whitesoxfan101

The Big 10 actually has the potential to be a very good league this season. I think Illinois is more likely to win the league or come very close in 2010-2011 though. I think MSU and Purdue will be fighting for the league crown this year, with Illinois, Ohio State, and perhaps Minnesota all fighting for 3rd. Combine that with Northwestern, Michigan, and Wisconsin all being pretty solid, and the league in my opinion has 8 teams who are definitely good enough to make the field of 65. Although we all know it'll probably be more like 6 teams making it since the league teams will beat each other up and the games will be too poorly officiated and low scoring for national perception to allow 7 or 8 teams in. In addition to those problems, it's feasible that even among the bottom 3, Iowa and Indiana will improve (Penn State is the only Big 10 team I am confident will be worse this season than they were a year ago) so you might see some upsets which hurt bubble teams chances.

Yeah I noticed that too knightni. And btw, if I am wrong about the Thunder making the playoffs, it might be the Clippers making that jump instead. Either way, you will be shocked by one West playoff team IMO.

I actually think OKC will make the playoffs as the #8 seed. I expect a huge dropoff from Phoenix, and that 8th spot is there for the taking if the Thunder can get good play out of their young talent. It would be a great story, and I hope it works out for them. As for the Bulls, they are going to be a very similar team to last year, a .500, border line playoff team. Hopefully we see good things out of Johnson and Gibson, hopefully Noah and Thomas show something, and hopefully Derrick Rose can get and stay healthy. I think Deng will be a good surprise and Salmons a bad one, and the Bulls will actually have a better frontcourt than backcourt for once. To me, Cleveland, Boston, LA, and the Spurs are the 4 best teams in the league by far. I expect a dropoff from Orlando, and I also am not sure Portland is as good as people think (they'll be in the playoffs, but I am not sure they are the 3rd best team in the West).

It's always the ugly and/or chubby women that guys end up cheating with, it will never make sense but that seems to be how it goes the vast majority of the time. Phillips has a history of this though (and if the rumors are true, there will be more women who he had affairs with at ESPN that will eventually come forward, in addition to his escapades with the Mets) so we should not be surprised. I would be shocked if we see him at ESPN again. On a side note, Deadspin sucks. Daluerio has run that place into the ground, and him posting all of those rumors about other people cheating and/or sleeping to the top just because he's bitter he had the scoop on Phillips and wasn't able to find enough backup to post it is lame. Even if they turn out to be true (and with some of the stories a friend of mine who worked at ESPN has told me, they probably are and then some), just throwing crap against the wall and hoping it sticks is an example of why blogs like that get made fun of because that is even a step below TMZ trash, only this is sports not Hollywood.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 21, 2009 -> 12:27 AM) Yankees really spanked the Angels tonight. Pretty impressive. But we were just as dominant or moreso the year we won it. So I wouldn't say they have a dynasty brewing yet. The bolded may be true, but that doesn't change the fact that the Yankees have the potential for long term success built there. I wouldn't crown the Yankees yet though. I've been among the masses saying they are a major favorite to win the thing and I stand by that, but them beating the Phillies isn't automatic as Philadelphia also has a great team. I will say that who has home field advantage has been almost irrelevant in the World Series since the All Star Game started determining it in 2003 (thank God, what a stupid system), but this year it might matter big time. Then again, the Yankees had the best record in baseball so they belong having home field anyways. In response to what Balta said about the Yankees winning being a game changer in the next CBA, I doubt it. Baseball REALLY, REALLY, REALLY needs a salary cap type system, but if they don't have it now, I doubt we'll be seeing it forced through anytime soon. I hope I am wrong though, because I can't emphasize how much it's needed. The sport is being hurt much more by the current economic system it has that a lot of people realize IMO, and I'd have said the same thing before the current worldwide economic crisis.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 20, 2009 -> 09:08 PM) ?? Not really, keeps the cap under control, keeps players off the FA market and from having their cap numbers inflate. Harris got hurt, so that can be overlooked. The only one that really backfired bad was Vasher, who was decent when he signed his extension but blew fat cock ever since. Kreutz has declined too but it was hard to argue with his extension at the time. Hid that with Urlacher, Alex Brown, Tillman, Gould, Clark, Orton, tried it with Briggs, didn't work, but Briggs ended up playing himself. Kreutz isn't playing up to his contract but you couldn't argue with the extension at the time when he was an All-Pro center. I don't see how extending contracts of players that have proven themselves in your system is more risky than giving random contracts. The defense is old, expensive, and not very good. That's who I have in mind when I rip the giving out new money to current players like it's candy strategy.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Oct 20, 2009 -> 08:55 PM) Luckily it doesn't effect the game at least. Yeah it had no impact, and the missed call on the pickoff play on Swisher didn't have an impact either since the "makeup call" (which was also wrong) made him out, ending the inning and not counting his run. But this is absolutely ridiculous, hopefully it motivates a change in the replay system because it's badly needed.

That might be the worst call I've ever seen. Wow.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 20, 2009 -> 08:49 PM) Not unexpected. One thing you can say about Angelo, when he sees something he has that he likes, he jumps on it early so he can keep it. Absolutely, and that's been a strategy that has really hurt him quite a bit. That doesn't apply in this case though since this move was a no brainer. If you are going to give that much up for a guy who you think is a franchise QB, you keep him around for the rest of his career.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Oct 20, 2009 -> 08:45 PM) Scoscia should ask for a sample of A-Rod's pee. Scoscia might want to tell his pitchers to stop throwing him pitches in the strike zone. With the hot streak A-Rod is on right now, you are best suited giving him the Bonds/Pujols treatment and walking him anytime you can. At any rate, it's 5-0 Yankees and C.C. is absolutely filthy tonight, so it's going to take a miracle for this series not to be 3-1 and pretty much over headed into game 5.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 20, 2009 -> 06:11 PM) I disagree. Players who have played the game at the highest level have a much better grasp on who plays the game well than a bunch of people staring at the TV or looking down from a press box. Until you have actually played at the highest level, you will never know as much about the actual game IMO. Even if we stand to agree with this logic, I question how often players get to see other players play (other than when they are the opponent of their team), and in addition, I doubt players are crunching through the numbers much to see who is actually putting up the best statistics (and even if they are looking at numbers, they are probably looking at overrated crap like batting average and RBI's). At any rate though, I'm glad Gordon wasn't completely shut out in ROY voting, and this gives him hope he'll win the actual ROY award.

That might be the first time i've seen a make up call in a baseball game. It's absolutely unbelieveable that baseball umpiring has gotten to the point where make up calls are being made. Can we just get instant replay on everything except balls and strikes and get the calls right already?

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Oct 20, 2009 -> 12:06 AM) If you deny this still, just admit you're a hater and keep it moving. I'll admit being wrong about Denver. I will not admit anything about Kyle Orton though other than he's doing a good job in the perfect situation.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 19, 2009 -> 09:44 PM) Denver would be the Super Bowl favorite if Cutler still played there. You know people are going to be saying they wouldn't be 6-0 with Cutler since he turns the ball over and all of that other BS. Kyle Orton has clearly found the absolute perfect situation to be in. Despite that, the Orton meatheads are going to be UNBEARABLE here tomorrow, which sucks.

Simply put, Joe Girardi is a bad manager. Anybody who followed the 2006 Florida Marlins to even a modest degree knows that him winning the 2006 NL Manager of the Year is one of the biggest jokes in the history of baseball awards (he absolutely destroyed several arms on that pitching staff, killing the Marlins decent playoff chances). I still think the Yankees are a strong favorite to win the World Series simply becuase any idiot could manage a team that good to glory, but he's not good as his job and it bit them in the rear end tonight.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Oct 19, 2009 -> 07:09 AM) Do you read Larry Mayer's chalktalk on the Bears website? Mayer claims that one of Reed's misses were tipped, and one of Mare's was tipped. If I worked for the Bears, I'd probably just make up stuff like that too. QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 19, 2009 -> 12:07 AM) L///M///A///O///!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh hell motherf***in' no. Ranger just straight went loon. LMAO. And I like Whitesoxfan101. But I'm rollin' right now. I hope RC doesn't get suspended. Yeah RC hates me for calling out his homeristic points on a consistent basis. If he's going to swear at me though, I wish he'd have at least made a legitimate point. For all the stuff I say on here that ends up being wrong, he gets mad at me for calling a mediocre team a mediocre team. Come on RC, you can do better than that.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Oct 18, 2009 -> 11:03 PM) Bears were in it until the end on the road against a decent Green Bay team Beat the defending World Champions pulled out a comeback victory in a game we should have won regardless, but it was still on the road @ Seattle Doubled up the lions 48-24 And a forte fumble away from our winning FG drive against one of the top 10 teams in the NFL on the road. f*** YOU ^^^^ Yes mods go ahead and suspend me The Bears are also a few easy missed field goals by the opposition (something the Bears have no control over) from being 1-4. And you are really classy, btw. QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 18, 2009 -> 11:06 PM) Also with no running game to speak of, that was all his arm and the WRs making clutch grabs. I would like to retract anything bad I said about the WR corps coming into this season. Cutler has been great since the opener. I'd argue he was even really good tonight, despite the 2 picks.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Oct 18, 2009 -> 10:52 PM) As a person who went to a ton of NIU games when Wolfe was starting there. The key to Wolfe is to use him with Sweeps, Screens, coming out of the backfield for a pass. It was funny watching him in college. They would pitch the ball out, and he would get around the tackles and run like hell. If they ran it up the middle, he would have a hard time. I had him pegged as a Dave Meggett type player. A change up back, that could be consistently brought in on 3rd down to give them another weapon. Wolfe is used so improperly by Ron Turner, although that's no surprise. He's a niche player who needs proper use and playcallling to be effective, and he just doesn't have it with the Bears. You are exactly right about his NIU use though, he never ran the ball up the middle. It was always outside or behind one of the tackles (often times it was behind Doug Free, or if they wanted to run "inside", it was between Free and the left guard). As for tonight's game, it looks like the 2009 Bears are a similar, mediocre 9-7 type outfit as the 2008 Bears. There are some differences, bettter at QB, worse at OL, but it's just another .500 ish, "blob" NFL team that will play a lot of close games and split most of them.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_balloon_boy No surprises here. Even the fact that the stupid ass media might have been in on this doesn't surprise me.

I think the Saints are better than the Vikings right now. But the Vikings don't need to be better than the Saints until January, they just need to be better than the Bears and Packers right now, and they clearly are.

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 18, 2009 -> 07:02 AM) I take it that you've never heard of Dayne Crist? Yep, just like I've heard of the highly regarded recruits all over the field for Notre Dame. Hasn't helped Charlie Weis all that much for five years, and I can't imagine that is going to change overnight.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 18, 2009 -> 03:32 PM) If the Vikings are so versatile and superior and well-rounded, why did they need a last-second miracle TD to beat a mediocre 49ers team and a missed FG to beat a mediocre Ravens team? Why couldn't they just dominate them? Why did the Colts barely beat the bad Jaguars 14-12? Why did the Colts need a last second TD pass to beat a mediocre Miami team? It's the NFL, using margin of victory as a debating point is ridiculous. The Vikings are 6-0, the best team in the NFC North, and that's just how it is. The Bears are still in great shape to make the playoffs if they win tonight and that's fine.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 18, 2009 -> 03:21 PM) The Bears are going to have a very difficult time winning this division. This has been pretty clear for quite a while now. However, the Vikings defense COLLAPSED in the 4th today, and considering their next 2 are in Pittsburgh and Green Bay, there is hope they could get a couple of losses up there. Problem is, the Bears next two are in Atlanta and Cincy and won't be easy either.

Boy, you know you picked a shady area for the Olympics when Chicago is the safer, less crime plagued choice.

Watching Huet is just a painful experience, the team can keep saying how they "have to play better in front of him", but Huet has to make a f***ing big save once in a while to help them out too.