BigSlick

Doesn't make it any less sweet.

Or a Thomas dunk.

What has happened to Kirk's free throw shooting?

Bad call for bad call. Tit for tat, I'll take it. Gotta take this one down. Can't lose with so much on your backs, after playing up and down, and at your own home court.

Huge Thomas block. fake edit: ANOTHER DUNK

There is no urgency here, they are content to just let cleveland inforce their will on them. C'mon. Show me some god damn leadership.

I am in so much pain with this team. DO SOMETHING. DON'T JUST STAND THERE AND LET BAD THINGS HAPPEN GOD DAMN

They can magically force teams to miss free throws? Unbelievable.

Branch and Harris would be sick. I think we would be awarded the Lombardi trophy after the preseason.

I honestly don't like the trade. Its not that we aren't getting value for Briggs...its just that I don't really figure that we need someone at the 6th pick. Although Alan Branch would be hilariously awesome.

But who are we taking there thats so important? Is Angelo spying someone a la the Devin Hester pick?

Pretty much. I don't know why you're getting so excited, you're gonna win. I don't get all hyper when I'm fairly sure of victory.

Just coming in to say that the UCLA- Kansas game was the ugliest game of basketball I've ever seen, and strangely officiated. (The reffs wouldn't give Kansas fouls at the end even though they were practically molesting Bruin players) Very bizarre game. At least I picked UCLA out of that bracket.

Lineup protection has to have some impact. For example, what if the Giants in 2001 or 2002 had decided to bat Barry Bonds 8th? What do you think would have happened to their RS? Bonds would have been stranded on 1st a lot, and their RS would have gone down significantly. Now, most managers aren't that silly-but many managers do bring some of their worst hitters up the lineup to bat in situations they shouldn't. I tend to believe that when a team complains of a lack of clutch hitting they either 1) just haven't had their luck turn around yet, 2) don't get very many hits in the first place or 3) their lineup order is wrong, which means the people who get on base have bad hitters coming up that cannot drive them in effectively on a regular basis. I see all those options are perfectly viable. Most all of the things that old school people talk about exist-it's just that stats people have shown that some of those things balance over time in order to create a negligible effect overall. You're talking about the extremes here. When we say lineup's "don't matter (much)" we are basically throwing out the most ridiculous situations, because they would never happen. The biggest part of lineup order isn't the perfect combination of players to get the best runs, but to get your best players ( and conversely, keep your worst players from getting) the most at bats.

I dunno man, we haven't had a great off-season, but I don't think we've hurt that bad. This is really frustrating because we very likely could be better next year, not make the Superbowl, and be criticized without end on how bad Jerry Angelo is.

I dunno, I tend to distrust all the old school thinking around baseball. From all the stats I've seen, "lineup protection" and similar things like that really have no profound impact on the game. Running stats over the course of baseball history has shown that a man on first that is a threat to run doesn't significantly help the player in the batters box. I just feel like most of the old school stuff is hogwash that is made up to add a facet to the game that just doesn't really exist.

The Cav's finally drop a game and we can't take advantage...at home. WIN A GAME [expletive] :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Where can I go to check current Spring Training stats? MLB.com doesn't have it, and neither do most of the main sports sites.

Sounds good to me! According to my BP book "Baseball Between the Numbers" bunting for one run is actually more valuable when you have a lead, so, not really a bad decision there. The idea that he's going to be aggressive on the basepaths worries me though. Stealing in general isn't really a positive play to make. If I remember correctly, in that book they had a list of how efficient a manager is, and Lou was close to the top of the list. He had seasons near the top of the efficiency and seasons near the bottom, he didn't average out as the best or the worst. In the end I'll just consider it a wash. Remember, the stats they used to judge how good he was was confined completely to Bunting, Hitting and Running, Steal Attempts and a few other things. There a couple more things that are important in the managers job, notably, use of the relievers and the decision on who gets what starting job. And yeah, as has been said before, the lineup really doesn't matter as long as you aren't leading off with your pitcher or something silly like that.

Meh, fine whatever. Lets resign Ian Scott now.

Sounds good to me! According to my BP book "Baseball Between the Numbers" bunting for one run is actually more valuable when you have a lead, so, not really a bad decision there. The idea that he's going to be aggressive on the basepaths worries me though. Stealing in general isn't really a positive play to make.

We are sooooooo bad on the road. It really is frustrating.

see, the Bears DO need a WR now Ah Tennessee, where really bad Bears WRs go to still suck. Hey now, this is no endorsement of Gage, but Bobby Wade played quite well for us. I was strongly hoping he'd come back. But, of course, like everything else this offseason, it made sense to do it so Reinfeldt didn't do it. :cry: In 2005 Bobby Wade had 10 fumbles in about 40 offensive/special teams touches. Thats nearly 1 fumble every 4 touches.

I dont think that bracket is going to finish out well.

Nah. They really have got to try to lose this, but I still have hope. :) Winthrop may have busted by bracket a bit, but they made me so happy. :P Suck it ND.