madlithuanian

As Lennon & McCartney would say... Things can only look better, they can't look much worse!

Agreed...

Got it! Yuck! I suck! 4 of 10! Damn those were a lot of lean years questions! Don't send me to Jeopardy....

Triple word score....

I must be blind...what trivia are you referencing?

I honestly don't even read anything on the official site knowing that it's all just PR and not true reporting. Right now, the guy I'm most irritated with is Pompei. He either plays the company man or the Mariotti stance. He doesn't seem to have a true foundation. I used to like him, but now I find I can't trust him for anything. On the flip side, I like Biggs the best. Just the facts pretty much...

I imagine he may have has some help writing this, but I like the vibe he puts out about it to say the least. More of this, less of nightclubbing, and I think he may go down as a someone who just may have defeated his demons like Cris Carter. Here's hoping...

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/12306507-41...y-to-learn.html Brandon Marshall offers his thoughts on Junior Seau tragedy By BRANDON MARSHALL Special to the Sun-Times May 5, 2012 6:06PM ‘Wow! Wait? What? Junior Seau was shot? How? Why? They’re saying suicide?’’ Question after question went through my head after I heard the tragic news Wednesday. Immediately, my heart began to hurt. What I felt was a deep pain, a deep compassion for this situation beyond Junior, his kids, his family, his teammates and his friends. There are many people out there who are suffering and have nowhere to turn for help or are afraid because of the stigmas placed on mental health. As I began to meditate more on Junior’s death, I began to think about this vicious cycle our world is in. The word ‘‘validate’’ started to run through my mind. The cycle starts when we are young boys and girls. Let me illustrate it for you: Li’l Johnny is outside playing and falls. His dad tells him to get up and be strong, to stop crying because men don’t cry. So even from the age of 2, our belief system begins to form this picture. We are teaching our boys not to show weakness or share any feelings or emotions, other than to be strong and tough. Is that ‘‘validating’’? What do we do when Li’l Susie falls? We say: ‘‘It’s OK. I’m here. Let me pick you up.’’ That’s very validating, and it’s teaching our girls that expressing emotions is OK. We wonder why it’s so hard to bridge the communication gap between men and women. This presented itself clearly when I was going through group therapy and was the only man in my groups. Better yet, I was there for three months, and there was only one other guy in the program. In therapy, I learned how to express my emotions and talk about my problems, then apply it to my real life. I had to work through my entire belief system, train myself how to think, not what to think, and let go of the things that had me in bondage. I had to bridge the gap. It wasn’t going to do it on its own. It’s a cycle. Can you imagine how this presents itself even more so in football players? Junior Seau, Kenny McKinley, Dave Duerson, Brandon Marshall, etc. I am the only one in that group who is living because I got help before it was too late. In sports, those who show they are hurt or have mental weakness or pain are told: ‘‘You’re not tough. You’re not a man. That’s not how the players before you did it.’’ Someone like Junior Seau. So your perception of a man or player gets distorted. Focusing more on this issue, we see more and more professionals doing research on the brain and head trauma in retired athletes. I respect their science and their research on CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and how they think it might be associated with depression and dementia, but we can’t recognize CTE until the autopsy. We can, however, start today by treating the living. Treatments that helped me — but that I think we all can benefit from — are dialectical behavior therapy and metallization therapy. Looking at the situation with Seau and other cases with retired athletes, I think our focus should be more on why the transition seems to be so hard after football. As athletes, we go through life getting praised and worshipped and making a lot of money. Our worlds and everything in them — spouses, kids, family, religion and friends — revolve around us. We create a world where our sport is our life and makes us who we are. When the game is taken away from us or when we stop playing, the shock of not hearing the praise or receiving the big bucks often turns out to be devastating. The blueprint I am creating for myself will help not only other athletes, it will help suffering people all over. We must break the cycle, and that starts with prayer and by seeking help. By understanding the pain, we can replace the hurt with love.

Agreed. Have we ever talked about Bears WR's as a positive factor? Even in the Gault/McKinnon days no. THis could be exciting!

I suppose humor is a subjective thing...I enjoy seeing others' perceptions and mis-perceptions of our players...

Interesting...thanks for clarifying. Does he lack "fire"?

Just a coule questions on your points... 1. Did he take himself out, or did the coaching staff? 2. The scheme does need to change. Hopefully Tice will instill that. 3. I'd say Tice will take care of that too. 4. Bingo! We need threats out there to make defenses think and over-think!

http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/2012/0...html#more-47703

I think your assessment is logical. However, given Barber's success down there compared to Forte's...could there be something to his theory? As bad as the OL was in pass protection, they did pretty good run blocking overall. Some players are battering rams, others are not. Some don't look it (Marcus Allen) and are. Some look it and aren't... Also, could it also be scheming? I recall a lot of empty back sets with no FB when Forte had many stuffs. I just generally look at it as all of the above in this particular situation. 1. Fair to poor OL play 2. a B that isn't a battering ram 3. poor line-up's with no FB 4. poor play calling

Yeah, no one classy's ever done that move...

In this age of cameras everywhere...I sure hope not.

Was he asked about Martz?

Nice signature WMB!

I'd tend to agree.

I think we're in agreement too....

I think he's all in on Smith as we all are. Sure, we have our doubts. But, it is what it is is. We as fans had no choice. And he, as GM, had no choice. Next year will be different for him. Or at least we're lead to believe so. How I saw the entirety of the draft, was to help Smith on D. We can argue which potential DL would have been the most perfect fit under the scheme, but the bottom line was that we needed a pass rusher to compliment Peppers. and we got that. We also got a safety. And 2 more DB's. The safety could be an impact player. The DB's are probably fodder or ST guys at best. So, to me, the overall scheme of his draft was to be in on Smith. And the flip side of that, is every GM looks past a single year. He has to. And I'm sure that played a factor in going with certain guys. But, I don't believe for a second that Emery did anything but try to help the team. And that means helping the current regime win, and win now. To me, that's kind of all in. Maybe we can argue the semantics and say it's 80% in... But, I think he, and all of us, WANT Smith to succeed. What we expect may be different...

No! Not at all! I was just kidding around! Slow news day...

I'm just opinionated and love me some Bears!

Dang! Harshin' on me pix! My batting average may not be great, but it's not that bad!

You beat me to it!