On the surface, by all accounts, Thursday, May 21st, 2009 was a pretty bad day for the Chicago White Sox. On the field, they suffered through one of the worst losses in team history – a 20-to-1 thumping from the rival, hated Minnesota Twins. Mid way through the day, the Sox were trying to make news, coming up with enough prospects to land former National League Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. All that needed to happen was for Peavy to waive his no-trade clause.
As all should know by now, Peavy spurned the Sox, choosing to stay with San Diego. The Padres are going nowhere fast, and are cash strapped, so Peavy has been actively danged as trade bait since the end of last season, but he would rather stay there than come to the South Side of Chicago. Chicago shouldn’t have been the issue since the Padres and Cubs were in on-again-off-again negotiations for Peavy’s services.
Peavy’s reasoning – he wants to stay in the National League. Why is that? Better barbeque in St. Louis? He doesn’t want to play in Kansas City? Now that the umpires are league wide, there is little difference in the officiating, strike zone, etc. Money isn’t the issue, because his contract is guaranteed through 2011. And usually, pitchers that change leagues get one good pass through the league because many of the players who have stayed in one league haven’t seen that pitcher. And for a pitcher of Peavy’s ability, he could easily have a second turn through the league before hitters have built a “book” on him. What, the Sox aren’t guaranteed World Series winners yet? Waiting for the Yankees or Red Sox to call, then suddenly the American League wouldn’t look so bad? So, f@#k you Jake.
But the signal was another sign that should make White Sox fans feel better. Even with a sizeable payroll and limited results (17-23 record, 6½ games out of first place), General Manager Ken Williams is showing the ability and willingness to make a deal that would have cost more money. Despite the lingering hatred of many fans, principal partner Jerry Reinsdorf is allowing Williams to go for it. They could just pack up the team for the year, accept that last season’s division championship was a fluke – winning in a down year for the whole division; but they aren’t. They are still pulling out the stops to win now.
That is at the heart of the pact between a team and its fans. Even the most die-hard fan can’t expect his/her team to win every year (sorry New Yorkers and Notre Dame fans), but as long as a team is doing all it can to win a championship, then the team (and owner and front office) has earned the fans’ loyalty. Being a Chicagoan, I can’t understand the fans of small market teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals. The owners obviously don’t have sufficient funds to compete regularly with the “big boys” or even the middle of the pack teams that spend judiciously and win. In the case of the Pirates, it is obvious that Pittsburgh is a great sports town, but for football, and perhaps hockey. Maybe it’s baseball days are long past?
Anyway, as a White Sox fan, it is worthwhile to pay attention to the team for at least the early summer. Who knows what deal Williams will put together to try and better the team? And that’s all a fan can ask of it’s GM.

Everyone knows that NFL teams will employ almost anyone who can help a team win, so, it’s only a matter of time before a team signs Michael Vick. Vick is out of jail, serving the last couple of months of his sentence on house arrest with a monitoring anklet.
As a dog lover, no one finds Vick’s breeding dogs for fighting and killing the losers as anything but deplorable, but it’s time to give the man a break. Vick has been as repentant as he can be, meeting with retired Colts head coach Tony Dungy, who is vouching for him, and let’s be honest, the NFL will reinstate him if just to avoid the lawsuit that the league’s suspension is keeping him from making a living. And he’s too talented for some team not to take a chance on him.
As long as he no longer punishes any animals (or humans either for that matter), it’s time to let it die. He has lost his millions of dollars; he has no job; lost his house; he has filed for bankruptcy; he has lost his endorsements and they will probably never return since he is, in the minds of many “Michael Vick, the dog killer.”
While it has gone the way of the Model-T, incarceration is supposed to have a redemptive element. While we don’t want pedophiles near children, they should be able to have a job and live to the best of their ability as long as they don’t engage in the same behavior. I wouldn’t let Michael Vick near a puppy kennel, but he should be allowed to do what he does best – play football. And the animal lovers should chill out on picketing the team that gives him that chance.

When Ryan Leaf entered the NFL out of Washington State, he looked like “the real deal.” Big frame, big arm, coming out of a passing system; it looked like he was going to be a big name quarterback for years.
But, like Akili Smith, Cade McNown, Andre Ware, and Tim Couch, there are as many “can’t miss” QBs who do miss, and badly. And Ryan Leaf flamed out quickly. After signing the largest rookie signing bonus at that time, $11.25 million, from San Diego, he came out of the draft stinking up the joint. Through nine games he threw two touchdowns and thirteen interceptions. And he was not beloved off the field; at one point he had to be restrained by teammates from going after a reporter. Another time he let a fan that was razzing him get into his head and again had to be restrained by teammates. He finished his career with a paltry 14 touchdown passes, 36 interceptions and a career passer rating of 50.0.
Leaf left the NFL and was a quarterbacks coach for West Texas A&M until he was fired for asking a player for pain medication. Well, Leaf must have gotten tired of being turned down – Leaf was indicted this week by a grand jury on drug and burglary charges. The indictment charged the 33-year-old former quarterback and coach with one count of burglary, seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, and one count of delivery of a simulated controlled substance. The indictment said Leaf presented an incomplete medical history to several physicians between January 2008 and September 2008 to get or try to get Hydrocodone.
Leaf is suspected of breaking into an apartment on Oct. 30 and stealing Hydrocodone, which had been prescribed to an injured football player. The count of delivery of a simulated controlled substance alleges Leaf gave an individual a substance he said was Hydrocodone but was not.
The local district attorney is hoping that Leaf will not require extradition – reportedly, Leaf is undergoing drug rehabilitation in British Columbia, but the authorities were trying to convince him to return to the United States on his own.
It just goes to show that just because you sign a big money contract, a monkey on your back can bring you down. It is very reminiscent ot former Ohio State quarterback Art Schlister, who failed to live up to his potential because of a gambling problem that also landed him in jail, which may be where Leaf is headed.

This weekend, the fourth edition of the Terminator franchise, “Terminator: Salvation” is released and from the reviews I’ve seen, it appears that it is mediocre: if you’re a big sci-fi or Terminator fan, you might like it; if not, it doesn’t have the same quality and characterization that made the first “Terminator” a great film, or the special effects that made “T2” effective.
The current movie also doesn’t have director James Cameron, which brings me to the point of this piece. This film is directed by McG, a former music video director who made his way to feature films with the Charlie’s Angels films and “We Are Marshall.” The football/tragedy film “Marshall” was alright, but the Angels films were incipid. So, how does this guy get the chance to make a sequel to a terrific series? Who does he have naked pictures of?
I asked the same question when Brett Ratner was allowed to remake “Manhunter” with the sub-par “Red Dragon.” Ratner is best known for the even-worse-than-Charlie’s Angels “Rush Hour” movies. While I appreciate Jackie Chan, I’ve never liked comedic kung-fu (I’m from the Bruce Lee, kill everyone in the vicinity school of martial arts films), and the Rush Hours were also saddled with Chris Tucker, the most annoying person in film history. (A survey a couple of years ago names Jar-Jar Binks as the most annoying movie character, but I say that Tucker in “The Fifth Element” was the most annoying character in film history.)
Now, it should be noted that neither McG nor Ratner are nearly as talentless as the worst major director currently working, Michael Bay, but still, how do these guys work while guys like Terry Gilliam, Oliver Stone, David Cronenberg and George A. Romero have to beg and plead for money to get their films made?

As you probably know, I’m not a golfer. I have several million things I’d rather do than play or watch golf. I do pay attention to Tiger Woods, but that’s about it. But I do know of many of the other top golfers, if for no other reason than they have struggled to catch the Tiger. Foremost among them is “Lefty,” Phil Mickelson.
I know about his struggle to win a major title; the attempts to make a real rivalry with Woods; etc. But he did the honorable thing this week, taking leave from the tour as a result of his wife Amy, being diagnosed with breast cancer.
I have a very dear friend who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, and I feel for them and the Mickelson family. I know that I wasn’t the same when The Indignant Wife was sick and all I could think about was hoping that she wouldn’t leave the Indignant children and me. Obviously, I hope for a complete recovery.

Even before the series started, the press outside of Chicago dismissed the Blackhawks. Matthew Barnaby, former NHL player with a grand total of 67 games of playoff experience amassing a mind-blowing 7 goals and 15 assists in 18 seasons in the league and ESPN analyst said after the Red Wings won Game 7 of its Conference semi-final against Anaheim that the Blackhawks had “no chance” of defeating Detroit.
Unfortunately, the Hawks are proving the pundits right. After not showing up at all for the first game (or certainly the third period) and losing 5-2, game 2 was important. Even after giving up Dan Cleary’s second unassisted goal in consecutive games (the last forward to do that – Gordie Howe in and 1940s), the team faught back, as it’s done the entire postseason to tie last night’s game at 2 and send it to overtime.
But, youthful exuberance failed us – Brian Campbell fell trying to pinch in a keep the puck in the Detroit zone, leading to a 3-on-1 breakaway and game over. Now, I know that the Hawks are filled with smart kids, but it should go without saying that YOU CAN’T GIVE THE DEFENDING STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS A 3-ON-1 BREAKAWAY WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE!!!
I know that we are underdogs; I even realize that the Red Wings are a better team at this point, but I hate losing to those motherf@#$ers! I especially hate losing on a defensive breakdown. Detroit has nothing to show for it – the auto industry is almost dead; real estate prices have fallen to near zero; and foreclosures are everywhere. The only positive I wanted Detroiters to have this week was the release of hometown rapper Eminem’s first CD in five years (not like this is a big positive by any means). But Red Wings fans are smug, and I would love to come back to Joe Lewis tied at 2.
I know that we are coming home, where we play better, but if we are going to lose, I want a long, hard fought series. And while I don’t condone trying to injury anyone, I would like to see Zetterberg, Cleary, Samuelsson, the whole team punished. Hit them hard at every turn; pound them all over the ice. I would like for them to spend time over the summer and into next season not wanting to play the Hawks again even though we are in the same division.
If we can’t win the games or the series, it might be time to start winning the fight!

Football players don’t have to be great thinkers. They have to run and catch and tackle better than anyone on the planet. They are behemoths who also happen to be superb physical specimens. They don’t have to compete for Rhodes Scholarships.
However, almost all of them attended college, at least for football practices and games. One would think that they have some brain activity (even if it gets beaten out of them every fall weekend).
Then again, maybe not. Pittsburgh Steelers’ linebacker (and arguably best player) James Harrison will not accompany his team to the White House when President Obama greets the Super Bowl champions Thursday. Harrison told WTAE, a local Pittsburgh television network, that his refusal to take part in the honor was not based on his political views but rather, according to his agent, “he just doesn’t want to go.”
Harrison told WTAE “this is how I feel – if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don’t win the Super Bowl. As far as I’m concerned, [Obama] would’ve invited Arizona if they had won.”
OF COURSE he would have, you moron. Teams get invited to the White House because they win. You don’t see the Washington Nationals baseball team hanging out with President Obama despite having the worst record in baseball, do you? (Although it should be noted that my beloved Chicago White Sox got to go to the White House, but because the President is a White Sox fan.) And it doesn’t matter who the president happens to be, if you win, you get invited to meet the President. The winner gets the spoils.
But for Harrison, an African-American, to not want to meet Obama, the first African-American President is a bit wacky. If I had the chance to meet Bush, I don’t know if I would have attended, but I would have had to think long and hard on it because chances to meet the Commander-in-Chief at the White House don’t come along every day.
Idiot!