Balta1701

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 13, 2015 -> 10:18 AM) Wouldnt it be better to retool the rest of the roster with the money you are saving by cutting out the guy that plays 50% of the games? Would that have actually gotten them under the cap far enough to make a difference with 2 other max deals on the books? I'm skeptical. Otherwise that's the difference between the MLE and the mini-MLE. Maybe they could have traded him for something as an expiring but teams aren't doing that as much these days, they already moved most of their draft picks, and they wouldn't have been drafting highly in any of the picks they have remaining. How exactly would they retool that roster with something better?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 13, 2015 -> 10:10 AM) Couldnt sign them all this time. Lebron wasnt interested in playing for a discount again. And If Riley was smart he would have saddled himself with Bosh and Lebron instead of Wade and Bosh. Wade has spent a lot of time injured in the last 5 years. I understand he was the face of the Heat, but it was time to let that guy test out FA for real Didn't they have bird right's/the ability to offer max on all 3 since they were already on their roster?

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Mar 12, 2015 -> 11:35 AM) How long does it take for an old debt that has been paid in full to fall off a credit report? A friend of mine wants to buy a car but they couldn’t approve her for a loan because her credit score is too low. Part of the reason it’s too low is an old student loan debt that was paid off a couple of weeks ago when they seized most of her tax return. So her plans to use the tax return and just pay cash for a car went out the window. My wife and I have been trying to help her out and one option we have discussed is co-signing a loan with her. But we know there are risks involved with that as well. We both have credit scores of 800+ and don’t want to ruin them if something happens and she can’t pay the loan anymore. The only other option we’ve come up with is going to a buy here/pay here (no credit, bad credit, no problem!) car lots. I just worry that she would end up with a POS that would need repairs every other week. She is borrowing a car from another friend for the moment but that is a very temporary solution. She needs to get something within the next week or two. She’s a single mom with a special needs daughter making just over minimum wage and she can’t seem to any kind of help or assistance at all. They told her that she makes too much to get food stamps. IIRC last I heard the window is like 7 years.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Mar 13, 2015 -> 07:57 AM) I think with all the other bubble teams that lost yesterday, IU is in. Winning today would get them out of the play-in round though. Ironically for Purdue, they were probably in no matter what if Iowa beat PSU, but now they probably have to avoid a bad loss to keep their spot. I'd really like to see a "knowing we're back on track" win today. Man that would make me feel a lot better going into next Thursday.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 13, 2015 -> 10:09 AM) Pat Riley should have offered Lebron everything and let Wade walk He didn't offer Lebron everything? He could have signed a better FA counterpart than Wade?

QUOTE (scs787 @ Mar 12, 2015 -> 12:20 AM) Wonder if the Bears take a look at Wilfork. Rolle talked about the 2 of them as a package deal. Yes, he's old, but so is Rolle. It makes sense if they're mostly going with a 3-4, but there's also been talk of them targeting a NT with their first round pick and if that's the case you don't necessarily want to stick that guy behind Wilfork for a couple years.

I'm disappointed that I didn't also read that he's in the best shape of his life.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 11, 2015 -> 03:02 PM) This year's salary cap is $63 million. They are projecting next year's to be $66 million. When the new TV contracts kick in the season after, right now they are thinking $88-92 million. That will be interesting. That's it? Everyone's been saying a much bigger jump this offseason. That's actually really good for the Bulls IIRC, a lower cap actually reduces the amount anyone can offer Butler.

MSNBC host and a couple other op-ed writers including Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol blame "rap music" for the controversy. Twitter bursts into action with hashtag "#RapAlbumsThatCausedSlavery"

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Mar 11, 2015 -> 12:22 PM) Tom Cotton is crazy. He really likes war. As soon as the letter was released earlier this week he was meeting with his defense contractor contributors.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 11, 2015 -> 01:04 PM) I dont get why anyone, in this day and age, do anything stupid like that with camera phones around. Once again, so happy that and social media didnt exist when I was in college. Because they don't get that its stupid, it's normal. The parents of one of the expelled kids released a statement apologizing and saying they know that in his heart he's not a racist, because racism is bad and none of them can be bad, they just know they're better off without the black people around.

It's worth adding that these types of policies, except more restrictive, were in part the origin of the "campus free speech movements" in the 1960s. The ACLU also makes a habit of challenging these types of policies as part of their mission to this day.

Another version of the "are hitters getting hurt more often" article. Lots of data/details, not a firm conclusion.

Interestingly on topic, blog-a-bull makes the case that Thibs is doing a better job controlling minutes for people this season (to the point that it is actually giving opposing teams a better shot at the end of games).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 09:25 PM) Only one team responded? WTF do they all pay PR departments for? http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-feed/2015/03/k...=social_twitter QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 09:39 PM) Didn't this start with some kid writing a letter to every NFL team over Christmas? You would imagine many professionals sports teams have gotten many letter like this the past couple of months. IIRC we've picked up a few Sox fans by replying to those letters with fan packages.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 05:03 PM) Yeah they tied their wagon to Rose, the freakin' youngest MVP in the league's history. Are you saying that was a bad move?! In hindsight, yes.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 04:51 PM) They didn't really miss out on guys, but you just listed a half a dozen of them? It used to be that I could say "Yeah they missed out on Aldridge but if they'd had him then they wouldn't have gotten Rose" and that would have been something you'd think of as a bad thing for the Bulls.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 04:36 PM) Did you see the SAE fraternity members singing a racist song while on a bus going to a party with dates from a sorority? "There will never be a (bleep) in SAE? I'd rather see them hang from a tree than join SAE???" Those are close to the exact words of the song. The Oklahoma University president within 24 hours of the release of the racist video closed the doors of the frat and told all members to get out. They ripped down the letters SAE from the building as well. They now will investigate and probably expel whatever students were doing the singing. My question is: a.) how can people be so racist in 2015?? b.) how can kids in this modern era do something so stupid and racist in the age of cell phone taping? Sure enough somebody taped it and released it. I want to know when the sorority members who also were laughing and singing get kicked off campus as well? I think this is one of the worst incidents of racism I've ever heard of since the Year 2000. Disgusting. a. There are a lot of people for whom that level of racism is just normal. We just don't hear about it until we get blatant examples, instead we hear about how its no longer a problem. b. They're kids. You've said yourself you did stupid things in college, we all probably have different versions of that. If you've grown up surrounded by people who think its ok to use the N word and joke about lynching, throw in a couple stupid college decisions and let's make this video and go cheer for the OK football team. c. You haven't paid much attention to actual incidents of racism since the year 2000. For crying out loud, go take a look at the Ferguson Police Department report. Those were policemen on duty making the same kind of jokes in their official email accounts.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 04:18 PM) The Bulls are always going to be fighting their coaches. It's in their DNA. They ran Phil Jackson out of town, and they will do the same thing to the guy who takes over for Thibs. I'm expecting the guy who takes over for Thibs to be a lackey who is fired for being terrible within about 2 years, maybe less. They will run him out of town because the team is dramatically underperforming and we hear things about locker room mutinies.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 03:57 PM) We'll see in a year or two if guys like Noah and Butler can maintain their level of play I guess. At the end of the day, you're right, this doesn't mean much because they're not winning without a semi-healthy Rose. They can either achieve what they can and get to the playoffs and lose, or they can be hurt from overplay and get to the playoffs and lose. Deng maintained his level of play throughout his entire stint with the Bulls. Noah had the Plantar Fascia issue but came back from that and was #5 in the MVP voting last year. He started off slowly this year with the knee injury but has come on since. I struggle to imagine anyone possibly getting more out of these guys during their contracts than what we got out of them. Noah's contract ends after next season, so if he breaks down starting in 2016 and he's on another team...I'll promise to feel bad for him.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 03:45 PM) He overworks all of his players, including Rose. Does that directly lead to injuries such as Rose's ACL tear, or Butler's elbow injury? No. And you're basing health on games played, which doesn't mean much if they're playing through injuries they shouldn't be playing through. If playing through injuries means that the players: don't lose time on the court in the next season, don't lose effectiveness (shown by the fact that they keep reaching the playoffs despite Rose's injuries), and max out their performance while the Bulls have them under contract...I'm ok with all of that. If you're not going to say that Rose's injuries are on Thibs you lose. You're not showing me any downside whatsoever.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 03:06 PM) No, this is the exact congress the voters wanted. Which is why people spend a helluva lot of money to make sure people they don't like won't vote.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 03:22 PM) I don't disagree, and i'm not blaming Thibs for acute injuries like that. But come on, this team hasn't been fully healthy since 2010. That's either some extremely, unlikely bad luck, or it's due to the style of play/amount of play, which is on Thibs. I think it's a combination of both. Unless you're willing to say that Derrick Rose's injuries are on Thibs, then I'm going to go with bad luck. You could make a case that he pushed Noah too hard through the Plantar Fasciitis, but at the same time they also thought they were going for a title that year and he didn't seem to show any ill effects in following seasons. Beyond that, basically every key player has been healthier under Thibs than previously or their injuries have been things like what happened to Butler just now. So will you stand up and say that Thibs overworked Rose or are you going to ignore the question like the last time I posed it. Would Derrick Rose be a much healthier player under a different coach?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 03:05 PM) He missed 28 his 2nd season with Thibs, not 12. And the 33, IIRC, was due to a broken leg, can't really help that. It just seemed to me, with Thibs, he was always playing with some nagging injury. The wrist he played through half a season. edit: ok strike that, you're right. That was the lockout year. You're not allowed to do a "Can't really help that" while complaining about things like Jimmy Butler's injury, where he was in the middle of a normal game, a competitive game against a solid opponent, a normal screen was set, and he jammed his elbow. There's literally nothing that can be done to help that. You can't prevent a guy from being screened. You can't bench guys in normal games so they don't get hurt.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 10, 2015 -> 03:05 PM) This is weak. As is the connection between what voters want and how Congress actually behaves.