The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football team is in the College Football Playoff.
The Notre Dame Football program asserted themselves into the College Football Playoffs with another very good season in 2020. They had an undefeated regular season before a blowout loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship game. It was a big loss but with their dominant regular season, people believed they would make it to the College Football Playoff regardless. The selection committee saw enough from them and decided they were one of the four best teams.
After the big loss, they fell to fourth from second. Alabama is number one, Clemson is number two, and Ohio State is number three ahead of them. Texas A&M was the team with the Irish in the conversation for the fourth spot but they came in fifth. Oklahoma jumped all the way up to sixth after their big Big 12 win. The top four never changed during any week that the committee got together, they just changed the order a few times.
The Irish are deserving of this playoff spot because of how good they are but the other teams having beef with the selection does make sense. Cincinnati has to be annoyed because they weren’t even in the top six. They are a “Group of Five” school and they never get any respect from the committee. You can make a nice argument that they deserve to be in over the Irish but the committee felt differently.
So now, the Irish have a big showdown with the Alabama Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff Semi-Final. On Friday, January 1st, the Irish are going to face their toughest test to date with the Tide in the Rose Bowl with a chance at the National Championship on the line. That same day is when Clemson will play Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl.
It is certainly going to be a tough task for the Irish. Alabama is an elite program year after year but 2020 has been different Mac Jones leads an amazing Alabama offense that will be tough for the Irish to contain. This is going to be a fun matchup to dissect until kickoff.
People usually get excited about the start of a new year. It is like we feel this is our opportunity to start a clean slate and get away from the negative things of the past year. I remember being hopeful for 2020. Now I cannot wait for 2020 to end. This year has been really challenging; however, it has given me the revelation that I am in control of my health. I can determine my health goals and what is success for me. You can do everything right and still experience health issues; however, living a healthy lifestyle will reduce your risk of experiencing issues with your health or reduce the impact health issues will have on your body.
One of my uncles was a chain smoker. When he had a problem with his lungs, he decided to quit smoking. At first, I thought now he wants to quit smoking. Then I realized at least he quit once he had the health issue. His quitting could have extended his life. There are people who have health issues and do not change their behavior to combat the issues. They have high blood pressure and do not exercise or change their eating habits. They are diabetic and do not make lifestyle adjustments.
Take this time to evaluate if you are really living healthy. A lot of people enter the new year with losing weight as their only resolution. I am not saying that is a bad goal. In the past, I have made weight loss resolutions. Now I have decided that I want to live well. I want to limit my consumption of process foods. Track my water intake to make sure I am hydrated. Make sure I am eating enough fruits and vegetables. Take the time to exercise on a regular basis. Do my best to sleep well and limit stress. Spend time in prayer and meditation. My ultimate resolution is to enjoy life and appreciate what I have and not worry about what I do not have.
As you prepare to enter 2021, try to find something that you are grateful for that happened in 2020. Think about the changes you need to make in 2021 to improve your wellbeing.
I have been interested in preventive medicine since my childhood. In the 70s, my aunt would take me with her to meet with a doctor who emphasized preventive medicine. A lot of the things that doctor discussed then has become standard today.
When high school basketball fans think back to the 1980s, programs like Quincy, Providence St. Mel, East St. Louis Lincoln and the arrival of city powers King and Simeon are easy to think back on.
The 1990s brought us memorable basketball giants in Peoria Manual and Thornton, a few steamrolling Proviso East teams and the continued dominance of King.
The first 10 years of the 2000s included Glenbrook North, Peoria High and the beginning of a Simeon juggernaut.
Now, with the calendar inching closer to wrapping up an unforgettable 2020, the end of this month closes out another decade. And it’s another high school basketball time period to look back on.
Earlier this year we broke down the decade’s best teams and best players. Now, with every season of the past decade complete, it’s time to look at the Chicago area programs who won the most.
This list is comprised of the 50 winningest programs over the past 10 years, starting with the 2010-11 season and concluding with the 2019-20 season. Every team in every class throughout the Chicago area will be broken down in a variety of ways. But total wins, with winning percentage used as tie-breaker, determined the rankings.
We present No. 43 North Chicago today and will add one program a day going forward.
43. NORTH CHICAGO: 186-123
Decade’s biggest storyline: The run in 2011-12 ended with an appearance in the Class 3A state championship — a program first. Although the Warhawks and star Aaron Simpson lost in the final to Peoria, it’s the best state finish in school history.
Underrated decade highlight: In addition to the 25-win team that reached the Class 3A state championship game in 2012, the decade also had a pair of lesser-known teams that got hot in March and brought home state hardware.
The Warhawks started off the decade with a fourth-place finish in 2011 after finishing the regular season with a 12-13 record. Then North Chicago added another fourth-place finish in 2018.
Player of the Decade: Aaron Simpson (2012)
All-Decade Team: Aaron Simpson (2012), Kurt Hall (2014), JaVairius Amos-Mays (2014), JayQuan McCloud (2014) and Tyrek Cooper (2018)
Other decade news and highlights:
-The Warhawks won a pair of sectional championships in 2012 and 2013 while combining to go 53-11. But both teams fell short of Peoria, losing to Orr in the super-sectional each season.
-The 2011-12 team set a school record with 28 wins.
North Chicago’s JaVairius Amos-Mays goes in for two as Elmwood Park’s Eddie Amparan watches.Sun-Times file photo
-Aaron Simpson was one of the bigger stars of the decade in Illinois, averaging 26.2 points a game as a senior and 22.2 points a game as a junior. As a senior he had three 40-plus point games, including 49 points in a win over Wauconda.
-Simpson broke North Chicago’s all-time scoring record.
-A much-talked about and still revered performance in North Chicago basketball lore came in January of 2012 — and again involved Simpson. After being undercut on a breakaway layup at Round Lake and crashing to the floor in the first quarter, Simpson went on a massive scoring binge.
Coach Gerald Coleman said Simpson didn’t get upset and held his composure but told the veteran coach after getting up off the floor, “They’re going to pay for this.”
Simpson went on to bury six threes and score 31 points in less than eight minutes of action and left the floor with 3:45 remaining in the first half. He played sparingly in the second half and finished with seven threes and 36 points.
I’m Jerry Partacz, happily married to my wife Julie for over 40 years. I have four children and eleven grandchildren. I’m enjoying retirement after 38 years of teaching. I now have an opportunity to share my thoughts on many things. I’m an incurable optimist. I also love to solve crossword puzzles and to write light verse. I love to read, to garden, to play the piano, to collect stamps and coins, and to watch “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.
Merry Christmas and I mean it. I like saying it. Something about it makes me feel good and I suspect that’s true for a lot of people.
Saying Merry Christmas is not a political issue. It is a simple wish for peace or joy or happiness, if only for a season or just one day.
If you find it offensive, you need to grow up.
Whether you’re a Jew, Muslim, Shaolin monk or an atheist, you should accept those good wishes like you would any other. Consider it a once-a-year elevation of the mundane, Have a nice day.
Wishing someone Merry Christmas isn’t like proselytizing. No one’s trying to foist their religious beliefs on you. It’s not about religion at all.
Santa Claus has nothing to do with anyone’s faith. He’s just a guy in in a cool outfit who comes down your chimney to give you presents. You don’t even have to lose any teeth to summon him.
There’s no litmus test for being merry. You don’t have to believe in Jesus or God or anything to enjoy the spirit of Christmas. Even terrorists can get into it.
All you have do, Achmed, is chill out for a day. You can always blow yourself to kingdom come after New Years.
Earth can be an unwelcoming place, so a day when people wish each other well should be cherished. Merry Christmas is both simple and exquisite.
We wish each other a happy 4th of July without considering the social impact of the Boston Tea Party. Most people don’t know the significance of Labor or Memorial Days, but they still tell you to have a good one.
Even people who hate the Irish wish each other a happy St. Patrick’s Day. Most of us will never even know the joy of puking on Rush Street.
Growing up Jewish, we always searched out friends who celebrated Christmas, just so we could horn in on their festivities.
Still have fond memories of Christmas Eve with the Chelemengos clan.
Even as an atheist, I take comfort in those magical words. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like if we all worked a tad harder to spread a little joy.
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Bob “RJ” Abrams is a political junkie, all-around malcontent and supporter of America’s warriors. After a career path that took him from merchandising at rock concerts to managing rock bands to a 27-year stint in the pits of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, he’s seen our nation from up and down.
As Regional Coordinator of the Warriors’ Watch Riders (a motorcycle support group for the military and their families) Bob plays an active role in our nation’s support of America’s warriors and their families.
Send comments and/or suggestions to [email protected]
The Chicago Cubs’ front office has a lot of difficult decisions to make this winter, but the most important is what direction to take the roster.
Change. That’s likely to be the headline this winter in Wrigleyville. From the front office, to the roster, and even the broadcast booth, the Chicago Cubs have already seen key departures across the organization in the first six weeks of the offseason.
As Jed Hoyer steps into his new role as President of Baseball Operations, he has a key decision to make that’ll chart the course of the organization for the foreseeable future: Do the Cubs dismantle their core and start a full rebuild, or does the team choose a few key contributors to extend and build around?
That question is the first thing the Cubs need to decide this offseason, and the answer will guide the team’s decision making for the next several years.
If the decision is that the current roster isn’t good enough to win, or the team doesn’t see future success in a team built around some combination of Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras, or Kris Bryant, they need to go all-in on the change.
Don’t just trade those four cornerstone bats, trade everyone with value – Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks, and anyone else that another major league team would give prospect capital to acquire.
It’s a lot easier for fans to stomach a bad team over the next several years if they know that the team is focused on prospect development with an eye on competing again a few years down the road. That scenario, however painful it’d be to see play out, is a lot more appealing than keeping largely the same roster with no meaningful additions for the third straight year and crossing your fingers that the team will all of a sudden be better.
On the other hand, if the front office decides that yes, some combination of Rizzo, Baez, Contreras, and Bryant is good enough to build around, they need to commit hard to that plan.
Sign the players you want to build around to extensions cementing them as the face of the franchise, trade those close to free agency to recoup some of their value, and aggressively pursue upgrades at weak positions in free agency.
Roster turnover can be hard to stomach, especially when the players leaving have been part of ending a World Series drought, but seeing the team actually attempt to fix glaring holes is a lot more satisfying than standing pat and crying poor which has seemingly been the game plan the last few years.
There’s no easy decision looming for Jed Hoyer as he begins to chart the Cubs’ future, but he needs to pick a clear direction – a full rebuild or choosing the franchise cornerstones and aggressively building around them.
Another offseason of towing the line and hoping for one final year that the current core will magically improve isn’t acceptable.
The Cubs biggest offseason need won’t be acquired in a trade or signed to a contract as a free agent. The thing this franchise needs most is a clear direction.
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – DECEMBER 19: Running back Travis Etienne #9 of the Clemson Tigers runs on his way to scoring a 44-yard touchdown in the second quarter against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the ACC Championship game at Bank of America Stadium on December 19, 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish still might be a playoff team despite the ACC Title loss.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football team had a tough showing against the Clemson Tigers in the ACC Championship on Saturday afternoon. They were defeated by a final score of 34-10 and didn’t look very good for most of the game. It was a disappointment after their big win over Clemson earlier in the season. In this game, Trevor Lawrence was fully recovered from COVID-19 and it showed. He came in and dominated the Notre Dame defense.
Of course, Clemson is not going to be in the College Football Playoff again. They are the ACC champions with a record of 10-1. It is officially the same 10-1 record as Notre Dame but with the extra accolade of being the conference champion. It was a great showing for the Irish in their first (and likely only) year competing in a conference but they weren’t able to finish it off.
So if Clemson is going to jump Notre Dame, does that mean the Irish are out? It shouldn’t if we are being honest with ourselves. It has been a weird year for College Football and two ACC teams could absolutely be in. Alabama defeated Florida, who is number seven, in the SEC title game so that just about does it for Florida. Iowa State, who entered the day at number six, lost the Big 12 Championship to the Oklahoma Sooners so they are basically out now as well.
Where things get fishy is at the number four and five spots. The top three are almost certainly going to be Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson. They are all teams who rolled through the regular season and are now conference champions. That leaves Notre Dame and Texas A&M as the two teams fighting for that last spot.
Both schools are one-loss teams but the Irish made it to the title game for their conference. Texas A&M did play a game on Saturday and they defeated the Tennessee Volunteers pretty handily. The issue for them, besides not playing in a conference championship, is that their win on Saturday wasn’t against a good team. It just feels like Notre Dame deserves to be in because they were a much better team all year long. A&M has a compelling argument as well but it will ultimately come down to what the committee thinks.
1.98 million cases of Covid-19. 66,541 deaths in Great Britain. Let’s play music.
Eric Clapton has released a new single. Written by Van Morrison, “Stand and Deliver” is an anti-lockdown song. Frustrated by being unable to perform live music to an audience, this is their way of making a statement.
17.5 million cases of Covid-19. 314,000 deaths in the United States. Let’s play music.
Here are some of the lyrics: Stand and deliver You let them put the fear on you Stand and deliver But not a word you heard was true But if there’s nothing you can say There may be nothing you can do
Really, Van? The government is scaring you, not the virus?
People are dying all over the world and you think it’s a lie?
Really, Van? Really?
As if this wasn’t enough, Van doubles down with his statement about the record and being in lockdown:
“Eric’s recording is fantastic and will clearly resonate with the many who share our frustrations. It is heartbreaking to see so many talented musicians lack any meaningful support from the government, but we want to reassure them that we are working hard every day to lobby for the return of live music, and to save our industry.”
We get it, Van. We really do. Everyone is unhappy about the lockdown. We’re saddened that we can’t hear you and our other favorite musicians play. We understand that the music industry is suffering. We feel bad for the musicians who struggle to make a living. We feel bad for the small venues that may not survive. I even feel bad for dudes like you and Eric, who are worth millions of dollars, because you can’t do the job you love.
But, as sorry as I am for you, I’m really sorry about the people who have become ill from the Covid-19. I’m sorry for the ones who have lost their lives from Covid-19. I’m sorry for the families whose lives have been destroyed and will never recover. Van, you and Eric not being able to play music is a small thing compared to all the suffering and death. It’s just a blip.
Oh yeah…and Van, we got the point when you released your other three recent lockdown songs. “Stand and Deliver” is just overkill…and not so great overkill. Not exactly your’s and Eric’s best work.
So guys, maybe it’s time to take this anti-lockdown thing down a notch. Maybe it’s time to show a little compassion for the ones who are really hurting. Maybe you can write and record a song about them. I look forward to hearing that one, but I’m not holding my breath.
75.5 Million cases of Covid-19. 1,600,000 deaths worldwide. Let’s play music.
My so called friends think it’s time to edit this section. After four years, they may be right, but don’t tell them that. I’ll deny it until they die!
I can’t believe I’ve been writing this blog for four years.
It started as a health/wellness thing and over the years has morphed to include so many things that I don’t know how to describe it anymore.
I really thought this was going to be the final year of the blog but then Donald Trump came along. It looks like we’re good for four more years..God help us all!
Oh yeah…the biographical stuff. I’m not 60 anymore. The rest you can read about in the blog.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – DECEMBER 29: David Montgomery #32 of the Chicago Bears carries the ball for a touchdown in the third quarter of the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on December 29, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
The ChicagoBears have a big chance to bring fans back in with a win over the Minnesota Vikings.
The Chicago Bears play games with their fans every single week. They started the 2020 season 5-1 and it was a forgone conclusion that they were going to be in the playoffs. Then, six straight losses brought them to a record of 5-7. The sixth straight loss was a game against the Detroit Lions that they were leading in and blew in the final minutes of the game. After that, it seemed like it was a forgone conclusion that they wouldn’t make the playoffs.
Last week, the Bears defeated the Houston Texans in dominating fashion. For the first time this season, both sides of the ball looked very good for pretty much the whole game. The coaching started to fall off a cliff as the game went on but it didn’t really affect the final score. It did bring their record up to 6-7 and now they look like they have a chance at the playoffs again.
It all starts with a Sunday afternoon matchup with the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings already beat the Bears on national television a few weeks ago and it wasn’t pretty. The defense played pretty well and kept Minnesota to 19 points but Nick Foles and the offense only scored 13. This time around, it will be Mitchell Trubisky under center trying to get this team back in it.
If the Bears are able to pull off a big win against the Vikings, they might reel some fans back in. The reason is because of the fact that the following week has them playing against the Jacksonville Jaguars who are so bad. They, as an organization, probably don’t want to win another game. They want to have the worst possible record so they can draft their future quarterback in 2021. They are almost locked to get Justin Fields and have an outside chance at Trevor Lawrence.
Following that, is a week 17 showdown with the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay embarrassed the Bears (also on national television) a few weeks ago as well. We shouldn’t be confident in that game right now but there is a chance that Green Bay rests all of their stars if they are locked into whatever seed they are getting. If they win out, there is a chance they make it with some help from the Arizona Cardinals’ opponents.
Some Bears fans might be against all of this and they are probably smart to be. The worse they do, their better their draft pick will be. With that said, a chance at a top-ten pick is probably gone but you can’t be confident in them making anything of these picks anyway. We don’t know if they will actually get rid of Ryan Pace and he has messed up three of four first-round picks. The Bears aren’t going anywhere this season but a win over the Vikings sure would add some extra entertainment.
At least 9 people were injured in a crash early Sunday on the Dan Ryan Expressway near Bronzeville.
The crash happened about 1:30 a.m. in the inbound lanes near 31st Street, Chicagofire officials said.
Nine people were transported to area hospitals – one with serious to critical injuries – while another person refused medical attention, officials said.
Fire officials estimate at least 5 separate vehicles were involved in the crash.
The person who was listed in serious to critical condition was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, officials said.
A family, with three children and one adult, were transported to Stroger Hospital all in good to fair condition.
Another adult was transported to Stroger Hospital in fair to serious condition, and three more people were taken to Mercy Hospital in good to fair condition, officials said.
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