It is just my imagination or does it seem that to some extent, the teams of Chicago seem to loose focus and are not completely present for the games that they play day in and day out.
I watched most of the Bulls game today against the Pistons in what was billed as Ben Wallace's return to Detroit. The Bulls were at one point up by 16 points midway through the third quarter and give it all away once again. Is this team still way to young to know the difference between winning and just skating by. What ever is going on with this team just makes me wonder what kind of future will this team ever have if they are not able to finish the kill when they have an opponent by the jugular. Granted there are those who will say Detroit is now the team to beat in the East with the injury to Dwyane Wade. There is simply no reason nor acceptable excuse for a loss against one of the top teams in the NBA.
I have kept and eye on the Blackhawks as well and wonder what more Denis Savard needs to do to get this team to the next level. To constantly be that close and only to come up short time and time again is perplexing. To go into Detroit and play well against the Redwings in their arena is good however, to wind up losing in the end and not being able to make something special happen is just completely heartbreaking. I am listening to the game today against the Blues and was surprised to find the Hawks leading 3-0 after one period. We get a crack once again at the Redwings on Tuesday and yet I am not sure what will be the probable outcome. The Blackhawks get shut out at home against San Jose on the 22nd and appear to be winning against the Blues today and ideally a win on Tuesday as well would be nice.
Then you have my beloved Cubs. A disastrous 2006 season and having the worst record in the National League. How many more managers will it take to make sure that this team is competitive year in and year out? Everyone is enjoying the honeymoon of the hiring of "Sweet Lou" Piniella as he keeps saying that this is his last go around as a manager of a major league team and that he does not believe in the Curse or any other problem that the Cubs have put the Cubs nation through since 1908. Time will tell whether or not 2007 will be something totally different then the last 99 years or will this be another year like 2006 and 100 years since the last Cubs World Championship.
Of course I am not able to leave my beloved Bears out of this rampage. The Bears play well enough defensively to wind up the regular season with a record of 13-3. Some how survive the Seahawks in the divisional game and then destroy the feel good story of the 2006 football season in New Orleans. Only then to get to Miami and wind up stumbling all over themselves in a loss to Indianapolis in Super Bowl XLI. I think that it was a mistake to allow Ron Rivera to leave as the defensive coordinator. I understand that Lovie Smith wants to mold this team into what Lovie feels will win a Super Bowl however, having blind faith in Rex Grossman and even more in the lack of positive play calling by Ron Turner is just not comprehensible.
So what would I like to see at this point and time with my teams. For the Bulls, another person who is able to provide leadership and something in the forward position in order to maybe do better in the playoffs versus one series and done. For the Blackhawks, I want a team who is hungry and wants to learn what Denis Savard has to teach in order to return to the playoffs and start another long playoff streak like the Blackhawks once has previously in my life. For the Cubs, a way to break the Curse of the Billy Goat and wind up being successful in the playoffs and bringing a championship to the North Side and really seeing what it would be like for a City starved for a champion to celebrate. For the Bears I would love to have an inventive Offensive Coordinator who will work with the entire offense to be successful. I want a quarterback who is a true franchise player that will not be as wishy washy up/down as Rex Grossman. For all those who still believe Rex is worth a damn, I again pose the question, "Name One Quarterback Out Of Steve Spurrier's program that was successful in the NFL?" You are not able to as Spurrier's system works wonders in college and does not completely prepare a quarterback for the reality of the NFL.
25 February 2007
24 February 2007
My Latest Banter Column about the Cubs Convention
I was very happy on December 24th to open an envelope that my wife had put in our Chanamus Tree. That envelope advised me that I was on my way home to Chicago the weekend of January 19th – 21st to attend the 22nd annual Cubs Convention at the Chicago Hilton. Needless to say I was pretty happy about that and starting thinking about what I wanted to make sure that I had with me when I was going to be heading home to attend this annual event.
Finally the weekend had arrived and I was up early on Friday to catch a flight to take me home to Chicago. The good thing for me though was that I had talked with Banter’s wonderful publisher/editor Stephanie Leathers about meeting up and was looking forward to seeing Stephanie again since I had last seen her back in July. I made my way to the Hilton and meet Stephanie for lunch. I think I surprised her when I bought lunch. It was just a way for me to say Thanks for meeting up with me and allowing me the honor of having a column in the Banter. Stephanie introduced me to her friend Sue who is a real nice person. Sue introduced me to Pam, another sweet heart of a person and some of her other friends while we were there and it made it a lot more fun for me. Stephanie and I went down to the convention check in and Stephanie said hello to some more people that she knew who worked for the Cubs. We both received our programs and our Scratch & Win tickets to see if we would get autographs from certain players that the Cubs had designated. Stephanie would up with Derrek Lee and I was lucky enough to have the honor of getting Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks.
Stephanie then advised that we needed to head up to the Grand Ballroom to make sure that we had a spot for the Opening Ceremonies for the Convention. Glad I listened and followed Stephanie, as had I not been there I may have not gotten in for the pomp and circumstance of the event. Pat Hughes from WGN was the MC for the ceremonies and did a fantastic job. All the various sponsors were recognized and Pepsi and the Hilton organization both made donations to Cubs Care at the start. As time when on, various people were introduced, then the Cubs of the past were introduced. It was great to see a lot of the old players being there to participate in the convention. Of course the players who received the loudest ovations were; Ryne Sandberg, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks and the one who was still on his way; Mark Grace received loud thunderous applause from the fans when his picture was presented stating he would be here tomorrow. It was pretty cool to be surrounded by so many Cubs fans and be a part of a tradition that has taken place now for almost a quarter of a century. Everyone talked about the new win now attitude and left people believing in the future for 2007.
At the conclusion of the ceremonies everyone was given a treasure map to find various players scattered around the convention to obtain autographs. I stayed just outside the Ballroom and almost had Ron Santo on a baseball and Ryno on a collage photo that I had brought with me to have him sign. Unfortunately it did not work out for me to obtain either signature that I was aiming for at that point. I walked around the downstairs banquet facilities were most of the convention was at and I finally stood in line to obtain Randy Huntley’s signature on a baseball. The hard part for me is that Randy was signing with Gene Oliver, who I do not remember and it was awkward for me as I only really wanted Randy’s signature. I would up having Gene sign my program instead of a ball. That pretty much took the rest of the time that the convention was running on Friday to complete and I was diligently planning my Saturday return.
I returned on Saturday and wandered around until they opened the doors to all the rooms at 9:00 am. The hall that was housing various players through out the day had opened early and there was a huge line for Kerry Wood & Carlos Zambrano. Both players were not signing until much later in the morning. I made my way into the hall where the food court was and had my breakfast of champions, an Italian Beef & Sausage Combo Sammich. Man that really hit the spot. After eating, I stopped by Fergie Jenkins booth for his foundation and made a donation so that I would be able to have Fergie sign a ball for me. For me it was a good way to start my quests for autographs that day. After thanking Fergie I went back over to the hall with all the fans and got in line to get autographs. The second one I obtained on Saturday was that of Lee Smith. Rod Beck was supposed to be there with Lee however, Shooter was a no show and there was no explanation as to why. I then went to join the line for Carlos Zambrano figuring that people who were waiting for Kerry Wood would be almost finished if not done already. I stood in line for over two hours and never made it back into the room where the autograph was available. When I finally gave up on my quest for Carlos, I left the line and headed for the line to get Ron Santo. Glad I got there when I did because as the time went on, it was getting pretty close on whether or not I would get to see Ron. Besides wanting Ron to sign my jersey, I had wanted to apologize to Ron for being an immature jerk a few years prior when I had gotten his autograph in San Diego and did not realize that it was Ron who was going to sign my t-shirt that I was wearing. Ron was ever gracious and said that he thought nothing of it and was flattered that I made such an effort. Ron signed my jersey, shook my hand and off I went for another autograph. At this point there was really only time left for one autograph that I needed to make sure that I was in line for and that was Mr. Cub himself Ernie Banks. I had to wait close to another two hours before I finally got up to Ernie and obtain his autograph.
As it was getting later and later into the evening, I wanted to make sure that I saw Stephanie once more. I headed back to Jay Butler Tours booth where I expected Stephanie to be and there she was. I thanked Stephanie for showing a convention rookie around and adding to my experience. We talked about that with the convention being 22 years old and counting; that maybe they would have a better way for more fans to obtain autographs that would not take up most of your day. There were many programs that I did want to attend however, I had to choose between the talking conversations or getting the few prize autographs that I wanted and I chose the autographs. I would have preferred to attend Lou Piniella 101 and the Boys of Zimmer, a discussion about the 1989 Cubs with Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace and a couple of other members of that team. Maybe next year if I decided to go, I will concentrate on the programs versus the autographs. Who am I kidding; I know that I will be back in line with everyone else hoping to add to my collection.
If you have not attended the Cubs Convention before, it definitely is a must. It is really a lot of fun to be surrounded by other die hard fans and meeting them to discuss the one thing that we all have in common, our beloved favorite baseball team. April 2nd is not too far away and all I know is that it is next year once again. I just hope that the Cubs will be better than last year. I always tell my friends that I will be happy if the Cubs get back to .500 baseball and anything beyond that is just icing on the cake. We’ll see what happens once spring training is over.
Finally the weekend had arrived and I was up early on Friday to catch a flight to take me home to Chicago. The good thing for me though was that I had talked with Banter’s wonderful publisher/editor Stephanie Leathers about meeting up and was looking forward to seeing Stephanie again since I had last seen her back in July. I made my way to the Hilton and meet Stephanie for lunch. I think I surprised her when I bought lunch. It was just a way for me to say Thanks for meeting up with me and allowing me the honor of having a column in the Banter. Stephanie introduced me to her friend Sue who is a real nice person. Sue introduced me to Pam, another sweet heart of a person and some of her other friends while we were there and it made it a lot more fun for me. Stephanie and I went down to the convention check in and Stephanie said hello to some more people that she knew who worked for the Cubs. We both received our programs and our Scratch & Win tickets to see if we would get autographs from certain players that the Cubs had designated. Stephanie would up with Derrek Lee and I was lucky enough to have the honor of getting Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks.
Stephanie then advised that we needed to head up to the Grand Ballroom to make sure that we had a spot for the Opening Ceremonies for the Convention. Glad I listened and followed Stephanie, as had I not been there I may have not gotten in for the pomp and circumstance of the event. Pat Hughes from WGN was the MC for the ceremonies and did a fantastic job. All the various sponsors were recognized and Pepsi and the Hilton organization both made donations to Cubs Care at the start. As time when on, various people were introduced, then the Cubs of the past were introduced. It was great to see a lot of the old players being there to participate in the convention. Of course the players who received the loudest ovations were; Ryne Sandberg, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ernie Banks and the one who was still on his way; Mark Grace received loud thunderous applause from the fans when his picture was presented stating he would be here tomorrow. It was pretty cool to be surrounded by so many Cubs fans and be a part of a tradition that has taken place now for almost a quarter of a century. Everyone talked about the new win now attitude and left people believing in the future for 2007.
At the conclusion of the ceremonies everyone was given a treasure map to find various players scattered around the convention to obtain autographs. I stayed just outside the Ballroom and almost had Ron Santo on a baseball and Ryno on a collage photo that I had brought with me to have him sign. Unfortunately it did not work out for me to obtain either signature that I was aiming for at that point. I walked around the downstairs banquet facilities were most of the convention was at and I finally stood in line to obtain Randy Huntley’s signature on a baseball. The hard part for me is that Randy was signing with Gene Oliver, who I do not remember and it was awkward for me as I only really wanted Randy’s signature. I would up having Gene sign my program instead of a ball. That pretty much took the rest of the time that the convention was running on Friday to complete and I was diligently planning my Saturday return.
I returned on Saturday and wandered around until they opened the doors to all the rooms at 9:00 am. The hall that was housing various players through out the day had opened early and there was a huge line for Kerry Wood & Carlos Zambrano. Both players were not signing until much later in the morning. I made my way into the hall where the food court was and had my breakfast of champions, an Italian Beef & Sausage Combo Sammich. Man that really hit the spot. After eating, I stopped by Fergie Jenkins booth for his foundation and made a donation so that I would be able to have Fergie sign a ball for me. For me it was a good way to start my quests for autographs that day. After thanking Fergie I went back over to the hall with all the fans and got in line to get autographs. The second one I obtained on Saturday was that of Lee Smith. Rod Beck was supposed to be there with Lee however, Shooter was a no show and there was no explanation as to why. I then went to join the line for Carlos Zambrano figuring that people who were waiting for Kerry Wood would be almost finished if not done already. I stood in line for over two hours and never made it back into the room where the autograph was available. When I finally gave up on my quest for Carlos, I left the line and headed for the line to get Ron Santo. Glad I got there when I did because as the time went on, it was getting pretty close on whether or not I would get to see Ron. Besides wanting Ron to sign my jersey, I had wanted to apologize to Ron for being an immature jerk a few years prior when I had gotten his autograph in San Diego and did not realize that it was Ron who was going to sign my t-shirt that I was wearing. Ron was ever gracious and said that he thought nothing of it and was flattered that I made such an effort. Ron signed my jersey, shook my hand and off I went for another autograph. At this point there was really only time left for one autograph that I needed to make sure that I was in line for and that was Mr. Cub himself Ernie Banks. I had to wait close to another two hours before I finally got up to Ernie and obtain his autograph.
As it was getting later and later into the evening, I wanted to make sure that I saw Stephanie once more. I headed back to Jay Butler Tours booth where I expected Stephanie to be and there she was. I thanked Stephanie for showing a convention rookie around and adding to my experience. We talked about that with the convention being 22 years old and counting; that maybe they would have a better way for more fans to obtain autographs that would not take up most of your day. There were many programs that I did want to attend however, I had to choose between the talking conversations or getting the few prize autographs that I wanted and I chose the autographs. I would have preferred to attend Lou Piniella 101 and the Boys of Zimmer, a discussion about the 1989 Cubs with Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace and a couple of other members of that team. Maybe next year if I decided to go, I will concentrate on the programs versus the autographs. Who am I kidding; I know that I will be back in line with everyone else hoping to add to my collection.
If you have not attended the Cubs Convention before, it definitely is a must. It is really a lot of fun to be surrounded by other die hard fans and meeting them to discuss the one thing that we all have in common, our beloved favorite baseball team. April 2nd is not too far away and all I know is that it is next year once again. I just hope that the Cubs will be better than last year. I always tell my friends that I will be happy if the Cubs get back to .500 baseball and anything beyond that is just icing on the cake. We’ll see what happens once spring training is over.
11 February 2007
Da' Bulls
It has taken me a while to decide to post something about the Bulls since I have started this blog. I look at the results of the last couple of games that the Bulls have played in and I am disappointed by the outcome. To go into both Sacramento and Golden State and loose to both of these teams is a bit disheartening. Both of these games should have been games that the Bulls had victories in. From what I am seeing, I wonder again whether or not John Paxson has done enough to help this team make the playoffs for the third year straight or even win a first round series.
To play so differently on the road is not acceptable and I lay blame at the hands of John Paxson and his recent decisions. Granted I know that he has molded this team into an image of himself however, there seems to be some fundamental mistakes that are being made. That in turn also falls onto John's choice as head coach. I do like Scott Skiles a bit from when I watched him as a player for Michigan State and I was at Western Illinois however, Scott lost his job in Phoenix for some reason and it may be time for Scott to loose his job in Chicago.
So who would I want to take over this team as the head coach, I am not sure. There needs to be a change made in both players and coaches. Something again needs to be dramatically done for this team and before it gets too late. It is nice that the Bulls are above .500 basketball however, with the road play this year the Bulls may just wind up 41-41. Not really an acceptable record for a team that on paper had so much potential.
To play so differently on the road is not acceptable and I lay blame at the hands of John Paxson and his recent decisions. Granted I know that he has molded this team into an image of himself however, there seems to be some fundamental mistakes that are being made. That in turn also falls onto John's choice as head coach. I do like Scott Skiles a bit from when I watched him as a player for Michigan State and I was at Western Illinois however, Scott lost his job in Phoenix for some reason and it may be time for Scott to loose his job in Chicago.
So who would I want to take over this team as the head coach, I am not sure. There needs to be a change made in both players and coaches. Something again needs to be dramatically done for this team and before it gets too late. It is nice that the Bulls are above .500 basketball however, with the road play this year the Bulls may just wind up 41-41. Not really an acceptable record for a team that on paper had so much potential.
06 February 2007
Super Bowl XLI
So what do I say about what happened in Super Bowl XLI? The game started sensationally with Devin Hester doing what he does best, taking the opening kick-off 92 yards to the house to give the Bears an instant lead at 7-0 with only about 20 seconds off the clock. It definitely looked like Da' Bears were going to prove the so called experts wrong and wind up winning the game.
The game really remained close until Bad Rex decided to show up and make an ill advised pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown to create the final score at 29-17. If that pass was not thrown, who knows how the rest of the game would have gone. I know that the weather seemed to play right into the hands of the Bears however, something along the way made it impossible for the Bears to repeat in Miami what they did against New Orleans in the NFC Championship Game.
For the many that have talked directly with me, you all know how much I despise Rex Grossman. I understand that there are people who state that Rex was injured his first three years in the league and season four was the best that Rex has been able to do so far. I still have a problem with the fact that Rex played for Steve Spurrier at Florida and to continue to make basic fundamental mistakes are crucial times in unforgivable. Rex is truthfully a journeyman quarterback at best, and why Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith are so smitten with him, I will never understand.
There were other problems as well with this team and the game. It seems that as the season went on again, the defense lost what it had to start the season. Granted Tommie Harrie and Mike Brown went down with injuries however, this is supposed to be professional football and the other members of the defense needed to step up more to produce what everyone witnessed at the beginning of the season. Why in the world Adrian Peterson has fallen into the dog house of Lovie Smith and Ron Turner is beyond my comprehension. With Cedric Benson getting hurt in the first quarter and being out of the rest of the game, AP should have relieve Thomas Jones a couple of times, or AP should have been used as a power back. What were the coaches thinking.
Speaking of coaches, Ron Turner has once again proven to me that he lost what ever he once had in his tenure at Illinois. To give up on the running game as quickly as he did just does not make sense. I also do not like having Wade Wilson as our quarterbacks coach as well. Wade Wilson is a Minnesota Viking and will always being a Viking, who in his playing career was a journeyman at best. Let Wade go back to Minnesota or back to his real home of Texas and attempt to do something there. Then there is the issue of Lovie Smith's contract. Ted Phillips has made a mistake in not extending Lovie's contract already and better pony up the big bucks to retain Lovie as head coach. I am also concerned about Ron Rivera possibly going to Dallas to work for Jerry Jones. Granted Jones may have more money to throw at Ron however, would you really want to work for that jackass? I know I would not, and to have to deal with the problem that is Terrell Owens, there just is not enough money that Jerry Jones would be able to come up with in order for me to even think about wanting to deal with that problem. Why do you think that Bill Parcels walked away from Dallas, because he is tired of coaching? No way, The Tuna is to proud to go out with the way the Cowboys went out in the playoffs. The Tuna never wanted Terrell and Jerry shoved Terrell down the Tuna's throat.
We'll have to see how things play out over the next couple of months. Will the Bears keep the key pieces of the puzzle together or will they stumble mightily? All I know for sure is that the NFL Draft is probably the weekend of April 28th & 29th and that training camp starts up once again around July 27th. Until then I have the rest of the NBA season to start writing about, the NHL season to write more about and about 10 days or so for Spring Training to get started. We'll see what happens next.
The game really remained close until Bad Rex decided to show up and make an ill advised pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown to create the final score at 29-17. If that pass was not thrown, who knows how the rest of the game would have gone. I know that the weather seemed to play right into the hands of the Bears however, something along the way made it impossible for the Bears to repeat in Miami what they did against New Orleans in the NFC Championship Game.
For the many that have talked directly with me, you all know how much I despise Rex Grossman. I understand that there are people who state that Rex was injured his first three years in the league and season four was the best that Rex has been able to do so far. I still have a problem with the fact that Rex played for Steve Spurrier at Florida and to continue to make basic fundamental mistakes are crucial times in unforgivable. Rex is truthfully a journeyman quarterback at best, and why Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith are so smitten with him, I will never understand.
There were other problems as well with this team and the game. It seems that as the season went on again, the defense lost what it had to start the season. Granted Tommie Harrie and Mike Brown went down with injuries however, this is supposed to be professional football and the other members of the defense needed to step up more to produce what everyone witnessed at the beginning of the season. Why in the world Adrian Peterson has fallen into the dog house of Lovie Smith and Ron Turner is beyond my comprehension. With Cedric Benson getting hurt in the first quarter and being out of the rest of the game, AP should have relieve Thomas Jones a couple of times, or AP should have been used as a power back. What were the coaches thinking.
Speaking of coaches, Ron Turner has once again proven to me that he lost what ever he once had in his tenure at Illinois. To give up on the running game as quickly as he did just does not make sense. I also do not like having Wade Wilson as our quarterbacks coach as well. Wade Wilson is a Minnesota Viking and will always being a Viking, who in his playing career was a journeyman at best. Let Wade go back to Minnesota or back to his real home of Texas and attempt to do something there. Then there is the issue of Lovie Smith's contract. Ted Phillips has made a mistake in not extending Lovie's contract already and better pony up the big bucks to retain Lovie as head coach. I am also concerned about Ron Rivera possibly going to Dallas to work for Jerry Jones. Granted Jones may have more money to throw at Ron however, would you really want to work for that jackass? I know I would not, and to have to deal with the problem that is Terrell Owens, there just is not enough money that Jerry Jones would be able to come up with in order for me to even think about wanting to deal with that problem. Why do you think that Bill Parcels walked away from Dallas, because he is tired of coaching? No way, The Tuna is to proud to go out with the way the Cowboys went out in the playoffs. The Tuna never wanted Terrell and Jerry shoved Terrell down the Tuna's throat.
We'll have to see how things play out over the next couple of months. Will the Bears keep the key pieces of the puzzle together or will they stumble mightily? All I know for sure is that the NFL Draft is probably the weekend of April 28th & 29th and that training camp starts up once again around July 27th. Until then I have the rest of the NBA season to start writing about, the NHL season to write more about and about 10 days or so for Spring Training to get started. We'll see what happens next.
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