Dustin Beutin

Though other sportswriters in Chicago might still be unpacking their carpetbags, Dustin Beutin is a born and bred Chi-town sportswriter. Heading into the heart of the Big Ten (Purdue) broadened his sports views, and it was during the Jauron era that he lost the innocence of blind love for Chicago sports and began looking for an outlet to vent his frustration. A trip out west to USC for a Master’s in writing was only tolerable with high doses of ESPN and Dodgers games, though it gave him a respect for the national perspective. Now in the early stages of a sports-writing career, Dustin hopes to give back to the city of Chicago everything it gave him: opinions and heartburn.

Recent Posts By Dustin Beutin

Watch Downhill Speed

Caution signs abound on streets throughout America. The best placed of them are far ahead of danger, positioned so as to give warning at a time when the driver can process and react. The art of sign placement is tricky: just ask anyone that does it for a living. Place the sign too soon and the driver may relax just [read more...]

Lovie's John Hancock

In western culture, a signature may be the most important pillar of civilization. It has the power to start wars and to end them; to negotiate business and assure payment; and at its most basic, it is a means by which we attach our own "sacred honor" to anything from petitions to birth certificates. That old phrase, "sign your John Hancock" [read more...]

The Great Quarterback Quagmire

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? What came first, the chicken or the egg? How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? What does Lovie Smith's choice of Kyle Orton to start the first game of pre-season – with Rex to start [read more...]

Finding Spare Change

Is there anyone else at Halas Hall that needs be paid? Rumor is that the janitor will be holding out for a new deal that includes a $2 million dollar signing bonus and free window cleaner. With the signing of Devin Hester to a deal that pays him wide receiver money before proving he can be a wide receiver, Jerry Angelo [read more...]

Summer of Lovie

Discontent is a winter-time problem. At least it was in Shakespeare's time when he penned (or quilled, rather) "Richard III." Though, it should be noted that Shakespeare never had to drive the Edens on a Friday afternoon in February through a rush-hour blizzard, so what the hell did he know about discontent? Bears fans can attest that the pangs of contentment [read more...]

Paranoid in Chicago

"It's not paranoia if everyone is really out to get you." - Woody Allen Someone at the league office owes the Bears a fruit basket. Something nice, with a couple of those "Cutie" tangerines that are so much better than the bruised naval oranges you often receive. Heck, even a leftover Hillshire [read more...]

Super Bowl XLII: We'll Never Hug a Snake

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? In scientific theory, yes; philosophically, no. But, don't get started on the whole "chicken or the egg" thing. That requires a discussion of evolution and genetics that could generate rioting hordes with pitchforks. In Boston, Portland and Concord this morning, fans [read more...]

Giant Deer in Headlights

If you've ever driven through Wisconsin late at night, you know all too well to watch out for the single greatest danger to drivers on twisting, turning, single-lane roads. No, it's not drunken Cheeseheads bombed out of their sausage-lined skulls on Jaegermeister and Leinenkugel - though that is a real danger. Rather, it is the innocent deer that wanders into [read more...]

Somewhere, Bill Belichick is licking his fingers

Somewhere in a bunker-like war room in New England, Bill Belichick is licking his fingers. And it's not because he ate a great bowl of clam chowder.In what is regularly billed as the best weekend of NFL football every year, there certainly was little disappointment. Little disappointment, that is, if you're from Massachusetts or anywhere north. With Dallas and Indy [read more...]

NFL in Brief

It's hard to think of a Wild Card weekend in recent years that passed with such predictability. At times, it seemed that the most unexpected twists and turns could be found on MSNBC, where the Republican and Democratic primaries have turned into the political equivalent of a jump-ball. Tuesday's New Hampshire primary may just turn out to be more exciting [read more...]