The Goodell reaction?

After Roger Goodell took over as the Commisioner of the NFL, he knew he had to do something about the image of the players. For the most part, everything in the NFL was going great. Every stadium selling out, it has become the most popular sport to watch, heck even the NFL draft is a highly watched TV event. This sport that plays for roughly 6 months of the year, was grabbing the attention of every fan throughout the whole year.

But Goodell knew that if he didn't take care of the fact that some of the "bad apples" were giving the NFL a bad name, all those good things could start to back off. Goodell has taken a hard stance on "conduct detrimental to the game". Adam "Pacman" Jones was suspended for a year after his altercations, Tank Johnson was suspended eight games for his actions, Chris Henry was suspended eight games for his actions, and now Mike Vick has been suspended indefinitely for his recent actions.

What does this say to players who are in the League? It tells them to grow up and act like adults. You don't need to be carrying guns into stripclubs, you don't need to be the owner of 100 guns, you can't be drunk driving, or doing drugs, and you can be taking part in dogfighting, gambling, etc. Hopefully the message is getting across and it makes for a better NFL for everyone involved. Kids of all ages look up to these guys, want to play like them, want to be succesful like them, and now they need to be shown you can't act like them.

Personally, I think this policy is working, and we are already seeing the benefits. Why do you think Lance Briggs left his brand new $350,000 car wrecked on the side of the road? Because he can replace the car, but if he were to be suspended, he can't get those games back. Leaving the scene is only a misdemeanor, but had he been caught drinking or driving carelessly, it could be a different story altogether. I don't condone leaving the scene of an accident, but it was probably Briggs best way out of a bad situation. And who's to say Goodell still won't do something?

Now, when a player makes a personal decision to do something, they know that it can and WILL alter their playing time. The Goodell ERA will be a great one in the NFL.

And now...Dad is sick

Well, my 18 month old daughter had a respiratory virus over the weekend, so she had a trip to the doctor....which she didn't like. She had a runny nose and was sneezing along with a very mild fever. She never lost her appetite, but you could tell she didn't feel good just by the way she was acting. She's doing a little better now, and hopefully will be over it shortly. Then yesterday, about 2 in the afternoon...I start getting a runny nose, start sneezing and getting body aches. Looks like Daddy is coming down with the same thing. Oh well, I prefer to think of it as me taking the sickness away from her! I'd rather me have it anyway.

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Future of the Sox

So the White Sox decided to move Josh Fields to Left Field for the rest of the year. What does this mean? Well, two things: Scott Podsednik's career on the Southside of Chicago is over, and Joe Crede's career on the Southside of Chicago will live on. Crede is coming back from back surgery, and the news is so good for him, that the White Sox have decided that he will be manning the third base position next year. So, the lineup will look something like this:


1B: Paul Konerko
2B: Danny Richar
SS: ???? (FA Pickup - Vizquel, Eckstein, Uribe at a huge discounted?)
3B: Joe Crede
LF: Josh Fields
CF: Jerry Owens
RF: Jermaine Dye
C: A.J. Pierzynski
DH: Jim Thome

I like this offense, but one thing really worries me: What to do about the SS position? Uribe has a team option, but no way do the Sox choose to pay him $5 million next year. There are only a few free agents out there, and of them I'd like to see Omar Vizquel the most. First of all, he is a great veteran presence for Richar to learn from. Also, he can bridge the gap until we can get a young guy in that position.

Ozzie's job is safe, and so is Kenny Williams. I look for them to try and add some quality guys to the Middle relief role, and maybe a pretty reliable bench guy.

Next year looks pretty bright for this team, which is hard to see right now as they sit in the bottom of the AL central with the Royals.

Trampoline fun!

Well, took my son and daughter over to my sisters house to play with their cousins. Their cousins also have a trampoline, which proves to much fun. My son is 6, and his two cousins are 7 and 10, and they have a ball on that thing. They'll ask me to jump them and send them flying in the air, it's a good time...not to mention a very cardiovascular workout! My daughter is only 18 months old, but she loves being on that thing. She wasn't feeling too well starting Friday afternoon. Had to take her to the Doctor and turns out she has a upper respiratory infection, which meant she had a runny nose and the sneezes all weekend! She wasn't feeling too well at all this morning, so after some medicine and a long nap, she saw everyone on the trampoline and wanted to go! So I got everyone off and put her on it. She doesn't jump, she just stands there and laughs. She'll sway back and forth some, and walk a little bit....she thinks it's hilarious. I'm sure as she gets older she'll jump, but right now she just has a ball being on it!

The New Kids can Play?

The White Sox have some fresh young faces that have gotten some extended playing time with the club due to a variety of reasons. These inlcude, Josh Fields at 3b, Jerry Owens in CF, Danny Richar at 2B, and two relief pitchers, Ehren Wasserman and Ryan Bukvich.

Josh Fields was rushed up after Joe Crede went down with back surgery. Fields was always thought of "the future" at 3b, especially since Crede's agent is Scott Boras and he only has 1 year left. Fields is not on the same level as Crede in the field, but he has made some pretty good improvements since arriving in Chicago, and should only get better as he gets more playing time. He struggled at the plate when he first came up and couldn't keep his average above .200. Then Ozzie told both him and Jerry Owens, "This is your job, no one is taking it from you this year, just relax and play." Well, that seemed to help out, Fields has been on a great run as of late and has his average up to .250 and now has 13 HR's and 41 RBI's in just 63 games. He still strikes out way too often, but that will cut down as he learns to handle big league pitchers better. He has a lot of power, and he is just starting to flex it with 4 HR's in his last 7 games and a .333 batting average. Josh is only 24 and has a bright future, but what do we do next year when Crede comes back?

This isn't Jerry Owens' first stint up from the minors, but it looks like he's finally turned the corner. He's got a lot of speed which has translated to 17 SB's in only 53 games, so he has the capability of being a 50+ SB guy. He also had a hard time hitting when he first came up, but he has gotten his average up to about the .250 range as well. He is showing more patience, and the Sox are boosting his confidence by letting him stay in the leadoff spot, and giving him the oppurtunity to succeed. The CF job is all his, unless he just can't hack it. Owens has exactly what the Sox want out of a leadoff guy, except he needs to get on base a little more frequently.

Danny Richar was basically an unknown at the time the team traded Tadihito Iguchi. The Sox acquired him in a trade earlier in the year from the Diamondbacks. The White Sox are really thin at 2B, and they probably rushed Richar up to see what he could do. Well, through 14 games he is only batting a meager .171, but has shown some speed and some defensive ability. Hopefully Richar will start hitting just as Fields and Owens have, or the Sox could be in a real bind when it comes to the 2B position next year.

The relief group that started the year was anything but a relief. After blowing lead after lead, Ozzie finally blew up and many changes were made. Along with those changes came Ryan Bukvich and Ehren Wasserman. Bukvich has appeared in 32 games and has a very respectable 2.83 ERA. Wasserman has appeared in 13 games with a 3.18 ERA. These ERA's are good for 1st and 3rd on the whole staff, respectively. Both of these guys look like they could be a big part of the bullpen in 2008, as they have helped get the ball to Bobby Jenks to close out games.

Well, 2007 isn't a World Series type of year.....or even a playoff year. But with the young kids comes hope for next year. The dream of winning another championship, celebrating once again. Because when it all comes down to it, when we play our first game next year we will be back at 0-0 with high expectations, and these kids have a lot to do with it.

An in-depth look at the Chicago Bears Defense

When the Bears decided to let Ron Rivera walk last year, a lot of people were concerned about the Defense, and what might happen. Bob Babich was quickly promoted to DC, as this is the position that Lovie has been grooming him for.

Babich and Lovie go way back….all the way back to Tulsa in 1984, where they were both position coaches. Babich was the LB Coach for Lovie since 2003, when Lovie was the DC for St. Louis. When Lovie took the Bears job, Babich was the first person he hired to come with him. A year ago, the Bills wanted to interview Babich for their DC position, but the Bears gave him a promotion to assistant Head Coach and he stayed with the Bears. Under Babich, the LB corps the Bears had thrived. Urlacher went to Pro-Bowl after Pro-Bowl, and Briggs soon followed in his steps. Even Hunter Hillenmeyer had very solid seasons playing the SLB position.

Many rumors about Rivera’s departure have been noted. Some say he wasn’t aggressive enough, as noted by Urlacher having 0 sacks last year. Some say he disagreed with Lovie on how the defense should have been run. Everyone has their own opinion, but the fact remains that Babich was Lovie’s guy since day one, and it’s now his time to shine. Babich is a much more aggressive coach than Rivera was. You will see many more blitzes out of Urlacher, Briggs, and even the DB’s. Since Lovie and Babich basically “grew up” together coaching, Lovie has an inherent sense of trust for Babich. Babich will be allowed to call his plays, his blitzes, etc. Lovie will have a say in the gameplan, but Babich will be running the show.

The Defensive Line:

Currently, this is the starting lineup: LE – Adewale Ogunleye, Alex Brown, DT – Tommie Harris, Darwin Walker, Anthony Adams, Dusty Dvoracek, RE – Mark Anderson, Dan Bazuin. We also have some more depth in the names of Isreal Idonije and Antonio Garay. Alex Brown lost his starting RE job to 2nd year man Mark Anderson. Now Brown is fighting for playing time behind each DE job. Brown is obviously upset at losing his spot, but in the NFL, you have to consistently work to be the best at your position, or you will be replaced. Now Babich will rotate guys in and out, so Brown will see plenty of playing time, he just won’t be starting. Harris is coming off a very severe hamstring injury, but from all reports seems to be back to 100%. He is practicing at full speed and should be a major factor this year. Last year, the Bears had 40 sacks in total, 36 coming from their lineman. I expect this group to get to the 40 mark this year by themselves, as long as the injury bug doesn’t hit too hard.

The Linebackers:

Here is the starting lineup: WLB: Lance Briggs, MLB: Brian Urlacher, SLB: Hunter Hillenemeyer. Behind them we have Jamar Williams, Rod Wilson, Micheal Okwo, and Brendan Ayanbedajo. Everyone knows about Urlacher and Briggs. Perennial Pro-Bowlers at the MLB and WLB respectively, it doesn’t get any better than these two. Hillenmeyer plays the much less glamorous SLB position, but he holds his own out there. Hillenmeyer is not as physically gifted as either Urlacher or Briggs, but he is a very smart football player with great instincts. Out of the three, he would be my first choice to be a coach someday in the NFL. This group had a whopping 2 sacks last year. Look for that to change to at least 8-10 sacks under Babich. All 3 LB positions will have blitz packages and they will be getting after the QB a lot more this year.

The Defensive Backs:

The Starting Lineup: CB’s: Charles Tillman, Nate Vasher, S’s: Mike Brown, Adam Archuleta. Behind them we have Ricky Manning Jr, Trumain McBride, Danieal Manning, Brandon McGowan, and Kevin Payne.Charles Tillman and Nate Vasher man the CB position and do it very well. The both have ball skills, and they both have the speed to play man-to-man coverage. Although, in the systemt he Bears run, they are rarely in man-to-man. Playing the Nickel is Ricky Manning Jr and S/CB Danieal Manning will also be there at times this year. Then you throw in rookie Trumain McBride, who is burning up training camp, and we have a surplus of guys that are very good at the CB position. Last year Ricky Manning JR and Tillman tied for the team lead with 5 interceptions. Vasher recorded 3, down from last year, but only because teams threw away from his side after last year’s performance. I expect to see the Interception # increase this year, if for no other reason than Mike Brown’s return from injury. He is the unquestioned leader of the DB’s, and it’s a whole other ballgame when he is on the field.

Look for the Bears to have a top 5 defense again this year, if not the top defense. They will give up yards, but scoring against them is where they excel. Also, look for them to be one of the top scoring defenses in the league. They have an amazing mix of veteran talent and young athletes just coming into their prime. They are an extremely fast defense, and an extremely physical defense. What else would you expect out of the Bears?

Football with the boy

Since my son starts Flag Football in a few weeks (as listed below), I've been playing in the backyard with him. He's fast and extremely competetive, so once I taught him about making people miss he's been quite hard to catch. I let him by me a few times to build up his confidence, and then after that he got by me twice with me giving my full effort.

Now, I know there aren't many passes in flag football...or even pee-wee football, but we did work on throwing the ball back and forth. He seemed to be afraid of the ball, because even though he would catch most of them, he would be turning his head away as the ball got there. I asked him why he was doing this and he finally admitted that the football is big and it would hurt if it hit him in the head. So I told him that he would be wearing a helmet when he played, so the ball couldn't get to his head. Unfortunately, I don't have a helmet that fits him, so we used a Catchers helmet and mask from his baseball supplies. Worked great! He stopped jerking his head around and was watching the ball all the way into his hands. Turns out he can throw pretty darn good as well. He has a competitive fire that drives him whenever he is playing a sport, and he'll keep at it until he gets it right.

It was a fun day, he was running little 5 yard curls and I would throw him the pass, he'd catch it and turn around heading for the "endzone"! Then he'd head back the other way and try to "Juke" his way around me....and many times he could. I'm so glad he loves playing sports, I'm even happier he enjoys doing it with me.

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A regular conversation with my Son

That's my son, playing shortstop in the ever-competitive T-Ball league. That's me behind him, coaching our team. It's a scanned picture, so it's not the highest quality, but it's one of my favorites.

This is part two (or three…I lose track) of my “Daddy” posts as I just started calling them a few minutes ago. Kids never cease to amaze me, or even teach me things that I never saw coming. I started blogging a few months ago, and I found out that it’s an easy way to let some of my real feelings out. Being a man, it’s sometimes hard for me to express my real feelings or let them show, but while blogging you can hide behind the pen….or in this case, the keyboard….who writes with a pen anymore? Anyway, on to the latest:

Two Saturday’s ago it was just me and my 6 ½ year old son. So, I asked him what he wanted to do. Apparently, he saw a commercial for a new Shrek game on Playstation so he wanted to rent it and play it. So we headed out to the Movie Gallery and picked it up. It’s a one player game, so we mostly just sat together while he played, and I helped him through some of the hard parts. The game was fun, but that wasn’t what was important to me, it was our conversations. How many in-depth conversations have you had with your children? Not a Father-Son conversation, more like Friend-to-Friend conversation? It was the most fun and eye-opening moment I’ve had in a long time. He was talking to me about baseball, swimming, and many other subjects. He had a hard time finishing off one level, so I took over and ended up doing this really cool move (totally by accident) to defeat the level. He looked at me and said “Nice move Dude!” and then gave me a high five. I started laughing after that…first time he ever called me Dude….then he started laughing because I was. After a minute, he stopped laughing and he asked me why we were laughing….priceless.

He just finished up his third year of playing baseball, so I asked him to tell me what he thought about it, if he had fun, and why he likes playing. He told me it was fun, because he likes winning! He also told me it was fun because I was coaching and he liked being out there with me. I told him I wouldn’t always be his coach, because as he gets older and continues to play, he will have different coaches. He told me “It’s okay, I’m getting older now so I think I can handle it, but I want you there to watch me.” I told him I wouldn’t miss it for any reason…not one pitch, not one at-bat. I then asked him about Football, he is finally old enough to play and he will start in a few weeks. It’s a Flag football team, he isn’t old enough for a tackle league yet. He’s very excited about this, although he was a little confused about it at first. He asked me “so do we all just race for a flag, and whoever gets it scores a touchdown?” Again….priceless. So I then explained to him that instead of tackling each other, you have to pull a flag that hangs out from their waist. He thought about it for a minute and then said “then can I tackle him?” I told him that there would be no tackling this year, but if he liked it, he could play again next year and be old enough to be in a tackle league.

After that conversation was over we had a very in depth conversation of “Teen Titans vs. Shrek”. He’s a huge fan of Robin from Teen Titans and went into a very detailed description of how Robin, although smaller, could defeat Shrek. He has a very imaginative and creative mind, and it really showed through this story.

Sure, we spent many hours playing that game that day, and we of course defeated the Mighty Prince Charming. But the thing that made that day really special, was just the time we spent talking with each other, father to son, and friend to friend.