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Popularity: 10% [?]
Lovie going nowhere soon?
In the haste to draw conclusions about Lovie Smith’s job status, let me be the first to tell Bears fans frothing at the mouth what they want to hear. Smith is going to be fired. Eventually.
The Bears once fired Mike Ditka. The Cowboys fired Tom Landry, Smith’s idol. It’s inevitable. It’s the NFL. It’s also not likely to happen soon no matter how much blood you smell in the water around the Bears’ sinking ship. Besides the $11 million owed Smith for the final two seasons on Smith’s contract after this one, it likely would cost the Bears $40 million over five years to hire the next big-name coach. Do you really think any of the football czars being fantasized about would work for less? History says the McCaskeys just aren’t the type of owners to commit $50 million to a head-coaching position, no matter how raucous the public cry becomes. In this economy, can you envision a family business paying two head coaches an average of $13.5 million apiece for two seasons?
Popularity: 9% [?]
Cubs rumors from GM meetings
After spending the last two winters trying in vain to acquire second baseman Brian Roberts and pitcher Jake Peavy, Cubs general manager Jim Hendry hopes he can unload Milton Bradley in quick fashion. But as the GM meetings began on Monday, there was no certainty that was possible. Texas may have the most interest, but sources insisted the Rangers would only agree to a deal if the Cubs ate most of the remaining $21 million on Bradley’s contract. That’s a route Hendry seems unwilling to take for now.
Toronto reportedly wants no part of Bradley, despite a rumor on foxsports.com of a three-way deal in which the Cubs acquired Mets second baseman Luis Castillo for Bradley. New York would then send Bradley to Toronto for Lyle Overbay. Rich Harden is holding out hope of remaining a Cub. His agent, Arn Tellem, is in Chicago and plans to meet with Hendry soon. Atlanta also may be shopping starter Kenshin Kawakami, who has two years and $13 million left on his deal. Though Ted Lilly will open the season on the disabled list, Hendry said: “We don’t feel we’re going to pick up anybody in a trade better than Ted. …We’re always looking to get better on the mound, but Ted’s situation doesn’t factor in at all.”
Popularity: 14% [?]
Cutler and QB coach have frosty relationship
Very few have job security in a disappointing season and the focus after the results of two of the last three weeks is on defense right now. But offensive coordinator Ron Turner’s situation and that of staff on that side of the ball will come under even greater scrutiny if this season and the offense do not ramp up dramatically.
I’ve noted before that Turner is in a borderline no-win situation, having been handed the keys to a Ferrari in the form of Jay Cutler. If the offense does well, it’s Cutler. If it doesn’t, it’s Turner.
Cutler has what one source told CSNChicago.com is a “frosty relationship” with quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton, who will be at some risk over that. And if Turner goes, offensive line coach Harry Hiestand could as well.
The defensive staff was torn up by the roots and made over last offseason. Special teams under coordinator Dave Toub are excellent and likely won’t be blown up other than Toub getting a much-deserved look as a head coach at some level.
That leaves the offensive staff. No Vanderbilt or Denver team with Cutler as its starter finished better than .500. If this Chicago team doesn’t, Turner could well be shown the same exit corridor that Mike Shanahan was after last season’s 8-8 mark with the Broncos.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Pods likely not in plans
Judging by Williams’ comments on Friday, it looks as if free-agent outfielder and leadoff man Scott Podsednik might not be in the team’s future fold either. Podsednik was given a second baseball life this past season by the White Sox, who brought him from his couch in Texas at the season’s outset to the Major Leagues in May via a Minor League contract.
Podsednik responded to the opportunity, with his .304 average, 48 RBIs, 75 runs scored and 30 stolen bases leaving the left-handed hitter as one of the team’s most valuable players in 2009. But being in this prime free-agent position, Podsednik told MLB.com near the end of the campaign that he would test the market and not jump at the first White Sox offer.
“We’ve already had talks with Podsednik and had a back-and-forth dialogue with him,” Williams said. “I think that [Podsednik's return] is not likely based on what he wants, so we will keep getting after it in other areas.”
Popularity: 7% [?]
Mulligan: Fire Lovie now
The head coach of a football team has a weird job. He’s the man in charge and the unquestioned ruler of his world, but the real power belongs to the players. A coach’s minions determine his fate — his subjects control the length of his reign — if a crop fails, the king is to blame. If the defense fails, the defensive coordinator is to blame.
All of which leaves Bears coach Lovie Smith with nowhere to hide following Arizona’s crushing 41-21 victory over the Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field. Is it the players fault that the defense couldn’t come close to stopping the Cardinals? Was it a fault in scheme? Is it the play-calling? No matter the answer, just one man is responsible for this debacle — the guy wearing the crown. And the emperor was unclothed on this day.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Final blow for Weis?
After Saturday’s 23-21 loss to Navy, Notre Dame can officially be described as a football program in turmoil. Speculation about coach Charlie Weis’ position on the imaginary bun warmer will come from all the directions. Game No. 7 this season decided by seven points or fewer, decided in the final seconds. This one, though, won’t go away. It’s one that will be on the top of the pile come review time. ND athletic director Jack Swarbrick will keep this one in his top right-hand drawer. It could be a deal-breaker.
Popularity: 9% [?]
Clausen’s choice clouds ND future
The decision that will most impact the future of Notre Dame football will not be made by President John I. Jenkins, athletics director Jack Swarbrick, coach Charlie Weis or the small group of influential alumni who have served as behind-the-scenes power brokers in the not-so-distant past. The player whose right arm has been most responsible for Notre Dame’s resurgence now holds the program’s fate in his hands.
What’s significant about Dayne Crist’s seemingly insignificant injury is that Jimmy Clausen will likely leave for the NFL after this season. If so, Weis will have to rely on an inexperienced sophomore coming off major surgery heading into a season in which the Irish were expected to compete for a national title.
Neil Hayes-Sun Times
Popularity: 9% [?]
Hester has arrived
Anyone who doesn’t think Devin Hester is a legitimate No. 1 receiver hasn’t been paying attention to the past three games.
In that time, Hester has 21 catches, and only the Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald has more. Hester’s 21 receptions have produced 265 yards. Maybe even more impressive, in the past two games, Hester has been targeted by Jay Cutler 17 times, and he has 15 catches, meaning that he’s getting open and he’s catching everything close.
For the season, Hester has 35 receptions, 10 more than the nearest teammate, Earl Bennett. Hester has 454 receiving yards, 120 more than Bennett, who is second. That puts Hester on pace for 80 catches and 1,038 yards, which look a lot like go-to-guy numbers.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Cubs picked wrong guy?
Three years and three weeks ago, Joe Girardi interviewed for his dream job. He didn’t get it. That job, of course, was manager of Chicago Cubs.
Girardi is managing a $200 million ballclub in the World Series and, as I’m writing this, is one win shy of the team’s first title since 2000, when Girardi left the team for, coincidentally, a second go-round with the Cubs. The Cubs, as usual in early November, are a month into waiting ’til next year.
When the Cubs job opened after the 2006 season, I was firmly in the Girardi camp. In his lone season with Florida, he proved to be a quick study, managing a young, talented and low-spending team to contention in the NL East. But Girardi is no one’s patsy. He didn’t get along with owner Jeffrey Loria and was fired shortly before winning the NL Manager of the Year award.
The Cubs had a chance to hire a manager for the present and the future, but they went a different way, hiring the more seasoned Lou Piniella to skipper a team that was being hastily, and expensively, built for a World Series run. If you’ve been paying attention, you know how that worked out. Did general manager Jim Hendry & Co. make a mistake?
Popularity: 13% [?]
Damon a fit on Sox?
Johnny Damon, if the Yankees don’t bring him back, the White Sox look like a good fit. They need a leadoff hitter, and while they’d love to sign free agent Chone Figgins and move him to the outfield, he may get too pricy.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Would Wade-Rose work?
If the Bulls were smart Sunday, they wouldn’t just beat the Heat in their first game of the Dwyane Wade Recruitment Tour.They would clear out occasionally and let Derrick Rose work his wondrous, driving magic. They would encourage Joakim Noah to run the floor, power home a dunk and let loose one of his patented primal screams.
They would share the ball selflessly on offense, get in the Heat’s faces on defense (well, OK, maybe provide Wade a driving lane now and then) and basically do all the things Wade’s team did when he led it to the 2006 NBA championship.
Popularity: 12% [?]