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Random thoughts while wondering how meaningful comparative scores are:
* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-10 on Monday Night Football. And the Chicago Bears play the Steelers (0-2) on Sunday. And the Bears beat the Bengals 24-21 in the season opener at Soldier Field. So, the conclusion that we can draw from all this is the Bears should subdue the Steelers. Of course, the Bengals’ victory came in Cincinnati, and the Bears play at Pittsburgh. In case anyone cares to look at things rationally.
A reminder the Bears could use their own cheerleading squad.
* Everyone who thought Jay Cutler would have a better quarterback rating after two games than Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger or New England’s Tom Brady, among many others, might want to consult the job listings — under psychic.
* Speaking of psychic, all those who predicted Edwin Jackson would lead the major leagues in losses may feel free to pat themselves on the back. Jackson (8-16) took the loss Monday at Milwaukee when manager Dale Sveum pulled him after yielding two runs on two hits in four innings. The Cubs lost to the Brewers 7-1. Jackson was not happy to have to exit after four innings. Maybe Sveum is trying to keep Jackson fresh so he can make four more appearances to reach 20 defeats.
* Speaking of dubious categories for league leaders, Starlin Castro of the Cubs made a throwing error to maintain his lead in most errors by a National League shortstop with 19. If it’s any consolation to Cubs fans (and the guess here is that it is not), the major league leader in errors by a shortstopis Alexei Ramirez of the White Sox with 22.
* Good news for fans of the written word and Ron Rapoport. He is back in Chicago, although not as a sports columnist. He did have that job, and your h,umble correspondent was fortunate to share a page with him in the Chicago Sun-Times for several years. Ron is in town to promote his latest effort From Black Sox to Three-Peats: A Century of Chicago’s Best Sportswriting. He edited the book. No small task considering he limited the columns and articles to 100. Ron held a book release event Monday at Harry Caray’s with local literary luminaries of the sports sort, among others, attending. Among former Sun-Times sports types at the event were Taylor Bell, Terry Boers, Joe Goddard, Dave Van Dyck and yours truly. Also attending from the Sun-Times was the eternally youthful Albert Dickens, the most important person in the sports department (in no small part because he was the person who handled payroll and made sure we received our paychecks). As for the book, Ron will be on “Chicago Tonight” Tuesday on WTTW (Channel 11) and on “Sports Talk Live” on Wednesday on Comcast SportsNet. He will conduct a book signing on Thursday at 5 p.m. at The Billy Goat Tavern, 430 N. Michigan, lower level. You don’t have to be a sports fan to enjoy the book. It does help, however, if you are able to read.
* Speaking of former Sun-Times sports scribes, congratulations to Vaughn McClure who is exiting the Chicago Tribune for the more stable world of ESPN.com, where he will be the Atlanta Falcons’ beat reporter.
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