Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Ben Johnson

While browsing through the old tube Tuesday night, I was going through the guide of channels and ended up noticing a program on The Biography Channel. It was called the “The Unreal Story of Pro Wrestling”. Being the fan that I am, I decided to watch to check it out and it was well worth it. It is a two hour documentary on how professional wrestling was started and how it has become today. This is a great documentary to see. There was a lot of information that I was not aware of like pro wrestling being started in the 1800’s, revolution of the sport when the TV era began with interviews from a bunch of past and present wrestlers.

There was a lot discussed in this documentary so I will only bring up a few certain topics. The first one would be how some of the rivalries influenced crowds starting in the 50’s up to the 70’s. While fans knew it was staged (IT’S STILL REAL TO ME DAMNIT!), they were still into it and treated it like an actual sporting event rather than entertainment. Fans were more into it than we as fans are now. Except for the NWO era, fans often trashed the ring when the bad guy would win. These interviews by wrestlers were of course done 15, 20 or even 25 years ago. Some of the interviews included Classie Freddie Blassie, Verne Gane and Lou Thesz.

Hulk Hogan was discussed on how he put pro wrestling on the map in the 80’s which became the second golden age of pro wrestling. We all are aware of what Hogan did for pro wrestling. What was surprising though is when Lou Thesz discussed Hogan and his effect. He said his charisma was through the roof but his ability was as good as some young kid’s grandmother. Couldn’t be farther from the truth. While most of us grew to love Hulk, looking back all of these years later, he had zero athleticism. But as always, if someone can put fans in the seats and make a lot of others tune in, they will be big.

Jerry Lawler was interviewed on the discussion of wrestling character and ability. As we have learned as fans today, usually the ones that can both wrestler and have character should go far in their careers while the wrestlers with only one ability or none at all, don’t really get far. Too bad that doesn’t work in today’s wrestling. These days, people who cannot wrestler nor act (Points finger at Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, etc.) for some odd reason become main eventers. Shawn Michaels said in this documentary that along with the character/wrestling ability, us fans decide who they want as a face and heel.

With all the interviews that were done, the one thing I did find a bit humorous was when Gorilla Monsoon was interviewed, they said he was the WWE President. I think the Biography Channel needs to do more updated research…

Here are a couple things I found very interesting. Fabolous Moolah said she received her nickname because she defeated 13 women in one night. Lou Thesz vs. Verne Gagne wrestler six matches with each other in a span of a few months. Four of those matches lasted 90 minute WITHOUT one fall. Talk about endurance. If anybody wants to say that Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels went through hell wrestling a one-hour iron man match at WrestleMania 12, Thesz and Gagne would probably reply with “What a couple of wimps”.

Fun fact: When Ted Turner purchased WCW, he called Vince McMahon to announce that he was “getting into the wrasslin’ business”. McMahon said he replied with “Well I am in the entertainment industry. Big difference!”

One last fact that I found very interesting is the type of crowds that have attended wrestling events throughout time. One wrestling historian (Really. They exist) showed old footage of fans sitting in crowds starting from the 20’s all the way to the 60’s. Just about every one of the fans there were people dressed up in suits and dresses. In the 70’s and when wrestling started to be televised more often, the next generation of kids began to attend. As it stands today, adults to children in crowds are about half and half. The wrestling business profited greatly because of the expansion of fans to a new generation.

That’s it for now. There was a lot more but I basically just put the stuff that I thought was most important. Til next time.

It was frustrating to see the Bears’ defense once again let their opponents throw and run all they wanted. The good news was that they only allowed it in the first half which helped the Bears beat the Lions in a close one 24-20. The Bears have flaws all over the place but the important part of their 9-3 record is being able to adjust to them.

Offense: Shitty offensive line? Martz early on was sending Cutler to the seven-step dropback and he paid for it. Cutler was running for his life quite a bit in this game. Martz to his credit though, had Cutler going just one or two steps back on some plays then firing the ball to a receiver which was huge. We also saw some draw plays for Forte and Taylor and both were able to score on the ground. The word I have been saying in these recaps since the bye-week is “balance”. No matter what the stat people (Cue the idiots who believe they know everything about football) think, balance of the run and pass plays can be the difference between a win and a loss. The Bears ran the ball 28 times and passed 26 times. As long as it’s close to 50/50, this team will be in every game. Another important part in balancing the offense is that this leads to controlling the time of possession which the Bears did win by almost seven minutes.

In the passing game, Cutler hit seven different receivers including Earl Bennett who had a career game with seven catches for 104 yards. A key play of this game was the Nadamukong Suh hands to the head of Jay Cutler. When watching it live, it looked like Suh hit him in the back of the head real bad. When the replay was shown, Suh pushed him on his shoulder with his left hand and on his neck with his right. I didn’t think it was a penalty but the Bears were lucky on that. Rather be lucky than good? I’d say so.

Defense: In the first half, the defense was absolutely shitty. Drew Stanton was Drew Brees early on. I realize that these aren’t the same  Lions the Bears are use to seeing but that was awful. Here’s a stat for the morons to chomp on: The defense gave up 253 yards in the first half alone and over 100 of those yards were on the ground. The last drive of that half went for TWO plays and 91 yards (45 yard run by Best and 46 yard touchdown by Johnson). All I have been hearing this whole season is the defense saying in the media that they don’t care if anybody else thinks they are good or not. Well, the first half proved that they are not as good as people think. I will give them credit in the second half that they decided to wake up and actually play defense. The only score they gave up after halftime was a field goal and that was because Cutler fumbled the ball in his own territory and they only gave up 49 yards. They found a way to hold it down but problems still remain.

Special Teams: Well, this has been the most consistent part of this team. Robbie Gould nailed a career-long 54 yard field goal in a crucial time down six in the third quarter. Devin Hester nearly took one back on a punt return but later on, the Bears scored the eventual game winning touchdown so the field position he gave the offense was huge.

The Bears are now 9-3 and maintain their one game lead in the North. They will host the Patriots next Sunday while the Packers are on the road against the Lions. This division race will not be easy.

Sometimes in life, you try to ignore things that piss you off. You try to get away from something that annoys you. For me two years ago, I quit watching baseball. I couldn’t stand it. These days, the only way I even see that piece of shit team that I use to follow is on the news.  I see some of your reader’s comments from time to time, but that’s only to make sure everything is flowing smoothly and that the idiots who come here every now and then discuss sports in a grown-up matter.

However, this is something I cannot ignore. Ron Santo died Friday morning. I was checking the site before getting ready for work when I saw all the comments. I could not believe it. This sucks ass. I am one emotional kid this morning.

Until I was 16, I grew up just south of the Wisconsin border in Northwest Illinois. I did not have cable tv and WGN came in once every great while on the rooftop antenna. The only way I could watch baseball on TV was to either wait for the game of the week on Saturdays or go to a friend’s house (Which I did every now and then). So there I was stuck listening to Radio 720 WGN as early in my life as I could remember. I remember Harry Carey doing some of the games then in the mid-90’s, Pat Hughes took over.

Needless to say, I fell more in love with baseball when I heard the duo of Pat Hughes and Ron Santo. I could not have imagined looking back how much I enjoyed those two guys. Hughes is one of the best announcers in baseball right up there with Vin Scully and Bob Uecker. This baseball team was as bad as it could get yet all of those years, I still made it a priority to follow them everyday. I could remember jumping in excitement as a kid when Hughes called a homerun for the team I use to root for with Santo being excited as well. The team was probably in last place, but Hughes and Santo made it sound like they were in the pennant race.

I met Ron Santo in 2004 and in 2005, I met both him and Pat Hughes. Hughes signed a baseball for me on the last home game of the 2005 season. That guy was as classy it could be. I remember telling him how much him and Ron meant to me listening to the games and he replied back with “Thanks for tuning in”. He is one classy guy. I ran into Santo again earlier that year and he was kind enough to sign my baseball glove. Even when I was still following baseball, I could see why he was screaming and yelling in the booth. That’s why I was never annoyed with him. I did the same damn thing in my house. I just wanted them to fucking win and so did Ron Santo even more than me. I think in the later years as a fan, he was screaming even more in the booth. I am sure all of us could notice the idea in the back of our heads that his time was running out and all he wanted to see was his team to win.

Loyal reader of the site JimmyD said a big “Fuck you” to the veterans committee and I would like to second that. It doesn’t matter if he gets in or not now. It’s too late. Go fuck yourselves veterans committee. Just another reason for me to hate that sport.

I remember watching his documentary a few years back and seeing all of his struggles. I almost cracked a tear. This morning, I had a couple running down my eyes. The only thing I missed about following that fucking baseball team was listening to Hughes and Santo on the radio. Now one of those guys is gone. No matter how much I hate baseball now, it was my life when I was younger and that was because I listened to the games on the radio. Before I quit watching the sport, I remember telling myself I really wanted them to win the whole thing. While it seemed selfish that I wanted them to win more than anything else, I wanted them to win more before something bad happened to Santo. Too late on that too.

I am going to miss you Ron Santo. No matter how shitty life was for me growing up listening to that team, you along with Pat Hughes made it a consolation prize.

I have said this before on my site: I am not a pessimist. I am a realist.

Well the reality on Sunday was that the Bears escaped disaster on more than one occasion against the Eagles. They went into the 4th quarter leading 31-13 and nearly pissed it all away. Luckily, the ball bounced their way earlier and that was enough.

Offense: For the first three quarters, the offense was outstanding. Matt Forte had another 100 yard rushing game. Cutler hit six different receivers and had four touchdown passes. Knox, Bennett and Olsen had touchdown catches and Hester had a few key catches that later led to scores. Johnny Knox did a couple stupid things both occurring in the fourth quarter. He had a nice catch for about 30 yards before fumbling which nearly gave the ball back to the Eagles. Then on the onside kick, he had possession of the ball but instead of staying down without hearing the whistle, he sat up and let the ball go which also nearly led to a potential disaster. The offensive line wasn’t spectacular giving up four sacks but they were good enough to open up space for Forte to run and Cutler to throw. And speaking of Cutler, he is a fucking dumbass. Forte was held on an incomplete pass but yet, Cutler decides to yell at the refs and get a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty late in the game. Stupid. And before I forget, the offense was shut out in the fourth quarter. They can get away with that in regular season games but if they want to contend, they need to score points and score consistently.

Defense: The defense was driving me nuts all game. They looked good on one series then they looked completely lost on another. When it was 14-13 late in the second quarter, Vick was marching the Eagles down the field with ease. Then all of a sudden, Tommie Harris did something productive and tipped the ball in the air for Chris Harris to get an interception in the end zone. The Bears had no answer for the passing game. Vick was throwing short passes nearly the whole game and the defense was clueless. Somehow (I really do not know how) the defense only gave up 13 points in the first three quarters. Then the dreaded fourth quarter came. Vick took out his “I-Pass” and marched the Eagles down the field not once, not twice but THREE times which lead to three scores. This seems to be a trend for this defense. When teams use the hurry-up offense, the Bears’ defense tends to let them get big gains in consecutive plays. I am not sure if the lack of learning how to cover is the problem (Which is very possible considering who the cornerbacks and safeties are) or if the coaching is the problem. Whatever it is, I am sick of seeing that crap. It happened against the Lions in the first week and it happened against the Eagles.

Special Teams: This may go unnoticed in the papers this week but the special teams was outstanding. Hester had at least two returns that set up excellent field position. Manning even had a nice return or two but one of those runs was called back on a stupid holding penalty by Nick Roach.

So now, the Bears are up one game in the North on the Packers. Technically, they have a two game lead because of the tie-breaker so that is good news. The Lions are up next in Detroit. These are not the same Lions no matter what their record says. We can all be sure that they want payback after what happened in the first game of the season.

I would like to wish a safe and happy Thanksgiving to all of you guys and your families. I will have a Bears recap late Sunday or Monday.

These last two games, the Bears have been shocking the shit out of me and many other fans out there. They went into Miami and won against a team they haven’t beat since 1997. They did what they were suppose to do with the Dolphins who were missing basically their whole offensive line, their two quarterbacks and in the game, their best wide receiver. The Bears took advantage and kept their foot on their throats the whole game.

Offense: Although having an interception and nearly throwing two more, Cutler was efficient. He was 16-25 for 156 yards. He made the plays when they mattered. In the air, Hester, Olsen and Knox had at least four catches so nice to see him spread the ball around. The Bears shockingly ran the ball 40 times in the game. This was the most important part of the win in my opinion. The Bears chewed up nearly the whole clock in the 3rd quarterback by running the ball. Forte nearly had 100 yards and while Taylor only had 10 carries for 11 yards, this once again results in the Dolphins defense being on the field much longer. Martz for the second game in a row deserves credit for that.

Defense: Thigpen was just awful. Just to show you that stats (Cue the morons) don’t mean shit, Thigpen had more passing yards than Cutler in this game. The Dolphins did their best impression of the Bears in early season by going 1-11 on third down. The defense was outstanding. Briggs was awesome. Urlacher is the fucking man and Peppers had three sacks. Luckily, Tillman (Fuck you) had an interception early in the game but wasn’t much of a factor after that. Manning (Fuck you too) finally did something productive and leveled a wide receiver (Was it Hartline?) trying to convert a fourth down late in the game.

Special Teams: Robbie Gould did his job and hit three field goals and Brad Maynard (We love our punters) is now third all-time in punts with over 1200. Carl from Fire Mike Martz was quoted as saying he believes he has seen all 1200 of them. You aren’t alone on that one my friend. That just goes to show you how bad our offense has been the last decade. Devin Hester nearly took back a couple kicks early in the game. Nice to see him in the groove again. Even if they don’t kick to him, the Bears are almost guaranteed to have good field position when he is back there.

NFL Network: I am sure a lot of us hate the NFL Network. I for one do. The Thursday night concept is stupid. Cable companies want you to pay more to get it although there are sites you can watch it for free. However, the thing that pisses me off the most are the announcers. I won’t go as far as saying they are as bad as Tirico, Jaworski and Gruden on ESPN but they are catching up. I don’t mind Bob Papa calling the game. Millen was just annoying Theisman all game with his “Where did this player go to college at?” quotes. They argued a few times about Marinelli being great and Theisman actually threw some words across about Millen being the GM of the Lions. Just awful.

The Bears are 7-3 and tied for first place. Even if the Packers win Sunday, they would still hold the tie-breaker because of their division record. We will find out how good this team really is when they face the Eagles a week from Sunday.

The Bears for the first time all season played nearly a great game against the Vikings and they are now tied with the Packers for first place. This game was still close despite the score. Both teams had missed opportunities. In the end though, the Bears prevailed. Let’s get to it.

Offense: I will admit that I am not a fan of Mike Martz. I don’t think many of us are. However, he does deserve credit in this game. For the second week in a row, he balanced the offense and once again, it paid off. He must have finally realized that this offense isn’t as good as he is use to coaching. So what does he finally do? He calls the plays to the best of the players’ ability. The offensive line was outstanding. I can’t say if this is just smoke and mirrors but it has worked two weeks in a row. This needs to continue.

If you look at the stats (Cue the experts who think they know everything about football), the running game wasn’t spectacular. Forte and Taylor combined had 32 attempts for 102 yards. That averages to slightly over three yards a carry. The fact remains though they ran the ball 38 times total. No matter how many yards they get, balancing the offense goes a long way in trying to win a game. The receivers played their best game as a whole. Knox, Hester, Bennett and Olsen had some great catches with Olsen catching a touchdown pass. And the receivers we haven’t heard from in a long time in Rashied Davis, Kellen Davis (Touchdown catch for him too) and Devin Aromashodu had catches on key plays during the game.

Jay Cutler for the most part had a good game. He scrambled around the line and was only sacked once the whole game. Credit goes to the line and Cutler should get some too. I am not going to let this asshole off the hook though. In the first half, he could have ran nearly to the goal line for a possible touchdown. Instead, he runs past the line of the scrimmage then throws a near interception. Luckily, they still scored a field goal. Then in the second half, he threw a stupid interception in the end zone instead of running the ball or even throwing it away. He could have easily had a couple more interceptions on other plays. Luckily, Martz kept his mistakes to a minimum.

Defense: The first two drives, I thought the defense was in for a long day. The rest of the way, they were as good as they have been for the most part. There was one play however that made me want to throw my remote across the room. Favre threw a wide open Percy Harvin for a touchdown pass. Blown coverage seems to be the norm every now and then for the defense. I think Chris Harris was the one to blame for that. The defense did force four turnovers on defense. I know the grass at Soldier Field (More on this later) helped with everyone slipping all over the place, but the Bears offense played on the same field too. Urlacher and Briggs were once again outstanding. And luckily, Favre did not throw to whoever Charles Tillman (Fuck you) was covering. Not sure if Tillman (Fuck you) was actually covering the receivers and they happened to not be open, or that Favre was just that bad. I’ll take it though. Speaking of Favre, he is a jackass. Seeing his downfall makes me smile more than most. He made my childhood and many others miserable.

Special Teams: Whoever didn’t remind Lovie Smith to take his stupid pills today, thank you for that. We FINALLY saw Devin Hester back on kickoff returns and he nearly took one back on both a kickoff and a punt return. That’s where Hester needs to be. I know he scored a touchdown on offense but they should still focus him on special teams. Hester’s returns proved to be huge with the field position the offense was given. Robbie Gould was also productive making two of three field goals.

Stupid penalties: This is something that could have cost the Bears this game. Here’s a stat for you so called “experts”: The Bears had 11 penalties for 116 yards. This included a stupid penalty of Danieal Manning (Can I put “Fuck you” after his name too?) not knowing when to turn around causing a pass interference penalty. Another stupid penalty was Olin Kruetz having a block below the knees causing the Bears to be pushed further out of field goal range. Frank Omiyale met his quota of having at least one false start penalty per game. Good job Frank!

Soldier Field grass: I have heard this issue being discussed on the radio quite a few times. It is to my understanding that the Chicago Park District is suppose to maintain the field and make repairs if necessary. If they are unwilling to do that because of financial issues, why can’t the Bears open up the checkbook to fix it to make sure players quit slipping all over the place? I know the Bears and whichever team they are playing are on same field but eventually, someone is going to get hurt.

Up next are the Dolphins on Thursday night in Miami. History shows the Bears rarely beat the Dolphins especially in Miami so that needs to change. If they win, they are in the driver’s seat in the division. They lose and they are fighting just to stay alive in the wild card race.

What’s on your mind folks?