The Joke Just Keeps Getting Funnier...

Saw this in the National Enquirer and it serves as a further reminder that Sex Addiction is complete B.S. and that married men should never go in for "treatment" because I refuse to believe that it EVER ends well for them. So according to Eldrick, the number of Skank-Bags on his scorecard is 121 - give or take a few here and there. 121....yeah....

First of all, this is the most impressive "score" I've ever seen Woods post in his career. Second of all, this story explains why Elin hasn't been seen around Woods since being spotted at the facility months ago. Third, who knows if Woods is being completely truthful. Fourth, the National Enquirer was the paper that broke the whole Tiger Cheater scandal back in November when nobody else would, so there's no reason to doubt them here. Fifth, this should REALLY help Elin get top dollar in court, and I salute her.

Most importantly, this is yet another nail in the king size coffin of the cash cow that was the Tiger Woods Family Man brand. BTW I'm still waiting for all these endorsements that were supposed to come Woods' way after the Masters? Hello Endorsers? Anyone there besides my fathers corpse????

Happy Lee Elia Day!!!!!!!

On April 29, 1983, then Cubs Manager Lee Elia let forth a now infamous rant directed at booing Cubs fans, particularly in the outfield bleachers. You know the rest of the story. You know what ended up happening to him. You also know that he not only was exactly right about the 3,000 people, but also about the talent level that was on that 1983 Cubs roster. So on this day, 27 years later, lets enjoy the rant one more time here. Still makes me laugh...

Jake Peavy? The Doctor Will See You Now...

I don't care what happened after the first inning, there is something wrong with Jake Peavy. I watched the game, more importantly I watched his velocity. He still didn't get a fastball above 90 more than 4 times in his 6 and 1/3 innings, which is WAY down in terms of his normal fastball when he's healthy. He still rolled a TON of sliders that stayed in the strike zone, and had no control over his curveball despite his 7 strikeouts. His 6 walks including 3 consecutive at one point seem to back my suspicions up too.

Baseball Chuck Norris is now 0-2 with a 7.85 ERA on this young season. Going over his game logs all the way back to 2003 when he first emerged as a dominant starting pitcher, he's only had one similar start like this and that was back in 2006 when he was 1-2 with a 4.32 ERA through 4 starts. Peavy went 11-14 that year with a 4.09 ERA. So technically he's had a down year like this, but I'm unable to confirm if his velocity was down that season or if he kept telling people (for the third time by my count so far) that he's "fixed something"? Not to mention another curious stat I looked up. Going into tonight's start Peavy has averaged about 6.75 Swinging Strikes. In his 2007 Cy Young campaign, Peavy averaged 11 Swinging Strikes per start. Bit of a difference isn't it? I could have gone deeper into the numbers, but I decided to not depress myself further. Add up anything you want to though, and it becomes pretty clear that the guy is not the pitcher the White Sox thought they were getting, and I really wouldn't mind if the White Sox put their foot down and got an MRI on Jake's shoulder...

As far as the rest of the White Sox go, they still can't hit worth a damn. Alex Rios is leading the team in hitting at .270. The Sox are second in the American League in Home Runs, yet they're twelfth in Runs Scored. Gordon Beckham might not be as good a player as White Sox fans thought he was. Juan Pierre is as BAD a player as White Sox fans worried he was. I keep waiting for them to snap out of this hitting funk they're in as a team, but I'm starting to lose confidence.

If this keeps up, July 31 will be very interesting for the wrong reasons...

Bye Bye

I'd like to start off by saying first and foremost, I don't hate Vinny Del Negro. I really don't. I always liked him as a player all the way from when he was at NC State. He seems like a nice enough guy. He's never (to my knowledge) been boorish, or a jerk to anyone. He's been fair with the media, fans, his teammates and players throughout his career. He was put in a pretty unfair situation by a GM who hired Vinny as a bailout for not landing Mike D'Antoni. There were also other things that happened to this Bulls team that were out of his control.

Yet 24 hours later my reaction to the Bulls exit from the postseason is still, "Please for don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out too Vinny." Rick Morrisey had the best line in his column today when he said Vinny was nothing more than a "Point A to Point A" guy. That's absolutely correct because Vinny wasn't ready to be a head coach in the first place, and hasn't done anything with this team that any other coach couldn't have done. Maybe he will be a good head coach someday, but that won't change the fact that he was a bad one with the Bulls.

I've covered the many reasons over the past season for why Vinny should have been let go a long time ago i.e. blowing a 35 point lead at home to the Kings, losing twice to the Nets, etc. There's another ultimate, much more tangible reason though, and that reason is a reason I've heard time and time again. The reason is that basketball Head Coaches ultimately earn their money and reputation one way only, and that's how successful they are at drawing up out of bounds plays to give someone an open look following a time out. Fairly, or unfairly, that is the ultimate measuring stick for coaches in any level of basketball. Vinny was just completely inept when it came to this skill. You only needed to watch this last game, when he was drawing up plays for Flip Murray...FLIP MURRAY!

So while the Del Negro era is soon to be over, a new much more interesting era begins. I haven't the foggiest idea of who the Bulls next head coach will be? What I do know is that there's a WHOLE lot of Cap Space now, and the Bulls are committed to bringing a superstar(s) player into the fold via Free Agency. Whether they hire a coach first before going out and spending money on players remains to be seen. Personally I'm hoping they do hire a coach first and make a firm commitment to him contractually. That way it tells any potential free agent that if you come to the Bulls you are going to play for this guy no matter what happens.

Like I've said before, now the real Bulls season can begin...

WHEW!

My first reaction to the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 win tonight over the Nashville Predators was "Thank F'ing God THAT'S Over!" While on paper this shouldn't have been too difficult a task for the Hawks to have run roughshod over the lowly Preds, this is the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and when it comes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there are no easy victories. That rings particularly true in matchups involving 2 seeds versus the 7 seeds. Since the 1993-1994 Playoff Format change, the 7 seed has eliminated the 2 seed 46% of the time. For a few times this series, it looked like the Blackhawks would add to that 46%...


The Predators gave the Hawks all they could handle. For the most part, they really dictated the pace of play by slowing it down, closing off the passing lanes, killing penalties, and riding 6'5" Pekka Rinne for as far as they could. In all honesty, the Predators came THIS close to pulling it off with a Game 5 win on Saturday, if not for the Hawks (sorry Al Michaels) miraculous snatching (SNAAAAATCH) of victory from the jaws of defeat at the end of regulation and Overtime. BTW I still can't believe Hossa wasn't suspended for the exact same damn hit Ovechkin put on Brian "Soupy" Campbell a month earlier?! That's one thing you can always count on the NHL Brass for...GLARING inconsistency.


In the end though, the Hawks star players, played like star players when they needed to. Tonight's victory was no exception. Duncan Keith scoring his first goal of the series, Patrick Sharp scoring his third, Patrick Kane chipped in his fourth goal, and Jonathan Toews with his second goal of the series, combined with killing off 8:27 minutes worth of Nashville Power Play, was more than enough to advance the Hawks into the second round to face the hated Vancouver Canucks.


As you can tell by reading this blog, The Beard doesn't pretend to be a Hockey expert. If I were to speculate with the little knowledge I have, I'd say the Hawks shouldn't have nearly the headache with the Canucks as they did the Predators. While the Predators provided a blueprint on how to beat the Hawks, they also had the personnel to play that style and have been playing it all season. I don't believe that will be the case in this series.

Vancouver was third in Power Play Goals, and second overall in Goals Scored in 2009-10. The Hawks on the other hand while finishing third in Goals Scored, yet barely in the top 20 in Power Play Goals, also finished fourth in Penalty Killing Percentage, third in Power Play Goals allowed, and third in Power Play Opportunities Against. The Canucks are hanging around the Top 20 in the last two categories.

So while Vancouver is lethal on the Power Play, the Hawks are just as lethal in Penalty Killing. The Hawks on the other hand score most of their goals when both teams are at even strength, and are not nearly as dependent on the Power Play to create their scoring chances as Vancouver. So as long as they avoid as many penalties as they can, and display the continued excellence they've shown in killing penalties, they should be just fine against the Canucks.

Again though, considering that I've come to agree that the Stanley Cup is the toughest Championship to win in all of Team Sports, there is just no way to predict what will happen...

Draft Stuff

I think you realize where I'm going to start with this, but overall this was one of the weirdest drafts I can recall. Players that were drafted way above or below where they would normally be selected, and teams doing things in direct opposite of their normal Draft M.O. Not to mention I really didn't care for the Thursday & Friday Night Prime Time Airings which ultimately made the long event that is the draft, even longer. Also, I want to make perfectly clear that I'm not going to "grade" or give "winners and losers" of the draft because we just don't actually know if a team had a good or bad draft until three years from now.

With that said, here's some more observations regarding the 2010 NFL Draft :

• This draft managed to combine two sports entities that I despise, into one doomed-to-fail marriage with Denver trading three picks to Baltimore to move up and draft Tim "Jesus Christ" Tebow. There's so much to pick apart here it's baffling. Tebow, at best case scenario, is a three year project before he's ready to play quarterback in the NFL. That's the BEST case scenario. The worst (and most likely) scenario is that Tebow ends up a washout. For Denver to not only trade three picks to get him, but also commit first round guaranteed money for a guy who's a project is just silly. First round picks are spent on guys you expect to contribute right away, not for "Development". As a team, you just don't commit all that money to a guy like that, especially when the coach that's drafting him might not even be coaching the team by the time Tebow's ready! Like I said earlier though, this allows both Tebow and McDaniels to be put under one Umbrella of Hatred for The Beard, and for that I salute them.



• "Is Jimmy Clausen an Axe-Murderer"? That's probably the best reaction I heard during his notorious draft sliiiiiiide into the second round before he became a Carolina Panther. It was pretty remarkable seeing a guy who is way more polished as quarterback than Tebow be taken in the second round. Clausen has a good arm with a quick release, very accurate in the short passing game, has run a pro-style offense during his tenure, yet Tebow goes before he does? Not that I particularly like Jimmy Clausen, but if it were up to me and I needed to draft a QB out of this bunch, Clausen is a much more stable selection despite his perceived "Dickheaded-ness".



• Sorry Whitey, but the Baltimore Ravens continued to be a team that is willing to make bold, big-nuts, draft picks, with their selections of Sergio Kindle and Terrance Cody both in the second round. Kindle and Cody both have red flags attached to them, but red flags never scared Ozzie Newsome and he's been right more often than not as he's produced 11 Pro Bowl players over his tenure as GM. If they work out they might have shored up a defense, that finished as the #3 defense in the league last year.



• Is it me, or do the Detroit Lions look like they know what they're doing? Not only did they land Ndamukong Suh - who's been called the best college football player in the last twenty years - but they also traded up to get Cal Running Back Javid Best who is better than most people think. Couple those picks with the free agent signings of Nate Burleson and Kyle Vanden Bosch to go along with Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson....and it's not out of the question to say these aren't your sisters Detroit Lions anymore.



• Speaking of knowing what they're doing, BOTH Bay Area teams really went against the grain and made logical need picks this time. The Raiders were expected to take Bruce Campbell at #8, and the got him at #106. They did reach by taking McClain at #8 because now McClain is the highest picked Inside Linebacker ever taken in the last 15 years. They did help him out though by selecting Lamarr Houston to play DT in front of him. Their best move of the draft though, was obtaining Jason Campbell from the Redskins. With Campbell, they finally get a stable QB that looks like he's played football before, and with this story on profootballtalk.com, the end of the JaJokeus Russell era may finally be over.



• On the other side of the Bay, the Niners made some pretty interesting picks as well. They still don't have a quarterback, but whoever lines up under center will have two new offensive lineman with Anthony Davis and Mike Iupati. Davis might end up a bust, but Iupati looks like he could be good. The pick that most intrigued me though was Taylor Mays in the second round. I like Mays because he's not only very talented physically, but I'll take my chances on a guy who opts to make a big hit rather than play the ball in coverage. A conversion to linebacker is not out of the question in my opinion...



• The one team that really impressed me this draft, as well as this entire offseason is the New York Jets. The Jets picked up Antonio Cromartie to lineup opposite Darrelle Revis at corner, so naturally they drafted a cornerback - some say the best corner in the draft - in Kyle Wilson. This pick actually makes sense simply because the Jets, and their #1 ranked defense, is a very blitz happy scheme which demands excellent man to man coverage from their secondary. With Wilson, they got deeper at a position that is pivotal for their defensive scheme to work. They also picked up Josh McKnight from USC, who I think his football speed is a lot faster than his 40 time. Their second round selection of Vlad Ducasse makes Alan Faneca expendable and there is one team in the Midwest that should be VERY interested in Faneca...



• ...And that team is the Chicago Bears. Faneca would be a huge addition for the Bears simply because they are going to need offensive lineman that know what they are doing. Faneca more than fits that bill. Hopefully they pull the trigger on him. As far as the Bears draft is concerned - ehhh...Major Wright joins the list of safeties they've drafted over the years in Chris Harris, Al Afalava, Danieal Manning, and Craig Steltz. Corey Wooten just strikes me as a "guy". Is it too much of a stretch to ask Dan LeFevour to be better than Caleb Hanie??

"IS MURPH RUNNING THE TEAM?!"

The title of this post sums up the best reaction to the news of Carlos Zambrano going to the bullpen I've heard so far. Terms like "head-scratcher" and "shocking" don't do this move justice. This is baseball LUNACY. To take a guy who not only is being paid $91 million dollars, who has been your "ace" starting pitcher going on 5 years now, that usually gives you 200 innings per season, and put him in the bullpen in the first two weeks of a season where he won't even be the Closer is the equivalent of driving a car blindfolded. Not only does it not make any sense, it's also very dangerous.

Before we go overboard on how idiotic this is, let me get the preliminaries out of the way. Yes, the Cubs bullpen has problems. Yes they need a set up man who preferably has a "power-arm". Yes they are getting Ted Lilly back, and someone has to be the odd man out in the rotation. That's all fine and good. Under NO circumstances should the odd man out be Zambrano however. None. There are much better candidates that have pitched out of the bullpen before, Ryan Dempster, Carlos Silva, and Randy Wells in particular. None of those guys though are nearly the Ace, and Innings Eater that Zambrano is. Even the baseball nerds at Fangraphs.com can't make any sense of this, because here's the thing : even if Zambrano excels in his new role, he's still not as valuable as a bullpen specialist versus being the #1 Ace of the staff. There's NO WAY around that.

Another amazing aspect of this, that I never in a million years would think could be possible...even the people who can't stand Zambrano for his antics, feel some level of compassion for him now. He didn't ask for this, and this is not a knee jerk reaction to some injury that Zambrano has. This is just a bizarre decision that's out of his hands, and he's handled it like a professional. As far as I know, this has never been done before by any team, and if it has been done, it certainly wasn't done two weeks into a new season!

I honestly don't know why Lou and Jim Hendry would do this? Not only does it make zero sense, but it really doesn't seem like it will work either considering Zambrano's history is that of a guy who struggles in the first inning of games he pitches?

Things I'm Watching For In The NFL Draft

Tomorrow begins the 2010 NFL Draft. Yeah it still doesn't seem right. The Draft has always been an arduous all day event taking place on a Saturday and usually ends up with a lot of people day drinking, talking about how great their team is going to be next year. Now it's being divided up into a Prime Time event beginning Thursday Night.

Oh well, I guess we'll all have to make due somehow. With that in mind, here are some things The Beard will be keeping an eye on:

• The first and most obvious thing is not IF, but WHEN and WHOM will be trading for scumbag Ben Roethlisberger? Fresh off the heels of Goodell's 6 - but really 4 game suspension, the report is that the Steelers are taking The Beards' advice and are actively trying to trade him. Good for the Steelers and good luck for anyone that ends up with Captain Dick-Out. Odds are they can get the best return for him if they trade him during the draft. So I'm expecting it happens at some point this week.
• Speaking of character issues, I'm very curious to see where Jimmy Clausen and Dez Bryant end up? My sources say Buffalo take Clausen at # 9, and New England taking Bryant at # 22. Either way, any team that takes them will be getting guys with not only questionable judgement, but also need work too, especially with Bryant's 4.54 40 time.
• I'll also be curious to see if the Raiders are still stuck in the dark ages of "The Raider Way" and pick Bruce Campbell. Campbell wowed everyone at the combine during drills, and his measurables are off the chart. So what's the problem? Well he doesn't have ONE stinking award in college, and he never even made ACC All Conference. That has "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane" written all over him. Then again Robert Gallery had a ton of awards, and that didn't exactly work either...
• And finally, I have a sneaking suspicion that someone will take Tim Tebow in the first round. I really don't want to think that, but I believe someone will be that stupid. Despite the report that one anonymous AFC GM said there is no way they would want Tebow in THEIR locker room, I just have a gut feeling he'll be selected in the first round. You heard it here first...

Approaching Zero Hour

The book you see pictured is Tarnished Heisman written by Don Yaeger. There's a link to Amazon.com which provides further information on the book on the right hand side of this blog. It's a very shocking expose of not only what a dirtball Reggie Bush is, but also illustrates the cost of doing business in big time College Football. When I first read the book two years ago, not only was I surprised at exactly what Bush and his family were accused of, but the overwhelming conclusion I reached was that the only thing Bush was really guilty of, was not keeping his improprieties quiet by reneging on his debt.

With that said, a striking development took place today with the news that Bush settled his lawsuit with Lloyd Lake. Lake is the man who was the Bush Family hookup with all the cars, cash, a freakin $750,000 HOUSE for Bush's family to live rent free in San Diego, and various other little "perks", all under the impression that they were going to form a Sports and Entertainment firm called "New Era" with Bush as their premier client once he turned pro. When the Bush Family stone-walled Lake on repayment for everything they borrowed from him, Lake revealed that he had tape recorded conversations with the Bush Family which give specific details regarding who gave what to whom, and filed suit.

Here's where it gets even more interesting. This lawsuit along with a Yahoo Sports Special Report in April of 2006 also led to an investigation by the NCAA which initially began as a probe on Bush, but their findings led them to investigate the entire USC Athletic Program. The NCAA is expected to reveal it's findings relatively soon, and if they find that Bush was in violation (and btw HE WAS) he could be deemed ineligible retroactively and that would lead to not only the forfeiture of his Heisman Trophy, but also the Trojan's 2004 National Championship.

The way I see it : USC should get ready to tear it's banners down from the Captain Happy Pete Carroll era, and Bush should be packing his Heisman Trophy up so he can mail it to Vince Young. As I said before, it's pretty clear that Bush was not the only one on the USC team that had special "arrangements" that the school did more than look the other way on. Yeah Bush might have made it a little harder for the NCAA to gather all the evidence by settling his lawsuit rather than give a sworn deposition, but the damage is done. They have more than they need already. This whole era is finally getting the just comeuppance it deserves.

It ended up being a "New Era" indeed...

Not Good Man...Not Good

While I might have been calling for everyone to calm down about their respective baseball teams slow start, I'm doing the complete opposite regarding the Blackhawks right now. I'm officially uncomfortable to panicky right now.

It wasn't so much that they dropped Game 3 tonight in Nashville, it's not even so much as how they dropped it by being outplayed in every phase of the game. It's much worse than that for me. I'm taking this loss particularly hard because of how the Hawks played Game 2. They not only achieved their first playoff shutout since 1996, but you could tell they had gotten under the Predators skin. It was evidenced by the dumb crosscheck by Shea Weber and a roughing penalty by Francis Bouillon after the Hawks took a 2-0 lead late in the 3rd period. Those are the kind of things stupid teams do when they know they're not good enough to beat the team across from them straight up.

All that went out the window tonight. The Hawks had a huge opportunity to step on the Predators collective throat tonight with a victory. Instead they allowed the Predators to reopen the window of possibly winning this series, and have shifted the pressure on the Hawks. So now it will be up to the Blackhawks to grab their nuts, and play much better hockey the rest of the way. If that means crisper passing, cleaner forechecking, anticipating that no rebounds will come off of goalie Pekka Rinne, or whatever else they need to come up with, then that's what it will mean.

Do I still believe the Blackhawks still win this series? Absolutely. The pressure is now on though. The tricky part about pressure is, winners focus in the face of it, losers wilt.

Bears Schedule Released

It's nice to get a Bears fix. The NFL released it's full schedule today and there are some surprises involved in the Bears schedule. The first surprise came with the announcement that the Bears will be wearing throwback uniforms (pictured) commemorating the "Monsters Of The Midway" Bears teams of the 1940's, for 2 undetermined games this season.

The rest of the surprises involve the first game actually being a home game for the first time since 2004, coincidentally against the Detroit Lions. The schedule also has the Bears travelling to that middle finger of a stadium in Dallas to play the Cowboys in the second game of the season - even though that was rumored to be played on Thanksgiving.

The schedule gets a little hairy after that with two Prime Time games against the Packers on a Monday Night tilt, and at the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football. There's also tough games on the road against the Panthers, Dolphins, plus the rest of the division opponents. The only real cupcakes on the schedule appear to be the Buffalo Bills in Toronto, and Captain Happy Pete Carroll's Seattle Seahawks. The Patriots and Jets appear to be tough games at home however.

If you're looking for a prediction from The Beard, it's not coming now. While it may not stop the would be psychics of the Chicago Tribune from predicting the Bears season today, I'm choosing to wait. I'd like the draft to take place, the Free Agency Deadline of June 1 to expire, Organized Team Activities to commence in June, Training Camp to start and end, same for Preseason, and most importantly the INJURY REPORT to become available before I'm going to start predicting Wins and Losses.

In the meantime I'll be content to continue to watch Mike Martz go overboard in his honeymoon with Cutler.

Couple Steps Back From The Ledge

There has been plenty of angst and frustration about both Chicago baseball teams at the beginning of this young season. Both teams fans are not happy about sub .500 records, and there has been plenty of "Season's Over" feelings of panic to go around. Before I felt the need to go the ledge with my baseball emotions, a friend of mine brought this to my attention today. It goes back through the last ten seasons and shows teams that had awful starts to their seasons, yet eventually made the playoffs. Here's the link to it here. So despite how icky the season feels so far, it's still VERY early.

1. 2009 Yankees were 13-15 on May 7

2. 2009 Twins were six games under (56-62) on August 17 and won the division

3. 2008 Phillies were 4-6 and then 8-10

4. 2007 Rockies were 5-8 and then 18-27 and went to the series

5. 2007 Yankees lost 7 straight from April 20-27 to fall to 18-23 and were 26-31 in early June but rebounded to make the playoffs

6. 2006 A's were 23-29 at one point and reached the ALCS

7. 2005 Astros started 15-30 and went to the series

8. 2003 Twins started 9-12 and won the AL Central

9. 2002 Angels started 6-14 and won the World Series

10. 2002 A's started 19-25 and won 103 games

You Mean THIS Guy Might Be A Dirtball?!

Sorry I've been a little late to the party on this one. In case you don't know, the man pictured is none other than the recently investigated for sexual assault Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger. Our friends at thesmokinggun.com provided a whole lot of details for us with a copy of the police report found here. There is also a report regarding another woman who was possibly sexually assaulted by the two time Super Bowl Winner found here. So if you're keeping track at home, that's three women now who have alleged that Big Ben and his Little Ben have a problem taking things that don't belong to them.

Make no mistake about it, even though he hasn't been found guilty, or lost a lawsuit, or even been charged with a crime, the damage is done. Roethlisberger has exposed himself (and his grayish wiener if deadspin is to be believed) as a complete Dirtball, plain and simple. Do we really need him to be found guilty, libel, or even charged with a crime, to figure out that this guy has problems ranging from serious to criminal with drinking and women? This latest one especially bothers me because this wasn't some woman that targeted him for money. This is some random girl partying with her friends that was served (even though she was underage) alcohol by Ben, and then locked in a bathroom with him by his bodyguards - of which Roethlisberger pulled his Little Ben out before he even walked in the bathroom door! Add all of it up and it becomes clear that Roethlisberger is hardly deserving of the benefit of the doubt in the Court of Public Opinion.

Enter Judge Goodell. He went on the record and stated that Roethlisberger HAD violated the Personal Conduct Policy. Goodell also went on to say that a player does not need to be convicted or charged with a crime to be in violation of it, and that a pattern of behavior plus bad judgements which reflect poorly on the player themselves, his teammates, his team, and the entire league are enough to demand punishment. Goodell also stated that punishment is forthcoming.

The Steelers are expecting a 4 game suspension. That seems realistic to some degree, but that's without knowledge of how Goodell's meeting with Ben actually went. If it went bad, meaning Roethlisberger didn't impress Goodell with any degree of remorse, or show any trace of a guy who normally makes good decisions but has just been unlucky, Goodell could impose a "conditional" suspension like he did with Michael Vick. That means the actual length of the suspension isn't immediately determined.

Whatever Ben does eventually get suspended for, it will have an impact on his trade value. If the suspension is announced on Wednesday, it will most likely have an impact on the Steelers draft day moves as well. If the Steelers are going to be consistent, they need to trade Ben like they did Santonio Holmes. The Steelers have long taken an arrogant stance of pride regarding their "family" franchise - even though that's a bunch of garbage as numerous criminals have worn a Steeler uniform over the past 40 years (i.e. Ernie Holmes, Greg Lloyd, and Justin Strzelczyk to name a few).

Let's just see how tight that "family" really is with this one. I can already hear Whitey Guccione laughing hysterically...

Dong-Whipped

If someone would have told The Beard ten years ago, or fifteen years ago, or better yet twenty years ago, that the Bulls would be in the playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers...and the prospect of watching the series would seem like such a chore, that person would have won a lot of money from me.

Nevertheless here we are. The Bulls have made one of the most perfunctory playoff runs which - minus a few exceptions - is playing out the way it is supposed to with the Cavs taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the series. We've already discussed why this Bulls team has made a playoff appearance completely uninteresting - Vinny will be fired no matter what, the expiring contracts to free up money for free agents next year, blah blah, blah...The only thing left really is to point out the obvious even further.

The obvious being that the Cavs are simply a much better team. You get the sense that they are simply toying with the Bulls the past two games. Tonight's game really summed up this matchup pretty succinctly. The Bulls were down ten, then with superb efforts from Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Flip Murray, and Luol Deng, scratched and clawed their way back into the game, and had a lead in the second half at one point. Then with the score 85-82 Cavs, LeBron decided to be LeBron by dominating the fourth quarter on his way to 40 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists.

The one thing that I will point out in terms of things I can look for, is that we're learning something about LeBron that the jury was largely still out on. We're learning just how much of a Killer Instinct he possesses, particularly against guys dumb enough to talk sh*t about him like Joakim Noah. Noah has dug his own verbal grave a couple times in this series with his opinions on Kevin Garnett and the city of Cleveland in general, but in case you don't remember, there was also an incident between LeBron and Noah in December this season and here's the video footage of it. Noah took exception to LeBron's frequent "rug cutting" that he's displayed over his career, and when Noah told him so, LeBron didn't appreciate the criticism.

With 4:30 left in the fourth quarter tonight, LeBron hit a 3 pointer over Noah, glared at the Bulls bench, and started dancing on his way to 11 straight points to close out the game. It's that kind of performance that tells me that LeBron does have the ability to turn on the switch and do what Doug Collins says the truly great players in the NBA know how to do - close out both the FIRST half and the SECOND half.

The Cavs Dong-Whipping of the Bulls will continue on Thursday night where it looks like they will complete the sweep on Sunday. The sooner the better in my odd little world because the sooner this season ends, the more interesting the Bulls will become as a subject.

Coping Skills

The best thing I can say about the White Sox start is, "It's still early". Other than that, they are playing woeful baseball right now. The pitching has been just fine more or less. The Sox are 7th in the Major Leagues in team ERA. Offensively though, they have been horrendous. Simply put, they can't get on base and when they do, they can't drive guys in.

Going into today the Sox are hitting .216 as a club. The only teams hitting worse than them? The Cleveland Indians and Houston Astros. On Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage are not much better as they are in the bottom third of baseball in both categories. I'd like to think they will all eventually hit, but knowing the White Sox they'll start hitting right when the pitching falls apart. Gavin Floyd's performance today didn't help convince me otherwise.

One of the things I like to do whenever the White Sox play like complete crap like they have is to look at the stats of guys the Sox said "see you later" to over the past two years. Sort of a "woulda, coulda, shoulda" torture I somehow take pleasure in against my better judgement (Stats through Saturday).

Hitters:
1. Scott Podsednik : .439 batting average, .521 OBP, 6 stolen bases.
2. Jim Thome : .238 B.A., .360 OBP, 2 Home Runs, 5 RBI.
3. Chris Getz : (15 Day DL) .207 B.A., .281 OBP, 0 H.R., 1 RBI
4. Josh Fields : (15 Day DL)
5. Nick Swisher : .222 B.A., .378 OBP, 1 H.R., 4 RBI
6. Orlando Cabrera : .234 B.A., .224 (you're reading it right) OBP, 2 HR, 8 RBI.
7. Juan Uribe : .333 B.A., .391 OBP, 0 H.R., 9 RBI

Pitchers:
1. Clayton Richard : 0-2, 4.38 ERA, WHIP 1.38, Opponents B.A. .271
2. Nick Masset : 2-1, 9.45 ERA, WHIP 2.10
3. D.J. Carrasco : 0-0, 5.40 ERA, WHIP 1.08
4. Octavio Dotel : 1-0, 5.40 ERA, WHIP 1.00
5. Javier Vazquez : 0-2, 9.82 ERA, WHIP 1.73
6. Jose Contreras : 0-0, 0.00 ERA, WHIP 0.27 (4 GAMES NO WALKS!)

Despite Podsednik's freakish start (btw he'll return to reality soon), there's really not too many guys that were on this team in the past two seasons that Sox fans should really "miss". Juan Uribe and Jose Contreras were nice players, but I don't think they would solve the offensive problems on this team. So I feel a little better now.

At least we catch a break in the schedule next week with Tampa coming to town right? Ooops...

You Might Want To Re-Think This One O-Dawg

I meant to write about this yesterday but I was too busy re-attaching my crotch because it fell off when I initially read this. Orlando Hudson can't really be convinced Jermaine Dye isn't playing strictly because of racism can he? Hudson's not that clueless is he? Let me point a few things out to him, and anybody else who might agree with him:

1. Jermaine Dye has received at least three offers this offseason, two of which came from contenders in the Cubs and Brewers. The Nationals were the third team that's offered Dye a job. Dye turned down all three offers.

2. The money reportedly offered to Dye was around $3 million a season which for a 36 year old who can't play the field anymore and hit a walloping .179 and 7 home runs in the second half last season, is pretty fair compensation.

3. Jarrod Washburn and Braden Looper are out of work too. Washburn went 9-9 and was traded for at last years trade deadline. Braden Looper won 14 games last year. They also both happen to be white and (drum roll) OLD.

4. If Hudson is looking for a reason why Gary Sheffield is out of work, he only needs to look at his teammate Jim Thome. Thome is also a first ballot hall of famer, is also turning 40 this year, and is only working because he accepted a $1.5 million dollar deal which is HALF of what Dye was offered. Thome in case Hudson wasn't sure, is white.

5. Speaking of Jim Thome, he was also denied an offer from the White Sox this past offseason along with Jermaine Dye. Was he the victim of racism too? I'd like to think that wasn't the case. Also, is it really possible to claim Dye was not brought back by the White Sox because of racism when their general manager is black, and their manager is Venezuelan?

Hudson seems to be backing away from what he said according to this, but obviously he still feels racism is still a deciding factor in baseball decisions. That opinion is right up there along with Torii Hunter's "imposter's" theory regarding Latin American Black players in terms of unabashed ignorance.

If Hudson is looking for an -ism to explain Dye and Sheffield's predicament, ageism would be more accurate. Major League Baseball's days of throwing large dollars at guys 34 or older are long gone, especially in light of Testing for Performance Enhancing Drugs being implemented. Better still, Hudson can look at the contract of Alfonso Soriano. At 34, Soriano is clearly a player with diminished skills, yet his contract has him scheduled to be paid $18 million a season from now until 2014 when he will be 38 years old. Other General Managers see this, and it serves as quite the deterrent for them.

Can I say that racism has been eliminated from baseball, sports, or life? Absolutely not. Unfortunately for those of us living on planet earth, racism is still very much a part of our lives. What I can say for certain is that the days of the "Gentleman's Agreement" that prevented black players from playing 60-90 years ago, are thankfully long gone. Hudson and others can find evidence of this existing in Major League Baseball sponsored programs like R.B.I., and the annual Civil Rights Game that is played to honor the Civil Rights Movement, to embrace the history of Black players in Major League Baseball, and to generate interest for future black players in playing the game. Or better yet, Hudson and others can watch both white and black players wear #42 tomorrow to celebrate the legacy of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier 63 years ago. #42 being the ONLY number permanently retired throughout Major League Baseball.

Let's hope Hudson can permanently retire his antiquated and over-simplistic ideas that racial intolerance is the sole reason Dye and Sheffield are no longer playing, rather than dollars and cents/sense.

Apparently You CAN Screw Up A Cup Of Coffee...

The Bulls clinched the final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs tonight beating the Charlotte Jordan's 98-89, but that's not what the main news story is.

In case you've been in a coma for the past 24 hours Yahoo Sports once again punked the Chicago Tribune's Bulls Beat Writer KC Johnson and broke the story of John Paxson shoving Vinny Del Negro on March 30 after Del Negro went over the allowable playing time minutes for Joakim Noah and his plantar fasciitis (aka "Carlos Quentin Disease"). Various sources have different takes on who initiated what and how often this sort of thing has happened. Gar Forman also did his perfunctory downplay statement, with a "Da Fiiiire and Da Passion" excuse, which anyone with a pulse knows that's B.S.

There's a million things about this story to be angry about, but I'll try to keep them as focused as I can. The first and most obvious to me, is how is Yahoo Sports breaking this story, and not the damn Chicago Tribune Bulls beat writer?! KC Johnson's official reason for not reporting it was "OUT OF RESPECT FOR VINNY". If I'm KC's boss at the Trib, my first reaction to that would be "WTF?!". My second reaction would be "YOU'RE FIRED!" That is so inexcusable it's almost sickening. "Respecting Vinny" is not KC's job description, it's reporting what he knows to be fact. He knew about it, yet chose to bury it for reasons that have nothing to do with journalism. If your respect for Vinny is too much for you to do your job, then go do something else KC.

As far as what actually happened, I'm of the opinion that John Paxson did in fact initiate the contact by putting his hands on Vinny. I was discussing this with a friend of mine today, John Paxson had already done enough to justify being fired before this incident ever took place. It's my contention that he ceased being able to do what's best for the franchise on December 24, 2007 when he fired Scott Skiles because Skiles was guilty of the crime of telling Paxson the truth - that this team couldn't win as currently constructed. Paxson disagreed and promptly fired him with a 9-16 record, and thus chased away one of the best young coaches in the NBA. Since Paxson's idiotic decision, Skiles has the Bucks in the playoffs this year after they were picked to finish dead last in the East and is being rumored as the Coach Of The Year winner.

Speaking of people who have done enough to be fired, the same thing can be applied to Vinny Del Negro. For people like Charles Barkley who look at the Bulls from 35,000 feet above, they see back to back playoff appearances with a largely mediocre team. For people who have actually paid attention to this team though, they see a team that lost to the Nets TWICE (2 of the Nets 12 wins), as well as a team that blew a 35 point lead and lost to the Kings this season. Why The Beard himself was calling for Vinny to be fired in December, yet it didn't happen. The initial rumor as to why that didn't happen was because the Bulls didn't want to get into a Jim Boylan Interim situation as they did in 2007-08, but the juiciest rumor I heard was that Paxson himself would have been named Head Coach, and he was unwilling to do that.

So factor all of these little things in, plus - according to one account- Paxson saying to Vinnie "I should have fired you a long time ago" and Vinny responding in kind with a "F*CK YOU! DO IT NOW THEN!" and it's pretty much academic that Paxson put his hands on him in my mind.

Bottom line, a house cleaning is order just on principle alone. Don't give me this excuse of "Well who do you hire then?" garbage. There are plenty of candidates that know not to let things escalate to that. Players putting their hands on each other is one thing. Management and front office employees - regardless of who started it - is a completely different issue altogether. It should never be tolerated by any organization worth it's salt, let alone an organization that is poised to make a run at the 2010 Free Agent Class I.E. LeBron James. It's already obvious Vinny is going to be launched after this season anyway. It would be best to launch Paxson too if you are trying to be taken seriously by the available free agents.

Let's hope that Jerry Reinsdorf feels the same way.

What Have We Learned?

Well it's been one week into the 2010 MLB Season, and both teams are 3-4. Let's get the obvious out of the way though. In the small sample size of seven games, it's virtually impossible to draw any conclusions on how this season will play out for either team. There's just simply not enough information, or real statistics, or overall rhythm - for lack of a better word - to have a firm grasp of what we're looking at. That being said, here's a few things that have caught The Beard's Eye so far:

Cubs :

• New year, same problem with Soriano. Not only is he hitting a paltry .143 with 1 HR, he made an awful error in the eight inning of Sunday's loss to the Reds. At least Lou Piniella realized that he can't make the same mistake twice and pulled Soriano late in Monday's game against the Brewers for defensive purposes.
• Bullpen continues to be a big issue. The Cubs are still full go with their plan to extend starters through the seventh inning as often as possible. Especially in light of John Grabow's struggles. Sean Marshall has pitched well though.
• Fukudome is doing his Red Hot April act again, as he's hitting .400 at the moment. As most Cub fans realize, he does this every season. In '08 he finished April hitting .327 and ended up with a .257 batting average. In '09 he finished April hitting .338 and ended up with a .259 batting average. Until he proves otherwise, expect a swoon coming...
• New pickup wise, Marlon Byrd has been EHHH. Xavier Nady has been good, and might be asked to do more with Derrick Lee having thumb issues. Tom Gorzelanny and Carlos Silva have pitched well so far, even though Silva's shoulder is a little ouchy.
• Zambrano continues to be a infuriatingly good despite having the mental temperament of a three year old. If he, Ryan Dempster, and Randy Wells continue to pitch the way they are capable of, and Ted Lilly becomes available, the pitching staff will be very will equipped to help the Cubs make their move towards first in the Central Standings.

White Sox :

• Well they planned on being in close games all season and so far that has been the case. Unfortunately they've been on the wrong side of those games. Two 5-3 losses to Cleveland and two 1 run losses to the Twins last week are tough losses to take. Thank goodness they were able to wake Mark Teahen up last night and let him know that the season started last week...
• For as largely impotent as the lineup has been to this point, one positive that should be pointed out is Alex Rios. He's hitting .250 and doesn't look nearly as lost at the plate as he did a season ago. However he might be overshadowed if Andruw Jones keeps swinging the hot bat he has going right now. It's also nice to see Carlos Quentin healthy again, even though historically that won't last.
• Like the Cubs, the White Sox have serious bullpen issues. Despite his El Duque impression on Sunday, Scott Linebrink still scares the hell out of me. Same goes for Randy Williams. Jenks is no cakewalk either anymore. It's pretty sad that Sergio Santos seems to be the most reliable outside of Thornton. Putz has been OK at least.
• Alexei Ramirez continues to be the Anti-Fukudome with another slow start at the plate in April. He has however made some incredible defensive plays so far, including one Monday night in the sixth inning against the Blue Jays that prevented two more runs from scoring and kept the White Sox in the game.
• Jake Peavy might seriously be injured . There have been whispers all spring that he has been battling arm problems and once again did not show the velocity he usually features. As a result, he's been getting knocked around pretty good so far. I really hope I'm imagining things, but I believe the Rogers Centre speedgun when it says "90 mph" instead of "95 mph".

Like I said, it's impossible and foolish to draw conclusions at this point. I still think both teams are better than .500 ballclubs. Plenty of season left to go.

Good Things

Sometimes things work out for the best, despite the madness surrounding them.

For the past month and half or so, this years Masters was severely hyped up because of the return of Eldrick Woods. Everyone from media, talk radio, publications, bloggers (including myself) all had an opinion, thought, or emotion regarding Woods' return. How will he play? Will he be heckled? How will he handle adversity if he doesn't play well? Will he be able to reclaim his throne as the Goliath Of Golf? Blah, Blah, Blah...

What we failed to realize is that there are plenty of other remarkable golfers on this tour. One of them claimed his third Green Jacket this weekend, and his name is Phil Mickelson. Shame on us for allowing Eldrick to play us for saps again. He tried to make this years Master Tournament all about him, and he damn near succeeded. Mickelson however, snatched the spotlight right from him. How did he do this? Not only by winning the tournament, not only by playing with a dramatic crowd-engaging flair, not only by making arguably the greatest Masters shot ever....but he also reminded us he took a leave of absence from golf because he actually gave a sh*t about his wife, rather than engage in a bunch of self-indulgent "rehab" or "therapy" like Woods did.

Before I get accused of going soft though, I must clarify that I'm NOT suggesting Phil is an angel, or a model citizen. I point this out for a couple of reasons. One, we really are unable to actually know anything about a sports figure, that they don't allows us to know. Two, there have been some for odd rumors about Phil for quite some time. So please don't say I'm suggesting Phil is one of the "good guys" or anything similar to that.

All I'm saying is that Phil played a remarkable tournament. Despite what people who started watching golf around 1997 say, or people who play Golden Tee in bars and believe that makes them some sort of an "expert", or what the television ratings say, Phil was able to remind us that the PGA is much more than just Eldrick. It's been around way before his arrival, and it will be around when he no longer plays...no matter how selfishly he tries to make it all about him.

"...HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF DECENCY, SIR?"

Well, he finally did it. I truly believed that The Beard was the only one left who hadn't gotten angry, or hurt, or disappointed, or shocked at Eldrick for his sexual misgivings, bad driving, and overall scumbag personality being brought out in full view for the Court Of Public Opinion to rule over. I thought I was the only one who knew this guy was nothing but of piece of crap from day one. Until now, I just laughed my whole way through this bizarre journey since Thanksgiving.

That has all changed now with the release of this Nike Ad. Now he's PISSED ME OFF! While the whole golf world watched him laugh and joke and play grab-ass to the crowd/cameras on his way to shooting 4 under par today at Augusta National Golf KKKlub, he managed to do something that actually surprised, disappointed, shocked, and angered me with the release of this ad today. The ad essentially unearths his fathers corpse and uses it as a human shield so that he can continue to sell Nike products, PERIOD. There's no other explanation, interpretation or goal.

What people must first remember is that not only was Tiger Woods The Nice Guy Family Man image a myth before Thanksgiving, but Earl Woods similar image was a myth as well. Earl Woods according to several reports like this one, was a fall-down drunk who also cheated on his wife and whether people like it or not, probably shouldn't have programmed his son to do nothing but play golf as early as the age of THREE YEARS OLD. Secondly, even if Earl was such a strong and wholesome influence on Eldrick, it is still unethical, not to mention completely CREEPY to exploit his death by suggesting it's the reason why Tiger The Hero fell from grace, let alone to sell product for a global multi-billion dollar faceless bloodthirsty corporation.

This is a new low, even for Tiger. This is nothing but shameless on his and Nike's part. The worst thing is that his fans, admirers, linchpins and sycophants don't care simply because Eldrick is still a great golfer. That's all that matters to them...unless it was their daughter that he married and cheated on...unless it was their neighborhood he was drunk driving in...unless it was their daughter that Eldrick had sex with in his office.

Then maybe the hero-worshippers might develop something that Eldrick, Nike, his media ass-lickers, and his fans seem to think is a disease...a CONSCIENCE.

Chicago White Sox Preview and Prediction for 2010

October 26, 2005. That date is an official Holiday to all White Sox Fans. Many Sox fans call it the greatest day of their lives. Nearly everyone remembers where they were and who they were with that day. They also remember the feeling of triumph, relief, satisfaction, catharsis, and glory that came permanently attached to our collective psyches from that day forward.


While that day will never be forgotten, the past four season since then won't be forgotten as well. Over those years, many personnel changes have taken place. Some good (Thome, Danks, Floyd, Thornton, Ramirez, Quentin), many bad (Rob Mackowiak, Nick Swisher, Orlando Cabrera, Toby Hall), and some just dreadful (Jeff Nelson, Mike MacDougal, Darin Erstad, Octavio Dotel, Andrew Sisco) that have amounted to just one division championship since that day.


What has also taken place since that day is an erosion of warm and fuzzy feelings between skipper Ozzie Guillen and General Manager Kenny Williams. Rumor is, (and I believe it), Kenny is still not happy about Ozzie's comments in June of 2008 where he threw Kenny under the bus for acquiring such lousy players. Their relationship was permanently damaged from that point on, and indications are that this season could be Ozzie's last as manager if the team doesn't reach the postseason. So much so, that Kenny let Ozzie pretty much call the shots on player moves this offseason. Gone are mainstays such as Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome. In their place, the Sox acquired Juan Pierre, Andruw Jones, Mark Teahen, and Omar Vizquel. The White Sox and Ozzie have made no secret that their plan is to manufacture runs, play much better defense, and win with superior starting pitching. Will it work? Here's what I see:


HOW THEY PLAN TO WIN GAMES - LINEUP : You know for a lineup, the White Sox have one helluva pitching staff....Seriously, the Sox lineup is a bit of a head-scratcher to put it mildly. They got rid of one leadoff hitter who's not really that good (Podsednik) for another leadoff hitter who's also not really that good in Juan Pierre. A healthy Carlos Quentin will help in terms of a power in the middle of the lineup. Paul Konerko will have to be Paul Konerko (.280, 30 HR, 90 RBI). A reinvented (and GOOD) Alex Rios is pretty much a requirement if this lineup is going to score runs at an above average and consistent pace. Mark Kotsay and Andruw Jones will have to become a two headed monster named "Kotsdruw". I'd be thrilled if Mark Teahen hit .270. A.J. Pierzynski will still be the owner of the ugliest swing to ever hit .300, and Gordon Beckham will make the All Star Team this year - you heard it here first.


HOW THEY PLAN TO WIN GAMES - PITCHING : The White Sox keep telling people they have arguably the best starting rotation in baseball. On paper, they have a pretty good argument. Despite what Michael Lewis and Billy Beane will tell you however, baseball isn't played on paper, or on a stat sheet, or in a computer program. Mark Buehrle, Jake Peavy, Gavin Floyd, John Danks, and Freddy Garcia are so unstoppable that they have a collective ONE Cy Young Award among the five of them...OK maybe that's not fair to judge it based on that standard but still...Given their depth 1-5 and the fact that the first four have thrown over 200 innings at least once in their careers, I like the White Sox chances in that respect. The bullpen will have some question marks, specifically with Bobby Jenks at closer. Despite what people say, Bobby Jenks is a pretty vital piece. His days of throwing the ball 100 MPH are over, but he still must be able to close games out if the rest of the bullpen is to take proper shape. The way it will take shape is newcomer Sergio Santos, Tony Pena, Randy Williams, and Scott Linebrink handling the 7th innins. Thornton and JJ Putz will need to shut down the 8th inning and get the ball to Jenks in the 9th.


Prediction : PAIN mostly, but I believe the White Sox pitching will give them the edge in their division. They certainly won't be slugging teams to death by scoring 5 runs a game, but their rotation (as long as it stays healthy) and solid enough bullpen should get them 85 wins. 85 wins should be plenty to win the awful AL Central Division. Their defense, particularly on the left side of the infield and much more range in the outfield, will be much improved from last seasons Butcher Shop of a roster. I think they'll end up being destroyed by either the Rays, or the Red Sox in the postseason, but Ozzie should be able to keep his job by winning another division title.

Chicago Cubs Preview and Prediction for 2010

Where to begin? I guess the easiest place to start is the new ownership group. The Ricketts Family is now the proud owner of this 102 year drought. Despite a renewed sense of optimism, encouraging talk about winning while ensuring the public trust will continue between the fans and Wrigley Field, they still managed to try and get away with a Cubs tax in Mesa. So it's fair to say they have a mixed review so far.

Let's get away from the new owners for a moment. This is now year number four of the Lou Piniella Era. For everything that has happened during that time, there's no question that Lou Piniella has been the most successful Cub manager in their franchise history. He's the only Cub manager to see the postseason in back to back years since Frank Chance over 100 years ago. Unfortunately for Lou and the Cubs, the postseason has not been as kind as it was to Frank Chance. It appears that the window to a World Series title is closing fast. Personally, I don't think that is the case. Despite the overspending on Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, and the recently departed Milton Bradley, the Cubs have guessed right on more pieces than they guessed wrong about (Dempster, Lee, Lilly, Aramis) over the years as well as had some young players emerge (Soto, Fontenot, Theriot, Wells, Marmol, etc). Will the 2010 mix equal another division championship? Here's what I see:

HOW THE PLAN TO WIN GAMES - LINEUP : One thing that I can say for sure is that the Cubs will hit this season. Rudy Jaramillo is one of the few coaches in sports who actually does have an impact on his teams performance. This could mean tremendous numbers for Derrick Lee and Aramis Ramirez if they both stay healthy. Not to mention if Rudy would be able to rejuvenate that $136 million dollar stiff DH in left field, the Cubs would have three really big sticks in the lineup. The rest of the lineup is also pretty well rounded out with newcomer Marlon Byrd (another Rudy success story), Fukudome, Fontenot, and Theriot. Geovany Soto lost 40lbs, which I would only imagine would benefit him. Soriano no longer in the leadoff role will be interesting to watch as well as Tyler Colvin. He is just interesting, for lack of a better word, and somehow I believe he will find his way into the lineup more often than not this season.

HOW THEY PLAN TO WIN GAMES - PITCHING : The Cubs will be featuring three rookies (Justin Berg, Esmailin Caridad, and James Russell) in the bullpen this season. This means that the Cubs rotation will need to have about three starting pitchers that throw around 200 innings each to minimize those rookies exposure. The good news is this Cubs rotation has guys that have thrown 200 innings in a season in Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Tom Gorzelanny, and Carlos Silva. Each of them have thrown 200 plus innings at least once within the past 3 seasons. Plus Randy Wells had an impressive debut last year, and if Ted Lilly can (eventually) come back and be the same pitcher he has been since putting on a Cub uniform, that should give the Cubs plenty of guys who can eat innings. While the Cubs have a good chance of getting games to the 8th and Carlos Marmol 9th inning, they have big question marks. Someone will need to step up and own the 8th inning details between John Grabow, Sean Marshall, Jeff Samardzija and the rookies.

Prediction : I believe the Cubs will win 90 games and retake the NL Central Division Crown. I believe they will hit better than the .255 BA, .332 OBP, .738 OPS they posted as a team last season. I also think their pitching will be the difference for them this year as the rotation is quietly deeper than most teams in the National League. After that who knows? While I won't bet against 102 years of history, if the Cubs pitching holds up they might actually win a playoff series for the first time since 2003.

We Are...UD

Dear Flyer Faithful,

Tonight, we can call ourselves 2009-2010 NIT Champions. Tonight, we have added a third NIT Title to the history of UD Basketball. Tonight, was the culmination of a winning streak that began three weeks ago, which saw UD beat teams from the Missouri Valley, the Big East, the Big Ten, the SEC, and now the ACC and last seasons National Champion North Carolina.

Yes, winning the NIT was not our goal to start the season. Yes, this UD team underachieved and was about 6 or 7 possessions away from qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. Yes, this was the second out of the past three seasons Dayton was in the Top 20 and didn't make the Tournament. Yes, Brian Gregory is once again the subject of rumors regarding his departure for greener pastures. Yes, Chris Wright did not elevate his game to the next level many people expected him to, and was wildly inconsistent.

None of it matters, at least not tonight. At least for one night, let's put away the disappointment of unrealized expectations, the sarcasm of winning a tournament that won't be around next season, the anxiety caused by rumors, and pessimism about the future. While in many respects Dayton may be at the crossroads, there is realistic hope for optimism for next season. Tomorrow will begin another offseason of intrigue, but for now let's just enjoy this, and have visions of what the new banner hanging at UD Arena will look like.

"This game is kind of a capsule of our season. Started out great, had some tough times, then just kind of through and ended up being very successful" - Brian Gregory 4/1/2010.