10 Things You Should Expect To Hear From Chicago Bears Training Camp

As the Chicago Bears get set to ramp up another training camp in Bourbonnais, so many questions come to mind of what is to come of the 2010 Chicago Bears season. Not only so the Bears have new coaches calling plays on the offense and defense but the roster is full of new faces in new places with most having little to no experience in the NFL.

New faces including Mike Martz whose new offense should turn the "running off the bus" Bears offense into one of the most potent aerial attacks in the NFL. Also Mike Tice was brought in to improve an offensive line who is both aging and inexperienced. Rod Marinelli did such a wonderful job at coaching the defensive line last season that the franchise promoted him to defensive coordinator.

Then add in the signing of DE Julius Peppers and the return of former Bear Chris Harris plus drafting Major Wright and Northwestern's own Corey Wootton.

With the expectations as high as ever in an extremely competitive NFC North, this could be the most interesting Chicago Bears season in recent memory. To same every game (including preseason) will be examined with a microscope is simply an understatement.

However every year Bear fans fall for what we (in the media) like to call "false hope."

So, here are ten things you can expect to hear coming from Bears training camp. Whether or not you believe in these examples of false hope is up to you!


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Is Baseball On A Road To Insignificance.....

Take a second and answer this question to yourself:

"How much Major League Baseball do you watch today?"

For myself I watch a good 2-3 full games a week not necessarily because I have to but because I am a fan of the sport. I love my Chicago White Sox but for me the broadcast is a bit stale with Hawk Harrelson and Steve Stone. I love watching the Cubs simply because of Len Kasper and Bob Brenly but putting it mildly the baseball has not been all that great in 2010.

Taking my personal experiences with the baseball broadcasts I was curious to know exactly how teams' television ratings were doing in this 2010 season. To my surprise, MLB could be in serious trouble.

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Big Z Say Sorry Yet Local Media Cries Foul!!!

As a member of the Chicago media, I am slightly embarrassed today. The reason is because as much as we (the local media) have fun with the collective "east coast bias" of ESPN, as soon as we (the local media) are beat to a story in town....we feel insulted by the individuals participating.

For those that do not know, like any other business most of the members of the local media in town are extremely envious when an athlete in town prefers the national sit down interview rather than being in a gangbang of local scribes.

Personally and professionally I really do not care about what outlet an athlete uses to either break some news or in this case.....apologize.


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A-Rod Making Legitimate History.....Get Over It!

Very few men in the history of America's game have done what Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is about to do. We use the term "exclusive club" when talking about players who accomplish certain

feats in the sport of baseball, and for stat geeks like you and me its easy to make a stat than use one that has been used historically. The career home run record is not nearly the "exclusive club" it once was
because some individuals made some poor personal decisions which affected the way we look at stats in our game.

In fact the career home run leader is an admitted user of steroids and could face trial next year on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice as it relates to the US Government's investigation of BALCO.

Not nearly the hero he should be and baseball wanted/needed him to be.

However I find interesting the way baseball fans are looking at Alex Rodriguez' run to history as he sits at 599 home runs for his career. Does baseball fans not care about their history anymore because of a few bad apples?


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Tom Ricketts Thinks Big Market...Cubs Fans Think Small Town

Of all the things that came about from Lou Piniella retirement speech and the following Jim Hendry re-hiring press conference, the one thing that reeks most of all is most Cubs' fans reacting. I understand that Cubs' fans are upset that Jim Hendry has been given the public vote of confidence from Wrigley's #1 fan and owner Tom Ricketts. I understand that Cubs' fans are unhappy with the fact that the 2010 season has gone not even close to plan.

However I do not understand how Cubs' fans can continue to think "small market" when the organization itself said yesterday "big market". In other words, how can a big market franchise make a small market hire with Ryne Sandberg as the next manager of the Chicago Cubs?

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Why Should We Give A F**K When Tiger Woods Says F**K?

So while waiting for what seems to be the two hour long delay of the highly-anticipated Ronnie Brewer introductory press conference, I received an e-mail from my boss and Program Director Mitch Rosen of WSCR 670AM The Score.

The e-mail read:

Tiger may test FCC ruling.
A federal court ruling shooting down the FCC's fleeting expletive policy may have come in the nick of time. Tiger Woods was heard uttering a string of F-words during live TV coverage of the British Open Golf Championship over the weekend after missing a putt. If it stands expected challenges, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling means no radio or TV station could be fined for such an unexpected outburst.

Now while the slip of the tongue on national television is entertaining for the minute following the actual act of vulgarity, does it really fu**ing matter if Tiger Woods says f**k on a golf course?

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The Chicago Blackhawks Letting Go Of Antti Niemi? NO....NO!

Remember the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks??

What a great collection of talent with the youth and talent of a Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to the veteran leadership of a Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp. The funny thing is it seems that those are the only guys left remaining from the reigning Stanley Cup Champion team because of the open check book of former General Manager Dale Tallon who has left for greener pastures in sunny Florida with the Panthers.

The dismantling of this Blackhawks team has been at times understandable and at times unsettling for this Blackhawks fan. I understood that the team would have to slash players/payroll after the 2009-2010 season, but not in this sort of fashion. It seems Stan Bowman has positioned himself to make a move at the one position the fans questioned all season long yet stayed the course.

What to do about the Blackhawks goaltender situation?

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How Is Gordon Beckham So Untouchable To Kenny Williams??

When the Chicago White Sox drafted Gordon Beckham with the eight overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft, I was not too high on the pick because of my lack of knowledge of NCAA baseball. The only people who legitimately keep up with NCAA baseball are either baseball purists or stats nerds that hang out on baseballprospectus.com all day long. The MLB Draft is easily compared to the NHL draft because no one in the general populous really knows what to expect from the players who are selected. The NFL and NBA Draft's are different because those sports on the collegiate levels are highly publicized and watched by millions of people.

So in fairness, I did not anoint Gordon Beckham as the next great to play for the Chicago White Sox. A lot of other people did however, and that is something that puzzles me.

How can a 23 year old infielder be as untouchable to trades as Gordon Beckham?

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The Selection Of Paul Konerko To The All Star Game Snubbs Baseball Fans....

STOP THE PRESSES!!

The masses have spoken and the collective boom has been revealed. "Pauliewood" is headed to Hollywood because of the resounding success of another White Sox promotion orchestrated by Brooks Boyer and the kids at the White Sox organization.

Well, not really.

I am not going to come here and say that Paul Konerko does not deserve to go to the midsummer classic in Anaheim on Tuesday. In fact its a good possibility that "Paulie" will not even get an at bat in the "game that counts." However in the selection of Paul Konerko to replace ailing superstar Justin Morneau (injured with head problems), there is a bigger issue with exactly how the all stars are voted in/selected.

The issue is apparently the fans' vote means nothing in the end, so why do we continue to bitch and complain about it?

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LeBron James "The Decision" Reveals What ESPN Truly Is....

I want to preface this by saying I am by no means a television producer/director/key-grip, so the opinion to follow is strictly based on being a viewer of ESPN for almost my entire lifetime.

The highest rated television program last night on broadcast and cable television was indeed the most anticipated announcement in sports since Tiger Woods spoke for the first time following his numerous affairs. Built up and simply named "The Decision", ESPN decided to sell a hour of its programming in prime time so the "King" of Cleveland can have an exclusive national audience to say the team he plans on playing for years to come.

As a long time viewer of the four letter network, this was by far the most embarrassing broadcast in their history on the air. I've seen them turn the home run derby from a fun event to a three hour long marathon with little excitement. I've seen them take Monday Night Football and turn it into an amateur hour of broadcasting. I've seen them turn the NBA and NFL Drafts into infomercials for their "experts" rather than what the teams are actually adding to their teams.

"The Decision" was by far the most embarrassing example of how ESPN has turned away from the roots of sports journalism.

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Cleveland Cavs Fans Face Their Fate With The LeBron Monster

I wanted to wait till a final decision was made before I started to write a reaction to whatever LeBron James decides to do going forward in his NBA career. I wanted to wait till every blogger/columnist/beat reporter/talk show host had the same opportunity to see through the BS and watch where the "King's" new kingdom will take hold. However over the last few days following what everyone has said, seen everything to be seen and heard everything there was to hear.....one thought came to mind that simply I needed to express before the final verdict is spoken.

Whatever the outcome, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland, Ohio deserve everything they get.

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**BREAKING** LeBron James Has Made A Decision.....

LeBron James has made a decision today!!

Found this quite interesting earlier today. Not since the debut of Ozzie Guillen (@ozzieguillen) has there been such a rapid addition of followers to the social networking tool called Twitter. In the words of Chris Paul (@oneandonlycp3) of the New Orleans Hornets, he teased that he indeed had some:

BREAKING NEWS: Gotta big surprise for evrybody on
twitter 2day...lemme kno when yall ready and want to kno the news...

Then not even an hour later.....the surprise that has rocked the social networking drones across the world had been revealed.

**Couldn't convince him to tell me which team he's
goin to but convinced him to join twitter lol...my brother from another
mother @KINGJAMES

Indeed!! LeBron James has joined Twitter at the address @KINGJAMES. While LeBron has yet to make a posting to his Twitter account, he has already reached nearly 40,000 followers in a matter of a couple of hours.

So the question we are all begging to know now is "What will LeBron first tweet be about??"

1. Could he reveal his new destination or desire to stay in Cleveland?
2. Could he reveal some insight on how the meetings with the individual teams went?
3. Could he tell us how much better McDonalds is compared to Jack In The Box?
4. Could he tell us what really happened with his mom and DeLonte West (@DeLonteWest)?

or could this simply be yet another joke played on the mass media much like the Derrick Rose Twitter account which popped up last week for almost a couple of hours.....before being found to be a fake?

Tweet Tweet LeBron....and welcome.

-RoCK

Rock Mamola is the Associate Producer of The Mully And Hanley Morning Show and co-host of The Joe O And Rock Show on WSCR 670AM The Score

You can follow The Mully And Hanley Morning Show at twitter.com/mullyhanley

You can follow The Joe O And Rock Show at twitter.com/joeoandrockshow

Chicago Blackhawks Trade Andrew Ladd....The Garage Sale Continues

The Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks continue to dismantle the roster which led them to their first Stanley Cup in almost a half a century. TSN.com Hockey Analyst Darren Dreger tweets today that:

Thrashers trading for Andrew Ladd...says a source. Draft pick and prospect for Ladd. Thrashers have yet to speak to agent about a Ladd extension. 2nd round pick and Visnevsky for Ladd

This marks the SIXTH player to be traded away from the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions roster as the Blackhawks are looking to make up for the payroll mistakes of the Dale Tallon regime. Here's a quick review of what has gone down for the Blackhawks this off season so far.

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NBA vs. NHL: Comparing Opening Day Of Free Agency....

Thank god for social networking. In an age where you can get all sorts of information quicker than you can snap your fingers, social networking is a great tool for sports geeks like us when it comes to the very latest in rumors around all of sport. It is so great that some of the rumors do not start from writers/columnists but the actual athletes themselves sometimes. And people wonder why newspapers are dying....it is simply because the better the technology gets, the quicker the information. Most people do not care about being right anymore, it is all about being first.

July 1st was the start of both the NBA and the NHL free agency periods and using social networking I've noticed that while the NBA is making the headlines around the country, the NBA is operating like a newspaper while the NHL is all a-twitter with their moves.

Let me explain.

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