Today was a day for overreaction. There was an ugly Bears loss, some minor Derrick Rose news, and and the Cubs fired their manager, so of course everything was flying around about that. Let's also not forget that tomorrow the Blackhawks start, the defending champion Blackhawks, thank you very much. That really should be getting much more attention than any of these other things right now.
So, first off, for the Bears loss. I guess I didn't do a preview of the game, so I won't do a review. There's another good reason for that, I didn't stick around past 25 minutes into the game. There was the bogus Stafford touchdown (given, outside of the holding that Calvin Johnson always gets away with) was the only mistake the referees made. On that play, I will say that it was either a fumble or an illegal forward pass. Watch the play and you see that Stafford fumbled the ball, completely lost control after having possession, past the line of scrimmage. He caught the ball in the air, and crossed the goal line after the catch. Now, according to NFL rules, you cannot fumble the ball forward. So, there is no way he could have had a legitimate touchdown if that was a fumble. However, what it a pass to himself since he caught it? Well, first off, the arm wasn't going forward in a passing motion, so no, but at the same time, if it was, then it was an illegal forward pass, which means it would have been a penalty. No matter how you look at it, it was not a legitimate touchdown, and considering how many times the referees screwed up last week in not giving the Bears a touchdown, it's frustrating to see them just give one when it's not a legitimate touchdown.
Either way, that was just a rant, if they call it correctly and call it a touchdown, there's a good chance the Lions get in on the next play. However, the Bears, mainly Jay Cutler, just completely unraveled after that. He threw 2 more interceptions and lost a fumble as well. He did calm down in the second half, but it wasn't enough to bring the Bears back, and they lost the game, but to their credit, after the mess that happened when I turned the game off, they did get the game within 1 score of going to overtime. The very little that I did see of the second half didn't look too terrible, but I'm glad I did my grocery shopping, and one other errand (which I will bring up later) during the 2nd quarter and 2nd half.
However, let's not freak out!!! Let's be honest, the Bears haven't been too far from falling apart like this already this season. However, this time they actually did fall apart and were not quite able to recover. They were playing against a team that had a long time Bear, who almost certainly was giving a little extra help to the Lions in this week in particular. It was ugly, but what Bears game hasn't been in some way this season? Let's just settle down. This is a team that's still learning an awful lot of new stuff under a very new system. No matter what you think about what Cutler said about how long it takes, it does take more than 4 games into a season, at least twice that, for a team to really get comfortable in a new system, probably longer. We're 1/4 of the way through the season and the Bears are on pace for 12 wins. The Lions won't be able to pump crowd noise in (reference to a shot in the 1st quarter when the crowd seemed really loud, but a camera view showed a crowd that was 99% in their seats and unenthusiastic) to distract the Bears.
Okay, moving on, there was some Derrick Rose news today. He took a rest day. Now you have the theories flying, on the ESPN and Yahoo boards the trolls are going wild, and it's all for a rest day. I cannot stress how stupid it is to get worked up or worried over this. It's nothing. Rose is working his way back, and there is going to have to be some getting used to the normal run of things for Rose. It's probably a 1, maybe 2 time thing, it's nothing that's going to linger. What's more? This was something that was planned.
I can't tell you how stupid anyone looks who's getting all huffy puffy, in any way, over this. It was planned, so it's not like it's another part of the injury, and it doesn't say anything about anyone involved. Anyone who's seen Rose knows that he worked hard throughout the injury. You see how big and cut he is now? Yeah, anything you want to say about him, make sure you'd be willing to say it to his face. If not, then it's better left unsaid, because it's probably stupid. The kid made the right move in sitting out last season, and this day of sitting out means absolutely nothing.
Now, onto the next story of the day. The Cubs fired Dale Sveum. OMG!!! THE CUBS ARE HIRING GIRARDI!!! That seems to be the reaction, moreso of the media than the fans really. I mean, Girardi being hired is far from out of the question. Before 2007 they had a chance to hire Girardi after he led a Marlins team featuring very young versions of Hanley Ramirez, Josh Johnson, Dan Uggla, Miguel Cabrera, Josh Willingham, Ricky Nolasco, and Anibal Sanchez to a much better season than anyone saw. Seeing that group of players and how they were all developed somewhat under Girardi, it should be obvious as to why he would be a great pick for the Cubs next managerial position. That would also show that the front office is considering allowing the big prospects to move up a little more quickly. Either that or they're willing to pay more money, despite this being a prettyweak free agent class. Either way, Girardi coud be on his way out of New York, as that's a sinking ship right now with all of their franchise guys getting really old or demanding an insane amount of money. The owners, local press, and fans are going to put an unfair amount of pressure on him with a team that won't have a chance. Just like what he'll get with the Cubs, but in Chicago it will be to a much lower degree. Either way, there's other guys out there who may be good fits. The bottom line is that they need someone who can develop young talent. I'd love to see them hold on to Bosio and McKay through all this, although with how close McKay has been to retiring already, I don't know how realistic that is either.
Okay, to slow things down, there's no guarantee the Cubs are getting Girardi. Is he a possibility? Yes, but he also could stay in New York just as easily. He may leave New York but decide he wants a year off. We really don't know. He'd be a good fit with the Cubs, but he's not the only one, and it's up to the front office to find out who will be that guy. Nobody knows exactly where they'll go, but it's silly to get worked up over it since nothing any of us say or do will make a difference in the matter. It's not up to the fans, it's up to the front office.
Now, what should be the news right now? What should everyone be excited for right now? Oh, I don't know, maybe a ring ceremony tomorrow? Not only that, but the Blackhawks will be playing against the Washington Capitals. What goes with that? Yep, that's right, Ovechkin. It's the one time this year (assuming the Caps don't make the finals) that Chicago fans get to see one of the best players in hockey today. Of course we can see Toews any time, but guys like Ovechkin or Crosby, love them or hate them, are a lot of fun to watch play.
Now, what I mentioned earlier about those errands I ran during the Bears game, one of them was to my local Gamestop. I've been trying to avoid the annual sports games, and at this point I have myself down to one every year. This year was Hockey, last year I took a year off to make up for the 3 that I bought the year before, and I was going to try to avoid it this year, but the NHL '94 mode was too much to resist. A very unskilled gamer such as myself was able to really enjoy playing a sports video game again, although I will point out that hockey games have been well above the rest in recent years. The NBA games have taken a heavy hit since the Live series started to fall, the 2K series has been better than the EA games, but even those games are not that great. The Show games for MLB are similar, the games are solid, but just really not that good. However, Madden games are still pretty fun, but the NHL games, and from what I hear, the FIFA games are great now. I just refuse to play a soccer game because the game is so boring itself to me that I can't imagine enjoying it as a video game, and I like golf games. Either way, NHL '14 is great, I've played both regular games as well as the '94 mode, and both were a lot of fun. I had a great time beating the snot out of the Canucks multiple times. I loved seeking out Burrows and giving him a beatdown, 11 times in one game (as in a fight, not just a check), multiple times in others. I won every game by at least 4 goals, which I normally would find too easy, but I just love beating up on the Canucks.
Anyway, what should be the biggest news right now is what's happening at the UC tomorrow. Dale Sveum getting fired is pretty big news, but let's not flip out and proclaim a new savior yet, it's still just a manager. It sucks that the Bears lost, and damn those referees for giving Stafford that first touchdown, but the Bears have been on the cusp of implosion already this year, this time they just went over and couldn't recover. Lastly, the Derrick Rose news is really not news at all. It should be considered to not even be news.
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