Andy

I never got to meet him, but it's incredible to see all the stories people are telling tonight. Some rando on the Cubs' Instagram said that when he approached Ernie for an autograph at Harry Caray's, Ernie invited him and his friends to sit with him and buy them drinks. There are probably thousands of stories like that.

worse look: yanking an offer from a commit two weeks prior to NSD http://www.tennessean.com/story/vols/2015/01/21/marques-ford-decommits-tennessee/22123845/ That's one of the really crappy parts of the sec. Feel bad for the kid. Fixed Haha. OK. I must have missed the commitment to the student athletes from the rest of the Power 5. The Power 5 literally just voted in guaranteed four-year scholarships over the objections of the SEC (and for some reason the Big 12).

At this point, I would absolutely love if Javier Baez put up the numbers they have him down for.

CMU HC Dan Enos left to become Arkansas OC today. A little surprising, more from Arkansas' end. Enos didn't seem very popular in Mt. Pleasant based on discussions I've had with CMU grads I work with.

I got one that acted like malware and asked me to download something today. Something I'll have to research over the weekend. I got the same.

I hope for his sake that woman next to him is a relative.

Could a deal like that even get done with Javy as lead chip? A move like that leaves the Cubs one bat away from being a legitimate WS contender. Seems highly, highly unlikely Javy could be the lead piece in a move like that. That conversation probably starts with Addison Russell.

Nicely played.

Very nice. Defensive metrics seem to hate him, though. Didn't realize that.

I have a half dozen friends who treat Tom Brady like their 2nd 'team'. Only one - a Michigan fan - has even the slightest pretense of an excuse for it. It drives me [expletive] insane.

Where the [expletive] was this version of Russell Wilson a week ago when my team was playing against Joe Montana reincarnated

If there's a winning team on the field, then bring on the douches. Better them than diehards watching a 70-win team.

Jesus you're almost as bad as Kyle Whatever. I want them to go balls out for 2015, and it sure seemed like they were going that way and I just don't have faith in the nearly all prospect team that they seem to more and more be betting on. I don't think anyone is asking for anything too outrageous; we were getting word/rumors they wanted another big starter and they wanted a significant OF player. Instead we're probably just getting 3 catchers and Chris Denorfia. That's boring as [expletive]. This team as presently constructed projects to win 83-84 games with pretty conservative projections on the young players. Projections tend to cluster around the middle and that's good for like top 5 in the NL (which would be a playoff spot). I want them to add some more wins at the margins if they can, sure, but I don't really have a problem with it if they go into the season with mostly the current roster (though I assume and hope Castillo will end up being dealt off, Theo's obvious comment aside). Again, that's with conservative projections for prospects/young players. There's also a lot of upside as a result of those conservative projections. It is more than a little disappointing that after all the talk that Lester was accelerating our timeline, we basically stopped making moves while we're sitting at the point where every single win is worth quite a bit. Kyle got shredded a while ago for pointing it out, but we basically sucked the last 3 years because getting from 65-75 wins meant bupkis. We're now at the point where every extra win is precious and yet we're not really doing anything about it (with the caveat that there's still time).

Surely Deion is already signed up. You mean 'Leon', I'm sure. http://cdn.gunaxin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/leon-sandcastle-commercial-2.jpg

For Tyler Clippard. Clippard is awesome. That one was a bit of a head-scratcher for me.

He's been brutal offensively for like 5 years. Even before they got rid of him the first time, he was bad. I don't have the slightest clue what Thibs was doing signing off on his return.

The latter is a bit of an unfair criticism as the NFL only recently started adapting their offenses to fit the talents of spread option college QBs. I'm not 100% sold on Mariota as a star, but he certainly has the physical tools.

The problem is that the "football move" was simply Dez's momentum carrying him to the ground while he was trying to possess the ball. There needed to be something clear and distinctive that showed he had control and, if anything, sticking his arm out and then losing the ball just showed that he didn't have complete control of it. That seems like very close to saying the ground can cause a fumble, though. If a RB stretching for the end zone lands on the ball and it pops out, did he not have control of it before?

That is not necessarily true at all. Lots of people stretch for yardage at any point on the field. It's not just a goal line situation. You're probably right that I can't assume he wouldn't have stretched. I still feel like that qualified as a 'football move', though, if that's still a thing.

Well, if the catch yesterday happened as Bryant was heading out of bounds, he wouldn't have reached the ball forward for the end zone. My scenario could be in the middle of the field. So, if the player gets greedy with his ball control it's catch? I'm confused what your point is. Just looking for clarification. I think his point is that the only reason the ball came loose is because Dez, having already caught the ball, was stretching for the end zone. If he'd been at the 15-yard line instead of the 5, he just falls on his butt and this is never an issue. The bottom line is the rule needs to be adjusted somehow. Any set of rules that results in Josh Cribbs being ruled to have possession on that punt and Dez Bryant not being ruled to have possession on that catch needs to be examined.

I'm rooting for Colts-anyone. And I'm not generally a Colts fan. Rodgers was game today, but unless he heals up really quickly, I'm not sure how GB can beat Seattle. Pack will need to be at the top of its game, I imagine.

My thing with the call is that at no point does the ball hit the ground. The ball is dislodged from Dez' hands, but he then catches it again. And he was never out of bounds. Just awful all around.

Hmmmm That would be fascinating.

Yeah, Winston is talented, but Mariota to Tampa would scare me an awful lot more.

Between Greg Hardy's domestic violence conviction/appeal/etc, Cam getting into a car crash that effed up his back, and now Ron Rivera dealing with a freaking house fire, this has been a strange off-field season for Carolina.