Andy

Roughly 54 hours until the NFC title game. I'm wearing my traditional Friday jersey - Steve Smith that is. :D

Sam Young, widely projected as the #1 offensive lineman in the country, chose ND over USC today, making their class even better. Young's expected to slide immediately into Mark LeVoir's old tackle spot.

I spent the summer working at Sporting News Radio and I worked on creating highlights from all the major league games. I always pulled the santo isms, put them on a cd, and use them now as part of my weekly radio show at Indiana University. It's great stuff. You know how much money you could make just by selling those things for 5-10 bucks a pop on NSBB? 8)

I was at the Brewers game last June where Patterson made a full-extension diving catch on a line drive with a guy on 2nd and 1 out late in the game and the Cubs up 2-0, then stood up and doubled the guy off of second in about two microseconds. I like Pierre, but to even suggest that there's a possibility that he is a step up from CPatt in the field is absurd.

I'm shocked. I've believed for so long that CPatt was vastly superior to Poo Holes. I'm crushed right now.

Ben is unreal lately. It's safe to assume his bench days are over in Chicago.

Why aren't you?

Do we really have excellent instructors? I'm probably one of the minor league instructors biggest critics. It's getting real old hearing how good so and so is yet seeing guys not reaching their potential. Guys like Choi, Hill, Kelton, Dubois Jackson, etc. I'm still seeing nothing really extraordinary from Harvey. So, our instructors are considered excellent based on.....? I was under the impression that the DJAXX had really good coaches. I think they do. Why doesn't the talent in the minors translate in the bigs? I think there are several reasons. Most are not under the organization's control, but some are. For example, I don't think it does much good to platoon a player until he demonstrates he cannot produce. Yet the Cubs want to platoon young guys. I don't think it does much good for a guy who is use to playing every day and sit them on the bench only to give them infrequent starts and pinch hits (Choi, Dubios, Hill) . It doesn't help a guy to yo-yo him from the big club to the minors, especially a pitcher who might go from starter in AAA to reliver in the bigs (Cruz, Z, Hill, Farns, etc). It doesn't help a young player by batting him in the 1 spot for a month then 2 then 6 then 7th then back to 1 (Patterson), One of the reasons why I'm so high on Matt Murton is because he didn't come through our system. I have a feeling he's going to refute your theory about how platooning a young player can mess with his development. I think he's going to be a very fine player even after platooning last year. Just because a player (like Murton) is good enough to succeed even after platooning doesn't mean that platooning rookies isn't a stupid idea.

Forgive the hyperbole, but with 40 teams in the Big East they should get a bunch of bids. I think a 16 team conference is ridiculous. It's not just that there are 16 teams. Teams like Louisville, Cincinnati and Marquette (any of whom would have a good shot at winning the Big 12) already have two conference losses. The Big East is loaded.

They impressed me when I went to go see them beat ND at the Allstate. That Wilson Chandler kid can play. That team has a bright future.

I haven't heard anything to suggest Morgan and Peppers won't play for Carolina, and Alexander seems pretty dead set on playing as well.

He will... Notre Dame is becoming the place that everyone wants to go now. They're the new Duke or Yankees of college football. Did you wake up 60 years ago? ND has on and off been the #1 preferred destination for HS players for a very long time, you know. You can't say that about the last decade or so pre-Weiss. I know that. That's why I included the phrase "on and off".

He will... Notre Dame is becoming the place that everyone wants to go now. They're the new Duke or Yankees of college football. Did you wake up 60 years ago? ND has on and off been the #1 preferred destination for HS players for a very long time, you know.

I think being a Cubs fan is what makes being a Carolina fan feel so odd - I'm totally unused to being a fan of a team that always seems to pull out a big play when they need one, especially in big games.

Jake Delhomme is now the highest-rated passer in the history of the NFL postseason (min. 150 pass attempts). Pretty much sums up my feelings on the guy.

Just for the record, I was full-on the Bears bandwagon had Carolina lost. I love defense.

Thought: Big Z might want to stay with the Cubs, and Boras might have been trying to convince him to jump at the first opportunity for the highest bidder. That's my optimistic side talking.

I'd rather him come to ND and become the next Brady Quinn (minus the 03-04 struggles which were clearly Willingham's fault more than anything).

Nope, didn't play the Mariners in 2001. They did take 2 of 3 in 2002, though. The lesson: I'm an idiot.

YES!!!!

I'll start one - preferably night games, since I have classes during the day.

Actually, it was 2001 - I remember because I spent the off-season bragging about how the Cubs took 2 of 3 from a team that won 116 games (as Seattle did that year).

Len, what sort of adjustments (if any) did you have to make last year from the Florida weather to the Chicago weather, and did you find any of those adjustments successful? Here's hoping you haven't accidentally set yourself on fire like our beloved Ron Santo did on one memorable occasion!

I like interleague play - even though we get the White Sox and STL gets the Royals every year...

Nowhere yet. He's only an HS junior right now.