Rich Renteria an underwhelming pick to manage the Cubs, exchanging one Dale Sveum for another. Smartest they could’ve done was put Ryne Sandberg as manager of the guys coming up had played for. Certainly Castro and Barney. Speaking of the Cubs infield. In order for them to compete in the toughest division in the National League.

The Bryant kid will have to play first base. Valbuena will have to play third base. Castro and Rizzo will have to go via trade. The Cubs will have to sign veterans in the outfield and teach they kids how to win.

Are we as Cubs fans willing to wait for all of this to shake out? The Cubs have had losing seasons before. That was before I learned what you get if you win. Selling your veterans for draft picks is as old as time. For the only professional club in the world that hasn’t won a damned thing in over one hundred years they don’t seem to be in any hurry to placate their fans. They’d rather waste money turning Wrigley Field into a monstrosity. People were screaming for a single owner for the Cubs. “A media company doesn’t know how to run a team.” The Ricketts haven’t had a winning season since they’ve owned the team.

To me the situation seems even more scatter brained than when they were owned by the Tribune Company. In my opinion the owners want to turn not only the ball park but the neighborhood into a circus. You start to wonder how a club goes one hundred plus years without winning it all. There are more teams. Better teams. Better scouting including into Latin America. Better Minor league systems to keep teams on top of their divisions for years.

Why should we wait to see if any of this will come to fruition? Why should we wait we continue to watch  ticket prices go up while batting averages go down? Because we hate the White Sox too much  and choosing the Cardinals is too easy. Milwaukee is in no better shakes. Pittsburgh is probably the best choice but who knows how long they’re going to be good. Texas. Detroit. Boston. A designated hitter should never be MVP! He doesn’t have to play the field. Major League Baseball having been beaten out by the NFl as the country’s favorite sport. It is a nuisance as people flood the neighborhood with noise. Outside the park you can tell who won when you hear fans are singing, “Go Cubs Go.”

When the ball park goes dark in late September for construction. Another season with more losses than wins.

Welcome Rich Renteria. Welcome to the circus. I’m sure you’ve heard the not to unpack your suitcase jokes. You’ll be back in San Diego before you know it. There’ll be questions of why we gave up Quade, Sanberg and Sveum. The answer will be on the Cubs new jumbotron. Castro drifting off to sleep. You think Alex Gonzalez blew it in 2003 who would trust Castro in a similar situation? No one in St. Louis or Boston is asking that question.

Why should we put up with it as Cub fans? Why the hell should we continue to care? If they do win it all do we come running to revel in the madness? Do we occupy the streets of Wrigleyville so that we can say that we’ve been there and have seen a Cubs World Series victory in our lifetime. I predict we’ll be looking for a new manager in two years and the Cubs still won’t be any closer to 80 victories. Anone can have a bad century. The way things are looking it could another hundred and baseball could be played on another planet by then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Loss Is A Loss

Whether because Cutler was hampered by an ankle or groin, a lack of a running game. Lack of a defensive pass rush or porous secondary.

Welcome to the “black and blue” division where no one is surprised that Detroit could win the NFC North. I’m certainly not surprised. But that it’d taken them this long to do it. I’m not talking about the Matt Millen days when they were so bad that they’re the first team to go winless in a sixteen game season. No I’m talking about since they’re recent visit to the playoffs. They’re real. They’re dangerous and they’re good.

I question why the Bears have not drafted a quarterback to learn under Cutler. I can certainly say that Josh McCown is the definition of a back up. He can move the ball down the field and put the team in field goal range. McCown has gotten us more than field goal.

While the Bears wouldn’t have beaten the Packers without Aaron Rodgers getting hurt it was one game where only the numbers on the board mattered.

I’m crazy enough to say that McCown should’ve started against Detroit. Regardless Detroit gets all the credit for defeating Chicago. If this is their year consider how many of their players will actually be on the field for the playoffs. Unnecessary roughness penalties and all.

The Trestman era as with any new regime you hate to see talent wasted while he figures things out. I’d originally picked the Bears to go 10-6 again but making the playoffs. There are questions of whether or not to extend Cutler’s contract. But with no Colin Kapernick waiting who would we get to play the position? Particularly now that we have a coach capable of running an offense. An offensive line to protect him. I also suggest drafting one of those Alabama running backs. They know how to move a pile and run the clock.

The Bears are 5-4 still trying to get Brandon Marshall his first playoff appearance. As if division games aren’t tough enough there are the non divisional games left against the Ravens Cowboys and Eagles. One would be hard pressed to say the “black and blue” division isn’t one of the toughest in football with the collapse of the AFC witnessing one of the greatest periods of Bear football since the days of Halas. At this point sweeping Green Bay and Minnesota won’t guarantee a playoff spot if Detroit keeps winning or we’re tied for first at the end of the season. Tie breaker and all that. But what is assured is winning ugly or ugly end to the season.*

Dolphins Know More Than They Are Saying

There is more to the kerfuffle in the Miami Dolphins locker room with Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin than is being said. While some say Incognito has a reputation for being a bully and Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland had heard of some angst between the two as well as Incognito's behavior with other young players had told Martin to punch Richie, fight back. It is hard to believe that in a sport dominated by players of color he would on his own make racial statements on voicemail considering what Riley Cooper of Philadelphia had to go through for making racist comments at a concert this past year.
I've heard word the Dolphins wanted Incognito who plays on the same side of the offensive line that Martin does wanted Incognito to "toughen" Martin up and Incognito's bullying would do the same for other young players.
While pranks are a part of the NFL and all sports one way or another it turned out a very harmless one was what sent Martin over the edge.
Supposedly when he sat down at a table in team dining room for a meal all of the players got up and left. Word is that there is a penalty for being the last one in the dining room after a meal.
Baseball players are well known for their pranks as well. Having a player sing his college's fight song or dressing in drag.
There have been some well known hazing cases in the high school ranks in sports in Illinois in recent years that have been of a sexual nature.
But before we go out an start calling Richie Incognito a bigot all sides of the story has to come out including the possibility Martin was too thin skinned for the hyper-macho NFL. No one has come out and said anything like this goes on in any other locker room not to mention the fact that Martin is a second year player not a rookie.

I am an African American male who will call a spade a spade when it comes to issue of race. Not because it is vogue to point to the nearest white person if they say something that I don't agree with or gets under my skin. I also know when something isn't passing the smell test and this story stinks of an inside job. I'm sure if Incognito had a problem with Martin it could have been handled a year ago when the Dolphins drafted Martin out of Stanford.
While Stanford University is a well known academic institution, in recent years since the Harbaugh days when he was coaching the football team Stanford is a football school. The Dolphins are better this year than they've been in the past so if this was a sad sack team I'd say fire everybody and start over. But with a decent team this year no one in charge's head is on the chopping block which it should be.
It would be harsh to say I don't think Incognito has the brains to pull what he did but he doesn't strike me as a guy who would go out of his way to do something as reprehensible as record a voicemail with racial slurs and threats of bodily harm and death. I think he's been around too long. I think this one stinks from the head and poor Richie is the whipping boy for this one. I hope this is the case. I would hate to see someone's career ended over some completely avoidable nonsense because he took one for the team.

Godfrey Logan

Randy Shannon Must Go
Written by gologan, Monday October 11 2010

Every year I go into the football season wondering, is Miami back. After two high profile games against Ohio State and Florida State Miami was out of it by halftime. The new more docile ‘Canes that supposedly signed a statement that they would not carry guns otherwise they would be kicked off the team. I kind of miss the old thuggish ruggish ‘Canes that were just as dangerous on the field as they were off the field. Those were the days when there was a Miami player drafted in the first round of almost every draft throughout the nineties. Randy Shannon was once a member of those old “convict” ‘Canes and though he won one of Miami’s 5 national title he’s tried to go away from that image. I believe he has taken the heart with it.

Randy Shannon has proven to be a very good recruiter bringing in top rated talent since he has taken over as head coach of the Miami Hurricanes. However with that talent his biggest win in 2009 was over Georgia Tech who ended up playing for the ACC Conference Championship. The answer to the question for 2010 of whether or not Miami is back is an emphatic, hell no!

Randy Shannon is not in a position where he has been stuck with another coach’s players. This is Randy’s players. This is Randy’s team. The talent has grown exponentially from the previous coach. He has no excuses as to why he cannot win.

As a Cubs fan who has not seen a lot of winning in my lifetime I take pride in my adoration for the Hurricanes. I am a very loyal fan. I have sat through many arguments defending why I would choose to love a team for which I did not attend the school and have never seen the team in person. I have been to Miami once though it was to visit family. I say tell that to the little kid who fell in love with the ‘Canes after being dumped by his girlfriend and all he had was college football. I didn’t know they were number one at the time but I was introduced to winning college football and the meanest rivalry in the sport. I still think it was nuts to move to the ACC, though it has helped the basketball team. Unfortunately it has helped the basketball team more than the football team.

Randy Shannon must go. Miami has the talent and will have the talent for years to come to win Conference and National Championships. Being from Illinois I’ve seen what it’s like to have a head coach who is a great recruiter but terrible on game days. I really don’t want to see another Ron Zook. Call me a sneak all you want but I say we should fire Shannon now and win with his players. Or send him back to being a Defensive Coordinator so that we can keep getting the talented players from South Florida. And what’s wrong with your players being a little crazy? You don’t need guns to be dangerous.

10/1/2010

yourSportsStory.com: Godfrey Logan
Godfrey Logan

The Sky is not Falling:

So many people including myself are calling the Bears lucky after their 3-0 start. The difference between them and myself is that I don’t expect the sky to fall in. I do believe that the Bears can right the ship, fix all of their troubles and go on to have a productive year. After a lackluster and winless pre season the Bears seem to be out to make up for it. They’ve gone as far as benching Tommy Harris, even though they don’t call it a benching.They’re using words such as, “accountability and show and prove.” It caused traffic to stop on the streets and people to have puzzled looks on their faces because it seemed since the Super Bowl season in 2006, 2007 the inmates were running the asylum.

Since then the Bears have made a number of questionable personnel decisions including letting former Super Bowl Champion Ron Rivera go to the San Diego Chargers and hiring Rod Marinelli after he went winless in Detroit. Right after they went winless in Detroit.Finally, they have a defense that resembles the Monsters of the Midway and we have offense that can put up points. Unfortunately I have to be the fly in the ointment. When it comes to the offense because it is simply horrible. I give the coordinators credit because despite the offensive woes such as the offensive line which is just that, offensive and a non existent running game, the Bears have been able to put up points. They have done what is meant to be done in whatever sport is being played, they outscored the opposition.

Fans and media alike excoriated as many members of the front office as they could for the decisions made in putting this team on the field. The preseason result did not do much to assuage the anger other than doing what they have been doing. The concern now is the fact that it hasn’t been pretty. At the same time we have given a break to one person who we wanted to run out of town as quickly as he got here, Jay Cutler. By this time last year the Bears were 3-1 but the story was about how many interceptions Cutler had thrown. I always wondered if there was a rash going around the locker room because at every press conference he would be scratching himself.

I honestly believe that when the Bears get things going in the right direction offensively they will be the darlings of the league and the question at the end of the season will be which one of the high profile coordinators on their staff will be leaving for a Head Coaching job.

Do Not Touch The Tournament! playerpress.com

Written by glogan, Thursday April 08 2010

I'm tired of people trying to find ways to change the NCAA tournament. I just watched oneof the best tournaments that I have ever seen in my years of watching the event. Though I made the mistake of picking Kansas and Villanova to be in the championship game and I had to watch as both of those teams were eliminated on the same day I cannot complain. Increasing the numbers to 96 teams is ridiulous. As ridiculous as saying Sarah Palin is a serious candidate to become president. Not in my lifetime. Some say it is not the best 65 teams in the tournament. Boo hoo. Yes someone always gets left out who many think are deserving but the beauty of it is its imperfection. Changing it now would do away with the NIT which I still think is vital to teams who want to keep playing in the post season though they didn't make the big dance. To be honest it is hard enough to sit through the tourney as it is. That might just be my ADD kicking in. I would lose interest even quicker if the number of teams would increase. My girlfriend already nags me for watching too much basketball during the season. Making any change to it now woud mean she would walk out on me and I actually like my girlfriend more than sports. Except on game days of couurse. I'm the Catholic School Nuns who whack kids on their hands for being bad. I hope someone comes with a giant ruler if they change my beloved tournament. And I would not be the only one who would stop watching basketball altogether. There is only so much a person can take before they start seeing orange basketballs and uncoordinated cheerleaders in his head at night. If you want to change something create a playoff system in college football and leave a perfect product alone.

Cubs Look Like Same Old Flubs playerpresscom

Written by glogan, Thursday April 08 2010

Don't tell me it's early and they've only played to games. The Cubs have not been beaten that badly on opening day since the early days of the franchise when they were called the White Stockings. Opening day starter Carlos Zambrano gave up nearly eight runs in an inning and a half. still wonder why the Cubs still call "Big Z" the ace of the staff after he won a whopping nine game last year. And he has done horrendously on opening days in the past. Even when he wins he can't go beyond 4 innings like he did a couple of years ago. The Cubs have new owners. If I were the Ricketts family I would be looking to trade that s.o.b. and let him be someone elses headache. As in past years he had come to spring training with a new atitude and new acquisition Marlon Byrd claims the Cubs will outscore the Phillies this year. So far we cannot outscore the pitching staff. The Cubs players still look like deer in headlights. They leave their heart on the bus. At leas they're not the Bears claimig the get off the bus running. The Cubs hired a new hitting coach and I'm still waiting to see that one pay off. I am a huge Cubs fan and everyone is still saying it's only two games. I wonder what they will be saying after game 162 and it's another season out of the playoffs.