Soul

For me it was sticking it in Hoculi's face. The guy obviously hates the Bears. Up yours, Ed. What was his problem? That manufactured call against Briggs, picked up the holding on Gilmore - good call yet, Ed and his crew missed Daneial Manning having his jersey ripped from his shoulder pads during Barber' long 3rd quarter run. I've never seen a worse game called from an offensive holding standpoint. After the Giants' tackle went down, the replacement was horse-collaring Alex on every play. Seriously: EVERY PLAY. That's holding, and it's Ed's call since he's the guy who stands back behind the line. He was letting it happen all damn night until the 4th quarter. That's just unacceptable. And then to hear Madden call him the best. It made me sick. The guy is just a horrible, horrible ref.

So far sweet Lou has to be pretty happy with how things have gone. He's now got power at the corners and a real backup option at closer if Dempster doesn't pan out. I liked how he mentioned pitching right off the bat. Hopefully this means Hendry is not going to wait on Prior, and sign not only a quality starter for the rotation, but also a journeyman as a hedge against Prior's injury woes. That would be just about as ideal as it could get for one offseason, IMO. Add a genuine power bat, and it becomes a total coup for Hendry. Ahhh.......but I'm probably just dreaming.

I'll admit Hendry has done well so far. The thing is though, he has succeeded in bringing back three already existing players on a 90+ loss team. They're probably good players to bring back though, so that's good. Good so far, but still a long, long way to go and I'm not sure Hendry can pull off enough of the work in one offseason to make us competitive in '07. I believe Jimbo still has '08 to prove himself though, so if he can rise to .500 this year and then make a run the following year he could wind up OK.

If your career was over, and every time your name was mentioned in the media there was a sidenote about steroid use, wouldn't you be kind of pissed off? Wouldn't you want to argue for yourself that you're clean? If Sosa sits back and rests on his laurels, there may not be a Cooperstown, because he was already hung at the gallows. Yes, in the clearest terms and the clearest diction I was capable of - not this crap: WAXMAN: OK. Mr. Sosa, do you think that we ought to have that gold standard of the Olympic program, zero tolerance? You got caught using steroids for whatever the sport is, that you're suspended for two years and after that second offense you're out. That certainly discourages people in the Olympics. Do you think it would be effective with baseball and other sports, as well? Would you push the mic? SOSA: I can tell you, Mr. Chairman, I don't have too much to tell you. [...later ...] MCGWIRE: I believe that's one of the reasons why I'm here, is to make this a positive thing instead of a negative thing. And I will do everything I can and in my power to turn this around from a negative to a positive. SWEENEY: Mr. Sosa. SOSA: I agree with Mr. McGwire. You know, one reason why we're here is to stop that. And you know, I think that we can do some more tests and one way or another we're here to help. [ ... later ...] CUMMINGS: Now, we've had -- you made some allegations. And, as I understand it, both Mr. Schilling, Mr. Thomas Mr. Palmeiro and I think Mr. Sosa have said they never used the substances. Is that right, Mr. Sosa? You said you that, right? You said you had never... (CROSSTALK) CUMMINGS: OK. Is that right? I -- all right. [ .. later ..] MCHENRY: ... using steroids, the use of steroids, is that cheating? Yes or no? MCGWIRE: That's not for me to determine. MCHENRY: Mr. Sosa. SOSA: I think so. MCHENRY: If you'll go down the line again, I'll ask another question that everyone can ask answer simply and directly, I would hope. If it's proven that a player has set records while using steroids, should those records stand? SOSA: It's not up to me. [ .. later...] TOWNS: The question is that you have a trainer who might be aware of the fact that somebody is using steroids. And, so, he knows it, but he just walks around every day and doesn't tell anybody about the fact that this is going on. PALMEIRO: I think that, if the trainer knows for sure, it's his responsibility to make the player aware and educate the player. TOWNS: Mr. Sosa? SOSA: I agree. I agree with Raffy. I think it is probably the trainer also on people (UNINTELLIGIBLE) --------------------- Maybe it's just me, but I'd expect strong statements in clear English that unambiguously deny he used, IF Sosa really was as pissed as SouthSideRyan suggests. That congressional testimony was weak. You expect strong statements in clear english from a man who knows the language at about a 3rd grade level? Wow. Tough crowd. These quotes......they show Sammy was out of his league, nervous, and unable to make his case in a language he barely knows. Nothing more.

I was just thinking about that. I doubt they would risk it early on, but if we're contending towards the end of the year and one of our starters goes down, having Wood on the team could be huge. I was also thinking about how much talent we're going to have with our pitchers. I dont know how much quality we'll get, but we have pitchers that have put up these types of numbers: Prior: 18-6 2.43 Zambrano: 16-8 2.75 Wood: 14-11 3.20 Miller: 15-4 3.28 and think if we add Zito: 23-5 2.75 I'm going to pretend that they'll all put up those numbers next year, nobody tell me otherwise. Prior is going to be the biggest key to any World Series hope next year. It's November and the annual "If Prior is back by May...." talk has already started. Get a journeyman replacement *NOW*, Jim. Don't wait to see if Marky Mark will play. March will roll around and all your options will be gone, just like last year. Besides----we could use a halfway-decent mid-level starter in any event.

Yes, Tampa always seems to be satisfied with getting their clocks cleaned every year unless someone is willing to offer the moon for one of their players. Whatever else can be said about Piniella, it's really no wonder he got frustrated and wanted to put distance between himself and the Rays.

Me either. Theriot will have to prove he can do that for a full season before I'll believe he is capable of it. Everyone was saying the same things about Ronny Cedeno too. I never put much stock in the first callup year of hitting for a player. Especially one who never really did as well in the lower league.

Actually, Ramirez signing is likely a good thing for Lee and Soriano. Ramirez is now off the market, so teams looking for offense will have to look at Soriano and Lee. Furthermore, Ramirez leaving the market doesn't remove a buyer from the market as the Cubs still have money to spend and are looking for more offense. So, had Ramirez not signed, a team like the Angels probably throws money at Ramirez and removes one team from the pool. As it is now, there is one less FA to get in the way of Lee and Soriano's millions. But realistically, they were all going to be very, very rich regardless with such a shallow pool. One player likely doesn't affect that very much. IMO with the FA market as it is, I think CLee and Soriano will cash in. I don't see the Cubs getting into a bidding war. What I do see is the ARod trade talks heating up. It would not surprise me in the least if ARod was the Cubs 07 starting SS. We'll see. I still view that as a pipe dream. If it's Zambrano, then I *HOPE* it's a pipe dream.

This game could be tougher than the Giants game. Although it's got to help playing on the same field 2 weeks in a row. The Bears know that turf now. Interesting game. Everyone look at our last 5 games. It's Minny, TB, Det, GB, and Stl. Not that rough. The Bears need to find a way to win 1 of these next 2 road games (not an easy task), and the NFC is theirs. I hope they're approaching it that way. Because a letdown will probably result in a loss. Jets are definitely better than they were advertised by the so-called "experts."

They can't get away with that. Because before the game, it was all about how Eli is developing and Rex isn't......how Eli is going to be the real deal and Rex is just a pretender. But the fact is, when the chips were down, it was REX who was able to throw the ball and get the Bears back into the game. When it came time where Eli had to throw to get the Giants back, he started overthrowing everybody until finally Chris Harris was waiting on one and ended the ballgame. So no, the NY crowd can't dismiss this one as just injuries. They had their offense pretty much intact. Eli has always had many more weapons than Rex to work with, and that was the case last night as well.

For me it was sticking it in Hoculi's face. The guy obviously hates the Bears. Up yours, Ed.

:roll: Sorry, I forgot you would be an absolutely perfect NFL ref, and make even the toughest calls every time. My bad. dude, are you going to deny any of what we are saying were bs calls? even those you concede cost the Bears 3 points. you are right, the roughing call was weak, I said so at the time, although that is the rule. be a man and stand up and admit that you got some calls tonight. Most people wouldn't even be posting at this point, so Shavo's a stand up guy in my book.

:roll: Sorry, I forgot you would be an absolutely perfect NFL ref, and make even the toughest calls every time. My bad. I really think Hoculi got some good chow from Coughlin for those calls. And I wanna know which joint it was 8)

Giants: "We give up, and would like to go home now."

Burress is one player ... :roll: He plays for the Giants, no? Face it, he was trash talking and just got punked. He ran his mouth without knowing the first thing about Tillman, and Till beat him. He should have studied the Bears/Vikings game tapes when Till was covering Moss. Unless you've got elite speed, Till can cover you. Not too many 6'2" corners out there. Burress was doing fine on Tillman, but its not like he can catch passes when Manning is getting rushed heavily/throwing 100 feet above his head. It's funny how a little trash talk gets blown up so much when you lose ... and it's not like Burress didn't play well. Sounds like a bunch of Giants were trash talking, not just Burress. I've seen Burress catching some amazing TD passes against other teams. Much more than he did tonight. I'd say Tillman won that matchup. All CBs are at least partially a function of the pressure the DLine can bring.

Burress is one player ... :roll: He plays for the Giants, no? Face it, he was trash talking and just got punked. He ran his mouth without knowing the first thing about Tillman, and Till beat him. He should have studied the Bears/Vikings game tapes when Till was covering Moss. Unless you've got elite speed, Till can cover you. Not too many 6'2" corners out there.

Wait!! Bears touchdown!! Come Ed, where's the flag!

I don't mind. The Giants have been doing that stupid jump shot all game. Interesting the Giants can do it to their heart's content but the Bears can't. Hmmmmm.... Hey, just tell me which restaurant in New York they took Hoculi to for all these pro-Giants calls. At least I'll get a good dinner out of it next time I visit the Big Apple 8)

Thanks Chris Harris, just took us out of field goal range.

I swear it's Mellencamp that is making our D struggle tonight. PLEASE STOP THIS COMMERCIAL. NOW.

This is shaping up badly for us. The whole thing. Refs, suddenly bad defense, shaky offense... This is going bad.

Well we certainly know who the refs want to win tonight :roll:

LOL. Let's just hand them the ballgame. waddaya think? :shock:

Anyone else feel a huge 4th down play coming here?

Unbelievable. Just let them back in the ballgame. GAH!! :evil: