Bears Season, Wabbit Season

Let's recap this crazy Bears week thus far. A little background first...

Lovie Smith, Rod Marinelli, and unfortunately Mike Martz have retained thier jobs. Ted Phillips and Jerry Angelo are still here too.

My hopes of Da Bears missing the playoffs last year and possibly forcing the McCaskey Crew to wipe the front office clean, have been dashed.

Da Bears went 11-5 and went on to lose to their divisional rival in the NFC Championship. The team they could have knocked out in the last regular season game had Martz not went mad. The team they had a chance to beat in the NFC 'Ship had they not tried an end-around to Earl Bennett on 3rd and long late in the 4th quarter. This team known as the Green Bay Packers went on to win the Superbowl.

It still stings.

Yet, Martz seemingly has all the control when it comes to deciding whom should be on the roster when it concerns the offensive side of the ball. That was evident last year when Da Bears signed Chester Taylor and Brandon Nanno Nonnu Notgonnaplayhereanymore Manumaleuna. Bust-out and Buster-out.

And not that I liked the guy or anything, but Greg Olsen was traded to the Chicago, I mean, Carolina Panthers for a 3rd round draft pick. I like the move, actually. They got more value than I expected. They shopped Olsen last year and weren't offered higher than a 5th rounder. But he had to go because Martz doesn't have any plays in that voluminous playbook of his for a tight-end, even though Olsen going up against most linebackers is a good matchup. That, and Olsen couldn't block a toddler on crutches wearing cement shoes.

Now, Da Bears are actively pursuing Roy Williams, who was cut by the Dallas Cowboys earlier this week. Why? Well, because he had that one good year in Detroit while Martz was the Offensive-Coordinator for the Lions. Williams only has one season where he recieved for more than 1,000 yards. That was in 2006. Last year he went for 530 yards with 3 fumbles in 15 games, but I'm sure Angelo will find a way to over-pay him because Martz wants him. I hear Isaac Bruce is available these days too.

Da Bears have signed 26 undrafted free agents. Gotta make sure the dummy-O and dummy-D squads get locked up before re-signing restrcited free-agent Olin Kreutz, who is being heavily sought after by the 49ers, the anchor to the O-line made up of him and 4 other guys.

Keep up the great work Bears Organization.

You haven't been and aren't still the laughing-stock of the NFL.

Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me Rob Zielinski this and every Friday evening from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/ Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

The Chicago Heat

The recent heatwave in Chicago must be getting to the players and coaches on both sides of town. Either that or they're just incompetent or cry-babies or bitches, or incompetent cry-baby bitches (I personally believe it's the latter).

We'll start with the incompetence. I'll try to give you the abstract versions because nobody has that kind of time to list and give in-depth analysis.

Tom Ricketts, which rhymes with "no one's buying tickets," (best line in a blog ever from Steve Rosenbloom's The Rosenblog) is a close second to the worst owner in sports (because let's face it, Al Davis is the worst sports owner in the history of owning a sports team). He's in his second year as the Cubs' owner and he may finally be getting his first clue in talking to Hall of Fame baseball executive Pat Gillick. I say MAY because Gillick might only be used as an advisor as opposed to utilizing his genius to clean house as a true baseball-man and get the organization back on track.

Mike Quade is simply in over his head. He's over-matched in every single game he perches himself in the dugout. He doesn't know how to manage a bullpen. He waits too long to get relievers up and ready. His lack of courage to hold his veterans accountable and his eagerness to attack the younger players after committing physical, not mental errors, is PATHETIC.

Jim Hendry Needs. To. Go. Nevermind him handing out long-term contracts with no-trade clauses like free Tide samples in the mail, his hand-picked Manager is evidence enough.

Does Alex Rios even qualify as a Major-League ball player to get a mention in this blog? Like what the string said to the other string "I'm afraid KNOT".

Cry-baby: It must be 97 degrees with a heat index of 115 inside Adam Dunn's head all year long with his 2-64 (.031) facing lefties and 5-50 (.100) overall in the month of July. He's on pace to have the worst batting average EVER in the history of the MLB. Dunn told Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan “If I’m not having fun anymore, I’ll go home. Flat out. I’ll go home. I mean that. Swear to goodness. I’ll. Go. Home. I enjoy playing. Even though I suck. Or have been sucking. I enjoy playing the game. Love it. But as soon as I lose that, I’m gone, dude. It’s true." I'm sure he's having the time of his life with those stats. Maybe you SHOULD go home. At the very least go on the disabled-list with an "injury" because Ozzie has no choice but to keep letting you march up to the plate and not get good at-bats. You'll be doing the organization and the fans a huge solid.

Bitch: "Nice try, asking me to bring up (bleeping) Viciedo. I'm not in charge of making moves, I'm in charge of coaching." These words were uttered by bitch-bag White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper this morning on WSCR 670-AM. That's true Coop, you are in charge of coaching pitchers, but you were asked a simple question on the radio (in which you part-take to give your opinion, no less) and instead of being a man and doing so, you acted like a proverbial bitch by side-stepping the question and hung up on the hosts conducting the interview. Earlier in the interview, Coop took umbridge when The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner mentioned Philip Humber's two previous poor outings by replying with "One bad outing and one bad inning... now your question, please." Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that having one bad inning DURING an outing IS A BAD OUTING. Not being able to get out of the 5th inning after giving up four earned-runs IS A BAD OUTING! Look, I love the job Coop has done throughout the years in a White Sox uniform and I actually appreciate his wanting to defend his players, but man-up and call it like it is, Coop.

Here's a good example of calling it like it is: “To lose a (bleeping) game against Bruce Chen once again. That’s more painful than this one. (Bleeping) pathetic. No (bleeping) energy. We just go about the motions. We take the day off today...Nothing against Bruce Chen. I have a lot of respect for this kid. But the way we go about it, our approach at the plate, that’s not a good ballclub out there. (Bleep) it.

A lot of people say that I talk (bleep) because I have to talk (bleep). No I don’t. I talk (bleep) because it’s what I see. That’s all I see. Very bad. Very bad. The way we go about our business here? (Bleeping) horse(bleep). If we go to Cleveland that way? And we going to play New York, Boston and Detroit? Good luck.”

Gracias Ozzie Guillen. Gracias. (That's Spanish for Chicago should be so lucky to have a true baseball-man who refuses to blow smoke up your or anybody else's giggy).

Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me Rob Zielinski this and every Friday evening from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/ Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

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All-Star Break Fun, I Guess

While it was nice to cleanse the Chicago-baseball palate and get that nasty taste out of my mouth that rivals last night's tequila and White Castle's sliders; however, the All-Star game itself was about as exciting as logging onto http://www.watchgrassgrow.com/. It received its lowest ratings ever for the second year in a row. The "This Time It Counts" novelty wore off years ago and is now the most asinine concept in sports.

What about the college football BCS, you ask? Okay, second most asinine concept in sports.

It could be less asinine if managers actually managed like it was a regular game (i.e. AL starting pitcher Jered Weaver throws more than one inning).

It could be less asinine if less players were invited. 84 were invited! The reasons being other players were either hurt, pitched too close to the All-Star Game to participate, or just wanted to use the break as a, well, break (right Mr. 3,000?)

By the way, I know Jeter sited his being physically and mentally drained as the reasons for not playing in the All-Star Game, but dude, do what Jimmy Dugan did and wave your little hat in the air and give the crowd a thrill. Nobody said you had to PLAY. I've got a hangnail and I'm still typing up this blog post, it's crap, but I'm doing it nonetheless.

Anyway, there have been plenty of good ideas to take away the home-field advantage for the World Series and still keep the game "relevant". Padres' closer Health Bell suggests that the game's winner gets to donate money supplied by the MLB to the charity of their choice and the MVP does the same.

Hell, with that plan, you can go the NHL route. Have the teams' starting pitchers or catchers or first-basemen or managers or whomever be captains and have a draft. Only, don't bury the draft on a Friday night like the NHL did. Make a big spectacle out of it. Sure Scott Rolen would have gotten picked last, but who cares about Scott Rolen's feelings. I don't.

The players will still play to the best of their ability even if they do away with World Series home-field advantage. They're going to play hard because they're representing their teams, their families, and most of all, themselves.

By the way, Chicago players went 0-4 with 3 LOB (left on base).

Yep, sounds like Chicago baseball to me.

Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me Rob Zielinski this and every Friday evening from 6 to 8pm only on Chicagolandsportsradio.com. Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.884.8205 during show hours or email Chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

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RISP on the SouthSide

Quick note before I even get into the abysmal batting average RISP (with Runners In Scoring Position) stats...as I write this it only took Carl Pavano six pitches to put away the White Sox in the second inning (review Try Not to Get Sick Reading This posted back on 6-16-11). O and look at that, in the third inning and in the midst of being swept by the Washington Nationals, Cubs "Ace" Matt Garza lets eight straight batters reach base.

/vomits

Okay, I brushed my teeth, but I still have a bit of a pain in the gulliver.

I mentioned last week, validated with my Illinois Center for Obviousness Certification, that teams need to score runs to win. How does a team go about scoring said runs, you may ask. Well, I'm glad (tongue firmly in cheek) that you asked. There are a few ways that teams can score. The sexiest way to score runs is by mashing home runs over the outfield wall, in fair territory, of course.

My favorite way for a team to score runs is to get a base-hit with a runner in scoring position. The old baseball adage goes "Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in".

The White Sox are in the middle when it comes to the "Get 'em on" rankings in the MLB as their OBP (on-base percentage) is .319. They either get another base-hit or lay down a sacrifice-bunt with their NL-style manager managing in the AL to "Get 'em over" but that's another blog for another day.

Side note: It's hard to believe that the White Sox get anybody over as they have three players in the top six in the MLB for hitting into the DP (double-play). Pierzynski and Ramirez have 15 each and Rios has hit into 12.

/begins to sweat and feel nauseous

Pefect lead-in for an Alex Rios stat: he is 1-28 with a runner on third this season.

/runs to toilet

More stats updated just before this Twins series debacle:

As a team, the White Sox have as BA RISP of .188 since June 15th.
They're hitting .129 RISP their last 4 games (4-41).
And in case you have season tickets, you may want to ask for a credit for next years seats as they're hitting .163 (16-98) in their last 11 games at home.

/vomits again


Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show this and every Friday evening with Josh Catlow and me Rob Zielinski from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/

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