Packers' message clear: Please leave

August 6, 2008

And so one of the more bizarre stories in American sports history came to its illogical conclusion Tuesday, with the Packers all but showing Brett Favre the door.

Recent columns

• Rick Morrissey: Boxing beats the heck out of MMA

  August 4, 2008

  I get it that boxing is dying. Or at least I get it that boxing is perceived to be dying. We're all in the process of dying. But that simple fact does not take away from the truth that each of us has inherent value, even as we head toward certain death.

• Boxing beats the heck out of MMA

  August 4, 2008

  I get it that boxing is dying. Or at least I get it that boxing is perceived to be dying. We're all in the process of dying. But that simple fact does not take away from the truth that each of us has inherent value, even as we head toward certain death.

• Melting away not in White Sox's makeup

  August 3, 2008

  KANSAS CITY, Mo.—This, friends, is baseball weather.

• Don't sweat it, White Sox comfy in heat

  August 3, 2008

  This, friends, is baseball weather.

• Questions on 'D' may have legs

  August 3, 2008

  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ken Williams spotted Ken Griffey Jr. in the White Sox's dugout and smiled.

• Ken Griffey will have to field more than questions

  August 2, 2008

  KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ken Williams spotted Ken Griffey Jr. in the White Sox's dugout and smiled.

• Griffey will have to field more than questions

  August 2, 2008

  Ken Williams spotted Ken Griffey Jr. in the White Sox's dugout and smiled.

• Nice try, but injuries no Cubs excuse

  July 25, 2008

  If you had a nickel for every time Lou Piniella talked about the Cubs' injuries this season, you would have enough money to cure finger blisters, if not cancer.

• Rick Morrissey's In the Wake of the News column on the Cubs

  July 25, 2008

  If you had a nickel for every time Lou Piniella talked about the Cubs' injuries this season, you would have enough money to cure finger blisters, if not cancer.

• Moral of the story: Urlacher worth it

  July 23, 2008

  Apparently, Brian Urlacher wasn't as deluded as a lot of people thought.

• Moral of the story: Urlacher worth it

  July 23, 2008

  Apparently, Brian Urlacher wasn't as deluded as a lot of people thought.

• Rick Morrissey: If Cubs run the table, holy cash cow

  July 21, 2008

  As those of you who watch "Chicago Tribune Live" might know, host David Kaplan and I have often debated one of his pet theories: The Cubs' worth would decrease if they won another World Series.

• If Cubs run the table, holy cash cow

  July 21, 2008

  As those of you who watch "Chicago Tribune Live" might know, host David Kaplan and I have often debated one of his pet theories: The Cubs' worth would decrease if they won another World Series.

• This column is about the Cubs, Favre and Notre Dame!

  July 20, 2008

  This column is about the Cubs!

• Web hits lower paper's average

  July 20, 2008

  This column is about the Cubs!

• Special Olympics mark 40th anniversary

  July 18, 2008

  What gave 23-year-old Anne McGlone the big idea that she could change the world?

• Special Olympics mark 40th anniversary

  July 18, 2008

  What gave 23-year-old Anne McGlone the big idea that she could change the world?

• No shame in leveling even this playing field

  July 16, 2008

  NEW YORK—The American League had home-cathedral advantage Tuesday night.

• No shame in leveling even this playing field

  July 16, 2008

  The American League had home-cathedral advantage Tuesday night.

• Sox's Joe Crede is no A-Rod ... thank goodness

  July 15, 2008

  NEW YORK — Sitting at a table amid a gob of reporters and cameramen, Alex Rodriguez was talking about his life, which might or might not include Madonna, who, by the way, might be using Jewish mysticism to brainwash A-Rod into thinking the two are "soulmates," according to friends of Rodriguez's estranged wife, as reported by the New York Daily News, which keeps track of these things.

• Crede is no A-Rod ... thank goodness

  July 15, 2008

  Sitting at a table amid a gob of reporters and cameramen, Alex Rodriguez was talking about his life, which might or might not include Madonna, who, by the way, might be using Jewish mysticism to brainwash A-Rod into thinking the two are "soulmates," according to friends of Rodriguez's estranged wife, as reported by the New York Daily News, which keeps track of these things.

• Rick Morrissey column In the Wake of the News

  July 14, 2008

  It could be worse. You could be Ted Thompson. No matter how awful your life is — fallen arches, unruly children, two gas-guzzling Hummers in the garage — you could be Thompson, the goofy general manager who has decided that Brett Favre can be the Packers' backup quarterback in 2008. This is the football equivalent of deciding Elvis will give up singing to play the tambourine.

• Packers should call audible to avoid Hall of Shame

  July 14, 2008

  It could be worse. You could be Ted Thompson. No matter how awful your life is — fallen arches, unruly children, two gas-guzzling Hummers in the garage — you could be Thompson, the goofy general manager who has decided that Brett Favre can be the Packers' backup quarterback in 2008. This is the football equivalent of deciding Elvis will give up singing to play the tambourine.

• 2 Chicago postseason teams? Yes!

  July 13, 2008

  I'm told the Cubs and the White Sox were both in first place at the All-Star break in 1977, though I wouldn't know firsthand because I hadn't been born yet.

• Rick Morrissey In the Wake of the News column

  July 13, 2008

  I'm told the Cubs and the White Sox were both in first place at the All-Star break in 1977, though I wouldn't know firsthand because I hadn't been born yet.

• Rick Morrissey In the Wake of the News column

  July 13, 2008

  I'm told the Cubs and the White Sox were both in first place at the All-Star break in 1977, though I wouldn't know firsthand because I hadn't been born yet.

• Rick Morrissey In the Wake of the News column

  July 13, 2008

  I'm told the Cubs and the White Sox were both in first place at the All-Star break in 1977, though I wouldn't know firsthand because I hadn't been born yet.

• Sadly, Dara Torres feats raise questions

  July 11, 2008

  Dara Torres is going to get angry.

• Plenty of ifs with Rich Harden trade

  July 9, 2008

  Let's call this what it is: a consolation prize.

• Ozzie Guillen really does answer his e-mail

  July 7, 2008

  Ozzie Guillen talks a lot about the e-mails fans send him. You couldn't get through any of the recent Cubs-White Sox games without hearing him talking about the electronic abuse he receives.

• Guillen really does answer his e-mail

  July 7, 2008

  Ozzie Guillen talks a lot about the e-mails fans send him. You couldn't get through any of the recent Cubs- White Sox games without hearing him talking about the electronic abuse he receives.

• Ozzie Guillen really does answer his e-mail

  July 7, 2008

  Ozzie Guillen talks a lot about the e-mails fans send him. You couldn't get through any of the recent Cubs-White Sox games without hearing him talking about the electronic abuse he receives.

• Cubs should keep Alfonso Soriano out of All-Star Game

  July 6, 2008

  ST. LOUIS—Alfonso Soriano watched the ball come off the pitcher's hand, then lifted his left foot before driving the pitch to center field.

• Soriano a Cubs star before an All-Star

  July 6, 2008

  Alfonso Soriano watched the ball come off the pitcher's hand, then lifted his left foot before driving the pitch to center field.

• Rick Morrissey column on Cubs

  July 5, 2008

  ST. LOUIS — There were at least two issues Friday night, one involving life, one involving limb.

• Zambrano throws with his usual flair

  July 5, 2008

  There were at least two issues Friday night, one involving life, one involving limb.

• Rick Morrissey column on Cubs

  July 5, 2008

  ST. LOUIS — There were at least two issues Friday night, one involving life, one involving limb.

• Brett Favre might be welcome in Chicago

  July 4, 2008

  Chicago-area residents have been forced to watch recent TV ads promoting Lambeau Field in Green Bay as a wonderful place to visit.

• Brett Favre might be welcome in Chicago

  July 4, 2008

  Chicago-area residents have been forced to watch recent TV ads promoting Lambeau Field in Green Bay as a wonderful place to visit.

• Cubs look like they need a break

  June 30, 2008

  Lou Piniella looked rejuvenated Sunday night.

• Cubs look like they need a break

  June 30, 2008

  Lou Piniella looked rejuvenated Sunday night.

• Labeling White Sox? Call 'em talented

  June 29, 2008

  The White Sox have been called tough and gritty and resilient and all the words that are code for "overachieving."

• White Sox are good and grumpy

  June 29, 2008

  The White Sox have been called tough and gritty and resilient and all the words that are code for "overachieving."

• White Sox are good and grumpy

  June 29, 2008

  The White Sox have been called tough and gritty and resilient and all the words that are code for "overachieving."

• RICK MORRISSEY: CUBS' RYAN DEMPSTER WILL BE FINE

  June 28, 2008

  I don't want to say Ryan Dempster was laboring in the third inning Friday, but two midwives called the Cubs' dugout to offer their services.

• Dempster bad outing the exception, not the rule

  June 28, 2008

  I don't want to say Ryan Dempster was laboring in the third inning Friday, but two midwives called the Cubs' dugout to offer their services.

• RICK MORRISSEY: CUBS' RYAN DEMPSTER WILL BE FINE

  June 28, 2008

  I don't want to say Ryan Dempster was laboring in the third inning Friday, but two midwives called the Cubs' dugout to offer their services.

• Bulls should draft Rose, but Beasley is fine

  June 25, 2008

  I went back to look at what I wrote when the Bulls stunningly won the right to the first pick in the NBA draft.

• Guillen doesn't like Wrigley any better now

  June 23, 2008

  It's safe. The White Sox are gone now.

• Cubs' Ramirez has 2 big reasons to celebrate

  June 21, 2008

  Aramis Ramirez paused at the plate and watched the baseball as it took a nonstop flight to the bushes beyond the center-field wall. That loving gaze probably broke all sorts of unwritten rules about showing up the other team.

• Cubs-White Sox will be borderline insanity

  June 20, 2008

  Whatever you want to call it—"The City Series" or "The Crosstown Showdown" or "The Hide the Womenfolk, It's the North Side-South Side Mixed Martial Arts Cage Match"— the Cubs- White Sox series always confuses me.

• Without Tiger Woods, tough times for PGA Tour

  June 19, 2008

  There almost certainly will be jokes questioning how anyone could suffer an injury in a sport as benign as golf. How dangerous, a wise guy will ask, can tightening a pair of Sansabelt slacks be?

• When it came to sports, he was a work of heart

  June 18, 2008

  Jeff Ponczak told friends he had watched the replay of Game 2 of the 2005 World Series, the game that ended on a walk-off home run by the White Sox's Scott Podsednik, 75 times.

• Plenty of warning signs for Stern, NBA

  June 15, 2008

  Karla Knafel filed a lawsuit in 2002 against Michael Jordan, her former lover, and it was filled with the kinds of juicy revelations that make news cycles dizzy.

• New Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro needs to be a magician

  June 11, 2008

  Maybe it was because the news conference took place inside the building the Blackhawks share with the Bulls, but Vinny Del Negro looked more like a hockey coach than a basketball coach Wednesday.

• It's up to Vinny Del Negro to raise Bulls from ashes

  June 10, 2008

  When you're in the market for an NBA coach, you look to Phoenix. Everybody knows that.

• A what-if World Series for the ages

  June 9, 2008

  Is it too early to start talking about a Cubs- White Sox World Series?

• Collins never right fit for Bulls

  June 8, 2008

  Now we know why the Bulls dragged their feet. They didn't trust Doug Collins.

• As usual, Guillen sounding off just a lot of wind

  June 4, 2008

  People who have been close to the business end of a tornado often describe it as sounding like a freight train.

• Grossman should have to earn QB job

  June 2, 2008

  Why don't I trust the Bears when they declare that the quarterback position will feature real, live competition in training camp?

• At Wrigley Field, focus finally on the game

  June 1, 2008

  A beautiful Saturday afternoon, and the only thing that matters at Wrigley Field is the action on the field.

• Pressure's on Paxson to be right about Collins

  May 30, 2008

  My first thought: What, Mike Fratello isn't available?

• Floored by dance revolution

  May 26, 2008

  I have never watched "Dancing With the Stars." If I were to die today, I would consider that among my major accomplishments, along with never having watched " American Idol."

• No secret to Quentin's early success

  May 23, 2008

  With each question, Carlos Quentin seemed to edge a little farther away from media members.

• It'd be foolish for Bulls to pass on Rose

  May 21, 2008

  There was a moment, a small moment, in the NCAA tournament this year that made the people who witnessed it literally gasp. A great, big ooooooohhhhh filled the stadium.

• Cubs fans riding emotional roller coaster

  May 19, 2008

  Here in Chicago, we tend to look at New Yorkers as an excitable bunch in regards to their sports teams, a tabloid people given to euphoric highs and angry, Grand Canyon lows. We're sort of embarrassed for them.

• Same old story, Prior is hurt again

  May 18, 2008

  The restaurant booth I happened to be sitting in Friday night had a framed series of photos from 2003 on the wall. The shutter had caught Mark Prior in various stages of pitching. Windup. Push-off. Follow through.

• Any early retirement has become suspect

  May 16, 2008

  This doesn't make me particularly proud, but the first thing I thought of when 25-year-old tennis star Justine Henin announced her retirement Wednesday was "failed drug test."

• Don't despair, D'Antoni no savior

  May 12, 2008

  Pardon me while I wipe away a tear. Thank you.

• NFL officially has finger on pulse of idiocy

  August 4, 2006

  It's the football equivalent of the frivolous lawsuit.

• Real corker: Facts being obscured

  June 6, 2003

  Three days after Sammy Sosa was uncorked and otherwise decanted, civic amnesia is setting in. What he did wasn't all that bad and Sammy's such a nice guy and look at how he waived his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

• Sammy's act a lot harder to buy now

  June 4, 2003

  In the slow-motion replays, tiny shards of Sammy Sosa's reputation hang briefly in the air before dropping to the ground. The jagged handle of his broken bat bounces near home plate, the rest of it sprays toward shortstop.

• Lack of depth means death to any hopes

  December 22, 2002

  The doctor asked him how many fingers he was holding up, and Chris Chandler answered: "That's not important right now. What's important is that it's not easy being Joan of Arc, especially when you're being followed as closely as I am by government operatives."