ZoomSlowik

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Feb 1, 2007 -> 12:15 PM) Oden is going pro, why does anyone actually think he's staying? If he blows out his knee he'll lose $100 mil easily, if not more. To come back would simply be one of the dumbest moves I can think of, regardless of how much he says loves college. It'd be REALLY hard for Oden to totally kill his draft stock. Even with the wrist injury, he would have been the #1 pick last year, and the same is probably true for anything short of a career ender, for which he could get a substantial insurance policy. If running backs and DB's can tear their ACL or break a leg and still go in the first round in the NFL draft, Oden shouldn't really have a problem, especially since he's A LOT more talented and well regarded relative to guys like McGahee, Cromartie, Jason Allen and Michael Bush in the NFL. The only real difference is that it would push back his time-table a bit, and he could be leaving money on the table, though he would still be pretty wealthy.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 31, 2007 -> 10:11 PM) DePaul turns a 21 point 2nd half lead into a mere 3 points at the 1 minute mark of the game, but holds off UConn 66-58 behind 26 points from, of all people, Draelon Burns. Both teams looked incredibly awful for around 30 minutes. DePaul figured things out a bit right before the end of the half and for roughly the first ten minutes of the second half, while UConn dominated the last 10. UConn looked particularly awful. Their big men couldn't catch, they had no shooters, and they didn't really have any ball-handling until Price came in in the second half (not really sure why he didn't start or even play in the 1st half, he's clearly their only decent ball-handler). Honestly, they didn't really look any worse than the guys in the mascot pickup game at halftime. QUOTE(knightni @ Feb 1, 2007 -> 12:02 AM) I don't get it. Good wins vs Top 25 teams in Alabama, Maryland, and West Virginia. Solid wins vs tough conference teams in Syracuse, Villanova, and Louisville. Three of four losses vs quality opponents... Top 20 in coaches and media poll... Yet N.D. is only a 7 seed in that bracket. Negatively biased perhaps? 3 of those teams have been much worse than expected (those being Bama, Cuse, and Maryland), and the other 3 haven't really cemented themselves as tourney teams yet either. They'll probably move up in the next one though...

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 31, 2007 -> 11:40 PM) Having seen Oden play 7 or 8 times now, he's not nearly aggresive enough on the glass and his offensive game is much more raw than advertised in the post, but his presence on defense is crazy good. Now I know that sounds eerily like Patrick Ewing at Georgetown (and I think the comparision will hold a lot of water over the years), but I've never seen anything like Durant pre NBA in my life, outside of LeBron. People keep forgetting that he's still wearing the brace on his right wrist, he's just now close to getting back to 100%, and is still shooting left-handed. That seriously affects his post moves and his development in that area. It's also hard to look aggressive when he consistently draws a crowd and the OSU guards are sub-par at getting him the ball. He's still much farther along than most big men, especially for freshmen. The reason that you haven't seen anyone like Durant in college for a long time is that those kind of guys went pro before this year. T-Mac and Kobe easily would have been similar, and guys like Rashard Lewis and Al Harrington probably could have been similar, or quite possibly Jonathan Bender, Josh Smith, or Gerald Green. You also haven't seen a dominant true freshmen big man like that in a while either.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 31, 2007 -> 11:32 PM) The scouts can say whatever the hell they want, but they are dead wrong. Just like they were about Ryan Leaf, Sam Bowie, Stromile Swift, Michael Olowokandi, etc. Actually that's a bad analogy, because I think Oden will be a very good pro. But he has not nearly lived up to the hype at all, and Durant is unreal. And wow Seth Davis is an idiot. POY is once again a 2 horse race, this time between Durant and Tucker. As for Durant, I'd say he's the best college player since Glenn Robinson at Purdue, at least based on waht i've seen. It's REALLY early to say whether they are wrong or not. Right now Durant appears to be better, but that's not what they're worried about. If 10 years from now Durant is basically McGrady and Oden is basically Duncan, the big guy is going to win out. It doesn't really matter if they're wrong or not, they have the ultimate say on who goes #1, which is the whole argument. Yes, Durant can easily be the better player, just like Jordan was better than Olajuwon, but that doesn't change who went #1 in the draft. That's an entirely different argument. Most GM's are going to take the guy who could be the next great center because those guys are in pretty short supply, especially a guy that is already as good defensively as Oden.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2007 @ Jan 31, 2007 -> 11:21 PM) What if the Suns get Durant? lol. They've got the Atlanta Hawks pick this June. Oh god, I really don't want to think about Phoenix getting either of those guys. Either they get a small forward that gives them even more firepower, or they get another athletic big man to pair with Stoudemire that would drastically improve their defense and making them damn near impossible to guard inside. Either way, the rest of the league would be f***ed.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 31, 2007 -> 10:02 PM) Let me make it clear again: Kevin Durant is THE #1 pick in this draft. Greg Oden is going to be really good, but a combo of McGrady and Garnett doesn't come along too often. 38 and 23, on the road, against a red hot Texas Tech team, as a true frosh, at 6'10. WTF. The scouts say different, Oden has been the consensus #1 the whole time and nothing appears to be changing. Teams are going to take the big man over the perimeter player pretty much regardless. Yes, Durant is a potential star and right now is the best player in college basketball, but teams don't pass on athletic 7-footers.

THIS IS NOT A NEW THREAD, IT IS LEFTOVER FROM LAST YEAR. I am a lot less likely to sort through this mess once signups really start, so please don't use this thread.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Jan 31, 2007 -> 04:32 PM) Yeah I know Oden is awesome. But is he even playing tonight? ESPN says he's expected to play, same with Hunter, though a lot less people care about that...

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Jan 31, 2007 -> 11:45 AM) Que? Wisconsin was top 5 to start the season and was on the cover of SI. Actually, there were 5 different regional covers of that issue of Sports Illustrated, so it's not quite the same. They also started the season 9th in both polls. Yeah, they were still pretty highly regarded, but not as highly as they are right now.

Why exactly is this thread still pinned? Lazy-ass mods.

I'll get this started as well I guess, I am obviously playing since I am running the thing, and here are my keepers: Chase Utley Mark Teixeira Hanley Ramirez Jake Peavy Joe Nathan

To the best of my knowledge the Yahoo leagues will be opening soon, so I'd like to get started on this stuff so I know what players are back and who I need to replace. Here's the deal: 1) First off, PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME ABOUT OPEN SPOTS. If we have any openings, I will deal with that when the situation arises. Priority will go to veteran players/posters, and probably on an invitation-only basis. If there is enough interest, I am not opposed to starting another keeper league, though I will still try to make sure that there is a veteran presence for an interesting league that I am fairly confident will keep going for a while. For players in the league, please let me know if you plan on playing again as soon as possible. Eventually I'll try to track down the people who haven't responded, but I'd like to be a pain in the ass as little as possible. 2) It's the same setup as last year: standard 5x5 12-team Head2Head league. 3) You get to keep 5 players: 2 position players, 2 pitchers, and one wildcard. I would like to have everyone's keepers in a week before the draft, once that time is set (I will be aiming for a mid to late March draft probably on a weeknight to avoid NCAA tournament conflicts ). If you forgot who you have, just PM me or post in this thread, I have all of the rosters from last year. 4) Once the lists are in, I'll put together a complete keeper list. Please exclude all players kept by other teams, I'd like to minimize issues that I have to deal with after the draft. Put your keepers as your top 5 players, that way even if you miss the draft it will auto-select them. The "real" draft will start with round 6. Final Standings from last year (also the draft order from bottom to top): 1) Chimpy 2) Alawicious (Jas' friend) 3) Zoom 4) Heads 5) Asshat 6) Bullard 7) DBaho 8) Steff 9) Gage 10) Qwerty 11) Danman 12) Kap Here's hoping for an interesting and enjoyable season!

QUOTE(Leonard Zelig @ Jan 28, 2007 -> 08:17 PM) What do you mean by morons? Not names--but what do they do that makes them morons? I'm assuming that he's referring to people that consistently make bad trades, have no gameplan and have bouts of inactivity.

QUOTE(knightni @ Jan 28, 2007 -> 12:38 AM) I don't think so. I'd be looking more at the other side of that trade for someone to let go. Well, if we're going to move to GM's that are incompetent/don't offer much, yeah, Lime would probably be candidate number one, and I have another GM or two in mind, including a certain league founder...

QUOTE(knightni @ Jan 27, 2007 -> 10:58 PM) There might be a wait list unless someone loses their job. Senators after Bonilla-gate?

QUOTE(knightni @ Jan 26, 2007 -> 11:00 AM) It will be a long time til that happens. If ever. Basically Knightni would have to leave us, and hopefully that doesn't happen for a long, long time.

Just try to make sure it's something that you can live with yelling around other people if the dog runs off, so you're not yelling the name of a Disney character or something fruity and embarassing like that...

QUOTE(danman31 @ Jan 24, 2007 -> 08:55 PM) OSU 59-50. The Buckeyes started hot from 3 in the 2nd half and got up 10 but the Cats got it back to 1 not long after. Most of the rest of the way the lead fluctuated between 2-5, never closer. NU did have a shot or two to tie, but never hit the big shot. Oden was the difference. Without his big offensive rebounds and putbacks it's hard to say OSU would win this one tonight. That game had to be incredibly maddening for fans of either team. NU actually played pretty well, they shot well from the perimeter (even Sterling Williams hit 3 3's, which is a nearly apocalyptic event), and Doyle somehow manufactured a few easy baskets like he always does. But they missed like 5 layups on open backdoor plays, pissed away a few possessions passing the ball around the perimeter without going anywhere and invariably throwing up a 3 that missed or turning it over, and got horribly outrebounded by a bigger and more athletic team. On the other side, OSU simply couldn't put away a team that isn't even in the same stratosphere athletically. They had numerous baffling turnovers where I couldn't even figure out what they were trying to do, and Ron Lewis kept jacking up 3's even though they weren't going down (their guys have to lay off the 1-6 or 1-7 type nights, those are killers). On the plus side, they did a much better job getting the ball into Oden this game, he finished with 17 and shot 10 free throws. It could have been more too if they called all the hacks when he went up, NU was raking him across the arms like every possession in the first half. OSU really reminds me of UConn of last year right now: they have enough talent to go all the way but they can't quite put it together. Their guards are maddeningly inconsistent, and they don't always get Oden the ball often enough. Their perimeter defense also leaves something to be desired, NU had a ton of open looks from three. At least they have an excuse though, they're very young. If they can find a good balance between inside and outside and get out on the 3-point shooters, they'll be dangerous. But if they keep missing 3's while Oden doesn't touch the ball for long stretches, they could struggle against good teams.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 02:29 PM) In 2-3 years things may change, but right now it feels so premature to be saying Weber needs to go. Last year Wisconsin tanked for a variety of reasons at the end of the season, but I cant remember 1 Wisconsin fan say anything about replacing Bo Ryan. I guess I just cant understand how you can seriously consider firing a coach who has had the success level as Weber for a bad year. Down years are going to happen, but I dont see any reason why Illinois is not going to be one of the top 3 Big 10 programs for the next few years. I disagree with that last part, I think it's highly possible that the team just won't be as good with the level of recruits he's signed so far. In their system he needs guards that can do some damage, and right now Smith seems to be the only guy that fits that billing, and McCamey appears to be the only other potential impact guy. He's going to need some guards to step up, or they could be in trouble. Either that or the big guys, of which it appears he's actually been able to recruit a few decent ones, are going to have to carry the team. I'm not sure how likely that is.

I think he's earned at least 2 more years after this year before you even think about firing him. He's had one down year so far, everyone is going to have those now and then. Now if they still suck over the next couple of years and it turns out that the recruiting was the cause instead of some injuries and one less than stellar team, than that's another story, but for now he earned some leeway with those Big Ten titles and the Final Four run.

Right now I don't own either, though I may end up getting a PS3 once Lair, Warhawk and Heavenly Sword come out depending on how good they are (which apparently means sometime in the summer for me). There are also a couple of others coming out at some point in 2007 like Killzone and Devil May Cry 4 that could do that as well (and of course there are a few that are on both systems). I probably can't say the same thing about an XBox360 until Halo 3 comes out, and I probably wouldn't buy both systems. That's just my taste in games though, I've always been a bit of a Sony guy.

QUOTE(beautox @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 02:44 PM) is anyone here interested in creating a Baseball Mogul 07 sim league? to pass the time? You could always join our OOTP league.

Oh my God, this thread was classic. I can't believe that I wasted time and effort arguing with this mental midget...

QUOTE(danman31 @ Jan 21, 2007 -> 01:28 PM) Zoom, is that Michael Thompson? Yep, such a disappointment. He sure didn't look like a McDonald's All-American. He could barely jump and had no shooting ability at all, and was a bit of a head-case (I can't even remember all the reasons he missed games as a senior). That's probably why he was buried on the bench at Duke...

Speaking of random NU players, I just added a gem in my avatar.