Let us start with a hearty congrats to the brother who is constantly excelling as if to say "see- I can do it too". Peyton Manning's career is a tough act to follow, but the younger Eli is making his own name as a two time Super Bowl champ. With clock management that was as bad as the Bears-and strangely reminiscent-the Giants overcame wasted timeouts and 2 plays on the game winning drive that gave New England a fighting chance to win themselves. The same kind of Hail Mary that burned the Bears in 2011, fell just out of the reach of the Patriots on the final play. Eli's picture perfect pass to Mario Manningham for 38 yards was beautiful and gigantic. Not only did Manningham get both feet in bounds, but took a big hit and kept possession after going out of bounds. The Giants were now operating from midfield-needing only about 20 yards for a decent field goal try to win. With the pressure reduced and time to burn, the Giants could run the ball some and truly mix up their plays. Overall, the Giants offensive line was a big key-protecting Eli for the most part-and carving out nice yardage on the ground to keep the offense 2 dimensional. Can the Bears learn from what the Giants did? Maybe-get another 1 or 2 quality receivers and let Cutler call some plays. Oh yeah. And a pass rusher besides Peppers who consistently puts on pressure. Then get hot in the playoffs. Sound good?

The Bulls are 20-6 as I write this. They are on a pace to win 50 out of 66. They have had a series of injuries and come out of it amazingly well. This is a testament to the depth on the roster. Coach Tibs has done a great job of mixing and matching with people out. Even rookie Jimmy Butler has been a late game contributor. I would like to see a little more scoring out of Noah. He's sort of hit a wall in progress-but there is another level for him. The Bulls have an edge over other teams in an area that Kyle Korver brought to my attention-coachability. Players listen and bust their ass to do what the coach wants. With the possible exception of Carlos Boozer. He can look great on the fadeaway, but slow footed on defense. Some big coach needs to work him in a special way. Good luck.

What is up with the 2012 White Sox? They are not dead yet. Not much buzz on the South Side this winter. New Manager Robin Ventura is the Anti-Ozzie-but he should be. The bluster had worn off and the kids'tweets were sickening. Fixing Dunn, Rios and Beckham are the key to a good year. 2 of the 3 need to play. The other semi-worry spot is closer. The Sox brass semms to tink that Addison Reed will win it in spring training. I hope they are right. Sometimes the lack of hype can be a relaxer-wait and see.....

I just wanted to offer condolences to the family of and everybody who appreciated Don Cornelius and Soul Train. Sweet soul music got great play with Don-starting on Channel 26- and going national. The animated train in the open and the Sound of Philadelphia doing the theme for awhile was one of my memories. "let's get it on-it's time to get down........" For some reason this makes me think of the classic "Smiling Faces Sometime"-pretend to be your friend-can you dig it-smilin'faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within......

One more thing-Zach Benkowski hosts The Beer Spelling Bee Monday Feb.6 at 8 pm.ACE BAR-1505 W. Fullerton Support this fun event and there should be more.........Win prizes...........