SouthSideRyan

Which Cub fans? The ones who want Ryno to manage and Stone back in the booth? Or The ones who want the Cubs to consider newer ways of thinking? If it was Kaplan's show it likely appealed to the buffoons.

The Mets won't last long in NY if they can't spend big time. Yeah, they'll probably move to Portland.

Celtics open up at the Cavs tonight. Let the 'Sheed era begin.

I guess Castillo will be rostered then.

The Bears will win by like 25. The Browns are awful.

If there's one thing Coach K does, it's develop guards.

Skip the game cause ND will win by 30?

I only got about halfway through before I assumed it was a (bad) joke post. If it was serious...yeesh.

Don't exaggerate, I can't be more than the 92,000th person. Harold Reynolds was fired because of a hug that set off a sexual harassment suit. Phillips got the axe for... well, all this. I think there's enough of a difference there to indicate that Phillips won't be sitting behind the desk in front of a camera anytime soon, unless it's as the local sports anchor in Poughkeepsie. And people liked Reynolds.

What? His wording makes sense if he actually meant at most a season. I'm just guessing here, but I don't think SSR's question of "what" is directed towards his grammar. I think its more directed at his whole point in that post because I know I have no idea what the point was supposed to be. Yeah, I didn't even notice the poor wording.

Berry forced that fumble. It wasn't luck, it was a good hit by Berry. They should've stuck with their gameplan of staying away from him.

What?

Hater.

He was a roided up power hitter whose OBP was inflated by pitchers not wanting to throw him strikes. They didn't want to throw him strikes because he was such a dominant hitter... at hitting the ball out of the park. He was a great slugger, but no one ever called him a great hitter. So good hitters are only guys with high batting averages? That's lunacy.

Angels got jobbed on the zone this inning. Buck & McCarver are too stupid to pick up their cue from the producer. They showed a video of A-Rod at 1B, clearly saying "that pitch was a strike"

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I like Manny Acta a lot.

I think all but a select few coaching or managing are.

And Mike Davis had tonsilitis all conference season. I don't necessarily disagree that a healthy Hummell has a better chance of being all Big 10, but Davis has such a high ceiling, that it's not out of the realm of possibility that he blows up this year to be B10 POTY. Not likely mind you, but certainly within the realm. The Big 10 is going to be very good this season. And will probably be even better next year assuming they don't take too much early entry attrition. (Johnson, Harris, and Turner the only likely in my opinion)

I had absolutely no idea he was their leading all-time scorer. Was the rebounder too I think until Augustine beat it. I might be wrong on that one though. Pretty sure that's right.

You think teams showing interest in Bradley don't realize there are going to be free agents available? I didn't say that now, did I? What I was saying before you attempted to put words in my mouth is that there might be discussion about Bradley now, but that's because the GM's around the league don't really have much else to discuss since a bunch of FA's can't be spoken to until they file for free agency. Bradley will probably still be a Cub when the free agent filing day comes. And once that day comes, he will become a forgotten man. I doubt that. He might go on the back burner, but as soon as guys start signing, teams left on the outside in those deals will go right back to thinking about Bradley. I think the general level of interest will remain relatively constant. As for this statement: I would think the last thing a new owner wants is a team that plays pooorly. I'm sure he'd love the players to all be good spokespeople for the team, however, wins are what sells tickets and drives ratings. When the team struggles, those things decline. And that is the last thing he wants. I am hoping that is what behind his insistence that the Cubs don't pay Bradley to perform somewhere else. As I stated before, there's lots of variables in baseball. I would think the last thing a new owner wants is a team that plays poorly and a player that causes problems with fans, team mates, authority, and the media. That describes the 2009 Cubs and getting rid of Bradley removes the bolded and underlined part of that sentence. If the Cubs stay relatively healthy in 2010, they will be contenders in the NL Central without Bradley. And if they stay relatively healthy in 2010 they would be contenders with Bradley. And if they don't, they'll be losers without Bradley, and fans will only show up to boo the team. I'm not really following here.

Could just be: Cause a Cubs team is in danger of not drawing fans? A non-winning Cubs team definitely is. The recent string of sell-outs is no guarantee, and it has not been a very longterm trend. As recently as 1999/2000/2001 it was extremely easy to get tickets. In late 98 it started to get tough, but it wasn't like it's been recently. The "unprecedented" level of success coupled with the fans dying need to be there to see it happen led to tickets sales going through the roof, regular shmoes making real money selling their tickets on the open market and it all fed off of itself. But people took a bath this year. Tickets were going for well below face on stubhub, and there were loads of empty seats. The tickets were sold by the team (for the most part, there were tickets available for every late game directly from the cubs), but without bodies in the seats beer/food/merchandise sales did not happen. This started to happen in 2005/2006 after Wood/Prior fell apart, Sosa left and the team played like crap. They had to resort to a franchise busting contract for a huge name in Soriano to renew interest and guarantee sales. But if the Cubs remain stuck in mediocrity or fall back to the crap they were, ticket sales will decline, and the ratings will not be there. They need to be competitive to keep the money stream flowing. And Bradley's attitude has nothing to do with it. Fans are going to go if the team is good, and they'll stay away if they're bad.

The bottom line is that the Chicago Cubs are a business and the last thing a new owner would want is a player that insults the fans, the city, his team mates, authority, and the media. Cause a good Cubs team is in danger of not drawing fans?

Nitpick, Northwestern beat ND at ND. Ron Powlus tripped over the center's leg on the 2 pt conversion that would've tied it up. The Chicago game was Powlus's first where Beano Cook famously predicted 2 Heismans after he threw 5 TDs.

You think teams showing interest in Bradley don't realize there are going to be free agents available?