Welcome to beautiful Crate & Barrel Park, home of the Cubs!

Sam Zell might be a brilliant real estate mogul, but he is no baseball guy. Thank god this soulless, spiritually bereft mother fucker is going to sell the team. Unfortunately, this cock sucker, "who only looks forward" ( you wonder if ever wipes his ass, since it is behind him) is going to sell the team and Wrigley Field separately. This robot of a man doesn't even understand that 'Wrigley Field' has more value when it is called Wrigley Field, than if it called (insert corporate name here) Park.

This of course would never happen in Boston, or in New York. Only in Chicago where that team on the southside replaced a decrepit, albeit beloved ballpark with a shopping mall. Where Da Bears put a fucking UFO inside a National Landmark and were so stupid that they didn't have the foresight to put in a dome. Finally, where the second oldest ballpark in all of America will be reduced to nothing more than another corporate sponsored advertising shell. And people wonder why they call this the second city. As far as our sports teams are concerned, they should call Chicago, Second Class city. Why can't they ever do anything first rate here, it really is depressing.

Check out Gene Wojciechowski's article on the same topic here.

Wait for it.

One thing not really being said about last years edition of the Cubs is that many of their hitters had sub par years last season. There were injuries and lack of support from their teammates to be sure, but the potential of the top three sluggers on the team was not fully met.

Soriano= Whether it was injuries or just getting used to the team,
Fonzy batted .299 and had 30 Hr's - very nice. His 70 rbi's were pretty good for a leadoff hitter, especially in the NL. However, 130 k's and a .337 oba leave a lot to be desired.

Derrick Lee= The potential Superstar of the lot had an off year. His .317 BA was great, but his 82 RBI and 22 Hr's in 587 at bats were way below his potential.

Aramias Ramirez= had the best year of these three. He hit .310 and had a .366 OBA. He also had 101 RBI's, a great total for 132 games played. But he has done, and was expected to do, better.

It was just enough to get this team over the poverty Brewers in the lame ass NL Central. Four losses instead of wins, and the Cubs would have been rite when I figgered they'd be = a .500 team. The rest of the division were all below .500.

Now, having written that, one mite think this is a Cub bash. It is not. The genisis of this coloum was my reflection on Lee's non production. Again, there were many factors involved, but it was way below his 'near' Triple Crown season. In a similar way, all three named players can do not just better - but much better.

And that's just it. Despite my mocking the NL Central, the Cubs should have been in the playoffs in '07. They did what they had to do to win the division. True, the sweep by Colorado was justified, but the regular season showed that they played like a team. They, to write the frase, deserved it. If these three - and new acquisition Fukedome - have better years in '08, the Cubs will obviously repeat in the division and may actually have a chance to make some noise in the NL as a whole.

And don't forget - The '06 Cardinals had won 83 games, yet won the World Sseries. The New England Patriots of the NFL were deemed unbeatable last month in the Super Bowl - but lost to the Giants. I state that the Cubs- if they get monster production from these players, production from the others, avoid injuries, and play as a team as they did last year - could even contend against the various frightening Monsters in the Al. Then again, look @ the '05 Red Sox, the '06 Sox, the '07 Tigers - Time is tite.

Spring training. 29. Feb. Anything can happen. I even think the Sox are looking tite. T'ever it is, lovely to hear'm on the radio again.

Congrats

Word on the wire is that Hilts is now a coach @ his fourth City school in the last two decades. This is added to the two Catholic and two City grammer schools he has coached since the early ninties.

Juxtaposition

I know I will be taken to the coals for this, but there was an interesting juxtopisition of articles on golf this week. Mondays NYT had a front page article on the trend of golf playing in America = down. And todays Sun Times had a Mariotti colom on the popularity of great Tiger Woods.

Now for the trouble = Except for fellow dcs writers Jackson and Bonnaix, and two 80 year old men (One an old girlfriends Dad, and the other my sisters dad-in-law), I don't know anybody who actually follows golf. I golfed once - three rounds before I'd had enough. I was @ a golf match - and it was kool -w./ the above writers. But compare - hundreds of people who like football. Hundreds who like Baseball. Soccer, basketball, hockey: same.

I even know more people who like snooker - snooker -than golf.

Yes, Jackson is an MD, so his protestations will show that skew. And Bonnaix is the cousin. The old men are old men*.

And again, this is not a diss on golf. It is a kool game. And Tiger - negative personality and all - is still a superstar. It was great to see him in action personally a few years back. I'm sure there are millions to be made on its commercials and magazine ads. And I hear that cards and car racing are popular. But from my context, the New York Times article better reflects reality than Mariotti's.

*= no allusion to my usual 'petty morals' kiss off here.

Rex is our Quarterback, we think...

Well, it looks like the Bears have decided to not decide what to do about the most important position on the field, the Quarterback. Rex's one year deal does nothing to solidify the position or clarify what roles Brian Griese or Kyle Orton will have. It continues a long tradition of the Bears refusing to understand that without a solid, stable quarterback to build the franchise on, you will never have lasting success. As far as the deal goes, one year for 3 million is not a bad financial deal, but it will be bad for the team.

Another poor decision by Lovie and the brain trust. Next year, we are probably looking at 8-8 at best. Sad, just two years removed from a Super Bowl.

Yes we can!

He Gone! The bum has left the building, franchise and town. Big Ben was a disaster in the mold of Todd Hundley. The Cavs get Wallace and Smith- we get Hughes, and Gooden. This can only be upside for the Bulls because of Wallace's attitude. Whether his skills are in decline is debatable, but his lack of leadership skills were evident in the Skiles fallout.

Hughes brings some size to an overcrowded back court, but is often injured. Gooden in the key. With Noah now playing center, Gooden's energy will help a lifeless front line.
I honestly believe we won't miss Wallace at all. Smith is another story-he has been one of the only bright spots. He can score, block and defend.

Wallace will fit in well in Cleveland. He has a strong center in Ilkgouskas, which will allow him to play off the ball-his strength. He will also have additional pressure from Lebron to compete hard every night. Smith can easily replace Gooden in their scheme from the bench.

The key for Pax was unloading Wallace who was a cancer on the team. He unloaded his huge contract and got some high energy guys. Will they make the playoffs? Who cares, they will be instantly eliminated by the Bostons of the league. Pax has taken stock and realizes this season has been a complete disaster.

Black Sox Faction

Why not? With the loss of John Garland in the off season, the rumours out today that the Sox are sniffing around signing Bartolo Colon are very interesting. I'm a big Colon fan, and regardless if he signs with the Sox or not, I hope he returns healthy. Although he has lost mouch of the last two seasons to injuries and has had an ERA above 5.00 for three of the last four years, he mite - if healthy- make a great addition to the team. It would be great to see his off speed stuff dansing through the strike zone again.

Yeesh how the mighty have fallen. Once the knockout of the entire league featuring seven outstanding starting pitchers a few years ago, the Sox have only two they can truely count on : Mark Burele and Javier Vasquez. After these two the Sox hope a huge return to form by Jose Contrearas (10-17, 5.57 ERA last year) and some sort of breakthrough by John Danks (6-13, 5.50 ERA) and Gavin Floyd(8-10, 6.30). And yes, those stats are correctly printed here in dcs- good luck attempting to rely on these pitchers this year.

I have high hopes for Danks - although he got beat up a lot, he strung up some good games -err, innings- to-gether. Contrereas was the staff ace @ by the end of 2005 - but that's now three seasons ago. And Floyd? Who knows @ this point.

So, in a typical Sox move to save money, they are trying to tap Colon again. With the disaster staff they are now sporting in this new spring training, a Colon move - presumably with the onus on Colon to prove himself healthy - is a smart one. Even if he can't recover, it'll be nice to see him in the Sox uni again- especially if he can produce.

Did I write 'smart one' about a possible Colon move? I meant ' desperate one '.

Colon's stats here.

Dates and Locations: Soldiers Field via Boston Mass.

Yesterday Rocky fwd me a neat address that listed off results, goal scorers, attendence etc for each game the old Chicago Sting of the North American Soccer League ever played. In truth, they were the soccer team that I loved more than any other team. Fire, Man U., America, U.S.A., all pale for my childhood team - The Chicago Sting.

I can remember when I was first exposed to them up close- it must have been summer of 1977 and the Marquette Park Day camp I was in had a field trip to old Soldiers Field. Jump on the yellow buses, crowd of screaming kids to go, and deposited #@ Old Soldiers. We were given demonstrations and gifts from a team I'd heard about, but didn't really know too much about- but it was enough: this old man thinks (looking back) two things, probably even more than the actual 'beautiful game', attracted me mightly and made me a fan:

1) They gave us old game programs. They were thick magazines full of the history of the game, bios of the players, and stats stats stats. Like most of us, I was an obsessive reader when I was young, and the three programs gave me reading materials that I read and re-read. Sting public relations worked well on me.

2) It was different. we were all Sox, Cubs, Bears, Hawks, and Bulls fans. However, who was a soccer fan back then? Moho, for sure, and my circle of frenz. but as I have been and continue to be someone who is attracted to 'different', the Sting were my thing.

Many memories from then. But this Wednesdays Memories concerns a specfic game- and here's the line from that link(from 1983 season):

709 H S Tulsa Roughnecks 1-2 SO L 8-6 73 10,276 Karl Heinz Granitza

Wasn't @ the game that was played in front of 10, 276 fans @ old Soldiers Field That summer, the Summer of the Weight Sox (as it turned out to be-but the Fall was all Baltimore) my Mom, Sister.1 and Sister.2 and I visited our four uncles and their families in Boston. We stayed a whole week @ my Uncle Mikes, and like mine, it was the large, young and bawdy family. We fit in, suprise suprise. Crammed into a long room with two of Uncle Mikes sons - the other got stuck in the basement to make room for me. The extended family of an already large and extended family. Thousand miles away from home, but we were in a place that was recognizably home.

But it wasn't the only scene that I fit in to- I hung out with my like aged cousins and their frenz. I was instantly a ' part of the gang ', and accepted as such. I remember playing football - mutherfucker if the Boston kids didn't tackle as hard as my Chicago mates- and baseball. Someone lent me a Rawlings. Ah, but young mens minds do not stop @ sports, hard as it seems to be - we also attended teenage beauty contest in Quincy Market. I can't remember much, just young men watching like aged girls being put on display for us. Sexism is markets young to us all, n'est pas?

And the experssions !! This was my first exposure to adjectives like 'wicked' and 'mad' - both to denote "a lot of", as in.....well, 'mad beers' or 'wicked beers'. And then there was the fashion statements.

Back in those days there wasn't the incessent coverage of sports on tv like today - but ESPN did exist. I can remember walking to the cornershop to look- but not buy - @ the morning papers for the Sox box scores*. But there was one Chicago sports highlite that was shown on Boston tv - Granitzas goal in that July Sting game. Yes- I couldn't get Sox highlites, but here was a teaser to 'come back after the commercial' with a flash of a goal in a Sting game - and a Sting goal.

But what a fucking goal- in all honest, it may be the greatest goal ever scored in soccer history. What I saw flashed up on the tv screen was old Soldiers, the game clock counting down from 10 seconds, and the ball 120 yards away from the Tulsa goal and in our goalies hands. But that flash on tv: the goalie Victor Nogueria dropkicking the ball linedrive style to midfield- Ricardo Alonso, the tall lanky Argentinian heading the ball forward from the center circle - rite to the chest of Stings greatest player ever, the German Karl Heinz Granitza. With his back to the goal, he deadened the ball perfectly, and just as time ran out - he biked it into the enemy goal.

And then a bleeding commercial.

I'll give it away - the game ended in tears. It went to a 'shootout' and the Sting lost ((but, in accordance to the rules of the N.A.S.L., they got two points for the shootout loss and one for a goal scored - Tulsa only got five points (four and one) )). This I only found out when I got back - because we were on our way to somewhere, I could not wait till after the commercial to see the goal again and hear the story. I only found out that Granitza goal was not the winner, but only the tier(sic) back home. No internet then to find out, for example, the time of the public league semifinal this weekend, the scores of Sting games from way back - or if the Sting won that game in 1983 . The only option? No good. Boston Globe didn't carry N.A.S.L. scores.

But, a gametying goal, as time ran out, by advancing the ball totally airborne 120 yards - it was the greatest goal I have ever seen.

You should have seen it.

....................................................

*= this will be revisited some Wednesday to come, for the baseball aspect.

Deutschland's Team

alles ist gut mit Herr Lazermann

They deserved It

Way back, when the Bulls were averaging 70 wins a season, we were watching them take on the Pacers- and the Bulls looked off. The whole game they looked like they were playing @ 70%, and although we were thinking they would win the game, Jackson made the remark that "maybe this is just one of those games they will lose." It just happens, sometimes - the best team on the court that nite wasn't the to be 87-13 Bulls champs, it was the Pacers. Last nite = No question, although the clear superior team the first 18 games of the season was the Patriots, it's now very clear that the best team for the last four games of the year was the Giants.

From the beginning of the Super Bowl, they were the better team. One kept waiting not only for New England to wake up from the stupor they were playing in the whole game but for the Giants to start to make mistakes that would take them out of the game. But the huge Giant drive in the first quarter made the statement : we're gonna play this down to the last second.

Although this wasn't as big a upset as the Jets in '69, I would rank it as the second biggest upset in SuperBowl history. The fact that the dynasty unbeaten Patriots were beaten to a team that many thought was , @ best, the third best team in the weaker conference.

Not anymore.

My two favourite moments in the game was the shot of the brother Manning up in the box seats celebrating his brothers 45 yard completion to Boss in the third quarter. One look and it was appearnt that he knew the giants had a chance, as long as plays like this were being made. And although I bring this up to show how the confidence was building on the Giants side as the game when on - hey, we can do this- I will freely acknowledge that I was more touched by the very obvious family love on display. Although his season was over, it was very obvious who he was pulling for. It wasn't his team playing, but you could see how invested in this game Peyton Manning was.

My other favourite shot was one of the Giants line before their final drive started. It was a quick shot, but you could see they were bucking each other up; and again, one could see the confidence. So, although I - along with 18 out of 18 reportes from dcs, The Sun Times, and the Tribune - picked New England to win it - by the time the Super Bowl Champs got the ball for their final drive, everyone was believing.

He Gaurantees It!

Pats by 12.5 says it all. But as Plaxico Burress claims Joe Willie has posessed his brain, he guarantees a win. At this point, I don't think the Pats need any more motivation than completing the perfect season. But why bother giving them any more reason to rally the troops.

This could be a fantastic game like their meeting in December, or it could be a Pats blowout. True, the Pats haven't been playing that great, but the bottom line has been there. I think the biggest thing the Pats have to worry about is history. How many games can you actually win before you are due to lose. The Pats also have all the pressure. To complete the perfect season and not be able to close the Super Bowl would be a complete disaster.

My pick is Pats 33-17. The key will be the underrated Pats D. Moss will pick up where he left off in the regular season. He has had a quiet playoffs, but should explode. The Pats also have all of the big game experience. Buress better call the Hungarian Howitzer.