soccer10k

Um, what big man doesn't have holes in their game? Very talented Big Men are a rarity, then trying to find one with an offensive and defensive game is almost near impossible. Big Ben is a game changer on the defensive end, and that addresses a huge need for the Bulls. Yes, he doesn't provide the post offense the Bulls are desiring, but the offseason is young and if reports are correct, Chandler will be shipped soon for that additional help. Having a guy that's never scored more than 10 ppg in a season (last year at 7.3) and has never shot better than 50% from the free throw line (last year at 41.6%) is a big time weakness.

Notre Dame's 1st 2 games were Pittsburgh and Michigan. Pittsburgh's first game was against Notre Dame and Michigan's second game was against Notre Dame. After those first two victories Notre Dame was sitting at #10 in the AP poll and #12 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. The damage had been done, so to speak, after Notre Dame's first two games. Pittsburgh couldn't exactly schedule anybody else before that and Michigan only had one game. Do you want those teams to play preseason games so we know how good they are before they play Notre Dame? Because that's the only way to know how good your opponents in the first couple weeks are. The fact is that voters place their votes based on how highly an opponent is ranked at the time of game and completely ignore how the opponent played the rest of the season. Notre Dame received props for beating Michigan and that victory was constantly brought up even though Michigan turned out to be a mediocre team. Notre Dame's ranking should have been reflected by Pittsburgh and Michigan sucking, but it's not. Now with the teams in the later weeks, you make an excellent point but for the first couple weeks you can't know how good your opponent is going to be. And this works both ways. If Team B isn't ranked at the beginning of the year and Team A beats them, Team A probably doesn't get much mention for the victory. But if Team B rattles off victory after victory and ends the year 9-2 or 10-2, then Team A's ranking should increase (assuming they have a good record as well) later in the year because of this victory as well.

Don't forget his awesome free throw shooting. Yeah, and his rebounding and defense too. Obviously the Bulls didn't sign him for the hope that he would put up 20-25 ppg. I'm just pointing out that the guy has a couple big time weaknesses. *shrugs* Worked pretty good for the Pistons on that Championship run. I didn't see anyone complaining about Ben's scoring back then. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good sign for the Bulls. I think it will definately help the Bulls. But I'm not sure it's going to put them over the top and I don't think it's as big of a move as some people might think. But like I said, it will help the Bulls.

I liked it but I feel it got more pub than it should have because he was bleeding. It made him look more heroic.

Don't forget his awesome free throw shooting. Yeah, and his rebounding and defense too. Obviously the Bulls didn't sign him for the hope that he would put up 20-25 ppg. I'm just pointing out that the guy has a couple big time weaknesses.

Don't forget his awesome free throw shooting.

Cobs lose. Woot.

At least Corey didn't take a walk. He would have just been clogging the bases and you know that's not good.

Losing tends to do that, especially when we had several chances early on and did nothing with them. There were a decent number of posts at the beginning because Marmol was pitching, but I see your point.

The Cubs are still 2.5 games out of last place.

Enjoying yourself yet Fred? It's gotten awfully quiet in the Game Thread today.

Good video. I enjoyed it.

Boy, that's a good way to get into baseball shape, irregular practices. Like Banedon said, please stay retired Sammy. Don't tarnish your legacy any more.

Hopefully I'll be able to plan a trip to Wrigley someday. Gotta get the money first though.

I heard a rumor that he'll be participating in the Nation's Hot Dog eating contest instead. I'm sorry, there was a replay on ESPN earlier and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a joke.

LOL

Oops. Double post.

I detect sarcasm. As I stated, I'm not going to debate Notre Dame all the time. I have my point of view and that's not going to be changed anytime soon. Who is your team Slugger? We can discuss them instead? Notre Dame? More like Notre Shame! (heckling) Anyway, who's the team to beat in the SEC now? I like Florida in the East and Auburn in the West. Tennessee isn't that good, South Carolina still doesn't have the players to win under Spurrier's system and Georgia lost Shockley. Florida returns a good core of players and Chris Leak. I think this is the year they make the SEC championship game. Auburn has the scheduling advantage this year and they will get LSU, Florida, and Georgia at home. They do have Alabama and South Carolina on the road but their out of conference schedule (Washington St., Buffalo, Tulane, Arkansas St.) is weak. LSU will play both Arizona and Fresno St. at home but will have to go to Florida and Auburn. That will be the difference. EDIT: The college football conference championship comes down to who you play and where you play them so often that I have begun to use that in my analysis.

I detect sarcasm. As I stated, I'm not going to debate Notre Dame all the time. I have my point of view and that's not going to be changed anytime soon. Who is your team Slugger? We can discuss them instead?

Congrats to the Bulls. Good job by Paxson to get this done fast.

Is Jose Macias still available?

Between Pagan, Murton, Nevin, and Bynum (when he returns) the corners are covered. I don't necessarily think the Yankees would want Juan Pierre and Jacque Jones. We might be stuck with Pierre which would only leave right field to be filled. Even if we had to fill center as well, it wouldn't be a problem to do that. I don't really follow the AL, but isn't Matsui more-or-less done for the year? They could use a semi-quality bat to replace him. Sorry, I meant I don't think the Yankees would want both of them but instead would want just one. Given their lineup and who the Yankees are replacing (Matsui) I would think they would want Jones but not Pierre. I didn't clarify my statement well enough.

That's what I would like to see as well. If the Cubs give all the young guys (include Hill and Ryu in there as well) some starts they should be able to see if the young guys should be considered for starting spots next year or if the Cubs need to go out and get a pitcher or two in free agency (Zito/Schmidt/etc) after this year. If the Cubs don't know if the young guys can be counted upon as starters then how will they know what the team needs in the offseason? Oh who am I kidding, good organizations do this, not the Cubs.

That was my first reaction.

Without question it's Nomar.