UMFan83

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.

3-7-0 in their last 10 games. That's 6 points out of a possible 20.

Hawks 4 mins from losing on home ice yet again.

If you assume that Fukudome is gone no matter what, and you have seen some of the garbage Hendry has gotten in return for his salary dumps (Izturis, DeWitt, Silva, Hairston), you could definitely do worse than Dice K. That said, I'm in the camp that wouldnt take on a dime of salary in the trade. If they want to eat $12 million over 2 years to make the deal I'm willing to see what upside he has in the NL. Obviously there are significant risks (Injuries, inconsistency, general fatigue, etc) but I think he's got the kind of upside we aren't going to find much of in a Fukudome trade. I certainly don't agree with you lumping all of that garbage in the same sentence. Posters were clamoring to get rid of Theriot and getting Dewitt seems like a good deal. As for dumping Bradley to get Silva (plus the money for Byrd), that definitely has to go in the plus column for Hendry. The trade wasn't Theriot for Dewitt though.

Why is this sad? Why is sad even on the list of words you would consider using in that sentence? There are 16 teams in each conference, you can't play them all every other year. Who gives a crap that Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco may only play each other 3 times in 11 years? Do you know how many times Peyton Manning and McNabb have played each other? 3 times. Who cares? Yeah that makes no sense. How far does this extend? What about Rivers and Rodgers? How about Schaub and Romo? Let's make sure Stafford and Bradford meet Sanchez often. Let's throw Josh Freeman in there too and make sure he meets up with all these guys. WHAT ABOUT RODGERS AND HENNE?!! The NFL is full on MONSTERS for letting this happen. What an injustice.

If you assume that Fukudome is gone no matter what, and you have seen some of the garbage Hendry has gotten in return for his salary dumps (Izturis, DeWitt, Silva, Hairston), you could definitely do worse than Dice K. That said, I'm in the camp that wouldnt take on a dime of salary in the trade. If they want to eat $12 million over 2 years to make the deal I'm willing to see what upside he has in the NL. Obviously there are significant risks (Injuries, inconsistency, general fatigue, etc) but I think he's got the kind of upside we aren't going to find much of in a Fukudome trade.

No no no! I've seen them with my own eyes. Teixeria, Jeter and Cano are studs. Just watch them play. They play the game the right way. Jeter is awesome at fielding grounders. He only had 15 errors last year!! Why would I let a computer tell me anyone's better at fielding than Jeter?

I was just about to post that. Oh well. There is a 5-4 team, three 4-4 teams and a 4-5 team ahead of them.

Decent point. Even if we sniff around Lee, I don't think it's smart to outbid the Yankees for him, which is exactly what's gonna have to happen.

They are 3-3 now. Are they legit? I heard about of preseason hype from Pacer fans but not a lot outside of Indy. Btw that is a mind boggling quarter.

You shouldn't write an article unless you name your source? Well the entire ESPN.com NBA reporting staff is axed then.

Speaking of the Lions, Stafford might be out for the season. I'm starting to feel bad for the Lions. All riling up sneakypower aside, they've had a very promising year and could be looking at a string of good seasons if they can just keep Stafford healthy. But the damn kid keeps getting hurt...enough that you start to wonder if it's always going to be like this with him. It sucks because as good as he's looked he probably still has a good deal of developing to do. And he can't develop much if he's only playing 5 games a year.

I wouldn't call it arrogance, I'd call it little guy syndrome. "hey guys look at me, were not those 0-16 bums any more. We're so much better now" Just let him have his say and pat him on the head.

More impressive to me was the next year the bulls won 69 and, if I recall correctly, gave away a couple games late in the year to get ready for the playoffs. Could have won 70 two years in a row. Yup...they were 68-10 and lost 3 of their last 4 to "settle" for tying the 2nd best record of all time. I'm sure some of it was a relaxed attitude before the playoffs, but the 3 teams they lost to were the Pistons (54 wins), Heat (61 wins) and Knicks (57 wins).

Are they looking ahead to Michigan? Or a BCS bowl? I know UM is the rivalry game, but they should know that if the last decade is any indication they are going to roll over UM so it shouldnt be that anticipated.

If the Red Sox and Yankees can have 2 of the better farm systems in baseball and both compete for a WS every year, the Cubs can do it. It doesn't need to be a mutually exclusive thing.

Fun fact: Bears are 7-3 in their last 10 games against Favre, dating back to the 2004 season. 2004: @ GB - W v. GB - L 2005: v. GB - W @ GB - W 2006: @ GB - W v. GB - L 2007: @ GB - W v. GB - W 2009: @ Min - L v. Min - W I'm not going to go over the pre-2004 numbers vs. Favre, but I will say that the 7-3 stretch brought us to 11-23 lifetime against Favre.