Although we never intended to leave "Pulpo Fiction" as our last Good Chicago Sports column for a year, we fell behind on our Chicago news comments when last season opened and then never had time to finish an ever-expanding list of Chicago events.

Instead, we're simply going to ignore much of the last year as no Chicago team enjoyed even a mildly prosperous season. While certain events in each franchise merit our disdain, our goal is to look forward as we hopefully resume these articles on a regular basis.

Before beginning we'd like to dedicate today's article to Loyal Rotohelp Reader Bob, who gently pestered us to resume this feature for the last year. I doubt we would have brought this back anytime soon without his support, and hopefully this was worth the wait.

Mayor Daley's Construction Boondoggles

Chicago awoke Monday morning to the site of the historic Meigs Field runway completely torn up. Daley sent out bulldozers Sunday night to cut several X's into the runway, thereby destroying Chicago's third airfield.

Meigs may no longer have a place in the Chicago aviation landscape but we have a severe problem with trashing the runway under false pretenses only a little over a year after King Richard promised to keep the airport open until 2026. Daley's argument is that eliminating Meigs improves homeland security, but Chicago faces the same security issues now as in December 2001, when Daley agreed with former Governor George Ryan to leave Meigs in place for 25 more years. We could apply a host of derogatory descriptions to Daley's actions, however we really only can view this as power consolidation by the Mayor.

Chicagoans reelected Daley on February 28th with a stunning 79% of the vote, which outdistanced his closest competitor by 65%. While Chicago is the only one of America's largest nine cities without mayoral term limits, we have elections and see no reason why someone can't substantially challenge Daley. However, with the Mayor now at the peak of his power after fourteen years in office, we don't envision him departing any time soon.

The downside of this political stability is that Daley will be able to force terrible ideas, like the closing of Meigs and Chicago's new toilet bowl, which is nearing completion in time for the Bears' opener this fall. Despite the sickening feeling we get when we see that spaceship hanging over the expressway, Bears' fans have no choice but to grudgingly accept the ruins of Solider Field.

Chicago Bears

Of course, Bears' fans do not have to quietly accept the ruin of the team. The awful 2002 season necessitated some changes, but Brian Urlacher, Mike Brown, Marty Booker, David Terrell, Anthony Thomas, and a couple of linemen are the only overly recognizable players left from the 2001 Division Champion.

Quarterback Jim Miller joined the Super Bowl Champion Buccaneers after his untimely release following surgery.

Top pass rusher OLB Rosevelt Colvin signed with New England after the Bears failed even to pursue him seriously in free agency.

Most damningly, Jerry Angelo also released offensive anchor and senior Bear James "Big Cat" Williams, and hasn't moved to re-sign him to a cheaper deal even though Williams claims he only wants a comfortable situation regardless of money.

The sole free agent signing of any consequence, other than mild improvement at a few secondary positions like Tight End, was Kordell Stewart, who signed a two-year deal as the new starting quarterback. Now Stewart would have made sense here two years ago when the inventive Gary Crowton ran the offense, but John Shoop believes an off-tackle run qualifies as an inventive play. We don't see Stewart as a good fit with Thomas, Terrell, and Booker, and continual infusions of youth to the Bears' line don't convince us that we even can provide much protection for Stewart.

Our defense faces a gaping hole at pass rusher and still lacks depth in the secondary, and we simply lack the draft picks to fix all these problems.

Chicago picks fourth at the end of this month, and all we know for sure is that Detroit will take Michigan WR Charles Rogers at #2. We'd love to see a QB like Carson Palmer or Byron Leftwich join the team, however Stewart's contract reportedly includes provisions that guarantee him the starting job for two years. Someone like Cal QB Kyle Boller would be a nice alternative in Round 2, but at best, he won't last past the Packers at the end of the first.

So with a veteran QB in place and no premiere running back available, Angelo seems set on taking a defensive lineman even though we already have Phillip Daniels, Alex Brown, Bryan Robinson, Ted Washington, and Keith Traylor in competition to start on the line. Fortunately, DE Terrell Suggs didn't impress anyone in a workout, and DT Jimmy Kennedy also seems to be falling on the draft board. The Bears' best bet may be to trade down for multiple picks to improve depth, however reportedly nearly every team with a top pick is exploring that same strategy.

Hopefully we'll have a better handle in this situation in a couple weeks when we expect to post another Chicago Sports article prior to the NFL draft.

Chicago Blackhawks

While the Blackhawks seemed closer to the playoffs last fall than any other Chicago team, the Tony Amonte/Theo Fleury situation embarrassed this sports community more than any recent event aside from the Sox fans' beating of KC coach Tom Gamboa.

GM Mike Smith let Amonte leave without even offering as much as ownership reportedly authorized, and then replaced with him with problem child Fleury.

The offense that largely ended the Hawks' season was Fleury violating his NHL probation by being bounced out of an Ohio club after getting thoroughly soused. We found this acquisition reprehensible from the moment we saw the rumor, and even if Fleury led us to postseason glory, he didn't belong in a Chicago uniform. Now the Hawks are floundering after missing a chance to reacquire Amonte, and we have less interest in following this team now than at any time in years.

Chicago Bulls

The Bulls finally started to show some promise this year. Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Jamal Crawford, and Jay Williams all are averaging between 9 and 10 PPG, although the team's seen intriguing success at home thanks to Jalen Rose's 22.1 PPG, along with Donyell Marshall's 13.5 PPG and Marcus Fizer's 11.7 PPG. Eddie Robinson's 5.6 PPG ranks as the biggest disappointment from a salary standpoint, however the inability of management to select a point guard has severely reduced this team's growth.

Three major questions face the Jerrys as this season closes.

First, do Curry and Chandler respectively belong at C and PF or PF and SF? We believe the latter alignment offers more upside, especially if we can luck into a top pick to grab C Darko Milicic. The intriguing mismatches offer wonderful opportunities for an inventive coaching staff, and then Jalen Rose and likely Jay Williams nicely slot in the backcourt.

Second, who will be the point guard? We can't wait another year for Crawford or Williams to assert themselves, so management must pick one and deal the other for a quality defender off the bench. Williams seems the likely preference, however Crawford also fits with this young team, and he holds a sizable advantage in assist-to-turnover ratio. Meanwhile Williams leads in nearly every other defensive category, and the Bulls have based much of their marketing campaign around Williams.

Third, will Jalen Rose be on the next Bulls' playoff team? If there's any doubt as to the answer on this question, we encourage the Bulls to package Rose with Crawford and perhaps the #1 pick for a top replacement shooting guard who's also a quality defender. We're not sure what obvious options would be available for this swap, but Curry and Chandler will need contract extensions in only another year or two, and Rose's contract could prevent the retention of the entire young core of players.

Unfortunately the major issue facing Chicago basketball fans over the next several weeks is a potential final playoff berth for Michael Jordan's Wizards, an unhappy turn of events given the Jerrys' horrible mismanagement of the dismantling of the dynasty.

Chicago Cubs

To write we have mixed feelings regarding the Cubs' off-season moves qualifies as a severe understatement.

We've never liked Dusty Baker due to his oft-reported preference for veterans, however our statistical analysis suggested he adds a few wins to teams he manages. Signing him also gives us a slight advantage in competition for free agents since so many players respect Baker.

GM Jim Hendry also made several good moves that included acquiring Damian Miller for practically nothing, as well as inexpensively adding quality back-ups like Ramon E. Martinez, Troy O'Leary, and Tom Goodwin. Even overpaying to add Mike Remlinger and Mark Guthrie doesn't bother us considering the team needed a quality lefty reliever.

We're ridiculously biased against the Todd Hundley trade, so we won't even repeat our complaints regarding how badly Cubs' management wrecked that signing in the first place.

The problem with the Cubs' offseason is that Jim Hendry failed to realize he possessed excellent pitching depth throughout the system, and then wasted around $5M on signing Dave Veres and Shawn Estes. They added Estes just to say they had a lefty in the rotation, ignoring the fact that Juan Cruz earned another look as a starter. Leaving Cruz in relief filled the pen, but then signing Veres left Joe Borowski, the Cubs' top reliever in 2002, in a bizarre competition for a job he unquestionably deserved. Adding NRIs like Rod Beck and Will Cunnane provided Baker with some options, however the presence of Veres seems totally unnecessary. Even the injury to Antonio Alfonseca, another overpaid Cub reliever, only alleviated the most egregiously silly competition, but quality AAA relievers like Jeff Verplancke didn't even receive a Spring Training invite. We see a bright future for a Cubs' staff built around Wood, Prior, Zambrano, Cruz, and Kyle Farnsworth, however we expect some difficulties this year.

I should also note that while we believe Hendry misallocated resources by signing Veres and Estes, at least he didn't sign someone like Pat Hengten. Veres is an effective reliever and even Estes might see some success. We just don't believe their services were required.

Chicago could field the best pitching in the majors this year, but they're not making the playoffs due to a weak offense. The Cubs have five outfielders at least capable of platoon starting jobs, as well as roughly eight infielders who merit consideration to start. By the end of the season, we should see an infield of Hee Choi, Bobby Hill, Alex S. Gonzalez, and Dave Kelton, while Mark Bellhorn and Ramon E. Martinez should return in 2004 as superb back-ups. We also expect the Cubs' outfield of Moises Alou, Corey Patterson, and Sammy to remain in place for the next couple of years. The downside is that we only can expect Sammy to produce fantastic numbers, and while league-average performances at the other positions will keep this team above .500, management needs to let Choi, Hill, Kelton, and Patterson mature into possible superstars.

Unfortunately catching remains a black hole in the system as Damian Miller and new back-up Paul Bako only are short-term fixes. Combining the salaries of Veres and Estes with Miller would have allowed us to grab IRod, but after this winter's events, now we're focusing on the future. Every team desires a switch-hitting catcher with power potential and excellent defense, and fortunately, the Indians possess two such players.

We don't envision both Josh Bard and Victor Martinez remaining on Cleveland for more than another season or so since both players will merit starting jobs. Chicago can package a starting prospect with a couple of young flamethrowers like Francis Beltran for probably Bard, and the Cubs also can take back a contract like Ricky Gutierrez and/or Bob Wickman that the Indians would like to dump. We don't believe Chicago has any business as a major player in next year's free agent market since I don't see either a specific player we should acquire or a position that we obviously should improve, so hopefully we'll insure Sammy remains a Cub as more youngsters like Kelton matriculate onto the roster.

Our Cubs should win 82-87 games this year and make a solid showing in the Central while hopefully keeping most of the pitchers healthy. Only Estes, Veres, and maybe Eric Karros look like solid potential salary dumps at the trade deadline, but the Cubs certainly possess the prospects to complete a deal with Cleveland to secure the necessary finishing piece to a likely playoff-caliber roster in 2004.

Chicago White Sox

The only Chicago team likely to reach the playoffs this year, the White Sox play in a division with only one other team likely to even approach .500, and while the Twins clearly possess more depth than the Sox(and every other team in baseball), the Sox's superstars lap Minnesota's best players. Probable trades of Carlos Beltran and Mike Sweeney will leave Magglio Ordonez as a practically unparalleled offensive force in the division, and Carlos Lee, Paul Konerko, and Frank Thomas also could finish as more productive players than anyone else in the AL Central. With Chicago likely owning the two top starting pitchers in the division, only a rash of injuries seem likely to derail the Sox from their playoff run.

Kenny Williams finally secured a true ace to pair with Mark Buehrle, and the signings of Esteban Loaiza, Tom Gordon, Brian Daubach, Armando Rios, and Sandy Alomar, Jr. provided needed depth.

The flipside of Williams' smart moves is that he dumped the best closer in baseball, a capable back-up catcher, and a top relief prospect for the overrated Billy Koch and two AA prospects Oakland didn't want. Also, the addition of Rick White blocked superior youngsters like Matt Ginter and Edwin Almonte, and while adding some depth was a good idea, paying anything more than the minimum for mediocre relievers reeks of rash stupidity.

However, the White Sox's pitching effectiveness will not determine their playoff chances. Chicago needs their offense to rival Boston's and New York's in order to win the division. Fortunately they'll receive excellent production from the majority of their starters, D'Angelo Jimenez finally looks ready to fulfill his promise, while Joe Borchard and Miguel Olivo should supplant Aaron Rowand and Sandy Alomar by midseason. Chicago's made more good moves than bad ones since last season ended, and unless Kenny Williams repeats past errors instead of trusting his assembled roster, we should see October baseball in town for the first time since 2000.

Of course, any playoff games will occur at U.S. Cellular Field, another disgraceful situation that certainly seems influenced by Mayor Daley.

Until Steve Goodman can rest in peace, these are your Good Chicago Sports.