UMFan83

I think I made it pretty clear that it's ok for him to want to be a starter. I just said it wasn't smart of him to publically state that his aim is to be a starter when the team you are trying to sign with has already reportedly had concerns about him accepting a role player type position with the team. Unless the quotes were taken out of context, I guarantee you that his quotes were not received well in the Bulls org. And that's what I was saying. Jeez you jump to conclusions without even reading other posts.

Why would I want a washed up, injured veteran who doesn't have starter ability anymore thinking that he should be a starter for a team that has two players slotted ahead of him? How does believing a lie help the team? I'm all for TMac knowing his role and coming to the Bulls. Unfortunately he doesn't know his role. Dan Bernstein made a good point today. Name one wing player who has had microfracture surgery surgery or major knee surgery who ever came to close to being his old self? McGrady has to know his role or at least keep it to himself. I'm trying to think of the players who have had it. -Chris Webber had it and was never the same. Lost a ton of his agility, but was able to reinvent himself as a useful player the rest of his career. -Jamal Mashburn had it and was never able to get back on an NBA court and had to retire. -Allan Houston had it twice, once on one knee in 98 an another time in 2003. He definitely had a pretty good run after the first surgery. Can't remember how explosive he was but he set career highs in PPG and RPG after the first surgery. -Kenyon Martin had it in 04-05, he was able to be very useful as a starter on good Nuggets teams, but he's not the same player he was pre-surgery. However he is better off than most guys who have the surgery. Of course Amare and Jason Kidd both had it and lived to tell about it, but obviously they aren't wing players. It's a really mixed bag, but like Bernstein pointed out, none of them were the same player they were presurgery. And then you add in his ongoing back issues, and it boggles my mind that TMac can sit here and say he wants to be a starter. He has to earn that right at this point because no team is willing to consider TMac reliable enough to give a starting slot to. (I realize he didn't demand to be a starter or anything, and said he was ok with a bench role if he was how he was in NYK, but the fact that he said that his aim is to be a starter bothered me quite a bit. It's one thing to think it and it's another to publically state it when the Bulls reportedly were looking to see how willing he is to adapt to a role and not be a distraction.)

I hope we can get at least 3 innings out of Silva today.

Seriously though....Bobby Howry was a reject of this historically bad bullpen. What does that say about the Cubs?

I guess, but he's not good at basketball anymore. He's like our 11th man...I can't think of many teams that have a better 11th man than Kurt Thomas. A ton of teams probably have comperable players, but not many are better.

I don't want McGrady anymore (was never really for it, but was warming to the idea). Just the fact that he's even talking about the potential to be a starter gives me pause. That's great if he thinks he can still play like the old TMac of old, but if you are really looking to be a team player and you really want to play for the Bulls, you play the team card to the public, and you use it as motivation to play your ass off and earn being a starter. Yes it's obvious that Brewer isn't nearly good enough to be the Bulls long term option at SG, but it's not a bad player to have because of his length and defense at the position. So yes it doesn't take an idiot to realize if the Bulls sign you and you dominate training camp you will probably be named the starter. But you also need to realize that's not the plan and that's not why you are being signed to this team. I mean I know he's just trying to be confident, but the Bulls are already reportedly concerned about his ability to accept a reserve role (as they should be)...this won't help convince the Bulls.

You're entitled to your view. It reminds me of Major League 2 when Jack Parkman does his shmmy that drives the girls in Cleveland crazy, then it causes them to puke later in the season. Bottom line, there are players that I hate because they are good and I wish they were on my team instead of my rivals (Pujols), and there are players that I hate for reasons that go beyond just their performance on the field (although their performance is a big part of it...aka Edmonds, Favre, James Posey, Rondo, etc)

If Pujols suddenly became a Cub, you can bet my order for the Pujols Cub jersey would be placed very quickly. Jimmy Ed -- he hasn't made any disparaging comments towards the Cubs since playing for us (that I know of). We gave him an opportunity he might not have had elsewhere, and my feeling is that he appreciates it. That tends to turn attitudes around, and so provided he doesn't come and say something like "oh hell yea, I hated those idiot Cub fans even when I was playing for them!" -- I'm not going to hold the same ire for him that I did when he was a Cardinal. I guess I'm just different in that respect to UMFan. I'd love Pujols on my team as well. I don't hate Pujols like I hated Edmonds. Edmonds (and TLR) symbolized everything I hated about the stupid Cardinals. I hated his showboating. I hate how arrogant and stuck up he acted. I hated the mascara he wore. I hated the stupid half shirts he wore. I hated when he bitched about the showers at Wrigley. I loved when Z beaned him in the ass, even though any neutral observer would have hated Z for that. I dunno he is just the one player I hated on those Cardinal teams above all else. Pujols I respect...Edmonds I didn't. And I wasn't alone. The point is, I just couldn't in my right mind turn around and love all those traits I once hated about him just because he was a Cub. It's not like he chose to play for the Cubs in the middle of his career. He was DFAd by a San Diego team desperate for offense. not a lot of teams even looked his direction. He chose one of the few that did because they were the Cardinals rivals and he wanted to stick it to LaRussa for some reason I now forget. He hit a HR against St. Louis and stared at the Cards dugout during his trot. I don't know, it just makes me feel shallow to immediately root for someone I spent so much energy hating for so many years. Like I said, it's not like I was booing his contributions and hoping he would fail. As a Cub, I have to root for him because the team is more important than the individual. But did I ever come to the point where I didn't hate him? No.

It pretty much boggles my mind that Miggy is only 27, and not 28 until next April. Seems like a long time ago when he was crushing the Cubs spirits in the NLCS.

traitor. How can you hate someone with so much passion and then throw away 15 years of pure loathing for 2 seasons? what you are supposed to do is appreciate the contributions that said player makes but never accept him as a player on your team. Continue hating when he exits the team. This doesn't apply to someone you hate just a little or whatever. Those I can accept you coming around on when they play for your favorite team. It's the fickle nature of fandom. But when it's a player you have hated so much for such a long period of time to the point where you don't respect the fans that root for him (a different thing than disliking), it is not acceptable to just turn around and love him. Especially when he is doing the same BS crap that made you especially hate him in the past. It sickens me to see Vikings fans (who I guess I never fully respected before #4....its a little too easy to get tickets to the metrodome in December) fawn over Favre when he does his little prance around the field like a ballerina after a TD, when I know for a fact that it made them nauseous not very long ago. Like I said there is a fine line. If Yadir Molina came to the Cubs, sure I wouldn't be thrilled at first because I don't like him, but if he performed well I'd learn to like him because he's a Cub...he's one of us. But when a player I've detested for years, not just because he's a Cardinal, but because I do not respect the way he plays the game or acts in general, comes to the Cubs a la Edmonds, at the end of their career for a couple of seasons, short of a game winning WS home run, I cannot find a way to like the guy. I appreciate that he hit like 20 HRs for us, and it was nice when he hit 2 HRs to single handedly beat the Cardinals. But it's one of those temporary truces that only exists when he's playing well with my team and is erased immediately upon exiting the team. Anything less just makes me feel like a huge hypocrate for ripping on his all these years for his showboat catches and douchey personality. I'm taking this too seriously no doubt, but my point stands.

that's a unique way of putting it.

and yet Bobby Howry still wasn't good enough for them...

6-4 homestand....somehow this is progress. We went 5-2 against the contending teams and 1-2 against the teams that much worse than us even.

I agree. And Pujols continues to get lucky as well. Luckiest career I've ever seen.

nice camera angles espn

Dempster giving up a lot of hits the last 2 innings. I think 5 hits in the last 2 innings. Thankfully he got 2 outs on the basepaths that limited the damage.

Oops, that sucked. Having issues getting runners home from 3rd with less than 2 outs. 0-3 with 4 outs made and 0 runs scored in the last 3 ABs in that situation.

Hey he actually caught this one. Nice throw Byrd. Sneaky arm.

*cue the poster that randomly despises Dempster* *also cue the poster that always complains about the opponents scoring right after the Cubs do*

It's weird to see a Cardinals CF wearing number 15 go back on a fly ball and its not Edmonds.

Interesting. Rangers have what? A 6 game lead in the division? Gonna be tough to make up. Wild Card I don't think is any better.

I'm definitely not in love with their farm system. But then again we probably wouldnt get any of their top prospects for 2 months of Lee anyways, assuming that's who you are referring to.

Exactly. The guy is going to be the 5th big man in the Bulls interior rotation. All you're really looking for in that role is some toughness and a guy who isn't going to be a liability out there for ten minutes a game. If the alternative is Chris Richard or Josh Boone or someone along those lines, I think the Bulls did just fine here. Yeah but he's also the 'holy crap omer asik kind of sucks' backup plan. Decent chance he is our backup center. Big downgrade from Noah. I wish one of our centers was a more traditional type scorer. But I guess since we have Boozer its a little more acceptable. Can Kurt Thomas hit a midrange jumper? What team actually has a good backup center? The Magic do. Other than that, I can't really think of a team that has one. Thomas has made a living out of hitting baseline shots and midrange jumpers. Well to be honest I'm not necessarily looking for "good", just adequate. We all know how awful a bad center looks like. I can't handle us giving 15 minutes a game to a stiff. Miller resigning would have made me ecstatic because I really liked the change of pace he gave vs. when Noah is out there.

I'm pretty sure it was 2 teams playing 2 teams. Cubs/Umps vs. Cardinals/Theriot

lol that should have been ball 4