back in Chicago

Well, I had a great week in Seattle. I don't talk about that on my blog, for certain reasons. I like to keep family matters private.

In any event, I will go into things like Religious Zionism and how that influences my outlook on religion and current events in America and Israel, maybe tomorrow.

One thing that I don't understand is why Fox 32 in Chicago is so progressive and very similar to the other stations (WGN, WMAQ, WBBM and WLS). If they think that hiring certain underprivliged people to appease certain rabble rousers will work, I disagree. WFLD needs to be different than the others.

As far as Chicago sports goes, Bears had a good end to a disappointing season. This team is stuck in the 1950's-1960's. That's why they don't win. While a great defense, with an outstanding middle linebacker and a good running back worked 45 years ago, it doesn't work in today's NFL.

Bulls are disappointing, I think that Paxson needs to be replaced at the end of the season. He's a mediocre talent evaluator IMHO. If Chicago basketball fans want a 42 win team that loses early, Pax is your guy.

Good thing that the Illini football team is in the Rose Bowl. The basketball team can be summed up in three letters N-I-T. Any team that loses to Tennessee State doesn't deserve to be in the NCAA tournament.

Gonzaga lost to Oklahoma and Tennessee recently. Good win for Washington in Baton Rouge over the weekend. WSU is fourth in the country. Next year I hope they can play a big name big conference team on the road or in a neutral site.

news

Well, I made it safely to Seattle. Took forever, but that's another story.

Anyway, good news sports wise, Seahawks won and with the Niners help in beating the Bucs, Seahawks are the 3 seed in the NFC. Bad news is that they don't get to play the Giants so their game will undoubtedly be on Saturday against the Vikings or Redskins.

Bears won today 35-7, saw first half or so at home, before the Cab took me to O'Hare. Why the Bears only get up for the Packers is a mystery to me. Fox is happy because now the Cowboys are the #1 seed with the Packers loss.
Giants made it today, after a 38-21 win in Buffalo over the Bills. Also clinching playoff spots today were the Jaguars with a 49-11 win over the Raiders and the Steelers, when Cleveland lost to Cincy. If Cleveland loses and Tennessee wins next week, then Tennessee is the #6 seed and Cleveland is out. I'm rooting for the Browns. They've suffered more heartache than the Titans.

Bears season over

Well the Bears season is over, after last night's loss in the Homerdome to the Vikings, 20-13. I suppose it's time to look forward to 2008, maybe Wolfe can make some plays against the Packers and Saints.

College Hoops: Illinois won 58-35 over Western Carolina, it was one of the best defensive efforts in Illini history. Let's see them win in St. Louis over Mizzou.

DePaul had a bad loss on Saturday night at Allstate Arena to the UIC Flames. The Flames are the best Chicago team in the Horizon League this year. That being said, the team to beat is Butler and don't forget about Valparaiso, who's 9-1 I think.


I will deal with the Steroids issue and the Mitchell report another time.

Zag Nation, check this out

To all Zag Fans,

Remember this from our run in 1999?

http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/

Go to the post with Gus Johnson, there's a thing on youtube.com with his call of the Calvary tip-in against Florida in 1999 in Phoenix.

Next time, some wise guy Coug fan gives us grief over their win at the Kennel, show him this clip.

weekend

My weekend was nice. I spent it up on Jerome street and had a nice Sephardic Shabat. In two weeks, I will also have another nice Sephardic Shabat in Seattle.

It snowed a lot over the weekend. It will be cold for a bit so don't expect to see the streets 100% clear of snow for a while. Unless the temperature miraculously goes up to 55 degrees, I expect it to be cold and snowy for a while.

favorite coaches

My top coaches in College Basketball

1) Mark Few
2) Jim Les
3) Tom Izzo
4) Rick Pitino
5) Bruce Weber
6) Jim Calhoun

Knight is useful to me because he's old school and people like Jay Mariotti don't like him.

great accomplishment

1) The Seahawks on Sunday beat the Arizona Cardinals 42-21, for their fourth consectutive NFC West division title. Not since the Niners of the 80's and 90's has anyone dominated the NFC West like them. They're in good shape for the 3 seed in the NFC.

Check out more on the Seahawks at www.fieldgulls.com

2) I know that from time to time I get into political stuff, however, I am not an expert or elected official. All I do is give my opinion.

two quickies

1) My two favorite young female singers are Mandy Moore and Carrie Underwood. Underwood won American Idol and dated Tony Romo of the Cowboys. They are nice and attractive young ladies without being prutzahs. See the Britney crowd for a comparison.

2) A shout out to Paul Katcher and the rest of the Orange Nation for an ENORMOUS road win in Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena last Wednesday night. Let's see what Dookie V has to say about that, Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nice and cold weekend

I had a good shabat in Rogers Park. Missed a shalom zachor or two, but that's okay. In any event, I lit one extra candle on Friday to show the greenies the folly of their ways.

It's cold here and we have freezing rain in the windy city.

Now to Northwest Hoops: Sorry to tell all of the Husky fans this, but their athletic department STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They should have beaten Pittsburgh at home yesterday. In my humble opinion, after the season, they should let Lorenzo Romar go and get a Bobby Knight yeller and screamer to whip them into shape. They're too nice and lethargic to be playoff caliber, let alone champions.

To the Cougar fans: I don't trust your hoops team for a SECOND. Let's see them beat UCLA and Arizona, then we'll talk. Your team plays like Princeton, not like North Carolina or Florida or UConn. http://wsufootball.blogspot.com let's see a response from Eastern Washington folks.

My pick for the #1 team is Memphis, followed by Kansas, North Carolina and I hate to do this but #4 is the team I hate, the DUKIES BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To all Vitale haters, I apologize, but the Dukies will win a minimum of 25 games.

Cougs champs or Chumps

Now that the Cougs are officially the best team in Washington, after nipping the Zags at the Kennel in Spokane, the question is, can the Cougs make it to San Antonio?

They play a slow-down, defensive-oriented style of basketball. Guys in the East coast media, who love the Princeton offense will like the Cougs.

It remains to be seen if they have a go-to-guy. The only defense that the Zags have is that they were without Heytvelt. However, last year, they had Heytvelt and lost to the Cougs. Heytvelt was on the team until February.

In any event, the Cougs should be undefeated until going to LA to play the Trojans and Bruins.

Green Chanukah

Evidently, there are Jews who are swept up in the global warming hype. According to the Jerusalem Post, there is a group of greens who want Jews to light one less candle per night in order to save the planet from extra carbon dioxide. If it were halachically permissible, I would light ONE EXTRA candle to show them their folly.

This holiday is designed to show the uniqueness of the Jewish people, not to be "kechol hagoyim" as mentioned in Shmuel Alef when the Jews wanted a King. It is important to keep this in mind. Chanukah is not the Jewish version of L'Havdil Alpei Havdalot, Xmas. The Chashmonaim risked their lives for a flask of oil and a miracle happened that the flask of oil lasted eight days. They didn't want to ape their neighbors. Sadly, many of our people seem to like this approach.

Streaks end

Two streaks ended last night, one good, one not-so-good. The Ottawa Senators seven-game losing streak came to an end in Sunrise, Florida with their 5-4 win over the Florida Panthers. They now are 17-7-3 and are one of two NHL teams that are ten games over .500, the other are the Detroit Red Wings.

However, Gonzaga lost at home to a non-conference opponent, the Washington State Cougars in basketball last night, 51-47. The Cougars slowed the game to a crawl and won. Good for them. The Zag fan in me is disappointed in the loss, however, since I don't live in Washington state, better that they beat the UConn Huskies and lose to the Wazzu Cougs than the other way around. From my social circle point of view, the more Gonzaga, Mariners and Seahawks beat the eastern teams, the better it is for me.

If WSU is so good, let's see what they do against UCLA, Arizona, USC, etc in the Pac-10 and also if they can knock off a North Carolina or Kansas.

other things

First of All, Happy Hannukah and Chanukah Allegre to all Jews in Chicago, Seattle and elsewhere.

Secondly, on this CNN/YouTube Debate. Just like the Democrats won't appear on Fox News, the Republicans shouldn't be on CNN. It was a very shallow forum. Until now, I haven't endorsed any candidate. I am leaning towards Thompson or Tancredo because of the Border/Immigration issue.

In honor of American Troops (and Israeli ones) here's a nice picture.

various things, good old boy network lives in College sports

First of all, about the BCS: To me it's a sham and a sign of the good old boy network. They (BCS powers) like certain teams like Ohio State, Oklahoma and LSU and dislike the non-traditional powers like Kansas and Missouri and West Virginia. If I was a voter, I would consider voting for Hawaii if they beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and Kansas if they beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

Now that that's out of the way, onto the sports I really care about.

NFL: Seahawks eked out an important win on the road at Philadelphia by beating the Eagles 28-24 at Lincoln Financial Field. Hasslebeck had 2 TD passes and Morris and Alexander each had a TD Run. Alexander's was the 99th of his career (rushing) and 110 overall for his career. The Hawks are 8-4 and 2 games behind Green Bay for the second seed. They won't catch the Packers but it is a possibility. I sound like Harry Teinewitz of ESPN 1000 by saying this. Nice if on January 20th it was the Cowboys and Seahawks in the NFC championship game.

NCAA: Go Zags Go!!! They beat UConn 85-82 in Boston in this Hartford Challenge. The other game was BC and Providence, don't know or care what happened in that game.


NHL: Bad news, the Senators, once 11-1 or so, have lost 6 straight, albeit one or two in a shootout where they get a point. They still lead the Northeast, but have a big road trip this week, with games in Florida, Texas, Carolina and Pittsburgh. It's a long season though and I expect them to get through it or make a trade to shore up weaknesses.

That's all for now, catch you all later.