whitesoxfan101

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 6, 2009 -> 01:29 PM) If they won, at all, they would survive. I think the obvious choice would be to send them back to Winnipeg... or to Quebec. They moved during the exodus of Canadian teams when the Canadian economy was so outrageously worse than the US's. Putting another 1 or 2 teams in Canada seems like a no-brainer now. Yeah Canada definitely seems like a good place for more teams.

QUOTE (Ron @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:37 PM) The 2000 NBA Draft was much worse, IMHO. Good to have someone else on the T-Will bandwagon. That draft will probably be worse than this one, but the reason I made the point I did is that draft had players with potential in it who simply busted. I believe this years draft will be ALMOST as bad as 2000, and unlike 2000, this draft has almost nobody with major NBA potential in it IMO. As for Evans, I don't think he has the ball handling skills to be an above average 1, and I don't think he has the shooting skills to be an above average 2. I think he could, with some work, be an average combo guard who defends above average due to his size. Almost like a taller Kirk Hinrich.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 6, 2009 -> 04:39 AM) Looks like the Coyotes filed for bankruptcy. NHL will take the team over. BlackBerry CEO offers to buy team and move it to Hamilton, Ontario but NHL owners undoubtedly will not allow that. It'd be great, but won't happen, if someone bought the team and moved them to Hartford I wonder where that team is going to move, because it seems pretty clear they need to move. Obvoiusly a winning team would help, but Phoenix doesn't seem like an enviornment condusive to NHL success. As for the Hawks last night, just an awful performance all around. Let's hope game 4 is better because it's the season on the line.

QUOTE (rangercal @ May 6, 2009 -> 08:55 AM) I can live with that trade. For the people who can't, time to get over it. I can live with the trade because Tyrus showed some major improvement this year IMO and I think his attitude now is a lot better than it was. But it was still an absolutely horrific trade, and that's reality. As for Tyrus' defense, I will say it was a lot better this year (as was everything else he did), but he still played below average defense (much better defense, but still below average) and took way too many goaltendings IMO. As for the post (can't remember who it was) which said Derrick will never be a top 5 player because of his defense and jump shot, well he will never be one with his current defense and jump shot, but those are things that can be impoved. I think his jump shot this year was much better than his jump shot at Memphis, and I think he will continue to work hard and continue to improve on it. As for his defense, that's the #1 reason I want VDN gone, defense. Derrick, and everybody else on this team, will struggle to improve on defense as long as a coach who simply does not care about his team guarding is in charge. And you can't win a championship that way.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ May 6, 2009 -> 01:09 PM) For the Champions League tourney next year. With that said, AC has to stop signing guys who have passed their peak and start bringing in young talent. Ahh ok. And I guess I should be fair and point out that although there were in my opinion 4 questionable (at best) calls in the box that all went against Chelsea, the red card against Barcelona was an absolutely brutal call as well.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:34 PM) Impressive lack of composure by Chelsea after conceding an incredible goal for Barcelona. Barca was down 1-0 and a man down (on a terrible red card call) and scored in the 3rd minute of injury time to qualify for the final. Chelsea damn near assaulted the ref on nothing questionable, embarrassing. There were 4 plays in the box that could have very easily been called penalty kicks for Chelsea in that game, and none of them were (two were really bad IMO, one was a blatant hand ball that wasn't called, and another was a blatant foul which actually was called, but was somehow called outside the box even though it was clearly inside) so I can understand their anger at the refs. However, they still had a 1-0 lead in the 2nd half at home with an 11 vs. 10 man advantage, and found a way to blow it, so they have absolutely nobody to blame but themselves. Chelsea dominated the game and still found a way to lose. QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:50 PM) Cristiano is an even bigger douche, though I respect his talent. With that said, I hope AC Milan or Roma handles any one of these guys. I'm not a soccer expert (I've just started to follow the sport basically since the 2006 World Cup) but AC Milan or Roma? I thought the winner of Barcelona/ManU is the "World Champion"?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 4, 2009 -> 06:31 AM) Football is a winter sport. If you can't win in winter weather, then you are not the best team. That's silly. Does a warm weather team not deserve to win the Super Bowl if such a thing happens because they don't play in "football weather"? Come on now, football is just like any other sport in my opinion, the weather should not be a factor in deciding the best team under ideal circumstances, who is the best team should be what decides it. Just like the one thing I don't like about baseball is you get weather like there was in Philadelphia during the World Series last year, 6 months of playing hard and the winner is decided in s*** conditions.

This is the worst draft I have ever seen, and I've been paying attention to the NBA Draft for quite a while now. I'd like to see Terrence Williams drafted though. He's a good fit in that he actually defends (the Bulls can use that) and he can legitimately play the 1 through 3 on both ends of the floor, which is a good fit since VDN loves to play those stupid ass small lineups so often.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 4, 2009 -> 06:19 AM) I was watching the Caps-Pens game saturday and have come to the conclusion that Eddie Olczyck is the John Madden of the NHL. I came to the conclusion after Eddie O made this statement after Ovie scored a 5-3 PP goal (I'm paraphrasing): "The Penguins don't want to be down 5 on 3 to this team. They really want to be down 5 on 4 at worst, but really they want to play 5 on 5." He's being paid for that revelation. I actually think Eddie does a great job on the Hawks games bringing useful information (I can't speak for the NBC games, I don't watch them too often), but yeah that's really bad.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 4, 2009 -> 07:36 AM) So our of curiousity, is anyone else completely done with the NBA playoffs at this point? I won't watch them again until Cleveland and the Lakers play in The Finals. Between my disgust at the Bulls losing to an inferior team (which is what Boston was without Garnett) and the fact that only two teams having a shot to win it all, there is no reason to watch again until then. As for others things in here, good to see Kelly Dwyer's scathing (and accurate) comments on the abomination that is Coach VDN. And if the Bulls pass up on Bosh for Dwyane Wade, I am going to be pretty damn pissed. Wade is a fantastic player, but this team NEEDS a scoring big BADLY, plus Wade is beaten to s*** and I question how many really good years he has left. The talent is stll there obviously to be a top 5 player as he showed this year, but I don't trust his body with all the abuse it's taken.

QUOTE (JuiceCruz16 @ May 1, 2009 -> 11:10 AM) Renaldo Sidney makes it official and backs out of his verbal with USC, and signs a letter of intent with Mississippi St.. He's a perfect fit for the SEC based on some of the stuff out there about him.

I actually liked Neil on the radio, but he was just plain awful this season on the tv side. Maybe I just liked him on radio because I only heard him on occasion. I am a big Stacey King fan though, and I do think he and Neil have great chemistry. It's just that Neil has really lost his fastball when it comes to actually calling the game.

I think our pitching is actually going to be ok in the long run. It's true that you need good pitching to make the playoffs, let alone make a deep run, but I think our pitching will be ok outside of Contreras, who seems to just be gone. I'm much, much more worried about our offense. You need to score runs to be playing in October too, and our offense has major issues. The injuries haven't helped, but even healthy, our lineup has some major issues.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 3, 2009 -> 09:22 AM) I'd rather they start playing the Super Bowl in actual football cities, in actual football weather, instead of this wimpy Florida/California crap. I disagree here. I honestly don't like "football weather" simply because i'd rather see more football games played in neutral type conditions (cold and/or some wind is fine, just rain and snow aren't good) since in those conditions, the truly best team is going to win the game. As for a Super Bowl in London though, what a stupid idea, just like putting the UEFA Champions League Final in America would be a stupid idea.

He's got to be the most frusterating player I've ever watched play for any of my teams. For that reason alone, I won't be sad at all if he leaves, even though replacing his scoring would be pretty much impossible to do at least next season. Ben really went back to his old ways in this series (it was the first time all season I thought he played selfish basketball) and that kind of put me over the top.

The series wasn't lost tonight, tonight was actually the one loss where I have no problems with what happened, they just played a reasonably poor game on the road and lost, that happens. The series was lost in game 2, when the Bulls blew a very late lead and lost, in game 3 where the Bulls didn't show up, and in game 5 where the Bulls had an 11 point 4th quarter lead and a 2 point lead with under 20 seconds left and lost. Poor coaching and poor basketball IQ by the team lost this series, and it's a damn shame because the Bulls were the better team with Garnett not available for Boston. As for Ben Gordon, I won't be crushed if he comes back, and I know it'd be very hard to replace his scoring, but honestly I kind of want to see him go away. I'm tired of his act, even if that isn't a statistically supported statement.

According to the internets, she turns 18 on September 27. At that point in time, I will return to this thread with further comment.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 2, 2009 -> 10:52 AM) My impression is that we've actually got guys who can develop in to that...especially if we can revive Luol Deng to anything close to what he was 2 years ago. If you can move Salmons back to SG instead of having no choice but to put him at SF, and you can use Deng as an 18/8 kind of guy in the front court who occasionally can create his own shot...oh, and you transplant someone else's brain in to VDN, then I think those problems will develop themselves away. But like I said, I've been wrong before. Well unless VDN suddenly changs philosophy, I don't see the team playing championship calibur defense, which is a big problem. I think Deng is definitely a wild card. BG is probably going to be gone regardless of how we feel about it (the market sucks right now between the economy and people waiting for 2010, but it only takes one team to fall in love and offer him a truckload of money), and if Deng can come back and just be even a 15/6 guy to go with Salmons at the 2, that would help. The problem for me is, despite his improvement, Salmons turns 30 early next season so I wonder how much longer he'll produce like he is right now, and at the same time, I think the team needs a true interior scorer at the 4 or 5. Fire VDN for a coach who cares about defense/has a clue in general and trade for Bosh this summer and I'd feel a lot better.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 2, 2009 -> 10:49 AM) I disagree, I think this group as assembled could easily develop in to a Finals team within 2 years, but I've been totally wrong on saying that about the Bulls before, so I can't even count on that assessment. I didn't want Amare at the trade deadline, because I'm still not an Amare fan. But if there's anything the Bulls can do to pull off Bosh this offseason, this would be the time to do it. 2 first round picks, $10 million+ of expiring contracts for next year, Tyrus actually improving and rebuilding his trade value, and the Bulls not yet good enough that all of our picks will be after 25. Not enough backcourt/wing defense and not enough frontcourt scoring among this current group to be a serious contender in my opinion. The hope for me is get Bosh or Amar'e, perhaps find a good wing defender in the draft, and hope Rose improves on defense.

The Bulls haven't run a whole lot of plays for Ben all series, they've tried to make him too way too much of his own work off the dribble. Of the many, many coaching errors Del Negro has made this series, that might be the most egregious.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 2, 2009 -> 10:42 AM) If the salary cap goes down as far as I think it's going to, the only way we're going to have the space to go after one of those guys is to: 1. Move Hinrich for at least $3-4 million worth of deals that expire next year (aka we can take back a longer contract, but not for more than the MLE). 2. Move Deng and save the same amount (we could take back maybe $7-$8 million in longer term deals) 3. Renounce Tyrus Thomas while he's a restricted Free Agent in 2010. You combine 1 of those with letting Gordon walk and you have 2010 cap space. Basically, my guess is we need to clear a couple million more dollars. It's possible the Bulls could have 2010 cap space for a max deal currently...but that would mean that over the next 2 years, the Salary Cap has gone up from where it currently sits by just over $1 million, IIRC. I just don't think that's going to happen. There's one other key option...do a deal for Bosh this offseason. If you move Hinrich or Deng in a deal for him you can probably make the contracts work, we're sitting on an extra pick or two, we have the rights to other guys we can move (Omer Asik?), we're holding expiring contracts for next season if they want some of that and...this is useful...if you can grab Bosh this offseason, you can potentially extend both him and Gordon without going significantly over the luxury tax for more than 1 season. Given that we're not playing Tyrus down the stretch anyway and its even the bloody playoffs, why not try to package him with something and see if they'll bite. I'd be willing to do just about anything at this point to get Stoudemire or Bosh as long as Derrick Rose remains on the team. The Bulls played a lot better down the stretch, but this group as assembled isn't going sniff the NBA Finals, so i'm willing to try anything. I wonder if they could deal for Bosh and somehow keep Gordon this summer (seems doubtful.)

A simple look at numbers, recent career trends, and style of play would make it quite obvious to just about anybody that comparing Larry Hughes and John Salmons at this point in time is pretty silly.

I don't know if the question is this black and white (and even if it is, it's not because have space doesn't guarantee you'd get either guy at all), but I'd rather have Chris Bosh or Amar'e Stoudemire long term starting in 2010-2011 than I would Ben Gordon long term starting this fall.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 2, 2009 -> 08:28 AM) I know for a fact if I was Feldman, I wouldn't have given Washington the ball. f*** that, I'm having a great game, and as soon as I give up a couple of hits, you take me out? That's complete BS. I wonder what Nolan Ryan thought about that move last night from Washington... I am 99% sure Ryan didn't like that move one bit. I can agree that Ryan didn't like it at all, but I know one thing he would have disliked even more would be Feldman refusing to give his manager the ball when he took him out. It's cute that you would have fought the power, but you'd have been in triple A before you even made it back to the locker room.

Buehrle with a quality start and win, Podsednik with 2 hits (including an infield hit and helping to force a balk) and the game winning run, White Sox in 1st place. Just like the good old days.