UMFan83

I thought he was better this year with his anger management. Really bush league if he really was throwing at Chipper. We all laughed when he did it to Edmonds, but that act gets old real fast.

I guess Z really isn't going to be able to get his ERA below 4 this year. It would be the first full season in his career with an ERA above 4

Monday will never be all but forgotten by Cubs fans for this reason:http://images.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/_photos/2006-04-24-rick-monday.jpg One of the guys who lit the flag in that photo looks like Vinny Chase.

That's what they said, and I think they said that's the record Hmm, this says Seaver had 10. Looks like the AL record is 8. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_strik.shtml I seem to remember Wood having a similar streak agianst the Braves in 2004. I can't remember how many in a row he had though. Might have only been 6-7

I love it. We're 18 games under .500 in mid-august, and our manager wants to play a 35 year old part time player over a young guy who everyone wants to see what he can give us, because the young guy hasn't earned the PT. Man the management of this team is bat [expletive] crazy and stupid.

Straight from the Jim Hendry school of general managing

Soto's slash numbers the last 36 games: .276/.357/.496/.856. Good stuff

damn Tottenham-Everton postponed due to the riots? dammn you fools chill out!

I dunno, "I'm having a tough year, but despite this, I am glad I can still contribute in some ways."

Great.

Excuse me, you are proud of your performance? I guess its reasonable to be proud of working hard, but's its not like the hard work, concentration and passion for the game has much effect on his numbers, as he is down to .243/.283/.460/.743 for the season.

Huh? Stats are not valuable when evaluating QBs, but here are some stats about these QBs.

I wouldn't say its been a failure. I don't think anyone expected Hester to be an elite WR when they decided to convert him. I think they were just hoping for some production to go along with his kick returns. He's done that so far, so I'd say the 'experiment' is a solid C.

Apparently, Ron Artest is going to join the Cheshire Jets of the British Basketball League if the lockout knocks off some or all of the season. The British Basketball League is ranked 29/29 in European basketball leagues according to FIBA. This is how excited these people are for World Peace to join their [expletive] league. Edit: I started looking at the Jets roster to see if I actually recognized anyone, and the first name I came across was former DePaul great Quemont Greer. That's awesome. Also on the team was the great Calvin Davis who averaged 13 PPG for Texas A&M back in 1998.

That's 3 home runs in the last 6 games for Castro....If he can get to a solid 10 this year, that would be awesome.

Chien-Ming Wang is still around? I thought he killed himself a couple of weeks ago.

Yeah, I don't think he was the best. That's the point. He was targeted a lot and put up decent numbers, but in a very inefficient manner. Inefficient? He had the most yards per target on the entire team...by a decent margin. How is that not a measure of efficiency? I realize he caught a lesser % of balls thrown his way but he made up for it in YAC and YPC. I know its not the only thing, but Tell me which Bears receiver was better last year. Bennett, who didnt even see the field much the first 60% of the season? Hester, who is probably as raw or more as a receiver as Knox? Aromashadou? Not that this adds anything to my argument because you are obviously smart enough to evaluate the numbers I posted before, but this is what their stats would look like if they all had 99 targets CAT YRD TD Knox 51 960 5 Bennett 65 792 5 Olsen 59 580 7 Hester 54 644 5 I just don't see it. Knox stands out as king of the idiots. All of these stats are pretty misleading, imo. When compared to other WRs on the Bears, Knox may have run a lot more "feast-or-famine" go routes that went for a lot of yards when a completion was made. That doesn't necessarily make him a better receiver. I'm not sold. I just don't see who is better and no one has presented an argument for anyone else. Earl Bennett might be a better route runner, but lacks the breakaway speed and overall athleticism that Knox has. I don't know how you could really make an argument for Hester, considering he has the speed and athleticism that Knox has but doesn't get the numbers Knox does. I mean other than that, unless you want to include TE and/or RB theres no real other candidates on the 10 Bears to argue for. Bennett is the only one that I'm willing to accept an argument for, and considering it took him an entire season to learn the playbook well enough to actually play in the games, I find it hard to accept that he's the best receiver on the team (last year). Actually fine, I'll play devil's advocate and make the argument for him. He's certainly a better possession receiver than Knox, and more reliable on a big down. Bennett led the Bears on 3rd down catches for a 1st down, with 12. Bennett also finished 3rd in the NFC in catches on 3rd and more than 7 yards with 7. And that's despite playing sparingly the first part of the season. Knox was 14th in the NFL with 6 dropped passes. And while Knox was 2nd in the NFC in % of targets ending in a 1st down at 43%, Bennett wasn't too far behind at 18th with 38.6%. So there, the stats are out there and if it hurts my argument, so be it.

Yeah, I don't think he was the best. That's the point. He was targeted a lot and put up decent numbers, but in a very inefficient manner. Inefficient? He had the most yards per target on the entire team...by a decent margin. How is that not a measure of efficiency? I realize he caught a lesser % of balls thrown his way but he made up for it in YAC and YPC. I know its not the only thing, but Tell me which Bears receiver was better last year. Bennett, who didnt even see the field much the first 60% of the season? Hester, who is probably as raw or more as a receiver as Knox? Aromashadou? Not that this adds anything to my argument because you are obviously smart enough to evaluate the numbers I posted before, but this is what their stats would look like if they all had 99 targets CAT YRD TD Knox 51 960 5 Bennett 65 792 5 Olsen 59 580 7 Hester 54 644 5 I just don't see it. Knox stands out as king of the idiots.

I think that supports the idea that he's an innefficient receiver who can beat you with his legs by going deep but far from ideal in an offense which requires route running, timing and being in the right place. The guy looked clueless out there many times. But with no few weapons available and his natural talent, they had to use him. That's fine. Despite all the limitations, when you threw that ball to Johnny Knox, you knew only 3 other receivers could get you more yards on average in the NFL. I responded originally when you said you werent sure that Knox was the Bears best receiver last year. Is Knox a number one or two on a lot of other teams? No. But on the 2010 Bears he was the best.

Like it said, Gus's primary responsibilities will be doing college games. Right. That still doesn't make it any less unfortunate. Plus if Wayne Larrivee can do double duty, Gus sure as hell can too. Seriously. Wayne Larrivee would do a Bulls game on Friday night, a Michigan State game on Saturday and a Packers game on Sunday more than a few times each year.

Geez I dunno. Lots of stats (but not all) back up that Knox was the best receiver on the Bears last year. I understand what you are saying about leaving stuff on the table, but the stats are pretty telling. CAT YRD TD YD/R TGT YD/TGT Knox 51 960 5 18.8 99 9.7 Forte 51 547 3 10.2 -- -- Bennett 46 561 3 12.2 70 8.0 Olsen 41 404 5 9.9 69 5.9 Hester 40 475 4 11.9 73 6.5 Knox had the most receptions, most yards per reception, tied for the most TDs. The problem comes when you evaluate the number of times he was targeted. He was targeted roughly 30 more times last year than the other guys (I couldnt find targets for Forte). Despite this he caught nearly the came number of passes. So that's one part of it. But when you look at his yards per catch and yards per target, you'd come to the conclusion that not only is Knox one of the best deep threats on the team, he's one of the best in the league. Among receivers with more than 50 catches this year, Knox was 2nd in yards per reception, trailing only Pittsburgh's Mike Wallace (22.5). Even factoring in targets, among receivers with 50 catches Knox was 4th in yards per target. So is Knox an elite WR.......not really. I do acknowledge that he's not a great route runner and ends up in the wrong spot a lot of the time. How many Cutler INTs the last 2 years can be attributed to him? More than a few. But you throw to him and you will get production out of him, more than any other pass catcher on the Bears. I mean who has more ability to exceed Knox's ability? Earl "It takes me a year to learn the playbook enough to play" Bennett? or Devin "I have to sometimes be told on the field where to line up" Hester. Bennett is probably the best route runner but doesn't have the athletic ability that Knox has to break a 10 yard pass into a 30 yard reception. Hester just doesn't seem to have that natural feel for being a WR, as evidenced by him darting for the sidelines with an open field in front of him in Atlanta 2 years ago.

Hester is probably the Bears 4th best receiver, imo. Hopefully this is just preseason bluster. The Bears are masters at limiting expectations. Most teams coming off an NFC title game appearance are looking to take the next step and win a championship. Bears fans are now just hoping their team doesn't embarrass them this season.

Haha how many times do I have to tell myself to stop believing Peter [expletive] King before I finally do stop?

Reed Johnson for a PTBNL from a team that cant afford real pickups and have thin benches is probably the only way Reed gets traded. Which I wouldn't be against.