Jenksismyhero

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 31, 2009 -> 09:43 AM) I'll give you drugs because I think we make things worse with that. But healthcare, welfare and poverty prevention (which are all closely related anyway) impact more than a few hundred/ thousand lives a decade. The TRILLIONS of dollars we spend on these things is wonky compared to the number of lives it saves. I mean, if we're being utilitarians here, the cost of a human life is only so much...

Two things: 1) It's clearly evident that the Bears coaching is the worst in the league. 2) It's clearly evident that the Bears front office is one of the worst in the league (at least in terms of valuing draft picks). Other franchises actually have these things called draft picks (a lot of them in fact), and unlike the Bears, they don't waste them on people that haven't played a single down for them (see: Adams, Gaines). If you're a team like the Patriots (who don't really NEED Hester, but could use him), you wouldn't give up a 3rd round pick as a gamble to see if you could use a guy like Hester, who we all know has the athleticism, speed, and moves to make immediate impact (and whose salary is reasonable and based on incentives), but who in the Bears' system couldn't become a decent WR? I think if the Bears announced that Hester was available for a 2nd or 3rd round pick(s), you'd have 3-4 teams on the phone in a day.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 31, 2009 -> 09:20 AM) The amount of money and resources to prevent terrorism seems seems out of whack. Why don't we just completely destroy our economy so that we might save 100 more live in the next decade. Ditto universal healthcare, welfare, war on drugs, war on poverty, guns, etc.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 31, 2009 -> 08:25 AM) And in other news terrorism still the cause of less deaths than salmonella and swine flu. Lets keep flaming the fire of irrational fear. Apples to oranges. Less than 10k Americans have died in Iraq/Ahfganistan. Does that mean it's not a big deal?

QUOTE (danman31 @ Dec 31, 2009 -> 04:03 AM) Crawford has more athleticism than NU has had in a player in a while. He's been a pleasant surprise, though a lot of people thought he was going to be a solid player with good upside. I'm impressed with how quickly he has made an impact. He isn't great, but for a freshman he has been better than expected and should continue to develop. He's already gotten notably better since the start of the year. From an Illini fan's perspective he's about equal to Brandon Paul right now. Both good athletes that are streaky shooters. Paul has more upside, but I think if he can play 4 years and continue to improve the pro's might be calling. That put back of his was the best play of the game. Very impressed with NU. They're an offensive machine. The question is what happens when they don't hit their 3's. Last night they could have easily won by 15 or lost by 15 depending on if their shots were falling. Is that going to be a year long thing? Or has there been enough evidence this year that they're one of, if not the best, shooting team in the nation. And to think these guys are missing their best two players. Pretty impressive. As for Illinois, still not enough passion and desire. It came out in overtime, but more often than not that's a game they're going to lose. They basically play in spurts - 5 minutes of crap, 5 minutes of excellent, repeat. McCamey was no where to be found tonight, Davis continues to show that he's not serious enough about basketball to be a dominant player (despite the fact that statistically he had a good game), and the freshman continued to play like freshman (though at least they hit big shots, get big steals, etc to offset the bad mistakes). Also I thought Cole played some good D and also hit a couple of big shots. He had two pretty crucial turnovers though. I stand by my statement that if Illinois makes the effort to run the entire offense through Tisdale, they'd be a better team and he'd run away with the player of the year. He's unstoppable if he gets the ball in the paint. Just too many offensive moves. More importantly though, he'll open up the floor for everyone else. All in all a solid win over a solid team. I don't know that this will help their tourney resume, but a loss certainly would have been bad.

QUOTE (Brian @ Dec 30, 2009 -> 09:51 PM) Not sure about Player of the Year but he is a tough match up for any Big ten team and should always touch the ball on offense. he'd average 20+ points and around 10 boards if they made sure he got touches every possession

Dear Mike Davis, grow a f***ing pair and jump for a rebound at the most important moment of a game.

If Illinois starts to understand that Tisdale is an offensive juggernaut, they'd be contenders and he'd win player if the year in the big ten

Is it really that difficult to not run into a shooter?

Brandon Paul, welcome back to college basketball. Haven't seen you since game 1.

Anyone else just completely lose interest in this show? I dunno what it is, but I've gone from serious mental issues with liking the show (thinking about it most of the work day, reading the various websites, devoting RSS feed space to the summaries after each episode, etc) to being very disinterested and unexcited about its return. My fiance continues to be obsessed, and she's asked me about 15 times in the last 2 weeks to watch an old episode with her, but I just can't do it. We sat through the first episode from Season 5 two nights ago (I did promise to watch the whole season to get ready for the premiere), but I dunno, it didn't do anything for me. I'm not sure what to think. Maybe having the new and final episodes to watch will bring it back.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 30, 2009 -> 09:11 AM) In all seriousness, you're advocating millitary action, again. Who is your target? I genuinely have no idea who you could go after militarily for this. It seems like the problem in these last few months is religious leaders in Yemen, which is why I suggested that. What other enemy are you targeting? If I were in charge I'd be increasing the intelligence budget to follow each and every cell known to exist. Once I get information about a potential terrorist leader, I find every one of his family members and make it known that I know who they are, what they do everyday, and at the drop of the hat I could get rid of them. People don't mind if you come after them, but when you bring in their family it's a much different situation. Who was the guy in South America (i think) that was all ballsy against the US and we got rid of his son and we haven't heard from him since? Why can't we use that tactic? I agree that an all out war is worthless, but at the same time we shouldn't just be sitting back, playing nice with governments in hopes that the "people" will somehow view us as the nice guy and the terrorists as the bad guys. That's never going to happen. Create a system whereby retaliation is imminent and maybe some of the younger guys would think twice about joining up with the crazies.

Illinois and Northwestern tonight. Can't say I've ever thought before that a game between these two could be close. Another victory over a Top 25 team would be nice for the tourney resume.

Nothing I've seen in the last year of watching him play leads me to believe he has the potential to be a great college basketball player. Like I said before, he's known for his shooting, but can't shoot. He plays no defense, can't dribble the ball, can't pass the ball, and doesn't play with any passion/emotion. He's led by his crazy mother who thinks he's going to be the next Kobe Bryant, despite the fact that he's gone through two major programs who have told him "you're not that good you need to work at it," yet he hasn't/didn't.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 03:59 PM) All of you giving Dave Toub credit for Hester's return abilities his first 2 season are absolutely insane and delirious. The guy was the best return man in the world at Miami and he brought his skills to the NFL. Give me a break. So Hester has the tools, but you can't deny that the Bears have essentially replaced him (thanks to the system) with 2-3 guys that have been better than average at returning punts and kickoffs. At this point Hester is expendable. If they can get a 2nd round pick, or maybe a couple of 3rds, I'd say do it.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 02:11 PM) Alex Legion, he gone http://www.fightingillini.com/sports/m-bas.../122909aaa.html Pssh, collegiate career? Being an overhyped ball hog who sits on the bench? I was pumped when this one time blue-chip recruit decided to transfer to Illinois, but it was pretty clear why Kentucky wasn't crying when he wanted to leave. The guy is known as a lights out shooter, yet can't shoot. He doesn't play defense and his ball handling kinda sucks. There's a reason 2 freshman and a walk-on were beating him for minutes. Enjoy your 6 year college career, ending at San Diego State or the like.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 28, 2009 -> 08:47 PM) lol. And then I get fired, totally awesome. Put it this way, I'll give an example of what one would look like. Say you have a guy coming to work and he sees an Arab dude walking back and forth at his train station that he hasn't seen before. The Arab guy stops to look down the tracks and periodically stops to look at the various signs on the platform. Eventually the train comes, he steps in the doorway, looks around at the passengers, and boards the train. So Mr. I'm Being a Good American calls the FBI and says "I saw a Middle Eastern Male conducting what looked like pre-operational surveillance." Um, no guy, he was pretty much going to work or otherwise going from Point A to Point B, checking the schedule to see when his train would arrive, and looking down the tracks to see if the train was coming. You're supposed to report UNUSUAL activity, being a brown stranger doesn't count. Also people will report things like a person taking pictures at tourist attractions where other people take pictures. Those make me laugh. I'd much rather have that than nothing at all. The fact is the terrorists don't do anything abnormal. You're never going to get a tip that says "there's a group of middle eastern men hiding bombs in their shirts heading towards an airport." Also, more than anything, those tips help put together what happened/how it happened after the fact.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Dec 29, 2009 -> 10:50 AM) Can't they just get a win without any controversy? I saw him do this, but it looked to me like he was throwing his arm down in disgust like "come on guys, why the f*** aren't we running a play?!"

While I enjoy the fact that the Bears finally won a game, they're still not a very good team. The Defense sucks (30 pts in 30 minutes?!), Forte is a bust (sorry, but it's more than just the lack of an O-line. He had multiple open field opportunities and just could not get the initial push past the first defender), and even though the WR's may be physically adequate, mentally they are just not there. It should not take an entire season for a QB and WR to read a defense and come up with the same reads. Some of that is lack of coaching, but it's also just a lack of knowledge of the game. My wish for next year: (1) Fire every coach on the team except the guys in charge of special teams. Year in and year out we've got the best special teams of anyone in the league and we simply cannot take advantage of it. The thing that gets me the most about the coaches is that Lovie has ZERO emotional reaction to anything on the field. None. A guy could make the dumbest mistake in the world and he doesn't react or say anything. I hate that. I want my team's coach to get fired up and rip that guy a new asshole so he won't do it again. And even if it doesn't work, I feel better about it because at least the coach looks like he's trying to do something. (2) Need to upgrade the O-line. Hopefully there will be a couple of decent FA's available to fill the holes and give Cutler a little more time. (3) Ugh, the defense. What position do we not need? I'd say linebackers, and that's about it. Everything else needs to go. Maybe keep Tillman, despite the fact that he gets beat regularly and misses tackles. People just think he's great because he has a knack for stripping the ball. (4) If possible get a good WR (Boldin please).

Ah, I get it. The only pictures I saw (the one guy and the two girls) just show them standing on top of a cage. I didn't realize they were open. Do a quick google image search for croc trap and there are better pictures to show what the cages look like.

Maybe I missed something, but what's so dangerous about this? The crocs are locked in a cage. These people are dancing on top of a cage. It's not like they're willingly jumping into a croc-infested pool just to see if they'd live.

Is there any team more overrated than the 72 Dolphins? Could they go .500 in today's game? I know it's difficult to compare eras in sports, but come on - the NFL of 1970 had probably 5 good teams. You can lose any day of the week in today's game. I consider the Pats going 18-0 more of a feat than the 17-0 Dolphins.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 26, 2009 -> 02:22 PM) I didn't see it posted, but Blackshear has chosen Louisville. He's saying him and Mike Shaw probably will no longer be a package deal anymore. Good. Now Illinois still has a shot at Shaw.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Dec 23, 2009 -> 10:46 PM) Also, this is the first year under Weber the team is underachieving significantly to their talent. There is way too much talent in the starting lineup for this team to have the losses it does. Part of it is coaching and part of it that while talented the JR class and McCamey and Davis in particular just don't play with intensity. They both are lazy on D and when their shots aren't falling it gets in their heads. Davis especially is just a very mentally weak player. I dunno if I would call it underachieving 12 games into the season. He's got 2 freshman with a world of talent but who continue to make bad decisions, a junior that has the skill set to play in the NBA but a physicality level of a 2 year old girl, and practically zero bench. On top of that he's stuck between letting his guys run (scoring 80+ a night) or focusing on defense (which they just can't do). One thing I noticed last night was that their defensive rotation was AWFUL. Everyone collapsed inside and then forgot about the guys behind them. In reality this team should be 10-2 right now with losses to Clemson and Mizzou. The really haven't looked outmatched at any time except the first half of the Clemson game. Their losses are from really bad decision making and giving up on games. They still have two first team all-big ten players in McCamey and Tisdale. And if McCamey gets it in his head that he's one of, if not the, best PG in the Big Ten, I think he can win PotY. He's got a Frank Williams ability to drive and score, he just has to do it more. I still think a sweet 16 run is an achievable goal, but not unless they grow some desire and play smarter basketball.

2nd horses*** charging call. clearly set and squared. Mizzou played their best game, hit tons of big shots. Illinois played yet another horrible game. Guess this year is going to have more growing pains that I had thought.