Felix

And Illinois loses.

What's with the border on only one side? I think I like yours better than my latest attempt at a Pods sig:

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 09:24 PM) Dude, you actually say in your sig that Buehrle will win 26 games? When's the last time anyone actually won that many in a season for anyone? 1990. Bobby Welch won 27. The last time before that was 1972, when Steve Carlton won 27.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 09:14 PM) but you can't go get somebody else because you think it might happen. Kenny Williams thought Frank Thomas wouldn't stay healthy this year, so he traded for Jim Thome.

QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:48 PM) hockey top five -- check. Didn't they win the McNaughtin trophy this year or something? I was in Minnesota last weekend and watched a game against Minnesota at Duluth, I think it was the last of the year. They ended up winning 2-0 for their 3rd straight shutout or something. I actually enjoyed watching it, even though I don't like hockey much. I guess I'll have to get into hockey when at the campus

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:45 PM) Yea, and some people think AK isn't a good poker hand because they lost to AA one time. No, seriously, you make excellent points Felix, and I agree completely with you: people think everything that went right last year will go right again this year, and then some more still will go right for the cherry on top. Reality is that maybe 1/2 of went right last year will go right again. Will the bullpen have journeymen like Politte and Hermanson post unreal ERA's? Probably not. Will the starting pitching have a remarkable run of career years and good healthy? Probably not. Will the Sox be so good in 1 run games? Probably not. And even given all those things going wrong, this is still a 90+ win team. I mean, that is the dream of every team in baseball. I guarantee that every team outside of maybe the Oakland and NY would switch rosters straight up with the Sox. However, prediciting 100+ is a bit much for me. It's freaking hard to win 100 games, and everything that went right for the Sox last year, (everything you listed) will have to happen again--and then some. It doesn't make any sense to think like that, at least in my opinion. Sure the Sox got Thome and Vasquez, but given normal health and a few more 1-run losses and blown leads by the bullpen, things will even out. Which is exactly the reason I'm predicting the Sox to win around 96 games at most

They were probably going to cut him either way, so I don't really think its a move leading to the addition of Culpepper.

Lets go Illinois I hate MSU with a passion

Oh well, NIT here we come!

Yea, I think this game is just about over.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:10 PM) 3's are the difference, iowa 7/14 minne 2/13 The difference is shooting in general. Iowa is shooting 52%, Minnesota is shooting 37%.

If the rest of the Gophers played like they did yesterday, and Grier played like he has today, they'd be a tough team to beat.

QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:09 PM) And I'm in Minne-f***ing-apolis and I can't watch the damn game! Something about a High School Hockey Tournament. They really like their hockey in Minnesota, maybe thats why

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2363182

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:02 PM) Channel 26 in Chicagoland. He put himself and Mike Henderson onto every highlight show in the country. I honestly don't really care who wins this game, these 2 teams scare me equally, but that dunk had me going crazy. I live in New Jersey, and only care about this game because I'm going to Minnesota next year I'll make sure I watch Sportscenter tonight then at 11

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 08:01 PM) That dunk by Grier is a strong candidate for dunk of the year. That and the Randle dunk on Marco....wow. You get coverage of it? They better have it on Sportscenter or something.. Also, nice little run here for Minny, up by 4 according to GameCenter.

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 07:58 PM) Ah, back to reality. Do some of you guys realize how hard it is to win 100+ games? As good as the Sox were in both halves of the season last year they still only managed 99 games--that was with great health, amazing pitching, and a league average offense. The reason people think we will win 100 games or more is because they expect all of those things to happen again. They think the players will stay healthy, the pitching will stay amazing, and with the addition of Thome and possible improvement of Iguchi and Crede, the offense will be amazing. By comparison of players, this years team is better than last years team, which leads to a lot of 100+ win predictions.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 07:48 PM) Hermanson's condition and the quality of the left handed candidates make it important to obtain at least one more relief pitcher, especially if Politte can't repeat last season's performance, which is highly unlikely even if he was striking everyone out in spring training. Its not like he's facing a line-up of major leaguers right now, and just because he was brutal last spring and had a good year, doesn't mean he'll be great with a brutal spring this year. I think the White Sox should be at least a little concerned. I agree the Sox should be concerned, but from your first post on the matter, you said that they should get a couple of relievers, then immediately said that Politte was getting knocked around. If he got knocked around last year and it didn't effect his pitching during the regular season, why would it effect it this year? I agree that Hermanson is a big question mark, and Politte and probably Cotts are unlikely to repeat their 2005 performances, and I think that the Sox should trade for some real bullpen help, but I don't think the fact that Politte is getting knocked around in the Spring means anything in this. Also, it seems like everyone is freaking out about what Lopez did today. Yea, he got knocked around, but the wind was a huge factor today. The same can be said for Haeger, and anyone else that pitched in todays game. I mean, Borchard's homerun looked like a lazy fly ball to left, but ended up going over the fence. Take today's game with a grain of salt, hell, even less. This is only Spring Training.

Minnesota has 13 offensive rebounds and 10 defensive. By comparison, Iowa has 4 offensive and 12 defensive rebounds.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 07:34 PM) If you would have read my whole post, I mentioned that. Good point, but if it happened last year too, what makes it so different, and a reason to get a couple of relievers? I do agree with this. I don't see Cliff repeating his 2006 performance, and I see him going back to a 3.60-4.00 ERA.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 07:29 PM) Politte is getting knocked around As someone pointed out earlier in this thread, Politte got knocked around last spring training too.

Am I realistic in thinking that if Minnesota makes it to the finals and lose (extremely unlikely, but if it happens by some remote sequence of events), they would make a strong case for an NCAA bid? Or was the start of their Big 10 schedule too dismal to overcome?

Looks like a nice run for Minny with time running down in the half. I don't get it on TV here , so I'm just watching NCAASports.com's gamecast.

Of course they'd have pictures of the bad attempt in left for Borch and the throwing error for Fields, but not the nice play by Iguchi in the first

Its nice to see Minnesota start the game off hot.