lostfan

QUOTE (ptatc @ Apr 26, 2013 -> 03:44 PM) I think it's more that since he has very little experience they want to break him in slowly. The lack of experience is not as crucial at guard. My guess is that he is a guard for a year, move to right tackle and eventually more to left tackle. How long did Bushrod sign for? 4 years and this is a very good point. But Webb is on the last year of his deal.

Okay so I think people really get too hung up on where guys are projected to go in mock drafts, and people also get carried away with the "always take BPA" thing. The fact is, unless a guy falls to them they totally weren't expecting, damn near all teams draft to fill a need in the first 2 rounds - how else do you make mock drafts to begin with? The later rounds are where you default to BPA. It's kind of hard to argue the Bears didn't badly need a guard considering LG was the worst position on the line last year. Eifert was in the "luxury" category and I honestly didn't expect them to pass on Floyd, but they're not really hurting at DT either considering Melton's presence, they just need depth there. The Bears passed on Floyd and Eifert and no, they didn't get good value on the 20th pick. However if Long pans out, it's a moot point. People also need to stop saying stuff like "they took a fourth round pick" because Long didn't have a 4th round grade, that's just making s*** up. He was late second/early first. There was a pretty epic run on OT early in the draft, I've never seen anything like that before - that pushes guys like Long up the board. Seemed pretty clear to me that Emery wanted to trade back from 20 and take Long a few picks later, but nobody wanted to trade. Athletic guys like Long don't last very long after the first round is done and he probably wasn't going to be there at 50, so the Bears took him anyway. I'm actually ok with that - Long at this point is like any other draft pick.

Looks like KC will troll everyone and take Fisher over Joeckel.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 03:37 PM) DM;HS I wish I knew what this was trying to do

If the Bears (or any team) is leaking information right now it's on purpose, probably a bluff.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 02:29 PM) All the draft news today is hilarious. Every team loves every player. Every team hates every player. NFL GMs the week before a draft make election-year political campaign workers look downright honest.

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 01:19 PM) Pretty much: http://espn.go.com/chicago/nba/story/_/id/...sed-not-playing MW;DR

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 02:20 PM) How many linebackers look good when their DL is manhandling the other team? That's the million dollar question. His D-tackles were absolutely dominant all season. It won't be that easy for him the NFL, how good will he play then? That's a more legitimate question and it's why I wouldn't want to use the 20th pick on him but I really don't think he'll bust in the NFL. Only someone who watches all his tape could tell.

This draft is weak in first round talent, but the later rounds have plenty of value.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 01:57 PM) Yep, he played behind a dominant defensive line. The one game the DL couldn't control the LOS, he was destroyed by Lacy and company. How many linebackers look good when their DL is getting bulldozed? It's a short list, because it's zero

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 12:45 PM) Or you know, you can just buy a the device up-front for ~$500-$600. The HTC One is $575 unlocked straight from HTC. There's always the Nexus 4 option too. I think if you actually buy the phone from them, you not only pay the $20 a month, but that counts as part of your wireless bill, which means you'll be subject to a wireless tax on the phone as well, which may go up to 20% in some states. Totally unnecessary if you ask me. That's probably what I'm going to do. I hope Sprint follows T-Mobile on this. Contracts are a scam.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 12:06 PM) I can't imagine what the Boers and Bernstein show would be like tomorrow if the Bears take Te'o tonight. I really, really hope they don't take him. This is the main reason I hope they don't take him. It's not a good reason I know, but still. I'd be ok with using a 2nd on him though. To me he's got a high floor, unlikely to be a bust. Yes he played like s*** against Alabama but so did Ogletree (granted better than Te'o but still)

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 11:51 AM) I guess it also depends to what extent you want to declare something as sabermetrics anymore and which is traditional. Hawk trashes sabermetrics but he uses OBP, which has been tracked forever but was only given the name and used by sabermeticians in like the 70s and 80s. Personally, I don't even consider OBP/SLG/OPS to be saber stats any more, but that was how they originated. In 15-20 years, we may not be talking about UZR/150 as a saber stat either. More and more, you see that sabermetric websites focus so much more on pitch location and angle and the repeatability of mechanics, and they can look at that from release points of the baseball by pitchers and graph them out to figure this out. OBP has been around as long as I've been paying attention to baseball. I consider it "mainstream" if they show it on TV during broadcasts. To me OPS is as essential a stat as batting average and I'm not sure why it's not more "mainstream" (given my definition).

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 11:54 AM) If T-Mobile or one of the other cheaper carriers had the coverage I needed, I would go with them in a heartbeat. But their out of city coverage just doesn't exist. Hell, from the people I know that have Sprint, their IN city coverage isn't all that spectacular, either. I've never had any problems with T-Mobile's coverage except the stadium issue. Speed is decent enough, similar technology to AT&T I guess. They're trying to add LTE to their network and this is how they'll do that, since they can't compete with the two giants. The thing is that businesses like to say "we'll be able to lower our costs if..." but they never do it, I didn't realize T-Mobile changed their entire pricing structure to accommodate this since it's something you need to proactively do on the site. I actually did lower my bill. So the idea of paying $20 a month for 2 years isn't that bad, if my bill will just go up to slightly more than it was before PLUS now I have unlimited data again.

Checked out my T-Mobile bill to see the new plans, and they are actually cheaper. Then looked into it some more. I've completely reversed my decision. http://www.slate.com/articles/business/mon...s_good_for.html

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 11:07 AM) You find it ironic that when data is questioned by someone, that person is labeled as being dumb? Because they ask questions? I wholly admit there are people on the far end of the spectrum that are very defensive and combative. I am in an industry which is moving from a culture of not producing data because of fear of what that data might reveal, to a culture of producing as much data as possible because of the efficiencies that data might point the way to. I am one of the chief proponents in my company for driving the production of as much reliable data as possible; but that's just it, it has to be vetted and shown over some reasonable amount of time to be reliable. We should always question and test data, especially when it is produced by new methods. Having the nerve to question that data should not elicit insults or a defensive attitude...which is what I very disproportionately receive when I ask questions of sabermetric-oriented folks. I think BABIP for hitters is a pretty useless stat (and I have a long explanation as to why, the gist of it being that it just repeats what you already know from looking at batting average) and whenever I say that I do get some pretty strong reactions to what I feel is pretty obvious but if I went on to say "sabermetrics is dumb, this tells me nothing" or something along those lines I'd expect to be called dumb.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 10:46 AM) It's ironic that those claiming that sabermetrics exude "elitism" tend to be the same people that refuse to even try to understand them because it goes against their "traditional" ways. Ignoring the possibility of progress for nothing but the sake of tradition is about as elitist as it gets. I've pissed some people off on this board regarding the subject of sabermetrics before, but when I get worked up and vitriolic it is NEVER because people disagree with a sabermetric claim or don't concern themselves with the subject -- it is when people vehemently denounce it without even attempting to understand it. That's the kind of BS attitude that fosters an "us vs. them" s***-show in the first place. This isn't people being elitist, this is people being overly defensive on both sides. There's no magic answer to most baseball questions, sabermetric or not. You can disagree all you want and I'll respect it. But your claim deserves no respect if you are making it without bothering to be informed. That is the problem with Hawk's opinions -- they are all rooted in a bias he created when someone made him feel threatened. That's the immaturity that most of the most public voices on BOTH sides of the "debate" have shown, from my observations. I'm plagiarizing the first paragraph

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 10:39 AM) So, no service then? haha... just reeeaaally slow data

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 10:32 AM) I also get a 19% discount from Verizon and AT&T. For me, it's one or the other...the sub-carriers just aren't an answer for me considering how much I find myself on back roads in the middle of no where throughout the summer...cell phone service can be a life saver. Only Verizon and AT&T have the coverage necessary. You get service with T-Mobile, it's just the kind of service you'd have gotten in 2007.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 09:48 AM) I guess I may have overexaggerated on the suck part. The 8 safeties drafted in the last 8 years were: Brandon Hardin, Chris Conte, Major Wright, Al Afalava, Craig Steltz, Kevin Payne, Danieal Manning, Chris Harris. That middle trio of Afalava-Steltz-Payne sucked pretty hard, but other than that there was some talent. It only took like an entire decade to get it right... this year they have no 3rd round pick so they can't use it on a safety

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 09:09 AM) I don't have this issue with Verizon. It's the primary driver of why I switched. My friend had Verizon and I had AT&T for years, and every time we were at a sporting event, his phone worked fine throughout the game, regardless of how crowded it was...and mine did exactly what you described, early checkin or nothing. Needless to say, I no longer have that problem. My phone works fine. AT&T simply has piss poor back loading, or whatever technical term they describe it with. Though, they're much better in areas where they have LTE. Verizon is, by far, the most difficult to get pricing for because they make you jump through hoops online but they are looking like the winner right now. Galaxy S4 (which comes out today) for $250 plus mail-in rebate. I pay roughly $100 right now, T-Mobile's unlimited talk+data for $59.99 plus a 2 GB data plan for $20, after insurance and various fees that's ~$100. It's $89 with my discount of 10% or whatever it is. Verizon's same plan (2 GB of data) is $60 per month plus whatever their dumb "smartphone line access" fee is of $40 so that bill will be about $106.99 if I'm ordering the same of everything I get on T-Mobile (plus whatever assorted fees they have). I think Verizon also gives a 20% discount for my job too. I always knew T-Mobile had an inferior network to AT&T and Verizon but the prices were always better, but now that the pricing isn't? Nah... what's my incentive to stay? Phone upgrades were part of that, now they're not.

Fortunately the NFL draft will be mostly over by the time Scandal comes on at 10. Since this board is mostly guys I imagine I'm in a the minority. lol.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 24, 2013 -> 08:18 PM) The one guarantee of the draft is that the Bears will draft safety. And he will more than likely suck. They at least got the last 2 out of 3 right although Wright was dicey at first. Conte is legit and Hardin is still a wild card.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 08:42 AM) That is incredibly aggressive. How so? Because it doesn't have cash or metal?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 07:43 AM) For the most part I've found AT&T works fine, just has its problem areas, dropped calls, etc. I've never been able to get a very good connection with AT&T at sporting events with big crowds...that always annoyed me. I had that same problem at Hawks, Sox and Cubs games. I have none of those problems with Verizon...so far anyway. Verizon being CDMA has issues of it's own, as their "3G" sucks really bad. I think that is a general limitation of wireless technology for now. Everyone complains about that. Have to do your "checkin" at a sporting event early, if you want to Instagram a picture you take, forget it.