lostfan

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 12:04 PM) This was worth it. btw: for anyone who's hesitant, it's not an April Fool's joke, you'll see.

So I just did a Google search a little while ago for "how to grow garlic" since I've started an herb garden. So, as you know, Google likes to guess at what you're filling in. With this in context, go to Google, type in just "how to g" without pressing enter and tell me what you see. Then get back to me.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 09:24 AM) I was agreeing with your agreeing and cutting off some potential Kaperbole directed my way I concur with the agreement of the agreeing.

So the prosecution dropped the ball, basically?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 09:20 AM) Yeah, I should have made it more clear that that's what I think the popular sentiment is, not my personal view (though I do think the Republicans in Congress and bumbling and fumbling right now). Oh, yeah, I was just kind of piggybacking off your post rather than refuting it. I agree with you.

5th april fool's joke so far. lol. All the other cities are affected by the economic conditions too.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 07:44 AM) I think the majority are viewing it as Obama and the Democrats doing something to fix this crisis and the Republicans doing nothing but saying "the financial geniuses that got us into this mess will get us out" while proposing joke budgets and massive tax cuts with no coherent planning. I'm going to jump in on the coattails of this discussion and agree in principle with this - it's not that what conservatives have to say is invalid, nor should it have ever been. It's what they are focusing on and how they are framing it that's the problem. They're just posting up against the administration and backing farther away, which doesn't get their message out there. Furthermore, the paradox is in saying that things should be allowed to fail and the market(s) to recover on its/their own with limited government involvement; even if those things are 100% true, when it's said during a downturn, it sounds like it's endorsing a negative and that it's apathetic towards the unemployed, when of course it's not. Or at least shouldn't be, because on more than one occasion I've had a conservative friend openly mock unemployed. One got laid off and I privately chuckled at him getting knocked off his high horse. edit: the friend I was talking about in the last sentence was not kapkomet. lol. I like kap.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 11:01 PM) I was on the same boat for Pax before the trade deadline. I'm ok if they both stay here next year. If we were out the playoff race I would want VDN's head. Meh, nothing in sports is more worthless than getting the 7th or 8th seed in the NBA, anomalies like Golden State notwithstanding.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:57 PM) I guess I'm alone with the Harris signing. I was ecstatic at the time. He was a premier DT who was 24 at the time of the signing. No, you're not alone. And in the places I go to talk about the Bears, they were happy too. His injury wasn't really being talked about then, not until a few games into the season where you saw his picture on the back of milk cartons everywhere.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:55 PM) That is correct, and even Alex Brown has always had an overrated performance level IMO (his career high in sacks for a single season is 7). Brown is a pretty good all-around DE though. Not a Pro Bowler but a solid starter.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:48 PM) They have the worst WR corps in the NFL, a below average QB in Kyle Orton, and a poor offensive line that lacks depth. Other than Forte, Olsen, and Clark, the offense is one giant hole in my opinion. Even Olin has lost it quite a bit at center the last couple of years, and he was one of the league's best for a while. I used to love Olin. He blows now.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:49 PM) The TE's name you're looking for is Kellen Davis out of MSU. Yeah, him. I like him. Not sure why in the f*** they drafted him but I like him.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:50 PM) That is probably where I had the confusion. But most of those extensions were really bad decisions in my opinion, which brings up a seperate but still important problem. It looks worse than it is because some of these guys took the big money and just started sucking immediately after (Vasher), or they gave them when the player looked like they could've just been having a down year (Urlacher, Harris). If these guys maintain their performance levels then the deals look great. The only one who's done that off the top of my head is Alex Brown.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:48 PM) The Bears were closer to using up their 2008 cap space than any other team in the league. I think 2007 they were close to that as well. Argue that they're putting their money in the wrong places, argue that they're going cheap this year, but the data doesn't back up a claim of cheapness in the last couple. In 2007 they were using 108 of 109 million I think. 2008 was loaded because Angelo (or Stine which is Angelo by extension) likes to pay a lot of the guaranteed money up front if he can.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:47 PM) The Bears try to keep their team together. It doesn't seem like they spend because there's never too many new guys. It's because guys like Harris, Vasher, Tillman, Clark, Hester, and Urlacher are getting extensions. 100% correct.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:44 PM) The Bears unwillingness to spend money is definitely a RECENT trend, I am not saying they are a cheap franchise, I am just saying they have been lately (basically since after the Super Bowl ended). The only real things they've done since then is give out one expensive and in my opinion wise contract in Lance Briggs, and some absolutely idiotic contract extensions (Tommie Harris and Brian Urlacher come to mind). The Harris extension depends on his health I guess. Where the f*** did that guy go? Based on his performance level at the time, it wasn't a bad deal at all. Urlacher on the other hand, that was just... yeah. Had Urlacher not been declining, I would've been ok with it.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:41 PM) My issue with Angelo isn't his drafting as much as it is his general inability to identify offensive talent (with very few exceptions). He's known for his ability to identify defensive talent, but the defense is getting old now, had a dropoff last year, and to me is going to have an even bigger dropoff this year due to age, injury, and injury problems, unless they have a BIG draft. The offense isn't really in that horrible of shape, get a league-average O-line and something resembling a serviceable WR corps to help Orton out and it could be "ok." It has Matt Forte, Greg Olsen, Desmond Clark, the other TE whose name I forget but I like, and if there is a bona fide WR to play alongside him, Devin Hester. He seems to be putting a lot of eggs in Chris Williams's basket though. Which, if his back is actually fine, could be fine, but he's pulling another Kenny Williams doing this.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:40 PM) The Bears could have the ammo, depending on what Denver wants. Without knowing their financial situation it's hard to know whether they'd be willing to take the cap hit on the #1 pick. Few teams are. The Bears have a mid first rounder this year and presumably what would be a late first rounder with Cutler next year, along with a QB who can at least be called serviceable as a bridge to someone else should the Broncos draft one. That's not the worst package I could come up with. The #1 is an albatross if you don't want it, but they still do have the #20.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:36 PM) He's had major busts but he's had good players, too. People act like the almighty Steelers have perfect draft after perfect draft, and they haven't. Just take 1 example, Willie Reid. Picked as a WR in the 3rd round out of FSU to the Steelers in 2006, and now isn't even on a team and hasn't been since late August. Limas Sweed, Rashard Mendenhall (never been sold on him, maybe I'll be proven wrong but color me unimpressed before the injury)

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:31 PM) Angelo doesn't control the purse strings as much as the people above him do in my opinion. In that sense, I blame Ted Phillips more for this free agency season than Angelo, so I guess I should say that to be fair. As for draft picks, you are right that they carry a lot of weight in the NFL. That's why I think Cutler will end up in Detroit. If the performance level is there and the investment justifies it they will pay for the player. That includes a QB, if the Bears had Peyton Manning you'd best believe he'd be getting his cash. The problem isn't with paying a QB, I don't even know why the Bears get criticized for this. The problem is getting one which they have been a consistent epic fail at doing for almost my whole life. And franchise QBs almost never reach free agency. And Detroit does have the ammo, I agree with you there.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:12 PM) This will never happen because: 1. It would cost the Bears money. 2. The Bears suck, and don't have the ammo to make such a trade even if they want to. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it. And Jerry Angelo SHOULD get blame when Cutler is dealt somewhere else, but not because he didn't try to deal for him. The blame he should get is because the roster he assembled is full of holes and didn't have enough ammo to make the deal happen. Although even if they did, it would be 50/50 if the ownership would loosen the purse strings enough to allow the deal to happen anyways. (Can you tell I'm pissed at the Bears?) I dunno, draft picks carry a lot of weight in the NFL. edit: Also there really is no merit to saying Angelo won't spend money, because he does.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:25 PM) I'm not his number 1 fan either, although at least he has a ring to prove that he has some semblance of a concept of how to do his job. I'm not an Angelo apologist and I won't make excuses for him because he appears to be completely clueless about how to put together an O-line, but it's not like the guy had a complete track record of cluelessness. He's put together a decent resume. Sure, there's holes in it, but he has accomplished some things since he's been here.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 09:35 PM) The Broncos are now saying they will try to trade Cutler. I'm sure the Bears are interested, but probably won't get him. I think others are better positioned to get him, and I'm sure if he goes somewhere in a deal Angelo can't match, Angelo will still get fired on by most of the faithful. Like I said in the other thread, it's a lose-lose situation. Either he gives up an unreasonable amount, or someone outbids him. Either way he's going to get flamed.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 10:23 PM) Haha that would be such a Bears move, sign the washed up guy years after he was great. Jerry Angelo sickens me. Eh Kenny Williams does it too.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 09:27 PM) maybe you should apply for the job I'm not a VDN hater, but come on, this is weak. It's like someone bashing Dewayne Wise and responding "well how many hits do you have in MLB?"