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Ofman: Dis and Dat, Dem and Dose

By George Ofman

The most annoying part of the recent Bulls press conference announcing the dismissal of Vinny (we hardly got enough time-outs from you) Del Negro was GM Gar Forman claiming he was just starting the process of contacting potential replacements. Really? Seriously?
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Is it me or are the White Sox fading into oblivion and it’s only the first week of April? Their batting average with men in scoring position is so low, archeologists might find the remains of Abner Doubleday first.
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Someone suggested the Cubs trade Carlos Zambrano to the Sox for Mark Buerhle. It won’t happen because Buehrle would balk at being an 8th inning set-up man. Then again, the way’s he’s been pitching . . .
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By the way, when do the Cubs return to their senses and put Big Z back in the rotation just to get him some work?
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I said this on WGN Radio the day after Milton Bradley bolted the ballpark in Seattle: “This man is crying for help. How many ways can you spell THERAPY!” I’m not busting a tear for this mope of a human because he should have asked for help years ago. Then again, those who managed and generally managed him in recent years should have detected the signs. Bradley is sick. So are those who aided and abetted his problem by lavishing millions on him. Shame on everyone.
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Sat alongside the Tribune’s Dan Pompei on Chicago Tribune Live the other day. He’s a great guest and lightning rod for lively discussion. He claims the Bears don’t need any veteran wide receivers because the ones they have are good enough. Love you long time Dan, but there isn’t one accomplished receiver on this team including Devin Hester. While Jay Cutler stumbled badly his first season, I bet there would have been fewer interceptions had there been more competent wideouts. The Bears are a need-to-win-NOW team. That means they need a veteran receiver or two NOW!
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Vancouver Canucks coach Alain Vigneault accused Dustin Byfuglien of getting away with murder in front of the net during last year’s playoffs. After game three, the Canucks coach should have Byfuglien arrested and charged with “Death by rebounds.”
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Instead of using a Taser on fans, aim it in the directions of some players who admire what they think are home runs, and then start running. Bet that would settle the issue.
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If Aramis Ramirez refuses the advice of hitting guru Rudy Jaramillo while he tries to figure out just how his hitting stroke disappeared, then Lou Piniella has no choice: He must show him the bench. Lou already has shown his mettle with Soriano and Zambrano. He must do the same with Ramirez even if it means playing either Jeff Baker or Chad Tracy at third.
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The Cubs played Houston, the Mets, Washington, Arizona and Pittsburgh all in the span of 21 days. It was considered the easy part of their schedule. Is it possible those teams looked at their schedules, saw the Cubs and exclaimed, “This is the easy part of our schedule!” The results speak for themselves after the Cubs put an embarrassing punctuation mark getting swept at Pittsburgh by getting blown out.
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That’s all she wrote, which happens to be the name of my blog on ChicagoNow. You can also follow me on Twitter at @georgeofman and on Facebook.

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Posted on May 7, 2010