To Panic or not to Panic

The Hawks have been on a bit of a slide since the Olympics. Losers in 6 of the last 8 including two to the hapless Columbus Blue Jackets. Thanks to the Flames losing though, they have clinched a playoff spot. The playoff beard has began on a certain Last Call co-host. Niemi has solidified his spot and the Blues game has gotten off to a solid start. Cristobal Huet looks as sad as a lost puppy on the bench. Gramps Madden needs to step up and show those leadership skills going into the playoffs. Hopefully the hotel wrestling has calmed and they can focus on winning some games. If the playoffs were to start today, they would be facing the Los Angeles Kings, who are on a slide of their own...a Los Angeles sized mudslide. This blogger is torn. Tune in Thursday from 7 to 9 and we'll break down the Blackhawks, the Bulls, baseball, and the Final Four. Thanks for reading and thanks for listening.

Chicago-what happened?!?!

Bulls are currently down by 1,000,000 points. That's exactly what they can't do if they want to catch up to Toronto. Hopefully, the April 11th isn't completely meaningless against Toronto. At this rate though, it appears to be time to look ahead to next year.

The Chicago Blackhawks give up 8 goals to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The positive outcome of this game is hopefully this solves any problems the coaching staff has about who gets the full-time goaltender position. Huet needs to return to his role as a backup. Niemi has put up six shutouts this year and has looked very sharp as of late. As always, though, the Blackhawks MUST play sixty minutes of good hockey, offense and defense. I don't want to wonder what could have been since the team didn't make a move for a goaltender at deadline time. The Flames lost as well, which means the Hawks have clinched their playoff spot. The next couple weeks should be very interesting.

Good night Chicago!

Sweet 16!

This tournament is showing even more reason for it to be expanded. I once had a friend tell me that the tournament should shrink to 32 teams so that the tournament would be more competitive. Well what an idiot he was! With teams like Cornell, Northern Iowa, Butler, St. Marys, and Washington all in the Sweet 16 it gives even more reason to expand the tournament and give mid major programs a chance to compete for the national title. Lets not forget how many people love to gamble and how many people love seeing upsets when they least expect them. So I hope the tournament committee can learn something from this and give some serious thought to expanding the tournament to 80 + teams in the following years. We all are looking forward to seeing the final outcomes from this weekend and even more excited for the Final Four in the following weekend!

Holy upsets!

Kansas, Villanova, Georgetown, and New Mexico. You may think this looks more like a Final Four possibility, but nope. These four teams all dropped games this weekend of the tourney. Northern Iowa took it to Kansas. The only time the Panthers trailed was 2-0 forty-seven seconds into the game. Ali Faroukhmanesh hit a HUGE three pointer to seal the deal. Nova dropped one to number ten seed St. Mary's , who upset Richmond in the first round. Omar Samhan led the way with 32 and Nova stud Scottie Reynolds was a wretched 4 for 26 in the two tourney games for the Wildcats. Georgetown got smoked by 14 seed Ohio in the first round and New Mexico dropped one to number 11 Washington in the round of 32. The only remaining Final Four team from last year is Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans. Number ten seeds are an impressive 4-1 in five tournament games this year. Needless to say, the tournament is WIDE open now that overwhelming favorite Kansas is out. Should be an interesting couple of weeks. Looking forward to it.

Hawks get back to their winning ways Thursday night with an impressive 3-0 shutout against the Kings. It was their first regulation victory at Staples Center since 2003. Phoenix on tap tonight and Tuesday.

Bulls..well, there isn't much to say about them. They held the Cavs under 100 and look completely different with a near full lineup against Philly. It makes you wonder what would have actually happened over the last couple weeks if everyone was playing. That's all I got for now. Thanks to Nick Friedell for joining us last week and more groundbreaking radio coming your way this Thursday from 7 to 9, only on sportstownchicago.com

Show #4...

Its almost here. Nick Friedell will be on to talk what's left of the Bulls. We'll finish up our baseball previews with the AL and NL West. Also we'll hit the Hawks, the brackets, and more. Tune in 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com. We're groundbreaking.

Brackets, Bulls, and Blackhawks

What a sad weekend in Chicago sports. Two bad losses for the Hawks and the Bulls can't buy a win on what was supposed to be their most important stretch of games this year. I would guess no postseason appearance for them after this atrocious stretch of games.

Hawks lost a real tough one today and without Ovechkin, too. Losses like that can't happen. Hopefully Soupy and Hossa return for the last couple weeks this season. They need both those guys to be healthy for the playoffs.

Nothing too unpredictable in the #1 seeds. Some questionable seeding though, which makes for good debate.

We'll cover it all Thursday from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com. Nick Friedell will be joining us to talk Bulls as well as Silvy from the ESPN 1000s Waddle and Silvy show. Show number 4 should be a good one. Don't miss it!!

Last Call Sports 03/11/10

Had an action packed show today. We talked Bears free agency hits and misses, the possible rise and now apparent demise of the Bulls, and the problems of Ben Roethlisberger and Tiger Woods. The highlight of the show was Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago coming on and talking Blackhawks during the 8pm hour. We talked about our top 5 favorite sports movies and Pete is really tired of hot girls making out w/ each other and expecting shots because of it. Next week, Mark Silverman will be joining us, we'll talk Bulls and Cubs and maybe.......soup and a sandwich?

Time flies

Wow, show number 3 is here already. We'll cover the usual tonight as well as throwing in a fun little segment where we'll give you our Top 5 Sports Movies. Also in the process of booking guests. One will be announced tonight on the show. You'll have to listen to find out who it is. We'll break down the AL and NL East as well to get you in that baseball state of mind. Also the second edition of Airing of the Grievances. Tune in tonight from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

Crazy Chicago Sports Weekend

Bulls blow a game Thursday and the defense doesn't show up yesterday. Definitely noticing the difference with a banged up team on the floor. Hope they can turn it around in time to make a playoff push. Only 20 games left.

Blackhawks looked great Friday. Aggressive from the start and six different goal scorers. Today's game, however, was a different story. Got off to a good start, I turn my head, and its 5-2 Detroit. Los Angeles comes to town Wednesday.

Sox put a beatdown on the Cubs and the game today was postponed.

The Bears broke out their checkbook to say the least. Its a good thing they raised ticket prices, because they have to pay these guys somehow.

Show number 3 is Thursday. We'll talk about all of the above, maybe throw in a top 5 sports movies segment, and also air some grievances. Last Call 7 PM to 9 PM Thursday night on sportstownchicago.com Email us your thoughts at lastcallsports@gmail.com or follow us on twitter @lastcallICB

03/04/2010

Talking about the Sox right now. Cleveland considered to be the doormat of the AL Central. Joe very hopeful the Sox will really stay healthy and battle potential offensive woes. Pete and Teddy not convinced the Cubs are totally dead in the water, but large holes to fill and roster paper thin in some parts. Bulls- is a 5th spot too much to ask for? Health going to be a huge issue going into the post-season. Hawks, no moves made and hope defense will carry less than inspiring goalie play.

Dead at the Deadline

Well, the Hawks didn't make any significant moves. We'll see how that plays out. The offense can't score five goals every game. The team looked more energetic tonight than last night. Maybe a game back at the Madhouse was what they needed.

Noah will be sitting for three weeks and the Bulls signed Chris Richard to compensate. 'Nuff said.

We've got a jam packed show and some grievances to air tomorrow (technically tonight) from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com Hopefully I can get back to sleep and kick this congestion before the show. Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks as well as we start getting into baseball season and booking some guests..and hopefully figuring out the phones. Good night ad good luck!

What the Puck?!?!

The Blackhawks haven't won in Nassau Coliseum since 2002. But, they haven't had this good of a team since before that. They started off great, but then the second period started. I would blame the Olympics, but Kane had 3 points and Toews had 2. The trade deadline is as close as it can get and I haven't heard any legitimate trade rumors for an upgrade at goalie. We'll see how that works out for them in the playoffs if no moves happen. We will dig deeper into the topic from 7 PM to 9 Pm tomorrow night as well as many other topics. Check out Last Call Sports on sportstownchicago.com

Later blogosphere! That sounds weirder than tweeps. Or maybe I'm just an old curmudgeon. Yeah, that's it.

1 show down

We here at the Last Call Sports team would like to welcome all the listeners to our world. It got off to a rocky start, but once we got rolling, we couldn't stop. Thanks to all the e-mailers, listeners, and attempted callers. We'll figure out the phones ASAP so we can hear what you have to say.

Hopefully you enjoyed show #1 enough to come back for show #2! We've got a full slate of stuff to talk about. We'll talk Bulls, Olympics and the return of the Hawks (and the Los Angeles Kings, ahem), maybe throw some NCAA talk and some spring training talk to gear you up for the 2010 season. Or you can send us some ideas to our inbox at lastcallsports@gmail.com

That's all I got for now. Gotta gear up for the Bulls/Hawks game. Should be a good one. We'll be back at it from 7 to 9 Thursday night only at sportstownchicago.com