The good, the bad and the ugly

A lot to cover, so it's time for the good, bad and the ugly:

The good: Landon Donovan saves the day for the U.S. National Soccer Team at the World Cup Wednesday, kicking in the game winner against Algeria in stoppage time and helping the U.S. win Group C. They will face Ghana in the round of 16 on Saturday. To celebrate, here is the Spanish-language version call of the goal from Univision:




Also, in keeping up with the debate on the vuvuzelas at this year's World Cup, we get a preview of an upcoming World Cup in a site not previously mentioned:



Also among the good are the Good Guys in Black, the White Sox, who won their ninth straight win Thursday with a two-hit, 2-0 shutout of the Braves. I don't know what woke these guys up, but all of a sudden, they're 2.5 games behind leaders Minnesota going into this weekend's series with the Cubs at U.S. Cellular Field. Things are definitely looking up for the Southsiders.

The bad: We knew it was coming, because professionals sports is a business, whether we like it or not. On Thursday, it was announced that the Blackhawks had traded wingers Dustin Byfuglien and Ben Eager and defenseman Brent Sopel and prospect Akim Aliu to Atlanta for the 24th and 54th overall picks in Friday's NHL entry draft, center Marty Reasoner, prospect Jeremy Morin and minor leaguer Joey Crabb.

The culprit: the ole salary cap. The trade shaves about $4 million off of the books for the Hawks as they try to adjust to next season's cap of $59.4 million.

As much as it hurts to lose Byfuglien, who had 11 goals during the playoffs, the Blackhawks do get a noted player like Reasoner and a look to the future with Morin.

And finally,

The ugly: The Cubs are 8-12 in June after Thursday's 3-2 win over the Mariners in 13 innings, leaving them eight games below .500 for the season (32-40) and eight games behind first-place St. Louis.

While the pitching generally has been good (save for the 12 runs given up against the Angels at Wrigley Field last Saturday), the hitting has continued to stink, especially this last series in Seattle. They were shut out 2-0 on Tuesday, only scrounged one run on nine hits Wednesday in an 8-1 Seattle win, and only six hits in 13 innings but won 3-2 thanks to strong pitching performances from guys like Ted Lilly.

The Cubs aren't completely dead, but if they don't turn things around like the White Sox (who were looking at some changes as recently as three weeks ago) have in recent weeks, Jim Hendry will have to do some serious house cleaning that could possibly mean his job, too.

And the jury is still out: The Bulls are playing the waiting game, trading guard Kirk Hinrich, French prospect Kevin Seraphin and cash to the Wizards for maybe a second-round pick in next year's draft. That will have to be sorted on July 8, when the trade can become official by NBA rules.

Why do it? It's all about making room under the salary cap for luring LeBron James and another top free agent (Toronto's Chris Bosh? Miami's Dwyane Wade? Atlanta's Joe Johnson?) to the United Center. Washington will absorb Hinrich's $9 million salary for someone who likely will babysit for top draft choice John Wall until the Kentucky star is ready, while the Bulls will have loads of money to bring top talent to Chicago.

We'll see after July 1.

Hawks one win away from ending a long drought

Amazing what a change in scenery can do for a team, especially when that scenery is Home Sweet Chicago. 

The Blackhawks pulled themselves out of whatever funk they were in Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia with a solid 7-4 win over the Flyers in Game 5 Sunday night at the United Center. Dustin Byfuglien was the big star, netting two goals and two assists in the big win.

This win leaves the Hawks one win away from their first Stanley Cup since 1961. To put this in perspective, think about what it was like between then and now:

In 1961, John F. Kennedy was President, the first Catholic ever elected to the office. In 2010, Barack Obama is President, the first black man ever elected to the office.

In 1961, the NHL consisted of only six teams, concentrated primarily in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States (Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and New York Rangers). In 2010, there are 30 teams, including only six teams in the motherland of hockey, Canada, and teams in places that might see ice outdoors in a rare ice age (see Phoenix, Los Angeles, Anaheim, (Miami) Florida, and Tampa Bay, not to mention other nontraditional hockey towns like Dallas and (Raleigh, North) Carolina).

In 1961, the communist Soviet Union loomed large over American politics, including the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba. In 2010, the U.S.S.R. is no more, having dissolved in 1991 into 15 republics, with Russia a largely democratic country (depending on who you talk to – we won’t argue that point here).

In 1961, the top movie of the year was the musical “West Side Story.” In 2010, the best picture Oscar went to “The Hurt Locker,” which told the story of an Army bomb squad in the Iraq War.

In 1961, Blackhawks goalie Glenn Hall made about $180 a game, working at a fast-food joint during the summer to make ends meet, according to the Edmonton Journal. In 2010, Vincent Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning made $10 million this season.

Finally, it had only been 53 years since the Cubs last won the World Series in 1961. By 2010, the streak had extended to 102 years and counting.

Speaking of the Cubs, they currently own the longest title drought in American team sports, with the last title coming in 1908. In the NFL, it is the now Arizona Cardinals, who last won the title as the Chicago Cardinals in 1947. In the NBA, it is the now Sacramento Kings, who last won the title as the Rochester Royals in 1951. And next in line for longest championship drought in the NHL if the Blackhawks manage to clinch the title are the Toronto Maple Leafs, who last won in 1964.

Game six and quite possibly the clincher for the Blackhawks comes on Wednesday night from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. The game and hopefully the victory celebration will be on NBC.

Running laps around the Web...

-- A Cubs fan in Buffalo Grove, Ill., has taken drastic measures to turn around the Cubs' season, vowing to eat only 500 calories a day until the Cubs either win five games in a row or end their season. It might be a long rest of the summer.

-- A detailed look at the frustrations of following this year's Cubs (Warning: Strong language).

-- A more positive look at the Cubs' season: They are only 2.5 games out of first after last night's 9-5 win over the Brewers, the same distance they were on May 8 when Aramis Ramirez went on the disabled list with a dislocated shoulder.

-- Sports Illustrated takes a look at Aplington-Parkersburg High football coach Ed Thomas, who was gunned down last week while supervising his team's off-season workouts.

-- A debate on how the Blackhawks have done in the free agent market so far, especially in light of signing Marian Hossa to a 12-year deal.

-- Former Bulls and now Pistons guard Ben Gordon takes some parting shots at his former club.

-- The Bears apparently have given up chasing troubled ex-Giants WR Plaxico Burress.

Copyright 2009 - Wait Til Next Century.

Da notebook - March 24, 2008

Blackhawks
-- The business section in Sunday's Chicago Tribune has an interesting look at new Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz, who took over the team when his father, Bill Wirtz, died in October. In the last five months, he had revitalized the team, hiring president John McDonough away from the Cubs and beginning to restoke interest in hockey in a place where many thought it was dead.

-- The team also is near a deal to televise all 82 of its games next season, reports the Tribune's Teddy Greenstein. WGN and WPWR-50 are two possible stations to pick up the 30-odd games not currently covered by Comcast SportsNet and Versus

-- It was a good day as the Hawks beat St. Louis 5-4 on an overtime goal by Patrick Kane. The win puts Chicago within four points of the eighth and final Western Conference playoff with only six games to play

Cubs
-- In Mesa, Ariz., it looks like Kerry Wood has won the Cubs' closer job. At least until he gets hurt again.

-- At the same time, manager Lou Pinella is scheduled to announce on Monday whether Jason Marquis won a job in the starting rotation over former Ryan Dempster or new/old pickup Jon Lieber.

-- An injury to lefthander Scott Eyre and some suddenly free agent outfielders could lead to the Cubs picking up some centerfield depth, says the Sun-Times.

White Sox
-- The Sox will honor former great Harold Baines with a statue outside of U.S. Cellular Field on July 20, according to the Tribune.

Bulls
-- The Sun-Times' Jay Mariotti comments on the Bulls' plans to raise ticket prices even as the team continues to tank its season away in true Reinsdorf fashion and implodes in every unimagible way outside of the Knicks.

Iowa State & Iowa
-- The Cyclones' women's basketball team advanced past the first round Saturday, beating Georgia Tech in Des Moines. They play C. Vivian Stringer's Rutgers squad today.

-- Meanwhile, the Iowa women are out of the NCAA tournament after losing to Georgia in Norfolk, Va., while the Iowa wrestling team claims its first national title since 2000.

Honoring our nation

This Sunday, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks will sing the national anthem at Super Bowl XLII.

The Star-Spangled Banner can be a difficult song to pull off, though, and should be attempted on the high stage by only the best.

Otherwise, we get moments like these:

Roseanne Barr before a San Diego Padres game on July 26, 1990:



Current Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton got into the act last year, when she made his first appearance as a candidate in Iowa on Jan. 27, 2007. MSNBC's microphone picked her up singing along:



(On a side note, I know this isn't sports-related, but when I googled "bad national anthem singing," Hillary was at the top of the list. I kid you not.)

By the way, for the two or three readers of this site, I know you're wondering why I didn't include Carl Lewis' rendition before a Bulls-Nets game in 1993, but I couldn't find any video of it. I think he must have got ESPN to burn all copies of that tape.

The best renditions, though, depend on the time and place.

There was that stretch in January 1991, that produced not one but two memorable performances. The Persian Gulf War was on to oust Saddam Hussein and Iraq from Kuwait. The United States sent over hundreds of thousands of troops to do the job right. With the military response came a wave of support from Americans, including chill-inducing performances of the Star-Spangled Banner.

The first came on my 15th birthday, Jan. 21, 1991, at the NHL All-Star Game, played at perhaps the best hockey arena that was ever built, Chicago Stadium. In perhaps the greatest rendition of the national anthem ever, fan favorite Wayne Messmer sang his heart out, and the fans nearly drowned him out.



A week later, at Super Bowl XXV between the Giants and Bills at the Big Sombrero, Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Fla., Whitney Houston stepped out and belted out this number:



Granted, we found out later the song was pre-recorded, and she lip-synced the whole thing, but it did its job. A single of her version of the song actually became a minor hit for a couple of months after that.

But then there was Marvin Gaye at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles. Taking a funky, soulful approach, he turned Francis Scott Key's words into something more spiritual:



So go U.S.A.!