Pixote

OK, this is the official sign up thread for this year's Pick'em Contests. DBDB has said he would give me access to upload the contest to the internet. It will be awhile before the software for 2008 is available for me to purchase and download. So, this is just an early sign-up thread that will continue until approximately a week before the season begins. The cutoff date will be announced later. Those of you from Bearstalk are all aware of the contests that I have been running for many years now. "Pixote's Challenge" is an office pool that is absolutely free to the poster participating. I have not decided if there will be any prizes. Usually, it is just for bragging rights. Maybe we can work out something with DBDB where if you win it can somehow be added to your profile, or maybe we can start a page showing the winners from each year as we did on Bearstalk. Unfortunately, when my system crashed without a backup, I lost all the awards pages I had for the previous years I ran this. I want to keep it simple this year. Last year we had 3 different pool sites going. This year it is going to be just one pool site with 3 contests you will be entered into. You will go to the main page of the web site for the contest and will have access to all types of resources showing information you can use to help make your selections and view the weekly results as well as the year's standings for each contest. You will make you selections on an internet picksheet and submit it to me. Your selections will not show up until the deadline for picks are completed, this way no one can copy your picks. I have to upload each players picks using the program interface so it is not something done automatically on the internet. I assure you I will try and keep everything updated quickly but if I am a bit slow at times do to work I would hope you would understand. Contest 1: Pick'ems Against the Spread: The main pick'em pool will be a contest where each week you will select the teams you think will win AGAINST THE SPREAD. In other words, if the Bears are favored by 9 and they only win by 8, if you choose the Bears to win, since they did not cover the spread, you lose that game. If you chose the Bears' opponent, since they "covered the spread", you win. The player who has the highest winning percentage of wins after the season is over wins this pool. Tie Breakers will be announced later. Contest 2: Survivor Pool: Pick one team each week to win. 3 losses and you are out. You can only pick a team once. Example- In Week 1 you pick Detroit- you can't pick them again in this pool. If you do, it will be a loss. In case of multiple "deaths" at the last a tie breaker will be used. Tie Breaker - The longest "winning streak" of games picked of those players. THIS POOL IS STRAIGHT UP, NO SPREAD!! Believe me, it is tough enough to survive in this pool without having to cover the spread. Contest 3: Margin Pool: You pick one team to win and receive the "Margin" or points that game is won by. You also lose those same points if your team loses. All games are straight up, NO "Spread". Winner is the person with the most points at the regular seasons end. For example, if you pick the Bears and they win by 8, you win 8 points, if they lose by 24 (more likely) you lose 24 points. You may only pick a team one time for the season. Duplicate picks or picking a team for the second time or missed. Anyone interested, please respond to this thread. If you have questions, please PM me or post it in a new thread and I will answer your questions asap. Thanks!

Has he satated he would be unwilling to play special teams for the Bears? He may have refused this role in the past but knowing this may be his last chance to keep his career in the NFL, he might be having a change of attitude.

If this is the case and he is traded, what do you think we would get? My guess is a conditional 5th or 6th rounder. Last time we made a trade like this when we thought we had depth at a position we wound up regretting it later. Biggs is an idiot, but he makes some good points in the article. Article from Chicago Sun-Times

I am getting anxious to see these guys in preseason games. I think they will both turn out to be excellent WRs for the Bears and turn our WR corps into a very respectable one. ProFootbalolWeekily.com The Way We Hear It - NFC North

Gotta agree, If our OL plays average or better than average this year, (I feel last year they were one of the worst in the league) and Rex & Ced still play like crap, then I will give up on them. Until then, as far as I am concerned, the jury is still out on both of them. It is hard to see a receiver laying on your back or looking out your helmet's ear hole. It is hard to hit the hole as a RB when a defensive player is standing 5 yards in your backfield ready to shake your hand as you are handed the ball.

Wow, the escalating salaries in the NFL are mind boggling!

I like the way Angelo continues to reward players when possible and keeps them happy. Sometimes the marketplace with the new era of exculating Caps and Free Agency does not allow this but Angelo has done a fine job with the challenges presented to do so.

The Bears Site just put up an article: Bears Team Site Article

Chicago Tribune Article Link Chicago Bears Team Site Article Great Job JA!!

I would agree, we need to keep all 4 RBs, AP, Wolfe, Benson, & Forte. They all fit certain roles and all can be valuable to this team (and yes, I think if our OL is solid this year, Benson will be a solid RB also.).

I agree with you Grizz, the key is self control. I have certainly used my share of 4 letter words when upset or joking around in certain situations but only in private or when with friends who are doing likewise and I know would not be offended. I certainly have the self control not to use this language in the work environment, around my grandchildren (or any children), when in a restaurant or store, etc...

I am happy to see Angelo is not going to rush to judgment and assume the worse case scenario. I strongly suspect that once all the details come out Benson will be found to have been unjustly crucified by the media and many Bears fans who have given up on him and are looking for a new way to crucify him. Some posts I have read make me think that some find this amusing and are hoping he was totally in the wrong because of their dislike for the guy. I personally want to see him come back and kick butt as a RB for the Bears. I am thrilled we drafted Forte and think he is the real deal. It would be nice to have 2 top quality starting RBs on you roster to punish opposing defenses and provide security if one comes up injured.

I agree, there is no reason why we can not all respect each other enough not to resort to profanity and insults. We never needed a filter at Bearstalk because we were all respectful of each other. Sure, on occasion, an admin or poster would have to remind someone to refrain from profanity or flaming another poster, but for the most part, no other actions were necessary. There has been more profanity and flaming here than I would like to see, definitely more than what I saw at Bearstalk. On the draft weekend I got so fed up with the profanity in the chat room, distributed liberally by 2 of our infamous posters, that I just packed up and left the chat room on Sunday, I personally could not enjoy the exchanges the rest of us were trying to have.

I think even if this event with Benson had not happened, they would have entered the camp as 1a & 1b and slugged it out for the starters position. Now, if this turns out that Benson was indeed guilty of the things he has been alleged to have done, it may very well cause the Bears to cut their loses earlier than expected and possibly pick up a veteran as a #2 or just go with AP & Wolfe as #2 & #3 respectfully.

All it was is signing a RB who was in camp as a tryout player. I am certain, IMO, it has nothing to do with the recent relevations about Benson.

I've been thrilled with everything I have read about this guy. Now with the possible problems of Benson (he hasn't been proved to be guilty of anything yet) I am THRILLED we selected him in rd 2. In an article by Brad Biggs he is stating Detroit was going to select him in rd 2 if we passed on him. So, as said before, if we felt this guy was the best "all-around" "3-down" "NFL-Ready" RB available, then we had to select him in rd 2 or we would not have gotten him PERIOD!

Agreed, what a joke, cut Benson and pick up Rhodes. Give me a break. Benson, unless his career ends do to injury, will be around for another year. If Forte is the player we think he is, unless Benson's attitude, work ethic, and performance all improve dramatically, he will be gone next year.

One thing for sure, he has a better character & work ethic than Benson has had since arriving. I still hold out hopes Benson can turn it around with a better OL but I am very anxious to see Forte in a Bears Uniform and get a chance to take over the starters position at RB.

I am hoping Rex, with added protection, can make us all believers. Let's face it guys, I do not care how tall you are as a QB, or for that matter how strong your arm is & how quick your release is, it is darn difficult to put up a good performance when you are constantly getting nailed by the pass rush. Give us a good OL & as a result a good running game and then we will see how good Rex really is. However, if he does not succeed, I am very intrigued by the reports of these 2 undrafted QB we signed, and especially C Hanie. Sounds like a solid prospect.

On the Bears Website on April 25th there was an article quoting Jerry Angelo saying: So I am confused by these rumors that Benson's injury is career threatening. Just as I am confused about those questioning the rumors about Chris Williams' back/neck injury. The first year JA drafted for us, if I remember correctly, he drafted Mark Columbo, OLT in round 1. Columbo got injured early on and despite keeping him on the payroll for several years never recovered to where he could play and we finally gave him an injury settlement. Do you think for one moment that if Angelo thought Chris Williams was an injury risk he would have drafted him #14 in round 1?

Grouchy I think it is your host for the pictures, the pics do not seem to be showing from that host. I took and downloaded your picture to my pc. I then uploaded it in Photobucket (free image hosting). I then edited my signature to have your image with the link from photobucket and a second one with the image linked to your host gorillamask.com Your image from photobucket shows up, the one from gorilla does not. I would go to photobucket and open a free account and upload your pic you want to use as your signature there. It will give you the http code to use. Then edit you signature the way I sugested and you should be ok.

If you click on it and copy the link and insert it into the address line of IE the pic shows ok on a new page. However, if you paste that link into a post using the insert image function, it does not show up??????

testing image link

The thing I like when reading about Harrison is that he is best suited as a 3 technique tackle (ala Tommie Harris) and is still considered a strong starter if placed next to Tommie. If Dusty is healthy and plays well, this gives us an excellent rotation and a replacement for Tommie if he gets hurt. Marcus Harrison Article

Did you get 10 correct? If you did that is a great Job!