Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Ben Johnson

To say the least, this past weekend I had was very fun. On Saturday, I went to my first hometown west of Freeport for an annual town festival and had a chance to meet up with a lot of old friends that I hadn’t seen in years. A lot of us were together and talking about the old days as kids and it was the most fun I had in a long time. Since most of us were talking for a while, I ended up not getting back to Dekalb and in bed until 4:00 so I only slept for about four and a half hours before getting up, showering quickly and driving to Soldier Field.

I arrived around 10:45 and had just enough time to meet up with Carl, Dan and Gerry from Fire Mike Martz. If you guys are reading this, it was awesome meeting up and I am sure we will have a lot more time to tailgate when we are all there later this season. This next sentence is not a joke: Sarah Spain was in the same parking lot as all of us. Yes. The same Sarah Spain who called me a hater and said that my article about her being a skank was completely incorrect. I was within ten feet of her when I was hesitating whether or not to talk to her. I decided to be a pussy and bite my tongue mainly because there were three muscular guys around her and I think it would have been dumb that myself, a 5’9 165 pound guy would say something to set her, or any of the three douches that were around her off. I am guessing those guys were there because she was once again, auctioning herself off to the highest bidder. It was a Bears’ game after all.

My brother and I had really good seats as shown above. We were in the fifth row of section 226 on the south end zone. It was the first opener we have ever been to so we were really pumped for this. The pregame stuff was pretty cool with the American Flag filling the entire field and Jim Cornelison singing the National Anthem with everyone cheering like it was a Blackhawks’ game. We were both surprised that jets didn’t do a fly over during the anthem. Anyway, the Bears played a great game. There were a couple stupid things that were done (Aren’t there always with the Bears?) but overall, a very enjoyable game. As always, here are my thoughts in detail:

Offense: The offense looked much better than I thought it would be. I think the offensive line protected Cutler for the most part although he was still sacked four times. It’s a work in progress. I still prefer Roberto Garza to play at guard with Chris Spencer at center full time. Time for stats (Cue Irish Yeti): The Bears only had 92 yards of rushing. That needs to increase. The balance of rushing/passing was present and that is a very good sign. Matt Forte is awesome. I thought he should have signed the offer he had last week but he wants more cash. After today, I say do whatever it takes. If he keeps having great games like this, his value will go up. He led the team in both rushing and receiving yards. I think the backup Khalil Bell had a decent game as well and I am confident, he can carry the load when Forte is getting a break.

Through the air, Cutler played alright. I know I said I enjoyed this game and that is true but Cutler did a few stupid things. First, he over threw a receiver at least three times. He threw the ball in tight coverage at least twice and luckily wasn’t intercepted. That was until the fourth quarter when Jay Cutler Rex Grossman threw the ball right to Jason Taylor Kroy Biermann for a pick six. No bueno. On the good side, he threw the ball to eight different receivers. Roy Williams had a few nice catches but unfortunately, had a groin injury and could miss some games. That hurts because he is the only receiver who can actually jump up and get a ball if it’s thrown to him. The last thing I have to complain about is third down conversions. Just like last year (And the year before that, and the year before that…), the Bears sucked ass on third down efficiency. They should have scored more than 23 offensive points. At least Robbie Gould had a chance to give his leg a workout. But seriously, this shit needs to stop.

Defense: Anybody ready for me to complain about the defense? Well, I won’t do it too much. The only thing I have to say that’s bad is that the defense still sucks when the other team is in a hurry-up offense and therefore, gave up over 400 total yards. I still think the defense was dominant. They did not give up a touchdown and Matt Ryan’s face was put into the ground countless times. The line was outstanding getting five sacks by Peppers, Melton and Okoye. Speaking of Peppers, his stats (Cue Irish Yeti) don’t always tell the whole story. He put pressure on Ryan many times and caused him to run for his life including a forced fumble in which that Brian Urlacher guy ran it in for a touchdown. Urlacher is healthy once again and has seemed to have found the fountain of youth. We all know he is a bit slower but he is still pretty damn good. He had a diving interception early in the game and had six tackles. Finally, I am going to give major props to Charles Tillman (Worthless). It’s only the first game but he actually covered the receivers he was playing defense on and forced a turnover in the process. I wish he could play like that every game.

That will be it for now. The Bears take on the Saints next Sunday afternoon. I know the Saints are missing Maques Colston and I believe, another receiver but this offense is still one of the best in the NFL. Let’s see if the Bears’ defense can hold down the fort.

And you know what that means for us Bears fans: Another year filled with a crappy offensive line, cornerbacks who can’t cover receivers and coaches who take their stupid pills. That being said, I am still ready because it is football although I am not that excited for the Bears in particular. I will be at the game Sunday along with the good guys from Fire Mike Martz. As I always recommend, check out their site. They go more in-depth about the Bears and they write better articles than I do.

My opinion on the Bears this year is about the same as last year. I admit I was wrong about the Bears’ record last year and so were many others. However, the results of how they played when it mattered the most was still spot on. They did sign saftey Brandon Merriweather earlier who use to play for the Patriots but who knows if he has anything left. I do think it’s an upgrade from second year player Major Wright Wrong who couldn’t cover or tackle anyone to save his life.

I will say that in the last few years, the Bears have proved that they are not cheap when it comes to paying players. They paid Julius Peppers quite a bit of cash but most of the other players they signed have shown that the money isn’t spent wisely. It’s frustrating. The man to blame in this is Jerry Angelo. He has screwed up draft pick after draft pick and he has made more bad decisions on free agent signings than good ones. As I said last year, I would be more than happy to eat all my words on the Bears’ management and coaches had they won the Super Bowl. They have had two legitimate chances to win the Super Bowl in the last five years and they failed both times.

In my opinion, time is ticking on this franchise if they want a chance to win soon. Briggs and Urlacher are on the wrong side of the 30 and I don’t know how much longer Cutler is even going to be playing because of all the times he is getting thrown into the ground. God forbid that one of these days, his career ends because the offensive line couldn’t protect him.

I’ll have a Bears recap sometime Sunday night or Monday. Have a good weekend everybody.

We are one week away from the NFL season starting. I have been getting in the groove by playing a lot of Madden ’12. I tell you guys, this game is as real as it gets. It’s so real, that the Bears secondary doesn’t even play defense in the video game either. Charles Tillman (Worthless) still can’t cover a receiver. And no worries for the stat geeks out there: I played man-to-man coverage and he still can’t catch anybody. This is for Chucky: In the game, Lovie just stands there and moves his head left to right all the time. Cutler also was sacked about five times in one of the games I played. It’s just like you are watching it on TV!

About a month ago on WWE Monday Night Raw, CM Punk asked Vince McMahon to bring back the WWF Ice Cream Bars that were popular in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

While watching that classic promo from Punk about trying to bring that product back, I thought of something else that should also be brought back. I am talking about this:

That’s right folks. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pies! I was probably 5 or 6 when these babies arrived. I can remember eating at least one of these almost every day because my parents at the time owned a small grocery store and I was able to to snag them off the shelves whenever I pleased. I am sure Hostess would cash in pretty nicely if these pies returned. Man, I miss the old days.

I apologize for not getting up a thread earlier this week. I have been pretty busy at work and didn’t get much of a chance to go near a computer.

I missed most of the Bears game Monday night and when I finally had a chance to tune in, the game was well out of reach. I did see the highlights and I will say that was awful to say the least. Then again, this is what we should expect from the Bears: Shitty defense in terms of the secondary and a horrendous offense led by the genius Mike Martz. I saw this shit last presason so it isn’t anything new. When they play the Titans on Saturday, I think it’s going to be just as ugly. Just imagine how bad it’s going to be when the regular season starts. For the stat idiots out there, don’t waste your time here about how the Bears almost went to the Super Bowl last year. They go 11-5 yet played like a an 8-8 team. I’d rather have a team go 8-8, barely get into the playoffs and eventually win the Super Bowl than the same team going 11-5 and showing how shitty they really are when it matters the most. Enough of that though.

Madden ’12 comes out at midnight Tuesday. I have the demo for the PS3 and it’s much better than last year’s game. The game play is much more smooth without a delay in calling plays and they have actual player celebrations. In addition, they finally have Soldier Field in the game. The demo doesn’t have any commentary but I think Gus Johnson is still doing play-by-play for the full game. That would be awesome.

That’s it for me. I may have thoughts on the Bears/Titans game in a few days. Have a good weekend everybody.

Your thoughts on the Bears’ first preseason game and anything else that’s on your mind.

I can’t believe I didn’t remember this but last week marked the third year of this website (six overall if you include the old one). Time certainly flies. In the three years here, there have been over 300 posts, nearly 7,000 comments and as many as 1,000 hits per day in a few of those days.

I say this quite a bit but it’s worth repeating: Thank you everybody for visiting this site on an almost everyday basis. If it isn’t for each of you guys, this website doesn’t exist. We all love Chucky’s rants, Genrebuster’s funny quotes and his “Ha Ha Ha’s” and MadCityMac’s love for beer. You guys are awesome. I appreciate the support very much.

Your thoughts on anything sports including the Bears signing around ten significant players with nine of them being former busts. Jerry Angelo really loves players like that. In the meantime, teams like the Eagles are actually doing something great by getting secondary players who actually know how to play defense. This is going to be a really fun season…

To put it bluntly, Rockford, Illinois is a dump. There are only two reasons why I go to Rockford these days: Eat with the lady at the Olive Garden or go to the Metro Centre to watch wrestling and that’s exactly what we did on Saturday. I can see why WWE only comes here for a house show or Smackdown! just once a year. The crowd, is pretty much the opposite of one that attends events at the AllState Arena but I think that’s what makes being a wrestling fan unique. In different towns, the crowds react in different ways. We were sitting in the fourth row and as always, we seem to get an annoying person sitting near us. More on this douche later (It WAS NOT Irish Yeti). Before the show started, Stacey and I both picked up C.M. Punk’s new t-shirt.

We arrived there around 4:30 to try to meet some wrestlers and get autographs. This year was very different from the others. Metro Centre security guaurds blocked off the entire parking lot where the wrestlers usually go so most of us that were there were a long distance away from the street where the wrestlers ended up parking. And unlike in years past, we only saw about six or seven wrestlers park rather than 15-20. R-Truth was driving with Jack Swagger riding shotgun and he missed the turn to the street not once but twice until security finally directed him where to go. I found that a bit humorous. The only wrestlers to get out and sign a few autographs were Chris Masters, Evan Bourne and Tyler Reks. Now on to the matches…

First match of the night was Chris Masters against Jack Swagger. It seems like the Rockford fans always cheer the loudest for the first match and this one was no different. Masters ended up beating Swagger and it was actually a pretty good match. Next up was The Miz and R-Truth versus Zack Ryder and Alex Riley. I am not much of an R-Truth fan and likewise for Ryder or Riley. That’s why I was pretty happy that Miz gained the pinfall. Before the match, Truth and Miz had a good promo though.

Next match was Primo and Tyler Reks. At every event, there is the “piss match” meaning I went to facilities during it. As soon as I sat back down, Primo won. Next up: Alberto Del Rio and Kofi Kingston. Really good match in my opinion. What I found funny before it was that Del Rio talked about his destiny and he ended up making ring announcer Justin Roberts wear one of his t-shirts during the match. Eve Torres came out next and picked four people out of the crowd to have a dance contest with the winner being able to go backstage and meet some wrestlers. It was pretty cool. Some 10 year old ended up doing the worm and a one-hand stand and won the contest after the other three couldn’t do any kind of dancing which was fun to see. After that, a divas match between Kelly Kelly and Brie Bella. Kelly Kelly won in a not great, but not terrible match either. She’s getting better.

Santino and Kozlov defeated Jennifer Hudson’s husband and Mr. Perfect’s kid. Santino brought out the cobra finisher which he wore a piece of clothing on his hand similar to “Mr. Socko” except it was green. Santino is hilarious on the mic and in the ring. I really wish he would get more TV time. Next up was the U.S. Title match between Evan Bourne and Dolph Ziggler. Stacey and I were a bit dissipointed that Vickie Guerrero did not show up. She was excited to see her yell “Excuse me” in person. Ziggler ended up winning the match. Now on to that douche. This 40-something year old guy chanted “boring” during the match which a bunch of us looked at him with a “Are you an idiot?” look. That was the icing on the cake as he had something to yell during every other match.

The last match of the night was Cena against Punk. This is how unique the Rockford crowd is compared to other places. The place was about 70% full so a good crowd was there. Nearly all fans cheered for Cena unlike the Allstate Arena where all the fans would be against him. There were very few “Cena sucks!” chants. The match was a draw as R-Truth and The Miz attacked both Punk and Cena. Punk and Cena ended up hitting both of their finishers at the same time. Both wrestlers also held up their titles in the air as the show ended. This is probably the first time since 2006 that I am actually excited as a wrestling fan with the current storyline and all.

So all in all, a fun time. I wish we had a chance to meet some wrestlers like we had in years past but it’s all good. The fans were really into it and that’s what I love about these events. I have been to venues for wrestling like Ford Field in Detroit, the Bradley Center in Milwaukee and of course, the Allstate Arena which is my favorite but the Metro Centre is also a fun place to watch wrestling. There isn’t a bad seat in the house. We took some pictures but they didn’t come out all that well due to the lighting but I will try to get some up soon.