Soxfest 2005 Review

This was my favorite Soxfest ever. Met a lot of new people, and hung out with a lot of good friends. From beginning to end it was a great time.

Now for some observations

1. Carl Everett is one cool dude. The reputation this guy carries around is total and 100% BS. He was outgoing and accomidating to the fans, even going out of his way to talk to every single person in his autograph lines. Funny story... Carl had just finished signing for me. Now the girl in line behind me has 5 different color splotches in her hair. Carl looked at her and said

"They told me not to sign for the girl with pink and purple in her hair."

Her eyes get really big and tears well up as she said,

"Really?"

In total disbelief.

Carl instantly responded

"No"

As he grabbed her ball and signed it.

Another note on Carl, he looks great. He has lost a lot of weight and was "embarassed" at how he ended up last year. 30-100 isn't out of the question IMO.

2. Kenny Williams has grown up a ton as a GM since he took over in 2001. He made sure to go out of his way to praise Magglio Ordonez, and remind an SRO crowd of people of the contributions that he made during his time on the southside of Chicago, when asked what happened between the Sox and Maggs. He also refused to jump into the negative side of it.

3. Brooks Boyer is a marketing genius. He gets "it" when it comes to selling the Sox. He is working his ass off, and is willing to get help from everyone he possibly can to sell the White Sox. The guy interacts with fans incredibly well, and makes people feel like they are the only people in the room.

4. I think Ken Harrelson is getting alzheimer's disease. Every time he gave a seminar this weekend, he kept repeating the same points over and over and over again. I was ready to kill him if he mentioned how both the Yankees and White Sox hit 242 home runs and didn't win the World Series.

5. Willie Harris is done as a southsider. When both your manager and team spokesperson/longtime announcer trash you while you are sitting on stage, you are on your way out the door. Apparently he can't steal, can't bunt, can't be consistant, and that is just from the people in his organization... Willie should have just stayed home this weekend.

6. Ozzie Guillen Jr. was fasicinating to listen to. Having grown up in the clubhouses of the teams I grew up watching, it was incredible to hear his stories about some of the players and teams I idolized. It was also awesome to hear him describe the Marlins clubhouse as they rallied to beat the Cubs a couple of years back.

7. Aaron Rowand never misses a chance to mention that his wife was a gymnist in college.

8. Ross Gload will sleep on his couch for the rest of his life after describing the way his wife and him hooked up.

"I knew a lot of my teammates had been out with her, and I wanted to find out what I was missing"

9. Ozzie Guillen still has a lot to learn about diplomacy. He delivers some great one liners, but left fans an easy and tantilizing bit of dirt on Carlos Lee that would have been better served not being said. But that is this is Ozzie, and I doubt he will ever change.

10. Penises on someone elses head are very funny. Asking someone to take a picture of yourself with penises on your head is knockdown, drag out funny.

11. Knocking on the door of kids who are drinking at unde age 21, while yelling "Security!" is very funny, and should be tried by all.

12. 7 people do not fit in a Civic, or so I am told.

13. Some people can arrange for fireworks shows, even when it is below zero outside.

14. We got some great deals on Sox merchandise over the weekend. I finally got my road gray jacket. It started at $125 last year, and I bought it for $50.

15. The White Sox pride bracelet fad, and the fad in general, is insane. They must have printed 10,000 of those things.


16. Best wishes and speedy recovery to Jerry Reinsdorf. Even after looking good over the weekend, he ended up having an angioplasty on Sunday.

17. The Big Bar = Big Tabs.

18. Neal Cotts-Freddy Garcia=not a very big autograph line. Garcia had visa problems and couldn't make it to the fest, so Neal Cotts signed alone. Neal's line was literally half of one coral row, while the AJ Pierz/Scott Pod line was about 15 rows.

19. AJ Pierz is going to be a huge fan favorite in Chicago. He has long term connections to the Sox through Ken Harrelson, and big financial motivation to keep his nose clean. He is a guy who loves to win, and will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

20. Tadahito Iguchi to the Sox could very well happen. Kenny Williams didn't deny that something could be in the works, even referring to his under the radar cover story.

21. The White Sox fans treatment of Shingo Takatsu has been heard all of the way back to Japan. Japanese players and fans alike are in awe of the reception that Shingo gets everytime he comes into a game and/or makes a save. This could give the Sox some inroads towards much bigger players.

22. Paul Konerko really wants to stay in Chicago, and is willing to give a hometown discount to stay here.

23. Jermaine Dye's new number. Which as a huge Robin Ventura fan saddens me.

24. Frank Thomas is working his ass off, but probably won't be ready to start the regular season with the Sox. Speedy recover big man!


Well that's all for now. More thoughts if I remember more stuff....