Chicago -
By Eric Emery
Reasons why you should care even though the Blackhawks won’t be in it.
* Barcelona beat Manchester United earlier this week, so you will not longer be distracted by other sports you don’t care about.
* Each team has an American on the fourth line, so you can get your small dose of patriotism.
* Detroit throws an octopus on the ice before the game, which signifies the eight GM brands that will cut later this year.
Posted on May 29, 2009
By Natasha Julius
No, I am not moving back to Detroit now. As you so eloquently continue to point out, it’s not a nice place to live. We’ve talked about this, remember?
I understand that you want to make yourselves feel a little better about losing to the Red Wings and all, but that horse you’re beating died 40 years ago. And this isn’t even a horse race. It’s a conversation about hockey. To keep harping on a totally irrelevant aspect of American culture should be beneath you. This is sub-Bush League, people. It’s downright Brian Campbell-y.
Posted on May 28, 2009
By Dan O’Shea
One of the biggest debates of this year’s fantasy baseball season revolves around stolen bases: Are they back in vogue again, or merely more noticeable at a time when we are trying to forget how many home-run hitters have been tied to steroids?
Some observers, like Tim Kurkjian, have made the case that there is not much of an up-tick from recent years, and that the tainted homer is putting the spotlight back on speed.
Personally, I think a number of players who were already gifted speedsters have become more conscious of running this year. Perhaps, teams are being a bit more aggressive, but that doesn’t account for the number of times this year a player has stolen home: Four (Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Werth, Michael Bourn and Kaz Matsui). Stealing home, by the way, is such an impressive feat that I think extra fantasy points should be given for pulling it off.
Posted on May 27, 2009
By Jim Coffman
Let’s not become too agitated about the Hawks’ less-than-stellar effort against the Red Wings on Saturday, okay? Two nights prior they avoided embarrassment by pulling out Game 3 but they couldn’t repeat the sensation despite a couple high-profile Red Wings absent from the lineup when the teams returned to the ice. The Hawks tried to muscle up in Game 4 and in the NHL these days that almost never works. Teams that try to play chippy hockey pay a price in power plays against that they rarely overcome.
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And now the Hawks will almost certainly bow out to the defending champs on Wednesday (or if the Wings suffer a let-down, the next time the teams take the ice). On the bright side, the end of this series will cap off what can only be described as an amazing season. After 10 years of decrepitude, the Hawks bounced all the way back into the NHL’s elite in one great campaign. And then there is the fact that the only time to vociferously bemoan a playoff setback is when your team clearly had the advantage in talent, toughness and experience. The Red Wings are about to sweep that best-of-three series.
Posted on May 26, 2009
By Marty Gangler
If nothing else this week, the Cubs proved that there is nothing to worry about – that is how I started last week’s Cub Factor. Well, what a difference a week can make. Because if nothing else, the Cubs proved there are plenty of things to worry about. They don’t have to worry about getting stuck with Dusty Baker through a goofy rule change or be concerned with Ted Lilly making a birdhouse over at Koyie Hill’s woodshop, but they should start to worry about people taking turns on the disabled list and forgetting how to play anything close to winning baseball. Those are pretty big things to worry about.
It’s time to bring in a slumpbuster.
Posted on May 26, 2009
By Andrew Reilly
Jake Peavy sucks.
Even if he’s a great pitcher, he sucks.
Even if the White Sox Enemies List* needed an ace, he sucks.
Even if the Good Guys insist on taking this all-or-nothing thing into a weird parallel universe of all and nothing, he sucks.
Posted on May 26, 2009
By Thomas Chambers
There were lessons to be learned from Saturday’s 134th running of the Preakness Stakes.
Rachel Alexandra is a special filly, Mine That Bird is for real, Kentucky Derby buzz horses can fall from grace mighty quickly, and I still don’t like the way Gabriel Saez rides Friesan Fire.
Posted on May 22, 2009
By Dan O’Shea
Feeling a little Manny-less lately?
We all get that sometimes. Just don’t turn to performance enhancers to make it all better, or you may find yourself on the sidelines for 50 games. We will continue to live in a world without Manny for another month-and-a-half, and for the second time this year, we must try to figure out if a star player will be something less when he returns from a layoff that came just after a drug revelation.
A-Rod’s return thus far is going pretty well: Only seven hits in 36 at-bats through Tuesday night, but five of those hits are home runs, and he already has 10 walks, perhaps a sign that he doesn’t feel in such a hurry to prove himself that he’ll swing at bad balls.
Manny’s game, one of contact, suggests that he will return in early July with similar results as long as he spends some quality time in the batting cage.
Posted on May 21, 2009
By Jim Coffman
The clinching victory over the Canucks last week, the one that left the Hawks eight wins away from the Stanley Cup? It couldn’t have been more exciting. And the United Center was remarkably loud, just about throughout. In fact, we’re going to go ahead and say that during the back-and-forth 7-5 victory it was as noisy as it has ever been in the arena that replaced the Chicago Stadium in 1994.
“I don’t know about history,” said my friend Steve. “I just know my ears hurt.”
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The downside was that a big reason the game was so dramatic was that it was the worst defensive performance of the post-season for our town’s icemen. Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin played well, and still gave up five goals. If he hadn’t been sharp, the Canucks could have scored 10. There were so many breakdowns by the Hawks’ defensive corps it was hard to know where to start to break it down.
The question was, was it a blip? Primarily a one-game thing that would be rectified the next time the Hawks hit the ice Sunday in the Western Conference Final opener in Detroit? The short answer? No.
Posted on May 18, 2009
By Andrew Reilly
Are the White Sox the worst team in baseball? As of this writing, the South Siders have scored fewer runs than every other team in the American League while allowing the fifth-fewest. This suggests two things:
1. The Sox are not that good.
2. The Sox don’t lose a lot of close games.
We already knew the first part, but the second part suggests reason for optimism: if they’re at least keeping games close, it stands to reason they at least have a chance to win them. Indeed, the Good Guys are a not-entirely-terrible 4-5 in one-run games, which at least indicates competitive spirit, but posits the Sox as a team capable of standing its ground in the nailbiters yet dropping 16 of the other 27 games. To put it another way: the Sox are bad at good baseball but awful at terrible baseball. That might be the most depressing sports-related sentence I have ever typed.
Posted on May 18, 2009
