UMFan83

Do you think Lovie, Phillips and Emery are all sitting in a board room with 3 phones in front of them watching the clock slowly move towards 3PM? Or do you think it's like the ticketmaster get around where they call a players agent at 2:50 to talk about another player they represent who plays for the Bears and then at 3PM exactly they say 'hey, you don't happen to have Mario Williams around do you? Can I speak with him?' so that they beat all the other teams to the punch?

I don't see how anyone can be favorites for anything when they can't even talk to FA's for another 10 minutes. I'm not naieve to think that both sides don't communicate through back channels and agents, but I still think theres no way for any media guy to know who is the favorite for what. The only thing they should know is what individual teams are looking to do and possibly what teams the FA is interested the most in. You can put 2+2 together and make a logical guess, but I don't think its particularly accurate until teams fully unveil their gameplan 10 minutes from now.

what does that mean? It means don't be disappointed if the premiere FA on the market coveted by a number of teams doesn't end up on the Bears because a couple of journalists tweeted that the Bears were the favorites. Also means that the Bears have a ton of holes to fill so don't be surprised if they get out bid at some point because they need money left over to address other needs.

2 tidbits about Rose: 1) Rose basically went off on the officials last night for constantly missing foul calls when he drives. Obviously in the NBA that's hardly noteworthy but Rose doesn't really do this sort of thing (off the court). When warned he might be fined for his comments his response was that he didnt really care. Also, he said on that dunk last night he sort of blacked out and took out his frustration from not getting calls. 2) Rose is going to be hanging out with Kaner http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/03/13/rose-buys-2-8-million-condo-in-trump-tower/

There's no way we could afford both, correct? Or even if we could it wouldnt be a good allocation of funds to blow it on two players, even if they are very good ones. Also, has anyone heard anything about Forte since he got tagged? I am assuming the plan is still to negotiate a long term contract this offseason, correct?

Yeah, game 2 IIRC, maybe game 3. I've seen certain people say that the injury was an underrated reason why the Bulls lost in 5 games.

It doesn't maximize a new strength on the team, which is the passing arm of Cutler. I think a premiere pass rusher to go along with an even better pass rusher will bring more benefit to this team than Jackson. Not saying Jackson wouldnt help that much because he would help immensely, but if we got Williams we'd have the best pass rush in the league. As you know, Lovie's Cover 2 is absolutely dependent on getting to the QB (ok most defenses are). Having that pass rush changes or defense from slightly above average to among the best in the league IMO. Plus, while there are other options at WR that will help the Bears a ton, IMO the drop between Williams and the next best option is much bigger than Jackson and Colston.

Wheeeeee yeah booooyee I want Vincent Jackson so badly but I'm sorry if Mario Williams is out there, you have to do everything you can to get him. It's definitely not a surprise that Lovie prefers Williams over a WR. Hopefully they can sign a quality WR too because we obviously really need that as well.

I have no idea how Washington's financial structure is, but it seems like cutting $36 million in salary during one offseason is basically suicide. $36 million is close to 30% of the cap this year. Going into the season with a rookie QB, do you think Washington thinks this year is the year to "go for it"? Are they sure the pieces are in place? Because if they aren't, and Washington doesnt get to the SB or even make the playoffs, its going be a huge disaster for them, and they will have to gut a significant portion of the team. If the Redskins were really willing to take the entire hit in 1 season, I'd guess it would be this season, so they can let Griffin play under low expectations and then get him a ton of help next offseason. Most likely though, they will probably do $18 and $18 or something close to that. Taking that much off their cap space makes it very unlikely that they spend most of it on 1 player, especially considering they just completely gutted their draft. Edit: I should say that gutting their draft is both a good thing and a bad thing given this news. It's a good thing because they will have more money to spend for FAs given that they don't have to spend the money on draft picks, but its obviously a bad thing because they will have a difficult time splurging on 1 premier player in FA, without the ability to upgrade the team via the draft as well. The Redskins are better than their record last year, but I don't think there's a chance in hell that they are 1-2 players away from competing for the Super Bowl.

If he doesn't want to be here, whatever it wasn't meant to be. Everyone always says that Chicago is an attractive market for NBA FA's but what has that gotten us? Two highly visable rejections by superstar FA classes in the last 10+ years (McGrady, LeBron, Wade, Bosh), and Ben Wallace and Carlos Boozer the only All Star caliber FAs to sign here. That's still more than many markets would be able to get, but for a supposedly attractive destination that's a disappointment considering the number of years the Bulls have gone out for FAs.

Meh, I don't think the Bucs having double changes much. Regardless of how much they want to spend, there is still a point where it doesnt make financial sense to pay Jackson any more money. The Bucs are talking a big game making it seem like money is no object, but so were the Marlins regarding Pujols and Cespedes, and in the end it turned out to be an attempt to excite the fan base. TB has been traditionally very stingy with their spending, so it makes sense that they are out there talking about throwing their money around. Maybe they are sincere maybe they aren't. Regardless, the Bears should be able to afford whatever the Bucs offer and still run their offseason the way they are planning to.

I am having a lot of fun watching Redskins fans flip their [expletive] over this. http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?363378-Per-Adam-Schefter-amp-PFT-NFL-Taking-away-millions-of-salary-cap-space-from-Cowboys-amp-Redskins-for-front-loading-deals-during-uncapped-year/page5

Wow did this come out of nowhere or were they expecting it?

I was going to bemoan the fall of Iowa basketball but then I remembered your recent NCAA past includes Northwestern State and Pierre Pierce.

I honestly don't think UK blowing out IU will change the impact that game had for your program. It was an upset yes, but it proved Indiana was legit and could beat any team in the country. If they lose by 20 in a rematch on a neutral floor, it doesn't erase that moment, nor does it mean IU isn't legit. It just means that the most talented team in the country came in focused and won. I don't think anyone believes that IU is better than UK, so losing that game is not going to change the perception of the program, or erase the fact that IU is good enough to beat UK on some nights.

The only way he'd resign with Chicago if he came here to finish out the season is if Rose and the rest of the Bulls went out of their way to hype up Howard as "the man" in Chicago which isn't going to happen. Here's the thing, I'd like to call Howard a douchebag for not wanting to go to the best situation to win, but I can't rip on LeBron for joining Wade and moving to #2 on his team and then rip Howard for not wanting that. It's a little different of a situation, but similar IMO.

First 9 games of Linsanity: 82-163 (50.3% FG%) Since then (11 next games): 50-128 (39.1%)

Almost did the same thing in the South bracket. 1,2,3,4 made the sweet 16, but Baylor beat Duke before losing to Kentucky. What a wild bracket! Edit: OK Dicky V had the East bracket and went with 3 FSU and 5 Vanderbilt in the E8 with FSU advancing to the final 4. Thank God for Vitale.

lol on Sportscenter they are picking the entire bracket. So far they've done 2 regions. In the West its 1,2,3,4 seeds advancing, 2 beats 3 and 1 beats 4 with 1 MSU going to the final 4. In the midwest same thing. No upsets, everything according to seeding. Way to go out on a limb guys.

same here...he looked out of position on quite a few of those attempts.

If anyone cares, they are replaying the Bears/Colts Super Bowl right now (10pm CST Sunday night - condensed into an hour). I know its painful but at least the first few minutes were cool. I dont know about you but any reminding that the Bears were in a Super Bowl is enjoyable to me.

You don't deserve to win if you go 0-7 in penalty shots in the game (including Stalberg's penalty shot) Hawks had 3 chances to end it with a score and didnt. Fairly disappointing to lose that way after a pretty good effort in the 3rd and OT. Also, a lot of the Hawks shot attempts were terrible. I dont know wtf Hossa and Kane were trying to do. Shaw had the least deceptive penalty shot I've ever seen. Sharp had a great attempt and it slid off his stick. Boo

Well the good news is that LA can only gain 1 point on us tonight. The bad news is that we can only earn 1 point of separation from LA tonight.

Terrible time to take a penalty Stalberg. Gotta earn this point