The Tip-Off

T.G.I.F. and all that crap. Here are some tips for this weekend.

BE ADVENTUROUS: Don your craziest costume and head down to Belmont and Halsted for the 13th Annual North Halsted Street Halloween Parade. After going to the outrageous West Hollywood Halloween Parade for five years straight when I lived in LA, I’m looking forward to seeing how Chicagoans get their Halloween on! [More info at ChicagoEvents.com]

BE SUPPORTIVE: After last week’s blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Bears need all the love they can get. Fortunately for both the team and its loyal fans, the lowly Cleveland Browns are coming to town. If the Bears can’t beat the Browns, we’ll all need to find another kind of support group–and so will my liver. [Sunday, 12pm at Soldier Field]

BE ORIGINAL: Tonight at the United Center the Blackhawks and the Canadiens meet in a match-up of Original 6 teams. The Hawks fell 2-0 to the face-meltingly boring Predators last night, while the Habs are coming off a 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Penguins Wednesday night. If you can’t get your hands on a ticket to spend the eve of All Hallow’s Eve with the Hawks, well here’s the next best thing… [HT to NSNG reader Frank/Phranchk]

       

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Cubs’ Ricketts Speaks to NPR, Season Ticket Holders

If you didn’t get a chance to hear from new Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts at today’s introductory press conference, you’re in luck. At 10am on Saturday, NPR News’ Weekend Edition will air an extensive interview with the man who, along with his brothers and sister, took over ownership of the Cubs organization today.

NPR has already released some excerpts from the interview and a full transcript will be available at NPR.org Saturday at 10am.

Though the Ricketts family currently
has no plans to shake up management, in the interview with [Weekend Edition host Scott] Simon the new
chairman shares many ideas about how to improve the franchise, including
developing property adjacent to Wrigley Field, how family ownership benefits
fans and using the Boston Red Sox as a model for both rehabbing a landmark
vintage ballpark and turning a losing club into a winner.

Many of the topics Ricketts spoke about in his press conference today are also covered in the interview. When asked about the future of Wrigley Field, he told NPR’s Simon:  

“First of all, we want this to be the best franchise
in baseball, and you can’t be a world-class franchise and have
third-class facilities…there is land that
is just adjacent to the stadium, along Clark Street, that the team owns and we
intend to develop that into a part of the stadium, that will give fans more
options on game day, but as importantly free up space inside of the stadium to
build in some of the clubhouse functionality that other teams enjoy.”

Ricketts isn’t saving his words for the media, though. In addition to the NPR interview and today’s press conference, the new Cubs chairman also connected directly with Cubs fans, sending out an email to all of the team’s season ticket holders:

Let’s Hope The Chicago Bears Don’t Have “Fat Little Girlfriends” Too

After Saturday’s loss to Texas A & M, Texas Tech head football coach Mike Leach blamed not only his players, but their “fat little girlfriends” too.

               

Let’s ignore the fact that the terms “fat” and “little” are contradictory (are the girlfriends short but stocky? petite but pudgy?) and move on to Leach’s complaint. According to the head ball coach, the players took their game against Texas A & M for granted because “their fat little girlfriends were telling them what they wanna hear, which is how great you are. And how easy it’s gonna be.”

This weekend the 3-3 Chicago Bears take on the 1-6 Cleveland Browns, led by the hapless Derek Anderson. While the Bears are doing their best to stay focused and not look past this weekend’s contest, many think the Monsters of the Midway have already put a “W” next the game on their schedules.

While just a little bit of research seems to prove that the wives and girlfriends of professional football players are rarely “fat” (see Exhibits A, B and C) there’s no telling whether a few of the Bears are hiding away their hefty honeys.

New Chicago Cubs Owner Tom Ricketts: “We Are Here To Win”

“We are here for the long term and we are here to win.”

Of all the things new Chicago Cubs owners Tom Ricketts and his sibling partners said Friday afternoon in their introductory press conference, the most basic, but most important, was that they intended to bring a ring to the Cubs.

Ricketts began by introducing his two brothers and sister, who, along with Tom, will make up the Ricketts family board of directors. The new Cubs chairman spoke of his family’s “deep roots” in Chicago and their love for the team.

Ricketts went on to thank several members of the Cubs organization and the fans of Chicago for being patient as he and his family completed their purchase of the team. To long-suffering Cubs fans, Ricketts promised three things:

“No. 1, we’re gonna win the World Series. We’re gonna win the World Series by striving in every day and every way to be the best franchise in baseball. We’re going to invest in the best facilities in baseball; world class facilities where every player wants to play and every coach wants to coach. We’re going to invest in the best personnel and we’re going to hold them to the highest standards of excellence and accountability.

Ron Turner Gets The “Brady” Treatment

A few years ago a football fan who goes by the YouTube handle “BradyFan83” stormed onto the internet music scene with “Brady”, a parody of the ’80s gem “Lady” made famous by Kenny Rogers. In the video, still shots of New England’s hunky QB Tom Brady float across the scene while a man sings heartfelt lyrics with homoerotic undertones. A sampling:

“Brady, you’re my QB in tight pants, and I love you. You’re the starter in my fantasy league for two…I’m a tight end, but I hope one day to be your wide receiver. How I long for you to hit me…in the slot.”

Bulls Open Season Against Spurs Tonight

The Chicago Bulls kick off their 2009-2010 season tonight against Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs defeated the New Orleans Hornets in their season opener last night, but lost starting point guard Tony Parker midway through the third quarter. Parker, who took a hard fall on a layup and didn’t return, had team highs of 17
points and six assists, and should be back on the court tonight.

The Bulls have their own beat-up point guard to worry about. Derrick Rose missed almost all of preseason with an injured tendon in his ankle, but the reigning Rookie of the Year will suit up for tonight’s contest. Kirk Hinrich and the rest of the team will have to step up as Rose is likely see limited minutes as he gets his wind back.

Parker and Duncan are always tough match-ups, but the Spurs have a few new faces, like Richard Jefferson and DeJuan Blair, to worry about. Meanwhile, the Bulls will finally have a healthy Luol Deng on the floor, and will start their first season with last year’s late additions, Brad Miller and John Salmons.

For more on the Spurs/Bulls match-up, check out my game preview with the guys at Project Spurs, one of the best Spurs blogs on the web. Find out how I think the Bulls will deal with the departure of Ben Gordon, what role Salmons will play this season and whether I think this will be the year Tyrus Thomas finally breaks out.

Bears’ Johnny Knox No Jackass

MTV Jackass Johnny Knoxville made a name for himself shocking fans with his outrageous daredevil stunts. Bears rookie wide receiver Johnny Knox is beginning to get recognized for some impressive tricks of his own. 

While fans aren’t likely to see the 23-year-old Knox catch anacondas with his bare hands or run through a herd of charging bulls, his solid hands have earned him touchdowns on offense and his dangerous runs through enemy lines have earned him the honor of NFC special teams player of the month for October.

 
Knox, a fifth-round draft pick out of Abilene Christian, ranks third in the NFL with a 29.0-yard average in his 18 kickoff returns. He’s one of just four active NFL players to have returned more than one kickoff for 50-plus yards.

Getting Over The Hump: The Wednesday Link Dump

Moist tidbits from the interwebs to get you through the tail end
of your Wednesday afternoon.

•High School QB completes behind-the-back pass for 2-point conversion. The guy is totally showboating–he could have easily thrown a forward pass–but it’s impressive, nonetheless.  [TotalProSports via Hot Clicks]

•Nike Requires TNT to broadcast with delay in case LeBron gets dunked on (again). [Sports Pickle]

•Audio from my panel at last week’s Sports Media 360 conference in Cleveland. [Dugout Sports Show]

•Can the secret to Adrian Peterson’s firm handshake be found in this unintentionally pornographic exercise ad for ShakeWeight. [spotted on the Daily Show]

•Five-year-old Romanian weightlifter becomes an internet star. If you can’t afford to spend a full four minutes watching disturbing YouTube videos of physically deformed and soon-to-be socially awkward kids, then scroll ahead to about 3:40 for the best of the worst.  [Y! Sports Blogs]

•Dwight Schrute & D. Rose team up for an NBA on TNT commercial.  [HT to Blog-A-Bull]
 

UPDATE: NSNG reader Brad, whose work over at The Heckler is often imitated, never duplicated, says TNT’s cabbie commercials look a bit too much like MTV’s early ’90s “Jimmy The Cab Driver” ads. Best Week Ever agrees. [Best Week Ever]

Your Chance To Pick Derrick Rose’s Brain

Got a question for reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose?

Perhaps you’re wondering how his injured ankle is feeling, or maybe you’d like to know what he worked on over the offseason. You might be interested in what kind of music he listens to before a game, or what Marissa Miller smells like.

Well if you’ve always wanted to pick Rose’s brain, now’s your chance.

In preparation for the Bulls’ season opener on Thursday, adidas and Eastbay have partnered to host a live online chat with Derrick Rose on Wednesday, October 28 at 6 p.m. CST. Fans will have the opportunity to ask the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year questions and view his live responses via video at www.eastbay.com/adidas.

The live chat is in conjunction with the launch of Rose’s TS Cut
Creator shoe and new additions to the TechFit apparel line, which will
all become available on Eastbay.com during the session.

Thursday night Rose and the Chicago Bulls kick off their season against the San Antonio Spurs. Don’t miss your chance to ask the young star what’s on his mind the night before he takes the court for the first time this season.  

HT to Pippen Ain’t Easy.  

Mr. T Likely To Be Only “Cub” Receiving Award for 2009 Season

After the Chicago Cubs’ heartbreaking first round sweep at the hands of the LA Dodgers last year, fans hesitated to put their hopes back in the North Siders. As it turns out, their concerns were warranted. Unlike years past, when postseason struggles marred otherwise
successful seasons, this year the Cubs never even got the chance to
choke in the playoffs.

The boys in blue finished second in the NL Central and their 83-78 record left them out of the postseason entirely. As a Cubs fan, it’s hard to sift through the negatives of the 2009 season and find many (any?) positives.