Brian Q Johnson

Bohannon on Sims, Lee, part II

Greetings

I said I’d post the rest of the Brian Bohannon Q&A Wednesday and I never did, for which I apologize. It ended up being a little busier than expected. Hopefully you saw some of the stuff that went in the paper online, including coach Paul Johnson ’s latest public appraisal of Vad Lee and a story on B-back David Sims . Also, this is not football-related, but former Tech tennis player Irina Falconi won the biggest match of her career Wednesday at the U.S. Open. Monday, she became the first women’s player from Tech to ever win a singles match in a grand slam tournament.

Anyway, onto the Q&A, a continuation from Tuesday .

Q: Is David working harder than he has in the past?

A: I don’t know if he’s working harder. I just think he saw a window of opportunity and he’s really jumped on it. David’s one of the smartest football players in that (meeting) room. If you were to ask any of those guys in that room to ask who would know the answer to a question that any of the coaches put up, he would be one of the guys that everyone would point to. He’s a pretty smart football player.

Two cents: Not sure I have anything to add. But it’s an interesting observation.

Q: Do you mean on the whole team?

A: I mean the quarterbacks and B-backs are always together, so they hear all that, but David knows what’s going on. He’s a smart football player. Obviously, being a quarterback has helped him a little bit with that. But yeah, he’s done a good job. We’ll see.

Two cents: This goes back to the first question, I guess, but the image of someone going into the quarterbacks and B-backs meeting room, looking at a question on a white board and asking, “O.K., who knows the answer to this?” and then everyone looking at Sims is kind of amusing.

A Salvage Job ... Q's Cubs Scratch Out a Win - Cubs 6 Pirates 3 ...

WP - Randy Wells (7-4) LP - Charlie Morton (9-9) Save - Sean Marshall (4)

The Cubs ended their three-game losing streak behind a decent outing from Randy Wells ... and contributions from the entire lineup . The Cubs salvaged the finale of the three game series and finished the season series against the Bucs with an 8-8 mark.

Sunday was a typical September game between two teams playing out the schedule. It was long, mistake filled and featured two pitching staffs that gave up a combined nine runs on 20 hits with 11 walks, two wild pitches, a balk and 12 strikeouts.

Randy Wells picked up his fifth straight win (last loss on July 28) after struggling early and escaping a bases loaded jam in the second inning. Wells labored through the first two innings and by the end of the third he had already thrown 65 pitches (38 for strikes). Wells ended up going six and allowing just one run on seven hits with a pair of walks and two strikeouts . Wells threw 114 pitches, 67 for strikes.

The Pirates other two runs came against Jeff Samardzija in the eighth. After Darwin Barney dropped a pop up by Derrek Lee , Neil Walker hit a blast over the wall in center.

James Russell and Sean Marshall did their jobs on Sunday ... and Marshall ended up picking up his fourth save filling in for Carlos Marmol .

The Cubs offense showed a lot of patience on Sunday afternoon. Q's offense walked a season-high nine times and pounded out 10 hits .

Four different Cubs drove in runs and three of the Cubs six runs scored on unusual plays ... a throwing error, an infield single with the runner (Koyie Hill) scoring from second and a ground out to the pitcher.

I'm still standing, from captive U.S. soldier to free citizen-- my journey home

Nemesis, The Last Days of the American Republic

Samuel Johnson

Harold and the purple crayon

Where Good Ideas Come From, The Natural History of Innovation