A rather mundane and boring training camp gave way to drama over the last half week. Let’s dive in.
Media Betrayed By Secret Regime!
From a Tweet by Tribune beat Dan Wiederer:
The Bears bungled how they framed this Kevin White injury to the public from the start. Still not sure what they hoped to gain w secrecy.
Wiederer was not alone over the last few days. Many of the Chicago sports media were bitching and moaning about the secrecy surrounding the Kevin White injury. But here’s the truth:
- Fans don’t give a shit. Sports media is an information delivery apparatus for fans; getting them the news and notes access affords. I have not spoken to, Tweeted or emailed with A SINGLE fan who cares how much detail a team reveals about a player’s injury. Is he playing or not – that’s all they care about. The whining from Potash and Haugh over the last few days is press room only type stuff. It’s shop talk. And it could not land with more a thump when it comes to the public.
- This is sports. Can the sports media stop acting like they are covering a presidential election or an escalating conflict in the Middle East? Ryan Pace did not choose to be coy with Kevin White’s status out of “secrecy”. He chose to be coy with White’s status out of gamesmanship. The same gamesmanship employed routinely by the best coaches and organizations in the sport. This is a game. It’s not a disease epidemic ravaging a third world nation. Maybe everybody needs to take a step back and remember this is all about moving a ball up and down a field.
- It’s a false narrative. White, as of last week, was making significant progress. The organization did not believe this was coming. Then it came. So what’s the big deal here?
Camp Fights!
I love em.
#Bears C Will Montgomery and DT Jeremiah Ratliff scuffle at practice. Ratliff took a swing. Players quickly broke it up. Practice goes on.
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) August 16, 2015
#Bears scuffles continue. Jeremiah Ratliff removed for team drills. Talking to John Fox. O-line is clearly doing something he doesn’t like. — Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) August 16, 2015
Why do I love em? Because this is a big, angry sport played by big, angry men. And the Bears over the last two seasons have been the softest team in the sport. This team needs anger. It needs passion. It needs fight. And if that means the offense and defense go at it a bit…good.
Adrian Amos to the Starting Lineup?
As I wrote while watching the first meaningless contest, Brock Vereen isn’t good. Not that any of you believed he was the second coming of Mike Brown but he’s not even the second coming of Mike Green. (Mike Green is easily on my list of the worst Bears of the last fifteen years.) Fox and Fangio are wisely doing what previous coaching staffs hesitated to do: playing the kid and seeing what he’s got. Adrian Amos can’t be worse.
