ZONER: THE WEDNESDAY EDITION

This is what it will be called during holiday season when there are no "Monday Morsels". On to the Edition...

--Jeff Reardon's story seems a bit too calculated for me. If he flipped on his meds, did he become strikingly sober as soon as he realized he was caught? As someone who knows about these meds--though not quite as informed as Tom Cruise--psychotic episodes due to the anti-depressants are few and far between. And if it was, then how did he snap out of it so quickly?

But he doesn't need money according to reports. And he did suffer through the death of his child. There is obviously something very wrong with him and he needs help. Let's hope he gets it. Mental Health is woefully underfunded in this country. We used to have mental institutions. Now the jails house those people, where they are not given the care sufficient to their need. And I'm not talking about "I'm depressed because I have a Saturn and want a Jeep" type stuff. I'm talking about real, debilitating depression and other mental illness.

You can learn more and even donate if the spirit moves at NAMI.org, The National Alliance on Mental Illness.

--Hard to see the Bears not advancing to the NFC title game. They've already beat Simms in their house, no way he wins at Soldier. Eli has been way funky lately, essentially a rook, no way he wins in first playoff game on road. Redskins beat us but that was 1st game of the year and it was at Washington. Carolina can't hang.

It's quite possible the Bears will be in the Super Bowl. And that's just crazy. Seattle may be the NFC representative because they are so potent and have home field, but I am still not a true believer in Hasselbeck, although he does now have the experience.

The Bears have given up 66 less points than the closest team, Indy. That is insane. So basically they are 11 TD's better than the 2nd best D in the NFL. Just nuts. They have only one bad loss all year--Cleveland and that was a road loss. What a season.

As far as Grossman goes, his numbers were not the greatest but more big plays and the holes for Jones were much bigger and that has to correlate directly to being able to throw downfield. This could be huge.

--How dumb are the Knicks? I read on Hoops Addict that they were considering trading Penny, whose contract is expiring for Jalen Rose, who has one more year at $16.9 million. With Penny's expiring deal I would think they could find a better player to spend 16 million on. And they already have an assortment of 2's and 3's. They really have no clue what they are doing. And if I'm wrong someone please explain it to me. Even the great Larry Brown can't make chicken salad out of...these guys.