By Jim Coffman

The Blackhawks blew last week’s road trip in the first period of their first game.
Sure, they rallied and actually earned a couple of impressive points in Tampa on Wednesday and Washington on Sunday, but the 3-2 setback against a bad Florida Panther team (“Florida Panthers Stun Streaking Blackhawks,” the Miami Herald blared) last Tuesday in the first of three games out East set the tone. And that game was lost when the Hawks just didn’t show up early on, allowing all three Panther goals before the first intermission. A missed opportunity for what should have been an easy win.
The road trip’s bad vibe grew worse in the following game against Tampa when Dave Bolland, who does so much of the dirty work (checking opposing stars, goading guys into penalties) for this team when he isn’t busy making slick plays to generate offense and winning a tone of face-offs, found himself on the wrong end of a brutal cheap shot to the head from opposing forward Pavel Kubina that sent him to the bench. He was still sidelined as of Sunday and there was no timeline for his return.

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Posted on March 14, 2011

By Thomas Chambers

As badly as many things seem to be going in Chicago, where on earth would this city be without Eric “E-Z” Zorn?
He knows just what to do with local TV news: more of the same! He’s able to explain to us simpletons just what the Blagojevich sentencing gambit really means. And in just 268 words and a video link he tells us e-books are coming and even touches on the true meaning of traditional libraries.
I’ve never really read or paid much attention to Eric Zorn, and I’m not really angrily seething at him here either (he doesn’t seem worth it), but when he talks about horse racing, it’s part of this gig to notice. His overall efforts seem inconsequential, unless they’re just meant to rile up people and keep the site hits coming. He just seems like a general interest pages’ Jay Mariotti.
So upon returning from Las Vegas – more on that later – I see Zorn’s blo(b)g hitting the fan.
In what really appears to be a bald-faced ploy to generate hits and comments, Zorn arm-chaired it and used a report by the Sun-Times’s Natasha Korecki and Dave McKinney on the declining state of Illinois racing to eat up bandwidth and regurgitate a column he wrote in the early 1990s to bash horse racing and its fans and to explain the essence of sport.

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Posted on March 11, 2011

By phtv4

With the flu, hangovers and other injuries behind them, maybe so!

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Posted on March 10, 2011

By Dan O’Shea

Ranking outfielders is not as much fun as it used to be.
It’s a deep position for obvious reasons, and seemingly filled with multi-stat fantasy threats, but in recent years there have been too many guys who peaked early (see Grady Sizemore) too many guys who could never quite realize their potential (see B.J. Upton) and too many one-year wonders (see Matt Kemp, maybe).
That said, my top-ranked outfielder would also be my top-ranked player overall in most leagues.
After that, it gets pretty dicey, and I think you could make a good argument for shuffling my rankings in multiple ways. Ultimately, I like my outfielders to contribute stolen bases, and they need to hit well regardless of their power numbers.
Here’s my top 20:

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Posted on March 9, 2011

By Jim Coffman

LeBron James signing with the Heat instead of the Bulls has worked out pretty well so far, eh?
Only a fool would attempt to compose a comprehensive chronicle of what would have happened if King James had brought his talents to Chicago. But a few conditionals are undeniable.
First, if the Bullls had signed LeBron, Derrick Rose would not have become the tremendously exciting all-around player he has become in a tremendously small amount of time.
Second, fans would have had to watch Luol Deng reach his potential with another team (in order to sign sidekick power forward Chris Bosh – which the Bulls would have done – they would have had to dump Deng and his contract).
And third, if the Bulls had signed James, they would have become the symbol of NBA excess that the vast majority of fans have so enjoyed rooting against so far this season.
Instead, the Bulls are a fan’s dream:

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Posted on March 7, 2011

Degenerative Disease Discovered

“For 16 seasons, Bob Probert’s fists were two of hockey’s most notorious weapons, winning most of his 246 fights and feeding the N.H.L.’s fondness for bare-knuckle brawling,” the New York Times reports.
“But the legacy of Probert, who died last July of heart failure at 45, could soon be rooted as much in his head as his hands. After examining Probert’s brain tissue, researchers at Boston University said this week that they found the same degenerative disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, whose presence in more than 20 deceased professional football players has prompted the National Football League to change some rules and policies in an effort to limit dangerous head impacts.”

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Posted on March 3, 2011

By Dan O’Shea

I had my pre-draft fantasy starting pitchers rankings all set until the season-canceling injury suffered by Adam Wainwright, SP, St. Louis.
I thought the 20-game winner in 2010 had a chance to be even better in 2011, and I would have put him right under Roy “Doc” Halladay as my No. 2 SP pick.
With the injury, everyone moves up a spot, meaning Tim “The Freak” Lincecum is now No. 2, a ranking I’m not sure I’m fully invested in. I don’t see him as a 20-game winner, and his ERA ballooned last year to 3.48, while his strikeouts declined. Here’s my new top 10.

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Posted on March 2, 2011

By The Beachwood Broadcast Bureau

The Cubs are advertising for a new public address announcer, but Beachwood Sports has learned that the team has already compiled a short list of candidates.
* David Axelrod: Because he knows all about false hope.
* Steve Stone: Would not only tell you who’s up, but what he’s gonna do.
* Alfonso Soriano: At least they would get something out of the remainder of his contract.
* Blago: Could do it from his jail cell via Skype.
* Dock Walls: Somebody has to finally give him a job.

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Posted on March 1, 2011