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QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jan 29, 2014 -> 08:56 PM) No he played 22, but if you count his split seasons as a year for each team it just adds up that way. Still amazed.

Gibson will draw interest btw. We won't have to dump him, he's one of the best defensive players in the game and is having a legitimately improved offensive year.

Thome played for 25 years?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 29, 2014 -> 04:29 PM) Kanye's never been the best at writing lyrics. I joke about how half the time he just rhymes the same word. Even when you go back to College Dropout, songs like Spaceship and Through The Wire use this technique. I think his flow is different on Yeezus, but I dont think its worse. Its just very different, which is why I dont even know if its rap anymore. Its just music and its amazingly dark and beautiful at the same time. And he has something to say, he just struggles to find the words, which is why its the music that speaks and strangely the words are almost background. What I wouldn't do for a song like Spaceship and Through the Wire about something else beside hating himself and having sex and also he's the greatest and upset you don't say it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 29, 2014 -> 08:04 PM) La La said he is staying in NY anyway. Thibs loves Melo even though Melo plays D like Boozer. For the Bulls to be able to offer a max contract, they will have to amnesty Boozer and dump Gibson on someone. Melo is so much more athletic than Boozer, and I feel like is better on D than gets credit for. But, to the first point, Melo has all the tools to be better on defense and Thibs will pull those strings (and probably make him worse on offense).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 29, 2014 -> 07:19 PM) Derrick has flat out said he won't recruit players, not that he doesn't have friends. If he wants a star on this team, he needs to get off his ass and help. These are also the first few years where players of his generation are available. I think he'd feel more comfortable recruiting knowing he could still be Mr. Alpha.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 29, 2014 -> 06:04 PM) The reality of the NBA today is that having superfriends is the easiest way to build to teams. The Heat happened because the big three colluded together and took paycuts to make it happen. Execs can't do things like that, but Derrick can. Derrick wants to b**** about the Bulls selling off Deng, but a large part of the responsibility for the shape of this team falls squarely on his shoulders. It might get old, and it might be snarky, but it doesn't make it any less true. If Derrick Rose were willing to sell players on being in Chicago, this franchise could look very different. At least he wants to stay in Chicago, he could very well be a superfriend to a player on a different franchise. The front office, meanwhile had a lot of tools at their disposal to get some special talent this year, and seem pretty deadset on status quo. They have money, draft picks, and trades at their disposal, Rose has being friendly. It isn't on him.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 29, 2014 -> 02:51 AM) Even MJ acknowledged that he needed Scottie. Rose needs to realize he needs 1 1/2 stars (think Gasol and then Odom before crack) to win a title. Management needs to get this done. But beside that my post was about the million f'ing snarky "well ask Reggie hehehe" posts that still get posted every other post.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jan 29, 2014 -> 03:28 AM) Davis was probably a better prospect. It's hard to know if my memory is clouded though because of Davis' early dominance. My impression of his stock at the time was that he had huge upside (KG was thrown around as a comparison) if everything worked out but that his offense was still a work in progress and he needed to bulk up. I don't think most scouts were predicting him to average 20-10 in his second year. I also think he was a relatively safe prospect, meaning that at worst he'd still be an athletic big that starts in the league for like 10 years. I've seen about half a dozen Kansas games and watched the Draft Express scouting video of Embiid (those things are awesome). My impression is that he has the same type of upside as Davis, but he's not as safe. It's easy to see his potential if you just watch his highlights. He's huge, mobile and flashes some post moves that most NBA players don't have much less someone as inexperienced as Embiid. He also makes a lot of mistakes though. His shots out of the post aren't always pretty. He will throw up weak attempts in traffic, especially if there's contact. He also gets lost occasionally on defense, bites on a lot of fakes and makes some silly fouls. That stuff can be ironed out obviously, but I have a hard time seeing him play 30 quality minutes in the NBA right now. They're also very different players stylistically. Davis mostly uses his athleticism to find points in space (lobs, transition, pick-and-roll, putbacks, ect) while Embiid is more of a true post guy. Which makes sense re: Davis because he grew into his body so late. I just remember being in awe of how aggressive Kentucky's guards could play up top, because nobody could drive the lane without running into Davis length. It was fun to watch.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 29, 2014 -> 04:03 PM) Yeezus is probably the album of the year, and it may not even be that close. He just obliterates it, the problem is its too edgy and there are no pop songs that the 14 year old crowd will get behind. But that album is seriously freak show level, its Kanye's Dark Side of the Moon. While his production was crazy, his flow has gotten somehow worse and the verses are terrible. He really ought to replace his ghost writers or get better ones. Much better when Lupe and Rhymefest were writing for him.

Trying to decide how much to invest emotionally into this mediocre Missouri team.

Maybe I'm crazy, but if that 100k gift is used toward tuition I'm pretty sure there are huge tax breaks for income that is tied to that.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 28, 2014 -> 08:30 PM) This is an odd argument. The Super Bowl stadium is picked years in advance, there is a chance a team actually gets home field advantage. Being the best means performing in any condition. Then Peyton Manning sucks.

It's interesting, I think sensibly there is a line between an academic scholarship and an athletic scholarship. But I can see a court not wanting to tread that line and imply that all scholarships are considered employment and leave students with rights.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 28, 2014 -> 06:46 PM) They're definitely facing an uphill battle in becoming a recognized union. What always stands out to me is how odd the modern union organization lines seem to be these days. These NW players are aligning with the United Steelworkers, back in December NYU grad students unionized with the UAW. They're basically just legacy names. I don't think it will win but it will provide good footwork for what grounds need to be met for college players to get better treatment.

Interesting, good luck.

Man, I tell ya, complaining about Rose getting injured and saying he won't recruit never gets old. I feel like he is the new Frank Thomas.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jan 25, 2014 -> 05:05 AM) If you read more of her back story, I'm not entirely sure her suicide is a result of the assault, which OTL made a leap with. Honestly, I thought it was irresponsible reporting on their part. "Here are some facts that we are going to place next to each other. We're not going to outright say there's a connection because we can't prove it, but we know you're going to think it now!" She already had a mental disorder and maybe the assault put her over the top, but they shouldn't be writing a piece connecting the two. Who knows. I was more concerned with the fact that the assault actually happened and that it involved football players than how the university handled it. Seems weird to write this whole report and focus on how it was handled, which was fair/ok not great, while the actually act of the awful thing is kind of secondary. That's messed up. I think the TV aired version was much clearer than the initial online report. There are two main things going on, this woman was going through issues with borderline personality disorder and trauma from the assault, and the assault itself. For part 1, I think the true failure is that of the swim coach. He came on after she had been recruited and seemed to not care to have to have this on her plate. Also, in general the swim team's reputation for handling athletes when I was there wasn't even great among my friends. While I don't think the removal they had her sign was actually a bad thing (it really does allow you to pause and restart easier), she didn't understand that. And that communication is crucial. For part 2, I am not convinced that there was much neglect on reporting this issue. Mizzou was dealing with issues of both jurisdiction and HIPAA privacy laws. She was an adult, going to therapists, there is not duty to report there. On the other hand, isn't there a middleground? With as many mental health issues that arise when people are 18-24, isn't there a better way to coordinate treatments to get the best help? (part 2 disappears if the coach was actually told. I get that she wasn't a student at the time, but maybe our swim program needs to be cleaned up, and the relevant players in football charged/any coaches who may have known).

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 27, 2014 -> 02:52 AM) Oh, I was watching a Pacers/Bulls from the '98 playoffs. Ratchet as all hell. All slow as s***, no fastbreaks, everybody defending with their hands and fists and wrestling in the paint. That is not basketball. That's lame ass wwe s***. Late 90's/early 2000's ball was just terrible. I'm so glad they cleaned that s*** up. We're lucky as hell today and we don't even realize it. Agreed. Also blows my mind how bad the tv feed quality was.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 26, 2014 -> 05:32 PM) Happy for Wawrinka to win, he works his ass off but has always been in Federer's shadow. At his press conference he said "I'm most likely gonna get drunk tonight", ha. Agreed, I like Stan. He looks like any dude ever, super humble and his backhand is pretty fun to watch.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 26, 2014 -> 03:22 PM) Huh? I don't understand what's so hard to grasp. Greatest x of all time has always had more than straigh up numbers, timing intangibles and influence in the sport are all very much involved. Federer brought tennis back for a lot of people after the snooze fest of late 90s power tennis. He also had maintained his dominance despite the mysterious slowing of ball speeds that works against his game. Fine, look at women's game, Serena probably won't come close to total titles of Steffi Graf but will probably go down as greatest ever if she gets to 22. Likewise with Navritalova total doubles and singles career. But no ones ever seen anything like Serena's power and competitiveness in women's game.

DJ Augustin is playing out of his mind. Unreal he was off the scrap heap.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Jan 25, 2014 -> 02:35 PM) That's just dumb, you aren't the best for looking the prettiest. Federer started his run when the 2nd best player was Andy Roddick, Nadal started his run against prime Federer and continues it with Murray/Djokovich who are both incredible players. I don't know if he will get to 17 but if he wins every open twice something Federer hasn't and makes it to 14-15 while dominating Federer head to head I'd call him the best. Its not dumb, otherwise Kareem Abdul jabar is GOAT

Has anyone been to sw open in cincy and how expensive were tix? Also Federe is still better than Nadal for sheer creativity and beauty that is unmatched.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jan 25, 2014 -> 06:05 AM) If you read more of her back story, I'm not entirely sure her suicide is a result of the assault, which OTL made a leap with. Honestly, I thought it was irresponsible reporting on their part. "Here are some facts that we are going to place next to each other. We're not going to outright say there's a connection because we can't prove it, but we know you're going to think it now!" She already had a mental disorder and maybe the assault put her over the top, but they shouldn't be writing a piece connecting the two. Who knows. I was more concerned with the fact that the assault actually happened and that it involved football players than how the university handled it. Seems weird to write this whole report and focus on how it was handled, which was fair/ok not great, while the actually act of the awful thing is kind of secondary. That's messed up. Yeah I think I'm just so thrown off by how common sexual assault incidents have been in college athletics. I want perpetrators removed and charged. I hate it.