Tax day thoughts

Random thoughts on my three Chicago teams (sorry Hawks and Sox, never have and never will care how you’re doing):

Bears The ’09 schedule is out and Cutler-mania is out of control. Like I do every year, I will be going through the schedule and predicting the outcome. But this season, for an added bonus, I will be giving a one sentence reasoning for every homer-motivated selection.

* Primetime game (Either Thursday, Sunday or Monday night)

9/13 at Green Bay* W
Cutler isn’t losing the opener, and Lovie always (except for last year) has the guys ready for Lambeau.

9/20 vs. Pittsburgh L
Should be an interesting home opener vs. the SB champs, but the Steelers D is just too tough.

9/27 at Seattle W
In the league’s toughest opposing stadium, I think the Bears get by because of slightly superior talent on both sides of the ball.

10/4 vs. Detroit W
It’s the Lions for goodness sakes.

10/18 at Atlanta* W
Coming off the bye, the Bears get revenge for last season’s miracle Falcons win.

10/25 at Cincinnati W
The Bears D may have lost a step over these past few seasons, but I’m guessing they’ll find some energy to knock Cedric Benson around for 60 minutes.

11/1 vs. Cleveland W
They already traded Kellen Winslow and it looks like they’ll deal Braylon Edwards, which is strange, since the Browns have no other talented skill players.

11/8 vs. Arizona L
OK, so the Bears will be 6-0 versus teams that weren’t in the Super Bowl last year; I’ll take that.

11/12 at San Francisco L*
I don’t think Mike Singletary’s crew will be all that good, but flying cross-country to a stadium the Bears never win at on a short week is not the recipe for a victory.

11/22 vs. Philadelphia W*
This could be a make-or-break game for the Bears, and like they have the last few seasons against Philly, I like our boys to make it in a very close one.

11/29 at Minnesota L
Exactly the same as last year, the post-Thanksgiving clash at the Metrodome will be the most important game of the season.

12/6 vs. St. Louis W
Matt Forte should have 150 yards in this game…by halftime.

12/13 vs. Green Bay W
If we beat them up in Cheesehead-land, there’s no way were losing to ‘em on the Lakefront.

12/20 at Baltimore L
I feel the Ravens will take a step back from last season, but I still don’t see the Bears winning this game.

12/28 vs. Minnesota W*
Monday night, late December, temps in the negative teens, Bears/Vikings with the NFC North on the line; what could be better?

1/3 at Detroit W
It’s nice to know that if it comes down to week 17, the Bears won’t have to exert themselves.

Final Record: 11-5**

** Subject to change at least 350 times between now and September 13, 2009 at 7:14 p.m.

Cubs Can’t say too much bad about a 5-2 start that includes winning back-to-back series’ against division foes. But if there is something bad to say it’s this: I have no trust in this bullpen. The last few seasons (mainly ’07 and ‘08), the bullpen has taken some heat, but for the most part, they were trustworthy. You knew Eyre was going to work hitter and get them to make contact, you knew Howry was going to go with the outside heater until the hitter struck out and you knew Wood was going to work his fast and breaking balls into three outs at the end of the game.

Now there’s Luis Vizcaino, Aaron Heilman, David Patton and worst of all, Kevin Gregg. I’m not saying these guys can’t replace the Eyre/Howry/Wood trio, but I don’t want all the pressure on Neal Cotts and especially Carlos Marmol. Some of these new guys need to step up, because really good starting pitching is worth as much as a wooden nickel when the bullpen allows runs. Also, can we forget about him trying to start and bring Jeff Samardzija back. It’s not fair that I finally learned how to spell his name by memory only to see him get send down to Iowa to start the year.

Bulls Assuming the Bulls take care of the lowly Raptors and/or the Cavs can beat the 76ers so that Cleveland can tie an all-time NBA record for home wins in a regular season, the Bulls will be the six seed in the playoffs. Yes, the six seed. As recently as a month ago, most people would have laughed if you said that the Bulls were even going to make the playoffs. Now they are ahead of two other Eastern Conference squads on their way to the post-season. (NOTE: I’ll be breaking down the playoffs later this week when the official matchups, times and dates are announced.)

Credit for this turnaround can go in several directions, from the improved play of key youngsters Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose to new additions Brad Miller and John Salmons (and therefore credit to GM John Paxson) to the lights out scoring of Ben Gordon or the return of Kirk Hinrich. But I’m actually going to look to the bench on this one. The much maligned, barely respected Vinny Del Negro has actually bee a positive for this team the past six weeks or so. He’s done two things lately that he didn’t do at the start of the year: give everybody a defined role (which in turn leads to him not botching his substitution pattern) and calling more sets for Gordon and Rose. Both of these changes have increased the team’s play, as common sense would say that if your best players are on the floor more and your best scorers have the ball more, good things occur. I’m not nominating VDN for Coach of the Year or anything, but he does deserve some credit for this turnaround.