According to some website I’ve never heard of, Mark Cuban just threw down a $625 million offer to buy the Cubs. We’ve all heard the rumors about the possibility of this happening, but this is the first time we’ve seen an actual number (albeit I have no idea about radaronline or its credibility - welcome to the Web!). Nonetheless, this is interesting. It’s scary, exciting, frightening, thrilling and horrifying all at the same time, sort of like when a kid too small for a rollercoaster sneaks onto the ride. He doesn’t know if he’s going get banged into unconciousness, strangle himself or God forbid fall to a terrible death but he can’t wait to find out. That’s sort of how I look at a future of Mark Cuban owning the Cubs. Now that I think about it, getting banged into unconciousness, being strangled and falling to my death pretty much describe being a Cubs’ fan in general.
Interesting connection made by the Sun-Times’ Brad Biggs, who likens the stalled contract talks with Lovie Smith to the Dave McGinnis fiasco a few years ago. Man, this organization is cheap. The only (and I stress ONLY) bad thing about the Bears’ recent success is that it sort of reinforces this type of cheap mentality. What are the Bears’ saving their money for, anyway? Give Lovie his $5 million already, jeez.
Wait … as I’m typing this … I don’t friggin’ believe it!
I’m stunned. This is great news. Reportedly, the deal is four years worth $22 million. Well done, Bears. Well done. With Rivera leaving and Briggs and TJ rumored to be requesting trades, I was starting to get worried. Back on track for now. Plus, Jim Christman gets some love from ESPN.com. Hi Jim!
Sigh. *Bangs head on table* *rubs nose* Sigh. Jeez, jeez jeez. Just as I’m feeling good about life, decide to read a Mark Prior article. I can’t handle much more of this.
And just for fun, Shaun Livingston’s knee explodes.
The Momence girls’ basketball team suffered a season-ending loss Monday in the Sweet 16, falling just one win shy of the state tournament. The coaches and players each suggested it was one of their worst, if not their single worst, performance of the season.
It was still an immense amount of fun to cover them and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did. I don’t think the better team won on Monday but that happens from time to time in basketball.
Brianna Brooks did advance to the state finals for the 3-point shootout, so it’s not all bad news for the Redskins. Rachel Parneau of Peotone and Hannah Dodd of CPCI also advanced to the shootout, which takes place at 5 p.m. Thursday at Redbird Arena.
Bishop McNamara is once again the last girls’ team standing after scoring an upset over Bloomington on Tuesday, though I’m not sure how much of an upset it was. They take on Normal U-High Thursday for the sectional championship, their fifth sectional title game in a row. They split two regular-season meetings with U-high, so this should be interesting.
Now, Laird’s Lame Links
(Sorry - I wanted to call these links something and that’s the best I could do. Live with it.)
Free Tetris Hey, if my life gets ruined because of this site, I’m bringing you with me. I think my wife will divorce me if I spend one more hour there.
Oh, Pacman, will you ever learn? Note: Violence-prone football players and a lawless Las Vegas don’t mix. This ain’t staying in Vegas.
I pride myself on cramming for Bears’ camp every year, on knowing as much as I possibly can about the Bears, to the point where I feel my knowledge of the team during the three weeks of training camp is at least comparable to the large portion of the “traveling media.” But if you’re looking to me for some sort of intelligent insight on Bob Babich, I got nothing. Except that he turned down the Minnesota defensive coordinator job at the beginning of February and that the Bears apparently really like him.
Candace Sykes is one of the best five Class A high school girls’ basketball players in the state.
Just not according to the Associated Press. The AP’s panel of 13 voters, of which I am included, placed Sykes instead on the second team, which is still an excellent honor.
I’m not sure how the other 12 voted (my ballot is listed below) but I feel leaving Sykes off was a mistake. The voters correspond throughout the year and I can say with certainty that the panel consists of intelligent writers who know a great deal about girls’ basketball. But they dropped the ball on this one.
Here’s my ballot, in the effort of full disclosure.
1st team: Candace Sykes, Momence; Brittany Johnson, Olney; McKensey Long, Carthage; Emily Maggart, Paris; Hope Schulte, Hillsboro.
2nd team: Heidi McKean, CPCI; Lyndi Thorman, Macomb; Olivia Lett, Pana; Katrina Swingler, Teutopolis; Ali Swagmeyer, Camp Point Central.
3rd team: Terra Ramsey, Westville; Leah Kassing, Brown County; Jessica Vaughn, Illini Bluffs; Chelsea Buher, Lawrenceville; Melissa Gray, Southwestern.
And now, further proof of my internet addiction.
Several members of the Daily Journal, including myself, are in this fantasy movie league, which essentially works like fantasy football, only you draft movies and see whose films make the most money at the box office. Right now, I need Blades of Glory to rake in like $175 million for me to have a chance. So I’m shamelessly linking a trailer for the movie. The plot? Will Ferrell and the dude who played Napoleon Dynamite as the first-ever all-male pairs figure skating team. One word: Inspiring.
I could give you my thoughts on the Cubs this season, or i could just link you to a blog written by Matt Lynch at jaythejoke.com, who has once again ripped thoughts from my own mind. We may have been twins at birth; I’m not sure. We are the same age, anyway.
Ken Williams says the Sox probably won’t resign Mark Buehrle, Jermaine Dye or Tad Iguchi. Yeah, right. Ozzie says Gio Gonzalez looks awesome. Why do I believe everything Ozzie says but not much of what Williams says? Isn’t Ozzie the nut?
Rules committee: There will be no more ties in baseball. Wait … there were ties?
Congratulations to the Momence girls’ basketball team for winning the Manteno Sectional last night. Great game on both sides and a special effort from a special player in Candace Sykes gave the game a pretty big “wow” factor.
Every girls’ basketball season in my five-year tenure here has seen at least one local team make the Sweet 16. In my previous four years, we’ve had a team make the state tournament (Iroquois West in 2003 and Bishop Mac in 2004, 2005 and 2006).
Here’s to hoping that streak continues.
The super-sectional game is at Loyola University at 7:30 p.m. Monday. It should be a good game.
And now, stupid links …
I debated whether to link Jim Thome’s awkward appearance on Oprah or Tony Romo and Mr. Belding singing “Don’t Stop Believin’” with a metal band. I chose the latter. I stand by it. (there’s some harsh language peppered there, so kids, ask your parents). one more reason to hate this song.
According to Baseball America, the White Sox’ top prospects click here are considerably better than the top prospects of the Cubs click here. Sadly, I agree with them.
This just in: Mark Prior is not hurt. I want to like Mark Prior again. I really do.
One day after re-signing special teams coach Dave Toub, the Bears place the franchise tag on Lance Briggs thus keeping him for one more year. Two good moves; a pretty nice start to the offseason for the Bears.
For over half of all sports fans (those whose favorite NFL team misses the playoffs), the gap between baseball season and football season begins around the beginning of January and ends with the words “pitchers and catchers report,” which happens usually around Feb. 15. Essentially, that works out to between 6-7 weeks.
This year, the gap for Chicago fans is 10 days, and that countdown is down to one now, with pitchers and catchers reporting tomorrow for the Cubs. Wow. Maybe baseball will be therapy for those of us grieving over the Bears’ Super Bowl loss, though if you consider the last four years (Cubs blowing the NLCS followed by World Series wins of the Red Sox, White Sox and Cardinals), it could be considered the most sadistic therapy from Hell that’s ever existed. But as Cubs fans, aren’t we suckers for torture?
After having our souls ripped out by Joseph Addai (Joseph stinking Addai!!!) and the Colts, we have to build ourselves up back up to get ready to cheer for the Cubs. I’m wasn’t sure I was ready for this … until I saw the first 2007 baseball preview magazine on the shelves of the supermarket. Then I was ready. It doesn’t take much.
Links. Yeah I’m going to try to do links. Bare with me as I know as much about HTML as I do about the laws of thermal dynamics.
You have to love crazy Carlos Zambrano. He’s referring to himself in the third person. He’s also referring to himself as “Big Z.” So yeah, he’s doing that now. He’s also right. If Ted Lilly gets $10 million, Big Z deserves more than the $11.5 the Cubs are offering in arbitration. Big Z wants money
I’m not sure why I’m linking this. I just am. If you don’t like shirtless fat men or missed free throws, avoid this link. here it is, whatever it is
Jae Kuk Ryu, we hardly knew ye. Ryu to Rays
Oh, wait. Yes, we knew you. You were really bad. (You have to scroll down a little ways to before you mercifully get to see Ryu’s line.) Fare thee well, Jae
From our friends at Jaythejoke.com (one of my favorite websites due to their unabashed and unapologetic disdain for anything Jay Mariotti):
“You wake up. You open up espn.com or pull out the sports section because that’s what you always do. Then you see headlines like “Peyton Manning: Great QB or Greatest QB?” and realize you won’t be able to look at anything sports related for a solid week without wanting to vomit.
Then you vomit, but just a little. Maybe that was just me.”
Yup. That’s pretty much how I feel. The Grossman interception-return-for-TD was a heart-ripping moment I hadn’t felt since Game 6 in 2003. It ruined me. On the way home from the Super Bowl party, I nearly attacked a well-meaning Bears’ fan at a gas station who was trying to talk about the loss.
Innocent man: Tough loss, huh?
Me: I don’t wanna talk about it.
Innocent man: Rex Grossman played like (fecal material).
Me: The whole team did. But like I said, I really don’t wanna talk about it.
Innocent man: He should give back the million dollars he makes.
Me: Will it be hard to talk with a fist down your throat?
OK. I didn’t say that last line. But I wanted to.
I’ll talk about this game. In length. Just not now. First, I will rewatch the game a couple of times for study. Then, after watching the game, I will drive a 6-inch nail directly into my forehead like a circus sideshow. Then I will guzzle Drano. Then I will blog about the game.
But not until then.
So class, in the excruciatingly long two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, what have we learned? I hope you paid attention to the countless, mindless, highly-opinionated yet completely moronic talking heads at ESPN. Because there’s going to be a quiz.
Ready? Get out the pencils?
1. What color are Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith?
2. True or false. We will know we have truly come a long way as a society when the above question is a non-issue.
3. The Bears feel they are getting: a.) too much respect, b.) a fair amount of respect, c.) not very much respect, or d.) no respect at all.
4. True or false: Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy are big fat jerks.
5. Tank Johnson should a.) be playing Sunday because he truly has learned his lesson, b.) is a stupid thug who should be in jail, c.) still at home or d.) no comment because I’m afraid he’s going to shoot me. (Get it? He has guns and the reporters are making jokes about being afraid of getting shot! It’s so funny! It’s not at all insensitive to someone whose best friend was murdered less than two months ago. Reporters are so clever.)
6. Short answer: Say the nicest thing you can say about Peyton Manning without giving one criticism.
7. Short answer: Insult Rex Grossman’s ability without saying anything positive.
Grades will be handed out next week.
In this day and age, everyone seems to have a blog, even the talentless, unfunny and dumb (Read: Rain Delay Theatre).
I’ve found two Super Bowl blogs that are quite readable, however.
One, by ESPN contributor Bill Simmons can be found at sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index. It’s mainly about what it’s like to be down in South Beach during Super Bowl week. He talks like a fan but has the insider-like insight of a reporter.
The other is the Baldest Truth by Copley columnist Mike Nadel, found at www.pjstar.com/php/index.php/nadel. The Journal publishes his columns frequently. He mainly reports on what it’s like to be a writer at the game, giving insight into the reporting process. He’s one of the few columnists out there that genuinely wants to write for the fans, not for himself (read: Jay Mariotti).
We’re just three days away! Now, I just need to decide where to watch the game … anyone have a DLP and a free seat?
