Fire Ron Turner

I must admit that I am truly torn on this site.  On the one hand, the Bears have made what I consider to be a number of great moves in the off season that I won’t go into here because if you don’t know about them then you aren’t much of a Bears fan.  I particularly like getting rid fo Orton who was

Just good enough to lose

regardless of his damn record with the Bears and getting a real (if diabetic) QB in the form of Cutler.

On the other hand… they still have Ron Turner as offensive coordinator.  In all the years that Ron has been in my life, ruining the offenses for my beloved Bears AND the Illini, he has managed to somehow put together about 1 good offensive season - the first 1/2 of the 2007 season when the Bears were just tearing it up on offense (those games were AWESOME to attend) and then I’ll combine the rest of his career into another 1/2 good season.

So, as an inherently optimistic guy, what am I supposed to do?

This winter (even in Chicago it isn’t that cold now) I saw this trolley named after the 1985 Bears super bowl team.  Look at how optimistic and patient we are in Chicago!  That team is almost 25 years old!  And we are still celebrating!

I would say my optimism that Ron Turner won’t tank this season (he may not tank it for the whole team, but he will likely do his best with the offense) ranks up there with still lionizing this 1985 championship team - as wishful thinking.

Time to get angry again…

Generally on this blog we like to not have profanity but of all the things I have read over the years this moves the closest to driving me there.

In the latest ESPN magazine there is a table showing the numbers worn by players on the field across a variety of sports from football to baseball to hockey to basketball to soccer.  The intent of this is to pick

The jocks who did the most for their digits

In any list like this there will be controversy - even in the tag line ESPN says that

The over /under on how many you’ll agree with - one

Fine… so we have an interesting idea here, crossing sports, and they even acknowledge that any idea like this will be fraught with controversy.

So as a Chicago sports fan (and also a fan of sports in general, but mostly Chicago) I scanned for the two numbers that I “knew” would be pre-ordained:

#23 - Michael Jordan
#34 - Walter Payton

While Jordan was #23, WALTER PAYTON WAS NOT LISTED AT #34!  I had to stare at this list for a while to see if it wasn’t a typo or something.

ESPN picked Hakeem Olajuwon at #34, instead!

While certainly Hakeem is a great basketball player, and one of the top 50 of all time, and even one of the top 5 centers, he wasn’t a candidate for the greatest basketball player EVER, which is what he’d have to be in order to compete with Walter Payton, who is a candidate for the greatest football player EVER.

While we certainly are Bears fans and can be accused of bias, Walter Payton’s career totals, playing for many years on a weak Chicago Bears’ offense where he was virtually the only weapon, are astounding.  It is true that although his career total yards numbers were eclipsed in recent years, his numbers and durability stand the test of time.  And not only was he a great player, unlike many others, he was an extremely positive role model of sportsmanship and toughness, making 100% use of his available skills through immense toughness and discipline.

If you go to a Bears game today a significant portion of the stands are filled with #34 jerseys, almost a decade after he died.  While other players come and go, he epitomizes what the franchise is all about - toughness, discipline, and making the most of what you can do.

I am not going to dump on Olajuwon but even his self-serving bio on wikipedia acknowledges that he won 2 championships while Michael Jordan was off playing baseball and when Jordan returned Houston went back to being a non-achieving franchise.  Hakeem made the most of his opportunities and certainly is a great basketball player but his achievements and championships are just brackets while Jordan took a mid-career sabbatical.

ESPN - this is a terrible error.  I really can’t believe that this happened, unless you were trying to randomly stir up controversy.  It isn’t just Chicago fans, it is sports fans, and football fans that would be amazed at this choice.  It’s just dumb.

Cross posted at LITGM

Got this note today from the Bears:

Dear Mr. xx:

We have some important information regarding the City of Chicago’s efforts to assess amusement tax on PSL transfers.

The Bears have met with the City to express our view that the City
should not be entitled to collect amusement tax on the transfer of PSLs between private parties. In addition, there is a class action lawsuit pending in Cook County challenging the Chicago amusement tax on PSLs.

Although the Bears have no role in this class action lawsuit, it appears that the city will:

• temporarily suspend asking PSL transferees to fill out the affidavit asking them the circumstances regarding the acquisition of their PSLs; and
• not engage in any billing or collection of any amusement taxes relating to the transfer of PSLs until further notice.

The Bears regret that some of our Season Ticket Holders have been inconvenienced by these legal proceedings.

While the Bears cannot provide legal advice or representation to our ticket holders, we will continue to monitor developments carefully both in terms of the class action case and the City’s future enforcement actions.

Once we obtain more relevant information we will be back in touch with you.

Sincerely,
Theodore P. Phillips
President & CEO

Huh. So the class action looks as though it has worked for now, but I still wouldn’t bet the farm on not paying the tax in the future.

Cross posted at LITGM.

I received this email today for both pair of my Bear season tickets. Oddly, I received this email even though my seats are non PSL’s.

May 21, 2009*** Do not reply to this e-mail message as this is an unmonitored mailbox ***Account #: xxx

Dear Mr. xxx:

A letter was recently sent by the City of Chicago’s Department of Revenue alleging that amusement tax is due on Permanent Seat License (PSL) transfers. It is our understanding the letter was sent to approximately 2,900 Bears PSL owners/ Season Ticket Holders who had a PSL transferred into their name between 2004 and 2008. If you are an original PSL owner, or a non-PSL Season Ticket Holder, you should NOT receive the City’s letter. During a routine city tax audit of the Bears, the City requested names on PSL transfers dating back to 2004 (which we were legally advised to provide) and informed us of their intent to assess amusement tax on these transfers. The letter was sent without our knowledge or input. We have requested a meeting with the Chicago Department of Revenue in order to provide you with information and guidance. Your frustrations and concerns are understandable. We will communicate with you prior to the City’s response deadline. We appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,
Theodore P. Phillips
President & CEO

Oh Ted, this one is a laugher. What are you going to do in your meeting??? I simply cannot believe that the Shitty of Chicago will get away with assessing BACK TAXES on these PSL’s in the guise of the amusement tax. But from the tone of the letter, it looks to me like the Bears are taking a very neutral stance on the whole thing. So screw you PSL holders, pay more or tell the Bears and the Shitty of Chicago to take a flying leap.

Cross posted at LITGM.

As a long time Bears fan in the stands the Vikings often are the drunkest and rowdiest fans when they come to sit in our cheap non-PSL seats.  The Vikings are a dangerous team with a lot of talent but thankfully for the Bears have a pretty crappy QB - which was our situation until a brain fart in Denver led to their idiotic stream of “decisions” that landed Cutler on our door (getting rid of scraggly bearded Orton, to boot).

Brett Favre, the most detested Bears competitor for all the pain he has caused us, is apparently considering going over to the Vikings.  Per this news article he is considering getting a surgical fix for the medical problems that dogged him towards the end of his brief stint with the Jets.

I just hope Favre stays the heck out of our division because he might improve the Vikings but we don’t fear him, anyways.  My last memories of him as a Packer were sweet as a sub-500 Bears team stomped him in the freezing cold, even if the game was ultimately meaningless.  I like to keep that memory rather than the other memories of him throwing the ball down our throats while our own offense clanked along.

We have Cutler and I feel a lot better about having him than Favre, and if Favre does come back outside of the NFC North I might have a thing or two positive to say about him as a competitor and a tough guy and a player.  But as a member of the Vi-Queens, I only despise him and hope that his career ends on a bitter and futile note.

We recently updated the look here at Fire Ron Turner.net and at least got off that old Kubrick word press theme that is the “classic” look of ancient blogs.  Thankfully Wordpress comes with a million options and since Dan doesn’t like the look of the “black” faced blogs I picked this white look.

We will be adding some more gadgets here, probably a calendar so we can have all the Bears games and results quickly at hand and probably a poll or two as Ron’s seasonal mis-adventures continue.

I was just clicking around the ol’ Internet a bit and saw that they haven’t done much over at Fire Ron Turner.com.  It pretty much is a blank page.  I guess Fire Ron Turner.net needs to pick up the torch, and we have, to the best of our ability (we have jobs and all).

As always, we are hoping that the Bears offense is simply dominating or, hell, at least average, and we can take down this site.  It would be amazing if this happened while Ron Turner was at the helm, but it is possible, like anything else.  Or maybe he is still here and Lovie does all the calling himself anyways, such as apparently is happening on defense with Babich.

With the new QB Cutler and Pace (and dumping St. Clair) as well as solid existing weapons like Forte and their tight end crew we are excited that there are enough parts here that we can have a good offense.  We just need someone who can call the plays that bring out their best.

So Angelo thinks that at pick 49 there wasn’t much value, and I have a hard time arguing it.  Frankly outside of the first couple of rounds not many people know too much about the players, unless they have played for a team they follow or play in a conference that they are a fan of. 

My source who knows the SEC (that would be Astro) has been touting Rashad Johnson from Alabama.  I checked out his highlight reels and he looks solid, and we need help at safety.  We also need WR’s, but that goes without saying, unlesss Lovie, Ron and Jerry have decided to go with what we have, and I am not sold on that package as of yet.

On this business trip to Denver I have made it a point to ask as many locals as I can about the Cutler/Orton trade.  They ALL say that they hate it.  The media, in the beginning, made this out to be a match made in heaven - but the fans are scratching their heads.  I would say that me talking to 10 or so people is more research on the issue than the entire staff of ESPN has done besides contacting their “inside” sources.

That said, everyone…and I mean everyone…is praying that the Broncos somehow trade up to draft Mark “Dirty” Sanchez.  They do have the Bears #1 to play with on top of their own, so it could happen.  This will make for an interesting draft.

I also wonder what the Bears will do with their 2nd rounder.  If they can’t make some sort of WR deal happen, that position would be the obvious choice, as the duo of Hester and Bennett doesn’t have me sold as of yet.

Well then.  The Bears have finally blown their wad this free agent season by picking up a very good QB in Jay Cutler, and a once dominating left tackle in Orlando Pace.  I am sure that the connection between Lovie and Pace from the when they were on the same team back on the Rams had something to do with this.  Good to be in the “good old boys club” at times, no?

I think Pace’s best days are behind him in his hall of fame career, but he is most certainly an upgrade from the linemen we used to have.  They will have to move Williams to the right side, which is a bit strange.  But at least we have a serviceable line now.  Forte has to be licking his chops at this point.

Well, now we also have a guy who can deliver the ball, but we have nobody to throw it to.  Hester, sure but he will get hurt eventually.  Leaving us with Earl Bennett.  Bennett says he finally knows the playbook for this season.  I think he will have a bit of synergy from playing with Cutler back at Vanderbilt.

Speaking of that playbook…and the point of this post.  Cutler came from a Shanahan system and is coming in to the system devised by our favorite O coordinator…you know who.  To say that the transition will be a snap is to make the understatement of the year.  Pace won’t have any problems either.

So Ron, you need two receivers perhaps and we are good to go.  It’s go time.

As ever-optimistic Bears fans Dan and I are awaiting the draft and hoping for good selections so that we don’t have a foul season up in our cheap non-PSL seats.

There is a lot of chatter as to who the Bears will select in the draft including a possible wide receiver.  The Sun Times had an article about a potential receiver named Hayward Bay from Maryland.  I don’t have an opinion on that potential pick (you really need to follow college football, like Dan does, to be that informed on the draft) but I looked through the comments and saw this one that rang sadly true by “Bruno”

the bears have “zero point zero” ability to develop offensive “skilled” positions, so it makes no sense on wasting a first round pick on a wide out. stick to the trenches they missed the boat in the free agent market for an immediate help on offense. i have no confidence in the bears player development, and whether or not they can utilize a players true skill set. let’s be honest we are looking at a wasted pick if we go skilled first round

Ouch