Contest Part II

And then there's the Bears...Lovie Smith is in a similar situation as Vinny Del Negro, but there are way more complications involved. This Blog is one of many outlets who have called for Lovie to be fired. Last Monday Night's victory against the Vikings seems to have breathed some life into Smith's job status for next year. That hasn't stopped Lovie from being asked about his job status more than he cares to talk about it. His status appears to be up in the air going into this weeks finale against the Detroit Lions. Appearances can be deceiving though, especially when it comes to the Bears.

So here's the situation in The Beard's view. This is the third straight year the Bears haven't made the playoffs since Lovie told everyone "trust me" after the Super Bowl. He has fired assistants that didn't need to be fired, and he promoted assistants that didn't deserve to be promoted. He has lobbied for Jerry Angelo to sign players such as Adam Archuleta, when everybody knew he couldn't play football anymore. He has continuously been on the losing end of challenges, and (worst of all) sticks with a defensive scheme that isn't interested in stopping the run or the pass.

This, along with various other issues, injuries, personnel decisions and incidents, has led to numerous blowouts, lackluster/uninspired play and overall embarrassment this season. It's also led Jerry Angelo to go out of his way to pull a GarPax and tell everyone that Lovie is under review, after the Ravens game. Whether or not Jerry Angelo is flexing power he may not even have since he might be under the gun too, is irrelevant. What is relevant is Lovie's contract is signed for two more years.

That being the case, the question then becomes, if Lovie goes, who will be brought in? All signs point to Bill Cowher heading to Tampa, and Mike Shanahan heading to Washington. Does Jerry Angelo wait for other guys like John Fox to get fired, quit, or suddenly become available? If any of these coaches are available, how much will it cost to bring them in? Whatever it would cost, there is a lurking, and all signs pointing to unavoidable, Lockout in 2011. The Lockout would also lead to the salary cap being lifted in 2010. So not only would the Bears be paying Lovie to not coach for two seasons, but whoever the Bears bring would also eventually be paid not to coach as well, for however long a potential Lockout would last. While the Bears have relatively shed their reputation for being cheap recently, it still doesn't seem to make a lot of financial sense to fire Lovie now.

If they decide to go with the more economical route and retain Lovie, what happens with his assistants, particularly with the Offensive Coordinator position? Ron Turner seems to be about as popular as rug-burn these days among both fans and players. Cutler had the chance to say he wants Turner back next year, and he took a pass on that. Personally speaking, that's a big deal when the QB doesn't vouch for the Offensive Coordinator. Huge. Can you imagine John Elway, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, or Tom Brady not commenting on whether they want their Offensive Coordinator back? That coach would be fired that same evening.

Also, what about the Defensive Coordinator position? Who would be available, and what type of scheme would they run? The Green Bay Packers broke away from their commitment to the 4-3, unearthed the corpse of Dom Capers, and placed him in charge of their defense this season. The results of his 3-4 scheme have been a #2 total ranked defense in the NFL, two Pro Bowlers in Charles Woodson and Nick Collins, and a developing rookie in Clay Matthews who has 10 sacks this season. Maybe bringing in an innovator with a completely different and forward thinking defensive philosophy would be enough to make the Bears a playoff team? Nobody knows for certain, but it would certainly help.

One thing that is certain, Lovie Smith will not be in charge of hiring either of the coordinators, Jerry Angelo will be. Whomever Jerry hires, will definitely be put in a position to become Lovie Smith's replacement if things do not turn around the way the Bears and Jerry Angelo anticipate. Either way, this is a one FINE mess the Bears are in, and it will be far from boring to watch them try to dig their way out of it.

Contest Part I

It seems as if the Chicago Bears and Chicago Bulls are having a contest to see which front office can be more indecisive, less certain of their long term vision, and look more inept than the other lately. It has now gotten to the point where it's being watched nationally.

Lets start with the Bulls. John Paxson's puppet Gar Forman took a pass when given the chance to give the dreaded vote of confidence to Vinny Del Negro. This is counterproductive in a couple of different ways. The time to fire Del Negro was a month ago. Vinny's length of tenure has been the beneficiary of a supposed "classic" playoff series between the Bulls and Celtics last postseason. Most people who are capable of remembering the circumstances surrounding that series however, will remember that Kevin Garnett was not playing in any of those games. Had Garnett been playing, the Bulls would have most likely been swept under the rug in 4 games post haste, and Vinny might not have survived for this season.

That didn't happen though. What did happen though (besides a record collapse to the Sacramento Kings this year) is that the Bulls have shown that the best basketball they are capable of playing...is when they ditch running Vinny's offense! Del Negro has done plenty of other things to show that firing him would be understood, and the Bulls could at least start going in another direction.

So since that hasn't happened either, you would at the very least expect some combination of Paxson or Forman or both essentially come forward and say, "Vinny is our guy for the rest of the year" and put an end to all speculation, not only for the players and fans sake, but for Del Negro's sake as well. Instead, the Bulls have decided to let everyone continue to urinate into the wind and continue to live in the netherworld of "Is this the day Vinny gets launched?". Oh and by the way, they are also doing this while allowing little rumors of Doug Collins and Lawrence Frank being spoken with by Bulls brass to periodically pop up...If the Bulls are going to go anywhere, they can't be caught in-between like this. They need firm leadership and direction from someone, be it Vinny, or Paxson/Forman, or another coach. Make no mistake about it, this is a "Take your time @ssh*le" moment for the Bulls Brass. Lets hope they make their mind up soon.

Don't Be Fooled...

Jay Cutler finally showing what he's capable of when his offensive teammates (particularly up front) around him are interested in playing football, and chucking 4 TD's, including the game winner=Awesome! Devin Aromashodu showing more than just potential, with a breakout game tonight=Fantastic! The defensive line stepping up in overtime, and Hunter Hillenmeyer punching the ball out of Adrian Peterson's grasp=Sweet! The Bears ending the Vi-queens chance at the number one seed in the NFC Playoff Picture=Fun, Fun, (schadenfreude) FUN!

As thrilling as tonight's victory over the Minnesota Favre's was, unfortunately it's a hollow victory at best, and no reason to overlook glaring problems with this team, at worst. Once again, there is plenty of evidence from this game, no matter how pleasant the outcome, to show that this is a fundamentally flawed team.

Lovie Smith's vaunted defensive play calling after a very impressive first half, didn't trust his new safeties and stuck with that beaten scheme that is the Tampa 2 (with the stupid fake blitz up the middle with a linebacker). The Tampa 2 promptly went out and allowed 30 second half points, 321 passing yards from Brett Favre, 94 yards and 2 TD's from Adrian Peterson, and 423 yards allowed overall. Once again, Lovie has nobody to blame for his porous defense but himself. His pointless loyalty to a scheme, that zero playoff teams including the Colts even run anymore, allowed Favre to work the middle of the field and deep sideline routes ad nauseam for pretty much the entire second half. And that's just the defensive side of the ball...

Offensively, the execution was much better than in recent weeks, but then again it was hard to get any worse. For as much as Olin Kreutz wants to run his mouth calling for "top to bottom" organizational changes while still playing like a swinging gate, he did nothing tonight to convince anyone that he's not overmatched in the trenches and that he can still play at an elite level in the NFL. Matt Forte looked better, but still seems to missing something that rhymes with "burst". Aromashodu again had a great game, Olsen, Clark, and Earl Bennett had good contributions. In this blogs view, all of the success largely was due to Jay Cutler's fearless play. Cutler showed that when he's given time, and his receivers execute their routes, he can make Lame Duck Ron Turner's offense look good. Imagine what he could do with a good team and a real offensive coordinator...

So for now, HUZZAH to the Bears for tonight, and refocus on making this franchise a playoff contender next year for tomorrow.

You Knew This Was Coming...

So Sports Illustrated continued it's perfunctory "2000s The Decade In Sports" series on si.com, and my brother directed me to something struck my ire, as well as his. In their "MLB Highlights and Lowlights" section they list the 2009 New York Yankees as the best single season team of the decade. While on the one hand it's become customary to just accept that New York, Boston, and the East Coast Bias/Posterior Kissing, is not just limited to the BooYah Network in Bristol, on the other hand, something about this really didn't sit right. Not to mention, while going over some of their other lists, SI seems unable to remember anything beyond 2 years ago. With that in mind, lets take a look at the breakdown:

SI claims that the 2009 Yankees get the nod because no other team won over 100 (103) games AND the World Series in the same year. OK...that's certainly one way to look at it...not necessarily the best or most objective/accurate way, but it's one way. The two teams with the highest regular season win total that won a World Series were the Wild Card Winning 2002 Anaheim Angels, and (drum roll) the 2005 Chicago White Sox-each with 99 regular season wins.

Since the 2005 White Sox were division winners, lets for the sake of argument compare them vs. SI's pick of the 2009 Yankees. Numbers and Stats wise the breakdown is as follows:

NY '09 CHI '05

Team Batting Average: .283 .262

Team OBP: .362 .322

Team ERA: 4.28 3.61

Team Fielding Percentage: .985 .985

Runs Scored per game: 5.6/game 4.6/game

Runs Allowed per game: 4.6/game 4.0/game

Home Record: 57-24 47-34

Road Record: 46-35 52-29

Interleague Record: 10-8 12-6
Record in One Run Games: 22-16 35-19

Record vs Rightys: 67-41 76-43

Record vs Leftys: 36-18 23-20

Record vs teams below .500: 51-24 60-30

Record vs teams above .500: 52-35 39-33

Days in First Place: 82 161

Farthest Games Behind: 6 1/2 never

Most Games Below .500 2 never

So far, the 2005 White Sox have the advantage 10-6 in the above statistical categories, with a tie in Team Fielding Percentage for both clubs. The numbers strongly suggest that while the '09 Yankees were a much better offensive club, the 2005 White Sox clearly had much better pitching. The numbers also suggest that while the '09 Yankees were much more dominant at home, the '05 White Sox were fabulous on the road. The '09 Yankees dominated left handed starting pitching, and played very well against teams above .500. The '05 White Sox had a better interleague record, were terrific in one run games, and dominated sub-par competition. Also the '05 White Sox, were never below .500, and stayed in first place the entire regular season wire to wire. The '09 Yankees didn't even come close to wire to wire.

Still not convinced the '09 Yankees are not the best single season team of the decade? OK, let's look at Postseason Performance (based on totals of all 3 combined ALDS, ALCS, WS):

NY '09 CHI '05

Team Batting Average: .257 .270

Team OBP: .350 .345

Runs Scored/game 5.33 5.50

Team ERA 3.26 2.55

Runs Allowed/game 3.47 2.83

The numbers strongly indicate that the '05 White Sox were much stronger in the postseason than the '09 Yankees. Not only did the '05 White Sox continue to outpitch the '09 Yankees, but they were also better than them offensively too! Couple that with (count 'em) 4 straight complete games from the starting staff in the 2005 ALCS which was the first time that had happened in the postseason since 1956, and it becomes even more clear that the '05 White Sox were better than '09 Yankees.

So why did SI choose to overlook the '05 White Sox? Pick any number of the same ole reasons. East Coast Bias, Short Term Memory, Chicago teams get no respect nationally, etc...All that matters though, is that White Sox meatballs like myself and my brother will continue to painfully remind people that the '05 White Sox were not just great that year, they were historically great. Along with the ALCS pitching performance, the '05 White Sox are one of three teams in baseball history to go wire to wire, and sweep the World Series. The other two teams? The 1990 Cincinnati Reds, and the 1927 New York Yankees. Repeat....the 27 YANKEES!

Lets make sure the 2005 White Sox monumental baseball achievement will never be forgotten.

Yule Log

Going to be spending some quality time with the family for the holiday. So Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and yours! This blog will be back real soon for some more fractured takes on the world of sports!!!

Yeah it's a Blackhawk Post....

Congrats to the Chicago Blackhawks for a thrilling 3-0 shutout of the Detroit Red Wings tonight, and for their second shutout of the Red Wings in four days. It was vintage Hawks as their #1 ranked goals per game average, and #2 ranked penalty killing percentage were on full display at The Joe. Not only did the Hawks look very crisp with their passing and stickhandling, but the game itself was also chippy, with plenty of pushing, shoving and glove smelling on both teams part. Once again Antti Niemi showed that he might be more than just a capable backup tending the net as he posted his 4th shutout in 9 starts, and pushed the Hossa storyline to the back burner, even though Hossa had an assist.

It was also a very important bounce-back victory after a bit of a downer loss to the San Jose Sharks the night before. The Hawks are now tied with the Sharks for the most points in the West with 51. The Blackhawks continue to put a quality product on the ice that their (ever increasing) fanbase can put their trust in, but the NHL as a whole continues one of the biggest and unlikeliest comebacks in terms of relevance in the world of sports. This Blog is one of many who have "Committed to the Indian".

NFL Nuggets

Fresh off the heels of another embarrassing national TV loss against the Carolina Panthers, the Minnesota Vikings decided to make a bad situation, much worse with some pointless sideline drama. Head Coach Brad Childress actually tried to take Brett Favre out of the game, not for his ineffectiveness, but for fear of Favre getting injured. Favre took exception to this, "talked it out" on the sideline, and remained in the game.

There's two sides to this obviously, but why would Childress start worrying about Favre's safety NOW? Favre is 40 years old, admitted that he played injured last year and didn't tell anybody, and is known as being one of the great "competitors" in the history of the game. Childress and the Vikings were willing ignore the dangers and risks behind these facts this past summer, so why fret about it at this point in the season? The Vikings are fighting for home field advantage, and had a huge opportunity to close the gap between them and the Saints. They blew that opportunity Sunday, and now have to deal with questions like "Who is really running the team, Brett, or Brad?" and "Are you really more concerned with Brett's health than home field advantage?" Not the best way to handle things when you just got a 4 year contract extension Brad Childress. Fortunately for you, the Bears are next up on the menu.


It would be remiss to not address recent changes in Whitey Guccione's very own Cleveland Browns. Brady Quinn is now done for the season and now Derek Anderson will have to, once again, show that he can't play in the NFL all the way to the finish line. Hope is looming on the horizon for Whitey, as Mike Holmgren has agreed to become Team President.

Congrats to him, Whitey, and the rest of Browns Nation. Holmgren has more than his work cut out for him. The big debate will be what his first move is coaching wise. Eric Mangini (shocker) says he isn't worried in the least, and is showing in his own words a "flippant" attitude towards his future. In this blog's view, Mangini might be hanging out with Charlie Weis very soon...


$100 million dollars doesn't equal happiness? Albert Haynesworth made a point to say exactly that today as he lambasted his head coach Jim Zorn after one of the most humiliating loss in Washington Redskins history. What is interesting is the words Haynesworth used in describing the problem, "We need somebody to lead us in the right direction."

Ummmm Albert, you're supposed to be one of the "leaders" buddy. Role players, and foot soldiers don't get $100 million dollar deals, leaders do. Leaders, let their practice habits and play, set the example. Leaders don't throw their head coaches under the bus, no matter how justified it may be. Leaders don't sit around and bitch about how bad things are when they produce a walloping 4 sacks for the season. You think the Redskins are missing a leader? The best place to start looking for one is staring at you right in the mirror.

One more thing about the Redskins. Yeah Jim Zorn is not a good coach. Sure he was way under-qualified when he got the job from Dan Synder last season. Of course he was effectively fired the day Sherm Lewis showed up at Ashburn, VA in the middle of this season, and everyone is entitled to rip on the Redskins if they choose to do so. The one guy who should NEVER get to rip on the Redskins, or anyone else's team, is Matt Freakin MILLEN!! I'm so glad Mike Freeman of cbssportsline.com caught this too. How many coaches did you fire because you kept drafting wide receivers again Millen? Next time you feel like laughing at someone, remember that you are the worst GM in the History of the National Football League and you're lucky to have a broadcasting job again.

Suffering from the flu today, so I will keep real short.
1. Bears = continuing bad joke
2. Jerry Angelo & Olin Kreutz = apparently not happy, but too little too freakin late.
3. Caleb Hanie era finally started and......he was Caleb Hanie. Hopefully the calls for the white Henry Burris will stop.


4. Bears players = certainly don't play like they're trying to save Lovie Smith's (or anyone else's) job next year.
5. Ron Turner = Dead Coach Walking...
6. Jay Cutler = "I think you kinda suck but my dad says you're going to be great someday!"

Cubs Are "Cancer Free"

As we are all aware by now, the Cubs found a taker for Milton Bradley. As my astute cousin pointed out, the Cubs are now "cancer free", and I couldn't agree with him more. The details are as follows : Mariners get Bradley and the rest of his $30 million dollar dumb contract, in return for Carlos Silva and the rest of his $48 million dollar dumb contract, and an additional $9 million bucks from the Mariners, for in essence $6 million bucks in salary relief.

Reaction has, believe it or not been mixed, due to some observers actually being worried about Silva and his retarded contract. Sure, it's a lot of money for a bum pitcher. Silva is known for not walking anybody and pitching to contact too, and he still has a career ERA OF 4.72. It's expected that number would go up even higher in the National League where he would have to throw more fastballs.

In this blog's view however, none of that matters. It doesn't matter if Silva's arm falls off and he never pitches again, it's still a great deal for the Cubs, and a pointless deal for the Mariners. First of all, it was a foregone conclusion the only way Bradley was going anywhere is if the Cubs took on a bad contract from someone else. That was unavoidable. It turns out that Silva's bad contract plus some $ from Seattle was the bad contract they could live with.

Secondly, Silva will never :

1. Run the risk of constant ejections
2. Have near assaults of umpires
3. Have cry-baby tirades to the media of how he thinks the world is out to get him
4. Accuse his fans of making racial taunts without having the testicular fortitude to get into specifics
5. Speak of the "negative culture" that supposedly permeates the Cubs organization
6. Have to be given the "JUST GET THE F*CK OUTTA HERE" type of suspension from Jim Hendry.

In other words, Silva is not nearly the cancer on a stick that Bradley is. Cubs Nation should have a little more pep in their step knowing they will not have to put up with this jackass anymore. Seattle on the other hand, after making some very bold moves recently, might have derailed their own cause with this move. It's only a matter of pressure and time before Mount Bradley erupts, and even in a placid city like Seattle, he still will find a way to ruin a great situation.

Interesting Debate

Not much happening in the world of sports that is really captivating today. I don't really feel like joining in, nor criticizing the NFL's handling of Chris Henry's pointless death as a "tragedy". The Colts victory of Jacksonville tonight was interesting, yet expected. The Chicago Bulls beat a New York Knicks team that I STILL have no idea how they managed to avoid being named the worst NBA team of the decade according to Sports Illustrated.

SI DID however provide some food for thought today. Joe Posnanski wrote an article debating the Hall Of Fame candidacy of one Tim Raines, and I must say he makes a pretty good case. While admittedly a fan of Tim Raines in general as a player, I hadn't really taken a long, hard look at his numbers when stacked up against the rest of the field. Posnanski did that for us today, and I start to see why the SABR nerds hold Raines in such high esteem. For those that don't remember, in his prime with Les Expo in the 1980's he was indeed Rickey Henderson's equivalent in the National League. Total Baseball had him ranked as one of the top 5 best players in the game from 1983-1987. He went on to have a very lengthy and productive career. .294 career lifetime batting average, .385 OBP, 1571 career runs scored, 808 career stolen bases plus had the highest success stolen base percentage of any basestealer including "Don't Worry Rickey, you're still the best" Henderson, makes for a very interesting debate. If Lou Brock, and Rickey are in, it makes you wonder if Raines has a place in Cooperstown considering he was, in many ways, equal or better than both of them.

The only issue I would have with this, is there are two other players that have similar careers as Raines, and they are Kenny Lofton and Johnny Damon. If Raines gets in, they have to logically be let in too don't they?

Quick Tidbits

So apparently Tiger Woods has been named "AP: Athlete of the Decade" finishing ahead of Lance Armstrong. Even though this blog doesn't consider professional golfers "athletes" anymore than professional pool players, bowlers, or fisherman, I suppose Eldrick is as good a name as any for this award. What I find amusing is that Woods and Lance finished 1 and 2 respectively. Both of them have issues regarding possibly being dopers/drug cheats, as well as having no problems abandoning their responsibilities as husbands when it comes to practicing monogamy either! Congrats fellas!


Chris Henry has decided to endanger his life by falling out of the back of a pickup truck during a domestic dispute, and is in critical condition as a result of it. While normally the loss of life is something that shouldn't be made light of, this would be a fitting end to a bizarre individual. Chris Henry is the owner of this proud list of off-field incidents, and never seemed to understand the privileged situation he was in as a star in the National Football League. While he seemed to have made tremendous strides to the contrary recently, this incident indicates that very little has changed and now this might be the final lesson he learns (too late) that one of the worst things in life, is wasted talent.


Someone brought to my attention that Warrick Dunn is in the top 20 among all time rushing leaders in NFL History. That didn't surprise me too much. What DID surprise me was who number 27 on the list, and that was none other than the Tyler Rose Earl Campbell pictured to the left. While I vaguely remember Earl as a player, I certainly remember the romanticism and admiration former players and fans have for him. I've constantly heard what a powerful runner he was, his 34-inch thighs, and how he played with a complete disregard for his body, etc. His body of work numbers wise though, just doesn't exactly blow me away. Campbell has 2187 carries for 9,407. Other running backs with similar carries and yards include, Clinton Portis, Shaun Alexander, Terry Allen, Tiki Barber, and Jamal Lewis. Nice names, but not exactly names that are going to inspire the kind of praise, and reverence that Earl Campbell receives.

So I put it to anyone that feels compelled to weigh in. Earl Campbell...Overrated, Underrated, or Appropriately Rated?

Bad To Worse

Well a lookey what we have here!!! Apparently a Canadian Doctor was busted at the U.S.-Canadian border with Human Growth Hormone and Actovegin, which is a controversial drug that is extracted from calf's blood that is thought to increase injury recovery. Doctor Anthony Galea was arrested on October 15, and has been under investigation by both U.S. and Canadian authorities for illegally prescribing and distributing Performance Enhancing Drugs for some time. What's unusual is that this doctor is the same doctor who has treated Tiger Woods, Dara Torres, and other NFL and Canadian Football League players. Now comes word that he's also treated MLB players too.

People may recall Dara Torres (the "SHIM" pictured above next to Tiger) decided that at age 41 to comeback to Olympic Swimming. She became the first woman ever to swim in the Olympics past the age of 40, and also mysteriously swam faster than she has ever swam in her life, AFTER turning 41 years old! She claims that Doctor Galea only "drained her knee", and otherwise did not treat her.

Tiger on the other hand, has long been the subject of questions regarding his muscular physique, particularly after coming back from his knee surgery. So far, Woods has not denied being treated by Doctor Galea.

While there's way too much smoke to determine what if anything this doctor has done, and whom he has done it to, there's still some fire to this. Doctor Galea already has admitted to taking HGH himself, and is known as a "pioneer" in his industry. Usually with stories like this, the term "benefit of the doubt" no longer applies, and it would not be surprising in the least if this is BALCO Part II.

White Sox Fix

So I figure now is as good a time as any to get a good White Sox nuggets fix. Especially in light of today's news of the White Sox trade for Juan Pierre, earlier today. For those keeping track, this is one of the five additions Kenny Williams has made so far this offseason to the roster, coupled with some notable subtractions as well. Apparently Pierre has been on Kenny's radar a lot longer than many people know according to what I read here. This move isn't really all that sexy, but an efficient move nonetheless. One aspect that really makes this deal particularly attractive is the fact that the Dodgers agreed to pick up most of the money Pierre is owed. Not to mention he Pierre is a real leadoff hitter, a decent to good defender, fits in line with the team's philosophy of manufacturing runs, and is already on good terms with Ozzie Guillen. Sure he's 32 years old, but in his own words he's "rested" from not playing every day, as well as holding down the fort until Jordan Danks is ready.

Another aspect that is enjoyable, even though admittedly it has very little to do with winning baseball games, this move is terrific simply because it serves as a middle finger to the bully tactics used by Scott Podsednik and his agent. Scotty Pods as he's sometimes known among Sox fans, is the same player that was luckier than a two-peckered goat that Kenny Williams even gave him a PHONE CALL in April when Colorado told him to take a hike. He signed with the Sox, and hit for a good batting average, played a terrible left field, and displayed some of the most boneheaded baserunning this side of Ruben Rivera. The nerve Pods and his agent had demanding a multi-year deal to return to the Southside in 2010, is simply outrageous, and apparently Kenny Williams thought so too.

So far the lineup projects as complete with exception of the DH, which apparently the plan will be to rotate Andruw Jones, Paul Konerko, Mark Kotsay, or some combination of that three headed monster. Whether or not it will work come April, one thing is for sure is that the White Sox will no longer depend on home runs to score.

PLAYOFFS!!!

I'll keep this short and sweet since I've been a little under the weather. I read this today, and apparently someone still thought the Bears were alive in the playoff hunt up until yesterday. After reading that the Bears were no longer alive in the playoff hunt, I channeled my inner Jim Mora and screamed from the top of my lungs in my cubicle at work, "PLAYOFFS?!!?!?"

I don't think there was any Bear fan with a three digit I.Q. that thought this team had any chance of going to the playoffs this year, even WITH the mathematical chance they may have had. More importantly, it was speculated by this blog that yesterdays game actually did have some significance with regard to the future of Lovie Smith as Bears head coach. Not only did the team fail to cement Lovie's chances of returning, but if anything supplied even more evidence that wholesale changes need to take place in Lake Forest. If the season high of 13 penalties committed, the showcase of further impotence in both running game and run defense, and crucial turnovers weren't enough, the bizarre time out-THEN WASTE A CHALLENGE situation that took place was a nice cherry on the top of this turd we call the coaching staff. That is just flat out indefensible! That type of ineptitude is worthy of Dave Wannstedt and Lovie has nobody to blame but himself for that lack of decision making and leadership.

Aside from that debacle, there's the penalty situation. The Bears are the fourth most penalized team in the league, which normally wouldn't be as big a deal if they had the talent throughout the roster that could make up for it like say, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Green Bay which are the only other teams who have committed more penalties than the Bears. It's also not a coincidence the Bears have been beaten by three out of those four, and the Bears play the Ravens this weekend. Penalties come from a lack of discipline, and discipline starts with the Head Coach more than any other place, pure and simple.

It's clear to this observer that Lovie needs to go. He's made so many decisions ever since his arrogant, stuck-up little "trust me" speech after Super Bowl XLI that would justify eating the money he's owed, and bringing someone new to coach this team. Someone once tried to defend Lovie Smith to me by saying "Lovie Smith is the best coach the Bears have had since Ditka." While that may be true, that is not the equivalent of saying "Lovie Smith is a good NFL coach". Being the tallest midget, doesn't mean you are tall by definition. Rising slightly above mediocrity, is not the same thing as being good.

Let's hope Ted Phillips, if not Jerry Angelo understand this as much as anybody...

Things Of Interest Heading Into The Weekend.

This weekend's tilt between the Packers and Bears is one of the few times a season I like to turn off my brain and embrace my inner meatball by calling this "a HUGE game", even though it usually isn't as big as most Bears fans like to think it is. This contest however does have meaning beyond the usual rhetoric, particularly for the Lovie Smith era. Lovie Smith has been a lot of different things as Bears Shot-caller, but the one thing he has consistently done over his tenure is beat the Packers once a year. He missed the chance to accomplish his self stated "#1 goal" at the beginning of this train wreck of a season. Now comes his chance at redemption, and more importantly an opportunity to cement his already likely return as Bears coach next season. A win versus the Packers would give some consolation that even in a bad year, he still finds a way to send the orange and camouflage-clad Packer fans back to their caves in disappointment.



Even though they haven't mattered since 1993, it's still news that Notre Dame has hired their Karen Filippelli and it's Brian Kelly from U of Cincinnati. He hasn't even had the press conference yet, and already he's given us plenty to hate about him. In case people forgot, he's the one who had some pretty productive seasons helming the Bearcat program, made some pretty big demands from the university to upgrade the stadium and facilities, and now has turned his back on them. I'll be looking forward to the press conference, and him making a lot of empty "return to glory" promises, and spewing even more "how sacred this university is" garbage. Maybe he'll get a knee-jerk ten year deal too if he says that...



It's pretty much fate accompli that Colt McCoy will walk away with the trophy this weekend in my view, joining the immortal QB's Heisman winners like Danny Wuerffel, Gino Torretta, Charlie Ward, Eric Crouch, Andre Ware, and Ty Detmer. It would be way more thrilling if Ndamukong Suh ended up winning it. It will never happen, but Suh is a remarkable talent that is considered by many to be unblockable. Even if he finished second he would be the first defensive lineman to finish that high since Hugh Green in 1980. Nevertheless I'll watch the show, just because I always find it very Roman in it's presentation and tradition.


Hopefully Mercury Morris will continue to be nervous after this weekend because the Saints and Colts won again and remained (ahem) perfect. The 1972 Dolphins will always be ridiculed on this blog for being the worst winners of all time. Their overall lack of class, petulant nature, and overinflated sense of achievement will forever diminish their accomplishment. Either way, here's hoping this is the season they finally go away never to be heard from again.

"PISSBURGH!!!!!! I DOOOOON'T LIKE THE TOOOOOWN!!!"

Congrats to my uncle's Cleveland Browns for winning their Super Bowl tonight against the Steelers. I haven't been able to speak with him yet as he is currently missing at the moment. He was last seen cruising for chicks with Jim Brown, and Bernie Kosar. Once he is heard from dear readers, I will share his main talking points with you regarding tonights victory.

The title of this post is a quote I received from him once upon a time ago when the subject of the Pittsburgh Steelers was brought up to him. No doubt his team's 8 sacks of Roethlisberger made him laugh and shout to the heavens.

STILL Blood On The Horns : Fixing The Bulls

I've received a couple of inquiries and requests on how to fix this big bag of blah we call the Chicago Bulls, and after looking like a D League team against the Hawks last night, now feels like the right time. It seems we as Bulls fans have been asked this same question a number of times over the past 11 or so years and the answer usually involves one constant which is, "Get lucky again and have a superstar player on your team that you can build around!"

Over those 11 or so years, there have been some attempts at doing exactly that. From nearly getting Kobe Bryant on two separate occasions, drafting Elton Brand, Ron Artest, Eddy Curry, Jay Williams, trading for Tyson Chandler, trading for Jalen Rose, grossly overpaying a washed-up Ben Wallace, and now pinning our hopes on a fun to watch, yet far from a finished product, Derrick Rose. The list of attempts is actually longer than most people realize, but each and every move has been met with disappointment and frustration in the end.

Briefly looking at this current edition, lets see how they measure up statistically:

1. 28th in the league in average points scored.

2. 14th in rebounding

3. 27th in FG %

4. 24th in 3 point FG%

5. 23rd in Free Throw Percentage

Cracking the top twenty in one out of those five categories? Not very impressive to say the least. Now comes word that Vinny Del Negro aka Jeff Hostetler's evil twin brother, is on the hot seat, and might lose his job. OK...I guess the Bulls could and probably should do that, but it's very doubtful that will change anything in terms of quality of play from this team. Vinny himself called Luol Deng, Joakim Noah, and Derrick Rose "...great pieces...". Well all 3 of those "great pieces" have pretty big-massive holes in their games, and have shown very little signs of getting any better than what they are right now.

I have no clue who is out there that they can draft? Besides, I'm leery of any pick after being told that Tyrus Thomas is going to be a great player in the 2006 draft.

Looking at the list of free agents for 2010, other than LeBron, Wade, and maybe Bosh, Stoudamire, and hell throw Joe Johnson into the mix. Other than those players, the Bulls shouldn't feel inclined to overpay for any of the other free agents at first glance. Especially when Luol Deng has another 4 years left on his $71 million dollar deal he signed in 2008...Feel free to point anything out I may have missed, but it's pretty bleak from what I can see.

Random GuciNuggets

Not a whole lot happening in the hopper today, so I'll cover some things briefly:

MLB : An unnamed American League East team has completed a three way trade and acquired Curtis Granderson. The only thing interesting about this, is how Chain-smokey Jim Leyland and the Worldwide Leader went out of their way to describe Granderson as a "Class Act". Since when did that matter, especially when it comes to playing for that unnamed American League East team?? Can we say A-Rod? Other than that, what a shock it is that the unnamed team went ahead and traded for a good player who's due roughly $30 mildo until 2014. Yawn...

On a slightly more interesting note (pay attention Cub fans) the Texas Rangers have dealt Kevin Millwood and his $12 million salary to the Orioles in what's being described as a cost cutting move. Where it gets interesting is that there are reports that the Rangers have signed Rich Harden for a one year deal in the $7-$8 million dollar range. Quick look at the math here, Millwood threw 198 innings last year with a 3.67 ERA. Harden threw 141 innings last year with a 4.09 ERA. On paper it looks comparable, but as any Cub or A's fan can testify to, Harden just cannot be counted on. Harden is allergic to the word "durable", while Millwood and durability have always been on good terms. It's understood that a million saved is a million earned, but the Rangers might find out the hard way, that there is no such thing as having "too much pitching".

NCAA Football : A new name has surfaced in the Notre Dame football coaching search and it's Connecticut's Randy Edsall, although the Chicago Tribune maintains that Brian Kelly is still the front runner. It's hard to not visualize Notre Dame as Jim Halpert from The Office during the first three seasons. Knowing that Pam (in ND's case Urban Meyer) is the love of his life, yet he's powerless to act on it since Pam is engaged to someone else. Whether it ends up being Kelly, Edsall, or anyone else, they will most likely end up like Karen Filippelli in the end if and/or when Urban becomes available. Dropped like a bad habit.

Crashing and Burning...

Unless you've been living under a rock on the planet MARS, you are reasonably familiar with the ongoing Tiger Woods saga in his domestic life. Despite the fact that there is no question that Eldrick is the most accomplished golfer that's ever lived, I have never been able to like, root for, or admire him. I realize that is the minority opinion up until recently, but there has always been something suspicious about him. Unable to quite put a finger on what it was, if nothing else he has truly been the Goliath Of Golf, and as the late great Wilt Chamberlain once said, "Nobody loves Goliath".

Now that the news has broken that he is far from monogamous in his marital life, there is an air of "A-ha!" among those who have always doubted him. That a high powered, top of his game athlete would stray from his wife multiple times with multiple women isn't what generates this reaction. Behavior such as this has been practiced for eons from other athletes without nearly the amount of gossipy fanfare. When it comes to Tiger however, this situation is much different for the following reasons.

Tiger (with some help from his late father and a famous shoe company) carefully cultivated an image of a wholesome, family man with an idyllic life, that is worthy of being a role model for both kids and adults. Remember the commercials that had little kids screaming, "I AM TIGER WOODS!"? I couldn't help remember the "Be Like Mike" Michael Jordan ads from a decade earlier. Anytime, a person allows themselves to be painted in that bulletproof image, that person had better be the real-deal, genuine article. If that person turns out to be flawed as Tiger and Jordan have, the dam of public admiration/trust buckles, and the waters of anger, disappointment, and shame come cascading down and destroy everything, fairly or unfairly.

Tiger will probably recover from this to some degree, get back on tour and win many more majors, but he'll never been seen the same way again on a personal level. He'll never be idolized, or worshipped by nearly the same amount of people as before, nor should he be, because at the end of the day we all reap what we sow. The only tragedy in this lie with his two children at home. They are the ones that will have to deal with the most fallout for something they have nothing to do with. Hopefully they will learn to trust their dad again, and hopefully people will realize that being the best at something, is not the same thing as being a great person.