Tate: Of Cubs, Cards and capable UI coaches

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My thoughts on another cloudy day:

– If the penny-pinching St. Louis Cardinals somehow manage to challenge the Cubs this season, it will be a triumph of farm system over free-agent acquisition and trades. With Brendan Ryan starting at shortstop Friday at Wrigley Field, every Redbird position player including Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and a quintet of outfielders (incorporating Skip Schumaker for these purposes) made it to the parent club the old-fashioned way. Some like Joe Thurston didn't rise through the Cardinal system, but you get the point.

By contrast, the nucleus of the Cubs' 100-year power drive – Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Kosuke Fukudome, Milton Bradley – were established stars before the Cubs acquired them.

OK, Fukudome came from Japan, but the Cubs didn't pay $48 million for a foreigner without knowing what you're getting. He did, after all, bat .351 with 31 homers and 104 RBI in 2006.

– On the subject of money, just when Ron Guenther was determined to hold the line on UI salaries, he gave co-defensive coordinator Dan Disch a bump for turning down South Florida, and the athletic director is now obliged to reward assistant basketball coach Jerrance Howard for his loyalty in declining an offer from Memphis.

Howard's recruiting efforts have been widely circulated while Disch reportedly is making strong inroads in the Jacksonville (Fla.) and Chicago sectors at a time when the UI may be losing ground in D.C. and Ohio due, in part, to the departure of other Ron Zook assistants.

– Retiring Yoshi Hayasaki will never forget his final day of coaching for the UI gymnastics team. Two sensational sophomores, Paul Ruggeri (parallel bars and high bar) and Daniel Ribeiro (pommel horse), stole the national spotlight by capturing three of the six individual championships. THREE OF SIX! It makes a fellow wonder why the Illini team didn't finish higher than fifth but, then, the team battle was on a different day with many other factors involved.

Has the UI ever lost three more popular coaches in one year than Hayasaki, Mark Johnson and Don Hardin? And each is leaving his successor in a position to field an even stronger team next season. That doesn't happen very often. Johnson was the only surprise. And we are left to wonder whether Guenther had an interest in Iowa State's former Olympic champion Cael Sanderson, who shocked Cyclone country when he left for what he described as a "modest raise" to take over the mat program at Penn State.

– Decatur's Lewis Jackson should have been warned that the outskirts of Monticello is no place to speed. Town scuttlebutt has it that a favorite watering hole, once owned by Dick Butkus' linebacker coach Lou Baker at Illinois, went out of business when town gendarmes took notice that patrons were leaving there in cars when they had no business driving.

Caught speeding and facing four counts involving alcohol and marijuana, the Purdue guard had the good sense to plead guilty Monday, and is now one of numerous athletes across the nation in a zero tolerance situation heading into the next school year. High on that list is the UI's outstanding defensive tackle, Josh Brent, who has been attending practice in street clothes while awaiting a late-April hearing.

– Changes don't guarantee improvement, but Dan Hartleb may need to shake up the Illini pitching rotation if they're to stay in touch with Ohio State and Indiana in the conference baseball race. After rookies filled in beautifully for ailing Phil Haig and Ben Reeser in the opening Big Ten sweep of Michigan State (wins by 10-3, 3-2 and 3-0), the Illini have permitted 95 runs in 13 games, an average of 7.3 per game.

Just when it's turning warm, three of the last four weekend series are on the road.

– Deron Williams used his magical sleight-of-hand to dish out 17 assists Sunday and the Utah Jazz scored 100 points, but that's not nearly enough to slow a Los Angeles Laker team that seemingly scores at will. The Lakers shot 55.5 percent from the field and tallied 113 points. To get an idea of Utah's longshot status, consider that coach Phil Jackson's teams in Chicago and L.A. are 41-for-41 in playoff series after winning the first game. And Utah's No. 2 scorer, 6-foot-11 Mehmet Okur, has been ailing and missed the opener. Coach Jerry Sloan must feel hexed because the Jazz season has been set back by injuries, and he was grieved by the deaths of good friend Red Kerr and Jazz owner Larry Miller.

– Mike Small's UI golfers have handled a string of Big Ten foes in winning a record six consecutive meets, but Penn State sent up a red flag in coming within a shot of Illinois at Purdue last weekend. The Nittany Lions have the advantage of hosting the conference meet May 1-3, and course familiarity is worth a lot of shots. Crack sophomores Scott Langley and Chris DeForest and the rest of Small's crew will have to be at their best to prevail at State College.

– The arrival of quarterback Jay Cutler from Denver increases the pressure on Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner. And even if the Bears land a receiver in the second round of Saturday's draft, Turner will be asked to upgrade the offense without a genuine go-to pass catcher and with an offensive line that is dependent on a veteran at left tackle, Orlando Pace, who was set loose by the St. Louis Rams.

From the Bears' standpoint, Cutler is an excellent catch. From Cutler's standpoint, what was he thinking? Does he really believe he can put up the same numbers in Chicago that he did in Denver?

– Despite all the lineup juggling that has been taking place, Brad Dancer's Illini should breeze into the semifinals of the Big Ten tennis tournament at Michigan. And at that juncture, they won't have to face Bruce Berque's Wolverines, who upended the Illini last weekend but are lodged in the opposite bracket. Regardless of who reaches the finals, No. 2-ranked Ohio State will be as much of an odds-on favorite as Illinois was a few years ago.

– Is my addition correct? You're telling me that Derrick Rose is 20 years old and would be a sophomore in college. Well, that's not a bad cradle for the Bulls to rob.

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate<@>news-gazette.com.

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