Blogs

A month ago we were trying to figure out what to do with struggling Blackhawks goalie Cristobal Huet - bench him, send him to the minors, whatever.
Now there's only one thing to do with Huet. Keep playing him.
Huet appears to have turned things around after his horrendous start.
Since that ugly loss to Dallas on Oct. 17, Huet has gone 5-2, allowing only 11 goals. And in those two losses, the Hawks were shutout 2-0 at Nashville and lost 3-1 at Phoenix.
Huet has improved his goals-against average to 2.21 and brought his save percentage back over .900 at .901 from a low of .844.
“I feel loose, ready to compete every night and help play the best we can and win some games,” Huet said following Wednesday’s 3-2 win over the Avalanche in a shootout.

House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego has endorsed Andy McKenna, former head of the state party, in his primary bid for governor.
“This election is pivotal to our future and I am confident Andy McKenna and Matt Murphy are the right team to lead our state out of the fiscal nightmare the Democrats have created,” Cross said in a news release this morning from McKenna's campaign.
Murphy, a Palatine state senator, is running for lieutenant governor in connection with McKenna's campaign for governor.
McKenna - who is trying to brand himself as an "outsider" - is hoping to make the most of the insider endorsement, planning a two-stop tour with Cross beginning in Chicago at 9 a.m. today and ending at the state Capitol.

Apparently the NCAA Tournament gods are determined to make it as excruciating as possible for Northwestern to be the final BCS conference school to gain access to their March Madness shindig.

Just when the Wildcats were being seen as a squad with a solid shot to earn the program's first NCAA Tournament berth, along comes this news out of Evanston:

Senior forward Kevin Coble, a second-team all-Big Ten pick last year, injured his left foot in Tuesday's practice and figures to be out for a lengthy period of time. According to a team source, everyone will be told more on Friday after Coble visits a specialist.

You don't see a specialist to confirm an insignificant injury.

For 12 years, Andy MacPhail was the top guy at Wrigley Field as president and CEO of the Cubs. He also spent two years with general manager as his title, from the middle of the 2000 season through July 2002.

The Tribune Co. hired MacPhail to bring credibility back to a team that had fallen into chaos in the early 1990s. They also thought MacPhail could bring a World Series title to the North Side after overseeing two world championships with the Minnesota Twins.

One of the most respected men in baseball for his integrity, MacPhail could not get the Cubs over the hump, and he resigned in October 2006.

It's Christmas Day in the college basketball world (or Hanukkah...or Diwali...or Kwanzaa...or whatever religious celebration you choose to follow):

Illinois assistant coach Jerrance Howard (coachjhoward) has Tweeted that the Illini have received their trio of long-anticipated letters of intent.

SF Jereme Richmond (Waukegan), C Meyers Leonard (Robinson) and SG Crandall Head (Rich South) give Illinois its best class since McDonald's All-Americans Bruce Douglas and Efrem Winters led a massive group that arrived on campus in 1982. The Illini will finish on everyone's Top 10 list that cares more about quality than quantity.

As the general managers meetings get set to wrap up at about noon today at the O’Hare Hilton, the star of the lobby this morning was agent Arn Tellem. A dozen or so Japanese reporters surrounded Tellem, who represents Hideki Matsui, the MVP of the World Series and a free agent.

Tellem also represents pitcher Rich Harden, who is unlikely to return to the Cubs after filing for free agency.

“I didn’t see Jim Hendry here,” Tellem said of the Cubs’ GM. “I have talked to him, and I know we’ll continue to talk. I know he’s just trying to gather information and assess his team’s needs and what’s out there. So I’m sure we’ll be talking more in the next week or two.”

The Bulls seemed angry about Tuesday’s replay-aided loss to Denver. The locker room cleared out quickly. Derrick Rose didn’t talk at all, while Brad Miller stopped only for a brief chat in the hallway.

A victory Tuesday would have sent the Bulls 3 games over .500 in November for the first time since the 1997-98 season. Instead, they could fall back to 4-4 with a loss in Toronto on Wednesday.

Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani are putting together some impressive stats, but the Raptors are giving up 111.4 points per game. On Monday, Toronto found a way to lose 131-124 to the Spurs, who played without Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.

The problem is, neither Bosh nor Bargnani is capable of defending the center position, but one of them usually ends up playing it.

Question of the day, Cubs fans: Would you be comfortable with Marlon Byrd in center field and Kosuke Fukudome in right? We’re a long way from that now, but the Cubs will have their eyes on Byrd when he hits the open market later this month. Of course, it would help GM Jim Hendry if he can trade Milton Bradley sooner rather than later, and apparently he’s moving slowly in that direction.

Byrd, 32, had a hitting line of .283/.329/.479 for an OPS of .808 with the Texas Rangers this year, his free-agent season. His OPS-plus was 106. The Bill James Handbook projects Byrd at .279/.340/.438 for an OPS of .778 next season. New Cubs hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, also late of Texas, is said to like Byrd, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Center Dave Bolland underwent successful back surgery for a herniated disk Tuesday afternoon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and will be sidelined 12-16 weeks, according to Blackhawks team physician Dr. Michael Terry.
Bolland tried to play through the pain since training camp, getting at least three cortisone shots in the back. His last game was Thursday at Phoenix.
"It was something he was dealing with throughout most of last year," Quenneville said. "We tried a lot of different things so that's where we're at today."
The earliest Bolland could play again if all goes well with his rehab is early February, although a likely return would be following the Olympic break on March 2.

Illinois coach Ron Zook declared Tuesday morning that he's "cautiously optimistic" that Juice Williams will play on his injured left ankle in Saturday's Land of Lincoln Trophy game with Northwestern. At the same time, though, Zook termed Juice's health as "questionable." He did not practice on Monday night.

"He's getting treatment 24/7," Zook said. "I was in there with him with the doctor and he was moving, pressing, twisting....I'd say you'll probably see him in uniform."

Since that's not a ringing endorsement that Juice will make his 43rd career start on Saturday, it's probably safer to assume redshirt freshman Jacob Charest gets his first start. Eddie McGee, who has been at receiver the last three weeks, will assume double duty throughout the week.