Soul

Congrats to Texas and Ohio State for scheduling this game at this point in the season. Not sure it was really all that wise though. One team's national title hopes are sure to be seriously harmed tonight. That and Notre Dame: nobody plays a tougher early season schedule year after year. Cudos.

No, it never would have happened because Paterno doesn't run up the score on people. 2005: Penn State 40, Central Michigan 3 Penn State 63, Illinois 10 Penn State 44, Minnesota 14 2004: Penn State 48, Akron 10 Penn State 37, UCF 13 Penn State 37, Michigan State 13 2003: Penn State 52, Indiana 7 2002: Penn State 40, Nebraska 7 Penn State 49, Louisiana Tech 17 Penn State 49, Northwestern 0 Penn State 58, Indiana 25 Penn State 61, Michigan State 7 You're right---JoePa is a classy guy who would never blow out a team. But, I guess as long as you're laying 56 points on someone in the first half (2005, Illinois), its all good. Its just those third and fourth quarter points that lack class! There's only one moral in college football: win by as big a margin as possible. Anything else gets you questioned, and possibly even fired.

They'll be OK if the defense can improve week-to-week. They've lost 6 really good linemen/linebackers in the past 2 seasons and are very young there. Today was definitely ugly, and I don't expect it to be the norm. They've struggled like crazy in September for the past few seasons for whatever reason and turned it on when it mattered. They'll have a really good run if they beat Iowa State next week. Sounds like that Tate injury is lingering, though. I'd be worried. I usually root for the Big 10 whenever possible, then sort of pick my teams when they square off against each other (I went to a smaller University). Definitely not hating on Iowa.......just saying that didn't look all that great. I watched the whole game though, it was exciting.

Cal scores, leads 14-7 over Minn

Well.....that game was over from the opening seconds. Minny looking stout against Cal for the moment. That's my choice for the next few minutes (OSU vs. Texas). God I love football season.

Nice... We're .500 baby! Someone call up Scotty.

We were just messing around. :wink: your backup QB is awful He's really not that bad. He just had a horrible, horrible game. I really wanted to see Christensen after the first couple of INTs. Not seeing much with Iowa this year Pedro. That's all they can offer up against a ballclub that lost 10 straight games? How are the Hawkeyes going to stay within, say, 10 points of the powerhouses in the Big 10? I'm looking at those games against Ohio State and Michigan and thinking........dead meat.

Please don't tell me this is a statement of endorsement. Does the man deserve to be let go... yes. Did he help at all in his tenure with the Cubs...somewhat. Should he still be treated with respect, because he has treated the fans with respect... yes. Dusty needs to part way. He hasn't really worked out with the organization, and I'm sure he can find a better fit elsewhere. This doesn't mean he should be trashed and humiliated on his way out. He can probably say something to do it on his own. Show him the class he shows the fans when he is speaking to them after games. He is not a good person. He constantly shifts blames to others rather than accepting blame for his own actions. He deserves nothing. cheapseats, being a bad manager, and 'is not a good person' are not the same thing. Don't confuse the two. Johnny B. Baker is wonderful person, nice, charming, personable. Dusty Baker the manager is dumber then a box of rocks. There are the same person, yes, but don't confused Baker's managerial persona with his off-the-field persona. That is true. Baker is an extremely nice and personable human being. The same could be said for Jim Hendry. Neither do I want running my team, but that doesn't mean they aren't good, well-intentioned individuals. Completely agree. There's never been anything to make me think Dusty Baker is not a good human being. This is professional baseball, however: I'll take someone who is less-than-personable if they win games. Since the season has been over for awhile, and Baker's departure has been assured since probably the All-Star break, I prefer to focus on what matters for this team: the future. I'm just watching our young players, seeing which pitchers have something to offer, what is Matty doing in the final weeks, etc. etc. What burns me the most is that I'm almost certain the Cubs will hire another manager who won't rock the boat, rather than someone with the balls to light a few fires if necessary.

In a system where voters tend to look only at final scores, I don't blame Weis at all. I wouldn't have blamed PSU if the roles were reversed. Agreed. Nobody can blame a coach for scoring as much as he can in this system.

McGwire took the 5th when asked if he took illegal performance enhancing drugs by Congress, which is everything but admitting his guilt and cheating. Bonds testified that he "unknowingly" took illegal performance enhacing drugs to a grand jury, also admitting his guilt and cheating. Sosa's guilt can not be pinpointed so easily. The only arguments you can make for him involve a level of assumption. He is a known cheater (cork) and basically broke down when steroid testing began. I'll give you Sosa (barely), but I refuse to accept McGwire and Bonds' records as legit I agree with Easton. None of them failed a test. In fact, McGwire's career was played in an era where no players were tested. Since more pitchers than hitters have been suspended (at both the major and minor league levels combined) since testing began, one can reasonably assume that hitters were regularly facing pitchers who were on performance-enhancing drugs. There are most likely several players who took steroids and other performance enhancing drugs over the past several years. We'll never know who they all are. In my eyes, when you have several "juiced" hitters facing "juiced" pitchers, it tends to balance things out a bit. If players test positive or somehow get caught using something they shouldn't be using, by all means, suspend them, put an asterisk next to their numbers, etc. Until then, I view the numbers as legit. Keep in mind that it's not referred to as the "Steroid Era" because a handful of guys had some monster seasons. It's referred to as that due to alleged wide-spread use of those drugs. I disagree. First of all, for your theory to work, we have to assume EVERY player is juicing. Otherwise the balancing-out effect just doesn't hold up. Secondly, even if it *was* every player doing it, it's still fruit of the poison tree. Once you pollute the game, there's no longer any basis to judge what the statistics mean. And without that basis, the stats themselves mean nothing.

Really? I hate to bring this up, but are we sure we're seeing what we think we're seeing (if you know what I mean)? It sucks that everytime a professional athlete does something remarkable, we as fans instantly think about whether or not the player is taking steroids? Maybe so, but that's the reality of sports in this era. Perhaps the gods of baseball might think better next time of letting performance-enhancing drugs eat up the integrity of their sport. From my perspective, it's once bitten twice shy..................never again will I simply assume an amazing feat is being accomplished without "help."

Bill Wirts, the Blackhawks owner, thinks he can do worse. David Glass of the Royals thinks he has a strong case. James Dolan of the Knicks wants a piece of this action. Donald Sterling of the Clippers puts his team into the fold of worst run. And will, I do I agree the Cubs are a pretty bad organization is sports, I can still think of a few teams that are worse in their history then the Cubs. I think the Blackhawks are still worse. In the baseball world though. Glass has much, much, MUCH less to work with than Hendry. I'll throw Jimbo's hat in the ring for most incompetent GM in MLB. And as for '03, it has become abundantly clear we owe thanks to the Pirates for that little miracle, not Jim Hendry. Glass is the owner. It's his fault there's nothing to work with. Sorry my bad :oops:

Really? I hate to bring this up, but are we sure we're seeing what we think we're seeing (if you know what I mean)?

Bill Wirts, the Blackhawks owner, thinks he can do worse. David Glass of the Royals thinks he has a strong case. James Dolan of the Knicks wants a piece of this action. Donald Sterling of the Clippers puts his team into the fold of worst run. And will, I do I agree the Cubs are a pretty bad organization is sports, I can still think of a few teams that are worse in their history then the Cubs. I think the Blackhawks are still worse. In the baseball world though. Glass has much, much, MUCH less to work with than Hendry. I'll throw Jimbo's hat in the ring for most incompetent GM in MLB. And as for '03, it has become abundantly clear we owe thanks to the Pirates for that little miracle, not Jim Hendry.

Dusty's just honoring his contract now. Nobody should be under any illusion that there will be actual winning taking place @ Wrigley. Those days are gone with the wind. Hendry should have canned Dusty long, long ago. Harping on Dusty at this point is silly. Hendry's the dolt here. This is his ballclub, his choice to keep Dusty around when even a 1st grade kid can see he should have been gone.

Because Moore was brought in to pinch hit for the pitcher and stayed in the game after Aramis, I believe, got ejected in that inning. Why did Aramis get ejected? Because he got sick of the BS. No seriously, I don't know I can't see the game. But it seems as good an explanation as any.

Hmmmm..... Cubs game. Ipod. Cubs game. Ipod. ......gotta go with the Ipod.

If I was a betting man (and I'm not), I would probably put down a good deal of money with some of you who think this game will be a blowout. As a Bear fan of over 30 years, I can very nearly guarantee this game will not be a blowout. Definitely less than 10 points. Likely within a touchdown. Possibly, if the Bears are too overconfident, even a Bears loss. It's still Lambeau, it's still Brett Favre, and it's still a Bears ballclub that hasn't put together back-to-back winning seasons in forever.

Yeah, but I can't recall a manager who consistently provides so much material. Morrissey pretty much got it right on at least this account... Every day, he is asked questions about his future, and every day he answers them. His responses are all over the board. More pickings for his critics. What used to be considered quaint about Baker—his willingness to talk on a number of different topics—now is considered the ramblings of a befuddled manager. True. I don't know, maybe it's because I knew this season was going nowhere back in March----at this point the Dusty crusade is over for me, and has been for quite some time. I've been staring at his corpse for 6 months now (figuratively). There's only so much time one can spend at a wake. Yes, he's bad. Yes, he's mad. That's why Hendry should be receiving much more condemnation that he is for keeping the lout around. He knows it, too. He knows everything-----Jimbo just doesn't give a damn, and lacks the spine to make a move midstream.

Yes, that is good to see.

Dear Jim Hendry: This is what it looks like with a lame duck manager who should have been fired months ago, a terrible baseball team, and all the interest in town directed at the other ballclub. Are you happy now???

Hendry also said "We're going to solve this in the offseason and be right back in it next year." Which is exactly what he said this time last year. So you'll all have to excuse me. These days I tend to gag uncontrollably whenever Jimbo says something.

Yep. And "I don't have my horses" is Dusty-ese for "get ready folks, it's May and I don't intend to manage at all the entire season." I know that now 8)

There's really no defending the managerial job Dusty has done. But on this I agree with Morrissey: the attacks on Dusty have been more personal, more insulting than I remember with other managers who were being run out of town.

oooh.. ooohh.. There are some devastation pics in there I haven't seen. Thx 8) Must. Beat. Pack.