Banedon

Hendry really wanted Furcal though...

I was reading through a couple of old Teddy Greenstein articles I hadn't read, and caught this tidbit from last week...maybe this has been discussed, but I haven't seen it:

Does the artbiter make an immediate decision? How long will we wait to hear who wins?

I'm not sure there is a long term plan. I think they are going season-by-season with him at this point. If he heals enough that he can start, excellent. But if he has to be a closer at this point in his career, so be it. But I don't think anyone can say with any certainty how he will heal up.

I forget whether it was John Clayton or Len Pasquerelli that pointed out that losing Turner would have been a much bigger loss for the Bears because they don't have anyone in house that is being "groomed" for that job like Babich was for the D coach job.

Wow...crazy turn of events. I didn't think Ron was a huge loss, but becoming LB coach is pretty crappy. He got screwed.

The Bears officially announced that Rivera won't be back...nothing about Babich though. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=3083

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6485778 So I guess Rivera wasn't that essential to the Bears success.. Odd. I have heard that Rivera isn't the biggest fan of the Cover-2 so maybe that had something to do with it. It's still fishy. Maybe he's heading to Dallas for the D Coordinator job there after all?

Marty Shottenheimer -> Norv Turner is a downgrade. He (SD GM Smith?) just wants a yes man. One of ESPN.com's "burning questions" this week was "Are the Chargers in danger of alienating Ladanian Tomlinson?" The ESPN talking heads all said yes...

Marty Shottenheimer -> Norv Turner is a downgrade.

Yeah but it's much more fun IMO to be optimistic from the beginning then to jump on board once they start winning! I agree...so long as they KEEP winning. I may have trouble holding on to my pessimism until opening day. Come on and take the leap....I know it's scary but what the heck it's always an interesting ride! I took the leap last year, and my Cardinal buddy in the cubicle next to me never let me hear the end of it...I have to be at least a LITTLE more cautious this year.

Yeah but it's much more fun IMO to be optimistic from the beginning then to jump on board once they start winning! I agree...so long as they KEEP winning. I may have trouble holding on to my pessimism until opening day.

I'm going to probably catch flack for being pessimistic, but here it goes anyway. I refuse to get optimistic right now. Everything is being said correctly, and health wise the team looks good, even with the Wood "injury"...but I refuse to get myself excited until I see how this team plays. If we have a good April, and Piniella is actually doing a lot of the things he says he'll do, I'll be the first one to jump on board with things. But my guard is still up from being burned by the team so much. My pessimism is still a warm blanket I'm unwilling to part with....yet.

Artificially colored snow.

By draft day, the Bears should know if Briggs is gone or back (though if he's franchised, you might still need an LB to replace Briggs after a year). I wouldn't pick a LB in the first round to replace HH just because HH isn't on the field as much as the other two LBs and the first rounder could be better off looking at S or OL. Don't get me wrong, I really like Posluszny and think he'd be a great fit on the offense, I just think there are bigger needs than LB if Briggs is back (same thing in regards to TE). Poslunszny for QB? :lol: I agree there are bigger needs. But if Angelo thinks he can fill those needs with quality players in later rounds, I wouldn't mind if he went this route.

Don Banks have the Bears taking Zach Miller TE. But says to keep an eye on Aaron Sears as a possibility. He has the Colts taking Paul Posluszny...I wouldn't mind taking him...insurance in case Briggs walks, or maybe could compete with Hillenmeyer...

"I'm sorry about that whole wrestling thing." http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingGalleryImages/wm14_rose.jpg

There are a lot of areas with greater need...TE should not be a priority.

Anyone think that as he's falling he decides not to brace himself for the fall because he doesn't want to injure his arm? Just trying to figure out how you land on your chest...

According to Richard Justice, David Carr will likely be traded around the time of the draft, and that the Texans will probably have to settle for a fifth round pick. There are a lot of rumors out there about the Vikings getting him, but they appear to be just that...rumors. In any case, the Texans GM has confirmedthere's been inquiries about Carr's availability.

I'm not sure it's quite that long, but that's probably Jeff Samardzija, the pitching prospect from ND. Yeah I'm sure that's who she was talking about, and I think it actually is shoulder-length.

Wii has made me a fantastic bowler. On wii. With a decent coach, you could translate most of that sucess on Wii to the lanes pretty easily-the motion and the spin are the same, the things that would change would be 1) the weight of the ball and 2) the amount of oil on the lane. With a little practice, those things could be worked out-I think people will be better bowlers then ever with the help of the Wii system. Actually the spin isn't terribly similar. You can back spin the ball on Wii MUCH more easily than you ever could in real life. That said it's a pretty realistic simulation...and it does have me wanting to join a bowling league.

Wii has made me a fantastic bowler. On wii. I've got a gold medal on power throws and spin control. Only 16 lanes on spares though...it's ticking me off. I have a pro ranking on bowling, and a high game of 243. I'm ready for the PBA. On Wii.

Teams don't throw at Vasher nearly as much as Tillman-I've heard that Tillman got thrown at twice as much as Vasher this year-in fact, Tillman was one of the league leaders at balls thrown his way. Because of this, it seems to reason that Tillman's stats would be a lot better than Vasher's, but he's not necessarily better. Edit: Here's the quote, from Football Outsider's Superbowl Preview: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2007/02/01/ramblings/game-previews/4913/ There's a simple reason for that. More often than not, Tillman gets the #1 WR on the opposing team. There was some very lopsided matchups this year against teams with very weak #2 WRs. Roy Williams in Detroit to Tillman (twice), Vasher faced Furrey, who had a good year, but is not near the talent of Williams. Anquan Boldin in Arizona, Vasher faced Bryant Johnson with Fitzgerald out. Plaxico Burress in New York, Vasher faced guys who should have been #4 WRs. Lee Evans in Buffalo, Vasher again faced Josh Reed. In the playoff game in NO, Tillman got Colston, while Vash got Terrance Copper. Those are all guys who those teams' passing games revolved around. Those are guys that are gonna get the ball thrown to them regardless of who is on them. Vasher is a very good CB though. I think Nate could handle those matchups also. He did a great job whenever he did get a tough matchup. But to me, Tillman is a better keeper because he's a better tackler and he's miles better against the run. The top tier of CBs is Champ Bailey. After that, I think Vash and Peanut are in that next tier. Last thing, somebody posted that Ike Taylor had the most passes thrown his way in 2005. Well, I thought he played better CB than anybody in the NFL last season. Don't know what happened to him this year, though. I was going to post something similar, but I was too lazy to do the legwork on it. I completely agree with you.

anti-Wii? So are you anti-fun, anti-innovation, or anti-"low cost"? :wink: