ZMovieman

To the surprise of no one, looks like sticking to sports was a factor. Also love the assertion that they could occasionally pair Goff with Holmes at night, because we can’t be having our diversity shown anywhere but nights and weekends. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/ct-spt-wscr-score-dan-mcneil-diversity-20180315-story,amp.html?__twitter_impression=true

I mean, I'm excited. But I'm not sure how to feel. I'm ok with Eloy going, but I'd have preferred not to package Cease with him.

Whelp, they can have him at that price. Tired of this refrain. I'm more worried about the years than the per year money. Toronto got him for more or less the same per year. But that fifth year will be nightmarish...

Interestingly enough, I read somewhere that the name and the old logos were invalidated. However, it appears that the current logo wasn't. Haven't had a chance to verify it officially, but the TTAB ruling had the older logos displayed.

Bryant to the Iowa Cubs. Per his own tweet.

Can this possibly stand up to appeal? I'm no lawyer of course, but it seems to be an odd way to go about this. The same thing happened in 1992, but was overturned on appeal based on a technicality that they believe has been resolved this time. It'll be obviously be appealed and will drag out. I don't know that it's an odd way...it's a great way, because if successful, it actually financially punishes Snyder for continuing to keep this name. Exactly. I remember studying the Harjo v. Pro-Football case Banedon is referencing in law school. That problem shouldn't be around this time. Snyder has made it clear that he won't voluntarily change the name. By eliminating control of the trademark (barring a likely stay and federal court ruling), now anyone can use the Redskins logo and trademark. That'll hit the NFL revenue stream pretty hard, and the owners will put too much pressure on Snyder. This is the first in a domino effect, but it seems quite likely that this is the beginning of the end for the Redskins name.

It's only a matter of time. If they would have just thought this way all along and not offered membership to any school with a football team, they could have kicked out the football teams, kept the Big East name and MSG for their conference tourney. Instead, they are probably going to have to go it alone without an auto bid to the NCAA tourney for a year or two and try to start a new conference. Bad planning. That being said, could be a very strong hoops league with like teams. Would be nice to get to 10 teams and play a home and home every year. That could be cool: Georgetown, Villanova, St. Johns, Providence, Seton Hall, DePaul, Marquette and then add Xavier, Butler, and St. Louis. All located in major metro areas in the East/Midwest. Cool idea. As a Marquette alum, this is making the best of a bad situation. Keeping the Big East name and MSG are the key assets to protect, but you're off base on the autobid. In order for a conference to have an autobid for basketball, there needs to be seven active Division I members that sponsor men’s and women’s basketball and sponsor a minimum of six men’s sports and six women’s sports. That's not a problem.

If true, count me in as liking Jim Deshaies as the best of the remaining bunch, then Karros. http://www.csnchicago.com/baseball-chicago-cubs/cubs-talk/Plesac-Glanville-out-Deshaies-in-the-mix?blockID=803301&feedID=4901

So ummm, there wouldn't happen to be any super elite talent to be available in June 2013 with the first few draft picks, would there? Just trying to find a silver lining to the bad.

As far as I can tell, this hinged on the rule that the collector has to FedEx the sample "as soon as possible." He thought FedEx was closed, but it wasn't, so technically he didn't send it "as soon as possible." Braun's lawyers were throwing everything they possibly could at this, questioning every possible step of the process (which is their job) and they got lucky that something stuck. Unfortunately, MLB doesn't have much of a case to overturn this ruling. While arbiters are not bound to precedent, any appeals in court will run into serious issues in federal court. Courts are not obligated to review arbitration cases. The US Supreme Court in MLBPA v. Garvey reiterated just 11 years ago that... So this is bad news for baseball. Braun didn't fight that he didn't test positive because it's nearly impossible to win that fight. You only stand a chance on the process of testing, and now it frankly casts doubt on the enforceability of the drug testing on the CBA.

There's an Insider article on ESPN that proposes a few Howard to the Bulls deals (proposed by Bradford Doolittle of Basketball Prospectus). One of them is a massive one, but what he said caught my eye. Thought it was worth discussing its potential merits. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7527886/three-dwight-howard-chicago-bulls-trades-work-nba

In sumarry: Boise St and San Diego State to be invited for football only. Houston, Central Florida, and SMU to be invited for all sports. All by 2013. After that, the plan is Navy and Air Force a year later to make 12. They shouldn't get to be a part of the BCS anymore. I'm a Big East basketball guy, so I'm mixed on all of this. That said, based on how they've played of late, that football conference with Boise St and Houston might be better than Cuse, Pitt, and West Virginia. Long term no, but recently at least.

In sumarry: Boise St and San Diego State to be invited for football only. Houston, Central Florida, and SMU to be invited for all sports. All by 2013. After that, the plan is Navy and Air Force a year later to make 12.

Big East expansion to be announced as soon as tomorrow. http://brett-mcmurphy.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/29532522/33728643

Sigh. No. Just no. Memo to Theo Epstein: Parts of old Cubs regime are worth keeping http://www.suntimes.com/sports/8379686-419/memo-to-theo-epstein-parts-of-old-cubs-regime-are-worth-keeping.html