I don't know how many of you are Hawks Harrelson fans, but don't count me among you. Watching last nights game was one of the more annoying performances I had heard from an annoncer that seems to be wearing out his welcome in the booth.

Maybe it's all the "Hawkisms," maybe it's his love for Yas, maybe it's all the homerism, maybe it's the firing of Tony LaRussa, maybe it's the blaming of the umps all to often, I'm really not sure. But last nights call (or lack-there-of) of the Thome walk-off was a little much for this guy. Watch, if you want to again:

Really "Hawk." Was that amount of dead air necessary? Every Sox fan was mad, but they aren't paying you to sit in silence, not for 50+ seconds.

If Saturday nights exhibition was any indication of how the offensive line for the Bears might fare this season, strap in for a wild ride. If I hadn't heard Chris Williams' name mentioned so much for getting burned I wouldn't have known he was out there.

The week prior, Ron Rivera and the Chargers sent the house after Jay Cutler and the Bears, which undoubtedly caused the coaching staff to cut his night short.

We have been hearing this since the Mike Martz rumors first surfaced, and it should come as no surprise to anyone, that the Bears will allow a good number of sacks in 2010. Whether it is the scheme or the line, or a combination of both, Cutler will be on the move a lot this season.

It got me to thinking: How many teams have been in the top 10 in the NFL in the sacks allowed category and made the playoffs? Or better yet, won the Super Bowl?

Let's go all the way back in time to the year 2005.

In 2005 none of the teams in the top 10 in sacks allowed made the playoffs. In fact, only two (Minnesota and Dallas) had winning records.

In 2006 Seattle was tied for fourth with 49 sacks allowed and finished the year 9-7, winning the NFC West. They would eventually lose to our Chicago Bears in the Divisional Round. They were the only top 10 team with a winning record.

In 2007 Pittsburgh went 10-6 and won the AFC North while allowing 47 sacks on the season (tied for 7th most). They would lose in the Wild Card Round. They were the only team with a winning record that season in the top 10 in sacks allowed.

In 2008 Minnesota went 10-6 winning the NFC North despite allowing the 7th most sacks in the NFL. New England went 11-5 while allowing the 5th most. Pittsburgh went 12-4, allowing 49 sacks on the year, 4th most in the NFL. These were the only teams in the top 10 who had records better than .500. Minnesota lost in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. New England missed the playoffs altogether. Pittsburgh would go on to win Super Bowl XLIII.

Last season only Green Bay made the playoffs while being in the top 10 in the sacks allowed category. They led the league with 51 allowed. The Packers went 11-5 on the season, one of two teams who finished above .500 despite their sack allowed totals (Pittsburgh the other at 50). Green Bay lost in the Wild Card Round to Arizona.

So, in the last five years there have been just five teams who have been in the top five in the sacks allowed category and have gone on to the playoffs. Pittsburgh and Ben Roethlisberger, who is notorious for holding on to the ball and taking sacks, accounts for two of those and the most successful. The 2008 Patriots are an odd circumstance, missing the playoffs despite going 11-5.

Unless you believe that this Bears team is as talented as those Pittsburgh teams of the past you better hope that the line gets things together. History is not on their side if Cutler is hitting the turf with consistency in 2010.

Interesting read in the Sun Times yesterday regarding the Cubs and Adam Dunn. According to Gordon Wittenmeyer, Dunn is a Wrigley fan. And why wouldn't he be, he's a career .282 hitter there with 25 home runs and 46 RBI in just 66 games.

The fact that Dunn likes the North Side isn't the interesting part of this article, the interesting part, to me, is the quote from Aramis Ramirez.

''I don't know if they're going to spend the money,'' third baseman Aramis Ramirez said recently. ''But Dunn would fit anybody's lineup. But they're going to have to spend a lot of money to get [him].''

Oh the irony in that quote alone. Isn't it Ramirez and contracts like his that would likely keep the Cubs from even being able to consider this move?

I would never begrudge a guy for taking money, a contract is a contract, but what we've seen from Ramirez in 2010 is a far cry from what is expected. I even heard him referred to as Roger Dorn at one point yesterday, which still makes me smile today.

Aramis' Contract:
5 years/$75M (2007-11), plus 2012 club option

• 5 years/$75M (2007-11), plus 2012 club option
  
  • re-signed by Cubs as a free agent 11/06
  • $5M signing bonus
  • 07:$8M, 08:$14M, 09:$15.65M, 10:$15.75M, 11:$14.6M player option, 12:$16M club option ($2M buyout)
  • full no-trade clause 2007-10, $1M assignment bonus if traded
    
  • Ramirez has right to void contract after 2010 & become a free agent
  • award bonuses: $75,000 each for Gold Glove or All Star selection, $0.25M for LCS MVP, $0.3M for MVP,$0.35M for WS MVP
    
  • Ramirez may void 2012 option, but doing so forfeits $2M buyout
    
  • 2012 option becomes guaranteed if Ramirez:
    • wins one MVP in 2007-11, or
      
    • places 2nd or 3rd in MVP vote twice in 2007-11, or
      
    • wins LCS MVP once in 2007-11, or
    • is an All Star 3 times in 2007-11, or
    • is traded & Ramirez exercises 2011 option

When a team has a five-run lead in the 9th inning, that team is supposed to finish the 9th inning easily, go home, and return to the stadium the next afternoon refreshed and ready for another game.

Last night, the Chicago White Sox entered the 9th inning with a five-run lead, and came perilously close to another late collapse, the likes of which plagued them in both Minnesota and Kansas City last week. They'll likely (but hopefully not) come to the stadium today a little more weary, and possibly a little worse for the wear. Somehow, though, they enter tonight's action only 3.5 games in back of the quickly-cooling Minnesota Twins.

Bullpen concerns are certainly starting to mount - both Matt Thornton and J.J. Putz are headed for stints on the DL, far later than they should be (especially Putz, which I'll detail in a moment). Sergio Santos has also been scuffling as of late, since his first collapse against the Twins a couple of weeks ago. The one bright spot is the apparent resurgence of Bobby Jenks, who went three innings on Sunday against Kansas City, and then came in to get a clutch save last night against the Baltimore Orioles. Thornton and Putz's DL assignments are long overdue - especially Putz's, which must go the full 15 days from today because of his aborted appearance last night.

Williams and Guillen made a mistake not immediately DL'ing both Thornton and Putz, though in Thornton's case it only means that they were playing one short in the bullpen for a few days while they had his forearm tested. He'll be listed on the DL retroactive to August 18 (since his last appearance was August 17). What it means is that he'll be out likely another week or so, and they'll bring up someone from AAA (likely Erick Threets) to take his spot for that week. Putz, however, is another story. Since he went last night, he'll have to spend the full 15 days on the disabled list, which means we'll get someone from AAA to pull mop-up duty, and Guillen likely puts Scott Linebrink into a later-inning role as a result). I don't necessarily have a problem with this, but I do have a problem with the fact that Putz's knee obviously was problematic previous to yesterday - three blown saves since August 15 is usually a pretty good indicator that something is not working correctly, especially for a pitcher who had a solid scoreless-innings streak earlier in the season.

In the next week, the offense is going to need to continue to produce as they did last night - timely hitting with runners in scoring position. The bases-loaded situation in the 5th almost was a disaster, but the offense at least produced one run. The later inning situations in the 7th and 8th were better for the offense - 4 runs in the 7th, and an additional run in the 8th (which could have proved very important) put the game out of reach, and the offense will have to continue to use those late inning situations to put games on the shelf for a bullpen which seems balky at best. The White Sox CAN fight through their current issues - but it will take the health and resurgence of Thornton and Putz, as well as the settling-down of Santos, to get them b ack on track.

This Q&A happened on Adam Scheffter's blog on ESPN:

Q: Have you caught how everyone is sleeping on Devin Hester? The way I see it, no one in the Chicago Bears' young talented crop of WRs has passed him as the No. 1, and that usually means a big year in a Mike Martz offense. What are your thoughts? -- Double J (Chicago)

A: Double J, I like Hester this season. I'm hoping he's around later in my fantasy drafts next week. He still is a dynamic playmaker and has made more plays in his career than the other Bears wideouts. But right now, people are talking more about Johnny Knox and Devin Aromashodu than Hester. The truth is I think the Bears' wide receivers are underrated. People are wondering if they have enough firepower there -- that's not the question. The question is whether Chicago's offensive line will hold up and give Jay Cutler the time he needs to find those wide receivers.

Interesting. I think that is the first time I have ever heard this group described as underrated, but I suppose it could be true, despite the relativity of the statement.

If you watched any of the Bears last season you probably remember Jay delivering the ball to spots where receivers were supposed to be only to find out they had either gone to the wrong spot, failed to break away from a defender, or worse yet, fallen down.

With the Mike Martz offense based on timing, and with the complexity of the whole thing, Bears fans have to hope that their group of receivers have not only improved, but grasped the scheme wel enough to utilize their natural atheltic ability.

And with the line play suspect, Hester, Aromashodu and Co. will need not only athleticism, they will need to rely a lot on football instinct. Let's hope it's not all too much to handle in one short off-season.

You gotta love what a little editing can do to a video. I was unable to catch the Bears pre-season matchup with that vaunted Arizona Cardinals team, but I was able to wake up this morning and check out ChicagoBears.com, where I swear I watched the Bears manhandle the Cardinals to some sweet rock tunes.

See for yourself:

Stop me if you've heard something like these statements before: What we are seeing from the Bears isn't the whole picture. The offense is holding back. What we are seeing is so vanilla, we'll see more come Week 1. Blah, blah, blah.

It's clear the Bears aren't showing everything in their toolbox, but I doubt it's for the same reasons that those at Halas Hall would have us believe. Yesterday Mike Martz and Jay Cutler addressed the teams struggles thus far.

"You guys haven't seen a lot," Cutler said. "You guys don't get to see the film, and see what we see, and you guys don't know exactly what we're trying to accomplish out there. The guys have been working extremely hard and doing things really well -- well, maybe a little bit off and on -- but more on than off at this point."

More on than off? This is on? I would hate to see this group when they are completely off then. Cutler has been sacked 10 times already this pre-season (more than Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Sage Rosenfels and Matt Flynn combined), has thrown just one touchdown, and has a passer rating lower than Claeb Hanie, Rex Grossman, Rhett Bomar and Dan Orlovsky.

The receivers haven't been much better. Lining up seems to be less of an issue as it was in 2009, but still you can see fingers pointing guys towards spots regularly, a sign that this group still doesn't have this offense down. Do you believe in Johnny Knox as a number one type of guy? He has been Cutler's go-to-guy to this point.

"That's where we are. In practice things go well and then the pressure of games does funny things to young players," Martz said. "They just have to experience that. That's why we put them in those challenges, so they can play through that and that's what's happening right now.

"The progress is good, I'm happy with where they are and obviously we're not where we want to be but we'll be there by the time we open up."

I'm trying to believe. I want to believe that all of this isn't just posturing. I'm trying to believe that somehow Martz hasn't been fed the Halas Hall Kool-Aid. You know, the one where all is right in the world. The one where "Rex is our quarterback" despite everyone knowing he shouldn't be, where the Bears "get off the bus running" despite the fact that the it has quite obviously turned into a passing dominated league, the one where since 2002 it has been completely okay to not address the offensive line through the draft.

"The progress that we've had through the off season so far has been remarkable," Martz said. "We've got a whole lot out there for them to learn right now...I'm excited."

That last quote seems like it would fit the theme of running statements from Martz since camp began for the Bears. Unfortunately, that is a quote from his pre-season time with the 49ers.

I am not a big apparel guy. You probably won't see me in a jersey of my favorite team, you may not even see me wearing a logo shirt. But this season, for some reason I have the urge to get something to support the team. So I went shopping online, and what I found was odd to say the least.

Not quite my style. Then again I always thought Dr. Seuss was kind of an a**hole.

Did you ever see those Dad's who wear these hats and have three kids wearing them too. Makes me ill.

Probably the reason you won't see me wearing too much team apparel. I may or may not have worn these a lot in elementary school.

Ok, I'll bite. This is the most memorable thing for me when it comes to the series Beverley Hills 90201:

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