Tailgate

Bears

2008-09-05T22:55:46Z

Voting: Not Just For All-Star Games

2008-09-05T19:03:19Z

Amidst the heart-pounding stories of untimely injuries (like that of Carlos Quintin), panic-inducing losing streaks (five and counting for the Cubs?) and too-close-for-comfort pennant races, there is a bigger question that looms for Chicago baseball fans: whom to vote for.

No, we're not talking about next year's All-Star game. That's a little too "wait'll next year" even for baseball fans. We're talking about THE election, the big one, the biggest "sporting event" in the country. The race for president.

Surprised that hardcore baseball fans in Chicago, who are engaged in nail-biting division races on both sides of town, would have time to contemplate things like budget deficits and tax gains? Well, if a presidential candidate can find time to discuss baseball, then it's only fair that a die-hard White Sox fan places the race for the White House in baseball terms.

A Sort Of Homecoming

2008-09-05T16:20:57Z

The Fire play conference rival New York Red Bulls this Saturday night. The last time the two teams met the Fire absolutely stomped the Red Bulls 5-1 in one of their best performances of the season. Things have changed since then. The Red Bulls have put together a decent run of results, bringing them withing 3 points (ie, one win) of the Fire in the standings. The Fire are coming off a 2-1 loss against Houston which underlined many of the team's failings if they want to be championship contenders. Despite being loaded with talent, they don't have the chemistry, organization, or work rate that the defending champs showed last week. On top of that, the Fire will again be missing Blanco, Gonzalo Segares, and Marco Pappa due to World Cup Qualifiers. So it should be pretty interesting with New York looking to gain ground and a backs-against-the-wall Fire team looking for a chance reassert itself. That's not what matters though.

What matters is that this is the first trip back to Chicago for New York Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio. Osorio came in to replace fired Fire coach Dave Sarachan last year, stayed for about five minutes and jumped ship as soon as he had a better offer in New York. Hopefully meetings between Section 8 and the Fire front office this week over the Sector Latino affair mean the banners, drums, noise and (yes, Cuahtemoc) drunkenness will be back in time to give Osorio the welcome that he deserves.

Short Hops

2008-09-04T18:45:08Z

The Chicago Sky go for their fourth win in a row, a franchise record, when they host the Seattle Storm tonight at the UIC Pavilion.
A Los Angeles resident tells about the great time he had seeing the Cubs at Wrigley Field recently. Of course, this was before their recent, ahem, troubles.
Despite their contract differences, a Sporting News writer thinks Ben Gordon and the Bulls are "destined" for each other.
The Bears' Kyle Orton says he's not the same QB he's been in the past. Thank God.
Meanwhile, another NFL quarterback with a Chicago connection, Donovan McNabb, tells of growing up a Chicago sports fan.
The next time your significant other complains about your obsession with sports, show them this.
Now that you've seen the commercials a bazillion times, you might as well go out and see that Red Bull Flugtag thing in person.
Got the need for speed? It's a big weekend for racing at Chicagoland Speedway.
Or if you like your racing a little more sedate, try model boat racing at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
And speaking of water (don't you love these segues?), the Big Shoulders Open Water Swim Classic is this Saturday at Ohio Street Beach.
Chicago has a champion on the diamond, thanks to the Chicago Maccabi softball team who took gold at the Maccabi Games.

Uh...What Just Happened?

2008-09-04T16:51:54Z

Sure they say don't panic, but when a team's history results in even the most rational fans being able to name two or three curses off the top of their heads it's going to take more than words. Yes the Cubs have lost five in a row at home and possibly their ace in Big Z; a big blow even though his last few outings haven't really been ace-worthy. Usually we would start looking for black cats and green turtlenecks but in this writer's humble opinion this year is different. This is a good team, a great team even, and in many ways they're not even playing to their full potential. Derrek Lee's average may be around .295 but his clutch hitting has been at sub-DLee levels. The book on Fukudome was doing just what it was supposed to do; find holes, but with time to adjust I think he can be just as good in the MLB as he was in Japan. Maybe adversity is just the ticket to get the guys really playing the way they can. The truth is if we're panicking it's our own faults. Before the Phils came to town the Cubbies won more series in a row than any year since 1907. The underlying message in that feat should have told us all something: don't get used to this. What we can count on is a manager and several players that have battled through September and October, as well as a couple of aces in Dempster and Harden. So seriously, don't panic. If that doesn't cheer you up, how about knowing that the last time the boys delivered a championship, the Cardinals where 46 games out of first place!

Drink Up, It's A Long Season

2008-09-03T20:00:03Z

Thanks to all of the ups and downs, as well as the unpredictable twists of the current Chicago baseball season, well, it's enough to drive one to drink. A popular vodka company apparently knows that and will unveil new billboards to at least give fans an idea of WHAT to drink.

Effen Vodka is set to unveil new billboards on the south and north sides of the city to capitalize on the continuing (fingers crossed) good fortune of both the Cubs and White Sox. The Cubs-themed billboard will make reference to the supposed team curse, while the one located near U.S. Cellular field will simply bolster the South Side pride.

But when it comes to aligning themselves with a local sports team, the Bears would seem to be a natural fit for the Holland-based vodka company. After all, I can't count how many times I've heard someone yell, "Effen Rex Grossman" in the last couple of years.

Meltdown and NACCCs

2008-09-03T16:24:31Z

Online registration is closed for this Sunday's Palos Meltdown. Seems that it may be possible to register in person for $40, so if you have the day free, consider a trip down with your off-road machine because there isn't much mountain bike racing closer. Last year, local shops and bike manufacturers such as SRAM and Specialized were on hand demoing products and loaning out $6,000 bikes, so if you're in the market for something new, you could try out a race bike and watch cyclists race. Nifty.

This past weekend saw all sorts of working messengers, non-messengers and those that aspire to be messengers descend upon Chicago for the North American Cycle Courier Championships. Check out the Flickr photo group here for some choice shots of the action. And here are the results. First Chicago messenger in fourth place overall was Andrew "Candles" Nordyke of the Chicago Cuttin' Crew. Local boy Simon Lach won the skid contest, crushing the competition. Oh, and speaking of crushing, seems livers everywhere were knocked out of commission in after-hours partying.

Join The Human Race

2008-08-29T22:07:14Z

As an (extremely) novice runner, I'm slowly understanding the reasons why so many people leap (drag? Stumble?) out of bed early in the morning to pound the sidewalks and bike paths of this city as part of their morning running ritual. Granted, making those initial steps in the wee hours of the day can take a bit of effort, but once you get into the rhythm it can be a refreshing experience, particularly at the end of a run when feeling of "good tired" sweeps over you.

Yeah, I said it. Me, the guy who used to run through a pack of Benson and Hedges (accompanied by the appropriate amount of alcohol) in a night. OK, I still sneak the occasional smoke every now and then, but it hasn't dimmed the strange new feeling of actually looking forward to a run at least two or three times a week outdoors (the treadmill wins the rest of the week) or, yes, actually participating in a 5k race some day... soon.

It might even be this weekend, when Nike hosts what they are billing as "the world's largest one-day running event", the Human Race 10K that kicks off at Soldier Field this Sunday at run-friendly hour (for me) of 6:30 p.m. It's a race that is being run simultaneously in 25 cities around the world, which means, in some esoteric way, you're competing against runners from around the world. And you don't even have to go to Bejing.

Now, my maximum distance has been 5K, but a race promoter insists that if one can run a 5K, one can run a 10K, which to me is a saying if I can eat two hot dogs I can eat 10 (which, come to think of it, I probably could). I might be counting my K's before they're hatched, but even if I end up walking a few K's or so, crossing the wire last might not be such a bad thing. Each race in each city ends with a concert by one of the top acts in music today. Chicago gets local heroes Fall Out Boy, while LA taps another hometown star Kanye West. Elsewhere around the globe, Moby performs in London, Ben Harper entertains them in Austin, Texas and Calle 13 plays Mexico City.

There are awards for the first place male and female winner (a fact with which I will not concern myself for obvious reasons) and even if you don't break the tape you can feel good knowing that your entrance fee is going to a good cause: the Nike Human Race charites which include the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the UN refugee agency's ninemillion.org campaign. Promoters say they expect to raise at least $3 million.

You can still register for the race on the Nike website and pick up your credentials on race day. Who knows, you might see me out there. I'll be the one taking a break at the 5K mark. They call that "hitting the wall", right?

New Fire President Might Be A Jerk

2008-08-28T19:59:42Z

A few interesting posts about Dave Greeley, the new Fire president, from former key members of the team's front office, Peter Wilt and Steve Pastorino. Apparently Greeley was pretty anti-soccer when he was with the Bears.
According to Wilt, during negotiations over the use of the new Soldier Field by the Fire:

"While most of the city and Bears representatives were polite, though a bit patronizing, Dave seemed bent on putting the Fire in its place with condescending comments. At one point during the meeting, Greeley's relentless disparagement of soccer and the Fire forced AEG's Bill Peterson and me to swear at him (as I recall, it began with an "f" and ended with a "u"), get up from the table and head for the door.

"Burke stopped us in the hall way, apologized for Greeley and convinced us to return to the table."

Register Now for Cyclocross Clinic

2008-08-28T19:40:57Z

Register now for the Chicago 'Cross Cup's cyclocross skills clinic, on Saturday September 13, hosted by Ben Turner of Cycle-Smart, a CX racer who has raced in Europe, doing well in a racing environment that many Americans seem to not do so well in. The race flyer with more information on it is here.

And if you pre-register for the clinic, you get in line to receive a free copy of Cycle-Smart's "Solutions for Cyclo-Cross" DVD and other schwag. Everyone likes free stuff and when you couple free stuff with coaching and advice from a real expert, well, the deal's made even better.

Last night and this morning, I was out practicing my CX skills in anticipation for a busy autumn of racing and the point that technique and skill matters just as much as a set of strong legs and lungs was really hammered home. Yeah, you can pedal hard on the flats and up the hills, but if you can't dismount and remount without coming to a complete stop or crashing, well, you're gonna need some help. And judging from my bruised shoulder and posterior earned after tripping over the barriers and flying over my handlebars, it might not be a bad idea for me to register for this clinic, too.

Short Hops

2008-08-28T19:01:44Z

Stories That Will Not Die 1: Mariotti says he's not going to Boston, which leaves only five bazillion other cities for him to tell us where he's not going. Also, the Sun-Times takes a parting shot at their one-time star columnist.
Stories That Will Not Die 2: The Wall Street Journal says Barack Obama isn't the only one down on the Wrigley Field Experience. And Sports Illustrated jumps on the pile, too. But another website turns the other cheek and tries to link White Sox-lovin' Obama with the Cubs.
Stories That Will Not Die 3: Another week, another standing: Now, Chicago is supposedly the front runner for the 2016 Olympics.
The City of Chicago has a plan to make use the most bike-friendly place in the world.
Professional squash fever: Catch it! An international pro squash tournament is headed here.
A lesson in how not to write a press release, this one involving the Bears. My favorite sentence: "The Chicago Bears tickets have many sources of power that let the team to be so."
Among upcoming events at Soldier Field: the Chicago High School Kick Off Classic this weekend.

Last Season For Blanco?

2008-08-28T18:42:19Z

In a move that isn't going to make any more friends amongst a fanbase that is getting more and more alienated from him all the time, Cuahtemoc Blanco told Hoy that he didn't know if he'd return for a third year with the Fire. He originally had a two year contract with an optional extension for a third. Most people assumed it would be extended a third year, or as Babelfish says, "the decision to make that option effective so that returns the player the next year is of the equipment and that without place to doubt will make it effective." The news that this option might not be so effective might have made a lot of fans kind of upset if they hadn't noticed that Blanco hasn't actually scored or set up a goal in ages and weren't too drunk to read the article to begin with.

The Man We Loved To Hate

2008-08-27T18:57:23Z

Gotta say, the most interesting aspect of the whole Jay Mariotti resignation is the almost complete rejoicing by members of the reading public whose opinions on the former Sun-Times columnist range from vague indifference to his presence to outright revulsion and an unspoken desire to dance the electric slide on his grave.

How he remained here for more than 17 years with this kind of opinion swirling around outside of his workplace (and sometimes inside) is either a testament to his ability to generate interest of ANY kind or the Sun-Times' refusal to admit a mistake. Either way, he managed to irk nearly everyone on the Chicago sports scene, from local icon Mike Ditka to Ozzie Guillen, who Mariotti ripped so thoroughly that Guillen was reduced to referring to Mariotti with a homosexual slur, which I guess that counts for something.

In the end, in a kind of weird twist, it wasn't the outside forces that hastened Mariotti's departure but possibly inside forces. As noted here previously, Mariotti wasn't exactly buddy-buddy with his fellow S-T sports department co-workers, most notably the White Sox beat writers and columnist Rick Telander. According to reports, it was a run-in with management over who'd get to write a column, he or Telander, regarding Barack Obama and his comment on Cubs fans that prompted him to head for the door. In parting, Mariotti declared newspapers dead and that online was the way for him to go.

(Note to Jay: Your arch-enemy and former co-biggest-name-in-Chicago-sports-media Mike North is trying the online thing too. How's that working for him?)

So while it's correct to praise his way with words and his ability to remain controversial (at the risk of being a hypocrite, which his both-sides-of-the-fence stances on many subjects made him), it's pretty clear that even with all of that, he won't be missed by very many. Which I guess is sort of controversial in itself.

Are We There Yet?

2008-08-27T18:41:28Z

No matter what happens today the Cubs will have won their ninth series in a row. Here's a little perspective for you: they haven't done that since 1907. That year the team won ten in a row. Remember though we are still cautiously optimistic. Having had the best record in baseball for a good part of the year, a fan asked Carrie Muskrat (scroll down a bit) how teams with the highest win percentage did in the playoffs. In short, only OK. They made the fall classic a shade better than half the time but have a losing record in the big series. Then again the conventional wisdom is it's all about pitching in October and at least one analyst thinks the Cubs have the best playoff rotation. We'll just have to wait and see. Stupid linear time!

Fresh faces behind bench, in booth

2008-08-27T18:06:16Z

While the Chicago Wolves' players have spent their offseason toting the Calder Cup from barbecue to barbecue, the organization has been busy filling some key spots off the ice.

Following former coach John Anderson's promotion to the parent Atlanta Thrashers, the Wolves found a new coach in their own backyard, hiring Downers Grave native Don Granato. Granato has 12 years of coaching experience, including an AHL title and Coach of the Year honors with the Worcester IceCats in 2001-01. He most recently was an assistant with the St. Louis Blues and a scout with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Granato name is ubiquitous in Chicago hockey, as his brother Tony was a former NHL player (and current coach of the Colorado Avalanche) and sister Cammi Granato lead the U.S. to Olympic gold in 1998.

In the broadcast booth, the Wolves hired Joel Shaver after Pat Foley's prodigal return to the Blackhawks booth this summer. Shaver, who was the director of broadcasting with the Houston Aeros, joins current analyst Bill Gardner for all Wolves broadcasts on Comcast Digital Channel 100. While Foley will no doubt be missed by Wolves fans, Shaver's youth and AHL experience should provide a fresh voice to the organization.

The Wolves will begin their defense of the Calder Cup October 11 in Houston, and the home opener and banner raising ceremony occurs October 18 against Peoria. Full and partial season ticket packages are currently on sale by calling 1-800-THE-WOLVES or visiting the team's website, including new club seating options.