The Roan Zone

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....
8:45PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0

Twins-Tigers

...now, THAT'S BASEBALL!!! 
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.....
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!!

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.....
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)...
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.
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....
4:51PM | posted by Dan Roan | comments: 0

First Sunday

Trolling through WEEK ONE about halfway through the day, currently watching the NFC champion Cardinals come unglued against San Francisco. Earlier, Favre was not especially impressive but did OK as a game manager, I thought. He sure does have some tools to work with, Adrian Peterson is every bit as good as we remembered...  And not that we were rooting against Kyle Orton here in the office, but after watching Hard Knocks with the Bengals, you kind of got to like those guys.  I was riding home from Champaign this morning (Illini vs. Redbirds last night) and listening to a Cincinnati radio guy go on for a half-hour about how this was a do-or-die game for the Bengals.  Then for them to lose it on a deflected 87-yard touchdown pass in the last 20 seconds, WOW!  Hide the knives and scissors over there.  More later.