Magnetic Curses

I liked BB, but he has a ways to go before he is a Chad Johnson or Larry Fitz for that matter. Part of me is upset the Bears didnt give him the salary the Vikings did, but then again I dont really think he was irreplaceable. Well that's good because I've never seen anyone say he is or ever will be Chad Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald. Again as far as the #1 argument, his production and career path would rank him inside the top 25 WR's in the game. I think people have this idea that a #1 WR has to be in the level of Moss, Owens, Fitzgerald, Chad, etc... Just like when people say "he's not a starting NFL QB" about practically everyone outside of the top 10 QB's in the league. Well there are 32 teams. He's paid what the market dictated. If the Vikings didn't give him that coin, someone else was going to come close. There aren't dozens of WR's with his tools, production and at his age who become free agents. It's really not a big deal. It's not like you're locked into bad contracts in the NFL and can't wiggle out. They had tons of cap space and a glaring need so they paid what they had to to get the deal done. The Vikings (Brezinski) are wizards about always coming in way under the cap. It's nice to have an owner that will actually spend. it's definitely nice to have an owner that will spend, but the bears and pack have still dominated the division over the last several years and done it cheaply. the vikings have made some key acquisitions the last few years but it's gotten them relatively nowhere. they're definitely a defense that rivals what chicago and green bay will put on the field, but they may have the worst starting qb in the nfl, regardless of who wins chicago's starting job. berrian's a good receiver, but if he thinks that jackson will get him the ball more effectively than grossman, orton, or griese did last year, he's in for a rude awakening.

big shoulders i could get around them.

stephanie rice, hot hot hot.

nice story there with the south korean dude who fell into the pool in 2004 winning this time.

americans not looking very good so far in the 400 free.

the americans in the 400 free all sound like europeans. lars jensen and vanderkaay?

oooh, it looks like alain bernard has invoked gary hall jr., stating that the french will "smash" the americans in the 4x100 free. haha, get your own schtick, bernard. besides, hall actually added a little simile in the original version, stating that the americans would "smash the australians like guitars". hopefully bernard's prediction is about as accurate as hall's was. http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Olympics/idUSSP28868620080807

he faded hard once phelps phelps pulled away, but he did keep up with him for a while.

who are the favorites in the free sprints?

world record for phelps in the 400 medley.

having a 2nd running back is important, especially if the line will be as terrible asi think it will be. and i don't think that williams was dropped by as many teams as everybody seems to think. he was projected just ahead of clady, but nobody had the opportunity to pass on him, really. he went right where he was projected to go.

That's pretty funny to hear, because the Vikings finished 28th in pass offense last year. I don't think I'd consider it a good thing that they let receivers improvise more when they're bottom-feeders in the pass game. Whatever they're doing up there, last year it didn't work. They were almost totally reliant on their admittedly great run game. When that didn't come through, they lost critical games and ended out of the playoffs. Personally I don't think just Bernard Berrian would do it for them. But him, along with other acquisitions + another year in the same system, probably will. They also had a first-year starter at QB and (when Rice was injured) had Troy Williamson, Bobby Wade, Robert Ferguson as their top 3 WR's. You could have the best scheme in the history of football and you weren't going to have a productive pass offense with that group. This year we'll see. Berrian is a major upgrade, Tarvaris has that first year under his belt, Sidney Rice (along with Aundre Allison) are in their second year, Wade gets to be a slot guy again where he can be successful. The group overall still doesn't have enough to be great but they do need to make teams pay for completely selling out against the run. yea, your right. BB has NEVER had a ball hit him right int the hands and drop it the way Troy Williamson did. I'm sure he has. He's also never made near the amount of plays or catches that Berrian has made nor the amount of mind boggling drops. In 3 years Williamson had 79 catches for 1067 yards and 3 TD's. Last year Berrian had 71 for 957 and 5 TD's in an similarly terrible pass offense. Troy had 18 catches for 240 and 1 TD. Honestly I see the Bears a fair amount but obviously not when the Vikes are playing at the same time. I know a lot of Bears fans complained about drops from him, I never saw a ton of them so I defer to you guys on that. I have seen him make some incredible catches in big games and beat some very good corners. Although people debate him being a #1, he was one of the top 25-30 WR's last year in receptions and yards and 35 in TD's in a terrible offense. Any way you slice it he's an enormous upgrade on everything we had last year and is probably a top 25 NFL WR right now. the vikings gave him what they had to give him, but he's not worth more than lance briggs, there's just no way. berrian's not a #1 receiver, he's still pretty thin and going over the middle is a problem for him. not that he gets alligator arms, it's probably worse that he doesn't. he can't absorb hits, he's not a good downfield blocker, but his hands are excellent. as far as him putting up numbers in a terrible offense, well, someone had to put up some kind of numbers. it's not like they weren't going to gain any yards. the bears definitely took a hit when they lost berrian, but he's ridiculously overpaid.

he's too good for anywhere but california. like he can't live in san diego if he gets traded.

i vote for "paula poundstone".

This might be the best thing since March Madness online. we used to call it speedball in gym class.

the cards have completely shut the chicago offensive juggernaut down in the first 2 games of the series absolutely ridiculous. the cardinal luck continues...

everything flies out for the cards while we struggle against a never was, makes me mad.

would have been out for the cards.

the swimming heats are on.

cards got extremely lucky on that olopez single. he had no business hitting that pitch. but then again, the cards are the luckiest team in the history of baseball, so it figures.

how many hrs has schumaker hit against us?

Sulley wanted him as a starting CF. thank you, thank you. it brings me no greater pleasure than to rub it in the faces of everyone who mocked me at the meet. especially you and vance. haha.

every day is jim edmonds day.

that's not true. Yeah, he also mashes bad breaking balls. I was writing with assumption that any hitter playing everyday in the big leagues can mash a hanging breaking ball for an extra base hit. That's a given. The only pitcher's pitch (meaning non-mistake pitch) Soriano can really do damage on is a fastball. what hitters consistently do damage on a "pitcher's pitch"? this doesn't make much sense. soriano does what he needs to do, he hits the crap out of fastballs and hanging breaking balls. great hitters don't hit great breaking stuff, they spit on it.

i can really identify with cuban. after all, i was once the owner of something, too.