CubbieBum

Yes and a big no (not there Sori is much better than Lee but he is better, is a better fit for us, and look how it turned out).

I figured you would be the inevitable poster to come back and start the smack talk about how good your team is but I was wrong. In the absence I will fill in. I got the best RB, the best healthy QB. Oh yeah and Houshyourmama ... Championship!

First round picks like Olson shouldn't be sharing time. They should also be able to block. He is always going to have a quick guy on him because whenever he is in the game, you know he isn't there to block. he isnt "sharing" time because he cant block, he is sharing time because he and dez clark are their two best receivers and both need to be on the field. this olson cant block thing is a myth. No it's not a myth. They had to draft a blocking TE because Olson can't do it. If Clark is better, then it was a mistake to draft him. First rounders aren't supposed to share time. Even if two TEs are on the field at the same time, Olson should be getting more time than Clark was at his draft position. yep

is it me or people nitpicking and continuing feudal arguements a lot more lately. He made a slight mistake, you pointed it out don't see why a small argument was needed. Anyways Z given a 500 at bat season would at his current pace have exactly 90 RBI's this year. I vote we try for his next two starts that he bats in Lee's spot and Lee bats 9th :).

He's also been one of the luckiest players in the majors, crappy LD% notwithstanding. Happy about his isoD though Theriot's BABIP is right in line with his LD%. How has he been lucky? Well when you don't know how to properly use those stats, it's really easy just to quote them so you look like you know what you are talking about even if you are just spewing venom. And back on topic, I really haven't noticed a change in Theriot's batting stance. I thought I did a few days ago, but I really think it's just an illusion because he's been wearing that protective shield over his ankle/shin. damn magician crap ... he should concentrate on playing baseball and not making illusions with his batting stance.

Size doesn't matter in this arguement. All that matters is what city has a very high concentration of Big Ten fans, is centrally located, and has a rather diverse fan base of teams (i.e. cities like Columbus and Ann Arbor are 99.9% fans of one team). Indy has more Iu fans than anything else but Purdue is close and Illinois is pretty close to Purdue. IU and Purdue are an hour away while Illinois is a little under 2 hours away. Northwestern is the only school within 3 hours of Chicago (at least I think). But like I said I really don't think there is any one city that is the beating heart of the Big Ten. I agree that Chicago isnt the beating heart of the Big Ten, However within 3 hrs of Chicago are N'western, Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue.....Close to the 3 hr range Michigan, MSU, Iowa, and Indiana....Minnesota and OSU are probably under 6. That is 10 of 11. Well this isn't really on topic but there's not much to talk about yet anyways. I got curious after your post as to which city actually is closest when adding all the mileage together per Google Maps. Well Chicago is actually closer when you add the the mileage together (2695-2975).

Size doesn't matter in this arguement. All that matters is what city has a very high concentration of Big Ten fans, is centrally located, and has a rather diverse fan base of teams (i.e. cities like Columbus and Ann Arbor are 99.9% fans of one team). Indy has more Iu fans than anything else but Purdue is close and Illinois is pretty close to Purdue. IU and Purdue are an hour away while Illinois is a little under 2 hours away. Northwestern is the only school within 3 hours of Chicago (at least I think). But like I said I really don't think there is any one city that is the beating heart of the Big Ten.

In for the trifecta

This thread is fine. Boo you suck! Just kidding, but I was just trying to eliminate all the people complaining about the banter that is going to happen back and forth the next week. Last year it seemed like there was alot of complaining about all of it. No big deal, but with that said... It's when Big Ten season actually starts that we'll really get sick of you people. :wink: for what it's worth, chicago is the very beating heart of the big ten. I wouldn't say Chicago is the beating heart of the Big Ten. I'm not sure any town really is but if I had to choose I would go with Indy over Chicago anyways. Both cities host championship tournaments every year and both are centrally located but just from my own experience of being in both cities quite often 99% of people in Indy grew up with the Big Ten and root for a Big Ten team where as Chicago it's about 50/50 as many tend to only care about pro sports and many come to Chicago for the job but grew up outside the Midwest.

Huh? They lost one player on offense. Yes it was a big player they lost but besides Rodgers how is it a unknown? Grant? I could see. They have one of if not the best WR group in the NFL. A improving line, and Donald Lee is starting to come into his own as a TE. I'm not sure I'd lavish that high of praise on them. They're one of the better WR cores, but they still are really 2nd tier. I can think of several teams off the top of my head that have better. Like who? Colts Pats Arizona Cinci After that there are a couple of teams that can be argued either way (Detriot, New Orleans, maybe one other that I can't think of right now). Indy? Probably Pats? No Arizona? haha no Cinci? No Arizona? Seriously? Yes they have Boldin and Fitz but after that? Come on now New England has Moss and Welker but Gaffney and co. would be battling it out with Ruvell Martin for the 5th WR spot on the Packers rosters. Cinci? Johnson and TJ are both elite but Chris Henry is.. well blah. He has talent but he cant stay on the field to prove that. And Chatman wouldnt make the Packers roster. The Packers 1-5 have the arguably most talent and depth in the NFL at the WR position. The Colts are probably the closest however. Gonzalez would probably start over Jones but after that... And Wayne and Harrison are obviously elite but after that it would be Nelson and Martin over Hall and whoever else they have. So I would probably give you the Colts. I think a WR core has to be weighted according to projected playing time. You're right IMO on one thing: the Packers fifth wide receiver has proved more than pretty much any other team's 5th wide receiver. However, that isn't much benefit. Your 5th wide receiver only gets a small amount of playing time. So when looking at receiving cores, having a better 1st and 2nd wideouts are the most important thing. Then, having a good 3rd becomes important as they are on the field a lot. 4th and 5th are really not all that necessary most of the time (many teams don't even use a lot of 4 WR sets). So I would agree with the Colts, Pats, Arizona, and Cincy. They all have 2 receivers who are gamechangers. Those are a lot more dangerous than 5 good receivers who are interchangable like the Packers have (2 of the receivers probably being classified as very good). If you look deeper into those teams, most of them have 3rd and 4th string guys who have enough talent to beat 1 on 1 coverage, which is all you need when having those top 2 guys. I know the Colts and Pats do. I would then put the Packers on the next tier. Good WR cores that can burn you, but aren't the entire focus of a defense. Other teams on this tier include the Steelers (Ward/Homes/Washington/Sweed), Browns (Edwards/Stallworth/Jurevicius), Cowboys (Owens/Crayton), Saints (Colston/Henderson/Patten), and Lions (Williams/Johnson/Furrey). I considered teams like the Giants, Rams, and Seahawks for the 2nd tier, but ultimately decided they were all 3rd tier. You forgot the Saints have Meachum who supposedly play hurt all last year and has been dominanting camp (and done well in preseason). The stuff I have read has said he will likely be the No. 2.

I don't care what he throws as long as he continues to get the outs.

Why is Edmonds on this list? Times have changed.

Huh? They lost one player on offense. Yes it was a big player they lost but besides Rodgers how is it a unknown? Grant? I could see. They have one of if not the best WR group in the NFL. A improving line, and Donald Lee is starting to come into his own as a TE. I'm not sure I'd lavish that high of praise on them. They're one of the better WR cores, but they still are really 2nd tier. I can think of several teams off the top of my head that have better. Like who? Colts Pats Arizona Cinci After that there are a couple of teams that can be argued either way (Detriot, New Orleans, maybe one other that I can't think of right now).

Well the preseason game turned out well for me. Orton did well but the 49ers still won. Only thing that could have made it better is if Alex Smith outperformed O'Sullivan.

So it seemed to me that Lilly had been doing well lately getting his ERA down to low 4's this season after a horrid start. I also was curious because I wondered if he is pitching well enough to be dependable down the stretch and possibly the playoffs. I was hoping for something like a 3.9 ERA in the last month or two. Well since the calendar turned to June Lilly has a 3.38 ERA. He has pitched 96 innings in 15 starts (approx. 6 1/2 innings a start) is 7-2 (tonights start pending) and has 87 strikeouts. Yeah I think he is going to be dependable and a 4 man rotation for playoffs with Z, Harden, Demp, and Lilly is just ludicrous. Roll Out! I realize most of us has known Lilly has been doing well lately I just didn't know he was doing that well.

4 years and 55-60 million for Dempster past his prime would be one of the most indescribably stupid things the Cubs have ever done, and that's saying something. exaggerate much?

Oh and if Webb or Lincecum don't get it because they are on bad teams they will likely turn to CC because it would be a big story with lots of uniqueness (assuming Brews make playoffs). If they want a good team to have the CY then they will probably look at Demp and have him finish top 3 but not win it because he's not a huge name. Then again we have a full month and some change left and lots of things can change. If Harden continues to pitch like he has and gets a lot of wins he could jump passed CC in the midseason dominantion field for Cy Young.

considering how great he has been, what all the players say he means to the clubhouse, and the assumed some kind of a discount I see no reason not to sign him. The pitching market has gotten out of hand so to get a great starter with a small discount is something you can't pass up. I would say a 4 yr - 55-60 mil is fair and probably what it will be around.

nope, white is plain and done by many teams; I like what we have

It's nice but I don't put much weight into it considering Prior's injuries were started by a slide and a ball being beamed off his elbow.

First of all, I'm not surprised that you are siding with the person who now holds the title for NSBB's dumbest argument. Secondly, any merit to the base argument for Soriano as MVP was completely destroyed by the OP's pigheadedness and his insistence on following W/L stats without Soriano exclusively, while ignoring rational discussion using real stats that ACTUALLY determine MVP candidacy. your second the guy above you was first of all

fixed also look at Grossman's numbers when he came back after the ridiculous benching. and a large reason for the team's regression was Grossman suckage. Grossman had a great 8 games in 2006 and a very bad 8 games in 2006. Starting with the 6th game of the year in 2006 and through the last 11 games Grossman had 13 td's to 17 int's. And it got worse towards the end of the season (5-9 ratio in last 6 games including the awesome 2 for 12, 3 int game 0.0 rating game to end the season). Grossman had a good start to the '06 season and has sucked ever since.

Yeah another thread on NSBB where three or four posters blow what someone says way out of the water and continue to run with it refusing to see at least some logic. No soriano wasn't the sole reason we were 26-28 without him but he was a large reason for it. A good portion of the time he was out our offense struggled mightly but once he came back it picked back up. He has a big impact on how our offense runs and he has dominanted more than any other Cub hitter this year. Add in he is one the best team in the NL and its obvious to anyone who will have an open mind that he deserves some MVP consideration. Right now he's not leading but he's top 5 and if he continues to hit like he is right now to the end of the season he could still win it. This board has a very very large problem with the mob mentality. One person jumps on someone and the whole group follows suit. Cool your jets and stop being a bunch of pricks.

Soriano is our MVP this year and we are the best team that should give him some MVP consideration (pitchers aren't really taken into MVP consideration so I'm not including our itchers in what I say).

kinda hard to say penn state "should have lost" when purdue needed 10 points in just over 2 minutes to even tie the game. would it have given purdue a better chance to send the game to overtime? yes, but even then purdue can still lose the game. so the blown call probably didn't affect the outcome of the game. except for when you take into account that replays show Jaycen Taylor crossed the goal line in the first quarter before the ball was taken from him and the holding call in the 3rd that took back a touchdown and Purdue would have to settle for a FG which both announcers said they couldn't see it.