buddha

look what you did, randy. you killed chris paul.

whoo hoo!!!!!

what a complete choke job.

or trade/sign pitching that isnt injury prone and is a proven commodity.

the 84 team was NOT pitching centric. neither was the 68 team. those teams were built around hitting. in fact, the tigers' history is one of great hitters and above average but not great pitching (probably due a lot to their stadium). its when they can pair their hitting with great seasons from their above average pitching that they won.

arent they just as likely to blow out their arms in the minors? how long do you keep them out of the big leagues because they might get hurt? that's the risk for all pitchers. (which is why you should build around hitters)

oooh! ohhh! now do the offense! does that make avila a genius?

16 year old kid shot dead in downtown chicago tonight. 100s of kids out wilding and looting downtown. total shitshow as soon as the weather gets warm. if they get arrested - which is a big if - the focus will be on whether the coos were mean to them.

trotz?

but they failed, cause theyre the leafs. i thought the lightning were done. and then they lose palat. and they STILL BEAT THE LEAFS. will the leafs clean house?

i bet the eagles do better than the leafs...

amazing. cbc will do whatever they can to make the leafs win. suck it cbc! suck it toronto!

TINSTAAPP

3 game 7s today!

but that's the point. there is no one comparable to yzerman. bottom line: he gets no credit for getting yzerman cause that was a no brainer. heck, even al avila couldnt fuck that up.

well if alan trammell goes on to be an amazingly successful gm and puts in place a team that wins back to back world series titles, maybe we'll have a good analogy to the current situation? instead, we have a guy chris knew who was promoted who has never had any success at his job who has been there forever and no obvious heir apparent/friend of the family waiting in the wings.

look YOURE the one who wants to give chris credit for bringing back yzerman, not me! that fell into his lap. youre not doing anything to support your argument that chris somehow knows what he's doing.

well come on. yzerman left as an unaccomplished guy with a lot of talent while holland was still seen as good. by the time mike died yzerman had built the lightning into a juggernaut who would go on to win back to back championships. give me a break.

im just saying youre giving chris credit for firing holland when he may have only done it because yzerman became available. any idiot would have made that move if presented. i think you may be giving chris a little too much credit. it strikes me as a situation where he came in and didnt know a lot and he just stuck with the guy already in charge. in avila's case, everyone seems to think chris is sold on avila suddenly hiring a bunch of analytical guys. that's better than what we had before i suppose, but that doesnt mean we couldnt have done better. and regardless of the results this year, its the continued results (or lack thereof) from the farm system other than the first round picks that is concerning to us and should be concerning to chris. i think avila's continued employment screams of an owner who is uninformed and doesnt want to make a decision if he doesnt have to. is he really that impressed by avila's supposed foray into analytics five to ten years after every else did it? and five years after avila was first placed in charge? i hope not.

but isnt that just because yzerman became available?

the lions open as favorites in only 4 games: seattle (-1), washington (-1), jacksonville (-2), and the bears at home (-1.5) underdog in every other game so far including + 1.5 to the giants and + 2 to the jets.

i guess i was responding to stanley. but its not out of the realm of possibility. the nfc is terrible. the lions arent good but could luck their way into 10 wins. in fact, i put a little money on the lions to finish second to the pack in the division this year...

i'm as happy with the direction of the lions as anyone, but there's a lot of kool aid here. the lions offense should be better but goff caps their ceiling and they dont have any real game breakers other than jameson williams and he's coming off an acl and is a rookie receiver. dont expect a world beater yet. swift still has potential but cant stay healthy. hock is a chain mover, not a game breaker. the defense is relying a TON on rookies, second year guys, and guys coming off very serious injuries (okwara and okudah). their linebackers and secondary are not good. the line has no real playmakers unless you think hutch comes in and dominates immediately (i dont). i expect a 10-15 offense and a 20-25 defense, if they stay healthy. two #1 picks next year hopefully get you a qb and a cb and a lb. now you have something.