UMFan83

At least the Hawks get a point on the road tonight. Game is still tied at 3 in OT and Nashville is up a man due to a horrible tripping penalty on Kane.

Yeah thats really weird. Guess there's gonna be some ground rules. Will someone be able to use the padding as a spring board to catch an errant pass? Is the rule gonna be if they are touching the padding it's not a catch? It's kind of weird because normally you can be falling out of the end zone to make a catch and still get a foot down. But in this case, doing that will case you to touch the wall thus negating the catch.

Is ND winning gonna hurt TCU's BCS numbers a lot?

So the number 2,3, 9 and 14 teams in the country are all losing by multiple scores. Wait nevermind TCU and Auburn both scored. But they're all still losing.

Makes me believe DRob being shaken up was an excuse for UM to keep Forcier in for the rest of the game. From Heisman contender to 2nd string QB in the span of a Big Ten season. I liked when DRob was having 200/200 games and I generally like him as a player, but it'd be much better off with Forcier as the starter and DRob coming in and allowing him a drive or two each half. Would give the opposing defenses so much more to plan for.

Honestly, I don't even care. just win the game, get blown out by Wisconsin and OSU and let me enjoy a post-xmas michigan game for the first time in 3 years.

Holy crap, Love with 31 rebounds tonight. Almost got a 30/30 as he had 28 points in the game.

That's strange that Milwaukee, after their mediocre start is still favored to finish better than the Bulls. Obviously Boozer coming back should change that a bit, but the Bulls have the better record, a better point differential, and I think have played a harder schedule. BTW, I do tend to side a little bit more with what you are saying. And it is extremely interesting to see Miami still far and away the best team in these predictor models. Is this only based on this years performance, or do past numbers have an affect on it? It certainly makes sense because like you said a 20 point win and a 2 point loss do not cancel each other out. Think about it this way, if the Heat are 20 points better than the teams like Philly and NJ than they crushed, and so far have been 2-5 points worse than the Boston, Utah, NO's of the NBA, and everyone likely admits that the Heat will improve to some degree over time, how much longer until those 2 point losses become 5 point wins?

I can't imagine why a Bulls fan would care about that, but Bulls fans are [expletive] nutjobs that can't get over MICHAEL 12 years later so I guess it makes sense. yea why care that our team holds the record for the most wins ever in a season? that's like, barely even an accomplishment. but holding onto a championship 12 years later is reasonable, right? Doesn't everyone think the '72 Dolphins are sad and pathetic? Not Dolphins fans. And that's the point. Why do you watch sports again? So that you can get excited about your team winning and championship and once it does, drop all emotional attachment towards that team and never speak of them again? I mean the whole point of following a specific sports team, other than the instantaneous feeling you get when they win a big game, or a championship or whatever, is to compile happy memories of when your team was at the top of the mountain at the end of the season. Sure the Hawks may suck right now, but at least I can pop in my Stanley Cup DVDs and remember how great it was to see them win it and to partially relive those feelings again. I love going to hockey-reference.com to look something up and accidently stumbling on last year's Hawks team page and seeing "2009-2010 Stanley Cup Champions" attached to the page. Makes me feel good. So yes, of course I am hung up on Michael Jordan 12 years later. He was arguably the greatest [expletive] basketball player to ever play. And he played in my city. All the highlights that he had in his career, all the games he won, all the commericals he did, everything was appreciated the most by me and the fans of the Chicago Bulls because he did those things wearing the jersey of the team I root for. Hell he made me a fan of the team I follow obsessively to this day. So of course I cherish that whenever someone brings him up, he is bringing up a player from my favorite team. So when a basketball team starts the season 50-5 or something, I am definitely rooting for them to lose 6 more games because I want my favorite team to have the most wins in a season of all time, not the 69 Lakers or 86 Celtics or the 11 Heat. It wouldnt necessarily diminish the memories of the 96 Bulls that I have, but it's an extra cherry on top to all those memories.

The AFL only existed for ten seasons before the merger though. Yeah that's why I used the ABA as an example of a league that was formed and tried to rival the dominant league until it became a bit enough thorn in the side of the dominant league that they agreed to merge. The biggest difference is that the ABA just merged its teams into the existing divisional format whereas the AFL essentially became a second NFL conference where the Steelers and Colts moved over to even things out. So in that sense I can understand why the AFL merger led to a different dynamic than the ABA merger did. Now that I think about it, I guess if you want to go way back in history the NL was its own league fron the 1870's until the first few years of the 1900's when the AL came along. The two joined together as 2 seperate leagues playing under one umbrella, sort of similar to how the AFL and NFL did except the AL and NL of course kept different presidents, different rules, and the teams from each league only played each other in the ASG, Spring training and the World Series. I don't really know much about the WHA/NHL merger and how it changed the dynamics of the NHL, but I'd imagine it was closer to an ABA-NBA type merger than a AFL-NFL or AL-NL merger.

That game sucked. This one was much more fun: http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=271014003 Adrian was pure, raw, unbridled fun that year and we had no passing game to take advantage of it. That was the best o-line he's ever run behind. Like I said, the only time the vikings have beaten the Bears in Chicago since 2000. I happened to be there. I was upset at the time but in retrospect what an awesome back and forth game to be at. People also forget that Hester had a huge game that day too. I believe he had a long punt return and also caught a game tying 80+ yard TD pass with like 2 minutes left.

A random thing I was just thinking about. How come the NFL is the only sport that basically seperates and devalue the titles won during an earlier time period vs. titles since that period? Meaning, is there some specific reason why pre-Super Bowl titles aren't nearly as revered as Super bowl titles? Every other sport considers a title from 1950 and a title from 2010 to be the same, even if the game is played completely differently today than 1950. Where it really comes into play is when judging the most successful franchises in a sport. Steelers fans will talk your ear off about how they are the most successful NFL franchise because they've won the most Super Bowls. And not to discredit them, that is a fantastic accomplishment to win 6 titles in a 45 year span. But in reality, both the Packers and the Bears have won more titles than them. In fact, the Steelers were basically the LA Clippers of football until the early 1970s. Before that time, the Steelers had played only 1 playoff game in their nearly 40 years of existence. They were the doormats of the NFL. If you look at other leagues...imagine you started only counting championships when the ABA merged with the NBA, similar to how the AFL merged with the NFL. If you do that, the Lakers 10 titles since the merger are now the most, followed by the Bulls with 6, and the Spurs and Celtics tied with 4. It's just something I've always wondered. No one respects pre-super bowl NFL titles like they do other sports titles before the late-60's.

How fun would another game like this one be? http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=281019003

Come on. People are just having fun. Everyone loves to hate the Heat, and its not like they didn't bring it upon themselves. The decision, the smoke machine, the talk of 7 or 8 championships, the talk of keeping a list and shutting people up. It's fun watching this. I admit I'm loving it. But on a more serious note. I agree that this is an overreaction from 9 games. But how can Miami not be concerned? This is basketball, not baseball. You can't necessarily combine players and know what to expect. I'm sure they will get better. Its a question of how much better. But all the experts who talk about the Heat, either good or bad about them, really have no idea. Take Hollinger for example and his mental masturbation about stats. He has no idea. One thing that is clearly occurring right now is that the whole is less than the sum of its parts. We'll see what happens. But the pressure is really high. Forget about building a team over 6 years with mid-level exceptions. If this team is going down, meaning not at least winning conference championships this year and a ring in the next 2, they are getting dismantled. If the team is underachieving, LeBron is going to be running his mouth even more and blaming others, fingers are going to be pointed, staff is getting fired, and no free agent or coach in their right mind is going to want to come for less money and be part of it. Not saying its going to happen, but the Heat don't have years to turn this around. They have maybe one. Which I agree is a lot of time. But still. You make some valid points. You are right about this team is a bunch of highly talented players that are playing at a level less than the sum of its parts. I think thats the first thing everyone thought when they heard Wade and LeBron were gonna play together. It's actually really interesting to see because its really a discussion about which is more important, superstars or role players. The Bulls would win between 40-50 games every year on the strength of 9 role players of various ability. Everyone said they desperately needed a superstar player to get to the next level. And they did. Eventually even they realized that no matter how hard they played, the best they could do is 50 wins and the 2nd round. Whats the point of doing that for the next 4 years. Something had to change. Now we're looking at the opposite side of the spectrum. Miami is filled with not just starts but 2.5 legitimate superstars. LeBron is the best overall player of his generation. Wade is one of the top 3 SG of his generation. Bosh is one of the 5 best PFs in the NBA today. That's amazing that they've all been assembled on the same time. But with that much top end talent, there are going to be significant issues. Especially when 2 of them are alpha dogs. There are no established roles. Neither of them really seem to be sacrificing parts of their games to make a well rounded team. And a big issue is that they have no one outside of those 3. Jerry Stackhouse would be a great addition if he was the 2005 Dallas Stackhouse. But its 5 years later and hes a marginal nba player now. Same with Juwan Howard. Same with Ilgauskus, same with Magloire. Then you have the players that would be good back of your bench players like Arroyo, House, Chalmers, Jones, Anthony. Haslem is a nice 7th or 8th man on a team. So in this situation Miami desperately needs role players and until they get them, and until they learn to evolve their games for the good of the team, they are going to struggle.

I just don't understand why people can draw such definite conclusions about the Heat after 9 games. Look, I've watched the games too. Bosh has looked horribly out of place. Arroyo is probably a 11th man on the bulls and Anthony is in street clothes. This has made it a lot easier to defend LeBron and Wade. Yes James gets a smile on his face when Wade sits down for a breather because he can take over the game. Yes they aren't all fitting like Boston did. But not every team is the same. As much as I want to tear down this team and laugh at their failures, I can't help but think that in April they will be a much more fluid team. Not a lot of players and coaches have had a lot of experience dealing with 3 players like Wade/Bosh/LBJ on the same team. It's gonna take a lot of trial and error to figure out what works. Once they find the right way to use Bosh he will be better. Will he average 24 points and 10 boards a game? Probably not. But that's not what this was about anyways. The team whose stock rises incredibly in many people's books is Boston. Everyone immediately loathed Boston for trading for two stars and going from poor to awesome in one summer. Everyone said the same thing about Boston, that they were too thin, and they couldnt all exist together. Boston proved everyone wrong. They worked all summer, they all agreed to sacrifice for the good of making this team work, they learned how to work off each other's strengths. By opening night they looked like a fine oiled machine. This Miami team, I honestly don't remember hearing that the big 3 spent any time together before training camp (did they?). They all did a bunch of publicity in between vacations, etc. Then in the preseason, they played together for 4 total minutes. So right now they are working out the kinks in November, doing the same stuff the Boston Three Party was probably doing in August. That said, Boston clearly had a better team, and had players that were willing to work their asses off every night (not saying miami's 3 doesnt necessarily have that drive), and the biggest thing is, they simply work well together. Allen is a superior shooter who can spot up some nights and let Pierce, who is a much better slasher, drive and kick. Garnett basically sacrificed his offensive numbers to become the intimidating inside presence defensively, and 3rd option on offense. I'm kinda rambling here but Boston also had a young emerging point guard who could get the ball to these guys, and a better and deeper bench that were all good at their individual roles. Basically, I think Boston was built much better than this Miami team. However, Miami still has incredible talent that will get better and better as the year goes on. And if they don't get it together this year, they will MLE the crap out of the NBA until they get it right. They have 6 years to do so.

"You're a back up quarterback. You should know other back up quarterbacks." It's like a fraternaty. It's funny because he says it so serious and condescendingly but you know (I hope) he's kidding.

That's what I've been saying. And most of the core is so young. when you've achieved the kind of year they've had last year. Almost the entire core experienced significant individual success last year, also reached both pinnacles of their sport (Gold/Silver medals and the Stanley Cup) and after that they come out 3 months later and have to do it again? I could seeing a veteran team rising above it, but as much as I hate to admit it, its tough to come with the same intensity. Pittsburgh dealt with the same stuff last season, another mostly very young team that reached the mountaintop. If the fans are admitting indifference, imagine how the players feel. That said, I never ever expected the team to play this poorly. And like I said above, they definitely have. It's not like they are playing middle of the road hockey. They are playing cellar dweller hockey right now. As much as we'd like to complain about all the games we've had to play (and its legitimate), we've still had a favorable schedule in that 11 of the 18 games we've played were at home. And we've pissed away that opportunity, going 4-7-0. No other team in the NHL has 7 regulation losses at home OR on the road. In fact only 1 team has more than 7 losses of any type (including OT) on either home ice or on the road this year. In fact, only 7 teams have more than 7 TOTAL losses this year. They are on pace to go 15-26-0 at home this year. That play a .500 road record is a 72 point season.

Oh, and Bill Simmons alluded top this in his picks column today, but in case you missed it Jay Cutler was mic'd up in Toronto last week. Actually pretty entertaining stuff. I saw a new side of Jay that was only slightly smug. http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/jay_cutler_micd_up_against_the_bills/3577662

The home team has dominated this series for the better part of a decade. Since 2001, the Bears are 8-1 against the Vikings at Soldier Field. However, the Bears are just 2-7 at the Metrodome over the same time frame. The only Vikings win against the Bears in Chicago since 2001 was the day Adrian Peterson almost single handedly beat us in his rookie year (2007). I gotta go with the odds here. Bears aren't that great and the Vikings are desperate, but it's gonna be chilly (pun intended) and some possible rain in the forecast. Old man Favre's bones get really brittle in those conditions. Bears win 23-20 on a last second FG.

monta ellis, stephen curry, and david lee doin thangs that core isn't exactly terrible. and ellis and curry are playing really well so far this year. Yeah I've always liked GS's roster makeup. Well, I hated Ellis, but I guess he's working on making his game more efficient, which is awesome because he was one of the worst chuckers I've ever seen last year. Curry is just a fantastic player who keeps surprising me everytime I see him play. Lee obviously is a pretty good PF, but unlike NY he doesn't have to be the main guy, which can only be good for him. Biedrins has a lot of obviously faults in his game but I've always liked the guy as a relentless rebounder/energy guy and can sometimes throw a post move or two at you. Unbelievably bad FT shooter though. Dorell Wright seems to be making a big jump this year. People forget he's still only 24. Now that Don Nelson is gone, the injuries are healed (for now), and the team is improved, I was expected to possibly see a jump for them this year, so the 6-3 start hasn't surprised me one bit.

Orlando, and Miami obviously. I'm not sure how many contenders there are. Wouldn't start on Boston or the Lakers. Would probably start for OKC. He's been awkward and lost but it's hard to know how much is him adjusting to being 3rd banana.

Was looking at points per game today. The Blackhawks are 2nd to last in the west in points per game. The only west team worse (Edmonton) has beaten us twice on our home ice this year. Btw Detroit is absolutely destroying that hapless oiler team 5-0 right now. Whether or not you think well recover from this everyone has to accept that we are playing absolutely dreadful hockey and have been one of the worst teams in the NHL the first 1/5th of the season. Oh and as far as goals scored per game were amongst the bottom 3 teams in the conference too

lol...I don't even know what to think of that trade offer. Just a crapload of overpaid players of various levels of effectiveness being traded for each other. I know it was a half assed trade offer but to analyze we only take on 5 million, replace Byrd with Beltran, replace DeWitt (essentially) with Reyes, make Ollie Larry's next reclaimation project (Imagine a rotation of Dempster, Silva, Perez, Wells and Gorzelanny). Get rid of a pitcher that is good but a constant headache, our 4th OF and our halfway decent CF. I'd think we'd need to take on more than $5m or add a decent prospect for NY to lose that much talent in the deal.

how many sox and cardinals fans are on the illinois general assembly?

It's cool how you can still faintly see the baseball field outline.