Jenksismyhero

I think the Bulls are the clear favorite (assuming Cavs without Love). They won 48 games without their best player. They lost nothing of value. They added tons of scoring. With Lebron, Kyrie and Wiggins, you don't have a jump shooter to count on. One of the grantland podcasts I listened to this week said Kyrie is the 2nd worst jump shooting guard in the league. So what happens in crunch time when you double up Lebron? Who scores? Whose the Ray Allen/Chris Bosh on that team ready to hit that big shot? I guess you could say Mike Miller, but is he going to hold up through another long season/playoff run? That's why Love could be huge. You would lose the defensive capabilities that Wiggins brings, but you add a big time shooter to the mix.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 01:18 PM) The problem is I can find much worse negative things to say about almost every other team in the East. The Cavs might be weak on defense but they at least would have some serious strengths to counter it. When you start comparing them to the West, they're definitely not invincible, but no one in the East has sold me on being a well rounded team without major holes. Assuming, as we must do, that Rose is healthy, what is the Bulls glaring weakness?

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 12:09 PM) It would. Aaron Jordan and DJ Williams are having really good summers also. I think Evans is key to the class, Illinois really needs a true PG. Sounds like he might rise up to a McD's AA too. At all these events he's billed as the best PG there. I think he's the best chance. Clearly has a great relationship with Groce, they've been on him for a while, and there's no Kentucky or Kansas in the mix. He's buddies with Thomas, so maybe we get a package deal of sorts. Bragg I think is a pipe dream with the other schools involved, but who knows.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 11:53 AM) I really think Illinois lands Jawan Evans, Elijah Thomas and Carlton Bragg That'd be quite the class.

Keep in mind they put a claim on him. Other teams did too. They were the high bidder. There was no guarantee of getting him.

23 Americans on board.

Craziness. I wonder if this was sanctioned by Putin.

As far as the pay/lifestyle thing goes, I think that guy should do whatever he wants. HOWEVA, if he has law loans, suck it up for another year or whatever and pay those suckers off before moving on. If he's making bank without a wife or a kid, that's the perfect time to do it. I'm in a spot where i'm not making what I probably should be making, but my firms practice and the people I work with are awesome. I have a relatively light case load, I have different kinds of cases, I can take off days here and there without totally screwing up my schedule. I probably work 45 hours max a week. Would an extra 10-15k really be worth not getting home to see my wife and kid until 8 every night? Nope.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 11:16 PM) http://www.onlinechicagorealestate.com/ren...ago-c13176.html From this site: This information is the nail in the coffin for them. Back to this for a second, if they take the $80 or whatever "settlement" (I call it theft) you come up with, make sure your GF sends them a letter or a confirmation email explaining the deal and expressly stating that's all that she owes.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 10:54 AM) Melo doesn't have an opt out? After 4 it looks like.

I think the Stephenson stuff is so overblown. He's a good player who acted like a douchebag a couple of times on national TV. So f***ing what. Just about every player in the NBA acts like a douchebag at some point. Also, he's going to get a better deal out of this because he's only signing for 3 years. Like Lebron, and unlike Melo, they're going to be able to take advantage of the new TV money (NBA is asking for double what they currently have), which is going to raise the max salary limits. Melo is locked in, these other guys aren't.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jul 16, 2014 -> 07:05 AM) I just completed five years teaching in an economically disadvantaged school district. I should be receiving a $5000 credit on my loan. I applied through my universities financial aid office, the next day I received a notice from Sallie Mae that they were processing it. I'm holding my breath it goes smooth. That's it? Are you sure there's not a federal forgiveness program for teachers?

I've been working with some BS sand wedge I bought in a used bin and no lob wedge for years. Finally broke down and decided to buy the Cleveland 588 RTX wedges. 56 and 60 degree. Pretty pumped to start using them once they get here. I've gotten pretty good at using my pitching and gap wedges from 115-15 yards, so it'll be interesting to see how long it'll take me to figure out the best wedge the use from those distances.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 05:43 PM) I used the Income Based or Income Contingent plan a while back. I don't remember which and I don't remember the difference either. If I recall correctly, they just needed some information from your most recent tax return and I think your spouse's SSN. Didn't take too long, I think a month or less to get it changed. You may want to make sure your wife is set up for that program. My wife worked for a place four years before she found out that she was not signed up for loan forgiveness and so that time did not count. Yeah we're sending that paper work in too. You can't technically apply for the forgiveness until 2017, but there's an office that will track your payments annually. It also looks like once you've registered they transfer your loan to a specific servicing company that works solely with the PSFL program.

So we applied. Pretty easy. They actually linked up with the IRS website and obtained our tax return and then I gave them my student pin so they could look up my loans. Pretty seamless. From my calculator guesstimates I think we'll save about $350/month. I'm really pissed at myself that I didn't look into this until it was almost half way through the term of her forgiveness program. They tell you straight away if you're going to be eligible for the program you should immediately change the repayment to an income based plan. We've probably spent $15-16,000 the last 4 years in payments that we did not need to spend. farmteam - i'm in a similar boat. I had 6 figures in loans and have been paying them off the last 6 years on a standard plan. Way, way more than the income plans would require. I've always been terrified of the interest additions after 25-30 years so I never changed the repayment plan. If you get into one of these income based plans your payments are forgiven after 20 or 25 years. I'm nervous about that though. First, the government could always change its mind on that. Second, if my income raises over the next 20-25 years, or say I get an awesome case and make a few hundred thousand off it, i'm out of the program and then im stuck with that interest. And for $90-100k at 4.75-6.5%, that's not exactly pocket change. Edit: you should definitely look into consolidating. Especially since you haven't started paying back yet. I bet you'll save a lot in the long run.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 05:00 PM) Most glaring need was an athletic SG/SF, second biggest need was a back up guard who could play PG/SG. McDermott is a nice scorer, but there is a huge log jam at that spot. Im not sure what is hard to understand about the fact that at most only 3 of Gasol, Noah and Mirotic/McDermott/Taj can be on the floor at any time. Which means that 2 positions have been left pretty barren. Not sure what is complicated about that. We disagree on the need. The need was scoring, from basically anywhere but PG. And that's exactly what they did.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 04:24 PM) ZZZ It was never about whether McDermott could score, it has always been about what is the plan when you add Mirotic, Gasol, McDermott and dont really address other needs. But if McDermott is playing PG/SG that is something to discuss, otherwise the guy who was a great scorer in college should continue to be a great scorer going up against similar college level talent. I just don't understand this argument. The Bulls were last in offense last year, so they went out and got guys that are skilled on offense. They addressed the most glaring need they had. What about that doesn't make sense to you? Do you really think a backup guard was more important than guys that can score in a variety of ways?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 04:16 PM) Lol, I remember that one.

I won't miss the guy, but Boozer brought SOME things to the team. Some double-double's here and there, some awesome rap music, and let's not forget, the hair:

Most of us here probably have some student loans, so a question for those that have changed up their repayment plan: My wife has about 50k in loans from her grad school and undergrad. We've been paying them back on a 10 year repayment plan starting in about 2009. She (and I) just learned about 6 months ago that she'll be eligible for the public service loan forgiveness program (after 10 years working at a not-for-profit and after 10 years of payments, the remainder of the loans go away). Having just learned this, we've been stupidly paying way more than we should be paying (you're welcome, America) for the last 5 years. Under the current plan we'll pay back what she owes in 10 years anyway, so no benefit for that program. I want to now apply for one of the income-based plans so that we pay back as little as possible. With my loans from law school i'm sure we qualify for some kind of discount on what she has to pay. Has anyone ever applied for one of the income based plans before? Any idea how long it takes and how much of a pain it is? Looks to me like they just look up our income tax filings and I give them my loan information and that's it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 15, 2014 -> 01:03 PM) The Vikings conducted an internal investigation about whether releasing P Chris Kluwe was driven by his outspokenness in favor of equal rights for homosexuals. The Vikings previously pledged to release the results of that report. Today they shifted positions and no longer intend to release that report. I was totally willing to believe the Vikes cut him for no reason other than the normal he was expensive and there were cheaper options...until right now. FWIW the Vikings are denying they ever promised to make it public. And I have to believe them unless Kluwe or his attorney comes up with written confirmation of that. That's something you're going to memorialize and not just keep as an oral promise. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11218287...ct-mike-priefer Also, LOL at his lawsuit. Sadly the PR hit will probably be too big for the Vikings and the League so i'm sure they'll settle, but that case has no shot unless Kluwe admits he's gay. Not sure how religion plays into this, and there was no defamation. Tortuous interference is possible, but he was not under contract at the time was he? I don't remember.

Jesus, that guy is way more patient than I would have been. Glad he taped it though and spread the word. Comcast is f***ing terrible.

Snell reminds me a lot of Jimmy in year one - passive, didn't blow you away with any particular skill, never embarrassed himself, generally looked like he belonged as a role player. Hopefully he can make the jump in season two (as most rookies do) and can become a better threat to score.