ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

I wanted to post a reminder out there for all you guys and gals off from work today. The only Division I school (with a football team) in the Chicagoland area is in a bowl game this year. It's the Wildcats of Northwestern!! <>

 Those of you who actually read this blog on a consistent basis know I have been a season ticket holder (on and off) for about 5 years. I've been going to the games in Evanston pretty religiously for about 10 years. Some would argue that my loyalties are screwed up. I disagree. My alma mater didn't have football. I donned my purple and white pom-pom hat at a very young age. Sure, they were awful most of the time, but it was still fun. There is nothing like college football in the fall. Ok, except maybe college basketball in the spring. Let's also add the MLB playoffs for good measure. You get the picture. It's Good Times. So with that I want to wish the Wildcats and Brett Basanez well this afternoon (who is the idiot that put this game on at 1 in the afternoon on a Friday?) I'm going to go against the grain and NOT call this a shoot out. NU takes this bowl game 24-17. GO U! NU!

The White Sox just announced John Garland has resigned. Let's take a break from the great news that the Bears won their division to talk about this.

The rumors floating around on the net involved Garland in a trade for Baltimore's Miguel Tejada. He was probably going to get packaged up with Uribe. That's the rumor I kept hearing. I can't say for certain, but I don't think this is a sign and trade deal. Tejada is not coming to the South Side unless Kenny Williams is able to send Contreras instead of Garland to Baltimore. I don't think Baltimore would do that deal for a couple of obvious reasons. First, Garland is younger than Contreras. Secondly, Garland is most likely going to be cheaper than Contreras. At least Contreras is more expensive now, making $8.5 million. This leaves me hoping that Garland is able to repeat his All-Star performance in '06. I know a lot of Cubs fans out there that can't wait to write articles about Garland turning into a pumpkin next year. Here's to hoping they keep waiting.

Speaking of the Cubs, I would be remiss not to point out that they are in the Tejada sweepstakes as well. I have no idea if they would be stupid enough to give Baltimore what they are reportedly after: Zambrano. I can understand sending Mark Prior in that deal with only a little less apprehension. The bottom line is the Northsiders are attempting to do what the White Sox did last year, in the same fashion. Strong pitching, good defense and timely hitting. They're probably 2 arms short of reaching that first goal. I don't think they can afford to send either of their young studs to Baltimore in this deal. But what do I know?

If you didn't stop by last night, you missed my in-game analysis. That's a big word to describe “freaking out”. No sooner than Lovie Smith's executive decision to go with Grossman did I start to hear the clickety-click-clicking of people tapping plastic keys. The journalists in this great city were revving up for this morning's newspapers. You can imagine all the “Thanks for the memories, Kyle” articles being written. Hell, even your's truly is writing one as we speak. I tip my cap to the rookie from Purdue who found out the hard way that the NFL is fast, furious, and unforgiving. We have quickly forgotten how the 22-year old was given a quarter of the playbook and expected to do no harm at the expense of doing good. The defense appreciated his efforts, and so did the offense. Even Moose, who was caught flipping out at Orton on the sideline after being open (yet again), and not thrown to was appreciative. But those kind words are in passing. There is nothing better than a win at home, and a 7-1 home record to get people excited. That is, unless that win comes with the end of a quarterback controversy. The “spark” was clearly Grossman. It woke everyone up. The fans, the wide outs, the defense, and even Ron Turner. Turner was able to go to chapter 3 in the Bears playbook as a result of the spark. It was such a definitive, and pronounced change that even the heaters on the sidelines seemed to boost their BTUs. Everything was just right. It's daring me to say that there was magic in the air! Wow. What difference. Our apologies to Grossman and his Florida fan club for forgetting how much stronger his arm is than Orton's. Your chest has to fill with pride this morning after seeing the Bears win a game against a pretty talented Falcons team. They might be inconsistent (might?), but they still boast a great set of running backs, and a quarterback who is so dynamic and versatile you expect him to out run defensive ends on his hands let alone his feet. As a result of this great win, our fears of not making the playoffs due to a spectacular slump are gone. They are now replaced with our expectations to go deep in the playoffs. I don't think that's crazy talk, do you?

Let's do it:

• Offense: The Trib gave Orton an “F“. They gave Grossman a B+. That averages to a C. I would tend to disagree with that grade slightly. The introduction of Grossman after the pathetic half Orton had massive impact on this game, and our season. Ron Turner started calling the real plays. Moose found the ball on his hands often. Everyone seemed hungrier, sharper, and played with an extra push. It was great to see. What a change. Strong work to the offensive line for protecting the fragile Grossman and opening up some nice holes for Thomas Jones. Grossman was more accurate, has a stronger arm, and walked into a -1 degree game after missing 4 months. Leading us to victory in these conditions is special. Mark it down, this is a big deal.
• Defense: The defense must have realized the game was being watched nationally. What else could
  explain the devastating hits? This was a hitting and tackling clinic. If you want your sons and
  daughters(we're equal opp here) to level people, show them tape of this game. There isn't
  enough space here to praise everyone, including Mike Green for what amounted to the most
  devastating hit I have seen this side of a 50% increase in my gas bill. Chico should be proud.
  Vick didn't know what hit him.
• Special Teams: Hey, what do you know, Gould still can't kick anything longer than 40 yards. It's ok kid, we won and you did a nice job making all the ones in between. We cut Wade, so I have nothing more to complain about. Except that we need a real returner eventually...but hey, we won and that means you guys pass.
• Saving the best for last today. Lovie has to be given huge, huge amounts of credit
  with the move he made yesterday. It was his "gut" that told him to do it.
  It's not like the lack of first downs had anything to do with it, right? It's
  a good thing to see your coaching staff adapt. I don't remember any other
  coach being so forward thinking during a game. He made a change that could
  have been second guessed till the cows come home and he did it anyway. It turns out Lovie realized the true secret to coaching in the NFL: Go with your gut, because their going to second guess you anyway. Strong, strong work by Lovie. I think I should take some time to also acknowledge Ron Turner for going with the real playbook in the second half. Clearly, we have no idea what was going on in practice, but Ron does.  For whatever reason, Grossman is given free range on the plays he can run, while the rookie was given the "easy" calls. I guess Ron had a point all along. If the rookie couldn't make the easy throws, what makes you think he was able to make that 22-yard fireball to Moose for the first down? That's right, nothing.

Here are some in game notes...It's 6-3 and Warrick Dunn just broke a massive run:

1. Orton's first pass was way overthrown to the left of the receiver. Berrian did a great job
bringing it in

2. The end around was amazing. How did Atlanta fall for it.

3.The throw to Desmond Clark in the flat was HORRIBLE. And on third down.
It forced us to kick a field goal to tie the game 3-3.

Why aren't the fans cheering for Grossman yet?
Maybe it's because it's 9 degrees out there.

4. There are a lot of after-the-whistle pushing and shoving sessions

5. Urlacher is a monster. You shall never question his abilities again.

6. Moose was caught on camera freaking out at Orton on that last 3rd down.
The first time Orton gets a chance to make him happy, he hangs a ball on
a corner fade - that results in blatant pass interference

7. It's 3rd and 6 on the pass interference drive -- I bet we run the ball.
Well...We do;it's a pitch to Jones and we are kicking another field goal.
6-3 Bears

Back from Half:
8. Great run by Thomas Jones - he finally broke one off.
Too bad, we have to punt it away - freakin horrible.

9. OMFG - Orton has been pulled - Welcome back Grossman.
Lovie wants me to eat my words on previous posts backing Orton.
Crap. You better be right.

10. So far so good. The Bears are playing with a different step now. Grossman has thrown a tight couple of first downs. Holy Crap. The newspapers are going to rip Orton a new one...it's a shame because Kyle kept it together for us. Let the Grossman era begin...We're in the red zone.

11. I'm clearly wrong on my early assesment of this game. At least for Chicago fans. This game is anything but a snooze fest. Grossman comes in and throws a pick, which is fumbled and the Bears recovered! 1st down Bears, and Ron Turner gets his head out of his rear and give the ball to Jones for the TD. Hey Bears fans - that's what a drive looks like. It's been a long, long, LONG TIME since we've seen anything like that in this town. Clearly, God hates Kyle Orton.

12. Grossman just threw a jem to Gage. Moose is said to have walked off the field
with a limp. I hope he's ok. His favorite QB is tearing it up out there.

13. The ESPN Sunday night crew seems to love the Bears. They can't stop
talking about how good we are. I'm shocked.

14. Robbie Gould just kicked a 39 yard field goal to go up 16-3. Wow. Nice Drive

It's about one commercial break before the Bears kick off against the Falcons. I wanted to sneak in my prediction:

1. It's cold (yes, I'm a genius). Vick has never played in a single digit cold weather game. Then again, the Bears are built like a warm weather team. (re: last week against the Steelers)

2. Orton is no way going to throw for more than 60 yards.

3. America will be bored to tears watching this game, unless the defense scores twice. In high steppin fashion.

Ok - enough of that. It's game time. I'm sorry to say I am picking the Falcons to win this one in a snooze fest: 17-6

I really hope the Bears don't faulter. The Vikings and Cowboys both lost and Seattle won. We need to keep pace.

Kick their butts...please.

I woke up this morning to news that Kenny Williams dealt El Duque, Vizcaino, and minor leaguer Chris Young to Arizona for Javier Vazquez. I heard a tiny rumor that this deal might have involved Garland instead of El Duque, but obviously that was wrong. I am still trying to digest what this move means. I know very little about Javier Vazquez. MikeJ tells me that he has shown flashes of brilliance in the past. He was described to me as being an underachiever. Frankly, looking at his stats, I don't see any problem with the label. The White Sox didn't give up that much to get Vazquez. El Duque will always be remembered by that one amazing inning in the playoffs. The Jam. It was the most beautiful inning of White Sox baseball I have ever seen. That shine wears off when you think about the struggles he had during the regular season. He looked tired, couldn't find the strike zone, and was often injured. That shoulder has been giving him problems for a long time now. It's sad to see El Duque go because, well, he's El Duque. Vizcaino has never been a fan favorite. He was brought in as a guy who could eat up innings and get guys out. He couldn't do either, but like El Duque he stepped up during the playoff run and did his job. He finished the season strong and when Marte was going bonkers, Ozzie went to Vizcaino and didn't get torched. Chris Young is the kid in the minors who hits a ton. Go here and read about how he made the Minor League All-Star team. His numbers are impressive, and his potential is limitless. Good luck to Young.

Second guessing is tough to do on this trade, but I will do my best. Kenny has traded 2 young outfielders in Rowand and Young. Rowand was proven as a guy who came to play every day. He struggled at the plate and didn't provide the power we expected from the position. He also made some bone-head running errors at critical times in the playoffs. Sometimes, it seemed like Rowand was out of control. Young, we've never got a chance to see. He is pure upside. Raw talent with a nack to hit the ball for extra base hits. He was most likely our best prospect to replace Rowand. No offense to Joe Borchard or any of the other your outfield prospects in the minors. Realistically, a 22-year old wasn't going to make the team this spring anyway. Vizcaino didn't do much to help us this year. It was kind of disappointing. El Duque was a veteran in the rotation you could count on in big games. That burden now has to fall on Mark Buehrle, and Contreras. The only major question on this trade is what does it do to Brendan McCarthy? I thought he was going to be our 5th starter for sure next year. Clearly, Ozzie and Kenny have some issues with the youngster going a full season. Being cautious isn't a bad thing, but being afraid to use a talented kid like McCarthy next year could be.

This year might be a great year for yours truly. The White Sox won the Series, the Bears are hopefully about to win their division, and the Loyola Ramblers are off to a 6-1 start in college basketball. The Ramblers just beat Purdue on Sunday to reach the top of the Horizon League. So pardon me for taking some time to extol the virtues of being a Ramblers fan. There is really only 2 things I know about Ramblers basketball:

1. We are the only University in Illinois to win a Men's NCAA Division I Championship.
2. We should have gone to the show that one year we lost in overtime to UIC.

I also found this tidbit on collegesportingnews.com:

 *Loyola of Chicago is the only school to deploy just five players in a championship game. The Ramblers used their starting lineup the entire 1963 final when they upset Cincinnati (60-58 in overtime). They are the only team to ever overcome a halftime deficit of as many as eight points (29-21) to win a title game.

I can add one more thing - ESPN Classic always shows one LU game a year. It's a game where the Ramblers played Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas in the sweet 16! We lost that game, and Georgetown and Ewing went on to lose in the final to Villanova. The year was 1985. This is the only link I could find that had the bracket. (be warned, it sucks)

So - that's a lot to digest. I know the good folks at Deadspin are Illini fans, but watch out Dee Brown and company - The Ramblers are making a charge for the big dance this year! I smell a first round match up! Whoo-hoo! Ok, I'm going to go now.

The Bears' 8 game winning streak had to come to an end. I wish it wouldn't have ended like it did yesterday against the Steelers, but at this point in the season you shouldn't be shocked. The final score was 21-9. It was much worse than what the score would lead you to believe. We didn't lose this game because of Kyle Orton. I know, you're shocked. The rookie quarterback wasn't sharp, but he didn't throw any picks and didn't make any mistakes that would have cost us the game. Technically, you've got to lead in a game before handing it over to the opposition. The Bears didn't have that luxury out in the Pittsburgh blizzard. It was the defense and the coaching that let us down yesterday. They're allowed to have a brain fart every blue moon, so I'll cut them some slack for now, but what I won't do is forgot some of the bonehead miscues. I'll begin with a new feature I'm launching today: Cut the BS. It's a single question we would ask a player or coach and expect no BS. We aren't the media, and we don't write for newspapers. We're a tiny little blog. No one reads blogs anyway, right? What's the harm? So given the chance to ask this question, we would ask our victim...err interviewee to Cut the BS:

I ask the question because we wasted a week of our lives analyzing a rookie quarterback to death. Then the defense goes and lays an egg against the Steelers. Let's cut to the chase and get to the review. We're mixing it up and starting with the coaches:

• Coaching -- Craptacular! Everyone is shocked that Lovie accepted that offensive pass interference penalty. I'm not. It gave Roethlisberger a chance to convert a 3rd down and 16. You can understand that Lovie confused the 2nd year QB with the rookie QB we've got. No way a youngster like that can convert that to a first down! Our young quarterbacks can't do it, so therefore no young quarterback can. Especially not against our defense, right? Wrong. They converted it and then some. It turned into a touchdown. That was the Bus that ran all over your face Lovie. You too Urlacher. What was surprising to me is how Lovie stuck to his guns, with hindsight being 20/20, and said he would do it the same if given the chance. Huh? 4th and 1 and the Steelers were going to punt. Cowher said so. The offensive play calling was decent. We started off throwing to Moose to build everyone's confidence up. Actually, it seemed like they were throwing to Moose just to shut us up. It worked. Keep that part of the game up. Overall, I'm disappointed that we couldn't call a smash-mouth type of football game. What's up with that?
• Offense - Like I said above, the play calling was better. Orton still over throws his receivers. That is going to cost him a job. Moose is clearly the man and I gotta give it up to Thomas Jones. He might want to start complaining gently, this way they give him the ball more often. In a snowy game where everyone is sloppy wet and cold, the run is your friend. I wish we could break as many tackles as the Steelers. Which leads me to defense:
• Defense - Ouch! So much for the '85 Bears right? This team missed massive amounts of tackles. I'm looking at you Mike Green. I know we were missing Mike Brown and Chris Harris, but that's no excuse. If there was a way to cut Mike Green I'm sure Coach Rivera would have found it by now. This guy is craptacular. Again, the lack of tackling and the lack of power and pressure from our front four was devastating. The run defense was horrible. The conditions have nothing to do with it. We are the Chicago Bears. We play in an outdoor stadium shaped like a flying saucer. We supposedly like this weather. It's Bear Football weather. We supposedly thrive in this type of environment. It's a blow to our Chicago Ego to lose a winter game like this. It's old school football at it's best - and we supposedly own that game. Ouch.
• Special Teams - Can someone call R-dub back? We need someone to return kicks who doesn't warm up his hands with a tub of butter. We also need to get a kicker who is reliable. That's not fair actually - since most kickers in this league are taking a beating this year. Robbie, you get a pass this week for missing that extra point. Do it again, and we're going to force you to eat that Snickers bar you hide in Urlacher's socks.

That's it for now kids. Hopefully, our final game at home (in cold weather) will be a win. We welcome the circus act that is Mike Vick to the lake. Get ready. It's a big game for the Bears. Especially now that the Vikings have closed the gap to 1.

Chicago is obsessed with firing Kyle Orton. Turn on sports radio, or open a newspaper and it's all you hear. The latest news is that Grossman has been bumped up to the #2 slot. It seems as if Grossman is getting healthier with every poorly thrown ball Orton delivers. The problem with all of this is that we're actually still winning with Orton. Why start all this nonsense? Because he hasn't thrown a touchdown pass to Muhsin in the last 2 games? I don't buy into some people's belief that Grossman is that much better than Orton. The play calling has to take some of the blame for the poor offensive performance. Sure, execution has been lacking on Orton's part. But you have to ask yourself, isn't he doing almost exactly what the coaching staff has asked him to? If they cut the play book down to a quarter of the available plays and sent him out there to perform, isn't this the performance you would expect? Why does Grossman get the full playbook? Is it because of his 6 games of experience? Perhaps it's because Grossman has been sitting on his booty reading the playbook for a much longer time. Don't get me wrong, I am not happy with Orton's recent regression. He isn't sharp. His throws are way off in some cases, and he clearly doesn't have this “chemistry” everyone keeps telling me about with big Moose. You've got to ask yourself, why did the Bears sign a 13 million dollar Pro-Bowl wideout if they were going to avoid throwing the ball to him? Lovie claims Muhsin was/has/is open. Fine. He was open. Orton should look to Muhsin first. I hope that's the type of thing they are working on in practice. Which leads me to my next question.

What the hell are they practicing? I know game situations are never the same when inside the bubble at Halas Hall, but give me a break. I've said this time and time again - Orton is practicing against the BEST defensive unit in all the land. He should have this down by now. Take the handcuffs off this guy. Let him go to the shotgun. He's good at that. Why did you draft him if you new you were never going to call a shotgun set? I understand he wasn't ever supposed to play, but why continue to draft players that don't fit your system?!

Today's news that Grossman has been bumped up to 2nd in the QB rotation is good news. Yesterday in practice Rex took a quarter of the snaps with the first team offense. The signs are there dear boy. Orton has a two touchdown performance in the first half against Pittsburgh or our old pal Rex is taking over. I just hope that if the Bears are down at the half, they give young Orton a chance to bring us back. He deserves at least that much.

I'm just going to fire off some observations from yesterday's victory over the Packers. We'll dig deep after I get all this stuff of my chest:

• You know it's getting bad when my old man is calling for Jeff Blake.
• When Orton's quarterback rating is less than his shoe size, we're in massive trouble.
• If you've won more games in a row than you have scored touchdowns in as many games, you're a bad offense.
• The defense looks amazing - yet you still get the feeling Favre was 1 minute away from crushing us.
• The defense doesn't look tired. I think they are in shape now to continue Lovie's plan of iron man football.
• What the hell is Wade Wilson doing? Shouldn't this former Heisman hopeful from Purdue be better than the smart kid from Harvard?
• I'm willing to bet you just remembered who Jonathan Quinn is.
• I love cheering for hard hits. Especially when they're on Favre.
• If our defense scored more points than our offense would Urlacher play QB?
• The Vikings haven't lost. Brad Johnson is 5-1 as their starter. I'm sticking to my prediction in that final game.
• Is it me or do the Bears look a lot like the Illini?
• Mushin hasn't started complaining. He should start now. (no catches will do that to you)
• Thomas Jones is a good running back. Is Peterson a great running back? He sure plays like it.
• Lesson learned: stop drafting quarterbacks and running backs. We just aren't good at it
• The defensive unit is locked into long term contracts. This means we need to make a huge move on offense. And I'm not talking about Rick Mirer huge.
• A win is a win - doesn't that fill your chest up with pride?

Back with more analysis later today...

Ok - I swear to god I was writing my own list of why I absolutely hate ESPN now. I swear it. Ask MikeJ. He can prove it. It turns out that my list sucked. Especially when you take the jump and see the real reasons why ESPN sucks. All 52 of them. A more perfect list doesn't exist. This is the best Christmas present no one ever gave me. In the great Christian tradition I am re-gifting it to you. Now go forth and spread this.

The only thing I would add to this list is the Oprahfication of ESPN. All that “Sportstainment” is in essence their efforts to get my wife watching Sportscenter instead of me. Congrats Mickey, you freakin rat.