The classic win-win

What is coming over me? I sat in front of twitter, various message boards, the urinal's web site, email clients and my phone...all waiting to praise Doug Melvin? This can't be true. My desire to praise the mustache even drew my attention away for brief moments from one of the best football games of the year. (Polamalu showing he's a God awful defensive back but a stunning linebacker yet again).

The deal (as of now):

Toronto gets: Brett Lawrie

Milwaukee gets: Shaun Marcum

I love the deal. I know many, many people are high on Lawrie but honestly, the experts really aren't. After last season most who have seen him play agree Lawrie is destined for a corner spot. As a 2B Lawrie has an absolute ton of upside and his bat makes him a clear blue chipper. As a corner outfielder? I don't see it. A .795 OPS at the AA level isn't something to get me worked up from a corner outfielder. His K rate is over 20% and he doesn't hit for power. It could be that I'm naturally sand bagging him because I like the deal, but I really don't see a whole lot there to get me excited, assuming his glove moves him to right. BrewerFan.net loved him in September (seemingly suggesting trading Weeks or Hart to clear room for him).

As to Marcum, find me a glaring issue? He's back from Tommy John (an injury unlikely to recur and a surgery that restores past durability), was playing in the AL bEast for a team in contention (if that sort of thing matters to you), was considered the team ace (pitched opening day) and pitched well, posting a better WHIP than Gallardo. His 3.5 WAR, when you assume he's replacing someone below replacement level, is a massive upgrade. I've read suggestions that hoping he'll put up similar numbers is wishful thinking, but he'll come to Milwaukee without any of the pressures he had in Toronto and more importantly, without having to face the Yankees or Red Sox. But wait, there is more....the Brewers control him for at least two more seasons. I think Jack Moore in his post at FanGraphs sums it up well:

With Lawrie coming off a very impressive .361 wOBA season as a 20 year old at AA Huntsville, it’s hard to imagine his value at a higher point in the near future. The Brewers had a large roster hole to fill, and due to the concerns about Lawrie’s position, Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin decided to capitalize on Lawrie’s high prospect stock. By most accounts, this deal was fair to both sides. The Brewers filled a need and the Jays dealt from a position of surplus. The Brewers win in the short term, and, if Lawrie develops in accordance to his top prospect status, the Jays should enjoy a solid long term return.

So where does the rotation fall? I'm guessing it will look like Gallardo, Wolf, Marcum, Rogers, Narveson. The Brewers might give Jeffress and others a shot to compete for that last spot in the Spring and I expect Melvin to bring in some crafty, assy Veteran innings eater to foul the whole thing up...

Sidenote, the notorious Brewer hater Jon Heyman thinks this is a lousy deal for the Brewers. I'm stunned.

First Mock Draft (that I've seen)

http://www.draftcountdown.com/sub/Mock-Draft-B.php

Couple things:

1. Von Miller would be an excellent pick for the Packers. I know everyone in the world is going to be screaming for a running back, but there isn't a lot of first round talent at the position. A 3-4 defense with two pass rushers on the outside with the d-back abilities of Williams, Collins and Woodson? Goodness can you imagine what a genius like Capers could cook up (please don't leave, Dom).

2. TWO BADGERS PROJECTED FIRST ROUND!......please don't leave JJ.

What’s the worst part about the new Soldier Field? I mean the inside, not the space toilet-y outside.

I attended the Bears-Vikings game a few weeks ago, just to cross a stadium off the list. Also, it's kind of fun to boo everyone. Anyway, I was not impressed. Why?

Well, the single worst thing is...

1. BEAR DOWN!

I have no problem with cheesy theme songs in theory, and all Chicago teams have them. (Go Cubs Go, Here come the Hawks, the Go-Go White Sox thing), but there is a time and a place for these things, and that time and place is not after every Field Goal. Imagine if, at Wrigley Field, the Cubs played Go Cubs Go after every run. That’s what it’s like at Soldier.

NO ONE IS AFRAID OF YOUR T-FORMATION. That’s the worst part of the song other than all of the other parts. I know the Wing-T was standard football back in the day and perhaps the Bears had some fearsome people running the thing, but the formation itself isn’t scary. It’s just weird. Like, if a terrible team would just line up their backfield in the T, all of a sudden the opposing defense would start cowering.

2. The second worst thing is that they try to label the fans as “Phase 4” (offense, defense, and special teams being the other 3 phases). I appreciate that everyone has the 12th man and the Packers have the G-Force thing and you want to be original, but once again, this doesn’t make any sense.

“Hey, Frank, are we on offense or defense?”
“We’re on “Fans”. You know, Phase 4.”
“Oh, in that case I’m going to the bathroom.”

See what I mean? No sense at all.

3. The 3rd worst part is that beer costs 8 bucks.

4. The 4th worst part is that the field itself is perpetually in terrible shape. When you drive from the North side of Chicago to the South side, you commonly take Lakeshore Drive. Once you pass downtown on a nice summer day, you might be shocked to find that the median as well as the sides of the road have absolutely beautiful flower gardens growing on them, courtesy of the city. I will never understand how the middle of a highway is more well-manicured than the multi-million dollar football stadium next to said highway.

5. The 5th worst part is that when there is a timeout, the announcer says “Timeout”, and everyone in the stands yells “Where?”, and then the announcer says “on the field”, and the crowd yells “Oh.” It’s weird.

6. The 6th worst part is the Bear growl. While they do exercise some restraint, unlike the hornblower in Minnesota or the Wildcat noise at Northwestern, it’s still too often for my taste.

7. The 7th worst part is that while the inside is definitely nicer than the outside, it’s still not nearly as nice as most new stadiums including the refurbished Lambeau Field.


Actually, I’m just kidding. The worst part is that you have to watch the Bears play.

The Chicago Bears are Frauds

There has been far too much talk lately involving the phrase "you are what your record says you are." This is a vast oversimplification which we can disprove with a quick look at the Chicago Bears.

First of all, while the Bears are tied with the Packers after their win against Miami’s backups, it’s worth pointing out that the Bears do not in fact hold a head to head tiebreaker over the Packers. People say it, but it’s not true. The reason it’s not true even though the Bears do have a head to head win against the Packers, against teams in your own division you have to beat them twice to gain that tiebreaker. This is obvious. The Bears will not have an opportunity to secure said tiebreaker until the last game of the year, and who knows what the situation will be for that game.

As for why the Bears are frauds:

1. Win v. Detroit, on nonsense Calvin Johnson rule. After the Bears knocked Matthew Stafford from the game. In a game in which the Bears turned the ball over 4 times and actually lost the turnover battle.

2. Win v. Dallas Cowboys, one of the worst teams in the league even when they still had Romo.

3. Win v. Green Bay Packers – In this game, the Packers set their franchise record for penalties, which is strange in retrospect because this Packer team actually hasn’t been penalized that much. It’s also worth pointing out that many of those penalties were both game-changing and bullshit. Jay Cutler and the Bear offense were basically terrible, but they capitalized on a Devin Hester punt return and good field position (penalties) to eek out a win over a much better team. The Bears were outgained by over 100 yards in this game.

4. Win v. Carolina Panthers, one of the 2 or 3 teams worse than the Dallas Cowboys. The Quarterbacks in this game were Todd Collins, Caleb Hanie, Matt Moore, and Jimmy Clausen. The Bear QBs were 8-19 for 51 yards. Against any other opponent this is almost certainly a loss, but a rare big day by Matt Forte bailed them out.

5. Win v. Buffalo, one of the 2 or 3 teams worse than the Dallas Cowboys. Despite being completely inept the Bears won this game on the strength of a missed PAT and a subsequent missed 2-pt conversion to make up for it. That is the margin of victory.

6. Win v. Minnesota. A rare good performance by the Bears, but even this win is suspect as it came against a team in complete turmoil after the Randy Moss fiasco, with no Sidney Rice and without Percy Harvin for an extended period. With no threat in the passing game the Bears were able to bottle up Adrian Peterson, and get a few tipped interceptions. It was the best possible time to play against the Vikings.

7. Win v. Miami. The Dolphins were playing without their first and second string QBs, a severely injured all-pro left tackle, and they lost their best WR and center early in the game. Oh, and since it was a short week their third string QB only had one day to get ready.

So yeah. They’re lucky. They’ll probably make the playoffs, but they’re truly not very good. It happens sometimes.

Let's Run Half Court

They have played football in Wrigley Field many, many times. Yet somehow, they still screwed it up:

Only one end zone will be used at Wrigley Field on Saturday for the Illinois-Northwestern game because of safety concerns, Illinois sports information director Kent Brown said Friday.

The east end zone is feet away from the right-field wall, and although there is padding, there was still concerns that injuries could take place. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald had said he would have different game plans for the different end zones to avoid the possibility of injury.

God I Hate The Bears

They are truly the luckiest team ever. When Brandon Marshall went down, that game was over.

Running Up the Score: An IU Perspective

"Who can we blame but ourselves?"

That was the reaction to the final score from my wife, an IU alum and die hard. It was clear Indiana was not ready for this game. The coaching staff was not ready, the offense was not ready, and the defense was most certainly not ready for what they faced on Saturday.

I like the Indiana program. Not real reason why, I just really liked what Hoepner was doing with them before he passed. It's a shame to see his work and dedication pissed away so quickly by incompetence and indifference.

I was listening to the second half (it was clear watching was no longer required) and Indiana's color guy did get pretty pissed off when White was running the ball in the 4th (I agree, that was not smart from a risk perspective) but other than that little niggle the rest of Hoosier country is more embarrassed than angry, and if they are angry it certainly isn't at the Badgers. My favorite comment (from the Indiana radio play-by-play):

"I wonder what Bielema's card calls for with up 57?"

At least the folks down here maintain their sense of humor.