UMFan83

Only 4 Hester? Set your sights higher!

Rizzo and Castro have picked it up the last few games. Brett Jackson....not so much. Rizzo last 8 games: .429/.467/.786/1.253 with a double and 3 HRs Castro last 5 games: .444/.444/.611/1.055 with 2 doubles and a triple Jackson last 8 games: .053/.143/.105/.248 with a double, 2 bbs, and 10 K in 17 AB/19 PA

Jake and his stupid signature is making it hard to cheer for the Pirates

The Nats color guy was ripping on the Cubs during the brawl and resulting aftermath. At one point he mentioned how classy it was for the Cubs to throw at "a teenager" (Harper). Then he was talking about how the Cubs got their butts beat in all week (true) and responded by throwing at hitters and mentioned several times how this was an embarrassment for the entire Cubs organization. He was also appalled that Castillo was allowed to remain in the game and how unfair it was that their pitchers couldn't throw at a Cub now (because warnings were issued). There was more...much of it he was trying to mention Cubs futility as much as possible (51-85, 3 wins in 22 road games since the ASB, etc). If u check out the video on MLB.com, the whole thing is there.

How do they determine home field advantage for the Wild Card playoffs? I am assuming the WC team with the better record gets the home game, and that would be the most logical answer, but as we know the MLB isnt always logical.

That was destroyed. Nice job Rizzo.

Termel Sledge homered to left

I don't think the Cubs are going to win the World Series this year.

I think Hoyer said it best, you were called up on merit and you appeared in a major league game and are in the register as a Major League player. Begging a team to let you take an AB as a publicity stunt is just stupid and is not going to ultimately be satisfying for you. IIRC though, Adam Greenberg's callup was quite unexpected (jumping from AA to the majors) and I don't think most people expected him to last very long, as it was a bit of a reactionary move to demote a struggling Patterson and Dubois to Iowa with hopes of getting them back on track. I'm not saying the callup wasn't merited, but his callup less of 'we gotta make space for this kid' and more of 'we need someone to take the place of one of our guys.' Greenberg should just be happy that he made the majors and appeared in a game. Most career minor leaguers would take just being on a major league roster for a day (although I don't think many would be ok with getting beaned in the head and suffering from concussion related symptoms for the next couple of years).

If you believe those rankings go right ahead. But they are extremely far from gospel. The point is they missed beats after their 2 year run of domination. Football Outsiders has stats that say Chris Williams was one of the top 2-3 guards in the NFL last year when he got hurt midway through the season. This season, he's a backup LT, with people like Lance Louis are at guard instead of him. From what the beat guys say, the Bears don't think Williams is an effective guard. Who is right? I dont know, but the point is that no one "efficiency" stat is going to be 100% correct. I do tend to believe the Bears D was a lot better than the results show for a variety of reasons, but I don't think its crazy to question those rankings.

Yeah I think I like Joanna Garcia the best.

Was bored, so I did some pointless simming on whatifsports.com. Based on my simulations, this is how the Bears fare this season: v IND W 34-16 1-0 @ GB W 28-7 2-0 v STL W 16-13 3-0 @ DAL W 31-22 4-0 @ JAX W 27-10 5-0 BYE v DET W 23-3 6-0 v CAR L 24-27 6-1 @ TEN W 17-13 7-1 v HOU W 24-17 8-1 @ SF L 13-16 8-2 v MIN W 33-10 9-2 v SEA W 31-20 10-2 @ MIN L 14-24 10-3 v GB L 16-24 10-4 @ ARI L 20-33 10-5 @ DET W 18-15 11-5 Playoffs: @ SF W 24-10 12-5 @ GB L 21-28 12-6 Playoff Seeds: Packers 13-3 N Falcons 11-5 S Eagles 10-6 E 49ers 10-6 W Bears 11-5 WC Buccaneers 10-6 WC 5 Chicago Bears (11-5) @ 4 San Francisco 49ers (10-6) CHI 24-10 6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-6) @ 3 Philadelphia Eagles (10-6) PHI 27-24 5 Chicago Bears (12-5) @ 1 Green Bay Packers (13-3) GB 28-21 3 Philadelphia Eagles (11-6) @ 2 Atlanta Falcons (11-5) PHI 23-20 3 Philadelphia Eagles (12-6) @ 1 Green Bay Packers (14-3) GB 28-24

I don't think the Dolphins will be 2-14 bad. They have some talent, and I'm sure Tannehill will be replaced at some point if he's completely ineffective. They showed some moxie last year with Moore in there. I'm thinking 6-10ish for them

Wow, I was quite perplexed at how the Orioles were this good, but I just noticed that they still have a fairly big run differential despite being 16 games over .500. Their -31 differential is the 5th worst in the AL, and their expected record is 64-70 instead of their actual 75-59 record. I am cheering for the Orioles because I've always liked that team and they havent made the playoffs in quite awhile, but if any team were going to collapse down the stretch, it would probably be them.

I understand you're trying to temper your expectations, but I feel you are way off base here. Lovie has consistently gotten his teams ready to play opening day. The offense hasn't started off slow at all under Cutler. He had his best passing games (yardage wise) for the season on opening day of each of the last 2 years. He was also pretty good in the 09 opener vs. GB. Also think you are off base on the defense. The Bears aren't going to see what the Colts are going to do. They are going to try to dictate what the Colts do. The Colts won't be able to run it. I think they will disguise a lot and even blitz Luck more than you are used to seeing from the Bears. He's still a young QB, and that offensive line is suspect. Especially in long yardage to go situations, I think the Bears blitz Luck, try to trick him into the wrong hot read and create a turnover. The Bears don't play nearly as much Cover 2 as people think they do. You make some good points there, and I will concede I was probably wrong about assuming the Bears will wait to see how Colts will play. I was thinking they would treat Luck as more of a veteran because he's looked really good thus far, but what am I thinking, this is still his first NFL game. It makes sense that they would blitz a lot and try to force him into mistakes. However if they are unable to get much pressure on Luck with their blitzing, he's gonna be able to pick the Bears apart and gain confidence as the game goes on. As far as Opening Day, Cutler has been pretty good on opening day (except the GB game), but the Bears have been hit or miss the last few years in the first game. Last year they dominated a good Falcons team, the year before they needed a controversial call to beat a 6-10 Lions team at home (mostly because they were unable to score from 1 yard out) , the year before that they lost a tough game in GB. 2008: Surprisingly beat a good Colts team on the road to open their new stadium 2007: Scored 3 points in losing to a good Chargers team in SD 2006: Shut out GB in GB 2005: Lost an ugly 9-7 game to the Redskins 2004: Lost a close game to a bad Lions team That's 4-4 overall in the Lovie era. I don't think there's any sort of pattern that suggests the Bears, as a whole, play better in week 1, but your point about Cutler stands. I just happen to think the offense will start out slow. Cutler admitted there were communication issues during the Giants preseason game, and while I tend to ignore just about everything in the preseason, that comment suggested to me that he's not in sync with the offense just yet. Maybe they've gotten more in tune during the last 2 weeks of practice, who knows. Anyways, thank you for respectfully disagreeing with me, it is much appreciated.

I think this will be a really close one. The Bears are quite a bit better than the Colts most likely, but its the first game of the year and the Colts have a new head coach, offensive system, defensive system, quarterback, etc. It will take a little bit to feel out what they are trying to do. Lots of Cover 2 and daring Luck to throw over the middle. Meanwhile the offense will start off slow, and lets say a halftime score of 10-7 Bears. Second half, the Bears come out strong, grab a couple of TDs, and hold on for a 27-17 victory. And I predict a Jay to Marshall TD hookup somewhere in the game.

Yup. This was probably the worst defense for Denard to matchup against. I guess that is true about a lot of Alabama opponents though.

Yeah this is what I feared. Complete domination by Bama so far. I don't think Denard is very good at all against good defenses.

That was too easy

I got this being a closer than expected Bear win. Maybe something like 27-23.

When did you change your name, cubbievirus? Wilson A was the original cubbievirus

Hmm I've been supporting Everton partially because of Tim Howard, but I'm getting bored of being a second flight club that doesnt have the resources to play with the big boys. Not that Tottenham is typically a top of the table team, but at least they will be fun to watch.

Whose gonna be the 3rd string QB then? That dude that won every game he played in college?

Wow looks like not only did none of the starters play (which is standard) but no 2nd stringers played either. McCown is the starting QB, Booker is the starting RB, Sanzenbacher is among the starting WRs

Man is the 4th preseason game pointless. No one is even discussing it on here lol. And its always the Browns for the 4th game.