ZoomSlowik

I think Palmeiro will definitely get in, and he should. The first ballot thing is another story. In my book, first ballot is reserved for the all-time greats, the guys with the MVP awards, the superstar players, the best player at his position for some time. Because of this, I don't think he should be in on the first ballot. As we've said, he's never even come close to being an MVP, he isn't exactly a household name, and I can't say with a straight face that he was ever the best 1B in the league. His stats are impressive, but that has as much to do with his longevity as his skill. When looking at raw career numbers, longevity is a major factor. If you play 20 years, you need to average 150 hits and 25 homers a year to get 3000 and 500. If you play 15, you need to average 200 hits and between 33 and 34 homers. There's quite a difference there, even though both players had a very long career. So when comparing his 3000 hits and 500 homers to other guys in the past that didn't do it, consider that. With the really old players, you also have to consider that they didn't play in the era of the 162 game schedule. That also can have an impact on their career totals. I personally like to look at yearly averages or their performance in their prime when comparing two different players, not their career totals. I don't think a couple of homers when the guy is 40 should determine whether or not a player is a hall of famer.

QUOTE(Soxnbears01 @ Jul 19, 2005 -> 04:20 PM) seems like a regular set of sliders to me. I guess I didn't get your statement then. I thought you were saying the set you posted earlier was pissing you off and you were going to play with the ratings. I don't think you need to change it as drastically as ones you posted because good teams give you a game sometimes, you just need to make it more consistent.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Jul 18, 2005 -> 11:36 PM) I hate the discipline aspect of the dynasty mode. I go through the first season without a single incident and in my second season, I have already had three players suspended for academic reasons. I hate that the game dictates stupid penalties for nothing violations and doesn't give you the opportunity to adjust them without putting yourself in hot water with the NCAA. FWIW, I never sign a recruit with Poor discipline to help with this and I still end up on probation for no freakin reason. The discipline thing really bothers me. One year I have multi-game suspensions left and right, the next year virtually nothing happens. Also the player discipline doesn't seem to affect it much, I've had a few A and B players get in trouble, and it's always a starter, never one of your scrubs. It seems like you can adjust the penalties quite a bit though, as I've done, without getting in trouble with the NCAA. I had an interest level of almost nothing before my starting WR had a major violation with only one game left, meaning I couldn't punish him enough to satisfy the NCAA. If your interest is too high, try throwing the book at someone that doesn't matter too much. I went a bit nuts on my 84 receiver (bumped it from 2 games to four) because I had an 82 I could plug in, and I did the same thing at DE (3 games to 5) going from an 85 to an 83.

QUOTE(Soxnbears01 @ Jul 19, 2005 -> 04:11 PM) Well, after growing completely frustrated with the slider world, i decided i'm just going to adjust a few things from AA to make the game fun again. Right now all i did was move Human run blocking to 40%. Since that's the only problem i remember w/ default AA. We'll see though. I'd recommend a few changes. First, as you said, drop the human blocking. I'd also drop the human running ability to a 45 (major difference if you drop it to 40). I'd also drop the human receiving and QB accuracy ratings, and maybe increase the CPU knockdown a bit because the deep balls are ridiculous. On the other side, the QB accuracy really needs to get bumped up, Chad Henne was a 99 senior and only had like 60 yards against me. I'd also increase the CPU pass blocking, run blocking, and RB ability, and probably drop the human pass rush. I'm still tinkering with how much to adjust everything. A five percent change doesn't seem to do much (except for CPU running stuff, that seems to help), while the ten percent increase drastically changes things.

QUOTE(Fotop @ Jul 17, 2005 -> 03:38 PM) Well if I could control them with an XBOX controller...they'd be awesome. Sadly, that isn't the case. Still, I'm thinking something along the lines of 6-7 wins. Probably another Gator Bowl type bid, with maybe one or two regular season upsets. We're in transition this year on defense, but the offense is pretty loaded (Quinn, Walker, McKnight, our whole offensive line is back, and we're real deep at TE). Either way it's going to be a fun season, even if it's my last as a student. Can't wait. I agree with your assessment of ND's chances, although I should let it be known that I despise ND. It's going to be very tough for them to beat USC, Michigan, or Tennesee, which puts them at a major disadvantage. Games at Purdue and at Pittsburgh will also be tough, and MSU at home won't be a gimme. If they lose all of these and win the rest (highly possible, there are some cupcakes in there), they'd finish 5-6, so I'd say 5-7 wins. A lot will depend on the play of Quinn and Walker, because the line is pretty good and they have some talented receivers. The D could be in trouble though.

I think I pissed off the computer. I kicked it up to Heisman and was doing okay (2-1 with a loss at ASU), but then I got to Penn State. I moved the ball very well, but every thing else went to s***. I was up 21-10 at the half, despite a lost fumble and a late INT. I then pushed it to 28-10 early in the half. On the next drive I moved it about 20 yards before lofting a corner route too much and getting it intercepted. It was returned to about the 25, leading to a rushing TD. On my next drive, my RB got hit in the backfield for a 3 yard loss, and I followed it with another pick on a drag route, only this time it was taken back for a TD. The next drive, the same thing happened, putting me down 31-28. I drove the ball out to about the opponents' 40 before my RB coughed the ball up. I ended up stopping them on 4th down this time. Things got back to normal a bit, and I was up 41-31 with about two minutes left. They went into a no huddle offense and Robinson went nuts, running for about 60 yards on the drive and pitching it on an option play for a TD. I was trying to run out the clock, but then my RB coughed it up AGAIN when I got to about the 50. They scored on that drive, and I drove down inside the ten before getting stuffed on 4th and short. I almost had to buy a new controller after this game. I know Penn State's D is pretty good, but 7 turnovers? Give me a f***ing break. I started the game the same way against Purdue, up 21-3. Then the s*** happened again. I quit after their second INT runback and kicked it back down to All-American. I'm still working on sliders, will probably try the ones in this thread eventually.

QUOTE(Jimenez4MVP @ Jul 16, 2005 -> 12:00 PM) haha, I dont think so... 7+16=23 + the 6 inseason recruits you pulled would make 29 I just noticed that, the 6 in season recruits were counted in the 4 star category.

QUOTE(Jimenez4MVP @ Jul 15, 2005 -> 09:30 PM) Uhh.. how did u get 29 scholarships available? Your math is off, 7+16=23. As for NU's playbook, it is definitely frustrating at times. It's hard to run consistently because of all or the multi-receiver sets. I can get some big runs, but only on a few plays. Ace twins halfback slam and shotgun off tackle usually work well, but not against some better teams, and the occasional option works. I'm thinking of switching to USC's playbook, I know their real team runs some I-form as well as the multi-WR sets. I'm going to kick it up to heisman difficulty and restart my dynasty, adjusting sliders as necessary. I'm blowing people out, even in the second year of the dynasty with a 78 QB and an 80 RB. I beat Illinois like 42-7, and they were definitely better than me. I'm gonna miss my team though, I had a freshman outside linebacker who was already an 88 impact player after 3 games .

QUOTE(CubsSuck1 @ Jul 15, 2005 -> 08:07 PM) Recruiting is more challenging this year, definetly a good thing. I'm not so sure. After one good year (11-1) with NU, I got the #1 class with 7 five stars and 16 four stars, and I had about 6 four stars commit during the season. That shouldn't happen.

I'm still not big on Schmidt. His ERA looks decent the last few starts, but he isn't exactly dominating. Since he came off the DL, he's walked 29 in 10 starts, which is only slightly fewer than Contreras (that 7 in the one start gives Schmidt the lead). Plus only two of those starts were not in a pitcher's park, and only one involved a DH. He's also gotten quite a few flyouts in those starts, some of which probably get out or hit the wall at the Cell. I'm definitely convinced that he isn't the answer. I liked Burnett a lot before his last couple of starts. He's laboring a lot more and is looking more like he has in the past. I'd definitely like to add another IF that can come off the bench at 3B or SS for insurance against back problems for Crede. I certainly don't want to see an infield of Uribe and Ozuna very often. Randa sounds like the answer.

QUOTE(soxhawks @ Jul 15, 2005 -> 06:12 PM) iowa sucked against me i beat them 49-7, and the only reason the scored is because they ran back a fumble. ohio state was a tight game but i ended up winning. you also mentioned that jordan got suspended for a bar fight, the exact same thing happened to me i had to bench him for the illinois game I finished finally finished out the season. I was really pissed after losing a shootout to Michigan State. The final was 28-21, and neither of us could stop the other. The difference was my turnovers, and I don't accept responsibility for any of them. The first was right after an interception, when my cornerback fumbled the ball trying to return it. The second came with under a minute to go in the first half, when a ball that was tipped by my RB was picked off (the comp seems to have these a lot more than me). That led to a TD right before the half since they only had to go about 30 yards. The last one was the killer. I was moving the ball, and I had it in the red zone with under a minute to go and going for the tie. I hate passing inside the 10 because my success rate is pretty low, so after a couple of big passes I ran it off tackle. My RB coughed it up on about the 6 and MSU recovered. I then blew out Michigan and Iowa 49-10 and 52-7 respectively. To be fair, Michigan was missing several key players (Hart, Avant, Woods). Ohio State was having a rough year (4-5 going into the game), but they still gave me a decent game in Colombus. I didn't bother playing Illinois, I just simmed it and won. I took down Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl. I miss Loren Howard already. That guy is an absolute beast at LE. He finished with 47 tackles, 14 sacks, 3 FF, 5 FR, 1 INT and a touchdown. I'm still trying to figure out how they determine the impact players after the first year in a dynasty. All three of my guys graduated, and it looks like I only have two impact players now (an 84 receiver and a 90 SS). For some reason my 86 ROLB linebacker and 88 FS aren't impact players (all four are seniors). I can already guess my future ones, I got an 86 LOLB, an 84 SS, and an 80 WR in recruiting .

Can anyone really argue that giving a graduating student athlete some cash creates any kind of recruiting violation? That's kind of a stupid rule. I don't see why it is a problem once their career is over unless the gifts are on a large scale. There are worse ones though. I remember the NCAA was giving Rick Majerus crap for paying for lunch with a player (who was already on his roster) when trying to console him (can't remember what it was, think the guy was homesick or his parents were ill). Or the whole situation with Jeremy Bloom not being able to accept endorsements for skiing because he walked on at Colorado. The NCAA claimed that he was benefiting monetarily from his atheltic ability, and even though it was a different sport he would be ineligible. This happens despite the fact that football players commonly play in the minor leagues while retaining eligibilty. There are so many rules in the NCAA that don't make sense, I don't know how a program can stay absolutely clean.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Jul 14, 2005 -> 03:50 PM) 4 years $42 million is Pujoles money. If we're going to shell out that much money for a 1B, we should find one that hits for power AND average. I like Paul, for about $6 million a year. The only reason Pujols is making that little is he signed a monster deal for 10 years at a discount rate. The guys to look at are last year's FA, like Sexon, Beltre, and Glaus. All of those guys are in the $12 mil range, and considering how thin this year's group looks I could see Paulie getting it.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jul 14, 2005 -> 03:40 PM) Any idea about when this was..?? I'm trying to narrow down a search. I can not imagine Paul not even bothering to respond... especially after how Sox fans turned on Maggs. I honestly don't recall ever hearing him getting an offer.. I think I heard it on the way home from the Friday game against the Cubs, although I'm not entirely sure.

I'm almost sure that at some point on AM 1000 I heard that the Sox offered somewhere in the neighborhood of 4/$42 mil and Paulie/his agent haven't made a move on it. I think that's already too much unless he gets his average up quite a bit. Even then I wouldn't be happy about it because of his streakiness.

QUOTE(soxhawks @ Jul 13, 2005 -> 07:07 PM) your northwestern i assume, hart tore it up agianst me i couldnt stop him and michigan beat me because i threw 5 picks and they ran back a kick. i also had problem mills but i did beat penn state I'm not up to Michigan yet, I just waxed Wisconsin. Their starting RB was out, otherwise I think I would have had problems with their running game. Penn State got one or two big runs on me. I'm definitely worried about what Michigan, Iowa, and Ohio State are going to do with me. My passing is very inconsistent, and my outside running probably isn't going to work as well against them (Penn State was the only one that slowed me down so far). I'm getting better throwing the ball but it still isn't there. I usually try to throw screen passes and some short crossing routes to try to get Basanez in the zone, then try to hit on a fly pattern. The deep balls are pretty sporadic, I either get none in a game or a ton, and when I don't get some deep balls I can't consistently hit on the short ones enough to put up good numbers. The game definitely seems harder than usual on All-American. I used to absolutely dominate everyone at least 40-10 on the older games, now my offense isn't as consistent. My guess is in another week I'll figure out all the money plays again, but we'll see.

Man, I just checked the NCAA player stats for the first time, and the passing numbers are ridiculous. I'm averaging about 270 passing yards per game and I'm ranked in the 50's, and my QB's 58% completion percentage is tied for last in the NCAA. I'm hoping these drop a bit as the season goes on (I'm 5 games in), that's ridiculous.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jul 13, 2005 -> 04:11 PM) FWIW, I believe scoring is higher in the NL this year. Maybe overall runs, but only three NL teams have scored more runs than the Sox, who are middle of the pack.

I'm not really having huge problems with passing defense in the game. I'm letting up some bombs (which is to be expected with my secondary), but the completion percentages aren't much over 50, even with ASU's excellent receivers and decent QB. If you get a pass rush on their percentage goes down a ton. I was getting let up early, but I got a couple of sacks and several hurries and his percentage went from high 70's down to about 55 before I knocked him out of the game. Even if they still get off a good throw it seems to get dropped more often. I actually had more problems with the running game, especially if the other team goes into a spread formation. NIU was getting some huge runs against me, and even ASU's crappy runner got a couple. However, the NIU problems should be suspected since their back is a 92 and can fly, and I did manage to get a lot of stops in the backfield in both cases.

Well, guess the program standards crap that pissed me off last year is back to be the bane of my dynasty. Here's my sad story. Mind you that I am using Northwestern, a prestigious academic program that I watch regularly and have seen maybe 5 players get suspended in 10 years of having season tickets. I started my dynasty, and before week 3, I already had to deal with two players. My starting SS missed a practice and was suspended for two quarters. That wasn't a huge problem. However, my starting RB got in a bar fight and was supposed to be suspended for 3 games. Since I knew that there was a big drop off at RB, I dropped his suspension to two. I'm still trying to figure out how you get in a bar fight in Evanston, their bars are much nicer and have much fewer problems than those at Illinois. I then ended up struggling against Northern Illinois, which frustrated the hell out of me. I got semi-lucky though because I forgot to save my dynasty. After starting another one, going into the same game, my RB gets suspended again for 3 games, this time for plagerizing a paper. I was rather pissed after last time, but I still suspended him for two games. I'm still trying to figure out how he plagerized a paper before classes even start at NU (game was September 10th, classes don't start until October ), but I digress. I smoked Northern and then ASU this time thanks to some big plays in the return game and on defense and a huge game from my QB respectively. So I finally think I'm in the clear, and then I find out my starting WR hasn't been to a voluntary practice and I'm supposed to suspend him for two games. I had a lot of problems with this one. First off, the player discipline was an A, making it unusual. Second, two games seems pretty steep for missing some workouts. Third, why should my NCAA team interest go up if I don't suspend him? Missing voluntary workouts isn't exactly a rules violation. Anyways, I'm going to let him off the hook, meaning I'll have to throw the book at the next guy to get my interest level down. Knowing my luck it'll be my starting QB next. I liked this idea when I first heard about it, but I'm not a fan of the way it's been implemented. Problems seem to come up too often, and I don't think the punishments really fit the crimes often times. Also, it seems that it is always a solid starter that makes a violation and never a bench warmer. I hope they polish this thing up in the future.

I'm definitely starting to buy into Randa, especially if Crede's back becomes an issue. We can't have Ozuna and Uribe starting on the left side, that's just a killer on the lineup, and the D takes a hit too. Vizquel would be nice, but his salary is kind of rough, and I'm not so sure that the Giants will even trade him, especially since Bonds coming back and Schmidt potentially returning to form can make them a real competitor in the NL West for next season.

Every one of those teams on our schedule is beatable. New York and Boston are name teams, but both have their flaws, and neither are pitching that well. You run the risk of losing 7-4, but all in all I think we can go .500 against them without too much difficulty. Texas and Baltimore fit in this category too. Toronto and Seatlle aren't really that good, especially if we catch Toronto while Halladay is out. That leaves the Twins, who we've done very well against this year. I don't see us slipping much, maybe down to 6 or 7 because even if the Twins gain a couple while we are playing the tougher teams (they got some toughies themselves), we can get them back head to head. I just don't buy Cleveland. As soon as Hafner falls off a little they're a .500 team. He can't hit like this forever.

I'm not 100% sure this is the right start, but I looked at the stats for Charlotte and there was one start for El Duque. He went 4 innings, 4 hits, no walks, 2 k's, one run earned, and somehow took the loss.

I was on the field during batting practice last year (I won it in a charity auction. looks like I got screwed on the price. Oh Well. ). That was awesome. We got there really early before the park opened, so the Sox were still taking batting practice. We were standing right next to the dugout, and whenever the players were done with their batting set they came over. They were all really cool, I think only the guys in the last group blew us off because they had to get going. I got a ball signed by Maggs, a pennant from Carlos, plus pictures with a lot of them. We also met Ozzie, KW, and the Hawk. Hawk was awesome, we asked him why he doesn't say "Grab some bench" as much anymore, and he said, "Well, normally when I say that I don't like the son of a b****" . My only complaint was that we didn't get to meet the pitchers. They're always in the bullpen early and don't always stop by the dugout apparently. However, I thought it was a blast, and well worth $300 a person.

QUOTE(quickman @ Jul 12, 2005 -> 12:13 PM) All these teams won the world series with superstars on there team. I hope you do not think that the Whitesox have a better team than any of these three. I would say that this year's Sox team was better than all of those teams as a whole. The Angels were not a loaded team by any stretch of the imagination. Their lineup was built around guys like Troy Glaus, Garrett Anderson, Darin Erstad, and David Eckstein. So basically their lineup now, minus Vlad and adding Glaus. Not exactly superstar laden. Their starting staff was even worse, with guys like Jared Washburn, Kevin Appier, and Ramon Ortiz. The only thing I'd call solid on that team was the bullpen, and I certainly wouldn't call anyone they had a superstar. The Marlins were similar. Their starters were highly mediocre in the regular season outside of Dontrelle's excellent start, and they had a patchwork bullpen. Willis, Beckett, Pavano, and Redman might be considered decent players now, but not at that time. As for their lineup, the closest thing they had to a superstar was Pudge. They had some solid guys like Pierre, Castillo, Lee, and Lowell, and Cabrera was a 20 year old rookie. It's better than our lineup, but only moderately. As for the D-Backs, they had three good players: Johnson, Schilling, and Louis Gonzalez. The rest of their lineup and rotation was a joke. Kim was the only credible reliever, and he damn near blew the series for them. All of those teams beat much more talented Yankees' teams. Outside of getting another decent hitter on the left side of the infield, the Sox don't have a ton of holes to fill. Their bullpen has been excellent, and their starters have the best ERA of any in the AL. I like how we'd matchup against any team we could face excluding the Cards. I don't think you could ask for much more.