Chisoxfn

I'm sure he wasn't the first Sox to use roids nor will he be the last Sox to use roids/hgh/etc. I can say that about every team in baseball too.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 09:03 AM) List is up. Sox players: DLS is #3, Carter is #10. I'm kind of surprised Carter is that high. I am also, as I alluded to earlier, disappointed that Miranda wasn't there. Carter is one of the Sox 5 best prospects and one of the better power prospects in the game (note I said power prospects as I'm not calling him one of the better prospects in baseball, although this time next year he may just be exactly that).

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 08:53 PM) Or if our defensive ends can get to Favre like they did Kitna. The important thing will be for the offense to win in TOP so those ends can actually have time to rest and be able to go full engine throughout the game. They were gassed by the end of the game and Kitna was finally able to have enough time to torch the unknown secondary of the Bears (due to injuries obviously). The Bears pass rush has been awesome this year for 3 quarters but the offense has been so futile its dead for the 4th, hence the Bears losing games late in the season.

QUOTE(SoxFanForever @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 06:20 PM) So the Pack went to 4-0 today by beating the Vikes. What are Bear's fans thoughts about the Bear/Packer game next week? If Vasher/Tillman/Briggs are back I'm picking the Bears in a WIN. If the secondary is out, Bears lose.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 08:30 PM) That I can understand. I was thinking he was saying because Rex would not be able to handle it as many people have said in the past. Oh by the way, I was just in a pissed off mood in the NFL thread. You are right, that two drive span to finish the first half was halfway decent (until Griese threw another pick). The only problem was just before the TD drive I started a Bring Back Rexy chant at the bar. By the time the game was over, not only were my 4 best buds (we spend every Sunday at the Bar) agreeing with me about how horrid Griese was, but all the Bears fans at the bar (a good collection of them) were agreeing with me that Rex is better (I was stunned too cause they were the type that s*** on Rex like nothing other). Not that it means anything of course. The only thing that matters is what Lovie and the rest of the staff thinks.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 08:21 PM) How exactly was he an improvement? Im not saying he wont be down the road but Griese pretty much lost the game today. We made the switch to eliminate turnovers and play with less mistakes. If he cant do that hes useless. His arm is so weak its amazing that hes in the NFL. He cant go downfield and since theres no running game hes gonna get eaten alive by shallow zones all year. I have no doubt that a couple of my friends have stronger arms than Griese (I'm not being sarcastic either). Hell I think I could potentially throw the ball with similar velocity (even now that my arm is toast thanks to rotator cuff issues).

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 08:20 PM) So if this season continues down this route, would anyone be apposed to a draft of Jake Long and John David Booty in the first couple of rounds. If they take anything but an olineman in the first round I'll throw up. In fact, I think they should take at least 3 lineman in the first day (one tackle and two guards...the tackle being the first rounder).

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 06:24 PM) Why are the Bears in a position where they have to stick with Griese? Because Lovie went out and said that he is going to give Brian an ample chance. Once he did that it would come off poorly, imo, for him to make a quick pull as it could lead to people in the lockeroom start questioning things. Maybe I'm overlooking things, but bottom line, after Lovie did what he did (and I'm not saying he didn't have reason) we are gonna have to see Brian unless he plays as awful against the Pack (and at that point the backs will already be against the wall). What I think will happen: I think if Brian plays poorly in that game (GB), at 1-4 (If we are really really lucky, they somehow win in spite of Brian and be 2-3), you'll quickly turn things back to Rex and see if he can fire things up. If he can't and he plays poorly, he will quickly get benched with Orton coming in for the rest of the season as the Bears begin to evaluate whether he could be the guy (and if he isn't they'll look at McNabb).

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 06:22 PM) It was amazing how much criticism he received when there's been so many other players playing just as bad. I repeat, Bernard Berrian has played the worst out of anyone on this team (in terms of dropping critical passes and bad route running). Cedric Benson was far more responsible for the game-changing turnovers in the games Rex played in as well (which I know you'll agree with). The back-up QB is always the most popular player in town, and now the Bears are in a situation where they basically have to stick with Griese. Don't look at me. Even if Rex is a horrible horrible QB I have so much respect for Rex the man. Sure he had his new years eve fiasco where he didn't prepare. However, bottom line he's never made excuses, always worked hard, and even at his worse would take time to answer the media despite how they always s*** on him and s*** on him and s*** on him. I'm disgusted at it all and its why I've gone out of my way to defend the guy (plus I believe in him as a QB, much less now than ever before, but I still would not be shocked to see him turn into a good to solid QB). Its still not as bad as Jets fans (biggest POS's out there) for cheering when Pennington got hurt.

If Uribe is back than I see Richar probably being an utlra utility guy who replaces Cintron (playing both 2nd and SS). Hopefully Ozzie would find a way to get him into 110-120 games in this role as well.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 03:28 PM) Plus, aside from winning a defensive award in his (weak) college conference, we've never heard anything about his defense. And while we know errors aren't necessarily a direct indicator of poor defense, 20 errors in half a season could be a troubling sign. I think of him as a younger Chris Getz. I don't know why, but I think Getz is gonna have a real solid career. I don't think he'll ever be an all star but for some reason I think of him as the typical type of player that would come up with the Twins and just do all the little things and just be a real solid all around player (its too bad he had that injury that held him up this year cause he was really having a break-out season and establishing himself as someone to at least keep your eye on). He'll never be an all star, but I could see him on the high end being a Mark Grudz type.

QUOTE(Markbilliards @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 07:47 AM) To whoever has it, does a baseball america subscription feel worth your money? My subscription just lapsed, but I really enjoyed it and when I get off my butt I'm gonna renew again for a 2 year span. For those that like the minors and draft the info is just top notch and the magazine is a good read, imo while the website has a lot of really cool archives and its great to search up for random players when your interested in seeing who this guy is or who that guy is (especially as your reading and getting pumped up about the draft). BA also has a lot of great free stuff like the daily dish and some other things.

QUOTE(3E8 @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 04:32 PM) Lucy wasn't a matter of scouting, it was signability. Everyone knew Suzuki was better. Signability had nothing to do with it. Suzuki was an easy sign and money wasn't an issue had they went with Suzuki (nor was it an issue with Lucy).

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 29, 2007 -> 05:52 PM) Surely you'll recall the support for one Kurt Suzuki around here in June of '04? We have no other options for two reasons. 1. The Sox failed to draft/produce a capable ML catcher the last 10 years. 2. Instead of a firesale, the Sox elected to resign any aging veteran with trade value. In that respect, I would hope this extension raises your blood pressure. It highlights the poor short and long-term decisions the organization has made to back themselves into this corner. I was sick when Donny Lucy was drafted instead of Suzuki. I pretty much figured the Sox were gonna take Suzuki and we'd have a guy that could project into a pretty damn solid all around catcher.

After sitting by watching all the constant critism Grossman took (some of it deserved, much of it undeserved) its time for me to hope that everyone watched today's game and saw that the issue with the offense is much bigger than Rex Grossman. The main issues are the playcalling (Ron Turner, could you be any more imaginative), the lack of playing to a player strenghts (ie, no deep passes through the first 3 weeks when Rex played as well as the improper use of Cedric Benson by consistently putting in other backs which prevents a power back from gaining a rhtyhm), and of course the offensive line (which is HORRID). I don't know what to say about Turner. I still think he's superior to any of the coordinators we have had since his first go round at the OC (but I also think Shoop was second to that as Shea and Crowton were horrid and I had no problem with the idea of Shoops system of being a run run run type team). Still, he's failed to use his weapons on numerous situations. All season he went away from Rex and failed to ever stick with the run (something they need to do if Benson is our RB). He has also consistently put Peterson in on passing downs despite being a suspect blocker (compared to Benson or anyone else in the NFL). Worse than that I want to know where Greg Olsen was today? The only place Griese was able to find anything was down the middle of the field (or his little 2 yard passes to Benson or the WR's) yet I saw Olsen nowhere to be seen (he has speed, good hands and the ability to spread the field). They have also failed to get our best "tools" WR on offense (next to Berrian who has had the drops) Mark Bradley onto the field. Bradley has always had success with the Bears when healthy yet until today I hadn't seen him step foot onto the turf. Offensive Line: Than there is the line. Its old, old and old. Obviously age has gotten to them and they either have to make up for it with experience or the Bears are going to have to deal with this all season (as they don't have suitable replacements on roster) and will obviously need to focus on this area heavily in the draft (to get some young blood into the oline ranks). QB: Brian Griese is WORSE than Rex Grossman. You can call me a Rex backer, but bottom line, Rex has the ability to spread the field (both horizontally and vertically) and find a way to help the oline (if he can get passing they will respect the rush more and the oline won't have to deal with so many guys in the box to start every play). I know Griese doesn't have the strength to throw an out and he can't throw a deep ball. He did have just enough to throw balls to receivers crossing over the middle of the field but even than there were instances where his lack of arm strenght allowed defenders to close and make hits that can prevent the Wr's from catching the ball. Griese also showed that he too can make mistakes. He threw 3 horrid picks, two in the red zone. I also realize it was one game and he has rust, but my problem wasn't even in the results, it was in what I saw from his arm (he doesn't have the ability to throw a lot of "NFL" passes anymore). He also threw a lot of crosses flat out behind players. Bottom line, Rex is a more accurate QB with a far stronger arm. Rex can also make good reads but he is not known to overcome being flustered and when things do get going bad they seem to stay going bad (But that is at least semi understandable when you are talking about a younger QB). Hell, I've seen Rex try to step up and I've seen him even at his worse lead the team on good drives (remember the Vikings game last year where he hit Davis for the game winning score). The team needs to go with Rex (and see if he can do it these next few weeks) or turn the reigns over to Orton and see if he can be the QB going into next year or if the team needs to go after a guy like McNabb and draft a QB.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 03:28 PM) He does deserve a couple more starts, and of course it is impossible to say with certainty that Rex would have done worse or better. But as most people predicted, it wasn't much of a difference. And doesn't history tell us it rarely is that big of a difference? I can flat out say that Grossman is a more accurate passer with the ability to throw all kinds more routes. Griese made horrible decisions (the thing that is supposed to make him better than Rex). Griese is terrible....TERRIBLE. Also, this game isn't all his fault, but than again neither were hte other games where Grossman got all the s*** for (and those games were against teams better than the Lions, imo).

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 01:11 PM) Let's see how he does after a couple more starts. After all he does have that splashy career rating. BTW, and since Brett Favre is in the news, his QG rating is only a couple notches about Griase's. 85.5 v. 86.05 and 17th place versus 15th place. Screw that...it should be Orton or Grossman. Griese is a backup, pure and simple.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 01:54 PM) The Dolphins are the worst team in football. The Rams are f***ing awful.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 11:16 AM) Yup, poor decision. But the offense still looks lightyears better. Are you kidding me. Griese was f***ing horrible today. He showed why he isn't any good. He can't make quite a few "NFL" passes. He can't throw an out pattern to save his life, can't throw a deep ball and the only pass he can throw are screens and short passes to the wideouts as well as the ocassional crossing pattern 15-25 yards down the field (and even than his lack of arm strenght causes there to be more time for a CB/Safety to close on the WR potentially making a hit that jarrs the ball lose and causes a completion to be incomplete. Hell, he wasn't even accurate on short crossing patterns (hence at least one of the interceptions).

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 30, 2007 -> 10:11 AM) Terrible call by the refs. Also, isn't it time to bench Berrian? He's been the worst player on the Bears this year, and it's not even close. He's dropped some passes but he's the bears best receiver by a long ways. Worse player...haha.

So I got some good Halo action in tonight. We had two xbox's linked up and god damn is Halo 3 awesome. THan went into some NHL 08 and its even better than ever. Not quite as arcadey as 07 (which was such a fun game) but the CPU is just so much smarter which allows better puck possession. It is like impossible to score though (which is the opposite of last years game).

Hott Fuzz is absolutey awful (and I loved Shaun of the Dead). I had to turn the s*** off halfway into it for being so bad.

AJ is one of the better catchers in the league and another two years works for me. I am scared that they have so many guys under contract > 30 as that could get this team into trouble. However, AJ is an asset and one of the better catchers in the league.

QUOTE(klaus kinski @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 06:53 AM) F for this year F for last year F for poor farm system He does not seem to be getting better at his job. Time for a change I can't see how Kenny deserved an F for last year as the team on paper was superior to the one that won the world series in 05. No one would have been able to predict just how severely the rotation would collapse in 2006 (along with the failures of Politte and Cotts). And a GM's job is to put together a great team on paper while the managers job is to get that team to reach its success (and in some instances the team just completely fails in which case I don't see it worthy blaming either guy).

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 28, 2007 -> 08:31 AM) This game and the Cal-Oregon game should be a lot of fun this weekend. Then of course, you have the game of the year next week with LSU and Florida. Oklahoma-UT as well next weekend. Wow. Oregon and WVU win. Oregon wins by a good margin, WVU game may be close (I just can't evaluate how good South Florida's defense is since they haven't played any truly good offensive teams).