In case anyone is as obsessed with Madden as I am i'm sure they'll be interested to see that the new ratings were leaked. Some notables for the Bears.

• Grossman is a 79, Orton comes in at 76.
• Benson and Forte are both 80s. Peterson is a 78.
• Booker gets an 82, Hester 81, Earl Bennet at 79.
• Clark is still better than Olsen by 86 - 85.
• Our starting line is Williams (79) Metcalf (78) Kreutz (93) Garza (85) and Tait (86)
• The defense is especially sick with Lach (98) Briggs (95) Harris (95) Tillman (91) Vash (91) Ogun (89) Mike Brown (87).
• We only have 2 defensive starters coming in under an 80 rating..Hillenmeyer and Dvoracek, both at 79s.
• Our overall team rating is pretty poor at 80. The Pack are a 91 and Vikings a 90.

Madden Team and Player Ratings

Yahoo! Sports  usually does (i believe) weekly reports on every team in the NFL, this weeks Bears Report centered mainly on Benson and how the Bears should react to his recent misdemeanors. A little bit of the article and the link below.

And Benson is not a repeat offender in the NFL, although he was arrested for trespassing in college five years ago when he attempted to recover a TV set that had been stolen from him.

And my favorite part of the article...

If the Bears canned every player and coach who didn’t get the job done last season, they could print their roster on a matchbook cover.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/rumors/post/Bears-will-keep-Turner-Babich-as-coordinators-i?urn=nfl,5952 9

"Ron Turner will be back to have his play-calling ability questioned again next season. Defensive coordinator Bob Babich -- Smith's hand-picked successor to Ron Rivera, who was run off despite a Super Bowl appearance last season -- also will remain."

Guess one good game (yesterday) saved Turner's job after all.

http://www.southtownstar.com/sports/668444,112707bearsnb.article

"Harris is reportedly having enough knee pain that he'll need offseason arthroscopic knee surgery.

Smith also said he couldn't be certain cornerback Nathan Vasher would return from a groin strain."

well this sucks, our defense will be horrible if we lose another lineman and after RMJ had a rough day followed by McBrides rough day we could really use Vasher.

a pretty damn funny nugget from yahoo! sports for once:

Rex Grossman: "And he's supposed to be giving us a better shot at winning?" after watching fellow Chicago Bears quarterback Brian Griese throw four interceptions - three in the end zone - during a 16-7 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Chad Pennington: "I feel like Rex Grossman" after replacement Kellen Clemens completed five of 12 passes with two interceptions during the New York Jets' loss to the Buffalo Bills.
oopsie, here is the link. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ja-winnersloser102807&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

if this rumor is true, i don't even know what to think of this organization anymore.

With the possibility of a run at Aaron Rowand looming, the Cardinals are undecided about using Jim Edmonds as a center fielder next year.
(Updated 10/13/2007)

Center field is no higher than fourth when it comes to positions the Cardinals should be looking to address. There are bigger needs at shortstop, second base and right field. Edmonds can still handle center when healthy, and when he's not, Rick Ankiel can fill in. However, the biggest reason why it makes little sense to go long-term on a new center fielder is top prospect Colby Rasmus, who should be ready to take over the position in 2009.

i definately agree we need to fill holes at short, but we are probably stuck at second base with Kennedy since we gave him the deal we did. and i guess rotoworld doesn't see Ankiel as our everyday right fielder either. and we need pitching. seriously, Aaron Rowand, this is a sick belated april fools joke, right?

I was just wondering, does anyone know of a good place to bet online on NFL games? I don't even know if this is legal or what, but i kind of felt like layin a little bit of money down from time to time on some games so if anyone knows of a good spot post it in the comments please!

One-line diaries are prohibited on McCovey Chronicles. Give your diary a bit more thought, then give it another shot. If you have nothing to add to your proposed diary, then it probably belongs as a comment under another appropriate thread.

Not sure if anyone else caught this, but Wade Wilson was suspended 5 games by the NFL for violating the substance abuse policy regarding HGH. Wilson says the drugs were only for personal use and noen were distributed to Bears players...anyone worried about this?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3000615

there is the link to the story.

Well, i rushed out to my local Wal Mart to pick up Madden 08 and this game is pretty impressive. Gameplay is great all around, but i wanted to whine about a few Bear ratings that got real screwed up.

#1 - Kyle Orton is a 71. In and of itself, this isn't terrible, he is a third stringer...but here is where it gets bad, Chris Leak is a 72! What!? Kyle Orton was better in college, was a better prospect in the draft, Won 10 games as a rookie quarterback...but Chris Leak is rated better than him? Seriously, boost Orton to a 75.

#2 - Mark Anderson is slower than Alex Brown...seriously. Mark Anderson is only 1 overall point behind Brown (85 to 84) but his speed only registers 79 while Brown gets 83. What Chicago Bears team did EA Sports model their 08 Bears team after?

#3 - This one isn't too bad, but they made Mike Brown the starting Free Safety (luckily they granted him with 88 speed) and Arch the starting SS. The way i see the Bears depth chart sitting will be Manning starting at FS and Brown starting at SS with Arch as the backup SS and McGowan the backup FS.

Also, this isn't too worthy of it's own gripe #, but after Harris (97) and Adams (77) the next best is Dusty D at 66...seems a little low since most of the below average players usually register around 70. One thing to look forward to come the opening day roster update...Darwin Walker is rated at 85 so we will have a nice Harris with Walker/Adams combo.

//end semi-sorta-kinda rant

News: The Chicago Tribune reports that Bears WR/KR Devin Hester was out of practice again Thursday with an injury shrouded in mystery. The club is being cautious with him and the nature of his problem. "How about general soreness?" coach Lovie Smith said. "Leg injury. You can put it like that."

Analysis: Not good for a guy who relies on his speed to have a leg injury that the head coach won't get into. Maybe Lovie is doing his best Bill Belichick impersonation. If he stays healthy, then the potential for Hester is incredible. Consider him someone worth taking with a late-round pick as a flier in the event he does take off in the Bears' offense.

Yikes. (by the way, i didn't see this on the main page nor in the diary list, sorry if someone posted it in the comments of something but i haven't had a chance to read the comments so i figured i'd post this anyway.