Bell Business

Lonely at the Top (I mean AWESOME)

Besides the fact that it's Halloween, today is a good day because I just found out that I have tickets to see the sweet Bears play the jets on the 19th. I've never been to the Meadowlands, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Another good thing about today is that it marks the 5th straight week that the Bears are #1 on the ESPN Power Rankings. Good times.

Not everyone is so enthusiastic, though. Don Banks, over at SI, concedes that the Bears will be playing for the NFC championship, but hey, they're still not all that...

Chicago: They're formidable, but can we cut the undefeated season nonsense right now, please? Both the Vikings and Cardinals had the Bears beaten, but, with apologies to Dennis Green, let 'em off the hook! That said, Chicago can make its reservations for hosting the NFC title game right now and not look back. The road to Miami is going to lead past the shores of Lake Michigan.

You don't have to bother clinking the link. That's all he says. Not the most ringing endorsement, but whatever. Frankly, I agree with him. I'd like to cut all the undefeated talk right now as well, but not because it's unrealistic. I mean, look at the rest of their season...

Sun, Nov 5      Miami
Sun, Nov 12    at NY Giants
Sun, Nov 19    at NY Jets
Sun, Nov 26    at New England
Sun, Dec 3      Minnesota
Mon, Dec 11    at St. Louis 
Sun, Dec 17    Tampa Bay 
Sun, Dec 24    at Detroit
Sun, Dec 31    Green Bay

I wouldn't call the majority of those "nailbiters." Sure, there are a couple tough games, but Chicago is a tough team. And here's the thing that I don't hear anybody talking about. They're getting better. Did the defense have to win the game for them in Arizona two weeks ago? Yes, they did, but that isn't SOP anymore, it's the exception to the rule. Grossman and the offense had a horrible day. What did they do? They sucked it up, practiced hard, and came back to set two franchise scoring records.

The Bears D has only allowed 69 points so far this season through seven games. There's no team stingier, but here's another fun fact you don't hear a lot: Chicago has scored 221 points. Name the team that has scored more. What do you mean you can't? Oh, yeah. Nobody has scored more.

Happy learned how to putt.

Here's Cedric Benson (our back-up running back) scoring a first quarter touchdown on Sunday.

Happy Halloween!

As all of you know, Halloween is my favorite holiday, bar none. Even Arbor Day, with all it's flash and sex appeal, can't compete. Halloween is pretty perfect. No religious implications, no extended family turmoil, just dressin' up crazy, walking around the neighborhood on a crisp fall night, and eating lots of candy.
Not to mention, as an adult, giving candy away is a lot of fun. We don't get much traffic cuz we live on the third floor and kids tend to go for the easier marks, but we always stock up on treats just in case.
This is really Gracie's first official Halloween because she wasn't quite a month old for her last one, so we dressed her up like a duck (or a chicken, I'm not sure) and took her to the Hoboken Ragamuffin Parade. It was great. First of all, it's a near perfect night here, about 60 degrees, so none of the kids had to wear their coats over their costumes (I always hated that, growing up in Chicago).

There were hundreds of families, all in costume, walking down Washington Street to the park over by 6th where there was a costume contest. We didn't bother with that. Grace had more fun playing with the kids in the playground.

Anyway, it was a ton of fun, as you can tell from this picture.

For those of you looking for a last minute Halloween nostalgia fix, I highly recommend this site. You could spend days there. When it comes to Halloween, he's got the goods. Enjoy!

Throwaway Bushisms

The nearest I can figure is that the president's inability to speak runs so deep that there's just too much fodder to adequetely make snark on. (I think I just made up a phrase) Still, it was disappointing to see Keith Olberman drop the ball on a juicy nugget this evening. I happened to catch this earlier this afternoon on C-Span. Bush was speaking at a campaign rally for Don Sherwood.

Keith focused on Bush saying that to be a democrat "victory in Iraq is not an option." I'm paraphrasing, and it might have been more of a bungle, but I don't think so. Keith and Dana Milbank talked about the gaffe like it was a major Freudian slip. It wasn't. It was just an ugly, partisan thing to say, especially right after he accused others of ugly, partisan attacks. But Keith and Dana didn't really go there.

Then the president said something really funny. He was talking about the diff between Dems and Repubs, and he ended with, "Which party will take the steps necessary to protect the United States from America?"

Good stuff, right? I thought so. Good for a chuckle, anyway. But Keith didn't seem to even notice this gaffe, even though he played the clip. He just made a little joke about how Bush pronounced "'Merica."

Whatever. I think Olberman generally does a great job. This was just a little disappointing, mostly cuz I happened to catch it earlier in the day.

A W is a W...

...no matter how ugly.

There were a lot of frustrating things about last night's near-disaster in Arizona, chief among them that the game went longer than expected so my Tivo missed the last 6 minutes of the fourth quarter. I stupidly went to bed before the game ended. My thinking was this: I could stay awake and watch the seemingly inevitable loss (to the Cardinals!), thus going to sleep depressed, or I could go to bed early, with the ridiculous notion that the Bears could somehow pull off a victory in the final minutes. Far fetched, I know, but this is the stuff dreams are made of. And I only really had to believe it for the few minutes it would take to fall asleep. Little did I know.

Dee's first words to me the next morning were "Merry Christmas." I had no idea why until I checked Trib Bears site. Unfortunately, the NFL Network doesn't appear to be replaying the game, so I may never get to see it. Like-wise for you if you missed it.

So here's a swell picture of Devin Hester, breaking a tackle during a kick-off return on his way to the game winning touchdown, late in the 4th quarter.

Maybe I was a little premature with the whole "Happy learned to putt" thing. Grossman looked awful, but to be fair, so did the offensive line who was supposed too be protecting him. That doesn't excuse a lot of his mistakes though. Not even close. He was trying way too hard to force the big play, throwing into crowds of red jerseys all night.

That said, the defense, who was also getting embarrassed, really really really stepped it up in the second half. They were actually playing harder and harder as the game wore on. Watching a D actually gain momentum in the fourth quarter is pretty astounding, so kudos there.

Not surprisingly, the sports pages noted this too, and it's why they are still #1 in the ESPN Power Rankings. Hard to believe that after a game like that people can still call this team the best in the NFL, but there you go...

I'm really glad we have a bye week now. They need to think about this game, study it, and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Go Bears.

Bush's Speech

I'm watching the C-Span tape of Bush's speech today. Haven't gotten to the Q & A yet, but it's so far kind of hard to listen to. Just can't believe anything he says. And it's hard to take him seriously when he attempts to use the words "nuclear" and "peninsula" is the same sentence. His speech writers should really take this into account.

nu‧cle‧ar  [noo-klee-er]

pen‧in‧su‧la  [puh-nin-suh-luh]

Good Lord, he just tried to say intransigence. Somebody needs to get fired.

Small Craft Flies Into NY Luxury Condo

I'm flipping around and have ended up on Fox, where Bo Deitl is actually making sense. According to Deitl, there is a great deal of unrestricted airspace surrounding Manhattan, where pilots of small craft can gad about as they please. Seems strange to let planes fly so close to NYC without a flight plan after 9-11. Deitl hopes this will be a wake-up call to the FAA. I (shudder) agree with Bo Deitl.

At the moment they're not sure if it was a plane or a helicopter, although I would think that the police have probably figured that out by now. I'm assuming there's some tell-tale debri...
Oh, here we are on CNN. Wolf Blitzer is saying that it was a small plane that took off from teterborough, a small airport in NJ.
It's funny. When I google Teterborough, NJ I get some sites for naked people and swingers, and other things, but no site about the city of Teterborough.
Mystery solved. CNN spelled it wrong. It's Teterboro, just South of Hackensack.

Oh, my God. It might be a plane that belonged to one of the Yankees pitchers, Cory Lidle. Now someone else is confirming it. The plane is registered to Lidle. I think we can all drop the terrorism talk now.

Wolf is amazed that this "comes only a few days after the Yankees were eliminated from the play-offs." What the hell does that have to do with anything? Now it's confirmed that Lidle was the pilot.

Alright, I'm done with this. Terrible tragedy, to be sure. But it's hard to watch these newsfolk milking it. They keep replaying the footage of the building in flames, because it's just not as exciting to show it as it now (and has been for the last hour or so) just smouldering. Now CNN is psyched. They've got a few pics (exclusive!) of some wreckage. Ugh.

(A Few) More Woodwords

Here's the thing. I don't know how much I trust Bob Woodward. Just look at him. Do you trust him? Not sure? Try clicking on the thumbnail for a disturbingly large image of Woodward that seems to look right through your very soul!!

Still not sure? Perhaps your just stunned. It's the eyes. He can burn down an orphanage with those peepers.

Anyway, I just think he has some credibility issues. Little things, like his previous three books, which, to put it mildly, gave the Bush administration a pass on a few too many things. Then there's his dismissal of the Valerie Plame outing as not a smear campaign so much as "gossip." Kos has a good post on it here. (Incidentally, where I got the creepy pic)

Anyway, that said, I'm going to, once again, take his writing at face value.

The people in this administration are messed up. They are dysfunctional. They are back-stabbing, conniving, childish, vindictive, and sociopathic. And, to pimp a (true) cliche, incompetent.

Now, who knows, maybe you could say this about the vast majority of administrations, Republican or Democratic. I've always said you have to be some kind of freak to want to be president, let alone achieve that goal. The same is probably true for Veep, SecDef, SecState, etc... So maybe it's just par for the course. But holy balls, if half of this book is true then it's truly amazing that we're all still alive to talk about it.

If you love your child, kiss your child. Kiss your wife. Kiss your baseball card collection, your flatscreen tv, your desk, your putter, your favorite pen, whatever... Appreciate what you've got now, cuz we're all just hanging by a tiny, twisty, crazy thread named George Bush.

This is a really vague post. I'm going to type up some exerpts from the book and talk about them later.
But, man...

Still Flying High

Well, the Bears are number one again for the second week in a row over at the ESPN Power Rankings, taking all seven votes for the spot.
Says the ranking writer guy, "Think Don Shula and the '72 Dolphins are getting a little nervous? The Bears have yet to show any real flaws so far this season."

I don't think it's particularly productive to start thinking about a shut-out season, nor do I think they're without flaws (the Bills really let a couple of big plays slip through their fingers on Sunday) but hey, it's a nice sentiment.

And over at Sports Illustrated, Peter King tops off his Fine Fifteen with, you guessed it, the Bears. Quoth King, "This team is five miles ahead of everyone else in football right now." I think that's about right.

Lovie contends that they haven't peaked yet, and I think he's right. I don't think they're going to peak until November 12, when they meet the Giants here in Jersey. That's their first real test. Everything up til then is just building momentum. Delicious momentum.

Next...

BUFFALO BILLS MEET UNTIMELY END

They're all dead. Cuneo. Tattaglia. Stracci. All of them. And now the Buffalo Bills. The entire team. Dead. That's how bad the Bears beat them at the game of football. Chicago is just that good. And now the city of Buffalo is without a team.

As most of you know, normally I would put up a photo of the Chicago defense sacking the QB or intercepting the ball for a touchdown, or maybe forcing a(nother) turnover. And sure, there are plenty of those types of photos from this game. (although only 5 turnovers) But something special is happening.

Remember in Happy Gilmore when he's playing the asshole guy at the end of the movie, and he makes a long putt for the first time, and he turns to the guy and says coyly, "Ooooh, Happy learned how to putt!" and the guy knows he's in deep shit? That's how I feel right now.

The Bears are averaging 31 POINTS A GAME.

Their opponents are averaging 7.2.

As good as their defense is, it's not the only thing that identifies them anymore. Suddenly, Grossman is healthy again, and for some reason (?) we have an amazing offense. I've often said (read the archives people!) that people forget how good Grossman was in the few games he played before he got hurt in Minnesota. People forget that he got hurt while rushing for a touchdown. Not to take away from the rest of the offense, but Grossman is the driving force. He energizes them. He energizes the entire team.

So, suddenly, we have an offense. An offense that averages 31 POINTS A GAME.

Hence, no pic of the D today. And for that matter, no pic of Grossie, as Deirdre affectionately calls him. The entire O played great, so let's honor someone who doesn't get enough good press.

This here is Cedric Benson making his second career touchdown. Congrats Cedric!

It was also his second of the game.

Happy learned how to putt.

Sweet Bears

Before I rush off to make my picks (I got about ten minutes) I would just like to draw your attention to something I haven't seen in far too long. It's the Bears' place in this week's ESPN Power Rankings. That's right. IT'S #1!
What with the war and the torture and the terror and the abusings of the children, it's nice to know that at least one aspect of life is returning to normal. Today, we crush the Buffalo!