As the Bears and Henry Melton’s people discuss the possibility of a lucrative contract extension, we pause to remember that Melton was actually a bruising back for a time at the collegiate level.
Eat your heart out, Fridge.
There’s been a debate on Twitter, the locale of seemingly all sports debates these days, on what Bears quarterback Jay Cutler must achieve in 2013 to earn a lucrative contract extension from Phil Emery and the purse string holders at Halas Hall. The opinions range “HE MUST HAVE A 2012 FLACCO SEASON AND WIN IT ALL” to “he can’t screw up”. When asked the question myself I have balked at responding. Til now.
Cutler has to improve.
He has to stop forcing passes into locations they don’t belong. He has to stop abandoning his mechanics when the pocket seems ready to implode around him. He has to learn the value of throwing the football into the third or fourth row of the stadium, sacrificing the far-too-valuable completion percentage. He has to stop taking sacks he does not have to take.
But more than anything snap and toss-related, Cutler must improve as a leader of men. Marc Trestman will instill #6 with every resource necessary to make the on-field adjustments listed above. If he fails to take advantage, so be it. The Bears will move on and be shopping for a quarterback in next May’s draft. But improving as a passer and decision maker is no longer enough.
The Bears organization, for the first time in their illustrious history, have made the decision to be an offensive-minded organization. In today’s NFL that means an emphasis on the passing game. That’s why Trestman was hired and that’s why Cutler now becomes THE focal point of everything happening on the lakefront. If he fails, the Bears fail. If the men in the locker room don’t believe in him, they will not play for him.
The great NFL organizations have already made this transition and their quarterbacks have stepped to the plate. Manning. Brady. Rodgers. Manning. Brees. Roethlisberger. So on. All their teams have won championships and all of those championships have been won because of them. But they also share another trait: they own their locker rooms.
There can be no more on-field displays of insubordination from Cutler. There should be no reports of locker room dissension. Whether or not the Bears sign Cutler to a lucrative contract extension should be moot. The Chicago Bears, moving forward, should not conceivably exist without Cutler. He should be the organization. He should be the future. He should be every bit as indispensable as Walter Payton and Brian Urlacher were during their primes.
This is his time. This is his franchise. But it will require maturity for him to cease it. You will need to look beyond the stat sheet to see if he’s matured.
There’s been a debate on Twitter, the locale of seemingly all sports debates these days, on what Bears quarterback Jay Cutler must achieve in 2013 to earn a lucrative contract extension from Phil Emery and the purse string holders at Halas Hall. The opinions range “HE MUST HAVE A 2012 FLACCO SEASON AND WIN IT ALL” to “he can’t screw up”. When asked the question myself I have balked at responding. Til now.
Cutler has to improve.
He has to stop forcing passes into locations they don’t belong. He has to stop abandoning his mechanics when the pocket seems ready to implode around him. He has to learn the value of throwing the football into the third or fourth row of the stadium, sacrificing the far-too-valuable completion percentage. He has to stop taking sacks he does not have to take.
But more than anything snap and toss-related, Cutler must improve as a leader of men. Marc Trestman will instill #6 with every resource necessary to make the on-field adjustments listed above. If he fails to take advantage, so be it. The Bears will move on and be shopping for a quarterback in next May’s draft. But improving as a passer and decision maker is no longer enough.
The Bears organization, for the first time in their illustrious history, have made the decision to be an offensive-minded organization. In today’s NFL that means an emphasis on the passing game. That’s why Trestman was hired and that’s why Cutler now becomes THE focal point of everything happening on the lakefront. If he fails, the Bears fail. If the men in the locker room don’t believe in him, they will not play for him.
The great NFL organizations have already made this transition and their quarterbacks have stepped to the plate. Manning. Brady. Rodgers. Manning. Brees. Roethlisberger. So on. All their teams have won championships and all of those championships have been won because of them. But they also share another trait: they own their locker rooms.
There can be no more on-field displays of insubordination from Cutler. There should be no reports of locker room dissension. Whether or not the Bears sign Cutler to a lucrative contract extension should be moot. The Chicago Bears, moving forward, should not conceivably exist without Cutler. He should be the organization. He should be the future. He should be every bit as indispensable as Walter Payton and Brian Urlacher were during their primes.
This is his time. This is his franchise. But it will require maturity for him to cease it. You will need to look beyond the stat sheet to see if he’s matured.
There’s been a debate on Twitter, the locale of seemingly all sports debates these days, on what Bears quarterback Jay Cutler must achieve in 2013 to earn a lucrative contract extension from Phil Emery and the purse string holders at Halas Hall. The opinions range “HE MUST HAVE A 2012 FLACCO SEASON AND WIN IT ALL” to “he can’t screw up”. When asked the question myself I have balked at responding. Til now.
Cutler has to improve.
He has to stop forcing passes into locations they don’t belong. He has to stop abandoning his mechanics when the pocket seems ready to implode around him. He has to learn the value of throwing the football into the third or fourth row of the stadium, sacrificing the far-too-valuable completion percentage. He has to stop taking sacks he does not have to take.
But more than anything snap and toss-related, Cutler must improve as a leader of men. Marc Trestman will instill #6 with every resource necessary to make the on-field adjustments listed above. If he fails to take advantage, so be it. The Bears will move on and be shopping for a quarterback in next May’s draft. But improving as a passer and decision maker is no longer enough.
The Bears organization, for the first time in their illustrious history, have made the decision to be an offensive-minded organization. In today’s NFL that means an emphasis on the passing game. That’s why Trestman was hired and that’s why Cutler now becomes THE focal point of everything happening on the lakefront. If he fails, the Bears fail. If the men in the locker room don’t believe in him, they will not play for him.
The great NFL organizations have already made this transition and their quarterbacks have stepped to the plate. Manning. Brady. Rodgers. Manning. Brees. Roethlisberger. So on. All their teams have won championships and all of those championships have been won because of them. But they also share another trait: they own their locker rooms.
There can be no more on-field displays of insubordination from Cutler. There should be no reports of locker room dissension. Whether or not the Bears sign Cutler to a lucrative contract extension should be moot. The Chicago Bears, moving forward, should not conceivably exist without Cutler. He should be the organization. He should be the future. He should be every bit as indispensable as Walter Payton and Brian Urlacher were during their primes.
This is his time. This is his franchise. But it will require maturity for him to cease it. You will need to look beyond the stat sheet to see if he’s matured.
One of the benefits of operating this blog is sharing with you the warped brain of Reverend Dave. I asked for a rant. Said any topic was in play. And I got…any topic.
To give yourself a context for this rant, CLICK HERE AND LEARN.
I will be traveling for the next week. A little Scotland. A little Ireland. If something Bears-related breaks I will find my way to a computer and write.
At 8:58 AM EST this morning the news of Aaron Hernandez’ arrest had blown up my Twitter feed and sent me reaching for the remote control. My instincts, well-trained by years of watching sports on television, were to pop in the numbers 728 and allow some guy named Bram tell me about the arrest and subsequent perp walk on the four-letter network.
I then stopped myself.
NFL Network has to be all over this.
Where is the remote?
There it is.
4…..8….2.
No that’s Golf Channel, idiot. You watch it for nine hours a day. You know that.
4….6….2.
Commercial! Commercial!? Now?
The scroll at the bottom of the screen read, “BREAKING NEWS: Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez taken out of his North Attleboro…”
The image above that scroll was Tony Siragusa trying to sell me a pad to stop penile leaking. Or maybe it was anal leaking. All I know is he said leakage a few times and if Tony Siragusa is leaking I don’t want to be within three zip codes.
Back to ESPN I went. For only a few minutes, yes. But a pivotal few minutes.
In fairness to NFL Network, when they returned from commercial break after the hour break they did not leave the Aaron Hernandez story for the eight hours. They brought in legal experts and Boston Globe reporters. They brought in Brian Billick to discuss how an organization handles a situation like this, being that Billick was head coach of the Ravens when Ray Lewis took a slap on the knuckles for his role in an Atlanta homicide. (Lewis, now an ESPN employer, was nowhere to be found.) They maintained their focus in a drastic departure from what they had done the previous week.
When the story had broken the previous week, NFL Network was airing their NFL AM program. This is not a good television program. This is one of the television programs I watch and think, “How can the most powerful sports league in the world be responsible for something so horrific?” As one of the league’s players was being implicated in a murder plot, they were dissecting the NFL Network’s Top 100 list. (Side note: I am sure some people care about this list. I just can’t for the life of me understand why.)
ESPN had Hernandez. CNN had Hernandez. Three or four major news sites had Hernandez. NFL Network had Steve Wyche rambling about Jimmy Graham or something. Right position. Wrong guy.
It reminded me of Tiger Woods. On Friday night, after the second round of The Masters, my phone started blowing up as I met with friends at a bar down the street. I, being a rabid Tiger fan, was barraged with texts reading things like “what’s going on” and “is he going to get DQ’d” and “fucking Tiger”. I ran home, flipped on the Golf Channel to see the scroll. 15th hole. Dropped ball. Rule violation.
Above the scroll? Reruns of a recap show from earlier in the evening. Golf Channel had the golf story of the year to discuss and debate and they were talking about Marc Leishman.
League networks do not have, for the most part, the most important commodity in the world of sports television. They don’t have the games and thus don’t have the massive advertising revenue that accompanies those game broadcasts. This limits their ability to pay the best broadcasters and reporters in the business to work for them and leads to people like Adam Schefter and Jason LaCanfora using them as a springboard to bigger and more lucrative things.
Sure, NFL Network has the Thursday night package. Golf Channel has a lot of LPGA and Champions Tour but never much worthy action when it comes to the big boy tour. NBA and MLB have channels but neither airs anything of note. (The exception to this is Tennis Channel seeming to be the only network airing non-Grand Slam tournaments.)
It is incumbent upon these networks to do EVERYTHING else and to do so with a thoroughness and detail unavailable to the other outlets for their own credibility. This goes especially for serious news discussion – the element most lacking in the sports world. Since ESPN decided to relegate their news operation to a half-hour of Bob Ley in the middle of the afternoon, no one on television has picked up the news reporting slack. And when I say news I don’t mean who signs where and for how much money. I mean the issues that transcend the sports itself.
Let’s focus clearly on the NFL. Has NFL Network:
I don’t expect the network to take down its own sport with a Woodward and Bernstein “follow the money” attack. But I do expect NFL Network, Golf Channel…etc. to lead the reporting when it comes to news stories that both define and transcend their respective sports. If they do no more than touch the surface they are no better than what Dan Patrick refers to “the mothership”.
But the opportunity is there for these networks to be journalistic beacon when it comes to the coverage of their own sport. Will they take that opportunity? In the NFL’s case, it might actually put some eyes on their channel outside of those few hours on Thursday night in-season.
We received a solid number of Bears stories the first go-around but not nearly enough. I know there are great tales out there to be told. It is time for you to tell them.
Here is the BEARS FAN STORY PROJECT.
THE BREAKDOWN
In the early 1970s theatre director/choreographer Michael Bennett was given a sizable amount of money from Public Theatre founder Joe Papp to workshop a musical based upon the lives of Broadway dancers. Bennett gathered a collection of hoofers into a studio on Lafayette Street for a few months and they told stories. What emerged from those stories is the musical A Chorus Line – one of the most successful theatre pieces ever created.
Sports fans have great stories about their relationship to their favorite team. I’ve found Bears fans especially do. And now, because of technology, they are capable of sharing them to the world without having to gather in a studio at the Goodman Theatre.
I want to compile those tales. Will I ultimately turn them into an evening of theatre? Maybe. If I do your stories will receive all the credit they deserve. Will I simply post/air them on this website? Perhaps. That would certainly be the easiest way to share them. Will I compile them into a volume to share with the fans? It could happen if we receive enough tales of note.
WHAT DO YOU DO
Send me your stories. You can send them in one of three forms: written, audio, video. There are no restrictions or limitations on the stories. They can be as long or short as you want them to be. The only rule is they must involve the Chicago Bears and you.
Email me the stories – jeff@dabearsblog.com.
GET THE OLDER FOLKS INVOLVED
We don’t want these stories to be limited to folks under forty. You know, the ones who spend times on Twitter and on blogs. We want it to be all-inclusive. So get your fathers and grandfathers involved. Go over to their house and record a story of theirs. Then send it my way.
My hope is that we can create something special here. Something truly unique. But there is only so much I can do. Now it is on you. The fans. I look forward to checking the inbox.
We received a solid number of Bears stories the first go-around but not nearly enough. I know there are great tales out there to be told. It is time for you to tell them.
Here is the BEARS FAN STORY PROJECT.
THE BREAKDOWN
In the early 1970s theatre director/choreographer Michael Bennett was given a sizable amount of money from Public Theatre founder Joe Papp to workshop a musical based upon the lives of Broadway dancers. Bennett gathered a collection of hoofers into a studio on Lafayette Street for a few months and they told stories. What emerged from those stories is the musical A Chorus Line – one of the most successful theatre pieces ever created.
Sports fans have great stories about their relationship to their favorite team. I’ve found Bears fans especially do. And now, because of technology, they are capable of sharing them to the world without having to gather in a studio at the Goodman Theatre.
I want to compile those tales. Will I ultimately turn them into an evening of theatre? Maybe. If I do your stories will receive all the credit they deserve. Will I simply post/air them on this website? Perhaps. That would certainly be the easiest way to share them. Will I compile them into a volume to share with the fans? It could happen if we receive enough tales of note.
WHAT DO YOU DO
Send me your stories. You can send them in one of three forms: written, audio, video. There are no restrictions or limitations on the stories. They can be as long or short as you want them to be. The only rule is they must involve the Chicago Bears and you.
Email me the stories – jeff@dabearsblog.com.
GET THE OLDER FOLKS INVOLVED
We don’t want these stories to be limited to folks under forty. You know, the ones who spend times on Twitter and on blogs. We want it to be all-inclusive. So get your fathers and grandfathers involved. Go over to their house and record a story of theirs. Then send it my way.
My hope is that we can create something special here. Something truly unique. But there is only so much I can do. Now it is on you. The fans. I look forward to checking the inbox.
LETTING HESTER LEAVE WOULD BE A MISTAKE
There was talk across the NFL world this week the Bears are preparing to part ways with Devin Hester this summer. Here is a piece of an article from NFL.com:
¿Pero es un regresador de patadas que tiene garantizado su lugar en el plantel?
John Mullin de CSNChicago.com escribió que Hester está trabajando solo para tener el papel principal de regreso de patadas en las actividades del receso de temporada.
Otros jugadores como Earl Bennett han regresado patadas en las prácticas y el entrenador en jefe de los Bears, Marc Trestman, dijo que Hester está compitiendo para ganar el trabajo de regresador de patadas.
Got all that?
I am firmly against the Bears releasing Hester prior to the 2013 season for two reasons. (1) I think there is significantly more gas in the tank. (2) I think allowing Hester to free his mind of the offensive nonsense for the first time in a few years will return his focus to being the greatest kick returner in the history of the game.
And despite what many fans and media types believe, I believe seeing the #23 ready to receive a kick still makes opposing coaches nervous and all it will take is a return TD or two before punters starting booting balls out of bounds and kickoff men launch the squib party. Hester is as much a mental weapon for Chicago as a physical one.
WELL IT IS A BEARS BLOG…
…and this is my new favorite bear. Thanks to the folks over at Deadspin for posting this earlier in the week.
MOON QUOTES GANNON ON TRESTMAN
Just thought I’d share this quote from Moon’s recent column.
“I was fortunate,” Gannon said. “I worked with Marc a couple of different times. I worked with him early in my career in Minnesota and I had a chance to work with him again at a point in my career, where I was really having the most success.
“The big thing that I would encourage the quarterbacks is just get to know Marc on a personal level, on a professional level. Know why he’s calling plays in certain situations and the fact he’s going to put you in position to be very successful each week.”
I’ve written about it several times but it’s worth restating. The relationship between Cutler and Trestman will be the defining factor of the 2013 season. Everything else is secondary.
I watch more sports than just about any human being I know. Working and writing from home means my TV is on some sports-related program pretty much 12-14 hours a day. Aside from the normal stuff I watch a lot of soccer, NASCAR, golf, tennis and even spend some time on rugby and cycling if the mood strikes. (First person to monetize Wiffle ball the way they have darts will make a fortune and have a friend for life in me.)
Because of this rampant experience I believe I’m qualified to write a column like this: the best broadcasters in American sports.
A few notes. (1) Outside of New York & Chicago I am not listening to local sports radio. So only those two cities were considered. (2) I know everybody says Doc Emrick is amazing. I just don’t watch hockey. Ever. So I’m not going to bullshit you and rank him like I do. No hockey announcers were eligible.
#10 Waddle and Silvy (ESPN Radio, Chicago)
About a year ago, after spending a few months consistently listening to Tom Waddle and Marc Silverman on ESPN Radio Chicago, I asked on Twitter why the best radio hosts in the city (by far) were not in the pivotal drive-time market. A year later they are. Silverman’s impassioned Chicago pipes and Waddle’s perfect ex-athlete, emotional counter-balance are the welcomed antidote to a market, due to the horror shows on 670 the Score, which seems to reward uninformed snark and what passes for “guy humor” with lucrative multi-year contracts. Waddle & Silvy are not without their silliness but its tempered by their consideration and understanding that sports, while not as important as low-income health care or the threat of terrorism, are still quite important to a lot of people in the city of Chicago.
#9 Vin Scully (Los Angeles Dodgers)
I don’t need to write about Vin Scully. In his prime he is probably the greatest voice in the history of American sports. Even now at eighty-five years old he is capable of beautiful moments like this one:
#8 Dan Hicks (NBC)
He’s not Jim Nantz so I greet Dan Hicks’ appearances on important golf telecasts with a combination of relief and enthusiasm. But Hicks is not only remarkable for not being Nantz. He’s also the most professional and welcoming voice in modern play-by-play and his versatility is somewhat astounding. He is NBC’s lead Olympic man for speed skating and swimming. He’s done NFL, NBA and the aforementioned golf. And in 2013 he’ll replace Tom Hammond as the voice of Notre Dame football. No matter what he’s calling Hicks gives the viewer the sense that the sport before him is his life. One can only wonder how much preparation the man does.
It is often said the best play-by-play men are the ones so good you don’t notice when they’re there. I think the best ones make you long for them when they’re not. That’s Hicks.
#7 Bill Simmons & Cousin Sal Guessing NFL Lines (Grantland.com)
They get on the phone and guess the point spreads for the coming week, using that structure to dissect the minutiae of both the NFL and the NFL viewing experience. It is a simple concept, sure, but these two achieve the impossible goal of presenting the natural discussion without it feeling inauthentic.
Simmons is wretchedly awkward on TV and his pop-culture related columns bore me into next week. Sal writes for and appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live, a show I don’t think I’ve ever watched. But these conversations capture – better than any I’ve ever heard broadcasted – the tone and sensibility of two educated NFL fans in front of the barroom TV on Sunday.
Here are Simmons and Sal doing Mike & the Mad Dog – the greatest broadcasting team in the history of mankind:
#6 Bob Ley & Mike Tirico (ESPN)
When ESPN brings in the soccer audience for the World Cup or USMNT qualifiers, they turn to Ley. When ESPN airs early hours of The Masters or US Open they turn to Tirico (and let Berman talk once every two hours). Yes they are the class acts of a classless, overexposed, under-talented network but that does not diminish their intelligence and skill.
If sports had a true Meet the Press-style program, Ley would be unanimously selected as host. If fans could select the play-by-play man for every program on the ESPN/ABC they’d be fools to not choose Tirico. These two guys constantly remind us how important and enjoyable a network ESPN used to be.
#5 Dan Patrick (Dan Patrick Show, NBC)
Patrick still has the smug co-host of The Big Show in his bones. On a recent show he positioned Phil Jackson’s new memoir and a book of farts behind him on a shelf so the audience read “Phil Jackson Farts” quite clearly for more than an hour. But he’s also developed, at least on-screen, the kind of mature mind sorely lacking in a sports universe wherein Skip Bayless is part of the mix.
Patrick is fascinated by what happens on the playing surface, of course. That’s his bread and butter. But he never stops asking the bigger questions. He knows people dislike LeBron James but he wants to know why. He knows Jason Collins coming out is a big deal but he questions use of the word “heroic”. He knows player safety in the NFL is important but he wonders why HGH has not become a more central element of that issue.
In my heart I still hope NBC will commit to a true sports news/highlights show in the style of Sky Sports News. I hope when they do their first call is to Patrick.
#4 Mike Francesa (WFAN Radio, New York)
I have been defending Francesa for what seems like my whole life. Here’s the summary. If you are turning to Mike Francesa for sports information and insight you are an insane person and deserve the experience you encounter. You turn to Francesa, the only radio host on earth who does 5 1/2 hours a day, for Francesa. For his abusing idiot callers. For his commentary on sporting events he’s already admitted to not watching. For his needling of Rex Ryan and the New York Jets. Sometimes he screams at producers to break Rangers news. Sometimes he falls asleep on air. Sometimes he just leaves the air dead and reads something quietly to himself. Sometimes he goes year-for-year through a random third basemen’s career and evaluates his Hall of Fame credentials as drivers across the New York metropolitan area pass out and veer off the road.
It’s all great because it’s all Francesa and there’s simply nobody like him. He’s an original. Ask yourself how many of his critics are.
#3 Larry McReynolds (NASCAR on Fox et al.)
Larry Mac taught me about auto racing.
Noah and I decided a few years back to just start watching NASCAR. Not for any particular reason other than, “Hey, all these people watch it. There’s got to be something to it.” Sure enough there was. But for someone who has never owned a car and knows nothing about how cars work, learning to love NASCAR on a bar television was the equivalent of attempting to learn a foreign language in a class being taught by someone only speaking that language. I kept looking around the room with a “huh” type glance, searching for help.
McReynolds, a successful NASCAR crew chief, taught me everything. He taught me about chassis adjustments and why track bars get raised and lowered. He taught me about the importance of fuel mileage on the mid-range tracks. He taught me about communication patterns between driver and spotter. McReynolds does not only comment on what’s taking place on the track but seems to always be a step or two ahead of the action. That’s the mark of a great sports broadcaster and McReynolds is nothing short of that.
#2 David Feherty (CBS, Golf Channel)
Golf can be a stuffy game. As stuffy as a taxidermist’s work space. (I know.) Feherty is the antidote to that stuffiness. He presents golf to the audience with both a sparkling wit and a humbled awe. He knows how hard it is to do what the gentlemen on the PGA Tour do and he makes sure the audience does as well. But he also doesn’t mind having a bit of fun. More than that, he’s been brutally honest about his life of addiction and a recent bicycle accident that could easily have taken his life.
I thought Feherty was wonderful. Then I saw him interview Bill Russell on his Golf Channel program, aptly titled Feherty. Now I know better. Feherty is a wonder, sure, but he may also be the smartest, deepest, most intellectually curious voice in mainstream sports. Edgard Allen Poe famously said, “To look a fool is the act of a wise man.” Feherty is a fool. But his wisdom should never be taken for granted.
#1 Ian Darke and Steve McManaman (ESPN, Premier League)
Funny. Honest. Brilliant. I applaud the new NBC deal with the BPL but not having Darke and McManaman call the best of English football will be terribly sad as August turns to September. Watch this:
Honorable Mention
Pro Football: In a world where women are basically thrust onto sports television because they’re attractive, Stacey Dales & Kim Jones at NFL Network are both attractive and wonderful reporters. They’ve paid their dues and deserve your attention.
Basketball: Two words: back biting. Marv.
College Football: I don’t love his work on the NFL Network but Brad Nessler continues to be one of the most consistent and enjoyable play-by-play men in the college game.
Tennis: It should be no surprise to anyone but I think John McEnroe would be my #11 if I continued the list above. McEnroe tells the truth, even when that entails criticizing the match directly in front of him. He’s got a boatload of integrity.
