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There are two ways to look at the White Sox's widely panned lip-syncing nu-metal video that aired during the opening of CSN Chicago's broadcast and in the park.
The first is the way most of us here and on Twitter reacted -- eye-rolling, groaning, shame, what have you -- because, well, it's not a good video. Plus, the visceral antipathy was exacerbated by the extended airtime. It ran nearly three minutes instead of 30 or 60 seconds, so it gave plenty of time for people to realize what they saw. (I didn't notice it until 40 seconds or so, as I was setting up my viewing situation.) The super-caffienated mix with shaky-camera work and sudden cuts made it difficult to shrug away, so other defense mechanisms kicked in.
On the other hand, throw this in with the pie commercials, and you're seeing the repercussions of the White Sox trending younger. The Jim Thome/Jermaine Dye/Juan Pierre teams probably wouldn't do this, but those clubhouses were regarded as stiff, difficult to fire up, and hard for rookies to crack. The Sox have definitely loosened up since Robin Ventura took over, and these types of ... shared experiences ... may be the occasional byproduct of an environment that can accommodate its drafted and developed talent. As long as they're better ballplayers than actors, it's a risk worth taking.
Terrerobytes
The trajectory of Tyler Flowers' solo homer provided a long look at the new outfield wall, which no longer has the retired numbers and portraits on it:
Scott Reifert has the picture of where they are now -- between the rows of windows on the facing of the Stadium Club in the right field corner. I understand why they'd move them, because that opens up a lot of real estate for advertising now. But as an enthusiast of White Sox history, this kinda bums me out, since it's going to reduce Luke Appling's profile even further.
Speaking of Appling, today would be his 106th birthday. Give him a statue and a bobblehead day already.
Rick Hahn isn't used to the relocation of the retired numbers. When answering a question about Paul Konerko, Hahn said:
"He’s the type of guy who in all probability you will see his number added to that list some day hanging out on our outfield wall."
Robin Ventura is taking the overwhelming pessimism from baseball experts personally, as he said there's hidden talent in the team -- including the manager entering his second year:
One thing Ventura can kind of guarantee is that he'll be a better manager than he was his first year when he finished third in AL Manager of the Year voting.
"I think any time you do something a second time around you should be better. Or you're really dumb,'' he said.
Here's Hahn on expectations, while we're at it:
In anticipation of the closing of the Red Line at 35th Street, Tracey Swartz of RedEye offers a handy breakdown of the public transportation alternatives, including revised travel times for riders taking the Green Line. Most people will need to factor in extra time.
Jerry Reinsdorf will be joined by Kenny Williams, Frank Thomas, Minnie Minoso and Frank Thomas for an announcement at 1 p.m., and it's presumably about U.S. Cellular Field hosting the Civil Rights Game against the Rangers on Aug. 24. That should be pretty cool.