superdad

Here is what is on my mind lately in Sports.

Joe Mauer was announced as 2009 American League MVP no arguments there except maybe the Twins organization.  It is sad, unless you are a White Sox fan, that a great player and catcher Joe Mauer who will be a free agent next year and probably will not be a Twin by 2012.  The Yankees and Red Sox are licking their chops as both of their big name catchers are on the decline and even though the Red Sox picked up the option on Victor Martinez for 2010 you gotta believe Mauer will be another player that demands top dollar that only the Sox and the Yanks can really afford.

Did you say NOMAR!?!?  Oh wait, Omar Vizquel was picked up by the Chicago White Sox and let’s just hope this is not the only free agent signing this year.  The Sox are looking younger these days with a lot of older payroll dropped from the accounting books of Kenny Williams. Except Alex Rios who still is making too much money for what he produced last year in a  White Sox uniform.  Jake Peavy will need more help than that, I mean he already came from a San Diego team that lacked offense and now he is on a similar team but with worse weather.

Speaking of weather not since the big talk of El Nino has the Chicago Cubs been trying to forecast a Milton Bradley trade.  Everyday it seems as though the Cubs are shopping one of their big headaches from last season.  However the last time I checked every GM in baseball did see the same craziness that Bradley showed all of last year and the last thing most teams need is more drama in their locker room.  Honestly there may be one place that could use Milton Bradley. Oops forgot Montreal doesn’t have a team anymore.

Another team that may have to move to Montreal before we all go batty is the Chicago Bears.  Sure the Bears played better last week but still the team made the same mistakes they have been making all year.  Jay Cutler is who we though we got, a wild armed quarterback that just makes you hold your breath every time he throws and Bears fans thought this was all but gone when Rex Grossman was sent packing last year.  With no first or second round draft choices next year the Bears could be in trouble for awhile unless Jerry Angelo wants to open the checkbook and actually get some better wide receivers despite him still saying “we will work with what we got.” What you got is Devon Hester not a premier wide receiver and a bunch of un experienced receivers that are better at cashing their checks rather than running solid routes for their quarterback to not look as bad.

Call them bad, as in good or whatever you want, the Chicago Blackhawks are back on top of the NHL standings and it just feels good.  Plus with big rumors that this supporting cast of youth will be staying together can only bring us fans a big smile. Now they haven’t won anything yet although the future looks much more promising than year’s past.  The Hawk players are starting to become mini celebrities in this town and it is nice to see that winter is not all about football or basketball but the winter’s purest sport Hockey.  Last thought on the Hawks I think a Duncan Keith jersey may be a wise choice for an early Christmas gift  as the Hawks are close to signing him to a very long contract.

As for the other team that calls the United Center home the Chicago Bulls, who probably wish that the Circus would leave a week early, are trying to keep their head above water on the West Coast swing that has brought the young Bulls back to ground level after an impressive start.  Bulls fans still should not worry too much on this as the Bulls will be alright, as they will be playing a lot of home games in December to make up for the long early road trip.  It is not the Western Conference I am worried about it is catching up to those early rising Milwaukee Bucks with new rookie guard Brandon Jennings that have caught many teams attention.

I will close with this as thank you Mr Rose this was nice! 

Got plans tonight?  Well better have a television involved or you going to miss some quality action in not only Chicago Sports but also good old fashion television.

Starting at 7 central you can start your evening off with your “Community” friends on NBC.  If Chevy Chase does not make you laugh then you need to get your funny bones checked because this role as the old guy on a community campus is the best one he has had since Clark Griswold.

After chillin with the “Community” then you can park it with “Parks and Recreation” as Amy Poehler still is one of the funniest ladies of television.  However my favorite character is Andy by actor Chris Pratt.  You know that guy that was in “Everwood” Wait I might be showing my affectionate side a little too much this is a article about sports as well!  I just grunted…

Then of course you better check “the Office” out as if you are not watching this show and still stuck on “Mc Dreamy” on ABC with Grey’s Anatomy then you too need your brain examined. Right this blog is supposed to be about sports but just wanted to give you a taste of what I like so you know a little more about my tastes as Ijust like a good laugh after a long day of work, school or maybe just getting those little ones to and from school.

Then the real action as of course the two hottest teams in Chicago are on the West Coast tonight.  See now you know why I started off with television why waist good TV when the Bulls and Hawks don’t start till 8:30c.

Sorry “30 Rock” can’t stick around as the first place Chicago Blackhawks are invading Calgary, where you know there is always that extra incentive for playing against ex Hawk player and now new coach Brent Sutter.  The Flames are good and the Hawks are just nasty as in a good way, so should be a great game.

Then maybe after the first intermission check out the Bulls on TNT as the young but showing growth Chicago Bulls get Kobe and the defending champion L.A. Lakers.  Derrick Rose loves L.A. and you know he will want to put on a show for a city that loves when the stars shine their brightest.  Plus you got to see if Joaqin Noah keeps grabbing those rebounds as the leagues top guy on the glass after the first ten games of the season.  Sure it may only be November but the Bulls are 6 and 4 and that is their best start in ten years!

That is what superdad is watching tonight. What you watching?

Five picks in last night’s game for Jay Cutler and the Bears in a less than stellar Thursday night football.  Now a few of these interceptions were a combination of bad route development but a couple were just bad decisions by Cutler. Yes we all know you got a cannon arm but sometimes you got to watch the itchy trigger finger.  I’m sure the Bears coaches are okay with this but 5 and two other games were he had 4 interceptions,  not acceptable and Jay need’s to play better especially with a offense and a overall team that does not win if it is on the other side of the turnover battle.

Besides turnovers another thing that seems to be worrying me about this team is that the offensive line cannot create a running lane or just give Matt Forte something to run through.  Yes he needs to break a few tackles himself but their has been no push by the line all year long and that can only spell more games where Jay Cutler has to put the team on his back which is still too much for this type of quarterback to handle.  He needs more help and Cutler should not be the total blame.  I put other blame on the coaching staff as well who seem to have forgot that the Bears are good when they can run the ball.

Even in the 4th quarter their was no attempt by the Chicago Bears to run the ball when the game was far from being a shootout.  The game was very low scoring and when that happens it is not wise to become one dimensional especially against a well disciplined and well coached 49ner defense.  I do give high accolades to Mike Singletary who beat his old team but if you switched the jerseys around and put the Bears jerseys on the 49ners players or vice versa you would see the similarities that the 49ners look and play like the old bears.  They play sound defense and limit their mistakes making them competitive against any opponent they face.

Here this is how Bears football is supposed to be played!

Thanks You Tube for making me feel better again!

Well at least there is a short week for the Chicago Bears.  After a 41 to 21 thrashing in which the Arizona Cardinals, Kurt Warner gave me flashbacks of the Bears defense in the Super Bowl XLI against Peyton Manning, how in the world do you bounce back?  At the very least,  you get to play a equally bad team in the San Francisco 49ners on Thursday night. Almost sounds like a Halloween candy bar lost in the back of the fridge after you thought it was all gone.  In a way I am pulling for Mike Singletary in this game as one of Chicago’s once beloved Bears teammates that scared you into submission by his own eyes on defense is facing his old team as head coach of the 49ners.  Sure people might get on me for pulling for the Niners but please I am tired of what I am seeing out their for the Bears.  Lovie Smith and Jerry Angleo made this team and they need to start seeing that maybe we are not as good as what you two thought.  “The Bears are who we thought they are” is the tone I get from this team.  It has not one great defensive star and injuries happen but teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers lose Troy Polamalu and even other defensive stars and they still find ways to win.  That excuse should not be the one us Bears fans should accept is all I’m saying.

The Chicago Bulls are 4 and 2 and it just sounds nice to say that the Bulls are in first place.  Derrick Rose showed the other night despite playing in King James Court in Cleveland that the Bulls are a team to deal with in the Eastern Conference.  Yes the Cavs might not be as good as people anticipated with the arrival of Shaq but still give some props to the Bulls that beat a Cavalier team in their home stadium, where last year they only lost twice all year long.  The Bulls are good and that is with a Derrick Rose that is at 90 percnet with a bum ankle and others like Luol Deng picking up the scoring.  Keep you eye on the Bulls as well in the media sport headlines in the near future as I read this week from Sam Smith’s column on Bulls.com that who knows maybe Lebron James could wind up in Chicago.  If the Bulls keep winning, you just never know, good things happen when you their is a winning sense in the atmosphere. It just seems the Bulls in year two of the Vinny Del Negro era are starting to figure it out and we in Chicago see only more positives coming in the near future.

Okay now that I have digested the whole Walter Payton discussion in the media whether or not he deserves a statue outside “Soldier Field” I have come to a grand conclusion.  Even though we gave a half time tribute to a man called “Sweetness” during the halftime show against Cleveland  on Sunday this tastes bitter.  Why is it that there are not more Bears statues?  I mean Buffalo has a statue of Thurman Thomas outside their stadium not to take anything away from Thurman but this Walter Payton one of biggest icon’s in Chicago sports along with Michael Jordan, George Halas and of course the coach that coached Payton, Da’ Coach Mike Ditka.  I overheard him say on radio this week “he is very pro for a statue at whatever cost.”  I am not going to disagree with a coach that even he says to this day is “the best football player he has ever witnessed to play or coach.”

Here is a couple tributes to Walter and you tell me if he deserves a statue.

My second thought today is all you hear about is that the Chicago Bears offensive line is sub par and they can not run on anyone.  Since we are talking about Walter Payton.  Did he ever really have a line to block for him? Not really.  Did Barry Sanders have a line in Detroit?  Look I was a big fan of Matt Forte last year but this year he is putting soft in sophomore slump.  Forte got some nice breaks against a Cleveland team that is really not that good and far away from the next opponent that Arizona Cardinals.  The Cardinals can play defense when they show up for the challenge and seeing they got throttled by a good running team in Carolina last week you know they are taking extra classes on stopping the run this week.  All I am saying is a average running-back makes and average offensive line even worse. The time is now for Mr Forte to have his biggest game of the year this week.  Sure he has had glimpses this year but he has yet to take a game over and if you want to make a bigger impact on the playoff push in the NFC it need’s to begin against Arizona.

After listening to the radio the last few days in Chicago everyone is trying to figure out, what happened last week?  I will say this even though Jay Cutler threw his interceptions again, we should not put total blame on him in the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

For one the Bears defense is full of inexperience in the secondary and linebacker spots and to say that “we are okay with what we have approach” is really a bad assessment.  I really have been shocked at the fact that Jerry Angelo did not make a stronger effort to replace Brian Urlacher in the middle.  Not knocking Nick Roach he is a fine player and has a lot of up side but this defense lacks that veteran leadership that many teams in the NFL take for granted.  No Tommie Harris is not the answer either as someone to take this defense on his back, he has become a  complete debacle and really has become more of a liability than an impact player he used to be early on his career.

My second reason for staying with Jay Cutler is at least he has a very short memory when it comes to having a bad game.  Jay Cutler likes to take chances and we as Bears fans need to learn to accept that even though we may have average at best defense right now.  You can hear in Jay’s voice whenever he talks to the media he is not someone that lacks confidence unlike prior quarterbacks of the past most memorable Rex Grossman who seemed flustered anytime he had a bad game and then would take that into the media discussions for the rest of the week.  Jay Cutler has more poise than most of his teammates and people need to understand that before throwing him under the bus he has jumped back from poor performances before if you look at his stay in Denver.

My last statement is this I put more blame on management this off season believing the theory “we are good with what we have approach” with not just the offense but with the defense lately as well.  Yes injuries occur in the NFL but to think that this team was going to stay injury free is a big mistake and other teams in the NFL do a better job than the Bears not just replacing players with average players but players that can make an impact on a game.  With Lovie Smith in the middle of all of this I still like him as a the coach of the Bears as he is a good player coach that players respond to but as far as Jerry Angelo he needs to stop believing his team can compete with anyone out there when you cannot even take care of the Cincinnati Bengals whom yes are 5 and 2 but it is only October and the Bengals are historically known for sinking their own ship with players that often do their best way to sabotage or create trouble within their own locker room.  Just wait till they have a bad game and see how fast they jump back from the loss is all I am saying.

 After 162 games and two rounds of playoffs we are left with the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees.  “Who said pitching wins and offense does not matter come post season.” If you look at these two teams both of these offenses are perhaps the best we have seen in years.  This World Series despite a sub par post season so far could be the best of many and perhaps significant enough to talk a little baseball history.

If the Phillies win this series they will be the first National League team since the “Big Red Machine” of the 1970’s to go back to back.  The last team that has eclipsed that from the American League was of course no other than the late ninety New York Yankees who won 4 out of 5 World Series in  the turn of the century, however this New York team has yet to taste the champagne since 2000 which in the Steinbrenner house is an eternity.

All the comparisons to the “Big Red Machine” of 75 and 76 Reds is very cool as both of these two teams might be able to give those teams of the past a run for their money but honestly we have not seen two offenses like the Phillies and the Yankees like this year in some time.  Normally the pitching and defense is what brings a championship but these two teams are doing it with the bat and no one can deny that especially if you look at all of the statistics these two teams have been producing all year round.

The main show of the World Series may be the Ryan Howard and Alex Rodriquez show down as both of these guys have been lighting up score boards all post season when we know that both of these guys have historically struggled in the post season. The show down will be interesting to see who comes out on top and who will still be told that they are not the clutch performer they should be and remembered again as just another one that slipped away.  Howard does have the ring of a year ago over Rodriquez but this is Alex Rodriguez the biggest story of the year in baseball and if he wins a World Series, Howard might as well take a back seat as Rodriguez will be the new king of baseball not only by his wallet size but a trophy that has eluded Rodriguez since coming to New York where he has been attacked and beat up the whole time as the richest man in baseball without a ring.

You want three for the price of one here is my take on a couple hot topics right now.

1.  The Chicago Blackhawks are being hyped as if they did win the Stanley Cup last year.  It is nice to hear high accolades about a team that was in the cellar a few years back.  However let’s just get the job done first and win games just as we did the other night coming back from a 5 to 0 deficit to win in overtime against the Calgary Flames.  I just hope early fame for this team does not put early pressure on a young Hawks team, but as of right now their talent is what is talking and not the hype.

2.  The Baseball Playoffs are in the League Championship Series as the final four of baseball is set.  Philadelphia looks to deter Los Angelas again as they meet for the second year in a row in the National League Championship Series.  Los Angelas can win this series as Philadelphia did not look dominant in the first round against the Rockies.  Sure the bats were cold in Denver and the Phillies did come back to really take the series in a dramatic Game 3 but they need their offense to click against a Los Angelas pitching staff that looked the best of all four remaining teams in the post season.  On the other side the Yankees meet the Angels as the Angels get the monkey off the back finally taking care of the Red Sox but when you want to be the best you got to beat the best and the Yankees have been the best team so far this year.  If the Angels can steal a game or even two in New York then the pressure will fall on a Yankee team that is known for playoff collapses this past decade.  We saw A Rod play very well in the ALDS, he needs to do it again in the ALCS if the Yankees want their 40th all-time American League pennant.

3. The Chicago Bears are through the bye week as “Yes I know a off week for the Bears seems like the longest two weeks of your life.” However we needed all the time we can get to prepare for an Atlanta Falcons team that is becoming one of  the newer elite teams in the NFL.  Although I will disagree for a moment this team does have a tendency to look beyond an opponent much like they looked beyond the Arizona Cardinals last year in the playoffs.  Atlanta might be laughing at a depleted defense the Bears are bringing into the Georgia Dome but who is to say that the Bears offense is not like the Atlanta offense of a year ago where they just were good enough to hang around and just as Ryan did last year winning close ball games, Jay Cutler is doing it for the Bears this year.  Look this game was a huge game last year in a bigger perspective and that game ended dramatically as Atlanta rallied late to win, Cutler could make the difference to put the Bears over that hump this year.

You want to see the comeback from the other night by the Blackhawks

Here is what is happening right now in Chicago Sports, well the cliff notes version.

Da Bears put up 27 points in the second half against the now 1 and 3 Lions.  The game was tied going to half time at 21 but then Johnny Knox started the second half with a 102 yard kick return in which Detroit never recouped afterwards.

The White Sox ended their season in Detroit but helped the Twins over the weekend to push a  one game playoff scheduled hours from now.  The Metrodome will be the host as Detroit entered the last month of the season 7 games ahead of the AL Central.  Now game 163 will determine for the second year in a row the AL Central Champs.

The Cubs ended their season a little stronger but still could never catch the freight train that was the St. Louis Cardinals.  Better luck next year.

The Blackhawks win their first game defeating the Panther 4 to 0 over seas in Europe.  Detroit is our next target as we re ignite the rivalry and opponent that sent the Hawks packing from the Western Conference Finals playoffs last year.

Tonight Brett Favre will face his old boss and teammates the Green Bay Packers.  Although “Revenge” is not the way Brett will say it but I will say it for him “Revenge” is the only reason this man has not gong away ever since Green Bay ran him out of town for current quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Oh and Chicago go eliminated form all Olympic talks as they get swept out of the running in the first round.  Get your bikini wax now as we all head to Rio De Jenero for the 2016 Olympics.

What was your favorite topic of the weekend?

With the Detroit Tigers sitting atop of the AL Central the magic number for them to win the division is at or around 20.   What does this mean to the White Sox faithful or the rest of the division? Well bleak hope but stranger things have happened in Septemeber.  One thing is for sure the White Sox must take this final game against Oakland after getting slammed by the A’s last night. This game was to be expected as recent call up Carlos Torres had a let down, after blanking the Cubs, as most young pitcher’s try to find that consistency of always arising to the occasion no matter who you face accross the diamond.

This next stretch of games on the west coast could decide the fate of a White Sox team that has struggled to get back to five hundred baseball.  After Oakland, the Sox must go to Anaheim for 3 and Seatle for 3 if the Sox think they still have a fighters chance then they can ill afford to lose any of these series.  With Detroit winning seven of their last ten and playing very well and Minnesota still lingering this is no time to start a losing streak.

If the Sox can survive this next week they then begin the last big home stand of the year where they will face Kansas City Minnesota and then Detroit.  Another plus for both the White Sox and even the Twins is that the AL Central will be determined among each other as evry team in the central will face one another in the last three weeks of the season.  If there is anytime to start beating your division rivals the time is now and you know that Cleveland Indians and even the last place Kansas City Royals want to make the next few weeks as difficult as possible for either three of the top teams in the Central.

My final thought is this if the White Sox can survive a west coast that historically has plagued the Sox then they still have  a fighter’s chance but you do not want to be too far behind heading into that last home stand in which the Sox can then control theri own destiny.  If Detroit thinks this thing is wrapped up already they better think other wise, there is still a lot of baseball.  Just ask the New York Mets of last year who failed to win their division after leading for most of the year only to collpase the last tow weeks of the season.  Or even the Colorado Rockies the year before that won 20 plus games in the month of September.  If you have lost all faith then you haven’t been around baseball much the last few years.

PS today my son had his first day of pre-k superdad is very proud today, way to go buddy.