BigbadB

But, there is a problem with this theory. If Marquis is doing well enough, he probably won't be traded. If he's doing bad, he's untradeable.

That's more to my point. I'm in bars all over San Diego County, and they don't carry the package. Part of that is because the Padres are in this town and almost all of their games are televised locally. In fact, the Padres would be blacked out on MLB EI, therefore it makes even less sense. Outside of baseball markets, I'm not nearly as educated there. But, there is plenty of baseball between TBS, WGN, ESPN and Fox weekends. The cost for a bar to have MLB EI is mammoth in cost. OK, but if nobody's carrying it now there certainly won't be a huge impact if they continue to not carry it. DirecTV will want to make up for the 700m they are spending somehow.

Yeah, I think I'd rather give Walker or Fuld the opportunity ahead of Josh Hamilton. Josh had a lot of talent. How much he still has after missing so much time is hard to say. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he won't stick with the Reds all year. Yeah, I'm such a gambler. :D

I really thought Hendry was going to whip this club into shape. I gave him a lot of praise early on. However, those days are long gone. If I had my way, he'd already be gone. He would have been gone during the 2005 campaign right along with Dusty and the rest of the coaching staff. The offseason prior to 2006 was brutal. The Juan Pierre trade..... well, I really don't want to talk about it. Personally, I think they were awful friendly giving Hendry the 25 spot. It takes a really bad GM to increase payroll every year and consistently be a worse team. Chaos reigned with this team for several years. The Sosa ordeal, the issues in the clubhouse, the issues on the planes, the issues in the broadcast booth, the deterioration of the farm, the lack of development of major league talent on the farm, , the inability to understand the importance of not giving up walks on the mound and the inability to understand the importance of drawing walks at the plate, the lack of fundamentals on the field, etc... While many of these things were not Hendry's doing, the spotlight is on him. The distractions and circus side shows should not be part of the game plan. 2006 is a chance to redeem himself, but it will take more than just throwing money at a bunch of free agents to turn this team around. Hopefully, Piniella and Hendry can create some direction. Because they definitely didn't have that last year.

The Horn!!!!!!!! Good luck, Mark! (except against the Cubs)

If we are going to go in house until Pie is ready, the guy's name is Jacque Jones. Let Theriot or Pagan hit against LH pitchers and call it good. That way Soriano doesn't have to move positions when Pie is ready, Jones can build up some value for a trade at the deadline, especially if he plays a respectable CF. If Jones and the Cubs are doing well enough, they can consider hanging onto him and let Pie have a full season in AAA and try his luck in a late season call up.

That's because no one wants Griffey.

Why no mention of the Yankees and their 200m payroll?

That's more to my point. I'm in bars all over San Diego County, and they don't carry the package. Part of that is because the Padres are in this town and almost all of their games are televised locally. In fact, the Padres would be blacked out on MLB EI, therefore it makes even less sense. Outside of baseball markets, I'm not nearly as educated there. But, there is plenty of baseball between TBS, WGN, ESPN and Fox weekends. The cost for a bar to have MLB EI is mammoth in cost.

OMG! Drop it already.

It's definitely been going on all year, but personally I really don't care what people say. I actually like it that way. The Bears will just need to remember on Super Bowl Sunday that no lead is safe when Peyton Manning is lining up behind center. Stick with what got us there and DO NOT TURN THE BALL OVER!

The wife just told me that photo was shown on Keith Olberman's Countdown as yesterday's "worst person in the world".

Someone called the Show with Dibble and Kennedy yesterday to complain about this. According to Dibble and Kennedy, the exclusive deal wouldn't begin until 2009. Of course, I'm not sure I'd trust those two...but that is what they said. The previously posted article from the NY Times says that the MLB tv network would start in 2009, but it did NOT say when MLB EI would go exclusive with DirecTV. It's possible that it won't start this year. In less than a month, Cox Communications will start collecting money for the MLB EI package for the 2007 season. The guy I spoke with said that Cox Communications, as well as the other two of the big 3 (Comcast and Time Warner) were all shareholders of MLB EI. He said he couldn't imagine how this would happen, though the article does seem to say it will. But, the guy I spoke with didn't seem like a real "in the know" character. So, who knows.

The presence of Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison will make blitzing too often a poor choice. Cover 2 will be the way to go. Try to avoid giving up the big play for a touchdown. The Bears are one of the best in the red zone. Let them have their yardage between the 30's, but BEAR down beyond that.

There's one of those in every crowd. Amazing he's still standing upright. I hope someone eventually kicked his butt.

Nice attitude. Smokers rights will soon enough be nil, and it won't be long until they find some other group to pick on since there won't be anything else they can do to smokers. By my calculations, fast food eaters will be next on the list. The government will start piling on the taxes for every greasy burger that gets ordered.

I contacted someone at Cox Communications, and they have heard nothing about this proposed deal. They still have the green light to show MLB EI this year. I had the guy research as much as he could, and he found nothing. The article does say that it the proposal wasn't complete, so maybe things will change after completion, but at this time, cable subscribers can still sign up for the EI package in mid February.

Maybe Favre meant 2 weeks after the entire season was over, including playoffs? Maybe NFL asked Favre to wait until the entire season was over so as not to take away from the playoffs? Favre retiring would be a pretty big story. Staying another year, not as much. But, I was expecting to hear by now one way or another. Favre definitely gave indications that he wouldn't put the Packers in an awkward position by waiting too long to decide on his future.

If you are talking about me, I said very clearly in one of my posts that I have seen Bears players do it too, and they DO NOT get a free pass. I don't care who does it, it's immature and doesn't belong on a professional football field. Go back and reread my posts if you don't believe me. And what more needs to be said to get you to drop it already? I said I was done with it many hours ago. I guess that just isn't good enough. :roll: Au contraire. You were actually the one I was specifically thinking of who did not give Hester a free pass and admitted to not liking his behavior either. I thought it was you who didn't like Hester's actions and was actually going to say that but I wasn't sure so I left the name out. Sorry I made it seem like I was calling you out and misinterpreting your statements in the other thread as that was not was I was trying to do. Ah, sorry in return.

If you are talking about me, I said very clearly in one of my posts that I have seen Bears players do it too, and they DO NOT get a free pass. I don't care who does it, it's immature and doesn't belong on a professional football field. Go back and reread my posts if you don't believe me. And what more needs to be said to get you to drop it already? I said I was done with it many hours ago. I guess that just isn't good enough. :roll:

Hmm. Seems like only yesterday......

Has Favre announced his intentions for next year, yet? He said he planned on making a decision a few weeks after the season was over. I thought he should have retired prior to last year. Now, I think he should come back for one more year. The Packers might be good enough to earn a playoff spot next year. Lots of money to spend.

Oh man. I'll never forget Joe Carter asking McMahon about him. Oh, I forgot about that. LOL. Joe Carter. I'm not so sure he should ever be a 7th inning stretch singer let alone a Cub broadcaster.

What the heck happened to Pete Rozelle? :cyclopsani:

On a related note, as the Chargers were earning their spot in the playoffs, P.O.D. came up with a really cool song in their honor. If you get a chance to hear it, it's pretty good. Especially if you like P.O.D.