rawaction

Wow. I seriously thought I would lose this one. I'm actually doubling up Jon. Don't let this take away from Jon. He is a very knowledgable poster on all subjects and is much more important to this site than I am.

I think everyone this side of Brinoch will agree that Tillman is the better player. I could get behind Vasher being overrated if people still think he's better than Tillman. This is a good contract for a good player, though. Vasher has his weaknesses in his game but he's a good #2 cornerback. :D Actually, I think Tillman and Vasher are both decent cornerbacks, and Tillman is better than Vasher, all in all. I don't think that Tillman is the lock down #1 corner, though, that everyone thinks he is. This is opposed to the general prevailing opinion on the board, but I think an unbiased evaluation of both of them will back me up: Tillman's good, but not great. Vasher is good, but not quite as good as Tillman. Now, on the other hand, in the Cover 2 scheme, you don't need wonderful CB's; they need to be decent (and they both are fine for the Cover 2). They aren't a problem area in this defense, in my mind. The real problem in the pass defense, such as it can be called a 'problem' wasn't the CB's at all, it was recognition and reaction by the FS and SS and the nickel-back when the CB's released on routes over the middle. Secondly, the LB/DT coverage of the RB safety valve pass up the middle was absolutely terrible last season. That was the achilles heel of the Bears' passing defense. Time and again, I saw gains from this play that should have been covered; I'm not sure if the fault was with the personnel or with Rivera, but it was pathetic and they need to plug it. More important than the secondary, frankly, is the penetration and pressure applied by the front four. They need to get better at applying pressure and hurrying the QB. The best CB cannot stay with a WR forever -- or even all that long once the route has been run and the WR starts coming back to relieve pressure. Good defense (like offense) starts with controlling the line of scrimmage. Without pressure from the D-Line, teams will pick apart the Cover 2 and create tremendous problems for Vasher and Tillman. I agree with a lot of what you said. Tillman is as you described him. I think the reason the LBs allowed a lot of passes underneath is because they are so good in pass coverage and because the safeties were so bad. The LBs were forced to get more depth than they should to help out downfield. With Mike Brown back there this year, I think you will see the LBs around the line more and rushing the passer more than they did in 06.

Nocioni's a restricted free agent and the Bulls are on record saying they will match if he signs an offer sheet from another team. Memphis wants Nocioni huh? That's excellent. Match the offer, then trade him in a package for Gasol.

I thought Hunter had his best season as a Bear last year. He's not great, but he's solid and isn't on the field all that much. I thought he was much better in 2005. He was decent last year. A better than average LB, but he played at a Pro Bowl level in 05.....just my opinion. I may have my years mixed up. Maybe it was 04 that he was at the PB level. Lots of career highs that year, and he missed the last 3 games.

I thought Hunter had his best season as a Bear last year. He's not great, but he's solid and isn't on the field all that much. I thought he was much better in 2005. He was decent last year. A better than average LB, but he played at a Pro Bowl level in 05.....just my opinion.

Michael Okwo- draft pick from Stanford or Jamar Williams- 2nd year out of Arizona St.

At this point, it looks as if Briggs will sit out 10 games unless the Bears trade him, which I don't see happening. AP is the backup for Benson, with Garrett Wolfe likely being the 3rd down back. Anthony Adams signed from SF will start for Tank. Mark Anderson will likely start at RE, unless Alex outperforms Wale in camp and then Mark will start at LE, with Alex back in his normal spot. No, we probably won't get a full season out of Mike Brown. The Bears got rid of Thomas Jones, all the backup safeties from last year, Tank recently, and not much else. The Bears picked up Adams-DT (solid player sleeper, with great potential next to Tommie), Adam Archuleta-SS, and not too much else, although they did draft a DE, LB, and RB who should all get significant time. Daneial Manning will get time at CB. Devin Hester will see action at WR.

This may be the toughest matchup so far.

Thanks for the congrats everyone. I too will be MIA for about a week and a 1/2. Hopefully, I come back to being voted the best!

At this point I'll take 45-42 even. I think 5-2 on this trip is a must. 45-42 is what I'm expecting. 46-41 is what I hope for. 47-40 is a dream come true. The matchups vs. Washington could be very tough, especially the last 2 games of the series. Hopefully, Hill and Marshall are a lot better than they were this weekend. Vs. Pittsburgh. Gotta love anytime you miss Gorzo and Snell. I fully expect the Cubs to sweep them.

Never. I've stayed til 1 am at an A ball doubleheader that went into extra innings.

Vote for me! Remember I'm the man who took ranting to a new level. I brought you all joy on my rants about Valtrex, reality shows, and other mainstream topics. If I win, I promise to post rants on various topics of popular culture in the future. I haven't ranted in a while, but I have a lot saved up. Also, I'll even take sympathy votes.....as this is my last week as a free man. I'm putting up my "player" shoes. This contest is all I have to live for at this point.

I agree with what most have said. Rather have Marmol in the 6th-8th inning than closer. Wuertz deserves a shot to close first. Marmol does have KRod potential. And he threw strikes at will today. He missed w/ a slider to Bill Hall then threw 3 straight 96mph fastball all in literally the exact same spot on the outside corner and Hall missed all 3. Early returns are showing that a Marmol, Wuertz, Guzman, Petrick led pen could be excellent. Throw in Ohman and possibly Rapada and that's a homegrown pen that could be top 1/3 in the NL in 2008. Unfortunately, Eyre, Dempster and Howry are all under contract for next year.

Still holding out hope for a Gasol trade. Assuming the Bulls trade Gordon (along with others), I think the Bulls still need a SG. Looking at this list there are a few guys I would be interested in who should be cheap and can score a little to go along Thabo. Matt Carroll- Charlotte Ime Udoka- Portland DeShawn Stevenson- Washington All scored between 8-12 points last year. All have good size 6'5"-6'6". All shot over 40% from 3. Carroll is the best scorer and shooter of the 3, not good defensively. Udoka is probably closest to Thabo, would be a good fit, but may be redundant. Stevenson has the upside, but may be overpaid because of the hype he had coming out of HS. That would give the Bulls an 8 man rotation of: PG-Hinrich Duhon SG-Carroll Sefolosha SF-Deng PF-Gasol Thomas C- Wallace *I traded Gordon, Nocioni (S&T), and Noah for Gasol, which starts to make Memphis look pretty good.

It's to the point now where the Cubs must call up Cedeno and play him at SS everyday until the trade deadline. Fontenot can't handle the position defensively, and I would think if the Cubs thought DeRosa could handle it, he wouldn't have been their 5th choice there this season. Play Ronnie. If he still doesn't hit in the ML, get somebody at the deadline or just stick w/ Derosa.

I'm done. My 7 game win streak will come to an official end tomorrow. Thanks for the most part to 14 ERs in 6 innings combined allowed by Alan Embree and Kelvin Escobar. Without those 41 negative points, I would be down 10 right now. Other than that, I have 4 starts over 18 points. Offense has been fine for the most part. Sucks to win 7 in a row, then when I finally lose, I go into a 1st place tie in my division. Also, sucks to lose this week when I won't be able to follow my team much in the following week.

Damnit, I thought the season was over.

Don't know if he's overrated, I think most everybody agrees with you that Tillman is the better player. I don't know how valid these stats are, but it was taken from ESPN: Hmmm, thats good information. I know for me at times I lose track of how good a player is doing when he's not getting interceptions. Same with the offensive line in terms of accountability. For the record, Peanut was 20th at 6.7 YPA. That's about the cutoff for an above average CB. A few strange names in there too. Did you know Jason Craft was the 2nd best CB in the NFL?

OU FAN ALERT. Not to take a joke seriously or anything, but I really do root for OSU basketball, as long as they aren't playing OU. My cousin had life-threatening cancer when I was in high school, and notorious douchebag Doug Gottlieb somehow got wind of it and really helped take care of him, it meant a lot to the family. I started to pull for them then, and I still do, for the most part. JamesOn is a shooter that thrives as long as everyone is focused on guarding everyone else. He's not a ballhandler, defender or passer. Yeah, I was mostly just joking. I think he's an adequate ball-handler and passer, and he can obviously fill it up on a given night. I don't expect much from him, and I doubt many others do here either. But for that late in the draft, he's got a good amount of talent, and he has the potential to become a useful NBA player, especially if he can be convinced to play a bit of D. I think that's where the enthusiasm comes from. btw, cool gottlieb story. And not surprising, either. He strikes me as a smart-ass, but probably a pretty good guy, too. Similar to Ben Gordon wouldn't you say? He's a much raw-er version. I think he can develop into a good 3rd guard in the rotation. Gordon's handles have come a long way since college. I have faith that Curry's will too. Gordon could not play a lick of D before this past year. He was the 49th pick. If he develops, he's potentially a huge help. If he doesn't, you don't lose much.

Well, the Bulls certainly drafted like a team that isn't gonna be making any trades. Went safe in the 1st at a need position. And followed suit in the 2nd with 2 guys who are gonna get time as backups.

So you are saying he at least has talent? Maybe Skiles can bring it out of him, but so far this draft BLOWS! YAY! Got Curry! He has a decent post game, but he can't jump and is weak. He will not score against bigger or more athletic players. He's Bill Wennington without the jumper.

Aaron Gray is an underachiever. He's big, slow, and did not improve his game the last 2 years at the college level. Don't like him at all.

OH God No!

Argh, Gasol didn't quite make it to the Bulls pick.

Biggio's definitely a HOF. Find it funny that he gets 3000 the same day Thomas gets 500. Big Hurt's closest comparable has always been Jeff Bagwell, obviously Biggio's long-time teammate. Biggio should still retire ASAP