One of the hazards of getting fat and lazy and not keeping up with my blogging:

I had a prediction all cooked up which has come to pass, and now I don't get to take credit for it. Damn!

Anyway, I SWEAR TO GOD that, while watching the Blackhawks/Nashville game the other night—the Hawks' home opener; a game they wound up losing in a shootout—I had a premonition that the team was going to can coach Denis Savard and that in the next few days, Chicago sports fans would all be treated to the sight of John McDonough's sad moon face in front of the cameras and microphones, as he talked about how integral a part of the organization Savard was/is and, you know, "This is just a move we had to make at this time, as much as it pains me."

NOW IT HAS HAPPENED! At least, the firing part has happened. Moonface's press conference will be at 4:30 Thursday afternoon.

I want to be in line for some predictive credit, so listen for the following during McDonough's announcement:

• References to Denis Savard's "loyalty" and "work ethic"
• "slow start"
• "players have been underperforming"
• "a change was necessary"
• "one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in sports" (firing Savvy, that is)

By the way, Savard's replacement, former St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville, has a lifetime record of 438-283-118 in 11 NHL seasons, including a 44-31-7 mark last year with Colorado. He was fired this past May over "a difference in hockey philosophy" with Avs GM Francois Giguere, according to the Denver Post. Finally, Quenneville, who was arrested last month on suspicion of DUI, has never won a Stanley Cup, which automatically makes him a perfect fit for the Blackhawks.

And no, I'm not writing this much about hockey because I can't bring myself to think about the Cubs.

— Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I found no fewer than eight positives in the concluding game of the Cubs' mostly miserable 2-4 road trip.

— According to the Sun-Times, Tribune Company has pared the field of potential purchasers of the team and the ballpark down to five, with all of those parties having bid at least $1 billion. Mark Cuban is among the five; John Canning, Milwaukee businessman and friend of Bud Selig, is apparently not.

— In light of Kerry Wood's ongoing blister problem, the S-T's Gordon Wittenmyer became the first reporter covering the team to utter those two words, one of which is virtually impossible to spell correctly: Jeff Samardzija.

The blister on [Wood's] right index finger hasn't come close to healing the way the club expected by now, and Wood could be facing another trip to the disabled list after seeing a specialist in Chicago [Thursday]. That might open the way for hard-throwing prospect Jeff Samardzija to make his major-league debut.

Since his recent promotion from Double-A ball, Samardzija has started six games for the I-Cubs, going 4-1, 3.13, fanning 40 and walking 16 in 37 1/3 innings. This past Monday, the former Notre Dame football star held Nashville to 2 hits and 1 run over 6 innings while striking out 9.

— I'll be out of town next week, when manager Ryne Sandberg leads his Class-A Midwest League Peoria Cubs into battle against the Kane County Cougars in the special "Road to Wrigley" game right there at Clark & Addison, but it sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. The Cubs have decided to open the upper deck for the contest, with some of the seats going for as little as $5. All in all, a brilliant promotional idea. Hard to believe the Cubs could have come up with such a thing in the absence of former marketing genius-in-residence John McDonough, now President of the Blackhawks, speaking of which...

— Having lived my entire life in the Chicago area, I am at peace with the idea that the weather here will be completely inhospitable to human life from November 1st through April 30th every year, without exception. However, this year on December 31st, I'm really, really, really going to pray that the high temperature on New Year's Day, 2009 hits about 85 degrees.

Tim Sassone reports in Wednesday's Daily Herald that the Blackhawks have asked the NHL for permission to play an outdoor game next season...at Wrigley Field.

Sassone's sources confirm that the Hawks and Cubs have discussed such a game. Blackhawks President and Visionary-In-Residence John McDonough was not prepared to offer the same confirmation, though you can expect to hear him on every sports talk show in the known media universe in the next few days not confirming the story.

To help get locals used to the idea, the Cubs will be charging select fans this season an NHL-like $300 to watch Major League Baseball.

This is a wonderful blog. I happened upon it about a year ago and thought it was great, though I haven't been back since that first time (no reason in particular).

Anyway, I felt sick to my stomach when it was pointed out to me how similar the title of my nascent series of Cub profiles was to "Cardboard Gods." The similarity was purely unintentional, but I'm going to change the title of my series out of respect for Josh Wilker, who got there first and, as I said, does a fabulous job.

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I have a post up at The Cub Reporter regarding Andre Dawson's Hall of Fame candidacy, Lloyd McClendon's inability to hit in the clutch and John McDonough's general lack of imagination, with a Brady Bunch reference to boot.

My writing schedule may be spotty over the next week. If this is indeed my last post of 2007, I would like to wish everyone who reads A Hundred Next Years--the tens and tens of you--a Happy New Year.

Friday's edition of the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Company newspaper, carried coverage of Tribco's acquisition by Sam Zell and his plans for the Cubs ("Zell says Cubs are No. 1--to be sold off"). Relative to Zell's declaration that the Cubs would have a new owner by Opening Day 2008, the article says:

Zell's timetable appears highly optimistic, because the bidding has not begun and major league owners must investigate and approve a potential buyer. Even one of Tribune's sale advisors, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sale, said the deal would be more likely to close when the season ended next fall than when it starts in April.

In the meantime, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig wants to examine the Cubs' management under Tribune's new ownership. Cubs President John McDonough left the team last month.

The Cubs' new management and pending sale are on the agenda for the Jan. 16 owners meeting in Arizona, Major League Baseball President Bob DuPuy said.

"The commissioner will review the situation," DuPuy said.

The Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908 and have not even appeared in the Fall Classic since 1945.

You know what the most hurtful part of that passage is? One little word: "even," as in, "have not even appeared..."

You're cold, L.A. Times. Ice cold.

Regarding the Commissioner's decision to "review the situation" surrounding the Cubs' new management and pending sale, I believe that's Bob DuPuy code for "have a good, long laugh with all of the owners at Mark Cuban's thinking he has a prayer of being approved as the next purchaser of the Chicago Cubs."

I used them all up emailing my friends earlier today. However, I just wrote something at The Cub Reporter about the outgoing team president.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to work up as much bile regarding Crane Kenney. I guess it will just have to be a goal for 2008.

Not knowing anything more about Crane Kenney than what I read here, I'm willing to say that the upshot of today's developments with the Cubs is that we no longer have the least qualified Team President in Major League Baseball.

More later.