COLUMN: Some you win, some you don't

   When trying to pick a subject to write about Monday morning of this week, I came to the conclusion, my subject matters are not very broad.

   In fact, it is usually the big three, Cubs, Packers and Hawkeyes.

   Just to quickly change it up for a brief moment: I am not falling for the Prime-Time hype. I could care less about Colorado football and Coach Sanders. It’s good to see them lose two in a row.

   Okay, let’s get back to what I am interested in, a Cubs team that came up short and crashed the last couple weeks of the season, a Packer team that may need to make a change on the defensive side of things and a Hawkeye football team that is getting by just by a whisker.

   Cubs: I am not happy with how their season ended. They were in control of their playoff fate. Coming into September they were sitting in the second wild card spot and 2.5 games out of first place, behind the Brewers.

   Instead of continuing to play the way they had for the second half of the season, they went 13-16, missing the third wild card spot by one game. Letting the Braves take three games last week killed them, in two of those games they were leading late.

   My advice, if asked and I wasn’t, would have been, let your starters pitch into the later innings. Instead, Manager David Ross kept going to a bullpen that just couldn’t get an out when it mattered most.

   The good portion of this article: we are complaining about the Cubs and playoff baseball this late in the season. Never in a million years would I have thought this year’s team could be competitive, yet. Soon, but not this year.

   There could be hope for the future.

   Packers: I am not thrilled with this defense that is supposed to be their strong suit. Maybe the hype about their defensive coordinator is just that, hype. Fire him! They can’t run the ball either. I am a Jordan Love fan though; I think he will be a good one.

   Hawkeyes: Here is a team that is currently in a love/hate relationship with their fans. Or maybe the Ferentz family. All I know is they’re 4-1 and that is what matters.

   I’ve been on record saying I don’t care how they win. But, and this is a big but, I starting to think maybe a bit differently when it comes to Coach F and his son Brian. Football has changed and evolved and what was successful a few years ago may need some major tweaking.

   The injury bug is not helping the offense out at all and line play has to rank right up there as another reason they come in dead last this week in offense at 130^th. I’m still a Hawkeye fan no matter what, you won’t catch me booing or yelling fire Brian, a pretty classless example of fans attending Saturday’s game.

   I’m going to pull for my Hawks and be happy when they win, no matter how they get their points! There you go, another column about my teams. I guess I could have mentioned the Ryder Cup this week too.