Derwood

Haha, not exactly a who's who of perennial powerhouses here. At least they didn't play the boys at Marathon Oil this year

That would be 3 seasons ago, and they have played in January bowl games in Florida each year since. :P that answers that

Oh, woops, you're right. It's always a hoot when you listen to Boers and Bernstein and the angry bretheren of the Illini Nation call up. It's always about the disrespect. Who has a bigger chip on their shoulder: Sox fans or Illini fans? Discuss.

and don't forget that Iowa nearly lost to Penn St. on Saturday. I am real confused on most of these teams in the Big 10. One game, some teams look like the class of the conference, the next they look like they could be in the cellar. The conference is pretty even this year and the winner of the Big 10 (probably Wisconsin) is going to have to be the best at protecting their home court. Penn State beat Purdont by 20 tonight, WTF?!?!? Penn State shouldn't beat anyone by 20, except perhaps a local girls' elementary school for the blind. ...giving them a 2-2 record in the Big Ten, tied with the mighty Illini Yeah they have played the same level of teams. :roll: Overall, no, they clearly haven't. But I would say that overall PSU has played a lot of mediocre to good teams while the Illini have played either very good teams or complete jokes. PSU is 10-5, with wins over Cornell, Nicholls St., LIU Brooklyn, UMKC, St. Francis, IPFW, New Hampshire, Mt.St. Mary's, Northwestern and Purdue, and losses to Texas A&M, Clemson, Pitt, Ohio St. and Iowa (by 4 points). Overall, better than you would expect, with the losses to teams you'd expect and wins over who you might guess (with NU being an upset probably). Illini is 16-2, with wins over So. Dakota St., Texas Pan-Am, Texas Southern, Wichita St., Rutgers, N. Carolina, Xavier, Arkansas LR, Georgetown, Oregon, Coppin St., Missouri, SE Missouri St., Tenn. Martin, Michigan St. and Michigan, and losses to Iowa and Indiana. They have beat some big conference teams for sure, but some of those other teams are truly pitiful. In no way am I implying that Penn St. is even close to being on par with Illini talent-wise, and I fully expect Illionois to spank the Nittany Lions when they go head to head. But I just wouldn't gloat over some of those wins (especially when you only beat Wichita St. by 1 point. If I thought it was worth arguing, I would figure out the opponents' records overall, but as I said, it's not an argument I can make

and don't forget that Iowa nearly lost to Penn St. on Saturday. I am real confused on most of these teams in the Big 10. One game, some teams look like the class of the conference, the next they look like they could be in the cellar. The conference is pretty even this year and the winner of the Big 10 (probably Wisconsin) is going to have to be the best at protecting their home court. Penn State beat Purdont by 20 tonight, WTF?!?!? Penn State shouldn't beat anyone by 20, except perhaps a local girls' elementary school for the blind. ...giving them a 2-2 record in the Big Ten, tied with the mighty Illini

Some of us have small kids who wake up in the night so we need to go to bed at a somewhat reasonable time. Ah well, I'm sure it was fun for those who saw it.

No, balanced schedule is bad. While it is argues that is unfair, I'd rather have more chances to gain ground against division foes than an extra series or two against the Padres or Nationals. If it's unfair, I think it should be removed. Especially with the wild card, the difference between divisions should be minimized as much as possible. It should be weighted, just 12-13 games within the division and 9 against out of division. So you hate the NFL scheduling then? Or College Football/Basketball?

Gould was not good. He provided a little more depth than Brien and a little more stability as well, but he isn't any good at kicking FG. He hit only 77.8%, and was only 3/8 from beyond 39 yards. Most guys even behing him on the conversion list were greater threats from distance. Zemaitis could be a decent safety in the pros, I don't think he's got much of a chance to be a top flight CB. I thought gould was better. my bad. You think Zemaitis lacks the speed?

A couple of questions (having not read the entire thread): 1. Why do they need a kicker? Wasn't Robbie Gould pretty good? 2. What do people think of Alan Zemaitis as a pro prospect?

He Gawn! Wait, who, what? Did I miss something?

Did you get every one of those autographs personally or did you buy some stuff at card shows/memorabilia shops?

I've only watched a couple of Illini games and they are truly infuriating. IS Augustine ever on the court? Does he start the game with 2 fouls? And Dee Brown looks very average when he doesn't have Head and Williams to cover for his poor shooting. Despite a few good wins, their non-conference schedule was very weak and they surely aren't the 5th best team in the country. I think the Big Ten is going to expose them for what they are: a streaky team who lives and dies at the arc and can't penetrate a zone defense when Augustine is on the bench (which is always).

No, balanced schedule is bad. While it is argues that is unfair, I'd rather have more chances to gain ground against division foes than an extra series or two against the Padres or Nationals.

With Z changed and C-Patt gone, is Pawelek the only Boras client in the Cubs system now?

I have a foul ball hit by Sosa that is autographed by Mickey Morandini. He (and Henry Rodriguez) were the only 2 guys to come out of the clubhouse before the stadium closed.

ST this year is going to be so weird. Half the people are off playing in the WBC, so who knows how the ST games will go. Those split squad games will really be scraping by with NRI's

Poor Boras. How will he feed his family now?

I have a novel idea. How about naming them something besides the Cubs? How frigging unoriginal is that? Especially when some of those caps have the walking bear logo on them? WTF? The fun of Minor League teams is the ludicrous nicknames they have. I propose the Iowa Screaming Squirrels. Oh wait, they are already taken: http://www.simleaguebaseball.com/logos/sing.jpg

Won't happen. It's a Bud Selig pet project. Just like we'll see homefield determined by the frigging All Star Game until he goes away as well. Why, oh why, can't baseball simply give home field to the team with the best record like, say, every other sport whose championship isn't played on a neutral field?

Meh, I'm sorta on the fence but voted "keep it". In such a long schedule it's nice to see a fresh team now and again. I think the bigger concerns are when they decide to do stupid stuff like not schedule the Cardinals after July 21 or give us an extra series against the defending WS Champs, etc.

right, that's what it is.

Well, they are going year by year with him, so they aren't THAT generous. They aren't exactly offering 5 year deals

1 year, $4.35 million http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2294473

o0o... GameFAQs? Do you go to LUE and/or LUElinks? Nsbb http://www.GameFAQs.com http://www.luelinks.net the first one. I usually post in the GTA: SA, NCAA Football '06 and College Hoops 2k6 boards

As long as people like Joe Morgan constitute the voting base, i doubt more than a handful of players outside of the 70's/80's get in in the next 10 years