bukie

No, I'm sick of the nonsense bitching and ad-hominem about how apparently easy it could have been to buy all the players and make the playoffs, when there hasn't been much of a realistic chance to do so. There's no way to force all the free agents to sign here, and there's no magic formula for making the playoffs from a dire situation except hitting on lightning in a bottle several times over, and that's no way to sustain long-term success. The overall organization was in a shambles from drafting to development throughout the system, and propping the major league team up with FA just to please a few short-sighted people without overhauling the rest of the system wouldn't have been a good long term solution either. Despite how easily people hand-wave away the rest of the system as "easy when you're not trying at the major-league level", no teams' systems are improving like the Cubs' had. The more we learn about how terrible the system was prior to Epstein/Hoyer/McLeod, the more it makes sense to attack the problem in the way they did. The annoying financial issues with the Ricketts just contribute more to the necessity of maximizing ROI, and every move that the club has made has been in an effort to increase the overall value to the club, even if it doesn't make immediate sense to people who want quick solutions.

Oh please, enlighten us. You are exactly who we need to explain to us why this is all a good thing. Oh please, you've never been interested in logic, despite your insistence to the contrary. You ignore or twist everything positive into a negative, and then play both sides just so you can always claim to be right. The fact that other people can be morons too doesn't make your positions any more plausible, and you've long since ceased to be of any value to people that try to be reasonable about things.

Plenty of people are sick of losing. Few make up narratives and turn a blind eye to everything good happening just to have an excuse to spout off regularly.

God, quit being a damned moron, already. There have been 4 teams in the last 3 years, all small-market, who lost more games in a season than we did in 2011 and had a lower-ranked farm system than we did in 2011 who went on to make the playoffs the following year and I'm rooting for the one that decided to pitch the next 3 (and looks like 4) years. If being pissed about that is 'being a damned moron', then sign me the [expletive] up. You are denser than a pile of bricks, but hey, go all in on Kyle-level thick-headedness, then.

Err, because the black hawk is a common mascot for the team in apparel?

God, quit being a damned moron, already.

So far in the playoffs, the offense has been really evenly distributed. Seabrook and Toews have 9 points, Kane, Bickell, and Hossa have 8, Saad and Keith have 7. (Sharp, Hjalmarsson, Oduya, Roszival, Shaw and Smith have 3, Leddy, Kruger, Versteeg and Brookbank have 2, Handzus has 1) .

He strikes out a lot and doesn't walk all that much and doesn't hit for average and so far has been rated as a below average defensive first baseman. He hits for power. That's about it. He's basically Adam Dunn without the patience as far as I can tell. Just noticed the 1-2-3 hitters for the Sox have a .257, .231, and .319 OBP, respectively. Meanwhile, the 8-9 hitters have a .390 and .344 OBP.

@strombone1 I was blowing 2 goal leads way before all the cool kids started doing it #innovator

Valbuena hitting .214 with a .370 OBP.

If he keeps getting on base 42% of the time he should definitely hit higher than that. yeah, if the walk rate pans out at all, i want him at two forever Castro-Rizzo-Baez-Bryant, 1-4. Mmmmmmm. i want the lineup to be so legit castro's .350 obp is hitting sixth Almora-Rizzo-Baez-Bryant-Soler-Castro-Castillo-Alcantara

Bonifacio out on the basepaths more often than some teams this season.

I hate when that happens. To their credit, most of the people I've seen write about this series admit that this years wild is a better and more dangerous team, but the Hawks are just better and have home ice. Wild were 21st in the NHL in puck possession during the season, and yet were 1st in puck possession during the first round. Reason? The Avs were dead last in the NHL in puck possession during the season.

8th inning line-out on Tuesday. 8 straight PAs reaching base.

Don't think I've seen a single pick of Minnesota. Even their SB Nation fan site picks the Hawks.

It's spelled "Valbuena"

2014 ACC-B1G challenge matchups announced: Mon, Dec 1 - Nebraska at Florida State - Rutgers at Clemson Tue, Dec 2 No. 21 - Syracuse at No. 24 Michigan - Ohio State at No. 8 Louisville - Pittsburgh at Indiana - NC State at Purdue - Illinois at Miami (Fla.) - Minnesota at Wake Forest Wed, Dec 3 - No. 2 Duke at No. 4 Wisconsin - No. 18 Michigan State at Notre Dame - No. 25 Iowa at No. 6 North Carolina - No. 7 Virginia at Maryland - Georgia Tech at Northwestern - Virginia Tech at Penn State

They can if they get a pick back.

Floyd Mayweather doesn't like to take a hit.

Random thought...if the Lakers offered their 1st rounder this year for Thibs, would you be happy with that deal? Would the Bulls?

Also drafting based on current major league need is the worst draft strategy ever.

Because Hoffman is taking two weeks off due to arm soreness. The gulf between 4 and 5 is big enough that one of the 4 announcing retirement next week would drop them even with 5.

I think if the Kings score first they beat the Sha arks. I'd like to see the Wild beat the Avs. There ought to be at least 1 upset in round 1. I don't really care about Flyers/ Rangers. Flyers / Pens is usually fun. Weren't the Blackhawks technically an upset? Assuming you are basing this solely on seeds instead of expectations. The BHawks were betting favorites, were they not? I think the Blues were actually slight betting favorites, but the Blackhawks were the second most favored team in the West to win the Cup (after the Blues)

Rodon Aiken Kolek Hoffman -----why have more than 4?

Isn't that sort of the definition of NBA hell? Being better than a large amount of teams but nowhere near the elite? I'm pretty sure the definition of NBA hell is a second round series between the Hawks and Wizards.