I’m sitting here, looking out my window at the wind sweeping across the snowy landscape of the Grossman Compound in Winona Lake.
It’s cold, and I just don’t feel like doing a whole lot. So today’s column isn’t one, strong emboldened stand against injustice or in favor of some growing movement.
Nope, today is just a series of random thoughts – offered to you to consider individually and accept or reject as such.
The Bears are good. A little more than a month ago a prominent national sports mouthpiece went on a national TV show and made a national idiot of himself by declaring Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky a bust, and the Bears had set their franchise back a decade by trading up to get him.
Now those same Bears have won five straight and lead their division by more than a full game with five to go.
Trubisky has been helped (OK, helped a LOT) by a defense that reminds us of the best of years in Chicago football. But, Trubisky is definitely not a bust.
The Colts are good. At 1-5, I and everyone else were already combing through the best college football players to see who might help them the most, immediately, in the draft. Since then, the men with horseshoes on their helmets have also won 5 straight and are right in the thick of the AFC Wild Card race.
The defense is a whole lot better than we could have imagined, and the offensive line has been so good that Andrew Luck looks a lot like … well … Andrew Luck.
But, as I watched Adam Vinatieri kick the game-winning field goal to beat the Dolphins Sunday, I couldn’t help but wonder if Colts skipper Frank Reich now regrets not punting late in overtime at home against the Texans early in the season. He didn’t, the fourth down play at midfield failed and the Texans won. If he had punted and the game ended in a tie, the Colts would be 6-4-1 and would be in the second Wild Card position in the AFC.
Notre Dame is good. Notre Dame’s 12-0 record is a tremendous accomplishment. Consider that the Irish went on the road into hostile environments and handled all comers, while changing quarterbacks in mid-stream, and you realize that Brian Kelly has done a great job coaching and managing this football team.
But when the TV announcers reminded us that the Irish played in the BCS title game a few years back and were blown out by Alabama, they eventually were stripped of their glory because of misdeeds in-and-around the program – well, it made me think “what is lurking out there that could ruin this feel-good moment?”
Michigan fans are not happy. Michigan, you can make the case, was the hottest team in America heading into Saturday’s game at Ohio State. The Wolverines had the top-rated defense in the country and an offense that had bolted them up to No. 4 in the playoff standings.
And then … then they played in The Big Game.
The humiliation they suffered at the hands of their great rival Ohio State was glorious. And Jim Harbaugh was there to experience every moment of it.
That said…
Ohio State fans are delusional, I hope. As the final seconds ticked off the clock in Columbus, my Twitter feed was filling up with Buckeye braggers proclaiming that their beloveds had just won their way back into the Final Four picture.
I was offended … appalled! How could they possibly think that? Had their devotion so blinded them that they really thought they could claim one of the last four chairs after getting smoked like a Thanksgiving turkey by a Purdue team that had to hold off Indiana just to get a bowl bid?
Then I started thinking about it and my blood ran cold. There is very clear path of Urban Liar and his charges to get into the playoff. If Ohio State beats Northwestern and wins the Big Ten title, and Alabama beats Georgia for the SEC championship, Ohio State just might claim the final spot.
Ugh!
Chicago Sports Irony. Does anyone else find it odd that Joe Maddon brought a World Series title to the North Side two years ago and Joel Quenneville brought three Stanley Cups to the west side in less than a decade, but Maddon has no contract beyond 2019 and Coach Q was told to hit the road earlier this month. Yet, the Bulls’ front office remains exactly the same, their coach remains the same and their complete lack of urgency to win a single game is still very palpable.
How? How can that be? I don’t get it.
The Crossroads (instant) Classic should be just that. I love that the four major college basketball teams from Indiana gather in Indianapolis every December. I love that college basketball allows its teams to take chances and play other good teams in non-conference games to test their mettle without ruining their seasons like football.
But this year should be extra good.
Notre Dame is young but has a really good freshman class. IU looks very strong with the infusion of their rookies. Carson Edwards is leading Purdue to a solid start and Butler looks like a top-3 team in the Big East again.
Should be good stuff.
Man, it’s cold outside … I need another sip of my white chocolate hot chocolate.
