MarlinFan84

If it wasnt for the "Dee Dee Dee" thing Carlos Mencia might be funny. But that is just the most idiotic, unfunny phrase ever and the fact that it caught on and overused just takes away from any good value Mencia might have. Either way, George Lopez is still the funniest hispanic comedian anyway IMO.

Kyyle23 and Rowand44, what are your screen names at ST?

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jan 29, 2007 -> 12:26 PM) I'd predict Wood to redshirt as well but we'll see. Don't forget about Cornelius, he'll make an even bigger Cornelius tore his ACL, and while it can be fixed, you are never the same afterwards. Not only, even with complete rebuilding of the ligament, re-injury at some point likely, but it is a gateway to other more serious knee problems. IMO, CC will be a decent bench player and nothing more because of this injury. Not only that, people are talking about him like hes Michael Jordan...the kid hasnt played a game yet, shown nothing, and has a serious injury. I dont get why everyone is putting all their eggs into Cornelius's basket. I hope I am wrong about him, but I highly doubt thats the case. As far as tSIU/Buter in the BB goes...I am not so sure it is as done a deal as everyone thinks. Butler not only has had 2 MVC teams in their OOC this year(Indiana State and Evansville, whom they split with), but also 3 teams next year(Indiana State, Bradley, Evansville). I think the matchup is probably still likely, but you never know...its kind of a catch 22, to have 4 very strong teams on the OOC, but they come from the same conference.

The Big 10 got demolished in last years tournament, and they didnt lose respect. Id love the Dawgs to play at Duke and end their OOC home win streak...even the gurantee would be quite large(probably $90-100K...UNC was going to give us $80K for a gurantee in Chapel Hill and we turned it down). Losing Tatum and TY is going to hurt next year, but we get Fay(who, IMO, would of been 4 star talent on scout and rivals if he didnt play at the class A level), and a pure scorer in Brandon Wood. Evans will redshirt most likely, but according to anonymous coaches we stole him. I am not predicting success next year, as our current OOC as it stands is going to be tough and the Valley is getting stronger every year, but I nevertheless hope for the best.

Except no one says that. Hell, this year, IU's win over SIU is their signature victory on their resume.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Jan 28, 2007 -> 08:48 PM) Win at SIU = Ho hum, should beat em Lose at SIU = We f***ing lost to a mid major??!?!?!?! The only problem with this line of thinking is, it is stupid. Most national media, including ESPN suprisingly, considers the MVC on par with the BCS leagues in basketball. Add to that that SIU Arena is one of the toughest places in the country to grab a W, and it could quite possibly be the best game on IU's OOC schedule. Espicially since it would be one of only two or 3 OOC road games(at most). Losing to tSIU at SIU Arena wouldnt be frowned upon at all...by anyone, anywhere. In fact, IU was like a 3 point favorite in their house this year, AT Assembly Hall, and in betting lines the home team always gets a 2 or 3 point favor. So, in theory, this year, according to bookies, IU and SIU were evenly matched, on a neutral court who knows who would of been the favorite. Some people are going to have to just realize that the MVC is a damn good league(still ahead of the mighty Big East and Big 12 in the RPI), who...btw...have a winning record against the BCS conferences this year, with only a handful(if that) of those games coming at MVC home arenas.

The sad thing is if BCS coaches continue to spout that it is not beneficial to play valley teams, they are going to look more and more foolish.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Jan 28, 2007 -> 09:19 AM) The Salukis OOC home games next year are gonna be really tough if they draw Butler, but I really like that. If they get Butler in the bracketbuster, they already have Butler and Indiana coming to the Arena, Murray State is always in the mix, and possibly St Marys again. I hope Carlton Fay is as good as Salukitalk.net thinks he is. The tentative schedule for next year is: Indiana, St. Marys, Butler(most likely)/Bracket buster return, Western Kentucky, and BB game at home. Washington Huskies, Murray State, St. Louis, and Charlotte on the road. And probably a tournament.

Lost in all of this is a good home win by tSIU over Illinois State. Illinois State has improved alot over the course of the season and have brought in consecutive good recruiting classes. They took the lead into halftime. BTW, I dont think Bruce's job is in jeopardy. I hope not anyway, since he wants tSIU on the schedule, and I dont think that happens...and theres a slim chance of it anyway...without Bruce there. Not really any viable candidates either. But I DO know Tubby's job down at UK is in peril, although they will let him retire or resign before they fire him IMO. And the two leading candidates to replace him, according to some little birdies, are current UMass head coach Travis Ford and Valpairiso assistant(and Homers son) Bryce Drew.

Arent signing bonuses the only guranteed money in the NFL? And I doubt he would of gotten anything near that high from any NFL team.

If anyone cares, former ChiSawx Miguel Olivo and Joe Borchard were both retained by the Marlins for whatever reason. Both are awful. Olivo is one of the worst defensive catchers out there and its likely his mediocre 2006 was a career year. I expect him to really regress at the plate. Borchard has power but strikes out a ton. Has a strong arm but sucks defensivley. We also still have Sergio Mitre from the Cubs, who is quite possibly the worst pitcher I have ever seen....the fact that he wasnt good enough to pitch for the cubs should of been a red flag. Terrible. Need to quit picking up crap off of Chicagos scrap heap(I know Olivo and Borchard had already moved on and were someone elses garbage, but still). Our flagship signing so far was Aaron fricking Boone and giving Olivo $2 million, which is laughable when you have to think an arbitrator wouldnt of awarded him anything more than $900K, and thats being generous.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 09:34 PM) I hope they enjoy the 5/60 to 5/65 they'll be paying a dog (in terms of effort) if they plan on keeping him. And it's 5/75 more to get a free swinging vet who can't play defense and who would play in CF (Soriano). And they still have no pitching, a hole in LF, RF, at 2B, and SS...... as well as CF and 3B if they can't get those 2 guys, and a thin pitching FA market (and thin market in general), with the Cubs having no farm system....ya they are pretty bad. The Cubs never win bidding wars, and they'll have to in order to get Zito, A Ram, Soriano, or Matsuzaka. I wish them good luck with that one. LF/RF-Murton, Carlos Lee I heard wants to play for the Cubbies, so Murton would just switch, Cedeno/Izturis @ 2b/SS, probably resign Pierre if push comes to shove. Wouldnt be suprised to see them deal for someone like Teahen for 3B. Not as many holes as you think. Theres a good Japanese League 3B that is going to be posted as well, with a low posting fee. The Cubs could gobble him up.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Oct 27, 2006 -> 10:42 AM) Lots of buzz as a sleeper...returning 98% of the offense from last year including 4 double-digit scorers...2nd year for a well-respected coach who's creating good vibes...a potentially huge break-out year for sophmore Chandler along with a solid senior year from Mejia...top-notch schedule...and probably most importantly, we're in the best conference in the nation... That's how. IMO the SEC will be the best basketball conference in the nation this year...7 teams IMO will make the tourney from that conference(Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and LSU) Sure, the BEast might match that, but there are also going to be that large amount of extra mediocre teams. So, IMO, top to bottom, I think the SEC will be the best. I also dont expect SIU to be ranked before conference play, unless we win the ESPNU or Old Spice classic or whatever its called. Had we found a real opponent instead of scheduling that pathetic regular season game with a d3 school, then maybe, but that made a somewhat average non con schedule(sans Orlando tournament) actually kind of bad. Murray State is supposed to be down and they play in one of the worst conferences out there. SLU is probably not a tournament team. Central Michigan and Washington(MO) on the schedule for any reason is just terrible and somewhat laughable(if it had just been CMU, it wouldnt of been so bad...Wash U shouldnt of been on there for any reason, and that game will give the selection committee a bad taste when it comes time to seed). Western Kentucky IS a quality team, as is Indiana(hopefully). St. Marys will be a scheduling coup, if they can pull a 2005 and make it to the 2005 WCC title game, or in one (or both) of their regular season meetings...or all 3. And now that Milsap has left, Lousiana Tech isnt a quality game anymore. We need a strong bracket buster opponent such as Bucknell or Nevada in Feburary. And now comes the part where I rant on my dislike of how SIU schedules. Sure we can lament WSU for doing a one and done with Syracuse, but thats how it happens. We cant keep having to rely on bracket buster return games or savvy football coaches getting us quality non con opponents. Murray State and WKU are decent programs but should also be the weakest opponents we schedule. SLU is outgunned in the A10, CMU is awful, Wash U being on the schedule at all is inexcusable. Its time to put up or shut up...schedule the big boys. Give us a game we ALL want to see, SIU vs Illannoy. Bruce says he wants to wait until the boys he recruited are gone...well that time is fast approaching. Do a 2-1. Pimp out the program in Orlando, try to get West Virginia and Arkansas on the schedule next season as non tournament OOC opponents. Dont stubbornly refuse to go to(I cant remember if it was Duke or UNC) on a 1 game gurantee on national TV(yes, Lowery turned that down). Get in the NIT season tip off or whatever they are calling it now. Get emerging teams like Bucknell and Nevada on the schedule...or teams that will soon be there like Utah. Get another series with Kent State. Thats the way you have to schedule now. Waiting for 1 and 1 deals just isnt cutting it. And for all the talk of principle, of not going to a big schools place on a 1 game gurantee...we did the exact same with Wash U, a game that will actually HURT us come seeding time. It was a very hypocritical move and karma will come back and bite us in the rear for it.

I am not a Cardinals fan by any means. In fact, I despise them. They horribly overrate their own players. I cant stand the way their organization is run(just like the yankees, just on a smaller scale...pathetic farm system, aging vets, allergic to producing players in-house...altho, Yadier and more recently Duncan are exceptions to the rule). TLR is the most overrated manager ever, he really is at times a truly horrible in game manager, who puts together puzzling lineups, doesnt handle pitching staffs very well, and form attatchments to veterns who at times completely suck. Their fans are arrogant, and a great deal of them...even the ones who go along with the self-proclaimed "best fans in baseball"(another thing that pisses me off), dont know a damn thing about the game. And now, they are acting like world beaters when in fact they are a bad team that won a bad division in a bad league, beat a team they could out slug, beat a team who had the injury bug hit at the exact wrong time, and then beat a team who flushed baseball fundamentals down the toilet. That said, they are champions. Yes, they are quite possibly the worst champions ever. But still champions. While I wont personally congratulate them, never will, and wont ever truly acknowlidge this travesty of a WS win, no one can take it away from them.

Who else made it?