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If you go by past records Piniella is not a better hire than Dusty was before 2003. The only advantage would be that Piniella actually won a WS as opposed to Dusty but that was way back in 1990.

I thought that Michigans last chance to lose was last night(I mean before the OSU game). Iowa just doesnt have the talent to play with Michigan and Michigan doesnt seem to be dumbing there way down to opponents this year. I have watched Michigan play 3 times this year now and noticed that they never seem to let an opponent break a tackle. Is this poor perception on my part? I am sure that they have had some broken tackles but this was a problem with Michigan in the past and they seem to really have cleaned it up this year. If they can tackle Troy Smith without letting him get out I think they will handle OSU pretty easily. The last couple of years against OSU Troy Smiths moving out of the pocket and running ability has beaten Michigan more than anything else.

I did not say that building within is the only way to win. I said that we will not win a WS next year by signing Schmidt, Zito, CLee and Soriano. This is a proven to be an ineffective way of building a winner. As for the Mets none of those free agents is worth what they are paying them and without Reyes and Wright they wouldnt be where they are right now. I didnt say not to get free agents. It is just foolish thinking that we are going to contend next year because of some big shopping spree. I just think that if the Cubs are a winning team next year it will have more to do with the improvement of the players I mentioned than it will be becuase we upped our payroll to 110 mill. Also there is a difference between trading for players and signing them as free agents. A free agent is usually at the end or past his prime and will be getting paid for numbers he put up in his prime. There are exceptions (Beltran and Maddux are 2 that come to mind) but these players have even a higher price tag on them. Trading for players gets you what you trade for. Anywhere between 20 and 40.

Auburn and Florida fans should be happy. Texas fans. Not so much. I will say this about Texas, except for OSU and OU they really havent played anyone though.

I dont think that Piniella is the same as Dusty, I still think this is a lateral move though. As for winning next year like the Tigers I have this question, What free agent acquisitions did the Tigers make this season? Kenny Rogers!! Picked up Casey and Neifi during the season. The Tigers have been filling in the pieces the last 2 to 3 years while their young pitching has been improving. Except for IRod and Maggs almost everyone else on the Tigers came from their organization or was picked up off the scrape heap from somewhere else. Even Maggs and IRod were considered less than the the stellar players that they started as. I really think that the reason the Tigers are as good as they are is because they let some young pitchers take their lumps for the last couple of years and they have finally started to arrive. Certainly not because they made some newfound commitment to winning. I also think they would have been pretty good if they would have kept Trammel as their manager. I said this about 50 times last season and I will say it probably at least 50 times this off season. Building a winning team from a losing team in one off season with free agents is not a successful formula. The 1997 Marlins are the only team that it has worked for. If the Cubs win next season it will have a lot more to do with Prior, Hill, Marshall, Guzman, Murton, Theriot or Cedeno improving. Lastly for those who complain about the Cubs building from within I ask when? Not in my lifetime. If we sign Clee, Schmidt and Zito that will be about 40 million a year that is going to be a big albatross in a couple of years and not win a WS next season.

I will say that the SEC is the best conference, but I dont think it is that easy to go undefeated in the Big Ten. I would even go out on a limb and say that there isnt a SEC school that would go undefeated in the Big Ten this season. Even if they only played 1 out of Michigan and OSU. Iowa and Wisconsin are really tough places to play. The weather is going to become a factor, something that SEC schools dont deal with a lot. I wouldnt be surprised if both OSU and Michigan still lose this season.

If Drombrowski was the GM we would have a better minor league system. I am not so sure about his major league moves but he is a builder of good minor league systems. Has he ever had a large payroll except for that one year in Florida?

Juan Pierre may be one of the most over-rated players in MLB. The reason Bill James is a Millionaire is because announcers and beat writers made guys like Juan Pierre out to be good players. He only has 2 good things going for him. His ability to get hits and steal bases. These 2 abilities are cancelled out by his inability to draw walks and his caught stealing. Also everytime I hear that he covers alot of ground in CF I just want to barf. He does cover alot of ground but it usually isnt in a straight line to the ball. As for Dusty. I certainly agree that Dusty wasnt given the best of circumstances the last couple of years. What he could have done though is embrace the situation and at least tried to help build the team for the future. Instead he has impeded the development of younger players who actually do things like hit for power and get on base while playing either veterens or players who have more "tools". Worse of all pretty much saying he cannot win with young players. Yes he said it. So all that being said I agree that its was in the best interest of the Cubs to not resign him. I do agree that Hendry should also have been showed the door. I also think hiring Lou Piniella would only add to the future misery of the Cubs

Wow is the AP poll a lot smarter than the coaches poll.

Pujols should be MVP.

I think Hill and Marshall becoming quality 4th and 5th starters isnt a stretch. Or even if we throw in Guzman and Wade Miller as possible 4th and 5th starters, that means 2 out of 4 need to do slightly below league average to be good 4th and 5th starter. I would take my chances on that happening and getting a quality #2 and 3 starter than hoping Prior will be one of them. Than you could have Hill, Marshall, Guzman, Prior battling for 4 and 5. About JJones getting a platoon partner it depends on the manager. It doesnt take a genius to look at a stat sheet and say he shouldnt play against lefties. I dont think all of my ifs are going to happen either, I was just kind of thinking that with a little luck we good be good again next season. I think this is how miracle teams happen. They play in a weak division and a lot of the ifs work out for them. Heck what if Izturis stays healthy and hits .300, What if ARam stays and hits 50 hrs, what if we get Soriano and he repeats his performance from this season. The downside to all this is winning the NL central next season isnt going to be a great feat. I would hate to see the Cubs win in next season and start thinking all these ifs are going to work out again in 2008.

I was thinking about this the other day and doing some what ifs What if Prior wins 15 games next year with a ERA below 4 What if DLee returns to his 2005 form What if Murton moves his OPS up to 850 What if JJones gets a good platoon partner What if Marshall and Hill work out as 4th and 5th starters. What if Pierre gets his OBP up to 350 Just of these 6 things happen I think the Cubs could be in contention for this lousy division without doing anything else. Now if I was going to rank these in the order in which I think they are going to happen I would put Prior 6th.

I voted other though I do fear that the Dems will be stupid enough to nominate either Kerry, Clinton or Gore. All 3 of them talk down to the general masses and wouldnt be good candidates. The govenor of New Mexico, I think his name is Mark Richardson may also be one of those "who" candidates who emerges from the field to win a nomination. The republicans are really short on good candidates. McCain may be the best at this point but if you are a Republican you have to hoping a better candidate ermerges.

The NFL is predictable and boring if you ask me. I wouldnt even care at all if I hadnt been in a FFL for 20 years. Now that ESPN has gone to being all NFL all the time I have pretty much given up on them. I spend most of my Saturdays during the fall watching or attending college FB games. MLB is better than college baseball and I really dont watch a lot of BB at all. Though I do follow it during the tournament so I would have to go with college there also. I would probably watch every pro hockey game that was on if I had some decent coverage.

do you really think Indiana, Northwestern and Illinois could beat Vanderbelt or the Mississippi schools? I dont. Michigan St probably could have before their letdown, I dont think they could now.

I think the philosophy of drafting good arms predated Hendry.

I wouldnt go as far as saying they are bad. I just think that some of the early season hype had them as the best conference. I still think Iowa, Penn St and Wisconsin can play with a lot of teams. Purdue and Minnesota are solid and will make bowl gams. MSU, Illinois, Indiana and Northwestern are bad though. How many SEC schools are this bad? Maybe Kentucky

I think it is kind of ironic that the Stanford band made fun of NDs Irish and Catholic history. I am guessing that less than 10%of the football team is Catholic and even less are Irish. Talking about conferences not being that good, The Big Ten is starting to look like the Big 2 again this season. Has anyone else in the conference beaten a ranked team this year? Plus both Northwestern and Indiana lost to double A teams.

I am not so sure that Bonds wasnt recieved well by the media. For several years ESPN has tried to make us like Barry Bonds, it just didnt work. ESPN has also tried to make us like Clemens, in this case they have had a lot more success.

I really dislike Juan Pierrre. Sadly he seems like a first class guy too. What a waste of 8 to 10 mill a yr to resign him though.

Tigers vs Padres I really dont care about anyone other than the Tigers. I hope they make it for my Dads sake.

I think there is no question that Soriano would be nice at 2nd. Short of him though I certainly would think that Theriot deserve a chance to beat out Cedeno or Izsutas.

For several years I have wondered why Bonds has taken the brunt of the Steroid fallout when it is pretty obvious to anyone who doesnt have their head in the Sand that Clemens is just as guilty. I understand that Bonds is a surly jerk, but so is Clemens. I understand that Bonds is doing things at an age no one else has, but so is Clemens. I understand that Bonds head is bigger now than it was 10 years ago, but so is Clemens. For the life of me I just dont understand how Bonds has been the Steroid poster boy while Clemens keeps getting a free pass from almost everyone in the media.

ESPN has it, you just have to do some digging to get to it.

Rutgers certainly got a scare last night. A dropped 2 point conversion from going into OT. Review booth also got the onside kick call right but it was close.