Hey everyone. I know it’s become routine for me to apologize for not being here much. But I just don’t know what else to say. My job has been stressing me out. I’m doing a bunch of shit around my house. And quite frankly, our teams just fucking suck.
Oh, and this bullshit that has taken on our society in the last several months has affected all of us. I know it’s bigger than sports, but damn.
Here are my takes on the teams:
Illinois Fighting Illini: Here I was all season being excited for this team. For the first time in seven years, I was ready to see the Illini in the NCAA Tournament. And some of the “experts” were saying that the Illini had a legitimate chance to WIN the National Championship. 15 years after my heart was broken in the National Championship, some thought they had a chance this year. Now, some players may go to the NBA and they have to start over again. Fuck.
Chicago Bulls: I’m tired of it. I’m tired of Mr. Clean acting like he’s a basketball coach. I’m tired of Jerry Reinsdork keeping all of his favorite people employed for the last two decades (or more). Just like the Blackhawks (see below), I am probably happy that this season is cut short to put us out of our fucking misery.
Chicago Bears: Fuck Ryan Pace. This offseason has been embarrassing (no pun intended). Jimmy Graham? What’s with Chicago teams signing players past their prime? Ryan Pace also released Leonard Floyd. This is Ryan Pace showing everyone what a failure he is. PATHETIC. This Draft is just going to expose him some more. If there is an NFL season this year, it’s going to be a disaster again for our Bears. Hey, speaking of an NFL season…
NFL Players’ Union: Fuck these stupid, uneducated fuckwads. Voting for a 17-game season? So much for wanting to be protected. All this time, players wanted to be safer. Yes, I agree about the owners being scumbags. Fuck those guys. There is another league now, albeit not as popular. But if those players decide to go to the XFL, the owners would be put into a corner on negotiations at some point. Now, we’re dealt with watching the Bears in another meaningless regular season game for years to come.
Chicago Blackhawks: Fuck. Just, fuck. Get within a few points of a playoff spot and what happens? Two or three really shitty losses in a row. At least that season is probably over. More rest equals more of a chance to be fresh and ready to go come this Fall. I don’t know if this is the closing of that proverbial “championship window,” but it’s been great. I got to see them win three Stanley Cups in the previous decade and that was three more than I thought I would get about 13 years ago at this time. So, I’ll take it. But damn, this current team has been frustrating to watch.
I welcome all thoughts about this and anything else you feel is on your mind. It’s open season.
Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Matt Eberflus 
March 18, 2020 at 1:28 pm
Bears also traded for Nick Foles, a Superbowl MVP and Champion QB, however, also past his prime.
March 18, 2020 at 4:24 pm
Dave…..It doesn’t matter if Foles is past his prime or not. Matt Nagy is still the head coach. That trumps every thing else.
March 18, 2020 at 8:25 pm
Just in anybody is interested, here’s James Brady, Christian D’Andrea, and Adam Stites from SBNation with their instant grades on the Bears FA/trades so far:
Bears trade: 2020 fourth-round compensatory pick
Jaguars trade: QB Nick Foles
Chicago was in the market for a veteran passer to push Mitchell Trubisky for snaps. They got one of the most expensive ones available by adding Foles, who went 0-4 as a starter in 2019 and was replaced by a rookie sixth-round pick. It looked like Foles’ four-year, $88 million deal would hang like an albatross from the Jags’ salary sheet, but the Bears swooped in to rescue them …and then paid them a fourth-round pick for the honor of doing so.
There’s a chance this all works out for Chicago and that starting Foles off in a backup role is the way to unlock his powers. Based on last year’s results, it’s more likely the Bears just clogged up their 2021 cap space to host the league’s highest-paid understudy. Jacksonville won’t come out of this smelling like roses, either. Foles leaves nearly $19 million in dead cap money behind as he heads north.
Short-term grade: Jaguars B, Bears F
Long-term grade: Jaguars B, Bears D
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Bears sign: DE Robert Quinn
The Chicago defense took a step backward in 2019 and it was mostly because the team struggled to pressure opposing quarterbacks. Even with Khalil Mack wreaking havoc off the edge, the Bears still didn’t have a player finish the year with a double-digit sack total. Quinn represents an upgrade from Leonard Floyd and should help the Chicago defense get back to creating problems. The downside is that a five-year, $70 million deal is a significant investment for a team that already has limited space.
Short-term grade: A-
Long-term grade: B-
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Bears sign: TE Jimmy Graham
Graham was an occasional presence for the Packers the past two seasons, but had nowhere near the impact Green Bay hoped he’d have. He had just 93 catches and five touchdowns in 32 games, earning his release this offseason.
The Bears are hoping that was an anomaly. They signed the 33-year-old to a two-year, $16 million deal — with only $9 million guaranteed — in hopes he can stabilize a tight end rotation that’s more potential than production.
Short-term grade: C-
Long-term grade: D+
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At least they got one right……..maybe. Nagy is still there.
March 18, 2020 at 11:01 pm
Pace outdoes himself once again with Nick Foles. I know he can’t draft anybody worth a shit either. But maybe (just maybe) he could get lucky with someone in fourth round? He didn’t fucking try. Instead, he gives up that pick for Nick fucking Foles.
This is the NFL. Teams can’t just sign a ton of free agents like the NBA and become instant contenders. Contenders are made from drafting players. Pace is admitting failure without actually saying that.
This hasn’t worked. Pace has been here for five years. Nagy is going on his third year and there has been no progress made. Enough already.
March 24, 2020 at 7:42 pm
Nick Foles? Hey, listen Fro, if Trent Dilfer can lead Baltimore to a Super Bowl championship, and Foles has already won one with Philly, who knows? Maybe he can lead the Bears to their first Super Bowl since 1985. Oh, yea, I forgot, Nagy is still the coach. Scratch that. Reverse. Start over.
March 26, 2020 at 12:19 am
thx for making me laugh, Ernie.
March 26, 2020 at 4:05 pm
Ernie,
I fucking hate this damn team. Nothing but bullshit my entire life. Only once did I ever think they had a legit chance and that was in the 2006-07 season. Bears get to the Super Bowl and what happens? Lovie shows his true colors and promptly pisses it away with his ineptitude on both sides of the ball. That was a miserable evening and one I want nothing of ever again.
March 27, 2020 at 7:47 am
I haven’t been following anything since the crisis hit and I got a really, really bad Ulcerative Colitis Flare up in late February, early March an order of magnitude worse than any I’ve had before. (Was it coronavirus hitting my guts instead of my lungs? No reported cases in Champaign last month so doubt it, but still the three weeks of utter fatigue and exhaustion was unlike any flare up I’ve had before and makes me wonder with all that is going on?) I heard the rumor they got Foles but didn’t know it was true because I also heard they were going after Bridgewater. Foles has never had any success outside of Philly and is over the hill (like Brady for those who paid attention) Of course it’s still a step up over Turd Biscuit, but at what price? If they actually pay $68 million to SIT HIM BEHIND TURDBINSKY what more does Pace have to do to get fired? And if he plays? No O-line, bad offense, it will be a rerun of his sputtering season on the Rams. It was good to see Mahomes win it all, now with all the sports cancelled looks like that month long of White Sox Worship we got on 670 in January while COMPLETELY IGNORING THE VERY EXCITING NFL PLAYOFFS GOING ON was a total waste of time. I feel sorry for Milwaukee though, looked like they finally had a winner on their hand this season and now the thing is over. Don’t even know if the NFL will play. Should they stamp this down, which Trump doesn’t seem to have the balls to do and SEAL OFF THE HOT ZONES like NYC area, Western Washington, etc to all but government and truckers, this thing still might come back in the fall. Hopefully they get a vaccine, that is the only way shit goes back to normal.
March 29, 2020 at 12:06 am
Sebastian,
I saw a Reddit where people were talking about feeling extremely ill around late Feb and early March. I think this COVID-19 has been going around longer than people realize but it’s hadn’t been diagnosed.
A lot of people are reporting stomach issues. I had some infrequent stomach issues (cramps, a minor desire to vomit), headaches, and random heat flashes the past two weeks (not to mention lost 10 pounds in a week for no reason whatsoever). One article had a doctor (I believe) claim that the stomach issues could be a result of pneumonia in the lower lungs that is felt in the abdomen.
Whatever the hell was impacting me would go away within minutes if I ate fruit. Literally within minutes. If anyone starts feeling ill, I’d recommend eating more Vit-C.
April 9, 2020 at 12:11 am
How is everybody? Be careful when venturing out…Be Well!
April 9, 2020 at 2:31 pm
Hello, folks.
Working from home 4-5 days a week. Exercising daily. TV is off unless it’s for playing Atari Flashback games. I miss sports, but not THAT much.
Recommend staying away from the political stuff; nobody is happy, and no one is providing any REAL near-or-long term solutions right now.
Just remember Frank Sloboski from The Wire: “Americans don’t fix shit anymore; they just look for an excuse to stick their hands into someone else’s pocket.”
I would like to believe that our Chicago sports teams are using this “enforced operational pause” to take an honest look at themselves and start figuring out “how do we go from where we are to being a long-term championship contender?”
Sorry, I don’t see it. Ginny is well into her 90s and is waiting for God at this point. Her sons are pushing 70. All of them stuck in their ways, good luck getting them to change their mindset about anything. As long as the Bears make a profit every year, Georgie-boy will never fire the Eternal Teddy-Bear and actually hire someone who knows how to run an NFL team.
If I felt like digging through the SI.com Monday Morning QB archives for the last 4~5 years, I bet I would find every reasonably successful QB drafted in that timeframe was drafted because the head coach had a major impact on drafting, then working with the QB.
Mitchell Trubisky was Ryan Pace’s choice; lame duck/scapegoat John Fox had nothing to do with drafting Trubisky. Then again, Fox probably had nothing to do with signing Glennon either.
Jerry Reinsdorf is in his late 70s; do you ever think that he’s looking at the six Bulls titles hanging in the rafters, the 2015 White Sox WS banner, and is thinking, “Y’know what? Not a bad lifetime’s work?”
And I know that nobody here gives a damn about soccer, but why did the Chicago Fire and Passion 1) move out of a publicly funded, soccer specific stadium and move back to Soldier Field? They’ll never fill it, and Bears fans don’t really love the place either. And 2) Why did they do a rebranding that included a logo change that pissed off most of the fanbase?
Oh, and apparently the F&P are about as out-of-touch and clueless as to build a championship contender as Reinsdorf and the McCaskeys.
Motherfuckers.
April 13, 2020 at 1:51 pm
Update to above rant: Gar Foreman finally gets fired. Been with the Bulls since 1998???
Okay…when does John Paxson and the lost-as-hell scouting department get their pink slips?
April 14, 2020 at 2:15 pm
Update #2: John Paxson, “senior advisor of basketball operations?” Really? Why? He’s been helping Gar Foreman run the Bulls into the ground for over 20 years; why is he still on the Bulls’ payroll? What advice can he really be expected to give at this point?
April 23, 2020 at 9:03 pm
Watching CBS Sportsline for the draft, cannot take ESPN’s constant virtue signaling and “human interest” stories. CBS is talking sports!