Rowand44

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 01:44 PM) I feel like Reds are due for a huge letdown season, as could be one of those years where pitching is down for them due to high-pressured innings last year. If Greinke can get healthy, Brewers can win this division. I do think the Cubs lineup will be pretty solid for the first few months until Fukudome and Soriano fade away. Completely agree on the Reds. That division is the Brewers to lose imo.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 12:50 PM) Generally those coaches didn't finish 5th and 4th in their conferences, miss the tourney their first year and were one shot away from missing the tourney their 2nd year. Smart has had an incredible run but VCU's performance last year and prior to the tourney this year leaves a ton to be desired. They have played out of their minds and shot way above their capabilities for a 5 game stretch but that doesn't make him a great coach. But I do agree that any time you hire a mid major coach you are getting an unproven commodity so you just have to wait and see how he does at a bigger job. Still, how many of those coaches that you're talking about have been to a final four when they were at their mid major job? Like I said, I have no clue whether this guy is going to be something special or if he'll be a bust down the road but at least for the next couple of years he should be able to ride this momentum into some pretty solid recruiting classes at a bcs school.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 12:38 PM) Votto and Stubs are def two players to watch this year. He wasn't last year?

QUOTE (YASNY @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 11:58 AM) Are you trying to me that you hated the Peavy and Swisher (from the A's) trades when they were made? If you did, and can prove it, then fine. But a vast majority of Sox fans liked those trades at the time. The Peavy trade was still genius, even though we've barely had Jake so far. Clayton would be at best a 5th starter for the Sox, and I mean at best. Everyone else in that trade was garbage.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 01:27 PM) I thought he already retired a year or two ago? Whatever, thanks for the memories JD, some great seasons on the South Side. He was always looking for a team but he was stubborn about not wanting to dh so he never found a job.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 12:19 PM) Volquez gives up back to back HRs to Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez. THE Carlos Gomez?!?!?!? God, I wish that Brewers-Reds game was on national tv.

Thanks for everything JD!

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 01:16 PM) Its going to be a lot harder. He's going to be going against athletic, top notch basketball teams all the time and without having a strong recruiting pipeline, etc, he's going to have a hell of a time at Mizzu, imo. It happens a lot with these mid-major guys. I'm not saying Shacka isn't necessarily a good coach, but at this point, with his experience, I think he's going to end up a failure at a major program. A few years down the road that might change. I also wouldn't blame him if he did leave though, this is his one shot to be the next hot commodity and to make good money out of it and if he fails he'll still end up with a mid-major job somewhere, probably one that is still a step-up from VCU. Well, like I said, recruiting is certainly going to be the biggest challenge. But as Maggs said, a young, charismatic coach shouldn't have that much trouble recruiting especially with all the hype and airtime he's gotten because of this final four run. But that's still a wait and see just as everything else is at this point. I say he's overrated right because he's so damn inexperienced, so it's too early to say he's the next big thing and it's too early to say that he's just a lucky coach living off one NCAA run. That being said, the momentum from this run should be enough to tear up the recruiting trail if he does it correctly and that alone should make it worth the risk for a bcs program to give him a shot.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 12:08 PM) That guy is going to be a collosal failure. I wouldn't go that far. He's most likely overrated at this point but the guy can clearly coach and his players seem to love him. Obviously, the most important thing for a mid major coach is to find out if he can recruit at a higher level and I don't think Shaka is going to have a hard time doing that.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 11:34 AM) My point is that certain teams were pegged as contenders or "elite" teams before the tournament started, despite the fact that they never exhibited anything close to that. Duke and UNC were high seeds that were overrated. Again, name me some really good wins from this year to prove that. I think Kentucky, to a certain extent, was also overrated, though they played well enough to get to the Final Four. None of these teams were as great as they were made out to be. Well Butler has been one play away in every game(minus Wisconsin) of being eliminated, so they certainly can't be underrated. VCU is one bad inbounds play away from being eliminated in the s16 so they're certainly not underrated either. As a matter of fact, Butler was one play away from losing to a lower seed in ODU, so they're clearly overrated.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 09:26 AM) In a 5 team division with everything equal, you should make the playoffs 1 time in 5 years, 2 times in 10 years, and 3 times in 15 years. The White Sox have made the playoffs 3 times in 11 years. Yes, they're behind the Twins in that regard. They're still above average. Well everything isn't equal, therein lies the problem with some people.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 08:20 AM) I finally paid attention to the kid last night, and all I have to say is Dennis.Rodman. This kid has zero offensive game. He is an incredible rebounder and hustle guy, and pretty much nothing else. Its pretty bad when the TWolves won't even run a play for you. Cmon now, that's an awful comparison. Love averages 20 points a game and shoots the 3 at a 40 percent clip. He's also a below average defender where as Rodman is one of the best ever. The only thing those two have in common is that they are/were terrific rebounders, besides that they are nothing alike as basketball players.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 10:01 PM) So Duke = overrated, Butler = underrated. Duke also smacked Butler by 12 earlier in the year. You can't say everyone but the teams in the final 4 were overrated. Even half the teams in the final 4 sucked in the regular season. He called Kentucky overrated too, so not even the final four teams are immune.

QUOTE (Brian @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 06:42 PM) The funny thing about this is that I have a vote and was going to cast it for Boatright but never sent it in. Oops That's pretty funny actually.

I was at schoolyard during St. Patricks day weekend, it was a blast.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 07:57 AM) Agreed. The ACC was terrible, their only competition was Duke, and yes, Kentucky is also overrated. This is like saying Duke wasn't overrated because it was a #1 seed. That's BS. Duke wasn't deserving of a #1 seed (shocker there, Duke getting an inflated seeding). They won nothing but the ACC title and had one top 25 win all season. That's a crappy resume for a #1. That elite 8 game between UNC and Kentucky was fantastic, but that's two decent teams, not two great teams. Kentucky is a no-call travel away from losing in the first round. This is just crazy talk. If you're saying they're not great teams because...well there is no great teams this year than I'm perfectly fine with that explanation. But relative to the competition, UNC, Kentucky and Duke weren't overrated in the slightest.

Would've been done already.

Did you know you can make Wrestlemania bets on some sports betting websites? That blows my mind.

Garza for the first weeks of spring training only throws fastballs and changeups, so his st era means absolutely nothing. The Cubs have a zillion holes at the moment but Matt Garza isn't one of them, he'll be just fine.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 05:04 PM) My boy Aaron Craft got named to the all-defensive team. Nice work kid. 13 Seniors 7 Juniors 0 Sophmores 1 Freshman - Aaron Craft That kid is awesome. One of my favorite players to watch this year.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 03:56 PM) The ACC was horrible this year. And it was confirmed that if they had beaten Duke in the ACC title game they would have been a #1 seed. Good team, yes, but still over rated at the end of the year. This was not a typical championship caliber UNC team that some people were making them out to be recently. They got hot at the right time. UNC still had the 5th rated rpi and the 5 sos in the country, not too shabby. Two fantastic wins against Duke and Kentucky as well. No, the acc certainly wasn't terrific but who do you think deserved a 2 seed over them? And as Dan said, they played exactly to their seed, so they certainly weren't overrated at all.

A righty/righty platoon would never happen on an Ozzie managed team.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 11:12 AM) UNC was incredibly overrated btw. How exactly is this true?

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 05:38 PM) is the bulls game gonna be on any other channel aside from nbatv??? or is there anywhere i can watch it online for free?? WCIU