Time flies when you have one team excelling in sports…but as for the rest…

First on a big high are the Purdue Boilermakers. Beat Iowa, then Michigan State, and there was a huge hype for Ohio State. Purdue became ranked at 25, then 19, but unfortunately, they lost to Ohio state and are now unranked. It was good while it lasted.

Looking ahead, Purdue will play Northwestern at Wrigley Field tomorrow. Not going to lie, the place looks pretty legit!

In other news, the Bears have been losing but Justin Fields has been looking good. His stats have been through the roof, especially for a rookie QB who has no one blocking for him 🙄. The Bears will not be successful if they cannot figure this out. 

Bulls are on a huge winning streak. Unreal. Currently they are 10-4. A few nights ago they beat the Lakers (Lebron and Co).  There are several players to watch:

Alex Caruso: Caruso legit left the Lakers for the Bulls, which is pretty shocking because the Bulls were awful last year. 

Zach Lavine: big name, big player. Huge component to the Bulls success, and he’s stuck with the Bulls through their losing years. 

DeMar DeRozan: said to have been one of the WORST trades in the NBA, but man is showing up. He put up 38 (!!) points against the Lakers. Sports Illustrated literally gave this trade a grade of a C. Losers. 

Finally, in football drama, Aaron Rodgers is an idiot (tell me something we don’t know am I right?). ICYMI Aaron Rodgers tested positive for COVID, which happens even if vaccinated. However, everyone was under the impression he was vaccinated…especially because Rodgers was not following any of the unvaccinated protocols. Since this fallout, he has lost sponsorships and racked up a heafty fine of…$14,000. Really?  To put this in perspective, CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys has been fined more than $50,000 for having an untucked jersey at games. Ridiculous. 

These next few weeks, keep an eye on the Bulls. Stock up on gear now. I think they’re here to stay.

Bears fans, get your white claws ready. One of the best football weekends is here – Bears packers weekend. This weekends game is at soldier field and it has a promising feeling. Justin Fields played a hell of a game last week and proved his worth as QB1. This Sunday will be a true test of his ability but I am feeling good (and I get to catch the game from Section 350). 

A few points to note – 

Packers QB is Aaron Rodgers. Some of you may know him as Jordan Rodgers’ brother from Joelle’s season of the Bachelorette…but they are estranged so awkward. Aaron Rodgers is good but he comes with some early season drama. Aaron Rodgers did not want to come back to the packers. He was super weird and NGL I was rejoicing bc I thought he was finally leaving and the bears could dominate for a while. But then the packers got him to sign for one more year (and hopefully then he is out of the bears division forever). I think the best send off to his career would be if the bears could destroy him this weekend. 

Two, the bears are down a few players due to injuries and covid. I still think they will be a strong team Sunday despite this. 

In other sporting news, the Blackhawks are back and ready to go. Most exciting (probably for me) is that Jonathan Toews is back after a year off. Hopefully there will be lots of positives to write with this. 

Prediction tomorrow:

Bears 27

Packers 24

If you caught any of the bears game this past Sunday, you definitely noticed the Bears did a complete 180. Last week was brutal. Justin fields got sacked 9 times, and who knows what Matt Nagy was doing. Usually the head coach does not call plays, but Matt Nagy decided this was his job. And it was a disaster. Later in the week The Bears came out saying that all decisions for play calling would be internal and that was it (read: Matt Nagy has no idea what he’s doing but we aren’t going to share that.). Additionally they said the QB would not be decided until day of. Sometimes teams do this so the other team has to plan for two offenses…but the Bears can’t even plan for one. It was a mess. 

This past Sunday, the Bears were a new team. Justin Fields looked great! He had a lot of great passes and only got sacked once. Turns out Matt Nagy did NOT play call so this is probably going to stay this way. There is finally hope again….Justin Fields has been named the starting quarterback going forward. 

In other news, and this is sad, Cubs season is ending with no playoffs, and even worse, the White Sox are in the playoffs. But are we really surprised after these trades?  Ugh. I can’t believe I’m still not over this. 

Let’s hope the Bears have another W this week so we can feel a bit more confident against the Packers.

Really, I should call this the bi-monthly update, but honestly there is not much happening in sports.

Blackhawks – Jonathan Toews is coming back so that is huge.

Bulls – the Bulls just signed a bunch of players, with one being a huge name (Lonzo Ball). More on this at a later date.

Cubs – omg i cant even. Since the Cubs traded their big three, there have been 16 games. They are 2-14 in this time. This means that they have literally won two games and lost 14. I’m watching them RN and they are losing 8-0 so this is promising. Meanwhile, Rizzo, Baez, and Bryant all hit homeruns their first weekend away from the Cubs. Good move Tommy.

The most notable event that happened (and sorry, kind of sad because I’m relying on a preseason game to get me through this time) was the Bears/Dolphins game. As mentioned, this is preseason, so none of it matters. Some people get v. upset about preseason games because they say it can increase the likelihood of an injury but I digress.

The Bears are in the midst of a v. difficult decision – they have three quarterbacks (yes this is normal in case one gets injured): Andy Dalton, Justin Fields, and Nick Foles. Nick Foles has won a Superbowl before, but he is getting older in football years, so not exactly starting material (but really, he is my age, so I take offense to being called old). The Bears originally said that Andy Dalton AKA The Red Rifle would be starting this year. However, it looks like this all is going to change because once Justin Fields came in it was game over.

A little background – it is pretty rare for someone to get drafted and then immediately get a starting QB position unless they plan for the Browns (TL;DR: the Browns basically get a new QB every year). Instead, they “shadow” for a year and get the hang of it, learn from the previous QB, etc. Maybe they play a game here and there. However, the Bears have a long history of just bad luck with quarterbacks. Jay Cutler, Mitch Trubisky, Rex Grossman, Kyle Orton (Boiler Up)…the list goes on. So when the Bears picked Justin Fields, people switched that mindset and said he should start. The Bears were adamant that he would not, but on Saturday’s game, he went for 14 of 20. This means that of 20 attempted passes, 14 were caught. That’s 70% – not bad! One of these passes got the Bears a touchdown, so again, another +1 for Fields. He also had 5 rushes (runs), and one of these was for a TD. Based on Saturday’s game, I think Fields will be starting Game 1.

And if you’re asking, I put money on Justin Fields winning Rookie of the Year.

That’s all for today. Let’s hope that the next time I write the Cubs start to win again.

I literally can barely bring myself to write this post because honestly? The Cubs ruined Friday for me. Say what you will but Rizzo, Baez AND Bryant?  How much heartbreak can I take?

First, Rizzo was traded to the Yankees. The Yankees. Rizzo was with the Cubs in the bad years and the good. He said he would go down with the ship this year. And the Cubs got rid of him 😐

Second, Baez was sent to the Mets. Our beloved El Mago who frequently wins me money on DraftKings (not an ad but hey DraftKings) is gone. Did not expect this one at all.

Third, and this one HURT ME THE MOST because after Rizzo and Baez were traded, I thought Kris Bryant was safe. And then just like that at 4:05 ESPN sent me an update saying he was traded to San Francisco. Bryant was a big source of amusement for me. When he was called up, my class (Grade 8 at the time) and I all made predictions on how he would do (please note he did not HR that game so I was a bit off). I was one of those fans who sent him a wedding gift and got a thank you note back. It was just fun to watch him in Chicago. Clearly this one hurt him as well as he was seen crying after getting the news.

These three players were instrumental to the WS in 2016. I will never forget the last play to win the game – ground ball to Bryant, and with a big smile on this face, a gentle toss to Rizzo to win it all. For that, and all the memories, thank you Rizzo, Baez, and Bryant. 

And to Tom Ricketts- all of Chicago hopes you know what you’re doing

We are not well.

There is nothing worse than hearing people talk about sports, only to realize you have no clue what they’re talking about. So you sit there awkwardly waiting for the conversation to change, but also thinking that you should be paying attention to sports more because, really, we live in Chicago where we’re actually pretty good at them.

Enter “Their Jerseys Are Cute.”

The blog for when you like sports or want to learn more about the Chicago teams, but really, you don’t have the time. Honestly, the best way to learn about sports is to watch, but think about it: a baseball game can last for four or five hours. A Bears game? Three and a half. Who can devote that much time to something that isn’t work, brunch, or Netflix?

Every week, head back here for an update on what is going on in the Chicagoland area. Pretty soon, you will be able to jump into the conversations that you once were sitting awkwardly at, and you’ll know exactly what you’re talking about.