wrigley?

Every team has a 'vocal minority' that is annoying. Regardless, no one is 'ruining' anything for me...except people who think such behavior is symptomatic or confined to one team's fans.

Nice of you to remember the 'anniversary' - no doubt the local papers reminded you of that. Too bad they're too biased to remind people that at least one of them was a Cub fan.

I lived in Wrigleyville - you want to hear stories about drunken bullying asshole fans? You know - all those fan incidents that don't get reported in the media?

On April 15, 2003 in the seventh inning of a White Sox lead, Eric “I have a dream of becoming a” Divas ran out onto U.S. Cellular Field and attacked an umpire. He was the fourth person during the night to set foot on the field. Divas is a known Cub fan that spent the afternoon at Wrigley before going to the Sox game. The incident is the second for the South Siders—both occurring against the Kansas City Royals—and the fourth incident in the city of Chicago. (The first two incidents occurred in Wrigley Field—one when a fan attacked a home-team pitcher, and the second when a fan swiped a Los Angeles Dodger’s cap.) Since the incident at U.S. Cellular, baseball had another fan/player occurrence when an Oakland Athletics fan threw a cellular phone at outfielder Carl Everett and hit him in the head.

This is not a Sox issue. This is not a Cubs issue. This is a drinking issue. Due to several incompetent drinkers, beer sales could be outlawed at all Major League Baseball games. Beer sales have already been limited to just the first six innings in some parks—including Wrigley Field.

Every team has a 'vocal minority' that is annoying.
agreed. except the expos. they're not vocal at all.

Regardless, no one is 'ruining' anything for me...except people who think such behavior is symptomatic or confined to one team's fans.
i suppose "ruin" may not have been the best word. what i meant was that the vocal minority of the sox fans seem to cast a bad light on the rest.

Nice of you to remember the 'anniversary'
your welcome.

no doubt the local papers reminded you of that
yep, it was in the sun times. small blurb, maybe 8 paragraphs.

Too bad they're too biased to remind people that at least one of them was a Cub fan.
this is the problem i have with the sox fans in my office. they spend at least as much time deriding the cubs as supporting their own club. it happened at shields and 35th, not clark and addison. but hey, if it makes you feel better that's fine. last year's game was interrupted by sox fans entering the field of play only THREE times in one game. much better.

I lived in Wrigleyville - you want to hear stories about drunken bullying asshole fans?
no that's fine, i've seen enough of that kind of behavior i know what it's like. i've been in the bleachers in fenway when brawls enveloped entire seating sections. it's odd behavior to say the least. i had a horseshoe thrown at me at a patriots game once, i'm assuming the guy (or gal) who chucked it had been imbibing.

every team has it's a-holes. my point was the two guys in my office seem to spend as much time slighting other teams as supporting their own (much like the boston bruins fans). and they seem to take special delight in running down the cubs. IN NO WAY DO I BELIEVE THAT THESE TWO FANS ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF EACH AND EVERY FAN OF THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX.

but these two bitter little men just suck the fun out of listening to the games on the radio.

Here is the latest outrage that is going around. Needless to say, I think some of the people on this thread don't find it very funny.

If the link doesn't work, here's a snippet:

Miller makes self butt of humour with Koch artwork
'I love Billy Koch' tattooed on his rear
Much-decorated Jay did it for the cash

Jays pitcher Justin Miller's arms are covered in so many tattoos he's been legislated to wear long sleeves on the mound so his body art doesn't distract hitters. But here's a mental image that should downright frighten both Miller's friends and foes: Miller recently tattooed "I Love Billy Koch" on his right buttocks.

He says he did it for the money. Koch, the White Sox closer who was traded by the Jays to the Athletics for Miller and Eric Hinske in 2001, is notorious for paying people to do, in Miller's words, "stupid things." So along with footing the $80 bill (all figures U.S.) at the tattoo parlour, Koch paid Miller $1,000 for the naming rights to his derriere. Koch's wife insisted her husband toss in $500 for Miller's better half, Jessica, because, as Miller said, "she has to live with it."

"Now it's one of my most cherished tattoos," said Miller, who has about 70. "It gets some funny remarks (in the shower). Orlando (Hudson, the Toronto second baseman) always says, `What the hell's wrong with you?'"

haha, that should be posted in the "feel good stories" thread!

Ozzie took out Shingo to get to that fucking piece of shit, too. WALKING in the winning run against one of the worst teams in the AL....oi vey.

I think Koch has written his final ticket out of town, or at least to permanent mop up duty.

Both of these sentences, totally OTM. Sickening.

Shingo is the man.

So WHY did the Marlins TRADE for Koch?

I think you can get some special shampoo from the vet for that.

Sox acquire five-tool shortstop in exchange for reliever

MIAMI -- Even as Billy Koch was saying goodbye to his White Sox teammates Thursday night, after being shipped to the Marlins for minor-league shortstop Wilson Valdez, the former closer for the South Siders managed to maintain his razor-sharp wit.
"I've never had my ERA drop so much in one day," said Koch, who will get a clean slate in moving to the National League for the first time in his career.

[...]

Koch faced the news with class and dignity. He apologized to Williams for failing to get the job done since he was brought over from Oakland with Neal Cotts in exchange for Keith Foulke, Mark Johnson and Joe Valentine.

"I told Kenny that it's just a shame that you put your neck out there, you traded some good players to get me over here, put the money on the table for me, and I wasn't able to the job done for you," Koch said. "That's my only regret. I had a lot of fun in Chicago."

[...]

"I just [stunk]," said Koch, who rarely was at a loss for words and never hid from the media, no matter what bad pitching situation he found himself in. "For whatever reason, I just didn't get the job done. I need to turn the page now. It's a fresh start.

"This is hard because I love everybody in this clubhouse, and I'm going to miss them. Shingo has the stuff to get it done, and I wish him 100 percent success.

"He's a class-act kid," added White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, talking about the respect he had for Koch in handling the trade decision. "It's a good thing for him that he's out of Chicago. Between the media and the fans, it was tough for him. When he got the save, he got it in an ugly way. But he did it."

He seems like such a great guy.

Marlins fans need a backup when Benitez assumes late-season form.

(puts fingers back in ears.)

"No. I'm going to make the Toronto Blue Jays pay every cent of my salary."
--former Blue Jays pitcher Billy Koch, on whether he’ll sign with another team after being released by Toronto (Toronto Sun)

"To be released after four outings? What's four outings in the spring? Nothing. They can pay my gas money for my car, they can pay to fill up my 240-gallon tank for my 30-foot Pursuit, they can gas up my jet boat and our three jet skis."
--Koch

"Not only are we going, but I'll be sitting with you and we'll be holding up signs reading 'Go Devil Rays!' "
--Koch, on whether he’s still going to a Rays-Jays game in Tampa Bay after buying 240 tickets for his kids’ classmates