Intense! (Be sure to click the video a few times to get it to work.)
Page 1319 of 2956
Be sure to check out Week 10’s Fantasy Fallout and our Waiver Wire Watch. Still have questions? Fire away, but be sure to tell me about your league’s roster requirements and whether or not you’re in a PPR league.
The White Sox are interested in acquiring Padres’ first base slugger Adrian Gonzalez but as the Chicago Tribune notes, bringing Gonzo to the “Windy City” won’t be easy.
But here are some reasons why such a trade could be difficult to pull off. First, the Padres would be seeking four top-notch prospects at pitcher, center field, catcher and second base for a player of Gonzalez’s caliber.
The Sox have touted pitcher Daniel Hudson, outfielder Jordan Danks and catcher Tyler Flowers as core players of their future. All three players could make the Sox’s 2010 opening-day roster, but trading all three would be a significant hit to the Sox’s development unless other young players accelerate their progress.
The Angels, known for their farm-system success, could aid the Sox, but wouldn’t be required to pick up the bulk of the cost for such a proposed deal.
Although Konerko nearly signed with the Angels four years ago and maintains mutual respect with Scioscia, a major-league scout who follows all three Southern California organizations said the Angels have depth in their organization should they lose Guerrero and wouldn’t have to pursue Konerko.
Juan Rivera could move from the outfield to DH. The Angels still have Gary Matthews Jr., who will earn about $23 million over the next two years as a part-time player.
Finally, new Padres general manager Jed Hoyer was an assistant for four years at Boston, which reportedly has interest in Gonzalez. The Padres and Red Sox have done business in the past, and Hoyer is very familiar with the Red Sox’s deep farm system.
Hoyer has a daunting task of rebuilding a franchise that has lost 186 games over the past two seasons. So if he inevitably trades his most valuable bargaining chip, he will make sure to get his price — which will be steep.
Williams traded for Peavy last year and now is hot for Gonzalez, so it appears that he’s willing to sell the farm in order to acquire the marquee talent to win another World Series. As long as Peavy stays healthy, the Sox have the pitching to compete for a championship, but adding a slugger like Gonzo would be a necessity to help provide some pop to the offense.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Along with a complete list of odds for the top 25 games, here are quick-hit previews for some of the marquee matchups for Week 12 in college football.
No. 8 LSU at Ole Miss, 3:30PM Saturday
The Tigers travel to Oxford this Saturday to take on an Ole Miss team that has won four of its last five games. LSU’s excellent front seven will have its hands full with running back Dexter McCluster, who is coming off an eye-popping four-touchdown, 282-yard rushing performance against Tennessee last weekend.
No. 12 Ohio State at Michigan, 12:00PM Saturday
This rivalry has certainly lost a lot of its luster over the past two seasons as the Wolverines continue to flounder under Rich Rodriguez. One would think that this game would be over by halftime, but never underestimate the power of a rivalry. For the most part, the Buckeyes struggled with a depleted Iowa team last week, so you never know if Tate Forcier and company can rise to the challenge and shock Jim Tressel’s team. Michigan certainly has more than enough offense to contend, but its defense has often been abused this season and might suffer a similar fate this weekend. (Of course, if Tressel continues to play things ultra-conservative with his offense, then maybe the Wolverine defense can keep UM in the ballgame.)
No. 25 California at No. 17 Stanford, 7:30PM ET Saturday
Of all the games on the Week 12 schedule, this might be the best matchup, although Cal will once again be without star running back Jahvid Best (concussion). Jim Harbaugh has his team playing as well as anyone in the country right now and is coming off impressive back-to-back wins over Oregon and USC. Running back Toby Gerhart has been a one-man wrecking crew for the Cardinal while compiling 1,395 yards and 19 touchdowns on 262 carries. Can the Golden Bear defense stop Gerhart or will they be yet another victim?
Rex Grossman’s dad took the opportunity recently to rip the Chicago Bears organization for how they mishandle the quarterback position.
“It’s a self-perpetuating problem that is not Jay Cutler’s fault,” said Dan Grossman, who played quarterback at Indiana in the ’60s. “It’s not Rex Grossman’s fault. It’s not Kyle Orton’s fault. It’s not every other quarterback who has been through that system’s fault. It’s the fault of the organization for not understanding what a quarterback needs.
“What’s amazing to me is, here we go again with Jay Cutler. He came in and he was going to be the franchise quarterback and lead the Bears. I heard some people say they were going to the Super Bowl this year. And here we are, back in the situation where … because the team is not really built around a passing game, he has struggled. I don’t really blame it on Jay Cutler.
“Jay Cutler, first-round draft pick. Rex Grossman, first-round draft pick. I mean, you’re telling me these guys were terrible? They did bad scouting? No,” Dan Grossman said. “You can connect the dots pretty easily when you just look. I am just amazed at how infrequently people in the media look at it. Their evaluation is that it is always the player. That’s not right.
“I believe that the NFL is a passing league. It has been for the last 20 years. Chicago continues to use the phrase, at least Lovie Smith continues to use the phrase, ‘We get off the bus running.’ They need to abandon that concept. Running is obviously a very important part of the offense. But the best teams in this league are prolific passing teams.
Grossman’s daddy makes a good point that the best teams in the league are prolific passing teams. The Saints, Colts and Patriots are three teams highly regarded as the best in the NFL and all of them can throw the ball.
But what Grossman misses the fact that all three can also run the ball. It’s not the teams with prolific passing games that win: It’s teams that have a balanced offense. He’s right in that the Bears’ offense isn’t working right now and that it’s not Cutler’s fault. But the reason why it isn’t working is because they have zero balance. Cutler feels like he has to do everything himself because he has no running game to support him. That’s the problem.
Grossman doesn’t want to come off like a bitter parent, but that’s exactly what he sounds like. He does offer a nugget of truth in that the Bears seldom set their quarterbacks up for success (look at their receivers and offensive line), but that’s because they’re a cheap organization and they often rely on has beens like Orlando Pace and Muhsin Muhammad to address their needs. It’s not that they don’t want to help the quarterback; they just don’t want to spend any money.
Rex Grossman wasn’t the sole problem in Chicago, just as Cutler isn’t the sole problem now. That’s why they call it a football team – all phases have to produce on both sides of the ball in order to be successful.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
FOLLOW US!
CATEGORIES
© 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑