Brian Urlacher Puts His Foot In His Mouth Once Again....

Surfing the web this morning came across an article written by Yahoo! Sports' Michael Silver (@RealMikeSilver) about spending the weekend with Chicago Bears Linebacker (and Old Spice spokesman) Brian Urlacher. Urlacher's season ended after injuring his right wrist in the first game (loss) of the season against the Green Bay Packers.

While watching a bunch of NFL games at brother Casey Urlacher's condo, the six-time pro bowler made this comment about Jay Cutler and the struggles of the Chicago Bears offense.

""Look, I love Jay, and I understand he's a great player who can take us a long way, and I still have faith in him," Urlacher said. "But I hate the way our identity has changed. We used to establish the run and wear teams down and try not to make mistakes, and we'd rely on our defense to keep us in the game and make big plays to put us in position to win. Kyle Orton might not be the flashiest quarterback, but the guy is a winner, and that formula worked for us. I hate to say it, but that's the truth."

Maybe I am mistaken, but the way I read this quote it seems to me either one of two things could come out of this.

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Chicago Sports Fans Could Never Run A Successful Sports Franchise

What I am about to say may insult you as a Chicago sports fan, but honestly it's gotten to my boiling point and I have to vent.

Chicago sports are too much about "What have you done for me lately" and not enough "patience." It seems the only answer Chicago sports fans have for any semblance of struggle is "You're fired!"

In the past five years, all our Chicago sport teams have had some sort of success and all our Chicago sport teams have made the postseason. The Bulls/Bears/Blackhawks/White Sox/Cubs have all made the postseason with four of those five going numerous times. Although the only title won came from the South Side, the city has had recent success in recent times. Yet with all the success we have had in this city with our sports teams, the first sign of any struggle means someone needs to lose their job and their overall performance as a coach/player is compared to the trash in my kitchen.

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Seven Things Chicago Bears Fans Must Understand About 2009....

As I recover from my Bears/Eagles hangover from Sunday night, I've found myself becoming not so much upset and the Bears themselves or the coaching staff. I do not know if it's the constant over-reacting by Bears fans every week or whatever, but I am becoming less and less a fan of Bear fans. Not to say that Bear fans shouldn't expect great things of this team, but sometimes I think Bear fans need to be a little more realistic and less ignorant.

So here's my guide for the later type of Bears fan. Here are seven things that you (as Bear fans) should really understand about this team and just get used to the idea for the remainder of the season.

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The Silence Speaks Volumes About The Chicago Bears

So let me get this straight because maybe I am misunderstanding something here. The Bears square off against the Philadelphia Eagles on NBC's Sunday Night Football this coming weekend. So the Bears have decided to reject access to Head Coach Lovie, GM Jerry and QB Jay for prime time interviews?

The reasoning behind this, according to the Bears, is there is nothing left to say?

What does this say about the mentality of the Chicago Bears?

What does that say about the ego of the Chicago Bears?

What message does this sell to the fans of the Chicago Bears?

Two words...Season Over.

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Irish Robbed With The Handball Felt Round The World

If only sports in the United States were as important to the people of this country as they are around the world. It's difficult sometimes to understand what goes on outside our little bubble here in Chicago. We often times ignore anything else that is going on in professional sports in the US unless it effects our fantasy team or we are on a trip to the local sports book. We get so deeply invested in who's starting at left guard for the Bears on Sunday that our sports universe consists of just the Chicago sports scene.

However while we discuss the Bulls playing the Lakers tonight, the rest of the world is crying foul over a foul. Not just a foul that lost a game, but a foul that affects an entire country.

Forgive me while I take my blinders off for a second, but France advanced to the 2010 World Cup last night. I bet most of you did not know there was a World Cup in 2010 and that France was still a country. OK I'm exaggerating there a little....I hope.

You may ask why is a story about how France advanced to the South African hosted games starting in June? They cheated. That's right....cheated.

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Bulls Looking For Answers....Bring In "THE ANSWER"

I know the following blog could be compared to the craziness that is a Sam Smith column, but I want Allen Iverson on the Bulls.

Call me crazy, call me insane, but I believe if you bring in AI, he will be "The Answer" to whom teaches Derrick Rose how to play the game of basketball.

The Bulls kept Lindsey "Old Man Buckets" Hunter on the roster to work with Rose this season and mold him into the player everyone expects him to be. What knowledge can a 39 year old Lindsey Hunter (2-time NBA champion) pass on to a young budding star like Derrick Rose that Allen Iverson cannot.

My overall view of Derrick Rose resembles a lot of what Allen Iverson represented in his career. Hardworking, nose to the grindstone, high minutes, lots of scoring and a leader of the team. Not all the attributes I have seen from the 34 year old Iverson over his career is what I would like to see preached to Rose. Iverson's ego, premier ball hogging ability, and numerous "practice" issues are something I think do not belong in the schooling of D-Rose. However if the Bulls bring in "The Answer", it not only pits Rose with a possible NBA Hall Of Famer as a personal coach but it also solves the go-to scorer issue since the departure of Ben Gordon to Detroit.

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Nothing In This World Is Given, Why Should Awards Be Different?

In the effort to stray away from the numerous "Charlie Weis Must Go" blogs and articles, here's something about Chicago I just don't understand. Why is it that Chicagoans always feel slighted when something national is given to someone else? Whether it be the 2016 summer games, or a national poll on the best cities in the country to drink.

I've been a Chicagoan for most of my 28 years on this planet, but I've never gotten over the fact that Chicagoans feel that everything must be given to them when it comes to national (and sometimes worldwide) notoriety.

Yesterday was a perfect example when rookie third baseman second baseman phenom Gordon Beckham finished fifth in the American League Rookie Of The Year Voting. Beckham this year hit .270 with 14 home runs and 63 RBI in 103 games played. He didn't make his major league debut till early June and led all American League rookies in RBI, doubles, and extra-base hits. Beckham won the 2009 Sporting News and MLBPA Rookie Of The Year Award last month which is an award given out and voted on by major league players.

Yesterday the kid they call "Bacon" was burnt as he finished fifth among AL rookies with no first place votes.

The outcry from White Sox fans is a little disturbing to me. Some saying he got robbed, cheated, even striped of what was rightly his.

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Tennessee Titans Owner Bud Adams Deserves Max Punishment

So on a weekend where the Bears did not play, and the hangover from yet another embarrassing loss is still not gone. What did you do with your weekend off?

Some of you I am sure raked the leaves in your front yard or did a little early Christmas shopping. My wife and I took our son to see his grandparents in Rockford and of course a quick stop for a Beef-A-Roo!

However there still was football on the list of to do's for the weekend and with the power of my Sirius Satellite Radio, I scanned around the country getting caught up on what is happening in the National Football League. Here's what I found out.

#1 - The Saints and Colts remain the class of the NFC/AFC respectively. Although both teams got wins in close games.

#2 - There is no slowing down the Minnesota Vikings. Adrian Peterson is a beast and the rise of Sidney Rice as a go-to WR for Brett Favre makes the Vikings look like a strong contender for the NFC crown.

#3 - Bill Belichick went for the win and lost out. I agreed with the decision, but not the play call.

#4 - How bout my upset special of the week picking Washington to beat Denver. Just another reason to listen to the Joe O And Rock Show, Saturday nights on WSCR 670AM The Score. (Shameless Plug)

#5 - Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams is officially the dumbest NFL owner in history.

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Larry Johnson Isn't The Answer To The Chicago Bears Problems

The Chicago Bears running game has not been anything to write home about this season. Let's face it, the Bears are "running off the bus" for 28th best in the NFL per game (90.5 yds/game) and next to last in attempts in the NFL right above the team that beat them by 20 this past Sunday. As much as head coach Lovie Smith and "meatball" fans want to admit the Bears are a run first team only, they are lying to themselves.

I really do not blame the Bears for the next to last in rushing attempts because I think this is a year of transition. When you bring in a franchise type of quarterback, you want to see what the man has got. I think we all knew Jay Cutler could throw the ball around before he got here, its just how would he adapt to the mediocre at best receiving core here in the Windy City. Add in the fact that Matt Forte (who was 37% of the Bears offense last season) has been playing on a bum wheel (left knee) most of the season. You cannot expect as much production as you had last year from the running game.

However I find it interesting how many Bear fans think that the addition of one of the most nonproductive running backs in the league could help the Bears deficiencies on offense this year.

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Another Sports Autobiography To Waste Your Money On!

How come everyone needs a book about their life in sports?

Seriously!

Do sports fans find it interesting that Joe Torre confirms that Alex Rodriguez is a diva? Did you spend $25.00 on "My Prison Without Bars" by Pete Rose just to get insight on how he gambled on baseball when you already knew he did? Is it that much of a draw that NBA refs really fixed outcomes of games and gambled a ton...by convicted felon and former NBA referee Tim Donaghy? Jose Canseco changed baseball with his book "Juiced," because it told you that baseball players were taking steroids....didn't we know that already? We did not care before, so why should we care now?

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Chicago Bears Fans Need To Put The Firing Gun Away

It's amazing to me as a producer at the Score how fans in Chicago are no where to be heard or seen when it comes to a winning team, but yet when a team is in flux like the Chicago Bears....everything has to change.

Change is not always a good thing, and usually it doesn't happen until there is no other option with the personnel employed.

So the Bears yesterday for the second time in four games allow 31 points in the first half and lose to the Arizona Cardinals 41-21. After a hot 3-1 first quarter to the season, the Bears follow a week five bye and finish the second quarter of the season 1-3.

I agree that it's been painful to watch the Bears be outscored 113-75 over the last four games. As a fellow fan I totally understand, but I think its time to step back and take a look at this team with an open mind and a honest heart.

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Kenny Williams Turning Up The Heat Before The Stove Arrives

The hot stove hasn't even had a chance to turn to knob to "lite" yet and the Chicago White Sox are off and running with their off season moves. Kenny Williams kept busy during the season by trading for Jake Peavy and Alex Rios and kept the ball rolling this off season by bringing back Matt Thornton, Freddy Garcia, and Mark Kotsay.

All great moves but the best move by Kenny Williams so far this off season happened today.

Today the Chicago White Sox bought out Jermaine Dye's mutual option for around a million dollars making the 35 year old veteran right fielder a free agent. The 2005 World Series MVP batted .250 last season with 27 home runs and 81 RBI. A moderately productive for a guy who baseball considered finished after shattering his leg in the 2001 ALDS hitting a foul ball. Dye worked hard and found success again after Kenny Williams took a flyer on him in 2005 and thus turned his career around winning a world series MVP.

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Don't Hate The Yankees Because They Do Things Right......

I just don't get some people today when it comes to their opinions of the New York Yankees. "The Evil Empire" apparently is all that's wrong with today's society because they outspend other teams by a drastic comparison. The pinstripes take all the best players every year and forcing the smaller market teams to get by on the second tier or even third tier players. The "NY" on the face of the jersey stands for "Not Yours" because it's all about the 27-time World Champion New York Yankees.

Blah Blah Blah.....

How can you hate a team so much that it distracts you from what your team isn't doing? Seriously, you HAVE TO RESPECT the way the New York Yankees do business because it's the perfect business motto for sports....DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO WIN!

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Rock Report Rant: I'm Addicted. Are You Too?

NHL '10 for Playstation 3

I have a little problem and I wonder if you have the same thing. I'm addicted to something that doesn't harm your body, but alters your mind. I'm addicted to something that won't make you fat, drunk, or high. I'm addicted to something that is still rather expensive, but it has no taste, smell and you can't wear it.

I'm addicted to NHL 10 for Playstation 3.

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Jim Hendry Isn't Going Anywhere....PERIOD!!

In the Cubs never-ending quest to win the World Series, this past season was a sucker punch to all Cubs fans. To see a team fall from a 97 win team to a just over .500 ball club had to be not only disappointing but extremely unsatisfactory.

I have to admit that watching my Cubs fan friends this past season hurt me, cause I've never been in that situation. As a White Sox fan, I feel I'm more realistic about my teams' chances than my friends who have always believed that "This Is The Year."

It's sad, pathetic, and sometimes downright disgusting.

However, I believe that General Manager Jim Hendry summed up this past season best today in an article by Paul Sullivan calling this past season a "hiccup." A bump in the road, a simple red light. This season which the Cubs dropped 15 games in the win total from last year (2nd worst swing in win total in MLB) was just a minor glitch in the application that is the Chicago Cubs.

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When It Comes To The Bears....Who Can You Trust?

Hey Hey!! It's victory Monday!

Sure.

I don't know about you, but that game yesterday was single handily the worst looking win by any professional football team I've ever seen. The term "Winning Ugly" has come up a couple of times this season, but the Bears don't even deserve that association. The win against the Browns can only be described by one word: "_______." Go ahead, you try to come up with a word that describes how the Bears took a W from single handily the worst team in the NFL.

However while meddling through the game was this question that kept coming up in my mind, what can you trust when it comes to the Bears? Trust is defined as a confident expectation of something, In other words something you know will happen because it's always happened on a consistent basis. You know you can trust the sun will rise at some point in your lifetime. You know you can trust the IRS will screw you in some way on your taxes at some point in your life. You know you can trust in that if you take that extra bite of that quarter pounder, it's going straight to your hips.

Trust. Also a pretty good song by Megadeth.

When you look at this team, who or what can you lay your trust in as a fan? Do you trust this team can turn the season around and make a run of it?

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