danman31

QUOTE (lostfan @ Feb 6, 2011 -> 10:51 PM) Assassin's Creed 2 is a pretty bad ass game, better than the first game in every way, but the climbing tall buildings and having to wrap around to find things to climb on is for the birds. You'll be glad to know that they've significantly reduced that in Brotherhood. The number of view points drops from 83 to 24. However, there is still a decent amount of climbing like that.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 6, 2011 -> 05:48 PM) BTW fathom I think you will like two of the recent suggestions I've seen from fans in the event Weber is fired: Jeff Capel or Craig Robinson. Robinson I can at least see the possibility of him doing really well at Illinois because him and Howard would probably do extremely well recruiting Chicago but I'm not sold on his coaching whatsoever. If Capel is hired I would riot. How is Capel even mentioned for a job? OU is a train wreck. Quietly, UNC is 7-1 in the ACC. I knew they were playing better (and yes I know the ACC isn't that good), but 7-1 is pretty legit. With all that talent, and ultimately a young team, it makes sense they're turning it around. Plus people probably overreacted to losses to good teams in the non-con. I sure wouldn't want to play them in March.

I think it's more of a believe it when I see it feeling.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 5, 2011 -> 03:02 AM) Not hard when they've had next to nothing to get excited about for two decades. But yeah, they are loaded. They're going to be real good soon. Most of the Royals fans I know are tired of hearing about the future. They've heard about great prospects (Alex Gordon most recently) that either weren't successful or got traded before they could get them any help (Dye, Damon, Beltran, Greinke) for years. Royals fans aren't excited.

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 5, 2011 -> 09:43 PM) Current record 2-2-1. They finally seem to have a feel for getting the ball in the goal. My backs are fricking awesome to watch. How old are they?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 2, 2011 -> 08:07 PM) I actually think it's the other way around in that it's hard to find a SS that can hit pretty well. Of the 22 SS's who qualified for the batting title last year and will almost certainly be playing SS this year, only 3 of them had an OPS over .800 and 8 above .725. They have to be able to field relatively well if they're going to play SS. If not, they will be moved to 2B or 3B. Ahhh thank you for clearly saying what I wanted to.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 2, 2011 -> 08:01 PM) Michigan St isn't even trying it appears. I've been saying this for a while, but there has got to be some major issues going on with that program. They keep running off players, but the attitude of some of their younger players is awful as well. Poor Izzo, should have taken the Bulls job. Every team that has traveled in this storm has lost, most of them to bad teams.

His .670 OPS in Birmingham mostly turned me off of him. It's nice to have a player like him in the system, but he has so far to go offensively I'm doubting he will ever make it.

That Escobar report doesn't make it sound like he can hit. His perfect world projection is the absolute best he will be.

Ok that's mostly fair, but then you need to take the OBP of Ramirez in context. You can't say yuck about his OBP when he is a slick fielding SS and there aren't many of them. He doesn't get compared to Konerko offensively. He gets compared to other SS, most of which can't hit to save their lives. I'm just sick and tired of hearing about defense. Plenty of guys have no bat and can play defense. There are almost as many of them as there are power hitting corners. It's silly really.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Feb 2, 2011 -> 02:32 PM) Except he said he was the best SS in the AL many times in 2010 but ok.......Plus isn't it a valid criticism? Alexei's OBP the past three years: .317, .333, .313. Yuck. So Alexei's OBP is a valid criticism yet Eduardo Escobar is a good prospect? Consistency is fun.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Feb 2, 2011 -> 09:55 AM) Yes without question. Seeing as both may never play for the big club, Escobar would be more valuable in a trade because of the lack of good shortstops in the bigs right now. I can go find a guy who can't field but has power potential. Those guys are in every org. Slick fielding shortstops who can handle the bat in the bigs are not. Since when can Escobar handle the bat? Did I miss something? Why do people suddenly think he is good?

There are definite concerns about Jozy, but Adu is a lost cause. I think the problem with the comparison is that Adu is really bad while Jozy still has potential. I still have faith in Jozy because physically he can be top tier. He almost certainly never will be, but he has all the tools. No reason he can't develop into a solid top league caliber striker.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 10:25 AM) My family constantly winds up at the Blue Chip and the Four Winds. The Blue Chip was very nice on the hotel part. The Casino Floor at the Four Winds was absolutely ridiculous; that was like 3 Vegas Casinos stitched together. The Four Winds is freaking massive. It's also really nice and the poker room has those video machines or whatever they're called. No dealers (which means no tips) and more hands/hr. It's way too far from the North Suburbs though. I liked it a lot otherwise. The Horseshoe is a freaking pit. It's always crowded beyond belief. However, it's still easily the nicest and if you're into higher stakes poker it's the only place to go. It's just so damn crowded. I've never tried the Blue Chip, it's a bit further than the Hammond/Gary ones so I've never made the trip. The Majestic Star and Ameristar and mediocre at best, but you'll always be able to play what you want unlike the Horseshoe. I've been to the Potawatomi in Milwaukee a few times. It reminds me of a less spacious Four Winds. It might be my favorite, but their poker room has a waiting list out of this world every time since they're the only game in town. I've called before I was going to leave and still been deep on the wait list. They suck. As long as you're not into poker, it's a good spot.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 1, 2011 -> 02:55 PM) If he can hit like Omar Infante, he's going to have a lot of value wherever he plays on the infield because of his glove. That's really gotta be on the top end of his projections though.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 1, 2011 -> 01:33 AM) I struggle putting a ton of weight into AFL statistics due to the natural tendency for it to be a hitters league (due to the climate) along with the fact that, while most pitchers are talented, a lot of them are simply guys that teams want to get an extended look at because most top pitching prospects have already reached a suitable amount of innings pitched for the year. So while the 13 XBHs are nice, I want to actually see him hit for power during the regular season before I declare him anything. I think that's probably pretty similar to how most other GMs feel too. I think it just shows that given his skill set scouts are looking for a reason to like him. Players like him are rare so they are hoping that he can get the bat going.

Michael Bradley joins Aston Villa on loan. The Americans are gaining numbers in the EPL. I'm glad I'll be able to watch him a bit more.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 22, 2011 -> 07:24 PM) I finally got around to finishing the first Assassin's Creed (Fallout 3, both Mass Effect games, and my Xbox going down got in the way). That game gets pretty f***ing hard towards the end what with those goddamn drunks pushing you and blowing your cover, the beggar women getting in the way, and taking 3 minutes to lose the guards when they're on to you. Now I guess I got to get AC2. Yeah the drunks are a really annoying feature. AC is good because it's fun to be able to fight off 15 guards at once if you're good enough, but it's EXTREMELY repetitive. AC2 is light years better. They give you different stuff to do, it's not as repetitive and the combat is improved with a little more variety. I'm playing Brotherhood now. I'm not sure it's better than AC2, but it's at least as good. I kind of miss the old days of taking on 12 guys though haha.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jan 30, 2011 -> 08:20 PM) He is taken the Brandon Allen route of developing. (which is very common with some prospects as well) Getting better every year and maturing overall in his game. For power hitters sure, but I don't think that's standard practice for guys like Escobar.

QUOTE (hitlesswonder @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 11:46 PM) No he's definitely not the best player in the country, he's just the best player in the big ten which is not a good conference. I'm not sure what "has a long way to go" means...so depending on the destination you could be right. But he's very good, and IMO you shouldn't decide his game has huge holes based on a single game. A lot of his performance offensively depends on the refs -- he gets fouled in the post constantly so if the refs get tired of calling that he obviously won't put up as many points. I wasn't judging him on one game, but the destination is the NBA. He's gone after this year so college isn't very important to him in the long run. He has a long way to go to be a top NBA player, which is common for a freshman obviously. I would be worried if I was taking him in the top five though.

Oh I wasn't comparing minor league numbers. I was more saying that Alcides Escobar and Andrus suck at offense. I was all about Eduardo, but it's almost no longer cool now that people are overrating him. I'm not a big fan of defense only SS. If you can't hit, baseball is the wrong game for you.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 08:26 PM) I'm not at all sold on Escobar and his career .668 OPS. No defense in the world can overcome such a horrific bat. Not to argue, but does that mean Alcides Escobar and Elvis Andrus are bad Major Leaguers? I would tend to agree, but I thought people were using them as the prototypes for defense being valuable or something in the other thread.

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 08:41 PM) I'd imagine he was kidding, Rock. No, Northwestern is that bad inside. He played soft for a guy his size. NU had 8 offensive rebounds in a slowdown game. He's not the best player in the country, that's for sure. NU without Shurna has no business being close to OSU, but that was probably a letdown of sorts.

Short at 8 seems like a major reach to me. Harrell ahead of Flowers? Yikes. Also pretty disappointed that Bellamy dropped so far, though I was pretty disappointed in his performance last year.

Jared Sullinger has a long way to go if tonight was any indication. 8 rebounds against Northwestern? Embarrassing.