nitetrain8601

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 08:23 AM) Frankly, I don't really want Johnson, for the reasons others have discussed. I think the Bulls best bet is an assistant coach on the cusp. I don't think that would be the best bet. It puts you in the same situation you were 2 years ago. You have to implement a whole new system in which you do not know if it's going to work or not. Players have to go back to learning the system, learning the ways of their new head coach, rotations, etc. You need some type of continuity. That's why it's only best to fire a coach if he completely sucks and there's a clear upgrade out there.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 07:57 AM) You act like the Skins couldn't have known about any of those latter issues beforehand. Well there was no way to know he was that lazy. And again, he was by far the best guy on the market. They went for the gamble because of the huge payoff and they lost. QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 08:05 AM) Your last sentence pretty much sums up why you shouldn't give out big money free agent contracts unless you know the player is going to work just as hard as they did before they got the contract. I think Haynesworth will end up back with the Titans actually. They get him, they're back to being a contender IMO. I think he ends up staying with the Redskins for this year. Eventually he will get cut, Jim Schwartz will be on his way out with the Lions and he will resign with the Titans.

QUOTE (Mr. Showtime @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 10:24 PM) Thanks, Train. Maybe in a future addition, they can add the thing Prince Fielder did where he lept on the plate and the players all fell down. That would be great. Tonight, I noticed a teammate had a 3-0 pitch, took it, then started walking towards first. Ump called it a strike, and he stared down the ump and was like "really?" then eventually picked up the bat back and got ready to swing again. Very very awesome.

QUOTE (Mr. Showtime @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 06:52 PM) Is there any kind of home plate celebration after the game winning homer? For my RTTS guy the last game I hit a walk off, it was belted. Went 450 to LF and he did a bat flip, jogged around the bases and then did a handshake with the guy who also came home from 2nd.

Oh yea, definitely. I think she was involved in the couple trying to have a baby and she was crazy. Basically only wanted sex to have a baby which took the fun out of it. I thought that would've been mentioned the first time she showed up on the show.

Well Haynesworth was going to be a disaster, but at the same time, signing him was the right move. They got him in his prime, he was a beast of a DT, and the Redskins needed to concentrate greatly on defense. It just didn't work out. Probably because he had a terrible attitude, is a team cancer, and is lazy.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 02:29 PM) If Rose and Noah weren't injured, the Bulls would easily be in the playoffs right now. And not once during that 10 game losing streak did you see the Bulls not try. They didn't win, but at least they didn't give up like a lot of teams would have. I think Vinny should be retained for a couple reasons 1) Vinny is showing to be maturing as a coach at times. Sure, he still has flaws, but they can be fixed. 2) By all accounts, Rose and Noah really like him, and since those are your two big pieces, appeasing them is a good plan. 3) Who else is out there? Unless Collins and Reinsdorf decide they can have their relationship intact while working together, it won't work. What I think the Bulls should do is try and get more older assistants, like they did last year, to help Vinny along. Exactly my thoughts. QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 03:43 PM) I still want Byron Scott. God no. All his players end up hating him. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 03:45 PM) Avery Johnson Paul Silas Thom Thibodeau John Kuester Lester Conner Tim Grgurich Eddie Jordan Mark Jackson Jeff Van Gundy I prepared that list of high level, experienced assistant coaches and guys out of work last offseason. Van Gundy won't come here. What experience did Mark Jackson have? Jordan stunk it up in Philly, Grgurich is a decent assistant, but I still think he needs more time to develop there before thinking about becoming a head coach. Lester wouldn't be a bad bet, but it's not clear he would be an upgrade, Kuester is trassssssh, Thibodeau would be great defensively, but we also need more efficiency offensively. Also, red flag alert pops up when the guy had been mentioned for 5 years as a head coaching candidate, but yet no one even seems to want to even talk to him. Makes me think he is not a people person. Silas wouldn't be too bad as I think he got the shaft in Cleveland. Avery Johnson, again, is a micro manager. He is the exact opposite coach you want handling Derrick Rose as there is no freedom in the offense. You run what he wants, or you're going to the bench. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 03:46 PM) Really, you genuinely believe this? I looked at Detroit's roster before the season and thought they looked like a debacle in waiting. They had no size, everything was on the outside, they had zero depth in the frontcourt, and all their backcourt guys are only effective with the ball in their hands. I really do. PG - Stuckey/Bynum/Atkins SG - Hamilton/Gordon SF - Prince/Daye/Summers PF - Villanueva/Maxiell/Wilcox C - Wallace/Brown Now certainly, I didn't expect them to contend for a championship, but they did definitely have deep enough talent to make it to the playoffs. QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 03:46 PM) Thibodeau and Scott, who you didn't list, would be my top 2 options. Maybe Mark Jackson, but I'm still iffy. Again Thibodeau is not proven, and there's probably a big reason why he can't even sniff an interview. Scott is not a people person which is why all his players hate him afterwards. He's Skiles, but not as good. I don't know what credentials Jackson has. Hell, if VDN wasn't the coach and we were going to hire another in-experienced coach, I would saw Brian Shaw peaks my interest alot more than most of these guys as well as Dwyane Casey.

I'm not sure if Orton should go. Wait, I am sure, he should not go at all. Also, Bledsoe would be better suited staying a year and he'll have a chance to show how good he really is. He'd probably be a top 5 pick next year. Patterson probably would've been better off leaving last year in a weak draft. Xavier Henry going pro is good news. Maybe the Bulls will be able to get him.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 01:23 PM) Lou Henson....no wait, Kruger? Correct, Lon Krueger. He stunk up that joint. As was alluded to before hand. Injuries hurt this team badddddddly.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 09:47 AM) I am willing to bet money that wasn't how it was drawn up. Everyone was waaaaaaaaaaay to lost looking for that to be what Vinnie wanted. Brad Miller was looking to pass on both plays. Some people don't understand that though. People think the talent is there for the Bulls to be better. It definitely isn't this year with Ben gone, the injuries, the trades made. It's too much to reel from and the only reason why the Bulls are competing for a spot is because of Philly's inexcusable case of suck.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 11:50 AM) Quite simply...they can't do worse than last time. It's fundamentally impossible. Even with how important this offseason is...even if they screw up the coaching search, it can't wind up worse than last time. I disagree strongly. They could do a lot worse. Look at the Detroit Pistons and John Kuester. They were infinitely worse this season and they have a roster that rivals ours for most of the season. Minnesota didn't improve much at all either, but they are learning the triangle, so I will cut them some slack. We have seen a lot worse in these parts with guys like Boylan and Floyd. The Illini's ex head coach before Bill Self came along who's name escapes me stunk the place up in Atlanta. You could do infinitely worse with all the injuries and flaws on this roster. There's a reason why even Jeff Van Gundy said the Bulls are expecting too much out of Del Negro when he's coaching a team that has talent to win no more than 30 games. It was the truth. And to put it in even more perspective, the Bulls have never hired a veteran coach other than Scott Skiles in their entire team history. And even then, Skiles coached like 2 seasons with PHX, so I wouldn't call him a vet. Last, but not least, there's no clear upgrade whatsoever out there other than maybe Doug Collins who JR won't hire. Everyone can speculate such and such would be better. There's no proven case out there though. Unless you want Avery Johnson telling Derrick to slow down the ball and him have to look at the sidelines to get every play from AJ.

I've also grown to hate a couple of more things. The camera changing angles. Now it wouldn't be too bad, but the issue is, when I'm running the basepaths and pressing to the left, then as I pass 2nd base, left becomes right and vice versa, so instead of my runner running fluidly from 1st to 3rd, he stutters a bit and ends up getting tagged out. Also, whenever I have RBI opportunities, the defense seems to catch anything and my players rarely tag up. Today, I had P5 A with men in scoring position. A bullet was hit away from the 3B, but he dives towards the bullet and catches it. I'm thinking, ok, that can happen for a slick fielder, even in AAA. Then the SS does it to me at my next at bat. This is against a team that ranked last in Fielding Percentage. I also had a ball hit towards the LF line, line drive, while everyone is shifted towards the right side, and the RF dives to catch it away from home plate. The worst thing is, the runner on 3rd didn't tag up which caused the runner on 2nd to not tag up either. The most frustrating though was a fastball belt high on the inside. Now, lemme tell you, I love to pull pitches. That is my sweet spot. I swung for power guessing the correct pitch and location. My guy hits it flush. I swear, I never saw a sweeter swing. What happens? The ball makes it to the wall and is caught. Now I'm thinking, well it's a decent sized ballpark. Then I realize, the wall was 334 away and I have 75 power. There's no reason why that shouldn't have gone out.

Yeah, Pau has had a problem with Kobe for awhile. I remember he was taking shots at him saying "Now we can get back to playing basketball hopefully" after Kobe broke a scoring milestone IIRC. Pau wants the offense ran through him and it's never going to happen on a team that has Kobe unless LeBron is also on that team.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 6, 2010 -> 02:26 PM) 'Nova has Yarou, Armwood, and Sutton, all of which showed flashes of being above average players during the season. Losing Redding will be addition by subtraction. Losing Reynolds helps in my opinion. I've always though from afar, he was a bad leader and a fake star. Yarou will step up next year. Either way, they'll be back contending in two years. Illinois will be in 15-20 range. As far as Purdue, the only guy they are losing is Kramer. Everyone else is coming back from what I've heard. Anyone know if Hayward is leaving? I'd like to see the team stick together and try to make another run.

Man D is the best way to play Duke if you have a 7 footer down the middle. The problem is Zoubek. Not Scheyer, Singler, Smith or anyone else. It's Zoubek. He's so big that if you play man, Duke can give him the ball and he'll just power his way to the basket everytime. There's no way they can stop him, especially with Howard not remembering what's what. So they'll probably double down on Zoubek when he gets the ball deep in position, then leave a shooter open. Honestly, if Zoubek wasn't playing for Duke, I would take Butler. But he does, so I see Butler losing by 15.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 07:28 PM) Thats not even true. The playoffs were considered a "rolling blackout". http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2008/10/w...ind-john-danks/ But Im glad that people are standing up to management and not supporting the team. /shrugs If you dont want to be part of the blackout or support the team, that is fine, but really what are you gaining by being defiant? Lets not support the White Sox winning! Who cares if we win opening day! Its just silly. Very true. I don't get the point of NOT doing it. Are you being a rebel against your own team? It didn't look too bad on tv because alot of people ended up wearing black, but then a ton of people ended up wearing white as well which are our colors. I still think if our GM calls for a blackout, you answer the call.

Marc Bulger released from the Rams. Do the Bears dare to go after him?

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 05:49 PM) He had all the time in the world. Benjie Molina was running down the line, he ended up getting him by like 10 steps. I stand corrected

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 05:45 PM) I'm really starting to dislike this game. My 4th year, I was a full time starter at 1B for the Blue Jays for most of the season, played well, hit .295, had 12 HR and 65ish RBI. Then they send me down to start my 5th year, and promptly trade me to the Marlins. On top of all that, they are giving me really stupid goals that are making my hitting statistics decrease. And another thing that bothers me, every single time I see the 3rd base coach, it's a hit and run, and it's almost impossible to ever make contact with the ball. They throw me a breaking ball 9 feet off the plate, I swing anyway, and when the asshole runner is thrown out at 2nd, I get the failed hit and run. Yesterday I step up to the plate, runner on 2nd, 1 out, before I see a pitch, he gets picked off of 2nd. I failed my goal. -10. Awesome. I haven't experienced the first thing yet, but the 2nd thing is really really bothersome. Whenever it tells you about the coaching signs from my experience, the only play they pick is the hit and run. And I've had the same thing as well. It's always on the first pitch, and 95% of the time, the breaking ball is in the dirt, at your eyes, or a slider 40 feet away. And also, half the time, the runner gets picked off or thrown out at 2nd, even if you swing through the pitch.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 05:43 PM) Only difference was Iguchi did not need to do that. He could have regrouped and gotten the out. Buehrle needed to do everything possible to get the runner by a half step. Well, I thought Iguchi had to do it too. Maybe because he was stumbling over himself or the ball was hit weird, but I don't remember him having much time to get the throw off.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 04:55 PM) Yup, pulled it out of his jacket, gave the Nats fans a big FU Yep. They showed it on WGN News. They were booing him. Also showed Buehrle's play. Now that my friends, was spectacular. Only play possible comparable was Tad Iguchi falling on the ground and throwing a strike while in the air horizontally. That play was nutsssss

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 05:27 PM) I mean you should be able to trigger your manager to come out and argue a play. True, but unfortunately it isn't available. MVP 05 had the perfect system in regards to that. Meh. Also, I played about all day on Sunday and I got traded twice unfortunately. I started hitting with Cincy, my original team and got my batting average up to .293. Then I got traded to Toronto and started to suck again because my agent said that I don't want to be there, they're a bottom feeder and they're deep at my position(3B/2B/SS). I eventually put it back together and then was traded for Ricky Nolasco of the Marlins in which I'm raking. My slugging is crazy high and I've finally learned how to take walks.

I'm not sure about his baseball evaluation skills. I know his basketball eval skills are lacking though. He's a guy who drafted guys like Corey Benjamin and Stacey King's of the world over better talent that was available.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 03:37 PM) Jason Heyward on the board with his first career HR. And Hit. I think. Starting RF for one of my fantasy squads!

The Sox currently are sole owners of first place I think. World Series, here we come!