Quiet in Lake Forest has fans making noise

If the natives were restless a few weeks ago, let's just say Bears fans are bordering on all-out convulsions.

You're so far past losing patience you're becoming patients.

What you see is a team lucky to finish 9-7, has numerous holes and has been frighteningly quiet since the season ended.

But GM Jerry Angelo's no fool, even though he has done some foolish things, the list of which is long and needs not be repeated here.

So he must have a plan. Some kind of plan. Any kind of plan. Even a bad plan. But there has to be a plan.

After all, the offensive line is in tatters, they have no receiving corps, the defensive line was awful last year, only Lance Briggs was good among the linebackers, and safety is a question.

Injuries, we'll grant you, played a part, but there's no grand reason to think some of those banged-up players will completely return to health or find the Fountain of Youth.

Of course, free agency is rarely the answer, though it does sometimes offer partial solutions, and receiver Torry Holt might fit into that category.

However, a really good way for a GM to get fired, after he has won only two playoff games in eight years, is to throw good money after bad, spend a lot on mediocre free agents and then miss the playoffs again, in this economy or any other.

Maybe Angelo's thinking he's got a better chance of continued employment by saving ownership a pile of money while hoping to get lucky in the draft.

Perhaps after that he will sign a couple of lower-profile free agents and take his chances in a rotten division where 9-7 might just get you to the postseason.

That's probably not something Angelo ought to say out loud, but at this point the fans would just like him to say anything - or better yet, do something.

Then again if you don't have something good to say, keep your head down, stay in the bunker and prepare for the draft.

And hope patience keeps the patients at bay.

Say what?

Last week Angelo told the Bears' Web site that Matt Cassel was a good player in 2008, "But let's not forget - he was with the New England Patriots, a pretty good football team with a good supporting cast and a great system.

"Is that guy going to be the same guy in another system with different personnel around him?''

Now, I don't think Cassel made sense for the Bears financially or otherwise, but with that quote Angelo seems to be admitting that the Bears have an inferior system, coaching and personnel.

No one would confuse the Bears with the Pats on any day, in any way, or at any level of the organization, but that doesn't sound like a GM who has a lot of faith in his club.

Ivan Boldirev-ing

Seems like a lot of panic among the Blackhawks faithful after a rough stretch, but things aren't as bad as in a lot of NHL cities right now, where the injuries are worse and the playoff spot less secure.

Besides, Martin Havlat's groin injury doesn't sound life-threatening, and Patrick Sharp, Nikolai Khabibulin and Sammy Pahlsson are either skating or close to it.

Better to go through it now than a month from now, right?

Memory lapse

NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell was aghast that some GMs thought players should handle on-ice problems themselves, as they have for generations in hockey.

"Let the players police themselves? I don't think that's right,'' Campbell said. "I think there's rules in place to do that.''

Has this guy completely forgotten how he played the game, that he had a team-leading 196 penalty minutes for Wayne Gretzky's Oilers in 1979-80, or is it just selective memory?

Case for defense

The NHL always has been, and probably always will be, reactive, rather than proactive.

So now they want to protect players? Sure, as long as it's not at the expense of scoring, which is Gary Bettman's first priority.

If they really cared about the players' safety, they'd remove the trapezoid and let goalies play the puck, which would save countless defensemen who get run from behind every night.

The good guys

The Wolves will wear special St. Patrick's Day jerseys at home Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and raffle/auction off the sweaters to benefit the Easter Seals of Metropolitan Chicago.

In 13 years of green jerseys, the Wolves have raised more than $250,000 for charity. For more info, visit chicagowolves.com.

Condolences

To Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, on the passing of his mother, Essie, at the age of 98 Monday in Texas.

Teed off

Golf Magazine's David Feherty: "The reason the U.S. has lost so many recent (Ryder) Cups is not because they don't care or their lives are too cushy. It's because the Europeans are a whole lot better than Americans think they are - but when will Americans start wondering why these European guys don't win more majors instead of why Americans don't win the Ryder Cup?''

Make me laugh

One of David Letterman's Top Ten Reasons To Watch The World Baseball Classic: "You'll be part of a cherished baseball tradition dating all the way back to 2006.''

World Bud Classic

Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, on the WBC: "It's like the NFL Pro Bowl. One of those things you're honored to be in but would rather didn't exist."

And finally -

Comedian Alex Kaseberg: "Alex Rodriguez isn't out with a bad hip. He's on the DL with a strained credibility.''

brozner@dailyherald.com