bukie

I think Anderson, Howard and Braden are all actually on the DL. So I think my roster is legal.

You can have them. Ill take the Saints To accurately simulate the Saints FO, you are hereby suspended from participating in draft discussion for 6 months. The draft will be handled by a petulant teenager in your stead.

Did we decide what to do with players currently listed ineligible for certain positions that are starting the season at those positions? i.e. Feliz as a starter or LaHair as a 1B

There's a difference from where Illinois is right now as a program, and where they could/should be. Illinois is in a unique position geographically where if all they did was pull in the best recruits from within the state, they'd have a top 5 recruiting class every year. And there's no real in-state competition for that. Right now, though, there's no pressure for high school recruits to go to a state school, because the school's reputation has hit a slide in the last couple years. However, that doesn't mean the base isn't there for it to be a top 10 program nationally, and, really, they should be aiming for it. They offered Smart/Stevens enough to put it in that league, and they turned it down because they were content where they were. That's nobody's fault, and there's nothing Illinois should have done differently (aside from perhaps not making the numbers public).

Does it bother you Illini fans that he looks like Dave Kaplan (please credit @thekapman) I have no problem with how Kaplan looks. It's the mental diarrhea that spews forth from his mouth that is disgusting and makes him hard to look at.

Illinois is a basketball program that has top 15 national history, and a state to recruit from within that produces the best talent year-in, year-out with no real in-state competition. With that comes a level of expectation that is beyond what some coaches want to deal with, and the CPL business is sleazy and corrupt, which sucks for anyone not already on the inside. I have no problem with how the Smart and Stevens pursuits were handled on either side. Smart and Stevens like where they are and are content without jumping to a high profile, high demand position. Illinois presented the position as the high profile, high demand position it should be. Neither side should have been expected to react differently.

7 hrs, 31 mins, 38 sec. 6 hrs, 8 mins, 12 sec to make my first pick, 1 hour, 19 min, 26 sec to make the other 14.

Nickle guy, possible starter, what do you guys think? He fell out of favor, didn't he? Barely had his name called all last year. Either never made plays or was never on the field. Not a good sign either way.

17. NSBB (from Bazingas) - George Springer - OF, Astros 18. The Eyes of Texas - C. J. Cron - 1B Angles 19. NSBB - Ronald Guzman - OF, Rangers 20. Galesburg Hand Sanitizers - Sonny Gray - P, A's 21. Tootielicious- AJ Cole - P, A's 22. Lynx - Oscar Taveras, St. Louis 23. Ron Washington's Dealers - Rymer Liriano - OF, Fathers 24. Quakers - Daniel Norris - P,Toronto 25. Theocracy - Alex Meyer - P, Washington 26. Kid Rodelo 27. Alamo Stealth 28. Sock It Thome 29. Mighty D-Block 30. Harry's Budcrew 31. Calvinball 32. Scioscia's Tragic Illness

With tonight's Milwaukee loss, coupled with the Bulls' win, they clinched a playoff spot.

Only if they can't reattach his foot correctly...

Yes. Draft.

And Love had 51. And both starting SGs went scoreless. In a 149-140 game.

Yeah, I can't believe the committee set you up with such an unfair matchup as the MEAC champ that should have been a 16.

OKC-Minny trying to outscore the combined score of all the college games tonight.

DRINK IT http://i.imgur.com/FhEgf.png

The Marion Barber era...NEVER FORGET: http://gif.mocksession.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/MARION-BARBER-FLIP.gif

Did Shane even know this draft started?

What is stupid? That he just realized yesterday.

That U-23 front line looked really good. Of course, that was Cuba, and they played with 10 the last 70 minutes, but...impressive.

Forte has done a ton for this team, yet every single offseason the Bears have brought in a FA RB and paid him more money. Bringing in Kevin Jones when Forte was a rookie was a non-issue. Paying a bunch of money to Chester Taylor was understandable after Forte came off a down year after 2 years of a lot of touches. Bringing in Marion Barber to do short-yardage was a little slap in the face, but something Forte could overlook. Now they brought in a 4th RB in 4 years. Bush is guaranteed 7 Mil. Forte is only guaranteed 7.7Mil. Sure it's a lot of money, but this is the NFL. Forte blows out his knee this year, it's likely he'll never seen 7.7Mil the rest of his career. Disrespectful is too strong of a word that gets thrown out too much by athletes, but it is a slap in the face when your team keeps paying guys off the street more money than you are making at your same position. Complete nonsense. He signed his rookie free agent and these are the rules collectively bargained for. If he was a street free agent he would get a market rate contract, but he is not a street free agent. Those guys were free to sign with anybody and the Bears were the ones that signed them. Forte has been treated perfectly fine by this franchise. They ofference a crap ton of money and he wanted more so he didn't accept all of that money. That's on him. I approve of the word ofference.

Group A: Mark Teixeira Group B: Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Santana Group C: Logan Morrison, Freddie Freeman, Eric Hosmer Group D: Jason Heyward, Ryan Zimmerman, Hanley Ramirez, Jason Kubel, Adam Dunn WC: PM sent

A good read about the Fabrice Muamba incident: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7718919/fabrice-muamba-how-athletes-fall

It's also impossible to predict since it fluctuates so wildly from season to season.

The best thing Illinois has going for it right now is that it's easily the best job available this off-season. When Weber was hired, the Illinois job was only maybe the 4th best job available that off-season (UNC, Kansas, UCLA). Unless Howland is being let go, that is...