Turning the Tide

The boys in Indian sweaters have taken control of the series from the Preds 3-2 and have a chance to clinch tonight in the Music City. After going down two games to one the Hawks have come roaring back with the help of overall team efforts. The defense is improving, the hustle has gotten better winning more battles in the corners, and the physicality has picked up. Niemi pitching no-no’s isn’t hurting either. He’s only let in two soft goals in my prospective with a save percentage of .923 for the series. The mental mistakes have been cut down, but they need to be eliminated. The Blackhawks can’t afford any more bad turnovers as one has contributed to a postseason loss all ready and Kaner’s last night almost cost them the series advantage. Being down 2-3 is a massive difference compared to 3-2, but for now Hawks’ fans have thwarted the fear of a first round bounce out of the playoffs at least for a game. The Hawks scored two goals on players coming straight out of the penalty box….a dicey game plan! The second was a game-winner when Hossa tapped in a Sopel slapper rebound. Hossa served a five minute major when he boarded a Predator, a hit that was being compared to the Ovechkin-on-Campbell hit by the Preds’ head coach. Hossa walked away scott-free from the incident as NHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell determined that the action did not warrant a suspension after reviewing the tape and having a phone conference with the offender. Hossa may have just gotten the slap on the wrist because he’s not a repeat offender, which is absurd in its own right, but hey I’m happy he doesn’t have to sit out any games. Puck drops 8 PM Monday Central time.

Tape & Pine Tar:

The Bulls won a game!..........and then got thumped. They’re losing the series 3-1. You know how I feel about this season and the most interesting part now is how soon after the season will Vinny del be fired?

Da Bears’ draft picks were, well, eh. Major Wright Safety from UF was a decent pick up. He may have been the best talent on the board at the time and it fills a need of the Bears. He’s got a nice skill set, but he’s not a great coverage guy, which is what the Bears truly need in the Cover 2. He played a nice centerfield for UF, but his responsibilities will be different in the scheme. It’ll be a fun project to keep an eye on. DE Corey Wootton was a nice pick up as well. The value in this pick is tremendous. He was a top 10-15 pick a year ago before he tore an ACL, MCL, and meniscus in the Alamo Bowl. He’s at about 90-95% healthy as he put it and still played well for the Northwestern Wildcats. We’ll see how he compliments the defense once he’s healthy and can explode off the line and be a pass-rushing menace. Josh Moore from Kansas State is a 5th round CB, is a 5th round CB, is a 5th round CB. You understand. Dan Lefevour is an okay pick. Again, the best talent on the board at the time, though he’s not REALLY needed he’s still a better option than Henne. J’Marcus Webb has a good OT skill set, but he’s a Division II OT. He’s shown he can play against tough competition, but still won’t make any contributions this year.

The White Sox swept the M’s in a three game set with no lack of drama and didn’t even face Felix Hernandez or Cliff Lee who’s currently on the DL. Andruw Jones had a happy birthday on Friday hitting two homers one of which was a walk-off. Rios stepped up Saturday with another walk-off dinger. Seems like a lot of fool’s gold, but I’ll take the much needed victories….for now.

The Cubs demolished The Brewers over the weekend, but again didn’t face the 1-2 staff members sidestepping Gallardo and Wolf. It was still a positive weekend with all of the hits collected. Sweet Lou moved Big-Z to the pen….DUMB. Then he said he won’t pitch him in back-to-back games. Talk about cutting his value…..OMFG. Dumbest move I’ve seen in baseball in my lifetime thus far!

Tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

PREACH

Blackhawks Vs. The Preds: Games 1 & 2

I didn’t even notice the aerobic workout I was performing as I watched the Blackhawks dump it up after a standing room only ticket fell into my lap Friday afternoon. (The very last row in the 300 level has two stairs and I was stepping up and down from behind the hand rail to watch the game when it was right under me from a steep view behind the “Hawks’ Nest”). The National Anthem was deafening and things were optimistic for a while from a fan standpoint especially with a 1-0 lead headed into the third period. Trying to breakdown the game from 500 feet up, I was a little uneasy even with the small advantage, and with good reason. The Hawks were being too cute with the puck. It’s one thing to be patient, but the cute play of the Hawks cost them the game. I’m not pinning the loss on him, but Brouwer’s turnover at the blue line is a perfect example to point out the blatantly obvious. The Predators (what an odd mascot name by the way, as most people think of the sexual kind these days particularly with the popular MSNBC show To Catch a Predator) out-grinded and out-hustled the Hawks all night, chiefly (pun intended) along the boards in the corners. They played good team-defense setting traps deep in the Hawks’ zone reeking havoc and creating turnovers. Annti Niemi allowed a questionable goal and he took full responsibility for it. Some people said the ice conditions were bad due to a Bon Jovi concert nonetheless and that the puck took a funny bounce. I think Niemi just got caught sleeping and maybe it was a combination of both, but he let it roll off his back and slammed the door shut in game two.
He wasn’t particularly busy Sunday night, but he saved 23 of 23. Some of which were superstar saves. My favorite of the night was after blocking a point-blank shot and unfolding into full-out splits, he blocked another as he slide across the paint to block the rebound. It was simultaneously graceful and groin-straining to the eye. The Preds’ net-minder Rinne is having himself a series as well. He’s very athletic between the pipes for sporting that 6’5” frame as he displayed that while standing on head throughout game two. He was busy early and often as Nashville committed four penalties almost consecutively, one of which led to a Bolland goal in a second period power play. A nice quasi-spin-o-rama by Toews found Bolland in front of the left circle who made an excellent backhand shot to light the lamp. The Hawks were a little less cute, but certainly were still patient and not peppering Rinne with shots. Maybe the game plan was to stay patient or maybe the Hawks had good reason to not recklessly fire shots at Rinne because he was eating every thing that came his way with not much loose change in front of the net. This could have forced the Hawks to pass more and find that perfect shot. Kaner gave the Blackhawks an insurance goal in the 3rd period and they took a 2-0 victory as Niemi pitched a no-no. They head to Nashville with the series tied at 1, but game three should apply the pressure on the Preds to play well in front of the home crowd and not let the Hawks steal a game back. The boys in the Indian sweaters should be a little more loose in game three and hopefully get that game one loss back in Nashville.

Tape & Pine Tar:

The White Sox are on a four game skid. The bullpen, the team aspect that I was must skeptical of, has been lights out. The starting rotation and the offense especially have been, to understate, underachieving. Ozzie’s decisions, like batting Kotsay third, which is absurd, so absurd that Jerry should fine him, isn’t helping at all.

The Cubs lost the series to the lowly Astros. The bullpen is, well, pathetic. Lineup changes are on the way with Byrd going to lead off against lefties as Theriot will be dropped to the eighth spot. One of the possibly very many shakeups we’ll see throughout the season.

The Bulls got stomped on by 13 in game one of their playoff series, not a surprise to me. I know that it’s tough to get swept, but that’s my prediction. I like the fire and the woofin’ that Noah is bringing, but it’ll just add fuel to King James to put the Bulls away easily and rapidly.

Remember to tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

PREACH

Cubs getting back to .500

The Cubs are looking to get to .500 baseball as they take on the lowly 1-8 Astros this afternoon at Wrigley. The Cubs’ starting rotation has been decent thus far with the exception of a couple of starts from a so-call staff ace. The bullpen on the other hand…brutal. It’s been bad for the most part with a good showing here and there especially by Marmol when he actually finds his release point. At some point you MUST get some sort of results from Jeff Samardzija. The ten million dollar kid has yet to produce a good year and he’s off to an awful start. In three appearances he has accrued an 0-1 record with an ERA over 16 and a 2.7 WHIP. Ouch. Fangraphs shows that his fastball this year and especially last year has been getting rocked. Drafted in ’06 and no productive return yet in 2010. The lineup card has had its good and bad days mostly relying on the long-ball. Soriano is on the hot seat and will be benched and/or a platoon player more often instead of just making a late exit in tight games in which the Cubs have a slight lead. Stay tuned for more Cubs updates and visit the Cover 3 radio show blog at thecoverthree.blogspot.com and listen every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

Opening Day, Come and Gone

Opening Day has come and gone and some things have changed as others remain. I’m just hoping that caught your attention so that you’ll read the rest of the entry, but I all ready have your click so what’s the difference. Just kidding aka jk. LOL aka laugh out loud. Okay, I’ll stop. The White Sox got out the gate clean and then immediately stumbled into a four game skid. Same old same old…not enough offense while wasting quality starts, errors, Ozzie over-managing and exhausting the bullpen in the season’s first week of games. Misuse of the bullpen in the opening series may have cost the Sox a game against the Twins, amongst other things. Like….when Pierre got on first base and was bunted over on a sacrifice by Beckham. It was well-executed, but they’re paying Pierre to get on base and straight-steal bases!Ozzie should have let him run and if he stole second cleanly then he could have been bunted over to third leaving it to Quentin to come thru with a mere sac-fly or possible pass-ball or wild pitch for Pierre to score. That’s a gamble you have to take in that situation, which is taylor-made to your liking with Pierre being your base runner. At least Mark Buehrle has started the season off 2-0. Peavy had the worst outing in the first go around of the pitching rotation and it still wasn't even THAT bad of an outing. Sweaty Freddie was the pitcher I was most skeptical of and he had a good outing, but he made one mistake by leaving a pitch up in the zone and it was crushed which lead to a 2-run homer and a White Sox loss 2-1. Yesterday, Pierre made an excellent play when he stood far enough away when Thome peppered a ball off of the wall from a Bobby Jenks offering and made an even better throw to his relay man from just in front of the warning track. J.J. Hardy was just rounding third as the throw reached the cutoff man on one hop. A strike was thrown to A.J. who was waiting for J.J. in a good looking game-ending play. Hopefully Ozzie gets back to baseball basics and can get the Sox on an early season roll. The Sox head to the Rogers Center in Toronto, a place where they've dropped the their last ten games played there and haven't won a game in that building since 2007. Good Luck boys.

Tape & Pine Tar:

The Cubs stumbled right out of the gate, but have come away with a few wins since then. There will be more on the Cubs this week after today's home opener.

The Blackhawks lost their last regular season game to the Red Wings. A good game and a tough loss to take as it cost the Hawks home ice throughout the Westen Conference playoffs, especially since it was an overtime loss due to what I beileve was a mental error by Big Byf. Possible more on that was well, but they do start their first round on Friday against Nashville.

The Bulls are a game closer to making the playoffs after beating up on the depleted Toronto Raptors. Too bad because I'm hoping they don't make it so that they get an outside shot at getting a top ten pick in the lottery.

As always, listen to Cover 3 streaming live on sportstownchicago.com every Monday evening from 7 to 9. PREACH.

The Niemi Train Has Left the Station

Sound the horn, a decision has been made! With nine games left in the season it’s safe to say that Antti Niemi is the starter between the pipes for the Blackhawks. Coach Quenneville named Huet the starter for the 8-3 calamity against the Columbus Blue Jackets Thursday night, but also said that he’s yet to decide a starter for the Stanley Cup playoffs. That is, until now. It’s not quite official, but after wetting his pants in his first game back since five games ago, the smart money says Huet will not be in net at the start of the postseason. The Niemi train has left the station, I told you to board months ago! The Blackhawks may not have won, but they still clinched a playoff birth after Calgary lost to the Islanders. Speculation right now is that Niemi will play about seven of the last nine games. I want him to stay hot, but I also want him to stay healthy and have his legs for the entire playoffs. It’s a shame the lack of confidence Hawks fans have when they have that very expensive, roster-binding goalie in net. I’d like to see “Huey” eat up more tick to keep Niemi fresh, but the Hawks are still pining for points in their quest for home ice throughout the playoffs. A concern for some of those who’ve committed to The Indian is that if they do take first in the conference and become the best in the West that they may have to take on current eight seed Detroit Red Wings. I’m not sure why that’s such a growing concern….Just because they knocked the Blackhawks out of the playoffs last year doesn’t mean that they will this year. The Hawks are flat out better than the Red Wings this year. The Blackhawks just have to play to their utmost ability. The Wings don’t pose any mismatches or any other reason to strike fear in this Hawks fan nor does any other team for that matter.

Tape & Pine Tar: (Similar to segments such as quick hits or odds and ends)

The Bulls, well, better luck next year. It’s like I said, I count this year as a victory as it is since they set themselves up to acquire a top-tier free agent over the summer. Now it’s all up to team Pax-Gar to sign one to a max contract. But would someone please make Vinny shut down Noah for the short remainder of the year. There’s NO point to him playing 12 minutes a game, you’re just begging for him to tear an ACL or something.

Ozzie you were given the team you asked for, but please don’t bat Kotsay third. That would just add to your bad over-management resume.

Lou. O sweet Lou, you better hope Lilly is on the track he says he is because if you have Silva in your rotation for as long as you think you may then the Cubs are in trouble. I personally think Marshall is ready for a spot and that Silva shouldn’t even be considered for a rotation spot, I don’t care what he’s done this spring. Pitch Marshall.

As always tune in every Monday evening to Cover 3 from 7 to 9 pm streaming live from sportstownchicago.com

Stick, Gloves, Suspension

For the second game in a roll The Blackhawks have lost a top four defenseman by a reckless and a vicious, skate-leaving hit. Campbell is out for at least the remainder of the regular season after suffering a broken collar bone as well as a few broken ribs when he was boarded by an irresponsible Ovechkin push from behind. The 3-time All-Star was more than arm’s length away from the boards as he chased the puck behind his net when Ovechkin caught up to him from behind and gave him an arm-extending push sending Campbell right-shoulder-first into the boards. It was reckless because he has to know where his opponent is relative to the boards and he has to know he’s an extremely strong individual. Campbell aka “Soupy” admits he had his head down, he was also in an awkward position and the toe pick got caught in the ice, but that in no way warrants anybody, especial someone who in my opinion is the best hockey player in the world, to board another player with his back to him. It was a unique situation and it was essentially a perfect storm to inherit the result that came from the play, but Ovechkin must be more conscience of where players are on the ice. Campbell was lucky to come away with only a few broken bones because he could have been paralyzed. Just think of the girth and magnitude of that word and you'll understand.
The Seabrook situation was slightly different. Seabrook finished his check on Perry just as he got rid of the puck behind the Blackhawk net. It sent Perry into the glass who was also caught in an awkward position and did a sort of twist and tumble before he hit the ice and slid all the way to the corner. The puck effectively made a circle in the Hawks’ zone and Seabrook found himself with it and quickly passed it behind the net as he stood behind the end line. Wisniewski came from about fifty feet out and just before he met Seabrook he left his feet, raised his forearms and bashed Seabrook’s head into the glass. Seabrook was unconscious on his feet before crumbling to the ice. Seabrook awoke a short time thereafter and skated off the ice under his own power. Meanwhile, there was scrapping in the corner in a Blackhawk attempt to protect their defenseman. Wisniewski was obviously trying to protect his teammate in letting the opponent know that if you layout his player he’s going to do the same to you. BUT, he took it too far. Players don’t have enough respect for each other on the ice. Yes this is a game and hard hitting has been a part of it probably since its conception, but we’re also talking about guys’ livelihood here. They’re earning paychecks at a job to support themselves and their families! There’s no room for hits like Wisniewski’s on Seabrook in hockey. Players have been “allowed” to police themselves on the ice, but there needs to be a line drawn somewhere. And skate-leaving, forearm raised headshots are a pretty good place to start. The refs are often afraid to pull the trigger on a certain call in a certain situation because they want to get the call right, yet there isn’t a defined rule given by the NHL on exactly what call to make in such a circumstance. The league needs to step in and define the call on such illegal hits and define the consequences. Wisniewski has been given an eight game suspension. Fine. For now. There should be some sort of suspension tier for illegal hits or other similar infractions. Example: The purposely vicious hit on Seabrook should be a ten game suspension. If Wisniewski commits the same hit on another player ever again in the NHL, he should be suspended for 25 games, once more for a third time and a possible expulsion from the league is in order. Also, the team in which the suspended player is on should not be allowed to pick up another player to fill that roster spot. So the punishment should be on both the player and team. Maybe then players will think twice or maybe even thrice before making a hit like that on another human wearing skates.
Some fans have been saying the Hawks have been soft in not protecting their players, but you can pick your battles without it being detrimental to your team. They’ve also been calling for an enforcer. No, just no. Play the game and score more goals than the other team to win the game.

Playing Catch Up

Da Bears have signed three free agents: Julius Peppers, Chester Taylor, and Brandon Manumaleuna. All of which excite me and essentially make Da Bears closer to a Super Bowl, Unfortunately, it only makes them about 8-8 or so and they'll still miss the playoffs. While Peppers' pass rush will draw some attention away from Tommy Harris, it's still up to him to show up and actually perform and Da Bears still need a competent safety. Manumaleuna is a de facto tackle that will put his hand on the line of scrimmage and block. Chester Taylor will be a good blocking back and catch passes out of the backfield. They may seem like nice additions to join the Martz Madness, but this won't stop Cutler from consistently pulling himself off the turf and checking to make sure that all of his body parts are still in place. It won't stop Martz from filling the air with footballs that will be picked because the low I.Q. receivers won't know where to line up in due to the one hundred different formations in the playbook, let alone which route to run and how to run it well.

The Bulls are in a free fall. Noah is shut down for weeks due to a foot injury and the rest of the team has forgotten what a rebound is. D-Rose is also banged up and those two are pretty much the Bulls' entire roster since they're basically forfeiting this year in the hopes to sign a top-tier free agent to a max contract. (It's wishful thinking because he's probably going to stay in Cleveland, but the Bulls may have an outside shot at signing LeBron James).

The Blackhawks are still on a tear, but Coach Q has been juggling the net-minders. I told everybody to jump on the Niemi-train and I'll be surprised if he doesn't start at least 75% of the remaining games on the schdule. Huet is so frustrating. The Hawks are tied for first with San Jose with 93 points. Home ice is VITAL. Commit to The Indian.

The Sox and Cubs are in the Cactus League.....