Month: January 2006

Don’t Know Hoosier Daddy

On By Frank the TankIn Big Ten, College Basketball, Sports1 Comment

I hate the Hoosiers as much as any team in sports, but there are two important points to think positively about after the Illini’s 64-62 loss at Indiana:

1) No One Can Win Big Ten Road Games That Matter – The Big Ten, year-in and year-out, is the toughest conference in the country partly because every school has an on-campus arena that’s packed on a nightly basis.  Even though the conference has one less member than the ACC, Big 12, and SEC along with four fewer members than the Big East, the Big Ten has led the nation in men’s basketball attendance for 29 straight seasons.  As a result, every team in the Big Ten has struggled on the road.  Illinois has lost at Indiana and Iowa, Michigan State has lost at Illinois and Wisconsin, and Indiana has lost at Michigan State.  Wisconsin sits atop the conference at 4-0 right now, but the Badgers’ only Big Ten road game so far has been a 2-point squeaker past Minnesota (a Gopher team, by the way, that got pummeled at home by Northwestern).  I foresee a more negative outcome for Wisky against Ohio State tonight in Columbus.  The point is that if last night’s game was played in the Assembly Hall in Champaign rather than the Assembly Hall in Bloomington, the Illini would have probably won by 2 points instead of losing by 2 points.  It’s not great that Illinois hasn’t been able to do well on the road, but at least everyone else in the Big Ten is in the same boat.

2) My Schedule is Free for the Rest of the Season – Illini Nation can blame me for the loss.  I was at a work function last night, so I wasn’t able to watch the game.  I’ve missed only two games this season: the Iowa game and yesterday’s Indiana game.  Those happen to be the only two games Illinois has lost this season.  There’s no way that this is a coincidence.  Luckily, there’s also absolutely no way that I’m missing another game for the rest of the year, so we should be fine.

Land-o-Links – 1/16/2006

On By Frank the TankIn Land-o-Links, Random Thoughts3 Comments

If you need to take your mind off the Bears loss like me, here are some links for the day:

1) Rating (and Finding) the Movie Raters – I guess I’m not the only person who believes that the MPAA ratings for films are completely inconsistent.  It also seems that the ratings board is shrouded in as much secrecy as Opus Dei.

2) Mo’ Marion Barry – Who’s more sad: the politicians we send to Washington D.C. or the people who are actually from the city that keep on voting this guy into office?

3) $1 Million Parking Space – I know people will do a lot of crazy things to grab a prime Loop parking space, but this is a little bit over the top.

4) The Smoking Gun’s 2005 Mug Shots of the Year (submitted by Matt) – From the famous to the ridiculous, take a moment to look at all of these because you can’t possibly waste time in a better fashion than this.

Bears Defense is Gross, Man

On By Frank the TankIn Big Ten, Chicago Bears, College Basketball, Illinois Fighting Illini, NFL Football, SportsLeave a comment

No Super Bears Super Bowl this season.  The rock of the Bears, the defensive unit, completely failed the team in yesterday’s 29-21 loss to the Carolina Panthers.  It was tough to watch Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith carve up the NFL’s best defense in front of a rabid crowd in Solider Field.  The Bears defensive frontline couldn’t get any pressure on Delhomme whatsoever, which allowed Steve Smith and the Carolina receiving corps get open against our secondary.

I was actually impressed with the Bears offense during the second half of the game.  Rex Grossman struggled for much of the first half, but it seemed like everything started clicking on the Bears’ last drive in the second quarter that resulted in a touchdown.  It would have been nice if the Bears were able to use the running game a little bit more, but I have no qualms about the use of the pass if we’re able to score 21 points.  When we beat Carolina back in November, we were only able to score 13 points using the Kyle Orton management system.

In a chilling twist of fate, Bears fans have the defense to blame for a loss rather than the lack of offense.  21 points should have been plenty for this defense to pull out a victory.  However, the Bears could not get a single key stop.  They were awful at cracking down on the Panthers on third down.  They were awful in terms of getting to the quarterback.  They were awful in covering Steve Smith and the other Panther receivers (I said on Friday stopping Smith wasn’t as important as halting DeShaun Foster, which goes to show you that I’m an idiot).  They were awful in stopping the Carolina running game when it mattered.  Charles “Peanut” Tillman will get a lot of flack for the times he got burned by Steve Smith yesterday, but the entire defensive unit is to blame for the Bears getting eliminated.  The way Carolina converted seemingly every crucial third down play into a first down was pathetic.

This is sad because the NFC was for the Bears’ taking this season.  I doubt they would have done anything against any of the AFC playoff teams in a hypothetical Super Bowl matchup, yet the Panthers and Seahawks were certainly beatable on the NFC side of the bracket.  So, we’ll just have to hope that the Bears continue the upward trajectory next year.  Unlike the 2001 Bears playoff team that was loaded with veterans and subsequently fell off the table in 2002, the current Bears are young and are in better position to string together several winning seasons.  There are a number of changes that we need to make (believe me, I’ll be putting up my thoughts on how the Bears should attack this offseason very soon), but I feel okay about heading into next year.  It certainly helps that all three of the Bears’ NFC North competitors will have new coaches and rebuilding next season, so we’ll at least be the favorite in the division in the short term.

Of course, division championships don’t mean that much to us Bears fans.  We want another Super Bowl victory, and the only way that’s going to happen is if we get great production from both sides of the ball.  It’s unfortunate that yesterday, the defense that we thought we could count on didn’t leave up to its end of the bargain.

Other Weekend Sports Tidbits

Not only did the Bears lose, but I also picked every NFL playoff game incorrectly this weekend.  I’m not sure why I usually put together great fantasy football teams yet this NFL season has been terrible on the prognostication front (in contrast to my mad college football picking skillz).  This is disconcerting since I probably watch more pro football than any other sport – more evidence that I’m an idiot.  The past weekend was a rare instance where I would have done better against the spread (I thought the Steelers would beat the spread but lose straight up).  Anyway, here’s the weekend in review:

1) The Bus With No Brakes – At least the Steelers-Colts game prior to the Bears tilt on Sunday was incredible.  Bill Cowher deserves a lot of credit for letting Ben Roethlisberger loose from the get go.  Everyone was anticipating Pittsburgh to use their standard pound-the-ground attack, but Big Ben came out firing passes to Heinz Ward and Antwaan Randle-El in the first quarter.  Meanwhile, the Steelers defense was able to hold the Colts all-world offense completely down for the first half, which no one has been able to do at all this year.  The rust on Peyton Manning and the rest of the Indianapolis team certainly showed in this game.  By the time the Colts charged back in the fourth quarter (with some big-time help from the officials), it was almost too late.  But then, Jerome “The Bus” Bettis, while trying to run out the clock for the Steelers, fumbled the ball back to Indy in what could have been a sports blunder on par with Bill Buckner if not for a game saving tackle by Big Ben.  The Colts got into position for a certain Mike Vanderjagt field goal to take the game to overtime, but the “idiot kicker” pushed the ball way wide right to instead give us a Scott Norwood-type moment.  A ridiculous finish to an incredible game!  As I said on Friday, I was torn on this game and thought that everyone underestimated the Steelers, but I still believed Indianapolis would pull it out in the end.  Instead, Pittsburgh became the first #6 seed to beat a #1 seed in the NFL playoffs and Peyton Manning is going to continue to get whispers behind his back on how he can’t win the big one.

2) Plummer Pummels Patriots – Well, I was right about not believing the Colts would make the Super Bowl, but I’ll eat crow for saying about 15 times over the past month that the Patriots would be the AFC champions.  I honestly can’t believe how many mistakes the Patriots made (few NFL teams can overcome 5 turnovers).  It’s doubly unfathomable to me that Jake Plummer, looking like a cross between Jesus and the Unabomber with that haircut and beard, didn’t melt down with the exception of one interception.  The sheer field position that was handed over to the Broncos by the Patriots – New England had nearly 140 more total yards than Denver but lost by two touchdowns – cemented the deal here.  I really feel this game was a fluke on par with a low-seeded mid-major upsetting a power program in the NCAA Tournament; if this game were played ten times, I’m positive the Patriots would win nine of those times.  Alas, this was the one instance where Denver got the benefit of all the bounces.  This makes me believe the Broncos are getting killed next week against the Steelers despite the home-field advantage.

3) Hasselback Mountain – The Shaun Alexander concussion for a few moments seemed like the cursed Seahawks’ answer to the Bengals’ Carson Palmer injury (kind of like how Grady Little left in Pedro Martinez about 500 pitches too long so that the Red Sox could keep pace with the Cubs and Steve Bartman in 2003).  However, Matt Hasselback was incredible in overcoming the loss of the NFL Offensive Player of the Year and deftly led Seattle to a solid victory over a pretty good Redskins defense.  As I said on Friday, my head was saying the Seahawks would win while my gut was going with the Redskins – I trusted my gut, which makes me an idiot today.  At this point, I’ve got to rank Hasselback as the best quarterback left in the playoffs (Big Ben Roethlisberger and Jake Delhomme have got skills, but Hasselback is the most polished).  The early feeling here is that the Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl, though I might change my mind by the end of the week.

4) Illini Muck Up Fichigan – The Illini pulled out a close victory over Michigan on Saturday with our seniors Dee Brown and James Augustine carrying the load (by the way, what’s up with the Big Ten scheduling the Illinois-Michigan game, last week’s Michigan State-Wisconsin matchup and yesterday’s double-overtime Michigan State-Ohio State battle in the same time slots as the NFL Playoffs?  Not very cool for this NFL/Big Ten nut).  The second half play for Illinois, however, was suspect and we were fortunate to overcome our foul troubles.  The early conference schedule doesn’t let up for the Illini – next up is a Super Tuesday game at Indiana.  Brian Randle and Shaun Pruitt can’t be playing with 4 fouls in the second half or else Marco Killingsworth is going to run all over us.  Still, I’m comfortable with our chances as long as Mike Davis is patrolling the Hoosier sidelines.

Anyway, I’m now going to crawl into a hole for the next couple of days and emerge with a Jake Plummer beard to wallow in my Bears misery.  At least the Packers still suck.

Dr. Z, You Damned Dirty Ape!

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Bears, NFL Football, Sports4 Comments

The last piece of the 2005-06 Frank the Tank Trifecta is almost in place – the Illini Final Four, the White Sox World Series, and now, just two victories to a Super Bears Super Bowl.  So, enough with Dr. Z’s preseason predictions (Bears ranked #32 out of 32?  Oops!).  I’ve been waiting for this weekend for four years!  Here are my NFL divisional playoff picks in order of confidence but not against the spread (home teams in CAPS):

1) New England Patriots over DENVER BRONCOS – I’ll repeat what I said on Monday: if you had to bet your life savings on either a team led by Tom Brady or a club commanded by Jake “The Snake” Plummer, who would you pick?  This is pretty easy.

2) CHICAGO BEARS over Carolina Panthers – How could this Super Fan put Da Bears at #2 in the confidence rankings?  We still have a QB that has played in 1 ½ games this season and has never been in the playoffs – that’s not cool considering how Carolina battered Eli Manning last week.  However, the Chicago Bears defense is rested, healthy, and ready to attack.  The Bears don’t need to stop Steve Smith (who had 169 receiving yards on November 20th against us) as much as they need to halt DeShaun Foster and the Panthers’ running game.  This is going to be a close game, but I believe the Bears will dominate on defense and create just enough offense (and, most importantly, avoid turnovers) to advance to the NFC Championship Game.

3) INDIANAPOLIS COLTS over Pittsburgh Steelers – The Colts are going to pull this one out only because they can take advantage of the carpet at the RCA/Hoosier/firemikedavis.com Dome.  The current 9 ½-point spread in favor of Indy is way too large; they’ll win but the Steelers will cover.  As I alluded to on Monday, I believe that the Pittsburgh power running game is going to give the speed-oriented Colts defense fits for most of the game.  However, in a flip-flop of the Bears’ situation, the Colts will probably make just enough stops on the defensive side of the ball to allow their offense to win this game in the end.

4) Washington Redskins over SEATTLE SEAHAWKS – This one really defies any logic.  On the Seattle side, Shaun Alexander is the NFL Offensive Player of the Year, Matt Hasselback is an accomplished quarterback with playoff experience, and Mike Holmgren is one of only a handful of coaches that has a postseason pedigree that can compete with Joe Gibbs.  The Redskins also were fortunate come out with a win last week after an abysmal game on offense.  Not surprisingly, the Seahawks are huge 9-point favorites.  However, I just have a gut feeling on this one.  I feel like Clinton Portis is going to be able to run well against the Seahawks defense, and when the Redskins are able to run the ball, they can beat anyone.  Plus, even though I’d like to see the Bears punish Mike Holmgren for all of the pain he inflicted on us as the Packers coach in 1990s, the first two times I was ever scarred as a sports fan in my life were when I witnessed, as a young child, the Redskins come into Solider Field and stun the Bears in consecutive playoff games in 1986 and 1987 (the latter of which was Walter Payton’s last game).  It’s time for the Bears to avenge the first sports scars of Frank the Tank, so it’s going to be Chicago vs. Washington for the NFC Championship next week.

Have a great weekend, Go Illini, Muck Fichigan, and GO BEARS!

Land-o-Links – 1/13/2006

On By Frank the TankIn Big East, College Basketball, DePaul Blue Demons, Land-o-Links, NBA Basketball, Random Thoughts, Sports2 Comments

DePaul played a spirited game against Pittsburgh last night in their first “true” Big East game (the first two conference games were against long-time rivals Cincinnati and Notre Dame), but a fast start for the Blue Demons petered out in the second half and they ended up losing 73-65.  Still, DePaul actually looked pretty good on the road against one of the last three unbeaten teams in college basketball.

Also, Kobe Bryant ended up on the winning end in his matchup against LeBron James last night, but LeBron showed me why he gets paid $100 million by Nike.  With 5 seconds to go in the first half, Drew Gooden of the Cavs stole the ball from the Lakers and dribbled down the court to his own baseline.  At the last moment, he passed the ball back to LeBron, who seriously launched himself from the free throw line and posterized my poor fellow Illini brother Brian Cook with such a powerful tomahawk slam that I, at home in my pajamas beginning to doze off while channel surfing as my wife and cat were sleeping next to me on the couch, jumped out of my seat and yelled, “Wow!”  What makes LeBron special is that when Gooden stole that ball with 5 seconds left (remember, LeBron didn’t even have the ball in his hands at that point), everyone watching was anticipating something spectacular and Lebron subsequently delivered it on demand.  There’s only one other athlete I’ve ever seen deliver such combination of brilliance, tenacity, and power on demand every single day – Michael Jordan.

Anyway, here are the links for today:

1) Blackhawks Have Rare Televised Home Game – Unfrozen Caveman Hockey Team Owner: “I know nothing of your ‘television’ or the ‘fan base’ that you speak of.”

2) The Wu is Back – Following on the heels of the launch of his doll announced in Land-o-Links on Monday, Ghostface is now “smoke free” (just in time for Chicago’s new smoking ban), plus has a new album and a Wu-Tang Clan reunion tour lined up.

3) White Like Larry – Spin/Esquire/ESPN.com writer Chuck Klosterman writes a fantastic piece that brings up unique points on racial stereotyping of athletes, including the revealing of Malcom Gladwell’s (author of “The Tipping Point” and “Blink”) “White Gunner Theory.”  How many times do we all think the way that Klosterman and Gladwell describe here?

4) Maryland Senate Overrides Veto on ‘Wal-Mart Bill’ – I know a lot of my readership doesn’t have much love for Wal-Mart, but this is populism run amok.

And finally…

5) New Jersey Selects New Slogan (submitted by Matt) – In honor of my sister who’s attending grad school at Montclair State University.  Matt’s comment is appropriate: “Story is – eh, whatever.  Subhead is outstanding.”

 

Hot Stove League Review #2 – Cubs

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Cubs, Major League Baseball, Sports1 Comment

If you can’t tell already, I’m a White Sox fan without reservation, but I don’t really take any joy in the tepid review of the Cubs’ offseason moves that I’m about to provide.  Maybe a World Series victory has made taken the harshness out of my Sox Pride, but it really would be nice to see both Chicago clubs playing at the same time in October for once.

The thing is that the Cubs aren’t holding up their end of the bargain.  While Kenny Williams has been aggressively and impressively improving on a team that has already won the whole shebang on the South Side, Jim Hendry’s performance over the past couple of months on the North Side has been spotty at best.  He’s made one great trade, a few solid moves, and a number of questionable transactions so far this offseason.  Here’s my review:

1) Re-signing Ryan Dempster and Glendon Rusch – Solid keepers for the Cubs, particularly the durable Rusch.  I still have reservations as to whether Dempster can be a viable closer long-term, but I’d drag Rod “the Shooter” Beck back out of his trailer before touching LaTroy Hawkins ever again.

2) Re-signing Neifi Perez – Bleh!

3) Signing Scott Eyre and Bobby Howry – These were two good moves to shore up the awful Cubs bullpen.  Howry, in particular, was unstoppable for the Indians during the second half of 2005.  As for Eyre, any player whose ESPN.com scouting report for 2005 begins with how he resurrected his career after being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder gets a vote of confidence from me.

4) Trading for Juan Pierre – This was the biggest and best move that Jim Hendry has pulled the trigger on this offseason.  The Cubs’ inability to get their lead-off man on base over the last couple of years has caused the team to waste countless opportunities to blow open games early, especially with the pounding potential of Derrick Lee and Aramis Ramirez in the 3 and 4 spots in the batting order.  I’m so confident that Pierre will alleviate this problem that Vegas ought to be setting lines on whether Lee will win the Triple Crown in 2006 – if he came close last year, imagine what he could do when Pierre is consistently in scoring position during Lee’s at-bats.  This may be sacrilegious for me to say as a Sox fan, but I would take Pierre over Scott Podsednik in the lead-off spot any day of the week.  I love this move for the Cubs.

5) Signing Jacque Jones – On the heels of making a great move to improve the Cubs outfield, Jim Hendry made one of the worst transactions in all of baseball this offseason by signing Jacque Jones to a three-year contract.  First of all, as the Chicagoist pointed out, it makes no sense to sign an outfielder whose stats mirror the steep downward trend of Cubbie outcast Corey Patterson coupled with the exact same penchant to try to unsuccessfully jack homeruns as opposed to using his natural speed to get on base.  Second of all, the Cubs didn’t even bother calling Jeromy Burnitz to see if he wanted to come back, yet they signed Jones to a longer contract for more money even though Jones’ production over the last few seasons has been worse than Burnitz’s performance.  So, the Cubs essentially are locked into a downgrade in rightfield for three seasons and are paying more for it.  By May, you can count on Jones being the latest recipient of the boo-birds at Wrigley in the tradition of Patterson, LaTroy Hawkins, and Todd Hundley.  I can’t tell you how awful this move is for the Cubs.

6) Trading Corey Patterson – One hand is telling me that Corey is all of the sudden going to have a breakout season with the Orioles to fulfill the sky-high potential we’ve been hearing about for years.  On the other hand, not even this Sox fan could take another season of watching this guy in Wrigley.  The fact that Jim Hendry was able to trade Patterson for a six-pack of Natty Light ought to be sufficient.

Despite the relatively large quantity of moves by the Cubs, there are quite a few open holes that the team still needs to fill (and I’m not sure if those holes are going to be filled by Opening Day, if ever).  At this point, it looks Ronny Cedeno is going to be at shortstop, Jason Dubois will be in leftfield, and Neifi Perez (bleh!) is playing second base.  It would be one thing if the Cubs, who have the most financial resources in baseball after the Yankees and Red Sox, were starting just one of those players as a fill-in, but it’s unacceptable having one-third of the batting order going into the season as unproven question marks (or in the case of Perez, a proven black hole at the plate).

At the same time, I was surprised that the Cubs didn’t put out any feelers for A.J. Burnett or Kevin Millwood.  Ever since the Cubs were essentially proclaimed to have the greatest pitching staff ever on the cover of the 2004 Sports Illustrated baseball preview, we’ve seen the same cycle: Kerry Wood gets hurt in spring training, Mark Prior starts feeling something wrong in May and the club has to “shut him down” by June, and Greg Maddux continues to get slower and older.  Meanwhile, their previously unheralded South Side rivals were the ones who rode a great starting pitching staff to a world championship.  The Cubs can no longer use the excuse of how much better they would be if their starting pitchers were all healthy.  Their current starting pitchers will NEVER all be healthy at the same time, so the Cubs should have brought in someone else.  Jeez, the White Sox brought in Javier Vasquez as a SIXTH starting pitcher on a defending world championship team, yet the Cubs continue to stand pat with their underachieving pitching staff.

All in all, the Cubs have dramatically improved in the leadoff spot with Juan Pierre and have a stronger bullpen, but I’m really not impressed with their lack of moves with the starting pitchers and middle of the infield (plus Jacque Jones is going to be awful – I guarantee it).  The Cardinals are on a downward slope and Astros are not going to be a contender without Roger Clemens.  Unfortunately, as it currently stands, the Cubs won’t be able to take advantage of what will be a weaker NL Central in 2006.

My review of the baseball world outside of Chicago will be posted within the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, expect a Bears and NFL divisional playoff preview tomorrow.  Have a great day!

Land-o-Links – 1/11/2006

On By Frank the TankIn Land-o-Links, Random Thoughts1 Comment

What’s with Sportscenter and its obsession with comparing merely good teams from today to the greatest teams in history?  First, it was the focus on the Colts’ quest for perfection, who ended up not having as good of a record as last year’s Steelers team.  Then, as I said before the BCS bowls were played, it was the premature exercise of matching up USC against the top college football teams from the past 50 years, who turned out to be only the second-best team from this season.  Now, in what I believe is the most egregious example, ESPN runs a comparison between this year’s Pistons and the 1995-96 Bulls every time Detroit plays a game.  The 72-10 Michael Jordan-led Bulls team against this year’s Pistons?  C’mon!  Anyway, enough with the rant and on to the links:

1) “Bueller, Bueller” DVD – How did I meet my wife?  It was when her college roommate invited me over to watch “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” so I can’t tell you how important this movie is in my life.  Aside from the personal connection, this is one of the top ten Chicago movies of all-time (I’ll have a post on that eventually).

2) My So-Called Career: Paul Shirley’s Basketball Journal – Even if you don’t follow basketball, former Bull Paul Shirley’s entries on his life as a hoops vagabond are insightful and hilarious.  His blog from last season as the last man off the bench for the Suns was so funny and honest that he was able to parlay it into a possible career as a writer.

3) Tom Green Collaboration – First it was Patrick Swayze that caught the bug; now it’s Tom Green.

4) Korn Sells a Stake in Itself – Can a band become a true investment vehicle?  If this is successful, we could see a paradigm-shift in music industry financial models.

5) Mexican Coke on the Black Market – I don’t have a link for this (and even if I did, you’d need a paid subscription to see the article), but the Wall Street Journal had a fascinating front page article today on the insistence of many Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. to buy Coca-Cola that was bottled in Mexico.  It turns out that Mexican Coke is slightly different than American Coke – in Mexico, they use cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup as the sweetener and the drink still comes in glass bottles instead of plastic bottles or aluminum cans.  The thing is, Coca-Cola doesn’t want people to buy Mexican Coke in the U.S. because of how it impacts the profitability of the company’s American unit and the exclusive territorial rights of local Coke bottlers.  As a result, Mexican Coke can only be obtained by most American stores through backroom deals.  It’s just ironic that a foreign version of the most identifiable American product in the world needs to be smuggled into the U.S.

My thoughts on the Cubs are coming tomorrow.  Until then, have a great day!

Supreme Crutch of the United States

On By Frank the TankIn Law, PoliticsLeave a comment

The U.S. Senate is in the midst of another Supreme Court justice confirmation hearing, which means, yet again, we’re going to endure several more days of politicians grilling a nominee on issues that they are too scared or lazy to resolve themselves.  Indeed, current nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. spent most of yesterday getting hammered on questions regarding abortion and presidential powers.  These are certainly important potential issues that the Supreme Court may need to review over the coming years, but only because the politicians on both sides of the aisle who supposedly make our nation’s laws are deferring their role as advocates for their constituents on the tough issues to the court system.

The American public has been subjected to several years of predictions of apocalyptic scenarios from both political parties about how one vote change on the Supreme Court could completely alter the landscape regarding issues such as abortion, presidential powers, civil liberties, gay marriage, corporate ethical obligations, the teaching of evolution and intelligent design in public schools, etc.  Even if this were the case, and I really believe that the doomsday scenarios are overblown (by all accounts, the overall lack of interest in the hearings outside of partisan interest groups shows that most Americans agree with me), the politicians willingly allowed this to happen through their actions or, more commonly, their collective inaction.  The two major political parties let this happen because if they actually backed up their words with legislative action, they wouldn’t have an easy judicial bogeyman to blame to score votes and fundraising dollars from their respective bases.

Take the Democrats, for instance, on the issue of presidential powers.  They overwhelmingly supported the Patriot Act the first time around, yet now claim during the Act’s renewal process that President Bush has overstepped his bounds and that government agencies are trampling over civil liberties.  Even worse, a number of Senate Democrats like Ted Kennedy and Patrick Leahy, who supported the bill originally, are now blaming Dubyah for “ramming through” the provisions of the Patriot Act.  Wait a second – didn’t these guys actually read an act that many people believe (for the record and in case you were wondering, I don’t personally believe this) was a clear trampling of people’s rights before they gave it their full-fledged support?  And now they’re worried about some memos and speeches Samuel Alito wrote supporting a more expansive view of president’s authority under the Constitution.  Ignorance of the text of the law should never be an excuse for voting for it in the first place.

At the same time, the Republicans could have made substantive moves for its social conservative wing by advancing a partial-birth abortion bill that actually passed constitutional muster.  By constitutional muster, I mean that any ban on partial-birth abortion had to have an exception to law where the procedure was medically necessary to protect the health of the mother.  If the Republicans had simply done this, there would be a partial-birth abortion ban in place today.  Instead, the Republican Congress (along with a whole lot of Democrats from red states and districts), knowing full well that it wouldn’t survive a Supreme Court challenge, passed a bill banning partial-birth abortion without the medical exception.  Like the Democrats regarding presidential powers, the Republicans used the Supreme Court as a crutch by stating that the judiciary had made the definition of a medically necessary too broad.  As a result, the Republicans were able to milk another election year’s worth of campaign donations to fight liberal “activist” judges.

So, when politicians from both parties trumpet over the coming days on how Samuel Alito will be the deciding vote on a plethora of issues, they may be right, but they have only themselves to blame for putting America in this situation.  Legislators have shirked their responsibilities to make the laws in the midst of the fervor over the judges are merely charged with interpreting those laws.

Hot Stove League Review #1 – White Sox

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago White Sox, Major League Baseball, Sports1 Comment

With pitchers and catchers reporting in just a little over a month from now and the White Sox and Cubs fan conventions taking place over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be posting a three-part series on the offseason moves of each of the Chicago teams and the rest of Major League Baseball. First up are the White Sox.

It’s amazing – my baseball team has not only won the World Series, but it is actually making aggressive yet shrewd moves to try to win another one. I’ve got to give Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf credit. Unlike his seeming eagerness to see Michael Jordan to walk away so that he and Jerry Krause could reconstruct the Bulls (we’re only now recuperating from that dark experiment), it looks like he’s stepping up the commitment of the White Sox organization to build upon the team’s success. At the same time, Kenny Williams has been doing a phenomenal job this offseason – he’s ripping off everyone in sight. Here’s my review of the major moves by the Sox:

Sox Wrigley Sign

1) Trading for Jim Thome – It was tough to see a great character guy (and noted Bears nut) in Aaron Rowand be traded away, but the Sox needed to get another bopper in its lineup. Despite Jim Thome’s injuries last season, he has been one of the top 10 hitters in baseball over the past decade. If the Sox hadn’t made this trade, we would be seeing Paul Konerko being walked every other at-bat a la Barry Bonds circa 2003. Instead, Konerko is going to see even better pitches to smack in the 2006 season. If Thome comes anywhere close to his 2004 production, the Sox offense might be talked about as much next October as the team’s pitching staff.

2) Re-signing Paul Konerko – A lesser Paulie would have told the Sox, “F–k you – pay me.” Instead, our Paulie turned down a bigger contract from the Angels in order to stay with the Sox, which just goes to show you how he’s a rarity among professional athletes today. Konerko’s got the physical skills and the leadership skills (not to mention the numb-chuck skills) to build a franchise around for a long time. Keeping this guy was the most important move the White Sox could have possibly made this offseason.

3) Trading for Rob Mackowiak – How Kenny Williams jacked the Pirates on this trade I’ll never know. Not only did he get rid of Damaso Marte, the biggest piece of deadweight on the roster, but the Sox also received in exchange arguably the best bench player in baseball. Mackowiak has a solid bat and can play all of the infield and outfield positions. More importantly, his versatility allows the Sox to carry a 13th pitcher on the roster instead of another position player, which means the team’s dominant pitching depth will go even deeper.

4) Trading for Javier Vasquez – Speaking of pitching depth, Kenny Williams pulled off another no-brainer with the El Duque-for-Vasquez trade. El Duque will live on forever on 2005 Sox DVD retrospectives with the miracle shutdown of the Red Sox after entering the game with the bases loaded in Game 5 of the ALDS. However, he was hardly playing at all in the second half of 2005. To receive Vasquez, a 200 innings per year guy in return for a pitcher with an unknown birth date that’s breaking down before our eyes could very well be Kenny Williams’ coup de grace. Sure, Vasquez struggled with the Yankees and Diamondbacks, but both of those clubs were trying to make him into a #1 or #2 starter. On the White Sox, he’s going to be the fourth or fifth starter! Baseball’s best rotation just got even better.

5) Re-signing Jon Garland – Locking up Garland beyond 2006 has me dreaming of a rotation primed for a multiple-season run along the lines of the Braves of the 1990s. I just hope his 2005 season wasn’t a flash in the pan and that he’s truly living up the potential everyone was talking about when he was traded over as a young prospect from the Cubs back in 1998.

Something tells me Kenny Williams isn’t finished yet. The addition of Vasquez gives the Sox six viable starting pitchers. The young Brandon McCarthy was lights out in the number five slot after the 2005 All Star break. If this were fantasy baseball, the Sox would keep McCarthy as a long reliever in the bullpen. However, I doubt they are going to essentially demote such a stud young kid after having so much success as a starter last year. Look for Williams to trade Jose Contreras (the only starting pitcher who isn’t signed past next season) for another big bat in the lineup.

Regardless of what the Sox do from now until pitchers and catchers report, they have to receive mad props for not resting on their laurels and continuing to make hungry and aggressive moves. They’re finishing off the types of deals that a team that hasn’t won anything (like the Cubs) ought to be making.

In the wake of the Corey Patterson trade, stay tuned for my Cubs offseason analysis…

Land-o-Links – 1/10/2006

On By Frank the TankIn Land-o-Links, Random ThoughtsLeave a comment

Amazingly, the Illini didn’t drop in this week’s coaches’ poll (#6) and are only one spot down in the AP poll (#7).  To celebrate, here are today’s links:

1) Starbucks Economics – If you thought that “Tall” is the smallest size you can get of a drink at Starbucks, you’re wrong.  You can order a “Short,” but it seems Starbucks doesn’t want to let that secret out.

2) Breakthrough for the Dow – It’s amazing to me that the Dow Jones Industrial Average breaking 11,000 is a rare business story that gets elevated to the front page of general news yet it means almost nothing to anyone who owns stock.  The vast majority of people who invest in the stock market have some type of fund that mimmicks the S&P 500 (compared to the miniscule number of investors that own securities tied to the Dow), but I’ve never heard a general newscaster report about record levels for that broader market index.  It doesn’t make sense.

3) Simpson and Lachey Selling House – Own a piece of MTV history.

4) The Camaro is Back – Mullets everywhere are rejoicing.

And finally…

5) Thieves Steal Truckload of Pimp Juice – One of my readers must have had a bumpin’ poker night at Nelly’s expense.

Some baseball talk (it’s about time) in a little bit…