Chicago: A Sports Utopia
I consider myself to be a pretty involved sports fan. I may not be able to recite every starting lineup for my favorite teams since 1965, but within the last 15 years I could probably hold my own. I have also been a pretty fortunate sports fan. As a Southside Chicagoan, I have great teams to root for; the Bulls in the NBA, Blackhawks in the NHL, Bears in the NFL, and the White Sox in the MLB. I’ve seen MVPs, Rookies of the Year, Coaches of the Year, and record setting seasons. The Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen led Bulls of the 90’s started it all off for me with six championships … I was spoiled! The year 2005 will probably be my favorite year of all time, because it was the White Sox first championship season since 1917 (just a bit before my time). The Blackhawks have won two Stanley Cups in the last four years. Unfortunately the Lombardi Trophy hasn’t made its way to Chicago just yet, but at least I’ve seen a Super Bowl and a few playoff runs. It hasn’t always been sunshine and championships though. The Bulls of the early aughts were some of the worst in NBA history, the Blackhawks didn’t televise home games or truly care about winning until their owner DIED in 2007, the White Sox have had more mediocre years and collapses down the stretch than they’ve had playoff appearances, and the Bears never seem to have a complete team. But for the Spring of 2014, everything seems to be in place.
The Blackhawks
The NHL playoffs start this Thursday and the Blackhawks enter with a title that all teams want: Reigning Champs. In the lockout shorted season last year, the Blackhawks were hot as Hades throughout the regular season and had a post season full of big games and big last second goals. This year they haven’t been as dominant, going 46–21–15, but good enough for the 5thseed as they had into their run for the Cup. They set a record for players sent to the Olympics (ten) and have had strong production from up and down the roster. While they’ve tapered off a bit towards the end and had some injuries to leaders 1A Jonathon Toews and 1AA Patrick Kane, they appear to be healthy and well rested as they battle Central rival the St. Louis Blues. Kane and Toews are the Peanut Butter and Jelly of this Blackhawks squad but they are flanked by All Stars Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp, Andrew Shaw, and Marian Hossa. We’d all love to see Corey Crawford be more consistent in front of the net, but he’s still solid. Plus you’ve got the mind of the 3rdwinningest coach in NHL history getting them ready for each game in Joel Quinnville.
I know that it is going to be a tough battle to get back to the Finals, let alone win it, but the Blackhawks are putting a great team out there that believes it can make a deep run and hoist the cup for the third time in five years. They’ve had a grueling and hard fought series so far against the St. Louis Blues. In the first two games of the series, they’ve held late leads in the 3rdperiod and given them up with under three minutes left in the first game and seven seconds left in the second. The first game was a triple overtime thriller which left a bad taste in every Chicago sports fan’s mouth as they went to sleep in the wee hours of the night (or is it morning?). The second game was even more heartbreaking as the Blackhawks fought off penalty kill after penalty kill only to lose that lead from a last second goal by Vladimir Tarasenko. But at least the Blues and Barret Jackman made it a quick kill as they scored early in the first OT.
But the Blackhawks bounced back as they returned home with some excellent defense and stellar goaltending by Corey Crawford as he shut out the visiting Blues in Game 3. Patrick Kane was your hero in Game 4 with 2 goals (the second was a game winner in OT) and an assist. His play helped the Blackhawks tie the series back up at 2 games a piece. Very easily the Blackhawks could have swept this series. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but it’s a brand new series and you’d be a fool to count them out.
The Bulls
The Blackhawks will be sharing the United Center once for just a little while longer as the Chicago Bulls join them by heading into the playoffs. In what may be the craziest season I’ve ever witnessed, the Bulls made the playoffs as the 4thseed in the Eastern Conference. In the beginning of the season there were high hopes as the Bulls awaited the return of their MVP, Derrick Rose, who missed the season before after tearing his ACL in the 2011 playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers. With their core of Rose, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, the Bulls were the favorite to be the team that could dethrone the Miami Heat and win the Eastern Conference. But all that changed on November 22ndwhen Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee. The Bulls were 12–18 as 2013 came to a close and stumbling, while other teams like the Pacers and Raptors were charging past.
The Bulls were out of playoff contention and with the most talented draft class in 10+ years on it’s way, there were some calling for a retooling of the team, requiring them to trade away it’s assets and tank! I’ve never been a fan of the tanking strategy and anyone who’d think that fiery coach Tom Thibodeau would allow his group, even if they were 5thgraders, to give anything other than 100% has never watched a Bulls game. It got worse when the Bulls traded forward Luol Deng, their leader in almost every statistical category and in the locker room, for expiring contracts. At this point no one knew if the playoffs were a possibility. But led by Defensive Player of the Year and probable MVP vote-getter Joakim Noah, the Bulls put the past behind them and started winning games. In a true team effort, the core kept going along with newcomers DJ Augustine and Mike Dunleavy. The second half of this season will go down as one of the most improbable in Bulls history, from out of the playoffs to the 4thseed (just 1 back of the 3rd) the Bulls tore it up.
For all that, the Bulls find themselves down 0–2 to the Washington Wizards, losing both of those games at home! The Bulls kryptonite this year has been a lack of a consistent offense. They can put up points in a hurry, but their shooting can also go as cold as the waters of Lake Michigan in January. These scoring droughts have cost them 4th quarter leads in both games and have had me question if they can make it out of the first round. I of course shake this thought from my head almost instantaneously, knowing that if there is any team that can turn it on, play lock down defense on the road and steal some games back, it’s these Bulls…But if John Wall wouldn’t mind coming down with a case of the chicken pox and having to be quarantined from the game of basketball for the next two weeks, I wouldn’t mind.
White Sox
The 2013 Chicago White Sox were one of the most disappointing teams I’ve had to watch since the Tim Floyd led Bulls. The 2012 season was under a new manager, former White Sox great Robin Ventura, and it had an influx of young talent, keeping the White Sox competitive for almost the entire season. Unfortunately their month of September could be found in the dictionary under “Collapse.” They went 13–18 and finished 3 games behind the red hot Detroit Tigers. The 2013 White Sox were returning almost the exact same roster as before but a little wiser and more experienced. But within that off-season, the baseball version of the MonStars must have stolen much of the White Sox talent. They forgot how to play defense, how to hit, and seemed to give up as soon as they were down more than 1 run. But GM Rick Hahn re-tooled the team and brought in young talent via trades such as outfielder Adam Eaton, a fiery leadoff hitter, something they truly were without last year, who bounces around like a pinball in the outfield. They won a bidding war and signed Cuban slugger Jose Abreu who was a living legend his last few seasons across the water. An algorithm, that I could never imagine explaining, took Abreu’s Cuban league numbers and forecasted what they would have looked like in the MLB. They were nothing short of Hall of Fame type numbers, rivaling and surpassing Miguel Cabrera. I could go on and on about Abreu, but instead I’ll direct you to this piece written in 2012 by Grantland writer Jonah Keri which delves into his monstrous numbers and predicts what his transition could look like to Major League Baseball. Through 21 games so far, he’s hitting .259 with 6 home runs, 19 RBIs, and a 0.6 WAR (positive after 20 games!)
As a team the Sox have had an up and down season so far, surprising with more ups than downs! They have a pretty rag tag group of pitchers behind ace Chris Sale which won’t help them as the season goes on. An early season shoulder injury to their other young power hitting superstar in the making, Avisail Garica, puts a damper on seeing this young hitting core coming together during a rebuilding season. But I’ve been to two games already this season and will be going to MANY more in 2014 because this team is fun to watch. They can hit, play defense, and no matter how many runs they are down you know they aren’t going to give up. I don’t expect the playoffs this season, nonetheless, I will enjoy every minute of watching the White Sox take the field every day.
Chicago Bears
Last but certainly not least would be the Chicago Bears. The Bears last season were not my father’s Chicago Bears…heck, they weren’t MY Chicago Bears. Chicago Bears football has always been synonymous with a tough; grind it out, defense and an offense that could get the job done. The last season though saw a dramatic change. With an offensive minded head coach in Marc Trestman and General Manager Phil Emory dedicated to retooling the offense, the Bears were 5thin passing yards, 16thin rushing, and 8thoverall in total offense. This is thanks to Jay Cutler having a consistent offensive line (thank you rookies Jake Long and Jordan Webb), Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery competing for the Scariest Wide Receiver Duo in the NFL award, Matt Forte keeping his reputation as one of the best all purpose backs, and colorful tight end Martellus Bennett adding another threat in the end zone while also throwing some vicious blocks for his teammates. But for all this offensive fire power, the Bears lacked a defense. They were old, slow, and plagued with the injury bug. But this off-season Emory made it his goal to retool the defense like he retooled the offense, after signing Cutler to a 7 year, $126 million dollar contract of course. He resigned Pro Bowl cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman to one last contracts in the hopes of returning healthy and continuing to be a play-making machine. They signed Defensive Linemen Lamarr Houston and Willie Young, two players with a lot of promise. They signed Safety’s Ryan Mundy and M.D. Jennings.
But the biggest move on the Defensive Side of the ball was bringing in future Hall of Famer Jared Allen. In a move that almost no one saw coming (most figured he’d sign with the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks), Allen came in to be the leader on and off the field for the Bear’s defense. Is he the same player he was 5 years ago? No. But he’s still got a lot left in him and will be a threat that the Bears just didn’t have last year. With the NFL Draft coming up, I’m sure that there will be a heavy focus on bringing in defensive backs and adding some more young blood to the defensive line, maybe even a quarterback that can learn behind the tutelage of Cutler and Trestman. I don’t know what this next season has in store for the Bears. Cutler won’t have to learn a whole new playbook this off-season. The offensive core spent their winter in Florida working out together, getting ready to put up better numbers than last. The defense on paper is a huge upgrade from where they were at the end of last year, as long as they stay healthy. The NFC North Title is definitely within reach and who am I to say that that is as far as they will go? Super Bowl or Bust.
