Oh, I Think So

Jay Cutler had surgery to repair his busticated throwing-hand thumb somewhere in Colorado.  Aspen? Vail?  Somewhere in Colorado that isn't Denver.  Regular readers of this blog will know what I am going to say next, so it will be no surprise:  What?  There are no good hand surgeons in Chicago?  Ah, but there are. Almost 20 years ago, I had two hand surgeries within the span of nine months.  About five years ago, I had occasion to visit an orthopedic surgeon and I told him about my experience, especially with the second surgery which was pretty complicated.  He looked at my hand and said, "He did a very good job."  Dude was a stellar human being, too.  Perhaps America's premier thumb surgeon operates solely in that lovely part of the Rockies.  It's Jay's working hand so I will cut him some slack.  Mark this day on your calendars.  I guess Jay will convalesce in Colorado, former home of, well, Jay, making it easier for mul...

I will give it to you straight and fast.  Just when the Bears are turning into a solid team, winning five games in a row, just when I decide that Jay Cutler has hit his stride and is a good, solid QB, he takes a spill during a play, breaks the thumb on his throwing hand, and is out for 6-8 weeks.  There, I said it. The San Diego Chargers and the Bears were trading points back and forth until Charles Tillman took the ball from them and the Chargers never got it back long enough to make a difference.  Bears win, 31-20 at Soldier Field, but lost Mr. Jay Cutler. Our starting QB will be Caleb Hanie who has never started a pro football game in his entire career.  I am hoping we will all be pleasantly surprised and young Caleb will be up to the task.  I am also hoping Congress will get it together and listen to the billionaires.  Finally, I am hoping to see that sage thrasher.  Maybe the Bears can get Brett Favre, except, oh no, one of the Bears finally e...

I feel like these taste, thanks. For me, Brussels sprouts are never sought out for consumption because they just taste bitter, hard, and nasty.  I've known some stellar cooks in my life and I've never met a single one who was able to make this vegetable taste anything other than nasty, bitter, and hard.  Nasty with bacon, sure, but still not good. I feel nasty today (neither bitter nor hard because sometimes you just get sick), so I can't write about the Bears or the birds.  More tomorrow or next week, whenever this thing passes.  Thanks for checking.

The Bears have returned to a nice normal schedule and thank heavens.  We went to the Lions earlier this season; this time the Lions came to us.  Grrrr infinity. The score was so lopsided in favor of the Bears that at about 11 minutes into the third quarter, what came into my head was, "Wow, I wonder if any of those Lions would like to just forfeit, go back to their hotel, and have a nice soak in the tub?"  Of course, they don't pay those men to surrender and, as they like to say in sports outings, "the opera ain't over 'til the fat lady sings."  (Obviously, they've not been to the opera recently.)  The Bears have turned things around big time with Jay Cutler finding Earl Bennett (new fave bitch, errr, wide receiver), with guys running with the balls, with the offensive line being unoffensive much like fresh daisies in a field in springtime.  The commentators said this was just not Detroit's night and not the night of Stafford, their QB, especia...

It is well documented in this blog that I don't like Sunday night games and like Monday night games even less.  Night games compete with precious sleep, getting my blog up before Sunday night TV prime time, and do no one but the networks any good. I asked the man who runs the office rate-'em-how-you-feel-'em pool how he feels about Monday night games and he said, "I hate 'em.  They just drag out the whole process."  In other words, how can you have a winner if the networks dictate the schedule?  Yes, yes, Monday Night Football is one of the longest running shows on TV (now moved to ESPN so not really TV any more, is it?), but is it necessary?  No, no, a thousand times no, I say. What to write about when the Bears aren't doing their thing?  Birds, it would seem, except no, not birds.  The birders went to Michigan for a visit.  I don't like to schlep so I have been keeping my binoculars in the trunk of the car that carries the birders and me to bi...

American purple gallinule, courtesy of VIREO Yesterday morning I set off with the birders to look at birds at the Magic Hedge near Montrose Harbor in Chicago.  As we were arriving, I found out a gallinule had been spotted very recently.   Two men were walking away from the harbor as we were leaving our car.  "Did you see the gallinule?" my sister asked. These were two very sweet and funny guys.  "No," said one, "but I saw a really big fish," and held his hands about 20 inches apart.  "I don't look at fish," said the second, "but I saw a grebe.  The gallinule is supposed to be down by Slip A." Fall at the Magic Hedge near Montrose Harbor, Chicago There was a difference for me this week.  I had my own [not great but they work and hey, they were free] binoculars.  I forgot my plastic bag so I couldn't concentrate on picking up trash (which was too bad as there was a lot of it).   I actually looked at something and was late...

For reasons unbeknownst to me but abundantly clear to Roger Goodell, Commissioner of All Things Football, the Chicago Bears took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers today at Wembly Stadium in London.  It was a sold-out game.   Roger Goodell didn't ask me what I thought about NFL teams playing American-style football in a country that has no professional American-style (or even Canadian-style) football teams of its own.  Roger Goodell asks me nothing.  It's like he doesn't even know me, like we've never met.  This is mostly because he doesn't know me and we've never met.  I am sure if we met, Roger and me, that he would instantly take a disliking to me and flee, refusing to listen to my very good ideas and solid opinions.  My ideas are these:  Why waste football franchise money on travel to the UK, possibly including getting new passports for those who don't have them (approximately $120 each without the rush fee or the fees for hiring a passport and ...