Windy City Weekend Roundup: "It's Back!" Edition

Unfortunately, I have not been able to publish any posts since September due to time constraints, however, I now am able to give a weekly weekend roundup of all that is happening in the Windy City.

• Cubs Convention started on Friday. The biggest announcement was probably the fact that Carlos Zambrano will have LASIK eye surgery. Maybe the Cubs don't need Jake Peavy after all.
• Back to the Cubs, this only comes two years after the first announcement.
• The Bears announced that Bob Babich's days of calling defensive plays are over for the forseeable future. Lovie Smith will now be the man who takes the blame for any failures. This is good news, because in Lovie's three years as defensive coordinator in St. Louis, the Rams were third in the NFL in takeaways and fumble recoveries, tied for sixth in sacks, and tied for eighth in interceptions.
• The Bears' new assisstant head coach and defensive line coach has a great resume. He can not only be Lovie's friend, just like Babich, but has also coached a team to an be undefeated! At losing!
  
• Northwestern men's basketball appears to be incapable of holding a lead. I was there, and it was one of the worst eight minutes I have ever seen. The fact that most of the stadium was chanting "Let's go Boilers!" didn't help either.
• This isn't Windy City related (except indirectly), but still funny.

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)

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.

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.

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.