By The Beachwood Olympic Bureau

1. Wescott could barely even walk six weeks ago.

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Posted on February 16, 2010

By Jim Coffman

Greetings from Olympics Television Central. What follows are my informal, post-tragedy impressions of the competitive goings-on in Vancouver (great town, terrible Olympic location – generally not a good idea to have the winter games on the edge of a rain forest, even if it is a temperate, northern Pacific Coast rain forest) so far.
At least on Saturday and Sunday, the artificial snow held up against the rain (with some help from underground plastic tubes stuffed with dry ice), heavy fog never quite materialized and, other than downhill skiing, the events proceeded reasonably smoothly.
As for the one event that is designed to be anything but smooth, well, I’m glad the moguls are over. There were the three American medals in two (men’s and women’s) races. The USA would do well to repeat that medal rate in just about any other specific event.
But did anyone’s knees and back not feel a bit worse for wear after watching skier after skier pounding through – what was it – about a hundred vicious little hills per run? Yikes. If I’d watched much more I was going to need arthroscopic surgery on something.

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Posted on February 15, 2010

The moment Derrick Rose and his multi-million dollar body crashed to the floor Wednesday night I’m thinking John Paxson and Gar Forman were dialing 911. Not for Rose but for themselves!
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Fortunately, Rose has just bruised hip. He’s traveling to Dallas for All-Star Weekend where he’s scheduled to defend his skills challenge title and play in Sunday’s game. My suggestion: Let the NBA know this rather valuable piece of property will not even work up a sweat. No challenge; no game. Thank you very much.
* * *

It’s On! As big as it gets.

I found it rather amusing Mike Martz said this of Devin Hester:
“Devin Hester in that role could just be stupid good, if that makes sense to you. What we can do with him inside, the match-ups we can get with him on third corners, safeties and linebackers would be absolutely remarkable.”
Funny, isn’t it, because just prior to Martz getting the job and uttering those lines, Hester had this to say in a radio interview about being a wide receiver:
“I know what I’m best at. The return game is my bread and butter, so if I had to cut back on my receiving and go back to returning, that’s something I would love to do . . . I would love to get back in that situation with the return game. But at the same time, I’m a team player so wherever [the Bears] want me to go, I’m ready to do it.”
I remember Hester being stupid good at returning. Sounds like a very good idea to me.

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Posted on February 12, 2010

By Thomas Chambers

“The breathless excitement and anticipation of a heavyweight championship fight.”
– Howard Cosell, Sinatra: The Main Event
It’s that big.
It’s as set as racing gets. Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta will run in the Apple Blossom Invitational Handicap at Oaklawn Park, Hot Springs, Arkansas.

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Posted on February 12, 2010

Once again it’s time for the Sun-Times’s entirely imagination-lacking annual sports survey. Here are our answers to selected questions.
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Q. Who is your favorite Chicago athlete?
– Derrick Rose
– Carlos Zambrano
– Mark Buehrle
– Brian Urlacher
– Patrick Kane
Beachwood Sports Desk Answer: Varla Vendetta

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Posted on February 11, 2010

There have been some reports that Kobe Bryant may not play in this weekend’s NBA All-Star Game to catch up on some injury rest – not that you’ll be watching. You’ll be out with your honey for a Valentine’s Day dinner, won’t you?
In any case, if Kobe doesn’t play, that probably will drop the Over/Under on this game to about 270 points. Bor-ring . . .
It might also be the best possible thing for Kobe’s fantasy owners, who have seen inconsistent play from him in recent weeks after a finger fracture and a foot injury. He averaged only 19 points per game last week and missed his first game in about three years.
If Kobe is absent from the All-Star Game, he also may cost the West a victory. My pick is East over West 133-129. In other words, a low-scoring affair.
My other picks to click for All-Star Weekend: Sophomores will embarrass rookies; Damilo Gallinari will win the three-point contest; Derrick Rose will repeat in the skills challenge, Omri Casspi will shock the world at H-O-R-S-E; and little Nate Robinson will become the first three-time winner of the slam dunk contest, thereby officially killing what has become the weakest part of the weekend – other than the actual game, of course.

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Posted on February 10, 2010

At the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, as I drove my family back from the Super Bowl Party we attended (if my four-year-old stays up much past 8 p.m. the moon gets high enough and she turns into a were-girl), we had a chance to listen to a little of Marv Albert and Boomer Esiason’s call on the radio.
We picked it up as the Colts began the drive that would end in Matt Stover’s missed 51-yard field goal attempt. As it began, Esiason, the former Bengal and Jet quarterback, surmised that the game would still come down to which team could make one key defensive stop. And it did feel that way, despite the fact that what many believed would be a shoot-out had featured just 33 combined points during its first 50 minutes.
Shortly thereafter we returned home, turned on the TV, put it on pause (modern technology!) and took my younger daughter up to bed. A little while later we returned to watch the amazing end of another dramatic Super Bowl (the last decade of football season-enders has featured a half-dozen exciting games following blowout after blowout in the ’90s) at the end of another remarkable NFL season. Ultra-parity lives in the League when two of the teams from its smallest markets meet in the Super Bowl. Indianapolis versus New Orleans should be less likely than the Kansas City Royals against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series, and yet who can imagine the latter happening in this day and age.

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Posted on February 8, 2010

By George Ofman

This should come as no surprise. The Bulls lose back-to-back games to inferior teams after doing something no other NBA team had ever done: win five straight road games against teams with above .500 records. Then again, how do you classify the Bulls? Are they a playoff team, simply mediocre or, when it’s all said and done, inferior like some of the opponents they’ve lost to?
MARTZ: I’ve never seen this much ink spilled, voices raised and blogs blogged for an assistant coach. But Mike Martz and the Bears more than welcomed it with the hiring of the offensive guru. First he met with Lovie (who wanted him all along even though Jerry Angelo didn’t), then he courted Jay Cutler in Nashville. Here’s what worries me most about the Martz offense: His quarterbacks have ranked sixth or higher in interceptions thrown during each of the last nine seasons. Last I looked, Cutler was already near the top of that category last year, and that was with Ron Turner. And in each of the last seven years, Martz’s teams have finished sixth or worse in giving up sacks. So remember these two words for next season: pickoffs and maimed!
YEAH, HE SAID IT!: Ron Zook got just about bupkis when it came to recruits. This is what happens when your program stinks and you’re Lovie Lite. Another words, he’s history after next season . . . or during it!

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Posted on February 5, 2010

By Dan O’Shea

I must have jinxed Chris Paul last week when I said that hopefully the superstar point guard wouldn’t miss anymore games. Turns out Paul will be out a month or more with a knee injury. He joins other big-name PGs Jameer Nelson and Steve Nash on the bench.
The rash of boo-boos at this point make it a good time to go a-trading for a lesser known PG whose stock is on the rise. How about Stephen Curry, PG/SG, Golden State, who has been playing the last month like he wants Rookie of the Year? Curry is not exactly an assists machine (about five per game), but he pours in about 14.2 points per game, is fourth in the league in steals with 87 as of Tuesday night, and is averaging 1.9 three-pointers per game.

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Posted on February 3, 2010

By Jim Coffman

So the way I understand it, just about everyone believes the Bears have totally screwed up their search for an offensive coordinator because a decisive team would have made the call by now.
Really?

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Posted on February 1, 2010