In just a few weeks, the NFL Draft will be conducted here in Chicago for the first time ever. When I was young and single, I always hoped to someday attend the draft, but even with it here at the Auditorium Theater, I won’t be there. I haven’t even tried to get tickets. I don’t even have to look at the schedule, I know I probably have stuff to do with the Indignant Family. But I’m not upset about this – spending an entire day or multiple days in an arena while the NFL makes their picks is something that no longer has no interest for me. I’ll probably want some of the first round and keep tabs on what’s happening in the later rounds, but I no longer feel the need to see it for myself.
However, there are sports nuts who will be there; to be seen on camera, to see what it’s like (the draft has been at New York’s Radio City Music Hall for many years), and to witness the young men cross the stage, get their picture taken with Commissioner Roger “The Walking Dead” Goodell. For those who want to see the expected number 1 overall pick: Florida State quarterback and former Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston, who is expected to be selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. According to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, Winston is going to skip the NFL draft in Chicago. .
“(H)e plans to spend the draft with his family and friends down south. At least, that’s the plan for now,” is what King wrote in his “Monday Morning Quarterback” column. The NFL may not be happy with this plan because NFL has big plans for the first draft to take place outside of New York in 50 years. The league reportedly is holding a fan experience called “Draft Town” in Grant Park, and players invited to the draft are expected to be heavily involved in the festivities, according to NFL.com..
If you do wish to meet Winston in Chicago, you should visit this weekend’s Fanatics Authentic show at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. He’ll be signing autographs and posing for photos there Saturday. Of course, it costs money to get into the show and autographs and photos will also cost you money.
It appears that Jameis Winston has learned the most important lesson – let’s see the cash if you want me to show up.

The Chicago Bears will pay quarterback Jay Cutler $10 million today as part of his contract just for remaining on the team’s roster. Of course, most Bear fans would love to see Cutler on his way out of town, allowing the team to spend on lots of players, particularly defensive ones with that money. Well, in my opinion, the Bears had no choice but to keep Cutler.
Long time readers know that I am probably the last fan to jump off the Cutler bandwagon: the greatest arm strength in team history; his ability to make sensational throws cannot be doubted. The knack of making the worst throws at the more inopportune times has kept the team from winning and for Cutler to be embraced by the fans (his prickly, sometimes indifferent manner hasn’t helped). I gave Cutler five years of benefit of the doubt, with the team adding quality receivers and a better offensive line to surround Cutler, but there’s just something in Jay Cutler that he has to throw 2-3 bad passes every game, most often to the other team. So, I was down on Cutler and remain so.
But I admit that the Bears have no choice and even a possibly bright future (despite the fact that I think that John Fox was a terrible hire as head coach). The obvious question is: are there any better QBs available? The answer to that is no. While Oregon signal caller and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota and Florida State’s Jameis Winston are top names in the draft, would either be an instant improvement over Cutler? No. Free agents available: Mark Sanchez? Ah, no. Josh McCown – we had him. Brian Hoyer – he couldn’t play in Cleveland, a team desperate for a QB since Bernie Kozar.
What sticks in the craw of most Bear fans most is the $126 million contract Cutler signed, offered by former GM Phil Emery. The smarter move would have been to place the franchise tag on Cutler, which would have made him among the highest paid QBs in the sport, but not tied the team’s hands for the future. If Emery had done that, he might still be employed here. Instead, Cutler had a mediocre season last year, but not the Bears are stuck with him. Chicago sports fans don’t mind players being highly paid, but they demand hard work and wins. Cutler made those tough mistakes and then appeared aloof; that drove the fans nuts.
For their part, Fox and new GM Ryan Pace were very noncommittal about Cutler’s return to the Bears until yesterday, the day before the deadline for cutting or trading Cutler before his $10 million payday was due. But they did the right thing: Cutler still would have counted $15 million against the upcoming season’s salary cap. Next year however, Cutler is due only $5 million and teams will take more of a chance on a cheaper Cutler and the Bears get the lower salary cap hit.
And if Cutler can cut down on his turnovers and make the offense effective like it was at times in the 2013 season, he might continue to be the Bear QB, but if not, he’s done in Chicago. It makes sense – the NFL is definitely a win now league – parity means that the difference between 5-11 teams and 9-7 or 10-6 teams is not that far. Teams make and fall out of the playoffs every year. Jay Cutler certainly has the tools; this is his final chance – we will soon find out if he’s a quality starter or a bust.

At this time of year, the NFL kicks into high gear; the league season starts, which means that free agents can be signed, and this year, there have been numerous surprise trades, like former St. Louis Ram Sam Bradford to the Eagles for Nick Foles. Bradford being traded is no surprise, he has been injury prone, but Foles, like Jay Cutler, had an outstanding 2013 campaign and both were expected to have big seasons in 2014. All of this activity is in anticipation of the NFL Draft next month.
Like other seasons, we are also seeing players retire, but this season, several players appear to be retiring younger. While 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis’ foot injuries meant that he would no longer be a force on the field, quarterback Jake Locker and former Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker Jason Worilds have been a big shock that they were retiring.
Locker was the 8th pick in the 2011 Draft, but he never lived up to his potential and having been sacked numerous times in his career in Tennessee, he decided to hang them up. The 27-year-old Worilds stunned the league since he, like Locker, are leaving lots of money on the table. Unlike Locker however, Worilds has not made millions up to now. Most observers think that Worilds is walking away from about $7M or $8M per year with at least $15M guaranteed.
It is said that Worilds may be leaving football on account of his religion, but I have another idea. What hasn’t been said is that perhaps, with all of the information swirling around about head trauma, memory loss, suicide, perhaps these young men are deciding that enough is enough? The stories of Dave Duerson, Junior Seau, and players still alive but having debilitating injuries may be scaring young or marginal players into an early retirement? While no one has said that this is a predominant reason in their decision, it cannot be counted out,
I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

Baseball’s spring training has begun; games are starting to be played, and throughout the sport, hope springs eternal. Every team is a contender; every player is working toward a career year; the fans are excited, if for nothing else than warmer weather after this brutal winter that has pounded the Midwest and East Coast.
For the fans of the Chicago National League Ballclub, often there is more longing for summer at Wrigley Field than hope for a winner. Wrigley Field, the second oldest park in the majors, is mostly the world’s largest picnic area/singles bar. Pete Rose once said that people in Cincinnati come to games to see the Reds win, in Chicago, people come to see the Cubs play. But with lots of young talent a new manager in Joe Maddon and the signing of Jon Lester, hope really does spring to overflowing at 1060 W. Addison. Unfortunately, the building will not be ready.
Long overdue work was needed on the park, for structural and aesthetic reasons, and last November, even with lawsuits flying between the Cubs and the rooftop bar owners over the new scoreboards that would obscure the view, work began on renovating the Bleachers, one of the most popular portions of the park.
One would think that the Ricketts family who own the Cubs, and Team President of Business Operations Crane Kenney all of whom either live or spend significant time in Chicago, would know that we get significant cold weather and snow storms in the winter time, and that may significantly slow progress, especially with Opening Day on April 5th. We have had a bad winter with much cold weather and snow, and at first it was announced that the Bleachers wouldn’t reopen until May. The recent cold snap has the team pushing back expectations to June.
(My thought was that this reminded me of the early portions of Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary that showed games played and fans standing, or sitting in the outfield. I could see Cub players playing opposing hitters VERY deep – like standing in the middle of Waveland Avenue. There would be a lot fewer homers hit that way, but shortstop Starlin Castro would have more area to cover than any player of that position in history.)
So, even with relations between the city, the mayor, the alderman, and the neighborhood and the Cubs typically frosty, the team asked permission to have crews work 24/7 to try and finish as quickly as possible. Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, himself facing a difficult runoff election for his job said no – there is a ordinance that only allows construction between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM. Then the Cubs amended their request – could they do construction 6 days a week from 7:00 AM and 10:00 PM. Again, the mayor said no.
Then today it was reported that the Cubs had considered playing home games at Miller Park in Milwaukee but the plan never came to fruition. Of course, one has to wonder why the Cubs didn’t contact the White Sox/Illinois Stadium Authority to use U.S. Cellular Field? Miller Park is approximately 90 miles from Wrigley Field, whereas “the Cell” is a mere 10 miles away? Yes, I know that many people think that the South Side is like traveling to Afghanistan, but fans could get there by public transportation, there’s more parking at U.S. Cellular, and its right off the Dan Ryan. Meanwhile, playing at Miller Park takes care of north and western suburban fans, does nothing for the north shore fans without a car, and alienates any fans the team has living south of downtown Chicago.
This once again shows the ineptitude, arrogance and stupidity of the Chicago Cubs under the Ricketts family ownership. They have alienated the neighborhood businesses, Alderman Tim Tunney (who is in the pockets of the rooftop owners), and tried to annoy the people who live in the area. Usually, the Ricketts greet fans on Opening Day, even showing up at Lin Brehmer’s live broadcast that day, but they may want to re-think that strategy this spring.
I don’t know if the Cubs will be better on the field, but they had better be, for no other reason than to keep the fans from getting their pitchforks out and storming the front offices.

My beloved Chicago Blackhawks have been in the news more even than a team with two Stanley cup Championships in five years should be. Of course, last week, the team lost Patrick Kane for 12 weeks to a clavicle fracture suffered in the game against Florida. GM Stan Bowman started working; unfortunately, the rumor mill also started up too. Here are my thoughts on what is happening:
The Hawks problems have been twofold in my opinion – no scoring output on the third and fourth lines and other than Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson, the blue line play has been abysmal. Johnny Oduya (currently hurt) has had a horrible season scoring and also with too many puck turnovers, especially in the defensive and center ice zones. Michal Rozsival has been even worse. Old age has settled in on Rozsival this season: passes that he used to make are now being intercepted; and the defenseman has lost 1-2 steps so he can’t get back fast enough to break up the rush.
• So, with Kane out, the team needed help on the back and front lines. First, the team brought up 20-year-old Teuvo Teravainen, who has scoring ability, but Coach Joel Quennville sometimes favors veterans too much and doesn’t let others get their act together with the big club. Let’s hope Q lets Teuvo play.
• Then the Hawks got veteran Kimmo Timonen from the Flyers for draft picks. Timonen is at the end of his career, most recently being treated in Europe for blood clots in his legs. While he certainly brings size and experience to the back line, one has to ask if he is even slower than Rozsival?
• Then, the Hawks landed Antoine Vermette from Arizona in return for 2015 top pick defenseman Kras Dahlbeck and a first round pick in the 2015 draft. Vermette was considered the top player available at the trade deadline, but this is definitely a rental, since Vermette is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
• Then, as I was putting this together, the Hawks traded their first regular player away: center Ben Smith to the Sharks for Andrew Desjardins and a conditional seventh round draft choice. Both players probably need a change os scenery – both have been scoring nonentities (Desjardins with 5 goals and 3 assists; Smith with 5 goals and 4 assists). Both are grinders bringing toughness to the fourth line. According to the Chicago Tribune, the trade puts the Hawks approximately $1 million under the salary cap. Smith has one season remaining on a contract that pays him $1.5 million. Desjardins is in the final year of a deal with an annual salary of $750,000 of which the Sharks are reportedly paying half.
My question is: is the window on a Stanley cup closing that fast for this team to go “all in” with this many changes? Obviously, there were going to be changes next year: Oduya is another UFA and wouldn’t be resigned; Rozsival is not going to be allowed back. Yes, the Toews and Kane contracts kick in next season, but other than Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp, the team is still relatively young, with a lot of solid players in the minors. Timonen is retiring at the end of the season; the team can’t probably afford Vermette after this season; Brad Richards is also a UFA and will want a top contract at his age. Will they want to keep Desjardins? Stan Bowman is giving up a lot of draft picks for an all-or-nothing strategy amid an offseason with changes coming.
Finally, there were online reports of a fight in the Blackhawks locker room last week around the time of the Arizona game. Everyone denied that anything had gone on and then the rumor surfaced that the fight involved Patrick Sharp and other players involving inappropriate activity between the very attractive Sharp and other players’ wives. You will notice that this is the first time that I have addressed this rumor. Sharp says it’s not true; other players say it’s not true. That should end it for the media and fans.
If something like that happens, it is none of our business. I know that sports figures are celebrities and their lives are grist for the public mill. However, to fill up the world’s insatiable hunger for stuff to read, especially in this age of the Internet and social media, it is easy for incorrect information to suddenly get picked up and make it all around the world.
I never attended journalism school (I probably should have in retrospect), but I do know the old rule (from “All The President’s Men” if nowhere else) about two sources to collaborate events. I can tell you that the Internet affords you the ability to put anything out, and people do, from porn to innuendo and worse. You will notice that I don’t take the Fox News approach and just make stuff up. Since I do not have access to the events and people, I rely on what should be credible sources, and I give them credit for it. Unfortunately, others of my ilk don’t follow these rules, which is a stain on all of us.

It was just over one month ago that Chicago and the baseball world lost one if its foremost ambassadors – Ernie Banks, and yesterday, it was the White Sox turn to lose its first black player, also an icon and cultural ambassador, Minnie Minoso who died at the age of 90. Both were crucial parts of history – the first players to play for their collective ball clubs; Banks played his entire career with the Cubs; Minoso played 12 of 17 seasons on the South Side. Both played in the Negro Leagues, but any animosity or bitterness was never shown. Both men had a love for baseball and a love for their teams.
This love was infectious. While I can’t say I knew either of them well, working at the ballparks, I did meet them often and both were old school gentlemen, always happy to greet you, sign an autograph, talk baseball. Being Cuban, Minoso was also an icon to Hispanics, opening the door for Roberto Clemente and so many Latin players. He remained an advisor to the Latin players on the White Sox as an ambassador to the sport.
There will be a patch on the Sox uniform this summer, just as there will be on the Cubs’. I have an idea, how about one patch for them both for both teams? They meant so much to the clubs and to baseball, why not?

It is almost incomprehensible when someone younger than you dies. Its not supposed to happen, especially to an athlete unless it is a suicide or accident. No less tragic, but easier to grasp. Athletes aren’t supposed to have their bodies give out on them early in life – in old age, understandable, but as still young men and women? Unfathomable.
So it was shocking to hear of the medical problems of former Knick forward Anthony Mason. One of the Knicks we loved to hate back in the Jordan years, Mason was an aggressive defender and rebounder. Along with John Starks, Mason was as much the face of the Knicks as their Hall of Fame Center Patrick Ewing.
Mason died over the weekend at 48 years of age of congestive heart failure. While we Bulls fans didn’t like his hard fouls and tough defense and board play, we have to appreciate the warrior he was. Heartfelt condolences to his family.