Chisoxfn

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 03:33 PM) Honestly, I have defended him all year. And yes, I have watched all the games. In fact, I live out of town so I paid $300 to do so. I also was wearing a $300 Cutler jersey yesterday, so it isn't like I am someone who just dislikes him. I agree he has taken a beating this year, and he has done so admirably. As for his mopey face, I have watched enough Colts games this year to notice Peyton Manning usually wears a similar look on his face when things aren't going well. Maybe I am being too hard on the guy and asking him to succeed any more than he has in this situation is just too much to ask from him. Maybe no one could have answered the bell this season as well as he did. I guess we will never know. What I do know is that I wanted so badly for Jay to answer his critics yesterday. Trust me, when you walk around with that guy's jersey on in a town other than Chicago, you catch s*** for it. So it's not like I am not a supporter of him. Instead, what happened, is Jay played poorly in the biggest game of his life and then couldn't return to the game even though he could walk around the sidelines. Ultimately, that rubbed me the wrong way. I just wish he would give a crap about what people thought of him. I wish he would represent the organization in a better manner. I wish he would recognize he needs to be a leader, and that means doing things other than just on the field. But I guess he is who he is, and we aren't going to change that. We just have to accept it. But how quickly we forget how well he played in the 2nd biggest game of his NFL career (albeit, against the Seahawks). I'm not shocked he struggled against the #2 defense in the NFL. Especially when he's getting knocked on his ass throughout the 1st half. That said, Cutler missed an early pass to Hester high (probably too to being too jacked up) that would have been huge. He missed on maybe one other play. Outside of that the offense struggled to find a rhythm as it was backed up inside there 10 for a good point of the 1st half. Additionally, there were a couple penalties in the 1st half that killed the Bears too. Plays that took them from the 18 to the 42 or so (a holding IIRC).

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 03:28 PM) People are just predisposed to not liking Cutler. So many people were just waiting for something like this to happen so they can unload. Reading comments, my Facebook news feed, etc. really convinced me of that. I did start to notice the tide moving in the other direction when it started to come out that he was really hurt, though. I know you liked my facebook. It was completely dedicated to Cutler today, haha.

If people want to complain, talk about the things Jay needs to improve upon, but also talk about how much of an impact his off the field persona has had on him. Fans and Players think he's an ass because he treats the media poorly. As a result, the media unjustifiably rips on him and this spiral continues. The sad thing is he has improved with the media and this season he's gotten much much better. He had a good year, especially when you factor what he had to work with. Was it a probowl year, not quite, but still a solid season and I'm happy that he's made improvements. He's my QB and I look forward to having him play in the same system in year 2 (hopefully behind an improved oline with a big physical playmaking wideout). And from the games perspective: The offense and defense played poorly in the 1st half. Jay missed a couple throws and the team struggled to find any rhythm (and had horrendous field position most of the half).

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 01:03 PM) No. But what was the risk of further injury? I would need to know that first. That is the problem. No one knows until an MRI can be done so unfortunately, in these instances the medical staff is going to go the route of get him out of there. If they did an evaluation and were able to determine the extent of the injury than they could have provided them with information, got a custom made brace, etc, and maybe he'd have been able to play in the superbowl. Note: I've reopened the thread.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 09:32 AM) Was Bennett the one who scored the TD on the Hanie pass? Because that was a stellar move. Yep

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 09:26 AM) Personally I think that's a terrible idea. He always comes out to play. And he's the physical presence they could use. I could live with it. By the way, I really like Earl Bennet.

Reports are out that Cutler tore his MCL on the 2nd to last series of the 1st half. Which means he played as many as 3 series with a torn MCL. I'd say that takes some sort of toughness to do. Also, there are reports that Cutler lobbied to stay in the game but the medical staff deemed him unable to play. So I'd say he played 3 series hurt before the medical staff and Bears collectively decided that he wasn't healthy enough to play and that was it.

Iowa popped its cherry against IU on Sunday!!!

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 08:46 AM) Very few like him and most never will. What you're hearing from the players is what you expect to hear from the leaders on the team. They will stick up for their teammates regardless of their true feelings. Just like when people stick up for AJ on the Sox. No one likes him but as good teammates they'll say the right things. Urlacher and Kreutz haven't exactly been known as organizational guys. They say what is on there mind.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 24, 2011 -> 08:26 AM) Whether it was injury, whether it wasn't, it's pretty clear that Jay's attitude and reputation around the league has caught up with him a bit. He's not going to get the benefit of the doubt, and it's difficult to really say he deserves it. I'm not in any locker rooms and I don't know the guy personally, but it become pretty alarmingly clear that the guy rubs just about everyone the wrong way. I've been defending Jay for most of the year against the potshots taken at him by the national media, but you've got to wonder what kind of effect this has on him, on our team, etc. I don't feel bad for Jay crying at his locker room though. Maybe he should have thought of this when he did whatever he has done to cause people to question him in this way. It is pretty clear that his teammates, who didn't always like him (if you want to believe the reports of what Urlacher had once said about Jay), certainly like him now. They are all coming to his back and these are guys that are tough men themselves (Kreutz/Urlacher). I think it is pretty naive of you to go arm chair about what he could/couldnt' play through. Jay is well liked in that lockeroom and you know what, thats all that matters to me. But the national media doesn't like him cause he treats us poorly, whahaa whaaah wahaa. f*** YOU MEDIA.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jan 23, 2011 -> 08:32 PM) Cutler has been sacked and beaten up for 2 years, yet I've never heard him say anything negative about his line's peformance. He has receivers (mainly Knox and Hester) who frequently give up on balls and don't break up poor throws, but he doesn't lash out at them like Marino, Rivers, and PManning have done. And, yet, he's got a rep as a bad teammate. I don't get it. He left the game today and stayed on the sideline injured. That doesn't mean his knee was stable enough to plant for throws. He wasn't pouting. When they showed him on the bike on the sidelines, it's not like he was doing his best Lance Armstrong impression. He was peddling slowly, and he problably didn't show enough strength and range of motion to go back into the game. When Taylor scored, they showed him smile and cheer. When Hainie was on the bench, Cutler was next to him going over plays. Is that being a bad teammate? All the guys who tweeted about him quitting are pathetic and they really should know better. MJD didn't play his last few games this year while his team was fighting for a playoff spot. Should his toughness be questioned? Lance Moore missed 9 games in '09 while his team was having their best season ever. This season, he's part of the team that was eliminated by the worst team in playoff history. Is his coomitment to winning up for debate? Deion Sanders never met a player on the football field that he wasn't afraid to hit. I guess there's no debate there. Once a loudmouth, always a loudmouth. Yet they question Cutler's toughness and commitment. This is kind of like the David Wells - Frank Thomas thing. What tools. Need attention much?

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jan 23, 2011 -> 08:04 PM) He CLEARLY limped off the field after the first drive in the 2nd half. And you could see it had been some time since he had planted and thrown a football. I can't question Jay's toughness and I hope all of those f***ing idiots that questioned it on twitter STFU.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 23, 2011 -> 03:26 PM) I don't think Cutler has any idea about the crap he's about to catch in this city. City, National Media too. It is horrible. The one thing about Jay that I find it hard to question (or at least did up until yesterday) was his toughness. Guy has gotten blasted and just gets up and keeps playing. Guy plays through diabetes and never uses it as an excuse. So I have a hard time, when one time something happens, to really go out and question his toughness. Unfortunately I have to hear a million NFL players tweet what a p**** he is cause he's the most hated player in the NFL for some reason.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 02:54 PM) Wait a minute. I never compared the Heat and Jazz. I compared the Bulls to the Jazz. People can hate on the Heat all they want. But they've got two of the top 5 players in the game and another top 10 player in the game. They are special. The Bulls are the team that is by far the best defensive team according to B-R. Not the Heat. Note : Sorry, Rowand already posted it. But it was just filtered wrong with overalls so it had to be filtered for defense.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 03:11 PM) I don't recall where but I believe I read that the video shows a receiver ran totally the wrong route and that was a timing pattern/throw. That is fact. Knox got bumped out on the route and when you are a wideout and you are running that type of a pattern, the QB is relying on the QB to get to that point. If he doesn't, you can be in deep crap. I can safely say that Cutler's decision making (to date) has been much much improved than it was a season ago. He'll still make dumb throws, but if you watch every QB in this league, you'll see plenty of "dumb" throws. That goes if you are Peyton Manning or Tom Brady too.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 21, 2011 -> 12:40 PM) I slipped and fell on a pea in AuBonPan today. Very embarrassing. I single frickin pea. Please tell me someone got this on film. I hope there is a youtube video going on of "Jackass slips on a pea".

I think this game comes down to which QB gets hit/sacked less. So you could say it will depend on the oline or the pass rush (depending on your school of thought). For the Bears win, they'll have to consistently run the ball, get pressure and take down Rodgers at least a few times, and have there CB's/LB's tackling the packers receivers without them churning up a ton of YAC. Additionally, we have to make sure the Packers don't get Starks going. Its gonna be a tough one, but it should take the best performance of the season to beat this Packers team and quite frankly, thats what I expect if you plan on playing for a superbowl! Lets go Bears!!!

Diapers, Stroller, Car Seat, Pacifers, Baby Bottles.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 20, 2011 -> 09:34 AM) Here's my problem though...how is he calibrating his model? If he knows a bare minimum about statistics, which something tells me he does...he should know that there's going to be an average drop in performance from AAA to the bigs, with populations at the average, and others towards the extremes, probably looking something like a bell curve. If he's historically constantly overestimating the average performance of a rookie, that means that he doesn't know how to calculate an average. If I had 25 years of data and a day or two, this is something I could figure out easily. If his model consistently overestimates people, then why is he even publishing it? The problem is. Doing a statistical analysis on minor league players is incredibly difficult. These are guys that aren't even close to there ceilings (in certain instances) so you can't just apply a standard average across the board. If you did, every minor leaguer that posted a great ERA would be in the big leagues and successful and we know that isn't the case. It is much easier to run stats on guys that have a few years of big league experience as at that point, they have reached there potential/ceilings usually. And than it is much more standard of a comparison. Go back and look at James/Baseball Prospectuses projections and you'll see historically the major league projections (on minor leaguers) are completely funky. I mean, should we assume that because of what Stefan Gartrell did that he can come in and perform similarly offensively to Andruw Jones? Absolutely not, but I'm sure the projections on him show that he could be a favorable bench player.

Ya, that was a pretty sweet deal. It is actually what gave me the idea.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 20, 2011 -> 09:10 AM) So you guys who are expressing doubts...Bill James is likely basing these numbers on some sort of historic average for how far guys' performance drops from coming up 1 level to the big leagues at his age. If there aren't guys who come up and immediately rake, then where would those numbers come from? There are clearly some guys who would drag it down horribly (Brian Anderson) by coming up and sucking immediately, his prediction has to be somewhere in-between the good and the bad right? Historically he has always been highly optimistic on prospects first seasons. That is the case of most fans too. They expect guys to be superstars or the best player at there respected position. Basically they look at all the upside instead of focusing in on the reality of the situation. And those projections are incredibly difficult to determine since some guys just project to be better offensive players. Take a guy like Howie Kendrick. He hit at every level and I mean he hit. He gets to the majors and he still hits and part of his blame is injury, but this guy was one of the best pure hitters in the past 10 years down in the minors and he hasn't exactly dominated at the major league level (note, I'd still take a flyer on him). And yes, injuries are a major factor to it and this is just one example.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 20, 2011 -> 08:57 AM) How many rookies come up after hitting around .330 at every level they've played at? That's the real question regarding these projections...how much does the batting average drop going from AA and AAA to the bigs? There is a decent population of minor league guys that hit in the minors at high clips and don't hit immediately in the majors and we can't pretend that Morel is a top 10 prospect in baseball or something. He's a guy that misses out on the typical prospect rankings because his upside isn't that high, but what he does, he does very well and really has the ability to be that propsect that no one got excited about but that just does his thing and does everything average offensively for his position and hopefully will be above average defensively. I think Morel will be able to handle his own but I'm not going to pretend there won't be a learning curve. I think at his best he could be a .280 to .310 hitter with 10-15 hr's, quite a few doubles, all while playing above average defense. But that won't happen overnight. However, he could also be a guy that once you get to the big leagues his lack of true athletism gets in the way and prevents him from being able to hit for as high of an average. Fundementally he is very sound though and I think he has enough talent to be productive.

Also, I'm going to create some referrals in here in the future for various websites people might purchase for. That way if you purchase, Soxtalk will get a small percentage as the referring party and be able to utilize it through server costs. If other people have referrals they would like to recommend or suggest, put them on here. Than when a member is in need, they can post it or PM the appropriate party. If this is just a terrible idea, let me know, haha.

Some companies have some pretty sweet referral deals that can benefit both parties. If that is the case and someone doesn't know anyone (personally) to use as a referral I thought people could take advantage of it through here. Additionally, sometimes there are some pretty crazy online deals out there that might pop up (say from a site like slickdeals or whatever). I thought we could utilize this thread as a way to share referrals or great deals that we stumble across that we feel others might enjoy! For example, DirectTV has a deal that if a new customer is referred, than both the new customer and the referring customer get $100 credits to there account (10 per month for 10 months). This deal is on top of any special deal the new customer can negotiate. So if anyone is planning on signing up for DirectTV and wants to save themselves $100 bucks and myself $100 bucks, let me know, LOL!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 20, 2011 -> 05:48 AM) Seems totally reasonable based on his minor league stats. Might get a slightly higher OBP if he adjusts faster. Reasonable? Not many rookies are going to hit .291 in their first season (I'm not even going to count that brief cup of coffee he got last year). I find those projections pure crapola. I hope they are true, but probably pure crap.