Hendry is a McFail

When Jim Hendry replaced Andy McPhail in the Cubs front office, fans were thrilled.  I was among the thrilled.  Jim lived up to expectations immediately.  We came close in 2003, 2007 and 2008.  The Cubs have never had a decade of success quite like this.  Well, I mean in terms of victories and division titles.  The Cubs continue to be allergic to the World Series and now they are trending downward yet again.  The minor league system is bare and we have killer contracts on bad players no one wants.

Hendry had some great pickups but over the past couple of years that hasn’t been the case.  It is about the signings that didn’t work (Fukudome and Bradley) and the ones that got away (Peavy and Roberts). 

Hendry was a guy I liked at first but he is time is running out.  The sands in the hour glass are getting low.  If he fails to land Figgins, a closer and dump Bradley his days in Chicago are numbered. 

 

College Football Hotties 2009 – Vol 5

OK, I’ve ranted long enough about the Billion Dollar Yankees and Lovie “Idiots Guide to Coaching” Smith.  Let’s have some fun.  Bring on the college football hotties.

After last weeks loss ASU fans should be hiding their faces.  Oh wait, not you!  As a matter of fact let’s ditch the Pink jacket.  Thanks Dirty!

The Wolverines are going down faster than a drunk coed at a frat party.  Not sure about this Wolverette going “down” though.  After further review it looks like she has a pair of scissors.  Yikes!

How can you do a post like this and not give love to the Gators?  They have the #1 team in the land and some of the hottest fans around.

Look at this Wisconsin girl go.  Daddy would be so proud.

The NC State cheer squad by the pool.  Are they ripped or what?  I am thinking about diving but the pool didn’t give me that idea.

This gorgeous hottie is a Playboy model but I also know she is from Texas and a Longhorn fan.  Judgement call here but I think it was OK to use her in the post.

Em-BEAR-assed

Disappointing is a good word.  Upset is another good word.  Embarrassing is probably the best word.  But surprised, not necessarily. 

This was coming.  I saw it.  I am sure others saw it coming.  Most Chicago Bears fans though, not so much.  They bleed blue and orange and believe.  And why not believe.  You get Jay Cut and Pace and the offense is ready to go.  The defensive players love Marinelli.  Things look good, right?

Not so much.  A combination of injuries, bad play calling, and poor coaching has led this team from the rosey path to a dark, dead-end street.  The die hards with their rose colored glasses must be beside themselves.  This past Sunday must have been their Shock and Awe.

The season is far from over.  It is very possible they could go 6-2 in the 2nd half of the season and still get a wildcard.  Realistically they will be lucky to go 4-4 and finish .500 on the season.  And how embarrassing is that? 

I don’t care that they have had some injuries.  All teams do.  Great coaches get the most out of what they have and what Lovie had was a playoff quality team.  He gathered that defense to rile them up, motivate them after going down 21-7.  So how did that defense respond?  They gave up another 20 points.

I’ve seen some bad Chicago Bears teams.  I can remember games dating back to the mid 70s and at no time have I seen a team let down their fan base as much as the 2009 Chicago Bears.  This team had potential to win 11 or 12 games.

There were also bad coaches like Abe Gibron, Neil Armstrong, Dick Jauron and Dave Wannstedt.  However Lovie fires a Superbowl coordinator and tells fans to trust him that he knows what he is doing.  Since the big game the Bears have gotten worse each season.  Now Lovie has taken over the D-Coordinator position, in addition to his full-time job and is sucking big time.

I am embarrassed to be a Bears fan right now.  I am sure most Bears fans are.  The most disappointing thing is that there isn’t much you can do.  What are you going to do?  You can’t fire Lovie in the middle of the season.  Who becomes head coach, Toub, Marinelli or ‘gulp’ Turner?  Ahhhhh, Jane, stop this crazy thing.  You could fire the GM but he has guaranteed money on the table.  He isn’t going anywhere.  The only guys I could see being sacrificial lambs might be O-Line Coach Harry Heinstand, DB Coach John Hoke and possibly LB Coach Bob Babich. 

However, if the Gods are smiling down upon Beardom the Bears Organization with give the old heave ho to Lovie, Turner, Angelo and the rest of the coaches at the end of 2009.

Random Thoughts

OK, Deep Thoughts Jack Handy I’m not but I haven’t posted anything of substance in a while and I feel a rant coming on.

It has been 9 seasons since the Yankees last won a world championship.  In monetary terms that is about $1.4 billion in player salary over the course of those 9 seasons.  The payroll of the 2009 Yankees alone…

When you are $63 million better than the #2 team in baseball you ought to win the championship.  Hell, my 10 year old son could manage a team with a $208 million payroll.  The Yankees argument is “we pay the luxury tax and spread our wealth to all of the other teams”.  GREAT, what has it got those teams.  It helps Kansas City do what?  Rehab the stadium?  Nope, that was mostly public and other private funds.  Get better players to challenge in their sad ass division?  Nope.  They pretty much still suck. 

The economics of baseball don’t work and it is certainly a sign of the times.  The Yankees and their over priced Roid’ boys won.  We can’t take anything away from them.  I actually like Jeter and Matsui so I am happy for them.  But I’m not happy with the situation.  Baseball is soon to be the way of the many extinct sports leagues if they don’t wise up and find a better way to level the playing field.  Wouldn’t it be nice if teams like K.C., Seattle and Oakland actually had a snowballs chance in hell once in a while.

Enough about baseball.  What is going on with the Chicago Bears?  They get Jay Cutler and the offense goes…BACKWARDS.  OK, I didn’t think the offense would be league’s best but I thought we would improve coming off of last season.  No, they look like shit.  Jay Cut runs for his life half of the time and really has no reliable receiver to look at when things get rough.  Olsen regressed, Hester is always banged up and Forte can’t run.  The offensive line went from fair to suck in one season.  You add a healthy Orlando Pace and go from fair to suck?  I don’t get it. 

My guess is the coaching and player development SUCK!  Cedric leaves and gets better.  But not just better, we’re talking best in the AFC better.  Orton leaves and get better.  Not just a little better, we’re talking top QB rating in the NFL better.  And, from a coaching perspective, it is a terrible group.

Ever since Rivera left the D-Coordinators position after the SuperBowl in 2006 the defense has gotten worse.  The offense is consistently poor.  Turner is a terrible coordinator.  Lovie who is both the head coach and D-Coordinator is unable to wear both hats.  This experiment isn’t working and they are watching the season get flushed down the toilet.

I really hope they can turn things around but a small part of me hopes they do only win 7 or 8 games and Lovie and the whole lot of them get launched in favor of a Dungy or Cowher.  We can only hope