ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

Adewale Ogunleye. It just rolls off the tongue doesn't it? I think I am just going to call him Wally for short. Most people are calling him the next HitMan. Or was that da Colonel? Ahhh, fond memories of Richard Dent. Like most Chicagoans who still clutch to the past, there are few memories that elicit such a warm feeling on a cold Chicago winter night than that of Dent crushing a QB. Wally brings back these memories. He is a young, brash, quick, and very strong defensive player. His stats speak for themselves. He had 11 sacks when Miami was behind last year. That's 11 out of his total of 15. You think this guy knows how to win? I do. And while I think we gave up too high a draft pick for a guy who was never going to go back to Wannie's Army, if he performs even to half the sacks he tallied last year, well -- let's not get ahead of ourselves. Just knowing there is someone who can come off the line and get at Farve, Culpepper, and Harrington is going to make a difference.

My season's pick to click, and thus my dark hourse in my fantasy draft (more on this later) is David Terrel. The Mich grad is being given the keys to the offense now that Marty Booker has been traded for Ogunleye. Sorry Marty, you're stuck with Wannie for at least one more year.

The Sox continue to decline. I was on the south side just outside the ballpark for yesterday's final game against Boston. It was a clear night, not a cloud in the sky. So imagine my surprise, and the rest of the south side crew I was with, when the powerful Manny Ramirez literally took a dive while attempting to catch a routine fly ball in left field. Future Hall of Famer, Robbie Alomar decides to run back to first base to tag up for some reason. Tag up? Robbie, he fell. He didn't catch the ball. What were you doing in there to begin with? A total disastrous example of what has been wrong with the White Sox from the beginning of the season. We can't do the little things well. Forget small ball, and forget all the rants about not moving runners and relying too much on the long ball. We all know things would have been different if Mags and Frank weren't out for the season. Or do we. The bottom line is Jose Valentin, our first half hero, and the sole reason we didn't fall to the bottom of the division pre-All Star game couldn't lay down a bunt late in the game. This isn't the first time Jose has had these problems. We also can't seem to teach our pitchers to keep the ball down. Garcia comes into the 8th inning with a one run lead, only to give it up on a first pitch fastball, belt high to Ramirez. He goes yard. The game is tied. Bring in Damaso Marte. We all know what is going to happen. The once fire-throwing left handed pitcher makes the same mistake to Ortiz. Belt high fastball hit into the stands for a one run Boston lead. The biggest problem guys like Marte, and Garcia have had -- is they don't keep the ball down. Respect the bat fellas, you faced guys who can hit. This is the major leagues. You throw that shit to 3/4 of the hitters in this league and they will make you pay.

This is frustrating, but the season is officially over for the White Sox. This has been a real waste. A few bounces here, and a few good innings there and even without Frank and Mags this team could have won the division. Coulda, shoulda, woulda.

I am geeking it up again while both the Sox and the Cubs do their best...well, Sox and Cubs impressions. How pathetic.

Anyway, I found this in my rss reader today. Kudos to Mr. Pilgrim for a well written piece.

My wife and I discuss this very subject constantly. After being through both the boom and gloom of the IT industry, I can safely say this sums up pretty much our daily lives. I have been the asshole and the moron on projects many a time. Looking back, I started one job as a moron. I left it to become an asshole at another firm. That firm made me feel welcomed because it was filled with assholes. I realized that this was stealing my soul, so I left to become a moron at my current gig.

There has to be another class of developer. But true to my initial specs I will follow along with the binary state of asshole/moron. Truth/Lies. 1's/0's. True/False. On/Off. Asshole/Moron. That just seems right.

The US men's basketball team has dug themselves a hole. It is not insurmountable for them to turn this around, but yesterday's loss to Puerto Rico was shocking. They were smoked. Of course, Mark Cuban has opened up a comment thread to ask people what they think went wrong. Most of the comments are pretty accurate. Lack of defense, horrible shooting, and the absence of teamwork were clearly apparent. Cuban has always believed that the NBA should NOT send its stars to the Olympics. From a business standpoint it is not worth the risk of injury. He has a point. My question to Cuban is if he thinks it would have been better to send the Detroit Pistons to the Olympics instead of this manufactured “Dream Team”. Let's be honest. The Dream Team is long gone. It was a collection of the greatest basketball players in the world, and Scottie Pippen. HAH! Just kidding Pip. This team is young, inexperienced and just lacks the ability to fuse their talent into something medal worthy. That's right, medal worthy. Why do we think that we automatically can win a medal in these Games?

I argue that the majority of the problems witnessed in yesterday's game become rather easy to adjust for during half time. Especially with a team that has played together for an entire season. The question is, would the NBA be willing to send its Olypmic year champion to the games?! Wouldn't it be worse for the NBA to watch its current champ fall to an international team during the Olympics than an all-star team? This is debatable. I believe that if we send our NBA champ, we get to watch better basketball. There are logisticall problems with sending the current NBA champ. What if they have an international player on their roster? Surely that player would want to play for their home country. Afterall, they seem to have way more pride for their country than most of the American basketball players. I wonder if Shaq, Kobe, Pierce, KG and the rest of our A-list athelete's are feeling guilty after watching that game. More than likely, they are floating in their Olympic sized swimming pools, thanking their lucky stars that the closest they got to anything Olympic was in their backyards. Or at McDonalds.

It has begun! Bears season has arrived! Last night's first pre-season game of the season was anything but pretty. I have the rest of the year to give the Bears a hard time, so today I will focus on the positives we can glean from yesterday's overtime victory over the St. Louis Rams. First, kudos to Grossman for looking pretty damn good. He looked sharp. I also wanted to say nice job by our new running back Thomas Jones. He broke one run and got down field in a hurry! I believe he had something like 53 yards in total for the night. The first squad defense looked decent. They need some more practice. The game wasn't very pretty overall. The Bears were flagged pretty much every play. Coach Ditka's color commentary pointed out that this is a poor reflection on the coaching staff. They didn't prepare these guys enough. Mistakes are ok, but penalties in bunches are not to be accepted. I agree with Ditka. I don't think this will be a problem for our team during the regular season. I think overall, the Bears will be fun to watch. Especially if coach Shea realizes we never want to see that damn screen pass on 3rd and 12 again.

I can't tell you how excited I am to see football back in the Chi! I really hope we can get healthy, stay healthy and get down field. Before I depart for my couch and the epic Olympic games coverage -- I wanted to point out, right here and now, that David Terrell is my pick to click this season. I expect big things from this kid this year. Some of you FFL players might want to draft him as your dark horse.

I'm going to geek it up a bit on this post. It has been awhile since I posted something non sports-related, and while my two readers are probably wondering why I am not covering Chicago Sports much lately, it's because I am pissed that the Sox suck. I'm not surprised, just pissed. Besides, the beloved Bear is playing today in its first pre-season game. It will be interesting to see how Grossman does...but onto the geek news.

This blog thing is really a total scam. I am a heretic, I know. But we kept weblogs at Loyola, YEARS ago. This was something no one wanted to invest in. People just did not get it. Hell, I don't really get the recent coverage and fascination with it. (that's a lie) So why the hell did I start one again after all these years? Well, it's because I was tired of sending emails back and forth, or having drunken conversations with the same 5 guys about the sports in our area. Let's be honest, most of our conversations revolved around football, cans, cars, cans, baseball, and occasionally the latest gadget at places like ABT. Thus, the ChicagoSplogs site was born. And no, we don't sell those damn shoes...but maybe we should...anyway, it seems someone else decided to revisit the blog craze...

I ran into a site that I think will be useful. They don't need the reference, nor do they need the link love -- the word is starting to spread online about FeedBurner. It turns out, this group of geniuses are part of my wife's old crew. I can vouch they are brilliant and obviously up to something again. She loved working with these guys and still talks about how special that team was. I can understand, because my first gig as a consultant was with a small firm that had built a great team. They became family, and it was a joy to come to work. I think we both have been searching for the good ole days ever since. So, for my two readers out there who I know have started their own blogs, look into their services. It will be fun to watch them grow. Good luck to the FB team.

Maybe tomorrow I'll post something about how “great” software teams are run like great football teams. I know it's a cheesy cliché, and a crap metaphor to some, but after all these years working for big-dumb-companies, I realized that the majority of them need to get new players and fire their head coaches.

 

I don't know how to feel about yesterday's win against the Royals. While I am happy we got some runs, and that Garland settled down. I don't believe it really matters any more. I am not alone in this evaluation. The back pages of the Trib today break it down mathematically. The numbers don't lie. Well, at least they don't seem to lie. I think we all know the position the White Sox are in, but for arguments sake lets review. The Sox are in a division people feel is weak. At least weaker than the AL East and AL West. To win this division the Sox need the Twins to fall into a slump. A big enough slump so that they finish almost .500 for the remainder of the games on their schedule. The Trib points out they need to finish 25-26 or something to that effect. The Sox in response to this slump would have to finish 32-21 in their final 53 games. Let's stop right here. There is no way in hell that the Twins, a team that knows how to win baseball games in the clutch, will fall apart to the tune of 25-26. It just isn't going to happen unless the plague hits their clubhouse. On the other side of this equation, the Sox will have to play way above their on again, off again hitting streaks to muster even a 26-25 record. Ozzie says that if we get to within 4 games of the Twins by September, we will go to a 4 man rotation. This from the guy who refuses to send Diaz back down to the local White Hen where he belongs. So the division seems impossible to win without the return of Mags or Frank. Even with Mags or Frank, we need the Twins to suffer a major case of the runs for this to happen. The next scenario is the wildcard. We need to somehow finish better than Boston, Anaheim, Texas and even Cleveland. Cleveland? Yes, Cleveland. This is what happens when you fall apart against Detroit, Cleveland, and Minnesota in July. That weak division isn't so weak for the Sox. To win the wildcard these guys still need to win 32 games for the remainder of the season and again need all of the above mentioned teams to fall into a horrible depression. I just don't see this happening. I agree with the Trib's assessment that the Sox are a lost cause this year. I don't necessarily agree with their assessment that they are transforming this team into an “NL” style team, small ball and all. I could be wrong. The one thing I can say is I predicted this fate for the Sox earlier this year. I didn't like admitting it, but I expected the Sox to fall off toward the end -- and slide down into the third place spot in our “weak” division. I'm still hoping for a miracle, and I really hope these guys don't read the papers and throw in the towel. The effort still counts.

Well -- I was curious to see how many people are actually blogging about the Athens Olympics. Google really didn't find much. It did find this. I have no idea who Kit is -- but I like the short, quick notes in his blog. I have no idea where you are going to find Internet Access in Greece -- actually I do, a few internet cafe's still exist -- regardless I am taking a stab at which events you are going to see -- per your contest here:

Track & Field, Taekwondo, Basketball, Swimming, Diving, Weightlifting, Futball, Arching, Volleyball (both beach and indoor) and I'll throw in a Badminton.

There. What say you? (yes, I sponged my answers from an earlier comment -- but you said he got 6 right.)

Have fun, be safe and send reports!

 

I launched a new category for the Olympics that start on Friday. My first post is here.

Enjoy!

New category kiddies! It's Olympic coverage stylie for all to behold!

So Athens is ready. The Olympics are finally here, and I am not going. It is a shame. My plan as a kid was to someday work for IBM and eventually have them send me to Greece for the Olympics. I knew someday the motherland would host the games they created many a century ago. I figured I could contribute my technical skills and my ability to speak Greek to help setup the networks that run the games. I had delusions of maybe even writing software that was sports based someday...

10 years later, and 2 Olympics have come and gone and the Games are finally in their rightful place. Much to the displeasure of the world's media. Maybe it was just the US media like the WSJ that took pot shots at my ancestors' homeland. Stories how the Greeks were not ready because of laziness, politics, strikes, security concerns, money concerns, chickens crossing the roads. Hell, I even heard jokes about how the construction jobs were going to be delayed dramatically as the Greeks took to the streets to celebrate an improbable Euro 2004 championship.

So I open the coverage of my homeland's most important event to date, by wishing everyone luck. Do not pay attention to the crap media outlets out here who are kissing your ass all of a sudden. They stepped off the airbus in Athens and were greeted with a brand new city. Everything is done. Everything is secure (i hope). The articles and the TV coverage are finally starting to say GOOD things about Greece. I wonder if the 90 degree sun, the beautiful sea, and a few good Greeks didn't just wash the bad taste out of the critic's and reporter's mouths. They are in Greece, which ultimately is paradise compared to the WiFi-enabled Starbucks in LA many of them use as offices. Maybe this is why the early stories described Greece as a disaster area.

Finally, the "ugly" Americans are in Greece and are subject to sheets of advice that instruct them to “not be American”. This is a sad, sad thing. I would hope the Greeks who have taken a black-eye recently for their aloofness see that Americans' are being dragged through the mud in a very similar way. Not all of us are “war-mongers”. Not all of us come from Texas. And for the few Americans in Athens the next couple of weeks who do originate from Texas, wear your cowboy hats with pride and respect. Don't let the world's problems with the powers that be have an effect on this journey.

My last message to everyone out there visiting Greece is to be aware of price gouging. Greece is in the hole big time, and some not-so-very-honest people will take advantage. But not everyone is like this. Some business owners are honest. So be aware of the dirt bags, and just avoid them. Simply have a good time.

Guillen is proud of the fact that the Indians have leap-frogged our White Sox for second place. I haven't been able to post anything of substance lately because I have been sooooo disappointed in this team. Felix Diaz gets called up and it is apparent that every time he pitches he lowers his stock. He was rocked yesterday early and often. He made Scott Schoeneweis look like Cy Young. But we won't dwell how the pitching let us down last night. We will focus on how we came back to almost win this game. Just don't point out that they gave up 3 runs in the 9th to pretty much do us in. The Sox are officially out of the playoff race. They don't want it bad enough. We can't seem to execute. We can't move runners over (last night was more evidence that we need more drills focusing on laying down bunts.) We run the bases like a chicken with its head cut off. Shame on these guys. Garcia and Contreras have pitched really well. Isn't pitching supposed to mean something? Buerhle, Garcia, Contreras should be strong enough to get us this division. But it isn't. Why? Because with no Frank, and no Mags this team has NO HEART. Thank god for Jose Valentin who for some reason thinks he can carry this team on his shoulders. I appreciate the effort Jose, and you are proving to be a fantastically gifted offensive shortstop. Your numbers are way higher than I expected. But you can't do it alone. Rowand can swing the bat, Konerko is obviously strong again, Carlos Lee needs to step it up, Joe Crede needs to step it up (again) and Willie Harris and Uribe have to start earning their paychecks. Clutch hitting guys, thats what we need.

Anyway, at least the Bears start pre-season on Thursday against the Rams. At least I can focus my attention on the next big disappointment in Chicago sports....

Guess what Sox Fans? It's not really 2004. It's really 2003! I can prove it. The Sox are 54-51 in the first week of August. Carl Everett is in a Sox uniform, and Robbie Alomar is playing second. Plus, Frank is nowhere to be seen. Sound familiar? Well, that is because it is. I was shocked when I read this morning's paper to see Kenny Williams “sending a message” -- one of his famous messages : “Win or you are being sent to Siberia” . So he went after Sandy's little brother again. So we have pretty much the same team we had from last year. Except the pitching is supposedly waaaaaay better. Lets ask Scott Schoenweiss.

I know a lot of people who think Kenny Williams is an idiot. They don't like his attitude, and they don't believe he has the ability to build a championship team. His moves are starting to look,ummm, familiar to say the least. What I would like to contribute to the Kenny Williams camp is that he understands what this is really about. He wants to win. He wants the Sox to win the division, and he needs to do what he feels is necessary to help this team get over the fact that without Mags and without Frank, they have NO CHANCE. They don't. I bet Frank and Mags feel great right about now. Williams is challenging every player in the media this morning -- he specifically called Willie Harris out. He acknowledged Harris has been playing better as of late -- but if he doesn't continue on the streak he is on he has to worry about Robbie Alomar now. I don't think this sort of “push” is really going to motivate our players to win.

I give Kenny Williams credit. His tirade in yesterday's press conference was accurate. He noted that the fans are supporting the team more -- seats are filled at The Cell. He also made the all important point that the Sox control their own destiny. They stand 6 games out. All they have to do is gain a game a week. When you look at it that way -- I guess we might have a chance. As long as we don't have to play the Royals anymore. I don't want to miss the division lead by 2 games when it is all said and done. I hope the players have gotten the message. Do you want to win, or do you want to go home?

The Bears are going to be limping into the regular season. I don't know who to really blame, but I think we have had enough hamstring pulls this pre-season to send half the medical staff at Lake Forest Hospital to Hawaii. We could blame the athelete's themselves -- Coach Smith has taken this approach. We might also consider blaming the training staff that has to play a role in the conditioning and stretching of our prized Bears. The final character in this play of mishaps is the athlete. They obviously were not in training camp shape. I know this sounds ridiculous. I know they come to mini camp and to pre-season training -- to train. To practice. To prepare their bodies for what amounts to be the toughest 16 weeks of any year, in any sport. You're pulling a hammy in day one? I gotta think you spent the last two weekend at the blackjack tables in Vegas instead of running a lap. The whole point of all this, is the sobering news that we lost Jerry Azumah for the season. The neck stinger he suffered late laste week has been re-examined. The results of the MRI proved he has a problem with a few discs in his back/neck area. He will undergo surgery tomorrow morning and miss at least 12 games this year. Personally, I am upset at the coverage this injury as gotten in the Chi media today. Jerry is a great athelete. He is a Pro Bowl return man. But did anyone think he was going to be THAT instrumental in the Bear's chances at making the playoffs? The return man? How many times do the Bears think they will be able to force a punt, or worse -- how many times do they expect to receive a kick off in a game?

We need Jerry for many reasons, none of which have a direct impact on our chances at making the playoffs. Especially if everyone else does their job. I think I can say this for all Bears fans -- if the offense can score 21 points a game consistently and the Defense can keep our division foes to 2 touchdowns a game -- we will win this division and everyone will be wondering what happened to Jerry Azumah. Let's hope I am right.

Quincy Carter was cut by the Cowboys yesterday. “Amid drug test failure concerns”. He denies it and is offended that there are rumors that he is a base head. But drug tests don't lie Quincy -- It's not like you ate a cocaine encrusted bagel. It was reported that it was the second time he failed his drug test. I personally have no idea if this is true or not. I wanted to comment on the fact that we could probably field a fantastic team if we collected all the guys who got tossed because of drug use. If you believe that Ricky Williams left the NFL because he chose Mary Jane over the Dolphins then you can see the strong nucleus we have on this new franchise I am proposing. We can call them the RocksnBlows. So now we have to find a city to put them in....Anyone looking for an NFL franchise?

I don't have much to report on the Bears. The local media has done a pretty good job covering the training camp sessions. I think this is partially due to the fact that deep down they know that neither of our baseball teams are going to make the playoffs. I could be wrong on this. There was one thing I wanted to mention: David Terrell is respectfully not speaking to the media during training camp. He has been born again as a humble man. He has been quoted in saying he needs to do something before he starts talking. I don't know who stole the old DT -- but I like this one's chances of being the #1 receiver on this year's team. Good luck David.

Last night, the White Sox decided to take the day off. The only problem was they made the decision in the second inning against The Royals. Scott Show-em-why (I suck) further proved to everyone why he isn't a starting pitcher. Everyone except for Ozzy Guillen who believes that  Scott Schoeneweis deserves ONE MORE START before he makes a decision to relegate him to the bullpen. I am simply dumbfounded by this admission. I am also asking myself -- and the rest of you -- did you notice that the White Sox are only one game better than they were at this point in the season last year? One Game. I thank the Chicago media for finally melting away the glossy coat of optimism that was ushered into this season when Ozzie got the job. Remember all that talk of how he was the polar opposite of Jerry Manuel? Well, it turns out that Ozzie really isn't making that much of a difference. Kenny Williams has to be wondering if he mortgaged too much of our future to get Garcia, Everett, and Contreras for a season that has gone done the crapper. The Twins grow stronger, the Sox grow weaker. 6 games out. 4.5 out of the wildcard. At least the Cubs are going down fighting.