Coaches deserve flak
HINSDALE — When is the Tribune sports staff going to take the Bears’ coaching staff to task for their inept decision-making? As an observer of Chicago Bears football for 40-plus years, I have rarely seen a more poorly prepared, poorly motivated and poorly coached team.
Ron Turner has proved, game after game, that he has no ability to adjust to opposing defenses and cannot incorporate any creative schemes and/or formations. Bob Babich might as well send a Western Union ahead of time to the opposition, and Lovie Smith, when he isn’t contradicting himself, looks like a deer in the headlights.
You tell me: How is it possible for a Super Bowl team of one year ago — injuries notwithstanding — to implode so completely? It’s poor coaching, plain and simple. The Tribune needs to spell this out with examples.
— Mike Reiss
Bears need heads in game
ALGONQUIN — “It’s too easy” is a sports phrase that suggests easily overpowering one’s opponent but also means not having to “work at it” anymore. In other words, when a team makes a quick score at the start of a game, some players may feel the game will be a cakewalk and won’t have to work so hard to win it.
In my opinion, this is an attitude that has dogged the Bears for many years. I can count the number of times I’ve secretly said this to myself when everybody around me was yelling wildly at the great run or great catch at the beginning of a game. I think it’s the kiss of death for the Bears, because so many times they seem to kind of give up, or at least not be sharp enough mentally to win the game.
Having been in the mental health field for many years, I realize how difficult it is to flick that mental switch that “gets it.” But it’s not impossible. Keeping mentally alert is what separates all that physical talent into winners and losers. “Get your head in the game!” is not just a toss-away pejorative. Keeping it there begets the needed killer instinct.
— Dick Rehwaldt
Goodbye, Grossman
WILMETTE — The best thing about Sunday’s Bears game with Seattle is that we are now assured we will not have to put up with watching Rex Grossman in a Bears uniform after this season. Is there any possibility that Chicago could get a professionally managed NFL franchise sometime soon in the near future?
— Todd E. Fandell
Hunter chose Garland
DOWNERS GROVE — I guess Torii Hunter would rather be on a team with Jon Garland than Orlando Cabrera.
— Harold Witkov
McDonough knows his stuff
CHICAGO — To paraphrase John McDonough, his greatest sports moment never occurred because he was cut from every team he tried out for. Modesty can be disarming. Mr. McDonough was a gym rat of the highest order. To be on McDonough’s team meant you were likely to win, hold court, run the table and enjoy every second of it. The perfect pick-and-roll trumped any high-wire act.
Many watched last year as “the marketing guy” stood in front of the media in his new role as Cubs president and promised a World Series. The media poked fun, but our gym-rat buddy was sizing up the situation looking across the court at the opposition and saying, “We can beat these guys; we can get this done.”
McDonough’s creed then applies now: Watch your teammates’ backs, make others look good, spread the praise, dig in when you’re behind, take the hit, admit your mistakes and make every possession an important one.
The gym rats now scattered around the country never questioned McDonough’s leap from hobbleheads to Sorianos and now the Blackhawks. Rather, they recognize the traits that he will use to soon return one of the Original Six hockey powers to its rightful place among the league’s elite.
— Bill Figel
Bonds still deserves Hall
LAKE FOREST — With all the publicity related to Barry Bonds’ alleged steroid use and his recent indictment, the following should at least be noted:
*He was a superbly conditioned athlete who spent countless hours in the weight/exercise room improving his strength and reaction time, enabling him to play into his mid-40s.
*Unlike most power hitters, he exhibited great patience at the plate, with his walks far exceeding his strikeout totals.
*Setting aside his alleged steroid use, he was still very likely the greatest all-around hitter in the game and a joy to watch at the plate. He deserves to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer with an asterisk on his home run and RBI totals.
— Bob Karlblom
Cheaters have prospered
WILLOWBROOK — I am not a Barry Bonds fan, and I do not condone cheating in sports. But many ballplayers have cheated over the years by corking bats and doctoring the baseball, including Gaylord Perry, Albert Belle, Joe Niekro, Whitey Ford, Graig Nettles, Sammy Sosa and Don Sutton, just to name a few. Nobody ever talked about erasing their achievements from the record books. They just served their penalties, and all was forgotten. Some cheaters are in the Hall of Fame and openly talk about how they cheated. Steriod users are cheaters and should be punished, but let the records stand, without an asterisk.
— Steve Rogers
Yankees backed down
PERU, Ill. — The A-Rod saga is a sham. The New York Yankees said if Rodriguez opted out of his contract they were through with him and would not negotiate. So agent Scott Boras shops him around and finds no takers. Now what? Into the picture appears Warren Buffett (the last name as published has been corrected in this text) to save the day. All of a sudden the Yankees are negotiating. And big boss George Steinbrenner exits and lets his boys do the talking so he doesn’t have to go back on his word. Big business sure is tricky.
— Cecil Kelsey
Notre Dame bad TV
CHICAGO — Ed Sherman’s listing of 1-9 Duke at 1-9 Notre Dame as one of the five top sporting events to watch last weekend is a complete abomination. How could he suggest such an event is worthwhile while neglecting to mention the Ohio State-Michigan game, determining the Big Ten champion and likely a trip to the Rose Bowl? Sherman’s need to pander to Notre Dame fans undermines his credibility.
— Brian Hamrock
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