Blogs

The Minnesota Wild claimed Andrew Ebbett on waivers from the Blackhawks on Saturday.
Ebbett had 12 games to show the Hawks he deserved a spot on the roster, but the forward made little happen, even when given the chance to take over at center for Dave Bolland on the second line.
Marian Hossa is coming back soon so there was no need to keep Ebbett around. And until Hossa is ready, Bryan Bickell is a better alternative than Ebbett.
The Hawks are also looking to shed some payroll in order to re-sign Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, and every little bit helps – even Ebbett’s $447,000 cap hit.

The biggest movie of the year just opened and is playing not five minutes from my apartment, and here I am, sitting at home, alone, watching a Monty Python documentary on demand. Such a thing would have been unthinkable just a year ago, being a huge film fan and a hopeless victim of pop culture.

But these days, I'm finding it hard to care.

Hard to care about paying for a film I'll be able to rent on DVD in fewer than six months. Hard to care about paying for a film I could, in theory, download off the Internet right now. Hard to care about a movie that is certainly not for me. Hard to care about paying $10 to sit in a hot, crowded theater full of inconsiderate people with their cell phones turned on and their mouths permanently agape.

Let’s see, so far during the opening weeks of the season, we’ve obsessed about Dwyane Wade and LeBron James possibly joining the Bulls as a free agent next summer.

How about Chris Bosh? The Toronto power forward is off to a spectacular start, averaging 26.8 points and 12.3 rebounds per game heading into Friday’s action.

After a loss to Utah, Bosh lamented how little attention he gets compared to his Class of ’03 peers such as Wade, James and Carmelo Anthony.

“Every day I turn on the TV and they're talking about guys, especially my draft class, '03 draft class, and this and that,” he said in the Toronto Star. “They keep bringing up all these and I never hear my name, unless I'm like second honorable mention or something like that. I got tired of that.

Former Gov. Jim Edgar was spotted at the Capitol on Friday filming an ad that'll back Elmhurst Republican Brien Sheahan for the 41st Illinois House district. That's the seat currently held by Bob Biggins, who's not seeking re-election.

Sheahan, a DuPage County Board member, once worked for Edgar. He'd be the second former Edgar staffer to get the former governor's nod. He already endorsed former aide Kirk Dillard for governor.

The open House seat in DuPage is shaping up to be an interesting primary, though we're told the House Republican political organization will stay out of the race.

Hard to believe it's already the final week of the Big Ten regular season. Seems like we were all just downtown for media days and speculating about how great Illinois and Michigan State were going to be.

Anyway, with Saturday's games to go, here's how the 11 Big Ten teams have fared during this decade in league games only. Sorry for the unaligned formatting. That's on my wish list for Blog 2.0.

TEAM RECORD POINT SPREAD
Ohio State 63-16 +1044
Michigan 53-26 +488
Iowa 48-31 +429
Penn State 44-35 +438
Wisconsin 44-35 +207
Purdue 40-39 +89
Northwestern 37-42 -518
Michigan State 32-47 -188
Minnesota 30-49 -283
Illinois 26-54 -607
Indiana 18-61 -1099

As speculated here a couple hours ago, the Bears elevated running back Kahlil Bell from the practice squad to the active roster after placing running back Garrett Wolfe on injured reserve.

Bell entered the NFL this season as an undrafted free agent with the Vikings. The 5-foot-11, 212-pound UCLA product was signed to the Bears’ practice squad Sept. 16 after being waived by the Vikings a month earlier.

Bell rushed for 1,741 yards and 17 touchdowns on 395 carries (4.4-yard average) in 35 games at UCLA and caught 29 passes for 196 yards (6.8-yard average) with 1 touchdown.

Illinois Republican officials brought state Rep. Beth Coulson along to a strategy meeting with national party leader Michael Steele today, but they are working hard to dispel any notion they favor her in the seven-way GOP primary for congress.
“It is just a sit-down to get the lay of the land in Illinois,” says Curt Conrad, spokesman for the Illinois Republican Party.
Coulson was one of about two dozen Republicans set to meet with Steele at 2 p.m. today while he is in the area for private fundraisers. The meeting was organized by Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady, who invited GOP leaders from the state House and Senate. Coulson was invited by House Republican Leader Tom Cross of Oswego, who has endorsed her 10th District primary bid.

With RB Garrett Wolfe being placed on injured reserve Friday with a lacerated kidney, the Bears could decide to promote running Kahlil Bell from the practice squad.

Wolfe was injured early in the 41-21 loss to the Cardinals on Nov. 8, and since then the Bears have gone with Adrian Peterson as the only backup to Matt Forte. Before his injury, Wolfe had rushed for 120 yards on 22 carries, a 5.5-yard average. He also caught 2 passes for 22 yards and had 9 special-teams tackles.

The third-round pick from Northern Illinois missed the final three games last season when he was placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.

What separates the Blackhawks from most other teams in the NHL is their versatile and mobile defense.
Yes, that includes Brian Campbell, folks. Like him or not, and putting his $7.1 million salary aside, the Hawks wouldn’t be as complete a team without him.
The Hawks’ defensemen did it all in Thursday’s 7-1 rout of the Calgary Flames.
Duncan Keith was awesome with 3 assists and 3 blocked shots.
Niklas Hjalmarsson blocked 2 shots and delivered a massive check on Rene Bourque that helped turn the game the Hawks’ way in the second period.
Brent Seabrook fought the overrated Dion Phaneuf.
Campbell and Cam Barker each had 2 assists and combined for 3 blocked shots.
And Brent Sopel was solid in 17-plus minutes with 2 blocked shots.

The talk show queen will officially announce tomorrow that she plans to end her run on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2011, and at this point has no plans to move to another television platform.

As excited as I am at the idea of an Oprah-free world, I am terrified that the woman will decide to go into politics, and that her millions of brainwashed minions will elect her to some high office. What do you think Oprah's next move will be?