Sports

The White Sox Report

By Ricky O'Donnell

At least for a young fan like me, everything before 2005 feels like forever ago in White Sox World. There are so many vivid images from that season that will forever be burned in any fan's mind. I think that's part of the reason the earlier portion of the decade seems like such a blur. Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez played for the Sox in 2004? Really? My memory starts after Torii Hunter plowed Jamie Burke.

But then something crazy happened. The Sox signed Esteban Loaiza.

In 2003, Loaiza possibly put together the best regular season of any White Sox starter ever. Yeah, 2003. That wasn't really that long ago. But when Loaiza trotted out of the bullpen against the Twins last week, it was clear this wasn't the same guy who won 21 games one season. The dude could barely crack 80 on the radar gun. Jordan faxing in "I'm back" this was not.

So, with Loaiza in mind, here are some other athletes Chicagoans hope will never return.

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Mark Prior: So much for those flawless mechanics, huh?

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Cedric Benson: When your teammates deliberately attempt to injure you in practice, yeah, things probably aren't going to end well.

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Cade McNown: Cade McNown hates children. True story.

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Billy Koch: Clearly, this website was not started by a White Sox fan.

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Jalen Rose: The Bulls traded two future All-Stars for this bum. Please Jalen, just stick to television.

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Week in Review: I probably deserved this week's 2-5 record after arrogantly writing only 6-0 last week. Whatever. Also: interleague play is stupid.

Week in Preview: Three games at Wrigley. Like anything else matters.

The Missile Tracker: Billy Beane must really hate Latin American players. Just like all his peers, Ramirez swings at seemingly every pitch thrown his way. It's great to finally have a five-tool player like Ramirez on the Sox, but he has to hit to be effective. So far, he's doing that. In June, Ramirez is OPS'ing over 1.000.

Fields on the Farm: No homers this week for Fields, who is hitting only .250 on the season. To get him back on track, why not trade Mike MacDougal to whatever team he faces next? Just an idea.

This Week in Swisher: I enjoy this a lot more now that he is finally starting to hit.

The greatest feature in sports blog history?: I say yes. Try to top me.

At least it's better than Nickelback: Gordon Beckham, the shortstop the Sox selected eighth overall in last week's MLB draft, likes playing air drums to DragonForce songs. That's the kind of information I need on my scouting reports.

Over/Under: The number of times I watched the final minute of the video above: +/- 5.

Beachwood Sabermetrics: A complex algorithm performed by The White Sox Report staff using all historical data made available by Major League Baseball has determined these might be the most fun Sox-Cubs series' ever.

The White Sox Report: Read 'em all.

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Comments welcome. Please include a real name if want to be considered for publication.

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Ricky O'Donnell is the proprietor of Tremendous Upside Potential , a contributor to the Sun-Times's Full Court Press and a lot of other things.

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