Soul

On a positive note though, looks like we actually got something in return for Nocioni. Good job Pax :)

Yes. Another misidentification/miscoaching job by the Bulls. Like Chandler.

Same here. What an embarrassment. Oh well, another win. Keep Deng as far away from this team as possible. 10 years after Jordan and without a contender in all that time, the Bulls haven't built that crowd around fans who are in tune with basketball etiquette. The promo is part of the dizzying array of sideshows the Bulls use to draw those fans. Unless we want a much emptier United Center, we'll have to live with a little mindless freebie-ism.

I am not trying to make a case for him to start, Im just saying his bat should belong in the Majors. Maybe he sucks like everyone says he does. As I said earlier, its not that he sucks, its about the organization. Career minor league power hitters are a dime a dozen. For some guys, like Jack Cust, and hopefully Micah Hoffpauir it can translate into a shot at the big show. For some guys, it just wont. Look at Scott McClain. The guys pusing 40, and has been putting up nice AAA numbers for years, with a career .271/.357/.484. When he gets the the majors, it doesnt translate, as shown by his MLB .192/.284/.295 line in 78 career at bats. With some of these guys, its just a catch 22. While if the were given enough of a chance to produce, maybe they would, but if they dont produce quickly enough after getting the majors, they will never get the opportunity to prove themselves long term. Kind of sucks because you see the AAA numbers and you go "yeah I want that on the big club!!" But then it doesn't happen at the next level. Seen it too many times :( I hope Hoff can break through.

"What does that say about the Bulls that the Pistons have these injuries and they can only be tied with them." "Well the Bulls have Rose out too." "Oh yeah. Well that's one player." "...and Deng." silence. lol.

Plus, -Lee cuts down the DPs.

eliminating the wedge? seems pretty overboard to me. if you eliminate anything on kickoffs because of safety issues, the league should ban wedge busters, those are the guys that are most at risk for injury. bizarre. They continue to pussify the NFL. Can't even use a wedge on kickoffs now? Ridiculous. I'm gonna love watching blockers looking from side to side trying to keep their spacing on kickoffs, and refs trying to determine if a guy was really in a wedge or just got too close to another player. We'll likely wind up with blockers getting hurt by oncoming defenders because they were more worried about being called for a wedge penalty. Stop micromanaging, it never works out in the long run.

I still don't think that deal is very good for Floyd, who I still think has more potential to explore. Obviously kudos to the WS; very good signing for them.

Buh? So we're saying the Bulls are: W L TW 32 38 1 Wonder what that does to the tie breakers.

When it comes to Hoff, I simply choose to believe he's going to cut it until proven otherwise.

ok. I see that line of reason, but if I'm Angelo, I make it publically known that I'm going after Cutler, who grew up a Bears fan, hoping he takes notice and forces a trade. what I see the Jets doing right now is what I want to see Angelo do and EVERYTHING might be lowballing Denver when it comes to the drought the Bears have had at QB I don't see any value in going public. The player is under contract for 3 more years, Denver doesn't have to trade him. Float some compromising pictures of McDaniels on the internet under a pseudonym. Seriously though, if Cutler comes out and wins a couple games for the Broncs early in the season they'll be best buds and everyone will be happy and naming their kids after each other. The longer this goes on, the more I will lean toward Cutler remaining in Denver. We've been through this sort of thing with Briggs. "I'll never play for you again!!" ~flash forward a few months~ "All that other stuff means nothing, I'm happy to be in Chicago."

In terms of money, the limit is always the salary cap and what you can do while remaining able to make other moves on the roster. In that regard, I believe the Bears are in pretty good shape. In terms of picks -- teams have thrown multiple #1 picks at the QB position and wound up with nothing. This is a proven franchise quality QB. Tossing 2 #1's out for him is more than reasonable, IMO. We might very well spend those 2 picks on QB and wind up no better than we are right now. As for Cutler being whiny -- he didn't handle the situation in the best way. But the kid has never had trouble with the law, he's shown up for every game and performed at a top level. He's defininely cocky, but that's a quality other successful QBs have shown. If he was being picked up by the police, or refusing to give 100% effort, that would be one thing. Having a big mouth and being a little egotistical shouldn't be a concern when he puts up the kind of numbers he puts up. He's good, and he knows he's good.

What's so hard is probably Denver has no intentions of actually dealing him, and that throwing EVERYTHING at them could be a mistake - depending what EVERYTHING means. With or without Cutler, the Bears need offensive line help, wide receivers and defensive upgrades. If they were to trade 2 firsts and a second, plus Orton, where would that leave them? A franchise QB would be a godsend, but without the ability to field a team around him, that QB isn't going to shine all that brightly. As to the comment that the Bears have never had a good-great QB at any point, McMahon was good, Harbaugh was good, Kramer was good for a bit, Miller was as well. They've had good QBs. The problem is they haven't had good QB's for any extended period of time, and when they did, briefly, the only time it coincided with the rest of the team being good enough to really contend, was with McMahon. Clearly they've never had a great QB. This year's 1st. Next year's 1st & 3rd. Orton. All we would really need to get started is a WR, which we could go after in the 3rd, and a RT, which we could look into in the 2nd round or the remaining FA's. The rest of the picks you use on D, either depth or finding a starter or two in the rough, which Angelo is already decent at. I'd be willing to accept slightly worse defense, but with our current core of defensive players we should still be able to be better than Denver's D was. We've got the running game and TE. I don't think we're that far away from having a really good offense with Cutler. I'd throw much at Denver, not everything of course.

That was going to be an easy one for me. I had a substitute teacher who's sister was married to Phipps and was also one of my aunt's best friends. So, I was sort of rooting for Phipps to do well, even though he was past his prime when the Bears picked him up. Avellini threw everything at the WR's feet. Evans threw everything over their heads. Then Phipps came in and was just kind of blah. Good times. Except that Evans was good for a few thrills when he would run.

What's so hard is that we hired a defense-first GM who has an overriding philosophy of building his team through the draft. That's 2 strikes against us. I'm not so much against the philosophy, but I believe when an opportunity like this comes up you have to be flexible enough to break ranks and do the uncommon thing. I'd throw a hell of a lot at Denver right now to try to pry Cutler loose.

Quoted for hilarity and for Truthiness: "Did you know, Jerry, that generations of Chicago kids have grown up not realizing that quarterback ratings go higher than 70.0? You see them in parks and backyards across the region emulating their heroes by throwing wobbly passes and practicing hand-offs." God, is that ever the truth. I only really started following the team closely at the beginning of the Harbaugh era, and it has been mediocrity at QB the entire time. You'd think at some point Angelo would at least blindly stumble his way into acquiring a good QB, but no. I'm trying to think of another team that has spent the last 20 years without having had a good-great QB at any point during, but I am having a hard time. Quit complaining. I grew up in the Bob Avellini era. Quit complaining, yourself. I grew up in the Bobby Douglass era. :grin: I remember when the quarterback battles were Douglass vs. Jack Concannon and Avellini vs. Gary Huff. I also remember Douglass trying to make it as a pitcher in the White Sox organization after his football career ended. I remember praying Vince Evans would be put in so I wouldn't have to hear my Dad shout obscenities over another Avellini pass thrown at the WR's feet. Yeah. It's been pretty bad. :cool:

You mean 2 good years before he falls apart and completely falls off the map? 2 good years are better than no good years. Especially when, during those 2 years, we were a contender.

I find it interesting how much better Scales' 2008 was than any other year he's had. His OPS was more than 100 points higher than his career average. And he's been around for awhile.

Kewl. Thanks for the link. Not sure why MLB.com doesn't have the little green icon on the scoreboard, which is where I'm used to seeing the gameday links.

I know it's too much to ask but I wish MLB.com would have gameday for ST games.

Editorial plea to Angelo from the Suntimes on Cutler: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/hayes/1491096,hayes-bears-cutler-letter-032309.article

NFL draftcountdown has us doing this: 1 - Darius Heyward-Bey WR Maryland (great speed, great size, possibly not great hands) 2 - Duke Robinson OL (he's listed as an OG though, might not satisfy the need for another T)

What he said. If Stone is taking pokes at Harrelson, I may have to listen to a Sox game every now and then. _____________________________________ Sandberg>Mazeroski>Morgan I think it's pretty well-known the beef that Stone has with the Cubs. At some point Stone will probably no longer be working for the Sox, and you'll start hearing sarcastic pokes at Harrelson then. I doubt it will happen before.

So....I didn't realize Sutcliffe basically undressed Fukudome on the WBC broadcast last night. I was doing my taxes :) Ouch. Heard it over lunch. I'd love nothing more than for Fuku to come out this season and prove him, and me, and everyone else totally wrong.

This better not be Dontrelle mach 2. We didn't even get a Clement for Nolasco.