Hawks Hockey Hoiden

Not only is it a pet peeve of mine to see celebrity “news” on the actual local news, but it’s even that much more annoying when the “news” includes stories like that Jay Cutler was in the audience at a taping of Dancing with the Stars because his maybe-girlfriend Kristin Cavallari was in the competition. Ok, I don’t know who Kristin Cavallari is or why I should give a crap, but I do know boom-boom before a game gums up the works, especially when that booty call is in Los Angeles and your quarterback is supposed to play a game that following Monday in Detroit on Monday Night Football.  What’s the deal? Do Jay and the Bears think they can mess around because they won one game last week against a slightly lousier team? Um, hey, hello, you’ve got the undefeated Lions coming up on Monday. Do you think just maybe all the Bears should be in town working on their game, i.e. not jet lagged???  (more…)

So, I was waiting for the Cubs game against the Phillies this afternoon and there was a rain delay. Bummer. In the interim Fox played a video of Ryan Dempster impersonating Harry Caray. In the first video, “Harry” gives the Cubs starting line-up. In the second video, “Harry” congratulates Derek Jeter on what is soon expected to be his 3,000th hit. Bwahahahahahaha! Good job Ryan! It’s like Harry was really there! I sure do miss Harry, so I guess this is the next best thing. (more…)

God help me I love a passionate athlete.  One who cares deeply about the game and isn’t just collecting a paycheck or is bloated on his own sense of self-importance.  That’s why for years now I have loved Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano.  He isn’t just a passionate baseball player, he’s a passionate guy, and I have always admired how hard he takes it when the Cubs play poorly.  The poor guy must be on horse tranquilizers by now.

The latest to-do over Zambrano is because of these comments about a game against the St. Louis Cardinals wherein pitcher Carlos Marmol allowed a Ryan Theriot base hit and an Albert Pujols home run:

“The problem wasn’t Pujols,” Zambrano said. “The problem was [Theriot's] at-bat. We should have known better than this. We are playing like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing. Embarrassing for the team and the owners. Embarrassing for the fans. Embarrassing, that’s the word for this team.”

“We should know that Ryan Theriot is not a good fastball hitter,” Zambrano yelled after turning in the direction of Marmol’s then-vacated locker. “We should know that as a team. We should play better here. We stink. That’s all I’ve got to say.”  (more…)

For years Cubs fans had heard from disgruntled sports fans about how supposedly unprofessional Chicago Cubs color commentator Ron Santo was. There was even a website dedicated to getting Santo fired if you can believe it.

Well last week, Ron Santo died. After battling so many illnesses for so long, his body finally gave out. But for those of us who had listened to him for years, we knew that had it not been for Cubs baseball, Ronny probably couldn’t have hung on for as long as he did.

So those naysayers that have been criticizing Santo for so many years can finally just be quiet now. You never ‘got it’ anyway. You never understood. The very best thing about Ron Santo was that he was old school. He didn’t view baseball or its players as commodities. He loved the game, even when it was bad (and Cubs fans know just how bad it can really be). Truth be told, he probably didn’t like just how commercial baseball had become since he himself had left the game in the seventies. But I think he put blinders on to all of that, and called the game as he saw it, good, bad, and certainly ugly. (more…)