Balta1701

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 3, 2009 -> 08:39 AM) Their mass transit also has a lot less ground to cover -- our sheer land mass is insane when it comes to us being one interconnected country, where as most European countries are as big as a single state. If all we had to do was develop transit for IL, we'd probably have a much better system...but as it stands, we have a megaload of space they've never had to worry about. And I like it this way. But yes, we did spread out haphazardly. That is actually an argument for mass transit, not against it. Mass transit is an ideal way to move people and especially freight across large distances between moderately isolated population centers.

Skanberg

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 3, 2009 -> 09:18 AM) Which is way different than he won't play defense because he doesn't like his coach. Although, that could be the case too. I probably wouldn't play defense for VDN either.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 3, 2009 -> 08:02 AM) To be fair to Rose, LeBron James never really cared about defense much until this season, and look at the Cavs now. It might take a while for that type of message to sink in for Rose. It's also not just that, especially with a young guy. There's only a finite amount of energy that one can expend during a game. Think about how dominant guys like Wade and Bryant were on defense in the Olympics. When they only had to play 15 minutes, they could come in and give maximum effort on both ends of the court for those 15 minutes and they overwhelmed people. Rose is going from playing less than 40 games this season to playing 86. He's 20 years old. It's going to take him a while to condition up to this level.

Simon Johnson had some words on this yesterday.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 06:36 PM) Schlereth said the Bears lost both OT's so that won't make Cutler happy. Ummm...what? Technically it's true. Miller and St. Clair aren't with the Bears any more. That won't make Cutler happy. It'll make him extraordinarily happy.

If Stevens hadn't lost the election, I fully believe the DOJ would have re-tried their case. Holder alluded to the circumstances, where you have an 85 year old man who's just lost an election because of his ethical lapses, and basically decided it was enough given the misconduct in the case.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 05:33 PM) Does Pace really have 3 years left in him? No.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 05:04 PM) He's a much better pass blocker and he's a so-so run blocker. CW is considered more of a technique blocker. He's not a big brawler type. You want him lined up against quick guys and keeping them away from the QB, not going forwards and opening holes for a RB.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 04:47 PM) I wanted Pace all along. He's a nice addition and CW will slide over to RT so Pace can play LT. CW profiles as a poor RT. Pace would probably fit there significantly better than Williams.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:44 PM) kinda my point. Good, but how much is cutler and how much is individual tallent? Hard to tell. This will actually be an interesting experiment in that regard. You can argue that a QB doesn't have a shot unless he has good WR, good O-Line, etc. But you can also argue that a good QB makes average WR look a lot better. We will see.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:43 PM) Brandon Marshall is one of the top WR's in the league. YOu could argue that Cutler makes him better, but he's no slouch. Eddie Royal was a youngster that was brilliant. Again, Cutler might have helped but he had weapons. He had little running game though. I just checked the data...turns out that Denver had more rushing yards and more ypc than Chicago did last year by quite a bit. They were at 4.8 ypc, 12th in the league in rushing yards total. Now of course, one can certainly argue that they were able to rush more because their offense was more open with a solid QB, wasn't facing 8 man fronts, wasn't regularly going 3 and out because they had the ability to convert on 3rd down. They may not have had a premier back, but they picked up quite a bit more yardage than the Bears.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:36 PM) Didnt realize how bad things were in Chicago if people are going this crazy for Cutler. Bears pro-bowl QB's since 1950: 1985: Jim McMahon 1963: Bill Wade 1956: Ed Brown 1955: Ed Brown 1952: Johnny Lujack 1951: Johnny Lujack

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:30 PM) Whose White? I assume you mean Clark? Yeah yeah.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:25 PM) ok, so now we... ya know... need some people to throw too. Forte cant run for 1500 and catch 1500. Bennett, Hester, Olsen, and White is a good starting point. There needs to be 1 more in that mix, possession type receiver, but it's a decent fit given the QB the Bears just got. This also probably just got Forte another 100-200 yards running just on its own, because now the safeties and CB's have no choice but to play back. You can't play an 8 man front against Cutler.

Rod Blagojevich and a large number of his staff including his brother are officially facing federal corruption charges.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:14 PM) Olsen is gonna be an absolute stud now. Hester and Bennett have a chance to really develop. Maybe Holt? Maybe a WR in the 2nd round, there figures to be some solid options there This is supposed to be a very good 2nd round WR class, and there's probably an OT or OG remaining in the 2nd this year as well. The Bears could actually go defense now if they think Bennett will be playing well with Cutler this year.

And I'm gonna go ahead and close this one.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:09 PM) I am well aware; however, this is a love fest. A team that has been mired in 20th to 30th place QB's every year save 1 since roughly 1986 getting a top 10 QB is going to set their fanbase off.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:07 PM) We need a good target for him. Somebody besides Hester, somebody like hmmm...Tory Holt? Do it Angelo. Earl Bennett was Cutler's main target in his last college season.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:06 PM) Leave. He's 100% right. On paper, the Bears gave up a ton, with how draft picks are valued in this league and with the cap implications of the move. That said...it was 120% the right move for the Bears and that was the exact offer I was asking them to make...except the Bears also get back a 3rd rounder.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 02:13 PM) I know they both suck. I think Wise sucks a little less than Pods though. Both they are both terrible pretty much. Pods can take a walk. Wise currently has better speed and more power. That's about your difference IMO.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 01:49 PM) When KW says he used the savings on Swisher to sign Viciedo (albeit one year of Swisher) you are correct, the purpose of that trade was to reduce payroll. They added to it. Vazquez was a dump as well, although I think it was a smart move. Next offseason will be the interesting one with money with all that is coming off the books. Will they bring in higher salaried guys, or go cheap and young? I think only a disaster of a season in 2009 will force them to spend much next year. If they play .500, they can get away with saying Beckham and Viciedo are coming, we don't need to spend money. If they are brutal and their top prospects not very impressive, JR will be forced to break out the checkbook just like he was for Linebrink and Dotel. There's one other big variable you're leaving out...the economy. This year's liable to be rough, really really rough, on everyone outside of NYY. Next year's looking like another of those years when raising ticket prices isn't a good move, and this year we could see single game/walkup attendance really down, and next year we may see a decently large hit to the season ticket base as well. Either way, barring some shocking mid-season move by KW, I fully expect our payroll next year to be a few %age points lower than this year, given that we're dropping Contreras's salary and we appear to have at least 2-3 pitchers ready who can fill the 4/5 slots, and we'll be dropping Dotel and we probably have a young guy or two who can step in there. And Beckham's going to have to play somewhere. Ditto Viciedo.

The article also says Baker is out, and I'm going to update the thread title, because he's important too even if he hasn't annoyed us for as long.