Welcome to my new segment, Random Chicago Sports Thoughts. Each week I'm going to throw out some of my thoughts about the Chicago sports teams and teams they may be playing that week as well. Hope you enjoy.
University of Illinois Football
I am 100% behind the firing of Ron Zook. The Illini have struggled quite a bit the past several seasons and a change was needed. No time better than when you lose six games in a row. I think Zook will be missed for his recruiting though. Yes his actual game coaching might be questioned, but he did bring in some elite talent from all across the country. It will be interesting to see how the new coach will do. If he succeeds right away Ron Zook will need to be given a lot of credit, just like in Florida for the championship teams he built for Urban Meyer.
Northwestern Basketball
It is amazing to think that in the history of the NCAA tournament the only BCS Conference team to never make the Big Dance is your Northwestern Wildcats. Not even by accident or some fluke hot stretch during the Big 10 tournament. This year might be their best chance. The 'Cats are a veteran team and should be able to put together a winning conference record and as of yet they don't have that horrible loss to DePaul or Northern Illinois that seems to plague them every year. 2012 could be history making for NU.
This season is over. With Cutler and Forte out the Bears may win one more game if their lucky. This season had so much promise just a few weeks ago, but how quickly things can change. Caleb Hanie is giving me pre-Cutler memories, and we all know those are bad memories. I'm already ill at the thought of Tim Tebow beating the Bears this week, Seattle will look like world beaters, we know the Packers are good, and then in a snoozer against the Vikings we may have a shot. From 7-3 to 8-8...maybe. What a waste of a good stretch.
I wish I knew what Kenny William's plan was. Yes lots of Sox fans are upset with the Santos deal, but to be honest I'm undecided. Santos did a nice job stepping in to the closers role last season, but it started to look like teams were starting to hit him hard. It's hard to say they are rebuilding when you have some massive contracts along with some young players. Two things I know for certain. Kenny isn't done dealing and Mark Buehrle has pitched his last game for the White Sox.
So everyone thought the Cubs would be huge players in free agency and get either Pujols or Fielder. Not gonna happen. What they should focus on is making trades to get some of the players from teams that sign Pujols or Fielder. If the Marlins land one of them, Theo should call the Marlins and get Gabby Sanchez. Sanchez had a great season for the Marlins and if he didn't play such a star position would be an all star on a regular basis. Theo is a smart guy and I'm sure he is just waiting for the market to settle. Just don't expect a big fish like Prince or Albert to come to the North Side.
The NBA is back and what a crazy couple of weeks it will be. If I were Gar Foreman I would go hard after Dwight Howard. Let the Magic have anyone but Rose and the Bulls would be a force in the East for many years to come.
This season is going to be interesting with all the games in a short amount of time. If a player gets banged up and is considered day-to-day he might now actually miss five or six games as opposed to one or two. Get ready for the ride. Hopefully it will be a great one for the Bulls.
As a Hawks fan I'm worried. The Hawks have enough offense to bring home another Cup, but the defense and goaltending is an issue. Emery and Crawford might get them into the playoffs, but I'm worried about how they'll do in the postseason. Might be time for the Hawks to move a big name forward for a solid goaltender.