Chicago sports weekend
I took yesterday off so I could actually get a day to sleep in. I failed at sleeping in, probably in large part due to the amount of alcohol I took in on Sunday night while watching the Bears. I managed to take a glorious nap though that almost made up for working almost 3 days of overtime (equalling almost 4 days of pay) last week. So I chose not to post anything yesterday, so I could save it for when I had time at work. I also spent an alarming amount of time playing Madden yesterday. But I digress.
So this was a pretty good weekend for the Chicago sports teams that actually matter. First, as I noted on Sunday, the Cubs managed to re-sign Aramis Ramirez. This was amazing news, and I am still excited about it. I'm also expecting an announcement any day now that the Cubs have signed Barry Zito, Alfonso Soriano, and traded Jacque Jones and Cesar Izturis to the D-Rays for Scott Kazmir and Carl Crawford. That would be awesome. Of course I'm delusional, but that's now news to anyone. Mainly I am once again optimistic that there could be some positive changes in this offseason, as I'm sure I will comment extensively on in the coming days.
Also, on Saturday night, in what seems like their first game in in forever, the Bulls beat the Pacers. Ben Wallace pulled down an obscene 18 rebounds. And he shut down Jermaine O'Neal to just 12 points. I didn't watch the game, probably partly because of the half-coma I spent the weekend in. But this was a big win for the Bulls, if for no other reason than they managed to come back in the 4th quarter. Now there are rumors floating about Ben Gordon possibly being used as trade bait, headed back to the bench, etc. I would probably be ok with trading Gordon. We have a lot of guards, and while he can light up a team for 38 one night, and score double digits in the 4th quarter, he has still been terribly inconsistent. That being said, I don't think we need to get rid of him, he just needs to accept his role and play accordingly. He's done a pretty good job of not complaining too much about it, but when the time comes for him to get an extension, I'm pretty sure he won't get what he thinks he's worth. That being said, any deal requiring a trade of Tyrus Thomas is not worth it. We drafted him knowing he had huge upside and would take some time. There is no point in trading him for someone right now who we may or may not need. I trust Paxson's moves on this, but I just wanted to voice my opinion.
Finally, how about the Bears. As I said, I was watching the game Sunday night with my good friend Captain Morgan, and I decided about halfway through the first quarter I would do some live-blogging, which I saved on Microsoft Word. I got very drunk by the end of the game, and by halfway through the third quarter or so, I stopped writing things down. I'm still considering posting it, mainly because I haven't edited it and it's probably a lot of nonsensical blather.
But damn are the Bears good. I was incredibly nervous at first. Rex throws early pick, and while not his fault, he still looked tentative. Tiki runs right through the defense, and then Brandon Jacobs chugs his way into the endzone untouched. However, when we did get pressure on Manning, he rarely made a play. Then, as Thomas Jones ran for 26 on the 3rd and 22, the game turned and the Bears started strutting. Like a bunch of strutting Betty's. I have no idea what that means, but I just made it up. Point is, the Bears gained confidence. And it was awesome to watch.
Also awesome was Hester's return. We all know that the return was awesome, but what I missed during the game (probably due to shock and drunkenness) was that after he got to the endzone he did the jumpshot with the ball. I thought that was the ultimate mocking of the Giants team, since all the defensive guys do that stupid jumpshot celebration after sacks. And I loved it.
Whether or not this was truly representative of how the game would have gone had the Giants not been terribly injured remains to be seen. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I tend to think it was, mainly because the Giants did very little on offense (save for one drive) for the rest of the night. But if we see the Giants again in the postseason (by the way, how awesome is it to be playing for homefield advantage this early in the season and winning?) who knows if they'll be healthier or not.
And just a few more points. It was awesome to see Mark Bradley in the game, and not only that, but making plays. It's huge to have him back. Also, it's great to see Chris Harris back and making plays. I think Thomas Jones should not get as many carries as he gets. He does nothing Cedric Benson couldn't do, aside from maybe dance around and run worse. But so many times he'll get 2 yards and then just go down. Or he'll be behind the line of scrimmage and just jump into a pile of guys. I saw it like 2 or 3 times early in the game. Benson needs more carries. It makes no sense to give Jones the bulk of the carries, and Benson runs better in my opinion. And of course Jones will run better in games if he gets 15 more carries. Plus, almost everytime Benson is in, the Bears run, and the defense knows and can stack the line. So Benson needs more opportunities. You have two solid backs. Mix it up a little Lovie.
Anyways, the Bears are again the class of the NFC, and it's awesome.
I'll try to post an Illini sports update later today.
So this was a pretty good weekend for the Chicago sports teams that actually matter. First, as I noted on Sunday, the Cubs managed to re-sign Aramis Ramirez. This was amazing news, and I am still excited about it. I'm also expecting an announcement any day now that the Cubs have signed Barry Zito, Alfonso Soriano, and traded Jacque Jones and Cesar Izturis to the D-Rays for Scott Kazmir and Carl Crawford. That would be awesome. Of course I'm delusional, but that's now news to anyone. Mainly I am once again optimistic that there could be some positive changes in this offseason, as I'm sure I will comment extensively on in the coming days.
Also, on Saturday night, in what seems like their first game in in forever, the Bulls beat the Pacers. Ben Wallace pulled down an obscene 18 rebounds. And he shut down Jermaine O'Neal to just 12 points. I didn't watch the game, probably partly because of the half-coma I spent the weekend in. But this was a big win for the Bulls, if for no other reason than they managed to come back in the 4th quarter. Now there are rumors floating about Ben Gordon possibly being used as trade bait, headed back to the bench, etc. I would probably be ok with trading Gordon. We have a lot of guards, and while he can light up a team for 38 one night, and score double digits in the 4th quarter, he has still been terribly inconsistent. That being said, I don't think we need to get rid of him, he just needs to accept his role and play accordingly. He's done a pretty good job of not complaining too much about it, but when the time comes for him to get an extension, I'm pretty sure he won't get what he thinks he's worth. That being said, any deal requiring a trade of Tyrus Thomas is not worth it. We drafted him knowing he had huge upside and would take some time. There is no point in trading him for someone right now who we may or may not need. I trust Paxson's moves on this, but I just wanted to voice my opinion.
Finally, how about the Bears. As I said, I was watching the game Sunday night with my good friend Captain Morgan, and I decided about halfway through the first quarter I would do some live-blogging, which I saved on Microsoft Word. I got very drunk by the end of the game, and by halfway through the third quarter or so, I stopped writing things down. I'm still considering posting it, mainly because I haven't edited it and it's probably a lot of nonsensical blather.
But damn are the Bears good. I was incredibly nervous at first. Rex throws early pick, and while not his fault, he still looked tentative. Tiki runs right through the defense, and then Brandon Jacobs chugs his way into the endzone untouched. However, when we did get pressure on Manning, he rarely made a play. Then, as Thomas Jones ran for 26 on the 3rd and 22, the game turned and the Bears started strutting. Like a bunch of strutting Betty's. I have no idea what that means, but I just made it up. Point is, the Bears gained confidence. And it was awesome to watch.
Also awesome was Hester's return. We all know that the return was awesome, but what I missed during the game (probably due to shock and drunkenness) was that after he got to the endzone he did the jumpshot with the ball. I thought that was the ultimate mocking of the Giants team, since all the defensive guys do that stupid jumpshot celebration after sacks. And I loved it.
Whether or not this was truly representative of how the game would have gone had the Giants not been terribly injured remains to be seen. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I tend to think it was, mainly because the Giants did very little on offense (save for one drive) for the rest of the night. But if we see the Giants again in the postseason (by the way, how awesome is it to be playing for homefield advantage this early in the season and winning?) who knows if they'll be healthier or not.
And just a few more points. It was awesome to see Mark Bradley in the game, and not only that, but making plays. It's huge to have him back. Also, it's great to see Chris Harris back and making plays. I think Thomas Jones should not get as many carries as he gets. He does nothing Cedric Benson couldn't do, aside from maybe dance around and run worse. But so many times he'll get 2 yards and then just go down. Or he'll be behind the line of scrimmage and just jump into a pile of guys. I saw it like 2 or 3 times early in the game. Benson needs more carries. It makes no sense to give Jones the bulk of the carries, and Benson runs better in my opinion. And of course Jones will run better in games if he gets 15 more carries. Plus, almost everytime Benson is in, the Bears run, and the defense knows and can stack the line. So Benson needs more opportunities. You have two solid backs. Mix it up a little Lovie.
Anyways, the Bears are again the class of the NFC, and it's awesome.
I'll try to post an Illini sports update later today.
posted by Jtrouble at 10:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home