David Haugh toes the line but doesn’t go over it, so I will. Lovie Smith is just not a good head coach, and it’s time we woke up to that cold hard reality.
In fact, based on the miserable showing of this team in 2 of the last 3 games, I’m questioning the talent evaluators, the GM, the scouts, the front-office people that hire them, and everybody who has a say in a team that displays over-paid mediocrity nearly every Sunday.
The team is a joke, and suffers from a complete lack of leadership at all levels.
Can you even imagine a Ditka coached team from the 1980s losing so badly? Losing close games is one thing. Getting your ass handed to you two weeks out of three, quite another.
Can you imagine a Singletary-led defense playing like that? I sure can’t. Man, I miss that guy. But he seems to have rejuvenated the 49ers, who play the Bears on Thursday night.
Imagine that, a black head coach who got the job because … he’s good at it.
I wonder what that would be like for a Bears team.
Note to ownership: we’ve seen great football in this town, played with passion and intensity and talent and dedication. And this AIN’T it.
I’d never heard of either Jerry Angelo or Lovie Smith when they were hired. But I bought in, and gave them both plenty of time.
Sorry, but I think it’s time to say it: neither one is very good at their jobs.
And so by extension, whoever hired Angelo isn’t very good either.
Right after a crushing playoff loss in cold, windy weather, the football coaches of my son’s youth team gathered the kids around for the usual post-game talk.
The season is over now, there’s no getting around it. This is the end.
After 13 weeks of practice six hours a week … after 9 games … after all the team-building that results from good leadership of 25 ten-year-old boys who love football and get along well with each other … here we are now. Done. Over. After all that effort, and all that investment, suddenly, it’s all over.
Some of the coaches got choked up trying to put their intense emotions into words. Just like last year. And listening to them, and watching them, so did I. Just like last year.
And this was a totally different set of coaches from last year.
Two seasons of football, two different sets of coaches, but two identical scenarios at the end of the season: a tough loss, and an emotional message.
Two sets of good people connecting with our young men, doing a wonderful thing for them, and for us. Two sets of dads who throw themselves into coaching with great dedication and desire. with a sincere and earnest wish to teach football to 9- and 10-year-old boys. For nothing. Well, it isn’t really for nothing: the coaches get to spend a little of their own money, and a lot of their own time, energy, and emotion.
Some kids aren’t so lucky, I know, and end up with jerks for coaches, who ruin an entire sport for them forever, but we’ve been lucky enough to go 2-for-2 in the Good Football Coaches category.
The key thin I’ve learned over the last two enjoyable seasons is that football builds bonds like no other sport that I’ve ever seen up close. The investment of time and emotion is so big. SO, so big. And with all that investment comes bonding: boys with other boys, coaches with boys, parents with each other.
It all comes together, slowly, over a period of weeks. At some point, it turns into a team, a real team, where everybody works together for a common goal, without concern about who gets credit.
And it hurts when that finally ends. It hurts a lot. It hurts because you’ve built something real.
There is a very real sense of grief for the end of that bond. Maybe it hurts the adults more than the kids. In fact, I’m pretty sure about that.
And then we drag ourselves back to work, school, or wherever it is we put in our time each day, but we do so as changed people.
We’ve been transformed. Literally, transformed by the power of connecting with other people and working towards a common goal. It’s an amazing and beautiful thing. And I’m pretty sure this is one of the most powerful draws that keeps players coming back to play football, and keeps coaches coming back to coach it, at least in our local youth program.
Football is a great sport outside of all other considerations, but when you add in the teamwork and the life lessons, the character-building, the elevation of team over self, football becomes transcendent.
Someday when I’m old, and Jacob is grown, we’ll talk about the good times we had when he played youth football, and how much we both enjoyed it, and how much we both learned.
Life is mostly about building memories, and it feels good to know you’ve just built another great memory. It feels really, really good.
Brad Biggs gives his usual 10Thoughts about Sunday’s Bears game, a dreary 30-6 drubbing of the ridiculous Cleveland Browns.
I have a theory: the Bears’ O-line is so awful that it is screwing up the entire offense.
They can’t run the ball, because the line can’t open any holes. When you can’t run the ball, the defense tees off on pass plays. And since their pass blocking isn’t that great either, this means that on every offensive snap, basically, they are operating at a big disadvantage.
Stated another way, if they had the O-line of the Colts, or the Broncos, or the Patriots, how many of their current issues just go away? A lot, I’ll bet.
I was not convinced when Jerry Angelo said after last season that the QB was the biggest issue to be solved. It seems like I was right, and Angelo was wrong:
Just sticking to offense, and in approximately the order I’d fix them:
old, slow, offensive line,
bad, small receivers,
no discernible fullback,
a general lack of depth across all positions,
mediocre position coaches,
unproven quarterback who has never been given a real chance with a real offense.
Does bringing Tom Brady, or Drew Brees, or whoever else you like, fix all that, too?
Cutler, Brady, Brees, same difference.
Note that Kyle Orton seems to be doing just fine in Denver, with that great offensive line, big physical receivers, and good coaching.
Feel free, then, to draw important conclusions about the people running the Chicago Bears, both on the field, and off.
Phil Simms has long been one of my favorite color analysts on football, and it’s because of plain-spoken common sense like this (on the criticism of Jay Cutler last week by Jim Mora, Sr., and Mike Martz):
“The critical comments, the overanalyzation of everything, Week 1, there is no other way to describe it except that it is out of control. That’s all I can say. All I am reading is body language, `I can see this,’ or `I can see that,’ ‘I can just tell.’ I’m telling you, I wish I could go on and do the game today and do commentary on that because it is absurd.”
“Out of control” and “absurd” are exactly right.
What is it with people today? Everybody’s a critic.
I hadn’t realized that ex-football-coaches have enough expertise in reading body language to cast public criticism at players for not showing us the right post-game moves that send out the recommended degree of contrition.
Seriously, this is the stupidest thing I’ve heard since the idea of our government fining people thousands of dollars for not having health insurance. And that is a pretty high bar to clear.
More Simms:
“The players don’t listen don’t listen to all the talk radio, read all the articles and watch ESPN around the clock where we have 40 guys analyzing every throw Jay Cutler makes,” Simms said. “If I have to hear one more time, `Oh, you don’t throw across the field.’ That’s another cliche that needs to be blown up because Jay Cutler has thrown across his body 300 times already in his career and he has hit about 100 big plays out of it. Is he going to make mistakes? Sure.
“Someone could say, `Well, hey, he could have a bad day again today.’ No kidding. It is the Pittsburgh Steelers. It won’t be a walk in the park. I’ll make judgment after about eight weeks, maybe at the end of the season. I feel pretty secure in saying his talent and who he is will come through. His talent is tremendous, absolutely one of the top five most talented quarterbacks in the NFL.”
Phil Simms won’t suffer fools gladly, and I love that about him. Especially in comparison to so many TV and media “personalities” who are both too impressed with themselves, and afraid of their own shadows.
The Wildcat formation is causing defensive coordinators in the NFL to do some adapting, and this article does a nice job of explaining the whys and wherefores.
In reading them, it’s very easy to see how he got to be so popular: he went out of his way to engage people. Probably because he’s just a nice guy and a people person. You know who could stand to loosen up a little bit in that department? Tiger Woods. But then, he wouldn’t be Tiger Woods. He thrives on focus and drive, and those things are incompatible with being a people person.
Golf could really use a guy like Arnold Palmer right now. How many people started playing golf entirely because of Arnold Palmer’s charisma? It sure sounds like a lot, from reading those letters.
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One of my favorite bands, Steely Dan, played the Chicago Theatre last week. Monday night they played “Aja” in its entirety at the start, and then a bunch of their other great songs. Check out this set list:
1 Black Cow
2 Aja
3 Deacon Blues
4 Peg
5 Home at Last
6 I Got the News
7 Josie
8 Black Friday
9 Time out of Mind
10 Daddy Don’t Live in that New York City No More
11 Bodhisattva
12 Babylon Sisters
13 Show Biz Kids
14 Hey Nineteen
15 Dirty Work
16 Love is Like an Itching in My Heart (Supremes)/band intros
17 Do It Again
18 Don’t Take Me Alive
19 My Old School
20 Kid Charlemagne
Encore
21 Reelin’ in the Years
Color me bright green with envy. I’ve listened to most of these songs sooooo many times over the years, I know every solo, every chord change, every note and lyric. Except for the songs on Gaucho … never a big fan of that record.
My favorite Steely Dan records, in order:
(tie) Can’t Buy a Thrill and Aja
Royal Scam
Pretzel Logic
Countdown to Ecstasy
Katy Lied
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Locally, Chicago’s attempt to remake public housing has fallen somewhat short. So, to review, the Federal Government created the publc housing mess which helped destroy our cities, and then the city government has distributed that mess into the neighborhoods and suburbs, and done an inferior job at it, too. Maybe it’s time to bring sanity back to housing policy?
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Finally, Tony Woodlief writes about the quality of education today. I agree with everything he says there. We don’t home school, but I support and sympathize with many of those who do. And then we have this Education school lunacy. Do people realize what is going on under their noses? On their dime? To their kids? I really don’t think they do.
“If I had it to do all over again, I would not have changed anything I did. I felt we had a player that was treated unfairly, and it was my responsibility as the head coach to stand up for that player. I have three sons of my own, and if they ever went and played ball or did anything with their career and there was someone responsible for them (who) didn’t try to stand up for them, it would disappoint me as a parent.
When it first came out, lots of folks had a laugh, and the rant does seem a little over the top in a couple of parts. But lost in all the laughing and the making fun of his “I’m a man! I’m 40!” line is this: he was exactly right.
His larger point was that we’ve forgotten that college athletes are amateurs. Or, “student-athletes”, if we want to be extremely generous and take the NCAA at their word on that terminology.
We all know that some of these amateurs aren’t as good at their chosen sport as some others. But then, as “student-athletes”, they have lots of responsibilities off the field as well. Where is the media attention for that? Oh, right, there isn’t any.
College athletes have amateur standing for a reason. That’s what we’re told, anyway. But take a look around, at the huge TV contracts, the shoe deals, the under-the-table payola from connected alumni and prominent boosters. Look at the big money coaching contracts, and all the advertising revenue that flows to the NCAA and then to the big conferences and member schools.
Money just flying into and out of everybody’s pockets except the players.
Does that sound like amateur athletics to you? Me neither.
Yet, despite all that money flying all around them, the players themselves are still expected to lead the monastic life of an amateur athlete. Sure, OK, if the NCAA says so.
And as money has invaded college sports, so has the focus on individual stars. ESPN puts you on SportsCenter if you make outrageous plays, or act like an idiot after scoring touchdowns. What’s the difference, any more? It’s all about celebrity more than athletics, and it has been like that for years..
So I think Mike Gundy is here to remind us that we should respect our student-athletes, our amateurs, for being good people and working hard and doing their best. That’s all we can really ask of our young people.
Take care of your business the right way off the field, too. That’s really what Gundy is saying here. Watch for yourself:
He has a very good point, and it doesn’t get made often enough: we’ve completely lost our minds about what is important with the student-athlete today.
As fans, we hitch our hopes and dreams on the backs of kids so that we can feel a little better about ourselves and our pathetic, empty lives. I know that’s harsh and maybe a little hyperbolic, but when you really back away from it, and shine a bright light on what is going on there, isn’t that pretty close to the truth?
As parents and boosters, we lie to ourselves and to our kids when we ignore the most honorable among us, the kids who probably aren’t going pro, but still study hard and show up at practice and contribute to the team in any way they can. Instead, many of us promote harmful ideals like celebrity and glorifying the individual.
We did a much better job preparing our young people for life after college when we took the “student” part of “student-athlete” seriously. Today, we cater to the needs of the top .1% who might become professionals someday, for a couple of years.
Speaking as a parent of a college age son, with two more to follow in a few years, I think I can speak with confidence when I say that most parents of college athletes want to know one thing, just one thing above all others: who is going to advocate for my kid’s interests while he/she is away at school?
If you can’t be there to provide parental guidance day-to-day, you want somebody you can trust to take over that role. Especially in the shark-infested waters of big-time athletics.
So when a coach like Mike Gundy takes on great risk to stand up for what is right, and to stand up for a kid on the team who does everything right, even if he is not the most talented on the team, that tells a recruit’s parent just about everything they need to know.
And unlike the sordid tale of another coach recently, I’m pretty sure Mike Gundy won’t be caught doing some random gold-digger on a restaurant table, paying for her abortion, and then getting sued six years later. Some coaches are more about celebrity; some are more about leading young people.
So, all in all, I’d be honored to have a fine man like Mike Gundy watch after one of my kids. Even if he does say funny things on Youtube videos when he’s angry.
It must be Philosophy in Old Rock Songs Day today.
On the drive into work, I heard “Live for Today” by the Grass Roots, followed by “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones. Also, “I Can Help” by Billy Swan was the first song out of the radio when pulling away from the house, a song that I really like a lot. There is a guitar riff in there that sure reminded me of Les Paul, a connection I’d never made before. One of those runs down the neck, and back up, repeating the same sequence of notes. Here’s a recent version:
Something about the mood I was in made it all sound extra good. I think it’s because I was already in a very good mood, after getting my first good night’s sleep in a quite a few nights. I’m pretty sure this is directly due to my bike ride last night, also for the first time in many days. Went with my youngest boy Jordan, just the two of us, so it’s a win/win. I’ve noticed over the last few years that on days when I get zero exercise, my sleep is low quality. It’s shorter and not as deep, and during the next day, I don’t feel as good, I don’t have as much ability to concentrate, my mood is often inferior, etc. I often wonder how many people who fight problems with sleep and are taking medication for it are sort of barking up the wrong tree.
On to the links:
A night of healing in Iowa – A summation of Friday night’s tribute to Ed Thomas, the coach at Aplington-Parkersburg who was killed by one of his former players in June. He was instrumental, also, in helping rebuild Parkersburg after a devastating tornado mostly destroyed the town in 2008.
Ichiro defies critics and odds – Computers sometimes don’t throw Ichiiro Suzuki lots of love. Proving, I don’t know … that computers can be stupid? Is there a GM that wouldn’t sign him if they had a chance to start a team from scratch and wanted to win a World Series? I sure would. The guy creates team offense by getting on base at a ridiculous rate.
Political Economics 101 – Eric Raymond explains how health care would respond to government intervention in that market. See if you can guess how it turns out!
Oh, come on: one extra club costs Jim Furyk over $130,000 – And that’s why golf is the most honorable game in the world. Rules is rules. It sucks when you forget and break one. Which encourages not breaking them, and rewards those who follow them. The higher the cost of breaking them, the more value they hold.
Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems by Michael Strong
Meltdown by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
The Housing Boom and Bust by Thomas Sowell
Bolt shreds 200m mark, sets second world record this week – 19.19 for the 200m. Sliced .11 off the old world mark of 19.30 he set in last year’s Olympics. This guy is amazing, and I hope he’s clean. We don’t need more reasons to be suspicious of athletic performances.
Bus drivers reject paying red-light tickets – Issuing automatic $100 tickets for not stopping at some exact spot on a road is a DUMB idea. It annoys drivers who are doing nothing wrong, and is nothing more than a cash grab by cash-obsessed local governments. Just because technology enables a particular idea is NOT justification enough for implementing it. In fact, that might be an argument against it.
Here he is doing something called “Climbing Bear Mountain”. That’s a link to the video, which I can’t embed here.
Like Sarah Spain said in her tweet for it, “I got tired just watching this…”.
Someone who wanted to do just one exercise as a complete work-out would be hard pressed to find a better one. I’d probably kill myself trying to do this, though.
Sincerely, John Hughes – If you read nothing else all day, read this. From all I’ve learned over the last few days since Hughes’ much-too-soon death, he was my kind of people. The main reason he dropped out of Hollywood? He was scared to death of what it might do to his kids.
“There was a dispute over the fee and it just kind of escalated from there,” LoTempio told the station. “It was not really a robbery. That is probably a large distortion of what happened.”
Asked if the case would end up as a felony, he said: “Absolutely not.”
Slow-play rule in spotlight after Tiger, Harrington were timed – Do we really care if they’re playing slow? I don’t. I know it’s a rule, and golf is a stickler for rules like no other sport, but what if the hurried pace caused Harrington to make bad shots on the 16th hole, and push him out of contention? Not sure that rule is a good one, if it affects decision-making in PGA events. And a “boo-yah” to Tiger Woods for criticizing the call, and taking the fine for it.
Best receiver you haven’t heard of: Andre Johnson – Great player, no trash talking, just hands the ball to the ref after touchdowns like he’s been there before and it’s part of his job. My kind of player.
Can Jazz Be Saved? – Doesn’t sound very promising. Terry Teachout has the story.
Shoeless Joe’s sweet spot – Shoeless Joe Jackson’s house in Greenville, Mississippi, has been turned into a museum. Cool trivia: he had a “pet parrot named Robert E. Lee whose vocabulary was limited to screeching: ‘Yerrrrr out!’” and a “letter from Ted Williams endorsing Jackson’s enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame”.
Caravan’s Lenti, Maine South’s Bliss suspended – Bliss was suspended for violating an IHSA rule that “allows only two kids per school to attend certain workouts.” Said Bliss: “At one point there were 139 quarterbacks there. How could I show any favoritism towards Maine South?” Yeah, we can’t have any of that “free camp” stuff, can we?
Bearsapalooza at Soldier Field – notes from yesterday’s practice at Soldier Field. Highlight: “Cutler also opened the two-minute drill with a rifle to Hester for approximately a 40-yard gain. And when I say Cutler threw it on a line, it was on a line. He didn’t put any air under the ball whatsoever.”
Some 35yo non-athlete white dude tries to duplicate the stunt that Bears rookie Jarron Gilbert did on YouTube: jump out of a 3-foot pool and land on his feet.
The sixth spot in the batting order seems to be suiting Alfonso Soriano pretty well, after all.
From this Daily Herald article: “In 17 games out of the 6-hole, Soriano is 24-for-64 (. 375) with 5 homers and 15 RBI.”
So, .375/5/15 in 17 games, while prior to that, his numbers were .226/14/33 in 82 games.
This might not be proof of anything just yet, but it is enough to establish that he can at least be productive there, sometimes, for short stretches. Which is pretty much how he always hits: sometimes, for short stretches.
But when he’s locked in, he is a beast, to be sure.
So. Can we all agree to stop arguing that he MUST bat leadoff? Because, apparently, it isn’t true.
Of course, some will say “it isn’t a fair comparison for determining whether Soriano bats better in the 6 hole vs. the 1 hole, because of Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez getting on base more in front of him, so OF COURSE he will get better pitches to hit and drive in more runs.” Right. That’s exactly the point. That’s exactly why it makes sense to move a guy like him down in the order.
Fastball hitters will nearly always get better pitches to hit with runners on base. Especially mistake-hitters like Soriano, who will just destroy fastballs delivered to locations he likes (including out of the zone, low, which is his favorite of all). For the opposing pitcher and defense to have guys on base consistently when a hitter like him comes up is not a recipe for success, unless they execute extremely well.
Which they tend not to do as much in August, as compared to, say, October.
So we’ll see where he is in a few more weeks, and how he does in the playoffs, if they get there.
People ask what’s going through your head once you start to approach that four or five hour mark in the game and that 13-16 inning mark.
Your body isn’t really tired as you see pitchers still come in throwing around the same velocity as before. Players still make plays, steal bases, and hit home runs to win those long games. Mentally, you are ready for it to end sooner than later though.
Sometimes, though, you just get really hungry.
Somehow, I never wondered about that. It does make perfect sense though; by that time, a player probably hasn’t eaten in 6-8 hours.
I wonder how the players with blood sugar issues deal with this.
Which reminds me of an amazing story I heard from the Ron Santo documentary “This Old Cub”. It might even be true.
Santo, a Type I diabetic, was in the on-deck circle when he started to have a blood sugar reaction. He looked out at the pitcher’s mound, and instead of one pitcher, he saw three. Also, three scoreboards in center field.
Keep in mind, this is when he is just moments away from stepping into the batter’s box to face a baseball traveling near his head at 85-90 m.p.h. Or, three baseballs, in this case
A major “uh-oh” moment. He isn’t sure what to do. So he picks the pitcher in the middle. And he got a base hit.
In fact, in his version of the story, it was two outs in the ninth inning, they were behind, and he came up with the bases loaded and hit a home run.
I tried to find the box score from this game, supposedly against the Dodgers in 1966 against Bill Singer. I couldn’t find anything matching those circumstances. Who knows what really happened, but for me the amazing part is that he got into the batter’s box at all. Think about it. Three pitchers!
Randy Brown hit a low point in April. A really, really low point.
He got fired from his NBA assistant coaching job with the Sacramento Kings. Even worse, all of his possessions were auctioned off in bankruptcy court.
As if all that weren’t already bad enough, among his possessions were three irreplaceable items: his three NBA championship rings from his years with the Chicago Bulls.
You can always buy another house, and more cars, furniture and clothes. It’s just stuff. And like all “stuff”, none of it really matters all that much, even though we tell ourselves that it does.
When you can buy another one pretty much any time you want, it is less valuable, by definition.
It is another thing entirely to lose a championship ring. A championship ring oozes with meaning. It symbolizes sacrifice, teamwork, and achievement. It represents something few players ever experience: the pinnacle of success for your sport. It demands respect from peers and fans alike. And it reminds you of many good memories and the people that made up one of the best parts of your life. Along with much more, I’m sure.
Brown admits it’s all his fault:
”It’s my fault. I can see how it all happened and the mistakes I made. Like others, I trusted the wrong people, people who were my best friends. Some even lived with me. I never thought of myself as being a big spender, but I did loan and give away a lot of money to so-called friends who never paid me back.”
And Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Bulls, has even promised to replace those irreplaceable championship rings.
New job with your old team: check.
Replace irreplaceable rings: check.
Randy Brown is one lucky man.
And he has some good advice:
”I can’t wait to address the incoming NBA rookies at the next retreat. I want them to know that the wisest things they can do are save, trust the right people and be very, very careful where you invest. I learned my lessons the hard way. Thank God my wife, Tamara, and I have a chance to start all over again with our three children, Justin, Janel and Diamond.”
Ah, well. The Hawks lost to a better team. But they gave a great effort in game 5, and have nothing to be ashamed of. The game was scoreless well into the third period, and even after Detroit went up 1-0, the Hawks came back to tie it a few minutes later to force overtime. Their determination and will to win were evident for all to see.
Questions come up. Are we good enough at defense? Do we have enough size? Do we need to get better at puck possession skills? No, no, and yes.
Even more important, hunger is created in the hearts and minds of the players. It hurts to lose in the round before the Final of any tournament in any sport, because it feels like unfinished business. You’ve worked so hard, for so long, and won so many tough games, and then you have to go home and watch the team that just beat you play some other team in the Final, and get all the attention and respect that comes from that.
So, looking back? A great, great season. The Hawks showed us a lot during this playoff run. Next year, this team will still be the youngest in the NHL, but with the added experience and education of winning two playoff rounds—one of them without home ice advantage and against a team (Vancouver) that many saw as superior—and then losing a tough series against a superior opponent.
Good luck to the Wings, I guess. I don’t know why, but it’s hard to like that team. Maybe it’s the goofy red uniforms? The white unis are cool, but the red ones look like little kid jammies. And the Pens have one of the best uniforms in sports, for my money. And two uber-cool young stud players in Crosby and Malkin, who have been making sick plays all during the playoffs, and have 30 goals and 56 points between them.
"As I wrote in my common sense, bulldozer of truth book "Ted, White and Blue," you do not have a "right" to health care, but rather a personal responsibility for it. From my vantage point, too many Americans obviously do not care about their health but have the unmitigated audacity to want someone else to pay for their health care damage control. That attitude is soulless, irresponsible and un-American. I am not of the same species as these bloodsuckers."
Ted Nugent, from "Fedzilla Goes Quack", Mar. 10, 2009
