NFL Preview: NFC South

This is the third of a series of divisional previews before the season starts on September 4 in New York.
Buccaneers: As is usual with head coach Jon Gruden, the Bucs have a lot of solid QBs, but no true, clear-cut starter. QB Jeff Garcia led them to a division title last year, but is now upset and wants out. He has QBs Luke McCown and Brian Griese behind him if he starts to mess things up. Their running game is probably not going to do too much this year, but RB Earnest Graham should have a solid year of 900-1,100 rushing yards. The defense is slightly better than average, and is led by LB Derrek Brooks, DE Gaines Adams and CB Ronde Barber. Expect this team to win games 17-14 and 20-17, or somewhere in that vicinity. Prediction: 9-7. Graham backs the Garcia/Griese platoon, and Bucs are over .500.
Panthers: One of the most news-making teams during training camp with the WR Steve Smith/CB Ken Lucas brawl, this is a team that hopes to recover and make the playoffs. It has an oft-injured quarterback in QB Jake Delhomme, and no true go-to guy at running back, expect this offense to sputter. For years, Steve Smith has been this team's only good wide receiver, and he is suspended for the first two games of the season for the lilttle skirmish with Lucas. The defense is one of the better ones in the league, and should help the team more than the offense. Prediction: 9-7. Delhomme stays healthy, but doesn't have the support to do anything special.
Saints: Last year, the offense that carried this team to the NFC Championship game the year before, failed to run the ball, which eventually spread to the pass. If RBs Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister can stay healthy and productive, QB Drew Brees should be able to find WR Marques Colston and new TE Jeremy Shockey more often. The defense is about average, and shouldn't help this team much. Prediction: 11-5. Playing in a weak division should help vault them to double-digit wins.
Falcons: After losing Michael Vick to the feds last year, the Falcons went 4-12. Now they are trying to develop a young quarterback in QB Matt Ryan. After signing RB Michael Turner to a lucrative free agent contract, the team has at least a small running game. The defense won't do this team any favors. Prediction: 3-13. Ryan needs at least another year to get accustomed to the NFL, Turner isn't ready to be a starter, and the offensive line isn't helping at all.

Prediction:
Saints: 11-5, (Team MVP) McAllister
Buccaneers, 9-7, WR Joey Gallaway
Panthers, 9-7, Smith
Falcons, 3-13, Ryan

NFL Preview: NFC East

This is the second in a series of NFL division previews before the season starts on September 4 in New York.
Cowboys: This year's feature on HBO's "Hard Knocks" went 13-3 last year, and should only get better this year. Despite losses in their running game (losing Julius Jones through free agency), the additon of rookie RB Felix Jones (no relation) through the draft will allow RB Marion Barber to still have a succesful season in a platoon. QB Tony Romo should have a third straight Pro-Bowl year. This season, his targets remain WRs Terrell Owens and Patrick Crayton, and TE Jason Witten, all succesful receivers. The defense adds CB Adam (not Pacman) Jones to an already formidable "D" in "Big D". Prediction: 14-2. Another succesful season, another division title. Maybe even a Super Bowl run.
Giants: Last year's champs know a thing or two about winning, but still aren't the best team in this division. QB Eli Manning put together four good games last January, and won the Super Bowl MVP, but he will still be a shaky quarterback this year. He lost his number one target, as well as number one distraction, in TE Jeremy Shockey. When Shockey was injured last year, Manning led the Giants to a Super Bowl win. The defense lost a starting linebacker (LB Kawika Mitchell), and a starting safety (Gibril Wilson) through free agency, one of the best defenive ends in history to retirement (DE Michael Strahan), and one of today's best defensive ends to injury (Osi Umenyiora). Prediction: 9-7. While Manning improves, it won't be enough to make up for the losses on a defensive unit that got them to the Super Bowl last year.
Eagles: This is a team that is based on a fast-paced, offensive attack. With QB Donovan McNabb always a threat to run, and RB Brian Westbrook one of the game's best all-around threats, this team likes to run. The only problem offensively is that they don't have a true receiving threat other than Westbrook. On defense, their unit is fairly average, other than their cornerbacks. They have one of the best tandems in the league, in Asante Samuels and Lito Sheppard. Prediction: 11-5. The star power shows, but so does the lack of depth in othre areas.
Redskins: This a team that is banking its future on QB Jason Campbell developing as an offensive star. He has to learn another new offense, and has most of his targets as rookies, outside of TE Cris Cooley and WR Santana Moss. The defense, like the Eagles, is average at best. The Redskins need to hope that RB Clinton Portis has a good season and can stay healthy, otherwise they miss the playoffs. Prediction: 8-8. This is a budding young team that needs at least one more year to develop into a playoff team.

Prediction:
Cowboys, 14-2, (team MVP) Marion Barber
Eagles, 11-5, Brian Westbrook
Giants, 9-7, Eli Manning
Redskins, 8-8, Clinton Portis

NFL Preview: NFC North

This is the first in a series of divisional previews before the NFL's opening game on September 4 in New York. We start with the NFC North.
Packers: Probably the biggest news-making team this offseason, with the entire Brett Favre saga. Now that Favre is a Jet, this is a team that doesn't have a proven quarterback. At running back, Ryan Grant owns Packers franchise records for rushing yards and touchdowns in a playoff game, both set last year against the Seahawks. This Packers team is pretty much the same one as last year's 13-3 team, except for the quarterback. Prediction: 10-6. Aaron Rodgers manages the games well enough for the defense to win games.
Vikings: Are probably the team to beat in the NFC this year. They have a very solid defense, even if their passing defense ranked 32nd in a 32 team league, they had the best rushing 'D'. Despite that number one ranking, the strength of this team is the running game. With last year's rookie of the year Adrian Peterson, they have one of the league's best running backs, and have one of the best backups in Chester Taylor (who could be a starter on the Bears). Probably this team's biggest question mark is the passing game. With ex-Bears Bernard Berrian and Justin Gage as starters, the receiving corps is average at best. Tarvaris Jackson must prove that he can be a consistent QB in the NFL. Prediction: 13-3. Peterson makes up for Jackson's so-so performance.
Lions: This a team of habitual underachievers. They got rid of their most annoying one in Kevin Jones, but still have Jon Kitna, and are going to be relying on a defense that can't do very much in the way of stopping high-powered offenses such as the Viking's. They probably have the second best receiving corps in the division behind the Packer's. Prediction: 9-7. Can't establish a running game, and Kitna can't do it all for the offense.
Bears: Can't really decide whether they are in a rebuilding year or should be trying to win now. The offense relies on unproven players at running back (Matt Forte), wide reciever (Devin Hester, Earl Bennet), quarterback (Kyle Orton), and left tackle (Chris Williams upon his return). The defense is full of veterans, most of whom were on the team that went to Super Bowl XLI. The biggest strenght of this team is the special teams, where it has teh best unit I have ever seen. Prediction: 6-10. The offense starts strong, but shows its youth down the stretch. The defense also starts slow, and then shows its experience.

Predicted Finish:
Vikings, 13-3, (Team MVP) Adrian Peterson
Packers, 10-6, Nick Barnett (linebacker)
Lions, 9-7, Roy Williams (wide receiver)
Bears, 6-10, Tommie Harris (defensive tackle)

What a Difference a Year Makes

This Cubs team is 81-50 through 131 games, the franchise's ninth-best start (if you can call it a start) through the first 131, in history. Last year, the Cubs were 67-64. So, what is different about this Cubs team as opposed to last year's? What could have made that 14 game improvement over last year's team? Kosuke Fukudome? Jim Edmonds? Jeff Samardzija? Chad Gaudin? Rich Harden? Reed Johnson?
Sure, all of those guys are good, but some of them haven't been with this team all year, and the others haven't been 14 games better than their replacements. Maybe it is all of those guys combined, but I just feel more confident about this team than last year's.
This is a deeper team than the '07 one. When Bill Murray's brother is your fourth starter, you know that you have a strong starting rotation. Mark DeRosa is having a career year at second, Geovany Soto has emerged as one of the best catchers in the NL. Also, last year the Cubs relied mostly on Daryle Ward to come through in late game pinch-hit situations. This year, Lou Piniella could use an updated version of these, and probably still win. So, all in all, I trust this Cubs team a lot more than I trusted last year's. It's Gonna Happen!

Monday Windy City Roundup

Bears: As this pitiful-looking team prepares for the annual preseason finale against Cleveland, there is a lot of work to be done. As tough as Chicago fans are on quarterbacks, playing a game in Soldier Field has to be easier than playing Cleveland. Last week's game was at home against the 49er's. The true test of Kyle Orton's ability will come on Thursday night at the Browns. Normally Cleveland fans would be pretty mellow compared to say, Packers fans in Lambeau, but there is the little issue of the Dawg Pound, and Orton's history at Cleveland (29-47, 258 yds, 1 td, 1 int). Even with all of that, it's still the defense that worries me. After what J.T. O'Sullivan did last week, Oregon State grad Derek Anderson could absoutely torch this secondary. Well, we will see.

Cubs: Open a three-game series in Pittsburgh tonight, and have a four-game series at home against Philadelphia this weekend. The Pirates series is Jeff Karstens, Ian Snell and Zach Duke vs. Ted Lilly, Carlos Zambrano and Jason Marquis. Karstens shut out the Cubs through six innigns on August 1st, which was his major league debut, and was the day after the Cubs finished their four-game sweep of the Brewers. Snell and Duke should be fairly easy wins, and I predict a sweep. Against the Phillies, Ryan Dempster vs. Cole Hamels on Thursday is the only sure thing, with Rich Harden going on Friday expect to see Lilly and Zambrano finish up the series this weekend. My prediction is 6-1 this week.

Olympic Closing Thoughts

So now that the Olympics really are done, it's time to reflect, and think about what we witnessed the last two weeks. We saw medal records broken (Michael Phelps), event world records smashed (almost every swimming event), age controversies (China's gymnasts), and our fair share of gloating (Usain Bolt in the 100 m dash). Even through all of those things, I believe that what we will remember from these games, isn't any of the above. What I believe will be remembered for the longest is how much China grew as a nation. They used to be a communist nation, poor and in disrepair, but proved that when they all come together, they can do something special.
Of course, even 1.3 billion Chinese citizens who wanted this whole event to go flawlessly couldn't stop it's problems. From the attack on the US men's volleyball coach's family, to the pending IOC investigation of China's gymnasts, theses Games had their fair share of problems.
Now, all we have to look forward to Olympic-wise is Windy City in 2016!!!

Weekend Thoughts: Olympic Edition

Now that the Olympics are over (at least the will be tonight), we have the pennant race and football season to look forward to. So here are my thoughts as the we head into the awkward period when it's not the thick of a race in baseball, or football season:

• If Kyle Orton plays this whole season like he did on Thursday, the Bears marketing campaign may be "One city. One team. One Quarterback."
• There's one man in Chicago who was the talk of the town last year, but this year is the forgotten man: Bob Babich. The defense allowed 354.7 yards per game last year. In 2006, Ron Rivera's defense allowed 294.1 yards per game. His career could be in jeopardy this year.
• Sports Illustrated had an article about the Cubs bullpen by Luke Winn. It's mostly about Samardzija, Wood and Marmol, but Winn says that the Cubs have "the NL's deepest overall pen (righties Bob Howry and Chad Gaudin and lefty Neal Cotts could be solid setup men anywhere else)." Gaudin maybe, but Cotts and Howry shouldn't be major league pitchers anymore.
• In the article mentioned above, there is a photo of Wood in his windup. There's something in back pocket, and now I'm curious as to what it is. Probably a small cylinder with some petroleum jelly in it, or something of the sort.

And a congratulations to all medal-winning athletes at the Olympics, regardless of their country.

Bit of a boring week, eh?

So, this week has been fairly dull since Monday's big news. Cubs have won one, lost one against the Reds. Bears play again tonight, so things could heat up in a flash. But for now, sports in the Windy City are boring. I guess this means that it's time for my equally boring review of Madden 09 (for the Wii).
This new version has some small improvements, and is definitely, not drastically, better than last year's installment. For one the 5-on-5 mode is very fun. You have a quarterback, running back, center and two wide receivers on offense. There are four plays: run, short pass, medium pass and deep pass. You can also use the new Call Your Shot feature, which is fun. Before the game you decide starting position, number of downs, number of touchdowns to win and whether or not the players have big heads. On defense, you have a safety, linebacker, defensive tackle and two cornerbacks. Your four plays are blitz, short pass, medium pass and deep pass. That part is also fun. The playcalling menu has been improved, but the audible control is frustrating. Bottom line is, buy this game if you don't have Madden 08. If you haven't sold 08, save your 50 bucks.

Monday Windy City Roundup

Bears: Kyle Orton was named the starter today. And for once, since before last season, I agree with a decision that Lovie Smith has made. Orton is a much more consistent quarterback, and a game manager. I know that calling a QB a game manager is a cliche, but Orton really is. When someone makes smart throws, and slows the game down, they are a game manager. And that is exactly what Orton does. He reminds me of a lesser Peyton Manning. Sure, Orton isn't as smart, hard-working, or talented, but he is still capable in every important catergory. Grossman is a gunslinger, which can be good if you have a good offensive line (Brett Favre last year), but with one as bad as the Bears', a gunslinger is a problem (Brett Favre in '05 and '06). Grossman now is saying goodbye to Ortman and hello to the bench.

Cubs: Have a second straight Monday off. After a surprisingly good road trip down south, they have a six game homestand against Cincinnati and Washington. This gives the streaking Cubs a chance to shove a sword down the throat of Dusty Baker's new team. And Corey Patterson's new team. And Jerry Hairston's new team. Bring back Mark Prior, and the whole gang will be back at Wrigley for three games! This first series should be a challenge, with Harden, Lilly and Zambrano facing Johnny Cueto, Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang. Arroyo and Harang are Cubs killer's, and Cueto 1-1 with a 4.97 ERA in two starts this year against the Cubs. Of course, all three are struggling this year. The series against the Nats only has Marquis vs. TBA. My prediction for this week is 4-2.

Team USA's Golden Boy Strikes Again

As stated earlier, Michael Phelps is ridiculous. If what he had done before these Olympics wasn't ridiculous enough for you, then this should convince you. He won his eighth gold medal last night, and did so with a large lead. He and team USA swam the 4x100 medley relay in 3:29:34, a new world record. This gives him 7 world records in his eight events. The only event where he doesn't hold the world record is in the 100 meter butterfly, the event with the stunning finish on Friday night. All total, he has set 32 world records in his career, and broken 25 of them. Mark Spitz set 33 world records.
Going into last night's race (Sunday morning in Beijing), I would not have wanted to be one of the swimmers in that relay. If one of them were to mess up, they would have been remembered for years as the swimmer who cost Michael Phelps his eighth gold medal. Because they won, no one will remember any of the others by Monday morning. Bask in your glory for two days Aaron Piersol, Jason Lezak and Brendan Hansen, because it won't last.

The Curse is Broken!!! (no, not that curse)

The Cubs have finally broken through and won one! The curse, the dreaded curse, the curse that has stood for multiple years, is finally broken! Smashed! Destroyed! Obliterated! Decimated! All on a Daryle Ward 3-run homer! Amazing! But, unfortunately, we still have to win a world series to break the actual curse. I was just talking about the curse of the Cubs in Florida. They had lost nine straight in Florida (including at the Rays in June) until Lou's favorite pinch-hitter ripped an 0-1 fastball into the seats. Our friend Paul Sullivan described him as smelling "like a brewery" during postgame interviews, due to his teammates' beer shower (combine weight, game-winning homer, and smelling like beer, and we've got ourselves another Prince Fielder).
But, why is it that it was so impossible for our Cubbies to beat the Marlins or the Rays? Probably bad luck. Every team has its hot and cold streaks, and the Cubs always played in Florida during a cold streak. Or maybe the Cubs decided to suck right then (betting scandal?). We may never know.

Changes Please: Doubleheader Edition

For some reason, I am really annoyed that the MLB continues to use the doubleheader as a way to make up lost games. I understand the importance of doing so, but there has to be a better way than the doubleheader. The current system calls for a midday or afternoon game (today's 12:10 start vs. the Braves), and a night game (6:15 tonight). This really wears a team down, and keeps them from being able to hold a steady division lead, or keep pace with another team, at least in the games following. Most of these players train to play nine innings a day, some as many as 12 or 13. But to have a guarantee of at least 18 innings in a day, means that the players will go into the next series tired and worn out. Starting pitchers especially are thrown off by this. They have to warm up, and like to know when they will be pitching next. If you have five days rest, your day to throw is a day later. So with a doubleheader, pitchers are thrown out of routine.
Without a solution, griping about a problem is no use. So I have a few solutions:
1. Forget about the game entirely. This is my least favorite. It's as if the game was never planned. Cubs only play two games this series against the Braves. Lou skips Harden (scheduled to pitch yesterday) and goes straight to Marquis. Harden can throw a simulated game (those words bring back memories). Unfortunately, this season couldn't go down in the record books, because they would have less games played. And half a game in the division doesn't really matter, because one team has played less games.
2. Wait until both teams have a day off to play it. This may mean a little extra travel, but the same things go for the rotation as option one. Obviously, later in the season this may be more difficult, so you could then use option three.
3. Have a designated number of days after the season and before the playoffs in which to play any makeups. This is my favorite. If there is no need to play all of the makeup days, then start the playoffs early. Also, it solves another problem with the current system: if the two teams don't have another meeting that season, and no overlapping off days, then the two teams will just use option one. I modeled this idea after my school having snow days at the end of the year in case we have any in the winter. If one team has too many rainouts in the first half, then you can have a day taken off of the all-star break for them.
So, in conclusion, option three will probably be the best; even better than the current system.

Olympic Watch

So, I feel like I can't really keep blogging about sports right now without writing something about the Olympics. And I can't really write about the Olympics without writing about Michael Phelps. Seriously, this guy is (with all due respect to Devin Hester) ridiculous. He currently holds 6 world records (four solo, two relay). He has broken 2 of his own world records. At age 16 he broke his first world record.
Yesterday he won the 200 meter butterfly and the 4x200 freestyle relay. New world records were set in both of those, including career gold medals at the Olympics. Phelps has 11 career golds.

To say that Michael Phelps is the most dominant swimmer ever may be an understatement. The most dominant Olympian? You have to go farther than that. Try most dominant athlete. He is in the conversation with Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, John McEnroe, Babe Ruth, Jack Nicklaus and Magic Johnson. Of all of the Olympics to lay witness to, this is definitely the one that I would choose to see. 1936 in Berlin with Jesse Owens vs. the world is a close second, but 2008 in Beijing is number one for sure.
Ridiculous.

Monday Windy City Roundup

Cubs: Have the day off today. This week they are at Atlanta and Florida. Harden, Marquis and Lilly are going against Charlie Morton (3-5, 5.70 ERA), Jorge Campillo (7-4, 2.83) and Tom Glavine (2-3, 4.85). Morton looks like someone who could turn into a good pitcher (he's still a rookie). Campillo could probably be a 2nd or 3rd starter. He is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in 13.1 innings pitched during his two August starts versus the Brewers and Diamondbacks. He still looks like a pitcher that the Cubs can get to. We all know Tom Glavine. He hasn't made a start since June 10 versus the Cubs. He went three innings, surrendering 6 hits, 4 walks and 4 runs (all earned). They'll probably still be in first at weeks end.
Scott Eyre now joins Will Ohman as a Cubs lefty traded to the NL East in the past year. Hopefully this kid Schlitter can be a decent starter some day. So far he's thrown 2 shutout innings in Class A and given up only 2 hits.

Bears: I know it's still the preseason, but Caleb Hanie looks like a better QB than Ortman. That's really no surprise, because Ortman is terrible. But Hanie still won't win the starting job. For one he's a rookie undrafted free agent. Those things shouldn't count against him at all, but do with Lovie as coach.
So, to handicap the QB race that actually matters (no offense to Hanie). The "man" part of Ortman always plays his best in the preseason. And "Ort" always plays best in the regular season, so Lovie will make Grossman the starter. That's also because the Bears want Grossman to be the starter. They want the former first round pick to be good. They assume he will be good because Jerry Angelo was confident enough to use a first round pick on him. The same happened with Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones (or maybe Benson bought Angelo and Lovie a few drinks).
So Grossman will win, lose his job to Orton, get it back and lose it again, only to have a competiton next training camp.

Wait...What Just Happened?

This is going to be end up being the best week that the Cubs have had all season! They just steamrolled the Brewers in Milwaukee, and now they have to face the Pirates at home. The Pirates. At home. The Cubs are 9-3 against the Bucs. They're 5-1 at home. One of the road losses only happened because Alfonso Soriano dropped a routine fly ball with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth. The Cubs are going to be on an eight game winning streak. Woo-hoo!!!
...
Wait...
The Cubs lost? They got shut out by the Pirates? Jeff Karstens, the Pirates starter had never even thrown a major league pitch in his life. He went 6 shutout innings against the highest scoring team in the National League. He surrendered only 5 singles. What happened here? The Cubs had rolled past C.C. Sabathia and Ben Sheets in Milwaukee. And now they can't beat Jeff Karstens? Well, hopefully Ted Lilly and Carlos Zambrano can get the Cubs turned around.

The Big One: The One We've All Been Waiting For

This is it. These next four games will decide the Cubs' season. If they get swept, they're 3 games down on Milwaukee. If the Cubs sweep, they have a 5 game cushion, and magic number of 49. I know that nobody really cares about the magic number in July, but in my opinion, once it gets under 50, you should start to pay attention. A Brewers sweep would put their magic number at 50.
Tonight's game is at 7:05 CST. Lilly vs. Sabathia. As a Brewer, Sabathia has made 4 starts, and gone 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA. He has logged 33 innings, struck out 31 and allowed only 5 ER.
In Lilly's last 4 starts (3 since the Sabathia trade), he has gone 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA. He has gone 21.2 innings, struck out 20 and allowed 10 earned runs.
If the Cubs can get to Sabathia early (Soriano first pitch homer?), then the Cubs can win. Otherwise, no.