Chisoxfn

The odd one is the Sox giving back cash. That doesn't smell like a Kenny deal. I wonder if anyone can run a google and truly see if this guy is legitimately cousins with Floyd.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 01:39 PM) Well, the good news is that McGuire looks like a very solid young arm. The bad news is that Drabek seems to be a failed prospect. However, both are under team control until at least 2018, I believe. Hopefully Coop can pull a "Gavin Floyd" on Drabek and turn around a failed Phillies top pitching prospect. I like the idea of getting one good/solid safe prospect plus a failed top 30 prospect in all of baseball in Drabek. Drabek has some tools and I have faith in Coop.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 10:03 AM) Not questioning your list, but the top 4 coaches have Brady, Brees, Big Ben, & Rodgers as their QBs. Do the coaches make the QB or the QBs make the coach? It most certainly helps. That is why I'm very impressed at what Reid has done (he is an exceptional coach in my mind and my personal opinion is that I might take him over everyone but Bellicheck). Lovie to an extent gets some credit for what he has done with a variety of QB's. Also, the more I think about it, the more I could make the argument that Lovie > Fisher. A couple years ago I didn't think I'd say it, but Lovie is truly a good football coach.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 08:11 AM) The Bears meathead fans are gonna want that...mustached guy who yells alot on the sidelines=wins. I'll pass. Fisher is a tremendous head coach and is one guy I would be completey on board with hiring over Lovie. Note: There aren't many guys I'd replace Lovie with in the league. I do think if you brought in a GM like the Ravens guy (who is the top candidate in the league) and the Bears loved him and he was in with the exception that he needed to have a shot to bring in his coach, than I'd probably do it. There are probably 5 coaches better than Lovie in this league: 1. Bellicheck 2. Sean Payton 3. McCarthy 4. Tomlin 5. Reid I think anyone else and you can make an argument Lovie is better. The next list, which includes Lovie, also includes Mike Smith, the Harbaugh Brothers, Shanny (I might include him in the top group), and Rex Ryan (who I happen to hate). You could also argue for Kubiak (who I'm a huge fan of). Which means, if you agree with my list, at worse, Lovie is the 11th or 12th best coach in the league. I happen to think he rates on par with everyone else on the list of this group of candidates and most definitely ahead of Rex.

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 09:35 AM) I've a feeling Drabek will be a lot better next season.. Floyd to Toronto for Drabek & McGuire, would be a great deal for the Sox. I'd be on board with that sort of deal. I don't think the Sox get it, but I'd be on board with it. A package built around McGuire would be solid, but it is important to remember that upside wise, McGuire doesn't have wow you stuff. He is a good pitcher though. I'm not sure you can just pencil him into a rotation now though. The dude has pitched in like 4 games at the AA level.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 06:13 AM) If that was sarcasm, then yes. Totally. The Iowa onewas a dead giveaway. I don't know the last time they won 2 straight big ten games let alone 2 straigt on the road. They did everything they could at the end to blow it too.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 3, 2012 -> 11:19 AM) Also agree with this, but if he has to go to get a good GM... Agree with that. I will say this, I don't want any head coach who also wants to be GM.

I have zero desire to ditch Lovie. He's a very good head coach.

I like lovie I just want a gm who is okay with keeping him

Are the bears going to hire bill polian and a fisher? Or are they going after cowher? Would love stay? I have no idea what the bears plan is now and am curious to see what happens.

How can anyone complain about this move? Sox didn't have a need for Fraser and got two guys with some potential. They aren't can't miss but who in the world would exPect that in this type of deal. Nice job Kenny.

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Dec 31, 2011 -> 01:48 PM) Ya it seemed like it. Everytime Rose touched the ball in the 4th quarter the crowd was chanting MVP. I did my part. Was fun watching that beatdown

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 29, 2011 -> 09:08 AM) Because he doesn't ever accelerate. He dances. Even on his punt returns, he usually opens up his holes by simply outrunning all the pursuit. He doesn't seem to be able to do this on regular offensive plays because there is not enough space. I've long said and gotten ripped for saying it, that while Hester is a special return men, Toub and the blocking schemes help make him. The Bears have had a lot of successful returners under Toub. And it was why I was always willing to deal Hester for a quality pick. The problem is the superfans in Chicago would all die of heartattacks when the trade was announced. I should add that I hate judging most of this year on Hester but at times he looked awfully slow and non-athletic. But I think that probably had a lot to do with his ankle. Or at least that is what I'm telling myself. I haven't seen the explosiveness out of D Hester in a while.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 27, 2011 -> 02:16 PM) One reason why Dwight Howard may want no part of the Bulls is that Howard and Rose are both signed to Adidas, and that would be very much disliked by that company. My wife got me Rose's shoes for Christmas. Was totally surprised but I needed new basketball shoes and I must say, they are really nice. It is the first time I've ever owned a players shoes. They are purely for indoor gym use only though (want this things to last a long time).

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 27, 2011 -> 09:10 AM) 1) it's clear that GS has their number. The bulls can't resist playing that up tempo game and we can't keep up or seem to slow it down. 2) It seems thibidou is trying to run the offense away from rose a lot more. At the moment it doesn't look like everyone is on the same page. I also think there seems to be a tendency with some of the guys to want to show off what they worked on in the summer, and a lot of that is 1-on-1. They haven't had a chance to see if it's successful in the NBA live action games, and I think that's taking away from the flow of our offense. I'm surprised that our team, which has been largely the saame for 3 years, is the team that looks so out of synch, but west coast trips have always had the tendency to do that to us. One thing I'm glad I'm seeing is Joakim be more agressive offensively. He's shown a nice hook and he's willing to shoot his open baseline jumpers. While he hasn't been super efficient with it, I've seen some nice touch and it will be huge to have him confident doing that. He was doing that early last year and it made his game so much better (since it actually means defenses have to guard him, which will create better spacing for Rose and the rest of the offense). Add in a guy like Rip (who a defense has to play honest) and it should mean the Bulls will have an easier time scoring (since last year at times, Noah & Bogans were pretty much wastes of space on offense). However, for a team with all of the same guys, they definitely look off. I'm hoping it is because they are trying to work some new components into there game, plus finally work on getting Noah/Boozer playing comfortable with each other. There truly were very few games last year where the two of them were actually at 100%. Even during our playoff run you had Boozer playing on one leg.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 28, 2011 -> 02:53 PM) I think our discussion here is "would you really feel that bad if Williams were the #3 WR going into next year, behind Bennett and some major addition". I'd tentatively be OK with that, especially if Knox is expected to be back to normal. I still don't understand why the Bears don't use Hester more in the slot on short, quick passes, which would utilize his quick acceleration and cutting abilities.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 28, 2011 -> 12:49 PM) The Bears still have need of a WR and Williams can be effective...but the drops simply kill him. Even if the Bears bring in an extra WR and just want to move Williams to the 3rd WR role, he just doesn't do anything in particular well enough to overcome the fact that he can't hold onto the ball. I'm okay with Williams as long as he's okay trying to prove himself again. He'll have another year with the Bears and if he worked with Cutler they could develop a better rapport. Bears have major needs at wideout and in this league you need plenty of them. I'm okay with Knox, Bennett, Hester, Williams, and a major FA acquisition (or 1st round draft pick).

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 28, 2011 -> 06:54 AM) Lance Briggs being in the Pro Bowl this year is a travesty. He's been terrible. And slow. Slow as s***. Huh? Briggs has been his normal studly self. The dude is an absolute rock. If I were the Bears, I would think long and hard about trading Forte (if you could get a 1st and a 2nd) and Briggs (for a 2nd). Than I'd use the money they supposedly have to sign two of Mario Williams, a top wide-out, and a LB (or LT or CB). You'd also have the ability to add some draft picks in (plus the Greg Olsen pick) and as a result of those picks (hopefully some talented youth). I'm sure some would disagree with me on Forte but I really have no problem with Bell (to my eye, he looks really good, outside of the fact he needs to learn how to hold the football) and I'm okay with Barber backing him up (plus a draft pick or something).

So it looks like the SEC got themselves a QB.

Pretty awful that our 1st round pick from a year ago is not even in the top 10. Kind of scary. I do realize he's considered a "hit or miss" prospect but still. And no, I'm not writing him off. Just thought it was very interesting that a guy we invested a 1st round pick in isn't in the top 10.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 24, 2011 -> 11:53 AM) Right now, if I'm in the Bears FO, I think I'm planning for a future without Knox. If he happens to be able to play football again, great, but I don't know how you can count on that. Maybe by late-Feb the doctors reports will be clear, but with everything I've read...that looks career-threatening, and the Bears haven't exactly been open with a discussion of how bad it was. I thought most everything has indicated he'd be able to play football again (or at least they are optimistic regarding that).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 24, 2011 -> 11:53 AM) Right now, if I'm in the Bears FO, I think I'm planning for a future without Knox. If he happens to be able to play football again, great, but I don't know how you can count on that. Maybe by late-Feb the doctors reports will be clear, but with everything I've read...that looks career-threatening, and the Bears haven't exactly been open with a discussion of how bad it was. I agree. I think you build the team knowing you need at least 2 more wide-outs, one of which needs to be a #1 wideout. I don't know what route they go with the other wide-reciever (it could be 2 free agents or you could draft someone relatively early and hope they pan out). ALl I know is good offenses have a lot of good wideouts they can put in and it really allows them to continue to roll even when injuries happen. You add 2 wideouts and Knox gets healthy and that isn't too shabby (plus of course a special teams/depth guy). I'm pretty convinced Dane isn't that guy (too inconsistent with those hands for a guy that is a "hands" receiver).

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 24, 2011 -> 07:42 AM) do you guys think this is the worst offense ever trotted out on an nfl field? QB Josh McCown RB Bell WR Hester WR Bennett? is he playing TE spaeth bears oline. I might be an idiot but I think Bell is a starting RB. The dude looks good every time I see him. Good vision, quick burst, nice cuts. I really like Bell and I think he could really produce (if we had a QB). The one bright side to the Bears stinking is all of those naysayers can finally realize we have something in Cutler and the Bears front office might finally rally around him and give him some weapons (and there are some available in free agency). I also think with a QB, it would be wise for the Bears to take an annual flyer at wideout every year (late round) of those big physical guys that maybe just haven't produced. I think having a good QB is huge for the overall development of wideouts. I also think that we all know that we have about 1 legit starter at wideout (no more than a #2 though in Bennett) and 2 role players at wide-out (Knox & Hester). As much as I hate knox, the dude does have a role in the NFL (if he can get better and I hope he can).

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 11:07 AM) I'm going to root for him. He's not a bad guy. Doesn't make excuses. He takes it on the chin. He had a bad year and he knows that. He wanted to come here to do great and help the team win. I appreciate that. Now if he was a jag who pointed fingers and made excuses, then I wouldn't care for him. Agreed. I hope he puts 2011 to rest and kicks butt in 2012. I also hope that his son is doing better.

If the Sox spend 8M on Madson I might just throw up.