By Roger Wallenstein

Labor Day is such an innocuous, nondescript holiday. No fireworks, no counting down the seconds until midnight, no turkey, no gift-giving, not much of anything. I heard there was a parade in Naperville but other than the Napervillians, I can’t imagine circling September 2 on my calendar.
The first Monday in September simply has morphed into a marker for the end of summer. What sane person looks forward to the last day of summer? When I was a kid, school always began the day after Labor Day. Same deal when I was a teacher. Didn’t make any difference. Labor Day was not something you looked forward to.

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Posted on September 2, 2013

By Mike Luce

The 2013 college football season kicked off Thursday night, and we here at The College Football Report are both excited and relieved to see the season start. The excitement stems from our undying love of the sport, and the relief from our exhaustion with the offseason. (Read: Johnny Manziel.) More on that later.
The storylines of the 2013 season will be dominated by a short list of subjects, and before we start suffering from hype fatigue (Over/Under: October 20), let’s cover each in brief:
The SEC: Will the Southeastern Conference ever lose a BCS championship game again?* SEC teams have gone 9-1 from the birth of the BCS in 1998 through 2012, and expect to take home the goofy crystal football again this season.** The smart money is on Alabama (at 3-1 odds) to win. Other SEC contenders include Georgia (12-1), Texas A&M (12-1), and South Carolina (20-1). Haters will find themselves rooting for Ohio State (5-1; see below), Oregon (8-1), or . . . that’s it.

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Posted on August 30, 2013

By Dan O’Shea

The tight end position has seen its ranks depleted by injuries (Dennis Pitta, BAL, and Dustin Keller, MIA) and murder charges (Aaron Hernandez, formerly NE). The No. 1 pick at this position was already clear anyway, but several other players have moved up the ranks from the depths where they normally would reside.
As for my sleepers, it’s getting more difficult every year with fantasy football information overload to find true needles in the haystack. I feel like I’m reaching a bit this year, so my definition of sleeper is that none of the guys I mention below should be drafted before the 12th round in a 15- or 16-round draft.

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Posted on August 28, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

Just when you expected it to get worse, it did.
* Cubs-Padres Give Us Most Cubs-Padres Play Possible.
* Jayson Werth On Carlos Villanueva’s Eephus Pitch: ‘I’ve Never Seen A Pitch That Slow’.
* “The Chicago Cubs thought they were catching a break earlier this month when they didn’t face Los Angeles Dodgers co-aces Zack Greinke or Clayton Kershaw in a four-game series,” Mark Gonzales reports for the Tribune.
I thought they understood the insult.
* “He’s everywhere. He’s good in that (No. 8) spot. You can use him in the top of the order too. He’s a really good No. 8 hitter.”
That’s Dale Sveum talking about Darwin Barney (.217/.271/.327).

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Posted on August 27, 2013

By Jim Coffman

It’s all a set-up.
The Bears have kept things simple on the offensive side during the preseason, barring the occasional bits of trickery. The standard sets and basic plays (how about another pass in the flat to Matt Forte? Or Alshon Jeffery running another in-cut?) serve a dual purpose. They provide a relatively blank canvas for new players (particularly right guard Kyle Long and tackle Jordan Mills) to make an impression. And they give opposing teams nary a clue about what the Bears will throw at them when the real games begin.
Anything the Bears have done in terms of their overall offensive scheme that is more than the most basic of plays is a feint. And it should be particularly effective with newcomer Marc Trestman at the helm.

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Posted on August 26, 2013

By Roger Wallenstein

This was the kind of weekend we expected before the season began. Playing against the front-running Texas Rangers, our guys dropped the first game by a lopsided 11-5 count but came back against one of baseball’s best in Yu Darvish on Saturday and finished the deal on Sunday.
But that’s just part of the story that included the return of A.J. Pierzynski – and to a lesser extent Alex Rios – along with the Civil Rights Game on Saturday which coincided with the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.

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Posted on August 26, 2013

By Mikey Rayderinski

Da Raiders.
Janikowski.
Polish sausage.

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Posted on August 22, 2013

By Dan O’Shea

In fantasy football pre-season rankings, the primary receiver positions – wide receiver and tight end – are where you start to see great variation between one person’s draft board and another’s.
Some owners are high only on No. 1 WRs (as opposed to those who are called the No. 2 or 3 on their teams – and it’s not always bad to be No. 3, as they are sometimes the most reliable possession receivers). Other owners are high on any receiver who plays with a top five fantasy QB.
Here’s my list:

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Posted on August 21, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

“The fate of the Chicago Cubs’ future appears to rest for now on the shoulders of Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro,” Bruce Levine wrote last week for ESPN Chicago.
“But the growth chart for both young players has been a slow and grinding process this season.
“Castro, a two-time All-Star, has failed to get the job done on both offense, batting a career-worst .246, and defense (15 errors) this season. Although Castro’s raw defensive skills have improved (he has a 22-game errorless streak) as far as fielding goes, insiders point to indecision and poor positioning as a weakness for the 23-year-old shortstop.
“Rizzo, who has done well when making contact, has had his own problems on defense. Positioning for cutoff throws and calling cover plays have been challenging for him.
“Meanwhile, Rizzo’s batting average fell off to a season-low .232 after Wednesday’s 0-for-3 performance in a 5-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.”
Maybe, as The Cub Factor has suggested before, playing on a crappy, makeshift team filled with transients isn’t the best way for core players to develop.

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Posted on August 19, 2013

By Roger Wallenstein

The r-words, rebuilding and reloading, are not being uttered as often this morning by those who still remain interested in the fortunes of the White Sox. More in vogue is the t-word – turnaround.
Regardless of the label, the recent nine wins in 14 games provide the sense that the situation may not be as hopeless as it seemed just before the current streak. You remember that. Ten straight losses and 13 setbacks in 14 games at the end of July into early August.
Maybe we lost more than a few devotees at that juncture, and you couldn’t blame them. An 8-19 June already resulted in fans losing interest almost as quickly as the Bulls in the immediate post-Jordan era.
But hold on, folks. Memories tend to be short in the sporting world. Maybe we do have a few glimmering gems to clutch as the season begins to wind down.

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Posted on August 19, 2013