It would be fitting for the Yankees to be dating Britney Spears. They could do a lot better but overpay for somebody well past her prime.

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I would invite you to any bar on Western Ave and several Sox fans would admit to hating the Cubs more than they like the Sox. They would own it proudly.

In fact, one of the bars on 111th, gives out free drinks when the Cubs give up a homerun. He doesnt do it when the Sox hit one.

I care if it means they can spend more money on a team reaching development in 3-5 years than it appears that they can today.

I want the owner of my team to have more fucking generational wealth than the Roman Empire.

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You know me like that.

You just think more of Brittney Spears than I do. I'd give the Yankees Johansson, or maybe Paula Patton.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

If the team is making money to provide trust funds for unborn children then the chances are the on-field product is quite good. They aren't mutually exclusive. Many thought they were, but the decreased Wrigley attendance this year proves it's not the case.

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Team Cutler.

I meant it was their choice to buy the team.

The family isn't bankrupt though. This isn't like the Mets. If the Cubs weren't the most profitable team in baseball they'd cover that easily.

Once again, what you describe here is still a choice to extract profit. They are just investing it differently.

I understand it is the right business decision. It also would be the right business decision in 2016, and 2020, and as long as you are still making a profit. The Cubs are proving you can make a lot of money even without a full stadium.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Congratulations! He does. His daddy just won't let him spend any of it.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Nothing good comes from Beverly.

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Well I thought you were just going back a few years and using Spears as the standard


Anyway, we disagree on where The White Sox are in the history of teams.

Did I ever tell you where I grew up?

Drunken bar talk is not reality. They'd still rather see the Sox win the World Series.
That is funny.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Exactly.

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You know me like that.

It IS funny and Ill take the free drink but it's representative of a good portion of Sox fans


I dont know why this is argued so vehemently. Its not like Sox fans deny it. There are many, many Sox fans that are proud of the Cub hate and will admit its a big part of being a Sox fan to them.


That's just the way it is and has been the last 30 years at least

They're less than the Yankees, A's, and Red Sox. About equivalent with Cleveland and Detroit.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

The $32 million is from operations. It proves baseball operations successfully generates income. But the $32 million does not include expenditures from the debt financing. If the capital expenditures are anywhere close to the $32 million(likely), then they are cash poor(also likely). Us numbers crunching nerds call this the free cash flow of the business.

The $32 million is just a number on paper.

Were closer than I thought.

Although, Id think the Tigers would be significantly ahead of Cleveland


I dont know if you're just going AL, but you left out the Cards

They have a lot of debt on this team. No doubt their family has a personal guarantee on the debt. But, they still, as an organization, have to meet negotiated cash-flow requirements. It certainly is possible to not be meeting them, even making a decent profit - especially if they are based on full attendance figures. Without that revenue, they need to cut costs and they are doing it at the major-league level.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say. They should be spending more money on free agents? It seems painfully obvious that they don't have a lot of money left to pour into this organization.

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You know me like that.

No its not.

There are fans who hate on the Cubs no doubt, but that is not an accurate picture of a "good portion of Sox fans" as you claim.

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Yes.

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You know nothing of real rivalries then. You can mock a rival incessently while still wanting your team to win. See OSU/Michigan, Yankees/Red Sox, Packers/Bears.
Of course there are fans that hate the Cubs. There are fans who hate the Yankees, or the Cowboys, or the Cardinals, or pretty much any popular team.

What is dumb is the thought that any significant portion of Sox fans would rather see the Cubs lose than the Sox win.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I was just going AL. All three of those have similar records. If I have to get down to it, I'd say Detroit, White Sox, Indians in that order. But they're close. Outside of the Yankees and St. Louis, five championships is pretty good.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

4 pages in and now I will make a comment: I'm starting to see others jumping ahead of the women and children to get on the lifeboats. THIS IS THE FUCKING TITANIC. What will be Theo's excuse next year when they lose 98 games? I want a rebuild but you just can't be throwing aaa clowns on the field and saying "well,tough shit". Like I said before the 2012 season,it's not going to hurt them to get some proven ML hitters on the payroll that might win you maybe an extra 15-23 games and get you in the WC game. Who's to say that 5th spot in 2014 isn't won by a team with 82 victories? Once you get in,it's a crap shoot.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I do think Epstein is smart enough to know his honeymoon would only last so long. That's why he tried to get Sanchez and then settled on Jackson. It doesn't look great now, and maybe it won't, but I do understand the move. He figured the price of pitching wasn't going anywhere but up and he needed a guy to eat some innings as they transitioned to the younger guys. Sanchez and Jackson were both obviously capable of that and they each had enough stuff that it could turn out to be a big bonus if they put things together. Sanchez did this year and Jackson hasn't, but maybe it will go the other way next season.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

They have enough money to build a hotel though and fire and hire managers. If money is really that much of an issue I doubt they'd be doing that. Instead, it seems fairly obvious they are taking profit this year and investing it in things that will make them huge returns.

I'm not saying it is wrong but I'm just pointing out the Cubs are choosing to be noncompetitive while the owners make a good amount of money. They are just converting it into equity by paying down debt they chose to take.

I wasn't even saying it was wrong. I just think it is something that gets lost in a lot of this. The Ricketts are using the goodwill provided by Theo to make tons of money. They are helping finance the purchase of the Cubs on the backs of noncompetitive teams.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Fixed. And I never said it was Theo's honest public stance; I said it was my belief, and if there was anyone out there that thought Sveum was going to be this miracle worker to lead the Cubs to the 2014 WS Champeenship, I would like anyone to send me the quote.

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Not a mult.

Then we are saying the same thing. Agree to agree.

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You know me like that.

I understand that. I'm asking why your belief is different than what Theo says sometimes but in line with it at other times. Do you ever consider the possibility that you are engaging in wishful thinking? And if he wanted a two year guy, why sign him to a three year deal? I highly doubt he was sharing Ricketts' money with a good friend. That's how guys get fired themselves.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

It's that easy? Why is this the first Pirates winning season since 1992? And who are the hitters they can afford to sign who want to come here?

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Team Cutler.

Well, yeah.

It was brought up because someone asked if Sox fans would be mad if they were bad next year and they'd want to give up on the plan. Northside_Dan seemed to disagree with the premise that the Cubs are setting payroll artificially low to extract profit(can be spun they are paying down debt but it's the same thing).

You then agreed with me and we both are happy.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I didn't disagree. Just wanted to know their total income based on what you posted and that I speculated that they are choosing to reinvest that money in Wrigley and non MLB player's. Which I'm perfectly fine with.

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Team Cutler.