Soul

it's infuriating. at least we know they'll switch out of it in the 4th, i guess. David's likely being made to watch GB because of the unfortunate GB-fan population that infects Chicago. You are probably being made to watch it because they think you want to follow Bradford's NFL career.

Nice play call, Rams. Way to go for it.

Well that was kind of sucky last night, but we only had a 1 goal lead, and we still got a point out of the deal. Overall I've been seeing less of those horrible giveaways right near our own goal, which has been good. Although admittedly I haven't been watching every minute. Too early yet for me to draw conclusions about this Hawks team.

I think I'm going to start out watching Rams/Packers. Because if you don't watch the first 5 minutes of that one you likely won't ever get back to it.

monday night was his best game of the season my soulless assault on the Bears where i declared Forte as the best receiving RB in football That's the token compliment that opens the door to the trashing of everything else. Oh yes, we know all these strategies.

Because after decades of frustration, it's finally payback time for Lions fans.

We're all Carrie Muskat in a way.

WHUT the hell?

Hah, first thing I thought too. I think it's time to send Luccino on vacation. Theo's moving on, deal with it pal.

Breathing-room goal please.

Damn you!

100? Anyone?

Does he? Haven't heard him in a long time.

Didn't the White Sox announce the Robin Ventura hiring during the playoffs? I honestly don't think MLB cares when it's announced. Nothing can be announced during the World Series. The rest of the playoffs it doesn't matter. The MLB was livid when ARod's extension was announced during the WS and since then I believe its a rule that nothing can get announced. Would it really matter if it just waited until after the World Series? Well organizational meetings happen right after the WS don't they? I guess it could wait until after, but every extra day we have for Theo to get started is to our advantage. He needs time to build his player database, scout potential hires for his baseball opps, learn the Cubs system inside and out, decide what to do with Quade and if they get rid of him, find the next manager. There's just too much to do right now to be comfortable with waiting another 7-10 days for this to get resolved. Some of that sounds like the kind of stuff he can be doing right now while negotiations are happening.

So far, it just feels like this entire college football season is a big, stinking dud.

Just more garbage, sounds like. Bunch of twitter junk, Boston people saying we're crazy, yada yada. Everyone calling each other an idiot. You know, par for the course in this godforsaken world of ours.

Didn't the White Sox announce the Robin Ventura hiring during the playoffs? I honestly don't think MLB cares when it's announced. Nothing can be announced during the World Series. The rest of the playoffs it doesn't matter. The MLB was livid when ARod's extension was announced during the WS and since then I believe its a rule that nothing can get announced. Would it really matter if it just waited until after the World Series?

You need more praise for this. This was excellent. Changing the letters is a great touch. Holy crap, just saw this. That's your best, OMC. =D>

I don't care about being right. I just know that if Theo would require giving up our best prospects, I have absolutely no problem with keeping our prospects and going for Rickett's 2nd choice. The choice isn't between Theo and anarchy. wait, what? i was not referring to anyone in particular, otherwise i would have quoted you. i am just as guilty in this thread (as well as everywhere else). and where did the epstein/anarchy bridge get created? there are no fewer than five GMs other than epstein (some moreso, even) that would do just as good of a job (and will not require compensation), something that i now trust the cubs owner to not only recognize, but have the determination for future successes to not compromise the ball club one way or the other. and while ricketts may seem schmuckish in going full fledge towards that red sox model he always has spoken of, i don't think of it as a homerish pursuit by any stretch, meaning that while boston fans may think they have all leverage of getting players awesome and sweet with cash money, they are only somewhat right. epstein is the guy ricketts wants. but he's not going to turn the gun on himself over it. wish red sox fans could imagine the actual amount of leverage they have in these negotiations as follows: ricketts allowed jim hendry and mike quade to run this organization while it was floundering and fans were not coming to the park nearly as much as had been the case, knowing that he didn't understand his new found ownership, and working with the wisdom to come to grips with growing pains with a certainty that it would lead to, ultimately, a relatively, vastly increased revenue streaming business. that ricketts has gone so far in his tenure without immediate reactionary responses to the heartstrings of not only fans, but himself as a fan and business owner (as he lost money and, at first, credit) should go to show that his plan is structured enough that ricketts does not merely have epstein as the only objective and that the fans reaction, in the short term at least, is of little concern, comparatively. all that said, boston is going to get something. probably something worth their while, in spite of the atrocious media bufferings. Yes, that seems reasonable to me. As for the board being "inane opinion fodder," well......that's just message boards being message boards.

If that's how people in Boston reason things through, then maybe we shouldn't have expected any different behavior from Luccino/Henry.

I can't accept losing to the Vikings at home tomorrow. They're the last place team, we are at home. I'm expecting to win. We need to win. Peppers or no Peppers.

OK. The card they hold is that we want Epstein, and they know it. But the reality is, we're in a position of being an unsuccesful baseball team. One more year of badness, in the face of a huge future boost, isn't out of the question for us. Remember, they don't control him forever, and we know it. Also, he clearly doesn't want to be there anymore, and the whole Boston organization knows it. Have you ever tried to work in a place where you didn't want to be, and everyone knew you didn't want to be there? Uncomfortable is an extreme understatement.

God. 1 hour and the whole thread goes into a convulsion of weirdness. This is still likely just posturing, and will be worked out. Let's not get all up in arms about ultimatums and speculation until we see how things actually work out. It's Friday night, obviously everyone has gone home to their families and not much is going to happen (in all likelihood) until next week. I think the Cubs have the bulk of the options here. I'm sure we don't want to just stick the Red Sox with nothing -- so it becomes a matter of negotiation. I'm willing to let it play out.

Yes I would. I'm tired of them losing their ace and winning the world series. They did it in 06 and they're possibly going to do it again this year. Why would it be better if they were better? Because it seems like everything has to go exactly perfect for the Cubs to win a World Series (or even be in the position the Cardinals are in now). However, once again, the Cardinals are in a season where they shouldn't be contending for a World Series and are knocking on the door of a pennant. Obviously they both would be frustrating, and it would suck for the Cardinals to be running away with the division during the regular season, but for me it's more annoying that they're in the position they're in because of the ineptitude of Atlanta, Philadelphia, and the Brewers over the last few weeks. I don't even care anymore. I just want to live in a world where they aren't good. Any reality where they somehow win is painful to me. Especially when we aren't in the playoffs to have a say in the matter. Theo - please rescue us from this nightmare.

Wait, what? They need to hire a new manager and deal with coming off a disappointing season, potentially trying to deal away bad contracts and dealing with expiring ones and singing new FA. In short, they have a lot do do and leaving the FA in turmoil isn't going to help at all. The Red Sox very much have motivation to get this done quickly. Like I said, they can officially name Cherington the GM anytime. He's already acting in that role, and presumably he's working on all the things you mentioned. This Theo stuff isn't holding up any of that. Sure. Then Ricketts gets pissed off, pulls out until next year, and rapes them to holy heaven once they don't have him under contract anymore. Go for it Red Sox.