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The Revenge Of Patrick Sharp

By The Beachwood Blackhawks Bureau

“For Chicago Blackhawks teammates Patrick Sharp, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith, the plane ride home from the NHL All-Star Game figured to feature a debate over bragging rights,” the Raleigh News & Observer reports.
“Kane, Toews and Keith were members of Team Lidstrom, which recorded a 12-11 win over Team Staal on Sunday, but Sharp picked up MVP honors with a goal and two assists for Team Staal in the loss.
“Throw in Saturday’s accuracy-shooting mix-up, when Toews beat Sharp after requesting a do-over, and Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville and assistant coach Mike Haviland taking the loss as the coaches of Team Staal, and it’s hard to figure who ended up on top among the Chicago contingent.”

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Posted on January 31, 2011

SportsMonday: All-Star Agitation

By Jim Coffman

I skipped a couple more All-Star games on Sunday. I think that makes it something like 47 in a row.
Actually, it probably has been more than that after I took a pass on this year’s NHL pick-up game and the NFL’s Pro Bowl, which started within a few hours of one another. I think the last time I cared enough to consciously tune in and watch was when the Cubs hosted the midsummer classic in 1990.
And then when that game was delayed by rain, genius CBS quickly switched to a jarringly incongruous episode of Rescue 911 and it was clear that my developing disdain for the annual exhibitions and the networks that televised them was utterly justified.

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Posted on January 31, 2011

Fantasy Fix: Hoops Pick-Ups, First Basemen and Jay Cutler

By Dan O’Shea

If your fantasy basketball team has gone cold with everything else at the end of January, there are still a handful of late bloomers you can turn to for at least a temporary fix. Most of them weren’t on the draft radar at the beginning of the season and only in the last 30 days have zoomed up the charts.

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Posted on January 26, 2011

Luck Runs Out On Classless Bears

By Steve Rhodes

When the Green Bay Packers lost veteran left tackle Chad Clifton to a neck injury on the opening touchdown drive when his own running back conked him in the head with a knee, it looked like the Bears had caught another lucky break in a season full of four-leaf clovers.
“Clifton went to the bench with what is called a ‘neck stinger’ and eventually was taken to the locker room so the trainers could work on him. It’s a nerve injury that causes numbness and pain in the shoulder and down the arm, which is devastating for an offensive lineman,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.
In came third-year man T.J. Lang. The promising start by the Packers now looked like it came with a heavy price that could cost Green Bay the game; Lang had the unenviable task of trying to keep Defensive Player of the Year candidate Julius Peppers from Aaron Rodgers.
That would be the T.J. Lang who is so obscure Yahoo! doesn’t have any stats on him available.

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Posted on January 24, 2011

SportsMonday: Lovie Blows It

By Jim Coffman

Bears fans watched Todd Collins struggle mightily at quarterback against Carolina way back in the first half of the regular season and knew he was washed up. He was lost out there.
Lovie Smith and Mike Martz saw it too. When they’d finally had enough, they pulled Collins out of the Carolina game and a poised Caleb Hanie proved he was much fitter to be the Bears’ backup. (Collins proved he wasn’t fit to be in the NFL.)
But for reasons no one has been able to explain or comprehend, Lovie restored Collins to No. 2 on the depth chart.
That meant Collins got the extra reps in practice while Hanie ran the opposing team’s offense to help out the Bears’ defense. Hanie spent last week running Packers plays.
So when Jay Cutler bowed out on Sunday, Collins went in. And failed miserably again. How could the Bear brain trust have made such a miserable miscalculation?
On the whole, the Bears did amazing work just to get to Sunday’s game. But in the end, the loss to the Packers has to go down as a giant blown opportunity.

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Posted on January 24, 2011

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