nitetrain8601

Balls a ton lighter than a regular men's ball. I don't know what the refs were thinking. And yes, it is super tough to get in sync. You guys saw what happened a few years ago when the NBA just switched the texture of the ball without asking the players. Even that threw them off.

One thing I noticed reading today's Tribune is that Konerko was ready to take 10 million to play for the Dbacks per season. So we basically had to up the ante to pay him and he would've given a hometown discount to get out of here or maybe because it was his home.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 08:19 PM) I wonder why Boozer's been sitting out for the entire 4th quarter. Couldn't play defense.

QUOTE (knightni @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 07:37 PM) Can't Zobrist play SS if needed? He can play anything.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 07:36 PM) I think Pierre is exactly a Williams player. He fits everything Williams has ever really looked for in a leadoff hitter - hits for a good enough average, can take a pitch and walk a little bit, and steals a lot of bases. The fact that he doesn't hit for a lot of power or that he does play good defense are generally irrelevant. I agree. Pierre is a KW type of guy.

I'm fine with Pierre batting leadoff as long as he can get on base. If he can't drop him in the order. Either way the Sox lineup is good enough. If you can get a clear upgrade, do it, but don't deal just to deal. As far as the trade front, I could see Flowers and a lower level player getting dealt for bullpen arms.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 05:33 PM) Rays trade Bartlett to Padres for Adam Russell and Cesar Ramos. Who is their SS? Beckham? Brignac? It'll be Brignac, but Beckham is their future. Good trade for the Rays. Ramos is a nice piece.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 03:31 PM) Give me a dome any day of the week. There's a reason humans used to be migratory. This. But it's not Bear weather and they have to play in Bear weather darnnit!

Glad Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and MSU all agreed to meet each other for the next couple of years. MSU is overrated every year, but they end up winning the big ten, and do good in March which is all that matters, right? Either way, I really don't like MSU this year at all.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 04:35 PM) Mayo needs to be traded to a team that's willin to make him a PG. Don't think he'd be a good fit with the Bulls as a SG, especially alongside someone who dominates the ball as much as Rose does for instance. e.g Atlanta would be an interesting option I disagree. I think his bread and butter is SG. It's a matter of not being on Memphis though where Gay and Conley handle all the ballhandling duties until Randolph gets the rock. And also, Lionel Hollins is teh suck as coach.

JR has always been a nice guy. It's a downside to him though too. There are certain guys he identifies and he likes and has a relationship with and he just won't let them go even if it's time to or if it means overpaying. He did this with the Bulls with Hinrich and Deng.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 10:26 PM) Well...they lost 59 dingers getting rid of LaRoche and Reynolds. Their such and up and down team and I really don't see a whole lot more upside than we've already seen. I agree they have some decent young talent like Upton and Kelly Johnson (if you wanna call him young at 28). Could they (the young guys) put it together this year? Maybe...but I wouldn't hold my breath. You seem more optimistic than 99% of DBag fans out here... Would you feel good going into the season with a rotation of: Ian Kennedy Joe Saunders Hudson Duke ? It's not a bad team. It's actually a nice setup for the future. I do agree though, they had a "good, young team" for the past few years and they just haven't been able to put it together. I thought their future was bright when they made the playoffs a few years ago, but they've stunk since. Upton is a good player, but I think he's overrated. Stephen Drew is another guy. I think it's time for them to tear it apart and build up all over again which it seems like they're doing. I like their rotation so far.

QUOTE (MurcieOne @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 06:17 PM) That's a convincing stat that helps disprove Lovie's rigidity. I did notice that increase in blitzing last year, and I read this article in the offseason (I really like the work Seifert does on his blog btw). I overlooked it for the purposes of my argument (law school training). Still I don't think this proves that Lovie is a good head coach. In fact you could argue that this indicts Lovie for being an ineffective designer/play caller. Given the amount of blitzing the Bears did last season they still didn't rank in the top 10 in sacks. I am willing to attribute a good portion of that to poor execution by the players. But I think that a better coach would have been able to hide/scheme the blitzes better and achieve better results. FWIW, I am enjoying this debate and I think its perfectly reasonable to support Lovie. Maybe you're right, but I think of Shannahan who is a heck of a coach and Washington hasn't been able to cover up a lot of their flaws on the defensive end.

QUOTE (CrimsonWeltall @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 10:45 AM) Support was irrelevant. Bennett never had any intention of keeping the team in Seattle. I think it's a lot easier to say you'd show up to see their last games than to do it. It's probably pretty hard to imagine how bitter you'd be in that situation. Eh, I think I still would show up.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 05:57 PM) However, hasn't he changed the rate at which he was calling the run, the types of runs he was calling, and the types of passes/drops that he was calling? I guess you can say yes.

QUOTE (MurcieOne @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 05:38 PM) Would you tell that to Mike Martz this season? If Mike Martz didn't tailor his offense to his personnel this season, the Bears season and Jay Cutler's short term memory would have destroyed by now. Yes. And I attribute the success moreso to Garza coming back, not Martz changing his schemes. The Bears were unable to do certain things in the beginning and nothing at all against the Giants. But they tried. Mike Tice had the toughest job of all. And trust me, I love me some Martz. He didn't change his runblocking or his passblocking schemes. He didn't change routes. He didn't change the gaps.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 09:25 PM) I doubt TCU runs over Wisconsin. They area great team and Wisconsin is the underdog, but Wisconsin has been pretty solid this whole season. And Im not sure Iowa is Wisconsin's "Super Bowl." Iowa is a good team and its important to Wisconsin fans because a lot of their friends went to Iowa and the whole BB/Alvarez thing, but I never considered Iowa a big game when I was at Wisconsin. It was OSU and Michigan, with Michigan being the game you would want to win more than anything (Wisconsin has always had trouble with Michigan). Now the biggest game is OSU and with them being in the same division Id guess that rivalry takes precedence over a team that we wont face for another 2 years (unless Iowa goes to the Big 10 championship game). People speculate that Iowa/Wisconsin could be added as a second protected rivalry when the conference goes to 9 games, but Wisconsin requested Nebraska, not Iowa, so who knows. I know, but I'm still hoping. Depends on which team uses the break as a layoff or as preparation time.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 04:19 PM) Pitt fires Wanne. Gotta imagine they have Rhoads as a target. Figures. Some other team will pick him up in college, he'll get some recruits, he'll be highly ranked, and then falter one they are ranked. It's how he rolls.

QUOTE (MurcieOne @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 10:45 AM) Love Smith is certainly a better coach than Mike Ditka? I agree that Ditka's career has been inflated by his personality and Chicago's love for the meatball. But how is Lovie Smith CERTAINLY a better head coach than Mike Ditka? In reality, I think they two coaches are somewhat similar outside of their personalities. Both are stubborn and are at their best when surrounded by good assistant coaches (see Buddy Ryan). I'd say he's CERTAINLY better than Jauron but I don't know if I'd go so far with Ditka. This highlights the disturbing trend of sub-standard Bears head coaches hires. Wannestedt, Jauron, Lovie. All first time head coaches, all poor developers of talent. I agree that Lovie's stamp on this team is takeaways. That's acceptable. Under Lovie the Bears have been an opportunistic team. I just don't know how much weight that carries. Also, when you say he creates good schemes or game plans . . . I disagree with that. The Cover-2 is a fine scheme when you have appropriate personnel, but they didn't last year and he continued to run the same base C-2. Lovie was the signal caller last year and in back-to-back games the Bears were humiliated by teams who consistently torched them on quick slants over the middle. Additionally, when was the last time you watched a Bears game and said "Wow, the Bears really out game planned the other team?" The Bears probably have the worst blitz schemes in the league. If you have a system that you believe in, you stick to it. You want Lovie out of nowhere to start calling for a 3-4 defense midseason when he knew he had a personnel problem and he didn't know how to coach a 3-4 defense? You stick with what gets you to where you are. Lovie's MO is the Cover-2 scheme and it's predicated on takeaways which are two things the Bears are great at and have been since he's been here. His offensive coaches haven't worked up until this year minus one Terry O'Shea who only had two games with Rex Grossman(great games too). Last, but not least, I don't think the Bears are a great team. I don't really think they have been great any of Lovie's years. At the same time, Lovie has gotten them to do something and that's play and buy into his schemes. And they're darn good ones and proven effective. He also is mild mannered, doesn't get too high or low, and coaches.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 08:01 AM) His "stamp" is clearly takeaways and scoring on the defensive side of the ball. The Bears lead the league in takeaways since Lovie arrived. I think that's pretty clearly the key of his defensive philosophy. As for his strengths, I think he prepares the team well. I believe he creates good schemes, good game plans, whatever you want to call them. The Bears are also fairly consistent in regards to their motivation to play a game. They do not seem to be as subject to letdowns or overlooking opponents as much as some other teams do. As for his weaknesses, he clearly has some in-game issues. He seems to be poor at clock management and challenges, as you said. Overall though, I believe he has been the best Bears coach of my lifetime. Certainly better than Mike Ditka. More consistent than Dick Jauron. Obviously better than Wanne. Maybe it's not saying much, and maybe he's not Bill Bellichick or Mike Tomlin, but there's not a lot of head football coaches I would rather have than Lovie Smith. This + 100. Also Murcie, I don't understand how you say he's stubborn, then a few sentences later how he was willing to remove Zach Bowman from the lineup without hesitation and put in Jennings as the starter. I think you're clearly talking about the Rex situation in which the Bears had no better options. Noneeee.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 03:56 PM) How you get Fielder without giving up Viciedo in our system I have no idea. Yeah that would be uber tough without giving up Danks or Floyd IMHO.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 01:54 PM) It's the millionaires' own faults. They need to protect themselves via prenups and women in very low-leverage situations, like Russian and Filipino internet brides who get deported for refusing the wash the dishes. IMO divorce proceedings nowadays are bass-ackwards and I think we should all wake up and realize that it's the 21st century and such issues are more easily resolved through the use of trebouchets capable of flinging large objects 600-700 yards. But seriously though, props to Jaime McCourt. That's quite a haul. Well agree with the good ole US of A being to protective of wives. And it's not just this case. I think a wife who is divorcing should have to prove that they would have made the money legally a different way if they were not with the husband for the amount of time they were married. The purpose of the courts, suppoedly, is to put the plantiff and defendant in a position they were in before interaction/agreements took place, but that is not the case at all for wives. Even in the case of cheating, that alone shouldn't get you more money. It was your fault for not knowing who you married. I'm not a woman hater, but laws in this country tear the men apart whereas if the reverse situation happened, chances are they're getting little to nothing. It's pretty ridiculous. As far as the children. I agree, child support should go to the person who keeps the children. The children do not need $50,000 a month to survive. I think a cap should be set on that. And spousal support is the most ridiculous thing ever because of the insane amount of money granted towards women.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 07:50 AM) Bah, everyone knew that Seattle's team was leaving that year, they'd already been sold to an OKC owner. If you knew the Sox were moving to Tampa next season, would you continue to buy tickets to help that owner pay for his new city's team? Seattle doesn't "Deserve" a team if you say that the only cities that deserve a team are cities that spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on arenas during recessions. That's a solid market, one of the top 15 in the country. The NBA needs to be there, just like the NFL needs to be in L.A. Disagreed. They didn't get the support. And yes, if my favorite team was about to leave the city, I would show up at the very least to see their last games in my city, especially if there is nothing else in the city to do.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 08:48 PM) Lovie has definitely pissed me off since he's been here from time to time, but yeah I really don't understand Bears fans' fixation on personality for coaches. Ditka was also a miserable failure in his second go-round in the modern NFL and made one of the dumbest personnel moves of all time + 1st and 3rd for Williams. Then you have someone else with that kind of personality and no other apparent coaching skills in Singletary and he's failing badly, too. Agreed. Bad thing for Lovie is that his career is in Angelo's hands. It will be Jerry's bad player personel moves which will be the death of Lovie in Chicago.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 08:38 PM) Pats are on a hell of a roll right now, but I second your secondary concerns! I can really see an AFC team exploiting that in the playoffs Only team I can see knocking them off is the Steelers because of the Big Ben to Mike Wallace/Hines Ward connection. And it has to be a clear day. If its snow conditions, Brady will take care of business.