Is it just me, or do the White Sox really have a thing for guys who played for the Cleveland Indians in the 1990s? The Alomar brothers, both Roberto and Sandy, Jim Thome, Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton -- we've seen 'em all on the South Side. Now, Vizquel is likely on the way. The only left to do now is trade for Manny Ramirez and coax Travis Fryman out of retirement. I hear Bobby Jenks might be on his way out of the Sox organization. Is Jose Mesa available?
I actually don't mind bringing Vizquel on board as a backup infielder. His glove is still good, and he can play anywhere on the infield. He's the kind of guy who should play once or twice a week at this stage of his career. My fear is Sox manager Ozzie Guillen would give Vizquel 90-100 starts, possibly as a leadoff hitter. That would be bad.
But, hey, Guillen loves guys who can play defense and get bunts down. Thus, Guillen will love Omar Vizquel, perhaps a little too much.
Longtime play-by-play man Pat Foley always says the Blackhawks' Thanksgiving road trip is a good measuring stick for what type of season the team is going to have. This year's late November road swing will be as difficult as any, taking the Hawks to Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles over an 11-day period.
Tough as that trip sounds, it sure got off to a good start Thursday night as the Hawks pounded lumps on Calgary 7-1. Mind you, this is a quality Flames team that entered tonight's action with the exact same record as the Hawks -- 12-5-2.
But the Hawks were ready to go from the very start, and their power play turned out to be the difference. It's about time. If there's one criticism I've had of the Blackhawks in the early going this season it would be that they haven't been very good with the man advantage.
Entering Thursday's game, the Hawks ranked 19th in the league, 13-for-72 overall for just over an 18 percent success rate. On the recent homestand, the power play showed signs of perking up. The Hawks scored three goals with the extra man in four games, all wins. The power play provided game-winning tallies in victories over Los Angeles and Toronto.
However, the real breakthrough occurred Thursday night, as the Hawks went a dazzling 4-for-5 on the power play. Kris Versteeg (pictured) scored twice, and Patrick Kane and Troy Brouwer also lit the lamp.
A key sequence came late in the second period. With Calgary already short-handed, Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf got in a fight with Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook. Meathead Phaneuf picked up an extra minor penalty. The Hawks got a two-man advantage and netted two power play goals in the final 1:14 of the period to turn a 4-1 lead into an insurmountable 6-1 advantage. That's how you put a team away.
The Hawks are 1-0 on the trip, and on any long road swing, it's easier to get points early than late -- when jet lag sets in and legs get a little tired. Up next for the Hawks: a Saturday night contest against Edmonton and former teammate Nikolai Khabibulin.
Sorry, Bob Costas. You don't get to talk to Jerry Angelo, Lovie Smith or Jay Cutler this week.
Smith, Cutler and other players will be available Friday for off-air meetings with NBC announcers Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, but the Bears have denied Costas access to team personnel for on-air interviews for the network's pregame show prior to the start of Sunday night's game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Frankly, I don't care if the Bears are refusing to give on-air interviews. Why would Costas or anybody else want to interview Lovie Smith anyway? I could already tell him what Lovie would say: "We are one quarter of the way through the third quarter of our football season. There's still a lot of football left to be played."
Thank you, Lovie.
It would be nice, though, if the Bears would resemble a professional football team Sunday night. They are 0-3 in prime-time games this season entering this contest with Philadelphia. Interestingly, the Eagles are 0-7 all-time on NBC's Sunday Night Football.
Something's gotta give! Can you feel the excitement?
Fighting Illini fans, meet Brandon Paul (pictured). He was Mr. Basketball in the state of Illinois as a senior at Warren High School in Gurnee last year. And he's poised to make a bigger impact on the Illinois basketball program than any other freshman since Dee Brown arrived in Champaign in 2002.
Yeah, it's early, but it's been pretty hard to miss Paul out on the court in Illinois' first two games. He scored 22 in a season-opening win over SIU-Edwardsville and tossed in 20 more in last night's victory over Northern Illinois. Paul was the leading scorer in both games. The 22 points represented a new school record for a freshman making his debut. The old record of 21 was held by Deon Thomas, who is leading scorer in the history of the Illinois program.
And Paul isn't the only freshman to watch out for at Illinois this year. Guard D.J. Richardson, who hails from Peoria, is going to be heard from, too. Richardson had 14 points against SIUE and five points against NIU. While he didn't score much last night, Richardson impacted the game by making a steal and pass to Demetri McCamey for a dunk that stopped an NIU run and started an Illinois run in the second half.
As an Illinois alum, it's kind of nice to have some freshmen enter the program who are generating some excitement right away. It's been awhile. Take a look at the previous freshman classes during the Bruce Weber era:
2003-04: Brian Randle, Warren Carter, Rich McBride Comment: The three guys from Bill Self's last recruiting class eventually became starters at Illinois, but none averaged more than 3.2 points per game as freshman.
2004-05: Calvin Brock, Shaun Pruitt Comment: Brock redshirted. Pruitt should have. Both had a front-row seat on the bench for the Illini's run to the Final Four.
2005-06: Chester Frazier, C.J. Jackson, Jamar Smith Comment: Smith made the All-Freshman team by averaging 8.0 points per game, but then alcohol problems and a car crash ruined his career at Illinois. Frazier developed into a defensive ace as an upperclassman, but made little impact as a freshman. Jackson was a non-factor during his Illini career.
2006-07: Brian Carlwell, Rich Semrau Comment: Carlwell was never a factor at Illinois, and he eventually transferred after being severely injured as a passenger in Smith's alcohol-related car crash. Semrau, now a redshirt junior, is still struggling to find minutes.
2007-08: Demetri McCamey, Mike Tisdale, Mike Davis, Jeff Jordan Comment: With time, this has become a pretty good class. All these guys are now juniors, and there are three current Illinois starters here. McCamey averaged 8.2 points per game as a freshmen. The others needed some time to figure it out. Davis has a chance to average a double-double if he applies himself on the boards this year.
2008-09: Stan Simpson Comment: After taking a redshirt year, Simpson is still unlikely to crack the rotation this season.
In conclusion, Illinois has had two impact freshmen over the last six years: Smith and McCamey. This year, they'll equal that with Paul and Richardson. The two other freshmen this season, Tyler Griffey and Joseph Bertrand, should be contributors sometime down the road.
Kinda refreshing to have a couple potential stars joining the Illini program, isn't it?
Bears fans might have thought they'd heard the last of Rex Grossman, but good ol' Rexy was back in the news Tuesday. Well, actually, Grossman's father, Dan, made front-page headlines in the Chicago Tribune with comments critical of the Bears organization in a column written by Fred Mitchell.
To say the least, the elder Grossman's comments were candid and expansive. Cutting to the chase, here are some snippets of what I found interesting:
"It's a self-perpetuating problem that is not Jay Cutler's fault," Dan Grossman said. "It's not Rex Grossman's fault. It's not Kyle Orton's fault. It's not every other quarterback who has been through the system's fault. It's the fault of the organization for not understanding what a quarterback needs.
"What's amazing to me is, here we go again with Jay Cutler. He came in and he was going to be the franchise quarterback and lead the Bears. I heard some people say they were going to the Super Bowl this year. And here we are, back in the situation where .. because the team is not really built around a passing game, he has struggled. I don't really blame it on Jay Cutler."
I agree with Mr. Grossman. I don't blame it on Jay Cutler either. Here are some more comments that I agree with:
"I believe that the NFL is a passing league," Grossman told Mitchell. "It has been for the last 20 years. Chicago continues to use the phrase, at least Lovie Smith continues to use the phrase, 'We get off the bus running.' They need to abandon that concept. Running is obviously a very important part of the offense. But the best teams in this league are prolific passing teams.
"And for a team to be effective at passing, in my opinion, you have to build your offense around your quarterback. You have to commit to the quarterback: 'You're our guy.'
"You don't bring your quarterback in and say: 'We're going to get off the bus running. But on third-and-10, you've got to come through for us now!'"
All this actually cuts right to the heart of a newsroom conversation I was having last night with my colleagues Brad Engel and Jim Owczarski. We were saying that the Bears are years behind the times. Jim correctly pointed out that the NFL wants passing and prolific offense. They want you to chuck the ball all over the field. The rules are set up to favor great quarterbacks and passing teams. The Bears are still stuck in the 1950s with their run-first offensive philosophy. Forget about quarterbacks for a second. When have the Bears ever had an elite wide receiver?
I thought Troy Aikman made a good point about the Bears a couple weeks ago when he said that for the longest time, people said "If only the Bears could just get a quarterback..." Well, now they do have a quarterback and all the other warts and bankrupt philosophies of the team are being exposed.
There's been a lot of talk of firing coach Lovie Smith lately. Well, if you fire Smith, you have to ship GM Jerry Angelo out the door with him. Angelo is the one who has had multiple bad drafts, given too much money to aging defensive players, ignored the needs at receiver and failed to address the subpar offensive line.
Moreover, if Smith is fired sometime soon, the Bears need to hire an offensive coach for a change. Look at the last three guys that have come through here -- Dave Wannstedt, Dick Jauron and Smith. All those guys were defensive coordinators with no head coaching experience. They all came cheap (at first).
Another defensive guru won't be the answer for the Bears. It's time to get an offensive-minded guy to help Cutler out. Then, you gotta get Cutler the weapons he needs. It's looking more and more to me like an overhaul is needed. It's going to be a tough road for the Bears here in the short term. That much is for certain.
In NBA news, I see the Memphis Grizzlies have decided to part ways with guard Allen Iverson. (How many Grizzlies are there in Memphis? Just asking.) Iverson apparently didn't want to come off the bench and didn't want to play on a rebuilding team that features young players like O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay and Hasheem Thabeet.
Iverson began an indefinite leave of absence from the team on Nov. 7 to deal with "personal matters." The guess here is those personal matters included not starting, not getting enough shots and playing for a losing team. We already know Iverson doesn't like to practice. This press conference remains one of my all-time favorites:
Let's look over the season White Sox third baseman Gordon Beckham produced, shall we? He led all American League rookies with 28 doubles, 43 extra-base hits, 28 multihit games and 63 RBIs. He was second among American League rookies in on-base percentage (.347), slugging percentage (.460), home runs (14), runs (58), hits (102) and total bases (174).
In other words, Beckham was first or second among rookies in almost every offensive category worth mentioning. And he accomplished all that while learning a new position.
Of course, The Sporting News award is voted upon by a panel of 338 major league players. The MLBPA award is also voted upon by players, who presumably know how tough it is to put up good offensive numbers while learning a new position at the big-league level.
The baseball writers? Well, they voted Beckham fifth, behind Andrew Bailey, Elvis Andrus, Rick Porcello and Jeff Niemann. In fact, Beckham did not receive a single first-place vote. Idiots. No wonder most baseball players hate the media.
High school basketball season is coming. We're about 10 days away from tipoff for local teams. Unfortunately, I'm sad to report that we will not be producing a preseason basketball issue this year.
Nevertheless, we'll have eight straight days of basketball previews in our print edition, starting this Sunday, Nov. 15. If you're not a print subscriber, we'll have everything covered at beaconnewsonline.com. Be sure to check it out and see how things are shaking up for your local team this season.
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler had a terrible game Thursday night -- five interceptions in a brutal 10-6 loss to a very bad San Francisco team. But there were so many mistakes in this debacle that I almost don't know where to begin. Let's add them up, shall we?
1. Devin Hester slipped coming out of a break and caused a Cutler interception that set up the 49ers' lone touchdown. Hester also committed two penalties on the night.
2. Tommie Harris jumped offsides twice. Idiot.
3. The Bears committed two delay-of-game penalties WHILE IN A HURRY-UP OFFENSE in the final two minutes of the first half. The second penalty forced Robbie Gould to kick a field goal five yards farther back. Fortunately, Gould made the kick. He's one of the few Bears who does not have his head up his ass.
4. The Bears took that delay of game penalty before the Gould kick WHILE THEY STILL HAD ONE TIMEOUT LEFT. Great time management, Lovie. Like Tommie Harris, you're an idiot.
5. Chris Williams gets called for an unnecessary roughness penalty with two minutes left and the Bears trying to mount a game-winning drive. Yeah, like you can afford to give up 15 yards there. Undisciplined.
We can probably go on and on like this all night. I'm sure others who watched this game would be able to come up with even more Bears gaffes.
People sometimes ask me why football is the No. 4 sport on my list, behind baseball, hockey and basketball. Well, around here we're stuck with the Bears and the Fighting Illini. And, boy, are they bad.
The only silver lining? You're free to do something else with your Sunday afternoons for the next two months. No need to continue watching this poorly-coached, injury-riddle, undisciplined, bad Bears team.
When Memphis football coach Tommy West was fired recently, he criticized the media (among others) for a lack of support. Fast forward to about the 3:00 mark on this video to hear his tirade.
What do you think, Chicago? Should we take Tommy West's advice and apply it to Lovie Smith and the Bears?
Instead of being "negative all the time," maybe we should all call ol' Lovie up and ask him, "Coach, what can I do to help your football program?" I'm sure he'd be glad to hear from us.
Illinois basketball coach Bruce Weber's 2010 recruiting class is looking pretty good after he received letters of intent from three top 100 players today: 6-5 forward Jereme Richmond from Waukegan, 6-11 center Meyers Leonard from Robinson and 6-5 guard Crandall Head (brother of Luther) from Rich South.
The "Weber Can't Recruit" crowd is going to have to find some other schtick now that the Illinois coach has pulled in strong recruiting classes in three of the last four years. On the court, the Illini are still a year away. But I would say the 2010-11 team will have a legit chance of making a run to the Final Four.
"I think we can destroy their front," Davis said. "The guys up front, I think we can destroy them. I don't see anything spectacular about their front line. Their linebackers, I think we can handle them pretty well. I like (Adewale) Ogunleye. I like the way he's playing up front. He's about the only player I like on their defensive line. I think he's doing a good job."
Davis added the 49ers should be able to torch the Bears secondary.
"They've given up a lot of points," he said. "There's an opportunity for us, especially there in their secondary, for us to make plays. We just have to go out and do it. Enough talking, go do it."
Well, you can certainly give Mr. Davis points for candor. I don't see anything spectacular about the Bears front line either. However, I disagree with Davis about Ogunleye, who isn't worth a damn as far as I'm concerned. During Sunday's 41-21 loss to Arizona, I thought Alex Brown was the only Bears defensive lineman to show a pulse. Brown had four quarterback pressures, a sack and a forced fumble in the debacle at Soldier Field.
I have no idea whether the 49ers will torch the Bears secondary. It's certainly possible, given the injuries the Bears have at safety. If nothing else, Davis has succeeded in making Thursday's craptacular matchup between the 4-4 Bears and the 3-5 49ers slightly more interesting.
This recognition is overdue for Buehrle, who has been one of the best fielding pitchers in baseball for the last decade. Since the 2001 season, Buehrle leads all major league pitchers with 63 pickoffs and ranks third with 501 total chances and 373 assists. Over his 10-year career with the White Sox, he has allowed just 40 stolen bases in 95 attempts, a 42.1 percent success rate.
This season, Buehrle led American League pitchers with eight pickoffs, 55 total chances and 41 assists. He committed just one error.
Typically, the same guys win Gold Gloves year after year, whether they deserve them or not. The award for American League pitchers has gone to either Mussina or Rogers for 12 out of the last 13 seasons. Now, both of those guys are out of the league, which opened the door for Buehrle to receive this honor.
You do have to wonder whether the Gold Glove is really an award for defense. The guys who win them are typically great hitters. Take a look at the other American League winners this year: Joe Mauer, Mark Teixeira, Placido Polanco, Derek Jeter, Evan Longoria, Ichiro Suzuki, Torii Hunter and Adam Jones.
All those guys can hit, but you're never going to convince me that Torii Hunter deserves a Gold Glove at this stage of his career. People vote for him out of habit. Meanwhile, Seattle's Franklin Gutierrez is the best defensive outfielder in the American League. He won't win a Gold Glove because he can't hit. And why isn't Carl Crawford winning the Gold Glove? He's another who deserves it, but he gets shut out because people are obliged to vote for Hunter and Ichiro every year.
Polanco is another who is past his prime. You know who deserves a Gold Glove? Polanco's double-play partner in Detroit, Adam Everett. But he can't hit like Jeter can and he's not "The Captain" of the Yankees, so he doesn't win.
I have no quarrel with the selections of Mauer and Teixeira, who excel both offensively and defensively. But some of these selections are made on the basis of good offensive numbers and seniority. I'm glad Buehrle finally got his due. There are others who are still waiting.
The World Series hasn't been over for 24 hours yet, and we already have word that White Sox GM Kenny Williams is on the verge of making his first move of the offseason.
There are strong rumors that the Sox will send second baseman Chris Getz and infielder Josh Fields to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for infielder/outfielder Mark Teahan. Sun-Times beat writer Joe Cowley has been told that minor-league players are involved and that could be the only thing holding the deal up.
Teahan has been with the Royals for five years. Last season, he batted .271 with 12 homers and 50 RBIs. He was drafted as a third baseman, but he's also played all three outfield positions, some first base and even a little second base. His versatility and athleticism are his two biggest assets.
I'm not sure how I feel about this deal (assuming it goes through) because I'm not sure how the Sox intend to use Teahan. I think he could valuable as a utility guy, a 10th man who plays three times a week at multiple positions and gives other guys a day off.
I've heard talk that Teahan is being acquired to replace Jermaine Dye as the everyday right fielder. If that's the case, that's fail. Teahan doesn't have near enough pop in his bat to be an everyday guy at a corner position. That's why the Royals are willing to part with him.
I've also heard discussions that Teahan could be plugged in at third base, moving Gordon Beckham over to second. I would hate for the Sox to continue to screw around with Beckham. They moved him from shortstop to third base last year. Now that he's got the hang of third, they're going to move him to second? Beckham is the best position player the Sox have drafted in 20 years. I'd prefer to give him a position and let him run with it, as opposed to treating like a utility infielder. Teahan is, in fact, a utility guy. I hope the Sox plan to use him as such.
In modern journalism, we are supposed to have kneejerk, violent reactions to everything. I'm either supposed to proclaim this move as a work of genius, or mock it as the definition of idiocy. Alas, I will do neither at this time. I want to wait and see how Teahan fits in as far as the big picture goes. On Nov. 5, we have no way to know what other moves will be made in the coming weeks. I reserve judgment on this one.
For a football program that hasn't had much success, Illinois has sent its fair share of players to the NFL. The last two years, the Illini have had players selected in the first round of the draft. Running back Rashard Mendenhall was chosen 23rd overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2008 draft. Cornerback Vontae Davis was drafted with the 25th pick by the Miami Dolphins this year.
According to this mock draft from Yahoo, offensive lineman Jon Asamoah (pictured) is on track to be chosen in the first round in 2010. There's a chance injury-prone wide receiver Arrelious Benn will be taken in the first round, too. Benn was a preseason All-American in several publications, but a nagging high ankle sprain and the overall ineffectiveness of the Illinois offense has hurt his stock this season.
Benn doesn't have a single TD reception this year. He's made just 26 catches for 298 yards. His lone TD all season came on a 3-yard rush in Saturday's 38-13 win over Michigan. Despite that, Benn clearly has NFL size, speed and athleticism. You just wonder whether the injury history will send him tumbling into the third or fourth round.
Here's a complete list of former Illini in the NFL. Pierre Thomas, David Diehl, Tony Pashos, Neil Rackers, Eugene Wilson, Brandon Moore, Greg Lewis, Kelvin Hayden, Steve Weatherford -- a lot of these guys have had nice pro careers. It's really a pretty good list considering the lack of team success Illinois has had over the years.
St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson once told Tim McCarver, "The only thing you know about pitching is you can't hit it." Frankly, I'm not sure what McCarver knows about because I don't feel I'm learning anything new when I listen to him and Joe Buck broadcast the World Series games on Fox.
In fact, I often find myself correcting McCarver. For instance, during Philadelphia's 8-6 victory over New York in Game 5 Monday night, McCarver said American League hitters are "unfamiliar" with Phillies' left-hander Cliff Lee's ability to cut his fastball inside to right-handers.
Huh? On the contrary, American League hitters are quite familar with Lee, who spent five-plus seasons with the Cleveland Indians. McCarver seemed to catch his mistake mid-sentence. He tried to talk his way out of it by saying Lee is a "completely different" pitcher now than he was in Cleveland.
Again, bogus. Lee was just as good in Cleveland as he is now with Philadelphia. You don't need a real long memory to recall that Lee went 22-3 and won the AL Cy Young Award just one year ago. He's had tremendous success in both leagues the last couple years. For that reason, he hasn't changed his repertoire one bit.
When I saw Lee pitching against New York last night, I saw the same pitcher who competed against the White Sox for several years in the AL Central. Lee has excellent command of his fastball. He works both sides of the plate. He's got an excellent change that he throws to right-handed hitters and his breaking ball is above average. He's getting guys out in Philadelphia the same way he got them out in Cleveland.
If I know this, shouldn't McCarver know it? After all, he is Fox's color commentator for the World Series. He's paid to know this stuff. I'm just a lowly sports copy editor at a newspaper in suburban Chicago. I shouldn't have more knowledge about baseball than these guys who have national gigs.
The last couple days, we've been hearing reports that the White Sox are close to signing veteran infielder Omar Vizquel. The 42-year-old played a utility role with the Texas Rangers last season.
