Chicago -
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
First Beachwood World Series podcast since 1945. Including: Coffman Returns To Cubs Fold!; Wrigleyville Security State; Corey Kluber Introduces Self To Nation; Bam Bam Is Back!; Matchup Mania!; Schwarber, Schwarber, Schwarber!; Jay Cutler Blah Blah Blah; Coach Qalm Down; and Bulls Opener Actually Compelling.
Posted on October 28, 2016
By Dan O’Shea
Random observations from a week in which it was difficult to care about what happened with my fantasy football teams:
Hoyer done, Miller fading. Cutler? Nah . . . : With Brian Hoyer having suffered a broken arm at the height of his value, there are few Chicago Bears worth owning for fantasy.
Posted on October 27, 2016
By Steve Rhodes
The Cubs are right back in it!
Look, we sort of don’t know how to behave going this deep into the playoffs. So suddenly every game has become like a Bears game – win and we’re going all the way, lose and everybody should be fired. Or, not that exactly – that’s where the analogy breaks down – but lose and the season is an epic failure.
The Score’s exasperated on Jason Goff had it right on Wednesday when he said “We just went through this, just a week ago!” and no lessons were learned. That’s when losing 1-0 to Clayton Kershaw spelled certain doom for the boys in blue. And yet, it didn’t.
Learn, dammit!
Posted on October 27, 2016
By Carl Mohrbacher
I have two critiques of Brian Hoyer’s performance as a Bear: He is 30-years-old and his bones are susceptible to injury.
If he can overcome those two shortcomings, he should be an unstoppable force in 2017.
Posted on October 26, 2016
By Steve Rhodes
Let’s face it: Jon Lester choked.
Sure, the Cubs’ bats (and Joe Maddon’s managing) went cold again, but the game’s winning runs were scored in the first inning, when the tone was set.
“It comes down to the first inning,” Lester said afterward. “The first inning was tonight’s game.”
Of course, the other big inning was the seventh, when the Cubs loaded the bases with nobody out and failed to push even one run across the plate.
This is where Maddon – and the (controversial) rostering of Kyle Schwarber – came into play.
Posted on October 26, 2016
By Steve Rhodes
I didn’t think it would happen.
From The Cub Factor:
I find it hard to believe he’s being seriously considered, but that’s what reports say. Hey, Theo & Co. are far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far better talent evaluators than I am, and they have far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far more information than I do, but . . . really?
Posted on October 25, 2016
By Jim Coffman
The worst was 1984. The 2003 NLCS sucked as well but ’84 was the ultimate crusher. And that was despite the fact I never got anywhere near the action.
I will say this about the Cubs’ loss to the San Diego Padres in the “first-to-three” National League Championship Series that year: at least it was available on free TV. (Why do we say “best-of-five or best-of-seven” when these series often go less than five or seven games? It is past time to switch to first-to-three or first-to-four.”)
In 2016, the league championship series’ aren’t just on cable, they are on obscure cable. It’s as though someone said, “Let’s see if these fans are really fanatic and can find the games even if we put them on networks that most sports bars can’t even find!”
Posted on October 24, 2016
By Steve Rhodes
The seemingly perfect storybook ending that Cubs fans are waiting for is unlikely to occur. Why? This:
Sorry, Cubs fans. Your guys have to travel for Game 1 because a KC Royal hit a homer in a pretend game 3 months ago.
Cool system, @MLB
— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) October 23, 2016
The storybook ending, of course, would be, say, Kyle Schwarber with the pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the ninth at Wrigley Field in Game 7. But, really, any kind of World Series-ending win in Game 7 at Wrigley Field. Or even Game 6.
But no.
Posted on October 24, 2016
By Thomas Chambers
Ordinarily, these would be the dog days of Chicago sports.
It always happens at least twice a year. Now, and again in February.
Sometimes, our local dogs are such hounds, these days last from February through February.
The biggest offenders are the Chicago Bears, who are nothing more every year than the same old 1950 flathead four chassis and drivetrain – still recovering from the war, you know – with a new hood ornament and the revolutionary addition of cupholders, only because the league ordered them to add them to the list of options. It’s the Bears’ only acknowledgement that we are in a new-but-getting-older century. John Fox represents the ashtrays and cigarette lighters we miss so much.
Posted on October 23, 2016
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Bringing it all back home. Including: The Bunt Is Back!; Keys To Kyle Vs. Clayton; Players Performing Playoffy; Problematic Pitching Problems; Jay Cutler’s Thumb Vs. Johnny Manziel’s Drinking Problem, and; Your World Champion LA Sparks.
Posted on October 21, 2016
