Andy

Didn't Detroit trade for a star in Wallace, well after he was developed, to put them over the top from perennial eastern bridesmaid to championship team? Anyway, I just think the Bulls chances depend on when they are able to find somebody else's superstar, because they don't seem to have one, or the ability to develop one (how many top 10 picks have they had since the dynasty broke up?). 1999: Elton Brand (netted Tyson Chandler) They also picked Artest in the first round that year who was eventually moved along with Brad Miller in the Jalen Rose deal. Oops. 2000: Marcus Fizer, Jamal Crawford, Dalibor Bagaric all first-rounders. Three misses. 2001: Eddy Curry (got us Sweetney, Thomas and a slew of draft picks) 2002: Jay Williams (I'm still pissed off at how this played out) 2003: Kirk Hinrich 2004: Ben Gordon The Bulls have picked well in all these drafts except for 2000. The problem has been what we did with those players, along with a huge stroke of bad luck with Williams, who would be better than Hinrich and possibly even Gordon had he had a chance to improve after his solid rookie season. The fact remains the Bulls have the pieces. They have a good young core with Gordon, Hinrich, Deng, Nocioni and Chandler, and will have a top 5 pick in the 2006 draft along with our own, along with a bunch of cap space, and then are likely to have another top 5 pick in the 2007 draft, along with our own first-rounder and two second-rounders, the top 5 pick assuming the Knicks are awful again. If Pax doesn't screw it up (and all indications from the last couple of drafts are that he won't), this team will be a perennial championship contender over the next 5-7 years.

Good times! Yeah! What was it again, it was a pile of rotten fruit right next to all the bats or something...that was a fun season all the way round.

It depends on the two players. If the Bulls traded Gordon and Deng plus their two first rounders for Garnett, would the resulting team be any better? Or would it be a borderline playoff team with a superstar? Seems more like the latter to me. Ford's suggested trade of Deng and the two first rounders for Garnett appeals, though. Garnett-Chandler-Noch-Gordon-Hinrich -- yep, that would work. skiles would probably play songaila over garnett in 4th quarters, though. Sulley's quest against Skiles is laughable. This team has the pieces and assets to make a run for a title in a few years. i'll believe it when i actually see a skiles-led team make a title run. Do NBA teams actually develop? I was always under the impression that you either win by drafting a great player and hope he develops into an elite within 3 years (doesn't look like any current Bull will come close to that), or you sign/trade for somebody else's superstar. Is there much of a history of sub .500 teams gradually getting better with the same group of players, without at least one of those players turning into a superstar, or trading for a superstar? I can't imagine the Bulls ever going far with Skiles as the coach. He seems to be more interested in sending messages than winning. That's fine, actually it can be great to develop some guys, but usually you have to change the coach to then go to the next level. I would say Ben Gordon's stretch of play over the last month or so would qualify him as a guy that could be an elite player next season. And Luol Deng is only 20 years old and probably won't develop quite as fast as most college draftees (remember how long it took Jermaine O'Neal to become a star?).

I don't know if you've been paying any attention, but Gordon's been starting since around the second or third week of the season.

Because, as we all know, the Cubs have made no effort to win over the last few years. That's why they gave Prior a huge contract straight out of college. That's why they traded for DLee and immediately signed him for 3 years. That's why they gave Aramis Ramirez a nice extension right before Opening Day last year. That's why they've picked up (at least at the time) very good relievers every off-season for the last three or four years. That's why they signed Sammy to a gargantuan contract back in the early 2000s. That's why they gave Wood a rich extension. That's why they were prepared to pay Furcal $10 million a year before the Dodgers trumped their offer. I could go on, but I think you get the point, which is that this ownership group has actively tried to win. Wrigley's not holding us back, injuries, bad managing and suboptimal performance are.

The attendance figures tell a different story. Apparently, most folks don't go to the ballpark to sniff the pavement, ogle vendors and hang out amongst the chamberpots. More likely, most Cub fans just have no clue what they're missing with a modern ballpark. Even more likely, most Cub fans have seen what they're missing and realize that Wrigley is better.

Notre Dame 72, Providence 65. ND is now in a tie for the pivotal 12th place in the conference. Now armed with the sweep tiebreaker against the Friars, ND controls their own destiny. If they beat DePaul at the Joyce Center on Saturday, they will be in the conference tournament, since the team they're tied with, St. John's, plays a team that ND would have the tiebreaker on if the Red Storm won - Rutgers, whom the Irish beat earlier this season. In layman's terms, ND should be headed to New York. There'd be no excuse for losing to the Blue Demons, especially since they already have this season.

In a fitting conclusion to one of the strangest and most depressing seasons in recent memory, Ball State sees 3 triples at the end of the game rim in and out, plus an NIU free throw rim in, and that's more than enough in a 78-73 loss. The loss clinches a road game (and therefore a loss) in the first round of the MAC Tourney for BSU. It also clinches, hopefully, the firing of head coach Tim Buckley, who took a MAC titan into the tank in six years.

DR vs Italy, because home runs are fun.

Me too...those two played off each other better than any broadcast team in the business, bar none.

Good News: Bulls win 111-100. Hinrich nearly picks up triple-double No. 2 of his career, putting up 30 points, 13 boards and 9 assists. Bad News: Malik Allen and Chris Duhon are both injured inadvertently by teammates while trying to take charges. Allen's injury is especially unsettling as he was just developing into a semiconsistent 4 that the Bulls desperately need.

Last year at the Brewers series, my friends and I spent 3 different days betting a Brewers reliever named Crawford that he was going to get in the game, and he said he wouldn't. My friend jokingly tried to drop 10 bucks into the outfield in game 2 to pay up when he didn't get in Game 1 and Crawford waved it off. Also, we asked Carlos Lee where his steroids were and he jokingly told us to shush, then pretended to inject himself. Good times all around. When did you go? I went June 29th. The fans spent the entire time yelling at Geoff Jenkins. "Jenn-kins" chant went. They gave him a very hard time. And Julio Santana was in the outfield... He wouldnt give the ball to the fans after he caught it. And, he ended up getting the loss. I was there for that whole series, June 28-30. But you were apparently in the RF bleachers...I was in left.

If Zogby can be entered as grounds in the debate, then so can the American Family Association.

[Hendry]Now HERE'S a guy who can catch the ball with the best of them![/Hendry]

It's not based on "career" in my opinion. It's based on who you'd want as your first baseman RIGHT NOW. Given the choice of picking Lee or Pujols, I think everybody outside of Chicago would take Pujols. Heck, even if you base it on last season, you'd probably want Pujols (based on Win Shares). No, if you base it on last season, I'd want Lee who was better offensively and defensively. Pujols actually had slightly higher Win Shares, which takes defense into account. You can use other measures that favor Lee, but there was no clear-cut favorite, in my opinion. Such as H, 2B, HR, BA, SLG, OPS for hitting and F%, assists and Zone Rating for fielding...

That is an extremely poor way of judging a prospect and his chances. Not to pronounce their careers over, but it worked pretty well for Hee Seop Choi, Bobby Hill, and Jason Dubois, none of whom did anything worth writing home about in their big league auditions and all of whom are now gone and not having much impact on their new teams.

Honestly, I was never more embarressed to be a Cubs fan than that moment. Ditto. I'm not sure what to say in response to people who honestly think that booing Sammy freaking Sosa was less embarrassing than booing LaTroy Hawkins who caused us so much misery in just over one season. Booing is different from the whole stadium chanting "Hawkins sucks!" Maybe they should have been chanting Dusty sucks since he is the one that kept putting LaTroy in a situation where he had failed multiple times in the past. Understood...although you can't expect all Cubs fans to realize that anymore than you could expect any other fanbase to generally know that much. All most Cubs fans saw was a closer who was bad, they didn't see that Dusty should've gone a different route.

Honestly, I was never more embarressed to be a Cubs fan than that moment. Ditto. I'm not sure what to say in response to people who honestly think that booing Sammy freaking Sosa was less embarrassing than booing LaTroy Hawkins who caused us so much misery in just over one season.

I actually agree with CubDad. I rarely pay much attention to minor league numbers, I look at what the kids do in their big league auditions. And Dubois, over his many different looks, never seemed to me to be anymore than Sosa with much less power. The kid couldn't hit an off-speed pitch to save his life. As worried as I am that Dusty won't play kids sometimes, I've honestly only been impressed with Murton and Cedeno out of the young prospects I've seen in recent years. (Patterson too, but we all know how that turned out.)

Last year at the Brewers series, my friends and I spent 3 different days betting a Brewers reliever named Crawford that he was going to get in the game, and he said he wouldn't. My friend jokingly tried to drop 10 bucks into the outfield in game 2 to pay up when he didn't get in Game 1 and Crawford waved it off. Also, we asked Carlos Lee where his steroids were and he jokingly told us to shush, then pretended to inject himself. Good times all around.

Has Prior had any prolonged stretch (like more than a month) where he pitched like he did in 03? Prior before he got hurt(aka, hit with a line drive) at the end of May last year: 9 GS, 58.1 IP, 2.93 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 9.57 K/9, 3.44 K/BB Those are great numbers but still a little below what he did in 03. Holy crap, I was about to rebuke you, but I had no idea that Prior had a 2.43 ERA in 2003. Now it's even more of a joke that he didn't win the Cy that year in my eyes. While those numbers weren't 03-caliber, Prior hit his stride in the summer of 03, and he never got a chance to do that in 2005. Besides, it's unrealistic to expect a pitcher to post 2.40 ERAs year in and year out, no matter how good they are.

I've gotta say, as much as I loved watching DLee last year, the SF series last year where Hawkins gave up game-tying runs in the late innings of 3 consecutive games at Wrigley to a chorus of "Hawkins sucks!" chants was not just one of my favorite moments of 2005, it was among my favorite moments of all time. I'm not usually a bitter man, but LaTroy straight-up choked the 2004 season away, so I felt I had an excuse.

He's injury-prone. :roll:

Re: Cusack - You can find a picture of Cusack in a White Sox hat in one of the playoff threads from 2005 - I think it's the ALCS one but I can't be sure. Re: Caray tape - They tried this when he was sidelined by a stroke in 1987. From what I have read, it wasn't very popular. I would rather celebrities do it, although I think it should be only celebrity Cubs fans, legendary broadcasters or former players, or popular Chicago-area figures of the day doing it (with a ban on anyone that's a Sox fan).

Ndistops has just shown his age...there are no roving beer saleman in the bleachers. You have to get up and go to the vending locations for beer. As to where those locations will be in the new bleachers...it's anybody's guess. The hot dog guys come around regularly, though. Huh...I could've sworn there was an Old Style guy wandering around last year. Then again, I was paying attention to Z and Wood's pitching masterpieces so I could've been distracted. :)