By Dan O’Shea

My pre-season fantasy football top 20 this year was notable for being only running backs from No. 1 through No. 10.
After years of ignoring the prevailing fantasy wisdom that only RBs should be taken in the top 10, I decided it was the right year to join the crowd.
As we approach the halfway point of the season, it’s time to take a look back and see how I did.
Here’s my original top 10, complete with my original comments, but if you don’t like re-runs, just skip to the part that says “Reality Check.”

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Posted on October 16, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

The ongoing effort to absolve Steve Bartman of his historic Cubbie sin protests too much, in the way that the person who keeps getting louder during an argument is usually the person who is losing – or subconsciously trying to convince themselves in the first place.
We all saw what happened that fateful night in Wrigley Field, and we all reacted just like Moises Alou did. We knew what it meant. Bartman took away an out from a Cubs team that was actually closing in on a World Series appearance. And he did so in a manner that seemed to epitomize the ineptness of the franchise. The team didn’t have to fall apart in the aftermath, but under the weight of Cubs history, they did just that.

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Posted on October 15, 2013

By Jim Coffman

Derrick Rose came to Rio, he saw Rio, but he didn’t conquer Rio.
In fact, he surprised fans by sitting out the Bulls’ Saturday exhibition game in the Brazilian city (a game in which the Bulls beat the Wizards 83-81).
In at least 90 percent of scenarios, this isn’t a big deal. The process of a point guard returning to action 17 months after a knee injury that usually takes 10 to 11 months to heal enough to enable athletes to compete again is going to be rocky sometimes. There are going to be small setbacks no matter what.
The trouble is, as it has been for a year now, that Rose still isn’t realistic about his rehabilitation from the torn knee ligament that sidelined him early in the 2012 playoffs.

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Posted on October 14, 2013

By Mike Luce

In the past seven years, Lane Kiffin has held three head coaching positions: the Oakland Raiders (2007-08, with a 5-15 record), the University of Tennessee (2009, 7-6), and USC (2010-2013, 28-15). That last one should be followed by an asterisk: USC dismissed Kiffin at the airport two weeks ago.
Kiffin’s Pac-12 rival Steve Sarkisian started at the University of Washington in 2009, and has led the #16 Huskies to an overall 30-26 record, including a hot start (4-1) this season. Kiffin and Sarkisian followed parallel trajectories, working alongside each other and at times vying for the same jobs. The two coached together as assistants under offensive coordinator Norm Chow during Pete Carroll’s tenure as USC head coach. In 2004, Sarkisian took a job with the Raiders as QB coach but returned to USC the following year as quarterbacks coach under Kiffin, who had been promoted to offensive coordinator after Chow took a coaching job with the Tennessee Titans. When the Oakland head coach spot opened up in 2007, Sarkisian opted to stay at USC while Kiffin jumped ship, tanked the team, and then leaped to another lily pad in Knoxville.
Four years ago, we put money on Sarkisian’s success at UW over Kiffin during his brief stint (2009) at UT. A year later, we coined the nickname “Kid Smirk” for Kiffin after his return to USC as head coach in 2010. And again, we backed Sarkisian.

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Posted on October 11, 2013

By Carl Mohrbacher

Nineteen out of 20 readers are aware that The Blue & Orange Kool-Aid Report is not big on statistics. Ninety-eight percent of Americans don’t know that, but three-sevenths should.
If you got the impression that Drew Brees completed 26 out of 24 passes to Jimmy Graham and Pierre Thomas last week, you’d be right; a couple of those pump fakes went for a combined 18 yards.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other quarterback in NFL history who completed a higher percentage of his passes in a single game was Jesus while playing for, who else, the Raiders in 1966.
We have seen two Bears games in a row that would have required Hail Marys to pull out a victory, which isn’t a sin but it is a shame.

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Posted on October 10, 2013

By Dan O’Shea

Before this year, I was never in a fantasy football league that counted points-per-reception (PPR), and when I drafted my team, I didn’t pay much attention to that category, thinking that if I drafted solid WRs, PPR would take care of itself.
That can be the case, but isn’t always the case. For example, the Ravens’ Torrey Smith is second in receiving yards with 556, but on only 27 receptions, which doesn’t even place him in the top 10 in PPR.
If you have a receiver with that many yards, you may feel you don’t need the extra points from PPR, but a weekly contest lost by two or three points might change your mind.
WR isn’t the only position to think about in a PPR league either. RBs who get involved in the passing game are obviously much more valuable in PPR leagues.
Of course, Week 6 is sort of late to think about all this. With that in mind, here are a few players still available in many leagues who might help you boost your PPR proficiency:

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Posted on October 10, 2013

Another Beachwood Special Report

* Couldn’t activate Ventra card.
* Phobic about Jumbotrons.
* Found out Old Style was being replaced.
* Shaken by Ryan Sweeney signing.
* The schools his kids would have gone to were closed.

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Posted on October 10, 2013

Historic Cub, Local Hero

“Andy Pafko couldn’t have asked for a bigger break when the Cubs traded him to the Brooklyn Dodgers in June of 1951,” Mark Potash writes for the Sun-Times.
“Without having to leave Wrigley Field – the Dodgers were in town for a four-game series — he moved from seventh-place in the National League to first.
“But the timely trade also put Mr. Pafko on a collision course with baseball history. As the Dodgers left fielder in the final game of a best-of-three playoff with the New York Giants, Mr. Pafko could only look up and watch as Bobby Thomson’s three-run homer — the ”shot heard ’round the world’ – sailed over his head in the ninth inning to win the pennant in stunning fashion for the Giants, 5-4.”
Pafko died Tuesday in a Stevensville, Michigan, nursing home at the age of 92. He was a a four-time All-Star who played on the Cubs’ last pennant-winning team in 1945 – and his death leaves only one living person, shortstop Lennie Merullo, who has played in a World Series for the Cubs.
Here’s a 2010 tribute to Pafko:

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Posted on October 9, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

According to sources, Joe Girardi isn’t going anywhere.
Or is he?
Sources say he wants to come “home.” Sources also say home is Westchester County.
Sources, sources, sources.
Ausmus is in. Ausmus is out. Maddux is in. Maddux is out. Alomar is in. Alomar is out. Hinch is in, not yet out. Acta is here – please, God, no.
Follow the bouncing ball.

Cashman Meets With Girardi, Believes He Wants To Return To Yankees: http://t.co/GCGuuvJ60r | #chicago | #cubs

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) October 1, 2013

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Posted on October 8, 2013

By Jim Coffman

Just one successful blitz would have been nice. One play where a Bear linebacker, safety or even cornerback came in clean on the quarterback and delivered a blow.
True, meatball sports fans always want more blitzes. If the pass rush isn’t good enough, they reason, a team should just send more people. And it made more sense for the Bears to be judicious with blitzes on Sunday against one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
But what is frustrating about the Bear D, and it carries over from the Lovie Smith era (not a coincidence given that new defensive coordinator Mel Tucker reportedly strove to change as few things as possible when he took over earlier this year) is that the Bears can’t seem to come up with anything to at least occasionally turn up the heat with an extra rusher.

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Posted on October 7, 2013