By Dan O’Shea

The top six picks in most fantasy league drafts this year were some combination of the following:
* Chris Johnson, RB, Tennessee
* Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, Jacksonville
* Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota
* Michael Turner, RB, Atlanta
* Frank Gore, RB, San Francisco
* Ray Rice, RB, Baltimore
The order may have varied from draft to draft, but the names didn’t. Now, going into Week 5, none of those players is among the top 10 fantasy performers, with the borderline exception of Peterson, who is probably the one guy on that list who was expected to see a slight drop-off this year.

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Posted on October 6, 2010

By Jim Coffman

Anyone still believe it matters whether Mike Tice is a good offensive line coach? He could be the Bill Walsh of line coaches but if the guys he coaches don’t have it, they don’t have it and nothing the coach says will make a significant difference. And that is why the Bears gave up an outrageous nine first-half sacks on their way to a worrisome 17-3 loss to the New York Giants in New Jersey on Sunday.
This is it, people. No more talking about a new assistant coach making a significant difference for one of our beloved teams. Maybe we should repeat it 10 times – you either have the horses or you don’t. You either have players who are strong enough and quick enough and smart enough to play positions well or you don’t. The specific sport, be it football or baseball or whatever, is immaterial.
It doesn’t matter if Rod Marinelli comes in to coach the defensive line or if Mike Tice comes in to coach the offensive line. It doesn’t matter if Rudy Jaramillo joins the Cubs to coach hitting.

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Posted on October 4, 2010

By Andrew Reilly

Did you know that the 2003 White Sox had an eight-game winning streak?
That the 2001 team went 18-9 in June?
That the 1996 team emerged with a winning record against the AL Central?
No, you didn’t and, all told, you probably shouldn’t.
Not because those things weren’t cool at the time, but because in the end they all just became marginal, less-than-representative components of larger, less-than-memorable campaigns.

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Posted on October 4, 2010

By Mike Luce

Some things should be left to the professionals.
Week Four was not the most successful week in the history of The College Football Report. We backed a loser – heavily – and even the Sports Seal took it on the nose, going 2-3 in his picks. This week, we’re going to lick our wounds and give ourselves a bit of a break. We will ramp back up next week. For the moment, we will take some small comfort knowing that in the world of college football, we weren’t the only ones who had an off week.
For an example, let’s turn to our colleagues in television. In all fairness to the suits in the booth, there are a lot of games on TV every weekend. And calling games can’t be easy. The interaction between the play-by-play and color commentator can’t be taken for granted, even when the pair regularly work together. Throw in a virgin color commentator, and well, we think you see where this is going.

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Posted on October 1, 2010

By Thomas Chambers

First of a three-part series.
The memory fades. Pushed further into the past, by more and more open lengths, just as he did to four others on that June day in 1973.
For anyone of an age to have been there, or simply remember the hold he had on America, it’s easy. For all the others, I guess there’s nothing wrong with a major motion picture rekindling the story of Secretariat, aka Big Red.
You’ll get an argument over who’s the best of all time, sometimes just for the obstinacy of it all, but Secretariat is always in the conversation. “Man o’ War! Count Fleet! Citation!”
And then there’s Big Red. Choosing the ridiculous title Secretariat: The Impossible True Story, Disney stays devoted to its own peculiar tablets of storytelling ethics. Sure, I’ll buy into it for the couple of hours it runs, but I’d rather remember the real story. Because it wasn’t impossible.

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Posted on October 1, 2010

By Dan O’Shea

You never want to doubt Peyton Manning’s ability, but if there ever was a time that his fantasy production seemed poised for a dip, it appeared to be this season.
He came into the year with an another intriguing but injury-prone mix of receivers, including an aging Reggie Wayne and another newbie named Blair White; an injury-prone star running back and an unproven back-up RB; and had finished the 2009-10 season with 16 interceptions, the most he recorded since 2002-03.
Yet, after Week 3 and heading into the first bye week, there is no better fantasy football performer than Manning the elder. He has passed for 1,013 yards with nine touchdowns and zero INTs. He was probably a late second-round pick in many leagues, and right now is looking like a steal. We’ll see how long he can keep it up.
While Manning is a familiar name at the top of the fantasy football heap, there are a few other players who have turned out to be surprisingly good during the first three games. Here are the biggest surprises at all positions:

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Posted on September 29, 2010

Blue: As far as this Bear fan can tell, you can’t be better than 3-0. The Detroit game was won via a dumb move by an amazing talent. The second game needed a truly poor performance by Eastern Illinois’ finest, Tony Romo. Monday night’s victory required an amazing 18 penalties by the Packers, a blocked kick, Devin Hester’s first return of a punt since 2007, and a forced fumble by Brian Urlacher on the final Pack drive. How long can we keep up winning based on the other teams’ mistakes? Who cares? As I said earlier, you can’t better than 3-0.
Other than Jay Cutler throwing a perfect tight spiral interception to the Packers’ Derrick Martin in the end zone, the offense looked good enough. The Mike Martz system still seems a bit of a mystery at times to the WR corps, the running game is woefully absent, and the offensive line still seems to be hell-bent on finding out if Cutler is tougher than Chuck Norris. On the positive side, though, the offense was able to move the ball when needed. Greg Olsen might be a top-5 tight end in a system that supposedly has no place for a tight end and the wide receivers are showing that you need no true No. 1 when you have four No. 3s. Think about it: If you have a No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 wide receiver, you add up to 10. If you have four No. 3s, you add up to 12. Jerry Angelo might be on to something.

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Posted on September 29, 2010

By Jim Coffman

Could Chicago possibly be happier? The good news arrived Monday and I have a hard time believing that any sports fan in our fair city didn’t rejoice as long and as loud as was humanly possible. Clearly we will all always remember exactly where we were when we absorbed the fact that . . . Ozzie will return next year to again manage the White Sox.
What’s that you say? You thought I was talking about the Bears? Well, I’m certainly happy they pulled out their biggest win since the 2006 NFC Championship game. I mean, it would take an extreme killjoy to point out that despite the great start, if the Bears lose to the Giants this coming Sunday evening in New Jersey, they will have the exact same record at the end of the first quarter of this season as they did last.

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Posted on September 28, 2010

By Matt Farmer

You want to know what went through my mind when I heard that NFL legend George Blanda had passed away on Monday? It wasn’t the 41-yard field goal he kicked at age 48 in the AFC Championship Game in January 1976. And it wasn’t the 2,002 career points he racked up during his 26 years in the league. Truth be told, my first thought had nothing to do with football.
I flashed back to the time he caught me breaking into his car.

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Posted on September 28, 2010

By Marty Gangler

The news last week that Jim Hendry’s ever-expanding list of managerial candidates being granted interviews now includes Don Wakamatsu led us here at The Cub Factor to wonder who isn’t getting an interview. Is Hendry getting paid per candidate? And why does he seem determined to interview everyone who ever managed Milton Bradley?
The Cub Factor put its crack reporting staff into the field to answer these questions and struck gold when we obtained the remainder of Hendry’s interview schedule. Here is today’s lineup, just for starters.
7 a.m.: That kid at the Dunkin’ Donuts who always knew Soriano shouldn’t lead-off.
8 a.m.: Tom Ricketts, third interview.
9 a.m.: Yosh Kawano. He understands Cubs culture.
10 a.m.: Bob Brenly. Len Kasper.

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Posted on September 27, 2010