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what a d-bag. That sounds awfully hollow after ND just took two recruits who had previously committed to Iowa and Louisville. Different situations. The Iowa recruit consisted pretty much of ND offering and him changing his mind due to the offer. The Louisville recruit was a coaching change, i.e. the coaching change that cost ND a bunch of recruits in 2004-05. However, ND's far from innocent of this. There's a Washington Post article today in which former QB coach Peter Vaas was pursuing Arrelious Benn pretty aggressively after he was committed to Illinois. Funny how it's almost always a different situation when ND is involved. Smith had been committed for almost 6 months and taken multiple visits. He helped recruit others to Iowa. The point is Charlie puts on a face for the cameras that he's all about committment and being honorable about them. He's upset that someone would back out of a committment to him. Yet he has no dilemna's when it comes to trying to snatch away commits from other schools, the very week before signing day. What a man of principle. I don't think many if any in the ND fanbase would consider Weis a "true man of principle". He is from the Belicheck school, that is for sure-and unfortunately, that means they cut certain corners to win. I think he is a great coach, but I'm not sure I like the man.

That wasn't in free agency though-big difference. True. But not a 4 year and $102 million difference. :cry: Apparently this year's market says differently-the Soriano contract was apparently not like the A-Rod contract where the Rangers bid much higher than anyone else was going to go-someone was going to pay Soriano 120+ million this year. Soriano got what is market value in his market-so did Hall. They just happen to be in completely different markets. Obviously, I'd rather have Hall at his salary-but he wasn't available for us to sign.

Well, I guess once again this proves that Bears fans are full of passion-this one thought so much that his team was going to win that now he has to change his name-to Peyton Manning :D http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,250652,00.html

That wasn't in free agency though-big difference.

Why are the backups even being compared here? Even so, I'd much rather have Blanco, so that point's null. That's my only complaint. The rest is at least semi-debatable. I read the rest, but I had a hard time after that first one-to give the catcher edge to the Brewers, which is one of the positions that the Cubs have the biggest edges at made it extremely hard to put value on the rest of it, although I do agree with many of the other positions (although certainly not all of them).

Sorry for the little OT (especially ND OT) but they were interviewing one of the recruits who signed today, Kerry Neal, and he said "I'll be looking forward to playing in ND's new 3-4 defense, and I guess I'll be one of those DE/OLB types"-I didn't even know the team had switched defenses like that! I guess some news just flies on by-I was just surprised.

I guess USC is trying out the fantasy draft strategy-if they get all the RB's, they'll win for sure-they had 3 backs last year, and now they've added 2 more stars? I don't quite get why every back wants to go and get 5 carries maybe, but I guess we'll have to see how it all works out.

How many players did you guys get from Jersey? I'd have to look. First time in forever that we got none from Maryland (got 6 from there last year) EDIT: According to rivals.com, we have 7 from PA, 2 from MI, 2 from NC, 1 from CA, 2 from DE, 1 from OH, 3 from NY, 1 from IL and 1 from VA. Shocked that there are none from NJ or MD. Those are usually "pipeline" states for us Wow...none? I didn't expect that, I thought a couple but none is surprising. I wonder how many ND got? We have 6 possibly 7 from NJ this year but no 4 or more star guys. I see 2 from NJ for ND so far (at least 1 is an impact player)-I'm not sure if there will be any more.

It really is-all you can do is build a consistently successful team, and hope they can find a way to win 1 or 2 championships-if they win more, that's of course a huge bonus.

The Bus finally got a ring, that's the last Super Bowl I remember. All of that has been blocked from my memory. I don't see why you'd have to block anything from memory, that makes it all the sweeter. I agree to an extent, but that one really really hurt. I did my best to forget that game as soon as "he missed it". Yeah, that 2005 Colts team was the best Colts team I have ever seen-great offense, good defense, good special teams. They just had the tragedy and then too much rest for the key people, and they took 3 quarters off and it was 1 quarter too much. That was a tough one to swallow for sure-in the playoffs, the 2006 team finally started looking somewhat like the 2005 version again.

He didn't say that someone should be put on the roster only as an emergency catcher-he just asked if anybody currently on the roster could serve as an emergency catcher. While it may not come up during the season, it's still a good thing to know.

If he gets traded, does he still have the option to opt-out? If you trade for A-Rod, and then use 2007 to rebuild, he'll just opt out rather than stay with a losing team-and then you lose Z for nothing. Per Cots Interesting on that second one... And the MLBPA wouldn't approve of him just giving up his opt-outs for nothing. And I don't think theres any way to get around the fact that he can opt to become a FA the offseason after a mid-contract trade. But of course he has a no trade clause so he'd have to approve coming here in the first place. That's true-which means that frost's scenario probably wouldn't work. I can't see any way that A-Rod would approve a trade to a team that was in rebuilding mode.

When I saw the replay, I thought his leg bent back right before he actually was down (he landed on somebody else first, so he wasn't actually down at the beginning). Maybe I'm wrong though-I'm sure it wasn't intentional either way though.

No-the reason that the cap hit is so severe is that when a player signs the contract, their signing bonus gets to be prorated over a certain number of years. A 6 year 70 million dollar deal with an 18 million dollar signing bonus for example, means that the signing bonus can be charged 3 million per year against the cap. If the player gets traded though, all the remaining signing bonus goes against the next years cap. If that same player with 3 years left gets traded, the 9 million left on the signing bonus applies against that year's cap (in this case for the Eagles on this year's cap), and that player is not even on the team anymore-it is simply "dead money".

If he gets traded, does he still have the option to opt-out? If you trade for A-Rod, and then use 2007 to rebuild, he'll just opt out rather than stay with a losing team-and then you lose Z for nothing.

If you're going to leave Izturis in the lineup, you might as well shift A-Rod to second and leave Izturis at his best defensive value at short-I would think trading for A-Rod would be to get Izturis out of the lineup.

I'm not predicting that's what will happen, but I think 4-5 year windows for the great teams is the norm these days. They usually end up mixing in a 8-8 or sub .500 season after 4-5 good years. Indy could break the trend of course, especially with the greatest QB of this generation at the helm. This offseason is going to be a big key for the Colts in my opinion. With guys like Dwight Freeney, Corey Simon, Cato June and Nick Harper all eligible for free agency and coming off a Super Bowl victory, the question will be can they re-sign the guys they want (Freeney and Harper) for a price that will not handicap them down the road and replace the ones they don't want back (Simon? and June) adequately. They already saw a in their defense after choosing not to pay David Thornton to come back, will they find a Gilbert Gardner-type terrible player to replace them or someone of quality? The answers to those questions will decide if they can keep the run going. Freeney will be back-Harper may not need to be replaced whatsoever with the corners that the Colts have. June may be back, if not that's a question mark for the Colts. Defensive tackle should be fine if Monte Reagor and Mcfarland comes back, even if Simon does not. The big key for the Colts is OLB-so far there is no penciled starter for either postion. Who the Colts choose to put there next season could have a difference on how their defense is-even with a bad defense though, the Colts offense almost alone gives them a great chance at a decent seed in the playoffs every year. Don't forget, that's what ya'll said for multiple years before this year's Super Bowl. Great as Peyton, Marvin and Reggie Wayne are, you must have at least a solid D to win the Super Bowl again. I'm sure you're like me when the Titans were winning 12-13 games a year but getting eliminated before the Super Bowl, that's not satisfactory. You, like me, want the Super Bowl and you have to have a defense to get the job done. And I refuse to give up hope that Freeney will be a free agent, he'd fit too perfectly in the Titans' defense, plus we have the money to pay him. 8-) The team played solid D in 2005-just because the team lost in the playoffs doesn't change that fact. I'd be perfectly happy with a team that played like that 2005 team, and I think that's certainly possible.

I would say he was mostly healthy prior to the past 2 seasons, but he only played in 10 games in 2002 and broke an ankle. And any QB who relies so heavily on his legs is going to get hurt. So he's missed big chunks of 3 of the past 5 seasons with various lower body injuries, and is now 30. The cap hit to Philly puts a huge strain on any possible deal. My apologies, I missed the fact that he played only 10 games in 02. But still, a broken ankle is not a lingering injury. If he had sprained a ligament I might be a little more worried, but most of his injuries have been one-time fluke things. The cap hit to Philly is only one reason why I think this is ludicrous from their persepective. What QB are they going to get that is better than McNabb right now? If they drafted a Chris Leak, Kevin Kolb, etc in the second or third round to develop behind McNabb I could understand and likely agree. But why trade a great QB if you plan on contending? Doesn't make sense to me. They think they can trade McNabb for more talent, start Garcia, and get better overall. I've heard though that part of the reason that Philly might want to make this deal is that McNabb is Philly's "franchise QB". What happens if he stays in Philly and he gets hurt next year for a few games? Do you stay with him the next year? Especially with Garcia doing so well, there are a lot of questions like that going around Philly right now, and this might be the best time for Philly to move on-although the cap hit suggests that this is not the case.

I'm not predicting that's what will happen, but I think 4-5 year windows for the great teams is the norm these days. They usually end up mixing in a 8-8 or sub .500 season after 4-5 good years. Indy could break the trend of course, especially with the greatest QB of this generation at the helm. This offseason is going to be a big key for the Colts in my opinion. With guys like Dwight Freeney, Corey Simon, Cato June and Nick Harper all eligible for free agency and coming off a Super Bowl victory, the question will be can they re-sign the guys they want (Freeney and Harper) for a price that will not handicap them down the road and replace the ones they don't want back (Simon? and June) adequately. They already saw a in their defense after choosing not to pay David Thornton to come back, will they find a Gilbert Gardner-type terrible player to replace them or someone of quality? The answers to those questions will decide if they can keep the run going. Freeney will be back-Harper may not need to be replaced whatsoever with the corners that the Colts have. June may be back, if not that's a question mark for the Colts. Defensive tackle should be fine if Monte Reagor and Mcfarland comes back, even if Simon does not. The big key for the Colts is OLB-so far there is no penciled starter for either postion. Who the Colts choose to put there next season could have a difference on how their defense is-even with a bad defense though, the Colts offense almost alone gives them a great chance at a decent seed in the playoffs every year.

The one thing that I can take comfort in is this....the Bears are MORE LIKELY to make to Super Bowl 42, then the Colts. If they don't improve that defense, they won't beat Pats/Chiefs/Ravens again. The Colts playoff defense is fine-it's the same defense that the Colts had in 05 with basically the same personell. I don't know what made them forget it for most of 16 weeks (although Bob Sanders being gone and Gilbert Gardner starting both didn't help), but I'm just glad they re-learned it. Plus, they have a small possibility of getting Corey Simon back, which would be a huge lift, a better possibility of getting Monte Reagor back, which would be a pretty big lift as well. This Colts team should be as good or slightly better next year, and the defense should be just fine. However, you are right that the Bears have the easier chance to make it back, as there still have to be multiple teams to step it up in the NFC to make it as hard of a playoff run as it is in the AFC right now.

Matt Giordano Giordano is a badass. I'm not sure what his flaws are that kept him from starting over Bethea, but the dude can run and hit very well. From what I've seen of him, he doesn't always seem to have those great football instincts to use his natural skills to good use.

I think the Bears fanbase contributed a wee bit too... That's definitely true-I'm just saying that when the Colts have 4 of the 5 highest rated regular season games over the last 5 years, the highest rated conference championship game ever, and the 3rd highest television program in the Super Bowl ever, it stands to reason that they are the nation's big draw. Of course, Chicago has a large and great fanbase that certainly made the game what it was, and they probably wouldn't have been that high if the Colts had played somebody like the Seahwaks for example.

The Colts tear through the ratings continues. They've had the highest rated regular season games over the last few years, had the highest conference championship game, and now the Colts-Bears Super Bowl has been reported the 3rd highest watched program in the history of television-only the Mash finale and the 1996 Super Bowl beat it.

I think they don't care as much because most of the dunks have already been done-it's hard to have any sense of accomplishment, and so most of the top guys simply don't want to bother.

The Around the Horn panelists were actually bringing a lot of good points today, except for Jay Mariotti of course. I posted it because I was very surprised by this (again, except for Jay Mariotti :D ).