Rajon Rondo, who was unable to dress for Game 3 against the Boston Celtics, made his presence felt from the sidelines…
Bulls fans should hope that Rondo not only can return for this series, but that he isn’t disciplined by the NBA for this. Funny, sure, stupid, yes.
Jason Heyward is still hitting rockets three weeks into the 2017 season and all Chicago Cubs fans should be loving it. We didn’t see a lot of good results with his new swing during spring training, but there’s been a notable difference since the season opener against the St. Louis Cardinals. On Friday, Heyward blasted his first home run of the season, smashing a bomb more than 430 feet against the Cincinnati Reds.
Heyward unloaded on this ball.
Jason Heyward BOMB pic.twitter.com/ipPGyzUHFc
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) April 22, 2017
If he keeps this up all year, good luck NL.
What will the final Chicago Bears 2017 record be? At the end of the day this is the piece of information fans want most. Of course they won’t know it for sure until the clock strikes a new year on January 1st of 2018. That will be a day after the Bears play their 16th and final game of the regular season according to the latest release of the new NFL schedule.
On paper it certainly looks daunting. Three of their first four games will be against playoff teams including the NFC champion Atlanta Falcons and on the road against the Packers. For a young team that just went 3-13, it’s hard not to feel like schedule makers had their middle fingers extended towards Chicago when they completed this.
Then again, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. Sooner or later the Bears will have to beat other good teams if they want to win a championship. So what do people expect from Chicago now that their schedule is known?
Not much. In fact the national experts seem almost uniform in their solidarity for exactly how poor the Bears will be.
“The good news: The Bears host fellow bottom-feeders Cleveland and San Francisco. The bad news: Chicago’s current roster doesn’t look whole lot better than last year’s when the Bears finished 3-13. And their 2017 schedule is not easy. The Bears open against the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons, followed by tough games against Tampa, Pittsburgh and Green Bay.”
“The 2017 NFL schedule doesn’t do the Chicago Bears many favors.
Overall, though, being fortunate enough to clash with the AFC North gets evened out by needing to deal with the NFC South, a division littered with high-flying offenses sure to test the Bears defensively. Six NFC North games muddy the outlook as well, depending on how the teams reload.”
“Now that the official schedule has been set for the Chicago Bears, it is time to look ahead to the 2017 season. The Bears will travel a little over 8,300 miles during the 2017 regular season. Their longest trip will be 2,014 miles round-trip to Tampa Bay and their shortest non-divisional trip will be a 504 mile round-trip to Cincinnati.”
“The Bears were hoping for a quick turnaround in the second year under coach John Fox and that didn’t happen. The opening month of Year 3 looks like it will be difficult and the Bears could be underdogs in all four games. There might not be anything quick about this turnaround project.”
In other words the Bears will revert back to the level they were at when GM Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox first took over in 2015. Not exactly the circular path this team was hoping to take. Team chairman George McCaskey said he’d be patient with this rebuilding project but it’s hard to see him staying that way after a third-straight losing season. Will Pace and Fox be able to keep their jobs one more year?
Color us skeptical. As for those asking what Sports Mockery predicts for 2017, worry not. That will be coming by the end of the month shortly after the NFL draft. That will be when the full roster has taken shape and it will be much easier to make such predictions. Until then people will have to settle for these understandable if pessimistic expectations.
The newest installment of the ‘Bryzzo’ ads was released today and gave us a good idea of what David Ross has been doing since he retired from the Cubs last season. In addition to tearing up the dance floor in “Dancing With The Stars”, Ross has also taken on the role of intern with the Bryzzo Souvenir Company.
In my opinion, this is the best ‘Bryzzo’ ad that has been released because I find two young superstars busting a 39-year-old retired catcher’s balls for messing up their coffee order absolutely hysterical.
When Bryant asks Ross if he’s “really doing his best” is just icing on the cake for me.
Check it out.
.@D_Ross3 is trying to do his best as a #BRYZZO Souvenir Co. intern. #ThisSeason pic.twitter.com/COXdJq2bLy
— MLB (@MLB) April 21, 2017
When the MLB released their rankings of “most popular jerseys” for the 2016 season, I can’t sit here and act like I was surprised when I saw who was at the top. However, when I saw that the team landed four guys in the top ten list of best selling jerseys, I was a bit shocked.
Granted, the team was in the midst of winning their first World Series in over a century so every Cubs fan (even the bandwagoners) ran to their local stores to buy up any Cubs jersey they could get their hands on.
Hell, I bought two jerseys just during the postseason.
For the second straight season, Cubs superstar Kris Bryant is at the top of the list of best selling MLB jerseys. This doesn’t shock me because even the biggest Cubs-hating fan will tell you that Bryant seems like a pretty nice guy. Pair that with the fact Bryant or Rizzo are probably the only two Cubs players that your traditional bandwagon fans know, so it’s only logical that Bryant is number one and Rizzo is number two.
Here’s the full list.
Everybody wants a piece of the @Cubs.
Behold, @MLB’s most popular jerseys. https://t.co/543ksBzyV5 pic.twitter.com/JvNr5RyGSR
— MLB (@MLB) April 21, 2017
Strange that the White Sox don’t have any players in the top 20. I’m sure they’re still hanging on to the good ol’ Mark Buehrle jersey from 2005.
Sorry Sox fans, I had to get at least one dig in.
Considering how spoiled the city has been over the past few years with the Hawks’ run of Stanley Cup success and the Cubs winning the World Series, one had to think something like this was coming. As the saying goes, “You can’t enjoy the sunny days without some rainy days.” Still that doesn’t make this catastrophic defeat any less difficult to stomach.
Then again was it really that bad? The only way to answer that is by putting them up against other memorable teams that should’ve done so much better than they did. Yet for some reason or another they failed. The following is a power ranking that will encompass every single team in Chicago history. Are the Blackhawks the new kings?
Get ready for a surprise.
The Chicago Blackhawks’ 2017 postseason run ended on 4/20 and it’s safe to wonder whether we were all hallucinating when projecting this team for a deep Stanley Cup run.
With Thursday’s 4-1 defeat in a do-or-die Game 4, the Blackhawks proved they were probably more of a mirage than anything else. The question we have to ask now is what were we smoking?
The same Blackhawks that won the Western Conference comfortably and the same team that finished with the second-most points in franchise history looked like a team that couldn’t get out of its own way against a younger, hungrier Nashville Predators team.
Granted, Nashville was a sleeping giant, a preseason Cup favorite and a team that shouldn’t have been a wild-card team. But they were, and they dominated.
The Blackhawks looked like the old dogs, the type of team these very Hawks (albeit in different form) used to beat up on in past runs. When they beat up on Western Conference foes it was because they were the spry, swift and more talented team.
But the Hawks just aren’t that team anymore. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are 28. They aren’t old, but the mileage, age and past reliance from Joel Quenneville is adding up. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are 33 and 32, respectively, and these playoffs proved they are no longer the same players they once were.
General manager Stan Bowman elected to add seasoned experience on the blue line, but it never panned out and bit them hard against the fiery Preds. Brian Campbell and Johnny Oduya both flopped in their return seasons to The Windy City, thus proving again that nostalgia is sometimes the worst thing in sports.
The youngsters that instilled hope — Nick Schmaltz, Tanner Kero and Ryan Hartman — were clearly overcome by the postseason. Role players such as Richard Panik, Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin flopped incredibly and combined for 2 total points. A team that had six 20-goal scorers during the regular season mustered up three goals in four games.
A bad run? Yes. A hot team? Absolutely. Were the Hawks maybe not as good as we thought they were? Most likely.
So where do we go from here? Well, that’s the greatest question. Even if the Hawks didn’t get swept, there was probably little chance they had the defensive prowess to overcome the feisty Predators three more times. The Hawks were overmatched on the blue line, plain and simple. And that’s where Bowman needs to start next.
For starters, Michal Kempny and Gustav Forsling better start the season with the big league club and stay there. It’s fair to say you could’ve gotten similar production from Kempny as you would’ve Oduya, who was the equivalent of a traffic cone.
But maybe the Blackhawks need to try and say goodbye to one of its franchise defenders. That means a possible trade for Seabrook, and maybe even Keith. The only problem is both contracts are gigantic. Seabrook certainly isn’t worth the whopping $46 million he’s due over the next seven years. Keith might have more value, but still has six years on his deal.
Chicago also needs to hope this is the worst it’ll ever get collectively from Schmaltz, Kero and Hartman in the postseason going forward. If not, there could be greater problems at hand. The center depth was also exposed in the faceoff circle and finding a guy who can win an occasional draw besides Toews might be a wise investment.
But with cap constraints limiting Bowman per usual, the Blackhawks simply might not have any other choice but to add young talent and hope it comes to fruition quickly. If not, Chicago’s Stanley Cup championship window might be slamming shut.
The Chicago Bears 2017 NFL schedule may not be official yet, but it’s now public knowledge courtesy of Brad Biggs from the Chicago Tribune. First thing to be taken away from the entire slate. John Fox will either rescue his job or get fired in the first two months. The first eight games of the season for Chicago can be generously called “difficult.”
Or murderous. Depends on the point of view.
Still it’s hard not to feel a little cheated knowing the Bears will face three playoff teams in their first four games. That includes an opener at Soldier Field against the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons. From there into October it doesn’t relent with back-to-back games against top defenses in Minnesota and Baltimore before having to tangle with MVP quarterbacks Cam Newton and Drew Brees.
#Bears September schedule:
Sept 10 Falcons
Sept 17 at Bucs
Sept 24 Steelers
Sept 28 at Packers— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) April 20, 2017
#Bears October schedule:
Oct. 9 Vikings
Oct. 15 at Ravens
Oct. 22 Panthers
Oct. 29 at Saints— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) April 20, 2017
The Bears would be lucky to finish that run 4-4 given what is currently known about the team. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Four of their final eight games will be against teams that had losing records. This includes two of the worst in the NFL in the 49ers and Browns. They’ll also play both their games against the Detroit Lions, a team they proved capable of beating last year.
The tricky part is that four of their final six games will be on the road. It starts with a reunion with Alshon Jeffery in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving. Two weeks later it’s off to Cincinnati, then Detroit the week after that. The season will conclude on New Years Eve in Minnesota against the Vikings. A place they have struggled mightily to win for years.
#Bears November schedule:
Nov. 5 bye
Nov. 12 Packers
Nov. 19 Lions
Nov. 26 at Eagles— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) April 20, 2017
#Bears December schedule:
Dec. 3 49ers
Dec. 10 at Bengals
Dec. 16 at Lions
Dec. 24 Browns
Dec. 31 at VikingsThere it is. The full slate.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) April 20, 2017
At the end of the day every schedule is difficult in the NFL. The Bears supposedly had the second-easiest in 2016 and they went 3-13 anyway. These are their games. Nothing will change that. If they want to prove that they are a team ready to compete in the big picture, then they’ll have to prove it.
I started writing for Sports Mockery a little over a year ago and had no idea what to expect. I don’t have a journalism degree from some prestigious school and prior to Sports Mockery, I had zero writing experience.
The owners took a chance on me, because despite the fact I’m not formally trained in sports writing, there are very few things that I’m more passionate about then Chicago sports. And since SM is a site “for the fan, by the fan”, it was a match made in heaven (plus I’d like to think I know a thing or two about sports and am not your traditional “meatball” fan).
However, I’m a tad different then the traditional Chicago sports fan because I was born and raised in the great state of Iowa. People always ask me why I’m so obsessed with Chicago sports since I’m from Iowa and the answer is actually quite simple.
We don’t have any professional sports teams to cheer for in Iowa.
So, since Chicago is only about two hours from my hometown, the Chicago teams were the ones that I grew up following.
Scratch that — obsessively following.
I was three-years-old when the Bears won Super Bowl XX in 1986 and although I don’t remember watching the game, I was raised to believe that the best running back in NFL history was Walter Payton and there was no other defense besides that of the ’85 Bears. My first year living in Chicago was the same year the Bears made it to the Superbowl before being beat by the Indianapolis Colts (f*cking Rex Grossman.)
I was a pre-teen during the first of the Bulls three-peats and vividly remember watching all the championship celebrations at Grant Park. Watching Michael Jordan in his prime is something I didn’t appreciate at the time, but looking at the current state of the NBA, I wish this generation of kids today could watch Mike play to see what real basketball looks like (not the “pussified version they know.)
I was only in Chicago four years before the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010. Full disclosure — I never grew up watching hockey in Iowa. We didn’t play it, watch it, or care about it so when I got to Chicago in 2006, Blackhawks hockey was something new to me. Little did I know that the same year I moved to Chicago, the Blackhawks would draft their future captain, Jonathan Toews and by 2010, they were a well-oiled machine. The 2010 team solidified my love for the Blackhawks… and I haven’t stopped watching since.
So, when I was hired by Sports Mockery on March 31, 2016, I started writing about as many different things as I could. I dabbled in the Bears, touched on the Blackhawks and even wrote a few things on the Bulls.
I quickly realized that although I love all of those teams, my strength was writing about the Chicago team that I’m most passionate about — the Chicago Cubs.
My Grandpa Gus is the reason why I love the Cubs more than most human beings love anything.
He would watch every game religiously and since he lived right down the street from me, I’d walk to his house and watch the games with him. He’d give me his “unofficial” scouting report on every player and for the early part of my life I thought the Cubs shortstop was named “Goddamn Shawon Dunston.”
The 1989 Cubs were the first team I remember religiously following so when they lost the 1989 NLCS to the San Francisco Giants, my relationship with the Cubs was fully forged. To this day, I STILL hate Will Clark for what he did to my ’89 Cubs.
Seriously, I do.
From the age of 5 to 18, my Dad and I would drive into Chicago one time each summer and watch a Cubs game. I’ll never forget the two and half hour drive from Iowa to Wrigley Field and how excited I would get when I started to see “tall buildings” coming in off I-88. Once I got to Wrigley for the first time, I fell in love.
If you’re not a Cubs fan, it’s hard to explain the level of love that most fans have for the team. They’re generational in a sense and you become so invested in them that when things go wrong, you literally get emotional about it.
To this day, I still can’t watch what happens after Steve Bartman touches the ball in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS. I know Alex Gonzalez boots a sure fire double-play ball and the floodgates opened for the Marlins after that, but I physically can’t sit down to watch the end of that game.
Hell, I still struggle watching Rajai Davis hit that home run even knowing the Cubs would comeback and win an unforgettable Game 7 of the World Series.
My Grandpa didn’t warn me about things like this. He shared the countless tales of the team and always reassured me that one day they’d win it but never warned me that the team would become a part of me. He’s the reason why I tattooed them on my body, spent thousands of dollars to watch them play, and collected every single piece of Cubs memorabilia that I could get my hands on.
Memorabilia that now hangs on the walls of my basement…
CONTINUE TO SEE MY MECCA OF CHICAGO SPORTS
It seems that when a video goes viral it’s usually something bad, or embarrassing for the people involved. You know, like when you’re at Wrigley Field and flash everyone around you. However, this is one those viral videos that will bring a smile to your face and actually have hope for humanity.
A young Cubs fan from Indiana was surprised with tickets from his dad, who rewarded his son for working hard on the farm and in school. The reaction is amazing. Pure joy.
Kolt has never been to Wrigley Field, now he’s going to a Cubs-Cardinals game with his dad.
This got even better. Instantly viral. The video popped up everywhere from CNN, CBS, SI, to local TV stations and even ESPN.
Kolt made it on @espn ! Such a proud big sister ❤️🐻💙 pic.twitter.com/o6QP6PInTN
— Hannah Himes (@HannahHimes) April 18, 2017
Hannah, Kolt’s sister, posted the video on Twitter, which led to some interaction with the Cubs Twitter account.
@HannahHimes How are you enjoying your new career as your brother's PR Agent? pic.twitter.com/h5gfkMO2RX
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 19, 2017
Trying my best. Working with the next #bryzzo 😆 pic.twitter.com/vqr9mLUsMc
— Hannah Himes (@HannahHimes) April 19, 2017
Do this one next! pic.twitter.com/dl8zo91UKZ
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 19, 2017
— Hannah Himes (@HannahHimes) April 19, 2017
All right, so that’s cool. Everyone in the family is getting some shine. Yet, it got even better. A few Cubs players watched the video and now Kolt is not only going to his first game at Wrigley Field, he’s going to meet some World Series champions and be on the field too.
This is awesome. When u come for the game Kolt I'll have BP passes waiting for you. No better place to see the @Cubs then right on the field https://t.co/P7Ma2p4MUh
— Anthony Rizzo (@ARizzo44) April 20, 2017
Can't wait to see you Kolt! https://t.co/86rcxatYub
— Kris Bryant (@KrisBryant_23) April 19, 2017
Even David Ross wants to meet Kolt.
I need to meet this guy!!!! https://t.co/L0wpbLYrTE
— David Ross (@D_Ross3) April 20, 2017
What a week for Kolt. Shoutout to his dad. Awesome story. Easy lesson here, hard work does pay off.
But wait, there’s more!
Hey Kolt, I know you guys have tickets but how about you and your dad sit in my personal seats when ya'll come to Wrigley?
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) April 20, 2017
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