These Bears are an unlikely bunch

First appeared on January 26th, 2011
in The Lebanon Reporter

When Caleb Hanie woke up Sunday morning he probably turned on SportsCenter and, since he doesn’t seem the tea and toast type, dropped a Pop Tart in the toaster and opened a Gatorade. The talking heads were touting a match-up between Chicago’s Jay Cutler and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers in the NFC Championship game later that afternoon as he logged on his computer.


While My Facing or Skyping with friends, whatever the kids are doing now, he ducked jabs like “don’t drop the clipboard!” or “Don’t trip anybody on the sidelines!” Before he could respond however smoke from the kitchen pulled him away for, since he’s only the Bears third string quarterback, he’s likely still using the same toaster he’s had since college.

Little could Hanie have known he would exchange his clipboard for the game ball Sunday. As he sat choking down that burnt Pop Tart, there’s no way he could have realized the fate of the Bears season, and the Super Bowl aspirations of millions, would ride on his arm that day.

When Cutler pulled up lame in the third quarter of Sunday’s NFC Championship game, the Bears went to back-up Todd Collins only to quickly be reminded why there was no quarterback controversy in Training Camp. After one series, Head Coach Lovie Smith turned to Hanie, a 25 year old from Colorado State with less than 10 career completions.

It would be fascinating to say he had an Earl Morral-like moment, but I can’t make any more stuff up or this column will fail to meet the lofty standard of credibility my readers demand. Hanie had some moments, tossed a couple picks and the Bears lost to the Packers for the second time in less than a month.

These Bears are an unlikely bunch. A crew of castaways on an unexpected adventure. Starting with Cutler who, after 5 years, remains mostly a mystery. Proof Denver was over him is found in the fact they traded him for some ’85 Bears SuperBowl memorabilia, a set of new tires and a case of Portillo’s Hot Dogs.

Adding Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz, the Don Nelson of the NFL, in the off season was risky at best. A man of conviction, bent on remaining tirelessly nontraditional, Martz wound up being a move that paid off. Credit Lovie for giving Martz just enough rope to help the Bears win but not enough to organize a mutiny.

At Chicago’s helm for 7 years, Smith has navigated both stormy seas and fruitful waters. As with any good captain, Lovie has been pushed to the brink plenty. However, one must wonder just how close he’s come to literally walking in Captain Bligh’s shoes? Shoved into the Cockboat by a surly Brian Urlacher or a furtive Olin Kruetz. With all Lovie’s been through, the fact he’s still employed is simply proof he has more lives than Brett Favre.

The best teams can beat you in a variety of ways. The Colts have a great passing game and… (insert crickets chirping here). The Bears have a solid running game, explosive quarterback, talented defense and the best kick returner in the game. Logic figures they’d have the upper hand Sunday.

But in the end there was Aaron Rodgers. The man so many had crowned a preseason Hall of Famer, only to turn their spotlight to Phillip Rivers and Tom Brady when the Pack struggled. Legends are made in games like that we saw Sunday. And while, for Caleb Hanie at least, one burnt Pop Tart a legend does not make; it was obviously a different story for Rodgers.

Pacers Playoff Hopes Ride on Defense

First appeared on January 19th, 2011
in The Lebanon Reporter

It was a quaint gathering that saw Roy Hibbert sink a jumphook with the shot clock running down in the Pacers game with Philadelphia last week. Nothing about the night seemed extraordinary. The stale air of a half empty arena was filled with computerized noise and the typical array of semi-amusing taunts you’d associate with a Philadelphia crowd. A mascot waving his arms in vain at a sea of empty seats dotted with frowzy businessmen, parents coddling children texting friends and the occasional passed out college kid.


After blowing a 16 point lead and melting down in the 4th quarter again the Pacers appeared destined for another flame out loss. Another game they’d won for 3 quarters only to toss away like a bag of stale Bugles.

In that particular possession, Indiana had exhausted all options. The ball had swung from one side of the floor and back. Nobody could get loose before it landed in Hibbert’s lap with less than 10 seconds to shoot. What followed is best described as the biggest shot anyone has hit in a Pacer uniform in 5 years. OK, at least it was the most important jumphook since the days of Derrick McKey.

That shot secured a 111-103 victory and also proved that, despite his recent struggles, the Pacers players value Hibbert. In the midst of a huge run that saw Indiana’s 16 point lead disappear faster than free beer, the Pacers turned to Roy during a key possession. If he’s not a legitimate option he doesn’t get a whiff of the ball there. If they don’t believe in Roy, Danny Granger heaves a 25 footer with a hand in his face instead or Darren Collison knifes into the lane to force a runner over a larger defender in fellow UCLA Bruin Jrue Holiday.

But they didn’t and the fact they turned to him in such a critical spot proves Hibbert’s standing. At 16-21 the Pacers are not playing the basketball anyone had hoped for. Even with the 7th spot in the East locked down right now, unfortunately everyone knows Indiana has plenty of time to find themselves marooned once again on “out of the playoffs island”.

That being said, defense has made this a better team than last year. Part of the credit belongs with Hibbert’s newfound ability to stay out of foul trouble which allows him to protect the basket for longer stretches.

The Pacers are better for other reasons too. Considering good defense begins with good guard play, don’t overlook the acquisition of Collison for he clearly is the most defensively minded point guard Indiana has had since Mark Jackson.

However, to coin a term my Uncle once beat me with in Scrabble, the Pacers remain a conundrum. While their defensive numbers are up, the offense is lagging. Credit Head Coach Jim O’Brien for addressing this by finally breaking the mold that had encrusted his rotation offensively. Playing granger at the four has made the Pacers not only quicker and more versatile, but more effective as well.

Tyler Hansbrough, Jeff Foster and Josh McRoberts are all effective niche players, but the Pacers are stronger using each in short spurts against favorable match ups. O’Brien’s move has created more opportunities for Granger to team up with Brandon Rush, Mike Dunleavy and Rookie Paul George which makes Indiana harder to defend.

Barring a key injury, this team will make the Playoffs (if you’ve seen the Eastern Conference standings, you’re not impressed). Either way, the playoffs would be documented evidence of progress and that’s just what the doctor ordered for the Pacers franchise

Anatomy of a tough loss

First appeared on January 11th, 2011
in The Lebanon Reporter

With the exception of players betting against their own teams, nobody likes to lose. Losing is deflating. Like the peeling of an orange, losing strips us down revealing our true selves; something we often find unappealing. Nothing crushes the soul more than loss.


By definition we must lose something to experience loss. Be it loss of time spent with family or the loss of Super Bowl aspirations; some losses cut to the core. Some fester until a part of our soul becomes so gangrenous it’s lost forever. Such was the Colt loss last year to the Jets that shattered all hope of perfection. That surreal defeat struck many fans like a nail to the skull from an air hammer. A nail buried so deep the only hope of extraction was found in assembling a team of the best surgeons from four different continents.

But as hard as Curtis Painter’s coming out party was to watch, we haven’t seen a loss like this past Saturdays in some time. Obviously losing the Super Bowl wasn’t enjoyable but fans did move forward knowing the Colts made it to a stage 30 others had aspired for.

Saturday’s loss to the Jets was more along the lines of the 1996 AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh. A 29 yard game winning pass from Jim Harbaugh that bounced off Aaron Bailey’s chest in the end zone. That was a loss that sent Colt fans scrambling for snowy bridges over icy creeks only for Clarence to show up in the form of Peyton Manning’s draft choice. Losses of this caliber are torturous for fans and leave them bleary eyed from “what might have been” hangovers.

Extenuating circumstances often compound losses. Last year saw the prospect of perfection lost, in ‘96 it was the fact Indianapolis appeared destined for a Super Bowl after an unexpected playoff explosion.

The salt in Saturday’s wound was undoubtedly found on the Jets sideline. All the way from his high-water Dockers and white socks past a generous midsection so weakly camouflaged by your grandfather’s sleeveless sweater up to that notoriously loud mouth clogged by horse teeth, Jets Coach Rex Ryan personifies everything not Midwestern.

Despite the fact over 100 different men would play a role, the always blustery Hurricane Rex blew into Indianapolis Saturday night basically proclaiming the first round match-up between his Jets and the Colts a colossal game of one on one between himself and Peyton Manning.

Ryan declared the game “personal” and you really can’t blame him for being a frustrated man. Coming in Manning had owned Ryan’s defenses posting a 5-1 record shredding them for 1500 yards and 12 touchdowns.

That being said, Ryan is everything Midwesterners are not and that is what made Saturday’s loss so unbearable. The game became more than Jets vs. Colts. It morphed into a clash of styles. Ryan’s brash, in-your-face approach versus Jim Caldwell’s quiet wisdom.

Indy fans rallied behind Caldwell for not injecting himself into the game as Ryan had (as for the time out he called with 30 seconds left, that’s probably best left for another column). The point here is who needs Ryan anyway? Considering it was 19 outside, I’m sure there was plenty of hot air in Lucas Oil already.

This being said, it’s the shadow of Humpty Dumpty wearing a Motorola headset that will make this loss most difficult to move past. And while all the sand may not be out of Peyton Manning’s hourglass just yet, Moby Rex did his best to force as much through the neck as possible. And that’s the loss that stings the most.

Miami has turned up the Heat on NBA ratings

First appeared on January 4th, 2011
in The Lebanon Reporter

In tough economic times such as these it’s natural for only bad things, like gas prices or unemployment, to be on the rise. But with over two months in the books, it has to be a good feeling for NBA Commissioner David Stern to know his television numbers are through the roof (up 30% over last year). Simply put, he can thank the Miami Heat.


Be it hunger for a Sports Center highlight or the closeted hope one will witness a volcano of egos resulting in LeBron slapping Wade or Bosh stepping on Head Coach Eric Spoelstra as if he were a cockroach so fattened on dried grease from the oven that he can’t dodge a size 22 shoe, people are tuning in to professional basketball in numbers the league hasn’t seen in some time.

The answer to what makes the Heat so attractive isn’t overly complicated. Don’t let the Girl Scouts or bank tellers fool you, Americans feed on drama and television is Example A. Art imitating life, the best television is chocked full of drama.

Drama is what made the CBS hit reality show Survivor such a ratings dynamo. Maddeningly popular early on, viewers eventually realized that despite new challenges and the most exotic locales possible essentially the drama never evolved from season to season and, despite their choosing to continue filming episodes, we collectively stopped watching.

The most important ingredient in any good drama is a bad guy; or an antagonist for those who watch Inside the Actors Studio. Throughout history we’ve seen it played over and over. A Great Britain for the Father’s of our Country. A Soviet Union for American children of the 50’s and 60’s. A Joker for Batman or common sense for Al Gore.

Before Miami’s big three, NBA fans knew the Spurs with their gentle giant Tim Duncan or the Lakers and all their sensational Hollywood glitz would win a title (9 of the last 12 to be exact). It was a certainty, as sure as Tom Cruise running in every movie he’s ever made or Will Ferrell appearing shirtless in his.

But now we have someone to hate. For whatever reason. Greed, popularity or the fact James punched a blue collar town like Cleveland in the stomach, it doesn’t matter-the Heat annoy us. The Heat are like television weathermen or the guy who never volunteers to coach his kids but is first in line to question those who do.

It’s not an open hatred mind you (except for those who live in Cleveland) rather it’s more a quiet disgust. Similar to the way you feel about junk mail or the guy who jogs into the store after taking the handicap parking space you had your eye on.

In one summer, in the course of one hour on ESPN actually, LeBron went from a player many rooted for to one old ladies mention in prayer circles or guys throw darts at in seedy bars late at night. But as ugly as both “The Decision” and the pyrotechnic coming out party the Big 3 threw for themselves in the off season were, this is EXACTLY what the NBA needed.

The NBA hasn’t had this kind of black hat since the Knicks of the mid ‘90’s or the Pistons of the late 80’s. And this was an era you could argue the Association was at the height of its popularity. So if you’re David Stern what do you do next? Simple, put as many Heat games on television as possible and charge sponsors Super Bowl commercial-like money to be part of the action.