BigbadB

The Soto bunt call was beyond ridiculous, but I'm more pissed about pitching to Izturis with an open base. A double play ends the inning.

What's Josephine got going on?

What sort of weather are you expecting Ike to create in Tampa on Sunday? Heavy wind and rain. But, it's sounding like Florida might be in the clear from this storm. Maybe I will take Tampa. I have a few more days before I need to submit my pick.

Gotta love the Brewers bullpen. No, seriously. You gotta love 'em. No wonder Sabathia goes the distance every time out.

I'd probably normally take Tampa Bay at home against Atlanta in my suicide pool, but with Ike looming in the gulf, I think I'll stay away from games that might have weather related issues. Especially considering how strong of a performance Michael Turner turned in last week. I don't like to pick teams on the road, but I just don't like any other home teams this week, so I'm going to go with the New York Giants at St. Louis.

He's trying to, but he might run out of time. In fact, it might already be too late. I can't imagine he will be much of a threat when he'll basically be starting spring training in the heart of a pennant race.

I'm not at all shocked that you are providing pessimism in the Bears game thread considering how much pessimism you toss around in the Cubs game threads. It was a tremendous road victory against a team that very well could be representing the AFC in the Super Bowl this year. By your views, we should all be gloomy and doomy with dread on how horribly the Bears will perform in the next 15 games rather than share a little excitement of how well they performed last night. Ouch. If you were playing darts, you would have just missed the board completely. -1 respect I don't think so. If I want to form the opinion that this team has an opportunity to match what the 2006 team did, why try to rain on my parade? It's really no different than wanting and hoping to see the Cubs win the World Series. I like to enjoy the positives rather than dwell on the negatives. Unlike the verbiage in your sig. If only the entire world shared the same opinion as yours, we could all hold hands and sing in unity. Oh but wait, we don't, so thats why we have discussion forums. And again, you completely missed the point. I was saying I wouldn't base the opinion of the 2008 Bears on the 2006 Bears because they are completely different teams. But you used irrational bias to assume that I was blatently being a pessimist (AFTER A WIN! LOL) or trying to rain on people's parade or something. It's perfectly acceptable to disagree with me, and I welcome a discussion of different thoughts. But the random disgust you seemed to convey towards me was quite disapointing for someone who I previously held in high regard. Admittedly, I have been riding your ass lately, and I apologize for that. Maybe I did read more into that post than you actually meant. But, it's hard for me to not see negativity in your posts considering how much you share(d) in the game thread forums. I watched the entire game, and I have already formed an opinion. You just don't go into a visiting team's stadium and kick that very good team's ass if you aren't a good team. Maybe I'm setting myself up for a letdown. I've been a Bears fan since 1972. I've had a lot more disappointing seasons of being a fan than years to be excited. And when they come out in game 1 of a new season with a can of whoop ass, I don't appreciate someone telling me that I shouldn't form an opinion based on one game. There is no doubt that this team has question marks. A rookie RB, a back up QB, old, young, and inexperienced WR's and an aging O-Line to name a few. But, if everyone does their job, this team can win 10+. But, that's every team in football, except for a small handful of VERY bad teams.

They should skip his next start.

Cain and Verlander both took pretty bad dumps this year. Odd.

I'm not at all shocked that you are providing pessimism in the Bears game thread considering how much pessimism you toss around in the Cubs game threads. It was a tremendous road victory against a team that very well could be representing the AFC in the Super Bowl this year. By your views, we should all be gloomy and doomy with dread on how horribly the Bears will perform in the next 15 games rather than share a little excitement of how well they performed last night. Ouch. If you were playing darts, you would have just missed the board completely. -1 respect I don't think so. If I want to form the opinion that this team has an opportunity to match what the 2006 team did, why try to rain on my parade? It's really no different than wanting and hoping to see the Cubs win the World Series. I like to enjoy the positives rather than dwell on the negatives. Unlike the verbiage in your sig.

I'm not at all shocked that you are providing pessimism in the Bears game thread considering how much pessimism you toss around in the Cubs game threads. It was a tremendous road victory against a team that very well could be representing the AFC in the Super Bowl this year. By your views, we should all be gloomy and doomy with dread on how horribly the Bears will perform in the next 15 games rather than share a little excitement of how well they performed last night. This team is not completely different. Sure, the personnel is different. But, the playbook looks pretty much the same. That's because Lovie is still coaching this team. Truth be told, the offense is a run oriented, ball control offense and the defense is the biggest strength of the team, and the team will live and die by how the defense performs. I can look all the way back to the early '80's and see the same identical team I see now. Back then, the team was a run oriented, ball control offense that lived and died by how the defense performs. Sound familiar? That's because the team isn't really all that different.

That Rosario cat looks scary good. He leaped completely over a Charger defender without missing a beat for a big gain. :shock:

I watched Carolina yesterday (since the Chargers game was the only afternoon game on here) and their run game ran roughshod on the Chargers defense. DeAngelo Williams and another cat named Stewart (I believe) found holes and exploited what was supposed to be a strong Charger defense. Carolina owned the ball most of the game. They did a pretty good job defensively of keeping Tomlinson in check. The Chargers didn't play well enough to win that game (except for the last drive of the game), but they nearly manage to win anyway. Glad Smith won't be playing, because he owns the Bears. Based on what I saw yesterday, Carolina will move the ball well between the 20's, but might have to settle for field goals, which is pretty much what Cover 2 accomplishes.

Delhomme was throwing to Moose (incomplete, of course) on deep patterns. LOL. If they do that again this week, Mike Brown will put Moose in the hospital.

If that division stays close, both staffs could be toast come playoff time. It's too bad these teams don't face each other in the final series.

Petco is home to a AAA team. Surely, we could bump them. What's up with the Astrodome these days?

That was maybe the toughest matchup he will see all season, outside of Jared Allen (twice). Still he was pretty weak pass blocking. He did ok in the preseason against weaker DEs. I didn't have a huge problem with St. Clair. I'm glad they kept him at left tackle and Tait at right. At least in that situation, Tait is a good enough right tackle to not hurt the team, whereas he wasn't a good LT at all. St. Clair is a mediocre lineman, but he's not completely incompetent. They just need to give him help all season. All St. Clair had to do was hold off Freeney long enough for Orton to get off the short pass. The first two series of downs worried me, as Orton was missing badly, but he became much more accurate after that. That was one of my keys to the Bears winning this game. They had to control Indy's defense with short passes. Anything else was just going to be a bonus, and Orton did give us a few bonuses hitting Clark and Lloyd downfield.

I did throw your team under the bus, but with the match ups Raw's pitchers have this week, it's simply my prediction and nothing more. But, I'd trade my match ups this week for Raw's any day of the week. Derek Lowe at Petco Matt Cain at Petco Ollie Perez at home vs. the Nats and Braves Adam Wainwright at Pittsburgh (possibly without Nate McLouth) Cole Hamels at home vs. Milwaukee and his choice of which one will be better between Lilly at St. Louis and Ervin Santana at home vs. the Yanks.

Appreciate the offer, but Mrs. BigbadB has experience with fantasy baseball and she will be able to do any necessary changes for me. I'll be going over my roster with her before I leave. Good luck to you as well.

Alamo Stealth vs. Fuzzy Logistics Tootielicious vs. Rawaction Division Championships. Doesn't really mean all that much as losers go home and the winners play in the big dance. Alamo and Fuzzy split the seasonal match ups, though Alamo's win came during the all star break, and Fuzzy's most certainly would have come back to win that one if it was a full week match up. :grin: It looks like I'll have to come from behind in this one. Alamo has as many as 4 or 5 starts to use before Thursday, and I only have 1 start until Thursday, and it's probably my least favorable start of the week (Javier Vasquez vs. Toronto) I like my bats better for this series, but you have to like Alamo's pitching match ups a lot better. The sad news is I will be out of town for this one. I leave for Vegas early Wednesday and won't be back until Monday. I'll have Mrs. BigbadB monitor my team for injuries while I'm gone as well as provide updates on the match up each morning. I probably wouldn't bother, but with Randy Johnson's health situation, I want to make sure I get 7 starts this week. Raw has excellent pitching match ups, which will be too much for Tootie to overcome. However, the match up could become a little more favorable for Tootie if Kazmir gets a second start in a potentially big game against the Yankees on Sunday. With an off day Thursday, Kazmir could start on Sunday with normal rest. But, I still believe Raws pitching gives him a tremendous advantage this week.

Don't look now, but BigbadB is still alive in the suicide pool. And it's getting awful lonely after week 1. Too bad New England won, or it would have been a really great day to have picked the Bears. Of course, all these Charger fans here in San Diego are pouting and looking for a new suicide pool. Awesome game. Great D. I think we found our running back. I was impressed with Orton's poise.

I thought he did alright considering who he had to protect against all night (Freeney).

Lou won't even plan his playoff rotation until the Cubs have actually locked up a playoff spot.

I just got back from Denver. Driving through Kansas seemed like 15 hours. I'd never been so happy to see a Missouri state line. Been there, done that. Worst state to drive through, ever.

Yeah, don't we all just love a hindsight argument? Must have just been chomping at the bit to toss that one out there. If only DeRo could have hit that 20th homer sooner, so we could have all been ridiculed and laughed at much sooner. Of course, my proposal for Roberts still had DeRosa playing everyday. But, Theriot has more than fooled me, and I'm thankful. Still, I'm left with nothing more to add to this thread other than..... :roll: