dasox24

I see you, Vols. This is the team I was expecting all year.

QUOTE (Brian @ Mar 20, 2014 -> 05:05 AM) Can't say I'm shocked Marble no showed To be fair, he was guarded the whole game by Josh Richardson, who was 1st team All-SEC defense and a lot of people thought he had a shot for SEC DPOY. He's been doing that to every team's best scorer all season.

QUOTE (oneofthemikes @ Mar 19, 2014 -> 02:53 PM) I really liked everything that I read about Hoffman before his season started, but it has failed to translate to on the field success to this point in the season. I still like what he offers but I would rather see the Sox take Beede at this point. Welcome to the board! I'm still very undecided on my favorites right now. I seem to be going back and forth. But I'm excited to watch Beede pitch later this season against Tennessee. We have a pretty talented offense (albeit young), so it should be a nice match-up.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 19, 2014 -> 11:24 PM) I shouldn't be surprised. Iowa couldn't hold onto leads all season. Their lack of toughness and overall defensive issues failed them in the end. This is about as dissapointed as I've been in a season since the year Alford actually delivered a strong season and they lost to freaking Northwestern State or whomever the hell it was. Hope everything is well with Fran's son and that the Hawks learn from this. Even w/Marble leaving they should be a solid squad next year. This game was like a microcosm of the whole Iowa season. Started out great and then faltered at the end. But you guys have a lot of solid players. Should be a pretty good team next year. Not that it'll make you feel any better, but this experience will help in the long-run. I too hope McCaffery's son is doing well and continues to get better.

Took long enough for our offense to show up. 30 minutes of awful basketball to start a game was not what I wanted, but we hung tough. Proud of the way we fought back tonight.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 19, 2014 -> 12:21 PM) Well, if it was Jim Tressel coming back I am positive he wouldnt be called a good guy on here. I don't think Tressel is a bad guy at all. He made some pretty dumb mistakes, but that doesn't make him a bad person.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 19, 2014 -> 11:05 AM) A coach lying to the NCAA is like me, an attorney, lying to a judge. You lose all credibility. It's immoral. It's unethical. Add that to the fact that's he's an unethical creep to begin with and he really shouldn't be coaching anymore. Just like Sampson. Dude was the head of the ethics committee and then broke ethical rules. Both should have been barred for life. It's f***ed up that we expect 18-22 year olds to act perfectly all the time and be model citizens and all that, but coaches and administrators always get off easy. Except this is college sports, and these aren't real laws. Look, I get your point, but at least Bruce Pearl isn't a "dirty" coach (at least no more than the rest of college basketball). College basketball is incredibly corrupt. It's way worse than college football. AAU programs and shoe companies (Nike/Adidas) run the whole recruiting circuit. But we're all going to get on our high horse when Bruce Pearl lies about a secondary violation he committed and then comes clean about it 2 weeks later? I understand that most of you are Illini fans, so you hate the guy... but you need to look at this arbitrarily. Keep in mind that I'm defending the guy even though he's the reason for the decline of UT's basketball program. We were the #1 team in the country at one point in 2008 and made an Elite 8 run in 2009. He got fired and now we're a bubble team. I have as much reason to hate on the guy as any, but I think he deserved another shot. He's not a bad guy. He made a stupid mistake. And he isn't necessarily getting off easy. First, he couldn't coach for 3 years. And now that he's back, he had to go to a low-tier program like Auburn. That will be a very tough program to win at. Not only do they have poor facilities, they have Under Amour as their apparel provider. UA doesn't own much of the basketball landscape and that kills teams in recruiting. Of all the major conferences, only one team ever has won a conference championship wearing UA gear. He'll have his work cut out for him. But I suspect he'll be successful for Auburn's standards. And lucky for him, the SEC is pretty bad right now.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 19, 2014 -> 09:46 AM) I mean, wasn't the bad part just that Pearl lied? Compared to having programs with actual illegal behavior being covered up, recruiting violations like having a recruit over to your house more than is allowed just doesn't get me as riled up. Pearl was a good studio commentator, wish he stayed out of coaching. This is true. His sanctions were all about the lie, which was so stupid in the first place because it was only a secondary violation that he lied about. If he hadn't lied, it would have resulted in a slap on the wrist. That's what makes me most upset with Bruce. He forced us to fire him for something so stupid.

Haven't heard anything about the money involved, but it's only a 1 year deal for Melton. Hope he got paid because I'm going to be pretty disappointed in Emery if it's something like a 1 year, $4M deal.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Mar 18, 2014 -> 03:58 PM) Bears have brought in a lot of safeties, I still think they draft one, I'm just not sure about the first round anymore. Maybe I just want Calvin Pryor to fall to the Packers. I definitely think they still need to draft one. Seems that Emery is just going to throw a bunch of safeties out there and hope that a few stand out, providing some depth. But I would like to think that HCD and Pryor are viable options for the Bears at 14. A guy I like a lot is Kenny Ladler from Vanderbilt. He's a projected mid-round guy, though.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 18, 2014 -> 09:32 AM) Bruce Pearl hired at Auburn. Not sure if it's true, but I read elsewhere that the NCAA investigator that brought down Pearl at Tenn works in Auburn's athletic department. It is absolutely true. Shrewd move, Auburn. Their coaching duo is certainly one of the Top 5 now. Wouldn't say it's the best, but it's up there. I feel a lot of hurt right now. I knew Pearl could never be back at UT, but I selfishly didn't want him back in the SEC. I was hoping he'd go to BC or Clemson, or somewhere like that.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 18, 2014 -> 02:30 PM) That seems sensible. It does. I started to believe in the conspiracy theories a little bit, but the realist in me keeps thinking something like this is what's going to be the outcome. I just hope, for the victims' families, that we can have some sort of resolution soon.

Tennessee plays a Big 10-style of basketball. Should be interesting to see how it matches up with an actual Big 10 team.

Tennessee and Iowa are both better than an 11 seed. This is a bulls*** play-in game. The committee is awful. Louisville as a 4 seed? Are they joking? I can't figure out why the committee hates Tennessee. Kept us out the last 2 years when we should have been in, and then this year they make us play a good Iowa team in the First 4 game. Get out of here.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Mar 15, 2014 -> 01:10 PM) I still cant tell if Florida is really good or just too good for a bad conference. Florida needed Tennessee to go 7+ minutes without scoring in the second half to walk out with a 2 possession win today. That game was bulls***. Tennessee shot like s*** in the 2nd half, but Pat Adams was awful officiating today. He made several horrid calls, the worst of which being the technical which resulted in a 4 point play for Florida. I wouldn't want Tennessee in my bracket. We're playing as well as anyone right now. The defense and style of play is Big 10-esque.

Thanks Krush and Jason. Those are all good questions and things to consider. I must admit, neither of you are making me feel any more confident in making this change. Haha. I think both of you nailed it regarding the potential of starting a family, providing for them, etc. I think that's the thing I'm most scared of. I'm single currently, but I imagine that will change in the next 10 years. Ideally, I don't want to wait to start a family until my late 30s. I don't want to be an "old" dad. Not that it's the worst thing, but I'd rather be a bit younger when I have my first kid. Of course, I'm assuming a lot because I have no prospects of even a girlfriend right now. But that could change tomorrow. You never know. And right now it is nice knowing that I'm financially secure if/when a girl and subsequent family were to come along. Luckily, I do make a good salary and have a good bit in savings + 401k. I'm able to do all sorts of vacations and whatnot, and not have to worry about it financially. I'd never be able to do that if I was a poor student and then afterwards with all that debt. If I won the lottery tomorrow, it would be a no-brainer. I'd do it immediately. Unfortunately, life isn't that easy. I know I have to be a realist when it comes to making this decision. I've mapped out my next 10 years with potential earnings if I stay in my current job/industry versus if I go back to school. It's a very significant difference. Jason, you also made a good point about liking the people you work with. I really like the people I work with. In general, I love being around people and getting that social interaction at work. I think part of me bringing this up is that I'm getting burned out on my job. I work more hours than anyone I know (except for some co-workers, of course). Rather than immediately finding a new job, I'm trying to consider all my options. Since the medical profession is something I've wanted to do for a long time, I want to be certain that I don't want to go the med school route before applying for other jobs. I'd hate to get a new job and then quit 3 months later because I decided to go back to school. That wouldn't be fair to whomever hired me and would look poorly on me. I mentioned this earlier, but the ideal situation would be continuing to work while I'm getting my pre-reqs completed. If I could keep working throughout the whole process and then say I did get accepted to medical school, then I could work up until school started. That would only be 4 years without a regular job, and I could swing that. If I didn't get accepted, then no harm done financially (though disappointing on a personal level). To do this scenario, I'd have to find a new job and then they'd have to be cool with me ducking out early two days a week to go to night class. I don't think that would fly.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 08:25 PM) What is the average age a doctor starts practicing? Based on the American Association of Medical Colleges, in 2011, the average med school student was 24 when they started school. Based on that, I'd say 31 if you just become a general practitioner. If you specialize in something, then it would be longer.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 09:33 AM) What do you do for a living now? Are you married? Do you have kids? Do you own a home? Do you have a lot of debt? What do you believe your maximum earning capacity is with your current job? How much would you like to make? How much would medical school cost? Do you have the funds to pay for it? Would you have to take out a loan? How much would that be? Those are the questions you need to be asking yourself and answering. At 26, my guess is you can still do it, but let's just say you go take the 3 classes you need in the fall. You then apply in the spring. By the time you start med school you'll be 27. Med school is what, 3 or 4 years? Then a few years of residency? So then you are how old when you're finally ready to start practicing and working on the enormous mountain of debt you have piled up over the previous 7 years, 34? I wasn't in the exact same boat as you, but a similar one. I graduated from law school when I was 30. Then took a job at 31 which I basically knew nothing about, and had a lot of law school debt. A bit concerning, to be honest, but I didn't really want to jump into trying to practice law, because I had grown to despise law firms while working for them in law school. So I jumped into the energy/utility industry, as a trader, a position without any significant connection to my legal training. I also moved all the way across the country to do it. So definitely a bit scary, and frightening...and exciting. Fast forward 6 years...I am 37 now. I certainly didn't take the traditional path of my peers. But I AM doing something I love. And I AM making the money I hoped to be making at this age when I enrolled in law school 10 years ago. I still have that mountain of law school debt, but I am whittling it down, and if I continue on this career arc I am on, I am guessing I will have it paid off within 5 years or so. Despite the law degree not having a significant effect on my career when I initially started here, it has had a huge effect on it in the past 3 years. I won't tell you to do it or not do it, but ask yourself those questions. Ask whether you are willing to be patient. But do know that it is possible and it can be worth it. Thanks for the reply and insight, Shack. I do supply chain consulting/software implementation. It's a very stable job, and I'm the lead consultant for a Fortune 50 company so it's hard to walk away from. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep this job and finish up my undergrad pre-req's because of how much I travel. I wouldn't be in town to go to class/labs. I don't have a wife or kids. I don't own a home. I do still have some debt from student loans that I'm paying off, and a car loan (which is 70% paid for). I could pay it all off tomorrow if I wanted, but I've wanted to keep that cash on hand. I would absolutely have to take out loans for Med School. I think I could afford the undergrad classes I have to finish by working part-time combined with my savings I currently have. I know I'd have to be patient with the process. In a best-case scenario, I'd be about 29 when starting med school. It's 3 semesters, not classes, that I have left (6 total classes). Then the acceptance process can take awhile. It's entirely possible after all that I wouldn't be able to score well on the MCAT, or maybe I'll realize I don't like it. If everything panned out, realistically, I'd be 30 when I started med school. 34 when I was done. 37 by the time I was out of residency. Doesn't seem too bad, especially considering I'll probably work at least another 30 years after that.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 03:28 PM) But he is immediately better than what they HAD, so it is an upgrade. All they needed was 'average' last year and they were in the playoffs. No argument there. I just want to temper expectations. The guy is 28 and only got $3M guaranteed for a reason.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 01:58 PM) I think there's a bit of "Bears hate" in this comment. He'll be at the very least an above average DE. I tend to agree with GoSox. I like the Young signing, but the odds of him becoming a high-level starter aren't good. I think he provides good depth. He could be a decent starter. But he's definitely a guy that's just holding down a spot until Emery can find a better DE. Either way, like y'all have said, it's a reasonable deal and with only $3M guaranteed, there's not a whole lot of risk.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Mar 13, 2014 -> 10:09 AM) If he's cut, I'll never forget when Earl attempted an end around in the Bears Packers NFC Championship Game with under a minute left. I try as hard as possible to forget that play. It still makes me angry.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 12, 2014 -> 11:53 PM) Pretty much my thoughts. Having the Quarterback Whisperer as the Head Coach makes finding a backup QB a little easier, I think. Both because he'll actually get more production out of the quarterback, and because it entices the QB to come here. Absolutely. If you're a QB who wants a chance at resurrecting a career, why wouldn't you want to come to Chicago and learn under Trestman? It should definitely help in our search to replace McCown.

I'm thinking about going back to school and making a career change. Has anybody else gone through that? I'm very good at what I do, but I don't necessarily love it. It scares me to become a poor college student again after making good money, but at the same time, I think I'll always wonder "what if" if I don't do it. Am I crazy? Most of my friends I've talked to about it have told me it's a dumb idea. A few have been supportive. I'm about to turn 26 and I'm feeling the pressure. I pretty much need to make some life-altering decisions in the next 6-9 months. If I don't do it by then, I think I'm stuck where I'm at. Which isn't bad. But I feel I could do more. I'm thinking about going to med school, btw. I'm short about 3 semesters of credit, so I'd have to do that first before applying. The fact of the matter is that I've wanted to be a Doctor for as long as I can remember, and I've always regretted giving up on that. As a 20 year old kid, I felt way overburdened and didn't want to put in the time/effort. I wanted to be social and have fun. With all the extracurriculars I was part of, plus having a job, I felt I couldn't continue the pre-med path. For a while I was happy, but my last semester of college I started regretting it. And it's been that way since. Now the feeling has grown pretty strong the last 2-3 months and I think I want to go for it. But damn, it's a big life change.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 12, 2014 -> 11:32 PM) Dammit, Schefter. When I saw the Browns cut Weeden I said to myself "He'll be the Bears backup this year." Come in here and see Schefter had that thought 7 hours before I even found out Weeden was cut. I feel like a lot of people had this same thought. My brother texted me immediately after Weeden was released and said he could see the Bears signing him. I've never been a fan, but we could do far worse at the backup spot. And don't feel too bad. It wasn't Schefter who tweeted it. It was Russ Lande tweeting at Schefter.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 11, 2014 -> 10:15 PM) A regional sales VP at my company emails about an issue that would arise during her maternity leave, she emails HR who in turns emails a few IT managers including mine. I make the fix needed and informed her of all instructions. She emails all of the managers and the HR rep saying thanks for the prompt response. Of course she leaves the one person who actually did any work out of the thank you email (which was in turn forwarded to me from my manager). For some reason I'm not surprised. Something similar happened to me a few months ago. There was a huge "thank you" email for resolving a critical issue for my client (that I did all of the leg-work for and pinpointed the cause) that went out to someone else. My VP was copied and some others. That was definitely frustrating, but I was most upset with the guy who took the credit. He should have replied to the email and mentioned that I did most of the work, but the dude just accepted the praise.