LittleHurt05

Boise State wins at Creighton

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 08:30 PM) Don't look now, but the ACC could win this thing. Seems both Illinois and OSU have to win to provide a win for the Big Ten. Can't see Penn St winning without Tim Frazier. I think all 3 early games were "upsets". Clemson & Wisconsin should have won at home & MSU was supposed to the better team.

3-point shooting contest just broke out in Champaign

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 05:58 PM) You could have saved me the trouble of going to ESPN by saying it was 5/$75. Actually, it was for $75,250,000

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 03:56 PM) 90% of the league was juiced up. The All-Time HR leader not being in the Hall is frankly stupid. most hits ever? not in the Hall most hrs ever? not in the Hall the Hall? pointless I agree. I have no issue with Piazza in the HOF, juiced or not, as long as Bonds is in there too.

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 03:32 PM) Tough call. Seahawks played us really well last year. Not confident in a W this week. How much of the Seahawks's success last year can be contributed to pick-6 machine Caleb Hanie?

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 03:14 PM) It's a different coach than the previous 3. Good call. And considering how big of a moron the current coach is, Barkley can only improve, right?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 02:46 PM) Bernstein is so desperate to act like he knows more than the typical Illini follower on the street. He really doesn't. Personally, I think he enjoys when Illinois embarasses itself, he only seems to discuss them during times like this.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 02:47 PM) Balta pretty much covers it for me, as far as why the power spike in the minors is maybe something, but all the pedigree stuff is pretty useless information. And even the minor league spike isn't a dead giveaway or anything. Now, if you are saying there are people who claim he used andro, or had physical changes like you describe, then that is something worth considering. I haven't seen or heard of those, and I didn't see him suddenly bulk up either - and I was a burgeoning baseball fan when his career started, so I did watch him quite a few times. The evidence for Sosa is not at all the same as for Piazza. The only commonality is that neither was ever caught with a test. He admitted that he used andro when he was younger during his career, but it didn't do enough for him.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 02:37 PM) Tim Raines>Sammy Sosa And they both played the game on drugs...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 02:27 PM) He's also a 21 year old in high-A ball in 1990, and a 22 year old repeating high-A ball in 1991. A 22 year old repeating high-A ball ought to have a big power surge if he has some talent. Not conclusive again...but since it's all we have... A guy who was only drafted as a favor to a friend suddenly finds the "talent" to become the best power hitting catcher in the history of the sport? And I can't look past the evidence of blantant PED use throughout all levels of baseball during that era.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 02:08 PM) A couple things are different though...with Sosa, his power spike came mid-career...whereas a power spike for a kid in the minors is much more normal...and we also have good characterizations of Sosa's body type before and after as well. Piazza did the have the sudden power upswing from 1990 to 1991, which could have been an obvious beginning of his steroid use. He went from barely slugging .400 to suddenly reaching .550 & higher. I don't know what he looked like then, but that's a pretty damn big jump for a nobody without the help of any chemical assistance.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 01:57 PM) I disagree with lumping Palmer in with those two. He was pretty good before the injury. He was definitely better than the other two, but even before the injury you always knew that Pick-6 was coming. QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 01:59 PM) I would stay away from Aaron Rodgers, did you see how poorly Kyle Boller did? Yeesh. I bet the Packers regret not using that drafting strategy in 2005. Or maybe that's me wishing they had? I'm not saying that Barkley is a guaranteed bust. But with those recent flops from the same program, I would definitely do extra homework to make sure he's not of a similar mold.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 12:27 PM) What the hell happened to Casey Mcgehee?? I hear he may be non-tendered. He had monster seasons in 09 and 10 and then fell of big time. Manto'll fix em? He was on the Brewers, maybe he was working out with Ryan Braun in 09 & 10?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 01:39 PM) Buster Olney ‏@Buster_ESPN The Yankees have finished the Andy Pettitte deal, for a salary of $12 million, plus award bonuses. As every MLB team tries to get younger, the Yankees just keep getting older.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 01:43 PM) I see nothing obvious about that at all. Baseball history is littered with players both overachieving and underachieving. Some were dirty, others weren't. For all I know, all six players I listed as who I'd vote for may have been roided up. But if there is no evidence, then I can't draw that conclusion. I can only work with what is in front of me. And scouting opinions from high schoolers is not evidence of, really, anything at all. The sudden spike in the minors means a lot more to me as evidence. All the evidence is right in front of you though. In an era when a high percentage of players were on steroids and all started breaking home run records, a muscular catcher comes from nowhere to suddenly be the best power catcher in the history of the game. That's not even bringing up some of the allegations against him. The andro use when he was young, the sudden 20-pound muscle gain in the middle of his career, the back acne everyone mentions. If you really think Piazza is clean, then IMO you have to say Sosa is clean, because there is the exact same amount of "evidence" for both of them.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 01:12 PM) That means nearly nothing to me. Players are drafted wrong all the time. No way I'm going to rely on what scouts said about a kid's tools in high school to determine whether or not he was a roider years later. That's ridiculous. The only reason he was drafted was as a favor to Tommy Lasorda. If you want to believe this is some great story of a passed-over kid who becomes a Hall of Famer, then go ahead. But after everything that went on in MLB in the 80s & 90s, it's pretty obvious how dirty Piazza was.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 12:50 PM) Hm. I'm not so sure. Piazza's power numbers curve doesn't show much of any sudden spike or alteration, like with Sosa's. I also don't recall Piazza suddenly showing up after one offseason with 30 pounds of extra muscle. So if we're talking purely circumstantial, I see nothing here. But if there are any pieces of evidence out there, any witnesses or the like, that's different. A 62nd round pick during the steroid era ends up hitting more home runs than any other catcher in history. That's all I need to know.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 12:34 PM) 5 writers on crack Really? Hamilton's going to take a 1 or 2 year deal? No How about the 2 years, $30 million? Like he is really gonna take $15 million a year on a short deal? That's the most ridiculous.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 12:36 PM) Have there ever been any PED rumors or evidence about Piazza, that anyone knows of? It's pretty damn obvious that Piazza is a roider. I think there is the same amount evidence for him as there is for Sosa though.

Considering how well Palmer/Leinart/Sanchez have done in the NFL, I would be a bit worried about drafting Barkley high.

QUOTE (Brian @ Nov 28, 2012 -> 11:43 AM) I want Tim Raines and Lee Smith to get in. #wishfulthinking Tim Raines absolutely deserves to be in.

QUOTE (Brian @ Nov 26, 2012 -> 07:05 PM) Nice Wire homage on HIMYM. That was pretty good. I watched the last 3 episodes last night, and they were definitely an improvement over previous ones.

Barry Bonds better get in at some point

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Nov 27, 2012 -> 05:24 PM) That can't be right, he played every minute?? 47:18 to be exact, so he sat out 42 seconds