Chicago -
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Lightning strikes in California – and it really grinds Coach’s gears. Plus: Playoff Possibilities; Draft Deshaun?; Cubs Con; Score Heads; Bulls World Turning Again; and Wherefore Arty Though?
Posted on January 13, 2017
By Eric Emery
Not that anybody is going to put out a missing persons report for a football (not handegg) writer, but it’s been eight weeks since my last column. Here’s the problem: I just haven’t felt funny.
I’ve spent my time circling the drain of despair, wondering what we’ve wrought. And it’s all become a cycle of “We’re-doomed-maybe-I’m-overreacting-we-have-checks-and-balances-but-neither-of-the-other-branches-nor-our-political-parties-nor-citizens-have-the-ability-or-will-we’re-doomed.”
Yet, over the past eight weeks, my enjoyment of football (not handegg) couldn’t have been better. Each week continues to bring surprises, cracking goals and narrative twists to keep me fully engaged. And in my NFL trolling realm, my grad school text/data mining analysis project on “#NFL tweets” was so well received that not only did my prof write a great recommendation on LinkedIn, he offered to serve as a reference.
Posted on January 12, 2017
By Daniel Trotta/Reuters
Eighteen female athletes on Tuesday sued a sports doctor to Olympian gymnasts, saying he sexually assaulted them under the guise of medical examinations over two decades when most of them were minors.
Larry Nassar, once a team doctor for Olympians at USA Gymnastics and a former employee at Michigan State University, has been in federal custody since December on child pornography charges. He also faces separate charges in Michigan for sexual abuse of a minor, who was neither an athlete nor a patient when police say she was abused from ages 6 to 12.
Nassar is also under investigation by Michigan authorities who say they have received more than 50 complaints of sexual abuse by the doctor.
Posted on January 11, 2017
By Jim Coffman
Dabo redeems!
I hate, hate, hate cults of college coaches, but if I was ever going to join one, it would be the church of William Christopher “Dabo” Swinney, the Clemson football coach who led his team to a thrilling 35-31 upset victory over Alabama and Little Nicky Saban for the national championship last night. The Tide coach failed to win his fifth minor league football championship in eight years, and everyone in America outside of Alabama is breathing a sigh of relief.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the Dabo cult, which will surely now enjoy explosive growth, would have me. Swinney has been scolded in the past for overdoing the Christian stuff and I bowed out of Christianity a while ago.
Posted on January 10, 2017
Video by The State
Whoever that dude is making snow angels on the field, he’s our favorite*.
Posted on January 10, 2017
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
George McCaskey is not a patient man – except when it comes to his family’s ownership and management of the Bears. Then his patience is infinite. Plus: Wake Me Up When Rondo Go-Goes; Arty On Top; and Toasting Terry While Opening The Score’s Door.
Posted on January 7, 2017
By Lawrence Hurley/Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court last month cleared the way for the National Football League’s estimated $1 billion settlement of concussion-related lawsuits with thousands of retired players to take effect, rejecting a challenge brought by a small group of dissenters.
The eight justices refused to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling in April upholding the settlement, which resolved litigation brought by players who accused the NFL of covering up information that tied head trauma like that suffered playing football to permanent brain damage.
The settlement enables the NFL, the most popular U.S. sports league with billions of dollars in annual revenue, to avoid litigation that could have led to huge sums in damages and provided embarrassing details about how it has dealt with the dangers posed by head trauma in the violent sport.
Posted on January 6, 2017
By Jim Coffman
“Just fire everyone” doesn’t cut it – especially when the current coaching regime is only two years into its run after the last regime lasted only two years.
Making that move can be satisfying at the time, but if a football team does it too frequently we all know it quickly heads into Cleveland Browns territory, or even worse at this point, San Francisco (congratulations to legacy owner monstrosity Jed York for spending the last two years obliterating what made the Niners one of the league’s proudest franchises).
And yes, the Bears are awfully close to a laughingstock as well at this point. But it makes the most sense to hang in there for another season with a general manager who had a great draft last year and a coach who, while suffering through a historically bad season this year capped off by Sunday’s 38-10 loss at the Vikings, at least didn’t allow his team to become an embarrassment like Marc Trestman did in 2014.
Posted on January 2, 2017
