MSG T

fine, we don't have to play the "if" game. right now, iowa state has a better resume than iowa. end of story. Based on what? rpi, bpi, every projected bracket in the world? Sagarin, Kenpom and head to head favor Iowa.

fine, we don't have to play the "if" game. right now, iowa state has a better resume than iowa. end of story. Based on what?

Has Tunney approved a new TV deal? I'm with you, I'd love to see them get their own network but as long as they can get market value in the meantime, I'm good with that.

Love the Monty Python reference.

@cwyers - Tony Campana is an object lesson in how hard it is to have an MLB career if you can't hit, pitch or catch.

Does it count since it happened against a AAA team?

This trade brought @facebookcubs on twitter to my attention. The insanity is hilarious.

What a [expletive] self-important piece of [expletive].

So Theo is a grammar nazi... cool. :D

Would have been interesting to see the fans reactions to everything had they done this prior to the Cubs Convention. I'm sure the meatballs wouldn't have been kind to the management. However, I'm fully supportive of this move.

Cubs CF in 2008: .290/.374/.484, 3rd best OPS in MLB for CF, #1 OBP Geez, that seems about 20 years ago.

Those are the things your kid(s) will remember. The one thing I remember most from the only time I went to the Cubs Convention as a kid was riding in the elevator with Doug Dascenzo. I can still picture him standing there, toothpick in mouth, and it didn't matter to me one bit that he was an awful player. While not really Cubs related, I have the same feeling about a random meeting with Joe Delaney, the former Chief that died in the summer of 83. I was in KC for a baseball camp the winter prior and myself and a friend were on an elevator in the hotel. Delaney got on around the 5th floor, and we asked him if he was Delaney. Talked to him for the length of the ride and got his autograph. Seemed like a really nice guy. I was actually pretty sad when I heard that he died trying to save some kids from drowning the next summer. I did meet Grace one time. Got and autograph from him too, but he had kind of a weird vibe. I was even doing my best to not be creepy and he's the one who offered the autograph, just had a weird feeling about it.

I respect the hell out of Bo for what he's done in Wisconsin, but, I can't stand that guy. Easily the most irritating coach in the B1G.

I read that yesterday, hard to describe how fantastic it is.

I had them starting 3-3 with wins @NW and at home vs Wisconsin and MSU. I was just hoping they'd show up and make it a game with IU, and keep it within 10-12 @UM. I'm somewhat impressed with the fact they didn't play their best and still had chances to win.

Dev Marble plays like Dev Marble, Iowa wins by 10.

My thoughts exactly.

1989. National Champion, Michigan. Another in the Final Four, Illinois. Indiana and Iowa were both Top Ten teams most of the year. I think Iowa, Illinois and Michigan all had at least 3 future first round NBA picks on their teams. I don't remember but I am sure that MSU, Purdue, OSU, Wisconsin and Minnesota were probably good also. I think a couple of teams did not make the tourney because of how good the Big Ten was at the top. I think there was a full double round robin at the time and it was hard to get wins against the top 4 teams. So the middle schools probably had at least 6 losses before playing each other. It was almost impossible to make the tourney at the time with a losing conference record. 89 was the closest Wisconsin came to not sucking in the pre-Bennett years, and they were still lower half of the Big Ten, though they did make the NIT that season. Bennett started the turn around and Bo completed it. But they were pretty much crap from the early 60's to late 90's.

Iowa is not terrible. Not NCAA good, but they're far from terrible. abuck is just doing his thing. Not sure why you'd say they're not NCAA good. They might not be but it's far from a sure thing. They went 8-10 in the Big Ten last year. This year 9-9 has a decent shot at getting them in, 10-8 and they're in. The Big Ten is better but they're better too. If I had to predict Iowa's conference record, I'd say 8-10 again, +/- 1. I think 10-8 would be a best case. Pretty much what I have thought all year. Now that they beat Iowa State I think 10-8 puts them on the bubble though they have to beat Northern Iowa for that Big Ten record to have them dancing for sure. I'd pretty much agree. IIRC, I think I had them at 9-9 in conference.

Iowa is not terrible. Not NCAA good, but they're far from terrible. abuck is just doing his thing. Not sure why you'd say they're not NCAA good. They might not be but it's far from a sure thing. They went 8-10 in the Big Ten last year. This year 9-9 has a decent shot at getting them in, 10-8 and they're in. The Big Ten is better but they're better too. If I had to predict Iowa's conference record, I'd say 8-10 again, +/- 1. I think 10-8 would be a best case. Pretty much what I have thought all year. Now that they beat Iowa State I think 10-8 puts them on the bubble though they have to beat Northern Iowa for that Big Ten record to have them dancing for sure. All I was saying was what I've maintained since last summer, they're a bubble team. Not necessarily here, but I read many fans saying 8 or 9 B1G wins, and 20 overall gets them in the dance, it doesn't. Their OOC schedule sucks, they play four decent, and no really good, teams. One thing they can say, so far, is that they don't have a bad loss like a Campbell or South Dakota that can come back and hurt them come March. I think there's a decent chance they can make the tourney this year, but it's far from a given, that's all I was alluding to.

Iowa is not terrible. Not NCAA good, but they're far from terrible.

if that were true they wouldn't have kept the guy who was in charge of stocking it. Maybe not, but we don"t know what direction he was given by the two separate regimes. I realize what he actually did and what he looked for, but it's quite possible that he's open to finding the type of player the new guys want. From what I've heard about him, he's a very good judge of talent, it could be (and I'd think likely) that he was told the type of position player and type of pitcher to find and draft. And the same thing happened when Theo/Jed/Jason took over. If he's willing and able to do so, why replace him? Now, if I understand things correctly, that point is rather moot now, but it still stands for the first year or so. Basically, if he's identifying and drafting the type of player Theo and Jed want, what's the harm in keeping him? If he's not, you get rid of him. Also note, I'm not advocating the idea of having the MLB club sucking until they get the MiL players in place to come up, THEN starting to sign FA's. I do agree with gooney, there's no reason that both can't be done at the same time, at least to the point of keeping the team competitive and near or above .500. That much I am disappointed with. However, I'm also willing to wait and see what happens this year before complaining that they don't know what they're doing or intentionally scrapping multiple years to try to get high draft picks etc. There's enough out there available via trade and FA, and without killing what they've built so far in the minors, to at least put a competitive team on the field.

Meh, b2b already did that, granted, probably not as effectively as Kyle would, but still. Nothing like insulting posts when you have nothing intelligent to say on a topic. OK, how's this. The minor's were left in complete disarray by the previous leadership, who you seem to have fond memories of, and Theo/Jed seem to have little alternative but to try to build up that system. Just in the last 1+ year, the Cubs have moved from somewhere in the 20's, for organizational rankings, into (or close) the top 10. Seems to me that they are moving in the right direction. Have there been missteps? Absolutely, but they are also doing something the previous leaders found nearly impossible to do. Identify the weaknesses and try to fix them, set a philosophy and follow it and determine what actually makes a good ballplayer and go get those types of players. Have they been successful at the major league level? No, not yet and that should be obvious. Is the organization as a whole better off now than when they took over? I'd say yes and that it's really not all that close. Lastly, what I typed wasn't insulting, it was fairly accurate. Kyle will at least make an argument then try to back it up with as many supporting (or at least what he considers supporting) facts as he can. He at least attempts to make a coherent argument, for that I'll give him credit. You're arguments are generally based around "Boy wonder sucks and doesn't know what he's doing. My evidence is that they lost 101 games."

Meh, b2b already did that, granted, probably not as effectively as Kyle would, but still.

They are good. Two years ago they win this game by 2 on a 3pt'er by Gatens with 6 seconds left in the game as the shot clock is expiring. They not make the tourney, but they'll be solidly on the bubble. And they'll make the tourney next year.