Cheer up, Hawk fans

Though I have never been the silver-lining type, I can offer the Blackhawks fan a bit of sports wisdom that may ameliorate the sting of a blowout loss in game one.

It comes from an old NBA coach — but it's perfectly applicable for any playoff series — and it goes something like this:  better to know that you lost because you were bad than to think that you lost because the other team was better.  In other words, the twisty logic leads, a hard-fought loss can leave you wondering if your best will ever be enough.  In this case, however, it's easier to discard the result with the confidence that your future is in your own control

(but the buy-in is up to you, of course, since it is always possible that the other team did have something to do with making you play that badly).

Sox return to Chicago reeling  from their own poor play in all phases (though they won the overdue-Linebrink-meltdown game, oddly), to begin a homestand that has the feel of Last Stand.  This team is right to talk about the length of the season and the liklihood of better play, but not even they will believe it until it begins.  Such improvement should occur when playing lesser teams at home.  Jake Peavy needs to stick it to the Royals tonight and stop making excuses.

Nothing like whipping winds and a Soriano power-binge to make things right for the Cubs.  An upcoming series with the Pirates always sounds nice, too.

The slow-drip firing of Vinny Del Negro is likely to conclude tonight or tomorrow, and some in the city are falling into the Doug Collins trap again.  As we noted when the dance began with him two years ago, you know what you get with him:  an exciting first season with some rapid improvement, then heightened expectations beget stress-induced tension for coach and team.  The variable in any equation, though, is the roster flux.

Lotsa stuff to chew on this afternoon.  We'll do the Second Half at 3:30, Terry's Roar of the Day is at 5:30, and we'll have a surprise or two.