Sunday, December 31, 2006

Green Bay 26, Chicago 7.

The Bears don’t have to face Green Bay again this season, and the road to the Super Bowl still goes through Chicago. So if your glass is half empty, fill it up!

Happy New Year!

The Chicago Bulls have jumped off to a terrific star at 19-12. Yet, GM John Paxson still feels the team needs more punch out of the post players, and he keeps looking for a trade.

John, look no more. The solution to your concern is on the current roster. Try this lineup and watch the steamroller roll:

Center Malik Allen, forwards Ben Wallace and Luol Deng, and guards Andres Nocioni and Chris Duhon (until Kirk Hinrich comes back).

Think of Wallace as a bigger Dennis Rodman. In the Jordan years, the center (Bill Cartwright) was not needed as a scorer.

Worth a try?

Saturday, December 30, 2006

The preconference part of the Illinois basketball team’s schedule is over, so what are the team’s prospects for the rest of the season?

We’d like to say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

But "worrisome" would be more accurate.

The banged up team (see earlier posts) begins conference play at Michigan Wednesday with a 12-3 record. The conference schedule consists of eight home games and eight road games. The overall goal is to win a total of at least 20 games to qualify for the NCAA tournament. So Illinois needs eight more wins.

Where will they come from?

The eight games in friendly Assembly Hall are against Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Michigan.

The eight road games are against Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Purdue, Northwestern, Indiana, Penn State, and Iowa.

The Illini could win six home games, losing only to Ohio State and Wisconsin. Beating either of them would be a good thing. A real plus. Six home wins would give the Illini 18 wins.

Where could Illinois win on the road? The best possibilities are against Northwestern, Iowa, and Penn State, with a remote chance at always difficult Minnesota. Any two wins gives Illinois 20. Even so, the selection committee could bypass Illinois if it deems the school’s opposition too weak. But that’s another story.

So is there any single game that could be crucial? A win over Wisconsin might qualify.

The Illini basketball team showed the results of R&R last night, but not the way you might have expected. Instead of rest and recreation, it was road and rust. That formidable combo helped Xavier beat Illinois 65-59 in Cincinnati after an eight-day layoff.

The game was disturbing for coach Bruce Weber’s team in a number of ominous respects. First, the injury-riddled team once again started as slow as a snail. Xavier took leads of 14-2 and 18-6 before the Illini started a furious comeback. As in similar games, Illinois actually ended the first half with a lead, 26-25. But the Musketeers quickly regained the lead in the second half and dominated the rest of the game.

Second, third, and fourth--poor defense, inconsistent shooting, and lots of turnovers (17) stifled the Illini. Xavier penetrated at will, and the Illini shooting was uneven. Jamar Smith buried four three’s in the last three minutes and finished with 16 points. But he only scored two points in the first half. Shaun Pruitt scored eight of his 11 points in the first half. Two other starters, Chester Frazier and Rich McBride, went completely scoreless. Ouch!

The only Illinois player with balanced scoring was Warren Carter, who scored six points in the first half and eight in the second half.

The biggest mystery was the scoreless McBride, who only attempted three shots in the entire game. In an earlier post, we argued:

--This (McBride’s slumping play) means that guard Jamar Smith will need to keep the microwave cooking at a higher level—with at least five three’s a game. And that Brian Randle (9.4 points per game) and Frazier (9.1) will have to compensate for McBride’s fall off. Shouldn’t be a problem.--

Well, it was a problem against Xavier. Jamar did his part, but Randle (hampered by a groin injury) only scored three points; and Frazier, limited by an injured toe, was blanked.

Frazier is now the main problem. He’s the team’s only true point guard. His replacement, Trent Meacham, is mainly a shooter. He cannot penetrate and dish off to the bigs or run the team the way Frazier can. Think of last year’s team without Dee Brown and you get a picture of this year’s squad. Not a pleasant image.

Are the Illini ready for conference play? Nope!

Friday, December 29, 2006

Never thought we’d hear a professional athlete admit it. But Mr. Bear, Brian Urlacher, said the Chicago Bear defense was seduced by the team’s gaudy record, and kind of relaxed and lost focus in the last two games.

What a lame excuse for poor play by the defense.

Well the Bears better find their focusabiity by Sunday or the hated Green Bay Packers will pack the Bears in crates and ship them to the Arctic.

Of course, there’s no fear the Bears will be lackadaisical against the Pack. That’s cause for dismissal. Coach Lovie Smith knows. After all, beating the Packers is part of his contract. Two wins over the Packers equals a Super Bowl. A Super Bowl does not compensate for two losses in one season to the Packers.

It’s possible the Packers can qualify for the playoffs if all the variables fall certain ways, so the Cheeseheads could be playing for something besides traditional bragging rights. And Lovie has said he will play to win. He said the same thing last week and, then he did put in backup qb Brian Griese with the Bears losing 21-20.

What a baffling move that was. If Lovie just wanted to weacquaint Griese with game conditions, as he said, was he weally concerned about winning the game? Or was the wily Lovie weally giving Griese a wote of confidence and truly felt the wily Griese was more wikely to win the game than was the unwily Wex Grossman? What are we to wonder if history wepeats against the Pack?

Weally, who cares how we win?

Thursday, December 28, 2006

How big a game is Sunday evening’s Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers game?
How high is Mt. Everest? How long is the Nile River? How much cheese comes out of Wisconsin? How…er, you get the idea. It’s huge.

Not because the Packers still have a chance to qualify for the playoffs. Not because the Bears can sweep all the North Division contests, a precursor of victory in the Super Bowl.

Then why? Because it’s Bears and Packers. It’s history. It’s tradition. It’s a game where the current records are meaningless. Throw them away. Get rid of them.

The Bears first in this statistic.

Doesn’t matter.

The Packers ahead in this category.

Doesn’t matter!

The Packers are the Bears’s archrivals, and they must feel Bear teeth eating them up.

Any questions?

Illinois football coach Ron Zook has done it again.

He got a verbal from another four-star recruit, 6-3, 305-pound defensive lineman Josh Brent. Brent, from Bloomington (Ill.) Central, is one of the top defensive tackle prospects in the Midwest. Brent could play defensive tackle or move over to the offensive line at the next level. He had 109 tackles, 29 tackles for loss and six sacks. Brent received all-area and all-conference honors as a junior. Brent bench presses 365, squats 485 and has a 29" vertical jump.

"Brent: “I've only been playing football since my sophomore year when I was noticed by the football coaches and teammates. I also do track and field and play basketball; but I am going to do track and field (56.2 shot put, 157.7 discus) with football in college. Every college is recruiting me for both. I will do fine with two sports in college because I do three in high school, so I am used to the pressure.”

The position of DT is perhaps the most difficult to find talent at. Josh is the best in-state DT prospect, and has been identified by some as the top DT prospect in the Midwest and among the best nationally. Unlike some DTs who take up space with pure size, Josh is built like a tank and punishes offensive linemen with his strength.

How good is Brent? Well, after his commitment was announced, Illinois jumped from seventh to third in the national recruiting derby.

Welcome aboard, Josh. We’re looking forward to seeing you in the middle of the defensive line with fellow recruit 6-4, 294-pound D’Angelo McCray.

Call it the 80 percent solution.

The Illinois basketball team apparently will return to action tomorrow against 8-4 Xavier at 20 percent less than full health. And it seems as if the team will be forced to play with its nagging injuries all year.

Almost the entire starting unit is hampered, Shaun Pruitt with bone chips in one hand, Chester Frazier with a foot injury, Brian Randle with a groin pull, Warren Carter with a hip injury, and Jamar Smith with a wrist injury.

Yet the team has persevered. Now we know why there have been so many struggles. To continue winning, the Fighting Illini are going to have to call on their mental strength as much as their physical skills. Don’t be surprised at close scores in games the team would be expected to win easily.

Hopefully the school break has provided some good healing time. Xavier will be a good test, a road game against a scrappy team that plays with three forwards and two guards.

Xavier's balanced attacked has three players averaging in double figures in scoring and one that is just shy of the mark. Junior forward Josh Duncan leads the team in scoring at 12.7 ppg. Junior guard Stanley Burrell (11.6 ppg.) and senior forwards Justin Cage (10.0 ppg.) and Justin Doellman (9.8 ppg.) are next on the list.

The two teams match up pretty evenly. Look for another game in which the deciding factor for the Illini may not be talent, but guts.

Call it the 80 percent solution.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

It’s unfair. You’ve got tickets to the Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers game Sunday afternoon and your dinner and New Year’s Eve party are all set. Then the NFL wrecks your plans by rescheduling the game to the evening. Ouch!

Most affected by the bombshell are the loyal Chicago Bears fans—and Cheeseheads—with tickets to the game. They will probably experience the arrival of the new year after the game in their cars. Some of these fans will get to the highways around Soldier Field and get stuck in traffic. Others will get stuck, too—in the parking lots. Hey, that sounds like fun. But the sound of this New Year’s Eve celebration won’t be the pop, pop of champagne bottles. It’ll be beep, beep.

As for the rest of you, you’re still considering your options. Man, this is when relationships really get tested. So what options are on the table that would allow you to see the game?

Getting engaged?

Getting divorced?

Good luck!

The Chicago Bears are sitting comfortably on top of the NFC, so why are so many fans uncomfortable about the upcoming playoffs?

For one reason, look at that record, 13-2. Impressive, isn’t it? Look harder. It was built on a schedule filled with soft, furry animals. Of the 15 games played, only three were against teams that compiled winning records—the 8-7 Seattle Seahawks, the 9-6 New York Jets, and the 11-4 New England Patriots. The Bears beat the Seahawks and Jets and lost to the Patriots. The Bears finish up Sunday against the 7-8 Packers.

The Bears should eat cupcakes, not play them. Some fans even wonder if a 13-2 team can be a cupcake itself? They argue that the Bears have yet to be tested. We can only hope they won’t be tasted.

Other worried Bear fans believe the pass defense has been tested, and that results are not good. Levees have burst all over the place. In the last two games, quarterbacks Tim Rattay of the Bucs and Jon Kitna of the Lions each hurled three TD passes against the Bears’s suddenly sinking secondary.

The only fix available is a better pass rush. That’s possible if it includes a tank.

Most of the worried Bear fans are concerned with the inconsistency of qb Rex Grossman. But all the fearful, frustrated, frazzled fans know that the qb usually is only as good as his offensive line, the five big guys in the trenches, the mudeaters, the beef on the hoof. If the big men allow Rex time to throw, Bear opponents are in trouble. They might even become cupcakes.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Isn’t it amazing how quickly kick returner Devin Hester has lost so much of his luster?

Since he rocketed into national prominence with 94- and 96-yard kickoff returns against the Rams (even Martians and Venusians heard of these runs), he has contributed little to the team’s success. Bear opponents were expected to avoid kicking to Hurricane Hester, but they have done so. Only his selection for the Pro Bowl kept Hester in the sports media last week.

And fans—including many bloggers—who couldn’t think of enough ways the Bears could use Hester to enhance his value have returned to the planet in a less euphoric mood. Many fans think Hester is not ready to play cornerback on a consistent basis. Not to worry. Coach Lovie Smith probably shudders at that prospect too.

So can we expect to see Hester on offense? Bear fans are smacking their lips at this possibility. Could happen, or not.

And if not? Won’t you still get excited whenever he goes back for a return?

Senior guard Rich McBride has been the biggest disappointment so far in the eyes of Illinois basketball fans. Most of the critics point to several games where McBride has scored six or seven points in one half and then disappeared in the other half.

For the record, McBride averages 30 minutes a game—second highest behind Chester Frazier’s 34—as well as 9.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists.

These numbers are unimpressive for the highly hyped high school player, who has not elevated his game as expected.

But coach Bruce Weber continues to start McBride, probably hoping that some magical switch will click on and give the Illini more perimeter shooting to help free up space for the post players. Our guess is that we’re seeing McBride at his best. He’s just not going to score 20 points or more consistently.

This means that guard Jamar Smith will need to keep the microwave cooking at a higher level—with at least five three’s a game. And that Brian Randle (9.4 points per game) and Frazier (9.1) will have to compensate for McBride’s fall off. Shouldn’t be a problem.

Monday, December 25, 2006

So the Insurance Policy finally got to play in a game that counted for the Chicago Bears. And he looked good, rallying the Bears to a victory.

The Policy entered yesterday’s Detroit game with about 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the Lions leading 21-20. He smoothly and effectively drove the team 72 yards, completing five passes. Two field goals later, the Bears walked off the field with a 26-21 victory.

Surprisingly, the Policy showed little or no rust. He moved around the pocket effortlessly and threw passes to open receivers. Bears fans who had been pleading for his insertion as the starter gave one another high fives.

But fans also were puzzled at the timing of the call for the Policy. After all, the Bears were losing a close game. Wouldn’t you want to give your starter the opportunity to lead the team to a comeback victory? Most of the other starters were still playing.

Maybe the insertion of the Policy was just an attempt to get the sports media off coach Lovie Smith’s back. Could that be? In other words, the Policy was not auditioning for future use, and nothing had changed in Smith’s plans for the future.

In fact, some cynical Bears fans think Smith would rather lose the Super Bowl this season with Rex Grossman at the helm rather than try to win the title with the Policy. Rex is viewed as the future, the long-term future, and needs all the playoff experience he can get. So he’s going to get all the playing time, and the Insurance Policy will go unused. Normally, in life, not cashing in an insurance policy is a good thing.

But this is football.

White Sox GM Ken Williams may not be making the biggest deals in the offseason, but he sure is making the most surprising ones. He first astounded the baseball world by trading veteran pitcher Freddy Garcia, 17-9 last season, for prospects. And he did it again with a recent trade of 23-year-old pitcher Brandon McCarthy for more highly rated prospects.

What worries Sox fans is that Williams has indicated he wants to trade other veteran Sox pitchers for even more prospects. And he explains that the bottom line is a major component in his plan to redevelop the pitching staff. So Sox fans are sleepless in Chicago as they wait to see which veterans are the next to be headed out of town.

The trades so far may bear fruit down the road. But unfortunately, fans have to deal with the team year by year. Bringing in new players acquired in the offseason should excite fans, but most Sox supporters are still shocked by Williams’s bold--and risky-- plans. Baseball is a business, of course. And the market value of mediocre players can reach ridiculous heights. But like other sports, baseball is also an extension of the self. If the team loses a game, the fan grieves. The fan hurts.

Right now, next season for the Sox is looking like the return of The Big Hurt.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

It’s happening. It’s happening to the Chicago Bulls. At 16-11, they’re rounding into playoff shape much earlier than expected.

The Bulls’s 115-76 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats yesterday had all the ingredients of a prize-winning cake.

Here’s the recipe for the rest of the season:

Start with a big dose of Big Ben (11 points against Charlotte).
Pour in a big dose of Little Ben (23 points).
Add some Tyrus Thomas (14 points).
Include some Thabo Sefolosha (14 points).
Put in some Andres Nocioni (19 points).
Use some Luol Deng (12 points).
Add dashes of Kirk Hinrich, Chris Duhon, and the rest of the cast (22 points).
And mix together every game.

Ahhh! Has the sweet smell of success to me.

The Chicago Bears reached their planned destination today by defanging a bunch of roaring Detroit Lions 26-21 in Detroit. The Bears wanted to win the game and build momentum going toward the playoffs. They accomplished their goals but had to come from behind to run their record to 13-2.

Gutsy Detroit quarterback Jon Kitna negated the Bears’s 17-7 halftime lead by directing the Lions to two quick third quarter TD’s and a 21-17 advantage. The Bears, directed by qb Rex Grossman, gladly accepted a critical Detroit penalty that moved the ball to the Lions’s 20-yard line, where Robbie Gould kicked a 36-yard field goal and brought the Bears to within one point of the lead at 21-20.

Then, with about 10 minutes remaining, popular reserve Bears qb Brian Griese came in. He deftly moved the Bears on a 12-play, 72-yard drive that included five pass completions. Gould finished the drive with a 39-yard field goal that put the Bears ahead 23-21. The Bears got the ball back soon afterward when rookie defensive end Mark Anderson got the second of his two sacks of Kitna. On this same play, Anderson caused Kitna to fumble, and the Bears recovered. Moments later, Gould kick a 44-yard field goal to give the Bears a 26-21 lead.

Once again, Kitna moved the Lions quickly down the field. A last-second pass into the end zone was dropped by the Lion receiver to preserve the Bears’s victory. It was one of eight dropped passes that stalled Lion attacks.

Grossman played only fairly well. He completed 20 of 36 pass attempts for 196 yards and one touchdown. He threw no interceptions. Griese amazingly looked smooth and poised since he had been on the sidelines from the start of the regular season.

The rally and Griese’s superb performance were the main highlights for the Bears. Grossman’s inconsistencies are still bothersome—and worrisome. In addition, the defense, as it did last week, seems to get bored for a while in the second half before realizing the game is not over.

Grossman said the Bears need to get better and play their best football when it matters. Guess he thinks the Bears have not played as well as they can. Hope he’s right. The last two games have been ugly.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Everyone expects Ohio State to win the Big Ten title this season. Some folks believe OSU will win the national championship as well. The main reason for these lofty views is that OSU features rent-a-player-for-a-year freshman center Greg Oden, a sculptured 7-footer compared to former NBA star Patrick Ewing.

Oden would have bypassed college this year and been the No.1 pick in the draft, according to experts. Except that the NBA established a minimum age limit that blocked Oden and a few other high school phenoms for a year.

So Mr. Oden and his talented supporting cast will face the Illini. The schedule gives Illinois two advantages. First, the teams meet in Assembly Hall in Champaign. Second, that’s it—no home and home.

Anything else in Illinois’s favor? Well, the Illini have a chance if they can keep Oden from getting the ball and can put on the mother of all long-range aerial shows. This is basically how defending champion Florida beat the Buckeyes 86-60 today in Gainesville, Fla. The Gators used two big men, Joakim Noah and Al Horford, to make it hard to find Oden, who scored seven or eight points. The other Gators buried three-pointer after three-pointer.

This means Shaun Pruitt and Warren Carter will need to hold Oden in check while the other Illini shoot the lights out of the gym or penetrate into the post area to get Oden in foul trouble.

Can the Illini beat OSU? Heck yes.

College Football Recruiting Story of the Year?

It is possible the subject of this headline could be Illinois. No kidding. The doormat of the Big Ten the last two years could go from the outhouse to the penthouse—in recruiting.

With the national recruiting period for verbal commitments winding down toward the official signing date in February, coach Ron Zook and his football sales crew has harvested a rich crop of classy prospects.

It’s so good, in fact, that Illinois is ranked seventh nationally. Among other Big Ten schools, Michigan is ranked ninth, Ohio State is 15th, and Penn State is 22nd.

Here are some of the rating components:

Top 100 players: Illinois, 3; Michigan, 5; OSU, 4; PSU, 1.
5-star players:….Illinois, 3; Michigan, 1; OSU, 1; PSU, 0.
4-star players:….Illinois, 4: Michigan, 12; OSU, 7; PSU, 9.

Is there momentum in recruiting? Then Illinois could add even more blue chippers. Of course, recruiting doesn’t always equate to wins, so we can’t say it will guarantee more wins.

Okay, no guarantees. How about about likelihoods?

Friday, December 22, 2006

Based on the Illini basketball team’s last two games, victories against Missouri and Idaho State, several things jump out at the casual observer.

The 2006-07 Illini are going to drive us nuts.

They are a team of spurts, up and down. They’re the Yo-Yo Illini. They’ll get big leads—and then blow them. They’ll get behind by double-digit numbers—and then catch up. Don’t ever turn off your TV or radio until the game is officially over.

The team has great adaptability. It can play against a full-court press, like Missouri’s, and break it easily. If the opposition plays man-to-man, center Shaun Pruitt can have a field day, as he did in manhandling Missouri. If the opponents play a zone defense, like Idaho State did, the Illini have five or six players who can launch basket-seeking cruise missiles with great success, as they showed against the Bengals.

The team has great flexibility. It has good big men in Pruitt and Warren Carter. It has good swing men in Brian Randle and Calvin Brock. It has good perimeter shooting from Jamar Smith, Chester Frazier, and Rich McBride. At times, the team can play not only with three guards at the same time, but also with coach Bruce Weber’s new invention: a four-headed monster of four guards.

Other stuff that became clear:

Brock won’t become fully integrated into the offense this year. But he will be valuable as a rebounder and shot blocker. He is likely to snatch more rebounds than score points, as he did against Idaho State, with six rebounds and five points. He could be valuable at the end of games.

Marcus Arnold is not going to be the impact player we hoped for. He won’t play many minutes unless Pruitt or Carter get in foul trouble.

Trent Meacham lacks confidence in his shot. Too bad for a guy who buried eight threes in an early game this season. He’ll play a few minutes to give Frazier a breather. He’ll shoot when time is running down on the clock, and he’s got the ball.

Brian Carlwell is a project. He’ll only play a few minutes while Pruitt rests. Too bad, but he’s a case of arrested development.

Charles Jackson will play when Pruitt, Arnold, Carlwell, and Randle have ALL fouled out. Too bad, too sad. At least he‘s getting a free education.

In conclusion, this team probably will win—or lose—most of its Big Ten games by less than 10 points.

It will drive us nuts. It will break our hearts. It will win our hearts.

And remember, never turn off your TV or radio until the game is officially over. That goes for our Big Dance games as well.

IlliniNation can get an early look at two of football coach Ron Zook’s prize recruits in the U.S. Army All American Bowl on Jan. 6, 2007, in San Antonio, Texas. The game will be televised by NBC-TV at noon.

The annual contest showcases the nation’s 80 best high school football players. The two Illini recruits, wide receiver Arrelious Benn and defensive end Martez Wilson, will play for the East team.

For drooling purposes, here are more insights into the Illini prospects:

Arrelious Benn:

Scout.com Report:
While Benn is actually a young age for his class, he looks like a construction worker already. Clearly he is a hard worker in the weight room and that translates on the field where he can overpower smaller defenders. He is also very athletic and can stop on a dime to make defenders miss.

Tom Lemming Report:
The nation's #1 prospect in my opinion, and believe me I've seen them all on film. There are a lot of good ones but you have got to go a long way to find one as good as Mr. Benn. On Film-He shows the great size, speed, quickness, smarts, leaping ability, timing, anticipation and toughness needed to be a difference maker at the college level. He is certainly that and more at the high school level, he's one of the most dangerous players in the nation. He exudes a quiet confidence that only the great ones have. I first watched Arrelious on film at a college this spring and finally got a hold of his highlight tape in May and boy was I blown away. I had already met him twice and knew that he had the size and speed to be a great one but his film leaves no doubt. He runs exceptionally well for a 210 pounder, gets great separation after the catch and can extend and latch onto passes. He also shows outstanding body control for his size. He's a prep version of Michael Irvin except with more speed. He is a big bodied WR who can run through tackles and create in the open field. Trust me, this guy can do it all. He should be an instant impact player as a true freshman.

Martez Wilson:

Scout.com Report: Wilson is cat-quick off the line and has very good quickness of the edge. He can speed rush right by you or use his natural power. Wilson can get after the quarterback and stop the run. He's terrific in pursuit because he has a wealth of speed and he also moves well down the line of scrimmage. Wilson has the frame to add a lot of weight. He needs to use his hands more and learn technique but that should come in time at the next level.

Wilson:

"I don't mind playing outside linebacker, but I'm a little more comfortable with defensive end because I play it in high school. I'm a good team player and a leader, so I pump up my team. On the field, I'm strong at tackling the quarterback. I would like to be able to get into the backfield even more and get off the ball a little quicker."

Tom Lemming Report: A year ago Martez was looking like one of the top WR prospects in the Midwest at 6-2, 200. Over the past seven to eight months he has grown to 6-4, 235 and he has not lost much speed going from a 4.4 to a 4.5. On Film-When you watch him on junior film this guy is extraordinary in his burst, balance, body control and instincts. On offense he was a go-to receiver who averaged well over 20 yds per catch. On defense he could not be blocked. He came off the edge against some of the Public League's best teams and scared every quarterback to death. He had a great game in which he sacked Notre Dame recruit Demetrius Jones twice and OT's had one heck of a time keeping him out of their backfield. Now, with some added muscle, size and strength, there may not be anyone who can contain him this coming season. He's a fluid athlete with exceptional change of direction ability, his mobility is second to none and he is tremendous in pursuit. When it's all said and done, he could wind up as the #1 prospect in the Midwest.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Quick injury report for the Illinois basketball team: Warren Carter, sore hip; Jamar Smith, nagging soreness from an ankle sprain; Chester Frazier, sore foot; Brian Randle, endurance, pain from surgery; Shaun Pruitt, bone chips in left hand. Hey, wait a minute. Isn’t that like the whole starting team?

Oh well, let’s just forget all this stuff and go beat the 5-6 Idaho State Bengals.

And they did, exhaling a deadly barrage of three-pointers (13) in a 71-60 victory. Carter did not play and was sorely missed. The Bengals played a zone defense that the Illini could not penetrate. Pruitt, the Illini center, was held to four points. As a result, the Illini were forced to call out their long—range bombers.
Four Illini scored in double figures: Smith, with 21 points and five three’s; Frazier, with 13 points and four three’s; Randle, with 11 points; and Rich McBride, with 10 points and two three’s. Illinois blew a 13-point lead in the first half and took a 32-29 halftime lead.

The Bengals came out firing in the second half and grabbed a 46-40 lead over the aching Illini. But Calvin Brock, who was Mr. Invisible against Missouri, helped spark the Illini with a Dennis Rodman-type rebounding frenzy, snatching five rebounds in about five minutes. Randle made some key rebounds as well, Smith buried two three’s, and Frazier added two more clutch bombs. When the smoke from the bombardment cleared, the Illini held a nine-point lead.

The 11-2 Illini get to rest for eight days before meeting their next foe, Xavier, in Cincinnati. Then the Illini open the Big Ten season against Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Question: Will the Illini wounded still be walking?

Illinois football coach Ron Zook has been living up to his reputation. He is doing some eye-popping recruiting.

Good recruiting obviously plays an important role in building a successful program, er, foundation.

But then there’s that other important component—good coaching. Just how good of a coach is Zook? The team’s record the last couple of years has been an embarrassment. How come? Does Zook remind you of another notable coach who was a great recruiter but whose teams rarely reached expectations—Gerry Faust of Notre Dame?

Zook’s rich harvest of star recruits continued today when five-star lineman Martez Wilson of Chicago Simeon committed to the Illini. Wilson is rated one of the best players in the Midwest. He chose Illinois over such schools as Michigan, Notre Dame, and USC. Wilson is a 6-4, 228-pound defensive end. He runs the 40 in 4.50, the same speed as another five-star recruit, the much heralded wide receiver Arrelious Benn.

Looks like Illinois’s chances of going to a bowl game next season are speeding up.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The exciting 73-70 victory over Missouri yesterday was one of the four reality-check games on Illinois’s preconference basketball schedule. It is the kind of game that tells you about your team. Two others were Arizona and Maryland, both losses, and the fourth, the upcoming game with Xavier.

Was your glass half full or half empty after the Missouri game?

Half full: It was an important victory because Missouri was favored to win.

Half empty: Illinois was so foul-prone it had five people with two fouls each in the first half. Warren Carter and Brian Randle need to work on this problem.

Half full: Shaun Pruitt is a beast. And is getting beastier.

Half empty: Brian Carlwell did not play. It is crucial that he gets experience in the big games.

Half full: Another great game for Carter.

Half empty: Poor showings by Calvin Brock and Trent Meacham. They’ve still got time, but they’ve got to start showing that they “get it” soon. Both went scoreless against Missouri. Without them, we’re a six-man team.

Half full: The Illini did a great job of shredding Missouri’s heralded full-court press.

Half empy: The team is TOO unselfish. If there’s an open shot, shoot! Especially
Jamar.

Half full: Brian Randle. How good will he be when he regains his endurance?

Half empty: Jamar says he is only 80 percent recovered. That’s not good enough for conference play.

Half full: Bruce Weber is an outstanding coach. He prepares the team well and makes good adjustments during the game.

So, your glass half empty or half full?

Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry said he’s basically done shopping for now. The Cubs led MLB in spending for free agents this winter, spending about $300 million. Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently, Hendry’s last moves center on the acquisition of hometown outfielder Cliff Floyd.

Hendry also says the team needs to do some tinkering in the outfield. The GM said Floyd may be platooned in left with Matt Murton. That’s confusing. Why take Murton’s promising growth as a hitter out of the lineup? Murton led the Cubs in hitting with a .297 average. He also hit 13 homers and had 62 RBI’s.
Floyd batted .244 with the Mets. He had 11 homers and 44 RBI’s.

With left field now crowded, it appears likely that newly acquired Alfonso Soriano would fill the vacancy in center field. But if prospect Felix Pie shows anything in spring training, he’s probably going to start in center. So does Soriano go to right? Right field is tricky in Wrigley Field, and Jacque Jones now has some experience there. Jones hit .285 last season, with 27 homers and 81 RBI’s. Right seems right for him.

Looks like an interesting spring training for the outfielders.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

How sweet it was!

Illinois got to keep the Busch Bragging Rights trophy another year by sneaking past Missouri 73-70 tonight in St. Louis. The victory, coach Bruce Weber’s 100th at Illinois, was a fiercely contested battle in which the lead kept changing teams in rapid succession. Neither team ever led by more than six points. Missouri held a 38-35 lead at halftime.

The game had the intensity of a Final Four contest. Missouri threw a tight press at the Illini the whole game but couldn’t rattle its cross-state rival, now 11-2. Guard Stefhon Hannah almost single-handedly beat the Illini, leading the Tigers in scoring with 23 points.

But the Illini countered wth another balanced scoring attack, with four players in double figures. Leading the Illini were Shaun Pruitt, with a career high 19 points; Jamar Smith, 17; Warren Carter, 12; and Brian Randle, 10. Randle made a number of key rebounds, and a crucial blocked shot and steal.

The Illini had a hard time keeping the Tigers from penetrating into the post for easy shots. But they countered with nine three-pointers, including four from Smith.

Neither Calvin Brock nor Trent Meacham, both scoreless in this game, seem ready for prime time. Weber used basically six players. They included starters Pruitt, Carter, Rich McBride, Randle, and Chester Frazier. Smith was the only other major scorer. So it may turn out that the team’s main problem in the early part of the season will be a lack of depth.

Firing a head coach in college football often costs more than you would think.

Take Michigan State coach John L. Smith. Please.

The added cost comes in recruiting. The MSU coaches impressed Quincy Notre Dame’s all-state lineman Jack Cornell, and he gave the Spartans a verbal commit. But when coach Smith was later fired, the four-star 6-7, 305-pound Cornell de-committed to Illinois. Four- and five-star players often make immediate impacts.

And Cornell chose the Illini over Nebraska, which traditionally has been known as a training ground for NFL lineman. Imagine that!

In fact, Illini coach Ron Zook and his band of merry recruiters have been stuffing IIlinois’s holiday bags with quite a few outstanding recruits as the recruiting season winds down to official signing time in February.

Perhaps the best Illini recruit in years (yes, the best!) is five-star wide receiver Arrelious Benn, who runs the 40 in 4.50. This is a guy who will allow Juice Williams to air out the ball. Look for passes of 50 yards or more in the air. Another five-star recruit is 6-4, 290-pound defensive tackle D’Angelo McCray. He’s the kind of player who might draw a double team.

Illinois has received the nod from three other four-star players as well. They are QB Clint Brewster, OL Craig Wilson (6-5, 300), and WR Anthony Morris.

Zook still has four or five offers left on the table. Illini insiders say some more bigtime players are on the way. Hope so.

Monday, December 18, 2006

The Chicago Bears should know what their Super Bowl prospects are after the upcoming Detroit and Green Bay games.

You may wonder about such an argument, considering the lowly status of the two archrivals (Detroit is 2-12, and Green Bay is 6-8). But don’t forget about the Wounded Animal Factor, which makes both these teams especially dangerous.

Also, there is the ever threatening Revenge Factor. The first time around, the Bears beat the Lions 34-7 and throttled the Packers 26-0.

So both opponents come out with chips on their shoulders, figuring that a victory over the 12-2 North Division champion Bears would be something to look back on. And what if Brett Favre announces he is closing out his illustrious career against the Bears? Throw out the records, baby. There’s trouble in the Windy City.

Then there’s that little matter of the Bears’s decimated defense. And we’re not just referring to the doughnut, you know, the line with a hole in the center. The Bears also still may be in shock over Tampa Bay’s furious passing assault yesterday in the Bears’s suspenseful 34-31 overtime victory. What was that all about? Who is this reserve qb Tim Rattay? The Bears are certain to face better quarterbacks than him in the playoffs.

Now, if the Bears defeat both of these opponents, they probably are Super Bowl bound.

But if they lose one, the holes in their armor will be further exposed for all to see. If they lose both?

Then what?

Can you ever have too much of a good thing—like basketball talent?

Ask Chicago Bulls coach Scott Skiles. The team is loaded with talent. Aye, there’s the rub. First it was forward Viktor Khryapa complaining about a lack of playing time. He’s averaging 7.2 minutes per game so far in this 14-10 season. For perspective, the leaders in average minutes are Ben Wallace and Luol Deng, both averaging 34.8 minutes.

Most recently, forward P.J. Brown publicly said he wanted to be traded so he could get more pt. He’s currently averaging 16.5 minutes per game—seventh highest on the team. The problem arises because Skiles has several promising rookies and newcomers that he is trying to mesh into cohesive units.

Brown has been around a long time, and so he should understand Skiles’s objective. Brown should know there is nothing wrong with coming off the bench. Ben Gordon, the team’s leadng scorer, does it. And we can recall a John Havlicek who used to do it pretty well for the Boston Celtics.

Several other current Bulls could have similar valid complaints. For example, veterans Malik Allen (10.6 mpg), Mike Sweetney (8.2), and Adrian Griffin (9.1) are all solid performers who would like more minutes.
But Skiles has to develop rookies Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha. And find minutes for the promising Khryapa and Andre Barrett.

The 2006 Bulls could be a contender for the national championship. And Brown can help develop the rookies. He probably would get more pt if the Bulls go deep into the playoffs.

It would be a shame if he were to miss the possibility

Sunday, December 17, 2006

The outcome of the Chicago Bears’s thrilling 34-31 win over Tampa Bay today in Soldier Field was never in doubt? So how come you bit off all your fingernails?

But after Robbie Gould kicked a 25-yard field goal in sudden death overtime, a valiant Bucs’s comeback didn’t matter. It was mission accomplished for the Bears—home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The game between the 10-2 Bears and the previously toothless 3-10 Bucs was expected to be pretty lame. And it was--until the fourth quarter, when the Bucs erased a 24-10 deficit, scored three touchdowns, and tied the game at 31-31. Tampa ranked near the bottom of the league in scoring, and the Bears ranked near the top in scoring defense.

But go figure. The Bucs exposed Devin Hester as a normal human. Hester, who returned kicks for 94 and 96 yards for touchdowns against the Rams last Monday, was shut down by Tampa and sparked the Bucs’s comeback when he coughed up a kickoff return.

After that miscue, Tampa quarterback Tim Rattay led three touchdown drives. In between, the Bears’s Cedric Benson, who is running better and better each week, punched in a short run for a TD.

Bears quarterback Rex Grossman came out of a brief funk and connected on a perfect pass play with Rashied Davis in the overtime to set up Gould’s winning field goal. Grossman finished with two TD passes to tight end Desmond Clark and a personal single game high 339 yards passing.

Bottom lines:

Grossman responded well under pressure.

Davis helps give the Bears one of the best corps of receivers in the league.

Clark Identified himself as a receiver who cannot be ignored.

Hester will probably have teams kick to him after all.

Brian Griese probably won’t see playing time in the playoffs unless Grossman gets injured.

The defense all but disappeared in the fourth quarter. Hope it can be found by Sunday.

With exams week over, the Illinois basketball team passed a major test today by trouncing the Belmont Bruins 77-51. The game against the 7-2 Bruins had a familiar feel to it as the Illini started slowly and then blasted off in the second half. At halftime, Illinois led 36-30,

Belmont had a reputation for three-point prowess. It hit on 8 of 26 attempts. But the Illini hit 8 of 19 attempts.

Senior forward Warren Carter led the Illini in scoring, with 21 points. Also in double figures were sophomore center Shaun Pruitt, with 13; and junior forward Brian Randle, with 10.

If anything became clearer as a result of this game it is that Carter is the go—to guy. He has improved in all phases of the game and is probably one of the best players in the Big Ten.

Coach Bruce Weber also has to be happy with the way Pruitt contnues to improve his post play. And with the all-around play of Brian Randle, who showed no major signs of his recent return from surgery.

Weber did a good job in adjusting to a small, quick Belmont lineup by answering with a four-guard unit consisting off Chester Frazier, Jamar Smith, Trent Meacham, and Calvin Brock. Illinois can offer a lot of different looks.

But the Belmont game exposed the Illini propensity for turnovers and for lackadaisical passing. In general, the exciting ball movement of recent Illinois teams seems to be missing from this year’s team.

Most disturbing, however, is the inconsistent scoring from Smith and senior Rich McBride. The Big Ten opening is coming up fast. Illinois doesn’t seem ready.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

How can Hurricane Hester be the most helpful to the Chicago Bears?

This is the question that has brain cells jivin’ in the imaginations of Bears fans and coaches alike. The 11-2 Monsters of the Midway are preparing to meet the lowly Tampa Bay Bucs tomorrow in Soldier Field.

The question jumped to the forefront last week when Hester showed world-class speed and astounding zigzags en route to kickoff returns of 94 and 96 yards for touchdowns. He returned four other kicks for touchdowns in previous games.

The question is valid because it can be safely assumed that no future Bears opponent will kick to Hester. Hester, a do-it-all player for his Miami Hurricanes (offense, defense, and special teams), says he likes playing defense. He played cornerback against the St. Louis Rams last Monday and gave up a touchdown to Tori Holt in the end zone. Holt, who was wired for audio by the TV people, was seen and heard gloating to a fellow Ram, “…beat No. 23. The rookie.”

If Holt didn’t know Hester’s name then, he knows it now. Everybody does. Hurrying Hester also made a good play in knocking down a pass.

So playing Hester at cornerback is an option. Wouldn’t you like to see Hester’s happy feet in the open field after he intercepts a pass? Could happen.

But cornerback is not the best option. Hester would need help at cornerback, which is regarded as the hardest position on defense for a rookie to learn. Veteran pass receivers like Holt—and every team has some—eat rookie cornerbacks for lunch.

In addition, Hester on defense cannot do much to make up for the added weakness at defensive tackle now that Tank Johnson won’t be on the field. With both Bears’s starting defensive tackles out, where do you think the Bucs will try to exploit the Bears’s softness? By running the ball through the middle, of course. And what good will Hester do at cornerback to blunt a running attack?

With the gaping hole in the defensive line, the Bucs’s offense may have some success. And who would be more helpful in pumping up the thinly inflated Bear offense than a guy with a whole bagful of new tricks, Hester the Jester.

You would think that Hester would get more passes thrown to him by Bear quarterback Rex Grossman than by opposing quarterbacks. You would think the Bears could open some holes for Hester as a running back. You would think the coaches would like to know what Hester could do on offense.

The fans sure would.

Friday, December 15, 2006

A quarter of the season is in the books, and the Chicago Bulls are 12-10, only 1 ½ games off the pace in the Central Division. Not so bad, considering.

Considering that the Bulls rehabbed the team and needed to find a whole lot of new chemistry.

The Bulls clearly have lots of talent. They seemed to have found enough chemistry. In fact, they may have all the players they need to make a run for the title. They probably need time more than anything else, and they’ve got plenty of that.

Yet, there seems to be some feelings by experienced observers of the game that the Bulls lack one more type of player—a high-scoring forward. To make up--with Ben Gordon--a consistent scoring duo, like Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen, and other high profile combos.

Our guess is that view is wrong.

Just, well, stay the course. The veteran starters are very good, and all the young talent will continue to develop. The backups also are all good players. If coach Scott Skiles has got a “problem,” it’s that he’s got too many good players.

Man, is that second half of the season going to be exciting.

It’s the Atmosphere

So let me get this straight. The consistently winning Illinois basketball program can't get a five-star recruit, even one in its own state. But the winless football team is recruiting a pack of four- and five-star prospects.

Is that what's going on? Brilliant!

Yes, brilliant!

IlliniNation is unleashing all that joy that was being held for two no-shows, basketball prospects Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose. It is now being heaped on five-star football committers Arrelious Benn, a speedy wide receiver who picked Illinois over nearly all the major football powers; and D’Angelo McCray, a 294-pound defensive lineman pursued at the end by Florida and Florida State.

McCray, who announced his commitment yesterday, said he loved the atmosphere at Illinois. Atmosphere? What’s that? Better yet, get it, bottle it, as much as you can. Feed it to all recruits. The atmosphere? Brilliant!

Yes. Brilliant!

And what’s evident is that coach Ron Zook and his merry band of fruit pickers is taking the recruiting battle to the heart of the enemy, particularly Ohio. Zook’s already got commitments from star Ohio prospects that play center, defensive tackle, defensive end, linebacker, and safety.

And the Zookmen are also after running back Robert Hughes (Chicago, Ill.), offensive tackle Jack Cornell(Quincy, Ill.), defensive tackle Marvin Austin (Washington D.C.), defensive end Martez Wilson (Chicago, Ill.),and defensive tackle Josh Brent(Bloomington, Ill.).

For these and other top players, Illinois is waging war with recruiters from Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and USC. Whew! Good luck. Results of the recruiting efforts for many of these players are imminent.

And Zookmen, remember, it's the atmosphere! Find it.

And give some to Bruce.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Now that Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry has said there is nothing urgent that he needs to do, let’s assess what has been done in the postseason.

Activity……………………..Grade

Firing Dusty Baker………......B- Baker deserves a medal for surviving 2006.

Hiring Lou Piniella……………A He says he has mellowed. Bummer.

Re-signing Wade Miller …….C+ Don’t expect anything here.

Re-signing Kerry Wood …….B- Could surprise, but probably not as a closer.

Re-signing Aramis Ramirez...A Excellent move.

Acquiring Mark DeRosa……..C+ Not needed because of Eric Patterson and
Ryan Theriot.

Re-signing Henry Blanco…....A Excellent backup.

Trading David Aardsma
and Carlos Vasquez……..A Wouldn’t help in 2007.

Trading for Neal Cotts……….C- May not have a long Cubs career.

Acquiring Alfonso Soriano…..A+ Could add 15-20 wins.

Acquiring Ted Lilly……………B- Could win 10 games.

Trading Freddie Bynum
for a player TBN……………?

Acquiring Daryle Ward……….B Could win some games; good backup.

Acquiring Jason Marquis…….C+ Could win 10 games.

Hendry indicated that some further tweaking is necessary. Strange thing to say when you have vacancies in center fielder and closer, and when you don’t know if Mark Prior will regain his health. On the positive side, the Cubs M squad is still intact, Felix Pie is getting his chance, and Rocky Cherry is still a Cub.

Overall, the 2007 Cubs will definitely be better than the 2006 Cubs. But unless some pitchers surprise, the position players will have to produce lots of runs.

And they just might do it!

He seemed to get it. But now it appears he doesn’t.

After Devin Hester returned kickoffs 94 and 96 yards for touchdowns Monday against the Rams, Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith said Hester should get more touches. Who would disagree? He gets it. Today, however, Smith said that’s not in the game plan for Sunday’s contest against lowly Tampa Bay.

Is Smith playing poker with the Bucs? Or what else is he thinking?

Does Smith think Hester’s stunning performance in the Rams game went unnoticed by the Bears’s remaining opponents? Hester’s chances of getting his hands on a kickoff or punt are now slim and none. Most teams will punt out of bounds and kick squibbers that will never reach Hester. Most opponents will accept poor field position rather than give Hester a chance for a return.

Offensive coordinator Ron Turner said he would be happy to put in some plays for Hester. Quarterback Rex Grossman agreed that could be done easily. Probably every other Bear player and all the fans would support such a decision. So what is Smith’s problem? Is he turning into the Frank Sinatra of the Bears? It’s hard to argue with a guy whose team is 11-2. But it’s not impossible, given the current situation.

Hester has played running back and wide receiver in a big-time college program at Miami, so he knows how to run routes and take handoffs. And even if Hester doesn’t get a pass thrown his way or get a handoff from Grossman, his value as a decoy would be incalculable. Teams would probably give him double coverage. And if Hester goes deep, Grossman is going to be looking at a much more wide-open field.

And who knows, Hester might even outrun or outjump his defenders and catch a pass or two, and score a touchdown or two. Get the picture, Lovie?

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

There’s another young Chicago Bear that is making his mark this season—rookie defensive end Mark Anderson. Anderson racked up two more sacks in the Rams game but was overshadowed by the revived Rex Grossman and the happy feet of Devin Hester. Anderson’s sack total stands at 10, ninth highest in the NFL.

Anderson was drafted by the Bears in the fifth round of the 2006 pickfest. A two-year starter at Alabama, he was the 159th player chosen overall. As a senior at Alabama, he had 7½ sacks, with 40 tackles, including 14 tackles for losses. Luckily for the Bears, Anderson “slipped” in the draft because NFL scouts considered him a “tweener.” The scouts liked his pass-rusher skills but considered him a tad small at 6-4, 255 pounds.

The Bears were more than happy to take Anderson in the fifth round. Anderson has had only limited playing time, being used mainly for likely pass-rushing situations. Yet Anderson has more than twice as many sacks as does Mario Williams, the first overall pick in the 2006 draft. Anderson is third on the Bears’s depth chart for defensive end, behind Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye. His long arms and explosive first step remind one of former Bear great Wally Chambers. Seems like Anderson should play the whole game. How about shifting Alex Brown into Tommie Harris’s vacated position?

Just a thought.

To Rust or Not to Rust

Chicago Bear quarterback Rex Grossman played a good game against St. Louis and deserves to start against Tampa Bay. But Brian Griese should play the second halves of the three remaining games.

Griese needs to play to eliminate the rust factor, regardless of how Rex does. Griese can’t be expected to perform at a sufficient level without opportunities to get rid of the rust. The remaining teams are weak, and the Bears have a good chance to win all of them even with a rusty quarterback.

And who knows if Rex’s hex will return or if Rex will get injured?

One example of the benefits of a rotation can be seen with Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson. Benson has looked better and better the more he has played. Now both runners are at peak performance, and the team has a strong running attack.

Time to prepare the team for the Super Bowl is running out. The Bears are on the clock. Sticking completely with Rex is a gamble. Why take a chance?

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

In the Rams game, another young and bright star may have burst into NFL heaven—Devin Hester, Bears’s kick returner extraordinaire. And even the coaches seem to get it after hurryin’ Hester exploded into the record books.

The Devin is in the details. His two kickoff returns for touchdowns against the Rams went for 94 and 96 yards. These TD’s set an NFL record for most kick returns for touchdowns in a season. The record had been four. Previously, Hester had run back punt returns of 45, 83, and 84 yards for TD's, in addition to a 108-yard missed field goal return for a touchdown.

After the game, the coaches said it would be a good idea to get the ball to Hester more often. Duh!

The Bears drafted Hester out of Miami in the second round in 2006. At Miami, Hester played wide receiver, running back, fullback, cornerback, and punt returner. He became the first football player in Miami Hurricanes' history to play as a member of the special, offensive, and defensive teams. Hester was the 2005 Big East champion in the indoor long jump. He was an All-American track athlete in high school.

Hester’s skills include speed, shiftiness, and vision. He is so fast he could beat American or United to Miami. How does he compare in skill levels with the great Bear break-away runners Gale Sayers and Walter Payton? Hester (5-11, 186) may be the fastest of the three. He doesn’t get caught from behind. Payton (5-11, 202) was he most powerful. He often hit his would-be tacklers harder than they would hit him. Sayers (6-0, 198) was probably the shiftiest of the three. But Hester isn’t far behind in this category. Of course, all three had great vision and could get to the seam if it existed.

"I think Dante Hall's a little shiftier than Hester," Rams special teamer Jamal Brooks said. "Quicker and shiftier. You've seen Dante Hall kind of shake up a whole team.

"But I'm not taking anything away from (Hester). This guy is straight-ahead fast, and he gets in a hole very quickly. You better get to him before he gets to you. So it's about getting to your spots."

Hester’s potential may help ease one concern for the Bears. Before the Rams game, a big question for the Bears was: Who is going to replace the stellar contributions of the injured All-Pro Tommie Harris? Now the Bears may have the answer.

The Answer.

The Answer of the NFL—Devin Hester!

And watching Hester will be a blast. Other teams will find out that the Devin wears wing-tipped shoes.

The Chicago Bears’s erratic quarterback Rex Grossman came off life support last night and engineered a 42-27 thrashing of the St. Louis Rams in St. Louis. Whew!

Grossman had been playing recently as if he were in a daze. His recovery was much in doubt. Most of the media and many fans had given him up for dead. His replacement, Brian Griese, was expected to come in and spark the Bears to continued success.

Griese never played. The good Rex mysteriously was resuscitated from his bed in the intensive care unit and turned in a surprisingly impressive performance against the Rams. Grossman electrified a large Bear crowd with a barrage of sharp, crisp, accurate passes that had been on vacation in the Bahamas or somewhere else in recent games.

The Rams D-line expected to butt the heck out of the Bears O-line and harass Grossman. But that never happened. With excellent protection, the good Rex completed 13 of 23 passes for 200 yards. He threw two perfect TD passes, a 34-yarder to Bernard Berrian and a 14-yarder to Muhsin Muhammad. He threw no interceptions. The sensational rookie kick returner Devin Hester (remember that name, folks), helped out with two returns for touchdowns. Thomas Jones and Adrian Peterson each rushed for a touchdown.

The victory gave the Bears the first round off in the playoffs. They have three games left in the regular season, Tampa Bay, Detroit, and Green Bay. All have losing records.

Grossman’s performance was one of the dramatic—and unexpected—turnarounds of the season. Publicly, his coaches and teammates had never wavered in their confidence that the good Rex from the early part of the season would return to form. But the media and many fan doubters put him under tremendous pressure. Rex himself admitted confusion over his hex.

In addition, the Bears last week suffered a whammy when Pro Bowl defensive tackle Tommie Harris tore a hammy. Some fans said the Bears’s playoff hopes were dead-on-arrival. Said that about Rex’s return, too.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Chicago Bears pregame notes. A consensus finally formed around quarterback Rex Grossman. Just about all the media expect to see him replaced by Brian Griese in the second half if the bad Rex shows up in the first half in tonight’s game in St. Louis.

The big question is: what will the bad Rex need to do to sabotage the good Rex? In other words, where is the line drawn in the sand? How high is the bar? One interception? Two? One muffed center snap? Two overthrown passes? Three?

The coaches will have to set these standards themselves. That is, the Bears’s home crowd won’t be there to tell them. (The crowd always knows these things before the coaches.) Although if the bad Rex really stinks up the first half, the coaches just might be in earshot of the bars in the southern suburbs.

A strange thing about Rex is that he’s still got lots of fans pulling for him. Because of his boyish looks and admitted confusion over his pathetic recent performance, he’s like a cute teddy bear that you want to hug and protect. Personally, he seems to be a nice guy who is trying his hardest. Fans are feeling his pain. But most think he needs a new day job.

Superior play against St. Louis drew increased attention this week, and not because of Rex. As posted earlier, the Bears enter a new phase against the Rams tonight. The AT (After Tommie) phase. Harris’s absence due to injury leaves a gaping hole in the middle of the defensive line. The defense, despite its admirable prowess, can’t repair this obvious route to the Bears’s end zone. Tommie is irreplaceable, making the hole irreparable.

So what to do? Pump up the offense. It’s the only option. More carries for Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson. More passes to Bernard Berrian and Mark Bradley. More touches by Devin Hester, including reverses out of the backfield. Keep saying that name—Hester, Hester, Hester.

Ready for some football? In AT time? It could be exciting!

C’mon offense, get in the game.

Since this is exam period at Illinois, we’ll hand out our grades for the basketball players.

First, though, let’s consider the radio broadcast team of announcer Bill Barnhardt and commentator and former Illini forward Jerry Hester. Barnhardt is thorough in his attempt to document points, rebounds, and assists and is continually updating the events on the court. There is little or no jabbering about nonbasketball matters. Grade: A.

Hester is exceptionally insightful on the movement of the players and consequences there of. He always has sensible answers to questions from Barnhardt, and he sounds like a coach in explaining the nuances of the game. Grade: A

Shaun Pruitt—Grade: A
Warren Carter—Grade: A
Brian Randle—Grade: A-
Jamar Smith—Grade: B+
Rich McBride—Grade: B
Calvin Brock—Grade: B
Chester Frazier—Grade: B
Trent Meacham—Grade: C
Marcus Arnold—Grade: C
Brian Carlwell—Grade: C
C.J. Jackson—Grade: D

So what does this mean for the Illini prospects? Illinois can go deep into the Big Dance if:

Pruitt continues to develop rapidly
Carter can stay out of foul trouble
Randle can shut down the opponent’s best player
Smith can become consistent in his long-range bombing
Carlwell can become an all-around contributor and raise his grade to an A
The others keep playing at their current levels

Doable? We think so.

The most important improvements indicated above: Carlwell and Randle. It is crucial that coach Bruce Weber find more minutes for Carlwell. Let him make his mistakes in conference play, just so he’s ready to dance.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Worried about Rex Grossman’s poor performance as quarterback of the Chicago Bears?

Stop. The Bears can adequately replace him with Brian Griese or Kyle Orton.

But if you are a dedicated worrier, you can legitimately shift your anxiety to the defensive line. Because tackle Tommie Harris won’t be there tomorrow night against the St. Louis Rams. Yep, the irreplaceable Tommie Harris. Hamstrung by a hamstring.

The Bears talk about replacing Harris in the middle of the line with Alfonso Boone. C’mon. Really! We know Tommie Harris, and Mr. Boone, you are no Tommie Harris.

Boone is expected to be part of a “tackle by committee” approach to compensate for Harris’s absence, along with Antonio Garay and Ian Scott. Even if all three of these subs played at the same time, they couldn't make up for the loss of the All Pro lineman.

So who will, as they say,“step up?” Our guess is Batman and Rob…er, Batman No. 1 and Batman No. 2--Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, of course. Betcha these two guys will be invoved in at least 25 tackles apiece.

This approach can last only a few games, however. Then what? Watch for the Bears to bring in another linebacker—Ron Rivera!

Okay, the Chicago Cubs are looking more like cheddar cheese than like Swiss these days, thanks to hard-working dealmaker and optimist GM Jim Hendry. Most of the offseason deals make the Cubs better.

Re-signing Aramis Ramirez and acquiring legitimate hitter Alfonso Soriano stuff some holes in the leaky Cub ship. Acquiring two average pitchers, Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis, may be viewed as improvements when you think where the Cubs are coming from.

But the biggest need remains: to close a deal for a closer.

The way the game is played today, the closer has become the most valuable player on every team. Show us a great closer, and we’ll show you a World Series contender. Ryan Dempster cannot fill the role. He proved that last year, following a series of other failures at the position.

The Cubs tried Bob Howry and Scott Eyre at the position, but neither claimed it. Possibly the next great experiment, Kerry Wood, will surprise us. Perhaps Hendry sees potential in someone in the minor league system, although the demands of the position argue against that option.

Until Hendry gets an effective closer—regardless of past and future deals for other needs—the Cub egg will suffer the same fate as Humpty Dumpty.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Chicago Cubs GM Jim (Electrocardiogram Man) Hendry armed the Cubs with another starter, Jason Marquis. A pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006, Marquis reportedly has accepted a three-year offer from Hendry. Marquis was 14-16 with a 6.02 ERA in 2006. Hardly a record to excite Cub fans, but how many Cub hurlers won 14 games last season? And get this, Hendry said Marquis’s arm is healthy, too. Whew! That’s a plus.

Here’s an updated list of what Hendry has done so far in the postseason.

Activity……………………..Grade

Firing Dusty Baker………......B-

Hiring Lou Piniella……………A

Resigning Wade Miller……….B

Resigning Kerry Wood……….B

Resigning Aramis Ramirez….A

Acquiring Mark DeRosa……..C+

Resigning Henry Blanco….....A

Trading David Aardsma
and Carlos Vasquez……..A

Trading for Neal Cotts……….C-

Acquiring Alfonso Soriano…..A+

Acquiring Ted Lilly……………B-

Trading Freddie Bynum
for a player TBN……………?

Acquiring Daryle Ward……….B

Acquiring Jason Marquis…….C+

What’s next, Jim? The center field vacancy?

Heeeee’s back!

Illinois’s Brian Randle returned to action today just in time to help the hoopsters defeat their Chicago cousins 71-66 in a scrappy family slugfest. Randle looked fully recovered from the surgery that sidelined him for about four weeks. He played 16 minutes, scored nine points, and snared nine rebounds.

Coach Bruce Weber probably played Randle more than he wanted, but he needed Randle’s defensive skills because Warren Carter picked up early fouls and spent more time on the bench than anticipated.

The Illini ran out to an impressive 37-22 first half lead. Their output included a 16-0 run and six three-pointers (two each by Chester Frazier and Rich McBride and one each by Jamar Smith and Trent Meacham. Carter and McBride each buried another three in the second half.

The Illini seemed to forget that they had to play the second half. UIC came out on fire and in time reduced the Illini lead to 49-47. But then the Illini, sparked by Randle and Calvin Brock, slowly pulled away and held on by their fingernails at the end.

McBride led Illinois in scoring with 13 points, followed by Frazier, 10; Carter, 9; and Smith, 8. The relatively poor showings of Carter and Smith and Illinois’s disappearing defense in the second half (giving up 44 points) scared the bejabbers out of Illini fans.

The best that Illini fans can take from this game is: Heeeeee’s back.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Chicago Cubs GM Jim (Electrocardiogram Man) Hendry is working from the hospital. What a guy! Here’s an updated list of what he has done so far in the postseason.

Activity……………………..Grade

Firing Dusty Baker………......B-

Hiring Lou Piniella……………A

Resigning Wade Miller……….B

Resigning Kerry Wood……….B

Resigning Aramis Ramirez….A

Acquiring Mark DeRosa……..C+

Resigning Henry Blanco….....A

Trading David Aardsma
and Carlos Vasquez……..A

Trading for Neal Cotts……….C-

Acquiring Alfonso Soriano…..A+

Acquiring Ted Lilly……………B-

Trading Freddie Bynum
for a player TBN……………?

Acquiring Daryle Ward……….B

What’s next, Jim? The center field vacancy?

And please don’t trade relief prospect Rocky Cherry. Sounds like a sweet guy. Could be cream of the corps some day. You know what they say about nuts and fruits: they’re SO Cubs!

A visitor's response to our concern about Illini injuries, posted below:

I think Weber is looking at the long slow stretch--Dec-9 to Dec 17--as
a chance to get his house in order. There is another slow stretch from
Dec 21 to Jan 3 with only one game, so there should be plenty of time for
healing and for hard practices.

Expect the start of the Illinois-UIC game tomorrow to be wild, showy, street ball, with country cousins vying for bragging rights. After a few minutes of this trash ball, both coaches will call time out and vociferously remind their players about everything they have been practicing for the last 10 or so games. Eventually, Illinois's talent willl take over.

Re the recent rash of Illini injuries, there are several questions:

Is the Microwave going to show any signs of continued soreness in his ankle, like he did in his last premature return to action? Granted, he looked pretty good against IUPUI. But is he fully recovered?

Should Shaun Pruitt be playing with bone chips in one hand? What kind of healing is that? How will it affect his potential performance?

Should Chester Frazier be playing with a sore foot? That's got to hurt.

Is Brian Randle completely healed from his surgery? Coach Bruce Weber's new defensapalooza is demanding. Will it be too demanding for Randle's slashing and leaping type of game--that is, is Randle ready to go at full speed?

I sure hope the medical staff knows what they're doing.

The season depends on it.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

What’s an IUPUI?

It’s an acronym for Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis, and its basketball team got beat up by Illinois last night. But its main problem occurs when when someone asks its students where they go to college. How would you like responding with words that sound like Eye you Pyooeye?

Anyway, last night IUPUI became an 87-59 victim of Illinois in the Assembly Hall. The win was the 200th career victory of coach Bruce Weber. It was a strong showing in all phases of the game for the 8-2 Illini, including an Assembly Hall-friendly 14 three-pointers. Senior Rich McBride seemed to find his long-distance stroke, hitting on all six of his three-point tries. Also perfect from three-point land was Jamar (the Microwave) Smith, who buried five of them. Trent Meacham added three more three-pointers and scored 12 points.

Fast-developing senior Warren Carter avoided the foul trouble of recent games and played a strong, well-rounded game. He led the Illini in points with 21. Also scoring in double figures was Calvin Brock, who is significantly elevating his all-around game, with 11.

While fans enjoyed the scoring, however, they were treated to an exciting new defensive scheme. This approach featured a rotating, double-teaming defensapalooza. As soon as the opponents crossed into Illini territory, two Illini shot out toward him and the other three Illini rotated to the other opponents closest to the ball.

The IUPUI ballhandlers were so discombobulated and bamboozled, and confused, too, that they frequently called time out to get away from their sticky defenders. Even the bigs rotated out, and it was something to see 6-10 Shaun Pruitt jumping out front to join another trapping Illini.

Is the soon-to-return Brian Randle, probably the best Illinois defender, ever going to enjoy this.

And so are we.

If we didn’t admire the acumen of Chicago White Sox GM Kenny Williams, we’d think he got duped in his deal with the Phillies yesterday. Williams traded Freddy Garcia, a 17-game winner in 2006, for two little-known prospects.

Williams has said he plans an overhaul of his aging pitching staff in the next two years—rather than paying astronomical salary increases. Guess what? He meant it. He started with his two new pitching prospects, Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez. Floyd was 4-3 with a 7.29 ERA last year with the Phillies. Gonzalez had impressive stats with the Phillies’s team in the Double-A Eastern League. Of course, we'll probably need to wait a few years to evaluate this trade.

However, this deal raises some concerns about the remaining pitchers who are nearing free agency. Williams has basically told his veteran starters that he doesn’t see them in the future of the White Sox.

Now how would you feel if your boss suggested that there are no more raises in your future with the company? Of course, we know baseball is a business, and that we’re talking big bucks. But we see other teams, one especially close by, who are willing to make investments.

Sure, you’re a professional, and so you’ll do your best while you wait to learn where you and your family are headed next.

But even with the best of intentions, how good can that be?

Maybe Williams’s next acquisition should be a team shrink.

Chicago has become the heart of baseball’s winter meeting.

Cubs GM Jim Hendry signed a deal for a pitcher while flat on his back on a hospital bed getting his heart tested. Usually, it’s a player who winds up on the injury list. Isn’t this SO Cubs?

We know the wildly spending Hendry is in an arms race, but is it wise to conduct business with all those electric thingies attached to your heart?

Really, can you focus on the details of a contract when you’re watching squiggly lines racing across a heart monitor? Monitoring your heart? Are you sure you meant to sign a $40 million contract rather than a $4 million contract?

Was Hendry’s heart in this deal? Or was the pitcher’s agent so intent on getting a good contract for his client that he couldn’t wait one day to complete the deal?

Well, it’s a done deal now, and the Cubs expect new lefty Theodore Roosevelt (It Wasn’t the Money) Lilly to help them charge up the standings in the Central Division. He joins an assortment of arms and the man, Carlos Zambrano.

However, Cub fans shouldn’t get too excited about Lilly, who will become 31 in January. He won 15 games for Toronto last season. But he lost 13 and had an ERA of 4.31. Lifetime, Lilly is 59-58. Yep, about .500, just like the Cubs in a typical year.

The Cubs also dispatched little-used Fast Freddie Bynum to the Orioles for a player to be named later. There will be no more three-error games for Bynum in a Cubs uniform. Freddie was SO Cubs.

So, once again, let’s upgrade Hendry’s moves in the offseason:

Activity……………………..Grade

Firing Dusty Baker………......B-

Hiring Lou Piniella……………A

Re-signing Wade Miller……….B

Re-signing Kerry Wood……….B

Re-signing Aramis Ramirez….A

Acquiring Mark DeRosa……..C+

Re-signing Henry Blanco….....A

Trading David Aardsma
and Carlos Vasquez......……..A

Trading for Neal Cotts……….C-

Acquiring Alfonso Soriano…..A+

Acquiring Ted Lilly……………B-

Trading Freddie Bynum
for a player TBN……………?

What’s next, Jim? The center field vacancy?

Reports of Hendry's hospitalization indicate that the energetic GM was given an angioplasty, a common procedure to clear clogged arteries. We extend our best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The Illinois basketball team resumes action tonight against IUPUI. What’s an IUPUI? We’ve searched the Internet and come up empty. If the Illini win, will it count on their record?

We conducted a person-on-the-street investigation regarding this opponent. Surprisingly, several people thought they had heard of this school. The responses were:

Indiana Fishing School. Now how likely is that? This choice smells.

Independent Police Academy. Do its student/athletes wear their guns during the game? Pretty threatening. Is that why they are undefeated?

International Medical Unit. Is this like a MASH unit? Are its students learning how to play basketball to fill up their free time in the field?

Indiana Prisons Institute. Do its student/prison guard trainees play basketball with the team from the Independent Police Academy?

Independent Union of Public Institutions. This team is in a league for accounting majors who were not allowed to play on their high school teams. Good for them.

Guess we’ll have to wait until tonight to see which of these teams shows up. Maybe we’ll get to see two others in addition. The word on the street is that these teams are so weak Illinois has agreed to play two of them at the same time.

Wow! Does this country love its basketball, or what?

White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams is considered one of the shrewdest gm’s in baseball. He supported that view when he extolled the virtues of pitching at the winter baseball meeting this week. Pitching was what made us successful, he said. We are committed to building with pitching, he added.

On the other hand, Williams reportedly is shopping three members of his heralded starting pitching staff.

See a disconnect here?

Since Williams is a fox, the chickens at the meeting may get their feathers ruffled.

Williams probably viewed his recent trade of Neal Cotts to the Chicago Cubs as addition by subtraction. Of course, he has a long way to go to erase the Sox’s monumental goof in the Sammy Sosa giveaway.

So what is Williams thinking? Maybe about the team’s collapse late last season? Specifically, the period from August 23 to September 25, when the Sox failed to take advantage of the Tigers’s underwhelming race to the finish line. In that period, here is how the main Sox starters fared:

Freddy Garcia—5-1
Javier Vasquez—0-2
Jon Garland—3-3
Jose Contreras—2-3
Mark Buehrle—2-2

See any room for improvement? Williams does. Watch out, chickens.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

The Chicago White Sox are reportedly pondering a trade for Vernon Wells of the Toronto Blue Jays. Good idea. A three-time Gold Glove center fielder, Wells hit .303 with 106 RBI’s and 32 homers. Toronto would expect a center field prospect and a starting pitcher, at a minimum. The Sox have struggling center fielder Brian Anderson and Freddy Garcia and other starters to offer. Toronto would probably want two of the Sox starting pitchers--and not the ones being offered.

If the Sox can’t make a deal for Wells, how about the Cubs? Maybe the Blue Jays would bite on the potential-loaded center fielder Felix Pie. Or they might share the Cubs’s belief that rising star second baseman Eric Patterson could play center field. The Cubs don’t have starting veteran pitchers, but maybe the Blue Jays would take a chance on two of the M squad prospects (Marshall, Mateo, Marmol, and O’Malley) and the high Cub draft pick coming up this summer. The Cubs could do more mixing if Toronto wants Neal Cotts or Jacque Jones.

If the Cubs get Wells, then they should pay Jason Schmidt whatever it takes.
That should do it.

Oh, one more thing. Sell the team to a group that can afford the payroll. Bill Gates, are you listening?

Response from visitor commenting on Da blog's recent scouting report on Illini basketball recruit Demetri McCamey (Da blog compared McCamey to Rich McBride in sature):

I hope he's better than McBride, who was a major disappointment in the
two losses. No senior leadership.

I saw that a weak Notre Dame team beat Maryland at Maryland and the Bradley team we just barely beat lost to Michigan State by 29 points. It will be impossible to get a handle on the team until Jamar Smith, Brian Randle, and Chester Frazier are all on the floor and healthy.

I expect us to lose at Xavier and to a better than expected Missouri
team. We should beat everyone else, giving us a decent 10-4 preconference
record with much room for improvement with a full and able bodied squad.

Chicago Bears fans, have you noticed that one face and name has been strangely absent from the recent media coverage of the team? That of General Manager Jerry Angelo.

You’d think a GM of a 10-2 team would be giddy with the team’s success and be out front in sharing in it. The fact is, Angelo has disappeared. It’s like he’s left the planet. Maybe he’s one of those guys who has always wanted to go into space and is in training for flight to outer space—where he would want to be if the Bears drop out of the playoffs quickly.

Actually, what is his role? You have to think that coach Lovie Smith and Angelo are consulting quite often about their quarterback controversy—and there is one no matter what they believe. Smith couldn’t possibly be acting in a vacuum as the team nears the playoffs. Simply put, Smith is like a manager of a department in a company. Angelo is the chief executive officer. He is more responsible for the company’s progress than the department manager.

So however the Bears manage their personnel must have Angelo’s approval. And if the Bears exit the playoffs early with Rex Grossman at the helm, don’t blame Rex. And don’t blame Smith. Show Angelo the door.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Forget about the pile of early losses by the Chicago Bulls. They won the two most important games—the two against the Knicks. Bulls fans should be able to double their pleasure this year because they made a deal that could develop into switching first-round draft picks after the season with New York. All the Bulls have to do is win more games than the Knicks.

So Bulls’s fans will have to train themselves to keep one eye on the Bulls and the other eye on the most highly touted college players.

The best scholar-athlete this year is probably 7-0 Greg Oden of Ohio State. Oden joined the college rent-a-player-for-one-year program after passage of a law prohibiting teen-agers from going directly from high school to the NBA. Now wouldn’t this strong, polished young man look nice playing with Ben Wallace.

Two other prime candidates for the top choice are strong and athletic 6-8 Joakim Noah of national champion Florida (has a similar, but better, game than Tyrus Thomas) and 6-10 Kevin Durant of Texas, who can do everything—even play guard!

And there are others. Yippee! Keep that one eye on the college game.

Whoa! Did Chicago Bears’s quarterback Rex Grossman finally turn into Humpty Dumpty?

Everyone pretty much agrees that Rex laid an egg in the Bears’s ugly 23-13 win over Minnesota yesterday. Have you ever seen such widespread doom and gloom pervade Soldier Field as the Bears walked off the field wearing North Division winner hats on their heads and frowns on their faces?

Even Bears’s coaches couldn’t help notice that both the second- and third-string Minnesota quarterbacks completed passes for more yards than Rex did.

Maybe Rex is the best quarterback on the team. But isn’t it time now to find out by playing Brian Griese and Kyle Orton? Rex clearly needs a day off this weekend. The barrage of media criticism of Rex’s performance will undoubtedly reach a deafening roar this week—not quite the conditions you want for a young developing quarterback.

Craaaack! Was that the sound of the first break in the wall the Bears have put up to shield Rex? (Although Rex remains brutally candid in talking to the media. One wonders how he does it—and whether he can withstand the growing assault?) Offensive coordinator Ron Turner said the offense needs to improve. What? Is that a hint that a new quarterback may be involved in the improving? If that happens, you’ll be able to hear a collective gasp as far away as Milwaukee.

Meanwhile, keep your fingers, toes, and eyes crossed regarding Tommie Harris’s health. If he’s out for the season, the team will definitely go out early in the playoffs. Tommie is one of the five irreplaceable Bears, along with Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Bernard Berrian, and Olin Kreutz.

And speaking of Briggs, don’t even think about not re-signing him. The replacement of Rosevelt Colvin with Briggs was sheer luck, and the odds of such a replacement happening again are, as they say, slim and none.

Two more notes: Has anyone else noticed the disappearance of Hunter Hillenmeyer for most of the recent games? And why isn’t Mark Bradley featured in the passing attack anymore?

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Call them a work in progress.

The Chicago Bulls have found their way around the recent headban flap and are again focusing on the road to the NBA playoffs.

This Band of Brothers has won four straight games since Big Ben Wallace defied team rules banning headbands. Wallace gave up the headband and has played like a man possessed ever since. And the 7-9 Bulls are in the midst of a homestand that could help provide some separation from the logjam at the bottom of the Central Division.

The first half of the season figured to be a struggle as the team works to create chemistry among many newcomers and rookies. And it has been. But the anticipated flashes of brilliance have been evident, particularly among rookies Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha.

Coach Scott Skiles’s many weapons include two other big men, Mike Sweetney and Malik Allen, who could be starting with numerous other NBA teams. Getting playing time for them has been tricky, making it more difficult for Skiles to identify various cohesive units.

By the start of the second half of the season, however, watch out. This group of rambling Bulls should be ready to rumble.

The Chicago Bears won the North Division championship today 23-13, beating the Minnesota Vikings for the second time this year. The weather conditions were typically brutal for this December showdown between traditional rivals. The temperature in Soldier Field was a bitter 18 degrees at game time, and the wind howled fiercely all day.

The Vikes attempted to avenge their 19-16 loss to the Bears in September and to keep their hopes alive for the division title. But the 10-2 Bears overcame another poor showing by struggling quarterback Rex Grossman to win their second straight North Division title. Four games remain in the regular season.

Grossman threw three more interceptions (matching last week’s total against New England). At one time, he had as many completed passes as interceptions. Grossman ended the game completing only six passes for 34 yards. Fortunately for the Bears, Viking quarterback Brad Johnson threw four interceptions before he was replaced late in the game.

After the game, Grossman again admitted making some bad reads at critical times. But coach Lovie Smith said the team is 10-2 with Rex at the helm, and that Rex will continue to start.

Critics of Grossman are still flummoxed by Smith’s faith in his floundering quarterback.

The game with the Vikes included a number of big plays, and the Bears made more of them than Minnesota. One of the most exciting plays was a 45-yard punt return for a touchdown by Devin Hester, his third of the season. Another was an interception that Ricky Manning Jr. returned 54 yards for a TD.

The offense finally contributed a touchdown when tailback Cedric Benson turned the corner on a powerful 24-yard run in the third quarter. Punter Brad Maynard pinned the Vikes at the 2-yard line late in the game, and a pack of Bears racked up a safety on the next play.

So the scoring line for the Bears was 7 points from the offense, 9 from the defense, and 7 from the special teams. Just a typical Bear game.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

The illini basketball team wore a couple of different masks in its 84-72 loss to 16th ranked Arizona today in Phoenix.

First, there was the resemblance to Jackson State, where Jackson State ran up a double-digit lead early in the game, and then the Illini made a furious comeback in the second half to win. (This time, it was Arizona who overcame a 16-point deficit to win.)

The game also was similar to the Maryland contest, where Maryland jumped off to a big lead, and the Illini stormed back (except that Maryland had a little more gas left in its tank and put on a spurt at the end to win).

Almost all the Illinois games so far have featured wide point swings. And another disturbing situation reoccurred, when Rich McBride and Shaun Pruitt combined for about 20 points in the first half and went scoreless in the second half. In the Maryland game, Warren Carter scored 13 points in the first half and did not score in the second half.

When is Illinois going to play a complete game?

“A complete game, you say?’

“Yes, a complete game.”

“Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter.”

“When will it matter?”

“When, you ask?”

“Yes, when will it matter?”

“When conference play begins.”

“When the conference play begins?”

“Yes.”

“Brilliant!”

“Yes, brilliant.”

Carter, plagued by four fouls much of the second half, led the 7-2 Illini in scoring against Arizona with a career high 24 points.

Star guard Jamar Smith, who has been limited by a severe ankle sprain, did not play.

“Smith didn’t play, you say. Is that good?”

“Yes, as long as he is not completely healed.”

“Brilliant!”

“Briliant!”

Chicago Bears quarterback Rex Grossman has taken the brunt of the scorn heaped upon the Chicago Bears of late. But the offensive line, the defensive line, and the coaches have also come under attack.

Through all the adversity, however, the Bears have usually weathered the storm. They are, after all, 9-2 in the NFC, and are on the verge of winning the North Division title.

Still, many fans are worried. Why does the team play so poorly at times? It must be something that lies below the surface (no, we’re not talking about an iceberg). Actually, the problem might be right in view, on the field, in the boxes above the stands. The root, or roots, of the problem may chiefly be…

…the coaches.

The coaches’s stubbornness regarding their faith in Rex Grossman may be a minor problem. Look, the offensive line is highly rated around the league and includes several All Pro players. So why can’t it protect Rex more often? Same with the heralded defensive line and linebackers. These guys are terrific. So why so few hurries and sacks on the opposing quarterbacks?

The only answer to these questions: the Bears coaches—Lovie Smith, Ron Rivera, and Ron Turner—are flat out being outcoached!

The Bears coaches simply cannot adjust to whatever alignments the opponents are using—both on offense and defense. Somehow the opponents have figured out the Bears’s weak points on offense and defense and are very efficient in exploiting them. And the Bears coaches cannot readjust.

How come?

Friday, December 01, 2006

Oh no! Don’t say it. Don’t tell us.
Illini hoop fans do not want to hear that Jamar Smith’s ankle is still bothering him. Tell us anything but that.

Unfortunately that’s the word in published reports. The injury is still so sore Smith is not expected to play tomorrow against Arizona in Phoenix. So how come medical staffers cleared him to play against Bradley? The injury flared up early in the next game, against Maryland, and Smith went out and never returned. Puleeez, keep Smith out until he is completely healed.

In the meantime, the news is good—very good—about the development of several players. Foremost among them is Shaun Pruitt. He is now a legitimate scoring threat, and is rebounding with a vengeance. Ditto for beastly freshman Brian Carlwell. What a great recruit! And taking advantage of playing time opportunities, Calvin Brock and Trent Meacham may be major contributors in Big Ten play. Possibly the best surprise of all, Chester Frazier has shown flashes of all-around brilliance.

Except for the last-minute collapse against Maryland, the Illini have shown a never-say-die spirit that augurs well for future success. Don’t ya think?

Late scouting report: Went to watch Illini recruit Demetri McCamey of St. Joseph Westchester tonight. A well-built guard, he reminds you of Rich McBride in stature. Handles the ball very well and shows the requisite crossovers. Dribbles well with both hands. Has good court vision (had six assists tonight). He hit four of five shots, scoring 10 points. He buried two three-pointers. He looked pretty good, but you got the impression he could turn up his output if necessary. Would think that bigs Mike Tisdale and Bill Cole, fellow recruits with McCamey in the 2007-08 Class, are going to love this guy. And we will, too.

They just don’t get it! The Chicago Bears’s coaches, that is.

The coaches are confused, clueless, and confounded about why many fans, media critics, and one little-known Chicago sports blogger aren’t happy despite the team’s 9-2 record and march toward the division championship.

Is it because the team is not 11-0?
Is it because the team doesn’t have as many sacks as do other leading teams?
Is it because the team has stopped pitching shutouts?
Is it because the team’s pass rush has gone south recently?

The coaches are quick to point out that very few teams in the NFL go undefeated for a full season. The other points are of no consequence, the coaches feel, as long as the team wins. And it usually does.

So what is the problem?

It’s just that the coaches can’t see an ominous iceberg looming ahead. And many fans, media critics, and one little-known Chicago sports blogger can. We’re not talking about iceberg lettuce. We’re talking about Iceberg Rex.

The coaches may see the part of Iceberg Rex above water—the leadership, the calmness, the sharp and accurate passes. But the critics see the threatening Iceberg Rex below the surface—the inescapability in the pocket, the inability to find open receivers, the interceptions, the dropped snaps from the center, the unmechanical foot and arm mechanics.

The coaches don’t see the fatal crash coming. But the many fans, media critics, and one little-known Chicago sports blogger do.

They just don’t get it! The Chicago Bears’s coaches, that is.