UMFan83

There used to be a stickied thread about other teams forums. I have no idea why it's not there anymore. For the Hawks google "300 level" for the Bulls go to realgm.com and goto the Bulls forum. Of course if I wanted to toe the company line I'd suggest Our sister site (sorta) 312sports.com but it's not quite high traffic yet.

No, I picked the Eagles just because I thought everyone would write them off after last weekend, but there still seems to be people picking them. The Cowboys have the confidence, the home field, and a talented team so it's not insane at all for them to win. Despite what the Eagles showed last week, I think these teams are pretty close in talent level.

Sounds like they are doing anything possible to fit his and Pujols' contracts on the team. All that means it the Cards got an even better deal than first reported, as well as more payroll flexibility. Which they can use to, among other things, resign Pujols

It wasn't as altruistic as it sounds on the surface. He wanted off Montreal's turf, and collusion wouldn't let him. It was the union's way of busting collusion. I understand the collusion story behind it, but what made him choose the Cubs over other non-turf teams? From what I read in the story, the Cubs had no interest in him (almost definitely because of the collusion), so why did he choose our loveable losers?

Sounds like they are doing anything possible to fit his and Pujols' contracts on the team.

Please be true

Why are Duke and Iowa State randomly playing each other at the United Center, and why is Duke the home team? Are they a traveling barnstorming team playing home games all over the country?

I always love hearing the story about Dawson telling the Cubs to enter a figure and he'll play for them at that amount. Can you imagine if Carlos Beltran (baseball reference has compared Andre's performance up to that point in his career most similar to Beltran at the same age) called up Jim Hendry as a free agent and told him to fill in a figure and he'll report to the Cubs in February? Of course Jim Hendry would fill the figure in as 12 years $250 million backloaded, but that's another story...

Every team AI ever played for. Fine what team allows a 36% shooter with little scoring ability, no ability to slash or draw contact, and negative respect from referees, a history of failing in clutch situations, oh and white to get anywhere near the ball for your team in crunch time?

The Bobcats. And it was a smart move. touche

If anyone is in the mood for Cardinal hating, MLBTV is showing Game 2 of the NLDS last year and its almost the 9th inning. In about 5 minutes you'll be able to relive Holliday's clutch fielding and the Cardinals pulling a Cubs in the playoffs. Edit: Everytime I have a convo with a Cardinals fan about that play, it goes like this: "Haha, Matt Holiday blew that entire series with that error he made." Then they will surely point out how there was no one on base and 2 outs when the error happened and Franklin still had the blow the rest of the game and the Cardinals still had to lose game 3, etc. "Good point, now will you finally shut up about Bartman?"

He was wide open. He was going to get a better look than Derrick was. I agree with what imb said and I was expecting that to happen when I saw Rose inbound, but it's ridiculous that there weren't "don't let Kirk shoot the ball, even if it's a layup because we've seen him fail with that before" instructions to the team before they inbounded the ball. The guy is shooting 36% from the field this year. What team allows a 36% shooter to get anywhere near the ball in crunch time?

I think Alomar is HOF matrial, but not necessarily 1st ballot matrial. that's probably the one baseball cliche that drives me the most insane Me too. Either he's a HOF or he's not. Unless you want to make a separate wing in the HOF for "First Ballot HOFs" and put them on another level, it's stupid. Would you advocate a "one-and-done" voting system then? You get one try and then you're out for eternity? For a split second that sounds like a good idea, but perceptions of eras change in baseball and it affects how we view careers. Like you said, it sounds interesting. Maybe something like "If X player doesn't make it on first ballot, he must wait 5 years to be voted on again" And if that sounds too steep for older people who want to be alive when the call comes, you can either make it so they are on the ballot every year after the 5 years, or you can reduce the wait (so 5 years after not getting in at first, then 3, 2, then every year). I think this would reduce people from considering "1st ballot, 2nd ballot, 3rd ballot, etc" from their voting. Do you think Alomar would have been voted in this year with that rule in place?

I think Alomar is HOF matrial, but not necessarily 1st ballot matrial. that's probably the one baseball cliche that drives me the most insane Me too. Either he's a HOF or he's not. Unless you want to make a separate wing in the HOF for "First Ballot HOFs" and put them on another level, it's stupid.

I think it's Expos. Walter Johnson didn't go in as a Twin, for example.

I think it's a no brainer that he goes in as an Expo. He was a much better player in Montreal. Plus, I think the "remember the Expos" sentiment is already taking over.

Well never get to beat him :(. Not that I wanted to try anymore. I'm sick of seeing this 46 year old with a 5.34 era come in and manhandle the Cubs as if he was 25 again.

Because Kirk Hinrich was wide open, and it was a point blank 15 foot shot and hes the shooting guard and....how the hell did he miss that shot? That's as close of a gimme as a jump shot can be. I'm sorry if you can't trust your starting SG to hit a 15 foot jumper uncontested and point blank in the clutch, you have big problems. That's not even getting into his wide open 3 pointer he also missed. He's horrible and getting worse every year.

LOL, the Wild's Guillaume Latendrese said the Wild should "proud of ourselves" because the Wild showed it could play with the Blackhawks. Wow, we are awesome and I'm not apologizing for it.

Please do. Even the standard stats (GS/GA, point differential, etc) are looking silly.

We heard you the first time.

I know I said otherwise at the time but I kinda wish we lost that Minnesota game after hearing this press conference. I mean on one hand, I understand the need for continuity between seasons, shaking up your whole team every year is not going to get you anywhere most of the time. But this team needs a lot of help, and I feel like the last 2 games really gave them a sense that the team is on the right track and just needs new coaching and a few minor changes.

Okay, for the sake of argument, I could see picking up a guy like Kovalchuk and dumping longer term contracts like Sharp and Versteeg. But that only works if you assume the Hawks will have no interest in signing him beyond this year. But I'm torned, you make this trade and you are literally putting ALL OF THE EGGS into one basketballand going for it this year. But if you don't win it this yr, then you take a step or two back beginning next yr. I think this team is good enough as is to win the Cup and honestly at some point you can add more talent and get dimishing returns on it. Only so many people can be on the ice and score at once. I would agree that it gives us more depth though, and Kovalchuk is obviously a terrific player. But since the Hawks are good enough as currently constructed to win this year, I'd prefer any move they make have to do with sustaining long term success. Whatever happens, the Blackhawks will be without some of their non-star players next year. They simply have to move some of those guys to make the cap work. There's no getting around it. So the question is do you deal those guys for draft picks or for a star who can help now? The Blackhawks are still loaded with young talent. I really don't think they'd be putting all their eggs in this year's basket (the best players are still signed longterm) but they'd obviously be emphasizing this year more. There's no telling what kind of picks you can get for those guys, if you aren't getting 1sts and 2nds, why not get in on something like this? I realize the cap situation, and I definitely understand what you are saying. I'd say I'd do the trade unless you think there is an opportunity to do a deal that keeps us as talented this year but helps us better long term. But as I type that out, it probably doesn't seem likely that we'd be able to find an equal talent to Versteeg and Barker in one player that happens to make a bit less than them combined and is signed for multiple seasons. I would just hate to see something what the Hawks have fall apart. They need to be careful in every somewhat major move they make down the road, not John Paxson careful, but still careful. I guess being a Chicago sports fan where success usually happens randomly and disappears just as quickly as it comes, I'm dying for some long term success. When is the last time we've had a consistent contender in this city? The Jordan Bulls and before then the mid-80's Bears were contenders between 84-90. The Hawks were a playoff team quite a bit in the 80's-90's but how many of those teams were true contenders? All of our contenders (05-06 Bears, 05 Sox, 03-04 Cubs, 07-08 Cubs) fall apart just as quickly as they arrive.

The game wasn't that meaningful for the Bengals, I'd be surprised if they showed much of their gameplan last night. I agree but trying or not there's no excuse for your starting QB to go 1-11 for 0 bet yards or for your entire offense to gain the least amount of net yards in franchise history. Combine that with how poor they've been playing as of late and things aren't great in Bengal land heading into the playoffs. the bengals played pretty well against the chargers and chiefs. I didn't watch the Chiefs game but my impression from Bengals fans that I talked to was that it was a mediocre game by the Bengals. The Chargers game I'll give you but before that they got destroyed by the Colts. I think the Bengals are better than people give them credit for. This Jets/Bengals game reeks of the type of game where the media all jumps on the Jets everyone writes off the Bengals forgetting the kind of football they played to get into the playoffs, and the Bengals come out at home and dominate.

Wow nice seats. I sat in almost the same seats for a preseason game (Derrick Rose's first in a Bulls uniform), but the seats were about 8 rows back, while yours look to be 2-3 rows off the floor.