ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

Hey White Sox fans! I know we are knee deep in Bears wins (I actually missed the game yesterday, that's for another post) but the White Sox just made some pretty interesting decisions this offseason. Kenny Williams has decided to keep Mark Buehrle, Tadihito Iguchi and Jermaine Dye for next year. I agree with all three extensions. The White Sox were missing a few pieces and a lot of luck last season. When the time comes I will finally write a 2006 team evaluation of the White Sox that goes into greater detail. That's code for when I have time. For now, let's agree that sign and trades are still an option so don't get too attached to any of these guys. Kenny is a crazy man during the offseason. You all know this by now.

I'm wondering how much of an affect the St. Louis Cardinals championship run has on Williams' moves. They weren't nearly as talented as the White Sox. I'll argue that till I die. Or until my wife kills me. Contreras, Garland, and Buehrle have to be just as good as Carpenter, Suppan, and Weaver were for the Cards. Don't they? I guess it doesn't matter any more. How many weeks till spring training?

I've no choice but to tip my cap to the St. Louis Cardinals on their 10th Championship. They did a great job of taking it to the Tigers. It's safe to say the Tigers crapped the bed in this series. I can't get all of my thoughts out right now because my Cardinal-loving wife is too busy celebrating. I guess if the Sox had to miss the series, it might as well be the Cardinals who become World Champions.

So my house is going to have a World Series Championship closet filled with caps and shirts from last year's championship (Happy Anniversary Sox fans!)  and a brand new set in matching red.

Sorry Mags, but this was your one chance. The Tigers won't be there next year. Guess who I think will...

White Sox fans, I can't wait till spring training.

Cubs fans - don't be fooled. The Tigers had talent. That's what turned them around. You may think the Cardinals were old and done (like your team) but I doubt that matters much right now. (MJ has special insight on how this year is just the final straw for Cubs fans)

Cardinals fans - Congrats on a hard fought Championship. And if I may quote my wife:
"GO CARDS GO CARDS GO CARDS"

I had the privilege of being in the stands at Ryan Field this weekend. I love making the mini trek to Evanston. I've been a season ticket holder for almost 10 years now. Yes, I like to be punished. Hey, the 'Cats have been a respectable Big-Ten team in the last few years. This year, not so much.

I witnessed the Northwestern Wildcats crush the Michigan State Spartans for a half of football on Saturday. At the very top of the grandstand I noticed a group of MSU's finest students wearing white T-shirts that spelled out: "FIRE JOHN L". This first half of football seemed to garauntee their wishes would come true.

It's a shame that the second half was a complete debacle. The Spartans charged back and ultimately pulled off the greatest NCAA Division I comeback of all time. The Cats blew a 24-3 lead at the half. (box score on that link) I can't put my finger on what went wrong. I've had a few days to think about it and I still can't find a scapegoat for this terrible loss. Running a blog means that I have no choice but to find something or someone to yell at. Someone is to blame for this crap loss and I am to find them. Let's begin my mission:

First, let's start out with the defense that shut down Drew Stanton in the first half only to sit back on their heels in the second half. Stanton was masterful late in the third quarter. He took charge of the game and drove down the field for two quick touchdowns. Northwestern was on auto-pilot at this point in the game and I had started to become nervous.

Second, I blame the offensive play calling in the red zone. As the Wildcats stood around on defense getting punched in the mouth by Stanton and his receiving corps, the offense decided to do something in response. A great run, nay, a FANTASTIC run by Tyrell Sutton for 64 yards seemed to what we needed to put the Spartans away. This is the point in the game where you get to run the football 2 or 3 times and score while killing the clock. It would have given the 'Cats a 45-17 lead. Instead, we ran some crappy plays and eventually threw a pick in the endzone. Now, the pick was pure luck. The ball bounced off the chest of the NU receiver and into the hands of a MSU cornerback. It was a bad bounce! The tides were shifting and everyone in the stadium knew it. If this wasn't the indication that all momentum officially moved to the MSU sideline, the next series of plays did.

Stanton was crushed by the defense on the next series. It was an unfair tackle out of bounds, which drew a flag. (no pun intended) Their backup quarterback came in and did a nice job. The kid had a bullet for an arm and any hope we had to win this game with Stanton on the sidelines was quickly extinguished by a blocked punt that was returned for an MSU touchdown. Bedlam ensued! 38-24 and I'm starting to feel the Chicago chill.

I'll spare you the rest of the details because frankly, I can't really describe them. I just found myself staring out to what was a happy homecoming crowd now turned stunned. Deer in headlights stunned. The Wildcats have had a terrible season this year. We lost our head coach to a tragic death, hired a fan favorite to replace him, and haven't been able to get on a roll ever since. Tough losses to Nevada,New Hampsire, and now MSU pretty much have sealed our fate this season. Forget about making a bowl game. I'm just hoping we can somehow erase this craptacular loss by surprising the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes in a few weeks. Why not? Evanston was the sight of a miracle this past Saturday. Maybe we can witness another one in a few weeks.

Oh momma! I can't believe what I just witnessed. The Bears just stole tonight's Monday night game against the Arizona Cardinals 24-23. The Bears were down by 20 at the half. That would be 20 to NOTHING. It was the WORST half of football I have ever seen this team play in my entire life. Why oh why does this always happen when we are on national TV? The Bears committed 6 turnovers tonight and failed to score an offensive touchdown.

Matt Leinart took that last post of mine to heart and proceeded to find his primary big-play receiver Anquan Boldin time and time again throughout this game. Boldin finished the game with 12 catches for 136 yards and a touchdown. Who was covering Boldin? Peanut? Manning? Brown? All of the above? Sheesh! In the end it didn't matter that the defense wasn't able to slow down a high powered Arizona offense. Yea, you read that right. Leinart has this team firing on all cylinders.

I feel bad for all the sports writers out there that were writing stories for tomorrow's paper. There is a lot of cutting and pasting going on tonight at the Tribune Tower. Thankfully, I write a blog where I don't have to worry about such things as going to print. Then again, I don't get paid to do this. Ok, it's time to wrap this up:

Let me take the opportunity to just highlight some of my comments from tonight's game/coverage:

 

• I credit Charles Barkley for showing up in the booth during tonight's telecast and letting everyone know that 20 points wasn't going to be good enough for a Cardinals victory. Charles knows losers when he sees them.
• There is too much garbage being said in the post-game about Denny Green losing his job. There is no way I fire Denny Green if I am the Cardinals front office. The Cardinals played with some great intensity and emotion tonight. The coaching job Denny Green did was fantastic. Sure, they fell a little short and lost the game but this team did not lose this game because of Coach Green. Then again, they are reporting he just had a meltdown. Maybe I should wait and see what his comments were before I push for his contract extension!
• Matt Leinart is going to make a lot of GMs in the league lose their jobs as we continue to watch him mature into the premiere quarterback in the league. Leinart is the real deal. His team plays hard for him. There is a difference between the way his troops rally around him and the way the Bears rally around Grossman.
• The Bears watch Grossman fumble, hang receivers out to dry, and throw multiple picks only to send the defense back out on the field to save his ass. I don't get that sense from the Cardinals when Leinart makes a mistake. Maybe he hasn't made enough of them. Perhaps the shine has worn off of Grossman to the point where people on the defensive side of the ball start to think, "Great, we gotta go save his ass again."

I think a wise man once said the Bears aren't as good as we think they are. (go read that link, MJ NAILED IT)

It turns out that Denny Green just said the exact same thing in his post game press conference.

I'm going to bed, but I will return in the morning with more spectacular prose on the Bears. I bet you can't wait.

I know that the game is about to kick off. I wanted to quickly send out a message to Matt Leinart before he steps out onto the field against the 5-0 Bears. So here goes:

 

Dear Matt,

Tonight is a big game. You're on Monday Night Football for the first time facing a Bears team that is visiting with a 5-0 record. More importantly, they arrive in Arizona with a defense that has 18 sacks. 17 of which come from the front line. This defense will hurt you. I wanted to remind you of that. They have a 20 year old team haunting them and tonight they're going to take it out on you. There are visions of Richard Dent dancing in everyone's head this evening. I'm getting chills just thinking about it. I'm not taking anything away from your history as a winner. No question, you were the BMOC at USC. You're used to winning games. You're also used to slow defenses that can't tackle. It's not your fault. You played in the Pac-10. Tonight, your golden-boy powers are going to be tested. You are going to be pushed to you limits. I have only one bit of advice for you tonight: Take the sack. You'll be better for it in the morning.

 

 

I know it is football season and most people visit the site to get coverage of the Bears, but not today. Not in this post. I'm warning you that this is a post about baseball. Be prepared.

I've been pretty much silent on the White Sox collapse at the end of the 2006 season because it was causing me severe headaches. Its not because I am lazy (ok, maybe a little bit), or because I had nothing to say. This is hardly the case. My excuse is that I just had nothing good to write. I was tapped out. Everyone had already coveverd the "former White Sox factor". It was everywhere. Stories about Big Frank,Mags,and even Esteban Loaiza where on every blog and newspaper in this city. You weren't going to get anything new from any of them. (sorry) It was a typical angle. The White Sox are the anti-Cubs. You've all played the game which calls for you to add up all the former Cub's players on each playoff team and then predict that teams failure in the playoffs. As if the number of former Cubs' players really mattered in that team's fortunes. Hogwash. Just as much hogwash is the fact that the number of former White Sox players on your team equals success. It's a funny story for about 3 sentences. 2 pages is too much.

It is all relative. The story isn't about Chicago this year, and we have to find a way to make it about Chicago.

With that, I give you Detroit's new hero and former White Sox great - Magglio Ordonez.

I think it says it all. Sans $10 words:

I'm going to start off by saying I am expecting nothing short of a massacre every time the Bears step onto the field. I haven't had this high of expectations for our football team since I was 10 years old. (I won't mention what year that was, but I bet you can guess.) The game was a display of perfection on both sides of the ball. If you don't believe me, jump over to MJ's post-game analysis. He went to the game and stopped short of simply posting the Bears' fight song. I'll dig a little deeper with a few points that jumped out:

1. The rookie from 'Bama has 5 sacks. He has the moves of a veteran. I'm starting to feel bad about giving GM Jerry Angelo a hard time after the draft. Oops! Sorry Jer! No hard feelings right?

2. Rex Grossman is not Brett Favre. I just wanted to point this out. I'm tired of the comparison. Rex is Rex. I am at a loss for words because he is better than he has ever been at any stage in his career. Yea, even at Florida.

3.Cedric Benson scored 2 touchdowns. They were great runs. Powerful runs. He hasn't had enough touches for us to absolve his horrible attitude (perceived) but the more that the changes, the more I like him. Both Jones and Benson combined for over 150 yards rushing. If that number gets any closer to 180 or 190 yards a game, we're going to be unstoppable.

4. I was happy to hear that the defense was super pissed they let in that touchdown with a few minutes remaining in the game. I'd be pissed too if it was a bullshit call against Urlacher for roughing the passer that gave the Bills a fresh set of downs to break into the end zone. The shut-out would have been nice.

5.The offensive and defensive play calling has been great. It gets better every week. The mix of run plays and long passes has been fun to watch. I think people are going to have a very hard time covering both Moose and Berrian. Sure, they double and triple teamed Moose, but they paid for that strategy dearly when Berrian scored those two touchdowns (It could have been three!)

That's it for me. I'm not doing grades this week. Everyone gets an A. I don't have a single complaint. I might have to start thinking about shutting down this site if they continue to run the table like they have in the first 5 games...

Well..maybe not. I'll just have to get used to finding nice things to say about both the team and the organization. What a nice problem to have.

BEAR DOWN.

I know what everyone is thinking. The Bears are the best team in the NFL right now. The entire league has been served notice with last night's victory over the NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks. I can prove it. It took forever to launch their site this morning. The football-loving masses are awake this morning and anxious to learn more about the beloved Bear. I can't blame them. It was a magnificent display of dominance on both sides of the football. That's the part that surprises everyone, including those of us who live in ChiTown -- the offense is good. We all knew the skill level of the defense. It's the offense that has us excited.

Rex Grossman is good. Desmond Clark is good. The wide receivers are great. I could have sworn we were searching for a second wideout to compliment Moose when training camp opened up. It seemed like we would never find one. There were tons of questions at the start of the 2006 season that circled around the offense. The Bears answered all of those questions last night. This has forced me to start asking a new set of questions. (that's for another post)

In the meantime, let's go around the Net and see some of the reaction to last night's Bears victory.

Here is a quick list of words I found describing what thethe beloved Bear did to Seattle:

• invincibility
• smash
• smother
• maul
• bully
• thrashing

Overall, I'd say you get the picture.

It was the greatest single display of football we have seen by the Lovie Smith-led Bears. I am shocked at the sheer dominance that the Bears just displayed against last year's NFC champs, the Seahawks. I found myself yelling and screaming about a dozen times. (once per sack is what it seemed like)

I know a lot of Seattle fans are going to speculate this loss was because their star running back was on the sidelines. They may have a point. It's tough to gauge what kind of impact Alexander's absence had on the team, but you could see how their ball control suffered.

The final score was 37-6. I'd like to point out one last thing before I head off to dream land tonight -- The defense didn't give up a touchdown again. Pretty impressive!
You know it was an amazing night (national audience for this one guys, not just those of us in Berwyn) when the news coverage is nothing more than a 30 minute sports show!

I'll be back tomorrow with the report card. I bet you can't wait. BEAR DOWN!
Nice win fellas!

Update: Man, I was so excited last night, I cut and pasted the wrong game number in my title. What can I say....I was too busy watching the replays!