UMFan83

Yay for potent offense.

The "Other Sports" forum will continue here for people that do not wish to post at two sites. Interesting. I ask because it seems the choice to allow Bears and Bulls talk to continue at NSBB is what prevented WindyCityFootball and SecondCityHoops from getting off the ground. The sentiment seemed to be "I prefer to just stay at NSBB". So what will be the incentive to draw NSBB'ers to a second site? I think that Tim hopes to draw members from other sources besides NSBB.

I watched the first 4 minutes and then went to play some Madden and then came back to see them losing 5-0 in the first period?!?!!?! Is Huet drunk or something? I hope this is just a strange aberration in a long season or not the end of a season long struggle from Huet. How many more before they pull Huet? I can't believe we haven't already.

Benson was a very good compliment for Thomas Jones in 05 and 06, but when he was handed the job in 07, the team wasn't behind him and then had a mediocre season followed by his third semi major injury and then multiple run ins with the law. Benson was never gonna work out in Chicago and it was partly the Bears fault, but mostly his own fault. I certainly do not wish well upon him except for the purposes of my fantasy team, but it doesn't bother me that he's doing well. As for Orton, there was a small but vocal faction of Bears fans that while happy that the Cutler trade was made, thought we could have gone along with Orton. I said there was no bend to my above post but there was a slight tilt. Orton's start to 2008 may have not been the best of the 5 numbers I posted, but it wasn't all that far off. If you can have a 62+ completion percentage, average 7-7.5 YPA and limit your INTs you are gonna be able to hold your own in the league. The other jokes that the Bears have used at QB over the last few decades were missing some or all of this. Orton was unfairly grouped into that mix because he didn't have superstar talent. But he was actually quite effective until he suffered his high ankle sprain that affected him the rest of the season. I am a big fan of Cutler and I'm super psyched at what he can do for this team (especially this team in particular which needs a QB that can lead them to wins, not just one that can steady the course), but I wouldn't have been upset if we went to war with KO. He really showed me a lot from his rookie year, when he was very ineffective and couldn't lead the team on sustained drives. But he sat out 06 and most of 07 came back a more polished QB in 2008. I wish nothing but the best for KO, but at the same time it pisses me off that the media is picking up on his story and just now starting to believe in his ability, because it all comes at the expense of the Chicago Bears organization, when it shouldn't. WE developed him and then WE upgraded. We did nothing wrong. Kyle was born to lead teams with a great defense and good weapons on offense. He can't screw that team up.

Just for fun, rank these 5 QB numbers thru 5 games. I'm sure you can guess some of them, but just humor me. The data isn't intended to make any points or anything about the QBs, just interesting to look at without the bias of a name attached to it. Oh and these aren't 5 different QBs from this year, its a couple of QBs and their numbers through 5 games of a particular season and it's Bears-centric. Player A: 96-155 62% completion percentage 1,100 yards 7.1 YPA 7 TD 4 INT Player B: 104-165 63% completion percentage 1,236 yards 7.5 YPA 7 TD 1 INT Player C: 125-191 65.4% completion percentage 1,502 yards 7.9 YPA 10 TD 4 INT Player D: 104-161 64.5% completion percentage 1,126 yards 7.0 YPA 8 TD 4 INT Player E: 110-155 71% completion percentage 1,040 yards 6.7 YPA 12 TD 2 INT Rate them first but if you want to know who they belong to....

You think the MLB is hoping for Philly to win this one? So far LA/NY, LA/PHI or COL

What losing streak? 5 games? The Brewers won Game 3 of their series last year on the same day the Cubs lost game 3 (but earlier in the day). So the streak is Game 3 Dodgers v. Cubs, Game 4 Brewers v. Phillies, and Games 1-3 Dodgers v. Cardinals.

The Pirates GM is so much worse than Hendry. Their team lost like 100 games last year. If Hendry was the GM of that team, he'd simply spend $300 million on free agents this offseason. Problem solved. Why doesn't Huntington just do that? And if I was the Brewers GM, I would outbid the Yankees to resign CC so the trade was worth it. Also I would have resigned Sheets and tell him not to get hurt. Also, if I was the Cardinals GM, I would have demanded that the team win more playoff games to justify the Holliday deal. Also I might have targeted a LF that could catch the ball when it was hit right to him. And I love how people don't point out that we traded a bunch of prospects for 1.333 years of Rich Harden and it got us 0 playoff wins. Whats that you say? The prospects sucked? Maybe that has something to do with the farm system that Hendry resides over sucks badly.

It was totally worth Ryan Franklin randomly coming out of nowhere to become an All Star closer just to see it all collapse in the postseason. Like I said last night, this must be Groundhog Day for DeRosa. I think he is a playoff jinx or something. Wherever he goes, his team gets swept out of the postseason (hopefully).

C'mon Loney, hit another big postseason homer. (ugh)

C'mon Manny. Is Carp for sure coming back on 3 days rest for Game 4 or is it still up in the air. Who would be their Game 4 starter if not? Lohse? Smoltz?

Sharpie with the first stateside goal on the year to make it 1-0 Hawks! But Lindstrom ties it up for the Wings a little bit later.

Decent first period. Osgood looked pretty good, with a lesser goalie performance we'd have a goal or two

right except dempster is a pitcher with power stuff whose peripherals actually supported that he was really good last year. wolf is a soft-tosser (those types of guys normally struggle in the playoffs) whose numbers are a BABIP mirage. Touche. I didn't really think about it that deeply.

NLDS Game 1. Go-ahead HR? Meh, he got jammed on that pitch and the wind helped get it out and stay fair ;) Actually DeRo hit decently last year and bad in 2007. This must feel like Groundhog day for him though, another poor hitting performance for his team in the postseason. Edit: just looked it up. Over 1.000 OPS in 08 and surpringly (to me) a .833 OPS in 07. He was 3-9 with 3 singles and 0 RBIs, but for the most part he didn't hit when it count. He hit a single with 1 out and the bases empty in Game 1, he hit another single leading off the 4th inning of Game 3, and his last single was with 2 outs in the 8th inning trailing by 3.

Cardinals lose! I hope they get swept out of the playoffs so they feel what we felt the last 2 years.

Why couldn't DeRo hit like that when he was on the Cubs in the playoffs? All I remember is GIDPs on 3-1 pitches with the bases loaded.

It gets better. Joe Torre will be going with Vicente Padilla for game 3. what a joke. it's like he's actively trying to lose the series. The decision to start Randy Wolf in game 1 was is similar to starting Ryan Dempster in game 1 last year. Both were average pitchers at best going into the season, and both had really good consistent years that earned them the nod I guess. Also, starting Padilla in game 3 is like starting Harden. OK not really, Padilla is crap and Harden was really good but slowed quite a bit from injury. Lilly probably would have been a better choice since he was pitching so well.

Gateway Redbirds is rather entertaining right now. For all the lurking Cards fans, I know you won the division and we didnt, 2006 1908 blah blah. But its fun to see their fans self destruct and throw the same kind of idiot thoughts out there like some of our posters do. Edit: uh oh spoke too soon, a chance to tie it here...

That was terrific AramisFan. Seriously...really good job. Even during rough years like this there are moments of joy, and this video really helped me remember those really good moments the season brought.

Just for fun, since Lovie likes to break the season down in quarters, with quarter 1 out of the way, how does everyone think quarter 2 will go? There are some tough games here, 2 against the AFC, 1 against the defending NFC champs, and 1 that might be our most important game of the year. @ Atlanta Most important game of the year? What? Yeah that's what I said. In no way am I conceding the division at all, especially because we haven't played Minnesota yet, but you gotta admit the Vikings looked pretty good on Monday night. Should we fall behind the pace in the division, our next hope is a wild card spot. Atlanta is in a similar situation. New Orleans finally looks like they are living up to the potential the experts have predicted for years. If NO runs away with the division, it will leave Atlanta fighting with teams like the Bears for a WC spot. The tiebreaker can be huge. Last year before week 17, despite having the same record as the other contenders, the Bears needed a miracle scenario to stay alive for the WC because of lost H2H tiebreakers against TB, Carolina and Atlanta. OK so it's not the most important game, I said that for dramatic effect, but by the end of the season this might just be the game that gets us into the playoffs or shuts us out. @ Cincinnati Another tough road test. So far our road schedule is GB, Seattle, Atlanta, Cincinnati. Very tough. I suspect though that they are not as good of a team as they have seemed so far. Their defense is improving, but we have been facing good D's all year and have faired pretty well. We should at least be able to put some points on the board. Although they have a decent amount of offensive weapons, they have sorta underachieved there so far. Carson Palmer hasn't been the same QB since his 2005 injury (although he is still good), Chad 85 is still very solid but possibly a little past his prime. We'll have to look out for Benson as he has probably circled this game a long time ago. There is plenty of motivation for Ced to run all over the Bears. But overall, they scored 7 points against an admittedly good Broncos D. They also didn't look particularly great being unable to move the ball down the field most of the game vs. Cleveland and especially in OT. I think we can take this one. vs. Cleveland Yeah this should be a gimme. After 2 tough road games and a decently tough game the next week, my only hope is that the Bears don't overlook this one. Cleveland did look decent against Cincinnati last year, and although Anderson is a mostly mediocre QB, he does give the Browns an added level of offense that the horrible Quinn does not. The only way I can see them winning is if Anderson exposes our secondary and LBs, has a solid day and the defense causes a couple of fluke turnovers. I think being at home and facing an awful team should be enough to win handily. There are not too many gimmes on the Bears schedule this year (I count 4, Cleveland, St. Louis, Detroit, Detroit) so we need to take advantage. vs. Arizona Honestly not sure what to think about Arizona. A lot of people say that their biggest issue is their offensive line play right now, and that plays right into the Bears hands with our improved pass rush. Mostly the same key pieces are there from their Super Bowl run, but the jury is still out deciding whether that run was a fluke mediocre team that got hot at the right time/played some good matchups, or a developing team that finally put it together at the right time. I think it's somewhere in the middle. A lot of 'experts' have written them off after their 1-2 start, but looking closer at it, they lost a close game to a SF team who seems to have made the leap this year, and got blown out by a elite Colts team. Their one win is against a Jags team that has looked pretty good to start the year, and it was a rather convincing win (31-17). I think this game will come down to how well the Bears pass rush does against the Cardinals line and how much they can pressure Warner. If Warner has time to throw, or if the Bears can't rush effectively enough with their front 4 and need lots of blitzes, then Warner might light up the Bears and move up and down the field with ease. If the Bears can get their hands on Warner and the Dline is constantly pressuring him, then Warner will likely make mistakes which hopefully lead to turnovers. This is a pretty tough quarter of the season. We play 2 playoff teams from last year, one team that looks like it could be a playoff team next year, and what amounts to hopefully a gimmie. Because of the gimmie game, I think 3-1 is obtainable, and 2-2 is acceptable. I think one of the 3 tougher games will be a game that could go either way, and whether the Bears can pull it off will determine 3-1 or 2-2. For the sake of making a prediction, I say Atlanta is the back and forth game, and the Bears find a way to pull it out. I think they beat Atlanta, Cincinnati and Cleveland before falling to Arizona in a bit of an upset. I would assume most people would predict the Bears having trouble in the road games, but I'm going out on a limb.

He's a smarter version of Aaron Miles. He waited for the offseason to screw up the Cardinals, so they could fall on their faces on the grandest stage.

I don't hate them because of it. It's more of a jealousy/want them to feel the pain they gave us kinda thing. But not when they are playing the Cardinals.

I used to always cheer against the Yankees like everyone else but they haven't won in so long (relative to their past success) that I'm almost kinda hoping they'd advance. Here is the order in which I'd like to see these teams win it all. 1. Twins 2. Rockies 3. Angels 4. Yankees 5. Phillies 6. Red Sox 7. Dodgers 8. Cardinals

Didn't stop Dennis Rodman from doing things that big men do but do it better than people 5-6 inches taller than him. Same goes for Ben Wallace. I'm not saying that Blair is in the same class as them, but you can't dismiss his potential because of his height.