apete6

He was worth that. I find myself very much at odds with the philosophy that we should be concerned with winning at all costs. Some of us take our kids to see these games. That is the large part of the appeal to baseball. It is something that you can share with your son or daughter. While it is wrong of us to expect these players to be more than human, I would like them to set examples of fair play and good behavior. What those standards of behavior are will probably never be entirely clear, but they should exist. Hitler would be worth the price of winning??? That is just plain wrong. As far as the Bonds thing, if they hadn't won in , say, 25 years, I'd agree with you, build it up and do it right. But we're talking 100 years here. My grandma was a Cubs fan, she died last fall at 96 years old and wasn't alive when they last won the WS. I don't want to go my lifetime without seeing the Cubs lift that trophy. If it could be worked out, I'd say do it. Unfortunately Hendry won't even consider it. That's a shame. As for Hitler, it was a joke to prove a point. Thank you for being a voice of reason. People need to get over this whole "baseball is pure and these guys are role models BS". Obviously Hitler was a joke to prove a point (thanks for being the only one who realizes this). The Cubs have had several chances to win it with "likeable" guys in 1969, 1984, and 2003. Heck, even in 03, you had such outstanding people like Farnsworth & Sosa on the team, but that year, everyone was in love with the team and it was perfect. But, it didn't happen. After sitting through those heartbreaks, I am ready to win a WS at pretty much any cost. So Bonds is a jerk and took steroids (allegedly), who cares? Many of you want Brian Roberts on the team and he (allegedly) took steroids. Would you not root for the Cubs if BR was on the team? I think not. Were you not a fan of Mark Grace because he smoked and drank and nailed fat chicks as slumpbusters? Did you never root for Sosa because you thought he took steroids? Look, I hate Bonds as much as anyone. He's a jerk to the media, doesn't really care about the fans, took steroids, and generally seems to be a world class d-bag. But, you know what? He can still hit and get on base like a machine. And if he could help the Cubs win a WS, who in the heck are we to be against that? If its the end of October and Bonds hits a WS winning home run, would you really "take a stand" and not be cheering?

I'm down. At this point, who gives a damn? Although it would probably have to be Soriano moving to center rather than Fukudome. Let's sign Clemens in June also. He can take over for Marquis/Dempster. Hell, I would sign Hitler to play SS if he had more game than Theriot. We haven't won a WS in 100 years, I don't care who we have to hire or pay to make it happen. Seriously. If we fielded a team of roid taking, wife beating alcoholics and won the WS, I would still buy thousands of dollars in merchandise and not feel bad about it.

Because Kenny has put up a .591 against lefties over the past 3 years? If Pie is traded, I'd like to see Lofton become a Cub, but there's really no place for him if Pie is on the club. Not to mention that Pie is MUCH better defensively than Lofton. At this point in Lofton's career, he is probably about as valuable as Pie (assuming Pie doesn't have a terrrible offensive year). Like everyone said, he is pretty much useless to the Cubs if they plan on giving Pie a chance. Besides, if Felix sucks, we could get Lofton at the deadline if he doesn't sign with the Brewers or another contending club.

They should all just storm the executive offices. I'd be pissed if I were them. Maybe they just want to trade Bedard to the Cubs? Peter Angelos figures that if his team sucks, he might as well help another terribly run franchise to win the World Series Marshall, Gallagher, Pie, Cedeno, Vitters, and Dempster to Orioles for Roberts & Bedard Sign Lofton, buy Angelos a few rounds of Jagerbombs and call it an evening.

If we give up Gallagher, Pie, and Patterson for Roberts, Hendry better eat a "last supper" type meal tonight because someone from this board will probably murder him... If we could do Pie for Roberts straight up, I might be able to digest it if we can get Figgins for DeRosa + filler. I think Felix Pie will suck as a major league baseball player and want to trade him before his value wears out, but I just don't see including him in a trade with Gallagher and Patterson for a marginal upgrade over DeRosa.

Wait who beat Michigan State? Last I checked, Indiana had less losses before the game and was ranked higher. Oh ya, and Iowa beat Michigan State. And to whoever said Uconn was only missing "role" players and then goes on to say "well, the guy was their second leading scorer, but he's not important" Come on now. Just admit that the Big 10 sucks as a whole.

LOL @ the Big Ten. A middle of the road Big East team beats the "best" big ten team...on the road...with two of their best players suspended. Big Ten better hope for some good draws in the NCAA because they will be lucky to get 1 team to the 2nd weekend at this pace.

Regarding Greene, would you do Marshall, Cedeno, Patterson, & Murton for Greene + lower level average prospect? Would Kevin "tampering" Towers do that deal?

If he repeats his 2006 and no one significant gets hurt, there is about a 0% chance we don't make the playoffs. .966 OPS :shock: . I'll take it.

According to Cubs.com, Piniella has named his batting order if the season started tomorrow. As expected, it sucks. Soriano Theriot Lee Ramirez Kosuke DeRosa Soto Pie

Here's a decent article about competitive balance in baseball. From 2003, but has a lot of good points comparing baseball over time and to football since 1981. http://www.slate.com/id/2088929

I'm not Selig's biggest fan, but I think he gets a bad rap. Most of the bad things that have happened to baseball (steroids, no salary cap, etc) have been a function of the Players Union being so hard headed. The owner can't just use his "good for the game clause" to make steroid testing mandatory or install a salary cap because the players would just strike right away. Whoever the commissioner is will face the same problems.

bhwhahahhahahahahahah...good one. Actually there was an article on ESPN saying that a higher percentage of baseball teams made the playoffs in baseball since either 1998 or 2000. Also, the Patriots are going to win their 4th Super Bowl in like 8 years and baseball had a different champion every year from 2000-2006 with the Red Sox finally winning their 2nd this year to break the trend.

I'm gonna get hammered for this, but I think Bud Selig has done a very good job as commissioner. Sure, the strike of 1994 sucked and there's a ton of things that I would change about baseball, but, under his reign, the following things have happened: Increased revenue for owners like 1 million percent Players make way more than they used to without having to agree to a salary cap Nearly every team got a new stadium, most had a great deal of public funding The Wild Card was implemented and has led to numerous wild card champions Baseball got some great TV and advertising revenues Competitive balance has been nearly as good as football, despite the lack of a salary cap Baseball returned to Washington DC, the nation's capital Attendance is at its highest point ever, both in terms of total attendance and % of seats sold Now, did he get lucky and get bailed out by Cal Ripken, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and the resurgence of the New York Yankees? Maybe, but overall, baseball is in a much better place now than it was in 1992, which is really the true measure of whether he did his job well.

Z will do it on an opening-day beatdown of Milwaukee

It's better than anything they've ever done. There's several Brewers games and a White Sox game in addition to decent games vs. Dodgers, Padres, and others. I think the way they did it was fair to everyone who has added their name to the list. They are going to probably sell out all of those early April/May games now and, in turn, they let people have the chance to buy a Sox game and some decent night games. They aren't just going to offer up the 9 best games on the schedule to make you happy. Frankly, it's not even needed to offer anything to keep the 15,000+ people on the waiting list. Some people can complain about anything...

Too bad Soriano never wore the blue jersey as a member of the Cubs. Very "authentic" :roll:

DePaul wins a crapfest vs. St. Johns 60-54. Whatever, though, a win is a win. 3-1 in the Big East :shock: Look for Nova to lay a beatdown on them Wednesday in a revenge game.

Boekman was so dumb; he escaped the pocket too early and then went to the right but all his recievers were on the left. Boeckman is a bad, bad quarterback. He can't throw, has no pocket awareness, and makes stupid mistakes. #1 pick for the Bears...

I agree about Crosby. How much worse can he be than Theriot? And when he gets hurt, then you get Theriot or Cedeno in to play. But, my god, his last 2 years (96 and 93 games) have been putrid. 636 and 619 OPS. Yikes. Can we turn him around?

I still think Missouri was much more deserving of this spot, but that's the crappy BCS for you. They were. Before tonight there was little reason to believe Kansas could beat a top 15 team. Just shows the parity in College Football. All 10 BCS teams were at least close to deserving (Hawaii and Illinois very fringe, but gotta give em a chance) as was Mizzouri add 1 more team (AZ State, Texas, Florida???) and you've got yourself one hell of a 12-team playoff.

It was curious, but I guess Mangino is thinking that VT could still win by 1 with 2 TDs. 28-27. Not to mention the fact that VT is about due for a blocked kick and a Kansas TD wins the game. Still, if you go for it, why not try a quick slant or something that can get you a first down. Unless it was just a bad read by Reesing.

Put money on it. DePaul is only getting 1.5 :shock: Nova is a stone cold lead pipe lock to cover. I haven't been on these boards very long, but if I bet sports I could make a fortune by taking the opposite side of the line every time I see these words on here. DePaul wins, but they certainly tried to blow it. Lead got down to 4 with a few minutes left. They are the most maddening team to watch ever...more than the Cubs.

i know, FTH? Villanova's not very good. They've done nothing impressive this year, and their ranking is dubious at best. I'm still fully expecting the DePaul meltdown. You might remember it from such embarassing losses as UIC, NC A&T, and Vandy (even though they are good, DPU led by 16 points, and 6 with 42 secs left). They are 4-4 when leading at the half. That's pathetic.

Thank you, I'll be here all week. Seriously, though, the Sox fans should love this guy.