badgercub

So it's not bringing the camera that's the issue, it's showing up in the first place? Have you ever been to one? I think it's a lot of fun. Just fans talking baseball... No, I haven't. Just remarking on the comparison to the Star Trek convention. Have you been to one of those? I've been to a few Cubs conventions but never a Star Trek convention for comparison. How many Trek convention have you been to, badgercub? I guess I didn't really mean to imply it is geeky, but the fans are pretty rabid. I have had a blast at the couple of conventions I have been to. Although it is almost getting to be too crowded and the lines are quite long. People will start lining up for autographs around 5 in the morning when the doors don't open til like 8 or 9.

Bringing a camera would not be geeky at all. Think of the Cubs Convention somewhere along the lines of a Star Trek convention. The best part of the convention for me was hanging out in the bar at the hotel at night with all of the Cub fans and a few of the old time Cubs love to sit around and b.s.

I take it you haven't looked at Wisconsins schedule? Wisconsin's schedule is not very impressive, but with a very young team they have been playing well. Other than their loss to Michigan (whom they played even for the first half) They have beaten every other team they have played in the big 10 by at least 14 points, with the exception of the 10 point game against Illinois this past weekend in which they came back from a 14 point deficit in the second half. The funny thing is even if they run the table the rest of the way to finish 11-1, they won't even get a BCS bowl. I think Wisconsin has the better defense than Penn St. Badgers are only giving up an ave of like 250 yds. a game in total offense. and are in the top 5 nationally against the pass.

I don't believe that. If they were at odds LR would've taken the 3 year deal that Detroit offered him last year... Not necessarily. Detroit was not picked by anyone to do as well as they have this year, and the Cubs for all of their faults were picked to at least contend in their division this last year. Rothschild could have been looking at it from the perspective of, if the Cubs succeed, Dusty stays and he retains his job (I also thinks he has a good relationship with his pitchers) if they fail, he would have been the most likely to get a shot as interim manager if Dusty was fired. That makes no sense. Turn down 3 year contract for a one year contract with a manager you are at odds with? Huh? Why does that not make sense? did you not read it? Detroit was not picked to even get a sniff at the playoffs I believe they were picked to finish fourth behind the Sox, Twins, and Indians. The Cubs were picked to at least contend for their division, which means if they win Rothschild would be extended. If they lose Rothschild possibly has a chance to manage in the Big Leagues again. I think there is quite a bit of logic in that thought process. Tell me what doesn't make sense in the scenario I laid out. I see where you are coming from with the guarantee of 3 years I just don't think it weighed as much as what the Cubs were predicted to do and what Detroit was predicted to do. It's easy to look at it in hindsight and say he should have taken the Detroit job.

I don't believe that. If they were at odds LR would've taken the 3 year deal that Detroit offered him last year... Not necessarily. Detroit was not picked by anyone to do as well as they have this year, and the Cubs for all of their faults were picked to at least contend in their division this last year. Rothschild could have been looking at it from the perspective of, if the Cubs succeed, Dusty stays and he retains his job (I also thinks he has a good relationship with his pitchers) if they fail, he would have been the most likely to get a shot as interim manager if Dusty was fired.

I might be wrong, but I thought it was reported (on here maybe by Bruce) that Dusty and Rothschild were often at odds and that Dusty often ignored Rothschild as to how to handle the staff in regards to leaving guys in to long,etc...

In other news, top recruit Eric Gordon has decommitted from the Illini, and plans on signing with the Indiana Hoosiers, announcement to be made during Indiana's Midnight madness this evening.

I know there are some Illini fans that don't care for Bo Ryan too much but he has great respect for the Illinois program and thinks they do not get, along with WI, the national attention that they deserve. Here is a quote from Bo from a local Madison newspaper. "That's all good stuff. Unfortunately, that still isn't enough to get Wisconsin on every basketball map. You could argue that it's still absent from the Big Ten's basketball map. "We don't get the natural publicity that the Michigans and the Indianas get," Ryan said. "Illinois doesn't, either. And over the last five years what two schools have the best records in the Big Ten? It's Illinois and Wisconsin." Ryan isn't pleased that ESPN has not included Wisconsin or Illinois for one of the network's stops for a GameDay basketball show this season. "They're going to Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan State twice," Ryan said. "What does that tell you?" Just thought I would share.

DeAron Williams was also ruled academically ineligible the second half of last season and has since left the University. There was some rumor he tried to get into Bradley but was not accepted there either. I would imagine he transferred to some JC or something. Too bad I really liked his athleticism and thought he could have contributed. I think he was also upset with playing time. Well if memory serves Bradley was a bad choice if he was struggling with his grades. They are a pretty tough school. As for playing time, wasn't he there all of a semester? Some of these kids are amazing thinking they will just go in an be given minutes from the get go. He had redshirted a year so was at Wisconsin a year and a half, but only played for one semester.

DeAron Williams was also ruled academically ineligible the second half of last season and has since left the University. There was some rumor he tried to get into Bradley but was not accepted there either. I would imagine he transferred to some JC or something. Too bad I really liked his athleticism and thought he could have contributed. I think he was also upset with playing time.

I can't wait for the Badgers to hit the court. They should have a very talented and deep team. Bo can legitimately go 12-13 deep on his bench and not have a lot of drop off. They have everyone coming back (minus Ray Nixon, no big loss) including Marcus Landry and Greg Stiemsma with whom the Badgers were 16-4 last year before their departure due to academics. Add Mickey Perry, redshirted last year, and two highly regarded recruits at point guard and shooting guard who will get to be brought in slowly and the Badgers should be tough to beat. On a side note, they began offering courtside seating at the Kohl Center this year $12,500/seat for a season ticket or if you make a 3 year committment the price drops to $10,000. Students are rumored to have been selling their season tix for up to $2500.

I agree. i didn't pay close attention to the games on Sat. as I didn't get a chance to watch, but I thought it was the play clock that starts once the ball is placed by the ref after a change of possession and the game clock does not start until the ball is snapped.

Anyone? I need to know soon so I can send the tix.

I have two tickets I can't use to Mon. Sept. 4th game against Pitt at 1:20. Tickets are located in aisle 129, row 4, seats 5 and 6. 13 rows behind the visitors dugout, anyone interested?

I have two tickets to Monday's game that I am unable to use, anyone interested? They are located in Aisle 129, Row 4, seats 5 and 6. Seats are about 14 rows behind visitors dugout, great seats.

I understand about his defense and baserunning (although I think his defense overall has been pretty good-he's been very good at tracking down balls, and absolutely terrible with his arm). However, his numbers this year against right handed pitchers are good-very good. .311/.350/.538 If we could find a platoon partner who could hit lefties that well for 2-3 million, we'd have one of the top 5-6 right fields in the league (Jacque's splits would rank 10th in OBP, 2nd in SLG, and 4th in OPS among qualified right fielders this year). 7-8 million for that production would be a bargain-can we get this high of numbers again for Jones? Probably it will be somewhat lower next year-but it will still be a very productive position with a platoon partner. Look at his splits for the last 3 years 02-05 his OPS against right handed pitching is barely over .800, which is not good. That is what you should expect from for the next two years, and I would probably guess after a slight bump up this year it will be lower the next two years. A RF with a terrible arm, continuous mistakes on the basepaths, and an OPS most likely around .800 is not the kind of production anyone should be looking for especially as one half of a platoon.

Absolutely not. I have said from the day they signed him that he was no good, and I was clamoring for them to trade him in June when he was batting .300 because we all knew he would revert back to career numbers. One other thing is his defense and baserunning are even worse than I expected. After being at last nights game I was so frustrated at how poorly this team plays the game from a fundamental standpoint that I am seriously thinking of getting rid of my season tix, at $50 a pop I would rather go watch a good highschool team for free.

And the money to pay for Rusch in 2007. Let's keep the faith! Doesn't matter, all another team has to do is put in a claim on Rusch and Hendry doesn't even need to work out a trade, he can just let that team have Rusch, which includes his contract. Just getting rid of him is enough of a return on the trade if you aren't saddled with the contract.

Jacque Jones is a piece of trash making 5 million a year. you can look at his horrible numbers and then you add in the fact he is an abortion on the basepaths and in the field. I was at the game last night and watched him get thrown out at second and another one of his patented throws straight into the ground 10 feet in front of him, the guy can't even throw the ball in to second base from less than 50 feet away, anyone who says that is acceptable and that his compensation is fair has been drinking too much of the Jim Hendry Kool Aid. Speaking of whom, I blame much of the faults associated with this team including it's manager.

You make some good points, but with the explosion of sports like soccer, basketball, and even football, and the specialization of all of these sports that may diminish somewhat, the expansion of the population. It would be interesting to see if there has been any studies that have taken all of these things into consideration. you have to remember that those sports dilute hitting too. plus, baseball is now a global game. it's growth globally is probably more than any other sport. soccer was always an international game, football hasn't really expanded, and basketball became popular globally 30-40 years before baseball. IMO opinion, if there is any dillution, it is through the growth of non-ball sports...TO THE EXTREME!!! Football hasn't expanded? huh. basketball has exploded both in the U.S. and globally only probably since the height of Magic and Bird and continuing with MJ and into the present, probably only the last 20 years in the U.S. and less than that globally. Plus 20 years ago kids played multiple sports, now you see kids concentrate predominantly on one sport year round. I don't necessarily disagree with your points I was just looking for a little more concrete info behind it, and maybe there isn't any as I don't have any to back up my assertion. there was a long discussion on these issues last winter. I don't know that there has been any comprehensive study or it would have been linked in that thread. football hasn't expanded beyond North America, Europe, and places here or there, and I may be wrong, but the only other major professional league, NFL Europe, plays to half empty stadiums. football couldn't put together a WBC or a world championship like we see in hoops. eastern european nations were playing basketball at a high level as far back as the 60's. the sport has been hugely popular globally for decades. even latin american countries didn't produce the caliber of player to regularly make MLB until the 80's. the best international players didn't come to the NBA sooner only because the best international players were behind the iron curtain. baseball did not catch on in Europe or the Mideast or Australia until long after basketball took off. although I do agree that basketball got an extra boost in the 80's and 90's. I see where you are coming from. Globally there hasn't been a dilution, but definitely in the states I think there has been. Good point

You make some good points, but with the explosion of sports like soccer, basketball, and even football, and the specialization of all of these sports that may diminish somewhat, the expansion of the population. It would be interesting to see if there has been any studies that have taken all of these things into consideration. you have to remember that those sports dilute hitting too. plus, baseball is now a global game. it's growth globally is probably more than any other sport. soccer was always an international game, football hasn't really expanded, and basketball became popular globally 30-40 years before baseball. IMO opinion, if there is any dillution, it is through the growth of non-ball sports...TO THE EXTREME!!! Football hasn't expanded? (Since 1995 the NFL has added 4 franchises in Jacksonville, Carolina, Cleveland, and Houston. Not to mention the use of NFL Europe, and the use of the practice squads that have expanded rosters.) Basketball has exploded both in the U.S. and globally only probably since the height of Magic and Bird and continuing with MJ and into the present, probably only the last 20 years in the U.S. and less than that globally. Plus 20 years ago kids played multiple sports, now you see kids concentrate predominantly on one sport year round. I don't necessarily disagree with your points I was just looking for a little more concrete info behind it, and maybe there isn't any as I don't have any to back up my assertion.

You make some good points, but with the explosion of sports like soccer, basketball, and even football, and the specialization of all of these sports that may diminish somewhat, the expansion of the population. It would be interesting to see if there has been any studies that have taken all of these things into consideration.

Rick had a belly that he could pull some reserve out of when he needed the extra power. I think it's a combination of things. The small strike zone, can't throw inside, batters are more patient now, and the fact that if something hurts now players see that their future money may go away so the slightest ache they are more careful than before. I'm curious on how many pitches Rick threw a game because if memory serves me he had pretty good control or the very least didn't have to throw as many pitches per game with that sinker of his. I would also submit that pitchers have to work much harder to get guys out now than they did in the 70's and points previous. Your average MLB hitter is stronger and quicker at the plate than your average 1975 era hitter. Agreed, as OBP has become more important in the mind of some organizations, the amount of pitches per plate appearance has probably risen over the years. Also with the advent of the 5 man rotation and the amount of money invested in these guys they don't throw as much as they used to. In the past, and with fewer teams in the league, most pitchers threw a lot more innings in the minors where they either persevered or flamed out, so their probably were a lot more guys with injuries, they were just out of baseball before they ever made it to the bigs. With expansion and the dilution of pitchers you are seeing guys in majors that probably would have never made it in years past.

"He's still getting better, still learning. He's going to be something. … He's not even close [to being a finished product]. He's only 24 years old." ---Quote from Dusty Baker. Unfortunately for Z Dusty has been riding him so hard for the last 3 years that there is a good possibility that Z will suffer a major arm injury before he ever reaches his full potential. And for those of you who say "big deal, it was only an extra 20 pitches" Think about how many times Dusty leaves him in for an "extra 20 pitches" this is a cumulative effect and has been going on for 3 years. I am extremely worried as to how Dusty is ruining a guy with incredible stamina and Cy Young potential on a season that is in the tank.

I was at the game yesterday, all of our outfielders are bad. Pagan misplaying balls, Pierre's girly arm, and Jones' inability to hit a cutoff man. It was really quite sad Jones twice missed the cutoff man allowing runners to move up on the bases, how is this tolerated? Be a man(ager) Dusty and start holding people accountable, if they aren't going to play the game the right way, find a spot for them on the bench.