I didn't forget it, like April 28, and I wasn't drifting somewhere in the ether, like April 29...
So I figured it was a perfect day for a list of some kind...

So here it is - People, places and things that should get a one-way ticket to ... well, you can pick the place....

David Blaine.
The BCS and the people running it.
Everything about MMA.
Miley Cyrus and/or Hannah Montana...whatever one is real

and here's something refreshing, from Redskins tight end Chris Cooley...

it's only appropriate that today's Daily Dose comes a bit after we've already entered tomorrow...it's just been one of those days.
So, i called the "suspended game version" because it's been a lot like the Sox's suspended contest with Baltimore ...
It existed. It was there. It can be proven...like Juan Uribe's on base percentage... But yet, it didn't seem real...Like it was an invisible aura that left you feeling like Snoop Dogg in a phone booth...a little groggy, a little slap happy...really, really hungry...maybe feeling like the street is somehow angled down, and to the left...or that you don't even exist at all...like Juan Uribe's on base percentage...

(oh - the Snoop D-Oh-Double G- is strictly, strictly telling new Cardinals draft pick Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie "Dude, tell the people at Starbucks to not put whip cream on your Brazilian Ipanema Bourbon - you just can not get it out of your mustache. But try this cinnamon stick - it's dee-lish!)

to further prove how ridiculous today has been - who pulls into a Dunkin Donuts drive through at 11:48 p.m. and then has to wait in line? Exactly....And I must have had one of these things take a dump on my car...which just added to the joy of paying $3.79 a gallon as I tried washing it off with one of those ratty window washer things....

and anyone ever notice that mattress stores always have the "Open" sign glowing all hours of the night? At first, I thought it made no sense, but then I thought - if it's 2 a.m. and you realize your bed sucks, what are you gonna do? Then you're lovin the fact the mattress store is open...but then again, you really don't have room to negotiate at that point do you?

alright, alright - so missed april 28. it happens...

I spent a rainy, cold afternoon with Australian golfer Aron Price out at the Bank of America Open media day at The Glen Club. Despite the weather, it was a great event and Price was fun to play with (he said yesterday's beautiful weather would have been the coldest day in Sydney in 10 years, easy).

Price won on the Nationwide Tour earlier in the year, is 5th on the money list and seems like a good kid. I'd say look his group when you visit the tournament at the end of May - you probably are looking at a 2009 member of the PGA Tour.

And, finally, I don't know exactly why I felt the need to share this with you since you might be eating when you see it...but I don't think you'd expect anything else from the Daily Dose (tape delayed)...

I didn't watch the draft...really.

Didn't know my beloved Iggles stole from the Carolina Panthers either, until I heard something about it on the radio. That's great news - any time you can line up 2 first round picks (like they did for '09), all the better.

I am waiting for the other shoe to drop next week though - which will either be Anquan Boldin or Roy Williams or Chad Johnson in Eagle green (which would be lovely!)

I will say this - how good is Rashard Mendenhall going to be with Pittsburgh? I say 1,200 at least next year, and then when they deal fast Willie Parker he'll rush for 1,500 the next few years. What a steal at No. 23 for the Steelers....

anyway - that's all i have for now on this mess. I won't watch anything tomorrow - I'm headed out to Comiskey Park to see the Sox v. Orioles - hopefully there'll be some Fire and Passion there to warm it up!

tomorrow - the NFL Draft - suckfest.

what a waste of time. Who really cares. Mel Kiper Jr and Chris Berman will be breathless over quick hips, fast twitch and dead lifts - who gives a sh#@?

so watch something else this weekend...anything else. (for some great blooper moments; click the 'read more' linky at the end of this post)

Finally - me and a buddy were talking about if it would be illegal to pitch underhand (like in fastpitch softball) at the major league level. Afer some rather half-ass searching over Coors Light and Hpnotiq (not together, mind you) we kind of figured out that it's not really illegal...and we decided it'd be pretty sweet to see that.

along those lines - a fun video on the "greatest pitch ever thrown"...which is kind of related...

Here are our choices ...

Jim Owczarski -- Rashard Mendenhall, running back, Illinois
Todd M. Adams -- Jeff Otah, offensive tackle, Pittsburgh
Jason Bauman -- Chris Williams, offensive tackle, Vanderbilt
Mike Knapp -- Trade down

Do we have it right? Or is there another direction you think the Bears should take?

Post your comments here.

And vote on our online poll on our sports home page.

So I was listening to the radio last night and hear that the Cubs were still playing - so I switched over to see what was happening (Despite being a Sox fan, I'd rather listen to a ballgame than regular radio) and, as we all know, there's a good chance Ron Santo will give us something to laugh at (i.e.santoohno.mp3"> .)

Anyway, Ronnie confused these two guys in the on-deck box...which is really funny if you think about it...
You have Daryle Ward, listed at 6-2 and a generous 242 pounds...but I'd say he's closer to 260, 265...


Then you have Felix Pie, listed at 6-2 and a monstrous 172...

Finally, there was that great Pat & Ronnie moment when they were talking about a foul ball that Fukudome couldn't quite track down that landed a few rows off the rail in Colorado. Pat mentioned that a fan nearly caught the ball in a hat...

then a few moments later, Santo says "I can't tell if that's a boy or a girl, with the hat. Was that a boy or a girl?..."

- pregnant pause -

"I don't know Ron."

Great stuff....

The great part about golf is that there is always a back nine, so if you somehow didn't get your fill on the front side - there's always more to be had after the turn. That's what this part of the Beacon News' weekly golf coverage will do for you

The Western Golf Association will be bringing one of its marquee events to the Chicago area beginning in 2009 - the Western Amateur.

The WGA also hosts the Western Junior, as well as the PGA Tour's BMW Championship.

Not only does the WGA promote the game of golf with these tourneys, but they've sent thousands of kids to college with Evans Scholarships.

For an exclusive Q&A with WGA V.P. of Tournaments John Kaczkowski about the Western Am returning to Chicago, as well as local golf results and info, read on!

One of the pleasant side effects of MLB's recent crackdown on performance enhancing drugs is that the game's top power guys are not all muscle-bound workout freaks. In a return to old-school baseball, we've got some fat boys among the game's best power hitters.

Take for example the following examples ...

Prince Fielder (pictured), Milwaukee Brewers, 50 home runs last year

Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers, 34 home runs last year

Ryan Howard, Philadephia Phillies, 47 home runs last year

It's good to see home runs are again being hit the old fashion way.

that Tayshaun Prince struck an eerie similarity to Gollum?

...that the Vikings are doing everything in their power to take over the NFC North?

Meanwhile, the Bears are re-signing Rashied Davis and haggling with old man Brian ...

So, does this all stem from the fact that the Old Man isn't allowed to talk in his many commercials? Is that why he's so talkative now? You decide...

maybe it all goes back to this commercial, when he did actually talk...and sold nothing...

especially since blog entries can be little more than directing its readers to such great, great, links, such as this....

and show just idiotic sports fans, such as the guy below...

Sometimes we sports writers get to talking about rather inane things after games, or between phone calls.

So, is Frank Thomas a 1st ballot Hall of Famer after his recent release from Toronto?

Will there be another 300 game winner in the next 30 years?

Is John Smoltz a Hall of Famer?

Will Greg Maddux hang on for another year to pass Warren Spahn for most victories by a pitcher in the modern era?

yes, yes, six collective starts are about oh, 54 too short to call Sox youngsters Gavin Floyd and John Danks truly successful.

But I will take these at face value: After last night's victory in Tampa, Mr. Danks has posted 14 2/3 straight scoreless innings. Mr. Floyd has gone 15 1/3 consecutive innings without an unearned run.

I'd say that's pretty good. Now, I know you can't "throw away" such a dismal outing like the one Danks had against the Twins (7 runs in 2.1 innings) but I'd venture to say that outings like that will become rarer and rarer.

I say they're for real. What about you?

for finding these for you. more examples of how this man is an athlete and not only that - his mental fortitude is superhuman. To commit to these shots and execute them is incredible.

ok, ok. Credit where credit is due: photo by J.D. Cuban, found here

and who could forget this, from '07?
Tiger SI cover.bmp

Here it is live...

For The Big Hurt.
It's kind of a surprise, but not really. Not at this point in his career.

I had a discussion with Jason Bauman about him a few days ago.

I'm 27 and grew up in the prime of Frank's career with the White Sox. The guy was a machine. So much so that when I talked to legendary baseball writer and official MLB historian Jerome Holtzman about it, he called Thomas the best right handed hitter he had ever seen during a 10 year period from 1990-1999.

Now that's saying something.

Jason and I talked about the conscious choice Frank made toward the end of his tenure with the Sox - the decision to become a straight up slugger, rather than the guy who hit .330 with 30 homeruns.

I struggled with his decision at first - I mean, how do you just do a complete 180 and become a totally different - and in my opinion - lesser hitter? But Jason brought up a good point. Frank's health was severely declining. He was never a speedster, but he was a doubles machine back in the day.

Closer to 40 now, doubles don't do him any good. He can't run them out anyway and he never really had a good shot at 3,000 hits with all the walks he took early on. So he made the choice to become a slugger in order to prolong his career.

I give him credit for that. It's weird to see him hit .265, .270 now...that's for sure. But he's a Hall of Famer, and I guess that's what HOFers do - they adjust. I still love watching him hit though - and I'm fortunate to have grown up watching him.

or not. ...

this was just too funny to not share with everyone.

and for good measure, the most famous Big Head of all time...

alright, alright, something sports - you didn't think my GrindUnderground wouldn't hook a brotha up ...this from some surveillance at MIller Park....can't you feel The Fire and The Passion from hundreds of miles away!?

Who is Chicago's best sports broadcaster? Here's what we said ...

Jim Owczarski: Neil Funk
Jason Bauman: Steve Stone
Todd M. Adams: Pat Foley
Rick Armstrong: Pat Huges

Is one of us right? Or is there someone else.

We're interested in what you think. Post your comments here.

And vote on the poll on the sports home page at beaconnewsonline.com.

and dumberer....Alfonso Soriano....almost as bad as one of My Favorite Martins but not quite, because Soriano's hop shouldn't be career ending...

but, I can't help but wonder if this iswhat 'So is thinking.wav">. when he does that hop....

hip hop....hip hop anonymous?

The great part about golf is that there is always a back nine, so if you somehow didn't get your fill on the front side - there's always more to be had after the turn. That's what this part of the Beacon News' weekly golf coverage will do for you

Tom Tierney of Orchard Valley Golf Course, who played in the 1980 U.S. Open won by Jack Nicklaus, talks a little more about putting...along with Whitetail Ridge Golf Club pro Patrick MacDonald...

Read on for their thoughts, more links and some inspiring video....

You know Sox fans, in recent games Nick Swisher and Carlos Quentin have hit home runs, slid into bases, and - crashed into walls!

So you know where this is going...do they have the fire....and....the passion? Yes or no?

Swisher is quickly rising up the ranks, but surprisingly, he has some work to do to catch Quentin

and, in an ode to GrinderPast meet GrinderPresent, the flame of passion past vs. torch of passion present...scroll down a little further

Oh yes - that's GrindErstad, diving head first into first base...showing the Fire and the Passion...and that's GrinderSwish, diving to tag out GrindErstad...
Which is akin to the Superfans asking themselves who would win a fight - Ditka, or Hurricane Ditka?...

Several colleagues and I were talking about the Masters and major champions in general the other day, and I got to wondering - what happened to all the golfers in Tiger Woods' age bracket?

I asked The Powerhouse - "Is he the lone light in a generation of suckiness?"

So, I got to looking....and no, he's not one in a generation (which is usually calculated at about 20 years) but he's pretty damn close...Read on....

sometimes, something is so bad, you have to bring it to people's attention.
So here is this - dumbest story ever - (for today at least)

From the Masters was this, from Tiger Woods: "I learned my lesson there with the press," he said. "I'm not going to say anything."

He was referring to his pre-Masters Grand Slam talk about how winning four majors in one calendar year was "easily within reason." (Which it is, by the way).

i'm sad to hear this. I don't know about you, but I want the best athletes to tell me how great they are, and what they're going to do...and even if they fail, I love the anticipation of waiting for it.

I mean - how great was Muhammed Ali? Click here for a great compilation of his speeches of greatness. We love it. We want to hear it. And then we want to see it.

I hope a year from now, Tiger (or any other golfer for that matter) comes out and says winning the Grand Slam is "easily within reason."

Here's another fantastic Ali clip - actually listen to him. It's great stuff.

Blogger's note: This post is actually courtesy of Jim Owczarski, who had issues getting this to work from home. So he typed it up on his typewriter and then dictated it to me over the phone. Technology is your friend, Jim.

Some technical difficulties kept me from posting this sooner - but that's OK - if you're a real sports fan you haven't had time to check until about now anyway...because really, who cares about Ted Lilly's problems?

First - how about Gavin Floyd? The youngster took a no-no into the 8th against the hapless Tigers (who are quickly finding themselves in a big hole). A friend of mine and I were thinking - who does Floyd look like when he delivers the ball from the windup? The first thought was Mark Prior...but I can't recall the last time I saw Prior actually pitch...but his delivery does look familiar...maybe you can help me out...

And who would have thought that Tiger and Phil could not mount a charge today at Augusta National? Some guy named Steve Flesch, of all people, will be paired with Trevor Immelman in the final group...which is good news for the South African who won the last Western Open in 2006 at Cog Hill.

Tiger seemed to find a groove on the back stretch, so it'll be interesting if he gets out and running early to see how those two react....

Golfers are masochists, without a doubt. It's a game that can humble you for sure, but don't lie to yourself - we go back time and again despite the damage we do to our psyches (and sometimes, our wrists, backs and shoulders).

but far and away, we take pleasure in other golfer's misfortunes. On this, there can be no debate!

look at today's Masters.
First, there was Zach Johnson recording a double bogey at No. 17. Sitting in the fairway off the tee, he finds a greenside bunker. Then he thins it over the green into the other bunker. Then he chunks that and it stays in the bunker...for a double bogey 6.

Then Justin Rose on the par 5 15th, a reachable green in two. After a perfect drive, he elects to lay up to about 60 yards. Then he chunks it into the water. So he moves back to get a better look on the drop, then flies the green! Then he chips back over the green. A 2-putt later, the Wilting Rose scribbles a Snowman on his card.

I've met and interviewed both of these men - they're genuinely nice guys and very, very good golfers. But you know - you can't help but laugh a little when you see it. Because we darn well know that in a week, at our favorite muni - we'll knock down at least 1 Snowmen and a handful of doubles!

When he walked off the Elfstrom Stadium mound at the end of the fourth inning Wednesday night, the three of us in the press box just looked at each other. It was one of those nights where you could tell a pitcher had it going and the 21-year-old right-hander had knocked down the first 12 Burlington Bees with relative ease.

Because the game was the back end of a doubleheader, he only had nine outs left for a perfect game and the way things were going he looked like he had a great chance. Italiano later hit a batter and left at his 80-pitch limit five outs later, but Branden Dewing came in and retired the four Bees he faced to finish out the combined no-hitter as the Cougars improved to 7-0 on the season with a 3-0 win.

For more on the game, see my story here

It was a pretty amazing pitching performance as Italiano was awesome - the Bees didn't even come close to a hit when he was in the game. He faced 18 batters in all and recorded nine strikeouts, four groundouts and four fly balls on the night, but all of the balls put in play were pretty much right at people.

Along with his 95 mph fastball, he was mixing up his pitches really well. He started a few hitters off with breaking balls and wasn't afraid to go to his secondary pitches even when he was behind on the count.

Overall, it was just a great story given all he has been through the last couple of years and it was cool to see him pitch near his potential. He is very well-liked in the clubhouse, and everyone, from manager Aaron Nieckula on down, seemed genuinely happy for him.

Things haven't gone Italiano's way since he was drafted in 2005. Coming into Tuesday he had just one win as a pro, and had missed most of 2006 with a shoulder injury, then sat out most of last year after being drilled by a line drive and suffering a skull fracture in a very scary incident on May 14. He didn't get to pitch again until instructs in the fall and this was the first time he had appeared on the mound at Elfstrom since it happened.

Pitching coach Don Schulze said at media day last week that Italiano's physical - and mental - well-being was 'not an issue' and Craig seemed to put those questions to rest. He's very fortunate to be pitching again and I think he realizes it (in a good way) and is working to get back on track this year. He's still only 21 so he has plenty of time.

and so did the puking....by me...when the crappy instrumental music came up and Mike Tirico spoke in hushed tones...only matched by Jim Nantz's annual syrupyness (if that's a word)....

look - I love golf's majors. I love watching them. I absolutely love Augusta National's power to only have four minutes of commercials per hour. But I really, really hate the tone the announcers have to take when calling the action and describing the course.

But - Nick Faldo and David Feherty are so good, you can't mute it...

Round 1 was a great one - a jammed leaderboard with big names everywhere and some young guns in the mix. Tomorrow will be interesting for sure.

The great part about golf is that there is always a back nine, so if you somehow didn't get your fill on the front side - there's always more to be had after the turn. That's what this part of the Beacon News' weekly golf coverage will do for you.

Blackberry Oaks Golf Course in located a short drive away in Bristol and head pro Chad Johansen has created a truly unique opportunity for the players that visit him and assistant pro Trent Martin.

Golfers can not only win a Dream Vacation (including a trip to the Masters) but a bevy of other prizes by signing up for lessons - and each lesson gets you another raffle ticket. And let's be honest - these 2 guys can only teach so many...so the odds are in your favor.

Click here to find out all about it.

Also - I'd like to extend a big "Thank You" to Gordon Glod and the good people over at Tour Edge, a club manufacturing facility in Batavia.

They allowed Phillips Park/Fox Valley head pro Jeff Schmidt to demonstrate his Front Nine Tip of the Week at their amazing indoor facility, keeping us out of the elements.

This blog will include topics brought up at night in the office. Today's topic:

Which group is more evil, Red Sox fans or the pigs from Animal Farm?

My initial thought is the pigs from Animal Farm. You can't get much worse. But Red Sox fans have got to be close.

They used to be OK. They used to be like most fans who are passionate about their team. They even empathised with long-suffering Cubs fans.

But then they won the world series.

This is where the Animal Farm comparison if relevent. For years Red Sox fans complained about the hated Yankees fans. But the moment they raised themselves up, they turned into their hated enemies. They're obnoxious and arrogant, just like New Yorkers.

But at least they've never sent any of their friends to the glue factory.

Personally, I don't think Red Sox fans are as evil as the pigs. But they're in the same league.

was keeping with their tradition of holding their draft the day after the women's NCAA championship game.

It's always been a dumb idea, but one I thought they would have fixed heading into this year with Candace Parker turning pro and the consensus No. 1 pick by LA.

I see their thinking: let's do the draft the day after when everyone is thinking about/talking about women's basketball.

But that's not the case. No one really cares - and if they do, they care about CP. So instead of capitalizing on that, they bungled it.

Hold the draft the Monday after the Masters, when nothing is going on...let CP make the rounds of all the television shows, radio shows, etc etc around the country, and especially in L.A. where she would be selected.

The league missed its one golden opportunity to create some hype, some momentum....but instead there's this sort of afterthought feel to the whole thing. I mean - the Par 3 contest at the Masters was the front page ESPN.com story most of the day...with Candace's selection being relegated to a note above Francisco Rodriguez' sore ankle....

then again, that's been the curse of the league since it's inception.

The Masters Tournament starts tomorrow - and you can't think Masters without thinking of Greg Norman. He's on your mind the whole tourney - will a guy rush out to a huge lead, and then pull a Norman?...

Will a guy no one heard of or cared about hit a shot to dash the hopes of a serious contender and one of the world's best? Will Phil or Tiger get Norman-ed?

No wonder this guy founded a wine company - if I lost out this many times to a bunch of schlomoes on bogus shots, I'd want to dunk my head in a cask and just get hammered...

Fore more "Greg Norman gets screwed videos," read on...

to not share it with anyone who hasn't seen it.....

It's not really sports, but hey, read on & you'll laugh....

alright alright - here's a link to a funny sports video (Bobby Knight + golf) to make this post somewhat legit...

To the participants of the 1988 Masters....or the clothes....or the music....or the production value of the broadcast....yeesh.

While open-wheel racing (read: Indy Racing League) is my first love, I still follow NASCAR, though not as closely as I used to. Like many an old-school racing fan, I think elements such as the Lucky Dog, green-white-checker finishes (my biggest gripe) and weekly Bushwhacking of the so-called "developmental series" might be more fan-friendly, it takes away from the fact that the race is a competition and moves it more towards a race as reality-television entertainment.

I live with it, because racing is racing, and watching cars go really fast is a lot of fun. Well, at least to me it is. That and Tony Stewart, warts and all, is one of the most talented drivers I've ever seen, and since he drives in NASCAR it means that I have to watch it.

But I have a gripe -- every time we see a driver get into a serious crash, one of the talking heads drones on about the series and all of the safety procedures put into place. We won't talk about the fact that their hand was forced the day Dale Earnhardt died, but I digress.

It happened again this weekend in Texas. After Michael McDowell walked away from one of the most violent crashes I had seen in any racing series in a long, long time, everyone started once again patting themselves on the back and giving NASCAR credit for putting in saftey innovations -- mainly the SAFER barrier -- that saved his life.

Arrrghhhh!

I can't hold my tounge any longer! Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds and any other interested party that reads this, listen up: NASCAR had absolutely nothing to do with the development of the SAFER barrier.

For the 1,000th time, the SAFER barrier was developed by engineers at the University of Nebraska with help (and money) from the Indy Racing League, Tony George and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was the first track to put up the barriers in 2002. For the record, NASCAR was invited to participate and declined, and while they were the first series to make the barrier mandatory at all of their tracks, they had nothing to do with its developent.

Since I know most of the racing world sees the IRL as a red-headed stepchild -- which I hope changes with the IRL-Champ Car unification -- I would, just once, like to see credit given where it was due.

Think it might happen? I don't, either.

Joe Crede!

It's Masters week - one of the four greatest in a summer of golf!

This is something I never, ever want to see again bayyyy-beeee! But this has to give santoohno.mp3">Ron Santo some kind of hope, right?

And, in closing - rest among Reese's Pieces, Charlton Heston.
Who knew Moses loved the peanut?

I sat out at Waubonsie Valley this morning and watched Batavia win 15-5 in six innings...

Unfortunately - print can sometimes be restricting, so here is more from some of the principals in that game

Went to my first ever Opening Day (as a fan) today, and it was definitely something.

Where was I you, you ask? The Sox were in Detroit...Cubbies opened a few days ago....

Well, it was my off day, so I hit the road and saw the Brewers open up at Miller Park against the Giants, which Milwaukee won 13-4.

As a Southsider, much about the scene at Miller Park was familiar - tailgating, bags, beer, burgers, brats - it was a lot like The Cell, which was comforting in a way. And a lot of fun.

Only difference is - the people in Milwaukee are loving their team right now. They're talking about not only winning the division, but going to the World Series!

That kind of talk brought me back to my Chicago reality about as quickly as a broken down Accord in the left lane on 294 ... a reality of Juan Uribe, Jason Marquis and hopes(!) to at least win 85 games, somehow, maybe.

Oh - and if you want to hear some good music that you can't get here in Chicago (unfortunately) - visit here and listen live.

I will say this to whoever buys the Northsiders - take a good look at your neighbors to the south and north - that's how you do baseball.

Can we all get off the ledge now?

Sheesh, I couldn't believe the number of people in both camps lamenting the teams' "poor starts". Going 0-2 isn't a poor start. If a baseball team loses, say, games Nos. 99 and 100 on back-to-back days, nobody says much about it, but when a team loses two games to start the season, why was it such a big deal?

To pick up a little on Rico's rant yesterday: two games does not a season make. The 1977 Toronto Blue Jays started 5-2, spent six days in first place in April...and finished with a 54-107 record. That's how little the first week of the season means. The '82 Braves started the season 13-0 and then had to win on the last day of the season just to make the playoffs. April is more like extended spring training, if a team is playing poorly 25-30 games into the season, it's time to worry. On April 4, not so much.

To paraphrase a quote I once heard in a movie: The baseball universe tends to unfold as it should.

The meaning? Over 162 games it all plays out the way it is supposed to. You only have to win three out of every five games to win 97 in a season.

The moral? Relax and settle in a bit, we still have a long way to go.

You know you're pretty damn good when people want to make changes to rules in a game that's been around for nearly a century, solely because you exist.

Devin Hester is that good - so good that someone in the league wanted to watch him so bad that he proposed a rule that would keep teams from punting out of bounds to avoid him. ...

And Devin Hester is so good that everyone else was smart enough to say "hell no!"

Well - they still have to kick off in his general direction...

have the passion and....the fire?

If anyone cares, the Chicago Fire are about to begin their MLS season in Bridgeview.
I sure don't - but, this may, may, get me to do something like check an internet scoreboard once this season...

after all - they play almost year round.

If you didn't see it - this was written by the 2008 season ticket link - "Being a Chicago Fire Soccer fan means being a part of a community of tradition, honor and passion."

So, if your name contains Fire, and you talk about passion - do you automatically have The Fire and The Passion like Aaron Rowand, or even GrindErstad?

Or do they have to say, The Fire have The Fire and The Passion?

Can The Passion ignite The Fire within The Fire?

Or - do The Fire create The Passion, which stokes The Fire?

unanswerable questions perhaps - but one thing is sure: It's Chicago, and we still have The Fire and The Passion ... even...if....we're on....fire?...

I give up

Time for a Rico rant:

We've all heard it, but it's wrong.

With the Cubs and Sox both 0-2 heading into today's action, I heard this on the radio this morning: "The season is 162 games long. It's not a sprint. It's a marathon."

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! No, it's not. I repeat, NOT!

A baseball season is a GRIND.

You know why?

Because it consists of 162 almost back-to-back sprints. Not, one marathon.

I know the WNBA is need of some publicity, and in all honesty they deserve it. The league is over a decade old and they do have quality players. (My personal favorite is the Indiana Fever's Tamika Catchings)

And the league is excited - Candace Parker (The Chosen One) is set to turn pro after her Lady Vols finish out another title run. So they should be turning up the hype machine as the draft approaches.

But this was not a good idea. Michael Cooper and Bill Laimbeer (current WNBA coaches) didn't look good in uniform when they were young enough to actually fit in them - so why, why, why!? would they do this: Not a good idea.doc

ugh.

I'd love to love ya Love...but I can't...I won't....So don't ram it down my throat.

Poor Davis Love the 3rd - his Masters streak will end this week after he doesn't win the Shell Houston Open.

For four days (if he makes the cut) we'll hear all about how it's so sad that Love x 3 won't tee it up at Augusta for the first time since 1990, how he's a great guy, how he's great for the game, how talented he is blah blah blah.

OK - the guy is...or was...good. He's won 19 times on the PGA Tour, 31 times total.

But how are golfers defined? By majors. He has one. Which is great for him. But so does Shaun Micheel. And Todd Hamilton. So does Rich Beem...Paul Lawrie....Wayne Grady....Jeff Sluman....David Duval...Justin Leonard...Olin Dutra...Art Wall, Jr...Cyril Walker...the list goes on.

And it's a good list - it's really hard to win a major. But for all the fawning The Davis gets, you figure he should have won at least two.

You know who has more majors than DL3? John Daly....Andy North...Hubert Green...John Henry Taylor...Denny Shute...

Who are they?

Really good players, obviously, but c'mon. The last time DL3 was relevant for an entire season was 2003, when he won four times - but even then he missed the cut in two majors.

I guess you can say he was "a factor" in the majors as late as '05 (t6 at the US Open, t4 at the PGA Championship) but he's had more missed more cuts (13) than top 10 finishes (8) in majors the last seven years.

It's over. I hate to say it, but it is. He's had injury and he's going to be 44 on Masters Sunday and let's face it - old guys don't win majors..

I'll watch the Shell Houston Open - that final Masters invite is enough of a hook for me - but don't be looking for Love. - he's as played out as the fish-eye lens in music videos.

It's April Fool's Day, but there's no joke here - even though many Chicago baseball fans won't believe it.

here are the top 8 teams payroll in 2008:

1. New York Yankees - $209.1 million
2. Detroit Tigers - $138.7
3. New York Mets - $138.3
4. Boston Red Sox - $133.4
5. Chicago White Sox - $121.2
6. Los Angeles Angels - $119.2
7. Chicago Cubs - $118.6
8. Los Angeles Dodgers - $118.5

* Payroll figures don't include cash transactions between clubs.
Figures included salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses and
other guaranteed income, and for some players, deferred money was
discounted to present-day value.

That's right folks - so put away all the bellyaching about Reinsdorf or the Tribune Co./Sam Zell not spending money, and "We're in Chicago, why can't we spend like teams in New York or LA?" because, guess what, they are.

Only difference is, those teams spend their millions on guys like Johan Santana, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Torii Hunter, Miguel Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, Josh Beckett, Gary Sheffield, Mariano Rivera, Jeremy Bonderman, Jorge Posada, Vlad Guerrero, Pedro Martinez, Magglio Ordonez, David Wright and Carlos Beltran.

I'd say, oh, 10 of those guys will be Hall of Famers.

The Sox and Cubs? Only the Dodgers have bungled their dollars as bad as the hometown heroes...hello Juan Uribe, Jason Marquis, Jermaine Dye, Ted Lilly, Jose Contreras, Octavio Dotel and Kerry Wood.

Well, at least fans can say both of those teams were in the top third in baseball in something.