The last day of 2020… hold down your applause. Although there have been plenty of good things that have happened throughout the year, it will be hard for 2020 to shake the label of being an overall shitty year… which in turn, means that the bar has been set pretty low… 2021 has a great chance of being an overall better year for all of us. The same goes for Chicago sports, duh. And I’m here to talk about it; let’s go… out with the old…
Let’s start with the worst 2020 of the bunch, the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls couldn’t even make the extended bubble that would be setup in the NBA due to COVID because they were so bad. With Boylen at the helm, GarPax running the show, and the dollars (pre-COVID) still coming in, us Bulls fans were in a bad, bad place. Then one of the best things for Chicago sports in 2020 happened. GarPax was sent packing; Boylen followed soon (not soon enough) after. We get AK and team; we get Billy Donovan. Hope is renewed. The Bulls will be good again… right? Well, yes, but we’re not there yet. Drafting will be key to get there, and after a collective “who?” on draft night, I think Patrick Williams will be just fine for us. Yes, the talent isn’t tremendous, but it’s enough to make some noise in my opinion, and finally, just before 2020 closed its doors, the Bulls got their first regular season victory! At 1-3, they’ll have one last chance tonight to make something good happen in 2020 and beat the hapless Wizards again. 2020 was a year of transition for the Bulls, one that has flipped the arrow from down to up. Let’s find out how high we can get.
How about another team whose arrow is up? This team made the playoffs for the first time in forever this year, as their window for a championship run opens. Yes, talking about the White Sox of course. They sure have a lot of talent… on offense. It would have been nice to see them make some moves in 2020 to make a serious run at the reduced schedule World Series trophy THIS year, but they have made some moves since then. With a new (old? really old?) manager, new (old? really old but not as old as the manager?) right fielder, new (but not nearly the best of the bunch, and only one guy when some teams are getting two… hello San Diego) starting pitcher, the Sox have improved, right? Well, yes, but how serious are they about this? If you still have gaps, fill them. If you think you have enough, get another pitcher anyways. The Sox are setup for some happy days in the years to come, starting in 2021; will this up pointing arrow end in a World Series title?
To treat this problem in men, the popular therapy followed is a low price cialis massage. A number of guys will not actually talk about their sexual difficulties and will never go over to physicians since they purchase levitra online informative website feel discomfort. As a result, men buying cialis in uk can prevent numbers of common sexual problems. Phew! Lets take a moment to thank the Good Lord for anti-spam software. discount bulk viagraNow to some teams that have a downward pointing arrow. 2020 was a good year, for BOTH of these teams. The Cubs won their division; the Hawks made the extended NHL version of the bubble and WON a series that they would have never been in thanks to COVID. Playoffs for both teams; we’re good right? Wrong. Once their seasons were over, we’ve been getting mostly bad news. Lehner was already gone, but then we let Crow walk… and will be relying on a mixed bag of goalies. And then the guy who made this decision, got promoted? And then our brightest star hurts himself and is out 4-5 months? And then our captain has an illness and is out indefinitely? Geez, kick us when we’re down. Hope Toews is OK; hope Dach has a speedy recovery. Wish Bowman was sent packing, and Crow was still in goal. 2020 may have been the last time the Hawks sniff the playoffs in a while. The same could be said for the Cubs. After an embarrassing loss to the Marlins (the Marlins out of all teams!) in the playoffs, changes needed to be made. OK, well, there have been changes… bye Theo, bye Schwarber, bye Almora, bye Yu Darvish, and bye Len Kasper. All of these things have made the Cubs worse than they were in 2020. Sure, the offseason is not over, and certainly if the Cubs want to be competitive in 2021 they need to ADD some guys, but it sure looks like the Cubs window has been shut. Talk about not sniffing the playoffs… get ready for a few of those years in Wrigley; I’m not ready for that… I don’t want to believe that.
Rounding out our teams in 2020 is the team that has the best chance to slam 2020 to the ground and start off 2021 in an outstanding way; Daaaa Bears. Forget 2020, the Bears crap started in 2019; what a drop from 2018. They seemed destined to change that starting off 5-1 this year, before dropping 6 in a row, before winning 3 in a row; does that add up? Yeah, all that crap that 2020 contained for the Bears can be flushed down the toilet with a win on the first Sunday of 2021. Yeah, I know the Packers have owned us for the most part in this era where they’ve been blessed with 2 HOF QBs, while we’ve been lacking at the most important position in the game, but you don’t have to go that far back into history to recall a big win over them. Yes, it was WE who ended their season back in 2018, and clinched the division at the same time; it hasn’t all been bad! And while I worry about getting hyped up again about the Bears, and excited about potentially making the playoffs only to see the Packers end us again, that part of me that has never ending faith believes it could be different; yeah, we CAN beat the Packers on Sunday dammit! Or the Rams could pull off a miracle victory against the Cards and we can back into the playoffs… whatever. Yes, for the Bears, as we sit here on the last day of 2020, the future is the most uncertain; pending the result in week 17, this thing could go anywhere. A loss which helps us miss the playoffs could bring the wrecking ball; a win leading to the playoffs followed by another win or two… who knows.
Who knows what 2021 will bring, and although things could always be worse than they are, we certainly hope that they will be better. A competent president will help. The vaccine continuing to ramp up is a good thing. A Bears win on Sunday. Yes, 2021 has promise. Hindsight is 2020… As the clock ticks towards midnight tonight, and if I make it to midnight, we will celebrate the end of another year, but more importantly, welcome in the new year, one that WILL be better. Let’s do our part to make it happen! Popping champagne shortly…
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