ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

Not enough time to export all of them --

But check this one out of Rowand.

GO SOX.

Ok Sox fans - the time has come to really celebrate. The fine Mayor of the great City of Chicago is throwing a ticker tape parade for our beloved White Sox. Find the info here.

Plan on being on LaSalle Street by at least 11:30 (even that might be too late) to get a spot and see this awesome event. The rally will begin at LaSalle and Wacker at 12:30. I'll be down there with a small group of friends (half the city) and a camera. I'll get pictures posted up as soon as I get back from all the partying. I think a lot of people are going to have a case of the Friday Flu....

Check out the parade route - wear something warm -- and bring your Sox Pride. GO SOX!

This has to go down as one of the most interesting World Series sweeps ever. I  know it was more entertaining than last year's debacle when my wife's Cardinals got smoked by the Red Sox. I was happy for the Red Sox, to be sure, but that series didn't have the nail biting endings and the long and tiring extra inning finishes. No, I think this Series sweep was better. I never imagined the White Sox would win the Series this year. Predicting a World Series sweep would have been punching a ticket for the loony bin. Take a look back at my season opener post. I was cautiously optimistic back then. I'm ecstatic now.

I rode the train into the Loop this morning sporting my lucky White Sox hat. Your average hat becomes lucky when the team goes undefeated since you started wearing it. The majority of my fellow commuters are Cubs fans. You can tell. It is the North Suburbs. Most aren't reading today's papers. Those that are reading the paper are following the words with eyes that look a shade of green. I wonder what most Cubs fans are thinking. No matter. The city is thinking it has been a long time since we could celebrate a baseball championship. The pride of Bridgeport, center of the Sox universe, partied like there was no tomorrow. From the looks of the empty seats on this train, it would seem Bridgeport is the center of the city and the suburbs this morning. Sox fans have many reasons to celebrate.

This week marks the 2nd year anniversary of ChicagoSplogs.com. I started this site as a place to write down some of my water-cooler conversations about Chicago, and sports in general. It started off being a White Sox only blog, and eventually moved to cover the Bears, Bulls, Hawks, and finally the Cubs. I've been lucky to generate a decent amount of interest and traffic over these past 2 years. The title of my blog is “I Want To Win.” I picked that title because it was simple. I wasn't trying to be clever. My 3 readers know I'm not clever (right guys?!). The title and this blog have meant a great deal to me as the White Sox have charged through the season and now the playoffs. I have to say, that when I first started writing this stuff I did it in a vacuum. I never posted on other people's blogs. I never read other people's blogs. I stuck to newspapers. I stuck to Morrissey and Downey. I tried not to be influenced by any writers, because I wanted this site to represent my voice clearly. With that being said, I haven't been able to avoid White Sox Bloggers this post season. I am truly amazed at the talent and the passion these guys have. So I wanted to spread some link love and some thanks and congrats to the White Sox bloggers I read (almost) every day. Hopefully I make as good an impression on them, as they have on me. Especially as I get ready to fully launch this endeavor to our new home:ChicagoSportsBlogs.com.

So with that. Congrats to Cheat, Vince, and the guys at Winning Ugly

Champions wear Black, folks.

The news stations here in Chicago are reporting there is going to be a parade.....

I have been waiting since the '85 Bears Parade to go back to a parade downtown....

This is the greatest day of my life.

SOX WIN! SOX WIN! SOX WIN!

I couldn't be in Houston to watch the Sox sweep the Houston Astros tonight. Instead I was at the United Center with a couple thousand of my closest friends:

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL: THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Congrats to Jermaine Dye for being named the 2005 World Series MVP.

STRONG WORK JD.

Is anyone else dragging ass this morning? I know I am. The White Sox played in the longest World Series game in history last night. They outlasted the Houston Astros with a final score of 7-5. This game was great when it started. Oswalt was in total control. He had a 4-0 lead, and then it all fell apart. The White Sox got to Oswalt. We left the fifth inning with a 5-4 lead. I was stunned. So where the Astros. They didn't execute at the end, stranding something like the population of Montana on base for the rest of the game. They had many opportunities. In the bottom of the 9th El Duque comes in with a runner on third and gets us out of a jam. Juan Uribe makes not one, but two errors that could have cost us the game only to catch the final out in the wee hours of the morning. Finally, let's give it up for Geoff Blum. He took that 2-0 pitch out of the park, and with it, any hopes the Astros fans had of winning this game.

There are so many things I noticed during this game but with 2 hours of sleep and one more game to go, I'm going to have to cheat and just bullet them out: (or you can go to ESPN and read their version here)

1. Uribe's throwing error early in the game (the third inning , I believe) cost us 2 runs.

2. A lot of people have said that Phil Garner is managing like crap. He didn't bunt anyone over in this game. EVER. Even with 0 outs. He could have squeezed Taveras in, in the 9th....what the hell is he thinking? Oh, and he left Oswalt in for 50 pitches in the 5th. Nice work there Sparky.

3. Ozzie made mistakes too. (IMHO) I would have saved El Duque. I would have brought in Marte earlier or I would have left Cotts in for longer. I definetly wouldn't have brought in Hermie when he did (he blew the lead). Here is my thinking. I want to save El Duque in case the game does go deep. I also don't want to burn my pitchers out. So I stick with Cotts and keep Jenks out of the save opportunity because I don't want the kid to blow it and become Lidge. Then again, I would have never let Viscaino come in and he did a FINE job. Strong work Luis. (strong work to Marte too -- who got the win.) Finally, I wouldn't have double switched to get AJ out of the game in the 9th. Let me get this straight, we're going into the ninth and we're taking out AJ  who has called a great game, AND bringing in El Duque. Sheesh. That's crazy talk.

4. Uribe bobbled that grounder to end the game, and force Oz to bring in Buererhelherlhe (or how ever you spell Mark's last name) pronounced Berrrr-Lee

5. That WASN'T a homer.

6. Each team left 15 men on base.

7. The game ended so late, I didn't get a chance to buy my victory burgers. I settled for a bacon/egg croissant instead.

8. Garland pitched a great game. We forget he was pitching while being behind for half this game. He only walked 2 guys and struck out 4. They hit him pretty well early, but 2 of those runs weren't earned. (URIBE!?!?!)

9. Marte needs to find his control. He walked 2 guys. Remove this, and we win the game sooner.

10. JD had a good night. Remember that at-bat where he fought off something like 9 pitches? Patience at the plate is what scored those 5 runs in the fifth. JD led the way. If everyone else would have stuck to this plan, we would have scored more runs. Swinging at first pitch fastballs is better left to Carl Everett.

11. The Astros have a reason to complain about the roof being open. Bud shouldn't be telling people what to do with their ballpark. The taxpayers paid for that ballpark. If they want it closed, close it. Somehow, I think all that nonsense was yet another distraction for this Astros team. A distraction they didn't need with their best pitcher on the mound. Close the roof tonight. I want to make sure we win in every scenario we're put in. We have so far. Go ahead. Close it.

I think I'm heading to the UC to celebrate this win tonight. Anyone else?

Can someone explain to me why Bug Selig feels it necessary to piss of the entire state of Texas?

Sheesh....

There are a number of jokes that are being overused in the city of Chicago. Most of them revolve around baseball scores, Bears games, and how the two are synonymous. The Bears played error free, sterile football on a nasty, rainy, and muddy Soldier Field yesterday. They won (Bears recap!) the contest of inept offenses by the score of 10-9 and also won the debate on which defense is currently better. It's safe to say it's not the Ravens. The Ray-Ray led Ravens defense only mistake against the Bears was to let rookie QB Kyle Orton actually throw a touchdown pass. They also failed to intercept anything from the kid. Take a look at the box scores here. Do you see anything there that jumps out at you? I argue, no. Sure the defensive numbers are spectacular. Take the number of sacks. The Bears got to the quarterback often. We sacked Wright 4 times. I love watching the defense play. They can grind it out with the best of them, but I am asking if that is enough. I don't believe it is. Where are our turnovers? It was a sloppy rainy day and I didn't see a single fumble. Sometimes, what the offense needs is a boost from the defense to get going. Unlike my partner in crime, I don't believe that this offense is good enough. Good Enough for what? Good enough to win the division. You've got to be able to score some points.

I've been behind on my Bears coverage of late, thanks to the mighty White Sox, but I continue our great breakdown tradition. Here we go:

• Offense -- Orton had decent numbers. Decent because he threw for a touchdown and didn't make any mistakes. Not turning over the ball is critical to the Bears success. Especially since the only chapter Ron Turner reads from the playbook is titled: “Mistake-Free Plays, aka Cut to Commercial for Excitement“. Thomas Jones is having an amazing year. He didn't get into the end zone, but he rushed for over 100 yards again. I hope his knee is OK. Cedric got his 2 carries, so he should be happy too. I expect Muhammad to start chirping about the fact TE Desmond Clark caught 1 more pass than he did in this game. Muhammad is a world class receiver stuck on a high school football team. He's not going to be happy unless he gets some more TDs. Kyle should make note of that.
• Defense -- The defense was impressive under some horrible playing conditions. They stayed on top of the Ravens offense all game long. They didn't give up any huge plays, and once again refused to let the opposing team score inside the red-zone. (touchdowns, that is). I'd give the strong-work award to Tank Johnson with 2 sacks. How can you not love a guy named Tank? Get him more time, he's for real Chico!
• Special Teams -- The rookie kicker out of Penn State, Robbie Gould was 1 for 2. Not bad in the craptacular wind and weather at Soldier Field. Like fine wine, I expect him to get better with age. For the second year running, Brad Maynard is going to be this team's MVP. His ability to pin offenses back on kicks is great. He gets so much time on the field that he could be mistaken for a ref. Every time I look up, Maynard is in there doing his thing. Lastly, our coverage was pretty good. We didn't let anyone out-run the coverage, and thus, no one scored! It probably would have been the best chance for the Ravens to score a touchdown, so kudos to the Special Teamers.
• Coaching -- This is an easy week to talk about coaching. There wasn't much of it being done. I can't fault the “take what they give you“ - type play calling but enough already with the dinks and dunks. I love watching Thomas Jones run, but can we work on some quick outs that go a little deeper than 2 yards? I'd like to see the Bears move to a no-huddle offense to get the game moving. We need to convert on 3rd down more and I think mistake free football is great when you have a lead. I want to see them take some chances. No huddle offense would give us a chance to wake these guys up. Maybe we should let loose a bit and let Orton audible a bit. Remember, at Purdue -- that's all they did. The kid can do it. Especially when he has a great back behind him like Thomas Jones. I implore Lovie to find a way to switch things up. The only good thing I have seen from the coaching staff this year is they realized we have a tight end. Let's do something different, because we have to go up to Detroit next Sunday, and I expect them to be ready to blast us after defeating them in Game 2 at Chicago.
  

That's it kids! Bears are in first place, and the Pale Hose are on their way!

It's 2-2 and men on the corners. Taveras did a job on us with an infield hit that earned him a single, while also moving the runner on 2nd base to third.

Berkman is up, count is 1-1.

(ed: I spelled his damn name wrong)

He just smashed it down the left field line. Damn it. Pods bobbled it in the outfield. Both runners score. The Astros are up 4-2. Damn it.

It's bottom of the 6th. JD just popped out. We are still down 4-2. We need something to happen. We had some massive base running errors in the previous inning which cost us another chance at scoring. Tad got caught (picked off) at first base. It's nasty out there with all that rain. They are going to probably stop this one till the rain breaks...Which leads me to my question -- do they call games in the World Series? It's really pouring.

Tim McCarver is a physicist. The 3-2 pitch that “hit“ JD actually didn't because the ball didn't “go down“. Give me a break. First pitch fastball to Paulie and the Sox are now up 6-4.

Welcome Cliff Politte into the game. He just struck out Bergman. 4 outs to go kids.

Note to Fox: LET GAME 2 of the ALCS DIE ALREADY.

Bobby Jenks just blew the 2 run lead we had. Surprise, surprise. 6-6 and Cotts is coming in. This could be the first time Ozzie has made a mistake. How so? It might not have been a bad decision to bring in another righty like Hermie. I know he lost the job, but the kid did pitch yesterday. That damn walk was the first sign that we were in trouble....If Jenks walks someone -- they usually score on him. Damn it.

Pods just went yard. This is his second home run of the year. Both of which were in the postseason. You read that right Sox fans: We are 2-0. A walk off home run in the pouring rain against the NL's best closer Brad Lidge just got us that much closer to a championship. What is Brad Lidge thinking right now? I know what he's seeing everytime he comes to the mound -- A big Dominican MVP. That was Pods, not Albert. Phil Garner is not happy (I'm watching his post game comments as I write this) If there ever was a defeated manager -- this is the guy....he looks bad.

I can't believe we almost lost this game to a former Cub. Talk about Cub factor. Check it out old timers, it was Jose Vizcaino who took this win away from us, if but for a brief moment. I am going to leave you now with the words of the grand wizard of baseball commentary. The Vice President of Baseball Color-Guys, Timmy! (three guesses who the Pres is)

“How do these things happen” -- Tim McCarver

GO SOX.

Riding the Red Line isn't so bad. Especially, if it's packed with White Sox fans returning home after a great 5-3 win over the Astros. Did I mention it was game 1 of the World Series? That game was amazing. I took about 200 pictures. Scoreboards, fans holding signs, players getting struck out. It was an amazing night. It was a cold night. I thought it was a perfect night for fireworks:

So let's review a few things that I noticed as I was screaming at the top of my lungs:

1. Joe Crede is the man. His glove saved a few runs, and his solo home run was clutch.

2. Tad had a bad game. 0-5. He needs to snap out of it.

3. Guillen has courage. He took Cotts out after he successfully retired the 2 batters he faced. I would have left him in. It's not like he was playing the match up. Cotts faced a righty in his inning.

4. I will never question Bobby Jenks again. Let me be clear, I still get shaky when he comes in, but I need to do something opposing batters do: respect the heater.

5. Taveras is the man. 2 doubles off of our pitching. Watch him.

6. Carl made a base running error (according to the guys in the postgame) when he was stuck watching the fielders choice that he eventually scored off of. If you score, how did you make a mistake?

7. The bullpen wasn't shaky at all. Kudos to Cooper for keeping the boys in the pen warm, and game ready. Even after sitting for 15, and 11 games respectively.

That's it. I have a ton more to write, but Game 2 just started....

Go Sox

Well, well, well! Guess who got a ticket to the World Series. That's right, your least favorite Chicago Sports Blogger! I was lucky enough to get a phone call yesterday from a family member who has an extra ticket. I'm excited to fulfill one of my childhood dreams. I don't have much time since the city has put up a security bubble the size of Schaumburg around the South Side. So here comes my prediction:

White Sox in 6. And here is why:

Tonight, I expect Contreras to pitch extremely well. This means not giving up more that 3 runs. I think that the cold, wet weather is either going to cause him to throw the nastiest forkball you have ever seen, or he will be wild. What a range right? Regardless, I think the Sox jump out to an early lead and we see Contreras work at least 6 innings. Sox win this game 5-3. (And yes, we will see the bullpen finally)

I've got my ditigal camera ready to go, so I hope to get pictures up as soon as I sober up from all the festivities. Sorry for skipping out on the deep analisys -- but this is the World Series. I've never been to a World Series, and I am way to excited....I'll be more profound tomorrow. I promise.

GO SOX

I'm sorry to see the Cards bow out of a great playoff race -- but I want to take a second to welcome the Astros to Chicago.

Tomorrow morning you'll read about the traditional bet from each cities respective Mayor. My advice to Mayor Daley is to trade some of those deep dish pizzas for some barrels of oil.

I'll have a prediction and a break down of this series sometime tomorrow. (I know, you can't wait)

GO SOX!

I was going to stay away from commenting on the ever annoying, never ending debate on why no one loves the White Sox. Specifically, why Cubs fans can't let it go and be happy for the Pale Hose. Honestly, I am a born and raised North-sider. I grew up a Cub fan. Like most kids in this town, I learned to wear Cubbie Blue from my father. I switched to being a Sox fan when I was old enough to understand that losing isn't lovable. Sure, the White Sox didn't win anything more than the Cubs as far as pennants or titles but they did win more overall. Besides, the Sox were an amazing team. At least that's what my 13 year old brain remembers. I rooted for the 1983 White Sox against the Orioles. I also rooted for the 1984 Cubs. Many people say I'm a crap fan for that. Really? I didn't know I had to wear a shirt that said “100% real White Sox fan. Not From Concentrate.“ to prove my devotion to the Pale Hose.

That's the problem. The late 20 and early 30 year olds like myself are the ones doing all the jabbering. The sports writers know this, and continue to feed us with articles about how Cubs fans won't root for the White Sox. They'd rather root for the two teams that plaster them during the regular season. (Stop crying Cub fans, I know you kicked the tar out of the Cardinals this year)  Every Sox celebration on TV inevitably found a die-hard Sox fan at his local, drunk as hell, ranting about how awesome this series against the Angels was, and oh by the way - “Cubs Suck“. Ugh.

Follow me on this:

We know how long the drought has been. Instead of talking about how amazing it is that a team from this great city has made the big show, we're stuck reading articles about how this is a Bears town. OK Ed, I get it. The Superbowl was bigger. I have no problem with that, but can you stop it for a minute? Can we find something else to debate? Speculating that the Cubs winning the Series is the only thing that could ever possibly leapfrog Da Bears of 1985 is doing nothing for the current championship team you're lucky enough to be writing about. Do you want to go back to writing about a Bulls team that couldn't beat William and Mary? Perhaps you'd prefer writing about the current Bears team that leads the worst division I have ever seen in the NFL? I didn't think so. Writing about winners is much more fun.

Let's finish this up. Sox fans, we're in the Series. The Cubs aren't in the series. They know this already. You don't need to remind them. If you need to know how to act, follow Ozzie's lead. Ozzie was quoted in saying that the Sox represent all of Chicago. Not just the South-side. Cub fans, I'm happy as hell that we made it to the series, and it's not because we got there before you. It's because we beat last year's world champs, and then went on the road and beat the Angels in 3 straight games. I didn't think we could do that. I'm ecstatic. Nothing you can do or say about my team, the South Side, the drunken fans, the ballpark, the fact you have bars and restaurants around your park, and true ivy growing on the walls is going to bring me down. I'm sorry little Johnny gave you the finger when you were 11 years old and crying because the Padres (damn I hate them) crushed your adolescent dreams. I'm sorry little Johnny was wearing a Sox cap when he did that. Hopefully little Johnny has grown up, and if he hasn't, maybe winning the Series will help him do that.

I'm not taking pot shots at my Cub brethren. I'm not the drunk Sox fan in the back of section 112 screaming “Cubs Suck” in hopes that the rest of the crowd around me chants it during game 1 against Boston. I'm the Sox fan that looked back at that idiot and reminded him this is the ALDS, and that's the Red Sox out there. Not the Cubs.

Thank God the guys who actually play the game don't need to beat both the ghosts of Cubbies past, present, future, and whomever is on the field. I think it might force Ozzie to actually go to the bullpen.

GO-SOX!

I've heard a lot of comments that more than half of the City of Chicago doesn't care that the Sox are in the series. I have also heard nonsense like the buzz was bigger when the Cubs were heading to the series 2 years ago.

I think that's all bull. Look at the trend line on the White Sox from BlogPulse....You decide what our buzz is like.

This would have been pretty embarrassing. I was just about to hit the submit button on my post welcoming the Astros to Chicago. I even grabbed a nice Astros banner and everything. Holy Mother of Sundays in Jamaica am I glad I didn't make that post! Albert Pujols (pronounced: THE MAN) crushed an 0-1 pitch, a slider to be exact, all the way to Dallas. It was Joe Crede-esque. It put the Cardinals up 5-4 after being down 4-2. Carpenter gave up a 3 run homer in the 7th to Bergman which effectively crushed my wife's spirits and destroyed any chance of her making me an ice cream sundae. Great. The wife is pissed off and I'm still on cloud nine because my team held up its end of the bargain last night against the Angels.

The White Sox are sitting at home smiling tonight after watching Pujols crush the spirits and the dreams of a packed Astrodome v2.0 crowd. Now that's why it ain't over till the fat lady sings! This series is going to go 7 and I fully expect the Cardinals to be on the winning side. The story would be great. Ozzie gets to manage against his old manager, Tony Larusa. The passion is very similar, but the styles are very different. Ozzie isn't going to the bullpen until next year, and Tony loves do trot out fresh arms every other inning if necessary. Now all St. Louis has to do is finish it. The Astros are sending Oswalt to the mound tomorrow and Clemens in game 7. The odds are seriously against them...if it weren't for the fact that they are heading back to St. Louis.

In case you forgot, you have this man to thank tonight:

update: I shrank that image down a tad -- it was busting up IE