TIME TO RENT THE TRUCK

BEEP....BEEP.....BEEP. the sound of a truck backing up alerts us to potential danger but the chicago management meat wagon will only bring us pleasure once it's fully loaded with the bosses of certain professional teams. this is a town full of incompetent leaders, whether it be managers, coaches or GM's and the time has come for chicago fans to stick their heads out the window and yell at the top of their lungs, "you suck! now get out of town!"

VINNIE DEL NEGRO will climb on the truck first as his death watch gained big time momentum the last two nights as the bulls lost to a hapless one win new jersey team AT HOME tuesday night and then got annihilated by 35 points in atlanta just 24 hours later. vinnie is a nice guy but he did the right thing putting his house up for sale last week. look for the bulls to make a switch soon because the playoff picture is getting very cloudy.

LOVIE SMITH should be next but the mccaskey family is not known for paying off contracts which means lovie will probably get one more year UNLESS hall of fame coaches BILL COWHER or MIKE SHANAHAN are serious about getting back on the sidelines. lovie has proven once again that hiring friends is a bad proposition and trying to be the defensive coordinator as well as head coach has been a dismal failure in an attempt to feed his ego.

offensive coordinator RON TURNER is already in a body bag and is already being eaten by maggots. i have no idea why this guy keeps getting recycled because he fails EVERY PLACE he coaches, college or pro. lovie should be fired just because he hired turner.

general manager JERRY ANGELO is tied at the hip with lovie. they deserve each other and seats next to each other on the wagon. angelo couldn't have a successful draft if he had the first ten picks. just godawful at his job.

too harsh, you say? read on.

DENIS HAMLET was recently jettisoned after just two years by the chicago fire soccer team after leading the team to consecutive conference finals. again.....CONSECUTIVE CONFERENCE FINALS and he gets the boot. now there's an organization that won't accept failure.

LOU PINIELLA is on his retirement tour but the cubs shouldn't waste a year watching lou get rocking chairs and gold watches as he travels throughout the league. RYNE SANDBERG should be here NOW so he can set his standards at the same time a new owner gets his feet wet. having a lame duck coach on a team that already lacks discipline is a huge mistake. once again, the inmates will run the asylum.

i have recently documented the dismal performance of JIM HENDRY. slide down and make room for jim, please.

OZZIE GUILLEN will be on the hot seat if the south siders don't get a fast start in 2010. he's loaded with pitching in a division that is very winnable and his 'mad man' act will quickly wear very thin with a slow start.

the only chicago administrators not holding tickets to the cadaver express are sox gm KENNY WILLIAMS and blackhawk gm STAN BOWMAN along with coach JOEL QUENVILLE of the first place blackhawks.

i realize it's the season of giving so how about GIVING the fans a break and fill that wagon?

JIM HENDRY NEEDS TO GO

my dislike for the cubs organization is well known but general manager jim hendry is a buffoon and needs to replaced ASAP by the new owners because gross incompetence cannot be rewarded or tolerated if you truly want to win a world series. i'm sure some of the cub faithful are already rolling their eyes because i'm picking on hendry but please read on.

last year, boo-boo lou told hendry he needed three things to become a contender for a world championship. 1) a closer to replace kerry wood and 2) a left handed hitter and 3) outfield help.

and here is how the magic man performed:

signed KEVIN GREGG to be the closer. he proceeds to blow SEVEN saves and has an e.r.a. of 4.7, which was a run and a half higher than the year before with the marlins. he is replaced as the closer in august and was released by the cubs today when he was not offered a contract.

signed speedy JOEY GATHRIGHT to play the outfield. he hits .214 and only lasts 5 weeks before being traded to baltimore for RYAN FREEL, who hits .143 and is also released seven weeks later.

snatches free agent AARON MILES and gives him five million for two years and because of this spectacular move, he immediately trades second baseman MARK DEROSA to the indians and hands the job to miles. how'd this work out? miles hits .174 before being benched in may and only appears in 74 games while derosa is eventually traded again, this time to the cardinals where he plays six different positions and is a mainstay for the division winners.

oh, it gets better. hendry dumps JASON MARQUIS and his 11 wins for LUIS VIZCAINO. marquis promptly wins 15 games for the playoff bound rockies and vizcaino is released after 6 weeks. ugly.

he trades 2 players for pitcher AARON HEILMAN who goes 4-4 and never starts a game and never closes a game. heilman was traded to arizona 2 weeks ago. IS ANYONE NOTICING A PATTERN????

and finally the cherry on the cake, MILTON BRADLEY. enough said on this THIRTY MILLION DOLLAR mistake. so let's review hendry's performance:

only aaron miles and milton bradley remain on the roster. hendry traded 2 players and five prospects for basically nothing. bradley is almost out the door and the cubs will eat a good portion of the remaining 20 million and miles will be the backup infielder for 2.5 a year.
NOTHING! the man accomplished NOTHING! how can he keep his job?

THINGS ON MY MIND PART 2

i really think we need to get out of iraq and surrounding countries. now.

i really want to buy a home in the phoenix area with a partner. or two. interested?

i feel bad for the employees in las vegas. 35% layoffs and leading the nation in foreclosures. bad.

nephew rick is finishing up his bachelor's degree. good for him.

i know 7 people who hav filed bankruptcy in the last two years. bad.

you should take in a blackhawk game. very exciting.

buying a sports jersey for a kid is very exciting for xmas.

surprising an adult with a jersey for xmas is even better.

tickets to any game is ALWAYS a great xmas present.

i still hate the cubs.

being a bug man is cool. everyone is happy to see you. i think.

two of the nephews are moving to florida. good for uncle dan. that gives me california & florida. now i need a nephew to move to vegas.

i'm done. i hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season.

THINGS ON MY MIND PART 1

every once in a while, i like to turn the gunny sack upside down and shake out all the thoughts, opinions and ideas clogging my brain. i figured just before the holiday season is a good time to do that. so here goes:

in my LIFETIME, there have been just two female politicians who have scared the crap out of me. the first one was illinois senator carol mosley braun and the second is sarah palin. i watched the oprah interview and followed that with 20/20 and that woman made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. DANGER, will robinson!

is jay cutler of the bears a fraud? did we sell the farm for a guy who will never see the playoffs?

i'm thinking 18 years will be the sentence for rod blagojevich.

i hope disgraced governor george ryan has to serve his full sentence. the willis children were burned to death because of his misdeeds as secretary of state. screw him.

but in all fairness, he should receive his pension for the time he served in government before becoming secretary of state. his wife did nothing wrong.

does tom ricketts of the cubs come off as petty by putting up those billboards in left field rather than working with the owner of the waveland avenue building?

am i the only one who thinks 42 yr. old omar vizquel is a good pick-up by the white sox?

oprah is leaving. i don't care.

teachers are still the most underpaid and unappreciated professionals.

i think i would have been a good prosecutor.......... and an even better judge.

mayor daley can be mayor as long as he wants.

not too many things scare me but cancer does.

i still miss my friend bruce every day.

bruce's daughter still pisses me off.

i've got six pretty good nephews.

i always have fun when i dine with pete & jim.

alcohol is a very powerful controlling drug and does far more damage than good.

i glad i quit smoking.

my brother in law roy is a good guy.

patti whyte johnson still makes me laugh.

it was fun to catch a fish this year in arkansas. never did that before.

northlake was a great place to grow up.

more coming in part two.

BCS FOOTBALL REMEDY

what is all the fuss about a playoff? it seems simple to me.

take 7 major conference champs and then add 9 wild card teams from conferences or independents that play challenging schedules and you have 16 teams AND america's attention.

no one gets in if they have more than 2 losses or if they play in a traditionally weak conference like the sun belt, mid-american, western athletic or conference usa. if those teams want 'in the loop' then they'll have to switch to one of the major conferences and prove they belong and climb the mountain week by week like everyone else.

this year it might be FLORIDA, TEXAS, TCU, CINCINNATI, GEORGIA TECH, OHIO STATE & OREGON as the 7 champs. then add IOWA, ALABAMA, PITTSBURGH, MIAMI (FL), HOUSTON, ARIZONA, PENN STATE, LSU & WISCONSIN. utah & west virginia would also be candidates.

you seed the 16 and have then it's 4 games to the championship with the playoffs starting the second Saturday of December with the big game played somewhere around new year's day. it would generate tremendous interest and while it might mean the demise of about ten bowl games currently played (there are 34 scheduled this year!) but the less sucessful ones come & go on a regular basis anyway. no less than 9 bowls have gone the way of the dinosaur over the last 20 years so that would just be business as usual. i guarantee the playoff would guarantee sellouts all over the country

15 bowls sites would be used up for the big boy playoffs and then schools like akron, northern illinois, boise, nevada and the like could fill in whatever bowls that are left and remember there would also be twenty teams from the big boy circuit who had just 3 losses so you could set up all sorts of david/goliath showdowns. WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE? bring it on!

while channel surfing on one of our many rainy days in october, i came across a studio show being hosted by bob costas on the MLB network with special guests don larsen and yogi berra. i stopped to watch for a while because yogi is always good for a story or two about baseball but i soon discovered that this was indeed my lucky day.

the purpose of the studio show was to introduce a recently discovered kinescope of game 5 of the 1956 world series between the yankees and the brooklyn dodgers which showed the game in it's entirety. if you don't know already, game 5 was the perfect game pitched by journeyman larsen which broke a 2-2 series tie and steam rolled the yankees to their sixth title in the last eight years. think yankee fans are obnoxious now?

i settled in and watched every pitch and realized how much baseball has changed over the years. the uniforms were baggy and made of wool. there was no fist pumping by the players or any other forms of hot-dogging so prevalent today. if you got knocked down by a fastball, it was just business. you got up, dusted yourself off and got back in the batter's box.i did a little research and found the minimum salary in 1956 was $4,000 a year (yes, four thousand-you read it right). there was no free agency and when you signed with a team, it was for life unless THEY wanted you gone. almost all of the players worked full-time jobs in the off season just to make ends meet and 'training' was limited to the month of march in florida.

while watching the game.....the men wore suits & ties to the games and women wore dresses. foul balls were required to be thrown back as they were used for batting practice the next day. cigarette and cigar smoking was abundant in the stands. hot dogs were a dime and a beer was a quarter, plus it was given to you in a cold glass bottle. imagine that today.

the game itself was a classic. on top of the nail biting performance 2-0 win by larsen, it featured a total of 12 players who would be elected to the hall of fame plus both managers and one coach from each side. the pedigree for the game gets even better as both owners are in the hall of fame as well as both television announcers who shared time broadcasting the game, with yankee voice mel allen getting the first 4 1/2 innings and vin scully getting the remainder for the dodgers. radio announcer bob wolff is also enshrined in the broadcast wing of the hall.

larsen? well, he pitched 14 years in the big leagues and he only led the league once in any category....and that was 21 LOSSES in a single season. for his career, he pitched for eight teams and lost ten more games than he won and the only way he gets into the hall is to buy a ticket. but for one sun drenched afternoon in October of 1956, he was the best in the business.

THE WHITE SOX NEED TO:

1) look for a solid fifth starter. peavy, buerhle, danks & floyd have them loaded for bear in 2010.

2) trade bobby jenks. he had a good run but your stopper needs to be lights out.

3) move alexie ramirez to center field and gordon beckham to shortstop. ramirez is too inconsistent at short but has the speed to play center where thinking is minimal and closing speed very important. beckham is simply a superstar in the making.

4) think very hard about trading either paul konerko or a.j. pierzynski. i absolutely love both of them and the way they play the game BUT both will be 34 when next season rolls around and although both stay in great shape and almost never miss a game, the sox have the same problem the cubs do with derrek lee. don't let them grow old on your team. both have great trade value.

5) find a third baseman. how about konerko to the angels for chone figgins?

6) a dilemma in the outfield. dye's a goner and pods a free agent. was quentin a one time wonder? the outfield need to get better defensively so do you sign pods as a DH and use him as a leadoff man? pods is a definite liability on defense but he sure can hit. will your outfield be quentin, ramirez & rios? if quentin is gone, will it be wise, ramirez and rios? or do you simply keep quentin in left, rios in center and mark kotsay in right with dewayne wise as your late inning defensive specialist? this is the type of problem that GM kenny williams thrives on. he'll figure it out.

7) say good-bye to dye, scott linebrink, ramon castro, tony pena & josh fields. sometimes you just have the wrong pieces to the puzzle.

synopsis: the white sox are ready to make the big move and 2010 should find them in the playoffs if they stay healthy. they will have the best starting rotation in the american league and if they can tighten up their defense, they should play deep into october. a legitimate closer is a concern. rios should be better playing from day one.