Rowand44

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 03:56 PM) This same debate happens every year, though. Some people think it's an entire organization problem. If this year ends the same way the last few have ended, there will still be people saying "it's too early" next season when the same thing is happening again. Well that's because it always is. When you quite obviously have the most talented roster in your division and you're 7-9 in mid April it's always too freakin early to give up. This team quite clearly has a good offense and a solid top 4 of the rotation. Now, I was quite confident to start the year that our bullpen was going to be very good this year, I can't say I'm confident in that anymore. If they are, we have a good chance to not only make the playoffs but do some damage, if they continue to be dreadful, well than we're not going anywhere. And putting an April trend on a manager is just odd to me in baseball, the manager can only do so much and while I've been a huge critic of Ozzies(the guy honestly pisses me off to no end) I'm not pinning any odd trend like this on him, the start to this season is not his fault. That all being said, if we continue to struggle and fail to reach the post season, Ozzie and Kenny both need to go. I'm completely with you guys who believe that we've for the most part underachieved during this managements tenure and if this current roster can't succeed then we need some wholesale changes.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 03:48 PM) As much as I'm not happy as to where the Sox are right now, dropping Ozzie and KW would be fool-hardy. Who is a better option out there right now for next year? KW is a very good GM with a bad habit of dragging corpses from the late '90s/early '00s onto the roster. Over the next 3 years, the Sox will be rebuilding and repairing the Doug Wilder mess and will have prospects to use from the home system. Beckham and Sale are the tip of it. Mitchell and Thompson can't be far behind. Sox fans are very short-sighted at times. How do you know that the grass on the other side of the fence is greener because it's better? How do you know that it's not Krylon and Astroturf? Really? Jared Mitchell and Trayce Thompson are leading us to greatness now? Those two should probably worry about hitting over .200 in the minor leagues before we worry about them leading our Major League club. And Kenny is going to be rebuilding an organization through the draft? Have you paid attention to his tenure? Now, I've been as big a KW fan as anyone but if this season fails, we really have no choice but to move on from both Kenny and Ozzie.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 03:52 PM) 2005 was a long time ago. We have one of the highest payrolls in the AL and have been in a pretty weak division during that span. I expect a better rate of success. And you absolutely should but it's way too damn early to be giving up on this particular team that's for sure.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 11:38 AM) I don't know, man. That really depends on your definition of fine. I can still see them winning the division, but I don't think even that will pull the type of attendance that the team needs to cover its payroll as the divisional race will likely be one between a bunch of gimps just hobbling to the finish line. They can take the division, but they'll get rolled in the playoffs like 2008. Eh, we'll see. I still really like this team overall. The bullpen obviously needs to get their s*** together but there's a hell of a lot more talent on this roster than there was in 08, that's not even debatable. And maybe the biggest difference is that we have 4 pitchers(even with out Peavy) who can win us a game in a playoff series where we only had 3 in 08 and our 4th had to pitch game 1 and everyone knew that was an automatic loss going in. If we get in(huge IF obviously) we'll have a chance to make some noise.

We need our best pitcher to step up here. Stop the losing streak, Mr. Danks!

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 11:42 AM) First it was a shoulder and everyone was sure he was done, now its his lat and everyone is sure he is done. How about waiting for some actual information? Well those people aren't wrong as he still hasn't pitched. When you're talking about a pitcher who keeps hurting some area of his pitching arm, it's pretty impossible to be optimistic on the outlook of said pitcher. This team overall is going to be just fine but I have no confidence in saying the same about Jake Peavy.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 07:54 AM) Unless he found the Fountain of HGH. Ha exactly.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 11:46 PM) Every stat or metric favors Paul. It's simply not even close. Paul has been the better player. I love Rose, I love his explosiveness, I like the excitement he brings. At the same time, Paul is a better player than Rose overall. Paul has battled more injuries than Rose as well, he doesn't have the ability to take the punishment Rose does every night. Heck, I don't know any PG who can considering how strong Rose is. At the same time, Paul can simply do everything but score, better. That includes passing, court vision, defense, hell his efficiency field goal percentages and TS% are much better as well. We're all Bulls fans here, and we love Rose. And if I were starting a team, I probably would take Rose unless we're taking them both at the same age. In the case, I'm taking Paul easily. Plus, his game shouldn't drop off as hard as Rose's when they leave their primes which means the longevity will be there with Paul. With guys like LeBron and Rose, I'm not sure. I love how you talk about Rose being able to take punishment that Paul can't yet you've determined that Paul is going to be better in the long term than Rose, that intrigues me. Anyways, yes I'm a Bulls fan and the reason I love Rose so damn much is because he makes my team about as good as any player can. I've never cared for a player more than my team, hell...Mark Buehrle might be my favorite athlete of all time but if the Sox were able to even get a minor upgrade for him at any point of his career, I'd drive him to the airport myself. Once again, you can throw all the freakin stats at me that you want, I really don't care, when I watch these two players play it's Rose be a good margin at the moment. I know it's cliche but he does what he needs to do to make his team win. He wasn't a shoot first pg his first two years in the NBA but with this team he has to be and that's why he is. I actually believe it'd really help out the Hornets a bit if Paul would shoot more instead of only taking 11 shots a game, when you're your teams best player, you have to put up more shots than that, especially when you're not working with a great supporting cast. And not to be a complete asshole but I wonder how you personally believe this team was able to win 62 games when you think Luol Deng is complete garbage, something has to give there. By the sounds of it, if it were up to you we'd have OJ Mayo and Ben Gordon running this team while Rose and Deng were somewhere else. The Bulls would not have 62 wins or be the number 1 seed overall if we had Chris Paul instead of Derrick Rose. If I thought Paul were better than Rose I'd freakin tell you, it has nothing to do with Rose being on the Bulls, he's just a better player at this point.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 10:22 PM) Anybody talking youth movement for a team that's 7-9 is f***ing crazy Indeed.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 03:11 PM) I have to admit though... the coldest I've ever been at a game was the Blackout game in 2008, and I didn't mind that at all. That game was EPIC. October 23rd, 2005 for me. Didn't feel a damn thing once the game started though. I can understand why people would want a retractable roof but baseball indoors is just f***in weird to me. I've been to a couple Brewers games with the roof closed and it had such an odd feeling to it. Anyways, looking back I can't believe how ugly the Cell was when it first opened. I didn't care at all back than cause I was going to watch the Sox play but looking back, that place was just fugly. Now, it's an absolutely beautiful park, love it.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 11:44 PM) Yeah, we're good enough to win this division. That's not saying much, though, as about 7 other non-Central, AL teams could. Ya, I'm certainly not going to argue that.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 10:21 PM) But that won't last. He's good but not great. And you would think Hafner will start to regress a good amount as well. This division is still ours to lose as far as I'm concerned.

Somehow, someway Humber just has to keep pitching decent(which I have no faith that he will) but ya, I'm pretty much done with Peavy. Good thing is that we gave up nothing, bad thing is that we're obviously strapped with his contract now. Also, absolutely no reason to give up on this season, this division is still ours for the taking but this seriously puts a damper on some things.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 11:19 PM) What a cheap play by Price. Smart play by Price, horrendous, horrendous officiating. Bulls played like crap once again. Not much to worry about in this series but they seriously need to wake the f*** up and get going here. It's possible that going on the road might help, we'll see...

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 09:55 PM) Rose needs to be more assertive. He just needs to keep taking it to the rack, there's just no reason for him not to right now, especially with the Collison injury. It'd also be nice if Deng would stop having awful 1st halves in this series. On the plus side, Boozer actually looks like a legit player so far this game, so that's nice. Like I said, enough of the bulls***, just run them out of the f***in gym in the 2nd half.

Alright, 3 s***ty halves is enough. No more sleep walking, I don't need to see Rose bail us out of another close game. Just step up and kick ass in the 2nd half please.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 09:04 PM) I don't know if you've read Simmons book, but you qualify for a reason to root for a team outside your own city - family. Your dad's reason might be questionable, but your reason isn't. Well that and you like teal, so I can't get on you for that. Didn't read Simmons book. And ya, my dad is just an odd sports "fan." The only team he's a true fan of is the Bulls(basketball is his favorite sport, was a ball boy for the bulls when he was a kid, etc) so naturally the Bulls were my first love growing up. Besides that, he just didn't like the Cubs so I became a Sox fan and didn't care for the Bears so I became a Dolphins fan and didn't really follow hockey but since I played it when I was younger I always watched it somewhat and then I met this asshole kid from the internet who was obsessed with it, the Hawks got on tv and then all of the sudden I became a big time Hawks fan, funny how s*** works.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 07:37 PM) Hard to completely dismiss stats when just about every one of them favors Paul. Standard or advanced. Well besides the 9 points more a game that Derrick averages. And before you tell me "well he shoots a lot more," yes he does and there's a good reason for that, cause he knows he has to shoot a lot for his team to win, just as Paul should at some point realize he needs to do the same to give the Hornets a better chance to win. With the team that Paul has, he'd be giving them a much better chance to win games if he was taking more than 11 shots a game instead of making his stats look all pretty by taking a low amount of shots per game when he's by far and away their best player. Once again, Chris Paul is a terrific basketball player but at this point there's no freakin question that Rose>Paul. Basketball is a sport where I can honestly say stats be damned on this type of subject. On that note, GO BULLS!

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 07:23 PM) I don't quite understand the first part of your post if you are from Chicago. If you live in Chicago, and you decide at some age that you like football, the Bears are your team. At least that's how it should work. Yet somehow you don't like that team, live here, then would jump onto a new team also representing Chicago? I don't get it. I mean, I am a die hard Hawks fan, and for all the s*** that happened when I was growing up with them, they were my team. I liked hockey and lived in Chicago. They are my NHL team, for better or for worse, that's just how it works. In baseball you have a decision to make. In the other sports, you don't. I guess I can kind of answer this. I grew up a Dolphins fan(as you well know) because my dad for whatever reason didn't like the Bears and was a big Dan Marino fan. Once Marino retired I pretty much lost my connection to the Dolphins and just never really became a true Bears fan. I like them enough now but I guess fantasy football sadly has become more important to me than the Bears ever could. I would definitely try to become a legit fan of a 2nd Chicago NFL franchise just because it'd be nice to have an actual NFL rooting interest besides for fantasy sake but I couldn't guarantee that I'd actually establish a die hard connection with them like I have with the Sox and Bulls.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 07:02 PM) CP3 not as good as Rose? What?! He's a much better overall player. Rose is more explosive, but he cannot sniff Paul defensively which is half the game. Paul's lowest PER in a season was 22. Paul not as good as Rose, children please. Well hooray for PER. Chris Paul is a damn good player but no he's not as good as Rose and anyone can throw any damn stat around at me, he's just not. Like Gage said, there's not one nba gm that would trade Derrick Rose for Chris Paul at this point, not one. Lets just say, that the Bulls would not have had the best record in the NBA this season if Chris Paul was their pg instead of Derrick Rose, no chance.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 02:04 PM) No one in the world would trade Rose for Paul. Everyone in the world would trade Paul for Rose. Yeup.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Apr 18, 2011 -> 07:10 AM) Harrison Barnes officially returns for sophomore season. UNC is going to be scary good next year. Yeesh.

I'm a fantasy football fan at this point more than a team but a second team in Chicago would almost certainly become "my team" so I'd be all for that. On the other hand, I absolutely love the Bulls, I'd hate a 2nd NBA franchise.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 16, 2011 -> 07:55 PM) I still think they were a better team before the trades. And beating Orlando isn't very hard. Let Howard get his down low. Don't double team him, just don't let the other guys beat you from behind the arc. They'll steal a game or 2 because of hot 3-point shooting, that'll happen, but they don't scare me very much at all. Dwight can get his, but he won't win you a game, especially late. Bingo.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 16, 2011 -> 07:49 PM) Dwight Howard had 46 points and the Hawks won easily. He played great today(minus the billion turnovers) but he does take some plays off where he sits around and cries to the refs. Orlando just isn't that great, they haven't been all season long, it's not a mystery. I still expect them to win this series but I really can't see them giving the Bulls any trouble(assuming the Magic do get by the Hawks).