Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
Let SGCTC Save One of the Worst Monday's of the Year
This week in Chicago:
Bears: Thursday at 7:20 p.m. vs. the Cowboys
Bulls: Monday at 9:00 p.m. at the Kings; Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. vs. the Grizzlies; Friday at 7:00 p.m. vs. the Grizzlies; Sunday at 5:00 p.m. at the Heat
Blackhawks: Monday at 7:30 p.m. vs. the Blues; Thursday at 6:00 p.m. at the Bruins; Friday at 6:00 p.m. at the Devils; Sunday at 6:00 p.m. vs. the Coyotes
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Trivia:
Last week, I omitted Kyle Orton from the trivia answer for “Which Bears quarterbacks since 2004 attended a Big Ten university?” Kyle Orton of course went to Purdue, and he’s the reason I thought of the question in the first place. My bad. Thanks to Chris Gall for holding me accountable in the thread.
This week’s question: The last time there was an MLB All-Star game in Chicago was at U.S. Cellular Field in 2003. Five players from the Chicago teams were represented in that ASG—two from the Cubs and three from the White Sox. Who were they?
(Answer at end of the baseball section)
One of the worst Mondays of the year. Back to the real world, where most people aren’t thankful, football isn’t constantly on, there isn’t a beer available to you at all times, and drinking that beer isn’t ever inappropriate.
I know, additional holidays and the new year are right around the corner. Once this day is over, we’ll all feel much better. But chances are, as you’re reading this, it’s not.
One thing that always helped me get over those Sunday Scaries that blitz you right as the sun falls (at like 4 p.m., for God’s sake) was live sports. The announcers commentating a real time game was always soothing to me. Even when the scaries come early, on a Saturday late at night, Pac 12 after dark always helped. I always wondered what people who didn’t watch sports did to soothe that anxiety once the sun went down.
The Thanksgiving football followed by Friday’s college football, Saturday’s college football, then a slate of Sunday football is almost too much. Just like drinking 20 beers at night, it’s great in the moment, but you’ll pay for it when it comes to an end.
Because the Bears game feels like so long ago now, I thought I’d mix up the thread discussion for this week. If you’re a supporter of the newsletter and not really even that into sports, this would be your time to hop in anyway.
What is the worst sports comedown of the year (or worst time of the year)?
You get let down easy from baseball, in some ways. Football season is in full swing by the time it ends, and summer baseball feels far gone.
Basketball ends in June for the NBA, and it’s just harder to get sad over sports when summer is kicking off. It’s especially difficult to get more sad about the NBA when the team you root for is an embarrassment all year round. Some days are worse than others as a Bulls fan, but their season ending hasn’t been depressing to me since probably 2012, when Derrick Rose tore his ACL. (I’ve been, unfortunately, reminded that the beloved 2010-2011 Bulls are quickly coming up on a 10-year anniversary). I guess the end of the 2015 season—when the Bulls lost to Cavs in three straight games after going up 2-1 on D-Rose’s buzzer-beater—qualifies, but I was also in college then, and getting depressed about any sport in college is sort of uncalled for, considering the fact that you can go out three times a week and do absolutely nothing on random days mid-week and no one will bat an eye.
As for the summer thing, the same goes for the end of the NHL season.
The comedown from March Madness is similar to the Thanksgiving Football comedown.
Forget about the whole paying athletes thing—my biggest gripe with the NCAA is putting the last game of the college football and college basketball seasons on Mondays. How depressing is that? The season is over, and oh by the way, it’s the dead of winter and Tuesday tomorrow.
The Monday following Super Bowl Sunday is also miserable, especially when you decided to engage in some tom foolery for the contest.
So, the question is—what’s the most depressing post-sports high in the calendar year? By all means, implement real life situations into this answer all you want. So, for instance, if your work gets particularly bad at a point of the year, and it’s also after your favorite sport ends, feel free to mention it. The more specific, the better.
Post your answer to the question on the thread here. It’s been great to see some new usernames on the threads this past few weeks. Best answers will get posted next week.
MOL of the Week:
Time for the Mrs. O’ Leary of the week—the anti-SGCTChicagoan of the last seven days. First week’s was Christian Yelich (came at Yu Darvish) and last week’s was the Charlotte Hornets announcer (who slowly lost his mind as the Bulls came back to win one of the six games they’ve won this entire season).
This week’s is Ted Phillips, CPA. You probably don’t know Ted Phillips, CPA, but if you do, let him know that he’s a huge Mrs. O’ Leary.
Ian Happ posted that he was missing the Cubbies and baseball season. In other words, one of the more innocuous tweets you’ll ever see. Well, Ted Phillips, CPA was not having it.
This dork has CPA in his Twitter name, like any one gives a shit that he’s an accountant. He has his kid in his goddamn profile picture. Yet when a baseball player on his favorite team tweets out that he’s missing baseball season, that’s when Teddy thinks it’s time to call him a dumb ass and to get back into a batting cage for all of Twitter to see, as if Happ should be hitting balls from 7 am until he goes to sleep.
This is not a SGCTChicagoan and he is banned from subscribing. Even someone like me, who cannot stand the sight of Ian Happ swinging and missing at a pitch and letting his top hand off the bat far too early, would never in a million years tweet this at one of our guys. Except maybe Addison Russel, who will most likely no longer be a Cub by the time you are reading this.
Also, no offense to accountants. My Uncle is an accountant and also a loyal SGCTChicagoan. Speaking of dumb asses, he has to answer my idiotic questions every time I don’t understand a simple concept on a tax form. I’d highly recommend getting an Uncle who is an accountant. Shout out all the Chicago accountants besides Ted Phillips, a certified public accountant and a certified MOL of the week.
Four Stars of the Week:
Placing faces on the Chicago flag to come up with the four stars of the week is not something I take lightly. And to be frank, it was tough to get to four this week. For that reason, I will be foregoing the segment. Send submissions for next week. Hopefully there’s more candidates by next Sunday.
Bears:
The Bears beat the Lions on Thursday. I was thankful that they did not ruin my Thanksgiving. As I jumped in the air to celebrate Eddie Jackson’s game-winning interception, to close out a win against a 3-8-1 team, I felt a little bit of embarrassment before I even landed back on the ground.
But that’s part of being a SGCTChicagoan. Some people may call me a hypocrite. After all, I said after last week’s victory that you should seek help if you still thought the Bears will make the playoffs. I still feel that way, but that doesn’t mean that I myself am not a part of that group that needs help.
The Bears have anywhere from a 2-5 percent chance to make the playoffs, depending on which projection you look at. They’ve beaten one team above .500, the Vikings, and that team is significantly ahead of them in the standings, with just four games remaining. They lead the league in punts, as the SNF broadcast was happy to remind us. They’ve eclipsed 300 yards in just one game. Their QB only plays well against the Lions, and they don’t play the Lions again. As a matter of fact, they play three division leaders and one wild card leader the rest of the way.
And the thing that makes it sting the most is the Chargers game. Forget other winnable games, like the Eagles, the Rams, and the Raiders. If they had just beaten the Chargers, in a game where they really did dominate from start to finish, they’d be in pretty good shape. But they didn’t.
And if the Broncos wouldn’t have completely shit the bed at the Vikings, when they had a three-score lead, they’d also be in a good position. Or at least a manageable one. But the Broncos did shit the bed, as they’re wont to do.
Still, I find myself thinking of those two games much more than I should. And still, I found myself rooting hard against the Packers, Panthers, Eagles, and Rams today. And I no doubt will be rooting hard when the Vikings play the Seahawks tonight… where Adam Thielen will be out due to a hamstring injury…
I need help. So do you. Do I think the Bears will make the playoffs? No. Will I root for them to do so at every stop imaginable? Absolutely. Let’s go Seahawks and Let’s Go Bears. All I want for Christmas is for my football watching dreams to still be alive by then. God Bless You, America, and the goddamn Chicago Bears.
Bears are +3 at home vs. the Cowboys on Thursday.
Game notes from Thursday:
Roquan Smith has turned a corner and been elite these last few weeks. Whether we make the playoffs or not, the Bears need him to be good moving forward. He had 15 tackles and two sacks.
Mitch Trubisky was… good! It was against the Lions, yes, but the idea that us as Bears fans are ever going to only accept some good QB performances is ridiculous. Mitch had a bad INT but also had a couple of big-time throws and ultimately led the Bears, yes LED the Bears, to a win on Thursday. His line: 29 for 38/ 338 yards/ 3 TDS/ 1 Int. I think Trubisky is a big confidence guy, and when he feels good about himself he plays better. So if the Bears go three and out and he has a bad incompletion on Thursday, I really hope the 4th phase doesn’t jump right into the booing.
Anthony Miller had a big day, with 9 receptions for 140 yards, but his miscues still bother me. I may have went a little overboard last week when I said he didn’t deserve to be an NFL wide receiver. He’s talented as all hell. I’m just not sure the mistakes he makes are things you grow out of. He was the reason for a crucial illegal formation penalty out of a time out. That’s part him, part on the coaching.
There’s no doubt we lead the league in running backwards. Mitch had that head scratching play where he ran away from the first down marker. The receivers do it regularly. And we all know about Tarik Cohen’s tendencies.
That non-call roughing the passer against Mitch was insane, and even more insane because the Bears were called for an awful RTP on Blough.
Most teams hurry up when there’s a questionable catch on offense. The Bears, they get a delay of game. Literally the opposite of what good teams do. That, again, is coaching.
The defensive backs do not wrap up and it will be a serious problem if it continues. Also, Prince Amukumara is just not good anymore.
Khalil Mack gets significant penetration on almost every play, it’s the rest of the rush that needs to pick up the slack when he forces the quarterback to move elsewhere.
Lastly, Akiem Hicks, previously one of my favorite Bears, had a pretty embarrassing exit from his weekly interview segment on Waddle and Silvy this week.
The audio is linked below:
Hicks gets mad at Waddle for making a clear joke while siding with him about fans booing at the game. Very disappointing.
What’s not disappointing is that he returned to practice this week and is eligible to come back for the Green Bay game. If the Bears win this week, I would bet we’ll see Hicks again this year. Bear in mind that he also had a knee issue this year, so the time off was probably good for his entire body’s health. Boy, have we missed his presence this year.
P.S.
The Bears are wearing these throwback uniforms Thursday. Last time they wore these, they dominated the Vikings.
Bulls:
The Bulls were so bad this week that Carmelo Anthony has actually been labeled “back”. Carmelo—who was out of a job two weeks ago—dominated the Bulls at the United Center and contributed to another bad Bulls loss back in Portland.
The 6-14 Bulls have still not beaten a team over .500 and lost to the worst team in the league this week, the Warriors, in pretty awful fashion. The regular fan could probably not name more than two players on the Warriors active roster right now and they boat raced your Chicagoooo Bulls.
I won’t apologize for my high hopes for the Bulls this year (my hope being that they’d only be 15 or so games below .500 at the end of the year, and not 30). They added legit pieces this offseason and had some pieces (like Markkanen) that would’ve taken a next step in any other organization this year.
But a coaching search would’ve been too tough for Gar/Pax. After all, their million dollar contracts don’t say they HAVE to conduct those. They also don’t say that they have to hire anyone competent. So they did neither and elected to hire a man who has only been a head coach once, where he failed as the leader of the esteemed Utah Utes basketball program.
The guy is too dumb to even make a movie reference that makes sense.
The Bulls have the hardest schedule in the East from here on out. But don’t worry, there was a leaked report that Gar Forman was on the hot seat. Let me break some news to you myself. That won’t change anything. That’s like trying to lose weight by cutting fruit out of your diet because of the sugar, but continuing to eat burgers and fries for the majority of your meals. He’s a sign of the problem, not the problem itself. Getting rid of Gar Forman, or even Jim Boylen for that matter, is just a scapegoat for the one of the worst executives in the history of the NBA, John Paxson.
Follow @stillgottaChi throughout the week for more depressing reactions to the Chicago Bulls games.
Blackhawks:
The Blackhawks season has been a story of ups and downs. They look great in games against quality opponents and then get dominated for a couple in a row. Despite Patrick Kane’s 15-game point streak and his 11 goals in November, the Blackhawks have gone 1-4-1 in their last six.
They allowed 12 goals to the Avalanche in back-to-back contests on Friday and Saturday. Goalie Robin Lehner, who has been awesome and genuine with the media, was pulled after a brutal outing on Saturday. He tweeted this afterwards:
To make matters worse, Duncan Keith left Friday’s game with a groin injury. It seems like an injury that has been bugging him for a while, meaning he’ll miss a good chunk of games.
A couple concussions and groin injuries have hurt the Blackhawks of late, but it’s still no excuse for the way they’ve been playing.
The Hawks are dead last in the Central Division at 10-11-5. They’re five points out of a wild card spot. Oh, and the Florida Panthers are 2nd in the Atlantic Division at 13-8-5, so it turns out Joel Quenneville is still a good coach. It’d be nice to have him, wouldn’t it?
Baseball:
By the time you read this Addison Russell will hopefully not be a Chicago Cub anymore. Good riddance. And the Sox—whose twitter fanbase has been filled with eye emojis (meaning anticipation) over the last week—will hopefully have signed another marquee player.
Trivia answer:
White Sox: Carl Everett, Esteban Loaiza, and Magglio Ordonez
Cubs: Kerry Wood and Mark Prior
In 2003, Sammy Sosa was punished for the corked bat fiasco and also on the disabled list for part of the first half. Despite missing the ASG, he was 8th in MVP voting. He made the ASG the previous five years and was also an All-Star in 2004, the year after.
Historical perspective:
Throwback to Derrick Rose’s game winner in Golden State in 2015. This one is often forgotten about, but particularly compelling. The Thibs-led Bulls beat the Warriors after they had won 19 straight in Oakland. After this game, the Warriors went on to win 54 straight at home. So in 74 games at home, they went 73-1. The Bulls, Tom Thibodeau, and Derrick Rose accounted for the sole loss.
Betting pick:
I abstained from making a pick last week and that was probably for good reason. I was not seeing the board well and I’ve learned to not give picks out when that is the case.
Record: 16-9
This week’s pick: Oregon +6.5 in the Pac 12 title game against Utah
Utah is the real deal, but I don’t think they’re nearly 7 points better than Oregon on a neutral field.
I’d like to again say that I’m thankful for this small readership you and I have built up over these last 8 months or so. It’s been a joy to interact with you all. Let’s keep building this thing… STILL GOTTA COME THROUGH CHICAGOOOO…