Harry Chappas

With a healthy Cutler, the Bears, 49ers and Saints are the only teams that could hope to challenge the Packers. Lovie has a history of playing the Packers tough so that is what we as Bear fans could hang our hats on fro the remainder of the season.

The Office last night was unwatchable. I have stuck with the Office but holy s*** that was one of the worst things I have ever watching. It made Whitney and Teabow seem watchable.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 17, 2011 -> 10:24 AM) The Bears will be hurt by Williams being out for the season from here forward. The O-line is basically what determines how far the Bears can go. Hub Arkush was going on about how Chris Williams still stinks and that Edwin Williams may be better suited for it.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Nov 16, 2011 -> 10:37 PM) I was thinking that at about 1:20. The show is going in too many directions The Tara self destruction thing is a tad over the top for me. She appears to want to stay while Jax wants to leave. I like the Unser Opie thing. The "war games" is getting old. Overall the show is still good but it is winding down.

According to ole Jed, the cubs have moved from the selection phase to the decision phase of the managerial process. I am surprised there was not more of a press conference announcing this.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 11, 2011 -> 07:49 AM) Congrats on another season in AAA, Dayan. Or at least 1/3 of a season, until Carlos gets hurt. Unless he is moved for young pitching

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 10, 2011 -> 03:13 PM) Is this the former Cubs prospect? yes

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2011 -> 02:16 PM) No, let's do the right thing and fire him based on his own admissions that he did not do enough. Yes, I will sit here on my high horse and say that no matter what else he did in his life, what he has already admitted to in this case tarnishes everything. Oh, and if you were watching earlier this thread, my reaction to the statemetns about the DA et al. dropping their 1998 investigation were to question whether the DA could face charges over failing to act. It was suggested to me that they cannot be charged for that. he is presumed to be dead

Steve Stone loves Donnie Veal, I am not joking

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Nov 9, 2011 -> 02:19 PM) Welcome to my side of the argument, a.k.a. the right side And yes, remember how the hitman was told to make it look like some kind of accident so that it couldn't come back to Clay? How in the f*** would her being kidnapped right in front of Jax look like an accident? I realize that they were going to make it look like the rival cartel, but I'm fairly certain the last thing Clay said was to make it look accidental. The show is still fun most of the time, but its writing has gone downhill. It's almost like watching a TV show directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It's written backwards just to have a "WOW I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING" moment every few episodes. I took that whole kidnapping as something where they did not want to kill Tara and the cartel is setting something up. The person that was going to take out Tara was supposed to work alone, why is he in the park and how did he get four guys to plan this thing with no notice at all. Something seemed odd there. I agree though that the reality is really slipping but I guess they need to do something.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 9, 2011 -> 03:38 PM) Is he or is he not the head of the football program? Wouldnt he be the person to ban someone from his practices?? Wouldnt he be the correct person to call the police or other authorities when he saw Sandusky illegally taking a child to his practice? How far can you go with this ignorance defense? I ma not trying to be an ass here but after the "ban" was he seen around Paterno and practice with kids? He seemed to be doing this when he knew the team was away. It may have said in the GJ report and I may have missed it. The creepy thing that should have tipped everyone off is him traveling to the Bowl games with these kids. Was/is sandusky's wife around?

I think the hope is that he will leave with a little dignity if that is even possible. The man has been at the school for 50 years. I think the school's stance is that while he obviously did not do as much as he could/should have he was not criminally wrong with what he did and it would be good to let him go out on his own terms. Maybe he has earned that right maybe not but it really is wrong to completely judge him without him telling his side of the story. The guy has become a fictional character for many years now who knows what is going on in his head anymore. Paterno seemed to attempt to distance himself from the situation by alienating Sandusky in the late 90's. Paterno is a football coach, not necessarily rocket science. He handed this issue off and I guess assumed the right folks were handling it. He did not take the initiative to see things through as far as we know. He may have asked and gotten answers he liked. He is not the enforcement wing of the school. The coach was fired the university let him hand around. We do not know what Paterno thought of him but he obviously gave him some benefit of the doubt which folks higher up at PSU and law enforcement should not have. Paterno knew the guy for 30 years. The DA in this case, is a real odd story http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Gricar The DA and others are far greater to blame than Paterno. It is kind of sad that he will go out wheater after the season or today like this. Jerry Sandusky should rot in eternal hell and may end up like Jeffrey Dahmer. Prison does not do those guys good.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 10:04 PM) I fear they're going to kill off Unser on SOA, the only good person on the show. The second Clay was beating up Gemma (which I loved), I knew she was going to ensure that he died. We all know my feelings on her being forced into the story, so of course she gets to be the crux of the plot to take Clay down. And it looks like the Sons will take on the cartel. I can't see this being believable. There's just no way a group of about 12 guys could have any success against those odds. That was an intense episode. The SOA are a small part in the cartel war. The warring cartels are more about the Sons using their high tech weaponry. The whole warfare plot line is silly though. Also just because Tara can not be a surgeon does not mean her career is over. A major head injury possibly but she could still find plenty of work. It does make it a good storyline for why they have to stay though. I guess we also see why the Unser and Gemma storylines were so prominent this season. I think Gemma, Unser and Clay are all dead before this season wraps.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 4, 2011 -> 02:03 PM) Ergo...the Sox don't strike out much...but they don't put the ball in play strongly. Almost as if they're being too aggressive on pitches out of the zone. they swing at bad pitches thus they do not make good contact thus the BIP is not hit well thus it is fielded rather easily thus the hitter is retired thus BABIP is low Sounds like Manto's strategy As the Who says, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss"

The White Sox are not a good situational hitting team and they have a low BABIP because they swing at any pitch that is close to being a strike and then get themselves out. This is the mantra that I heard from Jeff Manto this morning. This appears to be their philosophy and the Twins pitch to this and admit that they simply let he White Sox get themselves out. What is changing? Am I to now believe they will change this theory based on the pitcher? I am not getting a good feeling about this the more I hear.

Well it looks like the BABIP and infield popups are not changing any time soon. Should get a fair share of soft tossers throwing 88 pitch complete games as well with the sprinkling of solo home runs If a runner is fast and takes a walk he can avoid the double play a few different ways I listened to the interview and he did not say anything that led me to believe the above will not be true.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 3, 2011 -> 03:49 PM) Which of course means...miracles will happen next year. If Mauer and Moreanu are MVP candidates and and some pitcher pulls a Cy Young type season out of their ass

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 3, 2011 -> 02:13 PM) Nah, that's impossible. The season will either end with things unresolved between Clay and Jax, or Clay dead. There's aboslutely no way things don't come to a head. I wonder if Unser covers up Piney's death and makes him basically go MIA. The Otto thing is an interesting twist as well

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Nov 3, 2011 -> 12:29 PM) I think they are just trying to show how big of a war it will be on their turf if they keep staying involved. I thought it was a great episode with the 49ers stuff and Jax basically pushing Clay aside It sets up for Juice and Jax to work something out for an exit strategy...problem is this is not the last season so I am not sure how it will all play out.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Nov 3, 2011 -> 12:12 AM) Pilot error (stupidity): http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/7180944/...avl-plane-crash That same thing is common among elderly and women drivers.

I think these are nice moves but I am not hearing anyone say anything other than these are miracles to the team, outside of this site. This is the sure thing big splash that the cubs always do it just has a different message. The Twins are still good because of the work Andy McPhail did to build an organization. Dallas Green was fired because he was too good at the job, no joke. Riggelman, Dusty, Baylor, Pinella...all the same guys Theo is looking for. How is this move any different? Jed Hoyer was about to be fired. He is a sock puppet for Theo and will be the first fall guy when it fails. Same thing with the Scouting Director they got from SD. They took a 90 win team and turned it into a 70 win team in one off-season. That is brilliance. In the 1997 offseason the Red Sox got Jason Varitek and Pedro Martinez handed to them. The Red Sox averaged 90 wins for the next 6 years. Then Theo was hired with a nicely roided up Manny and Ortiz. He has Starlin and Garza to build on here..... The cubs are not the Boston Red Sox never have been. The Red Sox were frequent visitors to the World Series who had to compete annually with the Yankees who are there every few years. The cubs in the NL historically have to worry about.......the Marlins...or their bitter rivals and winner of 11 WS the Cardinals Theo did some good things and he is a smart guy. Does he know something that the other GM's do not? Every team has taken a part of he A's and Red Sox model....the model is not working that well for Oakland....Theo has his proprietary way of thinking. This way of thinking is now in Arizona, San Diego and remains in Boston. Theo was surrounded by a great organization and great baseball minds in Chicago he will be surrounded by a few guys that were canned by the Padres, Crane Kenny, a goat, a cat and maybe if they make the playoffs an Orthodox Priest. Rick Hahn is the highest paid assistant in baseball and has turned down interviews to be teams GM's because of the train wreck that is paying his bills.. If Tony LaRussa becomes the President of the White Sox has he won enough to make our off season as pretty as the cubs? The cubs needed to make these moves as they do not have the finances to sign the free agents to get the fans back. They are going to build from within and spend money on Theo to be the shiny new toy to get he lemmings out to the friendly confines. They may even bring in an unemployed Tito or Dale Sveum...yes a hitting coach who was able to work miracles with Fielder and Bruan...ah the new cub mentality. Theo is going to go at it the way most organizations wiht limited finances are now going about it, through the farm system and draft........the fellow down in KC has the next 5 world series wrapped up then Theo can win the next 5 I always go out to the game to see the GM sitting in his box watching.....ah the sheep... they buy lock stock and barrell into everything. Season Tickets fro the Peoria Chiefs are on sale now get them while you still can.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 2, 2011 -> 11:26 AM) if you ever do that again you are done here. banned. forever. come on hawk loved to watch both of them run...stocky switch hitting black gentleman...easy mistake...not like confusing the one dog with either of them..

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 2, 2011 -> 11:22 AM) Julio Franco never protected Ray Durham. Neither did Pasqua. Cora, yes. Sorry I meant Raines.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 2, 2011 -> 11:12 AM) NY and Boston don't have as big a drop off in production from 1 thru 9 as most other teams do. Which is why this philosophy can work for them and not for every team which the cubs will find out soon enough as have the A's.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 2, 2011 -> 10:48 AM) It does, however, mean more pitches. Which if it is a team philosophy can be useful. If you have one or two guys working the count and the remainder of the lineup swinging at the first close pitch they see, the walk is not effective. Boston and New York are successful because they can tax a good starter and get them out with the philosophy of fighting off good pitches and taking a ton of pitches. If Adam Dunn looks at a strike down the middle on 2-0 and gets a walk to get to the OPS terrible Alex Rios, this idea has failed. You have to have a team of OPS focused players not just a couple sprinkled in here and there. When Frank Thomas and Ray Durham were in sync it worked to perfection when Julio Franco was there to protect them. When Dan Pasqua was there to protect them, it did not work that well.