Dateline. July 25th. I noticed today that ESPN is finally starting to cover football in full. Training camp previews are up, and summaries of the upcoming CFB Headlines ("Tebow! Tebow! Tebow!) are starting to sneak onto the airwaves once again.
Meanwhile, baseball has almost reached the 100-game mark, and the pennant races are shaping up into something interesting, with the AL Central a Tiger chase, the AL East a 3-way mess (for the record, I think Tampa is donezo), and the NL Central pretty much an up-for-grabs potluck. Both Chicago teams are still live and kicking, although the Cubs lost their de facto ace, Ted Lilly, to surgery and the DL.
So all of you Bears out there need to wake up from your early-summer Sports Hibernation and get ready for ESPN to get watchable again.
My top storylines, in no particular order.
White Sox Scrap for the Playoffs... again.
Hanging in a few games over .500, the Sox are looking just good enough to contend in the AL Central. They have to win it outright, because the loser of the AL East Sweepstakes is goanna get the Wild Card. But after getting that PERFECT GAME from Numero 56, hopes are high. Can the Sox do it? Can Buehrle stay on his tear and contend for (Dare I say it?) the Cy Young?
Bears Training Camp
The obvious story here revolves around Jay Cutler and his corps of questionable receiving talent. Can Devin Hester and Greg Olsen make The Leap? If they can, this will be a really potent offense. The other interesting stories for me are in the secondary, where it seems like nobody really has a position locked down with the possible exceptions of The Interceptor and Tillman, and at Hunter Hillenmeyer's former post, where FA pickup Pino Tinoasamoa and Northwestern alum Nick Roach will battle up and comer Jamar Williams for the right to join the Bears' Pro Bowl Tandem at 'backer.
Big Ten College Football
Will anyone other than Ohio State make headlines? I'm looking at Northwestern to emerge under wunderkind Pat Fitzgerald and start out the season on a tear. Wisconsin's Brett Bielma is on the hot seat at Camp Randall. And I sure hope that Bill Lynch is sitting on something similarly warm. Another bad season for Indiana, just as the great new horseshoe opens up, would be a disaster for a scuffling athletic program. Can Michigan make any noise? And so on. Enough Tebow - I want to know what's up around the Midwest.
Bulls Hot Stove
I'm praying Hinrich sticks around. And a free agent pickup sure would be nice. It looks like James Johnson will contribute after a nice Summer League showing, but no one else on the team is a rotation lock. Illinois alum James Augustine performed well, and DeMarcus Nelson was the best of a lousy group of guards. Taj Gibson collected a ton of fouls. My pick to click, Taurean Green, shot under 30% but passed well. I'm guessing the Bulls do the same, and pass on Green, leaving Chicago perilously thin at guard with only Rose, Hinrich, and Salmons as sure things.
What stories are you looking forward to? What's on your mind, Armchair Superstar nation? Let me know. I need some new story ideas!
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