CWSGuy406

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Nov 12, 2007 -> 10:42 PM) Roto is suggesting its Grossman. I understand that -- the talking-heads at ESPN are saying the same thing. But wouldn't that be pretty much the opposite of what Lovie has done in his tenure, which is stick by one guy through thick-and-thin? When he made the commitment to Griese a few weeks ago, he said it wasn't just a little fling, but rather a full-time switch. I'm not saying whether that's right or wrong, but it's just how I'm looking at it.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Nov 12, 2007 -> 07:46 AM) Im so glad Grossman is back Is he back? Do we know who is starting next week?

To continue with the feel-good posts... Back in April or May, the Hawks won the lottery to get the first overall pick. I think IlliniKrush texted me, and unfortunately, I can't say my first thought was jubilation. In all honesty -- IIRC -- my first thought was, 'Figures that they get the first overall pick in the year where there's no Crosby or Ovechkin." Haha... how wrong was I. How different this team, this day, this season would've been if the Hawks didn't win that lottery. Sure, we'd have Toews, but there's not a chance in hell we're 10-7 right now if Kane weren't here. So yeah -- there wasn't an Ovechkin or a Crosby in the 2007 draft, but there was Pat Kane, who's pretty f***ing close.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 12, 2007 -> 03:08 AM) Come back soon Marty.... "Come back soon Marty" is right. We've been spoiled by this season by Toews and Kane, but man -- just think about how great Havlat was last season playing with guys like Jeff Hamilton and Martin Lapointe. I just watched the assist from Havlat last season on a PP against Nashville where he fakes out about three defenders by the circle and threads a pass right on Lapointe's stick for a goal. Aside from loving Havlat's phenomenal hands on that play, my second thought was, WTF was Lapointe doing on the power play? Not to pile on Lapointe here, but we're so much deeper than last season. I'm (unintentionally) jumping all over the place here, when really I just want to talk about how good the Hawks can be if we can sprinkle some pixy dust on Havlat's shoulder and keep him healthy for the next seven months. Obviously a huge road trip upcoming. Hopefully they can grab somewhere around half the possible points, 4-to-6. And to add another "hopefully", getting Havlat back any time during this stretch would be a big spark.

Everyone should do themselves a favor and go to CBH.cm and watch Toews wrist shot over and over and over again. My goodness was that thing a rocket.

Awesome. 3-0 vs Detroit. f***ing awesome. Another great win. I love this group.

Turner can bite me. Show some f***ing balls and throw the ball there. Gosh damn, that was the most obvious run I've ever seen.

The Cannon!

2nd-and-1 and the Bears run the ball... f*** you Ron Turner. Zero catches for Greg Olsen... f*** you Ron Turner.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 11, 2007 -> 10:41 PM) So who's watching this instead of the Bears 2nd half? One more hour -- I'm way too anxious. The game preview on CBH.com had this to say: I hope they're not rushing things but damn, it would be so f***ing great to see #24 on the ice tonight.

Someone tell me why jabbing both of my eyes out with a fork wouldn't be a better idea than actually sitting down and watching the whole second half.

Sex Cannon!

Marquette squeaked by IUPUI. I didn't think we played that badly -- a little sloppy on defense and some scoring droughts, but not terrible -- but IUPUI had a really tough player, George Hill I want to say his name is. I believe he was named the pre-season conference (whatever IUPUI's conference is) player of the year -- kid's definitely a player. Watching Maurice and Jerel is fun stuff. Those two are a whole bowl of fun on the defensive end.

Anyone going to the game tomorrow night? It's arguably the biggest game of this decade for the Hawks -- I really hope people tune in to watch them along with a packed UC. I can't wait -- the Bears game is an afterthought compared to the 6:00 puck-drop.

Is this Nessler announcing the UofI/OSU game? If so, he seems waaaay too pro-OSU.

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 07:05 PM) Sherron Collins is good, thanks So good he deserved two posts.

This probably should go in the sports forum, but... Sportscenter has become a sick joke, an absolute embarrassment. Tonight they didn't show highlights of half of the NBA games and showed all of one NHL game. You know, I don't even care if they want to do their bulls*** analysis segments and whatnot and put hockey as the last thing of the night, but not show it at all? Re-freaking-diculous. It's a shame how much that whole network has fallen in quality (outside of a select few). I remember the days of watching Sportscenter before I went to school, enjoying the highlights and guys like Olberman (sp) and Charlie Steiner and of course Kenny Mayne. Bah -- I'm getting old. Soon I'll be all like, "Back in my day, we had to walk up to the TV to change the channels. But now...!" (that statement isn't true, btw).

Woohoo! Great effort tonight. They played very nicely with the lead. Big big game Sunday -- I'm not the guy who usually says this, but lots of eyes will be on the Hawks in two nights. Two wins in a row, an outside shot of Havlat coming back, Detroit... Whatever, that can be discussed later. Great win tonight, two in a row. The Hawks dominated the first 30 minutes of this game and played about even for the second half. The Bourque - Bolland - Sharp line has been fantastic, they've been cycling extremely well and have given us a second scoring line. I'm so happy. Great effort tonight, cannot WAIT until Sunday.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 11:14 PM) I havent been able to find anything that has come from the Bulls brass indicating that Tyrus Thomas has a poor work ethic(and you know Skiles would rip him up), the only place I have heard it is through the media, and that is only because he didnt come to Chicago for his offseason workouts. This doesnt mean he has a poor work ethic, for all we know he was in the gym for 12 hours a day and going over tape for the rest of the day, we just dont know. To assume he has a poor work ethic is wrong if you ask me. He is still young and raw, and he is still learning. There is plenty of gaps in his learning curve right now, but he still has a world of talent to make up for those gaps. The kid went from a street baller 4 years ago, to a starter on his high school basketball team, to a starter on his college basketball team which was the runner-up to the national champs( he was a huge reason for that), to a top 5 draft pick, and now he is a starter his second year into the league. If his work ethic was really that bad, I think his career path would look a little different right now. That may be true, but wsf101's main point still holds true -- this Bulls team as currently constructed doesn't have a chance of winning a title, unless some major strides are made. And by major strides I mean Deng would have to elevate his game from 'pretty good' player to superstar, and I don't think that can happen with his (perceived) athletic ceiling. Tyrus Thomas would also have to become a dominant force down low on both ends. He'd have to develop a game on the post where, if there were two minutes left and the Bulls needed a bucket, they could give the ball to Thomas and be reasonably confident that he could make a move and score. It's quite dissappointing, really. The 'bad vibes' started when they inked Nocioni, a good bench player, to a contract that is too long and for too much money. I hope they don't make that same mistake with Gordon.

Havlat practiced with the team either yesterday or today, in full-contact drills and such. There are links out in the daily's today but I'm too lazy to get them. Gosh damn is this team going to be tough tough tough to play against if Havlat can stay healthy. Either the RTK line or the Havlat/Lang/Williams line won't be going up against the other team's top defensive pairing -- that will be very nice to see.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 07:24 PM) I'm worried about both another very slow start under Wainwright and the opponent we're opening with but am very excited to see what we have and how the new guys respond. (Some) people are calling Tucker the next Wade. Is he the five star that Wainright (sp) pulled in?

QUOTE(Markbilliards @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 04:54 PM) Are there specific statistical credentials to tell whether or not a player is an A or B player for comp picks? Sort of and not really. It's quite mysterious, really. For example, in this year's rankings, A-Rod wasn't ranked as the best player -- I believe it was Ortiz. It's a clusterf*** of a system that needs to be fixed, as crappy middle relievers like Scott Linebrink get two picks and average starting pitchers like Jon Garland are somehow only type B's (which don't give compensation anymore, IIRC).

I don't know how good Khabibulin can be at this point, but I do know that there's absolutely ZERO evidence for me to believe Lalime can be between the pipes if the Hawks want to sniff the playoffs this year. I'm not quite sure how to evaluate goalies. Obviously it's better to be quick than be slow -- duh -- but I tend to think the defense in front of the goalies has as much to do with how the goalie plays as the goalie himself. And while our defense this year is improved over last year's bunch -- it's tough not to be better than a group that included Cullimore and Aucoin -- I don't know that it's a whole lot better than average (which is fine, BTW -- they're young and two of our bigger pieces are still in the A in Barker and Hjalmarsson. I just want to see improvement out of the four youngsters back there in Byfuglian, Keith, Wiz and Seabrook). That's something I forgot to mention about last night and why (I thought) it was the best game the Hawks played all season -- the defense looked really good. Seabrook had his best game of the year -- he was physical on defense and looked like the steadily-improving #7 that we all hoped for coming into the year. Byfuglian was very good and Savard said as much in his press conference. Byfuglian played extremely physical, something he doesn't do every night (which he needs to if he wants to stay away from the A) -- he had a great check on Rick Nash that send him into a daze. Those two stuck out. Wizniewski, Sopel and Keith also played solid hockey. It's going to take time, but I like what we're building back there.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 11:58 PM) i think people underestimate richar a bit ....anyone realize that he had 19 HR between the bigs and AAA last year?....thats more than brian anderson and ryan sweeney have had at that level of baseball and he is still only 24....plays a decent 2b, will be able to run a bit...the biggest question i will have with him will be his ability to get on base, and from what i saw of him he at least wont give away as many ABs as a guy like uribe The team didn't trade Aaron Cunningham for a guy they view as a part-time player. I think they're going to give the ropes (more or less) fully to Richar and hope he becomes an average (or better, if he's as good as his combined numbers of last season) player. FWIW, Bill James' handbook has Richar pegged for something like a .270/.330/.440 line next season which would be absolutely wonderful. I'll be interested in seeing what if PECOTA and ZiPS have him around that .775 OPS mark because if they do, I don't see any reason to do anything but let Richar take most of the at-bats there next season.

Ahh I love it. More projecting from two months worth of stats. Fannnnn-tastic. Let's note that Jerry Owens' September BAPIP was .407(!). And for the best month that Jerry might ever have in his big league career, his OBP didn't even top .400 and his slugging percentage didn't even touch .375. Oh but right, it's not fair for me to cite slugging percentage because the (whack ass) reasoning that slugging percentage doesn't matter for a leadoff man.