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Effectively Wild is your place for mediocre coverage of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Blackhawks, Arsenal FC, and FC Kaiserslautern.
The Blackhawks sucked it up last night against the Vancouver Canucks. The 'hawks lost 4-0 and lost some of their composure in the 3rd in a series of silly fights that served to accomplish nothing. While I admire their fighting spirit, the fire didn't translate to anything useful on the ice as the Canucks easily shut out the home team. If the Blackhawks are going to make the playoffs, they need to play smarter and not let their frustration get the better of them. It's kind of pathetic when you have more men in the penalty box than are on the ice. It's one thing to fight to defend your teammates, but quite another to fight as a response to the embarassment being served up by the other team. The Blawkhawks did not look like a playoff caliber team last night. Hopefully, they can learn from this defeat and get their shit together.
The Cubs made a smart move by designating Robogripped catcher Koyie Hill the backup to Geovany Soto. Hill out hit the corpse of Paul Bako's career to secure the spot I thought should have been his all along. Hill calls a good game and is similar defensively to the older Bako. As a bonus, he can switch hit. Hill batted .381 in Spring Training this year, compared to Bako's .364 (aided mightily by a 4-4 game against Oakland, prior to which Bako was batting .231). Hill is also 6 years younger than Bako. EW is excited to welcome Koyie Hill back to the Cubs and has something planned to follow his exploits throughout the season. Expect it to be inappropriate and stupid.
Some actual Cub pitching news. Sean Marshall is officially the Cubs' fifth starter. Excellent news in my opinion. Marshall's been solid and he's put the time in, doing everything the Cubs have ever asked of him. He's been almost traded seemingly a million times, his name coming up in talks for Roberts, Byrd, and Peavy, among others. He's been the long guy in the bullpen, done some set up, and worked as a spot starter. Rumor is he also helped build Jim Hendry's garage (where he keeps the man-fridge stocked with Ho-Hos and Ding-Dongs) and every week he waxes Ron Santo's car. He's also good to his mom.
Ever since Marshall and Greg Maddux cozied up to one another in the dugout a few years back, Sean has begun putting together solid performances and learning from the not so good ones. I think the Professor would be proud of his former pupil, now the Number Five in the Cubs' rotation.
Not that I've been overly shy about expressing my political viewpoints, but I think the whole debate over whether President Obama is an American or not is patently ridiculous. Hate him if you like, that's certainly your right as an American. I've been saying for the past eight years that dissent is patriotic. I will defend your right to bash the President until my dying breath. But he is the President, he is an American, and he was legitimately elected. Respect the office, if not the man.
