BigbadB

*pinch* Enjoy it, Bears fans. I love all you guys, and I love the whole Bears team. I love you Rex. I love you Thomas Jones/Cedric Benson. I love you Offensive Line, you scrappy veterans. I love you Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad (and you too Rashied!). You guys have made the plays when they needed to be made. When they needed to be made. I love you Defensive Line. You guys circled the wagons and have regrouped since losing your best player. Keep it up. I love you Linebackers. You guys are the best in the league. That means you too, Hillenmeyer. I love you Defensive Backs. I'll always have a love hate relationship with you guys, but you're constantly put into tough situations and have come out victorious more often than not. See how good our DB's can be when we have Tillman, Vasher and Ricky Manning all healthy? I love you Robbie Gold. I love you Devin Hester. Most of the time. Where's the love for Brad Maynard? His punt shifted the momentum back to the Bears. Clark and McKie say they want a little bit of love too. And where is the love for the rest of the special teams. Adrian Peterson was amazing yesterday.

Here's hoping for an entertaining game that has the Bears winning handely. I'll be slamming Bloody Mary's at my favorite watering hole since the Bears have an outstanding record when I do that.

Sign me up.

Here is the letter I'm submitting to Butt Selig. To whom it may concern, I’ve been a lifelong fan of baseball. I have been very disappointed recently to learn that the MLB Extra Innings package will now be available exclusively on DirecTV. I have had the MLB Extra Innings package every year that it has been made available to me in the San Diego cable market. It is with with sad regret that I will no longer subscribe to this service now that it is being taken away from me. I absolutely WILL NOT switch to DirecTV. Now that they will have a monopoly on this package, not only will it become much more expensive to purchase through the exclusive rights, but I am very much against any company that is free to charge as much as they want for a product because there is no competition. I feel very sad for MLB to have the gall to consider their own greed before the baseball fan. It took a lot for me to come back to the sport after the last strike. The greed only hurt the fan base. I believe the same will happen with the exclusivity rights with DirecTV. With the steroid controversy in full swing, I find it shocking that MLB would take another swing at the people who support this sport by taking away something many of us enjoy. Many people, like myself, are transplants to other parts of the country. MLB EI allowed us to still keep close tabs on our favorite teams no matter where we lived. DirecTV is available to me here where I live, but it’s not my current cable provider and it most likely never will be. My current cable provider offers me a package deal for my digital telephone service, my cable internet and my digital cable service. Does DirecTV offer this at a comparable price? I don’t think so. I’m about as passionate of a baseball fan as it gets. If I am unwilling to switch cable companies to continue getting MLB EI, how many other fans are more passionate than me and will make the switch. I doubt many will. I could still get the streaming video through MLB to watch games on the internet, but not only is it not the same thing as tv, but I do many things on my computer (including work) that would not allow me to sit there and watch my computer screen for a typical 3 hour game. I just won’t do it. MLB EI on my tv allowed me to continue working on my computer and watching games on my tv. I suppose MLB will be receiving the 700 million dollars promised by DirecTV regardless of how successful this venture ends up. However, the future fan base that will be excluded from view because they either don’t want DirecTV, have had poor experiences in the past with DirecTV, or cannot receive it in their area could have many years of negative impact on the sport of major league baseball. And if greed really is the reason behind this exclusivity deal, I have better things to do with my time. Instead of MLB capitalizing on baseball as the national past time with huge spikes in fantasy baseball, which in turn leads to more subscribers to MLB EI, instead MLB seems to want to allow steroids and exclusivity rights drag MLB through the mud. I was furious during the strike year. It took me 3 to 4 years to completely recover. Fantasy baseball was one of the reasons I came back. It elevated my interest to a whole new level. If this deal goes down, which is apparently the case, you will be losing this fan. I’m sure I won’t be the only one. Instead of becoming a part of the solution, you appear to want to be part of the problem. Just wait until everyone in the country hears what this exclusive deal is about to do to John Q. Public. Between this and the steroid scandals, one more strike ought to be just about right for MLB to disappear forever. And that’s pretty sad. I still have high school, college and minor league baseball that I can enjoy locally. MLB will no longer get my hard earned entertainment dollar. I have had to succumb to monopolies for electricity and water services, but for a baseball game? This is the 21st century for crying out loud. My cable provider should be able to offer me whatever I want to watch, for a price of course. Thanks for being part of the problem rather than the solution. Thanks for nothing! BigbadB Loyal subscriber to Cox Communications Name changed for privacy purposes on the internet. :D

And I'm just the opposite. I refuse to pay for tickets to a baseball game when the organization has made it very clear they don't want me there. (ie. smoking not allowed ANYWHERE on the stadium grounds at Petco) And when I am successful at quitting, I still won't go. I will still be bitter that they didn't want my money then, therefore they can't have it now. I am honestly sorry that you're hooked on cigarettes and I understand that it's very difficult to quit. The best of luck to you -- it's well worth it! That being said, while I can understand your bitterness about being reduced to a social outcast because of your habit, you have to understand some of the logic behind it. I don't think the Padres are saying "we don't want BBB's money." It's more like "we don't want money from those who smoke." Even though you're a hardcore and smart baseball fans, there are a lot of casual fans who may decide to not go to a game because of the adverse effects of smoking on them and/or their kids (I think it's the smell mostly). They might be making more money by banning smoking. In fact, they probably are or they wouldn't be doing this. Along with drunk fat guys, I'm sure kids are the source of most of the concession revenues. If it were up to most state governments, I'm sure they'd try to make cigarettes illegal. However, there are far too many jobs and livelihoods (unfortunately) based in the industry. Behind the "evil executives" there are thousands of decent farmers at work. So instead they decide to limit tobacco use and hope that eventually people will get so irritated by the high prices and restrictions that they'll quit and the market will take care of itself. I would encourage you to go back to PETCO once you've quit. It's a beautiful place to watch a game, and the smoke-free enviornment would probably be quite relieving for you. I appreciate the sentiment. I really appreciate that you don't follow the trend of considering a smoker as "the enemy". I can respect, understand and abide by many of the restrictions already in place in California. I don't want my smoke to offend non-smokers. The problem I have is that there is no attempt to compromise. It would have been very easy to set up an area well away from the non-smoking environment that would appease the smokers. Many stadiums already have that in place, though not really well planned, as it is still within range of non-smokers. The smoking area I would have been fine with didn't need to be in view of the field or anywhere near the paths of non-smokers. And that's why I won't feel sorry for Petco when attendance drops. They've basically told the smoker they aren't wanted, which is fine for most smokers, as they can just not go. They've basically cut a huge percentage of the consumers right out of the picture. If they still fill the stadium because there are enough non-smokers, well, I guess they made the right decision. Baseball isn't like a lot of other sports. It has non-stop action. At the local basketball and hockey games here, I can leave during halftime or between periods and have a smoke outside. During an opera, I can leave at intermission and have a smoke outside. There was a time you could smoke anywhere in the stadium. Heck, I remember smoking on airplanes. I'm in 100% agreement that you shouldn't be able to smoke anywhere, but I'm also in agreement that there should be an area supplied that will allow those of us with this habit to still feed our addiction without offending those that don't want anything to do with it. I know some season ticket holders that are no longer season ticket holders. Maybe there were new season ticket holders to replace those season ticket holders that gave up their tickets due to this new smoking policy, but they definitely lost some fans. It's poor planning for the most part. When they banned smoking in public places, where did they put the ashtrays? Right outside of every doorway of those public buildings where non-smokers still had to deal with people blowing smoke in their faces. Not exactly a brilliant idea, is it?

Hmm. I hadn't read or heard that yet. Good news!

Imagine that. A CF that hits lead off. :D It is not in Hendry's best interest to keep CF open for the possibility that Pie may be ready sometime in 2007. He needs to win now. It's too bad Soriano can't play SS, because that would have been the ideal spot for him. If Pie is ready, bring him up at the start of '07. If not, Jones plays CF and Floyd and Murton play the corners. Soriano Murton Lee Ramirez Floyd DeRosa Jones Barrett That would be a really good line up.

I think Floyd makes the team better, but I think his addition takes away from Murton at bats. Will Lou want Ward and Floyd as the main threats off the bench, or will he like Ward and Murton? I fear Jones will play everyday. Especially considering Jacque wanted to be traded and Hendry failed to accomodate him. I think Floyd (when healthy) and Murton are better producers than Jones. So, if Jones is playing everyday and Murton and Floyd are splitting time, the Cubs really improved very little by adding Floyd. That improvement is basically only in the form of bench help. But, I suppose I shouldn't assume Lou is Dusty part 2. But, he is the same manager who had Alex Gonzalez playing 3b in Tampa.

I just added him because he's been talked about so much. If there were others being talked about a lot, I'd include them as well. And because I consider Erstad and Finley as some form of a horrible joke, I refuse to include them.

Craig Wilson lifetime against LHP: .296/.395/.543/.938 Whoever signed Wilson was going to get magnificent production against LHP. Cubs current hitters lifetime against LHP: Matt Murton: .329/.404/.512/.916 Alfonso Soriano: .281/.352/.512/.864 Jacque Jones: .228/.275/.350/.625 Daryle Ward: .233/.286/.378/.674 Angel Pagan: .196/.292/.304/.596 Cliff Floyd: .272/.330/.466/.796 Against lefty starters, the Cubs will likely go with Murton in LF, Jones in CF and Soriano in RF. If the Cubs signed Craig Wilson instead of Daryle Ward, the Cubs could have gone with Soriano in CF, Murton in LF and a platoon of Jones and Wilson in RF. An outfield against LHP would then be Matt Murton, Alfonso Soriano and Craig Wilson. Much better replacing Jones with Wilson. If used as a platoon/PH, yep, a bunch of GM's are definitely wrong! Pittsburgh may go with 4 lefties in their rotation this year. Milwuakee may have 2 in their rotation. Houston will have 1. Cincinnati will have 1. St. Louis will have 1. Approximately 9 of the 25 starters in the NL Central will be lefties. There are many more lefties in the NL East. That doesn't include those days where Wilson comes off the bench against a lefty reliever. Opposing teams will be stacking up their RH bats against our LHP (Hill, Lilly, Marshall?). We won't be able to do the same. Actually, if the Cubs still have Jacque Jones and he's the primary CF, he will likely play against LHP, and all he really is at this point is a perfect complement to a guy like Craig Wilson. The only argument that can be made as to why Jacque Jones should get a 3 year deal at much more than Craig Wilson (as your prototypical platoon guy) got is that a LH bat will play more often than a RH bat. That's it. Craig Wilson is a nice sign at 3m. Not only can he play either corner outfield, but he can also play 1b and serve as an emergency 3rd catcher. And he will be arguably one of the absolute best DH options in the NL this year. He's not exactly horrible against RHP.

Who?

overvalued? :shock: The guy made 5m last year and had 79 XBH's, 35 stolen bases and scored 127 times. Is there a better SS in the NL? Granted, he isn't an on base machine, but I'd take him. He's a lot better than Jacque Jones and he plays SS.

I like the idea, but I like Theriot starting at SS better.

I base it on the fact Reggie Bush was more of a rookie then than he is now. As was Colston. Brees has to be a lot more comfortable late in the season than he was at the beginning of the season. This is his first year with a new organization. I'm still picking the Bears to win. But, this Saints team does scare me a lot.

The Saints are the team I worry about most. Brees is a very good quarterback. The Saints have a lot of different offensive weapons. The Bears defense doesn't put enough pressure on the quarterback, which is going to give the Saints a lot of opportunities to put points on the board. One thing that gets overlooked a bit, is the fact that the Saints are a much better team at this point in the season than they were at the beginning of the season. The Bears are not as good as they were at the beginning of the season. Home field and some Bear weather is what I'll be pulling for this weekend. I think that might give us the advantage we need to pull off this game. We need to force a few turnovers at critical times. If it comes down to the kicking game, I like the Bears chances even more. Last weeks game nearly gave me cardiac arrest. I'd really like a comfortable lead and pure dominance this week, but I'm not expecting it. Bears 24 Saints 21

Maybe they will be announcing refunds to the season ticket holders for the 2004-2006 seasons. :D

I'd like to hear Sandberg say what he thought of the Dusty era. I'm sure he wouldn't have too many nice things to say. Ken Unfortunately, you'll never hear any such thing. I don't know if it's because there is a written or unwritten rule that you don't badmouth others in your field or if people prefer not to swim upstream (make waves) within the baseball ranks. Dusty was pathetic. Much worse than Don Baylor. If Dusty wasn't tossing out ridiculous quotes (white boys can't play day baseball, etc....), he was tossing out ridiculous line ups.

And if Cesar Izturis is the #2 hitter?

I'd have to say resignations wouldn't be a total disappointment.

Ha. Maybe my buddies brothers gave up on Lidell and moved on to someone their own size in Giles. :D

The Stadium Club level is where the premier seats are at Jack Murphy.

The Braves are pretty high on Scott Thorman, so Wilson sits against righties, but becomes a major threat off the bench. Against Oliver Perez, Tom Glavine, Dontrelle Willis and the many other lefties in the NL, Wilson should see plenty of at bats.

Nice try, but not a chance on Jones for Kottaras/Pedroia. Nixon is arguably as valuable or more valuable than Jones. Pedroia is penciled in at 2b and Kottaras is Varitek's future replacement. The Padres are looking for a LF, but they have nothing to offer in return. Jones is from San Diego and I know San Diego likes bringing back their own. So, I've looked a lot at the Padres, but I just don't see anything that works. Rumor is the Padres may make a deal with Milwaukee for one of their outfielders, most likely Jenkins.

I'd do a reliever for Omar Infante. Maybe we could give them Novoa back.

Local San Diego HS shortstop Matt Bush was quite a reach for the Padres as well. I hear that he's been converted to a pitcher now.