mickeef2

Well, I don't know if he has a conflict of interest by being the representative of so many good players, but I do know that he definitely didn't bargain in good faith on the whole Texeira thing. Pretty obvious that he had an agreement in place with the Yankees all along that he would go out and get the highest bid he could, and that they would top it. And why wouldnt he? They obviously wanted him, and had by far the most money to spend. Teams will just have to start deciding whether they will do business with him anymore or not, and while the Sox say they're contemplating not doing it anymore, you know they will if the right player comes along.

I don't see how the Yankees could take on Manny at this point. Manny, Nady, Matsui, Damon, Swisher, Melky, Gardner- that's a crowded outfield with horrible balance (the guys that can hit can't play defense, and vice-versa). Also, I don't think Manny can play left field in a place like Yankee Stadium every day.

Personally, I would use him out of the bullpen for many reasons. One, the rotation is already clogged up (although spring training hasn't started yet) and I would be looking to get more work for Hughes this year in the rotation as the #5 starter, since I think he'll have a bounce-back year. Also, I think Joba's tailor-made to be a closer, and Mo has, what, two years left on his contract? I would make him (Joba) the 8th inning guy, which takes all the pressure off of everybody else in the bullpen, grooming him to be the closer either next year or in 2011, depending on how things go with Mo this year. I wouldn't trust Joba's arm to hold up under the stress of being a starter for a full season.

I've seen lots of blame tossed around for the biggest choke in sports history, but this is the first time I've seen the dimensions of Fenway as a reason. I'm just gonna assume you're being satirical.

Steelers- 24 Cards- 23 Eagles- 0

Sort of like I never said we shouldn't even consider signing the guy because of what happened yesterday? Anyway, there was a reason Bradshaw fell so low, just like there's a reason you don't just go throwing away draft picks for a guy without doing your homework and taking everything into account.

Interviewed Monday afternoon on ESPN's NFL Live, Boldin dismissed the characterization of him not wanting to share in the Cardinals' celebration. "I didn't leave through a back door, I just tried to get in and out [after the game]," Boldin told ESPN. "I didn't want [the postgame] story line to be me and Todd getting into it on the sideline." Well, I guess that does it. After all, Boldin said so himself. He probably just wanted to get home and catch 60 Minutes.

lol So these are now the guidelines separating "good guy" from "bad guy"? Uh, okay. Wow guys, try to focus, okay? Again, I never said we shouldn't pursue this guy, I never said he's a criminal. What I said was that the organization should be at least a little concerned after seeing that yesterday. Do you not think they will be?

Well, I suppose we could make excuses for the guy all day if we wanted to. Funny, I don't ever hear anybody try to defend TO when he pulls this stuff, even though he risked his career by playing hurt in a Super Bowl. You'd think he get a free pass for life.

Again, I'm not saying he shouldn't be pissed off. However, you're punishing your teammates when you start making an issue out of it on the sidelines during the NFC Championship game while your OC is trying to call plays.

...and then he becomes...our headache . I'd be a little worried about going after this guy after seeing his behavior during the game yesterday. No matter what's going on, you keep it bottled up for the good of the team during a game. I know there are people who will say Boldin just has a problem with Whisenhunt, and that once he gets out of AZ he'll be fine, but guys like this always find a problem with someone wherever they go.

Hmmm...SoCal says the Steelers and my pet monkey says the Cards. What a quandary.

Anybody see the Eagle players celebrating with the Cards? Kinda strange. They looked a little too happy for a team that just lost.

Eagles are this year's Packers.

This is painful. If McNabb doesn't complete that long 3rd down pass to Curtis at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, this game is over.

Well, again fellas, screen passes don't work as well when the other team has eight guys in the box because they have no respect for your WRs. Our receiving corps wasn't great even without Plax, but in the wind they're pretty much taken out of the game.

That's gonna be the problem for Eli in the wind until he gets it fixed. Teams like the Eagles give him nothing but the wide receivers to throw to, and only along the sidelines and deep.

Honestly, the Cards have Fitzgerald and Boldin and that forces the Eagles to focus on the outside, too. Against us, they didn't have any respect for our receivers, and it turned out they were justified. They were able to clog up the middle with no risk. If Plax were there, it might have made a difference.

Watching the Cards march down the field on the Eagles is really frustrating. Where were our little dump-offs to Bradshaw and Ward after allowing the Eagle blitz to penetrate? You really have to scratch your head.

Same here. Not saying I was expecting them to lose, but I couldn't get the thought out of my mind that they had lost 3 of 4 to end the season, that the Eagles had just whooped us in the same stadium a few weeks prior, that Carney missed a big kick to end the season in Minny, and then when I heard it was going to be windy...

Even though I loved Manny, I mean Plax, and the team definitely missed Manny, I mean Plax, there are way too many reasons that I can think of why he won't be coming back. 1.) They suspended him without pay, and you know Plax would always hold that against them to some degree, no matter how rational their decision was. That's just the way Plax thinks. 2.) What are the odds that Plax turns into a model citizen after this? 50/50 maybe? 3.) While they were smart to suspend him and, in essence, take care of Goodell's work for him, I'm sure he still will be suspended by the league for some length of time (I would think four games, minimum), and they can't afford to start next year without a big play threat at WR. 4.) He may have to serve prison time. 5.) There are good options at the WR position available this offseason. He needs to go. He's just too risky to take a chance on at this point.

Imagine going through it twice, then. Six months ago, my baseball team was also on the verge of another title. And just like with the Gmen, one selfish player screwed it all up.

Well, again, I wasn't there, but lots of people are saying that it wasn't that loud, or that fans were sitting on their hands. Either way, I don't think anybody's blaming the loss on the fans, so don't get yourself too crazy about it. I can say that I've been to games where it was dead and whiny old guys were telling everybody to sit down, but then again the only game I went to this year (Seattle) the crowd was great.

Hall of Famer. About ten years too late.

Very strange. I remember at one point saying to my buddy who was watching the game with me, "The crowd is really pumped." I think it was after the turnover to start the 2nd half. However, I'm hearing a lot of people who were there, both here and on the FAN, say that the crowd was dead, that old men are telling them to sit down, that Philly fans were overrunning the place. Yet xxi, who was there, says the crowd was loud. I guess it probably depended a lot, as it does sometimes, on where you're sitting in the Stadium. You can end up in a section where the visiting fans, for whatever reason, got a larger allotment of tickets, and feel outnumbered. Either way, I would say the Stadium in general needs a dose of energy. There definitely are the old-timers there who feel a sense of entitlement and wanna tell everybody what to do. Some of those guys need to go. It's a football game, buddy- a playoff game. You should be on your feet the whole game, or at least until the home team is helplessly out of it. I think a lot of people also, unfortunately, sell their tickets for these games, and I can't blame them all that much. Bad economy, expensive day all around, freezing cold- a lot of reasons for some of those old-timers to stay home in the warmth and watch on TV.