The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

What's not funny about trying to talk after shoveling a bunch of food in your mouth?

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

We lose a lot of rights when we look the other way when it doesn't affect our lives or it isn't a cause we agree with.

OK, let's get objective. if the guy who signs the checks doesn't think he's funny, then he ain't funny.

:lol: this explains a lot about Dan Bernstein.

Why would anyone think the cheap asses hire anybody other than McDoink?

I have MANY years of experience in trying to appreciate steaming piles of dogshit.

Don’t get Jason Benetti wrong. He’s thrilled to be back with Steve Stone in the White Sox’ TV booth. He’s excited to work again with the NBC Sports Chicago production crew he calls “amazing.” And he still feels the tug of Sox fandom from his youth.

But the run-up to the announcement last week that the Sox had picked up the multiyear option on Benetti’s contract wasn’t what he had hoped.

“The really good news is we got somewhere good,” Benetti said. “It was kind of a pain, really. There were some things that we had to get through that I thought were silly, and I’m sure they thought some of the stuff that I was talking about might’ve been silly. But we got there in the end.”

Had they not, other teams were ready to pounce. According to sources, the Braves were watching Benetti’s situation after losing longtime voice Chip Caray to the Cardinals. Instead, Benetti returns for his eighth season with the Sox alongside Stone, who’s back for his 16th.

But there was a disconnect during negotiations. Brooks Boyer, the Sox’ senior vice president in charge of revenue and marketing, saw the talks differently.

“I don’t think there were any complications to it,” Boyer said. “It really wasn’t much of a negotiation because we had picked up the option. It was just ironing out how we put [his] national schedule in [our] local schedule. So there really wasn’t anything that sticks out that was bothersome to me.”

The biggest topic in the talks initially was Benetti’s new national schedule with Fox. He’ll call his first slate of MLB games for the network this season, and that will take him off Sox local broadcasts for a number of Saturdays. In the fall, Benetti figures to miss some games to call college football on Fox.

Benetti said he has been mindful of the effects those commitments have on the Sox. During the 60-game season in 2020, he called just one college football game for ESPN and didn’t miss a Sox game for it. In 2021, he gave a game back to ESPN because the Sox wanted him on the mic at the end of the season.

“I know that based on what Hawk [Harrelson] did over all those years, the team’s preference would be for me to be there for every game, and I get that,” Benetti said. “And I truly do appreciate that they were able to get to a place where I can do both of these things. I think it’s mutually beneficial.”

“We’ve been very supportive and excited for Jason that he has grown his profile,” said Boyer, who last year allowed Benetti to call Peacock’s Sunday games. “We certainly get residual value for that. Jason’s connection got us the Bill Walton game [in 2019], which gave us a ton of national exposure.”

But the sides had settled in the fall on the number of games Benetti could miss, and his contract wasn’t finalized until Jan. 23. Boyer said the team figures out most broadcasters’ deals around the end of a season, then finalizes them in January.

“I didn’t think much of it. I don’t think anybody thought much of it,” Boyer said. “The reality is with our guys, they’re part of the family. I have a trusting relationship with [Benetti and Stone], and they’ve got a trusting relationship with us. It was just a matter of getting our inside general counsel to draw it up.”

What’s unique about the Sox’ negotiations with broadcasters is that they’re done with the broadcasters, not agents. Benetti has joked that he feels like a player in arbitration. Boyer disagreed with the comparison but stood by the Sox’ way of doing business.

“Whether it’s [executive vice president] Kenny Williams or [general manager] Rick Hahn, they don’t use agents,” he said. “We’re compensating them; we have a partnership with them. There’s never been a need to have any sort of outside entity come in and negotiate these things.”

But if there were, maybe Benetti wouldn’t feel how he feels. You’d think an organization wouldn’t want its front-facing talent on the front lines of contract talks. Benetti and Stone represent the Sox for three hours a night. There’s no sense risking the quality of one of the best broadcasts in baseball.

“I’ll be honest, there were points where I was really frustrated,” Benetti said. “Because I think the work has been strong and I appreciate the heck out of the fans and I have loved the Sox for all my life. I just thought it would be easier. But just because it wasn’t easier doesn’t mean it didn’t get done.

“Where I have put myself, totally honestly, the place I am is we got it done, and that means something. It means both sides wanted it to happen.”

Frank already summed it up...it's just another shot amongst an entirely bad situation. Just when you can't hate this organization enough, something like this happens.

Benetti was fine....agreed with the others, he's much better in College Football and other National Broadcasts. He wasn't terrible with the White Sox, but he and Stone as a pairing was awful. They had zero chemistry. Then again, Hawk and Stoney weren't a good pairing either. Stone is way past his usefulness...but I take nothing away that once upon he time he was the best color analyst in the game.

I can live with Benetti leaving, even though the circumstances are inexcusable and 100% an indication of Jerry's toxic organization. The biggest problem I have is I'm sure whoever they hire to replace Benetti will be horrible. I'd bet any amount of money it will someone incredibly strange and unqualified like Gordon Beckham.

I fucking hate Jerry Reinsdorf.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

It's the big picture. I sort of covered this here; https://chicagofanatics.com/viewtopic.p ... 3#p3978553

Again, how is missing nearly a quarter of a season OK with ANYBODY, except for Jason? I understand there's the narrative of "incompetent White Sox" but this just does not belong in that narrative.

Hate to tell ya this "Amigo", but that is sort of the essence of how life works.

Benetti had that dorky humor Bernstein would love. He also played to his sycophants, just as Bernstein does. Dan thinks nerdy equates to intelligent. He doesn't realize there are just as many nerds sitting in their basements with anime body pillows as there are mouth breathing callers to sports radio stations.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

A few times a year, Senor will tell a story about a different person each time that roughly goes like this:

"I was talking to a friend of mine the other day. He's an endocrinologist at the University of Chicago. Lifelong, die-hard White Sox fan. ["I am a die sox...white fan" drop] Yeah no really that's just it though he is. This guy went to Michigan and Princeton and he's a complete shrieking meatball Sox fan. And what he said to me was [sigh] 'it's not the pain of knowing that one day they're going to move that gets me. What really hurts is the pain of knowing that when they do move, the pain I feel every day as a fan of this team will once and for all subside, and then I'll finally be happy. That's what hurts the most.' And to have this...this meta-consciousness about the suffering that the White Sox bring you as a fan, this institution that should bring you joy but only brings you misery, and not even that, but suffering about your suffering, you stop and think that this, more than memories of games or the smell of popcorn or Andy the Clown [Murph Andy MacPhail drop] NO, DIFFERENT CLOWN, DIFFERENT CLOWN, that...[sigh] it's this existential dread that truly runs through generations of Sox fans, and if you're paying attention, it's more than baseball, too."

Anyway, there are like 30 of those people in Chicago, they're all in a group chat with Dan Bernstein, and they're the people Jason Benetti did his broadcast for.

Hate to tell ya this "Amigo", but that is sort of the essence of how life works.

The guy didn't want to work here unless he had 27 games off. Vin Scully, he ain't. Seriously Frank, how many times have you looked at your TV and told Benetti to shut the fuck up or rolled your eyes? Countless times, so don't crap me.

A few times a year, Senor will tell a story about a different person each time that roughly goes like this:

"I was talking to a friend of mine the other day. He's an endocrinologist at the University of Chicago. Lifelong, die-hard White Sox fan. ["I am a die sox...white fan" drop] Yeah no really that's just it though he is. This guy went to Michigan and Princeton and he's a complete shrieking meatball Sox fan. And what he said to me was [sigh] 'it's not the pain of knowing that one day they're going to move that gets me. What really hurts is the pain of knowing that when they do move, the pain I feel every day as a fan of this team will once and for all subside, and then I'll finally be happy. That's what hurts the most.' And to have this...this meta-consciousness about the suffering that the White Sox bring you as a fan, this institution that should bring you joy but only brings you misery, and not even that, but suffering about your suffering, you stop and think that this, more than memories of games or the smell of popcorn or Andy the Clown [Murph Andy MacPhail drop] NO, DIFFERENT CLOWN, DIFFERENT CLOWN, that...[sigh] it's this existential dread that truly runs through generations of Sox fans, and if you're paying attention, it's more than baseball, too."

Anyway, there are like 30 of those people in Chicago, they're all in a group chat with Dan Bernstein, and they're the people Jason Benetti did his broadcast for.

Many that is true, but an incomplete statement.

I’ve always assumed the various lawyers & medical specialists Dan references are personalities he’s created for himself a lá James McAvoy’s character in M. Night Shyamalan’s Oscar winning opus, Split.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Again, how is missing nearly a quarter of a season OK with ANYBODY, except for Jason? I understand there's the narrative of "incompetent White Sox" but this just does not belong in that narrative.