Another Beachwood Special Report

Illini football coach Lovie Smith is 9-27 in three seasons including 4-23 in the Big Ten – good enough to have his contract extended for two more years to 2023!
While the extension stunned most sentient human beings, the Beachwood has learned the many reasons behind athletic director Josh Whitman’s move.
* Kept margin of loss to Iowa to 63 points; Whitman had Under 64 in the office pool and won a free trip to Galena.
* Lovie won the “grow a white beard and pretend we don’t all see it” bet.
* Nick Saban isn’t available until 2024.
* Lovie’s $12 billion buyout was slightly more than the $11.9 billion the athletic department budgeted for buyouts this year.
* Didn’t want to ruin Champaign-Urbana’s new slogan, “We Lovie It Here!”

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Posted on November 27, 2018

By Jim Coffman

University of Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman actually uttered these words Sunday: “Anytime you get a coach, especially in football and men’s basketball, where they have less than four years left on their contract, you start to leave them open to some criticism or vulnerability in terms of recruiting.”
Less than four years? How stupid does he think fans are? If there are any fans of Illinois football left at this point, that is. It didn’t matter that Lovie Smith would have had three years left on his deal. It wouldn’t have mattered if he had only two.
What really happened here is then-rookie AD Whitman lost his mind and gave Smith, who was not exactly the hot candidate when Illinois hired him three years ago, a massively generous six-year (!) contract. One suspects Smith’s clever agent stuck it to the inexperienced Whitman during lopsided negotiations.
And if he had fired Smith on Sunday at the end of the third year of that crushingly dim-witted deal, he would have had to trash the athletic department’s budget by paying the coach a $12 million buyout.
That is the only reason Lovie gets a fourth year at the helm. And it means next year will be another wasted season in Champaign – that the Illini will be another year further away from even a modicum of respectability.

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Posted on November 26, 2018

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Chasing the dream. Plus: Northwestern Way Better At Football Than Illinois, Which Is Really Weird When You Think About It; Joe Cowley’s Premature Evaluation; Blackhawks Bummer; and Cubs Cookie Continues To Crumble.

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Posted on November 23, 2018

By Jim Coffman

Another football game – another example of comprehensive competitive control.
The Bears haven’t just won games as they have taken command of the NFC North this year; they have controlled them virtually throughout.
The 25-20 victory over the Vikings on Sunday night gave them seven victories in 10 tries.
The team has featured strong start after strong start, ball control (the offense has been amazingly good at avoiding three-and-outs), steady (and oft-times spectacular) defense, and, since the New England game, no disasters on special teams.

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Posted on November 19, 2018

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Aka Cody Clang. Plus: Local TV Misses Worse Than Cody Parkey; Money League Baseball; We All Owe Bob Nightengale An Apology; Don’t Rewrite History; Cutting Robbie Gould Was The Right Thing To Do; The Kris Bryant Trade Scenario Isn’t Hard To Figure Out; Blackhawks Hunk Gets First Win; NHL In Chintzy Tentative Concussion Settlement: Not Our Fault; Fire Thibs; Wild ATS; and Sister Jean Is So Last Year.

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Posted on November 16, 2018

By The NHL

Plaintiffs’ Counsel in the consolidated multi-district litigation In Re: National Hockey League Players’ Concussion Injury Litigation, MDL, 14‑2551 SJN, and the National Hockey League announced [Wednesday] that they have reached a tentative non-class settlement of the Litigation.
This tentative settlement was reached after months of Court-ordered mediation overseen by the Honorable Jeffrey J. Keyes (ret.).
The NHL does not acknowledge any liability for any of Plaintiffs’ claims in these cases. However, the parties agree that the settlement is a fair and reasonable resolution and that it is in the parties’ respective best interests to receive the benefits of the settlement and to avoid the burden, risk and expense of further litigation.

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Posted on November 13, 2018

By Jim Coffman

Ryan Pace may have struggled evaluating kickers and quarterbacks during his reign as Bears GM, but he crushed it with receivers during the past year. And they put on a show during the Bears’ 34-22 triumph over the Lions on Sunday.
The improvement in pass-catchers for the Bears from last year to this year has to rival the improvement of any position group on any team in the NFL.

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Posted on November 12, 2018

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Theo in a gorilla suit while Nagy sets the playoff table. Plus: Why Trubisky Polarizes; Unified Grand Cubs Theory; Coach Coffman, Coach Q And Coach Colliton; This Is No Time For Bulls Hot Takes; and Secret Agent Hahn.

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Posted on November 9, 2018

What In The Name Of The College Of Coaches Is Going On?

To wit:
* Deadspin: Blackhawks Fire Joel Quenneville, For Some Reason.
* Sporting News: Speculation Alert: Cubs-Dodgers Trade Involving Joe Maddon Is So Crazy It Just Might Work.
* Sox Machine: The White Sox Are Still Weird About Their Managers.
–
Thread.

I’m going to share a story about Joel Quenneville I’ve never shared before.

Back in 2010, the Hawks’ Cup party was a week-long event all over Chicago. I went to Stanley’s on Lincoln one night with some buddies … late in the night, the place goes wild …

— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) November 6, 2018

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Posted on November 7, 2018

By Jim Coffman

So, this Trubisky guy, is he a good quarterback or what? Well?
Dude, I’m thinking. I waited an extra day to write this column to have a little more time to ponder things. And my conclusion is . . .

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Posted on November 6, 2018