Odd Job – Professional Suite Filler

Posted on by mysoxsummer

Hello Everybody! It’s your pal MySoxSummer and I wanna be a Professional Suite Filler.  Do you know what that is?  I am guessing no.  Does it even exist?  I fucking hope so!  I am gonna write a whole blog about my qualifications and my thoughts on why I would make the best rent-a-friend eva.  So let’s break it down.

 

How I Got The Idea

If you pay attention to our twitter (@fromthe108), you might have noticed that I was in a killer suite when the AZ DBacks were playing our sisters to the north.  Nope, I haven’t jumped ship, my wife’s cousin is a professional funny guy – T.J. McFarland – who happens to throw baseballs really good for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

USP MLB: SAN DIEGO PADRES AT ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS S BBN ARI SD USA AZ

Quick History Lesson – I was living in AZ when the DBacks beat the Yanks to win the 2001 World Series.  I worked for Alice Cooper’sTown which is a badass BBQ / Comfort Food joint right up the street from Chase Field, and across the street from United Airlines Arena.  I met a bunch of athletes during my days there, drank a ton of free beer, ate really good free food and even watched “Mr. Belding” a.k.a. Dennis Haskins do body shots off a young lady during a fundraiser for Alice’s charity. I have more stories that I would love to share, maybe someday I will write that blog.  Maybe off season.  We’ll see.

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So anyways, I am in a the best suite in Wrigley.  No shit.  Directly behind home.  Our suite neighbor to the left was none other than the architect of the rebuild, Theo Epstein.  It was pretty boss.  Our host was a great guy, who remembered everyone’s name and what they were drinking.  He ordered multiple things to eat, drink and when that desert cart came around, goddamn.  Bailey shots in chocolate cups.  Wonderful.

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If you don’t remember the game on Thursday, there were several rain delays and I can’t even tell you how sweet it was to not have to move out of the rain, or even give a fuck if the game was gonna start again cause you are eating your face off and drinking tons of free Heiniken.  The starting pitchers were Q vs Grenkie, so i was expecting an epic pitch off, but those rain delays really killed the momentum.  So I just enjoyed my wife’s extended family and had a great time.

Now, as you might or might now know, I have a young daughter, Little Miss Shortstop.  My wife’s birthday was the following day, so I let her stay for the game and I left about 6.  Big thanks to my SIL Shannon for watching my daughter for about 8 hours.  She rules.  So as I walked home, drunk and full of life, I decided that my dream job would be a professional suite filler.

During the course of our conversations, the suite host told me how hard it was in previous years to get the suite filled.  Amazing. I thought Cubs fans were the best?  I can only imagine how hard some of these guys on the southside must be working to fill theirs.  So that is where I come in.  I can be that filler.  Why me?  Glad you asked.

My Qualifications

Reason # 1 – I drink beer.  Alot of beer.  At first look you are thinking, uh, that doesn’t sound like a good thing.  On Thursday, I knew the crowd was a bigger fan of domestics and hard booze. I scanned that fridge upon entry, we were a little late, and there was more Heiniken than any other beer.  So that was the beer I drank.  And no one drank that beer.  If I was on the southside, and no one wanted the Budweiser, I would drink that.  Yes, I would take one for the team.  I also have a decent amount of knowledge on craft beer. I can explain most beers.  It’s a skill.

Reason #2 – I don’t eat much.  While I am a huge fat guy, most of my extra lbs come from massive amounts of beer consumption. I eat minimal food, unless there is a plentiful amount.  I do not wanna be the fat guy that everyone looks at and says that is why we have no food left.  Not gonna happen.

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Reason #3 – I kinda know a little about baseball.  I can at the very least nod my head in agreement when I have 0 fucking idea who you are talking about.  Ask the fellas, hell they might not even know that I am pulling a Swingers style move when they talk about draft picks or our recent pick ups.

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Reason #4 – I have tons of stories that fall into the PG-13 and R category.  Yep, just gonna say that.  Some involve famous folks, some are from college, some are from my 10 years out west.  Wanna know more? Invite me to your suite.

Reason #5 – I don’t look like I CAN’T fight.  If we get in a pinch and we need some muscle, I at least look the part.  Get to talking to me, I am not that guy, but my looks and size scare away potential troublemakers.

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So there you have it! I feel like I could really excel in this line of work.  So do you know any guys that have a suite?  Send them my way – @mysoxsummer is my Twitter.  Or hell even email me at mysoxsummer@gmail.com.  If last night was any indication of the year to come, you are gonna need me to fill your suite!

-MSS

This week is the week folks!  Wanna meet and party with us?  Then show up Friday or Saturday for 2 108 special events! (Truth be told, there is a pretty good chance you can get drunk with us on Monday or Tuesday, just won’t be an official event)

Badergate At The Park – Elvis Night! 

Date: August 25th

Location : TBD (But usually Lot E)

Time: 4pm

What: Free Baderbrau beer.  Free Baderbrau food.  Free swag from the 108 boys. Do you need any other reasons to come get drunk on Friday night?  Be there or be square.

Fill The 108 Night! MSS Turns 40! Star Wars Night 

Date: August 26th

Location : Section 108 / $20 Tickets

Time: 6pm

What: My Sox Summer is turning 40 on Aug 20th, but we won’t celebrate till the 26th.  We have 30 plus tickets bought already for our friends and family, let’s buy even more.  MSS would suggest you get them at the box office to save on fees and get there early to get the bobblehead.  If you don’t want that bobblehead give it to MSS.  Ha.  We promise to be drunk AF and we will go live a few times.  Have fun in a full 108! We might have to get an extra Modelo vendor that night to handle all the requests.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly #62forQ

Posted on by mysoxsummer

Friends, it’s your buddy BeefLoaf……I’m here to round up the weekend with, “the Good, the Bad, the Ugly”……..a little snippet of what the 108ers see when attending games for a Sox homestand…………..

The Good

#62forQ – On Thursday the White Sox traded Jose Quintana to the Cubs for Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease and two other prospects that are likely to be working at Chipotle by the end of the season.  This trade has fully cemented the White Sox rebuild as he is the last high profile player to be traded.  This trade also inspired the 108ers to start a campaign for the White Sox Friday Night game, the first game since the All-Star break  to celebrate Jose Quintana’s White Sox career, “Irish Wake Style”, by drinking 62 beers during the pre, game and post.  Of course, we crushed this goal and had a great time doing so…..special thanks to @Pete_Hand for buying the 108ers a round to help accomplish this.

 

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Avi Garcia – 2 Homers on Sunday and a pretty decent weekend at the plate in total show me that the White Sox lone All-Star is back on track.  He even kept his sock game strong as usual.  I’m not sure if he’ll be here past August 1st but he sure has been fun to watch this year.
6PM Saturday Games –  I, MSS, will admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of these late Saturday games at first.  But I LOVE THEM. I can get chores done, which Mrs. MSS LOVES, and THEN go get drunk with the boys.  I feel accomplished and I still get my fun time.  Plus it seems to do well with the crowds.  Lotta drunks though, which is good for business, bad for the security guys.

The Bad

Derek Holland – He looks cooked, he looks finished.  Everyone is hitting the ball hard off of him and to all fields.  I’d be in shock if he could have even 1 start the rest of the season in which he goes 7 innings.  Chorizy-E was mentioning that he as a $2M bonus if he hits 150 IP for the season.  He’s at 97 Innings right now, so maybe the Sox just make him go away John Danks style before long and we won’t have to watch him much more.  Bring on Reynaldo Lopez.

 

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“Kids Run The Bases!” Line – MSS took a piss in the 9th, d-hy-drate-d, and he could barely get into the bathroom because of this line.  Then while exiting, the goddamn line took up half of the concourse.  Teachers, parents always yell at kids to get in single file lines, time to take that advice yourself folks! Seems like this could be done better, but it’s the Sox, so who knows.

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The Ugly

Tim Anderson‘s Defense – We’ve written previously about Anderson’s struggles and the effects that some things in his personal life might be having on his performance.  He is struggling mightily this year and it is getting harder and harder to watch.  It seems that basically every game  he is making a major defensive gaff.  This year, I guess it’s fine because the more losses that pile up the better it is for the future, but goddamn is it tough to watch.  He could probably use a mental health day every so often, especially once Moncada is here.

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Sink Water Temp – Listen, we get it, the park and what goes on at the park can get messy and disgusting.  But 175 degree water in the bathroom by the 108 is insane yo! MSS made his way out slowly on Saturday, and stopped by a different bathroom and the water was a reasonable temp, so it can be done.  Poor BeefLoaf lost 2 layers of skin on his gnarly paws and MSS couldn’t keep his hand under there that long at all.  It’s nuts and dangerous.  Dangerous for your nuts too, just ask Slumpbuster.

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– BeefLoaf (and a few hits by MySoxSummer)

Remember what happened last year on 7/23/16? Of course you do! Matt “El Nino” Albers made his first start for the Chicago White Sox!  Because we couldn’t fit “El Nino” on a t shirt, we decided to commemorate the reason why he was on the mound: Chris Sale, his trusting hunting knife and some uncomfortable retro jerseys.  Have you seen the shirt yet?  God I hope so.  On 7/23/17 they will be $5 off, just go to our store and order one!  We have other shirts available too!  Plus any money we make goes towards new shirts that will make you proud to be a White Sox fan!
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Avi Garcia – Trade, Extend or Nothing….

Posted on by mysoxsummer
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In the 15 months or so that we have been writing in this space, I think we have probably written about Avi Garcia too much.  Whether it be to talk about WHY the White Sox continue to give him chances, or to make fun of him for sneaking under 260 lbs as a playing weight.  The 108ers are intrigued by Avisail Garcia.  The other night, I ran a Twitter poll of our followers and there isn’t a general consensus on what the White Sox should do with Avi Garcia

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So, I figured, as any blogger with a mediocre offering might do, I would breakdown the potential actions….

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TRADE

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The whole thought that Avi could be traded was kicked off via a rumor, of course, it was a Cafardo, so it is likely to have no basis in reality.  I remember when Sam Smith used to write for the Bulls and he would make up trade scenarios, at least he wrote them in a way in which, you knew he was just making something up and it was fun.  Nowadays these fucking guys make up shit and then blasted it out there like it is reality.  It’s a bunch of BS.  Anywho, so, Cafardo noted that the Cardinals were looking at Garcia and a few other power hitting RF’s.  I looked up and down the rest of the playoff contenders and pretenders and truthfully didn’t see much in the way of a team that really needs a RF.  The only other team that looked appetizing to me, were the Mets, but not for this year, they’ll start clearing off the Granderson and Bruce contracts at the end of the year, they could probably use a young controllable (at least for 2 years) RF to help out in their competitive window.  Besides those two teams, you got me.

Truthfully though, I don’t need to find a suitor, if Avi is to be traded, someone will emerge. I am just in need of finding a prospective value back in trade.  Avi is tough to compare given that he’s had 3 pretty blech seasons and now 3 pretty excellent months.  He’s still not walking a lot, but the “walking a lot” folks need to go fuck off, you can be a plenty valuable player with power and high contact rate.  The two most comparable trades from last deadline are the Mets trading for Bruce and the Rangers trading for Beltran.  The Bruce deal netted the Reds Dilson Herrera who was a top 10 prospect in the Mets system, but graduated from his prospect status and a lottery ticket.  The Beltran deal, which required the Yanks to toss some cash in the nap sack that went along with Carlos to Texas included a top 5 prospect in the Rangers system (Dillon Tate) and top 100 overall and two lesser prospects that were top 10 round picks in the 2014 amateur draft.

In other words, it isn’t likely that an Avisail Garcia trade ends up with much star power included in it.  It is possible that his control with 2 arb years remaining would boost the haul, but it is likely you would just be adding more assets and setting the clock back on those assets.  It is doubtful you line up something with as much promise as say, I dunno, 2013 Avisail Garcia.  If trade is the answer, it may be a signal that the competitive window is a little further away (say, starting in 2020) and that the White Sox need more assets that start arriving then.

EXTEND

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This is a tough one, as Garcia has 2 arb years left.  For the 2017 season he netted a 1 yr $3M deal before going to arbitration.  Truthfully, he was pretty terrible heading into his 1st arbitration year and still got $3M.  Arbitration is pretty kind to giving raises if someone could, oh, I dunno, put up a .900 OPS season.  You might expect Avi to pick up a $3M to $4M raise in 2018 and a similar one in 2019.  Which would put Avi’s salaries at say $7M in 2018 and $11M in 2019, the White Sox would need to buy those out and then buy out some portion of free agency.

I think the closest thing to Avi in estimated value might be someone like Mark Trumbo who got 3 yrs 37.5M.  Truthfully, if you think Avi is actually this Avi, he’s much better than Mark Trumbo, so maybe Ian Desmond‘s 5yrs $70M is closer to accurate.  Let’s assume if you extend Avi (and the extension would have to occur around now or at least before he puts in an entire season of being a 3 to 4 win player) that the extension would be for 5 yrs and $75M (buying out arb years 2018 & 2019) and then signing him through  2022 (his age 31 season).  Avi might feel some loyalty towards the White Sox and get something like this done.  Or, he might realize that he goes to free agency at 28 and could make more money than this when he does.

NOTHING

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This is the best action in my opinion.  I don’t think the market yet believes in the new Avi, making trades tougher and I think it is pretty cost prohibitive to the future competing White Sox teams to possibly fuck up this extension.  I think you let Avi play this out and then in 2018 you re-evaluate.  Maybe he finds his level as a 2 WAR RF and then you decide that he’ll be cheap enough to extend or a valuable enough commodity to trade for a real chip.  With the current expiring assets on the roster, I think Rick Hahn has his hands full trying to unload everything that isn’t nailed down for something of future value.

 

– BeefLoaf

The 5 – Mark Buehrle’s Best Moments

Posted on by mysoxsummer

On Saturday, June 24th, the Chicago White Sox will retire #56. Rightly so.  The guy was balls out awesome with the Sox, and always got you out of there early with his no nonsense approach to tossing the hardball.  The catcher called the pitch, he threw the pitch.  Simple.  Didn’t overthink it, just threw the ball.  He didn’t get you on speed, he got you because he was a master at placing the ball where he wanted it.  He was our Maddux on the southside, another guy who pitched forever because his style gave him the chance.  Will he make the HOF?  Up for debate, but his win total might keep him out.

Here are my, MSS, best Buehrle moments.

5 – April 5th, 2010 – The Buehrle Backhand.

Goddamn son.

4 – May 5th, 2010 – Balk City Buehrle

A move so good, even big fat dummy Joe West doesn’t get it. Apparently he and Hawk are friends now, they weren’t in this clip.  Mild mannered Mark even got heated.

3 – Big Truck Mark.

http://deadspin.com/5263393/mark-buehrles-truck-will-cause-ice-caps-to-melt

 

2- 4/18/2007 – A No-No.

This was awesome, then this happened…..

1- 7/23/2009 – Perfection.

Just complete insanity.  I was living in Cali at the time, and rushed home to watch the end of the game on my gigantic tube television.  This thing was insane.   I left it behind when I moved cause I didn’t want to ever lift it again.  But anyways, I watched the end of that game on my blue leather couch in Huntington Beach, CA.  That will always be a favorite game and memory of mine.  Maybe not so much my neighbor who must have been tired of hearing me yell at the Sox and Illini, inside the house, outside the house whilst having a heater, upstairs, downstairs, you get the idea.  I called my dad and we talked about how Wise was gonna get a nice gift (which he did, a watch) and how great it was to see a guy like Mark toss that game.

But then we saw Phillip Humber toss one in 2012, and realized it is just as much luck as it is skill.  Ozzie always said he’d rather be lucky than good, hard to disagree with that.

So there are my top 5 moments.  Will be great to see him home again on Saturday.  Speaking of which, will you be there?  Oh, dang, the game is sold out.  But guess what?  The enterprising folks from the 108 have 2 (TWO) extra tickets to giveaway to our fans for free, kinda.  As you know, we opened a store.  You can see what we sell here – http://fromthe108.bigcartel.com/ . Check it out, buy something.  And if you buy 2 items from us from 6/19 till 6/22 at 11pm, you will be entered into the drawing to win the two tickets.  The best part, they are in the 108, our section!  Now, because we aren’t dicks, people that have bought 2 items from us already are entered into the contest too. You count too! But if you wanna buy 2 more items, we’ll even give you an extra entry.  Cheaper than scalping tix, and you get a sweet merch from our blog! Only negative, it is 2 tickets that are not right next to each other, but you will get your pin, watch the number be retired, and in about the 5th you can move down to us and get HAMMERED.

If you have any questions, email us at fromthe108@gmail.com or tweet at us @fromthe108.

-MSS

The 108 Learning Annex – Bathroom Etiquette at the Ballpark.

Posted on by mysoxsummer

Even though we don’t wanna do this, we feel like the hot mess that took place on April 22nd, 2017 has deemed it necessary that we go over this.  Usually this takes place on Opening Day, but a 32k crowd on that “Sweatshirt Saturday” blew it out of the water. Some of y’all have NO FUCKING IDEA ON HOW TO USE THE RESTROOMS AT G-RATE. NO IDEA. NOT A CLUE.

Let’s take a look at the diagram –

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So most of you know to enter in the A area.  Some of you go backdoor and hit the C area, which I understand, but you are still a cunt when you do so.  So much so that I won’t tuck my wide shoulders when going out the exit in hopes that I give you a stinger. So you go in A.  Now, if you gotta shit (and I will say that in hundreds of games that I have attended I have done it twice) you can stay in the A area, but move to the side so other guys can get past. If you are using the stall to piss, you gotta reevaluate your life, for reals.  The last thing anyone is looking at is your dick size at the ballpark.  If you have a kid and are using the stall, hey, thank you for bringing the ‘yutes to the game. One time I saw a guy drinking a beer, taking a piss with his kid in a baby carrier. It was amazing.

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When you enter the bathroom, and you just have to piss, walk right by the people in the A area, and head to the B area.  Simple right? You’d think. Why do this you ask? This will prevent a big bunch of people blocking the entrance while ONE FUCKING GUY is just sitting there waiting for the next open urinal.  Right now, huge lines ensue just so “First In Line” Fred can get his pisser before anyone else does. We in the 108 LOSE OUR FUCKING MINDS when this happens.  But how can it be avoided?  Oh, we’d thought you’d never ask!

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Now, here is where it get’s tricky. We all like to gamble right?  Well, now is the time (as Slumpbuster put it) to “pick your horse”.  You line up behind a guy taking a piss, so there is no bunching in area A, which allows for people to get access to the next open urinal.   Now, several things can happen. Your “horse” might win before the guy who might have gotten in line before you. It is your urinal, you won, piss away. But you can do the, “Go ahead” movement if you wanna be a nice guy.  But ultimately, it is yours to use. Just following this little suggestion, will make things go so much smoother, and Chorizy – E won’t wanna kill you.

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I know all you guys are all about being “fair”, well except you cunts that go in the exit and think it’s hilarious. But honestly, this first come, next served bullshit has to end.  When there are less people in the bathroom, I stay in an “area” of a few urinals. If a guy who was waiting longer than me picked a bad horse (depending on how bad I gotta piss) I usually will offer up my spot to that guy.  I try to be fair, but sometimes, especially when the bathrooms are full, you gotta make a decision and deal with it. It sucks, but it’s the best we can do.  This one guy waiting for the next available one has gotta end.  I am gonna have a fucking aneurysm the next time I get in line only to find out we are waiting for “Next In Line” Ned to get his properly deserved urinal.

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Now, you don’t have to be right on the guy taking a piss, give him some space and don’t rush the guy.  Usually I am pretty drunk, so I don’t give a fuck how close you are, but some guys that might give them stage fright.  What actually will give most guys stage fright is when you don’t leave a one urinal buffer in an empty bathroom.  I know we are a group orientated type of society, don’t like to be alone, but one spot, is public bathrooms.  Stay the fuck away.

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I am sure I have pissed off a bunch of people, but IDGAF. This madness needs to end.  Seriously.  I am tired of waiting in lines so one person can be treated fairly.  We are in a  group situation and what works best for the group, not than the individual, should rule. So when you see a guy walk by you, cause you are living in “It’s My Turn” Ted’s dumb world, waiting in the A area, don’t freak out, but rather follow him to the future.  We in the 108 will be there, and we’ll have fancy future beer. Wanna join us?

 

-MSS

 

Big thanks to all the 108’ers that came out last night to support my first lofty and slow pitch.  Miguel Gonzalez called it an ultra slow change-up, awesome guy by the way. It was a wonderful experience that I am very appreciative of.  Having my wife, daughter and all you jagaloons there meant more to me than you will even know.  The shit talking after the pitch was pretty light, I think because I was holding my daughter.  I am sure it will continue tonight.  Extra special thanks to Mike from the Sox (an avid 108 reader) for his hospitality. Can’t wait to do it again.

 

And then this –

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So our new t-shirt idea is available in our BRAND NEW SPANKING STORE! In this store you can get our brand spanking new “Jersey Demolition” shirt and OG 108 Trucker cap that all the fellas wear. Available also is our original OG 108 shirt (Chicago colorway, black and white) in limited numbers.  In very limited numbers we have the 2016 Hot Stove Champions shirt.  The money we get from these shirts goes to fund more funny t-shirt ideas.  If there is money left after that, we promise to drink it away.  

So visit our store here – http://fromthe108.bigcartel.com/

Take a quick look at our merch and buy something!  Please and thank you!

 

Hey You – Buy Our Stuff.

Posted on by mysoxsummer

Hola it’s MSS and we have a special blog today for all our loyal readers.  If you follow us on Twitter (@fromthe108) or our Instagram (fromthe108, and looking at the numbers you might not) we teased an announcement.  Here it is –

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And –

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What could it be?  Looks awesome.  Looks comfortable. Looks like you need one.  Here it is in all it’s glory!

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WE MADE ANOTHER SHIRT! Isn’t it funny that “shirt” and “shit” are only an “r” away? How about that. So anyways, what a fantastic shirt.  It’s made by the great people at Next Level, so you know it’s soft. Printed in CHICAGO by local guys 4th Shift Printing. It’s a fancy athletic cut that makes you look slim.  Plus it celebrates the oddest day in Chris Sale‘s storied career.  Wouldn’t it be great to welcome him back with this nifty shirt?  Word is he is tossing on May 30th, should be a great one.

So now you are telling yourself, “Goddamn, that is a fancy shirt.  I need me that!” And then thinking,  “It must be a $50 shirt looking at that quality design and superior printing.” Well, you would be right.  It’s a $50 shirt, but we are selling them all half off at the low-low “you so crazy” price of only $25.  We’ll even ship this badboy (along with whatever 108 swag I can find in my basement)  to you for just $5 more.  That’s a steal right?  But wait, there is more.

We only made 100 of these hilarious shirts and once they are sold, we will never sell one again.  We know how much it sucks when you get a sweet t-shirt and then your buddy get’s the same one months later just to steal your thunder.  So buy it before that asshole does!

So now you are thinking “I wonder where I go to procure this wondrous item?” Well right here my friend! Yes, the 108’ers have a store.

Here is the link again –

http://fromthe108.bigcartel.com/

So go check our shit out!  What other awesome items are in store for you? Literally everything you need! Check out these other items!

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The first shirt we ever did.  The OG 108 shirt that you have seen around the park.  We get hit up about this shirt all the time, now you can own it. Sweet huh?

We also have this Rick Hahn endorsed gem –

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Oh don’t believe me?  Look at this!

Yep, Rick has one and might be wearing it RIGHT FUCKING NOW. Wearing this shirt, crushing Modelo after Modelo, telling Kenny to hold his beer while he shows the Chairman how he made the deals that made us the 2016 Hot Stove Champions.

Now you are saying “But the sun, it blinds me.” Well we have a solution –

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Look at all that awesome.  Nothing says “I am here to party!” quite like a trucker cap.  Black and white colorway so you can wear it to formal occasions! And really, it goes with EVERYTHING. Don’t be left out when all your friends are rocking this cap, drinking heavily, picking up chicks.  Just like Slumpbuster does. You can rock it forwards when the sun is beating down and then flip it around when it’s time to get serious.

So go take a look at our store and if you feel so inclined, buy something.  Money made off of these items will go directly back into making more fun 108 gear, and if there is any left over, rest assured we will be drinking that away at the next homestand. Wanna save the shipping cost?  Tweet at us and let us know what you want and when you will be at the park, we’ll bring the order to you!  For reals.

So please share this with your buds and budettes and buy something already!  Need that link again?  Ok, here you go!

http://fromthe108.bigcartel.com/

We appreciate your support and hope you enjoy this as much as we think you will.  Tweet at us with your praise or disgust.   ALSO – If you already have a 108 shirt, and you tweet us a pic while you are wearing it at the park, we’ll enter you into a contest to win some free Sox SGA stuff.  We’ll pick one winner per homestand and send you stuff.  Seriously, that simple.

Thanks for the support!

-MSS

(2) The Good, The Bad, The Ugly……

Posted on by mysoxsummer

Friends, it’s your buddy BeefLoaf……I’m here to round up the weekend with  “the Good, the Bad, the Ugly”……..a little snippet of what the 108’ers see when attending games for a Sox homestand.

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The Good

– The Fans – Cheers to you White Sox fans!!! This team is a shell of its former self, but you are still coming out and supporting a full scale rebuild.  32k fans on Saturday night was…AMAZING!!!  The Sunday crowd was solid too.  I don’t ever want to hear Kenny Williams complain about the crowds, we are supporting a rebuilding team more then appropriately.
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– The Bullpen – the last few years have been a struggle, but lemme tell ya…..this year, the White Sox bullpen has been nothing short of spectacular…………this weekend, we had Michael Ynoa throw 51 pitches on Saturday night to close out 3 innings much needed relief work when Mike Pelfrey‘s start was a total disaster……..we also had Tommy Kahnle come in and throw a scoreless 8th inning on Sunday.  The White Sox appear to be ready for a world in which Tommy Kahnle and Anthony Swarzak throw important innings.
– 108 Twitter Followers – You guys and gals are fucking amazing!!!  Whether you are coming down to hang for an inning or two in the 108 (like the friends @cmmarysz @dirrty862 and @DudeSlater ) or just tweeting clever stuff to us before, during or after games, it’s a joy to interract with you!!!  It is going to be a tough next couple of years, but our interractions should make it much more palatable.
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The Bad

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– Todd Frazier – I wrote about him in this space last homestand and I hope to not write about him again, but he looks totally lost.  What doesn’t help is when you are awful at the plate and then drop an easy pop up in foul territory that ends up allowing another run to cross the plate that inning (thank goodness it didn’t factor in the result).  I just hope he can right this ship before the trade deadline and become SOMETHING for this rebuilding team.
– Ricky Renteria – I mostly think Ricky has done a solid job, but for a rebuilding team that is struggling on offense, I can’t make a solid argument for why Matt Davidson is riding the pine ALL. GODDAMN. WEEKEND.  Not a pinch hitting spot, not a spot start on Saturday, wtf?  I am NOT a Matt Davidson supporter (much of White Sox twitter is), but I can’t come up with a cogent reason that would say benching him for 3 game straight makes any kind of sense.
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The Ugly

– Bathroom Etiquette – MySoxSummer will have a more complete piece on this coming through soon, but the lines out the door are unacceptable, the half drank beers and half eaten slices of pizza left on the urinal are unacceptable.  We might run a workshop on how not to be a fucking idiot at the ballpark when using the facilities.
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– Throwing Home Run Balls back on the Field – We have already written ad nausem about this, but people just don’t fucking get it.  Look, your Aunt Edna’s tradition of making fruitcake for Thanksgiving is a shitty tradition, so why follow other shitty traditions that are blindly followed by others?  If you catch a home run ball and you don’t want to keep it, PLEASE, just give it to a kid nearby that would love to have it.  Please DO NOT throw that ball back on the field.  You’ll be removed from the ballpark and we will mock you in this space.
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Sox fans, let us know what you are thinking about the 2nd weekend home stand of the season………hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, Insta, MySpace, etc

-BeefLoaf

Own Some White Sox History!

Posted on by mysoxsummer

Hello everybody! It’s MSS, and as you know, I do a bit of collecting of White Sox stuff.  Mostly I collect the bobbleheads (if you have any you wanna sell, email me at mysoxsummer@gmail.com) but I look at all sorts of stuff.  Most recently I purchased some blueprints from New Comiskey.  I also picked up an engraved bat that had the last team that played at Old Comiskey. Great stuff to add to my collection.

With the advent of the smart phone, several apps have come along for people to sell their stuff online for no extra cost.  In addition to Facebook and Ebay, there is now Offerup and Let Go, both sites are like virtual garage sales.  I have moved some stuff on these sites, but find that the people are usually unreliable and never respond after they make an offer.  Or they lowball the shit outta ya.  Which is fine, but don’t get angry when I won’t sell to ya.  I check from time to time for stuff in my area and well, I got crazy lucky today.

This is amazing!  Clearly over priced and it’s not even certified (although it is listed as certified)! I looked over the pictures and noticed that the ball had been damaged (maybe played with by a kid Sandlot style) but there seems to be a tear so it’s most likely damaged by a dog.  Comes with the original case, even has the black “display stand”.

So I reached out to the seller to get the authentication number, ya know, since it’s listed as that…..

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HOLY SHIT!!!! This is fucking history for the low price of $150?  Not just a World Series used game ball, but it was a HOME RUN BALL?  There were only 6 home runs in the entire 2005 Playoffs for the White Sox, and this is one of those balls right here, on Offer Up, for under $200.  AMAZING.  I was not born yesterday, so I decided to ask a few more questions…….

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You see, you start doubting people and they reassure you that it’s a real item and if that doesn’t hold water for you (which it shouldn’t) the seller offers up that he knows a Pawn Shop that will let you know that it is real.  But the gem here is that he has Scotty Pods walk off game winning homer ball, autographed by Scotty Pods.  That is simply fucking amazing.  Once again, for under $200.  I mean baseball fans love these stories, as do Sox fans.

So at this point after I email him the story that says Scott has the homerun ball, I fully expect him to stop all communication with me, but he one ups me!

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Now everyone has a story from their grandfather that might be lacking in the truth area. According to my dad, my great grandfather always claimed to be at Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. Why is that game significant? Babe Ruth called his homer.  He also claimed to have been at the Red Grange 6 TD game vs Michigan in 1924. The way my father told the stories to me later in life makes me believe that he even questions them, but it would be awesome to be true.  So grandpas have been lying for ages. 

But this takes the cake.  Grandpa told Freddy (Could this be Freddy Garcia?) that this was the home run ball from Game 2 of the 2005 World Series. He gave it to his grandson with picture evidence of Pods signing it. Never mind that you can find out the info on this ball in a few seconds on Google. So instead of checking Grandpa’s story, let’s just keep it alive without any proof.  So I decided to lower the hammer…..

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Anyone that has seen a game used baseball knows they aren’t white. They use mud on them from these guys. And if it was part of history, I would think you’d buy a better case than the retail one that is sold with the retail balls. But he carried on. Sure, throw your grandpa under the bus. Sure, you are gonna have a serious talk with him too.  And then…

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He ain’t giving this up.  Why did I offer $20? These balls go for about $25 to $35 blank and in perfect condition. I am guessing the sig is real, I’d risk $20 to find out.  It’s a cool story to tell folks, like I am now.  But he doesn’t take my offer and says that never used baseballs signed go for $120.  Well, a certified Pods WS Ball was just sold on Ebay for $26.  And it has authentication.  And it wasn’t chewed by a dog.  At this point, I just move on cause he doesn’t really care, as shown by his use of emojis.

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So while you are looking for great deals, make sure you do your homework. Don’t trust anyone, unless you know them.  Lotta guys scamming out there, so ask questions.  A legit seller will answer all your questions.

The Sox announced 2 more bobblehead games this week, a Game Of Thrones Southpaw bobblehead and a Mark Buehrle bobble.  They join a Southpaw Birthday Bobble (for kids only) and a Star Wars bobble.  As far as bobbles, some of the weakest bobbles I have ever seen. Not sure why Tim Anderson doesn’t have a bobble yet (Could be the Star Wars bobble I suppose).  And I am all for a Tyler Saladino “bobble-stache”.  Chance the Rapper should of had one too with all his recent success.  We’ll see, I am guessing we get a few more before the end of the year.

Go Sox!

-MSS

Now that the season has started, feel free to swing by the 108 and look for us!  We can’t promise to be there, but a pretty good chance one of us will be there on the weekends. You can tweet at us too @fromthe108 and join us on FB too!

The 5 – All The Places We’ve been Banned.

Posted on by mysoxsummer

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Running a blog is a pretty thankless job, but from time to time you make an impact on something or someone, so you keep writing stuff.  I ran a pretty successful blog in the summer of 2012 called My Sox Summer.  I had just moved to Chicago, Bridgeport to be exact, and wanted to see how many games I could go to for under $500.  I decided to try for 50, ended up with 53 games for $400.  This was pre-$7 and $5 upper corner seats, so the lowest face value was around $15. So if you wanna relive that epic collapse of 2012 through the eyes of a guy with no job, you can read it here.

In 2017, we are trying to step our game up here in the 108. We had a bunch of ideas that we didn’t execute last year due to timing and piss poor planing, but look at us now!  We have t-shirts and business cards! They were a big hit at SoxFest. Hell we even have a contest running for the best mustache with Tyler Saladino! And the most epic March Madness Bracket EVAR for the best baseball movie. So anyways we are trying to get more readers and followers in 2017.

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I am not sure how familiar you as the reader are of the White Sox online community, but there was a really popular message board back in the day called WSI (White Sox Interactive).  I was a west coaster back in the day and I am pretty sure one of the moderators hit me with a card back when it started up, but I never joined. Fast forward to 2012 and I am trying to promote my blog, I start posting on any White Sox message board I can find.  I encountered a bunch of red tape when trying to post on some of these message boards, as they don’t allow the small time guys that make no money to self promote their blogs.  After several messages WSI did decide to allow me to post on their board, which drove a bunch of traffic in 2012.  I tried to post again in later years and I was banned for life.  Ha. Soxtalk was another message board that always allowed me to post my blog, which was awesome too.  I had a FB page, Twitter and Insta page. All drove traffic to the blog, all made me $0.

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We started @fromthe108 in 2016, I was pretty aware of the different channels that we could use to promote.  Message boards have since died, mostly due to the moderators being control freaks, and FB pages have become the new message boards.  There are TONS of these pages on FB and I try to join as many as possible.  Mostly I am there as a Sox fan, but I am also there to promote our blog among the others. Many pages allow this with no issue, a few have issues, but I will talk about them later. First let me tell you about the people that run our blog.

In 2012 I met a group of guys that had season tickets to the Sox and let me tell you, I lucked into a group that suited my needs for baseball. All of the guys were very welcoming, but not in a sappy way, more like “we respect you cause you are a big guy, but you are fun drunk so please hang with us” kind of way.  It’s fun to come into situations where the guys were just like my friends, pretty much known each other for life.  Lotta crazy Bridgeport stories, college stories, all that shit.  It was a match made on the southside. We all have tickets (that we pay for) for every weekend series.

On the heels of a video that I shot that went viral, the From The 108 blog was born.If you haven’t, watch this video. It’s hilarious.

We promoted the blog on several sites, most were open to it, some were not.  Here are the sites that had issues with us.

Reddit

I was banned for 7 days?  All for posting links to our stories.  They claimed self promoting, which I was, but is that not allowed?  You can post any link on their sub-reddit, except your own I guess.  We got a serious keyboard lashing from one of the members because our blog didn’t fit in his/her little box of what a fun White Sox fan blog should be.  He called out BeefLoaf for having a dumb name.  That might be true, but fuck him, you write a blog.  So if you wanna read censored White Sox stories, just like you can ANYWHERE, check out The White Sox Sub Reddit.  If you like our blog, post it on there, we’ll owe ya.

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Soxtalk On FB

Soxtalk started as a message board and has a FB page.  We seemed to have a great relationship until we posted a blog in which BeefLoaf quoted Pulp Fiction and said the racial slur “wetback”.  He is of Mexican heritage, so does it even count?  Can’t you make fun of your own race?  Not on the Soxtalk FB page!  We were booted after that blog

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Sox Fans On Deck – FB Page

I got a swell message from the moderator of this page telling me that while he was happy I was part of his group, he would appreciate it if I didn’t promote my page on his page.  We linked to our Twitter contest with Tyler Saladino, I figured the Sox Fans On Deck could use some free tickets.  I was wrong! We launched into a big debate as what most of these pages complain about is me making money off them.  I tried to explain that we made no money with the blog, and then explained how other websites DO make money from ad revenue, but it fell on deaf ears.  Another one bites the dust!

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These are the most recent places that have asked us not to post, or booted us from their site for posting our blog.  It’s America, so rock and roll.  We DGAF  that much, but it is just sad to me anyways that the independent guy can’t post his poorly written blogs but anything that Sports Mockery turns out will get a million views.  Or the Trib.  Or Yahoo.  Christ, these guys are making thousands on ad revenue, but because they are established, no big deal, post away!   This blog costs us money right now, with ticket prices, concessions and these sweet T-shirts that we got made up, we are in the hole.  But we do it cause we are fans that love the White Sox. And we have something to say to you other fans.  I am also sure that many of our ideas have not gone unnoticed.

Soon enough if you wanna contribute to the plan, buy a shirt from us.  We have some sweet limited edition ones that we will be producing later this year, so keep an eye out.  Original content blogs, sweet limited edition t-shirts, what more do you want?  Let us know!

Big thanks to the FB pages (Pride & Passion, Debating Cage, We Love The White Sox, Grinder Ball, Sox Fans Only and many more!)   that allow us to post our content and for the thousands of you that read our stuff.  We promise to keep getting drunk to provide you with hours of shitty content and sweet shirts.

-MSS

Tyler Saladino’s Challenge to White Sox Fans!!!

Posted on by mysoxsummer

Yesterday , in the Twitterverse, something amazing happened.  An actual player in the White Sox organization responded to one of our tweets.  Here is that tweet –

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To which we got this –

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Pretty effin cool, just like our man Ty Fu and his wonderful ‘stache. You have about 75 days to grow something that we’ll all be pround off.  Get to work! To be in the contest, tweet us @fromthe108 and Tyler @SaladinoTyler and hashtag it #southsidestachemen. And of course you NEED to include a pic of your facial hair entry!

If free tix from Tyler isn’t sweet enough, you will also win a brand spanking new @fromthe108 T-shirt! It’s 100% Cotton and 100% awesome.  We went all out and made it 3 color with a back! If you have any questions send us a message on our FB account or DM us on Twitter.

In the aftermath of this exchange, almost immediately our thoughts go right to Chorizy-E who changes his facial hair like he’s evading the law (which he might be).   Let’s take a look at the highlights of Chorizy’s facial hair game so you contest entrants know how high (or low) you’ll have to go to get the free tickets from Tyler and a shirt from us!

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MSS’s Take – A great shot of the both Chorizy and Beef.  Look at that fu manchu on Chorizy.  Without the crazy eyes, he almost looks normal.  I’d rather see some longer side burns, maybe some ram horns almost connecting, which will really put this up to a solid 7.5 on the “Yeah, I made out with my 3rd cousin” scale of 10.

‘Loaf Take – This is deserving of a participation trophy and nothing else.  I look good in that pic tho’

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MSS’s Take – This was just really spot on.

‘Loaf Take – Derek Smalls has aged quite a bit.  At least he is still stuffing his pants with produce. Too bad it’s lettuce.

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MSS’s Take – Oh for pete’s sake.  Everything about this is just awful.  Short hair and just a ‘stache. I’d call the cops on this guy if he showed his face in my neighborhood.  I’ve seen this guy before, mostly at public pools trying to be incognito. Maybe wearing a “Mustache Rides 5¢” t-shirt maybe not, but you know he’s saying it to any girl over the age of 15.

Loaf Take – This is a fairly vanilla ‘stache (with a hint of bourbon, obviously) and it probably wouldn’t win this contest, but it’s still enjoyable

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MSS’s Take – I see hardly anything wrong in this pic. Aside from all the grey hair.

‘Loaf Take – This is about a ‘stache contest, not a, let’s see how unemployed I can look contest.

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MSS’s Take – Wow.  I had never seen this pic before.  He does look like Great Tiger getting a punch in the gut.  He looks young too. Like really young.

‘Loaf Take – 8th grade graduation picture…..I think…..it’s possible that Walt Frazier and Keith Hernandez intervened, we’ll never know

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MSS’s Take – Here we have Quernzy with the guy who played Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite Why do we have that in amongst…..DEAR GOD THAT IS CHORIZY.

Loaf Take – A little inside baseball, but Chorizy was forced to have that hair style and clothing while he was on parole a few years back (court mandated)

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MSS’s Take – Is that a duckface? Really?  On the positive side, really smooth cheeks. The facial hair is intriguing, makes ya wonder. What you wonder about is up to you.

Loaf Take – This is a strong entrant. It is similar to the opening picture, except he really gives a fk in this shot.  This could be in the running.

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MSS’s Take – I like this style, the crazy goatee, kinda System Of A Down-ish, long hair.  But seriously, is that a duckface too?  And is that Boones Farm? SMH.

Loaf Take – Always in great cardiovascular shape, Chorizy and his facial hair are sweating through their t-shirt after playing some billiards.

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MSS’s Take – Buddy Chorizy! A time tested look that is classic. Now, he can’t tun water into High Life (really it’s not that far off to begin with) but he can turn $20 into a liquid party.  A liquid party that he will more than likely pass out at, wake up later and ask why we didn’t get him tacos.  Cause we thought you were dead brah.

Loaf Take – Chorizy always wanted to be in the clergy, this was his last and failed attempt, for obvious reasons

MSS disclaimer – I have always been jealous of the ability of Chorizy and BeefLoaf to grow elaborate facial hair in a matter of days.  They also can skip a haircut or 2 and it will be on their shoulders. These guys are hairy and they never have to wait too long to have a new style.  I haven’t cut my hair in 2 years just so I could fit in.