ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

The rubber match in LA between the White Sox and the Dodgers was another one of those afternoon specials. I hate early starts. I'm stuck at the office getting worked into a lather about some sort of software bullshit instead of watching the game. I completely forgot the Sox where playing the afternoon special. I used to rely on a handful of Sox fans in the office to remind me, but most of them have left the company. The Euro semi-final also isn't helping either....

As for the game, I can't really comment other than to say the box score looked great. White Sox win 2-0 and that's a big deal based on our recent road woes. Danks did a great job today pitching and the Sox where able to increase their defensive effort to support him. The bats seem to be quiet again and that won't be a good thing because part 2 of the Crosstown Classic starts tomorrow!

Here are some final White Sox points as I crawl into a dark room and pray, quietly in the corner that the White Sox punish the Cubs like a 5 year old stealing candy at WalMart:

• Danks had 4 straight no decisions before getting this win. I think he is coming along nicely. Wish he would be pitching tomorrow because...
• Jose Contreras is starting tomorrow against the Cubs. What are the chances he can shake off one of the worst innings I've ever seen him pitch.
• Paul Konerko is still on the DL. It would have been nice to have Paulie back for this series as he is a Cubs killer
• Alexai Ramirez is getting very good defensively. Did anyone see him turn that double play today? He is going to be a special player in this league. Mark my words
• Swisher looks OK at first base. Better than Thome, not as good as Paulie.
• JD is going to have to carry us this weekend...
• We have a pretty good home record at the Cell too...
• And Finally, the DAMN TWINS KEEP WINNING. CHRIST. Make them stop already. Damn Piranha.

Go-Go-White Sox!

John Paxson corrected the mistake Jerry Angelo made in this year's NFL draft by drafting Derrick Rose. I am a bit surprised by this fact. You see, the Bears had an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone in their draft and they decided to take a pass. I'm talking about the fact the Bears needed a running back, and a boost after a terrible season. What more could you ask for than an Illinois running back who grew up a Bears fan in Skokie? Alas, Rashard Mendenhall was passed over by his favorite team when the Bears took Matt Forte.  (ok, I am assuming Menenhall grew up normal, ie a Bears fan)

The Bulls were in the same position tonight. The number 1 pick fell into their lap after a disastrous season where they missed the playoffs. The ship was sinking on the Westside. Paxson had to do something to make a swift correction. Hiring Vinnie Del Negro wasn't it. Drafting a true point guard who grew up in Chicago was.

My interest level has now officially increased in this team. I'm happy that the Chicago kid comes home, but don't misinterpret my enthusiasm. The fact remains the Bulls did something decisively. With clarity. This is refreshing considering the mess that was the head coaching vacancy. I'm happy because Derrick Rose was HANDS DOWN the BEST player in this years draft. He is the closest thing to a sure thing and the Bulls didn't over think themselves. We took the best player in the draft #1. That is how its supposed to go. Paxson still isn't out of the woods, but this is a start.

My hope is that John and the Bulls continue to do the OPPOSITE of what the Bears have done. Specifically, I hope they don't start off on the wrong foot with Rose by offering him a "home discount" contract. Pay the kid. Pay him well. Do it tomorrow. Get him in Deerfield shooting baskets as soon as possible. Then take a lunch break and show him around Lake Forest or Highland Park(where I will assume he will reside) After all that, pick up a phone and start shopping Kirk Heinrich.

Welcome back to the Chi Derrick.

I've said this before, and I will say it again: I love west-coast baseball. The White Sox are visiting the Dodgers in LA tonight. The game didn't start until 9pm CST. This gave me plenty of time to scout the Cubs.

Hah!

No, seriously I saw a few innings of the Cubs game. The Orioles actually did something tonight that the White Sox weren't able to do last weekend in the crosstown classic. And that is beat the Cubs at Wrigley. I am just as shocked as you are. The Orioles are not a good baseball team. I say that without even looking at the standings. Ok, they are ahead of the Blue Jays, but the Jays are in such bad times that they went and hired Cito Gaston. AGAIN. Looks like Cito is trying to put the band together again. [he just let go his batting coach] I guess I shouldn't crap on the Orioles. Especially since they come to the Northside winning 7 out of their last 10.

As for the Sox, it was a great game. Buehrle was on the mound and he did a great job. His typically fast pace worked in all of our favors. (especially those of you working in the morning) His line tonight: 8 innings, 6 hits, 1 run, 2 strike outs, and he gave up only a single home run in the 6-1 victory. Its good when the Sox bounce back this quickly. JD had another great game tonight. He tied Quentin with his 17th home run tonight. It put the game away and it was exactly what he needed. I believe I saw him strike out twice before that at bat. Way to battle JD. He also won AL Player of the Week honors. So, not a bad night for JD. I guess I should shut up about trading the guy. One final note about the game: we played some great defense tonight. (yes, even without Crede) Alexai's awesome overhand grab in short center field led to a double play. He caught the runner leading too far towards second base. A bullet throw to first catches the guy and we're heading to commercial. Nice work by the Cuban Missile. He is becoming a fun dude to watch. Finally...

Good news in the division. The Indians lost to the Giants. The Cards took care of the Tigers, and as of right now it is a 1-1 tie game in San Diego where the Twins are trying to win their 7th straight. The media should sniff the Twins turbo-charged rise any second now. I'm dreading the stories of how the Twins are "gamers".

A few White Sox notes:

Jim Thome is getting a chance to befriend Pablo Ozuna. Why Pablo? Because Ozuna rides the bench. Interleague play doesn't afford Ozzie the luxury of Thome's big bat in the lineup. I'm guessing the conversation in the dugout took a turn for the worse when big Jim realized Ozuna was told to grab a glove and find his way to his chopping station. You see, Ozuna is a butcher at 3rd and with Crede getting the night off he actually got a chance to play. Thome and Konerko could get together and compare notes when it comes to struggling early at the plate. Paulie is headed to the minors for a rehab assignment and hopefully gets to break the spell of the no-hit-bat. And with that I realize that I am rambling and making no sense.

But the White Sox win, and that means everything is back to normal tonight.

GO-GO-White Sox!

The Cubs came to play. There is no denying it. They came to PLAY against the White Sox. I am not sure if they were sending a message to the Sox (or the league) but I heard them loud and clear. This team is not a fluke. It took the best pitching staff in the AL deep 9 times. They made the Sox look silly. I can't find a single thing the Cubs did wrong against us. They stole bases, they crushed homers, and they pitched us into the ground. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they beat us at our own game. I'm positive the Cubs will eventually lose the Cardinals. It didn't take this ass-whopping of the White Sox for clarity to arrive. I'm just as sure that the Twins are going to pass the Sox.

I'm always nervous when the cross town classic comes up on the schedule. It typically goes one sided, and the team on the losing end usually stumbles their way to the bottom of their division. I know it is harsh. But is it too early to throw the towel in if you are a White Sox fan? Yup. We still have next weekend Sox Fans. It is the best we can do.  Time to hope for a sweep of the Cubs at the Cell next weekend.

The most disapointing thing about the White Sox being swept by the Cubs is that we gave up a ton of ground to the Twins. Both teams will leave this series still in first place, but the Sox are only going to be a game and a half in front of the Twins. The offense continued to struggle in this series, and the Cubs turned our once solid pitching into a joke. From the walk off home run in Friday's game off of Linebrink, to the 8 run 4th inning Contreras threw yesterday. It was a pathetic effort all around. When you lose a series like this, you start to second guess what the managers and coaches are doing. There was a lot of arm chair quarterbacking going on this weekend. The first complaint was why Denks didn't stay in the game on Friday. Further, why would Ozzie pick 2 former NL pitchers that the Cubs own (Dotel and Linebrink) to replace Denks? It made no sense and the Cubs took advantage of the situation as a result. I heard a lot about Coop not doing his job and telling Ozzie that the matchup wasn't to their favor. The next point of contention White Sox nation had with the coaching this weekend was why didn't Contreras get pulled in the 4th. (sooner) What was it going to take? 12 runs? 5 back to back home runs? Shit, Ozzie didn't even get anyone up until it was too late.

Take a deep breath. I agree that Denks should have been pulled, but I disagree with the moves of Dotel and Linebrink. Face facts, their history on the Northside isn't a good one. I did disagree with the non action against Contreras. Would it have been bad to go out there and talk to him? Perhaps Coop could have taken a slow walk out there and reminded Jose that this game isn't over...

Really? It was over. We all knew it. We all felt it on the Southside. The tone was set with the walk off on Friday. The 0-2 count to Marquis, which eventually turned into a slap single to extend the inning and force the offensive onslaught, was the cherry on top. Tough breaks? No. Tough opponent. It seems the Cubs are going to tear through the rest of this baseball season like a White House shredder. The Sox, well...the White Sox are going to battle. I'm just not sure if they battle to stay afloat or to win it outright.

Shake it off White Sox fans. This series meant nothing. At least not yet.

I was nervous this morning about tonight's Sox game. The Pirates are a horrible team. They have been owned by the Cubs. Why is this important? Because they are a bullshit measuring stick. You know it. What is a bullshit measuring stick? Its like applying simple logic to win/loss ratios. Basically, if we didn't do well against the Pirates in this series, a series that leads into the Crosstown Classic, we were toast. Cubs beat Pirates. Pirates beat Sox. Cubs Beat Sox. I feel like taking an SAT exam..

I completely missed the game tonight because of all the other shenanigans going on in Perry-land. Incidentally, I stopped blogging about the White Sox during that great win streak we had a week ago. I did this on purpose. I figured if I wasn't writing, and they were winning why should I rock the boat? At some point I realized that I was being lazy. Cocoa and Ruby programing can take a break tonight. Let's talk White Sox baseball.

There are a number of things that come to mind. I'm going to just list them out here for you:

First - Paul Konerko has been awful at the plate. He is now officially on the 15-day disabled list. This is the first time in Paulie's career that he has ever been on the DL. Is this a sign of things to come? I heard a few ridiculous comments on the radio this afternoon that had the Sox looking to shop Konerko the second he comes back from the DL. That's a dumb move. Exactly why hasn't Paulie earned the right to fight his way back from this terrible slump? If I told you we would be in first place on June 17th and Konerko was batting .215 (he is a career .278 hitter) would you have believed me? Paulie needs to work it out. He needs to work it out quickly because I like watching speed on the bases. No offense, but the middle of this order was built to "trot" not run. (thank you Comcast commercial)

Second - With hindsight being 20/20, I really would have liked to see a young outfield. Swisher, Quentin, and Brian Anderson. I think Jermaine Dye should have been traded, if not left unsigned. JD is great. He is one of my favorite White Sox players, but JD is getting up there in years and he can't run as well as he used to. Sure, I've seen him make a couple of decent diving catches in the past few weeks. And yes, he still has a great arm. But we need speed on the base pads. We also need to add some more young pitching to the farm club. JD is worth more than any of the other big 3 (Thome, Konerko, JD) I can see a playoff team in the AL calling the Sox for either JD or Thome's services before the trading deadline.

Third - Ozzie being Ozzie works. I'm sort of tired of Ozzie stirring the pot. I'm also sort of tired of the media turning it into a big deal. Rick Morrissey made a point in a column for the Trib that Chicago beat reporters are used to this from Oz. The outsiders are the ones making this a bigger deal. All well and good, but I'd like to think that the mature clubhouse we have isn't effected by Ozzie's rants at all. That goes for both good rants and bad. I find this to be yet another example of shit journalism. It sells papers, and has nothing to do with why the Sox are "turning it around".

I've got more thoughts on mid year moves...but I'm going to save that for tomorrow.

GO-Go-White Sox!

I don't hate Boston. I actually had a ton of fun visiting during the 5 years my brother was out there training. It is a great town. Its sports fans....well, lets just say they are passionate. Damn it if they don't always win something. I know there are questions about the league's integrity (I'll write something up on this soon) but I can't say I'm not happy for the Celtics. Here are two reasons: KG, and Doc Rivers.

Doc especially, because he is a Chicago guy. Yea, I guess I can say that KG is an adopted Chicago guy too but no one in this audience remembers that he played at Farragut. Even fewer remember the great Chicago Public School baller, Ronnie Fields who was on that team. Damn they were good.

Anyway. I wanted to send a shout out to Doc. Congrats Doc. You deserve it. Now please come back home and show John Paxson how its done.

More news tonight. But here it is. Cedric Benson has been cut! Read it here.

Well at least he is getting better at taking mug shots! Cedric Benson was arrested early Saturday Morning in Austin Texas. This is the second time in 5 weeks that Ced has seen the inside of a prison cell.  What is wrong with this guy? Besides the fact that he can't run the football, he also can't seem to follow instructions. I believe it was Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo that gave Ced the benefit of the doubt on his first arrest for boating while intoxicated. I'm sure they sat him down and told him the same things they told Tank Johnson. Keep your head low kid. Stay out of trouble. Easy, right? Wrong.

The timing of this arrest couldn't have been worse. The Bears had just kicked off their fan convention on Saturday. Can you imagine what Jerry Angelo was thinking when he got the news? I bet he has every one of these articles that said he was picking on Benson too much for the BWI printed and framed. "Eat that media!" That's what I bet he was thinking. I told you so is probably another winning quote just waiting to be said. I was in the car when the first interview hit the airwaves. Angelo wasn't happy. He wasn't pulling his punches and you could just imagine the irate look on his face. I'm sure he had his people draw up the termination paperwork right then and there.

I'm not 100% sure this is a good move. I'm not sure what the Bears can do. We are caught between a rock and a hard place. I like Forte, but does anyone believe he can carry the full load of an NFL season in his rookie year? The free-agent running backs are starting to look good to me. They include former Lions back, Kevin Jones, Shaun Alexander, and Travis Henry. I'll break down each of these guys, hopefully before we sign one of them. My early pick would be Jones. He wants it more than anyone else. He's been working on that rehab this off season and I think he can eat up some downs and help balance things out for our struggling offense.

I tried to find a clip of his most recent arrest and this is all I could come up with:

Cedric Benson arrested for DUI

Doug Collins was fired? Already?

Without ever being hired?

What the hell is going on in the West Side? Is John Paxson completely insane? Is Reinsdorf? Who should I believe is responsible for this debacle? I can't stand it any more. I'm going to write a letter to management. Here goes:

Dear Chicago Bulls,

Hi. I'm a fan that stopped paying to see the Bulls after Jerry Krause and the Tim Floyd mess. It isn't completely their fault. I stopped caring about NBA basketball awhile ago. It wasn't Jordan's retirement that did it for me either. It was his return with that other team. It was also the crappy play on defense, the selfish play on offense and the lack of pure skill. What happened? I got older and the ballplayers got younger. And younger, and younger...etc. I'm not a bitter old man, and I will not use this letter to talk about the hay-day of Chicago basketball. What I will use this space for is to tell both John Paxson and Chairman Reinsdorf that they've blown it. This coaching vacancy has spun completely out of control. You can't make a decision, and when you do make a decision (D'Antoni) you drag your feet allowing the Knicks to swoop in. The Knicks are also a mess, and when the hottest new coach in the league decides to head to ever-friendly NYC instead of coming to the Bulls, well...you can figure it out. The rest of the league has been muttering under it's breath about how Chicago basketball is a joke. 

The consipracy theorists had a come to Jesus moment when you won the first pick in the draft this year. Of course the league "needs" Chicago to be great again, they said. They need something to remind people of the old days. The GOOD OLE days. Something like a Lakers and Celtics final. What are the odds? (Pretty good actually since the Celtics signed KG, yet another example of a player that you couldn't sign ,and the Lakers have the greatest player in the league with Bryant) I don't buy into the conspiracy. I do buy into the fact that the Bulls organization is at the most critical junction in its history. I'm not being dramatic. You guys need to get your heads out of the sand and realize that this pick is a gift. This is your Elton Brand do-over. This is the opportunity to grab a game changer. This is the time to get another franchise player like Pippen. (I'll never ask for another Jordan.) The problem is that we don't have a coach.Who is going to provide the leadership and the vision for this new young player? Doug Collins? Doug smelled a rat. He took the extra few days since the story first leaked to see how much the Chicago media hated the idea of his return. He figured it out. He came to his senses. I think we would have welcomed his son more. (Chris is an assistant at Duke)

This leaves the organization and the future of Chicago basketball at a standstill. That jeopardizes my ability to get back into the game. Why would I spend my hard earned cash to go to a Bulls game when the organization isn't taking the steps necessary to build a winner. The White Sox had a crisis like this a few years back and they figured it out pretty quickly. Kenny Williams should walk over to Paxson's office and explain to him that a strong leader, and young talent can carry you for a long time. It may even win you a championship.

The bottom line is that I can't get excited about this Bulls team. It needs to be reshuffled. We need a strong coach that will motivate these millionaires. We need the executives in this organization to realize that the #1 pick in the draft is going to be wasted unless we get someone that can drive the product to the next level. Until then, my money and my time are going to teams that have dedicated themselves to working hard and winning. (White Sox, Cubs, BlackHawks!)

Good luck Pax. It is a shame you took your good start and flushed it down the toilet with these shennanigans. 

The second reason why I didn't want to touch this hiring is out of respect for you the reader, and for those that actually do a good job writing about the Bulls. [I read this Bulls site every once in awhile, and the analysis of this move is great. Go read it, and come back.] My interest in Bulls basketball was already waning before this year's spectacular let down. I've been going to fewer and fewer Bulls games over the years. I basically stopped writing about the Bulls on this site over 3 years ago. Oh sure, there was an occasional write up. We even had a dedicated Bulls fan/writer for awhile. I can't really explain it, I just don't care for the Bulls any more. I'll take it a step further. I think the Blackhawks have leapfrogged the Bulls in the fight for my ever thinning entertainment budget.

The Doug Collins hiring isn't going to help matters either. I'm not excited by this move. I question it, even after demoting myself to a casual Bulls fans. [I was a HUGE Bulls fan back in the day, just like the rest of you] I think John Paxson has made some some questionable decisions these past 18 months. Signing Hinrich, and Wallace were things that stood out. What really defines Paxson as a GM is all the missed opportunities. He missed the chance to get Kobe, T-Mac, Garnett, Gosal and now you can add a whole list of coaches.

There was a point made about Collins' coaching style by the Blog-A-Bull crew that I want to disagree with:

I'm afraid of another Skiles trait: an overeliance on trusted veterans at the expense of young players for the uninspiring goal of predictable mediocrity.

I don't think this happens. In fact, I think that Collins takes this opportunity to show how much he has learned about TODAY'S game from behind that desk. He sees the athleticism on the court. Besides, what veterans does he have to rely on with this roster? Gooden? I'm sure he also sees the same things that ruined NBA basketball for me: laziness, lack of attention to detail, poor shooting, and no offense. Collins won't end up with predictable mediocrity because he most likely will get Derrick Rose. There is nothing mediocre about Rose, and having a single outstanding talent amongst a team of so-so players should be familiar to Collins. I'd love to be wrong, but this "Chicago Guy" stuff shouldn't be taken this seriously. Not with a team that should have won the East this year.