Monday, June 25, 2007

The Tank Era comes to a drunken end



















The Bears released Tank Johnson today ending what was arguably one of the more embarrassing episodes of the Lovie Era. Not as emabarrassing as Lovie's constant belief in Rex Grossman, but pretty bad nonetheless.

Kenny's Bad Information

















With the White Sox soon to raise the white flag of surrender on the South Side less than two years after winning a World Series it is of some interest to see how this team fell so far so fast.

Some have foolishly compared the White Sox to the 85 Bears, who only were able to bring home one Lombardy Trophy. This comparison is a great disservice to Da Bears. It is true that the Bears only won one championship, but they consistently made the playoffs and went deep in the playoffs only to be turned away by San Francisco and Washington. In fact, they were competitive until 91. That is a six year run of playoff football.

The Sox were respectable last year, winning 90 games. Kenny, tweaked with the roster, bringing in an ailing Jim Thome and some Kansas City rejects for the bullpen. Of course they missed the playoffs. They were not even able to defend their crown. Recall famously that last year during the trading deadline Kenny asked Ozzie and Captain Konerko if they needed anything and both said no. Of course the Sox collapsed and missed the playoffs.

Now comes the 2007 season. While the Tigers went out and got Sheffield, the Red Sox reloaded with Dice-K and JD Drew, the White Sox got Masset, Bukvich and Double AA Aardsma. Furthermore, they dumped Freddy Garcia and traded away their promising young arm to Texas for prospects. When questioned about these rather suspect moves, Kenny Williams defiantly said that everyone didn't have the information that he had.

What?!?!?! What exactly was that secret information Kenny? Was the secret information that you have single-handedly dismantled a World Series Champion with your incompetence? This guy should be getting shredded by the Chicago media. His foolish rants against MVP Magglio Ordonez and White Sox icon Frank Thomas shows just how little confidence Kenny has in himself. Confident men don't feel the need to lash out at everyone. They know they are the shit and don't need prove it to everyone everyday.

Kenny, your information, your team, your bullpen, your moves are all bad. Quick, make up your excuses how other perennially winners like the Red Sox and Angels aren't as smart as you. You are the greatest Kenny, and only you know it.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Attrition

Nice nite to catch a soccer game last Saturday when I went to see the Fire play Chivas U.S.A. in Toyota Park. There was a buzz throughout the crowd of 20,400 till the end of the game. The sell out crowd was a soccer knowledgeable crowd that knew enough to cheer an important corner late in the game. Unfortunately, both teams looked dead and play was uninspired. A mistake by a Fire played left Chivas score in the 79thm. However, it got me to thinking several things.

MLS is trying hard to attract the Latino market after ignoring it for many years. This year MLS is back on Spanish language tv after an absence of many years. Latin players, most noticeably the Fire’s Mexican star C. Blanco, are coming to the league. And then there’s the case of the Fire’s opponent, Chivas USA. Based in L.A., it is owned by the Mexican club Chivas of Guadalajara. It seems to be good marketing. Chivas is wildly popular in Mexico and the USA . Some of this good will has spilled over to Chivas USA. --they had a lot of road support Saturday. There were a lot of Mexican jerseys and flags in the crowd, and many cheers were for Chivas. They have gotten great crowds in L.A., and bring out supporters of Chivas of Guadalajara on the road. Good for MLS.

A second thing. This roving Chivas-Chivas USA crowd dueled with the Fires’ Section 8 , and despite the 0-1 loss, Section 8 stood up to the test. Section 8 is a section of fire fans who stand and chant and sing throughout the game, European soccer crowd style. They stand behind the north goal, in what they’ve dubbed the Harlem Stands (‘euro’ inflection again) and keep up a continual racket during the game. It’s always amusing to this American and further unique to Chicago’s sports scene. Part of the fun of a Fire game is to see what mood Section 8 is in.

Chivas USA fans would be able to drown out Section 8 songs when they wanted to in the beginning of the game. They have a repeated “Chivas clap clap clap Chivas clap clap clap Chivas clap clap clap” chant. After raising to huge volume, it eventuallu died down, and you would hear Section 8 emerge on the other side of the sound surge. Eventually, Scetion 8 was able to move ahead in this battle of attrition. By the 65m, they were singing confidently. By the 70m, they were able to shout down Chivas USA fans with their own repeated chant. Finally, sensing their power, in the 72m Section 8 led the whole stadium in fire chants. This war od attrition won would have continued until the end whistle, but for the Chivas USA winning goal in the 79m. That let out a giant roar that was unparalleled for strength the whole nite. But the home crowd--sad as it is to write this-- was able to hold their own.

A third thing. Ante Razov, all time Fire scoring leader returned to play against the Fire. He hasn’t played for the Fire in a while, but he scored a lot of goals for the team. Although it doesn’t have the history of the National League, but this is the MLS’s 12th year. It’s been around a long time now. Many players who first started playing in the league are now reaching retiring age. MLS has hung around a long time. MLS has had a great deal in lifting the U.S.’s prominence in the soccer world, and it’s good to see nice things happening for the league this year.