In which Cheat gets meta

I didn't get a chance to follow Tuesday's game on Gameday, so there's not much I can add to the stories from the beat guys. Jose Contreras seems to be pitching like a happily-divorced man, which is about the best we can hope for from the old guy. Brian Anderson continues to play a lot (perhaps he's being showcased?) and, as has become his custom, is hitting well in Arizona. But not much else happened worth noting. Though I am beginning to worry about one Jack Egbert, who has yet to see game action and hasn't been heard from since the early mention of elbow soreness at the beginning of camp. Maybe we should fire off an email to one of the beat guys; I'm looking at you [insert screen name].

The Stone Rises

Steve Stone will take over for Chris Singleton in the radio booth, which is the broadcasting equivalent of upgrading from Jerry Owens to Curtis Granderson. Stone is not without his faults, however. He raved about Nick Masset even after he was optioned to Charlotte last season, and has been quick to praise Jerry Owens since officially being named to the radio booth. But complaining about those faults would be like complaining that Granderson was left-handed (like Owens) or struck out too much.

It will be interesting to hear how the new dynamic unfolds in the booth. Stone is an excellent color guy, which is the role Farmer held while part of the excellent Sox booth with John Rooney. I don't mind Farmer in the play-by-play role, but he needs a strong voice to keep him reigned in, a service that Singleton never was able to provide. Stone figures to be that guy, as he was able to hold his own in a booth with Harry Caray and performed the impressive task of making Harry's grandson somewhat bearable. BELTED!

The Sox radio booth just got a whole lot more listenible. Now how about that line-up...

Meta

As you probably already know by now, we should be making a shift to a new platform relatively soon. I'm not 100% sure on the timeline, but I hope we're able to make the shift before Opening Day. Hopefully with a few days to spare. Fingers crossed. You can view a working, if not fully operational, version of the platform at Athletics Nation. (The strength of the new platform wont really be on display until multiple sites are up and running and real games have begun.)

With the upcoming transition, I wanted to discuss some ideas on how to improve the blog, as long as the changes don't involve, you know, removing the power hungry overlord from his post atop this ship. I have my own ideas, but I'm open to shooting down suggestions.

First, one change that will be happening; more front page posters. I wrote only a handful of recaps after June last year, in part because I just couldn't bring myself to write the same damn thing night after night. In order to avoid the same from happening again, and because I expect to be watching fewer games this season due to a more unpredictable schedule, I'll need a couple of people who can fill in semi-regularly, with some notice.

In addition to having some fill-ins for game recaps, I was hoping I might be able to find a poster who is willing to do an semi-regular piece, related to baseball, of course, to fill some of the dead time on weekends and off-days. I've also been toying with the idea of having the occasional Q&A-type post, not just with myself, but with other posters as well, a Better Know Your Virtual Neighbor type of thing.

Finally, I think we need a morning guy. I'm unable to get to a computer on most mornings, and Wiz's posting schedule overlaps my own too much. We'll still keep Wiz around -- 'Dis keed, he been reel good for us' -- but we need someone with a more complimentary schedule for a mid-morning post covering whatever I missed from the night before, interesting links from around the web, quotes, etc

Ideally, those roles could be filled by 2-3 of our more regular posters. If you're interested in helping make South Side Sox even more awesomer -- as if that was possible -- have a passable knowledge of HTML (or are willing to learn), and a solid posting record here, drop me an email. Please include your screen name, the role you'd like to help fill, and a $75 processing fee in your response. I'm just kidding about the processing fee, but this was starting to sound like a legitimate job posting. Let me assure you this is not a job, it's slavery. I don't make anything more than pennies doing this, which is why...

You probably have noticed some semi-obnoxious new ads in the last 24 hours. Those will not be conveying to the new platform. I just got an invite to a new Chicago-based ad network, and I wanted to see what it looked like and how it performed. It might stick around until we move or it might disappear tomorrow. I just wanted to make a note that they're only temporary.

Anyway, I've gotten long-winded here, and I still have yet to address our possible get-together. Have fun getting all meta in the comments.

SSS Spring Training Viewing Party

I'm going to leave this one up to you guys. Are we going to get together on the 15th to watch the Cubs-Sox game, and celebrate the vast return from the Joe Crede/Brian Anderson/Juan Uribe/Mike MacDougal/Nick Massett trade(s)? Is Miller's Pub the best place for such an event? From what I remember of the place, it didn't seem like a venue where a group larger than 6 would be comfortable. But who knows, that might be enough. Let's get a roll call going of likely attendees, and decide what works best for the majority of that select group.