I never thought that Da' Bears would win another playoff game and they win two in spite of the quarterback that we drafted out of Florida in 2003. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised when Da' Bears beat Seattle for the second time this season and waited with baited breath as we were going up against New Orleans for the NFC title.
The hard part for me is that I was actually in Chicago attending the 22nd Annual Cubs Convention at the Hilton & Towers on South Michigan Avenue. I had seriously thought about heading out to the game however, having spent most of the last nineteen years living in SoCal, the cold wind did not do well for me. I actually had to scramble to get home from Chicago as United had cancelled my flight from O'Hare to Omaha NE where I now live. Fortunately I found a flight on Southwest and headed to Midway to make sure that I got on the flight.
People were gathered all around the airport watching the game. I unfortunately had missed a good part of the third and fourth quarters traveling from the DePaul area to Midway Airport. Once I had gotten through security, I joined the crowd that had gathered outside of the Harry Caray Restaurant inside the airport. There was one thing that we all had going for us, Da' Bears were leading 32-14 and time was running out for New Orleans. I in turn started calling my friends all around the country to see if what I was watching was true, Da' Bears were apparently headed to Miami. Then Thomas Jones took of on another run and proceeded to score another touchdown for Da' Bears. That was the final nail in the coffin of New Orleans and Da' Bears won 39-14. It was great to see that Da' Bears had put a hurt on New Orleans and that we all had to get ready to head to Miami. There definitely was a lot of hooting and hollering going on and Bears fans were congratulating one another on the seemingly impossible, a berth in Super Bowl XLI.
It is amazing that Da' Bears have gotten to the Super Bowl because it is in spite of our quarterback. We have just over ten days until the party gets started again in Miami and if all goes well, we all will be celebrating a second Super Bowl victory. I just hope that Good Sexy Rexy shows up to play and that the defense again bends however, does not break. We'll have to see what happens on February 4th to know for sure. All I know is that it is time to break out the Super Bowl Shuffle and hope for the best. Bear Down Chicago and Let's Go Bears!!!!!
25 January 2007
09 January 2007
Hall of Fame Joke
Today they announced the 2007 induction class for the Baseball Hall of Fame. I am extremely happy to see that both Cal Ripken Jr and Tony Gwynn were easily selected to the Hall. Both of these players had stellar careers and played their entire careers for one team.
Cal Ripken Jr is one helluva an athlete and should be what future shortstops are compared to when being selected for the Hall. Cal was a true ironman of a player and played the game the right way. When the big money contracts originally started being signed, I only thought that two players were worthy of receiving those sort of big money contracts. Ryne Sandberg was one and was elected to the Hall last year, Cal Ripken was the other and now Cal is joining Ryno in the Hall. Tony Gwynn was the San Diego Padres from 1984 until he retired at the end of the 2004 season. The only negative thing that I am able to say about Tony Gwynn was that in 1998 when Sammy Sosa had also reached 62 home runs, the San Diego Padres acknowledged the achievement prior to the Cubs at Padres game that following Monday in San Diego. Tony said that he was offended by the ownership of the Padres should not have made such a big deal out of what Sammy had done. I for one thought what John Moores & Larry Lucchino did for Sammy was a very classy act.
I am again disappointed that some high profile individuals did not make the Hall of Fame once again. Rich "Goose" Gossage fell 21 votes short in his eighth year of eligibility. Gossage being one of the men who helped define what a closer was should have been a first ballot Hall of Famer and it is disgusting that the Baseball Writers Association of America still will not allow him to be enshrined. Another glaring omission once again is Andre "Hawk" Dawson. Andre was the epitome of what a baseball player should be and had a magnificent career for teams that really did not do much making the post season. Andre started in Montreal, the came to my beloved Cubs in 1987 with a blank contract and wound up winning the league MVP that year. What the BBWAA has against both of these individuals I do not know. I do know that both of them deserve to be there.
Of course there is always the the biggest omission that the BBWAA that still has not been corrected and I am not sure if the veterans committee is smart enough to correct the mistake. Ron Santo of the Chicago Cubs should have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago. I was watching the broadcast of ESPN's coverage of the announcement and Karl Ravech talked about the criteria of being selected. Everything that was mentioned including integrity, professionalism, and how the game was played epitomised what Ron Santo did in his career day in and day out. Ron Santo deserves to be in the Hall and I just hope that one day Ron will be in Cooperstown before too long. Most every Cubs fan that I know agree with me completely on this and some of the talk around the league shows that people are dumb founded that Santo still is not in the Hall.
I hope that one day the BBWAA decides to change its ways and alters the 75% of the 545 ballots gets changed to make sure that players who deserve to be in the Hall make it. Those that do not deserve to be there no matter what will never be able to make it. One day some of the wrongs that the BBWAA has made should be corrected. Of course I am dreaming here on that thought. Just like I continue to dream that maybe one day in my life time that the Cubs will be World Series Champions. To the Baseball Gods, I say Please in my life time correct some of the mistakes that Major League Baseball and the BBWAA have made so that more fans will be happy. Wait a minute, I dreaming here. The reality says that the Cubs won't win in my life time and the BBWAA nor the Veterans Committee will never correct the blatant mistakes that have been made.
Cal Ripken Jr is one helluva an athlete and should be what future shortstops are compared to when being selected for the Hall. Cal was a true ironman of a player and played the game the right way. When the big money contracts originally started being signed, I only thought that two players were worthy of receiving those sort of big money contracts. Ryne Sandberg was one and was elected to the Hall last year, Cal Ripken was the other and now Cal is joining Ryno in the Hall. Tony Gwynn was the San Diego Padres from 1984 until he retired at the end of the 2004 season. The only negative thing that I am able to say about Tony Gwynn was that in 1998 when Sammy Sosa had also reached 62 home runs, the San Diego Padres acknowledged the achievement prior to the Cubs at Padres game that following Monday in San Diego. Tony said that he was offended by the ownership of the Padres should not have made such a big deal out of what Sammy had done. I for one thought what John Moores & Larry Lucchino did for Sammy was a very classy act.
I am again disappointed that some high profile individuals did not make the Hall of Fame once again. Rich "Goose" Gossage fell 21 votes short in his eighth year of eligibility. Gossage being one of the men who helped define what a closer was should have been a first ballot Hall of Famer and it is disgusting that the Baseball Writers Association of America still will not allow him to be enshrined. Another glaring omission once again is Andre "Hawk" Dawson. Andre was the epitome of what a baseball player should be and had a magnificent career for teams that really did not do much making the post season. Andre started in Montreal, the came to my beloved Cubs in 1987 with a blank contract and wound up winning the league MVP that year. What the BBWAA has against both of these individuals I do not know. I do know that both of them deserve to be there.
Of course there is always the the biggest omission that the BBWAA that still has not been corrected and I am not sure if the veterans committee is smart enough to correct the mistake. Ron Santo of the Chicago Cubs should have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago. I was watching the broadcast of ESPN's coverage of the announcement and Karl Ravech talked about the criteria of being selected. Everything that was mentioned including integrity, professionalism, and how the game was played epitomised what Ron Santo did in his career day in and day out. Ron Santo deserves to be in the Hall and I just hope that one day Ron will be in Cooperstown before too long. Most every Cubs fan that I know agree with me completely on this and some of the talk around the league shows that people are dumb founded that Santo still is not in the Hall.
I hope that one day the BBWAA decides to change its ways and alters the 75% of the 545 ballots gets changed to make sure that players who deserve to be in the Hall make it. Those that do not deserve to be there no matter what will never be able to make it. One day some of the wrongs that the BBWAA has made should be corrected. Of course I am dreaming here on that thought. Just like I continue to dream that maybe one day in my life time that the Cubs will be World Series Champions. To the Baseball Gods, I say Please in my life time correct some of the mistakes that Major League Baseball and the BBWAA have made so that more fans will be happy. Wait a minute, I dreaming here. The reality says that the Cubs won't win in my life time and the BBWAA nor the Veterans Committee will never correct the blatant mistakes that have been made.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)