Banedon

neely placed a phone call.

If it didn't involve some kid getting throat grabbed, I'd absolutely love this story....

I don't really see people hating on the Bears this year though. I mean, yeah that ESPN future rankings was garbage, but they had the Bears at #11 in the last power rankings, and for this year, the media reports I've seen really like the Marshall trade. http://www.nfl.com/photoessays/09000d5d82861c85#photo=20

lol...excellent description. I'll be damned if I don't go check all that garbage out though.

Haha...think there's some age jokes heading Urlacher's way for that one?

I watched the first one, but and my dvr recorded a bunch more, but eventually some things had to get deleted and it was a victim of apathy.

OTA photo gallery. http://www.chicagobears.com/photos/index.asp?SECTION_ID=472

Bears sign DT Nate Collins. The roster is now at 90.

If it does they need to make a Hardknocks NBA edition following that team with him in charge. You know they essentially did that kind of show with the Nuggets on NBA tv, right?

It's just fluff. Players do it. Media does it. It's what you get this time of year. Apparently Cutler is throwing just as good as ever with his surgically repaired thumb. So that's good news.

How much do you love the Heat?

Wikipedia lists him at 6'0" 190lbs. So yeah....160lbs? He already couldn't win a fight for a football.

Luol Deng made the All-Defensive 2nd team. Noah got 14 2nd team votes. Rose got 1 vote for the 2nd team. And somehow, hilariously, Carlos Boozer got a 2nd team vote!!

I really don't see how Chris Williams doesn't end up with that starting LT job.

So, if we improved what has quite possibly been the two strongest areas of the team, it'd solve all of our woes? sounds to me like he's simply using a sarcastic response to rejustify his stance on acquiring anybody Ah, I see. This thread has had so much straightforward crazy....I wasn't prepared for the backdoor crazy.

So, if we improved what has quite possibly been the two strongest areas of the team, it'd solve all of our woes?

Yeah, me either. I wasn't sure what mn was talking about there. I'd like to get all of our WR's to stand in a line for a pic.

Barney didn't have a 2nd season in AA. That .339 is his combined OBP in 2009. And again you're using a hilariously small sample to attempt to show a "trend." Barney's improvement to .400 was over 15 PAs. obp normalizes in 30ab which is twice 15pas and 30 is the numnber you need for a good smaple in statistics so 30pas will be fine here the .420ob% was there4 at least half normal so why isn't barney leading off or at least champagnea I bet that post was surprisingly difficult to actually write.

Come on man. If you really don't understand the stats this much, you really need to just abandon the argument. He's saying that the average OBP is lower now than it was in the 2004 season. Which means that Dejesus's OBP is higher above the average this year than it was in 2004. You don't modify Dejesus's OBP by the difference....that's nonsense.

I don't think Barney should bat lead off. I do wonder why he was jettisoned to 8th when his stats don't actually deserve it. If he is on a strong team, then yes, 8th would be a spot for him. I was not actually arguing the point, but started off by wondering why some others were sent to that spot. As for Campana, why not find out if he is a lead off guy? If he can produce his stat line all year which is the same as dejesus plus potential league leading steal totals, it would certainly add to an offense that has 19 homers outside of Lahair. If he is on, and steals second-which he doing about 40% of the time he is on first, that means that nearly over 30% of his at bats he would be on second, for say Dejesus batting 2nd, Castro and Lahair. Does that make sense? I don't know if he can keep it up after pitchers and defenses see him a few times, but why not find out. DeJesus may be the best option, but if we are working toward the future is Dejesus going to be that guy at 35 in 2014? will he be here? Other than the salary, it's like pena last year. Yes, he was the best we had at 1b, but if you are going to have the 2nd worst record in the national league does it make more sense to have played Colvin there all year, through thick and thin to find if he was going to be a player. I loved Pena, but would we be better off losing 10 more games and knowing if Colvin, and now it may have nice to see LaHair- then we would have a better idea if his stats will be real, or just a blip on the radar. I can't see why posters think it's crazy, in a year where we are 15-26, worst record in the NL, with pretty much nothing on the horizon that says we will greatly improve anytime this season, we make some moves to get better or at least evaluate things for next year. just don't see why that is such an attackable position, or why it warrants having my baseball knowledge, my identity or ideals ridiculed or questioned. The answer was long, but didn't answer the question. What is gained for Campana batting leadoff? If your argument was that the team would possibly have a better chance of winning, then maybe, maybe...that would be a somewhat arguable position. But there's no development that will occur for Campana by leading off that he's not getting lower in the lineup. Same with Barney. What is he losing by being lower in the lineup. You're viewing it as a personal slight. Truth is, every plate appearance, no matter whether it's leadoff or 8th, is valuable learning experience for these guys. You're valuing the spot in the batting order far too much. And by "valuing too much", I mean "valuing at all".

Forget the stats for a moment, Neely. Tell me why it matters for Tony Campana or Darwin Barney's development that they bat leadoff? How will that help them become better ballplayers? You've already admitted the Cubs aren't going anywhere, so you aren't arguing this because you think the Cubs will win more games. So how will moving one of these guys to the leadoff spot help them moving forward?

I generally value other people that I don't know on the basis of their beards.