jersey cubs fan

Your answer completely ignores the point. A division winner can make the playoffs in the NFL (just like the NHL and every sport), but in this case 4 teams from each conference are guaranteed to make the playoffs, that's dumb. You play your "conference" all year long, and then play them in the first two rounds of the playoffs, that's dumb. A weak conference will happen probably every year, and possibly a couple times a year, and those weak conferences will not only be able to produce the occasional Seahawks team, but will regularly put weak teams into the semi finals. The fact that the identity of that weak conference might change from year to year is pointless. It will exist. You play 1/2 of the schedule against the conference. It's not like they are playing 60 or 70 games against these same teams. They are playing the same (or less) against these teams than they are against division opponents now. 7 and 8 seeds regularly advance in the NHL playoffs. There's a lot of parity, hot goalies, etc. It's not that big of a deal. And most importantly, the benefits of this new plan far outweigh the possible downsides. The only benefit is cutting down on travel costs. 7 and 8 seeds regularly advance a round or two. But this system will have what would be 9 or 10 seeds advancing, and every year you will have lesser teams making it as far as the semifinals. You are increasing the amount of good teams that won't make it and replacing them with lesser teams who are lucky to play in a weak division. And as for your previous comment about how they did this in the "back in the day", how long did that last, 5 years? It's a bad plan.

Where did you hear this?

Your answer completely ignores the point. A division winner can make the playoffs in the NFL (just like the NHL and every sport), but in this case 4 teams from each conference are guaranteed to make the playoffs, that's dumb. You play your "conference" all year long, and then play them in the first two rounds of the playoffs, that's dumb. A weak conference will happen probably every year, and possibly a couple times a year, and those weak conferences will not only be able to produce the occasional Seahawks team, but will regularly put weak teams into the semi finals. The fact that the identity of that weak conference might change from year to year is pointless. It will exist.

Doesn't Nomar live in LA?

and posts about what this site has become

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Forte plays this Sunday. I'm starting to lean that way too. It's the same injury Julius Peppers has been playing with, and he hasn't missed a game. Granted, Peppers doesn't have to make sharp cuts, but he definitely changes direction a lot. If it wasn't for his contract situation, I would put it as high as 80% that Forte plays this week. Right now, I'd say a little less than 50/50 that he plays, but that's a lot higher than the 0% that most people have assumed. I would gladly sell you both on those odds. I can't see anyway Forte needlessly goes out and risks reinjury this week. I could see it being 1-3 weeks instead of 2-6, but he has very little, if nothing, to gain from playing.

They are re-seeded after the "conference" playoffs, rather than locked into Norris vs. Smythe and Patrick vs. Adams. So there's a possibility that the Hawks and Canucks, for example, could play for the Stanley Cup? That's kind of cool. The crappy thing about this is that there is going to be a lot of unfamiliarity with the majority of the league. Unless you get to the old conference finals round, you will only play the other 22 teams a maximum of 2 times per season. The playoff set-up is a horrible idea. It's all about keeping travel costs down and completely ignores everything else. What's the point of an 82 game season with a heavy emphasis on a 7 team conference schedule and then having to play those same conference foes in the first two rounds of the playoffs. It will create and/or build on already established rivalries (Detroit could play Chicago every year in the playoffs, same with Devils/Rangers or San Jose/Vancouver), but you are making it wide open for lesser teams to advance if they are lucky to be in a weak division that year. Plenty of weaker teams will make it now, since they only have to contend with their 7 or 8 rivals. What is now called conference C could easily be filled with garbage teams.

I don't have a problem with the new reallignment, or the way the schedule is going to work (home and home with everybody, 5-6 games against your conference teams). But it's absurd that the playoffs will force all 4 teams that made the playoffs from each conference to play each other in the first two rounds. That guarantees that lesser teams will not only make the playoffs, but advance in the playoffs.

Why is Heath Bell hugging Millar?

Theo with a fried chicken joke. Kevin Millar is pointless.

Williams and Van Dyck? So it was a committee formed with the specific purpose of getting Santo elected?

Haha same here. He came from a winning team, was supposedly a great fielder and had those cool flip-downs. That was like the first time I realized how stupid Cubs management can be, going after a guy because of how well he hit in Wrigley Field. Overpaying for a well past his prime "proven veteran" coming off a fluke career year.

Because he was a very borderline case, he wasn't particularly well-liked by peers and the media of his time, and HOF voters get off on being withholding. Also, the pool of voters changed over time. The people who voted him in this time aren't necessarily the same people who voted him out last time, are they?

I didn't say profitable, I said viable. If it wasn't, they wouldn't go.

Murphy gave my daughter her first baseball so I like him, and so does my wife.

I like the idea that he will require that amount, as if his other option is to go to medical school and become a doctor instead of playing baseball for $40 million.

In a potentially related note, T. Boone Pickens just told a weird story about slapping a naked football player on the butt in the locker room following the OSU game.

my guess is the nature of the talks was sexy

If Tebow went up to you and said 'I can heal Jay Cutler's finger so that it is immediately 100% and just as strong as it was before the injury. I will do this in exchange for a guaranteed win this Sunday", would you do it? That's actually interesting. With Hanie, I don't think we win another game. Even with a healthy Cutler, the win in Green Bay is probably damn near impossible. So with a healthy Jay we get two wins over Seattle and Minny..9-7..yeah I would do it. At this point I see us going 7-9 without Cutler. If all you get out of Cutler being back is a 9-7 season, then you are just opening him up for further damage behind this line with extremely limited upside in the short-term. At that point I'd rather he just heal on his own without any voodoo.

I wouldn't exactly call it short sighted. His inability to see that if we build the team the way he wants that we will absolutely suck isn't shortsighted? It's absurdly conservative, needlessly frugal, and no doubt, stubborn. But I don't see how putting all his focus on developing from within while punting the next several years is short sighted.

I wouldn't exactly call it short sighted.

How is it questionable? They offered a lot of money but he wanted elite money. Everybody who signs RBs to elite money regrets it. Forte is a nice RB in a system that caters to him. He had a chance to cash in and he chose not to. It's not like the Bears refused to play ball, they just refused to be stupid. I can't imagine any reasonable fan having a problem with their team doing the smart thing.

The Bears incompetent offense looks to extend Tim Tebow's winning streak. Chicago are 3.5 point dogs after last week's absurd 8 point line. Things are going to have to change if they want to pull out this win, and a loss here pretty much ends any hope of the playoffs.

ESPN doesn't come close to ramming bottom tier bowls down our throat. They air them, that's all.

I don't really buy into the notion that there is too much football. When it's UL-Lafayette vs. San Diego State, I do. Not that I care. I know I don't have to watch it, and it's just a money grab. But it sort of illustrates how stupid college football really is. I don't really see how it illustrates that college football is stupid if they can find a financially viable way to have a couple mediocre teams play late in the year.