Bananarchy

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 10:26 PM) It's not like Groce was a good coach before. He needs to go. Simply delaying the inevitable. The Illinois way to hang on to coaches for far too long. He has more sweet sixteen appearances than Illinois does since 2006.

QUOTE (gatnom @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 11:20 AM) Well, I think that says everything about the Groce situation. Again, Groce is the least of Whitman's worries, really. Yeah, they haven't been good, but Illinois' injured players could beat their starters. Groce gets another year with all his guys (except Malcolm Hill)

QUOTE (ozzfest @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 02:30 PM) Soxtalk: "Paxson is a great executive." "What did you want them to do?" "This is on Gar not pax" Rest of world: Paxson and Forman are morons John Paxson is a great executive and solid basketball mind. The "GarPax" myth is just that: a myth. They are not of one mind. The difference is, Paxson isn't a blowhard like Kenny Williams who just says exactly what he thinks whenever he wants.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 01:54 PM) David Kaplan ‏@thekapman 23m23 minutes ago NBA source tells me it does not look like the #Bulls will make any deals today unless something breaks that is unexpected in last 30 min. Which is 100% unacceptable.

This front office certainly is trying. They have one job: move Gasol.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 12:15 PM) Bulls are aggressively shopping Gasol according to Woj. Wonder if they'd get a 1st rounder for him with his expiring contract, Toronto could be a potential fit, they're after a 4. I guess it's possible, but expiring contracts are worthless at the moment. Everyone will have cash shortly.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 12:01 PM) So latest is George and Tiley are out and rumor right now is that Groce is probably safe for another year. f***ing ridiculous and I'm about ready to cut bait on Illinois athletics altogether. Not worth my time until the university shows they give a f***. Of course Groce is safe for another year. The football and women's basketball programs are in shambles faced with major abuse claims. An underachieving basketball coach is the least of Illinois' worries. I also like the hire.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 11:21 AM) What's actually interesting is that a big reason why the "Best player in the game" didn't come there is that Thibs specifically wasn't going to give special treatment to the best player in the game. That was Thibs's game - if Lebron came, Lebron was going to be in a system that worked, but he wasn't getting special locker room treatment, he was going to be a class act like the rest of Thibs's players. He was going to practice hard. He was going to work hard on defense and fit alongside Thibs. The Bulls not landing him was in part because they were working with Thibs's system1 And f*** how the Bulls treated Vinny. He wanted better treatment, he should have tried not being a disaster. If you want to criticize something regarding the time they suffered from VDN, criticize the hiring. That was an a complete utter debacle. Your point on Thibs and star players is emphasized by the fact that Thibs has yet to get another coaching job. Everyone is so afraid he'll go to Cleveland. He should go run what's left of LeBron into the ground.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 08:15 PM) Does it involve the Bulls acquiring a stud entering his prime? Yes. Ok it's not happening. Definitely not happening. Even if the rumors are true, the Bulls have nothing Sacramento would want, especially compared to the other suitors. A guy like Pau isn't even valuable anymore as a result of the Salary Cap jump next season. No one is looking for expiring contracts anymore.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 08:12 AM) It's weird that one player can outrun the competition so much. Kane is on pace for 112 points, while the next closest is only 92 points. However, last year the leader was only 87 points, which shows what Kane is doing is just bananas. The 21% difference between Kane's projected outcome in points vs the 2nd best is the highest differential I can find since Gretzky's 24% besting Brett Hull (163-131) in the 1990-91. That's 25 years. I wouldn't call it "bananas". If he can break 120, it's really special. Last year's 87 was the lowest in a complete season since the 60s. 110 is a typical number for the scoring championship since the Gretzky days.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 06:58 AM) If you aren't satisfied with what the Hawks have done in the last decade or so, you might as well give up watching sports. Agreed. I never expected Chicago to have another dynasty type team when the Bulls broke up.

While I'm not sure how I feel about the Manning stuff, it's amazing how little airplay it is getting on ESPN. Just more proof ESPN is an arm of the NFL.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 10:20 AM) It is why MLB still has the best ASG. I understand injury concerns, but dude, the NBA all star game could rival or be better than the MLB one if the guys played hard. An easy solution is to throw about 5M bucks to the winner. Maybe get crazy and throw a similar amount to charity. I guarantee you put something like that on the line, yes, these guys make a lot, but it would probably change the level of competition, etc. The game is just terrible. I'd love to see these guys actually play hard against each other (it would be so fun to watch). There shouldn't be non-MLB All-Star games. There's nothing in the All-Star game that's worth getting hurt over. And these are the best, highest players in the game. Unless they're playing for a competitive advantage later on (an idea I DO NOT endorse), they're not going to take it seriously.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 13, 2016 -> 09:55 PM) And when in doubt, you can just go nuclear and put 19 and 88 together. It's always a game changer in the playoffs and they dominated the 3rd on Thursday night. It's a nice problem to have. Dallas didn't actually try. They don't do a lot of trying in the 3rd, it appears. Scored 4 on the Caps in the second to go up 4-0. Won 4-3

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 12, 2016 -> 04:04 PM) Why wouldnt the best option be: "Hey Matt we think you are an amazing player and we appreciate everything you have done. Unfortunately there is a salary cap in the NFL and while we would love to have you back we think that you are going to get a multi-year offer that is far in excess of what we can afford at this time. If that doesn't materialize or if you want to try and work out something that is extremely favorable to us, please contact us to discuss." Different strokes for different folks, but to me that is the best option. And I dont think its really comparable to Urlacher wasnt likely to be signed to a big contract where the Bears could go "The money didnt make sense." Nothing about Forte money makes sense. Not signing him is safe. The Bears aren't that close.

God a 7 game series between these teams would be epic

Stars are on the bus. Blackhawks score. 4-2 Stars. UC back alive.

UC is a mausoleum at this point.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 11, 2016 -> 08:33 PM) Desjardins has no business being on the third line. I guess the fans who played good money for this one at least saw the Sharp and Oduya tributes. Well deserved though, especially for Sharpie. They showed it on the Dallas feed. Classy stuff by the Hawks. Even though they can't spell "Sharpie"

Of note, Patrick Eaves has a hat trick in the first period. I'm forced to watch the Dallas feed and they barely mentioned it.

QUOTE (Tony @ Feb 11, 2016 -> 08:16 PM) Well, Crawford should have an early night. Yikes. After these three games, I have no idea how to read these two teams. Hawks have them in a series of 7 for sure. Stars wouldn't score 4 every game.

4-0 Stars. Dallas looks better than they have since Christmas (a game I was at in Chicago gear)

Eaves scores again. 3-0 Stars.

Benn, Seguin, Eakin line having their way with a lethargic Blackhawks effort.

Still waiting for the Niemi tribute video.