nitetrain8601

As I posted before, Read it from someone who absolutely still does not want VDN because of the whole "leader of men" thing. VDN has exceeded expectations and if it were a vet coach in here and he had the Bulls at the exact same spot, people would be ecstatic with the progress. Just because VDN doesn't have any experience, he is questioned no matter what. Hopefully next year, when VDN can make the offense more complex, and Derrick Rose actually trys to be aggressive on the defensive end or at least play the lanes for steals, we could be as good as a #4 seed IMO.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 09:14 AM) Dude, you are nuts. You spend two days publicly backing VDN, and then he goes out there and coaches a terrible game, especially with 4 seconds left, and he shows exactly why he's the wrong fit for this team. We needed two points, so his big play is once again to have Ben Gordon run around beyond the 3 point line (like the other coach didn't know this would happen). You CAN have set plays in the NBA, but VDN refuses to draw them up. Um, he usually gives it to Rose in an ISO situation and spreads the floor with Gordon. Rose for the most part is supposed to drive on Gordon's side to draw his defender in, and when the defender does come in, kick out to Gordon. If the guy stays at home, finish himself. So no, most coaches wouldn't expect that as evidenced by Granger being caught guarding Gordon.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 09:36 PM) He's had major busts (Okwo, Bazuin) but he's had good players (Forte, Hester), too. People act like the almighty Steelers have perfect draft after perfect draft, and they haven't. Just take 1 example, Willie Reid. Picked as a WR in the 3rd round out of FSU to the Steelers in 2006, and now isn't even on a team and hasn't been since late August. Marc Columbo, 1st round pick = not on this team. You're seriously getting upset about a 3rd round pick? I'd be more worried about first and second round picks. Also worried about how Angelo loves to take guys a round or two earlier than projected. He's great at making later picks, but he's terrible in the first round. The Steelers,however, have a much much better track record. The Steelers have had one year of questionable early picks, and that was last year in which one guy suffered an injury and the other was a 3rd or 4th WR to start the year. That's like me hating on Chris Williams.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 11:41 AM) I could write this word for word and pass it off as my thoughts. As can I.

Got tickets for each game with just my girlfriend and myself. Makes up for not being able to get Sox tickets. Go Hawks!

Wow, so no more curve ball for BMac? I remember when everyone on here was slurping him.

No, the one in 2003 I believe it was, was way worse. I was at that game. Holy moly was it cold and nasty. Didn't help I had ACT's the following day. Also quit my job to go to the game which weird enough, was at US Cellular Field.

Washed up player who plays a line position? Jerry Angelo GMing? ...me = not shocked.

How quick people are to jump on Vinny, but not absolve or say, "I'm sorry" or "I jumped the gun". Instead, they just ignore it.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Mar 29, 2009 -> 08:10 AM) She lost all of her pregnancy weight, she looks fantastic. We dont know what you are talking about with this too skinny nonsense She looked way better in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsVEggPPmeM...feature=related

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Mar 29, 2009 -> 01:24 PM) You are far too biased to be commenting on this. I actually agree with him.

I finally saw Raw with Stephanie and I don't know what you guys are talking about when you're saying she looks better than ever. She looks too skinny to me. She looked best when she was GM of Smackdown.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Mar 28, 2009 -> 09:35 AM) I have really been open and optimistic about VDN as much as possible this year. I understand that he probably has had some big playbook growing pains in his time here, but there have been some insane gaps of concentration on his part with his gameday coaching and preparing the team for certain events(defenses, offensive looks, etc). Strange as it may seem, I think the fact that he is a rookie head coach has cut him way more slack than a seasoned veteran coach would get. If any other veteran coach had made some of the decisions he has made, I think he would have been canned by now. I disagree. VDN, while he has flaws, gets too much of the blame, but never any of the credit. If it were a vet coach, even like a Greg Popovich who came here, and the Bulls won 30 games, all Bulls fans would say they expected such production and that it's something wrong with the team. But since VDN is a rookie coach, people are ready to pull the trigger even though he has a shot at going .500 with the team, has done a good job in developing Tyrus and Noah, getting Rose proper playing time(remember, Paxson stated over last summer he didn't want to rush Rose and they would bring him along like Deron in Utah), and he's integrated the new guys perfectly while also dealing with a bunch of injuries this year and again, Larry Hughes.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Mar 28, 2009 -> 01:56 PM) Chinese Tapei (sp?) held back most of their better players in an attempt to get them into better professional leagues, that's why their team was so young. Look, as I said in an earlier post I'm a bit of a hypocrit in my WBC bashing because I enjoyed the higher level of baseball in March. However I've been a White Sox fan for 30 years, and everytime someone drapes an American flag around something doesn't mean I have to blindly worship it over everything else. I'm not saying you have to worship it, but as someone who is intereste in a higher level of baseball during March, you should support this. Again, not worship it, but at least have a bit interest in the team.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 28, 2009 -> 12:24 AM) Huh? These players are paid (a lot) by their TEAMS, and they owe all of their attention and effort to their teams. They don't owe a damn thing to Bud Selig and some stupid ass event he made up a few years ago. That's just ridiculous, but some people will always buy the national pride stuff I guess. National pride is being proud of where you live and where you come from and what it represents, not playing some preseason games when you aren't even in playing shape yet. I guess Japan and Korea should be proud they beat up on a bunch of teams full of guys not in playing shape yet though. Those owners of those teams also agreed that having a WBC was a great thing. And how is the WBC stupid and the MLB is not? The only difference is, you're playing for your country you have roots as opposed as a city. If anything, the WBC is something that should be viewed upon as bigger, but for Americans, it's not. And it's just that way with Americans and no other country in the world. Honestly, it's stupid, but I guess that's another reason why the best players don't play. Why do so when your fans don't really give a damn about a gold medal or about a world competition.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Mar 28, 2009 -> 10:29 AM) If I'm an owner or GM I do not want my players doing unsupervised side sessions. There's more to ST work than building up arm strength. It's for the coaches of the team that pays big money to work with a player Those coaches couldn't give them a program to follow? Honestly, it's a bunch of hogwash. The only guys complaining are the guys who are sucking balls now and have a history of being mediocre such as Oliver Perez who a lot of Mets players are pissed at because they don't think he takes the games seriously.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Mar 28, 2009 -> 05:36 AM) i always thought the guy got a bad rap as far as being a clubhouse guy....i wasn't thrilled with him as a player, but i loved his attitude. i believe he had problems with swisher, who seems more concerned with being a celebrity than anything else, but i always thought cabreras attitude was a good thing, even though he got knocked for it alot. Agreed and I stated such back then, especially after the hoping to win comment. Basically he was saying, the Sox were lacking confidence in themselves which is something you need to win. He used himself in that as well. He didn't say, "They". And yeah, my guess is that he and Nick probably bumped heads the most. Again, I loved his attitude and outside of error-gate, he was given a bad rap. QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Mar 28, 2009 -> 10:59 AM) It seems OC is a good teammate, but bumped heads with a couple people in the organization and once the media heard a peep they wrote articles solely on him being a cancer. That is one reason KW always says he looks for people that can fit in the club, but can also handle the Chicago media. Maybe if he was with the team for more than one season people would have seen he wasn't a cancer. Yeah, Joe Cowley seemed to hate the guy since the beginning.

Saw The Haunting In Connecticut tonight and I must say, a big waste of time. The two part documentary on the ID channel was way way better. Even though the movie says "Based on a true story", the only true part is at the end when They say the boy suddenly was cured of his cancer Almost 98% of that movie does not follow the true story. Hell, a lot of it wasn't believable and they forgot to add a family member.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 09:45 PM) Evergreen Park's mayor is throwing around the idea of hosting the Southside Irish Parade next year. It'd be interesting on a lot of levels, since their police department (~60) would obviously need outside help, and additionally, I guarantee the neighborhood wouldn't be nearly as passive about people pissing and throwing trashing all over. And from what I heard on the news, through the reporter, the mayor won't be taking any flack from people using the parade as a frat party. I, for one, support it. If Beverly isn't going to allow one, what's to stop someone else from taking over the reigns? There's also practically no bars on the stretch of road they plan on having the parade, so it limits the drunks exiting and entering near the parade route. It'll be an interesting discussion, if nothing else. They do a 4th of July parade every year and it turns out nice from all accounts. I don't think they understand that this is however a different beast. With that said, I hope if they do it, it turns out much better than it has here. From what I've heard the mayor state, he said they've been getting mixed reviews early on and stated it basically has to be unanimous for him to okay the parade or he just won't do it.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 06:24 PM) It was something Bud created like 5 years ago, to me it's contrived and I value the MLB season much more over the WBC. Also, now he's not asking them to sacrifice just the regular ST, he's asking them to start training early so they're prepared for it. The way it's set up now players have been complaining they didn't get enough work in the off days so they are behind getting ready for the regular season, where they make millions of dollars. Gutherie (sp?) for the O's doesn't look like he'll be ready on the schedule the O's want him on. I didn't know Guthrie was mandated not to throw side sessions or anything like that. I also didn't know the 15IP which are less than what he would've gotten out of 3 weeks of ST, wouldn't allow for him to follow a training regime to get ready for the season. In fact, looking it up, Roy Oswalt who led the US in IP only pitched 11.2 innings and he didn't complain at all and I don't hear of him being so behind the other guys at Astros camp. I could maybe understand if it was a rookie who was going to be playing in the big leagues and he doesn't quite know everything he should be doing to get prepared, but for guys like Guthrie or Oliver Perez who state the WBC set them back, I think they're full of you know what. You don't need your manager on your ass 24/7 nor should you not know what you need to do to get ready for the upcoming season. All the stuff they supposedly need to do with the team could've been done on their own time. Especially considering since they played like twice a week.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 10:32 PM) Missed fts happen. He missed 1 Free throw. Miller made it seem like he missed 4-5 down the stretch. I think he's also referring to Rose missing FT's during last year's championship game. He actually was a pretty mediocre FT shooter for a guard prior to this year. QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 08:23 AM) This may be so, but they havent done anything right since AI and Rasheed went down, and barring a miracle return by the both of them, I cannot see them fixing the problem. In fact, I wouldnt be surprised to see the Bobcats steal the 8th spot from the Pistons when all is said and done Good lord, Mike North is ready to give VDN an extension already. And he wonders why he isnt on the AM radio waves anymore I don't see the Bobcats hopping the Pistons, but it very well could happen with the way they're playing now. As far as Mike North, I don't like him, but giving VDN an extension might be bad. There's a discussion on the Bulls forum at RealGM, but basically, lemme post what sums up my feelings on it. And that was from someone who wants VDN fired. They do need to develop defensively, but offensively, I think you're only seeing the beginning for a reason I posted: Also keep in mind, VDN was hired rather late and had to deal with Joakim coming into camp out of shape, and Larry Hughes, our guard glut in general, and Deng sucking amongst all of our injuries.

Because World Pride should always take a backseat to National Pride. Riiiiiiiiiight... Bud actually has it right. The best players should be mandated to play unless in the event of an injury. It's not like these guys are playing 20 games, and it's not like the pitchers are throwing 50IP+. What he's stating is that the US has a hard time of representation because the best players are afraid of 20 plate appearances they normally would've been getting in ST or 6 innings of pitching which is undoubtedly less than what they would pitch in ST. I don't doubt for a second that the guys actually there were trying their hardest as Matt Thornton said. The problem that's there is that the players and owners value their franchises more than international competition.

It could be a lot worse. Their offense and bullpen will make up a lot. Plus, it's not like you know if all their guys suck. It's just a question mark right now. Also, IP really shouldn't be part of the debate IMO. If you're good, you're good.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Mar 25, 2009 -> 09:42 PM) What's funny here is, come next year, there will still be activity on Western Avenue. I'll guarantee it right now. Sure, not as many people, but who can stop everyone from just going to bars, visiting people in the neighborhood, or otherwise just hanging around the streets? And if the parade ever does come back, it'll be even more crowded since everyone will think to themselves "this may be the last year!11" What's tough is trying to figure out ways to resolve this problem. I doubt the city will pay more money for additional police officers. There will never be enough porter-potties, so that doesn't matter. You can't crack down on underraged drinking or public urination because of the vast amount of people who do it. This again goes back to the lack of officers and their unwillingness to enforce these laws. Neighborhood folks will have problems telling Joe Fratboy from Naperville not to piss on their lawn. He doesn't care, he's not from around the area. I know I'd just hate to be the people on the board who voted against this. There's still a lot of people in Beverly who love the parade and probably want those members kicked out of the country. Well some people on the board are business owners and some of them voted against it I could imagine. Regardless, there was a lot more cons than pros to this area. It's what I like about this area. If someone is f***ing with our neighborhood, we're going to do our best to get that person shut down. In this case the parade and the vast amount of people not from the area or even the southside of Chicago is our target. From all accounts, the committee is going to do something for St Patty's day, but on a much much smaller scale like a festival at the Beverly Arts Center is being discussed. The goal basically is to weed out those people from nowhere near Beverly over the course of a couple of years. Then maybe in 5-10 years, you might see a return of the parade. Also, it wouldn't surprise me if the city wouldn't approve a permit to gain more interest in the parade downtown. Think about it. They put a lot of money into it, but get nothing out of it. More people talked about the Southside Irish parade than the downtown parade which is a shock. As a resident, I'm glad they canceled the parade. I know a lot of neighbors who feel the same.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Mar 25, 2009 -> 08:13 PM) I wonder if all of these relieved Beverly and Morgan Park residents understand what happens to the local businesses that rely on that parade. The area didn't want to stomach what had to be done, and that was to enforce the law. God forbid however if you happen to detain some precinct captains kid, or arrest the wrong politically connected figure. I'm not sure of many businesses that depend on the SSI. A lot of people end up just drinking on the route or going to garages or going to actual parties.