Tuesday Grab Bag: It's May! (and other thoughts)

As of today, both the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox stand alone atop the heaps of their respective leagues.  A month into the season, this has become reason enough for many to start asking "what happens if they both make the World Series?"  This has happened before, of course, as the 1906 World Series was an entirely intra-city affair (for more information, check this really cool book).  But, 110-years on, could the 'City of Broad Shoulders' finally be in for a rematch?

Simply, no, this is a ridiculous notion.  My Sox, while certainly better than anticipated pre-season, still have a number of fatal flaws on their roster, and seem destined for a handful of rough patches between now and the end of the season.  As for the Cubs... well, they're the Cubs, and have the entirety of the sports' history against them even making it to the final weeks of October, let alone winning the damn thing.

But, just what would happen if the improbable happened?  Well, I think there's a 25% chance that the whole town burns to the ground (again).  I'm not kidding, between the celebratory riots of the victors, the remorseful riots of the vanquished, and the now-normal levels of violence already taxing an overmatched (and miss-applied) police force, I think an intra-city Series would be just enough to spark a second great fire.  The City isn't ready for what a Sox-Cubs World Series would mean, and the leadership isn't competent enough to put together a workable plan to mitigate the coming disaster.

So, for the sake of the city that I love, I hope to God one or both of the Cubs and Sox spike it over the summer.

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Today in the bag, I'm talking the NFL Draft, the Fulmer Cup, and the unproven connection between twitter and the burgeoning college basketball transfer market.

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Tuesday Grab Bag: Transfers On My Mind

As @EricMetcalfe helpfully pointed out, today is the 6-year anniversary of Tad Boyle being announced as head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes.  What a day that turned out to be for this program!  Basketball in Boulder has never been the same; the program that is almost unrecognizable from the program that was.  In just over half a decade, Coach Boyle has brought us all to the point where we're disappointed by a first round exit in the NCAA Tournament.  Yo, that's quite a transformation.  Good hire, Mike Bohn.  Good hire.

Wow, has time flown.  From: the BDC

For those adventurous few interested, I've linked to my article from that day here.  It is... not good.  But it will at least give you a sense of the optimism and hope I felt at the time of the hire, while at the same time shedding a tear for the deserved Steve McClain (since banished to the veritable basketball wasteland that is UIC).  Luckily for us Buffs, Alec Burks came back, and all questions of 'what if' have since been erased.

Anyways, happy anniversary, Coach Boyle!

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Today in the bag, I only got two topics, and both of them are about transfers.  I'll start off with the Davis Webb 'thing,' before finishing with a basketball transfer roundup.

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Tuesday Grab Bag: The Final Four is set

The Final Four still lies ahead, but my brain is already sneaking peeks over the hill to the oncoming baseball season.  I'm so eager for the return of the National Pastime that I went ahead and did something ridiculous: I booked a ticket home for the home opener for My Sox.

'What's so ridiculous about that,' you ask?  Well, the trip will entail a 1am arrival in my hometown, having to essentially break into my Mom's house (with her permission; she's away that weekend), and an inevitable mad-dash through Chicago traffic to catch my flight back on Sunday.  Logistical acrobatics will be performed, all in the name of consuming baseball at it's blurry, April best.

There is a method to my madness, however.  See, I've never been to an opening day.  Sure, I've been to opening week before, but never an opening day of any kind.  When I went on the Sox website late Sunday night, and found one - and only one - ticket available for the affair, I took it as a sign.  That streak needed to end. So here I go; I hope the weather is passable.

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Today in the bag, I'm talking the Final Four, the NCAA and transfer rules, and the football program.

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Quick Post: On Shane Callahan

As if the Fall Practice, Good News Sunshine Express wasn't enough in and of itself, the 2014 outlook for the Buffs got even rosier yesterday afternoon when it was announced that OL Shane Callahan is immediately eligible to play this fall.  Callahan, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Auburn, had been in camp with CU up to this point, but didn't know whether he'd be able to play in 2014, as, under normal circumstances, he'd have had to sit out a transfer year.  Luckily, and thanks in no small measure to Auburn, the NCAA granted a transfer waiver due to Shane moving closer to home for family reasons, and the Buffs suddenly have depth in the trenches.

Callahan is immediately eligible!  From: the BDC

This is big news for the still developing Colorado O-Line.  Callahan, a class of 2012 recruit out of Parker, was a 4-star prospect when he spurned CU for Auburn and former Buffs O-Line coach Jeff Grimes.  But Grimes isn't with the Tigers anymore, and Callahan, after a redshirt season, was lost in depth chart hell, practicing with the 3rd team on last season's national title runners-up.  Over the offseason, I started to hear rumblings that Shane was coming home to the Centennial State, but mostly put them out of my mind, since I didn't figure that the waiver was a realistic possibility.  Thankfully, that's not the case, and Callahan, after two years of SEC competition and coaching, is now a seductive option to help protect a very young quarterback. Oh, and he'll have three years to play three.  Huzzah!

Excitement aside, don't immediately assume that Shane is an anointed starter.  4-stars or no, he's still got to earn his spot. Offensive terminology will be a hurdle, and anything can happen in the heat of fall camp; position battles are fickle bitches, after all. But it's hard not to get excited when an in-state recruiting miss comes home.  That he was able to take advantage of the NCAA, an organization that usually only seems intent on leeching off of their wards, makes the whole situation even more appealing.


Welcome aboard, Shane!