Last night the Cubs lost to the Mets 5-2. The loss gave the Mets a 3-0 series lead in the NLCS and put the Cubs one loss away from elimination.

The way this series has unfolded for the Cubs after the run they had to begin this postseason has made many Cubs fans angry. The Cubs finished the regular season with a record of 97-65, the third best record in the majors. They had to play in the National League Wild Card Game because the three teams that finished ahead of them in their division, the Cardinals and the Pirates, finished with the two best records in the regular season. The Cubs went to Pittsburgh and were able to manhandle the Pirates in front of their own fans and set up a date with their most hated rival, the Cardinals, in the NLDS. The Cubs won that series three games to one to eliminate their arch rival and advance to the NLCS for the first time since 2003. They’ve lost the first three games to the Mets and are facing possible elimination tonight.

I understand how dissapointed Cubs fans are feeling right now, especially because they want to see a championship sometime soon after a 107 years without one. But I want to make something clear to Cubs fans…….this team isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

First off, they haven’t even been eliminated yet, and Theo Epstein teams have had some history with overcoming 3-0 series deficits against New York baseball teams. How perfect would it be if the Cubs ended up coming back to win this series and went on to win it all, just like how the Red Sox ended their championship drought?

And secondly, even if the Cubs end up losing this series, they’re going to be a force in the MLB for years to come. This team is built to get better and better as the years go by. They have a bunch of young talent that has gained valuable experience this year and are only going to get better. They’re also going to try to improve their roster this offseason by signing key free agents, especially free agent pitchers.

This team reminds me of the Chicago Bulls teams in 1989-1990 and the Chicago Blackhawks in 2009. Those teams had a lot of young talent that gained a lot of playoff experience in those years, but ultimately came up short of a championship against older, much more experienced and better teams. However, the Bulls went on to win 6 out of the next 8 NBA Championships and the Blackhawks went on to win 3 out of the next 6 Stanley Cup Championships.

Nothing in life is guaranteed. There isn’t any certainty this Cubs team will become like those teams. But Cub fans have reason for optimism.

Last night the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New York Giants by a score of 27-7. The highlight of the game was at halftime when ESPN showed the new Star Wars trailer. Oh and the end of the game……….when the game ended.

It was a horribly played football game by both teams, marred by penalties, turnovers, and overall poor play. It was painful to watch.

More and more NFL games are being played like this. It’s becoming a disturbing trend. Most of these games happen on Thursday Night Football and Monday Night Football. Teams have less time to practice and prepare and it shows during the game. Too many penalties, short runs, incomplete passes, not enough scores, and just overall bad football.

But this also happens on Sunday’s too, when teams have all week to prepare for games. The problem is much bigger than just not enough time to prepare. It’s how teams are preparing.

It’s been well documented how the NFL keeps getting sued by ex-players who suffer brain problems from their playing days. As a result, the NFL has made several rule changes over the years to limit the number of concussions players suffer. These rule changes have eliminated things like two-a-days, contact in practice, and how long practices can last. These rule changes are designed to protect players from injuries, but they might be having the opposite affect.

Several players suffered season ending injuries during training camp this season, including star players like Kelvin Benjamin and Jordy Nelson. Players are changing the way they practice, and once it gets time to play a game, they might find out that they’re not actually prepared to play. You can’t go 60% in practice and expect to play the same way at 100% during a game. Players are pushing themselves harder and harder during games and as a result, the rate of season ending injuries seems to be increasing. Not only that, the quality of play during games is steadily decreasing.

There aren’t that many good teams this season either. There are five undefeated teams remaining, but only the Patriots, Broncos, and Packers have shown that they are truly great teams so far this season. The other teams with good records have been inconsistent and have yet to prove that they can compete with those three teams, and the remaining teams are just bad.

Although I’m glad the NFL is taking steps to help keep players healthy after their playing career is over, they might want to look into how they can keep the game quality from becoming laughable. Don’t get me wrong, people are going to watch the NFL no matter what. They could have arena football players on the field and people would watch. But it would be nice if they could do something to keep games from playing out like last nights game. I’m not saying that they need to get rid of all the new concussion rules, but they might want to think about getting rid of the horrible Thursday Night Football game that happens every week. Anything to keep games watchable.

Week 6 of the NFL season is ending and this is the time of the season where we start to see a seperation between the teams that are actually good and the teams that just get off to a good start. Although there have been a number of teams that have looked impressive so far this season, five teams in particular have set themselves apart with their play, and they have the records to prove it.

Five teams have not lost a game so far this season, the New England Patriots, the Green Bay Packers, the Carolina Panthers, the Denver Broncos, and the Cincinnati Bengals. 5 teams in week 6 is the highest number of undefeated teams this late in the season since the AFL-NFL Merger in 1970.

Lets be honest…..is anyone surprised that the Patriots are 5-0? After all that happened this past offseason with Deflategate and Tom Brady being suspended and fighting to be reinstated, you knew the Patriots would come into this season pissed off. And they’re taking their anger out on the poor teams that have the misfortune of playing them. They’ve completely dominated so far this season and show no signs of stopping. Remember what happened after Spygate in 2007? The Patriots became the first team in history to go 16-0 in the regular season and went to the Super Bowl. I’m not gonna say they’re gonna do it again this season, but………………..

The Packers are another team that has looked unbeatable so far this season. Aaron Rodgers has once again established himself as the best quarterback in the league and looks like he’s gonna win the league MVP award yet again. After Jordy Nelson went down, everyone thought they would be in trouble. But the offense hasn’t missed a beat and the defense has looked great, including a goal line stand at the end of the game yesterday to keep their perfect record in tact. Kills me to say this as a Bears fan, but they look like the clear cut favorite to come out of the NFC and play in the Super Bowl.

A team that might give them trouble is the Carolina Panthers. After two straight playoff appearances. The Panthers look like they are finally reaching their potential with Cam Newton at quarterback. Newton has looked superb so far this season, which includes orchestrating a last minute game winning drive yesterday to defeat the Seattle Seahawks at home. Even though the Seahawks have struggled so far this season, beating them in Seattle has been almost impossible the past couple of years. The next couple of weeks will tell us what this Panthers team really is made of, but it so far they have looked like a team worthy of their current undefeated record.

The Broncos were a little bit of a wildcard coming into this season. The Broncos brought in new head coach Gary Kubiak after John Fox left after a couple of great seasons, and many people wondered if Peyton Manning’s age will finally start to catch up with him. Although Manning has shown signs of aging, the Broncos have looked the same as they’ve looked the past couple of years, if not better. Their defense is the best in the league and have carried them so far far this season. The Broncos are not winning a lot of blowout games like they have in the past, but they’re still getting the job done. Most of their wins this season have come in close games, which had been a problem for them the past few years. They look like the team most likely to compete against the Patriots for the AFC title.

The Bengals start has been a bit of a surprise to some. Sure they’ve been a good regular season team the past four years, but they werent anything special, barely getting into the playoffs. Some figured that would be the same story this season. But the Bengals still have an undefeated record and have beaten some pretty quality competition. Quarterback Andy Dalton, running back Giovani Bernard, and wide receiver AJ Green have played unbelievable so far and have the Bengals firing on all cylinders. However, the problem with the Bengals has always been the playoffs. The Bengals lost in the first round the past four years. We’ll see if this team is different.

Although I think the Packers and Patriots will play each other in the Super Bowl (puke), there are a number of teams that have shown they are capable of making a run at the title.

Earlier today, the Chicago Blackhawks traded wingers Kris Versteeg, Joakim Nordstrom, and a 2017 3rd round draft pick for two defense prospects and a 2017 5th round draft pick. The move was a salary dump to make enough salary cap room to resign restricted free agent forward Marcus Kruger. About an hour after the trade happened, the Blackhawks did exactly that, resigning Kruger to a one year contract.

These moves are possibly the last in an eventful summer for the Blackhawks. Within the past two and a half months, the Blackhawks have parted ways with Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad, Johnny Oduya, Brad Richards, Antione Vermette, Kris Versteeg, Joakim Nordstrom, Antti Raanta, Kimo Timonen, Michael Rozival, and Kyle Cumisky in trades or free agency. All of those players had a role on last years Stanley Cup Championship team. The Blackhawks also parted ways with highly ranked defense prospects Stephen Johns and Michael Paliotta in trades. Not only that, the playing status of one of their most important players, superstar winger Patrick Kane, is uncertain do to a sexual assault investigation he is apart of.

With training camp starting in exactly one week, the Blackhawks are faced with a lot of uncertainty. In the trades that got rid of Saad and Sharp, the Hawks acquired players Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin, Corey Tropp, Ryan Garbutt, and Trevor Daily. The success of the Hawks’ Stanley Cup defense will depend on how those players develop and fit into their new roles on the Hawks roster.

At this time next week we’ll all be watching college football. Carry on.

NFL training camps have started and it’s usually the time when reporters and coaches say which players has impressed them with their performance so far. But this year is different.

The story of NFL training camp so far is the large number of fights between players during practices. At the start of training camp, Dallas Cowboys star wide receiver Dez Bryant got into a fight with teammate Tyler Patmon. On Saturday, during a joint practice between the Houston Texans and the Washington Redskins, two large fights broke out between players from both teams. The fights halted practice and eventually the two teams practiced separate from one another. Then on Monday, Carolina Panthers franchise quarterback Cam Newton got into a fight with teammate and cornerback Josh Norman after an interception. Today, New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith got into a fist-fight with teammate IK Enemkpali in the team locker room. A punch by Enemkpali broke Smith’s jaw and it was announced that Smith would miss 6-10 weeks recovering from surgery. Enemkpali was released by the team after the fight.

Teammates getting into fights at training camp is not a new thing. We see it happen every year and brush it off as players expressing their aggression. Younger players and players trying to make the team get into fights to stick up for themselves and try to earn respect. But players and coaches should be careful with fights in training camp. Small scuffles between two players is ok, but when it turns into a WWE fight like most of these examples have been, there is a huge problem. Notable players could get hurt and miss a significant amount of time, a possibility that was proven today. Fans love these fights and view them as entertaining, but the coaches of these teams view fights as counterproductive. Jets head coach Todd Bowles called todays fight “childish.” Soon, the coaches or even the league will have to do something about these fights.

The annual NFL Hall of Fame preseason game took place yesterday. This years matchup featured the Minnesota Vikings and the Pittsburg Steelers, which the Vikings won by a score of 14-3. The game is the first preseason football game of the year and takes place in a high school stadium right next to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio on the weekend of the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. Although star players don’t play a lot (if at all) and we see backups play most of the game, it’s an exciting event because it signifies one thing: football season has officially started!!

Preseason games for all 32 NFL teams start on Thursday and run through Sunday. There will be football on every weekend from now until February. Football fans, get excited because we’ve made it through a long offseason and now it’s time to watch some football!

On Monday, Jacksonville Jaguars General Manager David Caldwell said that he believes wide receiver Justin Blackmon’s football career is over. Blackmon was expected to be the Jaguars future franchise receiver.

Blackmon was a gifted four sport star in high school, playing football, basketball, baseball, and track. Football was his best, and he eventually received a scholarship to play football at Oklahoma State University. He was a three year starter on the Cowboys and twice won the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the best wide receiver in college football. He was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the fifth overall pick in 2012 NFL Draft.

However, two months after he was drafted he was arrested in Oklahoma and was charged with DUI. He was released later that day. During his rookie year in 2012 he played in all 16 Jaguars games and started 14 of them. He was able to record 865 receiving yards and scored 5 touchdowns. In April 2013, he was suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the 2013 season for violating the league’s Substance Abuse Policy. After serving the suspension, Blackmon played in four games and was able to record 415 receiving yards and a touchdown before being suspended indefinitely by the league for again violating the Substance Abuse Policy. Blackmon again ran into trouble in the offseason when he was arrested in July 2014 for possession of marijuana. Blackmon didn’t play at all during the 2014 season and in May of 2015 he was denied reinstatement by the NFL, meaning he would miss the entire 2015 season as well.

Blackmon hasn’t practiced or played football since week 8 of the 2013 NFL season, meaning it is unlikely he will attempt a comeback.  If he does, it is extremely unlikely he will be the same type of player he once was. Even the Jaguars GM thinks Blackmon’s career is most likely over. Sadly, it looks like Blackmon’s talent will be wasted thanks to his substance abuse problem.

Blackmon’s story should be taken as a cautionary tale for young athletes. This story proves that even the athletes with the most talent can see their careers disappear before their eyes if they’re not smart and get too deeply involved with alcohol or drugs, even if it’s something like marijuana. Marijuana is still against the substance policies for most sports programs, so why would athletes want to do it if they know it can jeopardize their playing careers? Coaches and teachers should be teaching their players more about staying away from things that can end their careers way before it should, using Blackmon’s story as a prime example. Blackmon himself has an opportunity to make something good come out of his situation. He could go around and speak to young athletes about his experiences, and how they shouldn’t make the same mistakes he did. It could have a huge impact on a future superstar athlete if he or she heard Blackmon say, “Don’t be like me. Stay away from things that can harm your career. It may be too late for me but it’s not too late for you.”

American Pharoah won the Haskell Invitational yesterday in Oceanport, New Jersey. It was the racehorse’s eighth straight racing victory and was the first race the horse ran since winning the Belmont Stakes on June 6. American Pharoah also won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in the weeks prior to the Belmont. By winning all three races, he became the first racehorse to win the coveted Triple Crown in 37 years.

American Pharoah was born on February 2, 2012 in Lexington, Kentucky. He is an offspring of the racehorse Pioneerof the Nile, who finished in 2nd place at the 2009 Kentucky Derby. His breeder/owner is Ahmed Zayat and his trainer is legendary horse racing trainer Bob Baffert. His first career race was on August 9, 2014 in Del Mar, California, where he finished in fifth place. He hasn’t lost a race since, winning the Del Mar Futurity and FrontRunner Stakes in 2014 and the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby in 2015 before winning the Triple Crown. By winning the Haskell Invitational, he also accomplished the horse racing “grand slam.” In most of his victories, American Pharoah won by very wide margins and has been jockeyed by Victor Espinoza since his Del Mar victory in 2014.

Horse racing has not seen a horse this dominant in decades. American Pharoah is planned to race a few more times in 2015 before retiring. Horse racing fans should cherish and enjoy these races because it could be a long time before we see another living legend like him compete again.

The MLB trade deadline is this Friday at 3 PM CT, and we have already seen a number of trades by teams looking to get better before the playoffs. There have been two blockbuster trades in the last two days alone. On Sunday, the Cincinnati Reds traded star-pitcher Johnny Cueto to the Kansas City Royals for young pitcher Brandon Finnegan and two other pitching prospects, and late Monday night the Colorado Rockies traded star-shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and pitcher LaTroy Hawkins to the Toronto Blue Jays for shortstop Jose Reyes and three prospects.

It’s extremely common to see teams in playoff contention trade away some roster players and prospects to teams out of playoff contention for their best players. These teams hope these players give them a better shot of a deep playoff run.

If a players contract ends at the conclusion of the season, he is seen as a “rental” player. Teams should be careful and think about if they want to trade some of their young players and prospects for a “rental” player. There is a risk that the rental won’t perform above expectations and at the end of the season, he will leave and go to another team in free agency. Then they basically traded young, promising players for nothing. A prime example of this happened last year when the Oakland Athletics traded pitcher Dan Straily and top prospects Addison Russell and Billy McKinney to the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. They also traded away star-slugger Yoenis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Jon Lester and outfielder Johnny Gomes. These moves were expected to help the Athletics compete for the World Series. However, the Athletics stumbled down the stretch and lost in the American League Wild Card Game, ending their season early. The Athletics subsequently lost Hammel, Lester and Gomes in free agency and ended up trading away Samardzija because they couldn’t afford to keep him. This left the Athletics roster depleted and they are currently struggling through a disappointing season.

Even though there are many instances of teams having buyers remorse, there are also instances of trade deadline moves paying off. Just before the 2013 trade deadline, the Boston Red Sox gave up some prospects to acquire pitcher Jake Peavy from the Chicago White Sox. The Red Sox went on to win the World Series later that year, with Peavy playing a role in the championship. The “buyers” at this trade deadline are hoping their gambles end with a similar result.