bcl412

I wonder what CSN's ratings are like for each. I'd bet the Bulls are still far, far ahead. I like basketball more than hockey (well college basketball anyways) and I have watched the Blackhawks way, way more than I have watched the Bulls this year. The Hawks are fun to watch and the Bulls just piss me off.

Agreed. At least when it comes to being cool. And just being all around sick. I still can't get over this. Sorry Iowa fans. Thanks. I had blocked out that entire season post-Christmas. Ranked top 5 preseason by some and mostly stayed in top 10 in the non-conference. Favorites to win the Big Ten. Lost to Mizzou in Guardian's Classic (only to beat them by 20 later at Mizzou), Duke and at UNI which prompted Alford to throw away their pizza after the game and make them ride back to Iowa City hungry. Sitting at like 13-3 and after stomping Wisconsin at home my only concern walking out of Carver was whether we would be able to win the Big Ten and grab a 1 or 2 seed. We then went 4-11 in the rest of the Big Ten as the team imploded and quit. I'm pretty sure this is the season that killed any excitement for basketball in the state of Iowa.

I just graduated from a school that is way more into football than basketball and if I didn't really think about this I'd pick football but I find myself getting into basketball games way more than football games (for instance the game against Ohio State I was throwing crap everywhere whenever I saw Eddie blow his stupid whistle).

BROADEN YOUR PERSPECTIVE DAMMIT It's a jigsaw puzzle. You just have to put the pieces together. Or something like that...I really stupid and have no baseball sense so what do I know.

Since when was Mark DeRosa not going to get 500 PA's? What the hell are you talking about? Are you really that DENSE? There are only so many ABs in a season. Roughly 600 at the top two slots in the batting order and diminishing as you traverse down the lineup to closer to 500 in the 8th slot. With regular everyday players at 1b, SS, 3b & LF, along with his inability to catch, play SS or CF, at best he was going to see some PT in RF and 2b plus a few ABs at 3b (maybe) to rest Ramirez. But THIS season with a switch hitter coming in to play RF there would be far less platoon ABs for DeRo or anyone else. The Cubs are putting a premium on LEFT HANDED ABs this year, and have already stated, MANY TIMES, that this is a priority that will mainly be seen in LH ABs at 2b & RF. DeRo would not even get late inning replacement ABs in the outfield with better outfielders like Johnson & Gathright on the bench, except for temporary short term assignments in double switches. He would have had more ABs as a PH than anything else, and you can't do that more than ONCE PER GAME! When you add up the possibilities, at best DeRo would have gotten about 200 to 225 ABs in the coming season, at a time in his career when he needed to be playing every day to get the most from the waning days of his career! THAT is what I am talking about...a point that nearly everyone on this board got except YOU! Now if you can't figure it out from there, come back when you grow up, or when you know enough about the game, to enter in without wasting our time! You are seriously the worst debater here-and that's saying something. This is bordering on embarrassing. Mark DeRosa had 505 AB's last season. He played 95 games at 2B, 38 in RF and 27 in LF. 22 at 3B. Discounting his 2005 season, he hasn't had fewer than 250 AB's since 2002. Even if you cut his role on the team by 50% (which would be staggering and unlikely) he'd still get 250+ AB's. And again, you're overlooking the fact that Milton Bradley would be the everyday RF. Milton Bradley is brittle. Are you going to make any valid points in response, maybe backed up by fact or reasonable hypothesis, or are you just going to thrash about saying a whole lot of nothing? At this point with no further trades taking place trading DeRosa was stupid. Aaron Miles and Mike Fontenot are not going to replace DeRosa in a productive way in any way shape or form.

YESSSSS!!!!!! I agree on all points, but Theo isn't very happy, as little has changed since he came back. Their front office is still a jealous, backbiting mess along with meddling ownership. It wasn't Theo that messed up the Texiera negotiations! The point is that Boston OWNERSHIP wants insurance in the form of a power packed offensive player and there are FEW to ONE of those available. "Go Packers" ???? Why not just go Kampman and Cole, and Go Bears? Another Hawk fan suffering from DFS! DFS?

I'd bet that with insight like your's, you can't see beyond the end of your nose! DeRosa, barring injury, would have had GREATLY diminished PT and would have been UNHAPPY if he stayed. The Cubs are going to balance the lineup with more lefty hitting, PERIOD! Hendry has BIG IDEAS, but is at least temporarily, restricted to a $145M budget, and he wants to save $5-7M of that for July, in case he needs it. So of course he is going to "dump" salaries where he can get the same or better for less. So far he has done a GREAT job of moving the money around, to get what he wants. Miles is NO downgrade! His only negative in comparison with DeRosa is power. They are the same type player and personalities, Miles hits a little better for average, and would be more effective in the 1, 2 or 8 spots in the lineup, is a SWITCH hitter and plugs the same holes for less money, which means Hendry has about $3.3M more to use in trying to fulfill those BIG ideas! Miles best OPS is .753. DeRosa has surpassed that in every year but one. DeRosa is a much, much better player then Miles. OPS is a product of power and batting order. They hardly ever would be used in the same slots in the lineup. Ask yourself this question: Just how much "better player than Miles" would he be sitting on the bench, pouting about his PT and getting 200 or so ABs? If you're referring to DeRosa, he'd probably play everyday on this team as the starting 2B and fill in RF/LF/3B. Seriously, this is awful. This has to be a joke account. And hasn't he been a bench player most of his career? Why would he pout about being a bench player.

Sorry, I missed your post, first time through.... There is WAY TOO much whining about DeRosa! Did I like him? YES, very much. Will the Cubs miss him? At times, probably. But with the Cubs determined to balance the lineup he would have diminished playing time and would have been very unhappy. He was a great fit for either the Twins or Indians, and he was paid too much to sit on the bench, when, unlike Fukudome, he could be profitably traded, and MOST of his usefulness could be replaced by a switch hitter who is much cheaper and two years younger. I thought most of the DeRosa complaining was because of who we replaced him with (Miles) not because of losing DeRo himself. I know that was my issue. Trading DeRosa to sign Bradley is a hmmmmmmm moment, but trading DeRosa to open a spot for Aaron Miles doesn't make a lick of sense to me. You guys need to back off a little so you can get a little broader perspective! Hendry's moves are not black and white. They are more like pieces to the giant jig saw puzzle that he sees coming together for next season. DeRo wasn't traded to open a spot for anybody. He was traded so he would be happy in the end, and Hendry would be more flexible in acquiring pieces that fit! I really hope you're wrong. Trading a productive player for a not so prodective player to make the productive player happy is kind of stupid.

YESSSSS!!!!!!

I'd bet that with insight like your's, you can't see beyond the end of your nose! DeRosa, barring injury, would have had GREATLY diminished PT and would have been UNHAPPY if he stayed. The Cubs are going to balance the lineup with more lefty hitting, PERIOD! Hendry has BIG IDEAS, but is at least temporarily, restricted to a $145M budget, and he wants to save $5-7M of that for July, in case he needs it. So of course he is going to "dump" salaries where he can get the same or better for less. So far he has done a GREAT job of moving the money around, to get what he wants. Miles is NO downgrade! His only negative in comparison with DeRosa is power. They are the same type player and personalities, Miles hits a little better for average, and would be more effective in the 1, 2 or 8 spots in the lineup, is a SWITCH hitter and plugs the same holes for less money, which means Hendry has about $3.3M more to use in trying to fulfill those BIG ideas! Miles best OPS is .753. DeRosa has surpassed that in every year but one. DeRosa is a much, much better player then Miles.

Thank God Minnesota lost.

Carolina's going down. They're down 7 with 4 seconds to go.

Sorry, I missed your post, first time through.... There is WAY TOO much whining about DeRosa! Did I like him? YES, very much. Will the Cubs miss him? At times, probably. But with the Cubs determined to balance the lineup he would have diminished playing time and would have been very unhappy. He was a great fit for either the Twins or Indians, and he was paid too much to sit on the bench, when, unlike Fukudome, he could be profitably traded, and MOST of his usefulness could be replaced by a switch hitter who is much cheaper and two years younger. I thought most of the DeRosa complaining was because of who we replaced him with (Miles) not because of losing DeRo himself.

Boston College is up on North Carolina by 6. That'd be nice if BC would win, it would make our loss to them look better.

I love me some GWRBI

Remember when he had perfect mechanics and would never have injury issues.

:shock:

I'm dissapointed that Jones' career has taken this turn. I enjoyed watching him play with the Braves and he was really good. It's too bad that he dropped off the end of the baseball playing earth.

Illinois has 2 final fours since 1952. 0 National titles (unless you count the mythical one earned in 1915). They have a couple more tournament appearances. Illinois is slightly better than Iowa historically. If Iowa is irrelevant than Illinois is slightly relelvant. Congratulations your fanbases supperiority complex is warranted. Iowa hasnt been relevant in Big 10 basketball since 1979, come on thats ridiculous. How can a "relevant" team go 20 years without a Big Ten Championship, and still have arrogant ass fans who think their team is anything more than a joke. lol, don't look up your team's history. Iowa sucks now. I'll admit that. I'm still going to watch my team play and cheer for them. At the moment Iowa is 1-1 in conference. We'll see what happens going from there.

Illinois has 2 final fours since 1952. 0 National titles (unless you count the mythical one earned in 1915). They have a couple more tournament appearances. Illinois is slightly better than Iowa historically. If Iowa is irrelevant than Illinois is slightly relelvant. Congratulations your fanbases supperiority complex is warranted.

Yeah, Illinois basketball history isn't much better than Iowa's. And trust me, when you grow up in the Quad Cities you see irrational Iowa hatred from Illinois fans.

I never understood why Illinois fans have such an irrational hared for a team that is irrelevant.

Summerall is half dead. I think he just randomly says names and football related terms when he hears a voice in his ear telling him to speak.

Because he coached in the NFL and was a well respected assistant before coming to Iowa and having success as a head coach. Most in the NFL also think he has the kind of demeanor/approach that would work in the NFL. They also see that he has a good eye for talent and has won without blue chip recruits. I think he'll be coming back, but this is the situation that would tempt him. Ferentz has been named since the Orange Bowl year as a potential head coach. I'm kind of nervouse about the way he was shaking hands with the players after this game (I know it was the seniors but his demeanor seemed different. I'm probably reading too much into it though).

I really think Penn State has a better chance than people are giving them credit for. I really feel like Iowa should be up by even more and it makes me nervous.