Outrage!

Anyone who knows me knows my disdain and vitriol for the University of Notre Dame, and Notre Dame Football over the years. I've always maintained a level of contempt for that arrogant "We're Notre Dame, and we're awesome because we're Notre DAME" philosophy that exudes from nearly every alum and overall fan (see Rudy) of Notre Dame I've encountered in my lifetime, and 99 times out of 100 they always seem to justify my feelings and prove my point with their overall conceit, holier than thou attitude, and general schmuckiness even though they haven't done a damn thing since 1988.

Over the years, there have been many adjectives I've chosen to describe my personal feelings and general conflicts with Notre Dame and her defenders. "Spirited", "Contentious", "Mind-Boggling", "Angry", and "Cute", just to name a few. Overall though, it never got beyond any level of seriousness. That has now changed this week with the news of the death of 20 year old Declan Sullivan.  Now my feelings of disdain and vitriol for Notre Dame have been replaced with "DISGUST"!

Let me quickly summarize for those who haven't heard what happened. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly likes to practice outside and hates practicing indoors. The Midwest has had very strong winds lately up to 60 MPH. Declan Sullivan was a Notre Dame student who filmed the teams practices from on top of the Scissors Lift towers, as part of his job. Those scissor lifts are not to be used in winds over 25 MPH. The winds were too strong that day (53 MPH according to many readings), and obviously Declan knew it judging by picture of his Tweets featured above which were posted about an hour before the tower fell and lead to his death.

Declan is now dead, and Notre Dame and Brian Kelly, have Declan's blood on their hands because they put him in harms way. Whether they knew how dangerous it was to put Declan on the Lift during high winds is irrelevant! Ignorance is NEVER an excuse. Kelly's and Notre Dame's negligence now has a body count behind it, PERIOD. Fortunately for us, there are many courts in this country that would call this situation "Wrongful Death" and it will be only a matter of time before Notre Dame opens up their checkbook to Declan's family.

No amount of that money will ease the pain for Declan and his family however. No amount of painted gold helmets or praying to Touchdown Jesus will wash the blood stains from your hands when they hit your Play Like A Champion sign.

In short Notre Dame, you have now crossed the line from Hateful Play-Thing, to the Embodiment of Negligence and Wrecklessness.

Let that little thought keep you warm at night you hypocritical bastards...

The Thrill Is Gone

I am out of carrots...I am out of sticks...I'm out of excuses...but most importantly, I am out of faith in Jay Cutler, and it's very painful and disappointing.
In light of Sunday's debacle of a game against the Redskins, my foundation of Cutler belief has been shaken to the point of instability. In a game that NEITHER team was good enough, let alone deserved, to win the Redskins ended up with the victory all thanks to Cutler and his 4 inexcusable picks thrown to DeAngelo Hall who in case you were wondering - has been beaten by more receivers than any other cornerback in the league this year.

Yeah I know Ryan Torain had 125 yards, yeah I know Jay has a Swiss Cheese Offensive Line that I wouldn't trust against a bunch of 8th graders, and yeah I know Jay doesn't have legit receivers but rather kick returners disguised as receivers...but that's just the same old song that I've been signing for two years that's prevented me from realizing the truth, and that truth is Jay is not a franchise QB like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or hell you could argue Aaron Rodgers if you wanted to.
At this point in his career Cutler has shown some flashes of brilliance. Officially he has 11 fourth quarter comebacks and Game Winning Drives under his belt. Cutler also made the Pro Bowl in 2008. Cutler has one of the strongest arms of any QB in the NFL. Despite all of those accomplishments however, the fact of the matter is Cutler simply hasn't gotten any better or improved. If anything, he's gotten worse. His mechanics continue to betray him at key moments, as evidence by at least one of Hall's four picks on the day - which in case you were wondering, Jay still has the swagger enough to say he'd continue to throw at Hall no matter what. Ballsy? Yes. Foolish? Probably.

Is there any hope for Cutler? Well I can't say I've become a full fledged Cutler Atheist...I'm more of Cutler Agnostic. With that in mind, I do reserve the right to hope against hope that he improves. I will allow the possibility that he works on his mechanics - particularly in the red zone - to the point where he becomes way more efficient at it.

Plus if we really want to reach...it's important to remember that may of the same things we're saying about Cutler were said about John Elway at various points in his career. For many years Elway was considered a loser, or a choke artist even though he put together "The Drive" by his fourth season. Those perceptions changed dramatically when he got the right coach, with the right system, with the right running back, for Elway and the Broncos to put it all together for back to back Super Bowl wins. So I guess it technically can happen.

Bottom line though, I'm tired of waiting for good things to happen TO Jay. It's time for Jay to start MAKING good things happen all by himself.

Ready Or Not

When I first saw the picture above, my first reaction was "I'm glad Mr. Strickland (the principal from Back To The Future) found some steady work". After quickly realizing that wasn't him, I realized something else, and that is The Mike Quade Era is upon us...even though it kind of already has been since August 23...but whatever. The Beard says, it's the right move for the Cubs, and I'll give you my reasons.

You're going to read a variety of takes from other opinion-makers ranging from "Why wouldn't they wait for Joe Girardi to become available" to "How could they turn their back on Sandberg", and any and all thoughts and emotions in between. That's fine if they want to go that direction.

To the first question, my response would be to point out that Girardi was already interested in being the Cubs manager before the 2007 season, and they turned him down. He wasn't about to put his neck out there again at this time, especially when the current state of the Cubs is not the most optimum to say the least. The Yankees on the other hand, are in a much better position to contend in 2011.

With regard to the second question...well that answer isn't as cut and dried. Did Ryno do everything that the Cubs asked him to do? Yes. Did Sandberg appear to take his job seriously? He was named Pacific Coast League Manager Of The Year this past summer, so yes. Do the Cubs really have anything to lose by hiring him? Not really. The only one with anything to lose is Sandberg, and that would be his reputation. Still, it didn't seem like Sandberg cared too much about that possibility. So why isn't Sandberg being named Cubs Manager today? For the same reason Quade is being named manager, and the same reason the Cubs are in this pickle they're in: Jim Hendry.

Jim Hendry has become the Matt Millen of Baseball General Managers. This is now Jim Hendry's third managerial hire during his tenure. He has spent an obscene amount of money that has resulted in absolutely nothing (Even though some readers are still waiting for the parades to start for the 2007-2008 Division Championships) in terms of satisfying the only expectation that matters in the minds of serious Cub fans which is winning the World Series. The money spent by Hendry has completely mortgaged the future of Cubs contention until 2014. Despite all of it, Hendry managed to snowball the Ricketts into keeping his job, and since he never wanted Sandberg to be Cubs manager in the first place...well it's pretty academic as to why Quade is manager, and Ryno is not.

As for Quade, it's a real low risk hire for the Cubs, and a nothing to lose move for Quade. A two year deal is nothing. If you think about it long enough, it's almost laughable. I mean can you imagine the Yankees or Red Sox giving a manager a two year contract? I don't. Quade, for his part, certainly doesn't seem to care as he's been nothing but affable and direct about his enthusiasm for the job.

Whether he can continue the good baseball the Cubs seem to play under his tenure this past season (24-13 record in case you were wondering) remains to be seen. One thing's is for sure...he'll need to start off hot next season to avoid chants of "We Want Ryno" in April.

Not Enough Fingers To Point

Games like this past Sunday's Bears-Seahawks game are a glaring example of why I hate what they are passing off as NFL Football these days. Gone are the days of established powerhouse franchises who built their rosters through the draft year in and year out, and would thus reel off multiple division championships and playoff runs. In it's place, we have a giant collection teams that are so interchangeable, that it's impossible to tell what teams are good, and which teams are bad. The Bears-Seahawks game is a prime example. On paper, the Bears should have mopped the floor with them. Instead, we got the disaster we got, which has generated the same old questions we've had about the Bears to go along with a bitter taste that only Pete "Teaching Moment" Carroll can provide...

My problems with the entire NFL are the subject for another post at another time however. For now lets focus on what's happening with the Chicago Bears. Overall, and I really don't think it's an exaggeration to say this, everything they did was awful.

Offense : Well, I honestly can't think of one thing this unit did positively, can you? The return of Jay Cutler, meant the return of reckless Martz play calling despite Cutler continuing to look a little "foggy", and an Offensive Line that was abysmal. 6 more sacks added to the tab for this O-Line, which despite another reshuffle of personnel, still managed to look like they've never played football before. I honestly think that if you were to put Madden 2011 on autopilot, the computer's O-Line would be better at picking up (OBVIOUS) blitzes than the Bears O-Line.

As far as Cutler is concerned, he isn't blameless, but still it's hard to come down on him. Cutler has not only displayed toughness but loyalty as well throughout this weird season. He's certainly not throwing Martz under the bus. He seems to still be buying into what Martz wants the Bears offense to do. Still, it's pretty damn obvious he's running for his life, and despite his best efforts still lets his mechanics slip in the redzone. Also, the Bears offensive hasn't converted a third down since the 2nd quarter of the PACKER GAME. Yeah....the Packer game.... 

Defense : What a letdown this unit was after last week. They let a guy who ate himself out of the league three season ago in Mike Williams have 10 catches for 123 yards! They saw Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett run for 111 yards and two Touchdowns collectively. They also managed to look like they've never tackled anyone before, with so many "Ole's" the only thing Bear defenders were missing was a Matador outfit.

Oh and in case you were wondering, ZERO sacks, ZERO interceptions, ZERO Fumbles Recoveries. That is flat out unacceptable, especially when you run the Tampa 2 which is specifically designed to get sacks, picks, and fumbles.

Special Teams : OK they were something that could be considered a positive. They could have been the great spot if they were to have avoided the holding penalty on the would-be Danieal Manning kick return TD in the 4th quarter. Still, after not kicking to him the whole game, the Seahawks for some reason punted to Hester in the 4th quarter, and he made them pay.

Where do we go from here? :  What the Bears have to overcome, is not something I believe can be fixed personnel wise. They're stuck with this sorry sack of crap for an Offensive Line, and they're also stuck with Martz as their play-caller.

I'm not enough of a football genius to come up with plays they should call, but I've seen enough to know that football always comes down to blocking and tackling. Know when the blitz is coming offensively and check to the appropriate hot-route. Understand that while the Tampa 2 doesn't call for you to make the tackle, it does call for you to hold the ball carrier up, while your defensive teammates come to strip the ball.

Simple concepts really, but as we often say here in WhiteyLand, "Simple is not the same thing as Easy". Whether or not the Bears can understand the difference is up to them.

And Another Thing...

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this in WhiteyLand but in case I hadn't I might as well mention it now, I HATED The Blind Side! Hated it. Hated every audience-insulting piece of dialogue from it. Hated the vastly overrated performance of Sandra Bullock in it. Hated how completely patronizing it was to Michael Oher and his remarkable real life story. Most of all I hated the fact that jagoff-y Michael Lewis got credited with finding such a unique story that nobody else would have found, and wrote another bestseller.

Thankfully this article was posted today on Slate.com, that made me feel much better. It blows the lid off any notion that Michael Lewis found such a unique story. It does so by confirming something that I speculated about when I was watching the movie: Michael Oher is hardly the first disadvantaged black youth that was adopted and/or mentored by a white family who then went onto college and professional football. Some of the names that had nearly the exact same set of circumstances Oher did include (to name a few) :

• O.C. Brown
• Patrick Willis
• Keith Bullock
• Jeremy Maclin

 Lewis for his part says "Maybe I stumbled onto it because it happens so often". He's correct, it does happen way more often than The Blind Side would lead you to believe. The only difference is, these other families don't try to sell their story to a book or movie which makes them look like the most kind and generous people in the world, let alone go out seeking any kind of recognition for it.  

These families do it because they actually care about the athlete. Something truly unique indeed...

But Wait....There's MORE!

It seems that Brett Favre, Mark McGwire, and Tiger Woods aren't the only ones that are going to lose their once impeccable reputations in 2010. Now it seems longtime self-appointed NFL Draft "Guru" Mel Kiper Jr is under the microscope after this lengthy tell-all/confessional/bombshell, from former NFL Agent Josh Luchs.

There's plenty to digest in Luchs' story. It certainly provides a possible answer to the question I posed during the Reggie Bush-Lloyd Lake fiasco of "Is Reggie Bush only guilty of not keeping his financial arrangements quiet?" According to what Luchs has to say, yes. Luchs confirms in vivid detail of what we've long suspected, and that is the Student/Athlete is nothing more than a MYTH. Anyone who still chooses to believe there are student athletes playing big time college sports after reading what Luchs has to say is on par with still continuing to believe the Earth is flat.

That's not what is getting people's attention though. What IS getting attention is Luchs story regarding the odd relationship between Gary Wichard (Luchs former employer) and Mel Kiper Jr. The most damning paragraph being :

"Gary used Mel like that all the time. In the agent business, people know Gary and Mel are close, and some people suspect that Mel ranks players more favorably if they are Gary's clients"

In terms of that little nugget checking out, it would certainly explain why even though all other NFL Draft Publications had Jimmy Clausen ranked as a mid second round pick, Kiper had Clausen ranked in the Top 15 on his draft board. Gary Wichard happens to have been Jimmy Clausen's agent at the time.

All smoke and no fire you say? Well not to ESPN evidently, as there's this report stating they are actually investigating if any of this is true. For his part, Kiper has denied any wrongdoing, or any sort of conflict of interest regarding his relationship with Wichard. That's to be expected I guess since Mel is the same guy who told Merril Hoge he'd see Merril at Mike Williams Hall Of Fame speech.

As we say here in Gucionne-land "Not good man....not good".

And The Walls...Come Crumbling Dowwwwn...

In case you haven't noticed, which based on ESPN's non-coverage of this rather significant story involving the NFL'S All Time Interception Leader (said it before I'll say it again, LOVE YOU DEADSPIN) sexting pictures of his Wang and leaving propositioning voice mails on the cellphone of one Jenn Sterger. You can see copies of the alleged Wang De Favre here, if you need to.

Obviously I could just echo the thoughts of many people way more articulate than me on how wonderful this is to see a hypocrite destroy everything he's built over nearly 20 years just for the sake of obtaining some ass outside of marriage. I would just be wasting time though, as I've already gone over how I cannot decide what I'm more disgusted with, what an absolute fake and phony Brett Favre is, or what absolute morons people are for believing he's the great guy ESPN wants you to think he is. 

Believe or not people are actually mad at Deadspin for this. Like Deadspin are the ones that sent pictures of their Wang to Jenn Sterger while being a married father (now grandfather). Can't wait to see how they react with the news that Jenn Sterger is far from the only one who has received this kind of treatment from Favre. Those people simply vindicate me for feeling the way I do about Favre, but that's neither here nor there.

Here's what I'll be watching for:

1. What Hanging Judge Roger Goodell does with Brett, since this is sexual harassment of a fellow NFL employee. 

2. Whether or not ESPN will finally make any mention of this since it's well known that any ESPN employee is not allowed to make reference to deadspin.com, let alone say anything negative about Brett Favre.

3. How soon Favre will own up to this. He's already issued a non-denial, denial about it, but he only needs to learn from Tiger Woods, the longer he waits to apologize, the more desperate and pathetic it will seem when he eventually will be forced to.

Stuck In The Middle With You

Let's talk about Lovie Smith real quick. Is he the worst coach in the league? No. Is he one of the worst coaches in the league? Debatable. Is he becoming increasingly arrogant and daft to the point where he's putting this football team even further into the nosedive they've been on since Super Bowl XLI? Absolutely!

Let's start with the news of the day, the abrupt release of Mark Anderson, and signing of Charles "Starcaps" Grant. As most astute and observant Bear fans would agree, Anderson has been a disappointment after his rookie season where he was effectively used as a situational pass rusher. Most Bear fans knew that Anderson was not going to touch those numbers ever again, and wouldn't be effective in the Tampa 2. There was only one problem, the one guy who DID think Anderson could be effective...is the Bears Head Coach!

Here's the worst part though, Lovie has now TWICE been proven wrong about Mark Anderson! He tried this before in 2007 when he gave the starting defensive end position to him instead of Alex Brown. Anderson was invisible throughout all of 2007 and Alex Brown was the starter again by 2008. Flash forward to the 2009 offseason, and the Bears cut Alex Brown shortly after signing Julius Peppers, with the belief that Anderson would take advantage of the single blocking he would see with Peppers drawing the double teams. Anderson responded by posting ZERO sacks and 8 tackles in 4 games.

So now the Bears are left with neither Alex Brown or Anderson, and have now resorted to signing Charles Grant, who is not only the same type of player Alex Brown is, but it still looking down the barrel of a suspension for using Starcaps, not to mention he "witnessed something" that got him arrested. Great job Lovie, way to make the same mistake twice...while you're at it, why not re-sign Tank Johnson?

If that weren't bad enough, Smith decided to further show just how out of touch he is with the current climate in the NFL as it relates to his franchise QB's health. Jay Cutler now has 3 - repeat - 3 known concussions as a player. First time coming at Vanderbilt in 2003, second time in a 2006 game against the 49ers (the last game Darrent Williams played before being killed that night incidentally), and now this past Sunday against the Giants. When asked about it, the all knowing and caring Lovie Smith said :

"It seems like he's in pretty good shape right now...There are no visual signs or anything that I can tell. He seems like he's OK."

Sounds to me like Captain Daft plans on playing Cutler next week. Thankfully, it won't be up to Lovie since Cutler needs to be cleared by both the team doctor and the independent physician in order to play. Still, for it is really off-putting to see Lovie shockingly have no clue:

1. How serious concussions are
2. How sensitive the league is handling each concussion case
3. How Cutler might have damage that Lovie himself cannot see.

Add all that up, and it make being stuck in the Lovie Smith Era even more unbearable (pun).

Tell Me How My Ass Tastes

Just when I was about to take out my wallet to buy this team, they go ahead and get molested like they did tonight by the New York Giants 17-3. It was an ugly and terrifyingly revealing loss in every sense. Not only could the Bears not move the ball, but they couldn't even execute a play! Not a welcome site especially when the previous three games showed that the Bears could at least move the ball in the Mike Martz scheme.

As far as the forensics are concerned, the Bears gave up 372 total yards while accumulating 110 yards. Once again the Bears couldn't run the ball to save their lives, putting up a putrid 59 rushing yards. The most disturbing stat however was obviously the sack totals. 10 sacks given up by our Swiss cheese offensive line, 9 of which were received by Cutler. Don't get me wrong, Cutler was to blame for many of those sacks as he never once seemed to check off to the hot route whenever the Giants were showing obvious blitzes, but overall the protection wasn't there.

Overall, Cutler looked really out of sorts all night. He also looked out of sorts last week against the Packers. This is making me wonder if tonight wasn't the first concussion he's received this year. Cutler took a tremendous shot to the jaw from Frank Zombo's helmet last Monday, and I wouldn't be surprised if that had something to do with his erratic play ever since the Dallas game where he looked so sharp. Obviously I have no way of knowing Cutler's concussion history, but I do know that the Bears porous offensive line is responsible for a lot of it.

Now comes word that Todd Collins has a stinger, which is also something you don't recover from overnight. Not to mention that even before that, Collins SUCKED to high heaven. There's no way Cutler should play next week, so that leaves Caleb Freakin Hanie to lead us the rest of the way in 2010. Good god...anyone have Kurt Warner's number?

The real shame of it, is that the defense played well. Granted they wore down during the end, but the Time Of Possession had a lot to do with that (Bears 26:35 Giants 33:25). The real bitch of it is, we all saw this coming. We all knew this Offensive Line wasn't good enough to last. I don't care how tough Cutler is, you can't take that many hits and not have it catch up with you.

Unfortunately, tonight might have been the night to pay the piper.

White Sox Season Roundup

The 2010 White Sox season will not be forgotten anytime soon. Despite my postseason prediction being garbage, it was a roller coaster in every sense of the term from their horrific start, to their 25-5 run to get to first place by the All-Star Break, to their strange and bizarre acquisition of Manny Ramirez, to their eventual elimination by the Minnesota Twins. Alex Rios had a bounce-back season. Paul Konerko had a freakish MVP Caliber season (more on him in a minute). Jake Peavy showed what an expensive gamble he was, by having an awful injury which he may never fully recover from. Andruw Jones and Mark Kotsay were not nearly enough to replace Jim Thome numbers wise. Bobby Jenks, Matt Thornton, and J.J. Putz had their ups and downs. This club battled hard, and put forth a great effort overall even though they fell short of the postseason. All the accomplishments on the field however, do not tell the full story of this season.

Despite all the White Sox on the field success, there were all kinds of unneccesary unprofessional pissing contests between Ozzie Guillen and Kenny Williams this season which to be perfectly honest would be good enough to get them BOTH fired. I'm honestly so tired of both of them and their childish, boorish, little standoffs in which both Ozzie and Kenny displayed the maturity of 7th graders. Not only did I get tired of it, but evidently Uncle Jerry got tired of it too, as he assured Ozzie that he would return next season, but did not give him an extension which essentially means that both Williams and Guillen have one more chance to get this team back to the post season in 2011.

The biggest challenge for the White Sox will be what to do with Paul Konerko. Paulie had his best season ever at the plate, and consequently put himself in position to have one more big payday. The problem is, the White Sox might not be able to afford him! The Sox have $75 million committed for 2011, and have Arbitration cases for Carlos Quentin, John Danks, Bobby Jenks, and Tony Pena which could put that number between $85-$90 million. They also have to make decisions on A.J. Pierzynski, J.J. Putz, Andruw Jones, and Freddy Garcia. That would put the Sox over the $100 million mark, and since Konerko is looking for around a 3 year/$45 million, the problem becomes even more magnified. If they sign Konerko, they will have to find cheaper alternatives for the other previously mentioned free agents. If they pass on Konerko, they will have to be counting on Dayan Viciedo to be their first baseman in 2011. It's not a coincidence that they've been playing Viciedo at first base the past week.

My prediction : The Sox will pass on Paul Konerko, and while it will sting, it's the right thing to do. Spending money on Konerko would be bad money. We cannot realistically expect him to put up those numbers for three more seasons. This isn't a matter of liking Konerko, it's simple economics. Kenny spent a lot of money...too much money....to make this economically feasible. Unless Uncle Jerry feels like opening up the checkbook even further, I just don't see it happening.

As for the rest of the team, well who knows if they can compete without Konerko. I know it's not in the White Sox DNA to strictly rebuild, but this team with or without Konerko, just isn't good enough.

So while it won't be as significant an offseason as I originally anticipated, it's still going to be fun to watch...

Cubs Season Roundup

The 2010 Chicago Cubs season was really only interesting for about 3 months. After that, I don't think calling it "catastrophic" is stretching it. The Cubs certainly didn't live up to my predictions in April. Despite making news by hiring Rudy Jaramillo, the Cubs actually hit worse than they did a season ago. Their pitching staff took a huge nosedive both in the starting rotation and their way too young/bad bullpen. Eventually the Cubs saw the departures of mainstay Derrek Lee, Ted Lilly, and eventually manager Lou Piniella. In terms of the lowest point in the Cubs season, it would have to be the Carlos Zambrano-Derrek Lee blowup during the Cubs-White Sox game which eventually saw Zambrano go on a 6 week sabbatical. A sabbatical which saw him pitch very well upon his return.

As far as the 2011 outlook, there's still a decision to be made at manager. Early favorites seem to be pointing in the direction of Mike Quade, although longshots Ryne Sandberg and Joe Girardi could end up with the position. I believe Quade ends up with the job, simply because Sandberg and Girardi are smart enough to know that the Cubs won't be in position to be serious contenders for another two years. Then again Sandberg might not be that smart...

As of right now the Cubs have $103 million committed to next season, plus 7 - repeat 7 - arbitration cases which will put at figure around $110-$120 million ($94.225 million of which belonging to 6 players). The days of the Cubs spending ridiculous amounts of money on impact free agents are over for a while, so they're stuck with the hand they have.

The good news is, there is some good young talent on the Cubs with Starlin Castro, Tyler Colvin, Casey Coleman and Andrew Cashner. The bad news is they still are stuck with big money contracts they cannot get out from under, and Jim Hendry has convinced the Ricketts that he should still have his job.

Whether that will be enough to convince the sudden no-shows which are responsible for historic lows in attendance to return remains to be seen.