On a 2 week vacation folks, 1 week down. New post coming a week after thursday. Broke even in vegas, didn't have to hit the atm once! That's a win in my book

Bears Lose in Victory Over the Bills

Da Bears won a meaningless pre-season game against the Buffalo Bills Saturday 10-3, but they lost the ability to protect the quarterback (if they ever had it in the first place).

We all know that there was a truncated off-season. We know that the newcomers on the offensive side of the ball didn't have enough time to learn Mad Martz's voluminous playbook. But for Bears' quarterbacks to get sacked nine times is inexcusable.

It wasn't ALL against the Bears' first-team O-line, but they were responsible for four of the nine sacks. Inexcusable nonetheless. On the downs he did play, QB Jay Cutler was running for his life. I'm sure most Bears fans are already predisposed to that anyway.

I'm praying that that won't be the starting five O-linemen come Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons. Hell, I hope that it won't be the starting five come Monday when Da Bears take on the NY Giants. You remember what happened the last time Da Bears played the Giants, right? I know, I'm trying to forget that ever happened myself.

Tight-end turned incompetent Right Guard Lance "Turnstyle" Louis, as he's becoming to be known, said that he played "Below-average" Saturday night. (I smell a snarky understatement comment coming on). But it's not HIS fault people gave him a job.

Let's see, where does the blame land? Well, it begins with General Manager Jerry Angelo who had an opportunity to sign big mamma jamma Willie Colon, who can play either tackle or guard. But Colon decided to re-up with the Steelers because he got a 5/yr $29M deal with a team that actually has a shot at winning the Super Bowl. Swiiiinng and a miss. (It's not like Angelo has a ton of cap-space to make that sort of deal or anything). Then it trickles down to O-linemen coach Mike Tice, then Lovie Smith, then Martz because I like to blame Martz for a lot of things.

"Turnstyle" became ill during Wednesday's practice, so Tice took that opportunity to move up 2nd-string center Chris Spencer to take the 1st-team reps and move current starting center Roberto Garza back to his comfort-zone at Right Guard. (Garza didn't look particularly good at center Saturday).

I really wish they would switch the tackles and move Carimi to the left to protect Cutler's blindside and move J'marcus Webb back to the right. It's not a dream-team O-line, but you play with the cards Angelo deals you, unfortunately. But for some reason, the coaches are set on having Webb being the LT.

You don't hold a full-house in your hands and only show the pair.

Then again, nobody in the Bears organization is playing with a full deck.

Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show Friday with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski 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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Aroun' Town in August

Two weeks ago I wrote "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". Some readers wanted to know why. Well, that's what I was wondering. Da Bears will never give us a straight answer. The truth is, I don't think THEY know why their putting all of their offensive eggs into the Mad Martz basket. My best guess is that they trust the fact that with the personnel he has been pining for, along with the growth of the wide-outs and the overall familiarity with his system, that the offense SHOULD be more successful this season. Now the question is, just how successful will it be?

Zach Zaidman, beat reporter for WSCR, believes that even with Martz getting the toys he wants to play with, he will still call a more balanced game to start the season as he did after the bye-week last season when it comes to run to pass play ratio. Good guess, but WRONG. They don't call him Mad Martz for nuttin'. His throbbing ego won't allow him to call a balanced game. He's got his Bible, er, playbook, and visions of X's executing the drawings that are in his Bible. Unless he's told to peel his convoluted system back and to run between the tackles more often, footballs will be filling the air. That is, if Cutler is allowed the time to reach the seventh step on his seven-step drop.

Last week I wrote that the White Sox' season is OVA! Then they went 6-1 on their recent road trip after sweeping the reeling Minnesota Twins (for the first time since 2004) at Target Field and took three of four against the worst team in the AL in the Baltimore Orioles. Key words in that sentence are reeling and worst. Let's say God comes down from heaven, touches Adam Dunn's bat and actually makes him productive to help the White Sox win the AL Central (let's face it, it would take that sort of miracle for them to do so). They obviously don't stand a chance in the postseason against the likes of the Bawstun Red Sawks or the Nu Yawk Yankees aka Los Jankees as evidenced by their last homestand.

Side note: Mark Buehrle has worked at least six innings in his last eight starts and now has at least ten wins in every single season of the eleven years he has been a starter. Praise be to Mark.

I did, in fact, make an emotional detachment from the White Sox. But I still have a minor investment, enough to where I'll tune into a game whenever possible; however, I refuse to go against my better judgement and latch on to false hopes that they'll win the World Series in 2011. Bold, I know.

The Cubs have won three series in a row and fans are back in the stands. Hopefully this doesn't make Ricketts stupid and contemplate bringing back Hendry and Quade. Okay, that's enough of the otherwise irrelevant Cubs.

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 (although that may change in mid-September to Monday nights) only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/ 

Chicagonow.com Bears blogger Adam Oestmann will be joining us at the top of the show, you don't want to miss this man's insight! Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

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This Season is OVA!

When this pathetic attempt at being a winning team comes down, this season will be OVA!

As of right now, the White Sox stand at 52-57. They're 6.5 games behind Central Division leading Detroit Tigers headed into the last game of a four game set against Los Jankees (New York Yankees). They have been out-scored 27-9 in the first three games.

That's what happens when a pretender plays a contender, when a little league team plays a big-boy team.

The White Sox have reached .500 three times. The last time they had a winning record was April 7th when they were 7-6. Pathetic.

Its been said a million times: to win the division you have to do it THROUGH the division. The White Sox are 15-20 within the AL Central. Pathetic-er.

Most teams in the MLB, especially the above mentioned big-boy teams, love home-cookin'. Big-boy teams are very tough to beat at home. The White Sox are more like the welcome mat at 24-31 at home. Pathetic-est.

Big-boy teams don't lose many games after taking the lead in a game. The White Sox have lost 23 after leading. If they won half of those games, they would be 6 games over .500 with the lead in the division.

Big-boy teams don't have losing records in extra innings. The White Sox are 5-8 in extra innings.

Big-boy teams still have a chance to come back when trailing late in a ballgame. It's virtually impossible for the White Sox to do so. When trailing after the 6/7/8 innings they're 6-42/5-44/2-45.

Big-boy teams go on winning streaks longer than four games. Something the White Sox have yet to do and it's early August.

If you think the White Sox DO have a winning streak still in them, know this: it won't be in August. They have gone 51-66 (.436) in August since 2007. That's the third lowest winning percentage in the AL. The last winning August they've had was in 2006 when they went 16-13.

Big-boy teams beat other big-boy teams. The White Sox lost the last two games to Boston and the last 3 to the Yankees. Their team ERA during this five game slide is 8.37.

Big-boy teams with a $127M payroll don't wear diapers and poop themselves by the time August 4th rolls around.

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/ Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

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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