Go Time

Well, it wasn't a terrible week, but it wasn't great for the teams. While the Bears, Notre Dame, and the Cubs won 2-2 over the span of the week, I still feel like all these teams can play so much better and it's really frustrating when they don’t.  Let’s start with the Bears. They went out west to take on the Cardinals. I know it's hard to travel and play out there, but the beginning of this game was just plain awful. It seemed like right out of the gate the Bears were down 14-0 and things were not looking good. Now I’ve kinda grown accustomed to the Bears having bad offenses in my life, but I had high hopes for this one. I’m not jumping off the boat yet, but I need to see something out of them. Trubisky has been bad. Like I get it that these are really his first couple games (I know he played last year but I don't count those game because of how bad the Bears were) but I need to see more out of him. He is very inconsistent sometimes he looks really good and sometimes its bad. With the weapons that he has this year, there are no excuses to fall back on he needs to perform.  Now on to that defense oh baby that defense. The defense is good real good. They got off to a slow start but that was mostly because the offense turned the ball over and set the Cardinals up deep in Bears territory. But in the second half that defense was lights out. Causing four turnovers on four possessions in a row. Khalil Mack had another great game with two sacks and another forced fumble. He is the last player to have forced a fumble in three straight games since…. Khalil Mack in 2016. Mack is making a great case for defensive player of the year in just the first three weeks. The Bears ended up winning 16-14 and with Minnesota and Green Bay losing on Sunday the Bears are in sole position of first place and I know everyone is going to be like “oh it's only week three” I don't care it been so long since this has happened and I'm going to talk about it.

Notre Dame played their first road game of the year on Saturday at Wake Forest and they started off very very slow. With a new quarterback at the helm Ian Book, Brian Kelly was looking for a jump start to an offense that has been very very slow and not moving the ball like they should. Early in the game, it was not looking good Wake Forest got off to an early lead and that was the first time that the Irish had been losing all year.After that Ian Book and the Irish offense absolutely took off scoring 55 points, the most by far all year.  Book cruised the team to an easy victory and with his performance definitely took the lead as the quarterback controversy. The Irish have their biggest game of the year on Saturday as the #7 Stanford Cardinal come to South Bend for a top ten matchup. This one will not disappoint both teams are very good and both teams are looking to make it to the college football playoff.

The Cubs lead is down to just .5 games over the Milwaukee Brewers and it's not good. The Cubs have looked terrible at the plate the last two nights, you can tell they are pressing really hard. Swinging at balls out of the strike zone and the Brewers are playing loose and really really good right now. This is a terrible time for the Cubs to get cold and the Brewers to get hot. But I still believe in this team, everyone is jumping off the bandwagon right now its crazy. I have never seen a fan base so SOFT, yes are time tough right now, are we playing awful, yes, but we have seen this team do crazier things than go out and win this division. Last night I heard it all from Cubs fans about how this team was done they have no chance, that they needed to blow the team up because they just aren’t good enough. WITH HOW BAD THEY ARE PLAYING THEY STILL HAVE THE BEST RECORD IN THE NL. I just don’t understand how people can be so fast to jump off the boat when times get tough. If winning in baseball was easy everyone would do it but it's not easy its hard. People forget that just 5 years ago we would have killed to have a half-game lead in the division with 5 to play. Now I know times have changed and so have the expectations have changed and we have reached that sustained success that Theo talked about. But will all that we still control our own destiny. We have to find a way to turn the offense on and start to win a ball game. Starts with tonight we gotta get it going tonight, it starts with Q. We need Q to shut the Pirates down early and we need to get out to an early lead. Because the longer the game goes and we don’t have the lead or we are tied the pressure is just going to keep growing. I still believe in this team and still think this team is going to make a deep playoff run. One more thing the people that have jumped off the bandwagon I don’t want to see them back on it when the Cubs go on a deep playoff run. Cubs in 4.

Starting to Turn the Corner

This week was 1000000x better than last week was. All three teams had a pretty good week. We will start with the Bears. They played on Monday night in primetime against the Seattle and the defensive was lights out once again. That defense has been by far the best part of this team. Mack had another sack and forced a fumble. Russell Wilson was running for his life all night because of that front 7 of the Bears.  The offense, on the other hand, is very very questionable still. Again just like last week on the first drive of the game they went right down the field and scored and it looked really good. This has me nervous a little bit because usually the first 15-20 plays of a football game are scripted. Meaning they already know that those plays are going to be the plays they run no matter what the situation and when they have done this they looked really good. But when they get off the script it gets a little fishy. The offense stalled many times after the first drive. Tribuskiy showed signs of possibly being really good, his athleticism was really good and made some plays. He just needs to be more consistent overall he wasn't terrible but needs to be more consistency.  The Bears ended up winning the game 24-17 but it wasn't even that close. The Bears dominated the game and it shouldn't have been of close as it was. The Bears head to Arizona this coming week to face the Cardinals and the Bears should absolutely dominate this game. The Cardinals have been getting killed the last two weeks and the Bears will rely upon that defense to come up big again and shut down David Johnson and the Cardinals offense.
  The Cubs have a very good week winning 5 games this week. It started with that makeup game in D.C last Thursday and it was a big big game because they had just lost 2/3 against Milwaukee and their lead was dropped down to 1 1/2 games. They went to D.C needing to win and that's exactly what they did. Javy continued his MVP campaign with another home run that tied the game in the 6th and ended up having the game-winning bunt in the 10nth. But then a very questionable call by Joe Maddon later in that inning let Pedro Strop bat with the bases loaded so that he could pitch in the bottom of that inning and then he hit a ball to third base and when he was sprinting down the line and ended up straining his hamstring. This is NOT good because Brandon Morrow who was the Cubs closer who has been hurt the entire second half of the season and was reported yesterday that he will not pitch again this season.  Strop is hopeful that he will pitch this seasons but this hurts. The Cubs don't have a true closer for the rest of the regular season.  They will need Strop for the playoffs because of Morrow being hurt. On the weekend, the Cubs took 2/3 against the Reds and gained another game on the Brewers. Now they have three more road games than the last 10 games of the year will be played in the city of Chicago which is huge as they close down their third straight division championship. As of today, they have a 3 1/2 game lead on the Brewers and the magic number for them to clinch the division is 8. Go Cubs!

Via USAtoday.com 

Very Bad Week

Well I don't even know where to begin. It was a bad week. Very bad week. Especially for the Bears and the Cubs. Let's start with the Bears. Sunday night primetime in Green Bay and boy were Bears fans jacked up about this game. With a new head coach Matt Nagy, finally some weapons on offense, and a defense that has the making to be something special, this was the most excited I had been watching a Bears football game probably since 2013. It was nice to go into a game with expectations and the thought that we might actually do this. For the first half, Bears fans were on top of the football world. We were absolutely taking it to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau field, something every Bears fan dreams of. The first drives on offense and defense spoke to me, The Packers got the ball first and did absolutely nothing with it—three and out. Then Mitchell Trubisky took control and, for the first time that I can remember, the Bears offense was flashy and it was fun to watch. There were so many playmakers on the field and they topped off the drive with a touchdown. Bears fans were feeling good. Khalil Mack, the prized pass rusher the Bears acquired only 8 days before this game, was going to be placed on a snap count to monitor his conditioning. Many people wondered if he would have that much of an impact on the game. Man, did he have an HUGE impact. He was all over Brian Boluga the Packers left tackle. In the first half, Mack forced a fumble and he recovered that ball, made a sack, and then made an interception that he returned for a touchdown. Last player to do that in the NFL was….. Khalil Mack. On top of all this, Aaron Rodgers was hurt in the second quarter and it didn't look good. He was taken by a cart to the locker room and Packer fans started to wonder if they would see him again this season. The halftime score was 20-0 Bears and we as Bears fans were loving life. The Packers were getting booed off the field and everything was perfect. Then the second half came and everything changed. Rodgers came back and ripped our hearts out again. Something that has happened way too many times before in my life. He was basically on one leg because he couldn't put any pressure on the injured leg. But I have to say something about the Bears’ play calling in the second half, it was TERRIBLE. Naggy was coaching not to lose in the second half. He should have had his team go out there and step on their throats and end them during the second half. He should have known, you can not give them any chance to come back in that game. Two times in the fourth quarter the Bears had 3 and 1 and both times they threw the ball. That's just inexcusable. You have to man up and run the ball and pick up that one yard—you just have to. The Bears went on to lose the game 24-23, but even with the heartbreaking loss there were positives to build on. The defense is very young, very talented, and will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Same goes with the offense. They have many weapons and it just takes time to get into a rhythm. With that said, the Bears play Seattle on Monday night—another primetime game. I expect the Bears to come out and play very well for the entire game this time.

Via NBC. Sports

Now onto Notre Dame, the #8 Irish played Ball State on Saturday in South Bend and to say it was disappointing would be an understatement. Yes, they won but they did not look good doing it. Brandon Wimbush looked very inconsistent at quarterback—yet again. This is something that is going to need to change for the Irish to compete this season. They really need him to get going. The defense looked good again, but still, it should not have been as close as it was against a team that has way less talent than Notre Dame. Even with the Irish only winning by 8 points, they keep their #8 ranking. Now all they have to do is keep winning and they will be fine. Another opponent this week in South Bend that the Irish should handle fairly easily is Vanderbilt.

Now the Cubs. Oh, the Cubs have had an awful week just all around from the playing, to the weather, it's just all been bad. They got a win in an extra inning last Thursday in Washington against the Nationals with David Bote having another big hit which turned out to be the winning run. Then Friday came and everyone knew the weather was going to be bad, but I don't think anyone expected it to be as bad as it was. Friday's game was delayed and MLB ended up making them start the game. It was an important one with Jon Lester on the hill. The game only got into the second inning before it started to rain again, and they ended up canceling the game. The Cubs were not happy about this at all because it burned Lester and they lost one of his starts. So on Saturday, there was a scheduled doubleheader with game one against Max Scherzer, one of the best pitchers in baseball. The Cubs got blasted in that game and lost 10-3. Then, Cole Hamels took the mound for the Cubs in game two and he looked good for most of the game. Victor Caratini hit a grand slam in the fourth and everything was looking good. The Nats ended up getting back into the game, but then in the 8th, with the Cubs winning by one, Justin Wilson came on the mound to face Bryce Harper and it was bad—real bad. Wilson threw an absolute meatball to Bryce and he deposited it over the center field fence. This hurt because you just can not throw that pitch to that guy in that spot. After that happened, I was probably the maddest I have been since the Cubs got good. To top it off, before the bottom of the eighth, the rains came again and caused a delay. The game didn't start again until after 1 A.M. in Washington D.C. The Cubs went on to lose that game as well, so they dropped both games of the doubleheader.  Sunday’s game was canceled and rescheduled for this Thursday, which extends the Cubs lengthy stretch of games to 30 games in 30 days. Milwaukee came to town on Monday night. This is a huge series for both teams. Before the game on Monday, the Cubs had a two-game lead in the division. The Brewers won on Monday night dropping the lead in the division to only one game going into last night’s game. Last night’s game was the biggest game of the year for both teams up to this point. Jose Quintana (Q) took the mound for the Cubs and absolutely owned the Brewers. This season, in his 10 career starts with 6 of them being this season, Q has a 1.67 ERA which is very, very good and he was terrific last night. Victor Caratini drove in two as the Cubs won 3-0 and brought the division lead back to two games.

Via Zimbio

What a Week It Has Been

Wow, what an incredible week that it has been for the Cubs, Notre Dame, and the Chicago Bears. Let’s start with Saturday. Saturday was one of the best days that I have ever had as a sports fan. Early that morning while I was still in bed, I heard my phone go off multiple times and had no idea why. I look and see that I have multiple texts from my friends saying that the Bears had just traded for Khalil Mack who is one of the best defensive players in all of the NFL. So, naturally, I went to Twitter to verify this before I got really excited. I saw that it was true and, I thought, what a way to wake up early on a Saturday morning. With the Bears getting Mack, this is the most excited I have been for a Bears football season in a long, long time. To make this even better, we play Green Bay on Sunday night.

Via ChicagoBears.com

Then around 3:30 on Saturday afternoon, the lineup for the Cubs game came out for that night's game against the Phillies. Batting in the 5th spot and playing third base, Kris Bryant was finally back. This was a huge boost for a team that had already been playing very well. In his first game back, Bryant went on to have two hits and Kyle Hendricks pitched a great game.

Later that night, Notre Dame Fighting Irish played one of their biggest rivals the Michigan Wolverines. This was hyped up to be one of the biggest games of the entire year with two historical programs playing head to head on the opening weekend of college football. College Gameday was in South Bend for the matchup. A game with two defenses that were supposed to be the real deal and they both showed why. Notre Dame got out to a very early 14-0 lead in the first quarter and it looked like it would be smooth sailing for the Irish. Then the Michigan defense showed what they were all about by shutting down Brandon Wimbush and the Irish offense. Right before the half, Notre Dame was in firm control of the game, but then the Wolverines returned the kick off 99 yards to make the score 17-10.  Notre Dame scored one more time to make it 24-10. The Irish defense now had to live up to its preseason hype. They made multiple stops in the fourth, and then with about two minutes left, the Wolverines score to bring it to a one-score game. The #12 Irish seal the win after recovering a fumble. My first reactions from the game were that Notre Dame’s defense is the real deal and I think they can do a lot with that this year. The offense, on the other hand, is questionable. I think Brandon Wimbush needs to be big for the Irish this year and I believe he can do it. This win over #14 Michigan moved Notre Dame up to #8 in the country this week. They will take on Ball State Saturday.

Via NotreDameinsider.com

To top off this Labor Day weekend, I went to the Cubs game on Monday up in Milwaukee at Miller Park aka Wrigley North. It has that name because of the amount of Cubs fans that are in attendance every time we play up there and boy our fans not disappoint.  It truly felt like a home game for the Cubs. The game was a sellout and it was probably 70-30 Cubs fans to Brewer fans. Cole Hamels started for the Cubs and he also did not disappoint. The Cubs took the lead in the first when Javy Baez was Javy Baez and scored from first on a single by Anthony Rizzo. The Brewers took the lead in the 6th and things started to not look so good. By the time the 8th inning came, Josh Hader, the Brewers prized bullpen arm, was going on his third consecutive inning of work. Anthony Rizzo came to the plate with Ian Happ stealing 2nd during the at-bat. On a 2-1 count, Rizz absolutely smashed the ball to deep left center to give the Cubs the lead 3-2 with his at-bat being a home run. The stadium went absolutely nuts. A person not paying attention would not have guessed that a visiting team just took the lead. I felt like I was at Wrigley and it was an awesome moment. I've been to quite a few Cubs games in my life and that might have been the best moment that I have witnessed. Josh Hader, who was pitching, had never allowed a home run to a left-handed hitter until then. Sadly, the Cubs went on to lose that game because their bullpen absolutely folded in the 8th and 9th. Walking home the tying run in the 8th, the Brewers walked off the Cubs on a fielder's choice by Christian Yelich. Watching your team lose on TV on walk-off sucks, but being there and seeing your team lose is 10x worse. Yet, the Cubs are still in first and we are still better than the Milwaukee Brewers.