Archive for September, 2008
Janet Jackson rushed to hospital
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 | Concerts | No Comments
Representatives for Janet Jackson said the singer was rushed to the hospital after falling ill before a concert. The Montreal show was canceled and no further information on if it will be rescheduled has been released.
Team USA Wins 37th Ryder Cup
Monday, September 29th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
Team USA defeated Team Europe 16 1/2 to 11 1/2 in the 37th Annual Ryder Cup played at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky from September 16th through September 21st. Led by 6 rookies playing in their 1st ever Ryder Cup, the young underdogs upset Team Europe with consistent and spectacular play all weekend long. During the Friday sessions, Team USA built an early lead by winning 4 matches, halving 3 others and losing only 1. Team USA gave some back on Saturday, winning only 2 matches, losing 3 matches and halving the other 3 matches. Team USA came out firing on Sunday as Anthony Kim set the tone with a decisive 5 & 4 win over Team Europe leader Sergia Garcia. Despite losses by Ryder Cup veterans Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard, Hunter Mahan halved with Paul Casey and each of Kenny Perry, Boo Weekley, J.B. Holmes and Jim Furyk recorded victories over their European counterparts to set the stage for the Team USA victory. Ben Curtis and Chad Campbell closed out the final 2 matches of the Ryder Cup with Team USA victory to bring the Cup back to the United States for the 1st time in 9 years. Hunter Mahan didn’t lose a match during the Ryder Cup, pacing Team USA with 3.5 points. 6 other Team USA players recorded 2.5 points over the course of the weekend to lead the attack – Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Boo Weekley, J.B. Holmes. Team USA was able to upset the Europeans despite being without the world’s #1 player – Tiger Woods.
The Chicago Bears – Just When You Think The Season Is Over…
Monday, September 29th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
After blowing 4th quarter leads in 2 consecutive weeks, the critics, media and even most Chicago Bears’ fans were ready to write the Bears’ season off as another disapppointing performance by General Manager Jerry Angelo, Head Coach Lovie Smith and the Chicago Bears players. The 2-1 Philadelphia Eagles looked like one of the more talented teams in the NFL during the first 3 weeks of the season, and even though the Bears would host star Quarterback Donovan McNabb and the Eagles at home in Soldier Field, most people didn’t give the Bears a chance to pull off the upset. Boy were we all wrong… Just when we all thought the Bears had no shot against the Eagles, the Bears did just enough to defeat the Eagles 24-20 on Sunday NIght Football (reminiscent of Jeff Daniels’s Harry character in “Dumb and Dumber” saying “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any dumber, you go and do something like this… and totally redeem yourself” when Jim Carey’s Lloyd trades their “puppy dog” van for a mini scooter to take them the rest of the way through the plains to Aspen). It was the Bears 2nd victory on national TV (the Bears defeated the Colts on September 7th on the first Sunday Night Football match-up of the young NFL season). Hey Commissioner Roger Goodell – can we play every game on national TV on Sunday night?! The Bears defense rose to the occasion and withstood a constant offensive barrage from the Eagles in the 2nd half – something they couldn’t do the previous 2 weeks. The Bears held Donovan McNabb to his lowest passer rating of the season – 77.5 – and limited him to only 1 touchdown pass and less than 300 yards passing. Although Kyle Orton only threw for 199 yards, he did connect on 3 touchdown passes in the first half and played well enough to overcome 4 turnovers by the Bears offense. The Bears sit at 2-2 tied for 1st place in the NFC North with the Green Bay Packers. The Bears face the winless Lions in Detroit in Week 5, and will likely lose by 3 touchdowns.
Springsteen to play Super Bowl halftime
Monday, September 29th, 2008 | Concerts, Sports | No Comments
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at the 2009 Super Bowl halftime show in Tampa, Fla. The 2008 Super Bowl show was watched by more than 148 million viewers in the U.S.
Bengie Homered . . . But Unlike Lassie, He Never Came Home
Monday, September 29th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
Baseball is a strange game in which nuance and factual oddness sometimes make fun of its rules. Such was the case on Friday, September 26, 2008, when San Francisco Giants slugger Bengie Molina launched what seemed like a sixth-inning home run off of Dodger right handed pitcher Scott Proctor. Usually the hard part of hitting a home run ends when the ball leaves the bat, but not this time.
Molina’s right field drive was initially ruled a single because the ball appeared to hit the brick portion of AT&T Park’s right field arcade and not the metal portion, which under AT&T Park ground rules would be classified as a home run. Eventually instant replay confirmed that Molina’s hit was in fact a home run but by the time the corrective ruling was made Molina had already retired to the dugout, replaced by pinch runner Emmanuel Burriss.
So there went Burriss, rounding the bases on a home run trot that he didn’t earn, as Molina sat in the dugout watching another man eat three scoops of slugging ice cream (second base, third base and home) that he did not pay for . . . The box score shows Molina with a Home Run but not a run scored and two RBI, despite the fact that he wasn’t in the game when either run was scored.
Isn’t baseball great!
Perhaps one day soon we will witness MLB’s first triple play in which no defensive player touches the ball. This outcome, by the way, is possible. I will share it if none of our thousands of Site visitors posts the answer by October 1.
Big weekend in college football
Monday, September 29th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
NCAA Football Week 5
- Michigan has record breaking come back to beat Wisconsin 27-25. The Wolverines had five turnovers in the first-half but this didn’t stop QB Steven Threet to come back in the second half for a big win.
- Probably the most talked about game this weekend Ole Miss blocks an extra-point attempt to upset Florida for a 31-30 win.
- Alabama rolls in from a SEC hopeful to a possible SEC front runner. Alabama beats Georgia and with Florida losing it looks like they are going to be the team to watch.
- Notre Dame coming off a bad loss to Michigan State last week beat Purdue 38-21.
- Ohio State welcomed back Chris Wells who defiantly showed he was ready to play rushing 106 yards on 14 carries. Ohio State beats Minnesota 34-21
AP Top 25 as of 9/28
| AP Top 25 |
| 1. Oklahoma (43) 4-0 1,599 |
| 2. Alabama (21) 5-0 1,565 |
| 3. LSU 4-0 1,466 |
| 4. Missouri (1) 4-0 1,453 |
| 5. Texas 4-0 1,362 |
| 6. Penn State 5-0 1,252 |
| 7. Texas Tech 4-0 1,105 |
| 8. Brigham Young 4-0 1,098 |
| 9. USC 2-1 1,087 |
| 10. South Florida 5-0 1,035 |
| 11. Georgia 4-1 1,018 |
| 12. Florida 3-1 914 |
| 13. Auburn 4-1 860 |
| 14. Ohio State 4-1 829 |
| 15. Utah 5-0 713 |
| 16. Kansas 3-1 650 |
| 17. Boise State 3-0 549 |
| 18. Wisconsin 3-1 520 |
| 19. Vanderbilt 4-0 459 |
| 20. Virginia Tech 4-1 290 |
| 21. Oklahoma State 4-0 277 |
| 22. Fresno State 3-1 232 |
| 23. Oregon 4-1 199 |
| 24. Connecticut 5-0 126 |
| 25. Wake Forest 3-1 107 |
MLB Update Saturday
Saturday, September 27th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
- Rays win moves them into the playoffs.
- Red Sox loss move them to the Wild Card
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Tiebreaker Scenarios
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| AL Central | |
| Twins at White Sox | |
| NL East | |
| Mets at Phillies | |
| NL Wild Card | |
| Brewers at Phillies | |
| Brewers at Mets | |
MLB update
Friday, September 26th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
- Red Sox win puts them two games behind the Rays keeps title hopes alive.
- White Sox blow their lead and vault the Twins into first place by a half game.
- Mets win moved them within one game of the Phillies battle starts for the NL east.
Here is what we have for tiebreaker scenarios
| AL Central | |
| Twins at White Sox | |
| NL East | |
| Mets at Phillies | |
| NL Wild Card | |
| Brewers at Phillies | |
| Brewers at Astros | |
| Brewers at Mets | |
| Astros at Mets | |
What is going on in Chicago?
Thursday, September 25th, 2008 | Sports | 1 Comment
This could be the year for the Cubs and Mayor Daley is worried about the bars. What is going on in Chicago? In 2005 when the White Sox won the city was fine. With so many problems in the city of Chicago you would think Daley would have better things to worry about. The article below is a must read. – Mark -ticket chest blog
Bars and restaurants around Wrigley Field that ignore the city’s call to voluntarily cut off liquor sales after the seventh inning could face a dire alternative: Area residents could vote them dry, Mayor Daley warned Tuesday.
One day after bar owners reacted angrily to the city’s proposal, Daley defended it as “common sense.” He argued that Cubs fans who’ve been drinking up until the seventh-inning stretch of potential title-clinching games need, what he called, “some smoothing time” before the celebration begins in earnest.
“This is about the Cubs. This is about where they worked so hard all year to get to. This is not about a lot of fans and a lot of drinking. We don’t want to see any incident outside, because if there is, that whole area will be voted dry tomorrow. Those citizens will get together and say, ‘I’m gonna vote every precinct dry. I’ll even vote Cubs Field dry,” Daley said.
“They’re gonna have their reveille in the street. But, I don’t want first responders hurt. I don’t want any citizen hurt. I don’t want to see an ambulance trying to drive down the street loaded with people,” said the mayor. “We don’t need your cameras up there showing people getting injured. They’re gonna win it on the field and not on the street. You can drink as much beer for seven innings as you want. Give me a break.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this week that bars and restaurants surrounding Wrigley would be asked to voluntarily stop serving alcohol after the seventh-inning stretch — just as they do inside the ballpark — to prevent Cubs playoff celebrations from turning ugly.
The proposed sevenh-inning cut-off would apply only to potential title-clinching games and last until the game is over. It would affect roughly 40 establishments on Sheffield between Newport and Irving; on Clark from Irving Park to Newport and on Addison from Wilton to Racine.
Bar owners reacted angrily, arguing that customers who don’t get served will get up and leave and never come back.
Daley was not sympathetic.
“Then I’ll have someone buy their place tomorrow. It’s not gonna cost ’em any business. They made enough money all year. I’m sorry. We’re just talking about common sense. That’s all this is. Because I’ll tell you one thing — if that community sees something they don’t like, they will not have a bar. They will not have a liquor license. They will vote it completely dry,” the mayor said.
Despite the mayor’s vigorous defense, local Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) has not yet signed on to Daley’s proposal. Tunney, owner of Ann Sather’s restaurants and a former liquor license holder, said bar owners need to have their say at a meeting Monday.
“I’m concerned that there’s a precedent here that needs to be thought out. On any given special event, the city could come in and restrict liquor sales for public safety reasons. This throws a new wrinkle on a way to manage this and a concern that this could be used at a moment’s notice. There will be a concern about having an ever- widening scale of prohibition,” Tunney said.
“The first blush is, ‘Oh, my God. This is ridiculous. As a business operator, I know how to handle crowds.’ If I step back, count for 10 seconds, sleep on it, maybe we can tweak it and make it even better for the city and the community. I think we’ll get some movement from both sides.”
Tunney said the Daley administration initially wanted the seventh- inning cut-off to apply to all playoff games, not just potential title clinchers. They also wanted to implement it last weekend, when the Cubs clinched the Central Division championship.
“I said there wasn’t enough notice,” he said.
–FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter – Chicago Sun Times
Bears Blow Another 4th Quarter Lead, Lose 27-24 in OT
Monday, September 22nd, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
For the second consecutive week, the Chicago Bears blew a 4th quarter lead and lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-24 in overtime. The Chicago Bears fell to 1-2 and remained 1 game behind the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North Division. After taking a 24-14 lead over the Bucs with only 6+ minutes to go in the 4th quarter, the Bears defense collapsed. The Bucs scored 10 points in the game’s final minutes, including the game-tying touchdown from former Bears quarterback Brian Griese to Jeramy Stevens with only 7 seconds remaining in the game. In overtime, after the Bears stopped the Bucs on a critical 3rd down play deep in Bucs territory, Peanut Tillman was hit with a unnecessary roughness personal foul penalty, which gave the Bucs a 1st down with some breathing room at their own 25-yard line. Ten plays later, Matt Bryant kicked the game-winning 21-yard field goal to send the Bucs to 2-1 and the Bears to 1-2. Bears quarterback Kyle Orton and wide receiver Brandon Lloyd developed a much-needed connection on offense for the Bears passing attack. Orton completed almost 65% of his passes for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns (both to Llyod). He also threw 2 interceptions – 1 of which was returned for a touchdown by the Bucs. Lloyd recorded his 1st 100-yard receiving game as a Chicago Bear. Despite throwing for over 400 yards and 2 touchdowns, Griese only recorded a 66.0 QB Passer rating with 3 interceptions.
The previous week, the Chicago Bears lost to the carolina Panthers 20-17, depsite holdig a 17-3 more than midway through the 3rd quarter. The conservative Bears offense failed to generate any sustaining drives in the 2nd half, and the Bears defense wasn’t up to the task of holding off the Panthers. The Panthers cut the lead to 17-13 by the end of the 3rd quarter on a 4-yard touchdown run by Rookie running back Jonathan Stweart. The Panthers scored the game-winning touchdown on another run by Stewart, this time from 1 yard out. For the 2nd consecutive week, Kyle Orton threw for less than 150 yards and the Bears fell to 1-1 overall.
