This Is Business...

It took all of about 24 hours before NFL Football, specifically Chicago Bears football, got back into the collective bloodstream of fans across the country. There has been an unprecedented flurry of free agent activity and trades this past week, most of which have drastically reshaped the NFL Landscape.

The Bears have made their own contributions to the changing landscape, making some swift, bold, and controversial personnel decisions in the past 5 days. First saw the departure of stalwart Tight End (and team leader in TD receptions for 2010) Greg Olsen, who was promptly traded to the Carolina Panthers. Next came a scattering of signings of all the 2011 Draft picks (Gabe Carimi, Stephen Paea chief among them), and some eyebrow raising free agent acquisitions of busts/has-been's, in the form of Roy Williams, Vernon Gholston, Sam Hurd, Chris Spencer, and Marion Barber. The Bears also retained some of their "core" in Anthony Adams and Corey Graham, while also assuring Matt Forte that signing Forte to a long term extension is a top priority.

It is more than safe to say however, that none of those moves are what Bear fans are talking about today. That topic belongs to Olin Kreutz, and the inability of the Bears to reach an agreement with him for 2011.

As far as the particulars, the Bears appeared to be offering $500,000 less than what Olin wanted ($4.5 million). While at first glance it doesn't sound like much, but judging by statement by both Olin and Jerry Angelo, it ultimately wasn't about the money. From Olin's standpoint, he believes the Bears made it clear they didn't want him back. Jerry Angelo, in what was a very candid media session, let it be known that while it was time to move on, he is grateful for Olin's contributions stating, "Long after I'm gone, Olin will be the one who will be remembered".

Both men get approving thumbs up from me, in terms of not taking it personal and remaining classy.

Is this the right move for the Bears to make? Yes.It.Is.

Forget the fact that Olin is 34 years old. Forget the fact that Olin has been a Bear since Dave Wannestedt was head coach. Forget the fact that Olin hasn't made a Pro-Bowl since 2006. Even if you dismiss those three facts, it still remains painfully clear that Olin has been regressing as a player for the past three seasons. Last season was particularly galling, as time after time Olin was blown off the ball, or was seen numerous times looking around for someone to block even though the penetration had already gone right past him. Even though most strident defenders of Kreutz, acknowledge that he can't play anymore.

The most common defense of retaining Kreutz involves the word "leadership". That's the first word people choose to use when it comes to expressing their outrage. Here's the problem with that: leadership has nothing to do with blocking. Leadership is only as good as your performance on the field. There's no question that Olin knows his assignments, does his homework, and keeps other players in line among other things. There's a big difference between those responsibilities, and executing on the field however. For the past three seasons, Olin has not been getting it done and the Bears had to draw the line somewhere.

What are the Bears going to do at Center now? Well the short answer is Chris Spencer as of today, until someone better shows up on the radar. Will Spencer, or this mystery center be any good? I can't answer yes or no, but that's HARDLY enough justification for bringing back a veteran who can't play anymore.  

Either way though, the Bears are making strong statements as an organization, in terms of what they wish to do. They are buying in to what Mike Martz wants on offense, lock stock & barrel. I find this quite surprising, since it was only after they got away from Martz's version of Air Coryell did the Bears start moving the ball consistently in 2010. Despite of what I may think of that organizational decision, the Bears are re-committing to it regardless.

Most importantly, I'd be remiss to not acknowledge the end of the Olin Kreutz era with the Bears with a bit of sentiment. Olin has been an important face of this franchise's identity. Olin has more than exuded all the traits and qualities that Bear fans have come to associate themselves with: Great football player, plays through pain, and has a mean streak that is completely unafraid of anyone. Olin will always be a Chicago Bear legend, and have a special place in my Bears memory bank.

I wish him well, and I hope when he hangs it up, he will remain part of the Bears organization in some capacity. Judging by how the 85 Bears are still treated like royalty among Bear fans, I suspect Olin will be around...


* Oh and before I forget David Haugh, Jay Hilgenberg was coming off a Pro-Bowl year when the Bears parted ways him in 1991. Kreutz is not. Jay Hilgenberg also played two more years for two more seasons after the Bears cut ties with him. Didn't exactly come back and bite the Bears did it? Probably not a good example to try and back up your point.

Well That Passed....

In the end, the only thing that was officially lost was The Hall of Fame Game....

Though it was largely seen as an eventuality, today was the day all NFL fans have been waiting for since March 11. Today was the day that the NFLPA and NFL Owners agreed to a new ten year Collective Bargaining Agreement. Today was the day, the powers that be decided that brains were more important than testicular fortitude and the bruising of egos. Today was the day, NFL fans got their football back.

The details that have emerged so far include the following : The $9.5 billion dollars in revenue will be a 53/47 split favoring the Owners. The days of committing a third of a teams payroll to #1 draft picks appear to be over, as there is a new system in place to curb it. Players will now have less required practice time both in-season and off-season. The dreaded possibility of an 18 game regular season schedule....has been tabled for now, but can be revisited in two years.

The most amazing aspect of the deal as far as I'm concerned? No Opt-Out clause for either the owners or the players. Considering we went through all of this Lockout nonsense in the first place because the Owners utilized their Opt-Out clause in 2008, I find it remarkable that neither party wanted one for this deal? Whatever...

There's a ton of things that need to happen now. Trades, free agency, rookie signings, and the beginning of training camp, among other things. What used to take months, will now take 1 week. This is truly unprecedented, and we might not see anything this hectic again in the NFL.

Still, I can't help feel this was all a big "nothing". Even though no games were lost, the draft took place, and they eventually got the deal done, I still feel hollow about this simply because I believe this was 100% preventable.

On the surface, I tended to fall in favor of the players side in this dispute, as they were not the ones that caused this work stoppage. The Owners were the ones who opted-out of the existing deal. The Owners were the ones who tried to convince people they were losing money - which if you believe that I have some beach front property in Arizona to sell you. The Owners were the ones who technically acted "Greedy" by acting like half of $9.5 billion per year wasn't enough, and in the end it was the Owners who got what they wanted.

While I tended to favor the players, I grew quickly to resent both sides, as both the NFLPA, The Owners, and Roger Goodell said off-the-wall, ridiculously foolish things throughout this work stoppage. From Goodell disputing that the average length of a players career is 3 years, to the players getting so far off message with all their own infighting and silly lawsuits, both sides brought the Circus Of The Non-Sensible to town.

Their actions and behavior throughout the process have really soured me in terms of having faith and respect of the people in charge of the NFL. I will not forget the depths that both sides stooped to, and neither will a lot of other people.

With that said, we as NFL fans can have a return to normalcy soon enough. NFL Football maybe won't look quite the same as we remember it, but I believe that can only be a good thing, as I have noticed a significant dip in the quality of play, the dilution of talent, and the inability to establish a traditional "dynasty" over the past decade.

It's very doubtful whether or not this work stoppage addressed those issues. Be that as it may, we have the NFL back and the NFL will have our dollars back. Our respect on the other hand....that will take a while.

Nice Hair

Greetings and Salutations :

There have been plenty of news and items scattered throughout the world of sports lately. Unfortunately, none of them have compelled me to write extensively about them. Instead it's time for Quick Takes:

• Would you believe that after 16 years, several undeserved Gold Gloves, 5 World Series Rings, Zero MVP's, and now....over 3,000 career hits, I remain completely indifferent to Derek Jeter the player? I honestly can take Jeter or leave him. He's not one of the all time greats in my opinion. He was very good for a long time, and at face value, deserves to go into the Hall Of Fame. None of what Jeter has done on the field, gets my blood up, but when it comes to Jeter's spastic, over-reactive, and constant embellishing fanbase on the other hand, it's a different story. The people who think Jeter IS an all time great, do an excellent job getting me to root against Jeter much more than anything Jeter does, or will do, on the field.
• Speaking of Jeter, his ex-teammate Roger Clemens is on trial this week for perjury. Clemens famously gave testimony before Congress three years ago, denying all the charges levied against him by Brian McNamee and The Mitchell Report that Clemens used performance enhancing drugs. Most famously, Clemens offered a wide variety of "explanations" from "That's my wife's HGH" to Andy Pettitte "misremembers". Meanwhile, the government appears to have a really strong case against Clemens, and I'm much more hopeful to see Roger have to make the dreaded "Perp Walk" when this trial ends.
• In NFL Land, the likelihood and prospect of a Labor Agreement appears to be making progress. Barring a complete About Face by the Players Association, the Lockout looks like it's nearing an end, and I have a feeling the owners are going to get pretty much everything they wanted. If that happens I can't help but feel that this has largely been much ado about nothing and could/should have been avoided.
• Speaking of avoided, James Harrison should have avoided opening his mouth to Men's Journal. By now you know he spoke ill of Roger Goodell, the Patriots, and his own teammates, in a vivid display of his insanity. In terms of punishment, I don't believe there's much Goodell or the Steelers can do to him at the moment, but there's plenty his teammates can do! These are the kind of actions that fracture locker rooms, not to mention Player Unions. Controversy has been nothing new with Harrison. He's been outspoken in the past, and has incurred a ton of fines for his aggressive play, but this is a new low for him. With the Steelers looking at Super Bowl Hangover this season, this can only hurt their chances to compete next year. It will be interesting to see if the Steelers finally have had enough and cut Harrison this year. That's what any franchise worth its salt would do...then again this is the same franchise whose fan base gives a standing ovation to their rapist QB.

Speaking of creepy Steelers Fans, I'd like to take time to address my recent Twitter war with Chicago SunTimes columnist Joe Cowley. For a long time, Joe has fancied himself as a tough writer who speaks his mind all the time, and doesn't care who gets hurt by what he has to say. That approach by itself is something I don't have a problem with. Cowley's journalistic style has made a ton of enemies within the White Sox organization, specifically Kenny Williams. Kenny is seemingly a target that Joe is loathe to give any credit to, and (like a child) Joe is often the first person to point out when Kenny does something wrong.

Joe's dealing with the White Sox however, is not what I had a problem with. My issue with Joe is that he defends Ben Roethlisberger, strictly because Ben plays for the Steelers. Never mind that it's very likely Ben is a serial rapist, and that if Ben played for the Patriots, Joe would feel quite differently about Ben's legal issues. Cowley's defense of Roethlisberger, coupled with the fact that Cowley is one of these Twitter Loudmouth's who talk a lot of trash, prompted me to engage with him on Twitter.

Suffice it to say that it went south pretty quickly. Rather than actually act like a sensible person who should know that rape is wrong, Cowley chose to act like a child, started name-calling, at one point making a joke about my mother, and in no way shape or form comported himself like a sensible journalist (he actually used the word "brah" in one of his tweets). Unfortunately for him, I'm also quite capable of acting in the same manner, only WAY better than him! As Cowley soon realized, I'm so much better at that type of behavior than him.....that he chose to BLOCK me and my good friend, The Rassi.

I won't say this is my proudest moment. Far from it actually, but it doesn't matter. This was about proving a point, and the point is that Joe Cowley, while more than willing to dish it out, is completely unable to take it. When it comes to taking as much grief as he gives, his skin is about as thick as loose leaf paper. For someone who claims he "always tells the truth", he is quite averse to having the truth be told about him.

That truth being, that no matter what he has done so far with his career, Cowley will say/write something that will get him in a lot of trouble someday. Mark.My.Words.

Loudmouth and Stupidity are a powerful combination, and as Jay Mariotti can tell Cowley, it's only a matter of time before that combo does you in.

Fun Baseball Stuff

As another baseball season approaches the All-Star Break, I tend to start devouring all kinds of information sources about the game whether they be websites, interviews, and/or Baseball Bigfoots like Joe Posnanski at si.com.

In my opinion, Joe is one of the more credible writers about the game, and even though I disagree with his thoughts from time to time I generally enjoy his work. I came across a piece Joe wrote "14 Crazy Baseball Facts" and I have to say there are some facts listed here that I never would have guessed were reality. Some of the subjects covered with these facts are:

1. How similar Tim Raines and Tony Gwynn's numbers are.
2. How Harold Baines quietly amassed stats better than Joe DiMaggio.
3. Ron Kittle was better power hitter than Lou Gehrig.

Anyway, I thought it was a pretty cool piece. Enjoy!