USSoccer

I always liked him, just sometimes a little annoying as a commentator. I always figured he would say something like this about Mexico first. That's hilarious. BTW, Roma was relentless, but going into Old Trafford only up 2-1 on aggregate isn't all that comfy. I'd bet Man U go through. Scholes is stupid for both of those fouls.

i think it probably had more to do with being hit in the head by an errant fastball. or it could have something to do with him just getting old. This season will definatly test that theory. He could very well be aweful as some people surmise. Or he could rebound and do well as he's mentally fresh, ready to play, and happy to be playing baseball again. We'll see what happens there. BTW I did take him in the last round of my fantasy draft on the off chance that he does rebound. If not, it's no big loss. How will this season test anything relative to your point about Sosa succumbing to distractions in 2004? Most of those distractions are gone, or are old news. He seems upbeat, happy, and of positive mind. If he bounces back and has a good season it means that it wasn't nearly as much a physical thing as mental. Not necessarily. You're making assumptions left and right. There's not a causal relationship that you can point to.

i think it probably had more to do with being hit in the head by an errant fastball. or it could have something to do with him just getting old. This season will definatly test that theory. He could very well be aweful as some people surmise. Or he could rebound and do well as he's mentally fresh, ready to play, and happy to be playing baseball again. We'll see what happens there. BTW I did take him in the last round of my fantasy draft on the off chance that he does rebound. If not, it's no big loss. How will this season test anything relative to your point about Sosa succumbing to distractions in 2004?

PSV looked horrid out there.

It's mildly encouraging that they've managed to rack up 100 pitches for Harang through only 5 IP. Now I guess we get to see if the 35 relievers the Reds signed can do the job.

Nice AB, Cesar.

New York fans are idiots. I cannot wait til they run him out of town for nonsense reasons. Hopefully they run him right to us.

I'm not scared of him for his possibly minor attachment to the Sox, I'm scared of him because he's a heartless money-eating robot. I was replying (but not quoting, shame on me!) to another post about him being a Cubs fan. Keep in mind, he's a heartless money-eating robot who managed to bring a world series to an expansion franchise very quickly. And then went broke.

I think Cuban will have strong interest, but I agree that Colangelo is the front runner. Wouldn't any Colangelo bid be heavily leveraged and financed? Cuban and the Wolves owner are the only 2 individuals that I can see being solid. Everyone else terrifies me. I just figure Colangelo has the connections with the owners to make for a smoother transition. My guess is Colangelo would be managing partner for a larger group of investors. Don't be surprised if Steve Stone is part of such a group. I don't know that a group of investors would be the best owner for the franchise. I can see them slashing payroll at will.

I think Cuban will have strong interest, but I agree that Colangelo is the front runner. Wouldn't any Colangelo bid be heavily leveraged and financed? Cuban and the Wolves owner are the only 2 individuals that I can see being solid. Everyone else terrifies me.

Yes. I have no faith that private ownership will be better than our current ownership.

I think so. Aside from being a world class tool, he's also the benificiary of some very deferential treatment by refs and opposing defenses in the Mexican league. He's allowed space he won't be afforded by MLS defenders. He's a very, very old 34, with a history of divisiveness and troublemaking in the locker room. It's going to be tough to like watching him play. He's a high risk, little reward player with no pace and who won't have space to screw around like he gets for Club America. If the Fire really wanted to fill their DP spot with a Mexican forward, they should have pushed for Borgetti, who's style of play would translate much better to MLS. And for the record, I don't think he makes it through the season. He'll either be released/suspended or he'll have a meltdown and quit.

Team Stats & Scoring 1. Number of Cubs wins, 2007 87 +275 2. Number of Cubs wins, Cardinals season series (16 games) 10 +100 3. Number of runs scored, 2007 899 +0 4. Number of runs allowed, 2007 701 +200 5. Final Placement in the NL Central Division 1st +200 1. Number of DLee Home Runs 32 +10 2. Number of Soriano Stolen Bases 27 +30 3. Murton's Batting Average .301 +20 4. Aramis' RBIs 119 +10 5. Carlos Zambrano's Wins 17 +40 6. Jason Marquis' ERA 5.81 +0 7. Rich Hill's Ks 160 +40 8. Ted Lilly's Innings Pitched 175 +20 1. Which will be higher: Z's batting average or Z's batting average against? Z's BA +30 2. Which will be higher: Aramis' HRs or Marquis' HRs allowed? Aramis HR's +30 3. Which will be higher: Cesar's OBP or DLee's batting average? Lee's BA +30 4. Who will have more HRs: Barrett or Murton? Murton +0 5. Who will have more wins: Hill or Lilly? Hill +0 6. Who will have a higher K/BB: Zambrano or Hill? Hill +30 1. Most HRs: Soriano +30 2. Highest OBP (min. 350 ABs): Murton +0 3. Lowest ERA (min. 150 IPs): Hill +0 4. Most saves: Dempster +30 The Annual Tiebreaker: Michael Barrett's OPS .832 -------------- Team Stats: 775 Player Stats: 170 Bonus I: 120 Bonus II: 60 TOTAL: 1125

Big mistake.

Ben Gordon is bad with the ball unless he's shooting a jump shot. They ran the same play 5 times in a row. Shocking how a team could figure it out and shut it down. Very dissapointing.

Seth, if you managed to score good tickets I'll buy them. I wasn't able to be at my computer for the sale this morning. As far as last night's game, it's clear that US players still have no idea how to break down a packed defense.

What a dissapointment.

Boooo to this decision coming before Prior's start tomorrow.

90+? I kind of have the feeling that we're going to see a season similar to 2004. Lots of SLG%, not enough OBP to sustain a 95 win pace guven the questions that the starting pitching has.

I've highlighted the nonsense in your post. It doesn't matter what the Cubs say or don't say about a player's injury. You don't know if this will keep happening or if it won't, and even if your aboive scenario takes place, it means the Cubs got some decent outings from him before he gets hurt again, whicxh was the whole point of signing him for next to nothing to provide some bullpen depth. Seriously, if this were Wade Miller being hurt (at the same salary, BTW), no one would be making stupid declarative statements like "he's a tease" and "release him". How long have you been following the Cubs and Kerry Wood? What makes you think this scenario won't play out? If I remember correctly, isn't one's past performance the best predictor of his future performance? And by decent outings I meant one or two. I should have made that clearer. But, even if he is somewhat healthy, he will not be able to throw on back-to-back days. What's the value of a middle reliever who cannot do that? The only reason Kerry Wood is taking up eight pages of this board, and plenty of time of my spring break, is that we still remember the 20 Ks and parts of the 2003 playoffs. But that Kerry Wood is gone and will never come close to returning. The one that is left is an injury-proned and overrated pitcher. BTW, the definition of a tease is to arouse hope, desire, or curiosity without satisfying them. Kerry Wood is the definition of a tease. What, again, is so stupid about that? http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tease If you took a pol of the people here at NSBB as far as if they expected big things of Kerry Wood this year, you'd get about 10% yes. It's kinda hard to be a tease if no one really expects anything of you. Yes, past performance is indicative of future performance, but then again, we didn't sign him to 3/$21. We signed him for what amounts to a rehabbing pitcher's contract, which is exactly what he is. IHe elected to rehab rather that surgically repair his shoulder. If he misses the enitre year, big deal, we wasted a million bucks, but if he misses a couple months and gives us 15-30 appearances out of the pen, I'd consider that a successful investment. And since we don't know if he'll be out for weeks or months yet, it's hard to label this a faied investemtn.

I've highlighted the nonsense in your post. It doesn't matter what the Cubs say or don't say about a player's injury. You don't know if this will keep happening or if it won't, and even if your aboive scenario takes place, it means the Cubs got some decent outings from him before he gets hurt again, whicxh was the whole point of signing him for next to nothing to provide some bullpen depth. Seriously, if this were Wade Miller being hurt (at the same salary, BTW), no one would be making stupid declarative statements like "he's a tease" and "release him". How long have you been following the Cubs and Kerry Wood? What makes you think this scenario won't play out? If I remember correctly, isn't one's past performance the best predictor of his future performance? And by decent outings I meant one or two. I should have made that clearer. But, even if he is somewhat healthy, he will not be able to throw on back-to-back days. What's the value of a middle reliever who cannot do that? The only reason Kerry Wood is taking up eight pages of this board, and plenty of time of my spring break, is that we still remember the 20 Ks and parts of the 2003 playoffs. But that Kerry Wood is gone and will never come close to returning. The one that is left is an injury-proned and overrated pitcher. BTW, the definition of a tease is to arouse hope, desire, or curiosity without satisfying them. Kerry Wood is the definition of a tease. What, again, is so stupid about that? http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tease

I've highlighted the nonsense in your post. It doesn't matter what the Cubs say or don't say about a player's injury. You don't know if this will keep happening or if it won't, and even if your aboive scenario takes place, it means the Cubs got some decent outings from him before he gets hurt again, whicxh was the whole point of signing him for next to nothing to provide some bullpen depth. Seriously, if this were Wade Miller being hurt (at the same salary, BTW), no one would be making stupid declarative statements like "he's a tease" and "release him".

-We all know better? I haven't heard anything definitive, and until then, speculating is a waste of time. -The definition of a gamble is doing something that has no certain outcome. Thus, you saying "It's only a gamble worth taking if it was going to pay off" doesn't make sense. It was a low risk, high reward move, and seeing as how the team is still in Mesa, it's a little rash to declare it a failure. -Why release him when you still don't knnow the extent of the injury? If it's a 2-3 week thing, he can still come back and give you plenty of quality work. If it's longer, oh well, it was a good risk that didn't work out. -Him being on the DL doesn't really cost anyone a roster spot. That's a red herring argument.

I've taken the liberty of highlighting the parts of your argument that don't have any argumentative weight. His salary as compared to yours and mine, options for other players, and your frustration at the failure of his body to hold up doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand. Yes, it sucks Wood is hurt. However, this isn't 2004. He was slated to be a late inning reliever. Losing him for a couple weeks isn't going to hurt the team, and the fact he's making-what, $1.5m?-isn't going to hinder the team. We paid Wade Miller just about as much to do nothing last year. Resigning Kerry was a gamble, and I wouldn't be so quick as to label it a failure because he's had 2 arm-related setbacks before April. And for the record, even if he doesn't throw another pitch this season, it was a gamble worth taking with the small amount of money he's getting.

Johnny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie.