IlliniKrush

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 11, 2014 -> 09:31 AM) Unfortunately this is the NHL working by design, though. There may be another 3 year lull while talent builds. I don't think expecting your two biggest stars to take deals way below market value deals is realistic. NHL needs to get some TV revenue. It's ridiculous to me how the top stars in NHL make so little comparatively. THe MLS pays their stars more. I never said that. I said the other deals that Stan overpaid on will start to hurt them. With this core, you can't just have a 3 year lull. One of the windows is right now. There's a salary cap as you know, so that's going to limit how high they can earn anyway. Do MLS stars really make 10.5 mil? I'm legit asking, I honestly don't know. It was my understanding that MLS guys don't make a ton, which is one reason it's so hard to get top talent. I can't imagine MLS revenue is greater than NHL revenue. Maybe it's the top stars make a ton and everyone else is making peanuts? Is the MLS TV contract that good? Don't the play on NBCSN as well?

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ Jul 11, 2014 -> 12:52 AM) I'm ready for Johns, Dahlbeck and Clendening. Johns compares to Seabrook (size), Clendening to Leddy (offense) and Dahlbeck to Oduya (stay at home). It's weird that it's the case but it's true. Not sure you're putting Oduya in a "stay at home" category. Anyway, you can be ready for them, doesn't mean they are. Lot tougher to build a Cup worthy roster with so many young guys being counted on for significant minutes. But, the point is all those guys better be pretty good or they could be in trouble. QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 11, 2014 -> 12:57 AM) Thats the issue, you have to trust you drafted or acquired the correct young talent. And that's why it's worrisome. Depth could be a really big issue.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 09:48 PM) To Illini fans: Were you upset when Cliff Alexander momentarily put an Illini hat on his head on his commitment day, then put the Kansas hat on his head? Or do you just figure it's a young kid having a little fun on his big day? Just curious. Big Cliff is out 3 weeks with a badly sprained ankle. His back was sore earlier this summer as well. Is he injury prone? I clicked "latest post" and apparently I haven't read this thread since November?

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 09:56 PM) The organization hates Leddy, Oduya and Seabrook will move on when their deals are over, and Sharp is going to be dealt eventually. Crawford might be gone in the next 2-3 years, too. There has to be a decent way to get out of the Hossa deal, as well. Once again, I'm not worried. And the replacements are...? It's super easy to get under the cap, if that's all you're trying to accomplish here. The challenge is fielding a Cup worthy team while doing so. Again, going to rely on a ton of young, cheap talent soon. That is absolutely something to be worried about.

Robin's the last manager I want on a contending team in September. Oh man, I have more guys I can use now? Guess I can use them all in high-leverage situations! September 2012 was some of the worst managing I can remember. He had zero idea how to use an expanded roster.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 07:21 PM) He fanned Him twice preciously and Papi hadn't had a hit the entire series. Load em up for Napoli when he is having problems throwing strikes isn't a good option. Didn't he also strike out Napoli twice previously? Wash. Who would you rather face there, Napoli or Ortiz? Obvious. Don't pitch to their best hitter with 1st open. That isn't a good option. A walk of Napoli, if it gets that far, scores 1 run (he got him out after the Ortiz at bat anyway, quite easily). Then it gets to 3-1. You need to just stand up for ball 4 at that point.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 07:49 PM) That's a hell of a haul. They keep talking about playing together, too, so who knows.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 04:16 PM) Thomas looks like a real possibility here. Groce apparently has the best personal relationship with Bragg as well. If he could somehow land Thomas and Evans (who everyone seems to be absolutely raving about lately), that would do wonders. Finally would have the playmaking PG.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 06:23 PM) Bunting in front of Abreu, a fireable offense if there ever was one. Oh and this. He's so clueless sometimes on general baseball strategy. Stuff that's outside of the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" range. He took the bat out of his best player's hands. Amazing.

Pitching to Ortiz with an open base and 2 outs, and then also on a 3-1 count in that at bat...absolutely mindless. Even Stone and Hawk called him out on it, it was that stupid.

QUOTE (lord chas @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 02:02 PM) Saw this as well. I don't think giving me a hat would make me sit through a 40 degree game personally but give them credit for trying something. The weather this April was terrible That was the gist of my response, many Sox fans know they are going to attend around X games per season, so why not wait until it warms up a bit? April games in 40 degree weather, when there are what 65ish other ones outside of April, aren't worth going to for most people, and how can you blame them? They are still making the same amount of games, just going later. I said one thing to try to help would be not only to continue comps, but to maybe comp a May/June/July/August game for any April game bought, or something along those lines. Or greatly discount the tickets, or parking, or some sort of concession voucher. If April games are generally the same in price and benefits as a June game, you can figure out which one most people will pick.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 02:58 PM) Kane is the best playoff scorer in the league, and while I agree with you now, I think we're seeing peak Toews and peak Kane has at least another level to go to - the kid's got multiple 100 point seasons in his future. Maybe one of the best clutch playoff scorers in the league, but he's had his disappearing moments as well. I sure hope Kane gets to another level, but I wouldn't be betting on multiple 100+ point seasons (though a real center could help...). "Could get to another level" is weak justification for 10.5 or a match of Toews. Though I'll agree that Toews is probably at peak now, and may not play much after this contract considering his style of play. But right now, Toews is the more valuable player without a doubt and worth more than Kane. QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 03:00 PM) Did anyone hear the sort of breaking story about Johnnys Ice House? Some guy was banned for complaining that he was robbed and pistol whipped in the parking lot, so the GM told him to look for suburban places to play hockey, and then the owner followed up with an email that called him a coward and that he was indefinitely banned from JIH. wtf I've been following it closely (I used to play there a ton), and it's an absolute joke. They failed to take PR 101. GM sends a terrible email, it goes public, owner steps in and sends a worse email and bans him. Although the guy sending the email wasn't one of the 3 guys that got robbed from what I saw. Not that it makes a huge difference. At some point (and it's probably happened already behind closed doors) the Hawks are going to step in here. This has story has gone from local to national, and "Hawks practice facility" is mentioned every time and there is a giant hawks logo on the outside of the building. A quick google search will give you some NBC links. It also made Yahoo, and was talked about on the Score as well. QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 03:05 PM) which one West.

Sox just sent out an email survey, the focus was about April games and perhaps starting a "Foul Weather Fan" Club. The other focus was on the use of replays at the park (not just during challenges). I don't know that they'll move the needle much on these April games, but it appears to be a focus of theirs.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 11:45 AM) I cannot imagine a scenario where I would simply forget that my son was in the car. But even then, in this case, remember the guy went back to his car and should have seen his son. Now add how he acted when the police arrived. Add in the weirdly on-point google searches. Add in the life insurance as a potential motive. To me, if what I've read is true, that's enough. I don't think any of us can, and I don't think that the people that have done it (unintentionally) ever thought they could do it either. Again, I didn't post this in specific regards to this case. I'm in agreement with you. This looks premeditated. I just wanted to address the whole half hour vs 9 hours thing to those that actually make a legit mistake. You could easily get into hour 3 and when you think about your son, you think "I hope he's having fun at day care" when in fact you were supposed to drop him off today, not your wife. So it never triggers you to really remember even as hours go by.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 10, 2014 -> 08:18 AM) The cops put in their reports that he wasn't acting as a distraught parent should. There's more there than just Google searches. But this moron needs to go to jail regardless. I could MAYBE excuse leaving a kid in a hot car for 30 minutes, maybe an hour, and not realizing the danger. But 9 hours? Give this a read. There can be no difference between 30 minutes and 9 hours once something has been forgotten. Note, I'm not posting this to defend this guy, because to me he (and his wife) did this on purpose. I'm posting this to your comment saying someone should go to jail regardless. There are some legit cases where people forgot, and it's the worst mistake they'll ever make in their life. Doesn't make them murderers. Doesn't mean they should go to jail for it. They simply forgot - or assumed something had already been done. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/ma...2a52_story.html

You really try to temper expectations on recruiting and then Jerry Meyer flips his Crystal Ball on Elijah Thomas to Illinois.

BTW, I know everything with the Hawks is "Toews and Kane this" and "Toews and Kane that"...but there's no way Kane should be making what Toews is. I get why it was done that way, but Toews is much more valuable to the team (any team for that matter) than Kane. Realistically, Kane isn't worth a 10.5 cap hit, but at the same time, you aren't letting him walk for that. I'm not trying to s*** on Kane, but he made out better in this deal than he probably would have solo. So hopefully he's thanking Toews for the help.

Well it's not like the roster didn't have holes this year and everything was perfectly managed re: cap. I'm worried as long as Stan keeps handing out over-payments, especially to RFA's. Keep in mind Saad's up next year, too. Leddy's RFA and Oduya UFA next year. Seabrook the year after. Obviously not all of these guys will be around, but they have to be replaced somehow. Either cheap entry level contracts (but we're not quite sure who), or bargain hunting in FA, which as we saw this summer can be a clusterf*** of over-payments there, too. It's going to be a lot tougher moving forward than it was this year to put together the flawed roster they had, at least for the next few years until hopefully it's not as big of a cap hit, and they'll have some more wiggle room for FA's or trades if the young guys can't become impact guys.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 06:10 PM) I don't buy the clubhouse chemistry thing. First off, the team is about 40 under .500 since he left. If getting him off the team helped the chemistry, I hope they go back to the bad where they actually won a World Series. Secondly, if he was as hated as the people who have never been in the clubhouse on game day seem to think, I doubt the White Sox would have signed him to the 3 or 4 contracts they signed him to, and kept him around 8 seasons. That said, if the Sox are ready to pull the plug on Flowers, at this point, they need to see if there is any hope with Phegley before they bring back AJ. QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 10:19 PM) I'm not thinking that he is naturally a good or bad component to clubhouse chemistry -- I'm just thinking that he is a very vocal and active figure that will affect it for better or for worse. It's a very different team since he left, and we don't know how they'd react to AJ, we just know that they WILL react some way. It'd be like dumping sodium into a random compound to see what it did. Maybe it would be a disaster, or maybe nothing, but we know sodium tends to react spectacularly with a lot fo things, so it's a more substantial risk than with something more stable. Well put. You deal with assholes when they are good baseball players, and guys have had a chance to deal with him and figure it out. AJ isn't good anymore, and it's almost an entirely new team. Why bother? When Hawk talks about "we got rid of the aholes" and talks about the clubhouse and all that jazz, that's the exact guy that comes to mind every time. You've been around long enough, you know he's not very well liked, even by teammates. Don't buy it all you want, but it's absolutely a factor with AJ and everyone knows it.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 10:31 PM) I was 26 when Gordon Beckham was a rookie. I am now practically a corpse. He's been terrible ever since I bought his jersey. Be done with him, Sox. This post has all sorts of goodies mixed in there. You should stick around a while, you are a funny man.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 01:49 PM) I sure as hell hope not. I'd rather call up Phegley QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 01:59 PM) I love AJ, but I kind of agree with you. If they did, it wouldn't bother me, but I don't think they should. If the Sox were in contention, it's a no brainer, but unless he is bringing a few pitchers with him, it would be nothing but a publicity stunt IMO, and AJ is not exactly playing well. Father time is catching up I was going to be shocked if there was one person who wanted him here, let alone multiple in this thread. There's no point in getting him. Sox aren't contending this year anyway, and AJ isn't good on top of it. Plus, I'm pretty sure no one on the team wants that personality in the clubhouse again.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 02:05 PM) Welcome to Soxtalk!

Glad they are signed, would have loved a lower number but at least it's not 12. Here's hoping NHL revenue continues to increase the cap in future years. I'd really like both to retire a Hawk if the contracts in 8 years are worth it, but you get the feeling one or both will be in Buffalo/Winnipeg. This is where the Stan over-payments to other guys really come into play. Going to have to count on some of these young guys plugging bigger holes really soon. Plus there will be moves made, if not this year then certainly next summer.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:57 AM) Illinois football has a better history of success than USMNT soccer. Incremental improvement and player development is all we have going with really no history of ever being successful. I get that, but in the past 20 years? Illinois has been one of the worst programs in any major conference. Expectations have been well adjusted.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 9, 2014 -> 11:06 AM) Ok, then I dont want to see you jacked up about Illinois football improving incrementally. Depends what your expectations are. As I've said countless times, I don't expect Illinois to regularly compete for B10 titles right now. So, improving incrementally when you are at rock bottom is great. If they go 3-9, you think I'll be jacked up? I think the USMNT and soccer fans have higher expectations than just showing improvement or trying hard, having close losses and "never giving up" etc. Maybe I'm wrong.