Superfan Kahn's thoughts 8/31

Dr. Z, I really do like your columns, but I think you really missed the mark with your prediction for the Bears this season.  You say they are the 32nd ranked team in the NFL and will only win three games this year.  I still think the Bears can win nine games this season.  Really, the only thing that has changed since I first made that statement is that Grossman broke his ankle.  Now that seems like a big deal, but really, Grossman doesn’t have a whole lot more NFL experience that Orton has.  I’m saying that Grossman had a lot of high hopes laid on him, but he’s really not much more than a rookie himself.  What’s to say he wouldn’t have gone through growing pains, making bad reads, and making costly mistakes had he stayed healthy?  We will never know.  I definitely like the Bears’ chances a lot more with Orton at QB than with Chad Hutchinson, A.K.A. Mr. 0.0 QB rating.  Also, it was a new offense this year, and Grossman didn’t have that much of a head start on Orton in learning it.  I’m anxious to see what Orton looks like against the first teamers in the final preseason game.  I hope I don’t have to eat these words.

The defense is still the backbone of this team.  All they need is just a LITTLE help from the offense to sustain some drives and keep them off the field for a while.  It looks like the running game is also a strength of the team this year.  Again, all that needs is a LITTLE help from the passing game, so the opponent’s defense doesn't always stack everyone in the box like last season.  I still think Mushin Muhammad is going to have a much better season than anyone is predicting.  His value to the team just can’t be overlooked.  I don’t think the Bears are in nearly as bad of shape as Dr. Z thinks. 

I have high hopes for Cedric Benson later this season.  I took him with a late-round fantasy pick last night.  He’ll be riding the bench for me for quite a while, but that’s okay because I also drafted Ladanian Tomlinson with my #1 pick, and also have two other RBs that should pan out nicely.  Benson was a value pick for me, based on potential.  Call it an investment. 

Bear down! 

Superfan Kahn's Thoughts 8/26

Chad Hutchinson must go…NOW.  The Bears are not going to win games with him as the quarterback.  I really hope the Bears start Kyle Orton in the final pre-season game so we can see what he looks like with and against the first teams.  Really, he can’t be any worse, and is young, so will probably only get better.

Cedric Benson, what the hell are you thinking?  Quit listening to your idiot agent and sign the damn contract.  You are only hurting yourself right now.  If you ever get get a chance to play now, I hope you are the second coming of Walter Payton because you have a lot of work to do to win back over the Bears fans.  It is just ridiculous that an unproven rookie can demand so much money.  The Bears are completely justified in their stance of not offering any more money to Benson.  Their offer is reportedly right between the RB’s who were drafted on either side of Benson.  Somehow, Benson’s agent thinks he’s worth the same money the #4/traded for #1 pick/QB/Phillip Rivers got last season.  The Bears say they have made their best offer and will now start taking money off the table because Benson’s value is decreasing to the team.  Good for them.  Both Thomas Jones and Adrian Peterson are having very good pre-seasons.  Sorry Cedric, but you are not holding the cards in this one.  Just sign, take your guaranteed $17 million, and try to learn the offense so you can play once in a while this season.  This holdout just doesn’t make any sense.

I doubt I'd get this much fame

It seems like the drinking a gallon of milk in an hour challenge is everywhere now.  In case you missed it, former Marlins pitcher, Brad Penny, bet a Marlins’ batboy $500 that he couldn’t drink a gallon of milk in an hour.  The batboy didn’t throw up, but didn’t finish the whole gallon in the hour’s time.  The Marlins organization frowned on this contest and suspended the batboy for six games.  Now the batboy is getting offers from the milk council and other baseball teams.  You can read the full article here.

Bigshow is trying to get me to do this challenge with him next week.  I still think I can do this with a gallon of skim milk, but I just don’t want to do it as part of the event we’re having.  I drink a lot of milk.  Holly and I go through at least four gallons a week.  I’ve had a steak and potato dinner before and drank close to half a gallon of milk with it.  I don’t see drinking a full gallon as being that difficult, but we’ll find out.  Don’t worry Bigshow, I WILL do this challenge, just not next Wednesday.

How do you think my milk challenge will end?
	Successfully drink a gallon in less than an hour and keep it down.
	Keep it down, but not finish in an hour.
	Blow chunks before the hour's up.
	End up never doing it.
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Funny Looking Produce

I don’t have any potatoes that look like famous people, but I did find a funny looking tomato in the garden today.  I won’t say anything else about it, but here are some pictures.  Hopefully you’ll be amused by it as I was.

Superfan Kahn's Thoughts 8/16

Cedric Benson needs to sign ASAP.  I just don’t understand why players hold out for so long, especially unproven rookies.  I think he should be paid less for each day of camp he misses.  He needs to be present and learning the offense.  When he finally does sign, he’s going to so far behind, which translates into not playing as much right away during the regular season.  He’s really hurting himself, but maybe all he cares about is the money.  There are very few “team players” around these days.

Every time I read about Mushin Muhammad, I get the feeling that he’s bringing so much more to the Bears than just good hands.  It sounds like he is a true team player and stepping into a leadership role in the Bears’ locker room.  He comes to practices early, and stays late.  He mentors and coaches the other young receivers and ultimately will make them better players.  The national media thinks that he’ll have a down year statistically, and especially so now that Grossman is out, but I’m not sure that will be the case.  I won’t rush out and draft him in my fantasy leagues, but I don’t think he’s being given enough credit.  The Bears’ offense is far better with him on the team.  I think that will be shown on the field over the course of the year.  You really just need a QB that can accurately deliver the ball, and I think they guys the Bears have this year will be able to do that much better than the guys they had backing up at the start of last season. 

Here’s a little tid-bit I read in an article about the ‘85 Bears.  They recorded the Superbowl Shuffle the day after being beaten by the Miami Dolphins.  That sure takes some guts to do something like that right after getting beat.  I found that very interesting.

Bear down!

Superfan Kahn's Thoughts 8/13

The Bears are in a world of hurt right now with Grossman breaking his ankle last night.  He’s essentially out for the entire season.  The Bears’ upper management took a gamble on Grossman staying healthy for the entire season, and it looks like they just lost the farm.  Hutchinson and Orton appear to be a lot better than the backups of Quinn and Krentzel from last year, but it’s a disgrace that they couldn’t sign a quality backup in the off-season.  It pains me to say this, but it looks like Rex was another Bears QB bust.  We may never know how good he could have been because injuries have kept him from playing.  Even though this is very disappointing for Bears fans, here are three reasons why not to give up hope for this season.

1. The injury happened very early in the pre-season, so the backups will get plenty of reps before the first game.
2. Ron Turner’s offense is not nearly as complex or hard to understand as the offense the Bears tried to run last year.
3. Defense.

 

My first poll

How many games will the Bears win this year?
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Quick thoughts 8/10

• I sold the Buick on Monday, and got our asking price.  It really was a good car.  It had the body of an old beater, but the heart of a grandma car.   
• Gas is at a record high price in Rochester right now – $2.39/gallon.
• I made my first batch of salsa from the garden last night.  I’m looking forward to trying it tonight.  It’s only good after sitting in the refrigerator overnight to let the flavors blend together.
• Stick a fork in them, the Cubs are done for the season.  They don’t deserve to be thinking wildcard with the way they’ve been playing the past couple of weeks.  Maybe next year.

 

Football Quick Thoughts

The Bears beat the Dolphins last night and there were quite a few positives that came from it for the Bears.  Here are some football thoughts and predictions for the day.

• I think I’m going to like Kyle Orton.  He’s going to do a lot better than Craig Krentzel ever did, plus he’s an Iowa native, so I have to pull for him.  (Hopefully he won’t be forced into playing much this year though.)
• I think Grossman will have a better year than Brett Favre this year.
• I think Brett Favre’s streak of consecutive starts will end this year.  Even though I don’t like Favre, that’s still an unbelievable record, and I don’t think will ever be broken.
• Paul Edinger always had a weak leg when it came to kickoffs.  I didn’t think anyone was worse, but it looks like Doug Brien is.  I hope the Bears put another kicker on the roster for kickoff duty, because it’s unacceptable to consistently give the other team starting field position over the 30 yard line.
• Look for me to start making more frequent updates now that football season is approaching.  I have more to talk about when it comes to football.

Quick Bears Thoughts for 8/4

• I’m looking forward to watching the Bears play on Monday Night Football this coming Monday in the Hall of Fame game against the Dolphins.
• Hopefully the Bears can sign Cedric Benson soon.
• I expect the Bears to win at least nine games this season if they can stay healthy.  The schedule is similar to what it was when they won the division in 2001 and finished 13–3.  Anything is possible, and I’m positive their offense will be much better than last year.  Of course, since the season hasn’t started yet, everything I’ve been reading has been very optimistic coming out of camp.

 

Foreign cars

A buddy of mine sent me a link to this article about foreign cars, and how the line is blurring between what a foreign and American-made car is.  It seems like more and more foreign car companies are setting up plants in the United States.  On the other side of things, it seems like more and more domestic car companies are setting up plants in Canada and Mexico.  So really, is there such thing as a true American-made car anymore? 

Both my father and my father-in-law now own Toyota Camry’s, something I never thought I’d see happen.  I think that my dad started changing his mind about Toyotas after my brother-in-law did an internship at the Toyota plant in Kentucky.  That, coupled with the reputation of a quality car for a fair price, really made the Toyota appealing.  I know both my dad and my father-in-law have been very happy with their Camry’s. 

I always thought I’d buy a domestic vehicle as well, but I kept an open mind when I started researching mini-vans last year.  I narrowed my choices down to the Ford Freestar and the Toyota Sienna.  The Ford dealer in Rochester is also a Toyota dealer, so that made it easy.  We made the mistake of test driving the Toyota first.  After driving that, the decision was easy.  The Freestar was smaller, louder, and handled more like a truck.  We’ve had our Sienna for about a year now and absolutely love it.  It has the most interior room, best fuel economy, and some of the best features of any mini-van on the market.  I consider it one of the best purchases we’ve made.

The past couple of years, my dad has said that if you look at the cars that are broken down on the side of the road, there aren’t many Japanese cars.  Last week I got a good testimony to support this.  My mother-in-law came up last week and while on the interstate, she hit some debris on the road.  She drove the rest of the way to our house, but it turns out that the debris punctured the pan holding the transmission fluid.  So when she went to leave, she noticed that all her transmission fluid was running down the curb.  I called a tow truck and when the guy showed up, he seemed surprised that he would be towing a Toyota Camry.  He said he rarely tows Japanese cars, and when his wife was looking for a car, he told her to buy a Honda or Toyota.  I figure a guy in the towing business is a pretty good source of information on car reliability.