By Dan O’Shea

Week 5 is the start of NFL bye weeks, which can wreak havoc on your fantasy football team if you failed to check players’ bye weeks when you originally drafted them.
I don’t necessarily try to make a lot of draft decisions around bye weeks, but if you draft two RBs you really like and they both have the same bye week, you shouldn’t wait too long before grabbing a third and fourth who won’t cause an automatic loss for you that week.
Of course, there are reasons to love bye weeks, too. Here are just a few.

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Posted on October 4, 2011

Both Teams Going For U.S. Open Cup Milestones

“The Fire’s late-season drive to make the MLS playoffs is still going strong, but it’ll be put briefly on hold,” Len Ziehm writes for the Sun-Times. “The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final is Tuesday night against the host Seattle Sounders, and plenty of history will be on the line.
“The summerlong Open Cup has been played annually since 1914 and the Fire could become the third team to be a five-time champion, joining the Bethlehem (Pa.) Steel and Maccabi Los Angeles. If Seattle wins, they would be only the second team to win three consecutive titles, along with the New York Greek-Americans.”
Let’s take a look.

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Posted on October 4, 2011

By Roger Wallenstein

The image I prefer to remember from Ozzie Guillen’s departure shows him kneeling down to eye level with Mark Buehrle’s kids in the caverns of the Cell. He was having fun with the little ones, seemingly relaxed and, dare I say, likeable when the TV cameras captured him long after the final pitch of his last game as Sox manager.
The rest is bizarre. He ranted about needing enough money to buy a boat, clothe his wife properly, and travel to Spain. As if he couldn’t do all that on a paltry $2 million salary amidst an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent with millions wondering where their next paycheck would come from. Ozzie was an agitated, angry man.

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Posted on October 3, 2011

By Jim Coffman

Devin Hester hesitated early in his big kickoff return in the first half Sunday against Carolina, and a few minutes later he stumbled after a few steps when he took a punt all the way back for a touchdown. Both actions served to concentrate the coverage team down the middle.
And then, in each case, he made what will always be his signature move: He briefly ran laterally before – at just the right instant – cutting up the field and into daylight.
Knowing the exact split-second to make that move has always been Hester’s genius. And when that genius is combined with glorious acceleration – he goes from 0 to 60 almost as fast as a 2006 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 – he makes good plays great.

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Posted on October 3, 2011