The disappointing season also saw fans start to become frustrated with the constant injuries to ace pitchers Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

Prior to the start of the Civil War, Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood declared Davenport to be Iowa's first military headquarters and five camps were set up in the city to aid the Union.

Prior to the start of the game, a coin is tossed and the winning captain can choose a starting end or start with the ball.

Prior to the start of the Great Depression, Hoover's first Treasury Secretary, Andrew Mellon, had proposed and seen enacted, numerous tax cuts, which cut the top income tax rate from 73 % to 24 % ( under Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge ).

Prior to the start of the season the Astros acquired outfielder Billy Hatcher from the Cubs for Jerry Mumphrey.

Prior to the start of the book he had attempted to steal from some of his partners in crime.

Prior to ABBA's formation, Björn and Benny were living in a Volkswagen bus and had decided to leave music and gain regular jobs, however Anderson persuaded them to start a new band, investing considerable money in the group.

Prior to the widespread use of word processors, bullets were often denoted either by a lower-case “ o ” filed-in with ink or by asterisks (*), and several word processors automatically convert asterisks to bullets if used at the start of line.

Prior to the 1998 – 99 season, the 76ers signed George Lynch and Matt Geiger, but a lengthy lockout delayed the start of the season, which was shortened to 50 games.

Prior to the start of the 2007 – 08 season, the Blue Jackets organization brought a hand-made replica 1857 Napoleon cannon into Nationwide Arena.

Prior to the start of the 2011 – 12 season, Athletic Club's socios ( full members ) held their latest presidential election, which saw incumbent Fernando García Macua defeated by former long-serving player Josu Urrutia.

Prior to the start of the 2012 – 13 season, Athletic went through a period of some turmoil.

Prior to the start of the 1959 – 60 season saw the arrival of arguably the club's greatest ever manager, Alec Stock.

Prior to the start of the 1965 season, the club moved to a new training, administration and home game base at Moorabbin Oval in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Prior to the start of the Revolutionary War, the early Quaker settlers became dissatisfied with the quality of the farmland within Newberry Township and began moving out of it.

Prior to the start of the Second World War technology had improved so that it appeared that the interceptor mission would be effectively impossible.

Prior to the start of the 2005 – 06 season, Bayern moved from the Olympic Stadium to the new Allianz Arena, which the club shares with 1860 Munich.

Prior to the start of the festival, Lee wrote an e-mail to the publicist of the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards, copying in other comedians, in response to the announcement of a poll to find the public's favourite act from 30 years of the award, which was previously known as the Perrier Award.

Prior to the start of the journal, NAS published three volumes of organizational transactions, consisting mostly of minutes of meetings and annual reports.

Prior to the NCAA's 2008 rule in Division I regarding the start of the college baseball season, the Golden Gophers would often play home games at Metrodome earlier than other teams in the area to neutralize the advantage of warmer-weather schools starting their seasons earlier in the year.

Prior to the start of that season, the team was forced to sell Daniels to the Indiana Pacers for cash to pay off accumulated debts.

Prior to the start of Systole, the LV is filled with blood to the capacity known as End Diastolic Volume ( EDV ) during the filling phase or diastole.

Prior to the start of the campaign, the Predators announced defenceman Kimmo Timonen as the team's new captain, while naming Kariya and Steve Sullivan as alternates ( the two served in that role the previous season, as well, but not on a permanent basis ).

Prior to the start of the tournament, hopes were not as high for Germany as in previous tournaments ( even in Germany itself ), even though it was the host nation.

Prior to the 1900 season, the league changed its name to the American League and moved several franchises to larger, strategic locations.

Prior to 1969, the National League champion ( the " pennant winner ") was determined by the best win-loss record at the end of the regular season.

Prior to the season, Frank Robison, the Spiders owner, bought the St. Louis Browns, thus owning two clubs at the same time.

Prior to the 1995 season, the Rockies acquired free-agent outfielder Larry Walker, previously of the Montreal Expos, who replaced Kingery as the 4th member of the " Blake Street Bombers "— named after the street on which the new ballpark ( Coors Field ) was located — along with Galarraga, Bichette, and third baseman Vinny Castilla, who had played sparingly with the major-league club during the previous season.

Prior to the 1899 season, Frank Robison, the Spiders owner, bought the St. Louis Browns, thus owning two clubs simultaneously.

Prior to the 2002 season, the Marlins traded RHP Matt Clement and RHP Antonio Alfonseca to the Cubs for RHP Julian Tavarez, LHP Dontrelle Willis, RHP Jose Cueto and C Ryan Jorgensen.

Prior to the 2012 season, new Jaguars owner Shahid Khan announced that the team would once again use a black jersey, something they had not done since 2007.

Prior to the 2009 season, the Royals renovated Kauffman Stadium.

Prior to the 1999 season, Clemens was traded to the New York Yankees where he won his only two World Series titles.

Prior to this contract agreement the Padres had offered to renew Gonzalez's contract during the offseason at $ 380, 500, only $ 500 over the league minimum for the 2007 season.

Prior to Carroll Rosenbloom's death, the Rams had already announced their intentions to leave the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and move to Anaheim Stadium in Orange County for the 1980 season.

Prior to the season, the league declined to approve the Raiders ' proposal to move from Oakland, California to Los Angeles.

Prior to the 2001 season, star free agent shortstop Alex Rodriguez, was signed by the Rangers in the most lucrative deal in baseball history: a 10-year, $ 252 million contract.

Prior to the 2004 season, little hope was held out for the Rangers to improve on their losing ways.

Prior to the 1966 season, Reds owner Bill DeWitt sent Robinson to Baltimore in exchange for pitcher Milt Pappas, pitcher Jack Baldschun and outfielder Dick Simpson.

Prior to round one of the 1998 season, Carey booted six second half goals in the Ansett Cup Grand Final against St Kilda, earning himself the Michael Tuck Medal, as the best on ground in the pre-season Grand Final, and issuing an ominous warning to the rest of the competition that he was over his injury woes of the previous year.

Prior to the 2009 season, the maximum team roster size was changed from 13 players ( 11 active and 2 inactive ) to 11 players ( all active ).

Prior to the 2006 season, the franchise was purchased by Get Hooked, LLC, a group of investors from Fairfield County that included McGregor and Foster.

Prior to the 2007 – 08 season, the Devils relocated to Newark to play their home games at the newly-constructed Prudential Center.

Prior to the 1978 – 79 season, owner Jack Vickers sold the team to Arthur Imperatore, who announced that he wished to move the team to the New Jersey Meadowlands.

Prior to the 1991 – 92 season, the Flyers acquired Rod Brind ' Amour from St. Louis.

Prior to instituting controlled burns, the county forests and pastures burned for months during the dry season.