By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
It’s clear that coaching is occurring. Plus: Blackhawks Bounce Back; Bulls Find More Ways To Win; and Warm Stove League.
Posted on November 27, 2015
The Blue & Orange Kool-Aid Report: Confidence Picks
By Carl Mohrbacher
Oh, how expectations have changed.
You needn’t look any further for evidence than the reaction of the average Bear fan following Sunday’s loss to the visiting Denver Broncos.
Fire John Fox.
Fire him.
Fire him NOW.
He undermined all of the confidence this team built the last eight weeks by going for it on fourth-and-goal. There were 10 minutes left.
Fire him.
Then re-hire him.
Then punch him in the balls.
Then fire him again.
It wasn’t always like this.
Let’s take a look at how our feelings have evolved following each of the season’s losses.
Posted on November 25, 2015
Fantasy Fix: The Pope’s Nose 2015
By Dan O’Shea
I’m dispatching with the usual week-in-review Fantasy Fix template this week for this very special announcement: It’s time again for the Pope’s Nose Awards.
To summarize, to the biggest turkeys of an almost-finished fantasy football season I award one player at each position the fattiest, least desirable, but most symbolically appropriate part of any Thanksgiving turkey – its ass.
This year, the job, which I know many of you must envy, was the most difficult in the many years I’ve given out the award. In part, I think that has something to do with how many star players have ended up with season-ending injuries. My policy is not to kick these guys while there down, though I don’t always extend the same courtesy to players who have played badly through apparent nagging injuries, as I will now demonstrate.
Posted on November 25, 2015
SportsMonday: Meatball Mania
By Jim Coffman
You can hear it echoing across the alleyways of Chicago in the aftermath of the Bears 17-15 loss to the Broncos on Sunday – the distinctive cry of the species known as the meatball sports fan.
With other animals, you have to listen close to catch the intricacies. Not so with the meatball, who caws “If the idiot coach would’ve just done this, our team would’ve won that,” over and over and over again.
The meatball (and a bunch of commentators in this town for that matter) believes that all the separate little parts of a game exist in their own little vacuums. If you could, you would just go back and change what you see as the mistake, enjoy the short-term benefit, watch the rest of the game play out exactly the way it did and then bask in vindication when your team pulled out the win thanks to the adjustment you made.
Posted on November 23, 2015
Beachwood Radio Special Edition: The Unbearable White Maleness Of Sports Media
By Steve Rhodes with Evan F. Moore
Progress has been grudging – and it shows.
Posted on November 22, 2015
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #78: Grenver Brackers Week
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Bears face Brock Osweiler and Aaron Rodgers in two-game, five-day stretch. Plus: The NFL Stinks; The Slausonator; Osweiler Better Than Clausen, Fales; Packers Doom Spiral; Bulls Holding Serve; Blackhawks Gellin’ Like Thornton Melon; and Cubs Hat Trick.
Posted on November 20, 2015
Harlem Globetrotters Bring It All Back Home
By The Harlem Globetrotters
Founded in Chicago in 1926, the Harlem Globetrotters are preparing for an epic celebration tour during their 90th year. In recent months:
1. The team had an audience with the Pope.
Posted on November 20, 2015
The Blue & Orange Kool-Aid Report: Adjusting Yourself In Public
By Carl Mohrbacher
We’re No. 16! We’re No. 16!
As I said a few weeks back, the Bears are the best of the worst teams in the NFL.
Don’t believe me? Then you can talk to the 16-fingered foam hand.
Posted on November 18, 2015
Fantasy Fix: Cutler’s Revenge
By Dan O’Shea
For the second week in a row, I’m moved to eat crow served up by a Chicago Bear. Last week, the chef was Alshon Jeffery, who I maligned after he sat for five straight weeks with mysterious injuries. This week, it’s none other than Jay Cutler.
At the beginning of the season, I wrote up a series of predictions, most of which have turned out to be wildly off-base (check out what I said about Jeffery back then) and one or two which were difficult to get wrong (see Tom Brady).
For my last one on the list, I simply predicted Cutler would not be starting for the Bears by the end of the season
Posted on November 18, 2015
Dear Football: I’m Breaking Up With You
By Eric Emery
Dear Football,
When you awake this morning, I’ll be gone.
Damn it, Football. It was a great run. Sometime in 1979, I professed my love for you. After 36 years of love, I need to be true to you and to me. I am no longer in love with you. Let me be more honest. I don’t even love you like a good friend. In fact, I really hate your guts. Football, I need you out of my life.
Posted on November 17, 2015