Jeff Samardzija (Split From Colvin Con-call Thread)

[wade]

Picking a 17 year old for what he will mature into 10 years later is tough.

The NBA draft is rigged from the aspect of picking positions. They do it in some backroom and then have an accounting firm say it was on the up and up. I don't buy it. They got burned during the Patrick Ewing draft class by allegedly putting the Knicks card in a freezer before the draft. When Stern reached in the bowl, he avoided the colder card until the end. However a number of fans saw the precipitation on the inside of the bowl and asked some pretty pointed questions. Since then it's behind closed doors.

 

Why did they want the Knicks to have first pick? Is this a popular conspiracy?

[NCCubFan]

It was agreed, if the Bears or Bulls did something like this..they would be roasted here.

The Bears actually did something like that once. I forget the specific year, but they were interested in Mark Carrier and one other player (I forget who). So they went to each player's agent with an offer and told the agents that whoever accepted the offer first would be drafted. Carrier accepted the offer first and was drafted.

[goonys evil twin]

It was agreed, if the Bears or Bulls did something like this..they would be roasted here.

The Bears actually did something like that once. I forget the specific year, but they were interested in Mark Carrier and one other player (I forget who). So they went to each player's agent with an offer and told the agents that whoever accepted the offer first would be drafted. Carrier accepted the offer first and was drafted.

 

That is different. Teams do that with the #1 pick a lot. And with the Bears pick it's not like they offered 5th rounders the chance to be drafted in the 1st if they agreed to a cheap deal. They were deciding between two appropriately slotted players.

[YearofDaCubs]

Picking a 17 year old for what he will mature into 10 years later is tough.

The NBA draft is rigged from the aspect of picking positions. They do it in some backroom and then have an accounting firm say it was on the up and up. I don't buy it. They got burned during the Patrick Ewing draft class by allegedly putting the Knicks card in a freezer before the draft. When Stern reached in the bowl, he avoided the colder card until the end. However a number of fans saw the precipitation on the inside of the bowl and asked some pretty pointed questions. Since then it's behind closed doors.

Wow, that's crazy and the first time I've heard of it.

[goonys evil twin]

Picking a 17 year old for what he will mature into 10 years later is tough.

The NBA draft is rigged from the aspect of picking positions. They do it in some backroom and then have an accounting firm say it was on the up and up. I don't buy it. They got burned during the Patrick Ewing draft class by allegedly putting the Knicks card in a freezer before the draft. When Stern reached in the bowl, he avoided the colder card until the end. However a number of fans saw the precipitation on the inside of the bowl and asked some pretty pointed questions. Since then it's behind closed doors.

Wow, that's crazy and the first time I've heard of it.

 

That's the first time you've heard the rigged NBA lottery conspiracy theory? It's been around a long time.

 

If the NBA really tried to make the Knicks as good as they can be, they've done a terrible job.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Finally found it -- Jeremy Bloom, mogul skier and Colorado football player.

 

Link

 

NCAA rules allow a player to earn a salary from a professional sport while playing another sport in college, but athletes are prohibited from endorsing products based on their athletic ability.

[CubinNY]

Finally found it -- Jeremy Bloom, mogul skier and Colorado football player.

 

Link

 

NCAA rules allow a player to earn a salary from a professional sport while playing another sport in college, but athletes are prohibited from endorsing products based on their athletic ability.

 

Isn't that about the most stupidly hypocritcal rule ever?

 

Hey, your coach and the Universtiy can make millions from but you better not.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Finally found it -- Jeremy Bloom, mogul skier and Colorado football player.

 

Link

 

NCAA rules allow a player to earn a salary from a professional sport while playing another sport in college, but athletes are prohibited from endorsing products based on their athletic ability.

 

Isn't that about the most stupidly hypocritcal rule ever?

 

Hey, your coach and the Universtiy can make millions from but you better not.

 

Absolutely. A Salomon bindings endorsement deal has what bearing on an amateur football player?

[craig]

Odds/Ends:

*Thanks for the link to the Notre Dame/Sam inerviews. The coach also makes the claim that he hit 99 and was regularly at 93-94. That's a good arm. Interesting that they discuss this curve/splitter switch to slider/change, in such positive terms. Even though his season stats were worse. Obviously a long-term investment. The comment that he's comparable/better than Lidge and Heilman, that's very strong. Of course, this guy is obviously a gusher supreme, makes Hendry and Fleita look like understaters.

*I got the impression from Sam's comments that while his college life has been football first (he was signed and recruited as a football player), I almost got the impression that he saw his pro career as more baseball first. He insisted on finishing the NOtre Dame career, but there were comments from everybody about being focusedn baseball,the advantage of not running off to spring football, etc. etc.. It may be that he will be a premier NFL draft choice, and that's he and coach are totally clueless about how much summer time NFL might demand. Or that he perhaps didn't intend to do football first next summer. That's the spin the coach had; go to combines, see what NFL draft did, but really go baseball from March on. I got a much better feeling about his seriousness about baseball and his likelihood of choosing baseball after reading that.

*Sounds like he definitely intends to sign. The issue is not whether he will sign, I don't think; it's whether he'll ever focus and whether the Cubs will ever get any value out of him.

*He talks about big games etc.. There are no big games in Boise, or Peoria, or Daytona, or WTenn. It may well be that after spending some time riding Boise buses, playing to small crowds, having another 15-hour busride, etc., that baseball will seem way too low-thrill to keep his attention?

*Thanks for some of the input on what his NFL status is. His baseball commitments may not help his football draft either, by the way. If he's head and shoulder BPA, somebody will take him. But if he ends up in the bigger pool where teams see comparable prospects, any time they are choosing between Sam and some other comparable prospect, Sam's baseball distraction might cause them to choose the other guy. This could happen over and over and over, especially if he isn't viewed as elite. But time will tell how elite he looks once the fall season is in.

*Jon, I don't see the link between Sam and Colvin. I predict that Colvin will sign for close to slot money. I don't recall a lot of big-talent-big-ticket bonus demand guys there. Maybe Drabek or somebody was, but I was under the impression that most of the guys BA was discussing would have been happy to go that high and sign for slot money. And even if there were a few that would have demanded superslot, I think there was a plenty big pool of guys who would have signed for slot, guys who BA had ranked higher and who would not have drawn all the aghast that Colvin has. Bottom line, I think Wilken probably picked Colvin over the other slot-signables because he thought he was the best prospect. He may be crazy, and as I said there may have been a couple of guys who removed themselves from consideration with outrageous superslot demands; but I think Wilken mostly made the pick based on his baseball/scouting judgement. Like I say, there is good reason to question that, but time will tell. I just don't see that selection being premised on drafting Sam in the 5th. For all he knew the Sox or Tigers or Yankees might draft Sam in the 2nd or 3rd or 4th, and he'd never even get the chance. I don't see Sam comanding all that much guaranteed or up-front money that they couldn't also pay at least full slot or more at #13. In 02, that they intended to pay 1st-round for Blasko and Hagerty and full slot to Clanton, Jones, Dopirak, Craig, Petrick, and Hill didn't cause them to overdraft rather than pay slot or superslot on Brownlie.... I think they had plenty of resouces to draft what they viewed as the BPA at #13 plus draft and sign Sam. Again, Cub judgments routinely prove faulty and time may well show that Wilken will be very wrong on Colvin. But I think it was a scouting decision, not a Sam-induced financial decision.

[NCCubFan]

Picking a 17 year old for what he will mature into 10 years later is tough.

The NBA draft is rigged from the aspect of picking positions. They do it in some backroom and then have an accounting firm say it was on the up and up. I don't buy it. They got burned during the Patrick Ewing draft class by allegedly putting the Knicks card in a freezer before the draft. When Stern reached in the bowl, he avoided the colder card until the end. However a number of fans saw the precipitation on the inside of the bowl and asked some pretty pointed questions. Since then it's behind closed doors.

Wow, that's crazy and the first time I've heard of it.

I remember it well, since I lived in Indiana at the time and the Pacers wound up with the second pick behind the Knicks. A local newscast showed the lottery in slow motion. The commissioner looked into the bin before picking the card for the #1 pick, and the card had a bent corner to make it easy to spot (at that time the lottery used cards with the teams' logos on them rather than ping-pong balls). That was the very first year of the lottery, and there was speculation that the lottery was developed specifically so Ewing would wind up with the Knicks (that was before the Michael Jordan era, the NBA was struggling mightily, and they were counting on Ewing in New York to save the league).

[Andy]

The Ewing/lottery conspiracy is widely known around the league, even more so than the "Stern drove Jordan out of the game for 18 months because of his gambling" theory.

[goonys evil twin]

http://espn.go.com/photo/2006/0828/pg2_w_samardzija_195.jpg

 

DJ Gallo's caption reads:

 

Yes, that's a boy.

 

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=gallo/060828

 

I laughed because when I first opened the page, my eyes scanned across the screen without looking closely and I thought, "I wonder what the story is about the female football player."

[Vinestal]

How is Samardzija doing with ND so far I dont follow college football at all so I was wondering if someone could give a quick update. I was hoping there would be a thread somewhere following his football play but I have yet to find it if it exsist.

[CubColtPacer]

How is Samardzija doing with ND so far I dont follow college football at all so I was wondering if someone could give a quick update. I was hoping there would be a thread somewhere following his football play but I have yet to find it if it exsist.

 

He's doing all right, but not quite as prolific as last year. Most of that though is due to 2 factors

1) Teams are double teaming him

2)ND has played a pretty tough schedule so far

 

He might start racking up the huge numbers in the next few weeks. We'll know better than-I think he would be the 2nd or 3rd receiver drafted if he was just playing football-he'll drop significantly with the two sports thing though.

[CoolHandLuke]

http://espn.go.com/photo/2006/0828/pg2_w_samardzija_195.jpg

 

DJ Gallo's caption reads:

 

Yes, that's a boy.

 

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=gallo/060828

 

I laughed because when I first opened the page, my eyes scanned across the screen without looking closely and I thought, "I wonder what the story is about the female football player."

 

Garrett Wolfe number 1! :D