Fire Lovie?

As another December rolls on we ask the question that has become an annual tradition as of late:

Is Lovie Smith finally on his way out?

Sorry Lovie-Haters, probably not.

I don’t pretend to know the heart of Phil Emery but, unless the Bears absolutely stink it up in these next 2 games, I see Lovie keeping his job for one more year. (If the Bears had’ve beat the Packers this past Sunday after 5 straight losses to Green Bay, Lovie may have received an extension.) I believe that Lovie is so beloved in Halas Hall that he’d have to lose complete command of the team to lose his job. 

And, if you listen to Brian Urlacher, Lovie is still in charge. 

However, at minimum, Lovie will be forced to reshuffle his coordinators again. But what credible coordinator would want to come into a dysfunctional situation?

So how will it play out? I’m glad you asked!

Say hello to Jeremy Bates, your new Offensive Coordinator.

If Phil Emery is serious about giving Jay Cutler an extension and would like a hometown discount, then this move is a turkey shoot. Jay loves Jeremy and Bates is going to climb up the coaching tree to be a head coach someday. The Bears will ditch Mike Tice and O-line coach Tim Holt and Lovie will stick around for at least one more year.

But what if they did fire Lovie? What would the Bears look like next year?

That will be my next post.

The Hits Just Keep On Comin'

I’ve heard and read the arguments that either Gary Bettman or even Donald Fehr should do more to curb the extreme violence that is on display in hockey, particularly the brand of hockey seen in this Stanley Cup playoffs. But there is only so much either man can and/or is willing to do.

A perfect example would be the state of the NFL over the past few years. Ever since Roger Goodell took over in 2006, there has been a concerted effort to increase player safety and to rid the league of players behaving in criminal acts. I have little doubt in my mind that there is some measure of benevolence involved in Goodell’s governance.

Nevertheless, I am sure money continues to be a major inducement. There are over 1,100 former football players, including Mongo, suing the NFL over brain injuries incurred during their careers. They argue that players were consistently misinformed about the negative effects of head trauma. What’s the best way to combat these charges? By making it seem the NFL is all about player safety and has been from the beginning. They are trying to save themselves hundreds of millions of dollars by getting ahead of the curve.

 More importantly, the NFL saw the potential for losing those fans who were tired of watching their stars getting carted off the field with no consequence for the opposing players or team.

What does this have to do with the NHL?

As long as people are paying for tickets to watch players beat the crap out of each other and the NHLPA doesn’t threaten to file suit on behalf of former players, then it’s status quo. They will do just enough to seem like they are doing something, but not what they should be doing, like banning players for life, taking away draft picks, and levying heavy fines.

As a matter of fact, fighting and the crap associated with it should be banned altogether. Yes, I said it.

For those “purists” who believe fighting is just part of hockey, stop it. Really. Fighting had been part of other sports and when it got taken away or curbed those sports did just fine. It’s all about escalation: it starts with the pushing and shoving, then later a smack to the head, then a slash on the hands, then a one-on-one fight, then a brawl.

Or one dirty hit leads to a retaliatory hit where the retaliation gets the guy a 5 game suspension, but the original hit gets nothing.

At some point the fans have to stand together and say that they’ve had it with the inconsistencies, the needless violence and the cheap, petty, whiny thuggery. The fans have to stop buying jerseys, stop buying tickets, stop watching the broadcasts and start making their voice heard. The stakes are just too high.

Get off Riggs back.

Jon Heyman of SI.com wrote a good article on Jim Riggleman's resignation. It was good to hear the point of view of someone who cares to look at both sides of the story. The knee-jerk reaction by many folks in the sports media was to call him a quitter. Joe Lemire, also of SI.com calls Riggleman selfish.

Sorry, I just don't buy that.

Cubs fans remember him from his days managing the team from 1995 -1999, where he led them to a wild card appearance in '98. For 29 years, as a manager in the major and minor leagues, he's seen the disturbing trend play itself out over and over again: a winning skipper doesn't always keep his job, but a losing one will certainly be shown the door.

Is it too much to ask, given the leverage players with guaranteed contracts have, to show him the money? Or, as was apparent, if you're weren't going to keep him around at the end of the season anyway, just let him go. Riggleman probably got tired of being the manager who is the placeholder for a more famous or infamous manager.

He had a losing career record but you'd have one too if you're stops included the Padres, Cubs, Mariners and Nationals.

Imagine you get hired into a shipper job where everything is in shambles. They say you're on a one-year contract. You clean up the place, set some ground rules, get a nice workflow going, then, after your year is up, you're told you won't be getting re-hired. Then they hire some hotshot guy with a glowing personality and pay him 3 times as much to run the department you helped get out of the gutter.

I'm guessing after it happens to you a few times and you see it happen to others numerous times, you might be a little bitter too.

So if Riggs had stayed and played along with the sham, he'd be out of a job come October and have a lot less pride. He leaves now with his integrity intact. And for those who say he should honor his contract, as GM Mike Rizzo accused him of...GM's fire managers all of the time mid-contract, even if it's not the managers fault the team is losing. How is that honorable?

Riggleman did what he thought was right. That should be enough for anybody.

BULLS FAN GUIDE TO THE 2011 NBA DRAFT

I'm going to throw some names at ya so you'll be better prepared for who the Bulls will grab tonight. Keep in mind that the Bulls need some help for D-Rose in the scoring department and a possible replacement for Boozer if the new labor agreement includes an amnesty clause, as has been rumored, which would allow teams to cut one bad contract off their books.

Who the Bulls would love to fall to them or to trade up for:

1. Alec Burks - 6'6" SG (Colo.) Excellent scoring instincts, good ball handler for a 2 guard, has 6'10" wingspan, excellent free throw shooter and knows how to get to the line, good rebounder, needs to bulk up a bit.

2. Marshon Brooks - 6'5" SG (Prov.) Dropped 43 on Georgetown and 52 on Notre Dame. Can flat-out fill it up. Has more turnovers than assists. Pure, natural scorer who reportedly models himself after Kobe Bryant, good and bad. He's supposedly known for being a ball-hog and selfish. Sooo, he's pretty much like half the guys in the League? Sign 'em.

Who will actually be available:

1. Nikola Mirotic - 6'10" SF/PF (Real Madrid) Toni Kukoc? Nope. Think Jason Kapono. Best outside shooter in the draft, right there with Jimmer, but can shoot over people with his long wingspan. Really good Bball IQ, sees the floor well, will excel at the catch 'n shoot. Moves well, good handles. Really thin, needs to bulk up. He can just about handle the speed on defense put will get pushed around. He's moving up draft boards, so he might not be available.

2. Nolan Smith - 6'3" PG/SG (Duke) Typical Dukie: Mature, high character, smart, coachable, does everything well, but excels at nothing; lacks explosiveness.

3. Jon Leuer - 6'11" PF/C (Wisc) A finesse 4 with really good range, good passer out of the post, lacks bulk and strength but good Bball IQ puts him in good positions on defense. Can beat college guys his size off the dribble but may have trouble doing that at the next level. Would love to him pick 'n roll with D-Rose.

Quotes From Toni Morrison Commencement Address

Quotes from Toni Morrison's Commencement Address to Rutgers Class of 2011:

"I have often wished that Jefferson had not used that phrase 'the pursuit of happiness' as the third right ... I would rather he had written, 'life, liberty and the pursuit of meaningfulness' or 'integrity' or 'truth.' I know that happiness has been the real, if covert, goal of your labors here. I know that it informs your choice of companions, the profession you will enter. But I urge you, please do not settle for happiness. It's not good enough. Personal success devoid of meaningfulness, free of a steady commitment to social justice -- that's more than a barren life; it's a trivial one. It's looking good instead of doing good.''

“Although you will never fully know or successfully manipulate all the characters who surface, or disrupt your plot, you can respect the ones you can’t avoid by paying them close attention and doing them justice. The plot you choose may change or even elude you, but being your own story means you can control the theme.”

“We’ve left you a world in which the earth itself seems to be literally breaking apart. Weather, dancing to music none of us can hear…. Employment is strangely scarce, while money rushes as no river does, up, against gravity.”

“I know you’ve been blasted with media designed to change you … from a community of engaged civic life, to individuals with hundreds of electronic friends.”

“To commence is to begin, to start something new, to enter new terrain, to launch a career begun here, at Rutgers.”
“Perhaps by that time, generations descended from you, taught by you, inspired by you, will have imagined and forged a world worthy of you.”

“But I tell you, no generation, least of all mine, has a complete grip on the imagination and goals of subsequent generations. Not if you refuse to let it be so. You don’t have to accept media, or even scholarly labels for yourself—Generation A, B, C, X, Y, majority, minority, Red State, Blue State, this social caste or that one. Every true heroine breaks free from his or her class—upper, middle, and lower—in order to serve a wider world.”

Take that, Snooki.

1991: Greatest Year In Music History (?)

I'm starting to think that 1991 was one of the greatest years in music history. Here's the evidence, your honor:

"Alive" Pearl Jam from the album Ten...which inevitably spawned the song "My Baby's In Love With Eddie Vedder."






"Steady Mobbin'" Ice Cube from the album Death Certificate...featuring the phrase some men live by to this day: "Life ain't nuthin' but Money & Fuck-a-Bitch"






"Remember The Time" Michael Jackson from Dangerous. Do you remember the time...when this video had the best special effects ever? I can do that stuff on my home PC now. For me, this was MJ's last really truly great song. Thank you Teddy Riley.






"Shut 'Em Down" Public Enemy from Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Back. Youth around the world continue to use this song, and other PE classics, as their rallying cry.






"Smells Like Teen Spirit" Nirvana from Nevermind. I think it was my art classmate Spencer who incredulously asked me "You haven't HEARD it yet?!" I think it was Spencer. I have to find him and thank him. That first chord hit me like a Macho Man diving elbow drop. Had to sneak that in there (R.I.P. Randy Mario Poffo).






"The Choice Is Yours" Black Sheep from A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. You might think that being the first rap group to appear on Tonight Show with Jay Leno would this be duos greatest TV moment. Nope. It's having this song featured in a commercial for the 2010 Kia Soul. Nothing says South Korean Compact Car quality like a hip-hop song by 2 dudes from Queens.






"Give It Away" Red Hot Chili Peppers from BloodSugarSexMagik. P-FunkPunkRock at it's highest form. I figure if I practice really hard, I can be group member number 15.






"Mysterious Ways" U2 from Achtung Baby. There are many who insist this is U2's best album to date. I have a fondness for Rattle & Hum. Still, the song One continues to get played to this day, inexplicably, at weddings. Great example of people not paying attention to lyrics.






"Enter Sandman" Metallica from Metallica (The Black Album). I'm seeing a theme here: So far 1991 is featuring the best of all of these groups albums. None more so than Metallica. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks any of their albums after Black were even remotely close in quality...and given how subjective musical opinion is, that's impressive. Or not so impressive.






"Brenda's Got a Baby" 2Pac from 2Pacalypse Now. 2Pac's debut album alone would make a good argument for this being a good year. Dan Quayle was quoted as saying "There's no reason for a record like this to be released. It has no place in our society." There's no better endorsement than that.






"Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers" Primus from Sailing the Seas of Cheese. This performance is from '94 but the song is from '91. And they rocked the crowd better than almost anyone at Woodstock. Seriously, if you're not buying into the '91 concept by now, you just aren't a music fan. Or you're a 12-year-old Bieberite.






"How I Could Just Kill A Man" Cypress Hill from Cypress Hill. Holy. Shite. The debut album of Cypress Hill and 2Pac. In one year. Righteous.







"Losing My Religion" REM from Out Of Time. AANnnnnddd the clincher!





Unfortunately this was also the year we lost Eric Carr and Freddie Mercury. On the same day. Another tragedy included Amy Grant's Baby Baby reaching #1 on the charts.

Hillary Clinton: Abuser of Earmarks

Mike D. sent me this brilliant article. Unfortunately it won't be taken seriously enough because this guy wrote a book about Obama. This will be seen as just another political ad, for the most part. Keep in mind 2 other things as well: earmarks are not as "sexy" of an issue for the mainstream media as race & sex and many of the corporations that benefit from earmarks have their hands in the major media outlets.

Barack Obama runs the type of campaign that the glass-half-full part of me would run. He seems to believe that Americans have common sense and are apt to draw conclusions based on their higher nature.

Hillary Clinton runs the type of campaign my cynical side would run: ends justify the means. Drawing from your lower nature to accomplish goals your higher nature have set before you. Do I have to sell my soul to get universal healthcare? Ok.

I'm not saying this is good versus evil, by the way. It's not that simple. In the end, it's about what each voter wants for themselves and whether or not those desires actually manifest themselves through the democratic political process.

Or I could be wrong.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-k-wilson/clinton-by-far-worst-abus_b_84102.html