UMFan83

The quotes from the article by Ramirez and his agent use terms like "this changes everything" "can't wait to talk to Theo", "the cubs are my number one option" and "I want to be in Chicago". He's said the last 2 as recently as last season but it's a big change from his most recent comments about being unsure if he wants to remain on a Hendry less cubs and about how he's too old to go through more rebuilding years.

I bet Kaplan sees this news and thinking "dammit I gotta step up the smear campaign in a hurry"

Awesome!! I wonder if there is any chance he will pick up his option instead of negotiating a new deal, but I am assuming that he won't pick it up because waiting another year to go on the open market is going to hurt the length and amount of his next contract.

I unfortunately got my ticket from my girlfriend's family, all 10 of them annoyingly rabid Bengals fans, who thought it was hilarious to rub every score in my face and yell "WHO DEY" constantly. Quite possibly the worst experience at a sporting event ever...worse than being surrounded by Packer fans at Soldier Field during the NFC title game last year.

Ugh, did you also attend that awful Bears/Bengals 45-10 drubbing a couple of years ago? Also, skydiving is really really awesome.

Haha, not exactly. Meaning that once you have attended the 30th (or however many teams there are when doing it) stadium, you can at that moment say you've been to every active ballpark in baseball. But I can see how that might be difficult, so I could probably feel satisfied with seeing a game at every major league city even if its a former ballpark, like the Metrodome for Minneapolis, etc.

So randomly this afternoon I started thinking about all the things that I want to attend in the sports world before I die. Not that I plan on dying anytime soon, but some of the things I want to do take planning (and money). Just curious to see what would be on your sports "bucket" list. It might give me some ideas of what I want to add to mine. I've divided my list into small scale things that would be easier and cheaper to do, and bigger scale things that are a lot harder to attend. I'd like to get the small scale stuff done but won't be upset if I can't do all the bigger stuff. Small scale: -Attend a college football bowl game -Attend the first or second day of the NCAA tournament. -Attend semi-final round of each major sport (NBA, NFL done) -See each of my favorite teams on the road (NCAAF, NCAAB, MLB, NFL, NBA done) -Attend the final round of a PGA tournament -Attend a match from the following rivalries: Michigan/Ohio State, Bears/Packers (done), Red Sox/Yankees (done), Lakers/Celtics, UNC/Duke, Redskins/Cowboys, Alabama/Auburn -See the following live: No hitter (done), Perfect game, other significant baseball milestone (done), a baseball team clinching playoff spot/playoff round*, Triple OT NBA playoff game (done), OT NFL Playoff game (done), double OT NHL playoff game. -Attend an Engish Premiere League game (preferably a derby like Liverpool/Everton) -Attend a goal medal round Olympic event *=DOES NOT COUNT IF ITS THE ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS CELEBRATING ON WRIGLEY FIELD #$%^#* Larger scale: -Attend a Super Bowl, NBA Finals game, World Series game, and NHL Finals game (done) -Attend a Final Four -Attend a BCS Bowl game not involving a Big East or ACC team (unless said team is in the Rose Bowl or NC game) -Attend a major golf tournament -Attend a World Cup game (done) -Attend a champions league game -See one of my teams play a regular season game in a different country (besides Canada) -Attend a game in every baseball stadium that is active at the time of completion -Attend a playoff game in each of the 4 sports where my favorite teams aren't playing -Attend a gold medal Olympic basketball or hockey game -Fondle Theo Epstein's privates as a measure of respect and awe. Any other suggestions?

Season should be starting in 6 days from today. Boo!

I'm not too concerned with that. Too many owners will be opposed to that to let Bud have a chance. I'm more concerned they'll tinker with FA compensation, which Theo used quite liberally to stockpile picks (unlike Hendry). Of course if they take that away, I'm sure Theo will find something else to take advantage of. Exactly. Regardless of where the advantage lies, with the resources the Cubs have, there will always be an area that's undervalued that the Cubs can sink significantly more resources in than anyone else. The key is having smart people finding these inefficiencies and exploiting them, which we now have.

Yup...I realize he never played for Detroit, but somehow along the way Burleson and Robinson became mixed in my mind, and Burleson took over for Robinson's career so Koren Burleson played for MIN, GB and DET.

I do really like that idea, but I think it should be limited to only penalties taken in the last minute of OT and/or only certain types of penalties. Otherwise, I think we'd see a lot more passive play the last 2 minutes of OT as no one wants to risk a crosscheck or interference penalty or even a delay of game penalty to significantly ruins their team's chances of getting the extra point. Anything that takes away from the teams trying to settle a game without a shootout should be limited.

Most people assumed that when it happened. Buck and McCarver settled on that story almost immediately. That's fine but it's odd to go out of your way to clarify that in the middle of the series. IIRC the reported didn't even directly ask whether Pujols had anything to do with it, he was just asked to explain what happened.

I must have missed the time when he was on the Packers. heh dammit I thought he was. Am I thinking of another oft travelled WR? I seem to remember a WR being good and then going to the Packers and hurting himself or soemthing or getting in trouble or both.

As soon as I saw this thread, I was sure that WSR started it or was the first reply. Disappointed to see he was only the 2nd reply.

I will say that I do like shootouts better than ties.

Ugh, look what you've done Sullivan: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-1026-sandberg-cubs-chicago--20111026,0,5554219.story

It was still an extremely stupid article to publish.

Yea doesn't really prevent cheap play in the last 15-30 secs.

Now TRL says that Pujols called the hit and run himself (not sure which one). What a classy manager to put the heat on his players instead of taking it off of them.

Hell yeah, it won't be anyone else if Texas wins. That would be a great payoff. Napoli has the highest OPS in the World Series for the Rangers and has 2 game winning hits in the series (I think...i know there was another key moment in the series he came through). He's gotta be a lock. The only people at this point that I think can change that with a big game(s) are Beltre or Cruz. None of the pitchers particularly seem likely to get enough momentum to be awarded the MVP.

I seem to remember there were initial rumors of the Cubs interest in AGonz along with Boston and another team or two. They kind of quieted down when Boston stepped up their offer. Then when Boston was rumored to have the deal done, the Cubs supposedly stepped up and there were reports that the Cubs had a very good offer out there but Hoyer liked the Red Sox prospects a little bit more and was more familiar with them. I think the Cubs were closer to getting AGonz than people think. Either that or one of the sides floated that rumor out there so that people wouldn't think it was a buddy buddy deal.

5-1-2. Not our best effort tonight, but we got 2 points against a pretty good team, so I'll definitely take it.

Hawks win the crapshoot!

If we lose the shootout, I am going to have nightmares of that post tonight.

GDFSGTWRESY%$EW Off the goal post....unreal