UMFan83

And another goal, and the Hawks are collapsing. 5-4

Come on...2 quick goals in :45 and this is a game again.

This is just too easy.

That was an awesome centering pass from Kane and nice job by Toews to be there to put it in. 11 games in a row for Kane with a point.

D'oh, poor defense by the Hawks. That shouldn't have been a goal.

Precisely. There's so much discussion and analysis over a game where the winner will be stomped out next week. The other three games this weekend matter. I'm willing to bet the winner of that game surprises you. I honestly think everyone is underrating the Bengals. I'm not saying their better than the Colts or Chargers, but they will probably keep a game against those 2 close and who knows what can happen in a close game. http://dominiqueng.co.cc/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/pie_in_face.jpg

LOL, Hawks already up 1-0 90 seconds in.

Precisely. There's so much discussion and analysis over a game where the winner will be stomped out next week. The other three games this weekend matter. I'm willing to bet the winner of that game surprises you. I honestly think everyone is underrating the Bengals. I'm not saying their better than the Colts or Chargers, but they will probably keep a game against those 2 close and who knows what can happen in a close game.

He's such a weird pitcher. He can be really really good at times, but most of the time he's a mess out there.

I'm in the camp that Niemi can be that franchise goalies, and because of this I don't think goalie should be a priority for the Hawks. If a real talented goalie falls into your lap, fine, but the presence of Niemi allows the Hawks to take their time with a goalie. I'm not sold on Niemi yet. I mean, this team is so good that Huet is one of the league leaders in GAA, for crying out loud. Niemi is benefitting too. But he sure does seem to have that ability to make the tough saves, like that left kick save he made last night. That was pretty. But even if he's not going to be a stud, franchise-type goalie for many years, I agree that he is good enough to get us by for a few years. But we'll only need him for that if we can find someone to take Huet. He's doing really well and making some tough saves, but I have a Randy Wells complex about him. Mentally, I still can't make myself feel certain he's legit.

chose the better player between soriano and lee and got him for less money and years? Seriously the ones that put Hendry in 5th insted of 6th but Wade last except one person randomly put Huntington last.

That's the thing. It all relies on well the Hawks can replenish lost talent through the draft. I'm not sure if they can. They have a pretty good track record of building this core through high draft picks. Can we trust them to draft well lower down in the draft like Detroit could/can?

The best part is reading the comments- made by fans of all teams. They all seem in agreement that Hendry is easily the worst gm in the division.

Piniella always called him "Stevie Eyre" Because he thought that was his name. Edit: http://blogs.suntimes.com/cubs/2007/10/lou_keeps_playing_name_game.html

I'm sure Dan never said he was certain that the Bulls would get Kobe. Did Dan run this newest rumor by Terry and "his guy"? Terry's guy is the one who tells us after a big story breaks that he knew it would happen all along. This is what I dug up regarding Bernstein and Kobe. I listened to the Score all day pretty much the 2 days that story was at its peak, and while my memory is a bit hazy, I seem to remember him saying something like "Kobe to the Bulls is extremely close/Kobe just needs to approve it/Kobe will be a Bull".

I'm reading a Bruins message board about the game, and their fans are funny. Whoever said the other team's announcers are gushing over the Hawks is right. Half their posts are ripping on their announcer for sounding so excited about the Hawks. Oh and this comment sucks: Shut the hell up Boston fan, your teams have won almost every championship last decade, it's our turn to actually be really good at something for once. I know it's probably the guy's favorite sport and team but if he's from Boston he's had more than enough success to not bitch for a couple years.

Did anyone read this article? It's basically a long article about how awesome the Blackhawks are http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=4804652

We're getting a lot of good chances. We'll probably take this one or at least get a point as long as we limit the mistakes.

Bad turnover for the Hawks...they are playing horrible in their own zone so far tonight. I've already seen the Hawks turn the puck over in front of their net 3 times in the game so far. The first goal was off a really random deflection, can't really do much about that. The second one is inexcusable.

I think the NFL should set up a true World Bowl and invite the winners of the German american football league for a game against the Super Bowl champions.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100107&content_id=7887478&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb I'll always remember how he sucked so badly for most of 2007 that Lou completely lost any faith in him. Guess that sucking worked out for him since it allowed him to get traded to the Phillies and get a ring.

me, too. but not as a backup. he'd be great to split carries 50/50. I think any of Thomas/Norwood/Washington could go ahead and split carries with Forte. I suggested all those guys with that in mind. If we're just looking for a strict backup and keeping Forte as a guy who get 80% or more of the carries, might as well just have Bell fill that role. But that would be stupid, so I hope we get a player that we can at least give Forte a 60/40 role with, if not 50/50 or even 40/60 if the player is good enough. Edit- just some Matt Forte stats: Only four times did he get more than 75 yards: Detroit (twice), St. Louis, Cleveland. Only four TDs: Detroit (twice), St. Louis, Cleveland. I added more to this in the last game thread. Forte only had 3 runs over 16 yards all year, and all 3 were against Detroit.

I'm referring to the fact that they are paid for a 6 month regular season with 1.5 months of practice beforehand and 1 month of playoffs after. They aren't going to give a crap about such a series. They might play if they get paid, but it won't come close to the intensity of the actual world series. It will be viewed as punishment for winning. I don't doubt that it won't have the luster of the World Series (especially at first), but I doubt anyone will view it as punishment for winning. A true "World" Series is something, if done correctly (big assumption, I know), that could generate a lot of interest. As with anything new, some people will probably really like it, some will hate it, and many will be indifferent. I mean I think the ideal comparison you are hoping to achieve is something like what they do with European soccer and the Champions league, where the best teams from all the leagues in Europe compete in a tournament to determine the "best team in Europe" every year. That is arguably more important to win than their actual league titles. But for that to work a lot of things would have to change. The hardest issue to overcome is that baseball is not really a sport where you can play year round and expect optimal performance, especially with pitchers. Soccer teams can handle playing in their home leagues, champions/uefa leagues, international tournaments and friendlies, and some ever are on loan to other leagues during their main leagues offseason (see Beckham on loan to Milan while under contract to the Galaxy). While some baseball players participate in other leagues during the MLB offseason, the primary importance is always to MLB and to the team you are under contract with. While you might play in the Venezuelan Winter League, most likely you are being closely monitored by your MLB club, cutting outings short at certain pitch counts, etc. So anyways, that's just a pipe dream ultimate dream for an international sport. Getting back this "Global Series" idea, the only way things like this or the WBC would ever become legit in the eyes of just about everyone is if a philosophical change occurs that makes people consider this series as the end all be all tournament of prestige or at the very least, as important as the World Series. Because if CC Sabathia, after throwing over 350 innings between spring training, the season and the playoffs, is out there throwing 100 pitches in a tournament against the Yomiuri Giants and blows out his arm, a lot of people are angry. The Yankees are pissed, the fans are pissed, CC is pissed. If Cristiano Ronaldo tears his ACL playing in a Champion's League game, people dismiss it as part of the game. You need to bridge that gap before anyone even begins to take these tournaments seriously. Until then, you might as well call them exhibitions because that's what they are.

That's interesting, but I doubt it would be treated as much more than an exhibition from the American side.

I don't think I'd touch LT. He's well past his prime according to past RBs. Here is a list of RBs that were 30 or over during this season: Michael Bennett, SD (30) Ladell Betts, WAS (29) Correll Buckhalter, DEN (30) Rock Cartwright, WAS (29) Warrick Dunn, TB (34) Heath Evans, NO (33) Kevin Faulk, NE (33) Ahman Green, HOU (32) Edgerrin James, ARI (30) Larry Johnson, KC (29) Rudi Johnson, DET (29) Thomas Jones, NYJ (30) Lamont Jordan, OAK (30) Jamal Lewis, CLE (29) Deuce McAllister, FA (30) Travis Minor, STL (29) Maurice Morris, DET (29) Sammy Morris, NE (32) Michael Pittman, DEN (33) Dominic Rhodes, BUF (30) Cecil Sapp, DEN (30) Mike Sellers, WAS (33) Aaron Stecker, NO (33) Chester Taylor, MIN (29) Fred Taylor, NE (33) LaDainian Tomlinson, SD (29) Kenny Watson, CIN (31) Brian Westbrook, PHI (29) Ricky Williams, MIA (32) I only count 2 of the RBs on this list that had prominent roles and did above average, Thomas Jones and Ricky Williams. Maybe Chester Taylor as well with a lesser role. Maybe LT is one of the exceptions but he hasn't shown it over the last 2 seasons.