By Marty Gangler

Giving Theo and Co. the full benefit of the doubt, does this season feel like a success? I’d say no, it feels like a huge failure. Theo hasn’t kept up his end of the bargain.
The bargain was that we’d accept a team that didn’t win a whole lot in order to engage in an organizational housecleaning and culture shift. But we’d get a team at the major league level filled with kids who hustled and “played the game right.”
Is that the team we’ve been watching? Resoundingly, no.

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Posted on August 28, 2012

By Jim Coffman

Jay Cutler has a to-do list longer than Julius Peppers’ arms. He is running out of time. And real-life issues threaten to intrude.
Other than that, everything Bears is peachy keen.
Except for Brian Urlacher’s knee . . . and the possibility that cornerback Charles Tillman is getting old in a hurry . . . and other stuff. But a fan focuses on the quarterback first.

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Posted on August 27, 2012

By Roger Wallenstein

It was a short week ago that the White Sox limped home after being swept in Kansas City with the mighty Yankees lying in wait. Even the lousy Mariners who would follow the Yanks in had won eight in a row and 10 of 11. It looked like the collapse everyone seemed to be waiting for was at hand.
Sorry, that’s not this team, this season. Pay attention.
This team, this season is Chris Sale striking out 13 to complete the sweep of the Yankees.
This team, this season, is Tyler Flowers (!) leading the Sox to a sweep of the Mariners. (Nate Jones got the vulture win out of the bullpen, running his record to 7-0.)
It’s a shame the Cubs are still outdrawing the Sox, ’cause the mystique is all on the South Side this year.

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Posted on August 27, 2012

By Dan O’Shea

I’ve never been a big fan of handcuffs – at least not in a fantasy football context. Drafting two RBs from the same team seems like a good idea in theory if the so-called star is an injury risk. It also can be worth doing if that team is committed to the run, and serious about splitting the workload between its top two RBs, especially the end zone opportunities.
However, it also usually means you’re using a high draft pick on a guy you don’t have complete faith in, and a mid-level pick on his teammate earlier than anyone else might draft him just so you can get your house in order.
Having said that, the RB pickings this year are rife with risky bets, and in a lot of situations, using a handcuff strategy might make sense. I probably still won’t do it, but that’s just me. See below for some ideas won who to handcuff to whom.
My top 20 RBs:

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Posted on August 22, 2012

By Marty Gangler

Am I the only one who thinks it stinks to be a Cub fan right now?
Because it does.
Not only does the team stink, the new management has come out and admitted it stinks.
And this doesn’t really sit well with me.
True, I’m so used to management trying to blow smoke up my butt that the honesty is refreshing.
It’s like being relieved that your wife is at least telling the truth about her affairs instead of pretending she’s been out late taking macrame classes. She’s still having an affair, though.

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Posted on August 21, 2012

By Jim Coffman

Welcome back football! We missed you, especially us Cubs fans.
What’s that you say? Football started the weekend before last? Well I can’t remember anything before Thursday. Heck, I barely recall Friday.
But Saturday, that was memorable. Bears fans won’t soon forget that evening’s delightful come-from-ahead and then behind, and then ahead by the margin of the foot or two by which Robbie Gould’s (welcome back especially to you Robbie!) 57-yard, last minute field goal cleared the crossbar. Actually they almost certainly won’t remember the 33-31 victory at all after the regular season opener in a few weeks but work with me here.

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Posted on August 20, 2012

By Roger Wallenstein

Golfing legend Ben Hogan once said, “The most important shot in golf is the next one.”
When it comes to playing the Kansas City Royals, especially at Kauffman Stadium, our White Sox could use a dose of Hogan’s wisdom. It matters not what happened yesterday, or last month, or a year ago. Don’t tell me about jinxes or curses. Hitting and catching the ball, effective pitching and a dose of intelligent baserunning determine whether the Sox can beat the Royals, or any other opponent for that matter.
Yet prior to Friday night’s 4-2 loss at Kauffman – even with Chris Sale poised to take the mound – Chuck Garfien, Bill Melton and Frank Thomas were already setting the stage on Comcast’s pre-game show by highlighting the problems that the Royals have caused the Sox this season. At that time, Kansas City held a 5-4 advantage over the South Siders, disappointing but far from disastrous.

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Posted on August 20, 2012

By Dan O’Shea

The 2011-12 football season was not a good one for many quarterbacks not named Rodgers, Brady, Brees or Newton.
For some, the problems stemmed from injuries and missed games (or missed seasons). For others, the season began with confirmation that they had starting jobs, but ended prematurely in demotion.
All of this made it a difficult season for fantasy owners to navigate. Now, a new season finds predictable names among the top-ranked QBs, but a host of others looking to rebound from injuries and other disappointments.
My top 20 QBs:

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Posted on August 15, 2012

By Marty Gangler

The Cubs clubbed the Houston Astros last night at Wrigley Field but consider that the Astros have 10 more losses this season than our hapless Scrubbies. That’s not much fun to watch, and in fact, it’s not even fun to pay attention to with a modicum of hope for the future anymore since the trade deadline fiasco that delivered middling prospects to Class A and not much else. You’re losing us, Theo.
We get the whole “get worse to get better” thing, but if the “better” is a huge bet that today’s prospects will become tomorrow’s superstars in . . . 2015 and counting, we’re gonna need to see more than balls rolling between Starlin Castro’s legs sandwiched by Brett Jackson’s strikeouts. Are we truly any better off than when we started the season? It would be a lot easier to believe in the plan if Alfonso Soriano wasn’t still starting every game in left field.
You can build for the future while remaining competitive – or at least simply respectful of your paying customers – at the major league level. That’s what good organizations do. The free pass is just about expired.

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Posted on August 14, 2012

By Jim Coffman

I tried. I tried to take satisfaction from the final of the men’s metric mile (4 X 400) relay a few nights ago. Likable underdog the Bahamas pulled it out for the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal and it was the sort of story that I would imagine a mature viewer of the Olympics could enjoy without reservation.
But at this point, ensconced as I am in middle age, I still can’t do it. I still care almost 100 percent about whether the team from the USA has done all it can. And in this event, the good old red, white and blue came up historically short.
It all goes to the overall experience of the London Olympics, which came to an end on Sunday with a big event featuring the Spice Girls (!) among others.

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Posted on August 13, 2012