By Eric Emery
This week, the Bears return to what was their happy home. After losing in yet another creative way, Soldier Field will feel like a home – a home that is on the brink of a bitter divorce. Here, Bears fans will split, warming up their baseball rivalries for the 2010 season.
I caution Bears fans to stick together by attacking the real problem: the Chicago Bears. Frankly, the Bears fans’ effort has been downright disappointing. Sure, some made posts to forums and friends’ Facebook pages (which were totally entertaining!), but if you really want change, you have to make it happen. Let’s face it, voting for change but doing nothing about it is so 2008.

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Posted on November 20, 2009

By Dan O’Shea
NFL coaches have had a tough year, and I’m not just talking about the assistant who was allegedly beaten and threatened by his own head coach in Oakland. Of course, here in Chicago, there’s poor Lovie Smith and his embarrassing lack of facial expressions – he’s only got that one open-mouthed, dumb-founded languorous look that TV cameras tend to dwell upon.
Meanwhile, it seems like a larger number of coaches than usual may be on the firing line this off-season, with former Bears coach Dick Jauron already a goner in Buffalo. Even the good coaches are seeing their decisions questioned. This past Sunday night, New England’s Bill Belichick, the coach who formerly could do no wrong, was lambasted for going for it on fourth down and short yardage deep in his own territory with little time left, up by less than a touchdown, and with a guy named Peyton Manning leading the other team’s offense. The Patriots didn’t make the first down, and lost. The move was pure Belichick: A first down would have won the game, and to punt it was to unquestionably put it in the hands of the best quarterback of the decade (sorry, Tom Brady) and possibly this year’s MVP (that would be Manning). A gutsy move, and I liked it.

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Posted on November 19, 2009

By Mike Luce
A note to our readers: first, our apologies for the late release of this week’s review; and second, we will use the terms Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and Division I-AA interchangeably from this point forward. The same goes for Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Division I-A. We have complained about this cosmetic change to the long-standing I-A/I-AA naming convention before, and now we’ll choose to ignore it as we see fit. So there.

Ofman: Circus Tripping

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The College Football Report would like to give a hand to some programs across the land that became bowl eligible with a win on Saturday. While no one has been speculating about Southern Methodist’s role in the national championship race, or how the Kentucky Wildcats could be a BCS darkhorse, both still deserve some recognition. This week, we will take a break from reviewing the exploits of big-name programs in favor of celebrating the little guy. Or at least the not-so-big guy.
Note that not all of these teams will automatically play in a post-season bowl, although the odds are good. Most BCS conferences have at least six bowl tie-ins and some (the SEC, for example) have as many as nine. (This does not mean that the SEC sends nine teams to bowl games every season but instead that up to nine bowls will invite a team from the conference should that many be bowl eligible.)
All the same, six is usually the magic number. Only four teams (Arkansas State, Bowling Green, Louisiana-Lafayette and San Jose State, all at 6-6) finished with six wins and remained home at the end of the regular season last year. At least one team (6-5 Kansas State, with two Ws against FCS schools) already has six wins in 2009 but must record at least seven for eligibility – teams from the former Division I-A can only count one win against I-AA programs toward their total. I’m not bothered by this rule. Let’s face it – the Iowa States of the world need a little help padding the win total, but piling on Ws against Directional Creampuffs seems a bit unfair.
So today, we tip our hat to:

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Posted on November 18, 2009

By George Ofman

It’s time to send in the clowns, elephants and jugglers. It’s also time to send the Bulls on a trip only a magician can envy. You see, ever since Michael Jordan left for more golf and less work, the Bulls have usually disappeared from the win column during their lengthy November sojourn known as the Circus Trip.
As Ringling Bros. takes over the United Center, the Bulls tend to fall off their high-wire act. Matter of fact, since the 1999-2000 season, the Bulls have become steady bedfellows with futility on their circus tours. They went five straight years without winning a single game on the trip until winning for the first time in 39 tries in Utah on Wednesday, November 24, 2004. Thanksgiving turkey never tasted as good.

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Posted on November 18, 2009

By Jim Coffman
So much more satisfying to see a hockey game end in overtime isn’t it? Shootouts are dramatic and they beat a tie, that’s for sure, but they are contrived. I love the regular season NHL overtime with the four-on-four format that almost always produces end-to-end excitement. And sure enough the Blackhawks’ impressive early Sunday evening victory (love those 6 p.m. starts!) over the team with the best record in the league, the San Jose Sharks, benefited greatly from a thrilling overtime finish.
Only about 30 seconds had elapsed in the five-minute extra period when the Hawks gathered themselves in their own end and then busted out toward and then through center ice. A moment or two after entering the Shark zone, Jonathan Toews slipped the puck toward the goal knowing that Troy Brouwer was rushing up the slot and had a great shot at a redirection. Sure enough, Brouwer did tip the puck on net but Shark goalie Evgeni Nabokov stopped it and the rebound ended up behind the net in the possession of a Shark defenseman.

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Posted on November 16, 2009

By George Ofman
I hope Jay Cutler doesn’t throw a fit after watching films of his performance in San Francisco. I’m sure it would intercepted.
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SportsFriday: Lovie’s Next Job Dr. Dude’s College Football Police Blotter Best Breeders’ Ever

Are you beginning to think the tag of “Franchise” Cutler is wearing doesn’t fit? It’s not as if redzoneitis is something new. He threw four picks inside the 20 last year. He has a league-high five now. This isn’t a problem, it’s a disease. And I’m thinking Ron Turner does not have the cure.
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LeBron James suggests Michael Jordan’s No. 23 should be retired for all NBA players to honor the recent Hall of Fame inductee. Say LeBron, Michael’s not dead so keep wearing your 23 when you sign with the Knicks next season. As much as Michael did, the guys who brought the league back from the dead are Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. How about retiring their numbers first?

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Posted on November 13, 2009

By Mike Luce
The Week 11 Preview: You Can’t Spell Stickup Without “UT.”
Steve Spurrier, now the wise old man of SEC coaches, famously needled rival Tennessee by saying “You can’t spell Citrus without UT.” In light of the news coming out of Knoxville, I wonder if current top Gator Urban Meyer might be tempted to revise his predecessor’s legendary zinger.

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Posted on November 13, 2009

By Thomas Chambers

It started great and ended spectacularly.
The 2009 Breeders’ Cup World Championships was the finest and funnest stretch of horseplaying I’ve ever experienced. Oh, and I turned a profit too.

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Posted on November 13, 2009

By Eric Emery
Last week, I predicted that the Kool-Aid Nation was finally going to turn against Lovie Smith. And turn they did! It’s safe to say that last week’s debacle transformed the Kool-Aid to a bitter, semi-fermented swill.
Here’s the problem: The city’s sportswriters insist that Lovie isn’t going anywhere because Halas Hall hates the idea of eating two years of his contract. Here at the Kool-Aid Report, we know that isn’t true. The real issues is that Bears management is simply too loyal. And with unemployment topping 10 percent, Bears management knows that Smith cannot survive in today’s job market.
Bears management could, however, work with an outplacement agency to line up a job for Lovie before launching him. Here are a few ideas that might work.

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Posted on November 12, 2009

By George Ofman
There are two general managers with two dilemmas. The one on the North Side has a much bigger one than the one to his south.
Jim Hendry has to get rid of you-know-who.
Ken Williams let go a World Series hero.
And it’s possible both players could wind up teammates next season.
Talk about schizophrenic symmetry!

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Posted on November 12, 2009