Chisoxfn

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 09:28 AM) Yeah, they've mostly be schlubs up until now. Then they run into a roadblock of 7 dudes. Then 20 dudes. Then 50 dudes. And it's not even the same dudes. This is an army. I'm sure they can have [victim actor] show up on set and hang out for a bit, but it would be pretty difficult (or at least very labor/money intensive) to do it in a way that actually seems convincing. Like, all the characters actually interacting and performing scenes. And if that was the case, that leak would probably go to the internet as "cliffhanger was bulls*** - none of those characters died", creating a lot of ill will. I can't get over how this was the first time we've ever seen Rick legitimately scared and I mean liked freaked out scared. Should have just extended it by another 1 minute and end there. To your point, would have made it one of, if not, the most memorable episodes of TWD. I suppose for those who stream and catch up on the show (like I did the first few seasons), you'd never know the difference as long as you start by the time the next season started. Just wait till the 1st episode of the new season is fully focused on what is going on back at Alexandria Game Of Thrones can't come soon enough, but at least Fear will be back next week (and I thought that show got better as the season went by...still nothing like TWD). All in all, I honestly felt this was the best season of Walking Dead. Full of badass action sequences, suspense, etc. Very well done.

I will point out, if this is more the city the state that screwed up with money that was supposed to be set aside, than I have a different opinion. Reality is, the rules around pensions was so brutal for so long that nothing was properly funded, etc, people could use freely pull funds from them for "rainy days"...whomever got on board with how it was managed were complete and utter buffoons. And it clearly couldn't have been a minority. Had people just used straight up normal fiscal logic and sound financial wisdom (who developed and created the plans), we wouldn't have these situations. There should be some room for variability dependent on long-term returns, but ultimately, you should have been conservative from the start so that the only potential impacts, by and large, would be potential upside (vs. downside).

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 1, 2016 -> 08:54 AM) I don't know the logistics of this strike but my parents were in the education system and my sister is. You can always tell the people that have no clue what teachers do. Just because they have "Summer's off" they have it easy. Not realizing during school year it's an all day job. Taking work home with them. I barely saw my dad growing up cuz he coached after school. Lots of teachers and administrators are one year long schedules now. CPS teachers have to be dealing with kids with behavioral issues more than my parents had to. The pensions are for security like anyone having a 401k because they get paid diddly while teaching. The system is so screwed up, my sister and others are getting out. I agree with most everything you say about the teachers, but I will point out, most people who have 401K's fully contribute to those 401k's with a very small amount (potentially) being contributed by others. That said, I value teachers and education and think they should be paid fair middle class wages, however, I do not support the union and think the union causes more harm than good to our overall education system.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 09:07 AM) This cliffhanger decision is going to wreck what is supposed to be one of the most iconic and horrific moments in the series. It didn't take long after the Glenn midseason "death" for images to come out of Steven Yeun filming new scenes and the same thing will happen this time. Hey look, everybody except [victim] is on set filming season 7. I wonder who Negan killed. I enjoyed the rest of the episode with the RV trip though. A lot of people are describing it as boring and repetitive but I thought it ramped up the tension. I thought it did a great job highlighting just how strong the saviors were and built up the tension for Rick and the group for how screwed they really were. I do agree that I would have much preferred everything to happen. If I were the writers, I'd have all of them "supposedly filming" new scenes just to throw the scent off.

This is perfect. My in-laws have tmobile and don't watch baseball

QUOTE (Tony @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 08:30 AM) Yeah, that's true. I don't know, I still think the move to help the Hilltopers and make the overly aggressive play to wipe out Negan and all the Saviors is on Rick's group. They didn't HAVE to make they call if they were the passive, Nobel group. Rick and people within the saviors made mention to the fact that Negan made the first move. Even Negan talked about how it went down a bit. Lincoln did a fantastic job, you could literally see the fear in Rick's eyes as they were on there knees, etc. Given I don't know the comics, I'm curious where this turns and I'm also curious about what happens with Carol and company and that new group.

QUOTE (Tony @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 08:08 AM) When? Rick and his group made a deal and attacked the Saviors for the Hilltoppers. They made that choice to kill as many of them as possible. If Ricks group wanted be "left in peace", they would have never made that move in the 1st place. The Saviors didn't even know about Rick's group, Rick brought that on his group. I just have no real attachment to our Heros anymore. They make dumb decision after dumb decision. Saviors made the first attack when they ambushed Daryl, Sash, and Abraham.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 07:42 AM) Negan's arrival was awesome. They made a great casting call on that one. Their decision to end the episode on that cliffhanger was really weak though. Honestly, I don't see how any of us could expect anything less. Either way, I thought it was a fantastic episode. I am betting on Glenn / Daryl or my wild card is they kill Rick's son.

Absolutely not.

Where exactly would Panda play? DH? Zero interest here.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 31, 2016 -> 11:01 AM) Minor nitpick, but I believe it happened in the hotel room they were sharing, not the locker room Fair point, but my point remains the same. Secretly recording someone violates trust and the fact that this was made public means every player he ever plays with is going to worry about that. He can learn from it, but he's going to have to be an insane teammate for a while before people forget it and if we are going to go after him, we should be buying low on him (and I'd still be fine with moving Rose for a combination of him and something else). I don't know if the Lakers would. Hell, maybe Lakers would buy on Niko + Dougie for him. Who knows how bad the Lakers want to move him.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 31, 2016 -> 10:56 AM) The NFL guys mean nothing to me. Greg Hardy got a second chance. Ray Rice, if his performance wasn't horrid, would have had another chance. Saying never trust some kid who just turned 20, made a mistake, but nothing criminal, is absurd. Players do worse things every day. Young has every right to be angry. If he recorded me, I would be angry. But if that's the worst thing anyone will ever do to you, you will have a really happy life. People need to let it go. Also, I want to be clear, I am not saying Russell is in the same league as Hardy or Ray Rice or worse, what I am saying is, in the lockeroom, what he did is perceived far worse than what those guys did (right / wrong / indifferent). I fully agree with you in the sense that what Russell did, while extremely immature and stupid, is not a big deal in the grand scheme. But if you secretly recorded your boss talking about something or your staff secretly recorded you, I'm going to guess we'd all be livid and you'd never trust said employee or person again (and you'd also never hire someone if you knew that was in there past).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 31, 2016 -> 10:56 AM) The NFL guys mean nothing to me. Greg Hardy got a second chance. Ray Rice, if his performance wasn't horrid, would have had another chance. Saying never trust some kid who just turned 20, made a mistake, but nothing criminal, is absurd. Players do worse things every day. Young has every right to be angry. If he recorded me, I would be angry. But if that's the worst thing anyone will ever do to you, you will have a really happy life. People need to let it go. Greg Hardy and Ray Rice both did things far more scummy, but neither of those things violated players trust within the lockeroom, which is critical to the overall success of a franchise. I am a huge Russell fan and think he'll be a great pro, but I think everyone on this board is severely undervaluing the fact that he secretly recorded a conversation and leaked it. That is brutal. How would we feel if Butler recorded Rose complaining about Hoiberg and released that? I'm sure we'd all be livid and I'm certain everyone would be talking about how you had to dump him. The bright side is Russell is young, but its going to take a lot to earn that trust back and given the Bulls already have major issues in the lockeroom, I don't see how bringing in another issue helps the situation. If we were going to change everything and bring in an extremely experienced and well respected coach, I could maybe buy it, but I certainly wouldn't be trading Jimmy at this point for Russell. If I'm getting Russell, I'm trying to buy extremely low on him.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 31, 2016 -> 09:25 AM) http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/26289...mistry-problems Jimmay and Hoiball aren't friends Fred Trestman is gonna get Butler traded. This season is the gift that keeps on giving I sure hope not. if we want to trade Butler, we better be getting some serious talent in return. It seems like Butler is the most vocal, but the below stood out to me. I don't think Jimmy is in the minority and I also don't see anything Hoiberg has done this year which would give me confidence in his ability to be a successful NBA head coach. I'd agree he wasn't put in the best position to succeed, but this team, even with injuries, should be a playoff team.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 31, 2016 -> 05:59 AM) The outrage is hilarious. I like how guys like Stephen A Smith are citing a prison code for what happens in real life. Id literally give anything for Russell, hes a future stud and the Lakers have done nothing but f*** with him and surround him with crap. I'm not defending Young but I'd be pissed if someone secretly recorded a conversation I had with them on anything. Completely pissed. To do it in the lockeroom and than have it leaked is even worse. In no way am I defending Young. Cheating scumbag and he'll get what he's deserved but Russell f***ed up royally too and should never have secretly recorded a conversation between two people in the lockeroom. That violates all code of the lockeroom. I can only imagine how everyone would be ripping LaRoche or Eaton if he had done something similar. I was watching an NFL show yesterday and every single player (black, white, defense, oline, etc)...this included hall of famer Jerome Bettis (plus Jeff Saturday and a few others) and they all absolutely ripped Russel and said if that happened in there lockeroom, things would have been much worse than the Lakers shunning him, but beyond that, you would never ever trust the player again (and that isn't just on the Lakers, no player will have that trust because it has been violated).

Seriously...we are going to unify the team by bringing in Russell. I wanted Russell up until what he pulled.

Oh and if you were going to bench Noah, it should have been for Taj. When Hoiberg made the Gar move and screwed them both over for Niko who had proven nothing, it set a serious message in the lockeroom, imo and it had very negative implications.

Some pretty damning quotes below from MDJ, who I respect a ton. I have said all season I felt that Hoiberg did not real the team in when needed and that this team lacked the focus and intensity that is necessary from a coach. Little things matter and I never felt that Hoiberg was able to drive in his message. He's admitted as much this past weekend when he said his message isn't being heard. He also talks about how focused they are in warmups, but we are seeing basic execution failures. Just embarassing. I have never seen a coach as bad as Hoiberg at the NBA level. I literally have zero confidence in his ability to be a head coach in the NBA. Hadn't read Friedell's take until just now, but consistent with my take on Noah:

I do want to thank Taj for giving a f***. He'll probably get dealt, but he's represented the Bulls with great pride during his entire tenure (as has Noah).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 29, 2016 -> 10:33 AM) To listen to it here, apparently the Bulls locker room was Iraq, and it was Thibs holding the Kurds, Shia, and Sunni's together Well I think Gar created that culture when he decided to tell the players last year that they didn't need to follow Thibs and it only got worse this year. It absolutely was bad. But it was there roster and they need to be held accountable for it (as do the players). But when you had a roster of guys who for years were known as great team players, etc, well, than it is hard to ignore some of the changes that happened. I've said numerous times I am an avid Thibs supporter though.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 29, 2016 -> 10:26 AM) Gasol is one of the guys that stands out to me as being done with this season. There was a sequence last night where he shot a three from the top of the key, missed it short, and even though he didn't chase for the offensive rebound, he was still the last guy down the floor. When he finally got down the floor, the ball came to his guy, who took a 20 foot jumper from the wing, and Gasol didn't even bother to get his hands up on. I am done with the guy. Sure he can put up numbers, but he isn't helping this team at all right now. Well, I'd argue if he was done for the season, given his knee, he wouldn't be playing. I think Pau is just one of those guys that is so incredibly skilled (and he truly is an all time great big) that he can get away with not putting in the longer practice habits and taking more of the "Spurs" approach. Unfortunately, the rest of the team wasn't in that position and when you don't have other strong leaders, people look up to Pau who came in and started questioning how things were done. Pau is a real pro, so I'm not here saying negatives, but he also was late in his career and he just goes about things different and I think others followed suit from it. Bigger issue seems to be Jimmy Buckets. Of course that might just be what the Bulls front office wants us to believe as they are starting there campaign to get the fan base behind moving him. Me, I love Jimmy for what he does on the court and I think he needs people who hold him accountable and I think that was lost the day the Bulls stripped Thibs and than eventually put in Hoiberg. Hoiberg wasn't willing to be the sheriff and backed down early and lost the respect of countless people. I also can buy into Jimmy's head expanding, but I also argue he plays hard, etc. He does need a wake up call though and I think he's a guy who absolutely can win a championship but he's got to buy-in, part of that is on the player, but part of that is also on the coach. It isn't like this was a team of misfits or cancers that Hoiberg was handed. It was a team with guys who all have relatively good reputations within the league and he failed miserably at getting them to buy-in and the front office failed miserably in identifying that (and if it was the players fault) making changes to the roster to ensure / put the coach in a position where he could succeed.

Every game is a must win now though and anything can happen. A loss and we are pretty much doomed.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 29, 2016 -> 09:52 AM) If I were the Bulls front office I would play on the fact that the Lakers are getting kind of desperate to get some names on the floor and that Derrick likes being in LA. Maybe steal Russell from them since Scott seems dead set on gluing him to the bench I think they get Thibs and I think it would be Butler they target. I wonder if you could get Russel plus their top pick and maybe a future pick. No idea whether either side would make that deal. Lots of hypotheticals.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 29, 2016 -> 09:48 AM) *cough*lakers*cough* They probably have better odds at signing someone via FA. I think more likely destinations are smaller market teams who have to overpay via FA.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 29, 2016 -> 09:46 AM) I'm just wondering if, given his contract, you could get a first round pick for him. Maybe if you took back a longer contract perhaps? With the cap space you wouldn't have to match the guy coming back if both teams had money available. Teams in basketball purgatory would take a shot on Drose. They would look at his improvement as the season progresses, being another year removed from the injury, etc, not to mention potential for a clean slate as reasons why they make the deal. They know they can't get anyone with the draw of Rose via FA so why not take a chance on a trade. Would the Knicks or Lakers do it, no, but if you are the Kings or some other franchise in a smaller market lacking enough stars to win, I see a lot of reasons why you take the chance on Rose, see if he takes off and you'd have his bird rights to offer more in FA (thus increasing odds you can resign him in the future if he continues to ascend). Plus, all reports are people like playing with Rose. We don't here the same about Butler, but I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about Rose as a teammate (and he's never once said a bad thing about his teammates).