Chili Quick Takes

I want to start off this week by thanking the readers over the last month for giving my blog a look. I hope you found something that you liked and will continue to read and comment as well as continue to let others know about it and show them the way to The Chili. Now on to this weeks Quick Take Blog

Olbermann Out.      
I must say I wasn't totally surprised by this move when it came down last Friday that Keith Olbermann would no longer host his show on MSNBC. The word on the street was that he was having his issues with management. No big surprise since he has had issues at MSNBC before. In 1999 ,He left his show then. Also no surprise considering his relationship with ESPN when he left was considered to be on the sour side as well. I'm a fan of Olbermann not just because I'm a democrat, it actually goes back further to his days at ESPN. I always appreciated Olbermann's delivery. The way he went about reading the stories. I truly believed that when he talked about sports that he was a fan above all else. The fact that he also was a democrat was just a bonus. Say what you want about Keith and most people do, you have to at least acknowledge his oratory skills. There are not many guys in the media who have the ability to write and speak and be funny and be introspective and interesting all at the same time. He has re-invented himself before and I expect he will do it again somewhere down the line and I'll be ready when he does. You have to admit, ESPN sucks and has sucked without Olbermann and Dan Patrick doing Sportcenter.Again, less Stuart Scott please!!

Cutler = Persona Non Grata    
It was amazing to hear the vitriol spewed toward the direction of Bears QB Jay Cutler in the wake of last Sunday's loss in the NFC Championship game. I do understand the Bears' fans plight. It sucks to watch the Packers go to the Super Bowl. I get it but don't put all the blame on Jay Cutler because he got hurt, blame the coaches, blame the O-line and blame the team for just not getting it done. This notion that Jay Cutler quit in this game I just find laughable. This is the same Jay Cutler who was under siege for the better part of the season working with an old patch work offensive line.Not to mention some pretty average receivers who weren't always the easiest guys to throw to. This is also the same player who took a 9 sack beating at the hands of the Giants and still kept battling until a concussion finally forced him out and was also getting the snot beat out of him for much of the first half of this title game. He spent more time looking up at the Chicago skyline then he did Bears receivers and after all of that you're saying he quit??? Based on what? His body language? You're going to have to do better than that. The body language argument is just plain silly in this case because his body language hasn't been any different all season. He always looks disengaged and aloof so I am not sure what you can glean from this particular version of disengagement. The body language thing works when talking about Favre this season. It was clear that his body language was noticeably different than it was the year before and year before that but like I said that's not Cutler. People just hate Cutler for some reason and will grasp at whatever straws they can to further the argument that he is not a franchise QB. I can think of at least one team that should wanna have a guy like Cutler over what they got currently. Any ideas??


More next week, until then...
Tim