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Cubs fans are racist...yikes that's a pretty serious charge.  I'm sure there are people that attend Cub games that are racist, just mathematically speaking - there's probably more than 1.  But what I don't understand, and forgive me for being a tad naive here; if people are shouting racially insensitive comments from the bleachers to the field - why aren't people of the same race in the bleachers confronting this person?

Why is the only person in the whole entire ballpark that hears this kind of stuff you?  You think you have a checkered past?  Look at the guy that was in town this week playing right field for the Nationals.  He actually at one point in his life sent a text message of a gun to his girlfriend with the caption "You dead dawg".  That makes throwing a water bottle, getting into scuffles with your manager and teammates, blaming the media, blaming the fans, and all that other stuff look like Jaywalking.

If I may, allow me to explain the reason the fans don't like you, ironically it has very little to do with your personality.  The reason the fans don't like you is because you aren't doing anything productive on the field.  35 RBI is what you currently possess, couple that with the amazing 11 home runs, and scorching .255 BA - do you really have to wonder?  People aren't booing you because you're black, people aren't booing you because they don't like your personality, people are booing you because you've sucked since you've been here. 

While that may seem harsh, you're dealing with fans who have been championship deprived.  We paid you good money to come here, hit .321 20+ homers and 80+ RBI - that's why we brought you here.  We brought you in because we thought you could bat left-handed, well that appears to not be the case either.  I guess I don't understand why we'd bring you in as a run producing lefty and have to hear all year that you're working with Gerald Perry or Von Joshua on your swing from the left side.  If you had gotten injured, for instance, we'd understand, because we knew we what we were getting when you signed.  The total lack of production is what got you into the dog house here, nothing else.....well until now.

So you hate how the fans treat you?  Congratulations, you've now sunk to a new low.  You look like an absolute fool, especially now that you're claiming the media twisted your words.  So are the Cubs fans racist?  You just called everyone out on the carpet, despite the stories that have been circulating that contradict what you say...which is it?  You know what at this point I don't care, you came in here and I gave you the benefit of the doubt.  I liked the passion you had for the game.  You were misunderstood.  I see the truth now, you are completely incapable of taking any responsibility for the things you've done.  It was Eric Wedge's fault, it was always everyone else's fault...we didn't embrace you enough, so you don't feel comfortable and haven't produced.  It's the same inane excuses that we've heard for the better part of this decade, and it's become very tired.

As the Cubs season winds down to a depressingly early end, we're left with one thought - is there anyway we can get rid of you?  Is there another team that would want you?  Can we pay you to sit at home and not play?  You obviously don't like it here, and I understand that, you're used to playing in LA, San Diego, Cleveland, Oakland - this is different and you can't handle it.  I take the accusation very personally, while I haven't been able to go to Cubs games as regularly as I did a few years ago.  The bleachers are a nasty place in terms of the language and the insults - I've heard people question sexual orientation, manhood, athletic ability, domestic issues, and on and on - I've never heard someone use racially insensitive insults.  That being said, you need to go - for our sake and for yours.

The end came Tuesday evening with a combination Sox fans have come to dread, but expect in 2009.

Then, if that's not bad enough, guess what reliever took the mound for the bottom of the eighth? Scott Linebrink. Uh-oh. Before I could text my good friend and White Sox fan Tom Bork with my prediction of impending doom, Jason Bay slugs one over the Monster. Boston scored two more for good measure, and now all I've got to look forward to is how Jake Peavy does if and when he takes the mound, and hopefully Gordon Beckham will be named American League Rookie of the Year.

Maybe Mark Buehrle was right when he pointed out after tossing a perfect game last month how the Sox had a lousy 2007 season after he pitched a no-hitter that year. Well, Buehrle hasn't won a game since his 27 up, 27 down performance on July 23, and the Sox are five games under .500 during that stretch.

 - Tom

The just-completed 2-5 West Coast road trip leaves the North Siders a whopping eight games behind first place St. Louis in the National League Central Division, and seven games behind Colorado for the wild-card berth in the National League.

The manager is supposed to set the tone for a team, and Piniella is not setting one of much inspiration or even desperation. Camera shots into the dugout show Piniella either with a frustrated look of "what the heck is going on here?" or just a tired, beaten down old man that is starting to cave in to the pressure of managing the Cubs.

There is speculation Piniella never recovered from the Cubs getting swept against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round of last year's playoffs after a 97-win regular season. This season has been a combination of injuries (Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Geovany Soto), questionable off-season moves by Hendry (Milton Bradley and Kevin Gregg have both been busts) and some talented players having horrible seasons (Alfonso Soriano, Soto).

Of course the players want him back with the tail wagging the dog mentality that currently exists. Big Z doesn't want to always do his exercises between starts to strengthen his back? Don't worry about it big guy. Come back when you are ready. Bradley not driving in many runs? Move him to second place in the batting order, where he can walk whenever he wants even though he is being paid ($10 million a year) to be a middle-of-the-order run producer.

It's so bad several of my friends and co-workers who are the most optimistic Cub fans you can imagine have been walking around with bitter beer face the past few weeks and have turned their attention to the Bears.

What we saw Saturday was the potential for this to be a very good Bears offense, but we've also only seen two games.  Jay Cutler takes a lot of chances, there was a ball he squeezed into Earl Bennett on the first drive; it was a tough through into double coverage and it worked out.  He has the arm strength to make that throw, but it's not the advisable throw.  There's a little bit of Brett Favre (10 years ago) in him, he's going to throw interceptions but he's also going to throw 30 yard passes on rd and 8, like that pass to Bennett.

Cutler had been criticized last year for his ineffectiveness in the Red Zone, but keep in mind that Denver didn't dedicate themselves to running the ball and frankly didn't have the personnel to run the ball.  Watching the game, it was amazing to me how much better Cutler looked after Forte broke that 18 yard run.  It wasn't that Cutler looked better, it was more that things looked easier.  There weren't as many tight throws, and the defense was back on it's heels.  There was a real nice balance, and with Forte being one of the up and coming stars in the league and a talented quarterback who understands the game, there could be some real fireworks this year.

I would be unfair if I also didn't mention the defense, I thought the defense looked pretty good as well.  They had some trouble tackling Brandon Jacobs, a few missed tackles, that's really the only negative you can point to.  The defensive line was able to get some pressure and the blitzes all seemed to work pretty well.  The defensive backs get maligned the most for poor play, but Saturday showed that if you can get to the quarterback and make him uncomfortable it makes life easier on your DB's.  Part of the DB struggle was the quarterback having 4, 5, sometimes 6 seconds to make a decision - which  gives the receivers a couple of extra seconds to get open.

With the Cubs floundering, the Sox inconsistency (although there is much more hope on the South Side), this is a town itching for football season.  It's a football town with a football mentality, and we're starting to get excited.  Our hope has been renewed, and the most encouraging thing is that if Jay Cutler plays most of his games this year at a level between the Buffalo game and the Giants game, we'll still be an exponentially better offense.  We can just keep our fingers crossed that he'll look like he did on Saturday all year.

It would be the equivalent of Walter Payton that real Bear fans would understand his desire to play for the Packers.  The animosity that was directed at Bear fans from Packer fans, is now somewhat diverted.  The Packer/Viking rivalry has always been there, emphasized by Randy Moss' playful fake mooning of the Packer fans at Lambeau.  Packer and Bear fans can now unite in their unbridled disdain for Mr. Favre and the freak show that has played out over the last few years.

Packer fans totally understand Ted Thompson's stance of not running Aaron Rodgers through ringer.  In all honestly, Rodgers was drafted to be Favre's replacement and has done a very nice job.  Tavaris Jackson, Sage Rosenfels, and Kellen Clemens now all know how Aaron Rodgers felt, they just weren't as fortunate to have a GM that was going to say enough is enough. 

Sage Rosenfels was brought in to compete for the starting job with often terrible Tavaris Jackson, and now all the weeks of competition and the hard work that both guys put in trying to win the job is meaningless, all because the wonderful Brett Favre changed his mind.  It has to leave those two feeling pretty lousy.

Packer fans understand that they had Brett Favre when he was good, it's the same as the Orioles getting Sammy Sosa.  Sure you got Brett but he's not good anymore, good luck with that.  It's Brett's arrogance, by suggesting that real Packer fans understand, that made them upset.  He played games with Packers with his "will I, won't I" games, giving Rodgers an opportunity to get comfortable with his receivers, and hoping to skip mini-camp and pull the plug on all the progress Rodgers made in camp.

People of Green Bay can at the very least share our sentiment, it doesn't matter if it's not for the same reason.  Packer fans are generally pretty reasonable, from what I've heard about Lambeau and what I've seen for myself.  They've been double-crossed and they have every right to be upset.  I'm not suggesting that we should be asking Packer fans to share an apartment with us, but let's face it we had 2 reasons to hate the Packers.  The face of their franchise for the better part of 2 decades is gone, now we just have the historical rivalry. 

In case you didn't hear, the king of drama has changed his mind again today, and will play this season for the Minnesota Vikings. In fact, published reports say plans are for the 39-year-old signal caller to start Friday's exhibition game against Kansas City.

Naturally, all will be forgiven if the great No. 4 leads the Vikes to that elusive Super Bowl title that has escaped the grasp of this franchise. I don't like the odds of that happening, even with stud running back Adrian Peterson leading the offense. If you remember, Favre was impressive leading the Jets to an 8-3 start last season before the combination of injury, age and ineffectiveness resulted in New York fading to a 9-7 finish and not even making the playoffs.

And quite frankly, I don't think Chicago and Green Bay will be that concerned about Favre as much as Peterson. Remember, Bears Coach Lovie Smith is 6-2 against Favre. And to my surprise, Aaron Rodgers has performed above expectations in Green Bay. He was solid last year for the Pack, and even though it was just preseason, he made a wonderful step up in the pocket and long touchdown pass to Donald Driver against Cleveland last week. 

The Cubs haven't been right since Day 1, and although they've had stretches where they looked good - by and large they've been relatively short amounts of time against opponents they should beat anyway.  Take last night for example, the Padres best starter is on the DL and the other start you'd historically worry about is no longer a Padre.  To make it worse, Ted Lilly made the Padres look like the minor league lineup that they are, and Kevin Gregg gave up a 3 run walk-off homer to a guy that looks like a miniature Paul Bunyan.

Where did things go wrong?  Well we got rid of the face of our franchise in Kerry Wood and swapped him out for the maddeningly inconsistent Kevin Gregg.  The same Kevin Gregg that blew 9 saves last year in 28 opportunities, we had a pretty good idea what we were getting.  The only reason he won't eclipse that total this year is because he won't be the closer long enough to get 4 more save chances to blow.  That's just the start.

Carlos Marmol had a horrid stretch last year, but was able to overcome it after the All-Star break and finish up strong.  Marmol hasn't had a good stretch this entire year, his stuff this year is unhittable - mostly because he couldn't find the strikezone wth a Garmin.

Milton Bradley has been a huge disappointment - whether it's his snide comments to the fans for the fact that he's hitting .260 something.  The power has gone away, in fact the solid contact has gone away.  He has 1 more homer than Ryan Theriot and 2 less than Kosuke #####udome and has a lower batting average than both of them.  He's a mediocre defender stuck in one of toughest right fields in all of baseball.  I never thought we'd be wishing for him to go on the DL so Sam Fuld could get some more AB's.

Alfonso Soriano has been attrocious, before the season started Gerald Perry the Cubs former hitting coach said he thought Soriano was going to have an MVP caliber year.  His keen eye for details have got him fired.

Carlos Zambrano is getting paid huge money and has yet to live up to it.  Is he even the ace of this staff?  Randy Wells would get my vote at this point, sad considering he didn't join the rotation or big league club until May.  Zambrano just can't seem to figure it out, he's been on the DL a few times and doesn't seem to pitch consistently while he's on the field.

Of course losing Aramis Ramirez didn't help much either, but now's not the time to make excuses.  Jake Fox has done an admirable job, and there should be an investigation on how it took the Cubs as long as it did to get Fox in there.  We keep getting spoon-fed that Mike Fontentot is an everyday player, all of that despite the fact that he hasn't produced at all.  He shouldn't have even been in the lineup last night, let along in the 6 hole.  Twice he squandered opportunities with guys on base.

I'm probably as guilty as anyone in overlooking some of the problems, I mean prior to the year it was a foregone conclusion that the Cubs were going to win their 3rd straight NL Central title; and at least hopefully not get swept out of the pllayoffs.  The Cardinals have done a lot to improve their ballclub, they traded for Mark DeRosa and Matt Holiday while the Cubs have stood pat; apparently confident in what they have.  Also, apparently not watching the same things that we are.  Am I a bad fan?  I don't know, how much patience is one supposed to have?  I can say that I'm one of the more patient Cub fans here at The Times.  Some of the smart ones don't even get emotionally invested until August, me I hang on every pitch from April through..well through now.  Having watched team after team go down in flame after horrifying flame, my senses are honed; this team isn't good despite the fact that it should be.

I'm looking forward to Bears...it would take a miracle sweep of the LA Dodgers for the Cubs to garner my attention.  The way things look now, they'll be lucky if the win 1.

-Matt

 Jay Cutler didn't look horrible, but he didn't really take all the cautious Bear fans by the hand and say "see everything is going to be alright".  Aside from the Grossman-esque interception that was thrown to the "Number 1" receiver, he was fine.   It was his first two drives as a Bear against people wearing differnet helmets.  I can understand that the game timing still isn't there.  It's fine, it really is.

I remember Erik Kramer, Moses Moreno, Kordell Stewart, Henry Burris, Mike Tomczak, Jim Miller, Shane Matthews, Danny Wuerffle, and the countless other quarterbacks that took snaps under center in the last 2 decades.  You can tell me that Jay Cutler is good all day long, but I'm not going to believe you until I see it with my own 2 eyes.  I've seen Jay Cutler play in Denver - Jay Cutler is a quality starting quarterback...in Denver. 

The thing that concerns me the most is the Bears secondary and sure I know they were without Peanut Tillman, but there's not a real good excuse for allowing the Bills to throw all over you when their best WR is out with an injured toe.  Either the front 4 need to generate more of a pass rush or the defensive scheme needs to improve.  If you look at where all the completions end up, holes in the zone.  There is a time and place to play zone coverage, but it'd be nice to see these corners man up a little bit more too; well of course with the exception of Nate Vasher.

Urlacher looks to be back in great shape again, Briggs looks as good as ever, and Tinoisamoa fills the gap that Hillenmeyer left open nicely. Tommie Harris has taken the perennial question mark award away from Mike Brown, now that he's gone.  I've not been of the opinion that the Bears don't have the talent, I think the Bears issues are more in the coaching game.  Should we really be excited about Jay Cutler in Ron Turner's offense?  Is the Head Coach who loses 1 to 2 games a year on coaching blunders really going to be able to work wonders for this defense?  What is Bob Babich getting paid to do now?  All valid questions, and they do just enough to temper my enthusiasm for the time being.

Tom and I are going to be live blogging the Bears games this year...so look for our commentary on the ups and downs as the Bears push for the playoffs.

-Matt

The latest example of his immaturity could cost the Cubs a playoff spot as Big Z has not toed the rubber for the North Siders since Aug. 1 due to lingering back pain. Zambrano admitted to the media on Sunday his own laziness in not wanting to do abdominal muscle exercises between starts has been a factor in not always feeling well enough to take the mound.

The Cubs so-called ace pitcher will miss almost a month – he's expected to return to the rotation Aug. 25 against Washington.

The next fill-in for Zambrano was Valparaiso's own Jeff Samardzija, who fared so poorly against the Phillies he was demoted the next day back to Triple-A Iowa, and had fans wondering if he should be catching passes for the Bears instead.

And this is just the latest of incidents by Zambrano that have included:

• Punching out the Gatorade dispenser, and firing a ball to the outfield in frustration earlier this season at Wrigley Field.

• Missed the team plane on a flight to Atlanta this season. 

• Suffering from cramps multiple times, and then revealing an unwillingness to take a few gulps of water and/or Gatorade between innings caused the dehydration that caused the cramps.

• Getting into a fight with catcher Michael Barrett both in the dugout and then the clubhouse.

No doubt Zambrano again won't be in much trouble with Piniella because of his talented right arm.

The 28-year-old has an impressive resume, 103 wins against 65 losses, a 3.47 earned run average that includes a no-hitter against Houston last season.

But he's yet to be counted on in his career when the pressure is white hot, and that's what the North Siders need from him down the stretch as they attempt to overtake St. Louis in the NL Central.

With all the physical gifts Z has, including a rare ability in the majors for a pitcher to hit on a consistent basis, it's time for him to start being smarter about things.

Have a big September for the Cubs, and maybe, just maybe, good things might happen in October.

The move was an obvious salary dump by the Blue Jays, who signed Rios to a huge seven-year contract in 2008 worth approximately $70 million. Now, with both the economy and the Blue Jays tanking, the Sox simply placed a waiver claim on the 28-year-old outfielder, and did not have to give up any players because the Jays were desperate to get financial relief.

The question I have heard the most about the deal is "who will be the odd man out?" between left fielder Carlos Quentin, center fielder Scott Podsednik and right fielder Jermaine Dye in the remaining 49 games of the season.

The toughest job will belong to Manager Ozzie Guillen, who must fill out the lineup card and deal with the consequences.

 Next season, Rios should be Chicago's starting center fielder. He has a nice blend of speed (112 stolen bases and 36 triples in his career) and power (81 home runs, 195 doubles) to go along with a .285 career batting average that puts him in the category of young Sox players such as Gordon Beckham and Alexei Ramirez that have more of an all-around game.

I was going to post just what was above, but now I want to add one more thing. After sampling Chicago sports talk radio and some of the newspaper articles about how Dye, Podsednik or Quentin might have to cope with sitting on the bench more, or maybe not be on the team next year, I say this: Get over it. Do you think Williams would have added Rios if the Sox were in first place by 10 games? If you want to play, you have to produce. Dye had a horrible September last year, and has been in a slump in the past few weeks this season. Pods has been a feel-good story, but will he run out of gas? And Quentin is obviously not 100 percent. If Rios comes through with some clutch hits down the stretch, the fans will cheer him on just as much as the other guys. 

 There was the expected "you guys should be better with Cutler" comment, along with an anticipated remark about both the quality and quantity of wide receivers being a problem unless the prized quarterback makes them better with his golden arm.

In reality, the Bears have not had a dominating defense since about the first 10 games of the Super Bowl season of 2006. It's probably more of reputation thing when names such as Brian Urlacher, Tommie Harris, Lance Briggs are mentioned.

The biggest question mark in training camp is the secondary. With starting cornerback Charles "Peanut" Tillman out for several more weeks as he recovers from back surgery, safety Mike Brown no longer on the team after many injury-plagued seasons, the opening day lineup in the defensive backfield could be a scary proposition.

Cornerback Nate Vasher has missed time with injuries in the past two seasons, and when he has been on the field, he has not performed as well as he did when he earned the nickname "The Interceptor" in his early years with the team.  

Kevin Payne, Craig Steltz, Trumaine McBride, Corey Graham and Zack Bowman are all young guys who have yet to distinguish themselves, but at least a couple of these guys will be on the field quite a bit this season.

The good news for Bears fans is Urlacher has looked sharp to this point, and he and Briggs need to make some big plays for the defense to excel.

Then the guy proudly wearing his Ohio State shirt identified himself as a Cincinnati Bengals fan, I asked how do like having ex-Bear Cedric Benson on the team, a bunch of us had a good laugh, and the pro football talk came to an end.

 - Tom

As of Aug. 4, I say yes.

While for the Cubs, rookie starting pitcher Randy Wells earned his fourth consecutive win Monday in a 4-2 victory against Cincinnati. Wells is now 8-4, and has bailed out a starting rotation in which Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly have spent time on the disabled list.

Going into tonight's game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Beckham is hitting .311 with 5 home runs, 36 runs batted in, 17 doubles, a .374 on-base percentage (OBP),  and an .860 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 52 games and 183 at-bats.

His fielding at third was shaky in the early going as he was learning a new position, but that is improving on an almost daily basis as he transitions from shortstop.

Price's teammate Jeff Niemann has impressive stats as the rookie starter has picked up 10 wins against just 5 losses, with a 3.62 earned run average in 114.1 innings of work.

While Beckham was a first-round draft choice of the White Sox and expected to be an outstanding player, Wells has played the role of unsung hero very well this year for the North Siders.

Wells could easily have about 12 wins if not for the bullpen blowing several leads for him right after he was called up. Wells, and rookie teammate Jake Fox have kept the Cubs right around first place even though the team has suffered numerous injuries, bullpen inconsistencies and a disappointing year from Milton Bradley. 

Other rookies that should at least get some Rookie of the Year consideration are: