By Steve Rhodes and Jim Coffman
Here we go again.
Plus: Are The White Sox Still Playing?
And: Chicago’s French Open.
Posted on May 31, 2014
TrackNotes: Murderous Marketers
By Thomas Chambers
There’s a marvelous episode in Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand’s wonderful chronicle of one of America’s greatest sports stories, of how the seeming upstart Seabiscuit trained for his legendary match race against the supposedly invincible War Admiral, winner of 1937’s Triple Crown.
Back in November 1938, one aspect of racing was in a bit of an evolution. Until that point, race starts were generally primitive, ranging from a simple chalk line on the track, to wood rail “chutes” to the common starting wire. It was simply a wire across the tracks, above the heads of the horses. Jockeys would slyly get their mounts walking into position to anticipate, the wire would be snapped upward and the horses would go.
Posted on May 29, 2014
Fantasy Fix: Astrology
By Dan O’Shea
We’re almost to June in our fantasy baseball campaigns, the point at which it becomes pretty hard to find any buried treasure on the waiver wire.
Sure, maybe you can land an SB specialist to help you with one category or an RP with 14 strikeouts per 9 IP to help you with another, but it’s a good bet all the best players are taken.
So how is it, then, that Astros starter Dallas Keuchel was still available in more than 30% of Yahoo! leagues as of Monday?
Posted on May 28, 2014
SportsMondayTuesday: Panic Central
By Jim Coffman
Here are a couple thoughts on the Hawks. I’m going to get them out of the way quickly so we can move on to the latest bit of absolute lunacy at Wrigley Field, otherwise known as Panic Central.
The Hawks haven’t just lost three of four to the Kings after they dropped Monday night’s 5-3 decision; they haven’t been close.
But for Jonathan Toews they would have been completely out-classed in Game 3 and last night was a simple thrashing (and what was the final in Game 2? I stopped keeping track when the Kings scored their fifth goal in that one). I know the Hawks trailed 3-1 to Detroit last year and rallied. In order to rally like that, a team has to have untapped reserves. Anyone have any idea what those might be this time around?
Posted on May 27, 2014
Jeter Exits The Cell
By Roger Wallenstein
Despite standing ovation after standing ovation when Derek Jeter strode to the plate at the Cell over the weekend, these are not the Yankees we thought they were.
They used to be a team the White Sox saw 22 times a season when Mickey, Yogi and Whitey wreaked havoc on the South Side. Or George Steinbrenner fired yet another manager, one of whom, Billy Martin, was just the other day called a “bigot” by former pitcher Tommy John in an interview by Dan Patrick.
What about the ugly dugout fight between Reggie Jackson and Martin when the manager pulled his star right fielder in the middle of an inning for perceived lack of hustle? Or the way Joe Torre, who led the Yankees into the post-season for all 12 seasons he managed the team, was disrespected in 2007 when he was offered a measly one-year contract?
Now those were the Yankees we thought they were, a truly despicable outfit.
Posted on May 25, 2014
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #1: Coach Queasy & The Qubs
By Steve Rhodes and Jim Coffman
Welcome to the pre-beta edition of The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour, our weekly sports roundup. In this show: Coach Queasy & The Qubs. Plus: Theo Doesn’t Get It, Rick Renteria’s Disconnected Optimism Wearing Thin & The Jed Hoyer Condescension Meter.
Posted on May 24, 2014
TrackNotes: Loose Ends From The Triple Crown Trail
By Thomas Chambers
Every bacchanal demands a cleanup.
New drinking game: Take a pop every time you hear “California Chrome (‘Chrome for us hipsters) is America’s Horse.”
You do have to admire him after victory in the 139th Preakness Stakes propels him on the odyssey of seeking Thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown.
‘Chrome, with Victor Espinoza aboard, ran a nearly identical race to his victory in the Kentucky Derby two weeks before. I say nearly because the son of Lucky Pulpit required a bursting turn of foot on Pimlico’s far backstretch to keep himself out of trouble and traffic as he bided his time before the big money run down the stretch. Another new twist was his relative serenity in the starting gate, usually a hellhole for him. He still didn’t like it, but at least he wasn’t trying to tear it apart weld by weld as in the past.
Posted on May 23, 2014
Tweeting Samardzija
Vies For All-Star Start With 0 Wins
The Cubs should thank their lucky stars for Twitter, because without it watching this wretched mess would be unbearable.
To wit:
Samardzija bobblehead just became sentient; attacking all other #Cubs bobbleheads.
— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) May 21, 2014
@Cubfan66 @ldavis1800 @noradiva1 @beachwoodreport Uh oh. He’s got the letter opener. pic.twitter.com/2pCTn6hy7F
— Berries Verified (@soulberries) May 21, 2014
Posted on May 22, 2014
Future Shock
By Steve Rhodes
One of Theo Epstein’s constant refrains is that the pain we are going through now is the price we have to pay for “sustained success” in the future.
But what if we don’t care about sustained success in the future?
Worrying about sustained success in the future is for normal franchises. These are the Cubs. We’ve suffered enough. We just want to win it once. After that, who cares? We’ll be more than happy to wait another 100-plus years.
This is what Theo doesn’t understand. Sustained success isn’t what Cubs fandom is about. That ship has sailed. It’s about that one moment. Win us a World Series first; then we can think about sustained success.
Because you don’t truly understand this franchise, Theo, and in particular how it differs from the Red Sox and their championship drought, you are putting the cart that is future before the horse that is the present.
Sustained success, see, is for later. Winning is for now.
In that vein, I’d like to dedicate this week’s Cub Factor to Betty J. Soedler, of Locust Grove, Virginia. We lost Betty nine days ago.
“Her two biggest regrets were that the Minnesota Vikings did not win the Super Bowl and the Chicago Cubs did not win the World Series during her lifetime.”
She couldn’t live long enough to see your plan through, Theo.
The rest of us – like the plan itself – aren’t guaranteed either.
Posted on May 20, 2014
SportsMonday: Coach Q Is Queasy
By Jim Coffman
The Hawks took advantage of home ice advantage and won Game 1 against the Kings 3-1 on Sunday in the Western Conference final. They couldn’t be in better position at this point in the playoffs.
They haven’t lost at the United Center since the end of the regular season (three home wins in the first round against the Blues and three in the second versus the Wild) and if they win the rest of their home games, they win the whole thing, plain and simple.
Given that the other two teams in the NHL Final Four, the Rangers and Canadiens, finished the regular season with fewer points than their counterparts from Chicago, the Hawks would also have home ice advantage in the Stanley Cup finals. Not that I want get ahead of myself and maybe even jinx the local squad. But a lowly local sports commentator can’t do that, can he? If it turned out that I could by the way, I promise I would use my power for good.
Anyway . . . despite all of that good stuff, coach Joel Quenneville seems awfully worried about things, doesn’t he?
Posted on May 19, 2014