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Just out of curiosity, how do you (and Cubbies75) feel about his natural talent? Is he a top pick in that respect, but has terrible decision-making skills or is he just terrible all around? I've never watched him, so I only have stats and scouting reports to go off of. I personally don't see it. He's got all the right physical measurements, but that's about where it stops. He's never impressed me as a quarterback. Hmm, interesting. The thing with Ryan is that you can see his talent, he just makes terrible decisions. If Freeman doesn't look to have the physical talents, I'm not sure why they'd buy into only physical appearances.

Just out of curiosity, how do you (and Cubbies75) feel about his natural talent? Is he a top pick in that respect, but has terrible decision-making skills or is he just terrible all around? I've never watched him, so I only have stats and scouting reports to go off of.

In the BC games I watched last year (granted only three or four), Ryan relied mostly on his natural talents (plentiful as they are) and completely disregarded smart throws. It worked most of the time against inferior athletes, but I suspect it won't in the NFL. The same goes for Freeman if he has the natural talents it sounds like he might.

The Big XII is a whole heck of a lot better than the ACC. Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri and Kansas are much better than anything the ACC has. Texas Tech, Texas A&M, KState, Ok State and Nebraska would probably be some of the better teams in the ACC. Boston College might not be middle of the road in the Big XII. Like I said, I don't think Ryan or Freeman are/were deserving of the #1 pick - but there's precedent for NFL teams to draft off potential and skill sets over production.

Well, I might sneak into the 2nd or 3rd round next year then. Interesting: Josh Freeman, soph yr - 63.3 comp %, 6.7 yards per pass, 18:11 TD:INT, 127.3 rating Matt Ryan, jr yr - 61.6%, 6.9 y/pass, 15:10 TD:INT, 126.4 rating I don't think a "mediocre" year from Freeman should make him the #1 pick, just as I don't think Matt Ryan should have been the first QB taken in the draft. But, I can see the precedent for an NFL team falling in love with Freeman's natural skills (he is 6'6, 250) much like they did Ryan's and not looking at the stats. Freeman's sophomore year and Ryan's junior year were eerily similar. Freeman won't have Jordy Nelson to save his ass. I don't know what Ryan' decision making abilities were like, but freeman's are pretty bad. The offense is basically designed to make him think as little as possible. Ryan's were pretty bad his senior year - exactly the reason why I didn't understand him going so early. He was a poor decision maker (19 picks his senior year) with a lot of raw talent - exactly what Freeman sounds like.

Did you think we had picked Macias or Neifi back up? I did. 8-[

Well, I might sneak into the 2nd or 3rd round next year then. Interesting: Josh Freeman, soph yr - 63.3 comp %, 6.7 yards per pass, 18:11 TD:INT, 127.3 rating Matt Ryan, jr yr - 61.6%, 6.9 y/pass, 15:10 TD:INT, 126.4 rating I don't think a "mediocre" year from Freeman should make him the #1 pick, just as I don't think Matt Ryan should have been the first QB taken in the draft. But, I can see the precedent for an NFL team falling in love with Freeman's natural skills (he is 6'6, 250) much like they did Ryan's and not looking at the stats. Freeman's sophomore year and Ryan's junior year were eerily similar.

I kind of agree, but think it can be opened up to anyone who made a significant impact (performance-wise) on a team for an extended period of time. Peyton Manning at Tennessee, Donovan McNabb at Syracuse, Darren McFadden at Arkansas, Herschel Walker at Georgia and Reggie Bush at USC are recent examples of what I'm talking about. Reserve them not just for the greatest players to ever play the game, but also the greatest players to ever play for their respective team/school. And one year isn't enough time to make that type of impact, in my opinion. I went with at least three years. One year is foolish imo and I hope Syracuse doesn't do this foolishness with Melo but our AD is just flash and probably would do it to get a big record crowd in the Dome. I don't have a problem with your list other than Bush if he's found to be guilty of taking cash. The Yankees are the biggest goof when it comes to this. Mattingly, come on. Good point on Bush, I wasn't thinking of his pending issues. The biggest guideline for me is that the player must be special for the organization - if he is, then I have no problem with their number being retired.

Historically, not long. Was it his wrist or arm that was broken? Hand I thought it was a broken finger? I could be remembering wrong, though. IIRC it was one of the bones in the hand that the finger connects to. Yes, I know that's an incredibly medical statement. I just remember his injury sounded very much like something similar I had as a teen. I also broke the same wrist like a year afterwards -- the wrist injury was *much* more intense and required much more rehab for me. Put the Maxim mag away next time and it won't hurt as much. Yeah, I'd rather have it be a broken finger over a wrist anytime. I'd rather read a Maxim magazine than have a broken bone. Wouldn't you?

Historically, not long. Was it his wrist or arm that was broken? Hand I thought it was a broken finger? I could be remembering wrong, though. IIRC it was one of the bones in the hand that the finger connects to. Yes, I know that's an incredibly medical statement. I just remember his injury sounded very much like something similar I had as a teen. I also broke the same wrist like a year afterwards -- the wrist injury was *much* more intense and required much more rehab for me. Thanks daske and Soul. I thought it was something in the finger, but didn't realize it was the bone connecting the finger to the hand. I guess we're all somewhat right here. :D

Historically, not long. Was it his wrist or arm that was broken? Hand I thought it was a broken finger? I could be remembering wrong, though.

I kind of agree, but think it can be opened up to anyone who made a significant impact (performance-wise) on a team for an extended period of time. Peyton Manning at Tennessee, Donovan McNabb at Syracuse, Darren McFadden at Arkansas, Herschel Walker at Georgia and Reggie Bush at USC are recent examples of what I'm talking about. Reserve them not just for the greatest players to ever play the game, but also the greatest players to ever play for their respective team/school. And one year isn't enough time to make that type of impact, in my opinion. I went with at least three years.

The WR Orton is black, so, no. :D Ahhh, that would be a clue I suppose. :lol:

I wanted to go with Cesar Romero simply because he was the original, but Ledger did the best job. I liked Jack's version of the Joker and, in a sense, they are almost too different to compare. But Ledger's was more true to the comics, while Jack's was closer to the old TV series.

They talked about that earlier. Yusmeiro Petit will start in place of Owings. Don't know why Melvin did this, though.

We won his first start, did we not? He just didn't get the win, I think.

The D-backs bullpen has been a complete mess lately. Brandon Lyon (closer) is no Valverde and I think Juan Cruz (primary setup) is still injured. Not sure on Cruz though. He has been pitching very well this year - not so much for Lyon though.

Are you kidding me? Are you watching the game? The old "watch the games" retort... :lol: Well, seeing as they've hit 4542354623 liners and all of them have been caught, I don't think their ability to make contact against Randy Johnson is in question. But yes, sometimes you need to watch the game to be able to tell that. This is true. We've killed the Unit tonight, but every hard hit ball has gone right to somebody. Hard to fault the offense for this.

Not only should they be projected, it'd be disappointing if they didn't. Tampa and Carolina could potentially be good enough to topple them if things fall right, but NO is the class of the division at the moment by a decent margin. Don't forget about the Falcons, they're going to be tough this year with that stud Matt Ryan at QB. :ninja: But seriously, there's absolutely no reason why the Saints shouldn't win the South. That division is terrible. I'm not sure that secondary is improved enough to get them anywhere in the playoffs, though. don't hate on the falcons Despite being a Titan fan, I've always been somewhat partial to the Falcons as well (though, obviously, less so than to the Titans). So don't think I'm hating on them too much. :D I still think it was a terrible decision to draft Matt Ryan with Dorsey, et al still on the board, though. I totally agree with that OR we could have signed Kerney last year, drafted Okoye and then we would be free to take Ryan. I'm just not a big fan of Matt Ryan. I think the Ravens got a similar QB (with perhaps more upside) much later in the first round taking Joe Flacco.

Good point on the healing process for a knee injury, but Taylor said earlier today that he planned on fulfilling the remainder of his contract (I believe three more years, but I'm not sure). At his age, though, nothing is for sure. Like you said, it's a very good problem to have.

Thanks for the info. It'd be interesting to see Purdue rise up, it would definitely help the Big 10 challenge for one of the top conferences once again (with OSU, Purdue, Wisconsin and, perhaps, MSU leading the way). And a side note - is the WR Orton you brought up any relation to Kyle Orton? I doubt it, but figured I'd ask.

Practically zero unless he suddenly fails to secure another top 10 recruiting class, although if he goes 7-5/6-6 with the schedule put before him it'd be interesting to see the reaction. ND's schedule is practically begging for 8 wins or more if the team improves as much as freshmen-to-sophomore improvement normally would suggest they will. ETA: Only morons call him the genius, this term is now used almost exclusively by Internet trolls. I'm not entirely sure I see more than 6-7 wins for sure. San Diego State, Stanford, Navy, Washington and Syracuse are relatively sure wins (Stanford and Navy might be in question, but probably not) North Carolina could be a win, but I'm not sure ND is much better than UNC right now - it's definitely not a sure thing. Otherwise, ND has one sure loss (USC) and five tough games (Michigan, @Purdue, Michigan State, Pitt and @BC). Given that, I'm not sure 8 wins is a sure thing. Less than 6-7 would be awful though. I think ND has a good chance of winning two of the five tough games - even the reprehensibly bad early-season version of the Irish managed to hang with MSU and Purdue last year, and Pitt isn't very good, plus it's at home. Obviously, I'm banking on a lot of improvement, though. Your assessment of the schedule's pretty good. They could win 8 games, my argument is just that it's far from a sure thing. As for the MSU and Purdue games, ND gets the Boilermakers on the road (though, granted, MSU is at home) plus, you can't ignore potential improvements from MSU and Purdue. I'm not sure how Purdue stacks up, but MSU is likely going to be better this year since last year was spent cleaning up John L. Smith's mess. I would think winning one of two of those is a decent bet. And I try to be unbiased with ND and analyze them honestly, I've got no deep-seeded problems with them. :D

As bad a funk as he was in with us, it's no surprise it's taking him more than 20 ABs to get it back. If the A's have him in their future plans, they might as well let him start a majority of the remainder of the year and see if he can figure things out.

If they're terrible this year (which I don't think they will be), then it wouldn't shock me. All they would need would be enough big money donors to pony up enough cash and Weis would be gone. Probably nothing short of 5 or less wins would be enough, though.

Practically zero unless he suddenly fails to secure another top 10 recruiting class, although if he goes 7-5/6-6 with the schedule put before him it'd be interesting to see the reaction. ND's schedule is practically begging for 8 wins or more if the team improves as much as freshmen-to-sophomore improvement normally would suggest they will. ETA: Only morons call him the genius, this term is now used almost exclusively by Internet trolls. I'm not entirely sure I see more than 6-7 wins for sure. San Diego State, Stanford, Navy, Washington and Syracuse are relatively sure wins (Stanford and Navy might be in question, but probably not) North Carolina could be a win, but I'm not sure ND is much better than UNC right now - it's definitely not a sure thing. Otherwise, ND has one sure loss (USC) and five tough games (Michigan, @Purdue, Michigan State, Pitt and @BC). Given that, I'm not sure 8 wins is a sure thing. Less than 6-7 would be awful though.