Chisoxfn

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 09:05 AM) Bush still finished tied for 4th at 11%, after getting crushed in Iowa. He is also polling 4th in SC right now at 10%. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/20...imary-4151.html Momentum though. Had Rubio had a strong finish, I think Bush is out. Rubio is eroding right now (whether he can stop that erotion or not, remains to be scene). Bush has benefited from it, as has Kasich, and Bush has to see that Kasich is a beatable guy (if not from the pure perspective that Bush has so much more resources than Kasich). I just see no logical reason for Bush to walk away now. If he has a weak showing in SC and Nevada, than I could see him turning away and getting pressured to turn away, because the non Cruz / Trump candidates are all going to get a ton of pressure from more mainstream conservatives to widdle their side of the field down to 1 by Super Tuesday. I put the odds much higher today that Bush could be that guy than I would have a week ago (when I'd have given him zero chance...odds might only be 10%, but that is still an improvement). Kasich might actually be the guy in the driver seat right now, but he needs to capitalize on it with a strong showing, as this is going to be the first time he gets any sort of main stream coverage (or so I suspect). He absolutely has to capitalize on this opportunity. I'd actually say odds are pretty split between Kasich / Rubio of who would come out and who would have said that a week ago (when Rubio had all the momentum). Note: Kasich might end up getting lucky cause I have a feeling Bush is going to spend his time and money attacking Rubio and Rubio will thus have to do the same to Bush, which might mean Kasich can stay above the fray and benefit from the other two beating themselves up. None of this impacts Trump / Cruz as I think they have an entirely different base.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 09:02 AM) Who would you have signed instead? And that plan means you're basically giving up hope that Rose ever becomes a good player again. Up until last season, that would have been foolish, not to mention the FA nightmare of having an organization give up on a player after 1 or 2 injuries. Hurting their FA pull is the last thing they can afford given how low it is already. Also Gasol was a great pick-up. Dude's been an all-star each year he's been here. What more do you want? He doesn't fit the Hoiberg system but maybe Garpax was hoping he'd be enough of a piece to get past Cleveland and still have Thibs as a coach. Examples please. And the Heat got lucky a scrub in the D-League developed into a major player. And they didn't have to deal with a franchise player who is constantly hurt. Signing Gasol was a great move that argues against the "they don't make any good moves or sign good players!" complaint. Niko was just a miss. Through half of last season everyone and their mother thought he was a great find. I'm still not willing to give up on him either. He makes a lot of stupid mistakes, but he still has a ton of talent. It's been 1.5 seasons. Same with McDermott. His defense can improve and then he'd be a really solid contributor. And who are you drafting instead of McDermott? What need could have been filled. Go look at the players taken after him. A bunch of nobodies. As I've said before, given unlucky situation with Rose, they've been pretty hamstrung in what they could do. As Balta has pointed out, any moves they could have made to get better means you lose out on Butler or Taj or both. Other than some max free agent like Lebron or Melo WHO THEY TRIED TO ACQUIRE, they're not signing anyone as good as Butler now. So that's all a wash. You absolutely have to give the Bulls credit for not executing on a deal to move Butler. Reality is a lot of GM's would have dealt Butler. You should give the Warriors the same credit as they could have dealt Klay for Love and who knows what Golden State becomes if that happens. Does Draymond end up developing into the player he is, how does Love fit in with them, etc. How can anyone knock the Pau signing? Pau might suck at defending the pick and roll, but he's been a very good player for the Bulls. And Niko was a great move. I'm actually curious how the time off, etc, will be for him. Might allow him to clear his mind and kind of regain his edge. Niko clearly has talent (and I complain about him more than others), but I really question whether Hoiberg is the right guy to get the most out of our players and help develop our guys. I always thought Thibs did an amazing job getting the most out of his guys and developing young players.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 08:54 AM) The bottom half of the field should be dropping out. Realistically the only guys who should be left are Trump, Cruz, Rubio, and maybe Kasich. Given Bush's finish in NH, I have a hard time indicating why he should drop out. You might think he's toast, but reality is he's gotten a bit of momentum recently and is starting to gain some traction (all while Bush's primary competition, Rubio is sliding). He'll need to keep building on that and can't have a poor finish here on out, but I see no reason, with all the money he has raised, that he should drop out based upon the results in NH. He beat Rubio and was basically the same as Cruz (two guys who are clearly in the race). Now Christie, Fiorina, and Carson clearly all need to walk away. Christie put all his eggs in New Hampshire and was way behind everyone else. The other two have zero momentum or just declining momentum. I'm sure Carson won't (since he didn't focus much on NH anyway, but I don't know that he makes it to Super Tuesday). Note: I refer to Rubio as Bush's primary competition, because I clearly think the core republicans want one of Rubio / Bush / Kasich and prior to super tuesday they need to get the field narrowed to one of these remaining candidates so they can actually stand a shot at beating Trump or Cruz.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 08:50 AM) Yeah, the Thibs will never win a title is crazy to say. If he has the talent, he will win a title. If Phil or Pop had the Bulls roster the past several years, they wouldn't win a title either. Phil was truly lucky (not saying he wasn't a good coach, but damn did he have talent). He had arguably the two greatest DUO's in NBA history at one point in time or another, between Michael / Pip and Shaq / Kobe and than again had a heck of a duo with Kobe / Pau. In fact, during most of his tenure as a coach, Phil had the best active player on the planet (from Jordan to Shaq to Kobe).

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 08:49 AM) The country has never tried left-wing politics before. I'd like to see it but it's never happened. I don't think that changes this year. If Illinois / Chicago is any example, count me out. If California is an example, again, count me out.

Christie has to drop out now, right? He put all his eggs in NH and lost. I thought Jeb would be on his way out, but with his showing, he clearly won't drop out and Kasich clearly can continue a little longer (how much so, who knows...unless he gets the backing of Bush).

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 08:37 AM) I disagree. I don't think Thibodeau ever wins a championship unless he changes some things. He's a fantastic lead assistant (defense) though. People that work up there weren't disappointed to see him go. He's a good coach. The shelf life ran out though. The Bulls offensive efficiency metrics were much stronger than people give credit for under Thibs. I'm also a long believer that to stay healthy you need to play and put in the work. I honestly don't think, outside of Pop, there is an active coach better than him. Others might be on the same page, but I don't think anyone, other than Pop, is better than him. Part of winning a title is luck and a championship roster, and the year we had that roster, Rose went down in the playoffs. Heck, even the year before Rose went down, we might have had that roster, but Rose tweaked his ankle in the Miami series and we blew some late leads. That team was awfully close. If Thibs coached the Cavs (current) or Heat teams with Lebron, are you saying he doesn't win a title? Are you saying if he was the coach of the Warriors, he doesn't win a title? Coaching can only do so much, but ultimately, to win a title, you need to be on paper, the most talented or extremely close to the most talented team in the league. A coach can put a lot of other makeup on and help, but you need players to win the whole thing.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 08:30 AM) Another Gar signature move. If this team stayed healthy, or if this teamed played well enough, I could easily say, Gar you were right, the blame here was on Thibs. That was not the case at all. I don't know how anyone at this point can say they had no problem with the Bulls firing Thibs, but would find it wrong firing Gar and/or Pax. Does Jimmy Butler develop into the player he is without Thibs? You have to figure if he developed into the player under Hoiberg, Gar would be singing his praises, not leaking stuff to the press how most of the players didn't like playing for Thibs. The hack job they did on Thibs out the door, and the way the team has not done any better this year, should be a huge embarrassment to the organization. Absolutely. I am stunned Gar didn't make roster changes because it truly meant it would be very clear whether Gar was right or wrong regarding Thibs vs. Hoiberg. I still can't believe how JR got involved in the hatchet job at the end. I have to think Gar had everyone fooled (and by a lot of accounts, he's that type of guy). However, I'm sure it ultimately came down to Pax telling Jerry, it isn't as bad as described with Gar and probably even partly driven by hesitations from Pax to do this gig full time and at that point JR backed Pax (which shouldn't be any sort of a surprise). It isn't like Pax is Krause and I've heard plenty of Bulls players (current and former) say very positive things about Pax (oddly enough, don't know that I've ever heard a nice thing about Gar). Still amazes me that JR was that aggressive in his comments about Thibs. Might have also been the fact that the wound was fresh with Thibs (he had some leaks in the playoffs where he must have at that point, been 1000% committed to not coaching again in Chicago). On an unrelated note, Bulls TV ratings are down 29% this year.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 08:23 AM) One thing they could have done was not bring back the entire roster except Portis for Nazr and proclaim it a championship roster. You are saying the roster is flawed. GarPax didn't see it that way, and were willing to pay $9 million to show everyone the thing holding back the Bulls was their coach. To me, that's fireable. It isn't a championship roster if everyone is healthy, and to expect this particular group of players to be healthy is beyond crazy as well. Gar called it a championship roster. He should be held accountable to his words. Yep. The statement Gar made was that the roster issues were on the coach and that this team either needed a new coach or more time to gel. Clearly he was wrong and as Pau has pointed out this is the same team from a year ago (only worse to be frank). Now it has suffered more injuries than last year, but it still hasn't been on the same level and the team is headed in the wrong direction. This is an indictment on Gar and it is why I fully expect him to get canned. I really am curious if things change in-season or not or if Pax is going to give him a shot to correct things at the trade deadline? You also have to wonder if Paxson has increased his role lately? Or what sort of conversations Jerry has had with John.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 08:20 AM) Well, it certainly seemed like the firing of Ron Adams really accelerated things. (should be noted Ron Adams now an assistant coach on one of the best teams ever, to this point) Yep. That was an awful move. Ron was widely viewed as one of the top assistants in the league and has done nothing but excel elsewhere.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 07:34 AM) The bring back Thibodeau people are humorous. Would they have a better record with Thibs? Yes. Would they probably get knocked out of the playoffs in the 1st or 2nd round with either coach? Yes. Tom had his issues. Hoiberg has issues. This is a very flawed roster that doesn't like playing with one another and it was the same way last year. I don't really think Tom had issues. Other than you could say he should have done a better job getting along with Gar (but how do we know Gar didn't just totally sabotage him anyway). Gar seems like the "I'll throw anyone under the bus" possible type of guy. Who knows what he did to Tom that ultimately created the rift. All I know is Tom was a much better coach than Hoiberg and was one of the elite coaches in the league. Whomever gets him will be extremely lucky and I think in hindsight, Jerry has to realize the best course might have been to cut the middle man out (Gar) and see if Pax and Tom could have worked things out (essentially bought a year without Gar in the mix to see if it would help...especially based upon the reports that Thibs always, even to this day, respected Pax.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 03:51 PM) TBK is about as salty as food can get, really good drunk and terrible sober. Chipotle's chicken and guac is what has got me hooked, the beans/salsa aren't terribly impressive but are good enough. I love their chicken.

You guys are all high rollers with your guac. So damn expensive.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 02:20 PM) +1 It's fine, but it's not earth shattering. And certainly not worth the $10-12 they charge. I will say though, that their guac and lime chips are the bomb. I could that stuff all day. I think I spend like 7 bucks and get a massive amount of food.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 02:17 PM) I don't get what is so great about Chipotle. It isn't that good. There are so many dive type places I would rather go to that just blow it away. Give me a Taco Burrito King for starters. Well I don't view it as mexican food, but in general, its affordable, high quality ingredients that you can turn into a relatively clean meal (as long as you monitor the portion aspects). It isn't greasy, etc.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:21 PM) What's the harm? Clear some cap space, try to get an extra late first rounder this year, and our lineup next summer has Rose and Butler and a couple bigs including a young Portis and a need at SF. If we don't land him, then we're in the same boat we are now except after 2017 Rose's contract comes off the books. We still have 1 young all star locked up for 3 years right now. I also think they should be looking at Boogie and Blake Griffin too. And if the Lakers are down on Russel, why not see what you can do there. In no way am I saying we should be frontunners, but Pax needs to be aggressive.

Eh. He's a pretty lousy player.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 12:25 PM) This is a really interesting conversation we keep having about greg posting things he's watched on cable news and how the media loves hillary. You know...I don't really get it. A lot of what Greg has said is actually true. Have you guys watched a lot of the clips. Most of the time I watch any coverage on the election, I just roll my eyes at the absurd arguments made on both sides of the court. You all do realize the vast majority of people who vote know nothing other than some slight aspects from what the media says and more often are going to go and vote based upon party and likeability. For example, someone just not liking someone because of there look is a total normal reason to not vote for someone or how they carry themselves. History has shown how superficial voters are and yet all of you want to ignore those facts. I have talked to numerous people who like trump purely because they here the media say he tells it like it is. None of them know what he actually is saying, he just "tells it like it is". Thats it. You all give people too much damn credit to be frank. And maybe someone will whine and say, well now we are smarter, no we aren't, Howard Dean's speach ended his campaign (did he have other issues, sure, but that one speech sure has hell torpedoed any remaining odds he had and it isn't like he said anything bad). Plus lets be realists, I could make an argument that Trump (and I think by now, all of you know I don't like Trump) is the most selfless of everyone in this campaign as he's the only one who hasn't been totally bought out (of course I'd also tell you he has a gargantuan ego and that is probably more to do with him running). They are all selfish candidates who have all kind of interests with gigantic egos. Anyone thinks otherwise is delusional. The potential exception to this is Sanders, who genuinely seems passionate about what he wants to do (and I'll give him credit for that) and is an extremely rare candidate from that regard.

Yeah I'm a burrito bowl guy. Rice, black beans, chicken, veggies, mild, medium (corn and medium), cheese and lettuce. f***ing delicious.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 12:34 PM) Mike Brown. Flip Saunders. Doug Moe I think with the Nuggets. The Bulls almost hired Doug Collins when they hired Thibs. It happens, but Thibs isn't coming back. He can find a job way too easily, and the public shaming was ridiculous. I like JR, but that was classless and unnecessary, and IMO he got played by Gar Foreman. I really wonder if things are as bad as some of the insiders are reporting, with Gar, whether he even makes it to the trade deadline. I truly believe Gar is absolutely gone.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 12:23 PM) It is a flawed roster. I doubt we'd be 7th in east, thou. Clearly if this team is healthy, it is still a top 3 team in the East. Just look at the recent collapse (and all the games this team has lost which it should have won...where it just inexplicably blew it)...and we are still just 4 games or something off the Celtics and the 3 spot. That said, as Pau said, we've been an inconsistent team for a year and a half and clearly aren't better off because Thibs is gone. Anyone who thought Thibs was so bad that Hoiberg could come in and make them a championship team was crazy (i.e., Gar). I don't know if they legit believed that or if it was more that they just felt they needed a better working relationship (and improved health or more time, including continued development from some of the young players, who have all taken steps backwards with exception of Doug, who quite frankly, could only get better and should have given his health). This is a very flawed roster and a beat up roster. Oh and if Thibs had played Butler all those minutes, good lord people would have complained.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 11:33 AM) Right now they're 7th in the East. Blog I just read suggests this is 7+ games for Jimmy. Bulls are 1.5 games ahead of the Hornets, in the middle of a losing skid, now without their best player. I sure as heck would be trading Gasol for the best deal I could get in this situation, probably also trying to clear either dunleavy or Gibson out so that they can make a full max contract offer to anyone and everyone next offseason. What's the harm? Butler + Rose + Durant sounds like an adequate setup to me. You know Balta, we agree. Everyone else acts like we should just give up and not try for Durant, but I say screw it.

Guy has a lot of clubhouse issues, which concerns me. He's also had some injury issues. However, when he's been healthy, he's been very good and we have a good track record when it comes to getting guys healthy and getting the most out of our pitchers. I like this move from a pure depth perspective. Robin is going to have to earn his pay though. Some definite personalities in this lockeroom.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 09:44 AM) These flu bugs that run through households are ruthless. Something I never experienced until I had kids. Friday the 3-year old pukes up her entire breakfast. Saturday night my wife couldn't even keep water down. Sunday the 5-month old finishes a bottle of milk and immediately pukes the entire thing up. Last night it was my turn to spend the night in misery in the bathroom. Luckily the kids didn't get it that bad, but it's crazy how it just goes from person to person, day by day. Yeah...I never had an appreciation of this sort of stuff until we had kids. And the worse part is, that is when your kids really need you and you are just miserable and have to find every way to move forward. Stomach issue has gone through our house with my wife getting brunt of it and our 9 month old. So far my daughter and I have been lucky (and I'm praying it ends up that way). And then there are colds, which I swear, never actually stop in our house (at least amongst the kids). Build up those immune systems kiddos Who am I kidding, I never had any idea how much work it was being a parent until I actually became on, haha. Truly makes you appreciate what your parents ultimately did for you. And as they grow up so fast, you think, wow, before you know it they are going to be teenagers and not want to spend any time with you.

QUOTE (whitesoxjr27 @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 01:21 PM) I feel you guys are cool with me so i decided to post this and ask advice. I met a guy on a phone app and we talked for a week and met for Starbucks on Saturday. He is 23 and me 37. 14 year difference. We were there for almost three hours talking. I knew going in he has a boyfriend and that he just wanted to be friends. But half the time he was b****ing about his man. I even asked him if he told his boyfriend he was meeting me? He said NO. I got his number and a hug at the end of the night and now he wants to go to dinner and hit the clubs. Not sure if he is looking to dump his man or what? He even talked about coming over to my house some time. I am torn! Personally, I'm leery of anyone who isn't honest with their partner. If he's going to lie to his current partner, why wouldn't he lie to you? Now if you are okay with that and are looking for something not so serious, than fine, but I personally think little for someone who is with someone starting to see or even look into other people while they are still together. If they want to go down that path, than they need to break up. My immediate gut reaction is this is someone looking to play the field.