Emulation, Not Imitation Bears’ Nation has lost all sanity, fanned on by a local media chasing after ratings and profits. Yesterday, on a local version of the Today Show, I saw a contestant for a Ben Johnson lookalike contest take off his shirt just like the Bears’ head coach did in the team locker room after a win over the Eagles back in November. As my father might say, it’s a good thing imitation didn’t have to include jumping out the window. In the midst of all this insanity came word of the passing of Hall-of-Fame NHL goalie Glenn Hall, who helped the Hawks win the Stanley Cup in 1961. To the best of my knowledge, the 94-year old Hall was never the recipient of a lookalike contest. Not if it meant sitting for the 250 or so stitches Hall received over the course of an eighteen-year career, most of it played without benefit of a mask. Hall was the Lou Gehrig of NHL goalies, starting a record 502 straight regular-season games. A little-remarked fact of that career involved a certain habit—Hall threw up before every game he played. He didn’t keep it a secret. I knew about it in high school. Just something that happened on the way to greatness. What the Bears need is some of that dedication, or courage, if you will. Without the ability to face fear and uncertainty heaed-on, why bother?

Not Again

What, do the Marlins have dirt on both baseball front offices in Chicago? Magic dust? The ability to cast spells? Whatever the answer, Miami has another hitter from these part in exchange for a pitcher with a whole lot question marks attached. First, it was the Whites Sox sending Jake Burger in August of 2023 to the Marlins in exchange for minor-league hurler Jake Eder, a trade that may or may not have signaled the end of the Kenny Williams-Rick Hahn partnership. In his one full season at Double-A Birmingham in 2024, Eder went 2-5 with a 5.09 ERA in fifteen starts. We sold him to the Angels at the end of spring training last year, and the Angels traded him to the Nationals in July. Burger has hit 54 homeruns in the 2-1/2 seasons since. And now the Cubs have gotten into the act by sending outfielder Owen Caissie and two other prospects to Miami for starter Edward Cabrera. The 27-year old had a career year last season, going 8-7 with a 3.53 ERA in 25 starts. The righthander notched 150 strikeouts in 137.2 innings. Both those numbers are career highs. Did I mention he’s also gone on the IL eleven times since turning pro in 2016? The 23-year old, lefthanded-hitting Caissie was seen as having first crack in right field with Kyle Tucker leaving in free agency. (Of course, Tucker could resign with the Cubs, just like Elon Musk could take a vow of silence.) All the guy has ever done in five minor-league seasons—he was drafted out of high school by the Padres in 2020 and traded to the Cubs in the Yu Darvish deal—is hit, and he certainly look relaxed at the plate in a late-season callup to the North Side. It looks like Seiya Suzuki is back in right field, certainly good news for any opposing team; Of course, Suzuki could always win a Gold Glove, just like Elon Musk….On top of that, the 31-year old Suzuki will be entering his walk year. Ditto Ian Happ. What’s the plan here, trade the young guys (remember, they traded Cam Smith for one year of Tucker), resign the old guys? In all honesty, I think the reason I’m ticked is that I would’ve loved to see Caissie starting in right for the Sox. Apparently, Chris Getz doesn’t excel at blackmail the way the Marlins’ front office does.

Treading Water

I try not to get too excited when the temperature breaks 40 degrees on January 6. No matter how warm it feels, it’s still January 6, too early for much baseball. Get impatient, and the gods will send a blizzard in punishment. So, I follow the Bulls, now back to their losing ways, two in a row and counting after falling last night to the Celtics 115-101. The Bears I take in small doses because getting hooked on Kool-Aid is a dangerous thing. They win on Saturday, great. That gets January into double digits. Still, old habits die hard. I peaked at “Transactions” in the Sun-Times to find the Brewers hired Daniel Vogelbach as one of their hitting coaches. The onetime Cubs’ farmhand managed 81 homeruns with a .219 BA over nine seasons. Well, he did have a career .340 OBP. SoxFest is the end of January. I’ll have to see if my daughter can score us some free tickets. But best not to get ahead of ourselves. You never know when it’ll snow.

Wakeup Call

The NFL/Bears/Chicago sports’ media complex would have you believe Caleb Williams is a polished quarterback and Ben Johnson is a polished head coach, only they’re not, which was obvious in yesterday’s 19-16 loss to the Lions at home. In truth, Williams is a second-year player whose rookie season was marked by his having to survive being sacked 68 times. Williams has also had three head coaches. That he’s led his team to an 11-6 record, good for the second seed in the NFC, is an extraordinary accomplishment. But Willimas still has a lot of work to do. He scrambles way too much looking for receivers, only to throw off his back foot at the last possible second. Sometimes, those throws are caught, most times not, and sometimes Williams is flagged for intentional grounding. The Bears tied with the Falcons and Commanders for the most such penalties in all of football, with five. Two of those teams are going home. The other one is damn’ lucky to be going to the postseason. Yesterday was another game where the offense went to sleep for three quarters. Going into the fourth, the score was 16-0 Lions. That’s when Williams worked his magic, engineering two scoring drives that tied the game at sixteen. The Bears then managed a turnover to get the ball back with 2:18 left in the game. Guess who got called for intentional grounding on second down? Three-and-out led to a Lions’ game-winning field goal with the clock running down. The intentional-grounding penalty wouldn’t have mattered if the Bears’ defense had held; it didn’t. Yes, the defense managed three sacks on the day, but this is where they needed number four. No pressure on the quarterback translated into a 26-yard completion from Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown to the Chicago 26. For all intents and purposes, game over. St. Brown racked up 139 yards on eleven receptions. If the defense had a plan to stop him, it didn’t work. Goff threw for 331 yards while the Lions rushed for another 122 yards. Again, if there was a plan, it needed to be shelved. The inability to adjust is on Johnson and his staff as much as it is any defender. I’d also pin a lack of intensity if not focus on the rookie coach. Six straight runs in the Bears’ first possession capped off by an incomplete screen pass? You can’t be serious. At least, Johnson wasn’t. So, things get addressed, pronto, or at the end of Saturday’s game against Green Bay, Cheese Nation is going to claim bragging rights for an awfully long time.

Litmus Test

Patrick Williams came off the bench last night against the blah, now twelve-win Hornets to score…zero points in minutes of “play.” The six-year veteran “shot” the ball seven futile times as the Bulls blew an eight-point halftime lead to lose 112-99. By the end of the game, only Nikola Vucevic (28 points with seven rebounds and eight assists) seemed to care. There’s absolutely no figuring this team out. A days’ late New Year’s resolution: I’m going to stop trying.

What Do I Know?

Three games ago, the Bulls were dead in the water; “listless” would be an understatement. In a 136-101 loss to the Timberwolves, Patrick Williams came off the bench to score all of seven points. Life without Josh Giddey and Coby White looked grim, indeed. Then, Billy Donovan’s team chose to wake up and beat the Pelicans, 134-118. Did I say “wake up”? Williams again came off the bench, only this time he scored twelve. Granted, New Orleans is only good against Chicago (and Zion Williamson healthy), but last night a good Magic team (19-15) came to town, and the Bulls won again, 121-114. Williams had fifteen points, and he didn’t even lead second-unit scorers. That honor fell to guard Kevin Huerter, who had himself a nice night with 20 points, four rebounds and two assists. Tonight, the blah, eleven-win Hornets visit the United Center. A win, and the Bulls climb over .500, which earlier in the week seemed impossible given their injury situation. What do I know?

Maybe This Time

The White Sox this week announced the signing of outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training. The onetime wunderkind from Waukesha, Wisconsin, has had a tough time of it since being the number-six pick of the 2018 draft. Lots of pop, not enough contact. Though you’d never know from the way mlb.com covered him; he was everywhere and everything to commentators, another Trout or Brett. As a rule, I think this kind of publicity is toxic to a young player, especially one who didn’t get a chance to grow up some while attending college. In three of his five big-league seasons, Kelenic has batted under .182, and a mere .167 in 60 at-bats with the Braves last season. Now, he’s just trying to hold on. As it is, the Sox have Everson Pereira, Tristan Peters and Derek Hill looking to do the same. In all likelihood, only one of those four breaks camp with the team. As ever, Darwin trumps hype.