Chicago Bears Make Big Moves

On Friday March 5th, the first day of NFL free agency, the Bears quickly went out and made big moves. The Bears signed three free agents that will come in and immidiatley have an impact on the team. The Bears signed argueablly the best free agent on the market with the aquistion of the six foot seven inch defensive end, Julious Peppers. They followed that move up by signing two players that will fight for playing time at their respected postions. Chester Taylor, who was the back-up for Adrian Peterson in Minnesota, will be looking to take some of Matt Forte's time at the running back position. Also, Brandon Manumaleuna was signed and will be looking to take some of Greg Olsen's playing time at Tight end.
Bear's General manager Jerry Angelo told reporters "We weren’t looking to make a splash, we’re looking to win, We felt like this gives us a better football team." Bears fans can only hope that this makes us a better team considering the Bears signed Peppers for a guarenteed 42 million over six years. With this move the Bears also raised ticket prices. We will see if Peppers is worth the expense as he in his ninth season and has averaged 10.5 sacks per season. Peppers is a beast on the defensive line and will help the Bears other lineman as Peppers is double teamed almost every snap.

Chicago Cubs Starting line-up

The Chicago Cubs will likely have the same line-up as last year except that Milton Bradley is no longer with the team as he was traded to the Seatle Mariners for Carlos Silva, and the Cubs acquired Marlyn Byrd in Free agnecy who will start in Center Field and take Braley's spot in the line up. This aqusition will move Kosuke Fukudome back to right field which is his natural postion. This move will help the Cubs defensively after a season in which they were 23rd in the Major Leagues. Across the infield the Cubs are set with Derek Lee at first, Mike Fonentenot at second, Ryan Theriot at short, Aramis Ramirez at third, and Geovany Soto will do the catching.

The Cubs starting line up is basicilly set 1-8, but their are some players that could possibly work their way in the line up with a strong performing Spring Training or an injury to a starter. The Cubs are hoping that their new hitting coach can help to find and fix any glitch in Fukudome's swing. The Cubs have been very frustrated with Kosuke in the two years he has been with the team. The Japanese import has played well below expectaions and has not lived up to the big contract he was given. If Kosuke stuggles in Spring training, do not be suprised if the Cubs start former Pitsburg Pirate Xavier Nady. Nady has a career .280 batting average and is a solid fielder. He was signed in the offseason for a one year deal.

Chicago Cubs Spring training

Opening day is 35 days away and as always, Cubs fans are excited and are begging to think that this will finnally be the year.

The Cubs pitchers and catchers reported ontime to Mesa,AZ a couple of weeks ago and to the delight of the Cubs, many of the position players showed up early. Newly signed center fielder Marlyn Byrd was one of the players who showed up early to work with the Cubs new hitting coach, and his former hitting coach in Texas, Rudy Jaramillo. The Cubs were also excited to see that catcher, Geovany Soto showed up to camp in great shape. Coming off a bad 2009 season in which he was hurt and when healthy did not play up to expectations, Soto showed up to camp 40 pounds lighter. He also worked on his swing and hopes to play at the level he did in 2008 when we won the rookie of the year.

The Cubs first Spring Training game is on March 4rth in Mesa against the Oakland A's. Randy Wells is expected to make the start. Randy Wells had a great rookie season last year and will most likely end up as the Cubs number 4 pitcher in the rotation. Going into Spring Training the Cubs rotation 1 through 4 are set with Carlos Zambrano number 1, Ted Lilly at the 2, Ryan Dempster at the 3, and Wells in the 4. The fifth spot in the rotation is up for grabs. Lefty Tom Gorzelanny, former Notre Dame wide reciever Jeff Samardzija, and newly acquired Carlos Silva will all battle it out for the fifth spot in the rotation.

Hawks off for winter Olympics; Bulls complete trades before deadline

The Chicago Blackhawks have already completed all five of the games that were schedualed for Febuary. They finished the month with a 5-2 record. They only played five games in this month becuase of the fact that the 2010 Winter Olympics are currently going down in Vancuver. The blackhawks have plenty to loose in the winter olympic games becuase they have six players who are participating. Tomas Kopecky and Marian Hossa are Playing for team Solvakia. Patrick Kane is one of the young stars for team USA. Finally, Jonathon Toews, Brent Seabrook, and Duncan Kieth are playing for Team Canada. The Hawks can only hope that all of these players come back to the team healthy and are not too fatigued.
The Bulls made two big deals before the NBA trade deadline. The Bulls started off by trading John Salamons to the Miluwaki Bucks for Joe Alexander and Hakim Warrick. Along with John Salamons the Bulls also gave up their second round draft pick. Also, the Bulls made a last second deal that sent forward, Tyrus Thomas, to the Charlotte Bobcats for Acie Law,and Flip Murray. In this deal the Bulls also recieved a furture first round draft pick. Although none of these players are starters or consistently good players, this trade is great for the Bulls becuase with this trade they have picked up 3 expiring contracts and gave up Tyrus Thomas who has a very large contract. With these moves the Bulls have given themselves 16-20 million in salary cap which is going to be very important becuase of the 2010 free agent class. After next season, their is a possibility that big names like Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, Joe Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer, Paul Pierce, Manu Ginobli, and David Lee. These moves put Bulls into great position to get one of the top five players of this free agent class. The Bulls now have the money, but also might have the most to offer one of these players becuase of the fact they are a playoff team filled with young talanted players.

Bulls and Hawks playoff chances

The Blackhawks have had a great season thus far and are currently 38-11 with 81 points in the NHL's Western Conferance. They have played great all season and are currently in second place. They have a great shot to move into first place if they can finish the season strong as they are only 4 points behind the San Jose Sharks. The Hawks have been in and out of first place the entire season and have played great against their major divisional rival in the Detroit Redwings. The young stars for the Hawks have played great and the team has been overachieving the entire season.

The Bulls on the other hand have had a record under .500 for a majority of the season and have not nearly played as good as they potentially could. They are currently 24-25. Although the record is not that impressive if the season were to end today this would put the Bulls as the 6th Seed out of the eight teams in the NBA's Eastern Conferance that make the playoffs. The Bulls have meet expectations of NBA pre-season projections.

Chicago Bulls impressive play in January

The Chicago Bulls ended the month of January on a very impressive five game winning streak against five seperate western conferance playoff contenders: highly talented teams such as the Phoniex Suns, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the New Orleans Hornets. This five game winning streak helped to cap off a great month in which they went 10-5. The final game of the Month against the Hornets was a very exciting battle. The game included a thrilling fourth quarter comeback by the Hornets which lead to a Loul Deng lay up at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. Loul, had a stellar game in which he put up 26 points and lead the Bulls to the 108-106 victory in Overtime.

This month was very important to the Bulls playoff push becuase they only played five games at home. Critics in the Chicago media thought that this month would hurt the Bulls becuase they have a 9-15 record on the season when they play on the road. The Bulls are currently 23-22 on the year and if the season were to end today that record would put them as the 7th seed in the Eastern conferance. Their record is above .500 for the first time since November.

They hope to increase their five game winning streak on Febuary 2nd when they play the struggling LA Clippers at home. The Bulls have played very well at the "Mad House on Madison."(United Center)Their record at Home this season is 14-7. The Month of Febuary should favor the Bulls as they have seven games at home and seven games on the road. Although home and road games are split for this month, the Bulls play less talented teams and should be able to win a majority of the games in Febuary and move up in the Eastern conferance rankings.

After a very disapointing season for the Chicago Bears, there is only one team that gives chicago sports fans hope for a playoff run. That team is the chicago Blackhawks who are currently the 1rst place team in the NHL's Western conferance. Chicago has not been this excited about their hockey team in many years.
I believe that many Chicago sports fans are converting to hockey for two reasons. The first is that the Blackhawks have a very young and exciting team that includes young stars like Jonathon Toews, Patrick Kane, and a great goalie who has come out of nowhere to arguably be one of the best in the league,Antti Niemi.
The second reason that the Hawks have come to be a Chicago sports fans favorite team is becuase of the failures of every other Chicago team. The year started off with both of Chicagos baseball teams, the Cubs and the White Sox, having high hopes for their teams to make the playoffs. Unfortinutly both teams underachieved and did not even come close to the playoffs. Then their was the most disapointing team in the area, the Bears. After an offseason where the Bears traded two 1rst round draft picks to the Denver Broncos for a "franchise quarterback" in Jay Cutler. This trade did not work out for the Bears as Jay Cutler lead the league in interceptions and lead the team to a dreadful 7-9 record in the NFC North division. The Bears star linebacker Brian Urlacher broke his wrist on the first game and put him out of play for the rest of the season. This was also a major contributer to the Bears disapointing season. Now after the terrible season that started with high hopes, the Bears fans have nothing to look forward to for next year. They don't have a 1rst round pick and need help on the offense line with pro bowl center Olin Kruts retiring. Also, they are lacking a star wide reciever, offensive coordinator, and help in the secondary.
It will be a stressful but interesting offseason for the Cubs, White Sox, and the Bears. Although all three had terrible seasons,Chicago fans will still come back and have high hopes for next year, but with the Hawks, Chicago fans have hope for this year.