jersey cubs fan

And don't forget, while the Bears have lost to every NFC South team this year, they've had a late lead against every one of them and New Orleans is the most flawed of those teams. Is there any reason why Brees won't torch Vasher/Tillman as he did the better GB corners? He played that game in a dome and he'll play the Bears at night outdoors in Chicago during December. Plus, if Tommie Harris is awake that week he could make a huge difference.

I hope Wood comes back too, but no matter what you say about Wood (loves Chicago, money isn't everything, etc.) he would have to be crazy to take the Cubs 1-year deal and leave $16 million on the table (in your example). I'm sure he knows his medical history better than any of us and he should take the most guaranteed money he can find in case his medical problems reappear. I don't see why that is being described as having to be crazy. He's already financially set for life. He can do whatever the heck he wants. And he could end up making a heck of a lot more than $24m over 3 years if he takes a 1 year deal and signs longterm after next season. It's a risk, but it's not a horrible risk or a crazy decision. But won't the players asso be up in arms about Wood accepting a 1 yr arby deal over a 3 yr much more lucrative deal? No. And the union has absolutely no influence in the matter. I don't understand why people think the players association will come into play in this. Players give hometown discounts to stay where they want all of the time, it's not uncommon. Hell, how many times did Edmonds and other Cardinals allow their deals to be restructured to help the team bring other guys in? I'd like to see Z or Lee or someone like that step up and do what the Cards had some guys do several years ago for the team. But giving a "hometown discount" to stay with your current club or restructuring your contract is quite different from a player accepting a 1 yr deal for 8 mil over a 3 yr deal for 7-8 mil a year. When a player restructures his contract he typically gets the same amount of $$ or more in exchange for it being paid over a longer period of time. Hometown discounts don't typically equate to several million dollars being left on the table as has been suggested in this thread. Accepting a one year deal over a longer contract is leaving money on the table, but it's not taking it off the table. You act as though every player takes the max money on every deal. Taking a one year deal is actually a very smart move for a player who wants to max out his eventual earnings over time.

And don't forget, while the Bears have lost to every NFC South team this year, they've had a late lead against every one of them and New Orleans is the most flawed of those teams.

I'm not assuming that is a loss. I actually have fairly high expectations for a win there. It's not about Bear weather, but it is based largely on a dome team without a great history of playing outdoors, including against the Bears the past 2 years. The short week is the bigger story for that week, however.

What's the situation with the Minnesota players that are about to be suspended?

How so? I don't see how an "extremely" young team can be an excuse anymore. If Weis was any good he should have had a quality team out there this year, but they aren't good. By firing a coach every 3 or 4 years. Perspective coaches have to think that they have a very short leash to obtain unreasonable results. Weis has 2 BCS appearances and an improving team this year after the talent bottomed out from previous coaches recruiting. If I was a top level coaching candidate I would prefer going with Tenn or Clemson. Improving? He's been there for 4 seasons and they have been worse the last two than his first two, when he had other players. This entire team is his. If it's too young then it's his fault for failing to put together a better team earlier. Firing a bad coach is a decision you make regardless of whether others will worry that you fire a coach every 3-4 years. What's to be gained with sticking by a guy who is plainly overmatched just for the sake of consistency? So let him coach next year and now you can say you only fire coaches every 5 years? He's either the right guy or he's not. USC struggled through a few coaching changes before finding Pete Carroll. Alabama went through coaches much quicker and that hasn't hurt them now that they've found a good one. Sure, ideally you don't change coaches every 3-4 years. But ideally you don't lose to crap teams like Syracuse when you were supposed to be a legit team. They've had three coaches since 1996. I don't see how that's all that high of a rate of turnover.

We've the shift in recent years by some players. Many of them want long-term deals for security, and that has been the push and standard. But in the last two years we've seen several players opt out of lucrative deals, only to sign more lucrative deals because the salary inflation is so rapid, such that the back end of a 4 or 5 year deal may not maximize value. You end up with possibilities where you could argue someone was underpaid at the back-end of his contract. Wood is 31. A one-year arbitration does nothing to hurt his value next off-season at age 32, unless a season-ending injury occurs. So as Goony points out, it's not crazy at all. 3/24 this off-season or next, there is little Wood could do to damage that value, again barring a season-ending injury. If he makes it through the season healthy, thus showing he can handle the bullpen workload 2 years in a row, 5/50-60 wouldn't be out of the question next offseason.

How so? I don't see how an "extremely" young team can be an excuse anymore. If Weis was any good he should have had a quality team out there this year, but they aren't good.

According to this they hosted the Chargers on October 26th. http://www.neworleanssaints.com/Game%20Day/Seasons/2008%20Schedule.aspx In London, though. They haven't played at the Superdome in 6 weeks. ](*,) My bad: you're right. Very stupid. The NFL owes the Saints a couple times over for that one. Not really, the team signed up for the opportunity. You can make a case that the NFL and Saints owe the New Orleans fans, but that's about it.

Isn't their draft spot safe due to finishing in the bottom half of the league (top 15 in the draft)? It really doesn't matter to them, except for Minny's comp pick pushing SF's picks down one spot.

I hope Wood comes back too, but no matter what you say about Wood (loves Chicago, money isn't everything, etc.) he would have to be crazy to take the Cubs 1-year deal and leave $16 million on the table (in your example). I'm sure he knows his medical history better than any of us and he should take the most guaranteed money he can find in case his medical problems reappear. I don't see why that is being described as having to be crazy. He's already financially set for life. He can do whatever the heck he wants. And he could end up making a heck of a lot more than $24m over 3 years if he takes a 1 year deal and signs longterm after next season. It's a risk, but it's not a horrible risk or a crazy decision.

They are a speed line and have never overpower anybody. Ok...true...I guess I just mean that it seemed when they got to the QB, they were doing it as a result of trickery rather than beating their man. I could just be thinking of that one Ogunleye stunt though... They did do a good job of blitzing right into blockers again. I hate when this team blitzes.

They are a speed line and have never overpower anybody.

Bears open as 3.5 point road dogs. The division is completely up for grabs and this winner of this game stands a tremendous shot of taking the crown and eventually hosting a playoff game. In my mind the Bears have a bad reputation on the national stage, but recently they've played pretty well, including 2-0 already this year on Sunday Night. It's never easy to play in the roller dome and I don't see the Bears winning this game unless the defensive improvement shown yesterday lasts. If GB loses tonight, or next week vs CAR, they will be game behind the winner of this big matchup.

I feel guilty that I will be forcing my guests to watch this on the big tv Sunday. Must win.

I'd prefer a left handed bat, but he could platoon with Fukudome in right.

I think there will be plenty market for his skills. One year, however, might answer the question as to whether the switch to the bullpen was the trick to keeping him healthy.

Depending on who misses out on whom, he will get offers. 3/30? Who knows?

I just can't see that happening. Someone will offer him a deal. FWIW, everyday I hear stories about what free agents the Mets and Yankees are after, two teams in need of bullpen help, and Wood's name never comes up.

You mean d-men? In order of their quality of play: Keith Campbell Barker Seabrook Johnson Walker Sopel And then there's Wiz. Sopel needs to go in any deal. But it's a bigger problem than that. The cap being what it is, you simply cannot have that much money tied up in goalies. We knew this when they signed Huet and nothing has changed. One of them has to go. Simple as that. I assumed he meant in the minors ready to play goal. Isn't Crawford still around? We can say you can't have that much money tied into goalies, but the fact is, they do have that much right now and they are a playoff caliber team with that arrangement. I think you can have that much tied up in the short-term, just not for multiple seasons. If they can get a haul, go for it. But if they are just trading him to make way for Huet, just keep the guy and see if he can carry you in the playoffs.

1/5th of the way through the season and I can't complain. The smart move is still to trade Khabi for the best package before the deadline. But on a team that needs to make the playoffs and probably advance to really build on this momentum, I'm not sure I want to see them go to Huet for that stretch run.

NOT!!!!!

Baseball also has a season (roughly) twice as long as the other bigs. There should be significantly less teams. I'd bet a lot of money that in my lifetime there will be playoff expansion. I'll argue against it every step of the way. It's a six month season, so is hockey and basketball. So what though? As things stand now, there is little benefit to having the best record over 162 games. If you add another WC team in each league, and have them play a one game playoff against the other WC, that makes the regular season that much more important because you definitely want to win your division and it would be great to host the wild card teams.

I don't think there is any sort of arm age discussion, unless you are talking about a 19 year old that just started pitching having a young arm. Dempster is an old pitcher with lots of miles under his belt. He's been seriously injured and had surgery, plus his workload increased tremendously this past year.

I've always been against letting more teams into the playoffs. It's not even really the playoffs, its a play in game. I guess I'm just a traditionalist but I feel like a division winner should be at an advantage over the WC winner. The thing is, the WC team can sneak into the playoffs and ride an ace or two to the championship, and I don't like that. I'm sure there are people that feel the other way though. But you're giving 10 teams a chance at the title after the regular season is over. Unless those 2 aces pitch the last day of the regular season and the 1 game playoff, you're still getting 3 starts out of them in a 5 game series. You are giving 10 teams a chance, but making it easier for the best teams and harder for the lesser teams. I've been in favor of 1-game play-ins myself.