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Mr. Cub certainly deserving of Medal of Freedom honor

In November, Ernie Banks will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to civilians.

How cool is that?

When I heard Ernie was receiving this prestigious award, I started reminiscing about all the times I ran home from school to catch Ernie bat in some meaningless Chicago Cubs game.

Believe me folks, they were mostly meaningless back then, but it didn’t matter to me. All I knew was Ernie Banks was going to bat third in the bottom of the ninth inning, and even if the Cubs were down 9-1, I wanted to watch him.

After the game was over, many times I would meet my buddies at the schoolyard and we would talk about how bad the Cubs were, and how great Banks was.

I haven’t met many people nicer than Mr. Cub in sports or in life. He’s a guy who carried a franchise on his back for years, and never wilted.

That was Ernie, and he deserves whatever accolades and awards he gets. Congrats Mr. Cub!

Bad strategy:Robert Griffin III is causing quite a stir at Washington Redskins training camp. It seems head coach Mike Shanahan is keeping RG3 off the field and will not play him in any preseason games, so former Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins is taking most of the reps. Tom Brady also was hurt this week in practice taking snaps for his New England Patriots. And according to some Patriots folks, Brady has always been insecure about anyone else taking snaps since he broke into the league. That#146;s understandable, since that#146;s how he established himself with the team. When former Pats QB Drew Bledsoe was hurt, Brady walked in, took the job, and never let it go, and the rest is history for the Golden boy.I know the Redskins are afraid to play RG3 because he might get hurt, and a lot of people are supporting this strategy. The over protection racket began when the Washington Nationals shut down ace pitcher Stephen Strasburg last year before the playoffs. How#146;s that working for them this year? Exactly #151; it#146;s not. So the plan is the Redskins#146; first-string quarterback will take his first snap on opening day. Well, at least the No. 2 quarterback will be ready should RG3 miss any games. Mike Shanahan, it seems, has had some sort of issue with almost every quarterback he has coached from John Elway to Jake Plummer to Jay Cutler to Donovan McNabb and now RGIII. I believe this questionable strategy and the lack of prep by the quarterback will cause Washington to miss the playoffs, and RG3 may have a sophomore jinx. We will see. Coming soon:The Mike North Pregame Show will debut Sept. 8 on Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon on WIND 560-AM, The Answer.Ÿ Mike North#146;s column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.

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