Mavs Win the NBA Championship

 

The Mavs won the NBA Championship last night. It feels like breaking news because all that was being said was that the Heat lost. I didn't like that at all. Yes, I am a Bulls fan that did not like losing to the Heat and I was cheering for the Mavs to win, but last night was just ridiculous. 

The amount of hate put on LeBron last night was horrendous. I guess I feel bad for him because I have been in his situation. It wasn't an NBA title on the line, but it was a state championship. I was like the LeBron of the team. There was also a "Wade" and "Bosh" of the team, but I was the guy that needed to step up to win it. I didn't, I choked under the pressure of the game. I lost. I know how bad that hurt me, and I can only imagine that LeBron was hurt more last night. 

Yes, he said some really stupid stuff and I don't like what he said. I still don't like him at all. He is arrogant and a big jerk. I don't think I'll ever cheer for him, but I will be happy for him when he finally wins a championship. I'm sure what he said last night was heat of the moment and he was upset. Maybe it wasn't, I don't know. I feel forgiving though. He went through a lot this year, especially in the playoffs. 

Sure, he made a huge deal about his move to Miami and probably didn't handle it well. He is 26, if I was in his shoes I know that I might've done the same exact thing. I don't really hate him for that. I don't hate him at all. I dislike his attitude on the court, but I respect his talent and I feel bad for the amount of hate he gets. 

Last nights comments about his haters was over the line, but how many times have his haters crossed the line? Many, many times. Both sides are wrong in this situation and they both need to move on. The Mavs won and deserved to win.

It's Not Over

The Bulls played their heart out in Game 1. They won in a big way, but in the last three games they have looked flat. Granted, the referees have not been giving them any of the calls they deserve. I, as a Bulls fan, am tired of fans complaining about the refs. They are doing the best they can and there is nothing I, or any other Bulls fan, can do about it. The Bulls are going to have to fight through that disadvantage and still find a way to win. The biggest problem in the last three games is that the Bulls have not been playing with heart. They need to want to win the game more than anything else. Right now, the Heat want it more than the Bulls do. The Bulls have to change that if they want to win three games in a row, like the Heat did, and win this series. If the Bulls truly want to get to the NBA finals this year, they can. They have to fight, though. There are six other things that the Bulls need to do.

1. The Bulls need to spread the court more, which will help Derrick Rose get to the basket more and hopefully get to the free throw line more often. He has not shot nearly enough free throws and has not been able to drive on the Heat. Part of this is because the Heat are playing good defense on him and shifting into the paint quickly, the other part is that the Bulls have not shot well from the perimeter. If the Bulls don't make enough shots from outside the three-point line, Derrick Rose will not have enough spacing to do what he does best. Derrick has to be driving to the hoop, but he can't do that successfully if our outside shooters don't spread the court. Kyle Korver has been terrible this whole series and needs to start hitting shots. Deng is a good outside shooter that needs to get it going, and Bogans needs to hit his normal two or three. If these three guys step it up, the Bulls can win a lot easier.

2. The Bulls have been playing good defense, as they have all season and in the post season. They need to keep that up. Letting Bosh score a lot helped in the first game, and I think that is a good plan. Let him take all the scoring opportunities. Keep Wade and LeBron on the perimeter and make them shoot. This is a good plan against the Heat, because they have no inside game. If the Bulls can limit their outside shooting percentage, they can win.

3. Derrick Rose needs to start playing like the MVP. He has not had a single great game throughout the whole series. He needs to score more. Granted, he needs help from the outside shooters like I mentioned before. He needs to start shooting better, drawing fouls better, making smarter decisions, and just being the leader of the team. He can be that guy, if he actually plays basketball. During the regular season, his best games were against the Heat and other top teams. He needs to go back to doing that. If he is productive in the next three games, I don't see why the Bulls can't win this series.

4.  The bench has to start playing like they have in the past. Taj Gibson was huge in game 1 and needs to do the same again. Kyle Korver needs to start hitting shots. Ronnie Brewer needs to start playing better. C. J Watson was fantastic on a few plays the other night. He was looking like Derrick Rose running through the Heat's defense and needs to do that again in these next few games. Asik is out, but Thomas will fill his roll very well. The Bench Mob better be looking good in the next three games, because that's how you beat the Heat.

5. Kurt Thomas. I know there was a rumor going around that the Bulls only wanted to put him in so that he could injure people, but I don't understand that at all. He is such a gentle giant. I'm not sure if that person was kidding or if they are truly dumb, but the Bulls do need him for other reasons. He is a good medium range shooter that plays down low. This is helpful because his defender will be up higher in the paint and will leave more room for Derrick Rose to get through before the defender has time to shift. When the defender does shift, Derrick can throw the ball back to Thomas and Thomas will hit the shot. The big problem with Noah and Boozer down low is that neither has a great jump-shot. Thomas solves that problem and will be huge in the next three games.

6. The final thing the Bulls need to do is adjust to what the Heat have been doing. Thibodeau is a great coach that studies a lot of film. He needs to watch and see what Miami has done to change their game and make it better. The Heat adjusted to what the Bulls have been doing all year, and now the Bulls need to adjust to what the Heat are doing. It should be like a chess match between the two coaches, and the better and smarter coach is Thibodeau. This means the Bulls should win thanks to Thibs smart coaching. The Bulls defense is getting exposed and that needs to be fixed. The Bulls offense is turning one dimensional, so the Bulls need to start spreading the ball more and giving other players the chance to score. Those are a few of the adjustments that need to be made to beat the Heat.

In the end, this series is going seven games. I don't know who will win that seventh game. It's all about who wants it more. Right now, the Heat want it more. The Bulls can change that, they need to regain their confidence and regain their heart and desire to be in the NBA Finals. When that happens, the Bulls will be a force to be reckoned with.

Tom Thibodeau

 

 The big story for the Bulls all year was about how Rose should win the MVP. The overlooked factor by a lot of people was that we had a new coach, and he was doing all the right things to make this team win. It will be announced later today that he wont the Coach of the Year award. He deserves it, and anyone who thinks that he doesn't has not payed much attention to the Bulls or the NBA in general. 

Last year the Bulls had a good team, but they seemed to be missing one big thing. This year they found out that having the MVP and getting a much better coach will help a team a lot and they ended up being the best team in the league at the end of the year. I loved Thibodeau all year, even when he benched Boozer in that one game. My initial reaction might have been an angry one at him, because we ended up losing but in the end I understood his point and that might have helped Boozer pick it up for the next few games. 

All year, he knew what he was doing whether or not people approved. He had a plan for this team and he was not going to stop for anything. He has a great defensive mind, which is exactly what this team needs and just flat out knows how to coach. 

My favorite thing about Thibs is that even when the Bulls win he wants more. If they give up too many points, but still win he is yelling at them after a big win. That is exactly what this team needs. He is the perfect fit for our team. He is not satisfied, and I'm sure when he is holding that NBA Championship trophy he won't be satisfied even then. He will want more, because one championship is not enough and they may have made mistakes along the way. That's why he is perfect for our team, and that's why he is the coach of the year.

Derrick Rose Wins MVP

All season long, one guy played day after day and played well. That man was and is Derrick Rose. I will agree to say that other players stepped up to help their team throughout the season, but not one player other than Derrick Rose played game after game to help the team. The Bulls finished the season as the number one overall seed, and the leader game after game was Derrick Rose. He scored points, got assists, and made everyone else better on the team. Luol Deng had a great season this year, and I don't doubt one bit that Derrick Rose helped that happen a little bit. He makes his team look better and play better. That is what an MVP is. LeBron or Wade can't win this award, because they play together. They both stepped up at different times to help that team win games, Derrick Rose was by himself for the most part. Game after game they turned to him to be their MVP and he stepped up every time, all season.

My favorite thing about Derrick Rose winning MVP is that at the beginning of the season he said in a press conference that he could be the league's MVP. He proved that all season and got the reward here near the end of the season. The only thing that Derrick Rose still needs to do is to win the Finals. In my opinion, winning the NBA Finals this year is not a must for the Bulls. They have a lot of years to come in which they can win a lot when the Lakers and Celtics fade from contention. Also, I think that the team people thought were take the Celtic's spot as controller of the east was the heat. The team that will actually take that spot is the Bulls.

The Bulls are the up and coming team; they proved that when they won the number one overall seed. They proved that they could play with anybody. My favorite stat from this regular season is that they beat every single team in the NBA at least once. Only good teams do that, and the Bulls are a good team. The thing that excites me the most is that this is only the beginning. I can't wait for the Bulls in three years, winning championship after championship.

Blackhawks vs. Canucks Game 2 Preview

This is not a real preview, I just felt the need to post this youtube video that I found on @RunsOnDuncan site. She got it off youtube, but I thought I would give her credit, check her blog out here: http://aeryssports.com/runs-on-duncan/ and also check out the other aerys sports blogs, they are all by women and they are all amazing.

Playoff Bound

Both the Blackhawks and the Bulls are headed to the playoffs for a second straight year. Last year I was not nearly as interested or as much of an avid blogger as I am this year and I missed the chance to write about such a great thing. The Bulls play tonight against the Knicks, which is their second-to-last game of the regular season. They will start off playing the Pacers in this year's playoffs. The Blackhawks played their final game on Sunday against Detroit and lost, but thanks to Minnesota beating Dallas (Thank You Wild!!) the Blackhawks slipped in. They will play the number one seed Canucks.


Bulls
The Bulls ended up sealing the number one spot in the East. If they win tonight, and tomorrow they can clinch the number one overall seed if they haven't already by then. They are playing the Knicks tonight, the only team they have not beaten all season. I think its important to win this game because it shows that the Bulls beat every single team in the league and deserve a ton of consideration as true contenders. I know that our team is young and this team has never won a playoff series together, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be considered. The Bulls are a good team and have proved that time and time again. Yes, the Celtics will show up in the playoffs and so will the Heat's big three, but Rose will show up in the playoffs too. The Bulls deserve to be considered contenders and nobody should be surprised if they win it all, but I actually didn't pick them to win it all. This team is young, like I said and they lack playoff experience. They are might end up facing the Lakers in the finals who have been there the last three years, they know how to win the finals and they showed that last year. This Bulls team is good and young, the Celtics, Spurs, and Lakers are all old teams and after this year they might not contend as well as they will this year and did last year. The Bulls have years to come of winning championships, Derrick Rose will not leave like LeBron and he will bring a championship to his hometown of Chicago. He is a true hometown hero. I didn't pick the Bulls to win this year because I still like to compare this team to the 2009 Blackhawks. They will make a splash and will be picked to win it all the next year and then in the playoffs they will make a great run to win it all. I will not firmly predict that the Bulls win it all, but if injuries subside I am firmly picking the Bulls to win next year's NBA Championship.


Blackhawks
The Blackhawks have the great task of being defending champs in this year's playoffs. They had trouble with injuries all year and were missing a lot of key pieces from last year's team, but they still held on to get in the playoffs in the very end. Now that they are teams should be worried. The Canucks are the number one team and they are very good. The Sedin twins are very good and so is Ryan Kesler. The Blackhawks are not going to let this chance pass them by, though. Jonathan Toews will be yelling and screaming at this team the whole playoff run and that is what will keep them going. Expect to see Kane, Toews, and Sharp playing like they did during that 8 game win streak and expect Hossa to be on the top of his game. The defense will be sturdy and hopefully with a little luck, Bolland will be back sometime during the playoffs. This is a team that can win and be a very good team if they give it their all. They can beat this team and the next team and the next. A great playoff run by the Blackhawks would not surprise me at all. They are a good team with a lot of heart, if they put everything out on the ice and give it their all they can keep the cup.

The Price Was Right Hawks Lose 2-1 in OT

The best thing about tonight's game was probably the amazing play by both goalies. One got the win, but each goal given up was a good shot and good attempt at a save. Crawford went back to his hometown in this game, and was not treated as a hometowner would expect. He shrugged that off and played his ass off. I was very impressed with him in this game. It seemed like every few minutes I was tweeting a tweet that had the hashtag #CRAWESOME in it. That's always a good sign.

For the past few games, he has been the only guy stepping it up and that needs to change. When your goalie is the only player who decides to play you aren't going to win. Most good goalies can't make that many saves, so don't expect it. The Blackhawks need to learn from this rookie and learn from his work ethic and the way he always plays 110%. My favorite thing about tonight's game was that Turco had another heart to heart, goalie to goalie talk with Crawford. I don't know how he does it. If I was a professional hockey player that was sitting on the bench, I could not be mature enough to coach the rookie who took my place. I admire Turco so much for the way he has stepped up and helped Corey out.

The worst part of tonight's game was another injury. Brouwer went down in the 3rd period with a bad shoulder. I don't know the details, but I do know that we can't afford to have any more injuries. Sharp will be skating soon, but if we make the playoffs he probably won't be back for the first playoff game. If we make the playoffs these injuries need to end. We can't make a run at keeping the cup without Sharpie.



The only Blackhawks goal scorer was Patrick Kane. In doing so, he got his 300th career point. This is extremely impressive because it was done in only 314 games. Statistically that means that he only went 14 games without a point, literally he probably went more because he has had 18 multipoint games. Kane is an impressive player. He got cold through the middle of the season and I think people forgot that he is one of our best players. He has been the hot guy lately and has had a point in each of the last 8 games. (That's if my stats are right) Kaner is being the leader of the team right now. I heard that Toews was mad in the locker room after the game and that might lead to another win streak, but until the Hawks play again Kane is still the hot guy.

This game unfortunately and fortunately went to overtime. This was good and bad. I didn't want the Hawks to lose so overtime would have not been necessary if we didn't play like idiots during power plays. I like that we went to overtime because we still got a point. It's better than losing and not getting any credit even though your goalie and a few players played really well.

The Blackhawks started the game as if they had urgency, but did not continue to play that way throughout the game. Their energy trickled and led to them losing this game. They need to play a full 60 minutes of full on urgent lose you go home hockey. This team can win games if they all pull together and actually play well. I think Toews will get a goal the next game, and I think Kaner continues his awesomeness. Just for fun, I'll predict that Johnny gets an Ovechtrick.

White Sox Season Preview Take 2

I did a season preview way earlier in the year when the pitchers and catchers reported. There was a lot that I didn't know back then about this team. Spring Training doesn't mean much, but it can tell you a lot about how some of the younger players are going to play.

I got a good vibe from spring training this year. The wins and losses don't matter and that's not what I'm talking about. I liked what I saw with Milledge, Morel, and Beckham. With those young guys in our lineup playing at their best we are a good team. Konerko will be solid as always, and the rest of our offense seems like it will be ready to play. Our pitching was great, I'm extremely excited about Johnny Danks and Gavin Floyd. Both pitchers came to our team without experience. Buehrle groomed them and now every year they get better. The pitcher I am most excited about is Chris Sale. When he first started playing last year I knew he was a gamer. I was asking for him to be out there as much as possible, he seemed like one of the few guys who could actually win a game for us. This year he will be better and I look forward to him most likely being a starter next year.

The bad things that I noticed were very few. I remembered a few things. I remembered that Adam Dunn strikes out a lot, and that is an understatement. I also remembered how terrible Teahen is at defense and that is why he didn't get the third base job. Other than those two I can't think of anything that was a bad sign. Buehrle didn't pitch well at the beginning of spring training, but he will be fine in the regular season.

The worst thing this off-season and spring training was the Peavy situation. The worst part was that I thought he would be out for a good chunk of the season, then he made a really rapid recovery and I loved what I saw. Right as he was about to finish his miraculous recovery he started to have tendinitis in his elbow and we are back to square one. Peavy will probably be back around the same time he was expected to with the first injury. White Sox fans shouldn't be worried. He will come back when he is ready and he will be fine.

Okay, now onto the future, where I think the White Sox are going to go this year.
They have gotten some love from some ESPN guys to be a dark horse in the league, and that's the position the White Sox like to be in. They have great pitching, and it will be even better when Peavy comes back. You could argue that this pitching staff is only second to Philly. The White Sox also have added a lot of good things to their offense this year. Our outfielders are going to be better than they were last year, and if one slacks off Ozzie won't hesitate to put Milledge in. Our infield is very young excluding Konerko. Morel, Beckham, and Ramirez are going to need to grow up and play well. Beckham needs to have a bounce-back season, which I think is very possible. I'm not too worried about the offense of the other two. This team is built to win a World Series. I'm not going to drink the kool-aid and say they will win, I'm saying that they are built to win it. If we do everything right and don't have very many injuries the World Series is possible. The twins and Tigers are tough, though and we are going to need to play well in every division game. If they play well against their division, and win the division they have a good chance at going all the way. The way the team is set up with great pitching and a good offensive core, they are built for the playoffs. Stay tuned to this blog for a AL Central preview soon, and for more up to date info follow me (@the_chicago_fan) and my blogs (@tcf_blogs)




I had to post this, since I love all team commercials, like the one goal series and I hope the All in series is just as good.

Shutout, Hawks Win 4-0

This game was the first game of our new forward Marcus Kruger who we called up for this game. He played well, he had his first penalty but overall had a good performance. I think he will do a lot of good things in the future and look forward to seeing him play more with the Blackhawks. This game was a first game for someone else too, this is the first game for Campbell after his ankle injury and he seemed to skate just fine. Sharp was still out today, but the Hawks didn't need him, because they scored pretty well by themselves.

In the second period, it was still tied 0-0 when Toews passed to Keith who passed to Seabrook who rocketed it towards the net and got the first goal of the game. Toews had another assist on the stalberg score in the 3rd Period. Also in the third period Kane scored on a sweet pass by Keith. Both Toews and Kane had multipoint games, this was Toews' 24th and Kane's 18th. Later in the 3rd the three slovs were together and teamed up to score an awesome goal. Frolik and Hossa got the assists and Kopecky got the goal.

The biggest story of the night in my opinion was that Corey Crawford was amazing. I can't even count how many times I tweeted something with #Crawesome in it. He was a beast and ending up holding on to get a shutout, his 5th of the season. He has been in net night after night and is still performing like that, I think we have a winner here with him.
The big problem of the game, at least in the first part of the game, was that there was terrible passing by the Blackhawks. They had plenty of chances that were killed because certain players couldn't pass the puck well. They have to improve on that, but later in the game the passes were the things that shined, so maybe Q mentioned it during intermission.
The three stars of the night were crawford, toews, and the number one star was seabrook because his goal opened up the shooting spree and helped lead the Hawks to victory. All three stars deserved it and they all played extremely well.
Overall the Blackhawks played a good game and played like they needed to win, which they did. Toews was a monster as always, and Kane got another goal. I don't think I could be any happier right now about this game.

HAWKS WIN. 2-1

The Blackhawks had a terrible loss a few days ago, and they knew going to Pheonix that they had to play well or they would not be in the playoffs. They rose up to that challenge and played a really good game. This game could have been a blowout for the hawks, but the coyotes' goalie made a lot of good saves, and most of those good saves were on Toews.
Nick Leddy had his birthday yesterday, and as a present got an assist on the Keith goal in the first period and got blamed for the yotes' goal. Kind of an up and down effect there.
The bad news from this game is that Patrick Sharp got hurt on a delayed penalty call. It is a knee injury and there has not been a comment on when he will be back or how he is doing. I hope he is back soon, he has been a vital part of our team this year and losing him for this final playoff push could be fatal.

The good news from this game is that Chris Campoli got his first Blackhawks goal. That is the goal that broke the tie and ended up winning the game for the hawks. Both goals were great goals and from almost the same spot. Great setups on both, one from Leddy and one from Toews. I was really happy for Campoli when he got the goal and I hope that is only the first of many on this team. He fits in well with the rest of the team.
The final minute of the game was crazy, but the Blackhawks ended up holding on. Hossa was about to put it away into the open net, but the shot was blocked and the yotes still had a chance to put the puck in the net and make the game go to overtime. That was huge, I'm done with the overtime thing. The Blackhawks have played too many overtime games, yes it gives you a point but if you end up winning you just give the other team a point. The Blackhawks played well and the score doesn't really show that but they are back to the form they were in when they went on that 8 game win streak.

I thought I would share this because Keith scored last night. Great song and video. I love all the songs that the score puts out.

The 3rd Base Battle

The White Sox have one big problem with their infield. They don't know who will be the starting third basemen. They have four good candidates for the job. They are Omar Vizquel, Brent Morel, Dayan Viciedo, and Mark Teahen. They all have a good chance, and I don't think one guy is running away with it. This is going to come down to the last few days of spring training. This competition is good and bad for the White Sox. It is good, because it will pick the best third basemen and not the one that had a good season last year and will let Ozzie see who has a good competitive spirit. The bad effect on the White Sox is that a competition doesn't always help to have a good locker room atmosphere. I think this group has a couple of mature players, so that won't be a problem but it's something to worry about. I don't know who is going to win this, but I do know a thing or two about each player.

1. Brent Morel
Brent Morel played a little bit last year, but not enough to say that he would be the starter at the beginning of the year. He has great defense and pretty good offense. He impressed a lot of fans last year when he did get to play and one of those fans was me. I was quick to say that he should be in there as much as possible. He has arguably the best defense among all the contenders and also can swing the bat pretty well. I think that qualifies him to be our third basemen, but the other players are also good. The downside of Morel is that he won't always swing the bat well and usually if you are a good fielder you put your body in danger a little too much and injuries could be a problem. I really like Morel to be the third basemen, but the other guys have pretty good arguments also. The defense is the key, if Ozzie wants defense Morel is the best, but if he wants offense it will all depend on who is hitting well at the time because all of the contenders are hot and cold hitters.

2. Mark Teahen
The first thing I have to say is that I didn't and don't like the trade that we made for Mark Teahen, we gave two of our top young infielders for a player who has done relatively nothing to help the team so far, so I might be a little bias while talking about him. He has terrible fielding. When he did play last year before the injury he committed so many errors it made me want to cry. Every time the ball was hit to third base area I would worry. That is not even an exaggeration of how bad he was at defense last year. I don't know if that was normal or abnormal for him, but if I were Ozzie I would be afraid to put Teahen out there with a young pitcher or any pitcher. Teahen's hitting is nothing to write home about, but its probably one of the top 2 out of this group. Like I said before all of these players are hot and cold hitters, so it will probably come down to defense.

3. Omar Vizquel
I liked the way that Vizquel played last year, but he is very old and I don't think he will be able to play as well this year. I was surprised that he could play as much and as well as he did last year and I don't think he will be able to pull that off again. I do like him to be a guy that will go in for whoever is the starter if they aren't hitting well during the game and can play a couple innings every other day. I just don't think that he will be fit enough and young enough to play game after game for the whole summer. If he is fit enough and he has another year like last year then, yes, play him as much as he can handle. I just don't want to push him too hard so that he just gets terrible. He is a good contender for this roll if he can handle it. He is probably the most consistent hitter of them all and he is consistently good.

4. Dayan Viciedo
Last, but not least is Dayan Viciedo. He recently injured himself, but he is one of the White Sox top prospects. If he isn't on the team this year, or the third base starter this year, he will sometime in the future. He is the White Sox utility man, but he is still fighting for this starting job. He has good fielding and good hitting, but like most of the other players he is a hot and cold hitter. He has a lot of potential and if he taps into that this year I think he can do a lot of damage. If Morel or Teahen don't turn out to be stars, I think this guy will. He is a great player that still needs to mature a little, but if he does he will be a great infielder or outfielder. I personally don't think he will get this job, because he will be wanted to be used as a utility man, so that he can go anywhere off the bench.

I thought I would share an AMAZING White Sox video with you that sort of previews the season, and it gives me the chills at the end. Watch it, its a great video.
SOX PRIDE.

Lastings Milledge

This is not one of the topics that I originally planned on posting about today. I was going to talk about the 3rd Base battle or the Peavy situation, then I got a great suggestion that I should post about Milledge and his effect on the White Sox this year and what his effect will continue to be as the year goes on. I still don't know for sure if he will be on the 25 man roster. Lillibridge is fighting for that final position also and today he hit a big home run. The White Sox lost, but that home run may have saved Lillibridge from being run out of the team. Milledge was showing Brent up in every way the whole spring. The race for that final spot was about to be declared over and then today he hit a home run. I'm not saying that that one home run he hit is going to get him on the roster, it will help him get momentum and maybe match up what Milledge has done this whole spring so far. For the purposes of what I say in the rest of this post, Milledge wins this race.
Lastings Millidge has been a relatively known name in the MLB so far in his career, but he hasn't had a good year in a long time. He will not be a White Sox starter on opening day, but as the season goes on he might. I think he will start as their 5th outfielder, but if he continues to dominate when he gets into the game he will move up to the 4th outfielder. By the end of the year I think he can be a starter for the White Sox. I think Juan Pierre might have a bad season, and if he starts to play bad I don't think Ozzie will hesitate to put Milledge in the game as a starter.
This spring he has a .267 average with 2 home runs and 8 hits. That's not a great showing of what he can do, but he has shown if you actually watch the games that he is a great outfielder and can be a very good hitter. He is only 25 years old and has a lot of good years to come and I hope those years are with the White Sox. By the end of the spring I expect him to have around 20 hits 5 or 6 home runs and a good average. That is a pretty good spring showing and will prove to be enough to put him on the roster.
I think that once he is on the roster he won't look back. He will go from the last guy on the roster to being a big part of our team. I have a feeling about this player and our outfielders could use a little pressure to play well enough so that they are not replaced. I think that will be the biggest effect he has the White Sox this year. He might not get to play a lot of time, but the fact that he is always there waiting for one of the outfielders to make a mistake will put pressure on the outfielders to play much better than they did last year and to not make any mistakes. Even by just sitting on the bench he will help our team. That right there is a player.

The Power of the Hamburger, Bulls Win 98-79

Last night the Bulls played the Wizards. By winning they gained sole possession of first place in the eastern conference, and added to their winning streak making the streak 7 games in a row. They will play the Nets on Thursday to try to extend that streak to 8 games. Through the whole streak Derrick Rose has been the MVP that he has been all year. I hope the Bulls can continue to win like this to finish out the rest of the season.

The Bulls have won most of the games during the streak without Boozer and last night they didn't have Noah either. Those two players have had troubles this season staying healthy, but it will be good to have Noah back on Thursday. I don't know when Boozer will be back, but this injury is not his fault. He got almost killed by Kwame Brown. Boozer did shoot a little today, but I doubt he will be back that soon. I hope Boozer will be back soon, because when the Bulls have Noah, Boozer, Deng and Rose on the court to start the game they win a lot more games than when they don't. I also hope that Boozer and Noah will be on the court throughout the whole playoff run, when it comes that time.
Another big part of the game that probably shouldn't have been a big part of the game was that fans were a little upset with Brian Scalabrine for not attempting a three as time expired so that they could get a hamburger. I don't think this had a huge impact, but I did think it was kind of funny that some fans are fat enough that they would get mad at a player because he didn't try to help them get a free hamburger. Another point, who says that Scal would've hit the shot? I seriously doubt that Brian Scalabrine would have hit a three.
To recap the game, I don't really have much to say. I couldn't watch the game because it wasn't on my TV, but from what I saw on twitter they were sloppy. That is not the kind of play that will help us in the playoffs. My favorite thing that happened last night was that the Bulls won big, they took first place in the east and yet after the game coach Thibodeau was mad at the team. That is why I love having him as our coach, he pushes them hard and never stops asking for more. Some people say he pushes them too hard and they may not like it, but from what I have heard so far he is well liked by the players and he is doing a great job coaching them. In my opinion he deserves to get the Coach of the Year award. Getting to the NBA Finals, or even the conference finals would help him get that even more. That was the best pickup we had this offseason, even over the Boozer pick up.
I hope the Bulls continue to get better as the year finishes out and I hope they go far in the playoffs. Derrick Rose will win the MVP, I don't think any other player can put up an argument, because no other player has played as well as Rose the whole year. There might be some players that are starting to play well recently, but Rose has been the best player the whole season.


I felt the need to share that picture, because when I first saw it I almost peed my pants.

Hossa Scores Two

Last night the Blackhawks played a must win game against the Sharks. If we lost this game we could have dropped out of the playoffs for the time if we didn't win. The first period was shaky and the Blackhawks started to look like the team we had seen during the 3 game losing streak and no the team during the 8 game winning streak. The second period was a whole other story.
In the second period the Blackhawks scored 5 goals, and two of those goals came from Marian Hossa. Hossa recently has had some problems getting the puck in the net, but last night he almost had a hat trick. He was a beast and was fed by some crazy good passes from patrick sharp.



I have to admit I wrote this little post just so I could post this youtube video and song on my blog. You know you love it too.

From 1991 to 2011

Last night I was tweeting as I do most nights and I was watching the Bulls game. I was trying to make a really good point about the similarities between the 1991 team and the 2011 team and I completely failed. I said they were ten years apart, when they are twenty. So now everyone that reads knows that I am a legit idiot. Since cramming the similarities into 140 characters is a bit of a challenge, I figured I would write a blog post about it, so here we go.
In 1991, I was three years old. I don't remember the Bulls winning the championship that year at all, but I do remember the years after and I realize that the 1991 team was the team that started it all. Jordan finally got the teammates he needed to win a championship and so they did win one. It was Jordan's first championship and it started something huge for his career and for the city of Chicago. He went on to win 6 total championships and both of them 3-peats. On to the 2011 Bulls, they were in the playoffs last year but were missing just a little something with their team. They got that in Carlos Boozer and also with Deng becoming a much better player this season. Now they have a chance to win the championship as they are 1st place in the Eastern Conference. These teams seem way too much alike to be just a mere coincidence.
I know that Derrick doesn't like to be compared to Michael Jordan, but there are some very obvious similarities. In 1991, Jordan won the MVP, this year it looks like Derrick Rose will win the MVP. They both are very aggressive and really good players. Derrick Rose grew up idolizing Michael Jordan, and who knows maybe the next Bulls star is idolizing Derrick Rose this year.
That about raps up everything I had to say. The last thing is that the Bulls and Michael Jordan were recognized as contenders, but not really thought of as a championship team until 1991, the same this is with this Bulls team. I just hope that the Bulls can do what the Bulls did in 1991.
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Just for fun I posted this YouTube video. I am legit in love with it.

The Two MVPs

I just thought I would write about the two players in Chicago that are making a big impact on their teams, so much that they are MVP candidates, at least in my book. The first is Jonathon Toews. Lately he has led the team on an eight game winning streak and has scored a goal in the last three games. This is not the only reason that I think he should be MVP. It takes all year to earn the award. All year long Toews has been stepping it up as the team's captain. Together with Sharp they have helped the blackhawks get back into the top of the standings and into playoff position. Toews recently gave a big speech during intermission in St. Louis that fired up the whole team and really helped them get out of their slump. He has stepped up and really showed that he deserves his captain role. Right now he is scoring goals, getting assists, pumping the team up, and just flat out playing good hockey. I think that qualifies him for MVP.

The next player is a guy that I have been talking about being the MVP for a while now. Derrick Rose has had a great year. All year long he has stepped it up and has put up major stats. He is a great player to begin with and this is one of his better years. The Bulls are now 2nd in the east because of him and they are rolling. Every game that the Bulls play against a top team he steps up and scores tons of points. While scoring all those points he also gets little turnovers and a lot of assists. Derrick Rose is MVP and I don't think anybody can truly argue that. Everywhere he goes he gets MVP chants and everywhere he goes he deserves them. He is a scoring machine and also plays the point guard position well by getting a lot of assists. He is the real deal. I won't be surprised if the Bulls win the NBA Championship this year, but I really think that next year is their year. Derrick Rose can change that, he can make what I think the Bulls aren't ready to handle into something they handle very well. He is the NBA MVP. No question.

White Sox Season Preview Take 1

If your first expression of this post title is that you are wondering why I said take 1 I will explain. I plan on making a season preview before opening day. This is the spring training one, so it may prove to be super wrong or be super right.
Tomorrow the White Sox play their first spring training game. They are playing against the Dodgers. This should be a good game. I think both teams have good chances, although I think the White Sox have a better chance. I can't wait for baseball season and that's why I have been blogging like crazy about them and tweeting about them a lot. I really hope they have a good season, because only the Bulls are really doing well and making me completely happy this season.
This year is bound to be good. We signed a pure DH in Adam Dunn. I think last year we got way to caught up in trying to have a speedy team that we forgot that power is okay also. We didn't have an official or pure DH last year and I think this year we do. That will be a huge difference in our offense. The White Sox biggest problems in the past few years have been that they have not been able to get runners home when they are in scoring position. This stresses me out almost every game. I hope this year they have solved that huge problem with their offense.
The pitching last year was pretty good. The starters were all good pitchers and they will again this year. Peavy will be back early in the season, which was not expected, and that will help our starters have a better year as a total. Buehrle will again be the opening day starter. He is a great pitcher and I love him as our ace. Our other pitchers are great also and they end up performing well. You can read more about all of the pitchers in my blog post about when the pitchers and catchers reported. I went into much more depth in that post.
Overall I think the White Sox are going to have a great season. They made a lot of great additions this offseason and kept a lot of important players. I think resigning Paulie and A.J was huge. Keeping them will help our offense and keeping A.J will help keep our pitchers steady with him. He is a great defensive catcher and keeps the game running quickly. This offseason the White Sox improved both their offense and their pitching staff. Improving both of those parts of the team will make this team much better and will give them the edge to win this division.

Patrick Sharp 300 Career Points

I realize that I am late to the party on this, but if you have ever read my blog you know that I am late to the part on blogging on most things. Patrick Sharp got his 300th career point on Thursday. One of my twitter friends was asking for photo-shopped pictures of sharps head on a 300 character. I did not post this to her, I made this today. I saw her blog and you can visit her blog by click the MsBlackhawks link at the bottom right of my blog page. I saw the images that she got and I decided that I should make my own so that I could blog about how amazing my favorite Blackahawks player is. Okay, I'm done with the citing and boring stuff, onto Patrick Sharps amazingness.
When I saw that he got his 300th point I was super happy, he ended up getting another point for scoring on the open net later in the game. I was really happy when I saw this, though because I have known for awhile that he was a good player. I chose him to be my favorite around 2007 or 2008 when the Blackhawks started to be talked about again in Chicago. This year he has shown his talent the best and it just seems right that this is the year that he hits a great milestone. He is a beast and he has been scoring goals like a machine,(refer to my last post for a great pic to represent that) and he has also been getting a lot of assists. That leads to a lot of points. I guess what I'm trying to say is CONGRATS SHARPIE ON 300 POINTS!!

Blackhawks Struggles

I was planning on posting this basic post about four days ago, when the Blackhawks were making me very mad and they were not playing well at all. Now they won last night and they won earlier today, against pretty good teams, but not great teams. This is a step in the right direction, but we still need a lot more wins and not to lose a couple days after a win. There is something in hockey called a winning streak. Apparently the players don't understand what that is this year. The Blackhawks players can't seem to get it in their head that just because they won last year doesn't mean that they will automatically be in the playoffs this year. It doesn't work that way. They have to play like they want it, they have to play like it is last year. I have a feeling that Johnaton Toews' speech pumped up this team in a major way, no matter what he said. If we get a 10 game winning streak starting with these two games I would not be surprised. People say that Toews is not a good leader for our team. They must be kidding. He was the reason we won the game today and he is the reason we win many games. Just because he isn't a bitch like Crosby and doesn't have a big personality like Ovechkin doesn't mean that he isn't a good leader. He is a big leader for our team and a lot of the players on this team say that.
Back to the Blackhawks struggles. One of the reasons I think they are having a bad year is the beginning. They are a young team. I am as old as Patrick Kane. I know if I won the Stanley Cup the next year I might not play as well; I would feel invincible. I think that is what happened to a lot of these players. They won and therefore thought that nobody could ever beat them now. That caused the beginning of the season to be not such a great start and now we are in a tough situation as we get into playoff push mode.
Another reason for the slow start and not great season is that we have had a lot of injuries. Kane has been injured once for a long time. Toews was out for a little while. Hossa has been out for a lot of this year. Those guys were the first line last year. If you expect a team to win a lot of their games with those guys gone at points, you are crazy and have very high expectations. I knew from the point when they all got injured that this wasn't going to be a fabulous year. You can't blame a team for that, and I know I sound like a Cubs fan pulling the injury excuse, but Kane, Toews, and Hossa??
I'm going to end on a positive note. My favorite player since 2008 when I started paying attention the blackhawks again is having a monster year. He is, obviously, Patrick Sharp. He has 30 goals and most of those were while the other big parts were injured. He stepped up in a big way this year. He knew that some of the better players were injured and the Blackhawks would have an even worse year if somebody didn't step up. He knew this and he stepped into that position and scored like crazy. @blinkfink182 even made a great photoshopped picture of him. Everyone reading this follow him on twitter at that name.

(visit blackhawksdl.com for more)
I think that picture sums it up well.

Pitchers&Catchers Report Tomorrow

Since tomorrow is the day that the pitchers and catchers report, I will talk about them even though this is the start of spring training which is the start of the season. I will post about the White Sox and what I think will happen this season later, but right now I will talk about the pitchers and the catchers.
The first pitcher is one of my favorites, Mark Buerhle, and he sort of made a big deal recently talking about Michael Vick and how he hoped that he would get injured, because Mark is a very passionate dog lover. I don't think this will effect his performance, but nothing really does. He will be the opening day picture for the 11th time, i think. This is a guy that loves playing with the White Sox and loves pitching in general. He is one of the quickest pitchers and I think he will have another great season.
The second is Mark's prodigy, Johnny Danks. Every year it seems like Danks gets better and I think that will continue this year. I like the fact that we have both good lefties and righties. Danks is an important part of our team and works quickly just like buerhle.
The third is Gavin Floyd. Like with Danks he keeps getting better every year and I think he will again this year. Both are young pitchers with promise learning from two greats in Buerhle and Peavy. I expect him to come back better this year and get a couple more wins.
The fourth is Sale. I think the White Sox are getting ahead of themselves with him. They drafted him last year and are ready to start him this year. I think they should keep him in the bullpen for a year or two. He needs time to mature, and we see that with other pitchers. I like his pitching and I think he is a very good pitcher, but he should wait to start.
The final is Peavy. I'm not sure when he is back. Part of me wants him to come back soon, because I obviously want to see him play and pitch for us. The other part of me wants him to get as much rest and rehab as he possibly can so that when he comes back he is better.
I know this was quick, but I will get in deeper later on in spring training.

Jack Skille Traded

jack skille was just trade for a panthers player named frolik. i dont know much about him, but skille hasnt been playing well and so i think anyone is vetter than he has been lately. we also got a goaltender from the panthers and that will help in the future. Turco has been playing well as long as crawford, but at some point turco will be too old and this guy will hopefully be a good step in for the second goalie position. overall i think this is a good trade. skille wasnt playing well lately and fans were expecting someone to get traded so i think they made the right decision. i hope this new guy will make a big impact and i look forward to seeing him work with the hawks.

Derrick Rose

There is no doubt that Derrick Rose has been playing very well this season. He has game in and game out lead this team in scoring, this year he has tried to reach the free throw line more often and he has. The best thing about Derrick Rose penitrating to get to the line is that he is probably going to make the original shot and that makes a lot of his chances and1s. When you get and1s and you can shoot free throws like Derrick Rose can that really helps your team. He is a great player and the Bulls management knew that when they drafted him first overall. This has to be one of the best examples of how having the first pick can help and can help in a hurry. It was only a couple years ago that the Bulls were dismal and made me shake my head, along with the rest of the NBA. Now that Rose is leading this team and that I've gotten over my struggle with the NBA I like this team and I think they are going to do great things. If they don't win this year because they don't have a 2 guard I'm fine because this is a very young team and they have about 10 more years of good play and I'm only a little kidding. Derrick Rose will be a player in 10 years and a few of these players we be there too. They are a great team. Now onto the MVP talk about Rose.
Rose has been playing great this season like I said before. He has been playing like an MVP and yet he hasn't been recognized like one until just recently by the national media. Rose is a great player and this season he has improved a lot and has really stepped up to that upper echelon of players. I think he deserves this award 100%. It is only the middle of the season, but I think DRose is only going to get better not worse. I doubt he will get injured(knock on wood) and so I think they should just hand it to him now. You might talk about some of the other contenders. They are LeBron, Wade, Dirk, and Rondo. LeBron and Wade are probably not going to win this because the votes will be split for them because they are both playing well but they are playing together. Dirk will probably not get this because the Mavs seem like they are falling and Dirk was injured for a chunk of the season. I don't think he will win this award, but if Derrick doesn't get it Dirk should. Now onto Rondo, this is the one that I have a lot to say about. People think Rondo is a better point guard because he had a good year last year. Derrick has had a good year last year and this year and people still don't realize how good of a year he is having this year. When the Bulls played the Celtics most recently Derrick showed up Rondo. He played better both as a scorer and as a passer. Rondo didn't have a great game, but Rose still played better than Rondo would have in a good game. The Bulls won and Rose came out victorious. After this people still didn't think of Rose as an MVP candidate. I think people as fans of the game and the national media have wised up a little and now consider him, but still don't always pick him as a favorite. I think they should have him as the favorite. He is a great player and is having a great year and deserves the MVP.

The Bulls

If you are someone who reads this blog often, you know that I am not a huge fan of the NBA. Well, in the past few months I have become quite the fan. I realized that if I wanted to call myself a true Chicago fan that I had to be a little bit more interested in the Bulls. So, I started to watch a few games. As I watched my first instinct was that the refs are ridiculous and they won't call anything. As I watched the Bulls play more the more I liked it. I think I can now officially call myself a Bulls fan, I've been outed. So lets get talking about the team.
This summer their was a lot of talk about LeBron (sorry anybody reading from Cleveland) and how he might go to the Bulls because we have a great young team. This week I realized that maybe this team is better off without him. Instead of him we got Boozer, who I think fits in a lot better. LeBron would be trying to take the ball, when this is Rose's team and he is the guy who takes the ball. I think the team works a lot better together than they would if LeBron was on the team. Rose is having an oustanding year and with James on the team he would not have numbers near as high and impressive. This was the best thing for the team, now I think we can beat the team that LeBron ended up going to and beat the Celtics as you have seen. I'm not saying that this is a for sure thing, but don't be surprised if the Bulls make it to the Finals. The chances of them beating the Lakers are slim, but its the same with almost every team. I think that maybe something will happen just like what happened with the Blackhawks. They are the surprise team one year, and then the next year they are on top more than before and they win it all. The Bulls have a lot of potential and a lot of really good young players. I think their coach knows how to use them and this team is going to be very good. Go Bulls!

bears

just wanted to say: THE PACKERS R GOING DOWN!!!!

AFC and NFC Championship games

AFC
This game is the Steeler and the Jets. I like both teams. The Steelers have a great defense, but so do the Jets. I think I might take Big Ben over Sanchez just because Ben has more experience. There is part of me that is saying that the Steelers are going to win without a problem, then again there is part of me saying that the Jets beat the Patriots, who says they will stop now. This is a very tough decision. Both teams are very good and deserve to be their. This game could go either way. I think the Jets spent a lot of their energy game planning for the Patriots. They have been planning for them probably since they knew they were in the playoffs. So I think the Jets might not be well prepared for this. I originally trusted my gut to say that the Jets would win, but as I wrote that little bit I got to thinking that the Steelers are probably going to win this game. I'm going to pick Steelers 24 Jets 17.
NFC
I think everyone knows who I'm going to pick in this matchup. I'm going to pick the Bears, but not just because I am a Bears fan, I have serious reasons. The Bears can beat the Packers. The Bears could have beat them week 17 when we had nothing to play for and the Packers had nothing to play for. Our defense can and has stopped Aaron Rodgers while he is hot as well as other quarterbacks. Our special teams will hopefully step up and our running game has to be good. I believe we can do it. I have this huge feeling that February 7th the Bears will be the Super Bowl champions.

Da Bears. Why they will be in the Super Bowl.

I have a great feeling that the Bears will make it to the Super Bowl this year. I'm also not just some crazy Bears fan who is dreaming of this. I have logical reasons why I think this.
The Bears are playing the Seahawks. That's right the team that finished 7-9 this season. Yes I know that they beat the Saints last week. I know that. I watched the game. Just because they beat the Saints doesn't mean we will lose too. The Saints had a bad defensive day. There is no way that our defense does that. They will step it up because its the playoffs. We are going to destroy the Seahawks. I would love to see a blowout. I have a feeling that we might see that. So then we move on to play probably the packers.
Playing the Packers is going to be a tough game. I have a feeling we will win this game because we have beat them this year at Soldier field. That was before the Bears had their breakthrough. Watching the game last week I thought they could have tried harder at the end to win, but they didn't. The Bears are built to beat the Packers. Our defense knows how to stop them. Our offense does get stopped but as long as they score less than we do we win. I think we can win this game. Winning two games and one of them against a team without a winning record. Yes it sounds reasonable.

Bears: Looking back at the season

The Bears just finished their season about an hour ago. They ended it on a bad note, but also a good note in a way. They lost to the Green Bay Packers, but the good part was that they weren't going to back down just because they had already sealed the 2nd seed and after the falcons won could not get the 1st seed. They wanted to beat the Packers it would have been a better story if they would have won, but that's all right. They played hard and only a couple people got hurt and they are minor injuries. This was a good risk to take because if they would have won the fans would have loved it and I think the fans loved it either way. But, lets move on to the rest of the season. I will start from the beginning.
Week 1
The Bears were playing the Lions in this game. With a 0-4 pre-season I was a little doubtful about whether the Bears would win or not, especially because it was looking like Detroit was starting to build a pretty good team. I was on the road during the time of this game, so I was listening on the radio. I didn't quite get the full experience but I found myself saying yes and no and come on about half of the ride. I remember that the Bears scored with only like one minute left and then the Lions marched right on down the field and they threw a pass to Calvin Johnson and it was complete, no wait it was incomplete. Then there was a review and the refs said that there was this rule that you have to be able to come up from the catch and hand the ball to the ref and Johnson apparently could not do that. The Bears got lucky and left that game with a win. Already the Bears were starting a controversy about themselves.
Week 2
I remember going into this game praying that the Bears might get lucky and actually win. I was not impressed at all with the way they played against Detroit, so I thought they had no chance to beat the Cowboys. They went into that game and they won it. They were undefeated. I know a lot of Cowboy fans kept saying that the Cowboys beat themselves not the Bears, but the Bears played one of their best games of the year and they flatout won. By that time I was super happy that the Bears had not lost yet. Seeing they lost all their preseason games this was huge to beat a team that was supposed to be one of the best in the league this year.
Week 3
Both teams entered undefeated. It was the greatest rivalry in sports at its best. Each team fighting for an early lead over the NFC North. The Bears didn't start very well and they played kind of sloppy, but the Packers played worse. They had 19 penalties and if a team wins with that many penalties the other team has some problems. This is the game that surprised me even more than when I found out that the Bears beat the Cowboys. This meant we beat the Packers, remained undefeated, and lead the NFC North. Those are all really good things for a football team that was predicted last in some polls.
Week 4
Enter the sloppiness and the bad stretch. Jay Cutler was sacked way too many times and was eventually knocked out of the game with a concussion. I was excited about this game at the start because I was hoping the Bears would continue to be undefeated. They did not and they lost. This was probably one of their worst games this season. This was the first game where the terrible offensive line was exposed. Some of the players were just letting guys threw or that's what it looked like. The Bears looked like they were in trouble.
Week 5
Todd Collins was forced to start this game because of Jay Cutler's concussion. Let me tell you I have not seen anyone play the quarterback position worse than he did in that game. Yet, the Panthers are awful and we are lucky the one week we didn't have Cutler we were playing them. We got away with a win, and got ready for the next week against another "easy" opponent.
Week 6
The Bears were playing the Seahawks in this game and they figured this was going to be another easy win. We went in with the wrong attitude and we lost. This was our down time in the season, we were looking bad and we lost this game even though we should have won. We could beat this team. Our offensive line looked bad again and our offense all-together looked bad. We were a lost team. Our defense and special teams were the only things giving us any points. We needed a win and we were playing another team we should have beat.
Week 7
We played the Redskins in this game and we should have won. I don't even mean that in we should have played better and actually won. I mean that if Lovie would have challenged that one Jay Cutler play we would have won this game. Lovie decided not to and talks of him being fired came up again because apparently that is bad decision making. I agree. This is a game we could have and should have won and yet we were finding a way to lose. After the bye week we would find our way to win, instead of lose and fixed many of our problems.
Week 8
Bye Week.
Week 9
In this game we played the Bills. They are another one of those easy teams. Fans were hoping the Bears wouldn't lose to another low grade team. The Bears came out of their bye week looking good. The offensive line looked a lot better. They were running the ball more, which took a lot of pressure off of Jay Cutler and the offense ran well. They still weren't ready to face high caliber teams, but they were getting better. This game started a 5 game win streak that helped lead us to winning the NFC North and to being the number 2 seed.
Week 10
This game was against the Vikings. I remember watching this game and almost everything was going right. During Bears games I often get stressed out, but this was one of the few where everything ran smoothly. This was the game where I thought the true Bears that are in the Playoffs now came out. The offense ran better than it ever had before and the defense was staying tough against a great quarterback and running back.
Week 11
We played the Dolphins this week and we got lucky some people say that we played their third string. I would agree with that, but we still had to go there and play. We had to win that game regardless of who their quarterback was and we did it. This was another good sign and a good week. People could really see the offense come together and the defense was the constant in all of this. They stayed tough and helped the Bears win a lot of their games this season.
Week 12
The defining game. This was the game where people actually took us seriously and found out that we could beat big teams. The Eagles were hot. Michael Vick was playing like an MVP and they were one of the best teams in the NFC at the time. The Bears went into this game and flat out outplayed them. Jay Cutler outplayed Michael Vick. The defense was huge and made a great game winning play when they intercepted Michael Vick's pass near the end zone. After this the Bears weren't a team that kept getting lucky and winning, we were a real contender.
Week 13
A rematch with the Lions. We knew they might be playing with a little revenge on their minds because they actually deserved to win the first game. We were the hot team now and we went in and beat the struggling Lions. This wasn't a monumental win, it was just the Bears taking care of business again. The next week would be the hardest of them all.
Week 14
This is a game I don't even want to talk about. It was freezing cold and their was snow and we got manhandled by Brady and their offense. Our defense looked terrible. They were on their heels the whole game. They disappointed a lot of people in Chicago who were looking for another win over a heavyweight team. It didn't happen and exposed more issues.
Week 15
If the Bears thought that the last week was cold and snowy they were in for a treat. This week they had to play the Vikings outdoors in the middle of a blizzard almost. It was terrible conditions, but the field was taken care of well and the Bears played better than the Vikings did. Cory Wooton took down Favre early in the game and we found out this week that this blow was the blow that ended Brett Favre's career.
Week 16
Now we were playing another power team from the AFC East and we weren't going to let what happened to us last time happen again. This game the tables were turned. The offense played very well, but the defense did not play well at all. The thing about this game is that it showed us that when one side of the ball doesn't play well the other one steps up. Most of the season the defense was stepping up for the offense, but in this game the offense stood up for the defense. It also proved that we could actually win a game at home.
Week 17
I already talked about this week so I will make it short and sweet. I like the fact that starters played the whole game. It showed that the Chicago Bears never give up and they never stop fighting just because they have nothing to fight for. We weren't going to lose that game because we didn't try. We were going to try and however it turned out we were okay with that.

Overall I'd say this was a great year for the Bears. A lot of players hit huge milestones and the team hit a huge milestone. We are back in the playoffs for the first time since we went to the Super Bowl. We are doing a lot of things right, but during our bye week we have a lot to work on and I think we will. We are going to go into the playoffs prepared and hopefully win our first game and be in the NFC Championship game.