Soul

Few are really talking about it, but the Yanks picked the worst time in 70+ years to build a new stadium.

From what I've seen of him (which admittedly isn't a ton), he's beyond the level where you say he's "slow." He's at the level where you start to use extra phrases like "molasses in January" and stuff like that, because "slow" just doesn't seem to cut it.

Certainly would be nice if he could continue at '08 levels, only with more playing time. I've been dubious that it will happen, but hopefully I'm wrong and he tears it up.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/1467921,deng-injury-statusquo-030909.article This story is interesting to me. Here we have a player who was once a rising star. Then his performance starts to wane. Now, he's convinced he has injuries he doesn't have. He's not even close to the player he was just 2 years ago. Doesn't seem like he really even wants to play. This story certainly convinces me that he doesn't believe the Bulls have his best interests in mind. I'd like to know what happened to the guy, what happened to the relationship. We've got a ton of cash invested in him. Are we just going to ride it out with him as deadweight on the roster? Personally, just looking at Deng from the outside, I would have said he was more likely to succeed in Vinny's loosely run outfit. Yet he was much more successful under the stern whip of Scott Skiles. Like I said, it's interesting to me. What goes on with some of these guys.

season back on baby!

This is the GM who decided the first thing he would talk about after the season is the need to get better at QB. Then he signed Basanez, and apparently that's going to be about it. Maybe a token vet signed after June 1, who knows. Angelo's idea of improving at offense is very, very strange to begin with. I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't even thought about Holt.

The 31 other teams excuse doens't hold much water. There were only a couple teams where it would have made sense to bring him in. New England wasn't a fit. Indy wasn't a fit. The only teams where it would make sense are teams where he would be the #1, where they stood a chance of contending with him, but didn't have much to lose if he blew up. There's no way he just took the first offer and signed before other teams had a chance to offer more. He took that money because nobody was offering more. His release was not a surprise, and Angelo should have been prepared to open up talks immediately. You know Angelo just blew this off and never even considered it. I'm definitely not in agreement with not considering it, but I guess I just knew JA was never even going to put it on the table.

See, I don't get the idea of being torn. As I said before, what's the worst that could happen? A non-playoff team doesn't make the playoffs again? This isn't a very good team you'd fear TO would ruin, it's already on the verge of entering mediocrity. They need a couple things to even consider contending next year, an offensive tackle, a WR or two, and a defensive end or solid safety. They haven't come close to solving any of those issues, and only have 2 picks in the top 50 this year, where you can reasonably expect to find starters. You have to sign a free agent somewhere, and when an impact WR falls in your lap, you have to take it. Then you draft the other spots. As things stand now, they have to draft fairly well just to get back to last year's highly flawed team. Then where's the improvement coming from? I don't think the Bears think they are that far away from contending, though I tend to agree with you that they need more than what they are doing right now. As for TO falling into our lap, I'm pretty sure there were 31 teams who were surprised that TO wound up signing a 1 year deal for decent but not great money. Also -- he signed much more quickly than most people expected. I'm not sure most NFL teams even knew what was happening beyond their initial "he's a cancer, no" -- analysis. I wonder if Angelo would have considered him if he knew what he was going to go for, but it's too late now.

TO? He wouldn't produce that many yards on the Bears, though certainly he'd be far and away the best receiver on the team. I'm torn on whether we should have gone for him or not. If it was only one year, I guess that wouldn't leave as much time for his BS to overtake his value as a football player like it has everywhere else he's been. We'll likely have a terrible WR corps again this year, so it's hard for me to sit here and say "oh hell no, I don't want that #1 WR! Let's stick with our crap!"

I heard Pahlsson saying he hasn't even really been working out for awhile. The impression I got was that he's not even in playing shape. Yea, you can't work out when you have mono... it sucks. If you work out you could rupture your spleen. It took me out for 7 weeks when I had it. So given that, I'd be surprised to see Pahlsson back in a week. If he is back, I'd expect it to be at a lower level than normal.

Luol Deng on his stress fracture. http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/57789/20090309/deng_to_decide_on_treatment_for_fracture/ I was under the impression that he didn't have a stress fracture. Now he does. Or does he?

I heard Pahlsson saying he hasn't even really been working out for awhile. The impression I got was that he's not even in playing shape.

I would. Only because Columbia dorms - despite being in the heart of chicago - seem to be ignorant to the existence of CSN. Which is annoying. I vote all home games are on WGN and all Road games are on WGN/Ch.26/ESPN/Fox :-D We'll hold a public death match and whoever wins gets his way :mrgreen:

I don't think it's really realistic to think managers will ignore commentators.

Sadly, I've come to hate when games are put on WGN now because DirecTV won't carry WGNHD and the SD signal is freaking horrible. More Comcast games, please. At this point, I wouldn't care if WGN just crawled into a corner and died.

I fear teams that can knock us around will just smother us in the playoffs. We aren't a physical team, at all. Still enjoying the team, but the playoffs scare me a bit.

Hehe, yeah. He'll never live that down. If he quits on Dodger Blue, I'm gonna love that forum they've got even more.

There are probably bat boys with better arms.

You remember correctly. He was a real value in the mid 2nd round.

Tank Johnson was a 2nd round pick. Considering he wound up a starting DT on a Super Bowl team who's calling card was its defense, I think that was a solid pick. Certainly he got into trouble and had to be sent packing, but in terms of the pick and the subsequent rise to starter status, that's a solid one for me. You're not going to be able to draft a saint with every pick -- it was a gamble, but the skills were there, and in my mind they wound up being justified. I'd rather gamble on a Tank Johnson type player than a Bazuin type unknown anyday. Angelo would do well to keep his first 3 rounds away from the nobody schools. Those guys are likely to be around later anyway, and he's starting to get burned more often on them than hitting on them.

He obviously developed the cyst because of the ROIDS, and he's now going to try rest and relaxation which is code for MORE ROIDS.

Maybe this is the time when TO finally gets relegated to a less-than-ideal situation, instead of being plopped into a nice QB-passing-rich offense each time. He's hell to deal with when working in an offense that throws to him alot. Let's see how he deals with being on a team that can barely even get the ball to him. He should call up Randy Moss for some Raiders-era pointers.

I doubt the Ravens and Jags will shell out the money. The Broncos might, but the clear favorite, in my opinion, is the easy fallback option - Oakland. Oakland's QB situation isn't all that great either. I could see TO becoming very frustrated with Russell, very quickly.

I'm not even angry at Vinny. He didn't even know what he was getting into. We just need to dump him, mark it down as a mistake, and move on. Kind of how the Packers did when they sent Rhodes packing after one year. Whoops. Mistake. Move on.

good, bad, or blah?