Back in action

Alright bloggings fans, after a long month of finals, i ready to get back to blogging and entertaining your eyes. Hopefully, you will join me on what will be an eventful summer for chicago sports starting with maybe Lord Stanley's cup coming back to chicago??? I'll start this summer with a simple link to the awesomeness that is Mark Grace......

http://www.cubworld.com/product/CHIC95/?meta=5.20.10

More to come soon!

Ben's suspension

Alright so im gonna go a little off the topic of chicago sports and talk about Ben Roethlisberger's 6-game nfl suspension handed down last week. First off, I dont like rapist and in no way do i support rape. I think thats a no brainer. But, dont agree with Ben's suspension. Look, i think he probably raped the girl or forced her to have sex with him. I dont like him and think he is a douche bag and deserves a good punch in the nuts. But, with all that said, how can we justify a 6 game suspension??? He wasnt convicted of any crime. He wasnt even charged with any crime! As someone who has studied criminal law, the laws are pretty lenient/easy to charge someone with rape even when its just a he-said/she-said situation. But there are no charges.

He just got suspended for a 1/3 of the season because of allegations against him. In this country, our justice system operates under a presumption of innocence. But not Roger Goodell. He rules the NFL with an iron fist. I'm all for holding players to a high standard but what has that standard become. If Roger has now taken to suspending players for actions that arent criminal, for me that goes too far. If Ben's employer, the Steelers want to suspend him thats great. But for the NFL to step in and suspend a guy for something that happened outside of the game of football and in his personal life and something that he will never been charged or convicted for, that goes too far.

Roger, what type of precedent does this set? Not only are your treating a star player differently which is patently unfair but you have now placed yourself and your judgment above the law. Where the law didn't want to go (not pressing charges), you stepped in and brought down the hammer. Is there a line anymore that Roger wont cross? What about players who have mishaps from college pending coming into the league? I hate what Ben probably did but probably shouldnt get you suspended from any job.

3rd week in april right?

Did i miss the entire summer? where did all the panic come from? Its 3 weeks into the season. The cubs have played 15 games!!!! And the cubs have put their ace in the bullpen???? Has lou gone senile?

Really lets look at what is going on here. Right now, the cubs have 2 starters in silva & gorzelanny who have had 3 good starts. I love that. Thats awesome. Except the list of people that have 3 good starts and then fall off the planet is endless in MLB. Teams play top dollar for guys who you can pencil in for 200 ips a year. Carlos Zambrano is one of those guys. Every year since 2003 he has pitched atleast 188 ips except last year in which he pitched 168. There is almost no question he is the cubs ace pitcher and has the best and most dominant stuff on the staff. And we just put this guy in the bullpen??? Unless this guy pitches every day, i want him to start and give my team the best chance to that day. I want hiim to pitch 6+ ips the game he is in because he has the chance to win the game on his own that day. What if the cubs go 4 days without a close game. What has Zambrano resting in the bullpen won you then. Bullpen pitchers have value and are important to the team but there is a reason they dont make the money that starters do. When they get in the game, some starting pitcher has already determined how the game is gonna go. Very good relief pitchers pitch 70 ips in a season. Starters pitch 200+. Starters get hurt and most wont make 30 starts a year yet we just put one that has made 30+ starts in 7 straight years in the bullpen. He pitches every 5th day and gives you a chance to win that day!!!!

Yes, the cubs bullpen has been bad. yes, it most definitely is better with zambrano in it. the problem is that they are a worse team without him pitching every 5 days and having him pitch less innings.

The desparation shown by Lou is saddening. Arent managers suppose to have the big picture, the whole season viewpoint? Arent they in charge of doing what is best for the team over 162 games? Does this make sense to anyone?

Bob Brenly comes out firing!

Every year i think Bob Brenly gets better as a cubs announcer. He makes listening to cubs games on TV very enjoyable. He also tells it like it is. BB's target today was none other than the cubs' 18 million dollar man and his lack of running on a fly ball. In case you missed it, Soriano hit a ball last night in NY that hit the centerfield wall. After hitting the ball, he trotted his hr trot and watched the ball except that the ball didnt get out and Soriano was only able to get a double and didnt score. Here are some BB quotes on the subject:

discussing Ted Lilly's attempted steal during a rehab start in Peoria. Brenly then interjected: "Wouldn't it be refreshing if we could get our left-fielder to run as hard as Ted Lilly does?"

As for Soriano's comment that the "important thing was I made a very good swing at the ball," Brenly said: "That's all true, but that's a very selfish attitude to take. This is about winning ballgames. It's not about how I can pile up my numbers or how cool I look when I hit a ball hard."

Asked on WSCR if he would've benched Soriano, Brenly said he's not in the clubhouse, but added: "From what I've seen from the press box, I think it should've been done a long time ago."

Thank you BB for saying what has been on every cubs' fan mind since the start of the season.

Do I have to watch?

I dont have much to say about the Bulls-Cavs series otherwise then I'm not sure i want to watch. I just dont see anyway the bulls can win this series. The Cavs are better than the bulls in every aspect. They have more skill, more size, probably more athleticism and speed. Many the bulls can win a game but i doubt it. We are only gonna have to endure watching Bron dance for 4 games. Bring on the FA summer of 10.

CAVs in 4 games.

Hawks Prediction

All the experts seem to think that this playoff series will be a hard and long fought battle between the hawks and the predators. The hawks took the season series 4-2 but the teams havent played since december so im not sure how much you can tell from that. The predators are a veteran team that plays great defense and doesnt score much. They seem to play the ultimate team game and get the most out of their players but dont really have a whole lot of individual talent. This can be seen in the fact that their special teams, penalty kill and power play, ranks them atleast 24 in the league or below. So, they are a good team when they can play with all their parts. I see the hawks speed and skill causing them problems and getting them to commit penalties and if the hawks can capitalize, it will be a quick series. I hate to say it but i think the hawks know they can turn it on when they want and they will similar to their performances in the olympics. Expect to see the puck in Kane's hands more and i think Kane, Toews, and Brower will be back on the same line before the end of the series.

Hawks in 5.

2 man enter. 1 man leave.

Pax v. Vinny. I've got my money on Pax & in real life. Coach & team president get into a fight?? sounds like the bulls will have some tv producers pitching a reality show that takes place in their front office. This is a fucking mess and embarrasses the bulls across the league. It is just stupid that executives and coaches could act like this over the playing time of a player.

I now want the bulls to lose tonight. Lose so they dont make the playoffs. Get this joke over with. Making the playoffs only makes this story last longer and makes bulls fans have to see more of Bron dancing (getting to the point where i hate Bron, by the way). Everyone knows Vinny is gonna be fired whether or not he is a bad/good coach. So get it over with. making the playoffs only prolongs this stories and the questions to the bulls players about this. Come on, Bulls. Lose!