SpongeWorthy

Way to attack that defensive glass JRich!

FAIL

Hahahaha

We're not scoring.

Which gay guy from sex and the city? Actually he might be a straight guy that plays gay. So not Mario Cantone. He's a decent character actor in other stuff.

So the gay guy from Sex and the City did the best rendition of Take Me Out To The Ballgame I've heard in awhile.

That's the most range I've ever seen Theriot exhibit.

For a baseball purist such as myself this is glorious. Pure what? Incompetence? Excessive run scoring is unseemly.

For a baseball purist such as myself this is glorious.

I don't see why Reinsdorf wouldn't have given Jordan an ownership stake if that's what he wanted. My understanding is that Reinsdorf is still friendly with Jackson and Jordan. It was Krause that everyone had a problem with. Anyway, I would've loved to seen Pip get a coaching opportunity. I'm kind of surprised he hasn't been an assistant anywhere yet.

Why is there such a decline in interest here, but not other sites? Where did everyone go?This might catch me some flak, but honesty reigns: NSBB can be a very polarizing message board at times. There are, without a shadow of a doubt, many extremely intelligent, humorous and well-spoken people that post on NSBB. There's also a fair amount of elitism and a subtle bullying streak aimed towards specific members and people who aren't as well-versed in "advanced" baseball. Not saying that NSBB is a bad place - quite the contrary. It's just flawed like people in general and everything else on earth. And of course I can't say for certain that people who used to post here regularly did leave due to the above ... but I can say that if I were to leave, it would be a factor. Witnessing the alternatives first-hand, NSBB is the best Cubs board I've found. I don't know what traffic is like at other sites but my gut is that the closer baseball comes to becoming a solvable equation the less sport specific discussion there will be on non-idiot message boards. I can tell you that I personally don't talk about baseball much on here because I don't have a clue compared to a huge majority of the posters. Even if you want to talk about trades, free agency, etc. you have to know a bunch of transactional rules. I barely understand salary arbitration, the 40 man roster, how the draft works, etc. so I just don't bother. Back in the 60s or whatever guys would argue about who was better between Aaron and Clemente (see City Slickers) and now the whole idea seems quaint.

NHL fans in general probably shouldn't promote an insular culture where the casual fan isn't welcome. That's how you end up on the Outdoor Life Network while ESPN plays a World Series of Poker rerun for the 9000th time.

I think Buff was at 33/1 the other day but I didn't jump on it.

Funny Landycakes Sportscenter commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J19-ROSfwY8

I don't have a problem with it. An outdoor Super Bowl in weather every few years is no big deal. Southern California isn't going to have a Super Bowl for a long, long time now so they need a new venue anyhow.

At 35/1 I'm almost willing to just assume the risk that Toews will be hurt/ineffective and Hossa will be the best player on the team. NOT THAT I'M HOPING FOR THAT

It rained during nearly all of the Bears-Colts Super Bowl. A warm rain in Miami is not nearly the same as a cold, rainy, windy February night in NJ. But it was a factor, which you are unhappy with. Are you upset that the conference championships are in potentially bad weather locales and could favor one team or the other? Well everyone knows the Super Bowl is a neutral site game from day 1 while you play to earn the right to host the conference championship throughout the year.

Odds to win the 2010 Conn Smyth Trophy: Antti Niemi (CHI) 5/1 Chris Pronger (PHI) 25/1 Danny Briere (PHI) 18/1 Dustin Byfuglien (CHI) 25/1 Jonathan Toews (CHI) 4/9 Marian Hossa (CHI) 35/1 Michael Leighton (PHI) 8/1 Mike Richards (PHI) 7/1 Patrick Kane (CHI) 19/2 Patrick Sharp (CHI) 30/1 Simon Gagne (PHI) 25/1 Field (Any Other Player) 20/1 Hossa at 35/1 has to be good value right?

Is there anything stopping the new Nets owner from paying Jackson 15 million or more a year?

Not when you pick and choose to compare just the "good" offenses, and forget about the other phases of the game. Not when you consider that even if we are just talking offense that the best offenses don't always have great years. Not when you consider that the most talented team doesn't always win. If you want to be good in any phase of the game it makes sense to compare yourself to the best teams in those phases. I'm fairly confident that we can have a good offense relative to the Lions, Rams, and Raiders but that gets you where exactly? For what it's worth I do think the front 7 on D has a chance to be one of the best in the game.

It doesn't matter what a team's talent level is relative to the talent level of its competitors?

In the context of the league, Earl Bennett really isn't any good. He's below average. You can get away with below average if the rest of your team is above average. Well we know that isn't the case either. Quickly scan the depth charts of good NFL offenses and tell me how many skill players we have that would start on those teams. It literally might be 0. Edit: I'll say a healthy Matt Forte MIGHT start over someone like Ryan Grant and Olsen, as overrated as he is, would get a starting job for New England or something.

Ok, but you're criticizing the WR's, not the line. Would Faulk have been as good with the line the Bears had last season? How about Bruce or Holt? Would Warner have been rushing passes? If not...he'd have been taking sacks. None of us are saying that the Bears are going to have the Rams offense from the "best show on turf" days. We're saying that if we don't have that, it's not necessarily due to bad receivers. It's much more likely to be because of a bad line. Not as good, but better. I'm hoping a healthy Forte would've been better than Forte was last year. He was pretty slow and tentative. I dismiss the notion that you can just plug and play if you've got the QB and line. You need play makers. And jersey, Holt is basically the less hyped version of Marvin Harrison. He put numbers well into the Bulger years. He was also a top 10 draft pick. He's not Pierre Garcon or anything. Bruce put up numbers in St. Louis that have never been done by a Chicago Bear before (excepting that one weird Marcus Robinson year maybe) Warner and Vermiel ever got there. That has a lot to do with playing in a dome during the peak of the greatest show on turf. I don't really get your point in whining about the Bears WR not being what STL had. Nobody thinks they are the greatest show on turf, but they don't have to be. They have multiple guys who can make big plays, who have made big plays. But what matters is whether the line and QB will allow anything to happen. Again, WR don't make or break teams. Isn't the point to compete for a Super Bowl? You don't do that by having a bunch of units that are just good enough. Somebody, somewhere, needs to be elite. And I totally disagree that we have a bunch of guys who can and will make big plays. Knox makes big plays to the extent that the only plays he makes ARE big ones. Hester's good for a big play every now and then. Olsen might but you have to target him an outrageous amount of times. Forte is no home run hitter. So where does that leave you? And there still isn't a reliable red zone target. Maybe that'll be Devin A. We can only hope. The most immediate thing the Bears can do next season to improve is not be an abject failure in the red zone.

Ok, but you're criticizing the WR's, not the line. Would Faulk have been as good with the line the Bears had last season? How about Bruce or Holt? Would Warner have been rushing passes? If not...he'd have been taking sacks. None of us are saying that the Bears are going to have the Rams offense from the "best show on turf" days. We're saying that if we don't have that, it's not necessarily due to bad receivers. It's much more likely to be because of a bad line. Not as good, but better. I'm hoping a healthy Forte would've been better than Forte was last year. He was pretty slow and tentative. I dismiss the notion that you can just plug and play if you've got the QB and line. You need play makers. And jersey, Holt is basically the less hyped version of Marvin Harrison. He put numbers well into the Bulger years. He was also a top 10 draft pick. He's not Pierre Garcon or anything. Bruce put up numbers in St. Louis that have never been done by a Chicago Bear before (excepting that one weird Marcus Robinson year maybe) Warner and Vermiel ever got there.

Yeah, but we don't have those either. That St. Louis team had Hall of Famers on every unit now that I think about it. Warner, Faulk, Pace, Bruce, and Holt is absolutely insane.