Mar
12
4:04PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
the great state of Illinois....
without even ONE entry in the men's NCAA Division One basketball tournament? Would the Land of Lincoln go 0-for-13 with its D-1 programs??? Apparently NOT-- the fighting Illini appear to have made it, their win against Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament should put them over the top, somehow. They're gonna finish 19-14 unless they beat Ohio State in the semis Saturday, ordinarily that wouldn't be good enough. But five wins over top 25 teams is a pretty strong line-item on your NCAA resume. If Bruce Weber had one more guy besides Demetri McCamey either willing or able to get and take a shot when the game's on the line, Illinois might actually win an NCAA game. But there hasn't been a bona fide scorer in Champaign since the national runner-up team in '05. Jereme Richmond, we're all waiting for you.
Mar
2
Feb
26
12:18PM | posted by Diane Yamazaki | comments: 1
White Sox Training Camp
The White Sox have their full squad together today for the first time this
spring, although everybody had been here except for the captain, Paul Konerko.
He came in this morning, veteran's privilege I guess. Paulie talked a lot about
the upcoming season but also about his future beyond that. We'll have it
tonight on WGN News at Nine...
Candid Ozzie
Who knew the White Sox were such good speed walkers?
Feb
23
3:00PM | posted by Diane Yamazaki | comments: 0
First Full Squad Workout
It's the first full squad workout for the Cubs, everybody was on the field on a perfect Arizona day... Lee, Soriano, Ramirez all smoking the ball in the cage...Tonight at 5, we'll hear from the Ricketts family -- they stopped by this morning. And a full report, Cubs and Sox, tonight on the news at 9...
Feb
22
2:34PM | posted by Diane Yamazaki | comments: 0
Cubs Training Gets Rained on
The Cubs didn't get much
done on yet another rainy day in Mesa.... some light throwing and some hitting
in the two available cages at Fitch Park and that's about it... hoping for
better weather tomorrow and the rest of the week....
Feb
21
6:52PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
Moving West....
away from the Cubs and over to Glendale for the White Sox opening workout... unfortunately for them, it wasn't much of a workout-- big rains Saturday night swamped the fields, so the pitchers got to throw 25 apiece, and that was about that... Not that it wasn't great last year, but there's a really positive vibe in the Sox clubhouse-- they SHOULD be excited, with the pitching staff they have, but it seems to exgtend far beyond that. Even the newcomers like Andruw Jones are happy to be in the room and to have a chance to show they can stillmake a contribution... Ozzie designated Mark Buehrle the opening-day starter, partly because he didn't want to face the question every day... but nobody would argue with that anyway. More tonight on Instant Replay-- and for you Cub fans, we're live with the skipper tonight from Lou's palatial spring training residence....
Feb
19
12:14PM | posted by Diane Yamazaki | comments: 0
Ted Lilly Knee Update
MRI on Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly shows only normal wear and tear on right knee, nothing serious...
Jan
3
10:59PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 1
as we debate the Bears' unsettled future... a note on another
topic, the passing of Bill Gleason... for a lot of people, Bill was one of those wrinkled old characters on the "Sports Writers on TV" show that ran on a few outlets in town through the late '90s.... but Bill, who died Sunday at the age of 87, was for more than six decades one of Chicago's most decorated sports writers-- in a class with guys like Bob Verdi and the late Jerome Holtzman, owning a depth of knowledge and context that comes only from hard-earned experience.... on top of it, and despite his crusty demeanor, Bill was a good guy-- certainly not above pointing me in the right direction a time or two when I had just arrived in town from downstate... In his retirement, I still bumped into him around town, infrequently, sometimes at church on Sunday and it was always nice to catch up a bit. I'll miss him.
Dec
19
7:22PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
just watched Illinois State...
win its game in the MVC-Mountain West Challenge at Utah... I know the Redbirds are a decent team, but it all made me wonder how in the world Utah beat Illinois earlier this season, on a neutral floor, no less... Then I watched the Illini play Georgia, again on a neutral floor in Duluth, and my question was answered. Illinois has a world of potential but it is still a very young team looking for leadership. Demetri McCamey is way too inconsistent, made some nice plays in Georgia but also some horrendous decisions that really cost the Illini at times. Weber's team is projected in the top three or four in the Big Ten and a lock for an NCAA bid... The Illini have some growing up to do before they live up to those expectations...
Nov
29
10:05PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
Did any of us have any business thinking...
that the Bears actually had a chance in the Dome? For the record, they were officially eliminated from the division race and the series of events it would take to get 'em into the playoffs would take the world's largest blog to figure out. Since we don't have that much time, I would simply say this-- I agree with what Troy Aikman said on the broadcast, that Cutler deserves credit for hanging in there and getting his brains beat out on almost every pass play. He's made more than his share of mistakes, but he's out there plugging away, even at the very end, which was ridiculous to me. Why would you have the franchise QB out there in mop-up time when Jared Allen and those guys are trying to remove his head from his shoulders? You have to shake your OWN head at a lot of what happens on the sidelines.
Oct
11
4:06PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
NFL week 5
anybody watching the KC-Dallas game notice who got smoked for the tying and winning touchdowns??? Former Bear Mike Brown, one guy you hate to see it happen to... missed the tackle twice and the receiver left the Chiefs in the dust both times....
Oct
6
Oct
4
5:00PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
...and so it ends...
...with neither of our baseball teams in the post-season-- maybe since they BOTH made it last year, we should have expected this??? The Cubs laid down in the last week, lost five out of seven when it looked like they might win 'em all and at least end on a good note... Geo Soto struck out to end the season, could there have been a more fitting finish? I was in Detroit this morning for a huge dose of managerial hilarity in Ozzie's office at Comerica Park-- not that I can repeat most of it in a family blog, but he was killing us with stories about the Mets and Javier Vasquez and a bunch of other topics... As always, he was brutally honest, said he was glad to see the season end after his team had struggled through the second half of it. But Ozzie's already looking forward to 2010, if only because of his pitching staff, which could be sensational... and really, the CUBS' staff should be awfully good, too.... all depending on injuries, of course but maybe there is a decent reason why we should keep the faith for another year, on BOTH sides of town.....
Oct
1
4:30PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
Blackhawks Predictions
as we do in our office prior to the start of ALL the major sports seasons, the WGN Sports crew is offering the following predictions for the Blackhawks season and beyond...
Dan Roan: 100 points and Western Conference Finals
Rich King: 101 points and Western Conference Finals
Joel Liberatore, Producer: 98 points and Western Conference champions
Steve Lippo, Producer: 99 points and Western Conference Finals
Steve Scheuer, Camera: 108 and Western Conference Finals
with the exception of Mr. Scheuer, there seems to be some question about the ability ofour new full-time goaltender... but we'll see, beginning tomorrow morning... it's great to have 'em back, and you can see the Hawks most Saturdays and Sundays right here on WGN!!
Sep
18
10:10PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
Cubs and Sox, R.I.P.
Which is worse, to get your doors blown off by the Kansas City Royals when you're semi-IN a playoff race... or to lose to your arch-rival on a walk-off homer surrendered by one Aaron Heilman, who might be able to get my dead grandmother out-- and might not... the Sox went belly up in the ninth inning yesterday at Seattle, then the Royals toe-tagged 'em tonight, 11-0... Cubs get two in the first and then turtled up like they so often do... and did you SEE Geo Soto's at-bat in the eighth??? Go-ahead run at second, one out, and he LOOKS at three straight right down the middle... and as long as we're ranting here, how about Lou letting Ted Lilly hit with the bases loaded and two outs in a tie game in the sixth??? We've all said this before, but if THEY don't care, why should anybody else???
4:37PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
memories of a bad guy
couldn't help but think as I watched the coverage of the escaped fugitive in the northwest suburbs... that guy looks EXACTLY like Billy Koch, the former White Sox relief pitcher... They also share a few personality traits.....
Sep
16
12:25AM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
Sox and Cubs
Staying up late with the White Sox tonight... I'll say this, that A-J at bat in the seventh inning was one of the best I've seen in awhile... more than ten pitches before a two-out, two-run single put the Sox in front at Seattle... then they survive a blown call by Angel Hernandez at first base in the ninth inning that kept a Mariners rally going-- Angel's the same guy who got into it with Steve McMichael at Wrigley the night Mongo sang the stretch then called Hernandez out.... anyway, all's well that ends well, Sox win, only five and a half back of the Tigers now... Cubs also win, despite Z's latest meltdown, and THEY'RE five and a half out of the wildcard (but with three teams to jump, not much chance there)...
Sep
14
8:15PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
Urlacher
Feels like the season is already shot, doesn't it? I would say this-- as Lovie pointed out, the Bears D was pretty solid against the Packers in the second half without Urlacher. Hillenmeyer can play some, so they're not totally dead in the middle. My bigger concern, as it was before the season even started, is the secondary. Not sure Vasher could cover me, let alone somebody with actual athletic ability. But that's OK, it's only the STEELERS coming to town next week.
Sep
13
10:51PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0
Bears-Packers
WOW! As the NBC boys just said, is THAT what the Bears gave up two first round draft picks for??? Agreed, Cutler settled down in that third quarter, but in the first half he had happy feet like a rookie out there-- and at the end, if the game's on the line, I MIGHT be thinking about my experienced tight end rather than throwing in the flat to an undersized rookie against a veteran like Al Harris. That one, of course, would not necessarily be on Cutler but the coaches, who were beaten as badly as Nate Vasher was. A nightmare start, but I guess they can only go one way from here-- at least you'd HOPE that's the case....
Recent Comments