ZoomSlowik

50-Cent is the only one of those I REALLY like. None of them is on par with All Eyes on Me by Tupac. Life After Death by Biggie is also excellent, as is Tupac's Greatest Hits. Some of my other favorites are The Chronic 2001 by Dr. Dre and DMX's first 3 CD's (don't bother with the last two he released). Those first 4 I mentioned are must owns for any rap fan.

Illinois' recruiting hasn't been very good in recent history, but at least according to Rivals, they're still in the running for Brandon Rush (#4, assuming he doesn't go pro) and Jamont Gordon (#15). Either of those guys could make a major impact. On further analysis, Gordon apparently is no longer considering Illinois. Guess they are down to hoping to Rush. Oops, probably going to have to wait until next year.

I'd say good, but there are opportunities to make it very good. I like a lot of your offensive pieces, but I'd be on the lookout for some sleeper OF bats early in the year, I'm not a huge fan of Walker. One more solid power guy or speed guy would help a lot, both if possible would be very good. The starting pitching is pretty good, Schilling and Clemens are monsters and the rest of your starters should make it work. I'd look for another reliever, see if Adams, Tsao, or one of the other lower end closers are available. I would recommend making sure you don't trade any of Helton, Dunn, Schilling, or Clemens. It looks like losing any of those guys would hurt your team a bunch.

I run in streaks with the places I go to. One of the places I can go to is this little Mexican restaurant called Ino's. It's more fast food style, but they have some quality options. Pretty good burritos, and I love the bistec a la mexicana. I think there are a couple of locations. My absolute favorite place is New Rebozo in Oak Park. Really good Mexican food, I usually just get the special. A little pricey though, I couldn't afford to go there everyday. Champps Americana is a sports bar with some awesome food, but it is definitely to far for me to go everyday. Ditto for Pizzeria Due, I miss the days when I could go there regularly. My selection at school (Champaign) is a little more slim. I could go to Quiznos all the time, but it is a little far for me. Giovannti's is really close and pretty good, but the portions are too painfully large to eat there everyday. I'm currently eating at this Italian place called Za's. They have some really good pastas, it's a good change of pace for lunch. So I guess the real answer with all of my choices is none of the above. If forced to answer and location and price were not factors, I'd lean towards New Rebozo or Champps. I just can't make that call, I love them both so much.

There is a new draft time!! A couple of new slots opened up. It is on the same day, but it is an hour earlier. The new draft time is March 6th at 9:30.

QUOTE(whitesoxin' @ Mar 2, 2005 -> 04:23 PM) Now we have a new offer. Pedro and Vasquez for Dunn and Perez. Keep in mind I have plenty of pitchers and need a LF until Berkman comes back and I need another corner infielder. (Dunn plays both positions) Should I do it? That one's pretty solid. I'd do it.

I'm extremely torn on this. He was a very good player that probably deserves it, at least under the current standards (I think he is in that fairly large group of guys that was very good but doesn't really strike you as one of the all-time greats). I'm also extremely sick of hearing about it from everyone associated with the Cubs (you have no idea how sick I am of hearing "his offensive numbers are so much better than Brooks Robinson's :headshake ). I also can't stand him as an announcer. Part of me says let him in so the whining can end, but as others said, whining shouldn't get you what you want.

Okay, commentary on both deals. If it has to be Chavez and Colon for Schilling, then don't do it. Chavez isn't enough of an upgrade over Jones to justify the downgrade from Schilling to Colon. However, if he has a lower ranked guy with great stuff like Oliver Perez, Harden, Becket, or Burnett, that would be worth it in my book. As for Chipper for I-Rod, no thanks. I don't care how scarce catching talent is, when there is that big a difference in production don't do it. LoDuca will do fine, I'm not so sure I Rod will even out produce him that much. Another thing to consider is whether or not Jones is OF eligible in your league. If he is, then you can move him there if that is a weak spot on your team. As for the other deal, no way. You definitely need to get better position players in the deal. None of those guys are starting caliber, you need to get at least one, possibly two depending on their talent level. However, If you can find a way to get Perez without giving up Pedro, that would be a nice addition.

They need some of that money to sign draft picks.

I'm pretty sure they don't have enough money left under the cap to make a run at one, much less two of those guys.

I'd trade one of your 2B right now. They don't have that much value as a utility player, and I'm sure someone is desperate for one. I'd look to add some pop in the outfield, you might be able to get someone like Carlos Lee.

Guess Duke is a 2 seed again. I actually think the toughest game in that bracket would be Syracuse. That zone is tough to go against on short preparation time, and they have some weapons. I just don't think Duke can beat them on a neutral court unless Redick has somewhere around 30, which I don't think they will let happen.

The name thing bugs me a bit, especially with the previously mentioned Houston incident and the fact that the Giants' park is on at least #4. It was Candlestick, then it was just Giants' Stadium I think, then Pac Bell, then I think it was Monster.com Park, now apparently it is SBC Park. Give me a break, it's not like it's a new creation. There's only a handful of stadiums that still have non-corporate names. And if he honestly didn't know the name of the park, that's even worse. Give me a break, it's been around for a while and that name was there when we HOSTED THE ALL-STAR GAME!!!!!

7 of the 17 teams that finished the regular season undefeated went on to win the National Championship. The last team to do it was the 1976 Hoosiers. Sounds to me like someone's due.

QUOTE(Butter Parque @ Feb 27, 2005 -> 06:16 PM) If you think about it, Duke would wear themselves out before conference play if they put together a hard non-conference schedule, then they would have to go through the rigors of the ACC. Is that fair? Why should a team in the best conference in the country, also have to play top ten teams outside of the conference. It's obvious that no one hear will ever give Duke a pass on anything because they're hated so much. people just look for things to get on them about. if Indiana was in the ACC, do you actually think they would have packed their schedule? I don't think so. Conference has no bearing on a team's out of conference schedule and should not be a concern. That's an asanine statement to claim that they shouldn't have to. UNC still went out and played Kentucky and UConn, and played in a tournament with Louisville, Texas, and Iowa. GT played Gonzaga and Kansas. Wake played Arizona and Texas. Maryland played Memphis early in the year when everyone thought they'd be good. If you take out the Big Ten/ACC Challenge where Duke doesn't control the matchups, they didn't play a single team that was ranked in the preseason polls. That's a major reason that Duke and BC aren't being talked up that much despite impressive records, and a major reason that Duke is currently projected as a #3 seed on ESPN despite having the #5 RPI. This isn't exactly an anomale either, I can only think of one season in recent history when Duke had more than two out of conference games that look strong before the season started. I'm not saying you have to go play a schedule like Indiana, but a team of Duke's caliber should really play some teams of their own stature. Sorry, had to vent concerning that.

MSU and Indiana in overtime. Wright has 29, 4 Spartans are tied at 10.

Okay, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Clemson, and NC State haven't struggled at all. Usually when you are down around .500 you've struggled quite a bit. Not all of their loses came against quality competition. One could understand losing to UNC, Duke, and Wake, but when those teams keep trading games with each other that should tell you that none of them can really distinguish themselves. You've been comparing a team that now has 19 wins in Minnesota to teams that have 12-14 wins. There's a reason that teams have records like that, it's commonly known as not being very good. Illinois has had no problem playing good teams in the non-conference schedule, they just had to play a couple of really bad ones both leading up to the game against Cincinnati and early in the year in games they committed to while ago. Those couple games drastically affect your strength of schedule. As was pointed out earlier, Illinois' schedule is extremely similar to Oklahoma State's, which was ranked number 3 or 4 overall outside of a couple of very low ranked teams that Illinois played that OK St didn't. They played several good teams and several bad ones, there wasn't a whole lot of middle ground. Duke on the other hand played several mediocre teams instead, like the Princeton and Temple games you try to mention as quality competition (98 and 89 RPI respectively). You should go back and read that post, it outlined the situation pretty well. Overall, however, Illinois had several more challenging games than Duke. As for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, you're really using some flawed logic if you are going to make a serious argument based on 8 games that occurred extremely early in the season, as opposed to the 20 odd other games per team, especially considering every other game was a hotly contested game outside of the Illini blowout and the Ga Tech blowout. Basically all of the other 6 games could have gone either way. Plus one of the better Big Ten teams at the time (Iowa) didn't even play. They were 16-5 before Pierce got suspended. More importantly, if your beloved Duke had played at the Breslin Center things might have gone differently. They needed almost 30 a piece from Redick and Ewing as it was. Illinois has beat every team they have played, and only 4 of those teams finished within 10 points of beating them. If you can't see that they are quite a bit better than your 4-loss Dukies that had a tough time beating St. John's today, you're beyond hope. There's definitely a reason one of the teams is the unanimous #1 team in the country and the other is just barely in the top 10. I'm done with this series of arguments, I'll let one of the other 5 or 6 people that's joined me in this position finish it.

Awesome game on Fox Sports Net between Arizona and Washington. UW is up 4 with to 2:04 to go. Arizona has been killing them inside, but Washington has a big advantage from behind the arc. Washington pulls it out 93-85.

I'm getting really sick of all of the Yao hype. Statistically his production is most similar to Carlos Boozer and Zydrunas Illgauskas, but he is often put in the same league as Shaq. The guy has yet to average anywhere near 20 points or 10 boards. I know he's still pretty young and has a lot of upside, but let him accomplish something before we annoint him as the next great center.

QUOTE(Spiff @ Feb 26, 2005 -> 04:06 PM) Yeh they did, 1994. My mistake, thought they joined in 1995.

Penn State hasn't really had the impact on the Big Ten that everyone thought they would. The league thought it was adding a football powerhouse, but they have yet to win a Big Ten title. They've never really fit into the Big Ten that well. I think that the BCS committee/NCAA might eventually force that move in order to legitimize the football end of that conference and to keep their automatic BCS bid secure.

28.8, you gotta be s***ting me. I should throw in so you don't slow down our fantasy baseball draft.

I've been reading for a long time that Brown was the most talented back in the draft, he just didn't have as many opportunities to show it. I've never been a huge Jones fan, so I wouldn't mind if we got Brown. I thought for sure they were going to take a WR before they signed Muhammad. Maybe they still will, but I think that's a sign that they take the best RB available, since the OT options are not that stellar. I wouldn't mind Derrick Johnson either, but I doubt they would do that.

Damn, a 4.32 at 233 pounds?! Maybe the Bears should take a RB.

QUOTE(Butter Parque @ Feb 26, 2005 -> 11:09 AM) If you actually believe that the Big Ten is even close to as good even with Michigan and Iowa, then you have completely lost your mind. First off, bot have run crooked programs to put themselves in the positions they are in. 2nd off, the Big Ten isn't even half the conference that the ACC is. If Georgia Tech, NC State, or Maryland was in the Big ten, I guarantee that they would have at least 20 wins by now. Like I said before, it's damn near impossible to win on the road in the ACC. This season in the ACC has been weird because good teams are just beating each other up and it's taken a toll on everyone's records. If these teams were separated from each other, it's obvious everyone's records would be much better. The fact is, is that Illinois' SOS is 48th. Is it fair to Duke to have to play a tough non-conference schedule and then play a brutal conference shedule? As for your 1st paragraph, I posted that res[ect thing a long time ago, this was regarding Duke getting the respect they always get over the years and Illinois wanting more respect. Duke deserves it for what they've done year after year. Illinois hasn't won anything. Your comments concerning the rules violations at Michigan and Iowa are way off base. The problems at Michigan and Iowa happened well before any of these current players were even enrolled in the school. That has nothing to do with the current team. Pierce and Horton are the ones that messed up, that has nothing to do with running a bad program. Everyone has problems with a player now and then. For instance, Duke had to forfeit the money earned from finishing second in 98 because Corey Maggette took money from an AUU coach. Even then, that has nothing to do with the rash of injuries that has affected other key players at Michigan. Both of those teams could easily be ranked if they had all of their players right now. You're drastically overrating how hard it is to win on the road in the ACC. It's hard to win on the road in every conference, the ACC isn't really that special. And obviously it isn't "nearly impossible" to finish .500 on the road in the ACC when the top couple of teams do it every year, much like UNC, Wake, and Duke right now. The ACC is tougher, but it is not some kind of super conference. Hell, it isn't even the top ranked conference in the country because it doesn't have as much depth as the Big East. The 4 and 5th best teams are not going to switch conferences and magically fix all of their problems. Georgia Tech hasn't been the same team as last year and has struggled mightily since Elder went down. The way they played in their losses it won't matter if it's Virginia Tech or Minnesota. NC State sucks this year, outside of Hodge their team is a collection of mediocrity. They'll have their good games every once in a while, but they are not a 20 win team in any major conference. They're a Julius Hodge injury away from being worse than Northwestern. I'll give you Maryland, however, since they are probably going to finish with 17 wins maybe 18 as it is. Look at the win totals in both conferences though, there isn't really any difference. The Big Ten has 6 teams with 17 wins or more, the ACC only has the big 3. There's only like a 1 win difference for every team if you look at the standings for each conference. Apparently you don't watch enough non-ACC basketball, because teams like Minnesota, Ohio State, and Iowa before the Pierce incident have played pretty well. The two conferences are similar outside of the top 4 teams in each conference. The Big Ten has only one really good team while the ACC has three. That's the only real difference, every team in the ACC has 1 or two extra losses because few teams can beat Duke, Wake, and UNC. The rest of the conference is pretty much identical. The numbers don't tell the whole truth concerning scheduling. Games like Florida A&M and Longwood are drastically dragging down Illinois' out of conference schedule. The fact is, they played 3 ranked teams and 4 other major conference schools. Duke didn't take on a whole lot of good teams, the current RPI structure just favors mid-majors because they play on the road more. They played one good team in MSU, a decent one in Oklahoma, and one pretty good mid-major in Davidson. Temple and Princeton look good for the computers but aren't really that tough. They had a bunch of cupcakes in there too, don't try to pretend that Tennessee Martin and UNC Greensboro are real games. Come on, Valpo, Toledo, UIC? Basically the computers that do strength of schedule think your cupcakes were tougher than Illinois'. That doesn't really mean anything.