DBAHO

So the Bears are going to the Superbowl. Good for you guys.

Very interesting piece from Peter Vecsey on the Bulls and Pau Gasol; Would you pull the trigger on that deal? Deng, Gordon and Brown for Gasol and Warrick. Don't forget also that Hakim Warrick was playing some pretty nice ball earlier on in the season too.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jan 21, 2007 -> 09:21 PM) Well what is more important, the Bears special teams (ie one f'ing player) or the entire Saints offense? The Saints depend upon speed, and snow will slow them down, plain and simple. I saw it as an even game; now the Bears are probably huge favorites (assuming it's still snowing by game time, and from the way the radar looks, I'd put it at 50-50). The Saints are probably going to try and pound Deuce inside as much as they cann. So the Bears HAVE to be able to stop the run tomorrow, and put the Saints in 3rd and long situations as much as possible. And conversly, the Bears have to be able to run the football. Because if they can't, I don't think Grossman can succeed in they are always going to put in on his shoulders.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Jan 21, 2007 -> 03:35 PM) Not sure if it has been posted but the Steelers are set to sign Mike Tomlin as head coach. Love the hire, especially considering Russ Grimm was his main competition. I'll be interested to see if he keeps the 3-4 like he should with Lebeau, or if he switches to his cover 2 he ran in Minny. I think it's a given he'll run the cover 2 because that's what he's been sucessful with so far. Should be interesting to see what that means for the likes of Joey Porter now though. It really puts Brad Childress under a lot of pressure as well for next season, because Tomlin's D really bailed out the Vikings from having a real bad year. He probably won't have the same luxury next season, so if I were to pick a coach that would be fired next season, it'd be Childress.

Just sad how they've dropped off in the past 10 games really.

Looks like I missed some fun tonight. Must be something in that Iowan air.

QUOTE(T R U @ Jan 20, 2007 -> 06:43 PM) Also, they aren't going to be giving him total control like the past coaches have been given here (At least I haven't heard that, Finheaven has been down today and I haven't got the full details yet.) Which means Randy Mueller is going to be able to make the personnel decisions as far as looking for talent and what not so I am very excited about having Cameron here and I think hes going to finally be the guy to get us back on track. Aren't the Titans pretty interested in making Mueller their new GM? Should be interesting to see what happens there.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 20, 2007 -> 03:59 AM) I've long been a fan of Trot Nixon and at 3 mill (if he's healthy and able to play 130 games) this will be one of the FA bargains of the off-season. Agreed. But it will be interesting to see what happens next in Cleveland. They have Casey Blake, Shin - Soo Choo and Ryan Garko, and they're all not going to get in the everyday lineup. Shapiro could probably spin one of those of for some young pitching, or more help in the bullpen (although they have signed a lot of guys for the pen this off-season).

For me it comes down to the Bears ability to stop the Saints run. They're going to put it inside with Deuce, and then let Reggie work his magic on the outside. But then the Bears CB's can't lay a goose egg like they did last season, and let Drew Brees have a field day. Charles Tillman needs to play well against Colston, and the Bears need to generate a pass rush on Brees, but it isn't easy because he doesn't take 7 steps back from center. Sean Payton has a knack of throwing in trick plays when you least expect it, e.g a WR reverse on a 4th and 2, so the Bears need to watch out for things like that.

After reading the "Holding your Wee for a Wii" thread, I'd hold back on doing things like this for a little while. A lot of people do this when they're trying to bulk up etc. though e.g Stan's Dad in the South Park Baseball Episode.

Samsonov has become quite the whipping boy in Montreal. I think he's got 2 years left on his deal right? And Rivet has this season left at about 3M? So I'd probably make that deal, because you're getting an expiring contract back, and if Samsonov can perform (think Savard is a fan of his) then we're getting the better end of it.

Agreed with Kalapse's statement. If Zambrano has another good season, his value is only going to get higher. The Cubs might as well try to do what they can to lock him up now. But they brought it on themselves by giving out insane contracts this off-season. Karma is a wonderful thing.

I think the Sox have taken some steps to fixing some things that obviously hurt us last season. Getting a new backup catcher who can hit lefties, getting more guys into the mix in the pen (which really hurt us last season) and not letting Mack play CF. So that should help. And then I think you'll see improvements from a few players. Brian Anderson should certainly have a better season. If Scott Podsednik can stay healthy, maybe he could get back to his 2005 pre ASB level of production. Juan Uribe, well I don't know what he's going to do, but surely he could put up a higher OBP than around the .255 mark couldn't he (I hope). Of course the likes of Thome and Dye probably aren't going to be as good as they were in 2006, so it'll balance itself out. So that means for me it comes down to the pitching (obviously). Bringing a new 5th starter into the mix in Floyd could cost us, if he's not up for the job. But if the likes of Buehrle and Contreras can pitch better than they did to end the season, Vazquez continues to improve, and Garland remains steady, then I think we'll be alright. We're around a 85-92 win team at the moment, and I think with teams like the Twins and maybe the Tigers going to regress a little, then that could be enough for the division. Of course these are all predictions, and it doesn't matter what your team may look like on paper, they have to go out there and produce. No-one gave Detroit a chance in hell of winning the division in 2006 and look what happened. Anything can happen.

Will be interesting to see if Dunleavy can live up to that so called "potential" of his that made him a top 3 pick. Suprised he didn't get traded to the Clippers straight up for Maggette though. Since Indiana gets another cancer off their team in Jackson, it's probably slightly in their favor. Find it weird they traded Harrington after they really wanted him back though.

I'm usually a pretty deep sleeper, but when I have something important on that next day e.g an exam, an interview etc., that's when I have problems getting to sleep. I get nervous, and it's hard to relax and put yourself in that "zone" for sleep.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 04:39 PM) Anyone here the deal about Bulin to Tampa for either Richards or St.Louis? Its on the Main Page message boards. I call BS. If the Bolts would take Cullimore back, and include one of their goaltenders (Denis or the other guy), then yeah I'd probably do that. But straight up, I'd probably pass.

The Hawks just need to ship out the dead weight in terms of veterans (Aucoin, Cullimore, possibly LaPointe) for picks / players with expiring contracts, play the youngsters, and get a top 5 pick in this draft. I know that doesn't sound good, but if the Sox could draft another top notch young forward, then you've a trifecta of Toews, Skille and Kane / Esposito (for example) that could be up with the team in a couple of years. They're on the right path, but Tallon needs to make some moves on the trade front (and not sacrifice the long - term future of the team). And Khabi probably needs a break.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 04:31 PM) Hell, it makes some sense now even. Not saying it would be smart, but I understand where the rumor could come from. We all know that are positional prospects are thin at best, and SS is one of the weakest spots. Aybar could fill a void for a long time at SS. Crede for Aybar isn't going to work, thats obvious, but the core of the trade does make some sense. Like I said before, I think if KW got some young pitching included in the deal that he liked, then yeah I could certainly see something like this happening. Because that's what he's targeted all of this off-season, and if he gets an offer too good to refuse in his mind, then I could definitely see him pulling the trigger. Hell even if you do this, Aybar could play at SS or 3B and same with Uribe. Josh Fields doesn't exactly HAVE to play for the White Sox if Crede was traded in this scenario.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 04:23 PM) Goddamn global warming I blame you Dakotans, for me burning my ass off down here.

So if anyone bothered to watch the Aussie Open today (Ana Ivanovic is hot ), you probably would have seen it was pretty hot down here today. 106 degrees hot in fact. So hot, that at 4p.m the power goes off in my whole office, and basically everywhere across the whole metropolitan area, causing a lot of chaos. So that meant a few beers in the hot sun, and driving home with basically no traffic lights on whatsoever, on a 30min drive home. Always a fun experience.

If the Angels were to include Adenhart (very doubtful at best) or some other young pitching, then I could possibly see something like this happening. But remember that KW still wants to win in 2007. However he may think, the drop-off from Crede to Fields isn't that great, and if he did a deal like this, he could still think we could win the division (although I don't really see that happening).

Wonder if Marty will bolt to Miami now, with his son Brian becoming the new offensive co-ordinator there? Right now I think it'll be a Saints - Pats Superbowl, but anything can happen. Colston - Tillman should be a heck of a matchup next week as well.

Tara Reid anyone?

Edgar Davids the Dutch Tottenham HotSpurs midfielder is off to join FC Dallas as well. Will be interesting to see if there are any more to follow.

There was this little piece on Lujan from the Puerto Rican Winter League of 05-06;