DBAHO

Definitely not Rios. He's already got enough pressure on him leading into next season. And his plate discipline has gotten progressively worse over the past couple of season, since his big year in 2006. Beckham is our #2 hitter, and should be that for the next 10 seasons hopefully. Ramirez would actually be interesting possibly, considering his BB/K ratio went from 18/61 in 08 to 49/66 in 09. But he's such a bad hitter in the 1st 2 months of the season in the cold weather, that I don't know if the Sox would want him there to start the season anyways. So I'll say Danks or someone who's not on the roster currently.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 12:43 PM) The problem is who is going to want that contract when it comes to Campbell? The only team I can honestly think of is Atlanta. They were after Campbell when they signed him, and they need to improve quickly if they want to re-sign Kovalchuk long - term. With Huet, he's got what 2 years left on his deal after this season IIRC, so the Hawks could probably dump that contract if they had to, just wouldn't get much in return. Sopel, well we'd be lucky to get anything for a 6th/7th d-man making that type of $$$. In the end, I think we'll trade Huet, go with a Niemi / Crawford platoon next season, and try to get under the cap that way.

So Atlanta is 10-2 now after beating Miami, best record in the East. Anyone willing to say the East has gone from a Big 3 to a Big 4 now?

QUOTE (juddling @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 02:12 AM) I guess wrestling is still real to the Land Down Under...... Hulk injured in bloody attack You'd be amazed at how much mainstream press that got down here also. Quite sad really.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 06:01 PM) Anyone planning on heading out to South Africa in 2010? Possibly, I have a lot of mates in England who are probably going to come down for it, so it'd be cool to do from that perspective. Wish I could have done Germany 2006, because by all accounts that was an absolute blast, and South Africa isn't the safest country going around either. As for Ireland, well we had the Hand of God in 1986 with Diego Maradona, and 23 years later, history has repeated itself. I hope that referee doesn't go to the World Cup, even if he is one of the best in the world, because you just can't make a mistake not that big, and the linesman should have seen it as well.

Jameer Nelson out for 4-6 weeks after knee surgery. Fair to say we've been pretty banged up so far, and somehow we're 8-3. As for Ellis, he's basically a lot like Ben Gordon IMO, so you have to decide if you want to trade for his offensive ability, against Hinrich's tenacious defense ability.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Nov 17, 2009 -> 09:39 AM) He's indicated that he doesn't want to come off the bench. Is there a team that he could start for? I would have said the Bobcats before they made the Jackson trade. I'd say he goes to Europe or retires. He's done in the NBA IMO.

QUOTE (Brian @ Nov 16, 2009 -> 12:10 PM) He had the worst "good" game ever. His drops were ridiculous and he clearly wasn't holding the ball very tight for it to come out when he got slapped on the shoulder. Yep agreed. Still he's playing better than he was earlier in the season, so I'll take that.

Well that was disappointing. Offense just never got going today. Give credit to Capers for bringing the heat from the secondary and with the LB's, but if Williams doesn't fumble that, could have been a whole diff story. Luckily the Eagles also lost for us.

I thought Moon was extremely lucky, and basically he tried to be the Jerry Yang of 2009, and there was no need for him to do that. The unluckiest player was probably Steve Begeleiter, he made good reads throughout and at the final table and deserved a lot better IMO.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Nov 14, 2009 -> 07:54 PM) New Zealand just qualified for the World Cup. Beat Bahrain 1-0 at home after drawing 0-0 on the road. It was a great atmosphere. This is the best part of the qualifying. All the tension and jubilation. Yeah, first time they're really going to have 2 teams from Oceania in the WC, even though we're part of Asia now. NZ won't do anything though, they'll be lucky to pick up a point in the group stages.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Nov 14, 2009 -> 02:44 PM) Phil Kessel is a stud though. I actually remember him last year.. Wasn't he on Boston or Pittsburgh? Good find/trade by the front office. Boston basically had to dump his contract for draft picks because they couldn't fit him into the cap IIRC. Hopefully we won't have to do that with the big 3.

The Hawks and Heat looked to have raised their games a little more this season which is good to see. And the Hawks basically added Crawford and Horford is progressing nicely, so they should be better than last season. All of a sudden, the Southeast division is argubly the best in the NBA you could argue.

Jay Cutler's basically become the new Tony Romo of 07-08 in terms of trying to force things and turn things over some people would say. I know he's trying to carry the team on his back, but as today's game showed, sometimes it's better playing things safe and not turning the ball over.

Unfortunately the Cell probably isn't going to be the best ballpark in terms of striking out I would have thought and putting the ball in play, especially with Walker as the hitting coach. If he can produce what he has in his career at the Cell so far (something like a .825 OPS in 125 AB's or so), I would definitely take that.

Tough break for the Bulls tonight, I wonder if it was more a superstar player than Brad Miller if they would have gotten the call then. God knows if it was LeBron, there'd probably be a whole ESPN Sportscenter newshour dedicated to it or something. We get VC back, and take on the Cavs tomorrow night. We're 6-2, but are probably playing at about 50-60% right now, a lot of improvement to go.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 06:48 PM) Anybody been paying attention to the Suns? They're all of a sudden super fun to watch again. Steve Nash, IMO, might be a top 5 PG of all-time. Playing back in an uptempo system agrees with them. Of course, they'll likely go out in the 1st round on the playoffs.

He could have used Land Down Under by Men at Work instead....

The Bears main issue right now is their D-Line IMO. Their defense and cover 2 scheme is based all around getting pressure on the QB from a 4 man rush. They don't blitz their linebackers very often. Back when they had major success, guys like Anderson and Brown were getting around 7-10 sacks a season. Look at the New York Giants over the past 4 games, and tell me they don't miss Steve Spagnuolo for instance. And now they've fallen right out. I think it goes both ways in terms of coaching and the player itself. And that's why they made the trade for Gaines Adams. They get more pressure on the QB, their secondary will look a lot better than it has so far. Kurt Warner had all day to throw the football yesterday and that's not good enough. For those who are saying, we shouldn't have traded a 2nd rounder for Adams also, how many quality offensive lineman can you draft from the 2nd round onwards and plug straight into the offensive line also? Chris Williams was a 1st rounder, and he hasn't exactly set the world on fire at RT also. As for potential coaches, besides the big candidates, Jason Garrett will probably get another look as a head coach with the Cowboys resurgance, John Fox and Jack Del Rio could be out of jobs come the off-season also.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Nov 9, 2009 -> 05:14 PM) Cowboys now 6-2 & in 1st in the East. Defense did their job tonight, Jenkins looks like a stud out there. The stop on 4th & 1 pretty much sealed the fate for Philly tonight. Romo was efficient, Roy finally got involved, Witten had a good game & Austin came through with another big play. They even threw some wildcat in there. Going into Lambeau next week for a winnable game. 'skins in 2 weeks & Oakland on thanksgiving. There's a good chance this team is 9-2 going into December where they have 4 tough games. But for now, I'll just enjoy this win. *raises roof for the 1st place Cowboys* Argubly the best win Wade Phillips would have had as a senior coach I'd say. Probably the best gaeme Roy Williams has had, which is huge for the offense. The NFC East is in our hands now, so lets hope we don't see another December meltdown.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 8, 2009 -> 01:06 AM) Telander and Morrissey are pretty much the same beast, and I cant stand either of them for the scenario you presented above, it is 100% true. In other news, John Harbaugh hits the 'Boys below the belt: http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/i...oys-in-new-book Your move, DBAHO That's what you get when you have Jerry Jones as your owner. At least now, with TO gone and his son having more influence, they're getting back to being more of a "team", and it's starting to show IMO.

Cali the question you'd have to ask yourself is would Gordon Beckham give you better defense at SS than what Alexei Ramirez gave this season? That is debatable to say the least.

I really didn't get what all the fuss was with Tyler Perry when I was over in the States. Every time you watch TNT, there's always a freakin ad for Meetin the Browns or some crap of his. And then there were those movies he had also. But as for SHIPPS, I can only hope it was a one off for you, otherwise you'll have a decision to make down the line, which would be quite interesting indeed.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 04:41 PM) Luckily, that won't happen. KW and Ozzie should be crucified if Alex Rios is our opening day right fielder. Maybe in a few years you're forced to move him there, but right now absolutely not.

Yeah seen that quite a few times today. There's no place for that in sport, and honestly it's sad that it takes that type of thing for Soccer to get attention in the US Media IMO.