Diary of a Chicago Sports Fan

Image Courtesy of Bing

Cubs lose, playoff ponderings and NFL stew

The Cubs Kyle Hendricks was matched up against the Pirates ace, Gerrit Cole, in a Friday afternoon game at Wrigley. Hendricks went 5 innings, giving up 3 runs and picking up the loss. The final score was 4-2. The Pirates offense was keyed by key hits by David Freeze and Francisco Ceravelli. It seems like Ceravelli is a real Cubs killer.

The Cubs loaded the bases in the 8^th and 9^th innings but were unable to get a key hit. Chalk it up as one of those days.

Set the alarm for game 2

As I wait for the White Sox game against the Twins to start. I'll consider a few thoughts about the Bulls Blackhawks and miscellaneous sports stuff. The Hawks sort of strolled through the end of the regular season and got off to a slow start in Thursday night's 1-0 loss against the Predators Thursday night. Look for them to be more focused from the opening face off in game 2. I still like the Hawks in 6 games over a tough Nashville team.

Look for the Celtics to roll a hard 6

The Bulls have been unpredictable all year and I still don't have a clue about them. They generally have the all around game of Jimmy Butler every night. Beyond that, it's a roll of the dice. I figure Nikola Mirotic might show up for a game and maybe the Ghost of Rajon Rondo Past for another. Dwyane Wade made it back from an elbow injury and has a lot of playoff experience, but at some point, experience equates with being old. I think D Wade is there. The bottom line, in a surprisingly tough 1-8 match up, I like the Celtics in 6.

A man of many hats

In NFL news, there is an allegation that Giants QB, Eli Manning used fake game helmets to fill orders for sports collectors. Maybe Eli needs to wear a different helmet on every play to increase that revenue source.

Maybe he can gripe about the length of booth reviews

The head of NFL officials, Dean Blandino, has resigned to pursue TV opportunities in football. That's good news. Based on the quality of NFL officiating, I thought he might be going into the witness protection program.

And he knows playoff quarterbacks, whoops, check that.

An finally, Broncos-Dolphins-Bears-Jets-Giants WR, Brandon Marshall has checked in on Colin Kaerperncik not having signed with an NFL team yet. Marshall says Kaepernick is better an any NFL free agent quarterback that has already signed. It's good to see Brandon branching out. He usually just throws his own quarterback under the bus. Now he's branched out to throwing an entire free agent class under the bus.

More next time.