nitetrain8601

Finally played a little of Saints Row 3 today. All that crazy action people asked for in GTA4(not the DLC) is in here. Straight up over the top fun. Only thing is, I don't like the driving mechanics since I got used to GTA's.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 12:27 PM) Those people haven't watched much Vinny. Vinny's not a bad coach. He was just given a very flawed roster, especially after they let go of BG. I'm not saying he's the best of the best, but I think he could be a top 15 coach which is slightly ahead of the pack. And as long as he gives his players freedom and massages their egos, he's good. People underestimate the good he did for Joakim and Derrick. Making Derrick learn from the bench when no one else, including most fans were ballsy enough to do so, and taking the criticism on the chin.

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.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 19, 2011 -> 04:37 PM) Personally I still think the Bears are set up pretty well long term on the O-Line, they have literally lost 2 first round picks this year and that would hurt any line a lot. They need to sign additional depth at the tackle position and cut Omiyale loose so that he stops being the worst O-Lineman in the league, but then just get the 2 high picks back, healthy, and into their spots. The difference before and after Williams went out, for example, is pretty big...they were incredibly effective using him to get out front of Forte. But I do agree that they absolutely need help at the WR position. The other "Night and day" moment for the offense on the Bears thsi year was when Bennett came back...they went from having 0 competent receivers to 1, and suddenly Cutler was immensely more effective. Give him a legit actual WR threat he's comfortable with, put Bennett on the other side, and whatever else the Bears can put together in the slot, and this offense suddenly would be able to do real damage.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 19, 2011 -> 03:20 PM) Who here is saying Jerry Angelo isn't responsible for this mess? I haven't seen a single person say he has done a good job. Where was the discussion in the beginning of the season? Everything throughout the year until today fell on Martz. This has been a flawed roster for a few years now, and the worse thing is, Angelo has yet to plug those holes. Urlacher and Briggs are getting older. Tillman is getting older. They've drafted a million defensive tackles with high picks who are out of the league or close to it. Chris Williams was a bust. They tried to patch up the WR spot. Yet, the story was the same with the fans, "Oh, well the offense is too complicated. Oh well, there should be more bootlegs. Oh well, they're not running the ball enough. Oh well, they're not threatening with the pass enough. They need to get it to the TE's more. They need to get it to Knox more." How about they need better players and admitting such from the beginning instead of looking at things through rose colored glasses.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 19, 2011 -> 12:35 PM) I don't think it's Martz' fault that Hanie can't make a simple check-down read. But I do blame him (and Lovie and Angelo) for not having this team prepared post-Cutler. You can give them a couple of games to figure things out, but that was week 4 with absolutely no improvement. Heck, I'd argue Haine has regressed. And this same s*** would have happened with or without Forte. Fact is the combo of Barber/Bell are performing about as good as Forte would have under the same circumstances, minus Barber losing the Broncos game on a bonehead play. It's not Martz's fault. Geez, I'm sick of Bears fans blaming him. He and Mike Tice have had no offensive line to work with, nor have they had competent receivers who have the potential of a average #2 WR. Any Offensive Coordinator in the league would struggle with what the Bears have to work with. It seems as if you don't remember Turner's last year in Chicago. Martz also didn't want Hanie on this team, and he was forced upon him. Blame Angelo on that. Bears fans would be clamoring for Sean Payton to get fired if he were the offensive coordinator before they blame the man really responsible, Jerry Angelo.

I think you owe it to PK to trade him to a contender. I'm not a huge fan of him, but the guy has been a class act and will always be a Sox.

Well, I don't know if this has been mentioned yet or if anyone heard Cowley this morning on the radio. Basically, Mark is dissapointed that the Sox haven't been keeping contact with him. He doesn't feel like they really care. They basically told him to find his best offer and bring it to them. If they can do something, they will, but if not, thanks for the memories. He thought the Sox would be trying to convince him to stay throughout the process, and really they haven't tried to involve themselves at all. Another thing, Cowley basically tipped off Ozzie sabotaging the team to prove a point to Kenny. In August, KW got in a fight with Rios, and then Ozzie. KW asks why is he still giving Rios most of the playing time when De Aza is up, and Ozzie asks why KW acquired him in the first place. This is telling me that the only reason Ozzie played Rios is to prove that KW "sucks" as a GM and wanted to stick it to him instead of trying to win. Yes, KW did acquire Rios, but he also acquired De Aza and don't you think you owe it to your team to try to win for them. If I'm Konerko, I would demand a trade.

I don't get the non-love for LA. It's like Chicago, except on the West Coast with better weather. For fun stuff, there's not one central place you have to drive to. For example, in Chicago, generally it's downtown and some spots on the north side. In LA, literally, you can drive anywhere and find something awesome to do. You got beaches in the beach cities right there, their downtown is not on par with Chicago yet, but it's getting there(it's changed a ton in the past 10 years), and you can literally take a 3 hour drive to San Diego, Vegas, or drive up to the mountains whenever you're bored. Plus Derrick Rose lives out there in the offseason. LA would be #1 on my list.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Dec 4, 2011 -> 09:53 PM) My sentiments as well, as unpopular as the opinion might be. Personally, I'll be attending more Sox games if they decide to rebuild. I agree as well. And please, allow Miami to overpay for their FA's like they did with Reyes. So it could blow up in Ozzie's face.

I don't think we'll ever see that fight unfortunately.

1999 was a pretty awful season of basketball because so many players became fat and out of shape, drug addicts sadly emerged, and some careers were ruined. You know the same will happen this year as well.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Nov 2, 2011 -> 10:42 PM) CJ would be about 80? Huh? CJ would be about 15 years older, so like, late 30's? Tommy would be in his 50's, and the guy standing on the balcony looked to be that age. Not saying this "Adrian" character is not a new playable character, but I heard there are multiple playable characters, so all 3 could be included, and maybe each one is played in each of the 3 areas. And the CJ speculation comes from the game taking place in the same location, not that he was necessarily spotted in the trailer, although the guy on the waverunner caught my eye. Sorry about that, I said 80 and then 40. It should be 40 since GTA San Andreas took place in the early 90's. I believe it was '92 to be exact. Either way, he would be 43 now. Tommy would be 60 according to GTA wiki. No way either of them are involved past a few cameos.

It's a new character and his name is Adrian. I don't know where everyone got Tommy Vercetti or CJ from. CJ would be about 80 and the protagonist says he moved there to get away from it all and for better weather. Tommy was in Miami which in gaming is the same weather. Plus he would be about 50 or 60. CJ would be 40 or so and plus he's from LS.

If he likes that formula, Dunn's career is over. He's always had a low BA but has been able to supplement by taking walks. Now you're telling a guy who turned into a free swinger last year, to turn it even more loose. I expect the guy to bat .010 with 30 dingers and a .199 OBP.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 04:06 PM) I think the cities are different for every player. Some might want to be closer to home, some might want to be in a big city with plenty of nightlife/entertainment options, some might want somewhere warm, some might want a state with no income tax. For some I'm sure the organization is more important than the city. If given the option, it seems like free agents typically go to LA or Florida, so I'd say those teams are 1-4, with New York 5. After that, who knows. Everyone is a little different, but for most of these guys I would think it looks something like this: 1) Money, though this is dependent on the gap between the offers. If the Lakers are offering me their MLE and the Timberwolves are offering me something like 5-60, I'm going to Minnesota. If it's more like 5-60 from Minny and let's say the Knicks or Magic are offering me 5-50, I'm probably going to the better team in the better city. 1A) Winning at least I hope this would be the case. For me, I'd rather take a few million less and be in a better situation than extract every last dollar out of a situation, though I'm sure some guys are all about the money. 3) Fan base. I don't really know about this one. I'm sure playing in a half empty stadium all the time sucks, but then again the constant media attention in a more basketball-rabid city could suck just as much. 4) Location. I don't think I'd care personally. The team is traveling for 6-8 months out of the year anyways and I could always live elsewhere during the off-season. I think some players care about this a lot more though. So with that said, you answered why teams overpay for marginal players. It's because they have to in order to get them to go there or stay there. As you stated, I would look at LA or Florida first. Next would be any big city. Winning would go next. And the players want to keep that system.

QUOTE (cws0591 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 01:50 PM) 2 notes. one i thought black ops had a very well done campaign but second i started at gta 3 aswell and put a lot of hours into each game thereafter. To me San Andreas was the best because there were endless things to do after the story. with Vice being the best atmosphere and 4 having the best presentation. Agreed on all ends. Vice just captured everything so perfectly. To me, BOGT was this gen's San Andreas. Maybe, you'll be able to fly between LA & Miami this time around

I wouldn't mind anyone from Walt Hriniak's school of hitting.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 03:26 PM) interesting stat correlating recruiting with winning titles: In the Past 9 years from 2002 to 2011 here are the top 21 teams ranked by how many top 100 signings they had: 1. Duke (34) 2. North Carolina (30) T-3. Kansas (27) T-3. Kentucky (27) T-5. Arizona (25) T-5. Connecticut (25) T-5. Florida (25) T-5. Syracuse (25) T-9. Louisville (24) T-9. Texas (24) T-9. UCLA (24) T-12. Memphis (23) T-12. Michigan State (23) T-12. Ohio State (23) T-15. Florida State (20) T-15. Illinois (20) 17. Villanova (19) 18. Georgetown (18) T-19. Alabama (17) T-19. Georgia Tech (17) T-19. Indiana (17) The top 8 teams on the list have won the last 9 championships. If you look at all 21 teams, 17 made at least one Final Four between 2003 and 2011, and the group is responsible for 28 of the 36 Final Four slots in those years. The question is, does top 100 recruiting guarantee success or does success guarantee top 100 recruiting? Success guarantees top 100 recruiting, while top 100 recruiting guarantees sustained success.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 03:26 PM) What you pay these guys is an entirely different issue than finding them. No one made Washington give Arenas that huge deal coming off a major injury, just like no one forced Memphis or Atlanta to give those guys max deals before they even got a shot to test the market. I don't really know why some teams have a big problem with that, because it seems like some teams get players to sign reasonable contracts all the time (Rondo and Aldridge immediately come to mind). If the money isn't right, you don't HAVE to give it to them. Seattle/OKC eventually moved on without Allen and Lewis (before you say that cost them their team, the Sonics were essentially gone already), Memphis has moved on without Gasol, Atlanta would get by with Horford/Smith and Teague developing as a PG, ect. The problem is no one ever says no. It seems like everyone would rather spend $60 million on a 40 win team and then b**** about it than spend $30 million on a 25 win team and try to rebuild. Not only a question for Zoom, but for everyone else as well. If you were a big time star in the NBA, going into FA, what cities would you consider off the bat(rank them)? Also rank the following in terms of importance to you. Winning Money Location Fan Base

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 02:49 PM) The Clippers have a major market to feed off of, and they're really helped by the existence of the Lakers. The Pacers, Kings, Bobcats, don't. This is actually one of the worse things the NBA has done recently...in pursuit of new owners willing to put up with losing money, they've wound up moving a lot of franchises to places that were smaller cities than previous. Memphis is a small market. New Orleans was a small market even before a storm. OKC is a much smaller market than Seattle. Thing is, OKC draws but have a horrible color scheme and logo, which is why they don't sell jerseys or merchandise. But they have one of the best fanbases in the league. Memphis drew once they started winning. New Orleans is the only one you could really make a case for.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 7, 2011 -> 11:22 AM) Read the thread Cowley appears to have been proven correct about the dysfunction. Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but isn't that true. Hey Joe, one out of 100 rumors you and Ozzie/Oney spread is not a success rate of any kind.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Oct 7, 2011 -> 10:44 AM) One problem with the above is that Ozzie Jr wasn't a "member of the organization" late last week, but I don't disagree that the Guillens feed the beast. Yeah, but Cowley isn't going to give exact details. Right Marty?

I wanna hear more about Coop and Cowley darnit!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 7, 2011 -> 08:29 AM) It is absolutely true, and all you have to do is go back over Joe's own columns to figure it otu. Anyone got Kenny's e-mail. Maybe they can post the exposure on WhiteSox.com. Marty called two different managers before they settled on one, who didn't end up being either of the guys who were "locks".