goonys evil twin

Sounds like you think the publications primary focus should be on promoting players.

I took a ball off the ankle at 3B, as a high school sophomore, that if it was at my face it would have been a killer. Granted, part of the problem was my fielding, but it was the hardest hit ball I ever fielded in high school. I wasn't that great of a hitter either, but I put one right by the ear of a pitcher that would have caused serious damage. There have to be countless high school hitters who could hit it harder than I could. It doesn't take much with the metal.

But smoking crack won out over both options.

They just FedExed mine for self-installation. Did you need extra feeds run? I needed a whole new dish. I self installed the first time I got it and had too many problems with weather related issues. I've had professional installation both times I've moved and it's been great. But the customer service is atrocious and the fact that they try and force you to pay for hardware is a joke. They just don't value current customers as much as new. My friends have left directv and they immediately call back with all sorts of offers to get them back. Everybody I know who has digital cable absolutely loves it.

This should be broken down into different categories: Ex-jock analysts Muckraking columnists Hype whores Glory Days reactionaries Yes, some people could fit into multiplee categories, but you can make some clear disctinctions. McCarver is the worst ex-jock analyst, because not only does he say the same stupid things as Morgan, but he makes no sense when he talks. Mariotti is the worst muckraker. Stephen A. is the worst hype whore. And hatguy is the worst glory days writer.

I had DirectTV for all of 3 days early this fall. After getting into 4 different shouting matches with their service people (this after having their installers fail to show up 3 separate times) I told them where they could shove their dish. Were they supposed to install an HD/DVR combo receiver? I had 6 different failed installation/upgrades this fall. I've spent a boatload there since getting directv in 1998, and they know it. They gave me all sorts of financial incentives to stay on, but I'm pretty sure I'm leaving next week once I figure out exactly what cable will give me.

I'm strongly considering leaving directv after a series of disappointments regarding their new hd/dvr combo receiver. This would piss me off, but I still think I'll be making the move. Exclusivity for the NFL made sense when directv was basically paying to put itself on the map. But with the increased popularity of sports packages, I can't imagine how much they'd have to pay to guarantee exclusive rights in today's market.

I don't see how anybody can say he has no backbone.

I don't think you can critique the health factor of an NFL wide receiver, and their longevity, then disregard the same questions with pitchers. Sure, football players get hurt rather easily. But I'm not so sure NFL WR get "career ending hurt" any more frequently than pitchers, in fact, I'd bet they don't. And you are kind of glossing over the "if he makes the major leagues" portion of the debate. If he goes to baseball, there is no guarantee he'll ever make the majors. If he goes to football, he's pretty much guaranteed to make the bigs in his first year, with the only exception being injury, or being so incredibly unimpressive that the team makes him inactive all year(they won't cut him in the first year of a deal that gives him such a signing bonus). I would say that if he's drafted in the top 20, it would be really hard for the Cubs to offer enough money to make him give it up. If he's later in the first round, it will still be hard, but a little more even (I think a WR taken in the mid 20's would get about $4-5m guaranteed). And if he's in the 2nd round or later, the Cubs should be able to win the up-front money debate. The second question, however, is how quickly he'd be able to sign his next contract. If he goes football, he could conceivably be onto his 2nd big money contract by year 3. If he goes to baseball, he will be lucky if he's making arbitration money by year 6 (3 years in minors and 3 years majors). He should also make far more up-front secondary income via the football route, with advertising, appearances and all that. None of this takes into account which sport he actually prefers, as I believes it's impossible to know. But financially, it comes down to this: Baseball offers the far greater longterm potential for earnings, provided he makes it through 3-5 years of the minors relatively healthy, then pitches pretty well for another 6 years in the majors. If he reaches his peak in either sport, he's going to make more in baseball. But football probably offers the greater short-term guaranteed money, as well as potential for his next contract, unless he drops to the 2nd round of the draft or lower. Then, it becomes more of a question. Assuming he does well in the pros, then he'd still be in-line to make much more over the short-term, but, if he's drafted in the 2nd or later, and struggles in the NFL, then he'll only end up with a few million guaranteed.

Score is reporting he is out. ESPN is reporting that Darrell Jackson is very likely out. Also DJ Hackett will probably be questionable. I like the idea of a guy being probably questionable.

First rounders get paid. You might have that perception because there are about 5 WR per team and lots of teams have very cheap WR filling spots. But the top ones get as much money as most other positions. If you're taken in the first, you will get a multi-million dollar guarantee.

Nice day by Ronny...but how'd he score 4 runs and only get on 3 times? A fielder's choice would count as a hitless at-bat, but he'd have a chance to score after reaching base.

I don't really know what that means. He hasn't been given much of a chance to play, but when he does, he generally plays well. I think he could have been the starter all year long.

To be fair, when the team starts to put a guy into a bullpen role in the minors, it would be hard for an outsider not to think of that as a sign that he was destined for the bullpen.

He has had a 201 yard (against GB) and a 140 yard game (against SD) since coming back. And he's been held to under 4 ypc in every other game.

Crappy weather on Sunday might make it very difficult for either passing game to get the job done.

Regardless of how Grossman plays, I want to see the defense pissed off and inspired to the point of absolutely dominating Seattle. They can, and they should shut that offense down. Alexander is not doing anything since coming back from injury. Hasselback is a good QB, but not elite. And he hasn't been playing particularly well. The Bears line really needs to step up and determine the outcome of this game.

So would Jones play center or platoon with Murton? How much does Pie impress this spring? Is that a rhetorical question? :-k A Murton/Jones, Pie, Soriano OF sure would be interesting.

So would Jones play center or platoon with Murton?

Any word on Jacque Jones? Think he's gonna be a Cub when the season starts? Hard to tell. Ideally, I'm sure the Cubs would like to move him and his (by this off-season's financial standards) moveable contract. But they've gotten nothing for guys like Sosa and Patterson in the past, so I'm sure they're not just going to give Jacque away. He can be a pretty serviceable player in a lineup that has Soriano, Barrett, Lee, Ramirez and Murton (yes, Murton!) all healthy and producing. If he does stay, is he going to center or would Soriano?

Brees has proven he can find passing lanes. Rex gets his passes tipped on a relatively frequent basis. Sorry, I don't agree here. I beleive this to be perception and not reality. My perception is that those tips have been more of a good rex terrible rex thing as well. I don't think good rex has had an inordinate number of his passes tipped.

I've had issues with how he handles those games. However, you can't just run every down, you will kill your backs and eventually be stopped. You also won't come back from the double digit deficits they've encountered. I don't pretend to think Ron Turner is genius. But he's a legit NFL OC who has turned the Bears offense into one of the most potent offenses in football, not just middle of the pack, which is what I was hoping for at best coming into the season. I have a theory that the Bears coaches took a very big picture look at this season and it affected in-game decisions. They had this division wrapped up months ago, and they had homefield advantage locked up long ago. I believe they purposefully saved Benson for the stretch run and the playoffs. I believe they put as much on Grossman early to test him and accelerate his learning curve as they could without giving away games. I believe they held back a bit of strategy for the playoffs and almost toyed with the conference, especially since the NY games were wrapped up. Ever since then, it's been cruise control. I don't know if that will come back to haunt them, given how hard it is to just turn on a switch. But I think they were devestated by last year's loss to Carolina, and decided from the start to plan everything around how they would handle the first game of the playoffs. That is a huge game for all these guys. They knew winning a division was not enough. They've shown the ability to play pass happy offense, and to play it safe. They've shown Hester on offense just a bit. They've shown enough that whomever they play in that first game, will have a million more things to prepare for than Carolina prepared for last January. Whether they succeed, or not, depends entirely on Rex not being disaster Rex. When he's not disaster Rex, this team rolls.

Well, it's quite different. The NFL has a salary cap. You don't really have a good chance of having both a great defense and a great offense. Realistic expectations are to have a great unit (I'd prefer that to be defense) and an adaquate unit. The Bears were middle of the pack in offensive yards this year and top of the conference in scoring. I really don't think the offense is mediocre. To describe it as such is to make the same mistake that national media makes when saying Grossman had a bad 2nd half. The offense is inconsistent, and that is because Rex is inconsistent. When it ticks, it's very good. It'll never be Colts good. But it gets the job done. We can talk about the defense giving them a short field all we want, but they did that the past few years and the offense made nothing out of it. They still move the ball and score a lot. I think the biggest mistake fans make when critiquing teams is blaming play-calling. The NFL is just far too complicated for the average fan to truly understand, much more so than baseball. Strategy is much more than just see ball hit ball. All too often people mistake a play that works with a great play call and a play that doesn't work with a good one. An end around that results in a loss of yardage is stupid while an end around that gains 15 yards is brilliant. I've had a problem with Turner abandoning the run, but that was mostly early in the season. I have a problem with them not allowing Benson to take over games, but the times the offense has struggled has almost always been when Rex turns the ball over. Turner has taken what was largely considered one of the worst receiving groups in the game and made it very potent. He's gotten the most out of Thomas Jones, and is giving Benson more and more. He's made what most people thought was an inept TE group a real threat. And he's provided the groundwork for Rex Grossman to show real development as a potential franchise QB. Maybe he could have done a better job preventing Rex from melting. Maybe he should have relied more on a running game early in the season (although now we're in a great position with 2 healthy and not even close to overworked RB's). Maybe he could a better job of mixing some things up. But when Rex isn't a disaster, this offense runs well, passes well, moves the ball well, and scores more frequently than almost all other NFL offenses. When it's 3rd and 9 they don't try for 3 yard gains. When they are in the red zone they don't tighten up into incompetent fools. They stretch the field deep, they complete the intermediate pass that seperates the men from the boys. They get the TE the ball, they pound with the run on occasion. This offense is not mediocre. The play-calling and strategy allows for big gains, big plays and big scores. Every single problem with this offense revolves around disaster Rex. Take away disaster Rex, and this is quite possibly the highest scoring offense in the league this year. And it's hard to justify bitching about that.

They need to not play Temple.

If they had somebody in-line, I'd be fine with him leaving. Or, if there is some mystery candidate out there who could be a real asset, I'd be fine. But I don't see one. An interesting name could have been Jim Harbaugh. I don't know of anybody from Lovie's past teams that would be a good fit. His Tampa people have all moved on. I guess there's no reason to distrust Angelo's ability to hire the right guy, I just don't know any names that stick out. The potential ties with Lovie go through Tampa, STL, Detroit (Martz people worked with Lovie) and Indy (Lovie came up under Dungy), but I'm not aware of any quality names are directly tied to Lovie.