Soul

It would be nice if the Hawks could throw a little cold water on the Coyotes. Not a great time to be catching them though.

I keep wishing Theriot is an above average shortstop though. I guess my powers of mental influence are lacking.

Suhey's not obscure, but I'd love his jersey. My favorite obscure Bears jersey would be Vestee Jackson #24 former CB. Not obscure to you & me. But to the younger fans, I'd say Suhey is pretty obscure. I wouldn't mind his jersey as well.

MSU has successfully put themselves in danger and they dominated the 1st half.

Well, the Urlacher jersey I purchased when he was drafted has received many years of good use. It's just a matter of picking the best ones who will be around for awhile.

True. I'm glad they tried to improve, certainly.

Wow, I completely stopped following the standings during the 3 game losing streak. I just assumed that the Sharks were running away with the 1 seed. I have been watching the standings, and I've been surprised that the Sharks have been limping along. They're currently on a 4 game bender and their point differential is below both Chicago and Vancouver. The Canucks and Coyotes have been very strong lately -- both with 7 wins in their last 10 games. Phoenix is on a 7 game winning streak.

Spring Training pieces are fun. Everyone's ready for their big run at glory, everyone's looking forward to great things. Then the season arrives and we find out what the truth is.

Yeah, this is a real slump now.

Another Bear jersey of mine goes from the active player pile to the former player pile. That's what I came here to post. What a terrible jersey purchase. I bought it right before the 2006 season after his big 2005 season. I wore it through 2007 and then after that it was really too embarrassing to wear. I think my most stable jersey has been my Robbie Gould jersey. Sensing Vasher was quickly becoming unusable, I bought a Briggs jersey after he resigned with the Bears 2 years ago. It will probably be in the safe zone for another couple of years. Marcus Robinson was another of my ill-advised purchases based on his 1999 season. I guess I never learn. I didn't buy the Grossman jersey though.

Silva's on the "I'll believe it when I see it" list.

Another Bear jersey of mine goes from the active player pile to the former player pile.

Not concerned. I don't think Danieal has much leverage.

The ratings will be huge. I think Augusta controls the press credentials pretty tightly. And of course anyone who even looks like they are thinking about heckling will be quickly escorted to the curb.

They still could.......and should.

Maybe that's the last time Holmgren really looked at Jake's play.

Well it's been clearly defined now...but he was drafted, given the starting job after a few games when Warner sucked, was pretty mediocre, but was a rookie. Got injured the next season, and never really got a chance to try to improve, because Warner had a good camp. Maybe "yanked around" isn't the right phrase. But I don't think he's been given a great shot to develop as you'd expect a #1 pick to get. Leinart hasn't been handled the best either, although he was on a team with some talent. Right now the Browns have no talent at any offensive skill position (save, I suppose, Jerome Harrison - I'm not really counting Cribbs because his main talent lies at returner) and they got rid of any talent that they did have, like Winslow and Edwards, for baggage reasons. The thing that makes me laugh is that they're going to give Jake Delhomme the starting job, who sucked last year when he was on a team pretty stocked with offensive talent (Smith, the two running backs). That's going to be horrible. Holmgren seemed surprised that Delhomme was available. I couldn't believe anyone would be surprised by that. I also was scratching my head when Delhomme said he was (essentially) shocked that he was let go. I'm just not sure where the 'unexpected' piece comes in. He's been absolutely horrendous. I would have been more surprised if Carolina tried to continue with him in any kind of a starter role. Cleveland is getting a QB who doesn't have much, if anything, left.

It makes sense to me that Sheets would struggle for a while at least.

And most of the opinion I've read was that it wasn't warranted. I agree. I hate it when the NHL looks at the outcome of a play to decide the punishment. No question, if Campbell had gotten up and not been hurt, Ovie would not have been suspended. That's ass backwards. I understand that sentiment, but I don't understanding how people can claim that wasn't a dirty hit, and that sort of thing shouldn't be punished. You shouldn't be able to shove a guy from behind into the boards. There's plenty of opportunity for big clean hits throughout the game, and any claims that this is a softening of the game is nonsense. Also, I have to say I don't have a problem with the punishment depending on the severity of the results of your actions. It happens all the time in all walks of life. You want to play like a jackass, well, you are going to be liable in some way shape or form for the consequences of your actions. Do you think Ovechkin's history played into it as well? I don't watch him all the time, but from what I understand this isn't the first time for him.

Funny words from a guy whose entire philosophy for winning relied on developing pitchers, and then put the entire weight of the franchise on a couple young arms. I'm not sure how Andy got 2 WS championships out of Minny, but since then his philosophy either sucks, or he sucks at implementing it.

I read a couple blurbs about it, and apparently Versus didn't get what they were asking for.

I looked back a little way and didn't see it posted: Ovechkin was suspended for 2 games for the Campbell hit.

It's just a buttload of money for a guy who will likely have a limited impact on the team's success in 2010. I'm sure he'll help, but not to the tune of that kind of cash. What bothers me about it most is that it makes me wonder about how/why some of these deals are made. But then again, looking at the Peppers contract, it looks like a lot of work was done to protect the Bears. So I don't know.

This just in, Peter King is a moron. Film at 11. But what does that have to do with this note? The Bears paid an obscene amount for what is from all accounts a mediocre blocking tight end, and they aren't going to be using Greg Olsen this season. He has only 2 seasons to set his free agency price, so he should want out ASAP. King is right. Technically, his salary is just 1 million, but due to special circumstances in salary cap structure this year teams can afford to frontload a ton of money. If I were Olsen, I'd probably wish I worked harder at catching the ball and being at least a serviceable blocker. Yeah, but it's still an awful lot of money for a blocking TE, regardless of the cap situation. Manumaleuna has to be feeling bewildered that he got that much. I don't think those statements constitute King being a moron. There are some other things he's said that made me wonder, though.

I could get to Milwaukee easily to see OSU's first round game against UC Santa Barbara. Actually I could probably get there in time to catch the GT/OKST matchup earlier if I pushed it. Hmmmm...