Take Carlos Zambrano.  Now I am not at all saying that Zambrano juices, but when compared to the temper tantrums or the ill-temperedness of other athletes who do juice (ahem, Barry Bonds) was Z’s temper really that big a deal? (If you ask this fan, Carlos Marmol, Derrek Lee, and the Gatorade machine were all asking for it!)  In fact, didn’t former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, another fiery Venezuelan, attribute Z’s zeal to his Latino heritage?  The Cubs were all on-board with Z’s Latino “passion” once too.  Funny how the Cubs are all about multiculturalism until they need to dump a contract.  Then a player’s Latino “passion” becomes “temper tantrums” and what local AM station 670 ‘The Score’ attributed to Zambrano being a “lunatic” and an “ass.” In fact, Z’s “passion” didn’t really start becoming an issue until Z’s play began to drop off.  Then, the Cubs appear to have used Z’s frustrations on the mound as an excuse to liquidate him.  If in fact that’s what happened, it not only signals a new, shadier culture in the Cubs’ ownership/management, but it’s just utterly contemptible as is getting Chicago’s TV and radio stations to join in on the slander wagon.  I believe I’ll be skipping this baseball season and perhaps many more after that if this is how the Cubs’ organization is now going to conduct itself.

As I mentioned in a prior post, I actually witnessed in person Zambrano’s no-hitter against the Houston Astros in Milwaukee on September 14, 2008. I don’t know how anyone who witnessed the magic of that game could be happy to see Zambrano leave Chicago.  Zambrano has given Chicago the best years of his career and this is how you repay him?

Despite how shabbily the Cubs organization and the media have treated Zambrano, I would just like to say to Z thanks for the memories, thanks for that awesome no-hitter, and best of luck in Florida!  Certainly you’ll be happier under the protective watchful eyes of Ozzie Guillen than you were under the suspicious eyes of the Cubs’ organization and their lap-dog media.

We’ve all seen highlights of footage where a player lands wrong and is paralyzed for life.  It’s a freak thing that thankfully doesn’t happen often, but I swear I thought yesterday’s hit on Johhny Knox was one of those paralyzed-for-life hits.  When they immobilized his neck, strapped him to a backboard, and Knox cupped his hands to his face, I was sure he would be at least partially paralyzed.  So, if anyone can high-five on that, well then I’d say they’re not human.

I think everyone’s reaction in Soldier Field was the same: Shut up and pray.  I know that’s what I did.  So sure, pompous commentators on Sports Center and even locally in Chicago make fun of Tim Tebow and Drew Brees for getting down on one knee to pray for someone lying injured on the field, but I think yesterday tens of thousands of people witnessed a miracle, and I think Johnny Knox will be okay for no other reason than the power of prayer.  Take that all you godless sports pundits.

I hope others (including particularly the Seahawks’ defense) will join me in wishing Johnny Knox a speedy recovery.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you Johnny.

The limo remark was made before last week’s game against the Broncos where Caleb Hanie had a 79.9 QB rating, completed 12 of 19 for a mere 115 passing yards, and was sacked four times.  He had no touchdowns, so thank God for the defense and special teams and particularly Robbie Gould. (And yes, I’m also thankful for Marion Barbour’s touchdown in the 3rd quarter even though it went on to be completely forgotten when he went out of bounds late in the 4th, stopping the clock and giving the Bronco’s more time to tie the score, and then later in OT was stripped of the ball for a turnover which gave the Broncos the squeaker win.) Head coach Lovie Smith cited Hanie’s improvement over his prior games, but then Lovie’s encouragement to Hanie can hardly be a comfort to Hanie since he and Lovie both know Lovie is most likely going to be unemployed in a few weeks.

I remember Caleb Hanie before he was thrust into the spotlight several weeks ago.  He played OK in the back-up role before this season; he played like a back-up quarterback.  So what happened to Hanie these past weeks?  Well, put it this way, how could Hanie not know how little faith Chicagoans had in him before his start several weeks ago?

Some people thrive under pressure, but others get psyched out by it.  The sports writers, sportscasters, and fans did Caleb Hanie no favors by deriding him mercilessly before he had even stepped foot onto the field several weeks ago.  In case all you boneheads are wondering, that’s how you turn someone into a self-fulfilling prophecy.  So, Caleb Hanie’s psych out is on the fans and sports pundits if you ask me.  Geez, would it have killed you to give the guy a little support?  Who’s side are you on anyway?  You set him up to fail then laughed, jeered, and pointed as he crashed and burned.  Nice going.

And Donovan McNabb?  Well, it’s known around the league that he is a stand-up guy.  As I wrote before I even knew McNabb could be considered as a fill-in for an injured Jay Cutler, McNabb is a class act.  He’s withstood undeserved criticism from one of the NFL’s most pampered and diapered players, Terrell Owens; he’s played with a hernia even, and has repeatedly played through the pain with injuries.  What does this guy need to do to prove himself?  Yes, he’s older and has slowed down, but he still had/has something to offer.  And really?  Would Donovan McNabb have expected the limo treatment?  He’s from a blue-collar Chicago family!  The guy’d probably take a cab from the airport and pay for the fare himself!

So, if anyone’s interested in the post mortem for this season, this is how the Bears’ front office should’ve handled Jay Cutler’s injury.  Once Hanie showed he needed help, they should’ve been on the phone begging for Donovan McNabb to come to Chicago.  Even if McNabb couldn’t have done a better job than Hanie (and does anyone really believe that???), McNabb would have been able to help Hanie calm down and deliver as Hanie has in the past.

The NFL could learn a few things from the NHL too.  For instance, last season the Blackhawks were savvy enough to bring in veteran goaltender Marty Turco to back up youngster Corey Crawford in net.  Knowing how selfless McNabb is, McNabb would of course have done the same thing for the struggling Caleb Hanie if he himself could not deliver.  The limo comment implies McNabb was expensive, but really, how expensive could he have been?  More costly than this season has already been?

P.S.  And Brett can go Favre himself.  Nobody would have watched the Bears play if he had helmed as quarterback, but nice try Brett. (Gee, I just had an awful flashback to when Jim McMahon was the back-up quarterback for Green Bay.  The only way he was able to redeem himself in the eyes of Bears fans after that was to show up to the White House celebration of Green Bay’s 1996 Super Bowl win wearing a Bears’ jersey.  Tee hee.)

Related:
Donovan McNabb is a Class Act!

Henrik Eriksson accidentally hugs opponent Alen Bibic after a goal in a game between Mora IK and Leksand of Sweden’s Hockeyallsvenskan; Bibic gives him a little reminder tap. Oops!

In the first couple of minutes of the Packers/Vikings game today, McNabb again showed just how classy he is when Christian Ponder — the back-up Vikings quarterback who replaced McNabb after McNabb got benched following a lackluster performance against the Bears last week — made a pass for his first touchdown and Donovan McNabb applauded him vigorously on the sidelines.  McNabb showed no signs of resentment or bitterness, just love and support for his teammate.  In fact, it kind of reminded me of Walter Payton.

And like Walter Payton (and Tim Tebow who I just can’t say enough about), I am greatly impressed with Donovan McNabb — a fine Christian man, a gentleman and a role model; someone a parent would be proud to let their kids look up to.

So, are the haters theophobic, fearing and/or hating religion, or are they just anti-Christian?  Seems it’s unacceptable or un-PC to hate any religion except Christianity.  Now why would that be?

Yeah, well, best of luck to Tim Tebow today replacing Kyle Orton, who was once the  Bears’ hit-or-miss quarterback.  Hopefully Tebow can ignore the haters and have a fantastic game.

And no offense, but I’d much rather have a seasoned baseball veteran (someone, anyone) calling shots as President of the Cubs than Theo Epstein — some preppy, fratboy, Yale-y who is more business than baseball.  South siders always complain that the Cubs’ organization/fans are elitist, over educated, Richie Rich snobs.  Well now, I kind of have to agree with them.  And really?  They credit Theo Epstein with supposedly breaking the Curse of the Bambino?  Couldn’t just be coincidental could it?  And is it just me or do others think Theo Epstein looks like he might be kind of arrogant?  Seriously, do we want someone who looks like he studied baseball at Harvard Business School or Wharton?  I don’t care what he supposedly did for the Red Sox; the Red Sox ain’t the Cubs.

Well, I’ve gone entire seasons not watching a team and not going to games because of bad decisions in the front office.   Looks like that’s what’s going to happen this coming season with the Cubs.  Apparently lost revenue is the only language team owners seem to understand.  Other Cubs fans like myself must also certainly be asking themselves right now if the Ricketts really care what the fans think because they don’t seem to be listening at all.

Can we all agree that a majority of the o-line should be fired? The disastrous combination of J’Marcus Webb, Chris Williams, and especially Frank Omiyale, has to go!  Like many others who were screaming these names out at the TV last season and begging for them to be fired, I cannot believe that these three were brought back! Omiyale was responsible for the lion’s share (pun intended) of the sacks on Jay Cutler last year alone, and certainly was conspicuously awful in tonight’s game as well.  And 9, that’s nine, false starts by our o-line in this game???  Were you hearing Principal Rooney say “nine times” in your head at the end of this game too?  And yet this is the team that was given an extra day off last week?  Why???  They needed all the practice they could get!

And it wasn’t just the offensive line that gave up in tonight’s game; the defense didn’t appear to be there either.  The most conspicuously bad performance came from Brandon Meriweather, the safety, who couldn’t seem to be bothered to keep the Lions’ receivers from scoring.  Perhaps someone should have told Meriweather that the safety is the last line of defense, i.e. the sure tackle.  Yet I counted four times where a Lions receiver just blew by Meriweather for either a touchdown or massive yardage, and he totally missed the tackle.  Ugh!

Even Brian Urlacher got faked out once and had a misread on a play, not to mention he totally missed a tackle or two, as did Lance Briggs.  Where was the blitzing?  Where was the pressure?  Urlacher always brags about how the defense “makes it happen.”  Yeah, not so much in this game or even in the last several.  Yet Urlacher has the audacity to smugly say that it doesn’t matter what the fans think?  Really?  Who does he think has paid his salary for 10 seasons?  Yeah, players really don’t want to get on Bears fans’ bad side…especially now!

Comcast’s Pat Boyle said on the post-game show that the Bears’ defense looked “old” tonight, and by that I think he meant tired.  Quite.  So it makes this fan wonder why a tired Bears defense have their jobs, but Alex Brown couldn’t get signed this season.  Come on, Alex couldn’t be any worse than what we’re seeing. (Julius Peppers has been kind of hit or miss.)  Maybe Brian Urlacher could do the Monday morning quarterback gig on Comcast for a while and Alex Brown could go back to kick-butt defense.  And maybe while Urlacher is being schooled as a football analyst, someone could teach him how to be a gentleman (like Alex Brown) and not anger the fans since in the end they may be his only ally.

Similarly, I was sick of Lovie Smith early on in his tenure, but lately his Bull Durham-esque clichés are even more insufferable than usual.  I started keeping track of his trite coach clichés several seasons ago, but here are the worst of them, some of which he used after tonight’s game:

“We’re better than that.”

Uh, no, you’re not!

“Gotta keep the ball in front of us.”

Duh.

“There’s a lotta football left to go.”

Not for you there shouldn’t be!

“It’s [just] one game.”

Right, they’re all just one game, but add them all together and you get a losing season and a really good reason to search for a new head coach!

“We just gotta get better.”

Again, duh.

“We have to go back to the drawing board.”

The “drawing board” one I think has since been retired along with Rex Grossman’s career with the Bears, but it still fills me with disgust.

Add to these hackneyed coaching clichés Lovie’s Droopy Dog routine, and the post-game press conference with Lovie is unbearable.  So, to Lovie I say, You’re fired!  Mike Martz?  You’re fired!  Rod Marinelli and the defense?  You’re on probation.  Bears’ offensive line?  You’re soooo fired!  And Shushy, you’re cut too!

P.S.  I wonder how much money is wasted on making the players’ shoes, wrist bands, patches, etc. Pepto-Bismol pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month?  Wouldn’t that money be better spent on, oh, I don’t know, breast cancer research???  Not to mention, I HATE the color pink and, though I’m a woman, even I won’t wear it.  It emasculates the players and is a horrible thing to do to them every season. (Although I’m sure Jay Cutler doesn’t mind since apparently Jay wears pink pants in his civilian life.)  Pink is a color better left for the Joe Bucks of the world to wear.  Somehow it seems fitting on him.

Related:

Get It Together Jay; Bears

Don’t forget your rubber ducky! Bwahahaha!

And of course the ‘Superstar’ commercial is now a classic! Chicka chicka, yeah! (And a cameo from Geno and Colby Armstrong too.)

But, perhaps the best and most well-known commercial of them all is this one Max shot with Sidney Crosby for Reebok:

Hopefully Max will start doing commercials for Philly. I really think he has a bright future as a spokesman…LOL…

I also have mixed emotions about Ozzie Guillen.  Chicago seemed to adopt this attitude that Guillen’s arrogance and shoot-from-the-mouth attitude were OK as long as he was winning.  Maybe, but his behavior and the horrible things he often said reflected poorly on the ball club to an embarrassing extent.  What kind of a man says the kinds of things he used to say about his wife and what kind of father just lets his kids run wild like that?  He may have been a good manager at one point, but I don’t think he was a very respectful human being.  So for that reason alone, I think it was good he left.  But I think too that Ozzie had a point that Kenny Williams should unclench every once in a while.

It’s funny how the White Sox fans and the club itself are upset because it was a bad season.  Gordon Beckham and Alex Rios didn’t live up to expectations, and Adam Dunn just bombed…hard.  Gee, that’s just par for the course for the Cubs, but I guess the White Sox fans don’t accept that kind of lackluster performance.  Watching the Cubs lose year after year I’ve learned to have patience; that there are seasons you just have to slog through.  Next season for the Sox I predict is going to be a slogging season.

P.S. Some may wonder why I write about both the Cubs and the White Sox on this blog. The simple answer is that I’m a fan of both. Yeah, I said it.  I’m not ashamed to admit it anymore.  I am a White Cubs fan. (Or is it Cubs Sox?)  Hey, why not? Twice the baseball.