MOSTLY CHICAGO SPORTS

"STARLIN CASTRO isn't going anywhere. he fits in just fine on this team and will for years to come."--joe maddon  august, 2015.

well, i hope that castro didn't believe anything that joe gasbag said to him. the cubs, with a long history of lying to their fans and the media on a regular basis, pulled the carpet out from under the simplistic (and uncoachable) castro and to be perfectly honest, filled a couple of holes with a utility pitcher and a backup infielder and then added BEN ZOBRIST as their regular second baseman.   psssst, javy baez......leave your suitcase packed and ready to go. and JORGE SOLER, same to you.

the white sox? well, they're offering an auction to win lunch with HAROLD BAINES but the only problem with that is that baines has only said about a dozen words the last ten years. i bid two bucks.

and ROBIN VENTURA says he's not looking past 2016. trust me, that jerkwad should be in prison for stealing his paycheck from the sox for the last 4 years. my boycott continues..............

PATRICK KANE keeps right on rolling with an open netter tonight to extend his scoring streak to 23, not quite halfway to WAYNE GRETZKY'S record of 51.  whaddyathink?

i don't know if he's the best goalie in the league but COREY CRAWFORD is in the conversation. single handedly, he kept the hawks alive tonight against nashville. same two teams thursday night in music city.

as written here years ago, the CHICAGO BEARS will never win with JAY CUTLER under center.  never. he never won in high school, college or the pros. everyone talked about how well he was managing the team but he still sucks when they need him most.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS.........72-0? they are something to watch and STEPH CURRY is like a hot knife through butter.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS took control of the NL WEST this week by signing pitcher ZACH GRIENKE and then trading for right hander SHELBY MILLER and when combined with the healthy return of all-star PATRICK CORBIN, it looks like the snakes now have pitching to balance out their tremendous offense. 

i see where relief pitcher AROLDIS CHAPMAN stepped in it big time by choking his girlfriend and then firing eight shots from a handgun. once MLB gets done with it, he'll be suspended 50 games which will kill the pending trade to the DODGERS plus affect his free agency next year, costing him MILLIONS of dollars.......plus he'll have to face legal charges. the morons keep marching on.

adios for now

JUST SPORTS

Would someone please call a surgeon so the GREEN BAY PACKERS can arrange to have the horse shoes removed from their collective rear ends? absolutely incredible.  i've seen miracle finishes before but after being down 20-0 I thought they were toast. and then the LIONS detroited all over themselves........again.  the stupidest organization year after year in the NFL.  can you imagine the celebration last night for the urine & green???? I bet those unemployment checks were being cashed left and right at the local taverns up north and there was probably a run on hard boiled eggs and pickled pigs feet.  yah-hey-dere.

are the CUBS just stroking their fans once again? as recently as last month, THEO EPSTEIN was quoted in VINE LINE magazine  "we need impact pitching. we've developed and obtained position players over the last few years but now it's time to get quality starters to fill out our rotation." whoa. look out, national league. and the impact pitcher will be.......................JEFF SAMARDZIJA ???????????????????????????  you have got to be kidding me.

it didn't surprise me when the cubs failed to get top shelf pitcher DAVID PRICE at 31 million a year but when second tier pitcher JORDAN ZIMMERMAN was signed by the tigers for 22 million a year, I became curious as to what the cubs meant by impact and then I heard JOHN LACKEY and the shark.  lackey is freaking 37 years old and samardzija is a sub-.500 pitcher for his career.  what kind of impact is that?????

cub fans should be really pissed if that's who they sign.  raise your ticket prices 10% and then give you discount pitchers. nice.  but typical.

kudos to TIGER WOODS & KOBE BRYANT on their announcements this week. kobe is retiring from the game and woods acknowledged that seven surgeries have eliminated him from the chase to catch JACK NICKLAUS' record of 18 majors. no one beats FATHER TIME. just ask MUHAMMAD ALI and  WILLIE MAYS, both of whom stayed too long in their respective sports and were embarrassed at the end. enjoy your new life, gentlemen.

FINALLY! the WHITE SOX said goodbye to TYLER FLOWERS, arguably the worst catcher in the American league.  couldn't hit, couldn't throw anyone out, had limited power and couldn't run. other than that, he was perfect. god, what a mutt.  but he'll get snatched up as a free agent and make millions because "he handles pitchers so well."  gag me.

you a football fan? go see the new movie CONCUSSION with WILL SMITH in the lead role. then see how quick you sign your kid up for football next fall.

IOWA has been complaining all year that no one respects them. well, they get their chance to show the world how good they are on Saturday night when they play MICHIGAN STATE for the right to compete in the national championships new year's eve.

want a head banger game this sunday? SEATTLE visits MINNESOTA at high noon. the stakes are very high for both teams. now this game will have real impact.

later, dude.

THIS WORLD SUCKS

due to computer issues, this blog was delayed and originally delivered via e-mail.

 

There was a time in America when you could drop your kids off at school or church and know that they were safe and when you dropped them at the movies or the mall, maybe you kept your fingers crossed that you wouldn't get a shoplifting call from mall security or the manager of the cinema for throwing popcorn but at the same time, you knew you'd see them in a couple of hours and all would be well.

 

You might have crossed your fingers a little tighter and exhaled a little harder when they finally arrived home from a concert but attending musical events was part of growing up. after all, we did it and we're ok, right? 

 

For the adults, what could possibly go wrong when you and your friends stop at a small café for drinks and snacks and talked about the upcoming company Christmas party and all you had to worry about was your husband having too much to drink and telling the boss what he really thought about his management style. Or maybe you discussed going to an upcoming sporting event to cheer on your favorite athlete as he runs the local marathon. Small concerns for everyday activities.

 

But no more. the psychos and zealots have taken to the streets and mass murders have begun on what seems to be an almost weekly basis and it's painfully apparent that there is no safe place anymore in this great country of ours or for that matter, any place in the world.

 

I don't have children but I worry and pray everyday about the safety of my brother & sisters, my girlfriend & her daughters, my pain in the ass nephews and their families along with my nieces and their loved ones, not to mention my close friends. During 20+ years in law enforcement, I saw my share of tragedies but not to this level and certainly not this often and I'm struggling to find the words to explain the world to my friends and even to myself.

 

What drives two brothers to plant bombs at the Boston marathon ? What political symbol could 10,000 racers, most running just to run, possibly possess to drive those madmen to make that decision? or to open fire at an outdoor café in Paris and kill at random?

 

How does a guy in his 20's decide that it's ok to massacre first & second graders while they sit in a class room on the east coast? or open fire in a Colorado movie theatre and kill 12 people and wound 58 others watching the premier of the new Batman movie and bring ten full magazines of extra ammo with him? he obviously didn't have one specific target but just random killing in mind.

 

recently, we had a psycho open fire at a prayer meeting HE attended but to what end? and of course, we're all still reading about yesterday's carnage at a California Christmas party.

 

there is a temptation to just shake our heads when the bad guy is from the middle east and say "of course" or when the shooting involves the military, we tend to accept it as one of the hazards of the job but the sad part is we're becoming numb to the killing because the shooting sprees are just piling up and they tend to blur together. 

 

 here's a test for you: Blacksburg, Virginia,......Newton, Connecticut....Fort Hood, Texas......I bet you got at least two of those as sites of killing sprees but how about these?

 

Binghamton, NY..... Atlanta, GA.....Kinston, AL.....Roseburg, Or..........Red Lake, MN.......Seal Beach, CA....

Carthage, NC......Appomattox, VA.........

 

how did you do with those cities & towns?

 

those were all locations of shooting sprees that killed at least eight people and they all occurred within the last six years but unless you have family or friends living there, I doubt that you remember anything about them. one after another after another....the beat goes on.

 

there is some validity to the argument about closing our borders but even if you do that, how do we stop our home grown whack jobs?

 

most times, their own parents have no idea as to what they were up to and I'm going to spit the next time I hear a parent say "I had no idea he had so many guns" or "he was just a quiet boy who had no friends so most of the time he stayed upstairs in his room playing on his computer" or "he had problems holding down a job because his bosses would always pick on him because he was different."  hello? FYI--if he lives in YOUR house, you have right to know what he's doing so get your head out of the sand. but personal freedom and civil liberties is a discussion for another day.

 

I'm sad & frustrated and I don't know how to help other than to protect my own but I wish your kids and their kids a lot of luck in the future and they're going to need it because evil answers to a different god that has no morals and knows absolutely no boundaries. 

 

Hug them every day because you never know. 

 

sorry for the content but I had to get this off my chest.

 

 

SUPER THANKSGIVING!

HOW ABOUT THAT FOR A SPECIAL THANKSGIVING TREAT?!?!?!!! the BEARS go up to green bay where they normally can't win a one man race and stop the puke green & urine yellow packers 17-13. made that pumpkin pie taste reallllllllll good.

did you notice the early 'home cookin' by the officials in an effort to get the home team over the hump? and tell me you didn't hold your breath waiting for a flag on the last pass into the end zone. a perfect end to the holiday on brett favre night. screw him too.

COACH JOHN FOX has done a great job of getting the bears competitive with a dearth of talent on his roster but they keep things close in almost every game.  since starting 0-3, the bears are 5-3 and those three games have been lost by a TOTAL of 8 points, which should give you great hope for the future.

I just noticed that the RUSSIANS were suspended from future track activities when it was discovered they had used performance enhancing drugs in the Olympics.  what a shock.

showtime for NOTRE DAME this weekend. they need to beat favored STANFORD and then pray that OKLAHOMA COACH 'BIG GAME' BOBBY STOOPS gags it up again against oklahoma state. if the sooners win and everyone else holds serve, it doesn't matter what the irish do, they're toast.

are the WHITE SOX doing this just to piss me off? they've signed some interesting free agents including an outfielder with a lifetime average of .208, a sore knee catcher who hit .191 last year, an outfielder coach who ended his career early because he kept running into walls and finally, in a trade, a relief pitcher with an e.r.a. of almost 5.00 who walked three batters for every four he struck out last season. wonderful.

and I hear nothing from the north side. just what are those sneaky bastards up to?

the BULLS have the fourth best record in the NBA but it sure doesn't seem like they're one of the four best, does it? JOAQUIM NOAH doesn't seem to fit in with this offense and might be done for good. look for him to be traded to a team that runs a set offense where noah can handle the high post. a good test for the bulls will be Friday night at INDIANA.

and the BLACKHAWKS keep amazing me in a year that was supposed to be a rebuild due to salary cap issues. PATRICK KANE is playing like a man possessed with 34 points in just 22 games and left wing ARTEMI PANARIN is now the favorite for rookie of the year with 23 points in twenty-two games. after a slow start for the team, the return of DUNCAN KEITH has propelled the hawks to fifth in the conference and when JONATHAN TOEWS & MARION HOSSA get untracked, the sky's the limit.

all the rivals play this weekend in college football. OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN............OREGON/OREGON STATE............ALABAMA/AUBURN............MISSISSIPPI STATE/MISSISSIPPI & USC/UCLA......whoyagot??????

later, dude.

ALL SORTS OF STUFF

I wonder how convicted pedophile JARED FOGLE will fare in prison over the next fifteen years. the former long-time spokesman for SUBWAY pleaded guilty of traveling across state lines to have sex with minors along with possession of child porn and got whacked by the judge, who gave him three more years than the prosecution asked for and fined him $175,000.  

last time i checked, pedophiles don't win any popularity contests in the big house.  maybe he can make friends with convicted illinois governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH, who is also a resident of the littleton, colorado federal facility. fogle will be eligible for parole in 2028. enjoy your time, jared.

still nothing from the jungle regarding anyone coming forward to point the finger at the murderer of TYSHAWN LEE. even rewards totaling more than $55,000 gets no response and don't tell me that a nine year old shot in broad daylight has no witnesses to the crime. the residents won't talk to white cops, black cops or any cops at all but they 'want justice' for the killing.  shut up.

and now the black alderman are calling for the resignation of SUPERINTENDENT GARRY McCARTHY. why, because your constituents won't EVER cooperate with the police??? what the hell are the officers supposed to do without hard eveidence? they need testimony and some finger pointing to get the job done. so get out on the streets and talk to your voters. somebody either knows or heard something by now.

i think GOVERNOR BRUCE RAUNER stepped on his penis the other day by announcing he was closing the borders of illinois to all syrians. what kind of a moron are you?

an interesting race has developed in the democratic primary for the u.s. senate seat currently held by republican MARK KIRK. there are now three candidates: war hero TAMMY DUCKWORTH, former federal prosecutor and corporate c.e.o. ANDREA ZOPP and the latest entrant, former NFL player and current state senator NAPOLEON HARRIS.

duckworth has the most money, zopp has some money but controls the south & west side black vote and harris might be entering too late to have any impact but could hurt zopp with black voters. kirk has over 3.5 million in his war chest and understands all about tough political races. 

presidential hopeful and proven liar BEN CARSON is toast. 

DONALD TRUMP is scary.

HILLARY CLINTON gives me the creeps.

but i hope all of them and YOU 
have a safe and HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

take a minute and nineteen seconds (1:19) and enjoy the song below..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUGaaYKAagU

JUST SPORTS

Congratulations to the CHICAGO CUBS for their post season trifecta of cy young, rookie of the year and manager of the year to top off a 97-65 regular season record. 

it reminds me an awful lot of the 1984 season when they took mvp, cy young and manager of the year with a 96-65 record and according to all the 'smart' people in baseball, that team was also destined for long term greatness. the next year they finished 77-84.  just sayin'.

FYI....one other similarity of those two teams is that neither won anything.  just sayin' again.

think PEYTON MANNING carries some weight with the bookies? the line for this sunday's game between denver  & the bears was the broncos favored by 5 1/2 points IN CHICAGO. then they announced that manning wouldn't play and the bears are now favored by 2. over a touchdown swing because one player went down. unheard of to date.

speaking of the bears, what do you do with the running back position when MATT FORTE is healthy again? twenty three year old JEREMY LANGFORD is running like a man possessed and makes 450,000 per year while forte is thirty and makes eleven million. langford is your future but how do you sit forte when he makes the big bucks?

MR. SOFTEE goes down again! driving to the hoop, softee rolled his ankle and according to the man himself, wasn't supposed to miss any time at all but he sat for the phoenix game and is now out for the game against the world champs.  hmmmmmmmmmmm...maybe softee wasn't looking forward to league MVP STEPHAN CURRY lighting him up.  

the NHL has awakened! in a sport that struggles for viewership, the league has decided to make their all-star game a series of twenty minute three-on-three contests with the winning team taking home a million dollars.  the league instituted the same format for their overtime periods this year and it's been a rousing success. welcome to the millenium.

a monster game this week in the NFL.  the reeling GREEN BAY PACKERS try to right the ship when they visit MINNESOTA in an nfc north showdown.  the game is rated even and the packers will either cut the vikings two game lead in half or let everyone know that the nice run they had is over. hard to believe the vikings are that good so gun to head, i would take the packers. prime time at 3:15 on television.

the WHITE SOX? still hibernating on the south side with the somnambulant robin ventura at the helm. they signed thirty-five year old outfielder SCOTT HAIRSTON to a minor league contract. and why not? he's a career .208 hitter and hasn't played baseball in two years. what's not to like?

have a good weekend!

AS THE WORLD TURNS

the ISIS story is not going to go away. PARIS is reeling just like we were after 9/11 and have responded in a like manner by attacking the enemy by air but just like osama bin laden, exactly where are the leaders?? ISIS has threatened an attack on washington d.c. so now look for special forces to be involved soon on the ground in an effort to take out the bosses in their hiding places.

CHARLIE SHEEN has rocked the hollywood world with his admission that he's hiv positve and was diagnosed FOUR YEARS AGO. sheen, who has long been known as a 'player' with a variety of sexual tastes, made a strange confession to MATT LAUER on the today show. 

sheen stated he was diagnosed four years ago and informed all of his partners of his condition and that he always wore a condom "except with two people and they were aware of my condition."  excuse me?   why would he endanger those two who then might get infected and pass it on because they're not as 'truthful' as sheen?

sheen has always been a loose cannon who plays a little loose with the truth and i just have a hard time believing him but i guess will see who turns up infected down the road.

AND IN BREAKING NEWS........ sheen's ex-fiance porn star BRETT ROSSI calls him "a f------ liar. he never told me while we were living together and then offered me a hundred grand hush money.  i guarantee you his virus has infected hundreds if not thousands of people. he's a piece of s---!"

current information has it that sheen has settled with at least a dozen people who found out he knew about the infection and failed to tell them.

and with more testimony like that, i believe sheen could be charged under the felony C.A.R.E. statute for 'failure to disclose his condition to any sexual partner.' now let's see how far ms. rossi wants to take it.

and while we're talking about screwed up actors from 'two and a half men',' it appears that ANGUS JONES, who played jake on the show, is in the process of giving all of his money to a 'pop up' church called forerunner chronicles with which he's associated. jones made $300,000 per episode the last couple of years on the show but that money appears to be long gone. jones has dropped out of acting, calling it 'hypocritical' to his values.

the saga continues in fox lake. investigators have discovered past withdrawals from the police explorer account by JOE GLINIEWICZ and a day later, the same amount deposited in a personal account by his wife, MELODY.

 it's over, melody. if you were smart (and i probably just answered my own question) you'd sit down with investigators and empty your gunny sack of lies & excuses and tell them everything you know.  you can't stop the upcoming indictment but you might get some leniency from the judge if you cooperate and tell all.

i hear that the gliniewicz son is thisclose to being released from his remaining time in the army and could face a court martial for his involvement in the phony marriage for money scam. i guess the apples really don't fall far from the tree.

it's a nasty world in which we live.  hug the people in your life that you care about.                         later.