Quick Hits...

Okay, no long diatribe today, just some quick nuggets.

The 40-Year Old Virgin is a hysterical movie - much better than I expected. I have not laughed that hard in a while. Highly recommended.

Paul Pierce will not help the Bulls in the long run. He may be a quick patch, but it will hurt the Bulls in their long range plan to acquire a player which almost solely plays offense and no defense. What reason does Jim Paxson have to believe that Pierce will change this late in his career? How will this hurt the chemistry of a team which is used to having each of its players treated equally, regardless of his importance to the team? Of course, if the Bulls trade for Pierce and LaFrentz (as reported by Sam Smith of the Tribune, 1/30/06), perhaps they can get Roy Williams to leave UNC and come coach the Bulls, who will have 3 former Jayhawks on the roster.

Is Jerome Bettis going home this week? If so, does he have to sleep in the same twin size bed that he slept in for the first 18 years of his life under this parent's roof? If s0, this is an underanalyzed underbelly of this story due to its potential impact on Bettis' health for the game. Maybe ESPN can do a 3-part story on this Wednesday - Friday this week as a follow up to their interview with Bettis' mom.

Will NBC ask all of their Olympic hosts to pronounce Italian names in a butchered Italian-American translation? Please, if you live and work in the US, the Olympics are being played in "Turin", not "Torino".

Thanks for reading.

Pagan to Save Cubs from Goat Curse

AP, 1/26/06: The Cubs purchased the contract of minor league outfielder Angel Pagan from the New York Mets on Wednesday and added him to their 40-man roster.

Finally, Cubs' brass figured out that you needed a pagan to purge a goat curse. Next thing they will try is one of the Halliwell sisters - my vote is for Alyssa Milano. Mmmmm, Milano!

Random Thoughts

If you look to your right, you will see that one of the links I have suggested is to a page called "Random Thoughts." You may ask yourself, "What in the world is Random Thoughts? Is it a dot.com startup company that will have a Super Bowl commercial?" Well, not quite.

Random Thoughts is another Blog that I highly recommend to anyone who has an interest in insightful and timely sports commentary with a healthy dose of humor and pop culture references. Think of it this way - it is Sportscenter without the fake street cred. Plus you do not have to wade through the annoying EOE movies (Let's remember that this is a sports channel people!).

Anyway, please feel free to follow the link to Random Thoughts, and pass the word on to your friends.

What if MLB owned all the numbers?

Did you hear the story about how MLB is trying to “sell” its statistics so that it can obtain a piece of the muli-million dollar fantasy league market?

My favorite quote from this story is this: “Last year, MLB bought the rights to the statistics from the Major League Players' Association.” I am not sure if the MLBPA even knew that the statistics could be bought or sold, but I give Don Fehr credit for keeping a straight face when Bud asked him how much he wanted.

Talk about stupidity! Perhaps MLB will confiscate all fans’ scorecards at the conclusion of ballgames so that fans cannot sell the statistics on the rotisserie black market. Heck, why stop there? Why not just confiscate all pens and pencils so that we will have to memorize the statistics from the day’s game so we can write them down at home? (Players don't give autographs anymore anyway!) The rights’ fees for MLB games will multiply just so the networks will have the right to show batting averages and ERA’s on the screen beside a player’s height, weight and alma mater. Newspapers would have to add a nickel to the cost of any subscription that still wants the sports page to include box scores.

Does anyone really wonder why the NFL has passed baseball as America’s favorite sport?

The Antonio Davis Conundrum

I have spent a couple days debating what the response should be to Antonio Davis entering the stands during a game to protect his wife from a perceived threat from a nearby fan. I really feel there are strong arguments in favor and against punishing him. Obviously, I am writing after Mr. Stern has levied a five game suspension, but I still feel some further discussion is warranted.

In favor of punishing him......the NBA has to take disciplinary action because the penalty will act as a deterrent for other players. In this case, we are less concerned with the actual event (from which there arose only a frivolous civil suit), and more concerned with the risks which AD created. While it is certainly rare for a melee to occur like in Detroit last year, any time a visiting player enters the stands it significantly increases the risk of dangerous backlash (What is the phrase....the road to hell is paved with good intentions). Therefore, the NBA should mete out a strong penalty to deter similar conduct in the future since the results are unpredictable and potentially dire.

Against punishing him....he thought his wife was at risk of physical harm. You can look at it this way: If the criminal justice system recognizes self-defense as a legitimate reason to commit an otherwise illegal act, why can't the NBA. I mean, if someone was pointing a gun at your wife at point blank range do you think you would be justified doing anything you can to remove the perceived risk? I can definitely see reasons why this is justified. To a lesser extent, I believe this reasoning applies to AD and should act in mitigation of this penalty.

On balance, I think the arguments in favor of a penalty win, but only slightly. It is a pretty easy to create a bright line rule that says you cannot go in the stands if a fan harasses a player, but a player's family is sacrosanct and then it is understandable so long as the player responds in a non-physical manner. However, any time a player enters the stands it opens Pandora's Box. In my opinion, a 2 game suspension would have been justified and could be easily distinguished from past events and potential future circumstances. Do you agree or disagree? I am interested in your opinions.

A Prelude to Spring Training

For the past several years some friends and I have started a tradition of going to Arizona to see some Cactus League games featuring the Cubs. It is a great time to get away after a long, dreary winter and it is a great atmosphere to watch baseball. The players are much for accessible, especially for kids, and you can see some of the up and coming players who may get a chance to reach the Bigs later in the season. Plus, all the stadiums are located within an hour drive of each other so you can take in a bunch of games without much effort.

Anyway, this year we are taking it to the next level. We are combining the following three key ingredients to our spectacular trip:

1) Vegas
2) Baseball
3) Final Four

Yep! We are going to Las Vegas the last weekend in March to see the Cubs play two games against the Padres and watch the Final Four in the cauldron of a Vegas sports book. Oh, and I am sure that a very large steak is going to be part of the plans. Go ahead, wipe the drool from your chin.

24 - Day 5

You MUST watch 24. Even if you have not seen the first 4 seasons, start watching 24 now. Find someone who has TiVO'd the first 4 hours and catch up before it is too late. This is not a spoiler site, so I will not give away the cookies on the amazing start to this season, but let's just say that you should watch at least an hour before going to bed, because sleeping after this is not an option.

Feel free to provide me your thoughts on Day 5 throughout the season, but please do not compulsively obsess about the seemingly impossible time it takes to get anywhere in L.A. - it is called suspension of disbelief.

The Day After - 2006

Well, the Bears looked like a shadow of themselves. There is some blame to be shared between the coaches and players, but overall they just were outplayed. Sometimes success can mask a team's shortcomings, and I think that was the case this year. After the game last night I asked mybuddy what the Bears should look for in the draft - the "best available player" or look for a specific need. He said we need wide receivers. I am not so sure.

I am willing to argue two other positions - offensive line and defensive back. First, I am a huge believer in building a team from the inside out. The skill position players get all the pub, but if the o-line does not give them time to run around it does not mean crap if you can run a 4.3. While the offensive line of the Bears played very well over the course of the year, they are scarily shallow at the position. For a position that is so valuable on a team built around the running game, I want more of the big nasties who can step in an play well.

Next, I want more talented defensive backs. Nathan Vasher has shown that he is a playmaker, but Charles Tillman has taken a step backwards. Further, if Tillman or Vasher is hurt, we need to have more confidence in our back-ups. In the 3rd Quarter last night the Bears put a rookie, who had spent time on the practice squad this year, on Steve Smith. Result - TD. Then we can talk about the safeties. It seems clear to me that after Mike Brown and Chris Harris, our safeties are terrible. I think the best thing that happens to the Bears today is that Mike Green is no longer a Bear (a pass once hit him in the back of the head while he was running around without looking for the ball!). Todd Johnson is good against the run, but is too slow to cover the pass.

My final thought is on our QB's. Neither Rex nor Kyle is going to be an All-Pro quarterback. However, the Bear's are not built around their QB either. Do I think that Rex is good enough to take the next step - yes. While he is absolutely not as good as Brett Favre, he has a little bit of that gunslinger's mentality - I like that. The problem is Rex cannot make the same throws that Favre did in his prime. So Rex has to become more mature, take what the defense gives him and then take calculated risks now and then. If he does, he will be successful.

Overall, this year was a lot of fun because it came out of nowhere. However, when a team starts to get on a roll expectations change. As a result, all of our accomplishments this year seem a little hollow this morning. With some time I believe that we will look back on this year as a foundation for a good run - especially since so many of our important players are under contract. I honestly do not believe that 2006 will be a rerun of 2002. So to finish with a positive note (Chicago fans have to stay optimistic), I look forward to next year with more promise than any other season I can recall. Bear Down!