maggsmaggs

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 29, 2011 -> 11:09 AM) The Ravens, while acknowledging the trade was agreed upon, contended it was not made official because they didn't speak with league official Joel Bussert. "The deal was not consummated," general manager Ozzie Newsome said at Baltimore's headquarters. "A deal is not a deal until I talk to Joel Bussert, and I never talked to Joel Bussert." So what the f*** is the difference here, asshole? Go f*** yourself. WTF?? Everything I read said the Ravens called the office, but the Bears didn't. Why is it so hard for the true story to come out? If Newsome is adamant that no deal was consummated because he didn't t call Bussert, then hell no I don't give 'em that 4th rounder. Very interesting. But clearly, the Bears' front office once again proves how moronic they are. Luckily, it appears that they made the first pick in round one.

Here's a question. How the hell do you invent the Internet? And how the f*** does it actually work? My mind is boggled by this question daily.

I think one of the big issues with the draft is undrafted free agents. So many UDFAs eventually make teams and become big-time players (Romo, Foster, Welker, Austin, Gates, etc.), but the way the labor situation is now, UDFAs can't be signed. I really hope the NFL allows UDFAs to sign even true free agency fails to commence.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Apr 28, 2011 -> 11:20 AM) If the top 5 tackles are off the board, I'd be ok with them trading down a bit and grabbing either a OT/OG/DT about 10 picks later (especially if they think austin's red flags will keep him around til pick 35 or so). but no doubt about it...they need to pick an offensive lineman with one of their first two picks Yeah I agree about the top tackles being off the board, but I don't wanna trade down. I am all on board for Austin if he is there and the tackles are gone. I think Austin could be a huge steal. Yeah he was suspended, but he has been impressive in workouts and without the suspension would have been a top-10 pick. That is value you just can't pass up, especially in a position of need for the Bears.

On the replay for Toews goal, you could see a Canucks fan behind the net just kick the boards. It was hilarious. Now I wanna see Vancouver in riot mode!!

That is so incredibly deflating to give a tying goal that late in the game of a series you have been up 3-0 in while SHORTHANDED.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Apr 26, 2011 -> 01:36 PM) Yes, that game was solid. Not quite as epic as game 3 of that series, but good nonetheless. Playoff hockey is the best theater in sports, the end. Game 7 OTs, especially. Nothing in sports can top that.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Apr 25, 2011 -> 10:32 PM) I said this for game 6 too(which obviously turned out to be wrong, thankfully) but the 1st goal in this game will be absolutely huge. On the road, I think goal one is even more crucial. You don't wanna give the Canucks' fans anything to cheer about. In fact, a goal one from the Hawks could easily turn the Canucks' fans against the team.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 25, 2011 -> 07:26 PM) I think we've seen the best of Nelson as a player. He has problems beating players off the dribble now and isn't much of a playmaker. Flynn obviously hasn't shown much in Minny at this point, but I think he's a guy if you put him on a better team and a better coached team, he can still become a pretty good player. Affalo should definitely get the MLE at least, if not more, depending on the new CBA. He's the ideal glue guy for a contender (in that he's an excellent defender and can knock down the 3). He is probably the Bulls most realistic target (and arguably best option). It will depend if he wants to play for a winner at less money or make bigger money with a lesser team.

http://www.twitvid.com/SEP9M This is pretty funny.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 25, 2011 -> 11:38 AM) And the highest paid player in the NHL. I couldn't believe they did that, and now schneider has no groin. Who has 11 years left on his contract. Good luck moving that. Vigneault's gotta be the one that goes. You can't have a team this talented completely falter in the playoffs every year. Luongo is a mental midget who can't play in the playoffs, but he just can't be moved fiscally.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Apr 24, 2011 -> 09:57 PM) Was David Bolland on the ice for all three goals as well as setting up the penalty shot. Luongo looks lost. I smell a rat!!!

Man I hate the Sedin sisters. But what a game! We get dominated in OT and win!!!!

Hawks haven't been good as closing out games this year, and no way we can expect those generous penalties this period. Gotta have our big boys step up.

Duh, winning.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 23, 2011 -> 11:57 PM) Me too. I just don't want to invest in this team. I think I deserve the right to be a bandwagon fan, however, if the Sox somehow get their s*** together. I've followed this team on a daily/yearly basis for a long time, just fed up with the ridiculousness of the Sox play the past few seasons. I am in the same boat with you. Once I get into the Sox emotionally, I become a wreck. And I refuse to do it this year and last year, too. Really every year since 2005. I don't even think we could be considered bandwagon fans though. Bandwagon is people who know nothing about a team and suddenly jump aboard. That ain't us. We are just apathetic die-hards.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2011 -> 02:27 PM) If you are sick of the negativity, get ready for apathy. This kind of record and the team is heading to New York to lose a minimum of 3, possibly four more?? Wow this team has done what is impossible to do. Be irrelevant in one month. Yeah, s*** is about to hit the fan. The Sox are already down attendance-wise this year in April. Add how bad they are playing, no one is gonna show up in May, June, etc. When JR realizes that the attendance figures are gonna put him in the red this year, big names will start to go -- if they can even be traded. I don't know who would even take Peavy, Rios (with that money), etc.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Apr 24, 2011 -> 08:25 AM) Nice day for Blanke and Black- Blanke 6-9, 2B, HR, SO Black 5-7, 4 2B, 2 BB, SO. Blanke up to .305/.359/.542, Black at .298/.375/.526. It's so hard for me to excited about Sox prospect anymore, let alone two guys who are 22 and 23 are Low-A. Blanke, I will give him some slack since he is a catcher and was a 2010 draftee, but I need to see their talents against better competition before I get excited. Nice work thus far though. Rather have this, obviously, than performing bad in Low-A.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 24, 2011 -> 09:25 AM) You'll note I granted 2005-2006 as mistakes...but I don't think it was as much easy signs as it was the Sox looking for guys who could either rapidly contribute a little or could be traded very quickly, rather than BPA. My reading is selective in the morning, ha. But if you are correct in that thinking (which you probably are, that makes good sense), then the Sox have an even more horrible philosophy than I thought. You always gotta take BPA regardless of cost, especially in baseball, that's how your become a winner.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 24, 2011 -> 09:13 AM) The minor leagues absolutely have an impact on the major league roster. But it's actually been remarkable how long we've been having this same talk...we've pretty much all agreed that the Sox have had among the worst minor league systems in baseball for at least 6-7 years, and yet, somehow we've still managed to stay competitive. Meanwhile, the teams that go all-in on rebuilding...it's a huge gamble. A majority of those teams wind up stockpiling high draft picks and then sitting at the bottom of their divisions anyway. Furthermore, teams like the Tigers spend huge amounts to grab guys like Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, Rick Porcello, and they wind up with bust after bust. The ONLY thing that worked for them was doing exactly what everyone here screams about KW doing...trading away guys rather than holding on to them. And then Hell, on top of that, one of their biggest pieces...Boesch...came out of ****ing no where. The other examples people love to give...the Yankees, the Red Sox...of teams going over slot & such, well the Yankees had a disaster of a minor league system for years despite doing all that. About the only real, true example of a franchise doing what people want, succeeding in the draft non-stop right now, is the Red Sox...but they've also had a ton of supplemental picks to help their odds. And they had a friend in San Diego's GM help them out as well. I think the draft is a crapshoot. It might be possible to sabotage yourself by deliberately drafting stupidly (i.e. the 2005-2006 White Sox picks), but even if you make the right picks, it's a crapshoot. The Red Sox are on a hotstreak right now, but that won't last. It's a gambler's hot streak. There is no doubt the draft is a crap shoot, you're right, but the Sox are doing themselves a disservice by not getting what they perceive as the best talent in the draft each and every year. Sale was definitely who they wanted. Probably the same with Beckham, Mitchell can be argued, but prior to that we got guys who were easy signs. McCulloch? Broadway? And before that, it was clearly a scouting problem in that we just couldn't develop the guys we drafted. In what other major sport, do teams not take the best talent available and rather choose for easy signs? Not the NBA. Not the NHL. And only very rarely in the NFL. The Sox aren't alone in this in MLB, but certainly staying away from slot guidelines will allow the Sox to take the best player available rather than the easy sign, which will inevitably set back our franchise's minor league system. And the Sox are competitive, but not consistently. Since 2001 when KW took over: 2001: 83 2002: 81 2003: 86 2004: 83 2005: 99 2006: 90 2007: 72 2008: 89 2009: 79 2010: 88 2011: ?? So it depends on the definition of competitive. Do the Sox generally go into September with a chance to win the division? Probably, but only if everything goes right, and it never does. But since 2006 when our system really started to suck, we have been off and on ever year. And we only are competitive in our division in some of those low- to mid 80s wins years because the division is weak and other teams can't spend anywhere near where we spend. I am just so sick of this pattern of good/bad, and even our "good" years the past decade is only relatively good (minus 2005 of course). I am forever grateful that the Sox won in 2005 because we beat the Cubs there and it really allowed me to relax about baseball, and give two s***s if the Sox suck (like right now). I am just choosing not to watch. But in 2005, it was pretty much a fluke year. Everything went well. You look at our run differential, and we aren't a 99-win club.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 23, 2011 -> 06:12 PM) At what point do you bench Rios? Definitely seems like he's taking his struggles at the plate to the field. Can we fire Ozzie and hire Man Soo Lee as the new manager?

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Apr 23, 2011 -> 10:14 AM) The flip side is that they have at least been in it pretty much every year of the Ozzie/KW team, except for 2007. Plus flags fly forever. When you prove that you can win, you get well deserved leeway. People love to forget how the won 90 games in 2006 after having a pitching staff throw a whole extra month which I think is pretty impressive. Plus KW has made some great trades to get this team where it is (McCarthy for Danks comes to mind right away) There are issues I have (stop playing small ball Ozzie; Draft better KW) but these kinds of "FIRE EVERYONE POSTS IT'S 17 GAMES!!!!!" have me questioning if people have been through an actual baseball season before. The Sox are only in it every year because they have the most resources in the division (their payroll). It really has nothing to do with KW; it's actually the opposite. KW is the reason we have this ceiling where we are in it almost every year, but not winning it. For all the good trades KW has made, he and this organization has drafted horrendously and developed players horrifically. The Sox will never be a consistent winner with KW because the Sox don't draft and develop. Unless you can spend like the Yankees and Red Sox, you need to draft and develop well. And actually the Sawks and Yankees do draft and develop well. It's also boggles my mind that the Sox are willing to spend so much on payroll yet they consistently neglect spending on foreign free agents and the draft.

This KW/Ozzie duo has lived off of 2005. Prior to that KW, never once made the playoffs in four years. And since then, he has only made the playoffs one year. So that's two playoff appearances in 10 years when on most years, two of the other five teams in the division are 70-win clubs. The Sox have had the highest payroll numerous years and been in the top two probably every year in the division. I have been on the fire KW/Ozzie bandwagon since 2007 and still am there. Screw loyalty, baseball is a business and KW/Ozzie are not doing their jobs.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 22, 2011 -> 10:30 PM) We're back to reporting about Jake playing long catch. The cycle of "f*** me" continues. There is no way this game is gonna be able to give a Major League baseball team five innings every fifth day this year. He feels fine in his long toss, then feels discomfort or hurts himself in two weeks and we're back to square one.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 22, 2011 -> 12:52 AM) Words cannot describe my disdain for Alain Vigneault and his group of f***ing goons in Vancouver. I even hate the Red Wings less. At least they have class. Torres, Bieksa, Edler, Kesler, Lapierre, Glass, Burrows, Raymond. Ugh. And don't even get me started on their fans. I'd love nothing more than to come back from 3-0 to beat Vancouver and absolutely shatter the hopes and dreams of all of Vancouver for the third straight year. Luongo starting game 6 in the UC. Keep it going. Let's hope he doesn't finish it like the yesterday.