Sammy Sofa

Not a fair comparison. Z has a history of being healthy, Wood didn't. Z also has a history of a VERY heavy workload and back problems that get worse as he gets heavier. He shows up in great shape for spring training, but he's the first one to tell you that his lifestyle during the season leads to him packing the pounds back on and then the back issues. That's not a good thing with a guy who wants an expensive longterm deal, especially since it gets harder to stay slim as you get older. I don't think signing Z is a disaster...I simply think getting a guy like A-Rod would ultimately pay off more and lead to more production for what the team would be investing.

Not sure I agree with that. So you would trade Zambrano in the middle of the season if he is not going to re-sign with the Cubs? What if the Cubs are in the playoff race, then would you still trade him? So your options would be to either trade Zambrano now, which would make no sense, or you trade him in the middle of the season when the Cubs are in the playoff chase. Im keeping Zambrano. That probably depends a whole lot on what Prior, Miller, and Wood are doing healthwise and performance-wise. I don't care how good they are doing. If we are in the hunt for the playoffs don't tempt fate by trading Zambrano then have one of those guys go down right after the transaction is made. Not even if you're trading for a guy like A-Rod, who can potentially win you games every day, as opposed to Z, who is only out there every 5 days? You can't just not care how the others are doing...If Prior is looking Prior and Hill is keeping up his improvements, ou can definitely think about trading Z. Add on Miller getting healthy, Lilly succeeding or Guzman finally clicking and it becomes even more do-able. A lot of "if's," but as the season goes along, if enough of those "if's" become reality, I'd pull the trigger. It all depends. If Z is having a Cy Young type of year, you are going to need him for the stretch drive and the playoffs. I really doubt that between Prior, Hill and whomever else will give us enough pitching to get rid of Z. I just don't see it happening. Anything's possible. And there's no guarentee Z isn't going to just meltdown in the playoffs under the pressure. I know A-Rod gets bagged with the "he chokes when it counts" tag, but Z could potentially be even worse given how emotional he is out there. But ultimately, if the other pitchers aren't stepping up, he's gotta be held onto. If they are, hey, anything is possible. I'll need to see it to believe it, but Prior being Prior definitely makes some choices very interesting. Almost any pitcher who isn't flat-out garbage can step up suddenly in the playoffs...see the Cardinals. If we have Hill truly having turned the corner and Prior getting back to being himself, that does have to make Z possibly expendable (though I'd personally trade Prior instead, but I could easily live with either) short of all the other pitchers just completely tanking.

Not sure I agree with that. So you would trade Zambrano in the middle of the season if he is not going to re-sign with the Cubs? What if the Cubs are in the playoff race, then would you still trade him? So your options would be to either trade Zambrano now, which would make no sense, or you trade him in the middle of the season when the Cubs are in the playoff chase. Im keeping Zambrano. That probably depends a whole lot on what Prior, Miller, and Wood are doing healthwise and performance-wise. I don't care how good they are doing. If we are in the hunt for the playoffs don't tempt fate by trading Zambrano then have one of those guys go down right after the transaction is made. Not even if you're trading for a guy like A-Rod, who can potentially win you games every day, as opposed to Z, who is only out there every 5 days? You can't just not care how the others are doing...If Prior is looking Prior and Hill is keeping up his improvements, ou can definitely think about trading Z. Add on Miller getting healthy, Lilly succeeding or Guzman finally clicking and it becomes even more do-able. A lot of "if's," but as the season goes along, if enough of those "if's" become reality, I'd pull the trigger.

Not sure I agree with that. So you would trade Zambrano in the middle of the season if he is not going to re-sign with the Cubs? What if the Cubs are in the playoff race, then would you still trade him? So your options would be to either trade Zambrano now, which would make no sense, or you trade him in the middle of the season when the Cubs are in the playoff chase. Im keeping Zambrano. That probably depends a whole lot on what Prior, Miller, and Wood are doing healthwise and performance-wise. That statement is ignoring a lot of factors. If Prior is back to looking anything like Prior and Hill is pitching like 2nd half Hill, it's do-able. Add on Lilly possibly succeeding, Guzman finally clicking amd Miller maybe healthy and it's beyond do-able. A trade like that gets you an everyday player who has many more chances to win you games than Z coming out every 5 days. Again, it obviosuly hinges on how many pitchers are doing well enough, but I'm definitely in the camp of trading Z for a guy like A-Rod. I don't care how good they are doing. If we are in the hunt for the playoffs don't tempt fate by trading Zambrano then have one of those guys go down right after the transaction is made.

I have nothing to add except... KERRY WOOD: SUPER CLOSER. Trademark pending.

This just isn't true. A single hole? Maybe. Over eighteen holes? Highly unlikely. Over a tournament? Never. I'm saying that as unlikely as it is, it's far more likely for the "cinderella story" to happen in professional golf than it is in professional tennis. And besides, in golf, nobody can make you lose. In my mind, that automatically puts it below any sport where you have a direct opponent, like tennis, in terms of difficulty. Two questions: What do you mean by "The man on the street"? and Have you ever played golf? Yes. Yes. Nobody is denying Tiger is extremely talented. I just place more personal stock in sports where you have at least one opponent whose actions directly and physically effect the result of your play right then and there. But that's just me.

That SS name better be Alex Rodriguez. If Prior is healthy and ptiching well he's too important to trade. can we throw in Wood? You wouldn't get nearly as much. If, IF, Zambrano doesn't suddenly crash due to injury, Hill keeps being the 2nd half Hill, or at least something close to it, Miller is looking good and Lilly isn't totally flaming out, I would also agree with seriously considering a better-pitching Prior, for the right deal. I think the biggest factor might be Guzman. If he can finally turn it around and show that he can step up a la Hill, I'd push a healthy Prior for a big trade. If they are making a playoff push, no way they trade Prio. If they're stumbling over good starters, they might. That's a gigantic "what if" scenario, and one not likely to happen, but if Zambrano and Hill do what they did the 2nd half of last year, Guzman breaks out, and either Lilly and/or Miller do well, they might take a shot at going for an impact bat that shoves the offense out ahead.

I know that's going to be the official accepted story, but I refuse to believe that to be true. A 70+ completion percentage, a 68.3 rating. That's not taking a dump. That's not disaster Rex. That's better than what Roethlisberger did while winning last year's Super Bowl and he doesn't face anywhere near the scrutiny Grossman does. Rex did not have a good game, but he did not crap the bed either. rex wasnt that bad. he only made 1 bad pass really, the int to muhammad. the second INT came late in the 4th down by two TDs. Berrian was open but he underthrew him, but at that point he was just trying to make something happen to spark an unlikely comeback. He wasn't great, but he wasn't horrible. Unfortunately too many bears fans are blind to the fact that defense couldn't get off the field if their life depended on it as a main reason for losing. All year people blame rex and refuse to ever blame the D. Well the D was about as good/bad as rex in the super bowl. I mean the criticism of rex has really gotten out of hand. I hear people saying he threw so many bad balls....well he only threw 8 incompletions, a couple of which were drops. If you are going to criticize him at least do it for something that he actually did wrong (bad exchanges with kreutz, ints) I'm watching the Sportscenter highlights right now, and I don't think Grossman's worst pass was even the INT for the TD. It was the pass where he scrambled around, got away from pressure, could have ran for a first down but instead lofted it straight unto a Colts guy's hands. The Colts guy dropped it, but it was still a horrible pass. With that said though, Grossman was not "the reason" that the Bears lost. He wasn't good, but neither was the running game to help him, so he shouldn't shoulder all of the blame for the mistakes. Grossman needs to watch the tape of him doing what I bolded in your post as much as possible until his eyes glaze over. The end result didn't work, but he managed to stay on his feet under pressure and move. It was a such a difference from the usual "OHMYGODHERECOMESABIGSCARYMANMYFEETDON'TWORKOHCRAPI'M DOWN" we'd seen most of the year.

I know that's going to be the official accepted story, but I refuse to believe that to be true. A 70+ completion percentage, a 68.3 rating. That's not taking a dump. That's not disaster Rex. That's better than what Roethlisberger did while winning last year's Super Bowl and he doesn't face anywhere near the scrutiny Grossman does. Rex did not have a good game, but he did not crap the bed either. How many turnovers did he have? His completions were largely trivial. How many 1st down throws did he have? 3 turnovers. One of his "trivial" completions was the only touchdown scored by someone not named Hester. How many 1st downs were they able to rush for? How many 3rd down completions did the defense allow? How many times did they just roll aside and let Manning either punch it short or somone run it right up the middle? Grossman looked pretty bad, but the rest of the team basically crapped the bed as well after the 1st quarter.

That SS name better be Alex Rodriguez. If Prior is healthy and ptiching well he's too important to trade. can we throw in Wood? You wouldn't get nearly as much. If, IF, Zambrano doesn't suddenly crash due to injury, Hill keeps being the 2nd half Hill, or at least something close to it, Miller is looking good and Lilly isn't totally flaming out, I would also agree with seriously considering a better-pitching Prior, for the right deal. I think the biggest factor might be Guzman. If he can finally turn it around and show that he can step up a la Hill, I'd push a healthy Prior for a big trade.

Whoa...deja vu.

Me either. But it definitely doesn't sting nearly as bad. If I were to have heard before the game that this is how it all would have gone down, I wouldn't have been surprised. Disappointed and pissed, yes, but not terribly surprised. Can't say the same for '03. Yeah, nothing bizarre or really as dramtically "meltdown-ish" happened...the Bears had a minor lead and slowly lost it do to increasingly poor playing and play-calling.

Next year, Bears. Next year. Rex, you can be my guy. LET'S GO CUBS!!!

Most of the media and Bears fans are morons, so I doubt they'll look at it objectively. He had a bad game, he's had several of them and several great games, enough glimpses of great games to merit seeing what he can do with more experience. I understand all of that, and I understand it isn't hopeless...it's just that for once I'd like to see the Bears go into a season with something resembling a truly and decently RELIABLE quarterback. Not necessarily great or awe-inspiring...just good enough so that it isn't nerve-wracking every time the ball is thrown. I just want that again, please. Rex, if you can be that guy...please be him. Don't be great...just be decent and reliable most of the time. We don't need the extremes...just settle in the middle.

I got a good chuckle at the Robert Goulet commercial though. Goulet crawling on the ceiling is going to haunt me for weeks. Good game, Colts.

EAMUS CATULI!!!!

Griese isn't any better. He can't possibly be worse than Grossman. Rex doesn't do anything well. Griese is worse. They're both bad. I draft or trade for a QB in the offseason. I'd draft more of a project one, they have too many holes to use picks on something in the 1st. How far down do you think Drew Stanton will fall? 2nd-early 3rd... Of course with Stanton, you'll get the weaknesses that you see now with Grossman. (Inconsistent and doesn't do well enough under pressure). True enough. I'm just sick of the mediocre-QB-go-round in Chicago, and Rex isn't going to be the end of it. But if I am in charge, the first person to go is Ron Turner. Problem is, they also need to really focus on replacing Mike Brown sooner than later. After him, the safety situation isn't too pretty.

Ron Turner. Rex Grossman.

Can Prince play QB? I think he can legally do anything.

I felt something dark and worrisome when I saw Benson leave. It never got any better. I say Prince is the MVP because he's the only thing that brought me joy tonight.

Don't smack talk the press unless you can back it up, Rex. Not that the rest of the team looked like it had any life after the 1st quarter.

BRING ON THE CUBS!!!

Ahhhh, nuts. Nice run while it lasted.

Those are shockingly appropriate. Hopefully they don't turn out true of course. So if the Bears win, Rex is awesome and Peyton collapses in disaster and chaos, the stars explode? Man...talk about choices...I need to think about it.

i have the same feeling... especially with sori leading off... :shock: I've already resigned myself to that...I'm more frustrated with guys like DeRosa and Cesar likely getting the #2 slot.