By Jim Coffman

Why is it that so many people who are paid to write about and talk about sports in this town can’t figure out that Jerry Angelo knows what he’s doing?
Angelo took over a franchise that was lost in the wilderness a half-dozen years ago. The Bears had followed the disastrous Dave Wannstedt regime with the Dick Jauron fiasco (Jauron, who was hired before Angelo arrived, lucked into a divisional championship and a first-round playoff bye early in Angelo’s tenure but then his team choked away a home playoff game against the Eagles and went downhill from there). At the end of Jauron’s tenure – marked most ridiculously by the employment of the most out-of-his-element offensive coordinator (John Shoop) in the NFL in the last quarter century – Angelo hired Lovie Smith. Meanwhile, he was bringing in all sorts of talent – particularly impressing with his ability to find great players in the middle of the draft and with his willingness to go get the players he most wanted early in free agency. The Bears returned to the playoffs in 2004-05 and went to the Super Bowl in 2006. They did so without a big-time quarterback.

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Posted on March 10, 2008

By The Beachwood Birding Affairs Desk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 4, 2008
Good Afternoon,
Wrigley Field in Chicago has been battling a pest bird problem in its upper bleachers for years. After trying various products, and fielding many complaints from fans, netting was finally installed to humanely block birds from sitting in the rafters. Now the maintenance department says the bird problem is no more.
From facility managers, to homeowners, many people are unsure of what to do about pest birds. This is because the market is flooded with various products with limited success. In February of 2008 we interviewed the maintenance department at Wrigley Field about the netting, and feel the story offers insight that many could use.

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Posted on March 5, 2008

By Jim Coffman

Someone affiliated with the NBA should find a way to set up radar guns to measure how quickly dunks go through the hoop.
That’s because the dunk LeBron James threw down on the Bulls in the final three minutes of Sunday’s nationally-televised matinee would have either set a new ball-speed record or broken the gun. The game featured the Bulls putting it all together to stretch out an eight-point lead early in the fourth quarter, only to watch the homestanding Cavaliers rally, thanks in large part to former Bull Joe Smith knocking down a series of big shots. Then King James put the game away in the final minutes with a hanging lay-up, the dunk, a mid-range jumper and a pass to Wally Szczerbiak for a crushing trifecta.
I’ve had a chance to watch James at different points in his career, starting with a post-season All-Star game at the United Center at the end of his high school career in which he was so clearly a man among boys. In his rookie year I attended a Bulls game in which he assisted on something like six of Cleveland’s first eight baskets and then hit all the big shots late in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Last year I watched in amazement (on TV) as he scored Cleveland’s final 25 points in the absolutely epic, double-overtime, conference-final playoff victory over Detroit. Then there was Friday’s dunk (again on TV). Let’s just say how fortunate it was the ball didn’t hit Luol Deng, who provided slightly less-than-effective-help defense on the play, in the head. Then again a concussion would have been the perfect final chapter in the story of Deng’s 2007-08 season, one that has been notable for injuries and injuries alone.
Today we’re going to spend a little more time on basketball:

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Posted on March 3, 2008

By Jim Coffman

What was that sound? It couldn’t be fireworks could it? In the middle of February? Nope, it was the sound of Bears fans’ heads exploding.
Okay, okay, there were no reports of actual cranial combustion. But surely the loved ones of a significant contingent of Midway Monster backers had to be wondering if someone had bought a new clock over the weekend . . . because something was ticking.

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Posted on February 25, 2008

By Tim Howe

This year marked the 50th Anniversary of “The Great American Race” in Daytona Beach, Florida, NASCAR’s season-starter. Fox Sports has the TV rights for this event, and does a generally decent job of covering the race itself (handling it better than their efforts on baseball, but not as good as their football coverage).
But the race itself was almost beside the point this year as two story lines dominated the pre-race coverage: Junior, and the 50th Anniversary.

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Posted on February 19, 2008

By Jim Coffman

Anybody out there watch the NBA All-Star game on Sunday?
How about the Daytona 500?
I didn’t think so.
The former is abysmally bad basketball from start to finish. It is the worst game of the season. And yet, year after year it is apparently a very tough ticket. Nowhere in the world of sports is there a bigger disconnect between the actual amount of real sports entertainment generated by an event and the cost of a ticket to that event. And nowhere is there a better example of the triumph of spectacle over actual sport. I would rather watch a late-season Grizzlies-Timberwolves brickfest than the yearly “all-star” debacle where the only competition is to see who can throw the most ridiculous alley-oop.
Then there are the guys driving around in all those thrilling circles in Spring Breakville.

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Posted on February 18, 2008

By Jim Coffman

Don’t look now, but the Bulls just had the best week of their season. Sure, they only won two of four, but they did it far from home (they were evicted from the United Center by an extended run of High School Musical on Ice – ouch, babe), and with several key contributors on the bench with injuries. The affected players, Kirk Hinrich (bruised ribs), Luol Deng (tendinitis in his Achilles) and Ben Gordon (sore shooting wrist) could very well return this week or next. But will the Bulls want to bench the guys who have made a difference for the better of late?
Most important, the effort that was so infuriatingly lacking at times earlier in the season was there all week. The Bulls beat Seattle and Golden State and battled before losing to two of the hottest teams in basketball (Portland and Utah).

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Posted on February 11, 2008

By Eric Emery

The Super Bowl is over. At this point, I have good news and bad news. The good news: The game lived up to the hype. The bad news: The game generated an incredible amount of post-game hype. Let’s take a look.
*
Topic: Bill Belichick leaving the field with one second left.
Hype: What a poor sport! (“Maybe he wanted to beat traffic,” Eli Manning told David Letterman.)
Reality: He had to take an urgent phone call from John McCain about Super Tuesday strategy. Besides, if someone had told him there was actually one second left, he would’ve found a way to win the game.

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Posted on February 7, 2008

By Jim Coffman

How could this possibly have happened? How could a Giants team that barely squeaked past a feeble bunch of Bears in a December regular-season game possibly have pulled it all together and capped off one of the great playoff runs of all time with yesterday’s 17-14 victory? So many things had to go right for the underdogs. The Giants had to make so many plays and their favored, previously undefeated counterparts had to botch so many opportunities.
Any fan who watched the team from New York stumble and bumble through three-and-a-half quarters of futility against the Bears at the start of the season’s final stretch would have acknowledged that Sunday’s triumph seemed well beyond the pale of possibility. Quarterback Eli Manning finally put together a couple late touchdown drives to give the Giants a 21-16 comeback victory over the Bears back on December 2, but it looked like this team would no doubt peak by simply squeaking into the playoffs.
Then the Giants won at Tampa Bay, and at Dallas, and at Green Bay to advance to Super Bowl XLII.
And on Sunday . . .

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Posted on February 4, 2008

By Eric Emery

For the third consecutive year, the Emery household shall host a Super Bowl party. I haven’t handed out questionnaires after each party, but I’m confident that the first two were major successes. And that’s not just because of the results of the games (Steelers won, Bears lost). I take great effort to provide a full interactive experience for my guests. It’s more than having a good TV and ample beer supply. It’s the little things that help make the party successful. Here are my keys to a successful Super Bowl party.
1. Divide the room according to allegiance. Give duties and gifts to each side:
* New York fans required to make 9/11 comments at every possible opportunity. New England fans required to recall various occasions meeting the Kennedys.
* New England fans get help pawking their caws. New York fans get help stealing those cars.
* New York fans receive pre-game phone call from Phil Simms. New England fans receives pre-game phone call from Steve Grogan.
* After each touchdown, the scored-upon side must remind their rivals that their hockey, basketball, baseball, WNBA, and soccer teams still suck.

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Posted on January 31, 2008