jersey cubs fan

Or he'll get cut in the summer.

Urlacher's ability to stir emotions aside, I think I'd be 100% in favor of trading for Albert if reports that KC wants a 2nd rounder are true. I know they have limited picks and already signed a LT. But Bushrod is not very good and I'm a big believer in making parts of your team dominant, preferably on the offense, to allow lesser parts to benefit from the trickle down of that dominance. A dominant line can make almost any receiver group productive. A dominant line can make any RB a star. If the Bears had the league's best receivers they could get away with a second rate line because defenses would have to focus so hard on covering them. As things stand they already need to spend a draft pick on an offensive lineman, if you can get a stud for a 2nd rounder then why the hell not do it? I'd love to see them trade down from their first pick to get more quantity through round 3, and then spin a 2nd to KC if that is really the cost.

Of course Wrigley draws regardless. The Cubs drew nearly 3 million people last year to see a [expletive] awful team plays its third consecutive awful season. That's half a million more than the Mets who still have a newish ballpark and played a similarly awful season. Attendance is down from the peak but it's still phenomenal. Wrigley won't sell out every game no matter the record. But denying that Wrigley is a draw is taking the argument way beyond anything resembling a reasonable opinion. Interpreting my statement in the most extreme manner possible. Of course Wrigley is a draw, but not nearly enough of one to ride on that alone. Go check out attendance numbers going back 20 or 30 years; there is no guarantee of great attendance. The facts bear this out. They really don't. The team has played three consecutive seasons of awful baseball. They have had only one really great seasons in the past 20 years and only 2 playoff appearances in the past nine years and they still drew over 2.8 million people. That is phenomenal and is directly due to the fact that they play in Wrigley Field. Wrigley offers a buffer in bad seasons that other stadiums do not. They cannot go on forever as a 70 win team and expect to draw, but as long as they stay relevant and succeed on occasion Wrigley will sell. That is a huge benefit to the team. I cannot imagine they have much interest in spending $1B on a stadium in the suburbs only to risk losing that draw.

I think Sullivan should have tried to use another quote.

Didn't he make like $80m in his time with the Bears? Not counting all the chances to suck off the advertising teat in a football insane major market? Eh. I may be coming off pretty meatball, but I couldn't care less about him leaving. It sounds like you care quite a bit.

Um, yeah, they kind of were. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=1623962 Okay, you go ahead with that theory. Again, take the pitcher and I'll take the hitter and I will win a lot more than you. Generally I agree with you, just not in this specific case with the facts in hand at the time of the draft. The facts were Tex was a can't miss bat and Prior was a can't miss pitcher and the much more likely of the two to have his career derailed by injury. Some people who apparently didn't know what they were talking about wrote of flawless mechanics, but more than one pointed out his fatal flaws. As the facts were presented at the time I wanted Tex and I was right.

As in, he won't even get a contract for next year? No, as in "he's not very good or possibly even useful." If he can get a deal, great, but I don't expect him to last more than another season and maybe part of a second. I think he could be quite useful still. I think $2m is the exact right price and allows you to not do something stupid like draft a linebacker in the first round.

Yeah. It was him knocking up a stripper and not his assholish behavior after. Yes, I'm sure that custody battle was all Brian being a jerk and probably not at all a stripper mom acting like a stripper mom.

The knocks on Urlacher are: He's dumb. He knocked up a stripper after his first marriage fell apart. He basically said he doesn't care about fans who boo. He's not a choir boy like the Mannings but he's pretty much got a spotless record when it comes to what you'd expect from typical athletes. No murders, no rapes, no DUI or abandoning his car on the highway after crashing at 4am. No prolonged heated contract issues.

Urlacher was as loyal to his coach as any player in the game and his teammates practically worshipped him. He also happened to be really good and his career took a nosedive because of injury. But he knocked up a stripper and that cannot be permitted.

Given your reaction to ARam's situation I was interested to see your response. Surprised. There are a lot of reasons to dislike Urlacher. As a player, he's past prime and has always been a thin skinned whiner who can't handle the business side of the game. The Bears are better off without him, given the salary cap limitations in place. ARam was still productive and had always been a good soldier. As a single parent, he's a clown assed clown who deserves zero respect on a personal level. So basically SSR:Mark Grace = USS:Urlacher. And LOL @ Jersey telling me to get a grip. Laugh all you want but your whining sounds idiotic.

Not nearly as much as eyeballs on TV's. MLB isn't NFL. Attendance matters. We're talking about millions in revenue every single game, 81 dates a year. The television fees are growing, but it's still a market where 600,000 eyeballs is considered solid. That is nothing. The Cubs sold 2.88 million tickets last year at an average cost over $40. That's the organization's bread basket.

Of course Wrigley draws regardless. The Cubs drew nearly 3 million people last year to see a [expletive] awful team plays its third consecutive awful season. That's half a million more than the Mets who still have a newish ballpark and played a similarly awful season. Attendance is down from the peak but it's still phenomenal. Wrigley won't sell out every game no matter the record. But denying that Wrigley is a draw is taking the argument way beyond anything resembling a reasonable opinion.

Jesus, get a grip.

Um, yeah, they kind of were. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=1623962 Okay, you go ahead with that theory. Again, take the pitcher and I'll take the hitter and I will win a lot more than you.

A stadium butted up against an airport, minimizing access points that will choke access points from all those drivers parking in the huge lots and airplanes taking off or landing every 45 seconds would be a disaster and to suggest otherwise is idiotic.

Nobody said anything about build it and they will come. You still need a fan base that cares about the team (and can afford to buy tickets to go to games).

I don't know if that makes him an ass or just like every other athlete nearing the end of his career in the history of professional sports.

Angelo's teams had a lot of real nice pieces and a combination of disaster QBs or just bad ones and they won a hell of a lot more than KC has done the past decade. It's the NFL. Everybody has some talent. But if you spend 4 years picking for a team that sucks in 3 of 4 years, you cannot say "everything you read about a guy makes you comfortable".

Really? He came from KC and that is a talentless waste hole of an organization. I mean, I think there's some good about his history, but "anything you can read"? Come on. The guy was a strength coach at second rate colleges for most of his career. He's had a relatively brief history in the NFL. There's plenty to question about him. Not the best measure in the world, but how can you say a team that just had 6 Pro Bowlers is a talentless waste hole of an organization? Because they were 2-14 and outscored by 200 points. They went 23-41 while Emery was there. Pro Bowls are worthless, and anybody can make one. The organization has sucked balls for a long time and most recently while Emery was in charge of drafting they've continued to suck balls. People talk about the Bears lack of talent as a reason why Angelo had to be replaced, but literally nothing Emery has done in his career supports the notion that he's any better at acquiring talent than Angelo was.

Really? He came from KC and that is a talentless waste hole of an organization. I mean, I think there's some good about his history, but "anything you can read"? Come on. The guy was a strength coach at second rate colleges for most of his career. He's had a relatively brief history in the NFL. There's plenty to question about him. How much have you read about Emery's past? Its limited since he has come from such a low key background, but stories I've read are certainly positive. Check out the War Room (about belichik). Its a great read for a football fan and Emery gets some decent mentions in the book. Specifically though he was the main force behind the Falcons picking Roddy White as one example. Anybody can have a write up with positive anecdotes. Hell, we spent half a decade listening to how many good individual moves Jim Hendry made while his team consistently underperformed what the resources should have produced. I've read about Emery's history. It's extremely limited in the NFL with absolutely nothing that stands out from an excellence standpoint. It makes absolutely no sense to say that everything you read about his history should make you feel comfortable. There is plenty about his history that makes me uncomfortable.

Really? He came from KC and that is a talentless waste hole of an organization. I mean, I think there's some good about his history, but "anything you can read"? Come on. The guy was a strength coach at second rate colleges for most of his career. He's had a relatively brief history in the NFL. There's plenty to question about him.

Weren't there character questions involving arrests in college?

What do I need ID for? I drive a Dodge Stratus!