A few random thoughts about Bears, Blackhawks
Lots of confidence in Angelo's plan
That was a very good article regarding Jerry Angelo, for the cynical Chicago fans easily forget what has made the Bears successful in the past: Defense.
Signing Lance Briggs was critical to reestablishing the strength of the club. With hopefully a healthy Brian Urlacher, Nate Vasher, Tommie Harris, and possibly Mike Brown, the Bears can return to the shutdown form of 2005 and 2006.
The $42 million that would have been wasted on an overpaid and underutilized talent like Bernard Berrian can be spent to rebuild the O- line and maybe obtain a better possession wideout.
When you have as many holes to fill as the Bears do on offense, you have to be patient and start at the core. Draft some lineman, a wideout, and a mid-round QB (who knows, maybe the Bears can actually scout a Derek Anderson or Tom Brady type talent for once in their history). Fill some holes through free agency, and once more pieces are in place.
I think Angelo deserves credit for building and keeping a successful defense, and I'm optimistic he will have success in putting together a strong offensive unit in the near future.
Mike Schless
Buffalo Grove
NHL must address late and illegal hits
C'mon Gary Bettman and the NHL powers! Denis Savard and the Hawks organization should be fed up with the way the NHL is not handling late/illegal checks, especially against the elite players in the league.
Pettinger's hit on Jonathan Toews was a blatant infraction and he should have been heavily fined and suspended. Bettman you want to have a more exciting and open type of game, but you and your staff sit on your hands and do nothing about those types of hits. Do what the NFL does and review every questionable hit and determine if further action should take place -- even if a penalty was initially called. By doing nothing you are encouraging teams to put "enforcers" on the roster to protect their players.
Mark Lind
Algonquin
Hawks should try to bring back Pat Foley
If the Blackhawks want to continue their momentum for next season, president John McDonough should bring back Pat Foley for the TV games with Eddie Olczyk and leave John Wideman and Troy Murray to do radio. Dan Kelly on TV puts you to sleep with his play by play.
Jeff Markarian
Lake Zurich
Let's hear about Rockford IceHogs
In the Chicago area, why we do we only hear about the Wolves when the Blackhawks farm team has moved from Norfolk to Rockford? They were challenging them for first place not long ago.
I would like to hear more about the IceHogs. Living in Antioch and being a Hawks fan, it would be just as easy to commute to Rockford and watch our farm team than a farm team from Atlanta.
Curt Hudec
Antioch
What's Bears' plan for offensive line?
I really hope Jerry Angelo has a plan in place for improving the offensive line after securing some of the Bears own free agents. While, John Faneca (NY Jets) was the "big fish" that got away, I can understand not giving him "crazy money." The Bears were smart to save the money and now can use it for 1-2 athletic and mobile free-agent lineman.
Hopefully, second-tier free agents can give the Bears either a starting guard or tackle and maybe both. If the Bears sign a free agent guard (Jacksonville's Maurice Williams, Indianapolis' Jake Scott, or Kansas City's John Welbourn), I would like to see a tackle chosen in the 1st round of the draft (USC Sam Baker, Boise State Ryan Clady, or Boston College's Gosder Cherilus).
If a free agent tackle is signed (Washington's Jason Fabini, Seattle's Sean Locklear, or St. Louis' Brandon Gorin), Virginia's offensive guard Brendan Albert is the best interior lineman available to help the Bears right away, with USC's Chilo Rachel and Drew Radovich good later round selections. And, Albert is projected to be able to play tackle as well.
Also, I would like to see the 6-year Terrance Metcalf project ended and his total salary of $829,680 and cap value of $1,486,346 contract used for a younger, stronger, and bigger backup at guard and center.
Walter Brzeski
Chicago