You make the call: Bears at Bengals

In my W/L start of the season predictions I picked the Bears to beat Atlanta (bye week/revenge factor/better team) and lose to the Bengals (Palmer,improved). Well being a diehard I've got to play the odds and say last weeks giveaway, coupled with the loss of Odom, gives the Bears a victory.

Benson can kiss our dairy airs! He's improved because of a decent offensive line and the threat of blackballing himself out of the league if he didn't earn his keep. Typical. The other edge of the sword doesn't speak well for our offensive line, right Thomas? Then again, after seeing Kreutz, Garza and the rest of the troops constantly rub their cheeks into our QB during handoffs last year, it's a NO WONDER! Nothings changed.

With the return of Hunter and the, hopefully, growth of Roach, we should be able to contain the Bengals, Boca Ocho-Cinco included. Matter of fact, I think our offense is going to have a huge game, despite Turner.

We gave away some early points last Sunday that surely would have swayed that game dramatically. Not the case here.

Bears-30 Bengals-20

Stu, funny as it may sound, Cutler running for his life isn't really a bad thing. His pass/int ratio during these moments has to be phenominal!

I think Cincinnati is going to take it to the Bears. Our Offensive Line is too bad. Our Defense is better, but we still make average QBs look like young Montanas. Benson will be shut down. I only have confidence in the Bears at home and against bad teams. We lose by one score again. And I hope I am wrong, but doubt it.

Tough to call this one. Cutler getting paid may light up the passing game, and Forte is due for a big game. Benson and Palmer at home with a legit nfl star calibre wide out give the edge to cinncy, as hard to believe as that is.

I'll say bears 31 and Cinncy 35 in Ot on a field goal with the wind from over 50 yards, but just inside the left upright. And the Bears offside on the kick with would have given cinncy another try from five yards closer if they'd missed, which they don't and Cinncy wins it. Lovie mumbles something about takeaways after the game.

Hmmmm... this is a tough one to call.

Lovie had two weeks to prepare for Atlanta and, unfortunately, it looked like it.

With only one week to prepare... hmmmmm.

With all the "animosity" between Benson (who I've always liked) and the Bears D, if I were Cincy, I think I would fake a handoff to Benson on the very first play and hit the twittering Chowderhead on a deep route. He should be wide open.

I think the league is catching up with Marinelli's defensive line schemes. I'm not looking for them to be dominating.

Okay, it comes down to the QBs.

I'm not sold on Cutler, so Bengals 27-17.

Come on, Jay. Prove me wrong (esp in the red zone).

Hate to say it, but if you can't run the ball in the red zone then you're most likely going to lose.

Bengals 24 Bears 17

I think this game ends in a tie, 32-32

and it's going to be an Aerial show...neither team will run well

and wow, Stu...alll the bubblegum and paperclips holding the OLine together?....and the D?...they can't keep up this level of play....and the road to the playoffs is wide open? For whom?

Football begins and ends at the line of scrimmage...and you're talking about the Bears and the playoffs?...Your entire Torso has the #6 tattooed on it, doesn't it?

Turnovers and Special Teams decide this one....Jay throws more picks than Carson...Bengals win by 1 1/4 points, so if you took the Bears and the points...thank me on Monday

Did anybody else see the article... NFL.com... on "What's wrong with Jayson Campbell?".....and the Bears exalted in signing a guy with the exact same numbers?

Jayson Cambell Cutler Fawcett Majors

Predictions:

- Bears OL still can't block anybody so no running game AGAIN

- Palmer has a field day with no D-line rush - we are gonna see some no huddle

- Cutler still running for his life on passing plays, at least 2 more picks

- Defense shuts down Benson for the most part but Palmer slices up the DB's

Bengals 27 - Bears 13

.....and now for the most ridiculous quote of the main post by Stu:

"The schedule gets more favorable after this, so if the Bears can steal a victory in Cincy, the road to the playoffs is wide open."

Huh.....

More favorable?!?!.....right.......let's take a look:

Cleveland
Arizona
at San Francisco
Philadelphia
at Minnesota
St. Louis
Green Bay
at Baltimore
Minnesota
at Detroit

Ummmm, I count two to three wins there; Cleveland, St. Louis and Detroit (maybe).....five at the most if everything goes right. Losses to Arizona, Minnesota (twice), Green Bay, Baltimore are pretty certain. Possibility of wins at SF and maybe Philly if McNabb keels over before we play them.

Hey James, if Lovie mumbles anything, it'll be about losing by '4' in OT.

I see that Tommie Harris is listed as doubtful for this game.

Time to admit that it is over for Harris in a Bears uniform after this season.
As a matter of fact you can start phasing him out now because he has the legs of a 60 year old man and it is not going to get any better.
Accept that you gave a ton of money to a player who was damaged goods and you knew it and move on because he is just a shadow of the player that he was before the injury against the Vikings in 2006.
I said before the season started that I would rather have seen them take a chance on bringing back Mike Brown for this season than Harris and I still feel that way.
Better hope that Gilbert can do more than jump out of a pool on Youtube or they will have another gaping hole to fill.

Remember when Tank Johnson and Tommie Harris were supposed to be the Bears rock for the D line for the next 10 years?
That seems like a long time ago now.

Prediction:

BEARS!!!!!!!!!

KLS, stop saying our oline is bad. Our Oline is excellent---for passing. It's the RB's who have given up a lot of sacks. However, I digress. Receivers need to get open and not cut their routes short.
Bengals are not that good,unless you let them be. Very similar to Altanta,except this time,when we dominate on both sides of the Ball,we need to win. Let's watch as our Bears continue their transformation into a passing machine. GOOOOO Bears.
Expect more holding calls on the Bears. Chris Williams,while impressive, is starting to develop the bad habbit of getting his
outside. Let's hopes he keeps them inside. Don't expect much running
until AP comes back as the change-up back.

Navarro apparently you didn't receive the memo stating over time field goals over 50 yards long are now worth 4 points LMFAO.

Stuck - My opinion about our O-Line goes all the way back to Rex Grossman and Thomas Jones. Its not scientific. But I have been watching to see how others performed behind it. I am a big Olin Kruetz fan, especially after he broke Miller's jaw. But I have come to conclude that our line has been a problem for a long time. I know timing is everything and players get hurt and then they have great years, but there have been too many offensive ex player who have thrived in other systems. I wondered was it the QB for a long time. And now that we have Cutler it was finally my chance to find out once and for all. Last week's national broadcast team saw a line that had been resting for two weeks - get pushed all the way back to the QB almost every play. They also saw 3 defensive linemen getting to the Cutler at the end of the game. And then there was those debacles in the red zone. Now its Cutler, Forte, the Line, or Turner. I have ruled out Cutler and Forte because I know it wasn't Orton and Benson. Left are the LINE and TURNER. Cutler showed me what he was made of a long time ago. He is the real deal and I firmly believe if that line does not improve, or the Bears don't fix it, we are going to get Cutler hurt or ruin his career. I am going to write this year off because Angelo needs to get a chance to get some linemen in here to help him. Our Defense is good. Not Very Good, but good. Special Teams - Very Good - borderline great. We have a Very good - Great QB playing behind a bad Offensive Line.

I want the Bears to WIN, but I want a great many things and wishing has not worked to get any of them.

To pick a nit:

Has any team in the history of professional sports ever suffered through a procession of boring, lifeless, head coaches like the collection of wet blankets we've had since Da Coach (moment of silence) was ridden out of town?

It's understood that Da Coach (moment of silence) was a hard act to follow, but the only one of his successors that had a pulse was Dave Wannstedt. Unfortunately for us, his electroencephalogram was a long, flat line.

Smith has taken it to another level entirely. It's bad enough watching a lifeless mannequin stand on the sidelines wearing a clueless expression on his face as the game spirals out of control. The situation is only compounded by dragging his tired a$$ over to the podium so that he can stand in front of the microphone for ten minutes saying a whole lot of nothing.

I imagine that a press conference with Dave Wannstedt, Dick Jauron, and Lovie Smith would sound something like this:

Lovie: "Jay is our quarterback ... and we'll go from there"

Jauron: *blank stare*

Wannstedt: "Tommie? He's got a knee."

Lovie: "We have to hang on to the ball in the red zone ... and we'll go from there."

Jauron: *blank stare*

Wannstedt: "Pisa's got a knee."

Lovie: "Bob is still our defensive coordinator ... and we'll go from there."

Jauron: "Did somebody ask a question?"

Wannstedt: "Brian has a wrist. And I think he has a knee too."

Lovie: " ... and we'll go from there."

Jauron "ZZZZzzzzzzzzz."

Wannstedt: "All the pieces are in place ... except for the ones that have a knee."

Da Coach: *slams his fist into a locker*

We are about to enter the second quarter of the second quarter of our season ... The following week we will embark on the third quarter of the second quarter of our season ... and we'll go from there.
Stu responds: Nicely put, "Lovie."

Yeah Villano..my Wife jettisoned the bears right after they fired DaCoach

Villano..I applaud DaPost....that's the way I feel, too... and for that reason alone...yep..that's how bad it is.... Russ Grimm shoulda been hired...but like I said, Grimm woulda already punched Jerry in the face...

And I'm pleased to report... Once Again UP For The Travelers Insurance Man O The Year

Tom Cable

Mark,

Your Bears Recent Coaches Interview is hilarious. It has Michael McCaskey's imprint all over it. He once bid adieu with "We're going to make a change." In other words, "We're going to make a change from catching the imagination of the nation to becoming a national cure for insomnia."

At least Sox fans have Ozzie to get us through the doldrums.

Villano, you win. Great post!

Thank you all.

*shuffling my feet, and staring at the floor with that, "Awwww shucks" look on my face*

"and we'll go from there."

Hahahahahaaaa.... wait.
Why am I laughing?
Lovie drives me crazy with that stupid act.

"Why am I laughing?
Lovie drives me crazy with that stupid act."

Last I checked, professional football is part of the entertainment industry. At least that's the way I understand it.

Lovie has failed to entertain me. In fact, he's failed miserably.

It isn't that he has nothing to say, or lacks the ability to vocalize his thoughts; he simply chooses not to.

Head coaches, along with certain players on their respective teams are required by the league to make themselves available to the press after games, and after practices. This is true in all sports, be it the NFL, the NBA, The NHL or MLB.

How many times have you seen a petulant player on a losing team stand at the podium giving shrugs and one word responses to questions asked in earnest by reporters who are also trying to make a living off the sport?

They act as though they live in a vacuum.

Again ... I'll get back to the general assumption that a large part of their business is to entertain, and their responsibility to do so extends beyond the mere minutes that they're actually on the field of play. If the game itself was the only thing that mattered, there would be no pre-game or post-game shows, and sports radio would quickly run out of material. The sports section of the daily newspaper would be smaller than the obituaries, and blogs like this would cease to exist, because there wouldn't be much to write about.

But there's a solution to Lovie's obstinate demeanor; ignore him completely.

If the press, as a group, stayed away from him, before, during, and after games, it would no doubt have a positive effect on his willingness to communicate.

Imagine the response if nobody showed up for his post-game interview. Imagine if they just left his microphone turned off. This would be embarrassment on a national scale, and you can bet that Hallas Hall would want to address the problem.

But Lovie, and churlish children like Brian Urlacher and T.O. know that isn't going to happen. They know that no matter how badly they treat the media's minions, they'll come crawling back the following week for more. It's reminiscent of spouses who remain in abusive relationships because they have no where else to go.

If just one time, they all went to their cars after the game, it would put an end to this nonsense.

My alter ego, Al Davis, likes to say, "Just win baby!". But if you can't win, you damn well better entertain me.

Or I'll take my ball and go home.

Keith if you didn't know it Cutler is doing what he has done quite a few times over the last two years: turn the ball over in the red zone. He has the highest number of turnovers of any QB. The line is not great but a guy fumbling twice in a row can not be pinned or anyone but him. I can take the low yardage percentage and say it's the line but fumbling is on a back. Look at the number of exchanges a center and a QB makes and see how many we had this year compared to the last 3 seasons and you can see another pattern that doesn't happen as much as it used to. We used to blame Olin and now we see that Cutler doesn't have that problem that the other two guys had. Blame is thrown around after losses. Look for a pattern that exist even in wins. Now we should've known that the offense was going to be average after the bye. It's not like we actually sat back and practiced for Atlanta for 2 weeks. They had quite a bit of time off like they do on byes. We should've known that they wouldn't be good because you need reps, constant reps, on the O-line to remain cohesive. Interrupt those reps or replace a cog in that wheel and there is going to be a dropoff. Atlanta also had one of the best home field advantages of any team in the NFL over the last two years. Winning at home is a pattern that isn't hardly broken. I just wonder how the schedule makers send the same team to play on the road two years in a row? Are they trying to even the playing field or allow a gimme to another team. I know that there is almost no such thing but with our overall inability to win night games why do we always have so many games planned for us at the start on the road? I know we're a good draw but no one cares that we lose those games like we usually have for over twenty years. I think one of the things that affect us is the fact the we play 12:00 games compared to 3 and 6 or seven hours are much different to your body and mind than a 3 hour difference coupled with not being at home. But this blog is about what we think the outcome of this game will be and I see Bears 24-20. And quick note James. You can not lose in overtime by 4 points. No one in the history of the NFL has ever lost by 4 points in OT. If anything it should be 3 points.

I can hardly wait to hear the mindless drivel that comes out of Lovie's mouth after this game.

"Our Tampa Two defensive scheme works well. There's nothing wrong with it ... and we'll go from there."

Three possessions / three TD's. They're undressing him.

I'll print out this post, and eat it if we win!!! (with some fava beans, and a nice glass of chianti)

Correction:

Make that five possessions, and five scores.

I'm turning this farce off. If I want to watch a masacre, I'll watch a rerun of that old Errol Flynn movie about Custer's last stand.

There were a couple of plays that we wish we had back. Other than that we'll make our usual adjustments during the week, and ... we'll go from there.

Do any of you have questions that you'd like me not to answer?

Dan Pompei sez: "I just think the Bears match up well against the Bengals."

In what?

Mah Jong? Scrabble? Parcheesi?

They're certainly overmatched when it comes to the game of football.

Just for snorts and giggles I turned the game back on for a few minutes ... and LOOK!!!

Lovie lost another challenge.

Isn't he special?

Cincy runs off a 14 yard play in Bears territory.

Not to be outdone, our defense sees their 14 yards, and raises them another 15 with a penalty.

Oh look!

Ocho pulls Tillman's pants down!

Six possessions, six scores.

How's that vaunted Cover Two working out for you Lovie?

Will someone please fire this dunce?

I think I'll change my mind and watch the rest of the game. I need a good laugh.

Yo Cedrick, ... Want your old job back?

LINE.

Well, I'm out. I have surgery on my left shoulder on the 3rd and I know that the negativity will be in abundance. Hey, I don't blame a lot of it but I think I need a little positiveness to get better. The one thing I will add is that Benson should be ashamed as a man to play as hard for Cincy when he didn't try hard for us. That's character. I'd still take Thomas Jones over him because I know T.J. played up to his abilities. Benson isn't here mainly because he didn't. See ya.

We suck ...

... and we'll go from there.

I've enjoyed this day immensely.....you guys ought to get your panties untwisted by the Anquan and Larry Show...

Only to have them twisted in knots again!!!

Ok, enough with the jokes.

I'm serious when I say that the Bears did not make a mistake when the cut Benson. At that point they were left with no other options.

Their mistake was in drafting him when they already had a stud running back on the roster in Jones.

By wasting a top five pick and all that money on Cedrick, they set him up to fail, along with the entire front office.

Cedrick didn't help the situation with his attitude, and work ethic (or lack thereof). Jones was well liked and respected by the entire team, many of whom didn't appreciate an unproven/untested rookie coming in late after a holdout, and proclaiming himself to be, "The Man".

This is all on Angelo for wasting the pick, and Lovie for not taking the right side in a dispute between the entire team, and The Annointed One.

Today Benson made them all look like the incompitent morons that they are by hanging a buck-89 on them in a humiliating defeat.

I'm beginning to like Hitman more and more with every passing day.

We might even have to get a room.

I have to go now. I think Big Doug is having a stroke.

"We just need to shore up a few areas." --Lovie Smith

"The Bears are who we thought they were." Cedric Benson

How 'bout them 'Hawks?

"The Bears are on the fringe of something very special...strap it in as we're going for the ride of our lives" (Paraphrase) --Stuck in Wisconsin

Don't any of you even dare say a harsh word about Lovie Smith.
Lovie Smith is a DEFFENSIVE GENIUS!
A genius I say!
He can take the always over rated and now out dated cover-2 and lead the Bears to victory because there is no alternative.
No other direction to take when you have a “vision” and you are focused on the way you used to do things. Even if those things never resulted in a top NFL defense in St. Louis.

These are the right players even if they are always too small to match up with the other team’s players. Small & quick is how Lovie likes them.
This is the right scheme even if the league figured it out years ago and knows just how to beat it consistently. Cover-2 is all he knows and that is why Ron Rivera had to go. None of this using what works best nonsense in Lovie's world. There is only one way and that is it.
This is the right offensive coordinator even if he can take a talented QB and water down the play calling as if Kyle Orton was still taking the snaps (even from Oily Kreutz) Play not to loose and hope for a lucky break is Lovie's method. Play it safe even when you are down by 28 points.
Put chains on the fast receivers and make sure that you come up short on 3rd down time after time after time....
Like a rock he is!
Now that the man is calling the shots you can forget the finger pointing because the buck stops with Lovie. You can blame Lovie if the D sucks this year. Remember him saying that?
Lovie's teams come to play.

What a train wreck this clown is.
Start talking to Bill Cowher now and assure him that he has the job as soon as this season is finished ... and we'll go from there.

If Ned Beatty would have seen this game before his role in Deliverance, He would have won an award....maybe two

That's okay, get all the stink out now. The Bears are on the verge
of something very special. I stand by my words. Either the Bears
were looking past the Bengals, or Lovie thought he might see them in the Super Bowl and was holding back. The Bengals must have been cheating the way they were playing. Awwwwwwww...who am I kidding........WTF....no faith in the Bears......but still, it was only one game.
KLS, I apologize for giving you a hard time aabout saying the Oline sucked(is it too late?). I guess I was in denial. It just doesn't make sense. Cutler for Orton,and a pick they were gonna waste anyway. WTF, WTF,,,,,,,,,,WTF. The Bears need new coaches NOW!! E1 quit.....that was embarrassing. WTF.......WTF......are we no better than the Raiders?
The Cubs do not let us down as much. Couldn't they have least put Benson out for the season? All they had to do was tackle him once. Just once....oh..oh..James Ingram is coming out.....time to stop.

P.s. Boy,the Raiders are terrible.

Well, I guess I was wrong about the overtime and the field goal, but the score was a typo, should never type in the dark. But thanks for proofreading my post, do you do filing too?

Bears really got schooled. Benson wanted out of chicago and both of those arrests were him trying to get out. Bears owners and management fell for it and released him and one week later all charges were dropped. Great to be a star in Texas isn't it? Or Cinncinati, but these days being a star in chicago don't count for much. Benson now leads the league in rushing, that is the NFL, not the CFL where grossman will be playing.

How long before bears fans, and more importantly Bears' owners, wise up and realize that Lovie, Angelo and Pillips have no idea what they are doing? Curly larry and moe will turn the Bears into the black hole like tampa bay. They will keep pulling in old players and coaches from the scrap heap until the Bears are the scrap heap. I think we are just about there.

Hey, is the ink dry on that contract extension to Cutler or can we rescind it?

I wonder how Lovie and Angelo are going to spin this one? Oh, wait... they don't need to. That's what David Haugh and the Tribune sports section does for him every day.

For all the hype that accompanied the signing of the "Savior" at QB, he is not our biggest disappointment. Nope, that belongs to:

1. Matt Forte (hangover from rookie year workload or one-year wonder?)
2. Greg Olsen (I guess being Cutler's BFF doesn't go very far)
3. Our "offensive" o-line (Hey, Olin, have we jelled yet? Because the patchwork Bengals unit sure has)
4. Lovie (perhaps "coordinator" is beyond your skill level, too)
5. Marinelli (his d-line schemes were only good until the league caught on, now it looks like it was all smoke and mirrors)

Sorry it had to come to this but now does everyone understand what I've been saying about Lovie the Loser for years?????????

I can't remember the number of times I've been on this blog and stated that the Bears have plenty of talent but Lovie and his coaches stink. Of course I was ridiculed, insulted and called a racist.

Do we really need anymore proof that I was right and Lovie plus his entire staff SUCK????

He not only can't coach, he hurts player development and they actually regress under his "leadership". How else do you explain how players become stars when they finally get away from his terrible coaching and staff.

Remember when Lovie said that 0-16 Rod Marinelli was the Bears best "Free Agent" signing. Do you realize how brain dead you have to be to make a statement like that? I bet he believe that the Titanic was the most well designed ship in history!

Now I want to hear from all the Lovie apologists!! Step up and tell everyone that I am wrong and Lovie is a great coach!!!

Come on!!! I can't wait to hear the argument.

Lastly, I owe an apology to Mr. Angelo!!

I am sorry if I ever questioned your ability to draft talent. The talent isn't the problem, it's the coach.

Now you have the opportunity to right a great wrong. Fire that sorry SOB and hire Cowher or Shanahan. You have no choice, Lovie is going to take you down with him!!!

Act now and let the new coach use the rest of the season to get ready for next year!!!!!

Stuck - never too late to be righteous. I am hurting too.

Time for us to stop being mad at ex Bears. Even Rex.

Give Cincinnati some credit for backing Benson up.

Olsen has the perfect last name because rugs just lie down and you walk right over them!

William you are in my prayers brother.

Anyone else figure out that cover two means both eyes? I'm just glad the game wasn't televised here, I only had to endure the live stream web-broadcast and I turned that off after Cincy's first threeunimpeded marches to the end zone only to watch the almost as inept Panthers. Man I'm glad hoops starts Thursday night.

definitely not mad at our ex Rex(was sporting the new #5 yesterday). Wish he would get some playing time though. Just think what he would be doing in Denver? Talk about the second coming of Elway. . Anyone notice that our 'd' is only real
bad when Hunter is playing? I blame him. Positively(for William).

By Keith Lifetime Southsider on October 26, 2009 12:42 AM
Time for us to stop being mad at ex Bears. Even Rex.

KLS we know what the problem is and it is the Bears organization from top to bottom.

Also, being angry at ex-Bears players who succeed is silly.

By WRD on October 25, 2009 5:51 PM
The one thing I will add is that Benson should be ashamed as a man to play as hard for Cincy when he didn't try hard for us.

WRD, Kyle Orton played hard for us and up to his abilities and look what it got him. Traded!! But it worked out for him and Cedric Benson as well. I know watching him run hard yesterday probably irked you and had you wondering why wasn't he doing that here? Personally, I enjoyed watching him run over Bears defensive players. Remember some are the same ones that jacked him back in his early training camp days with the Bears.

I have my theories why Benson didn't succeed here - simply think about it.

Good luck going under the knife man.

WRD gotta go with the 5:51 pm comment, Keith, I agree about the O-line, and I know my guy Culzie feels the same way I do about Benson. The truth in my honest opinion(IMHO) is, the Bears are not an elite team, a good team, but not elite. Our rash of injuries has us playing 4th string linebackers and not hitting the street for a real MLB who knows how to use the defensive playbook. My 3 points...

1) probably the most damning for me, I have to admit, we need Lach. After watching the playcalling from the defensive standpoint lose the game against Atlanta, and this week...then watching how Pitt handed it to father time with their defensive scheming, too bad it wasnt in minny. I realize we need a middle linebacker that can actually adjust to the offense, not just put people in place.

2) That O-line sucks. Already did not like Garza, didn't hate him, just not like him. Kreutz, can he sustain a 1-one-1 block and dominate a bigger or faster dt without giving up gap control in crucial moments( or any moment presently), Pace or rather off Pace, that big head must be hard to move cuz he became a turnstile here. Frank, don't know your last name, and hopefully by next week, will not have to. Williams, did we get the bust of the first round tackles or what 2 years ago? It's still early, true, but it's not pretty. I am of the mind put Beekman in all 5 positions!(jk)

3)Wrd, hate to say it, but this playcalling sucked last week, and the week before. I saw a safety 30 yards deep on the snap, a, 1, we can't exploit that(against Atlanta, I couldn't even stomach Cincy). Why are other teams running a 18 yard square in, and we keep hitting(sorry, I mean missing) the flats, and long bombs, is Jay Cutler really for this offense? K.O. is not my all time favorite Bear...in fact neck beard was pretty average to me, with above average facial hair!! HA HA!! But, he is getting the job done in Denver so far, and Jay is not. Actually, that means nothing right now, because Superbowls are not won or lost in Oct. Turner needs to open up his Erik Kramer playbook, and keep his Illinois playbook with Zook.

Chuck, solidly written points! Keep it up!

Bubba's Mom ....misses baseball.

"Bubba's Mom ....misses baseball." And, so do I Bubba's Mom. However, hockey's gotta being doing something for you right now.

Only about 140 days left until spring training.

Hang in there Mom.

Gig and Mark -

We'll get a little bit of Ozzie during the World Series broadcasts on Fox, and that will be fun. I hope they have to bleep him.

Gig - I am enjoying the Hawks but the season is long and when I hear "UPPER BODY INJURY" I get concerned. You know Taser probably has a concussion from that hit the other night. I didn't realize Madden is 36 years old - did you? That's old for hockey standards. And the paid decent money for him.

BM - how can you be missing baseball when the playoffs have been so good. WS starts tonight.

You must mean you miss CHICAGO BALL??? You must be a Whitesox fan then! No Cub fan is missing Bradley and Lou.

Maybe they miss Cheers. "Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot" "Wouldn't you like to get a way....where everybody knows your naaaaame....and they're always glad you caaaaame!!!

LOL!