who said Mike Singletary was going to even out in his first offseason as the 49ers head coach?

I mean, you couldn't possibly think that the guy who dropped his pants in the locker room and benched his best player would mellow out would you?

Naaaaaahhhhh....

According to this, Singletary said the Niners won't draft Matt Stafford because he wouldn't talk to the team psychologist about his parent's divorce.
Said Samurai Mike: "If you're going to look at drafting a guy in the first round, and you're going to pay him millions of dollars, and asking him about a divorce about his parents, if that's going to be an issue, uhhh, then you know what, maybe he doesn't belong here."

Why not? Because it's not about players. It's about the team. You can't make decisions that cost the team and be nonchalant about it. You can't win with 'em. Can't coach with 'em. Cant do it....

Jerry Oh-no-wens.

Finally. This horrible experiment is over.

Peace.

that's what I'm wondering today, especially after hearing some schlomoe on the radio say that Uncle Milty was going to bring some much needed Fire to the Cubs this year.

Now, he knew better than to add "Passion" to that sentence, but I figured it was worth checking out....

Uncle Milty - 59,200 results for Fire and Passion

Not bad. Not bad.

But I'm beginning to think that Fire and Passion has a direct correlation to a player's location - namely, Chicago.

Check out Aaron Rowand's Fire and Passion - a mere 2,310!

But perhaps it also has to do with how long a player has been gone from Chicago....Rowand's been gone since '05.
Joe Crede? Just a few months ago ... so he still has some residual Fire and Passion

and look at Nicky the Swish's new results....not nearly as much as they were just a year ago this time....

So what of the current crop of Southsiders? Who now carries the torch of The Fire and The Passion?
Well - Carlos Quentin has some...just under 65K
Then there's Josh Fields, with an even healthier sampling of Fire and Passion with just under 68K

but that's nothing compared to someone who's not even on the team! None other than Gordon Beckham, with nearly 80,000 references to his fire and passion...he is not far from Rowand territory there...

So, it's good to know that there are some heir apparents to finally replace Aaron Rowand's fire and passion for the game - but we'll still have to wait to see if anyone can join him as members of the exclusive club - the holders of The Fire and The Passion.

in force today to see Marmion senior starter Matt Milroy pitch in the Cadets' season and home opener, a 5-2 victory over West Aurora.

Milroy touched 91 and was in the 90s the entire first inning, and then settled in to 87-89 for the next four. He even dropped some nasty off speed stuff (72 mph) at times.

There were 7 radar guns pointed at him and about 10 total scouts marveling at his excellent mechanics and the movement on his fastball.

He handled the scene behind the backstop great, which is a good sign for the Cadets - if he continues to pitch this well and the scouts feel he may sign a contract rather than go to the U of I, only more will show up as the year goes on.

Count her in.

Former Oswego High School soccer standout Julianne Sitch has made the opening day roster of the Sky Blue FC of Women's Professional Soccer, which was announced on Wednesday.

Sitch, who went on to star at DePaul University, is one of five defenders listed on Sky Blue's 21-woman roster.

The New Jersey/New York City entry in the new league will open its season April 5th at home against the Los Angeles Sol (6 p.m. EST).

Sky Blue will play the Chicago Red Stars twice early in the season. The teams will meet at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 19 at Toyota Park in Bridgeview and again on Sunday, May 10 at 5 p.m. at Toyota Park. Both games will also be televised on Fox Sports Channel.

Sky Blue games will also be televised on FSC on: May 31 vs. Boston (5 p.m.); June 28 vs. St. Louis (5 p.m.) and July 12 vs. Boston (TBD).

The team returned to New York Wednesday from Greensboro, N.C., where it had held its preseason training camp since late February

please, please, please, please please, please, please, please, please please, please, please, please, please please, please, please, please, please please

Brett Favre...

Go. Away.

and everyone else involved, (hint: Eric Mangini) let him. Go. Away.

in the past I've talked about how Chicago sports teams randomly appear, either in dialogue or logo (hat, shirt, jacket etc) in the oddest places. My personal favorite is in Seinfeld when George thinks he's dying and Jerry asks him if he can have his Blackhawks jacket.

But I was re-watching Ronin the other day and I noticed in the tube station in which Seamus O'Rourke walks up behind Deirdre on the escalator to say the Russians had gotten into the bidding, there is an extra wearing a White Sox hat right as the camera follows O'Rourke.

Great stuff.

oh, and here's the Seinfeld episode - the scene is at the 3:05 mark on the video...Enjoy!

so Twitter is all the rage in the NBA, especially doing it in-game...

which leads me to think how big this will blow once baseball season starts. Starting pitchers sit around for four days with nothing to do. Relievers on their day off...bench players....hell, even regular starters don't do squat in the dugout when it's not their turn.

Baseball players have so much free time on their hands, this could be fun...

I can just see Manny twittering out in LA...while playing left field....

By the way - here's the best quote about the NBA twitter craze from SI.com
• "I don't even have a computer. I don't know how to turn one on. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm going to be totally honest. How would you do that?"
-- Jerry Sloan, to the Salt Lake Tribune, on Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva's use of Twitter.

and just put Alexei Ramirez in the leadoff spot.

No Josh Fields. No Chris Getz. No Brian Anderson. No anyone else but Ramirez.
First of all, the dude can stroke it. And, he's really the only guy on the team that can run.
So let him hit first. He'll see plenty of fastballs, and if the Sox are lucky he'll turn into a mini-Soriano.

Yes, Alfonso Soriano. Say what you want, but the Cubs haven't exactly paid the price for batting Soriano leadoff the last two years (two Division titles, 182 victories).

just how powerful is this guy?
Here are two stories that are basically saying he runs the world when it comes to professional golf.
no other player on the planet - golf or otherwise - could directly affect scheduling, sponsors, who else shows up, the money involved...than Tiger. No one. it's amazing.

Jay Cutler wants out of Denver.
Donovan McNabb wants out of Philly.
Minnesota needs a QB.
Nothing seems more clear.

A 3-way trade should be worked out between these teams.
Cutler to Philly
McNabb to Minnesota

Now, what does Denver want. New coach Josh McDaniels won't know if Chris Simms is his guy until these OTA's are done, or maybe he already knows Simms isn't his guy.
So what's a Bronco to do?
Well, that's the problem. There are no other QBs on the market, and Simms is worth giving a look at.

The Eagles and Vikings could both kick a high value first round draft pick over to Denver (Philly has No. 21 & 28 in the first roun; Minnesota has No. 22) or some complimentary pieces.

Heck, if I'm Andy Reid I'd trade Brian Westbrook and McNabb straight up to Denver for Cutler, and then sign him to a long extension and keep my first rounders to draft a marquee RB (like Georgia's Knowshon Moreno) and WR (like North Carolina's Hakeem Nicks).

Where do the Bears fit in you might ask?
They don't.
A young, proven franchise QB is on the trade market and I highly doubt Jerry and Lovie are in the market to get it done. Sorry.

didnt St Patrick's Day happen on like Saturday or Sunday? What's the deal with this "holiday"? Suddenly it's turned into Mardi Gras. Ridiculous.

Anyway, call to all meatheads - Big Z says he was a Sox fan growing up. Maybe that's why he has some Fire and Passion....

Or maybe this is what it'll look like on Addison if he gives up the booty to the Sox this year...

or not....

Here's a lovely story about a lovely woman who knocked in a hole in one on her first ever swing on a real golf course playing 9 holes for the first time....

sigh.

one of my favorite scenes in Beverly Hills Cop is when Taggart, Rosewood and Axel are in the um, gentleman's establishment and the two robbers come in and Axel pretends to be drunk and know one of the robbers - yelling "Phil! Phil!"

I dont know why that's a favorite. I don't know why I laugh at it every time. But I do.

Which brings me to Phil(!) going on a rampage this afternoon at Doral with a 7-under 65 and holing out on 17 and 18 for birdies.

Lefty shot a spectacular 6-under 30 on the back nine and proved why he is one of the greatest short game players in golf history.

Every sport is better when its best players (or teams) are at the top of their game - and if Tiger can knock the rust off in time for Augusta, we may finally see some big-name drama at Augusta in a few weeks.
Phil!

you know that I love sports, and one of the things about sports I love is that it continually offers up stupid stuff that never happens in real life....

like Seattle pitcher Erik Bedard, their ace, missing a spring start because his @#$ hurts. Seriously. From SI.com - "Seattle Mariners left-hander Erik Bedard was scratched from his scheduled start against Kansas City on Wednesday because of a sore butt."
...

Or the Chicago Bulls, on their off day, deciding that a few white russians and some In-and-Out burgers were the way to go on the lanes in Orlando...."Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro canceled practice Tuesday and took his team bowling to blow off steam." ....

Or with the Cubs, newly acquired Milton Bradley being undecided on how much Fire and Passion he will bring to the North Side, despite 3 years at $30 million....Says Uncle Milty: "The whole thing with me is I play so hard until I hurt myself...I'm coming into a situation now where, if I have to tone it down in order to stay on the field, I need to tone it down. It hurts to have to do that, but it's what I may have to do."

Which why it's so hard for a player to achieve The Fire and The Passion status, such as Aaron Rowand...

for Alexander the Great...and for no reason...which makes it great...

when you excessively celebrate a mundane sporting achievement (make sure to watch all the way to the end)

were just announced by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association...

here are the Beacon News coverage area selections

First team - Taylor Whitley, Geneva

Third team - Lauren Wicinski, Geneva

Fourth team - Samiya Wright, Oswego

Special Mention - Bri Tye, West Aurora
Emily Hinchman, Geneva
Jourdan Jackson, Oswego East

Other area girls include Naperville Central's Kelley Hendrick (2nd team), Neuqua Valley's Brittany Williams (special mention) and Morgan Williams (special mention) and Naperville Central's Emma Ondik (special mention).

I watched most of the breaking news coverage on Terrell Owens' release last night, and I felt good about it - after all, this man provided a great high and many great lows for me as a die-hard Eagles fan.

Interestingly, it seems like the Bears are at the top of several lists in terms of a potential landing spot. This guy thinks so, saying "Chicago doesn't have a history of investing in receivers, but this is a very intriguing fit. Lovie Smith could be the right coach for T.O. Devin Hester may only know one pattern, but he does often merit a double-team. Quarterback Kyle Orton isn't perfect, but he has the arm strength to get it to T.O."

and it's a hot topic on Chicago sports radio today.

It's not hard to see why. The Bears need a wideout, and Jerry Angelo had lunch with him back in 2006, but the Bears passed and T.O. went to Dallas.

Here's the thing. T.O. is a major pain in the @#$. He's really only worth a 1-year deal.
And while I hate what he did in Philly, I love what he did in his first year there. He nearly won the Super Bowl by himself, on a broken leg. Even in the loss, he should have been the MVP. Dude was amazing that year.

Two times in his career, he has left a place and then just blew up on the field and kept quiet off it - 2004 in Philly and 2006 in Dallas.
Check these numbers: in '04 he played in 14 games, caught 77 passes for 1,200 yards and 14 TDs. The Eagles went to the Super Bowl.
In '06 with Dallas he played in 16 games, caught 85 passes for 1,180 yards and and 13 TDs.and the Cowboys would've won their first playoff game since the dynasty had Tony Romo not botched the hold on a field goal.

He's a great 1-year fit for Chicago, or anyone for that matter. He'll be motivated. He'll keep his mouth shut and while his skills have declined (dude is 35) he will definitely draw attention.
Money is always an issue, so I think a 1-year deal, with a decent guaranteed salary base with heavy incentives that could make him the highest paid WR in the league would be enough to entice him to sign - even with Drew Rosenhaus as his agent.

Yeah, I've missed a few days. But not like any of you let me know about it!

anyway, I was at the Oswego-Yorkville boys hoops regional semi final when in the third quarter of the blow out Panthers win Andrew Galow stole the ball and went up to try and dunk on a fast break. Except the ball hit the rim and he hit the floor.

The appreciative Yorkville crowd stood up and applauded, and after the game all Galow could say was "Did you see the guy trip me?"

Good natured ribbing ensued the entire post game, including when Galow came out to meet friend and ACC Charger Anthony Kelley.
"Did you see the guy trip me?" Galow said.
"I saw something." Kelley replied with a laugh.

Pretty good stuff.