davecubsfan

Some people on here seem to think that next year they will be the Tennessee Smokies and they are located about 20 miles east of Knoxville Tn. That's the rumor I heard about in January or so.

My dad has lymphoma right now and luckily his was caught in time. I certainly hope Lester has it much better than my pops has. He's had it rough with chemo.

LOL At Chelski getting into the same group as Barca and Bremen. Bremen has been the best looking team thus far in the Bundesliga (yes I know it's still early) and Barca is Barca. I'd imagine that Chelski may have a rough outing. Group A and Group B look to be the toughest draws for the teams involved.

It's been nice to see Chelski lose to both the Reds in the CS and the Boro. I really feel it may be a wide open EPL this year with Liverpool drawing with Sheff, Arsenal drawing with Villa, and Chelsea losing one in season so far and the Community shield. I know most teams are still gelling but here's my surprises so far for the first week of the EPL Nice to see Reading up, and nice to see them come back from being down to win their first game in the Premiership. Walcott looked amazing in Arsenal's draw against Villa, and if not for a well timed pass to Silva, Arsenal would have lost the game against them. Walcott will be a star in the EPL. The way Villa looked Saturday was one of the more amazing turnarounds I've seen. They went from a very flat boring style last year to Martin O'Neil's style this year. Here's hoping that Randy Lerner's bid goes thru for Villa so that a few more Americans can root for an "NFL owner's team" that isn't named Manchester United The whole cAshley Cole and William Gallas discussion between Arsenal and Chelski has not been resolved yet, and may not be for a while longer. Cole is quite a bit younger than Gallas, but IMO Galllas is a much better defender than the oft injured Cole. I'd make that swap as long as Chelski sent a few million pounds back for the age difference.

An appeals court reduced Juventus's penalty points for the coming season from 30 to 17 points, but refused to let the club back into the top league. My best guess is that Juve will be back in Serie A next year. They've signed a few players to replace the mass exodus to Real and Inter, Boumsong is one of them and they got a bargain on him by only paying 2 million for him. I really think Inter got off lightly.

West Ham United did great last year and have been my favorite team for years and years and no one expected them to compete. Arsenal is a bit of a different bird than the other two. Wenger spends his money wisely on young folks and not on the flavor of the weeks like Chelski and and Man U do. Wenger has built lots of good young cheap talent at Arsenal (Fabregas, Walcott, Reyes (even though he's bound to wind up at Real Madrid) ) The true "playoff" league is the Champions league, and that's good enough for me in football. As someone else said, the top four go into the Champions league, and that is the ULTIMATE playoff series with teams from every major league FA playing against each other. I love the fact that every game counts in the EPL and there's no fooling around just to get into one of the playoff spots. If you fool around, don't play hard, and don't start hot out of the gate, you not only face not finishing in the upper half of the table, you risk relegation, and that's something that American sports sorely need. That's why Reading and Convey are such a good story this year.. Reading has never played in the EPL in their existence in the 1800's.

I watched that game and don't remember ESPN missing the goal at all. Lalas and Wynalda were really bad about bashing the EPL and praising MLS. The truth is probably in between what they said and the more dismissive "this was an exhibition" stuff Chelsea spouted. On the whole I think MLS is good for the USMNT, as long as they let the best players go play for the best. As far as Dempsey goes, I don't know the strength of the Charleston Athletic(I can't even find any info on them from google and wikipedia), but I don't have a problem with them holding out for the best possible club to sell the best to. That may not be their attitude though, if they're turning clubs down just to keep Dempsey in MLS then they're in the wrong and hurting the USMNT. EDIT: And now I see Charleston is part of the EPL. Bad move MLS. They missed the goal because they were showing crowd shots and showing the idiot sideline reporter. They did have a replay of it, but missed it initially. They cut from the crowd shot to show the celebration, and then showed a replay. The announcing was also horrid. Hey here's an idea, talk about the game and whats going on instead of off the field baloney. I certainly hope that during the next World Cup we'll get an announcing team that's worth a crap. Dave O'Brien and Marco Polo Balboa, Lawlas, Musberger, and Wynalda are just dreadful. I'd rather just have nat sound of the game than have to listen to them again. My absolute favorite moment of the world cup was when Marco Polo Balboa, who couldn't even hold Beck's jock strap was calling him old, over the hill, and saying how worthless he was, but when Becks scored on the free kick, there was sweet silence for a few seconds while he ate his words. Charlton is a lower tier EPL team, but still it's an EPL team which I think would aid in the development of our players. I also hope that a non MLS coach is put in place for the USMNT so they can't play favorites and leave Spector, Beasley, and others sitting on the pine so their precious MLS stars can play. I roll my eyes every time I hear that the manager for DC United may get it.

I heart Sirius :) Getting up at 7am to listen to Liverpool Saturday and 7am to listen to Man U Sunday to hear great soccer is well worth the loss of sleep. There's nothing quite like hearing a Cricket Score and the announcers saying they're in a tea break. MLS is hurting the USMNT more than it's helping it. They should be pleased that European teams want our players and should let them play against the best competition in England, Germany, Italy, and Spain as it will only help in the long run, and they face much stiffer competition than in MLS. Let Landycakes Primodonovan stay over here and play, while Beasley, Spector, and others play in the European leagues. I don't know how many folks watched the telecast on ESPN of the MLS All Stars vs Chelsea, but it was God awful. Panning around getting stupid crowd shots and they missed the only goal in the match, then Alexi Lawlas has the nerve to say something about "Overpriced Soccer" in an obvious crack towards the EPL. It was funny to me that Landy Cakes was too "hurt" to play against Chelsea, but was right back in the lineup the next week. I hope to God that Dempsey, Adu, and some others go play in Europe or I've got the feeling that we'll see the same results no matter if Klinsmann takes the coaching job. I fear that if Klinsmann takes the job, he and the MLS will go head to head on a few things.

He's already freed up nearly 3 million dollars and spots on the 40 and 25 man rosters... not to mention his offense isn't hurting us nearly as much as Neifi's did. What more do you want from the guy? I hope we sign more relievers this offseason and resign Wood to a lifetime contract.

Different products from each of the 3 I'd guess. Shoes from Nike, Futbols from Adidas, and apparel from Puma. That's just a guess.

:lol: http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/8667/zidane6ki7np.gif

I doubt the validity of the New York Red Bulls making an offer to Zidane. If you ask me though, that's what MLS needs. A guy like Zidane or Beckham or Ronaldo could validate the MLS and would hopefully create an atmosphere in the US where some players on the backside of their careers could come over and play a few years.

Nice PK by Zidane!!! Let's go France

I don't think Italy can beat France if they advance. France's defense against Brazil was just stifling and I don't see Italy doing much against it. Plus, I think Zidane is the sentimental favorite here. I'd love to see him go out on top since he's retiring.

I really think that Brazil thought they could coast to the semis and then really turn it on and win another world cup. Even in games where they've scored 2 or 3 goals they just looked flat for the most part. I'm rooting for France as of right now since Zidane and Henry are two of my favorite players, but any of the four would be fine with me. I really wish that Rooney hadn't pulled his stupidity against Portugal as I would have loved to have seen England contend for a cup since it's been so long since they've won. Short of all the yellows, this has been a great World Cup IMO.

Henry is an amazing player to watch. I've enjoyed watching him this whole world cup as well as Zidane. I hope France wins, but wouldn't mind Germany winning either.

This is the rumor I've been holding onto for quite a while now (since Feb) to protect a good friend of mine who told me about it then. Here's confirmation of it http://knoxnews.com/kns/sports_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_303_4803981,00.html While I and several other East Tenneseee folks would be pleased to see the AA Cubs head east, I know there's quite a few folks on here in the West Tennessee area.

It's become fashionable to hate on Beckham now. I'd still rather have Beckham on the field than any of the yahoos the US sent out.

After 30 plus years of following the Cubs, right now I'm laughing. Just when I think this club can't get any more inept, they top what I think. My best guess as to what happens after this. 1. Kerry Wood gets a two or three year guaranteed money extension. I mean really why would he go elsewhere? He's getting paid to rehab. Heck I'd go to the physical therapist day in and day out for a tenth of what he's making. For all that money he only has to pitch at most 5-10 times a year. Easy Money 2. Juan Pierre gets signed to a two or three year extension. 3. Larry Rothschild will get an extension as well 4. Mark Prior will catch the bird flu. I guarantee that. It will make the jump from human to human when Mark Prior shakes hands with an infected chicken farmer from Tennessee when he's rehabbing later this year. There's really no use to get mad or angry about any of this stuff anymore. Just laugh, because we're the laughing stock of baseball. Everyone else has laughed at this joke of a ballclub for years, why shouldn't we get in on the fun.

What about Prior? He's not even recovering from surgery, half the people don't know why hes injured, and he hasn't even pitched this year yet. Easy Money and "The Future" since that's when Prior's supposed to be better.

I think Kerry's new nickname should be "Easy Money"

One can hope, but from the way the guy I talked to spoke, it's a done deal and both parties are just waiting till near the end of the season to announce it.

From what I heard the Cubs affliation is moving to another Southern league team whose contract is up after this year with their current team. From what my friend told me, it's just an affliate swap. I've heard nothing about the Jaxx picking up and moving.

Anyone heard anything new on this? I heard a nice little rumor from a friend of mine who works in minor league baseball. (he told me about the Smokies losing Toronto in favor of St. Louis about 3 months before it happened, and told me that St. Louis was moving to Springfield and we were getting the Diamondbacks AA well before it happened)

I want em both gone. This is the first year I can remember that I'm "meh" about the Cubs. I really could care less about baseball this year since I already know the outcome which is no playoffs, no World Series, and more than likely a 3rd or 4th place finish in the division (depending on if Sheets is okay in Milwaukee) Hendry is a great GM during the season and has made some great deadline deals, but it's almost like he keeps his head in the sand from August until June or so.