bukie

lol 6 turnovers

I'm a little concerned for Jay at this point, since the longer this goes on the less likely the Lions are to not overly cheap shot him. And it's not like they were holding back much from the start.

I'm not sure any other QB would be different if you just took their toughest 5 games.

Well it is, but it's not an accident like they're acting it is.

Shame to get just the 3 there, but nice to get a sustained drive.

So, apparently this week is the revenge of the NFC West?

Hawks now lead the NHL in points (and games played, but who cares! Points!).

TE: Ok, Dusty, it's the NLCS, game 1, your team is tied in the 11th, and the opponent has the pitcher's spot due up. On the bench, they have Lenny Harris, a lefty and Mike Lowell, a righty. Your right-handed closer is in the game, and Harris is up in the on-deck circle. What would you do next? DB: There are a few factors I need to know first. TE: Sure. What resources do you need? DB: Who has been a better pinch hitter in night games in October in Wrigley? TE: Uhh...Harris is 1-1, batting 1.000, and Lowell has no data. DB: Put in Guthrie and pitch to Lowell. I fear the devil you don't know over the devil you do, if you catch my drift. Plus, I think I've been fishing with Lenny Harris before, so he'd know my secrets. TE: I think we've heard all we need to here. We'll...let you know.

Isner just beat Ferrer, so the semifinals in Paris are set with Federer-Berdych and Tsonga-Isner.

Four helicopters, huge tarp?

ATP Championships next week, with the top 8 now set after today at Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Federer, Ferrer, Berdych, Tsonga and Fish. However, the first alternate isn't yet settled, because if John Isner wins the tournament (he's tied a set a piece with Ferrer right now in the quarters, and Djoker/Nadal/Murray are already out), he'll jump from 24th to 9th and be the first alternate.

I think the most likely outcome is that the Cubs try to work things out. If a trade does happen, what does everyone see as the most likely trade partner for Z? I'm thinking Marlins due to the Guillen connection + opening a new stadium. Yeah, other than the Cubs, I think the Marlins would be the team that would value Z the most.

The most encouraging thing about the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies not being in the running is that the Cubs may not have to overpay by nearly as much to land one. Of course, there could be another Rangers-ARod incident with either of them, but even less likely that both get bid up to ridiculous proportions. In summary, the Cubs may actually have a shot at landing one of these players for near their net worth over the deal.

I think you're being a little overambitious here. They won't get Wilson... :)

My biggest concern at this point is that Bowden likes the idea.

The NFC North is dominating the NFC South head-to-head this season. In my opinion the NFC South is the second best division in the NFC behind the NFC North... By default. The AFC appears to be the superior conference this year, at least 2 of the NFC divisions are pretty bad. I don't think the South is that great either. NO is pretty good, but Carolina stinks, Tampa is schizophrenic and I'm not sure about Atlanta either. Two of the AFC divisions are bad top to bottom. At least in the NFC West has one good team. The NFC East is a bit mediocre all-around except for the Giants, but it's still better than the AFC West and AFC South.

The Werth (and Soriano) contracts are what happens when you don't sign the premier hitters when you get a chance. You end up with a bunch of money to spend in a year where nobody's that good and blow it all on the best available option.

I personally think it's a safe bet that both players will be worth at least 5 WAR each for at worst the first 4 years of any deal, likely 5. The question you deal with, then, in signing them, is how far each would get above 5, and how much extra are you paying per year for it.

There's a point getting lost here: if a team wants to get top FA talent, you have to overpay for it in some way, either in length of contract or AAV. Otherwise, you will not get it.

One of those lists attempted to lump the Bears with the Eagles and some other team I don't recall as teams with huge expectations going into the season that have disappointed. A) I don't remember many people outside of Chicago that expected much out of the Bears - some even listed them as the worst team in the league. B) They are 5-3, currently the 6th seed in NFC playoff picture, which was, the best any prognosticators had for them. The Jets were the third team, I think. Or the Pats.

Go look at Sagarin ratings, feel better.

This week's playoff odds, according to FO: Team Mean Win #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 DIV BYE WC TOT HOU 10.6 15.60% 28.70% 42.10% 7.90% 0.10% 0.50% 94.30% 44.30% 0.60% 94.90% BAL 11.3 40.50% 11.90% 4.00% 0.30% 21.80% 10.60% 56.80% 52.50% 32.30% 89.10% CIN 10.5 18.40% 7.20% 3.00% 0.10% 20.70% 24.00% 28.80% 25.70% 44.70% 73.50% NYJ 10.4 7.60% 21.10% 16.70% 1.00% 10.00% 12.70% 46.40% 28.70% 22.70% 69.10% PIT 10.4 7.70% 4.70% 2.00% 0.10% 30.40% 22.40% 14.40% 12.30% 52.80% 67.20% NE 10.1 7.40% 16.60% 12.00% 0.50% 9.20% 14.10% 36.50% 24.00% 23.20% 59.70% SD 7.6 0.10% 0.70% 4.70% 39.50% 0.00% 0.20% 45.10% 0.90% 0.20% 45.40% BUF 9.4 2.50% 7.70% 6.40% 0.50% 6.70% 12.10% 17.10% 10.20% 18.80% 35.90% OAK 7.2 0.00% 0.50% 3.80% 22.40% 0.00% 0.20% 26.70% 0.50% 0.20% 26.90% KC 6.7 0.00% 0.10% 0.80% 17.40% 0.00% 0.20% 18.40% 0.10% 0.20% 18.60% DEN 6.1 0.00% 0.10% 0.50% 9.10% 0.00% 0.20% 9.80% 0.10% 0.20% 10.00% TEN 7.9 0.10% 0.60% 3.80% 0.90% 1.00% 2.60% 5.50% 0.80% 3.60% 9.10% CLE 6 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.10% 0.30% 0.10% 0.00% 0.40% 0.40% JAC 5.2 0.00% 0.00% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% 0.00% 0.30% 0.00% 0.00% 0.30% MIA 4.3 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% IND 2.3 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% Team Mean Win #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 DIV BYE WC TOT SF 12.5 36.00% 44.10% 14.00% 5.80% 0.00% 0.00% 99.90% 80.10% 0.00% 100.00% GB 13.2 54.50% 26.40% 3.70% 0.50% 13.60% 1.00% 85.00% 80.80% 14.60% 99.60% NYG 10.5 4.60% 11.70% 23.40% 35.90% 1.50% 3.80% 75.50% 16.20% 5.20% 80.70% DET 10.5 3.50% 6.40% 2.40% 0.60% 43.40% 23.30% 12.90% 10.00% 66.70% 79.60% ATL 10.1 0.50% 5.00% 25.90% 17.30% 6.40% 13.50% 48.70% 5.50% 19.90% 68.50% NO 9.8 0.40% 4.00% 22.00% 21.70% 4.20% 12.80% 48.10% 4.40% 17.00% 65.00% CHI 9.8 0.50% 1.10% 0.40% 0.00% 28.20% 31.90% 2.10% 1.60% 60.10% 62.20% DAL 8.4 0.10% 1.20% 6.30% 10.20% 1.60% 8.10% 17.90% 1.30% 9.70% 27.60% PHI 7.4 0.00% 0.00% 1.00% 5.10% 0.50% 2.50% 6.10% 0.00% 3.00% 9.10% TB 7.2 0.00% 0.00% 0.90% 2.30% 0.50% 2.10% 3.20% 0.00% 2.60% 5.70% WAS 5.8 0.00% 0.00% 0.10% 0.50% 0.00% 0.30% 0.50% 0.00% 0.30% 0.90% MIN 5.6 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.40% 0.00% 0.00% 0.40% 0.40% SEA 5.4 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.30% 0.00% 0.00% 0.40% 0.40% CAR 5.1 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.10% 0.00% 0.10% 0.10% 0.00% 0.10% 0.20% ARI 4.8 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.10% 0.00% 0.00% 0.10% 0.10% STL 3.7 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% Analysis: - There are basically only 8 teams in the NFC now with decent odds of making the playoffs. Philly is in a huge hole now and has to hope a few teams stumble. Six teams have basically no shot, 3 of them in the NFC West. - Things are much more competitive in the AFC, mostly because the entire AFC West is equally mediocre. Only 4 teams have no shot at this point. - It's a little amazing that just halfway through the season, and both NFC byes are about 80% wrapped up.

Sounds like Mike Leach is interested in the Ole Miss job. That could be interesting. No, damn it. I want Illinois to hire Leach. I'm not sure Leach is the right man for Illinois.

That Bears/Lions game is completely meaningless. Looking at the Bears schedule, that's really the only game I would think to put on that list. The Bears schedule after that is: 4 AFC teams, the Seahawks, the Packers and the Vikings. Were there any other week 10 games on that list? Maybe they thought it was too early to make that list. There are 5 week 10 games on the list, including this week's Cincy-Pittsburgh game.

Common opponents comes before conference record, and the Bears would be in great shape in any multi-team tie with a win Sunday.