By Jim Coffman

Bears fans have just about done it. They have just about made it through an entire preseason without playing the sucker.
The call went out before the exhibition season even started: don’t do it this time people, don’t let baseless optimism creep in no matter how inevitable it seems. You’ve been deceived before but this time memories of recent past failures are seared into your brain.
This time you won’t be fooled again and you won’t tell yourself any sort of fairy tale of Jay Cutler finally figuring it out and young defenders playing surprisingly well and a great coaching staff organizing surprisingly successful stretches of football.
It is not happening.

Read More

Posted on September 8, 2015

By Marty Gangler

Here is an e-mail exchange I had with Beachwood grand poobah Steve Rhodes on Labor Day. It’s just another homage to the great and powerful Joe Maddon.
Rhodes: Before the season, I was really eager to see Joe Maddon’s lineups. Then I was befuddled. Then amazed. Then perturbed. Then amused. Then baffled. I’m giving up. Start Kris Bryant at catcher if you want, Joe. It doesn’t seem to matter.

Read More

Posted on September 7, 2015

By Roger Wallenstein

So this is what it was supposed to look like. Now I get it.
Heading out for the week for three games against the Twins followed by another trio in Kansas City, Robin Ventura’s bedraggled crew appeared poised to return home with its collective tail between its legs. The only positive aspect was that no one would be watching because of the Cubs and the start of the football season.
And after dropping the first two to the Twins including a limp 3-0 shutout on Wednesday, Jeff Samardzija fell right into his August doldrums on Thursday in his initial September start. Given a 1-0 lead, Samardzija served up a waist-high fastball to Twins’ rookie outfielder Eddie Rosario in the third inning with the bases loaded. The kid deposited the offering high into the right center-field stands. Here we go again!

Read More

Posted on September 7, 2015

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Infield, outfield, starting pitching, relief pitching. Plus: I Hate John Fox; The Secret Seven-TE Spread; Fangio’s Folly; Rappin’ Roger Goodell; Rah! Rah! Sis-Boom-Bah Humbug; and The White Sox, Fire And Sky Reportedly Did Things This Week.

Read More

Posted on September 4, 2015

By Reuters Staff

Sony Pictures Entertainment executives altered the script of its forthcoming movie Concussion, about football-related brain trauma, to avoid antagonizing the National Football League, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Citing e-mails between Sony studio executives that were leaked by hackers last year, the Times said marketing plans for the movie were positioned to focus on the story of a whistleblower, rather than a condemnation of the sport.

Read More

Posted on September 3, 2015

By Dan O’Shea

I started to write this column with the point that Kirk Cousins, QB, WAS, would make a nice late-round draft pick or early waiver wire pick-up, largely based in the probability that Washington would turn to him as a starter at some point this season after giving up on Robert Griffin III.
Well, it happened sooner than I thought – before the fourth pre-season game. Cousins has been named the starter, and has some potential to prove himself a fantasy bargain. He’s not a fantasy starter yet, and probably not even a QB-2 in many leagues, but his stock could rise quickly.
That leaves me thinking, who are some other backups who are worth a bottom bench spot even if it’s not yet clear how much they will play?
Here are three of the obvious ones:

Read More

Posted on September 2, 2015

Zhongguo De Xiandao, Yi Zhandou De Illini

Because the University of Illinois has 4,500 undergrads and post-grads from China in its student body, the school will simulcast Illini football games this fall in Chinese. For our Anglo readers, we’ve thoughtfully translated several phrases that are likely to recur on the air from the student announcers so you can recognize the words when they are repeated.
Yesu! Nandao women meiyou RENHE REN shui keyl gan shang tuishai de jiaoluo? Jesus! Don’t we have ANYONE who can catch a fade to the corner?”
Women tebie xiaozu xi. Our special teams suck.
Shi women yinggai zhe guoge changge ma? Which national anthem are we supposed to sing?

Read More

Posted on September 1, 2015

By The Mob Museum

LAS VEGAS – The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, will unveil The ‘Beautiful Game’ Turns Ugly on Tuesday.
The display provides an incisive and eye-opening look into the rampant corruption that plagues the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the organization that runs international soccer. Through photographs, media clippings and cover stories and expository narrative, the Museum’s new FIFA exhibit gives a breakdown of the kickbacks, secrecy and match-fixing associated with the scandal.

Read More

Posted on August 31, 2015

By Jim Coffman

So many assumptions, so little justification:
The sports commentariat assumes it is a good idea for all NFL teams to essentially take the fourth exhibition game off. Teams must avoid injuries at all costs, the thinking goes, except of course for the fact that if that were really the only concern in the preseason then no stars should play a snap. I would call it a rip-off for fans but this practice has become so widespread that anyone who is not aware of what he is getting for the price of a fourth exhibition game ticket isn’t worth consumer protection.
Why on God’s green gridirons is not playing the starters in the fourth pretend competitive game set in stone? What about when a team obviously needs more work, like say a certain local football franchise? Wouldn’t it make far more sense for Jay Cutler and whichever Bears receivers are able to walk this week to take the field for at least a half on Thursday evening against the Browns? They could continue to work on, I don’t know, maybe a half dozen plays that won’t be complete disasters?

Read More

Posted on August 31, 2015

By Marty Gangler

I know it’s really hard to do right now, but I’m going to try and look at this week as it actually happened and not through the no-hitter colored glasses of one game. Because there was some real scuffling going on and it took a no-no to wash out the bad taste of losing four in a row and it really wasn’t that much fun. The cold slap of reality came in the guise of two West Coast powers; one is the three-times-in-five-years champion and the other is the more-money-than-God monster team – and let’s not even get into the jet lag . . .

Read More

Posted on August 31, 2015