Between now and the evening kickoff Nov. 22 against the Eagles, can the Park District petition to close Soldier Field after dark so the game can be played at noon? We can call it the Cutler Decree.

He is worse at night than a solar watch.

This was mentioned last night during the game or in the aftermath. So I checked his career split stats for day/night QB rating:

09: 80.8/59.9
08: 83.0/103.3
07: 81.9/105.3
06: 93.2/62.3
Career: 83.2/90.5

The problem, clearly, is not that he's bad at night, but that he's bad at night in years divisible by three.

Worth a read: the S-T's Brad Biggs does a fair pick-by-pick analysis of Cutler's very bad night.

Update: Rick Morrissey, in an otherwise reasonable article:

If somebody can explain why he plays poorly in night games, the Bears would love to hear from you. From his four-interception game in Green Bay to his two-interception struggles in Atlanta to Thursday's head scratcher, the guy seems to have an aversion to the darkness. I say this because he has taken to wearing a garland of garlic around his neck.

CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION. I AM GETTING THAT TATTOOED TO MY FOREHEAD.

1. Bears net yards rushing = 43. Bears penalty yards = 75.

2. Cutler threw fifty-two times in a 10-6 game.

3. Football Outsiders, part of the Baseball Prospectus family of stat geeks, has compelling offensive line statistics that suggest the Bears' O-line is below average - whereas Denver's, where Kyle Orton is having a better season than Cutler, is well above average. From my limited observation, it seems like Chicago's left side is particularly weak.

4. If you look at the Football Outsiders stats above, you'll find that Chicago is next-to-last in the NFL in carries (Denver is 10th), which puts a ton of pressure on Cutler. The team with the least carries is Philadelphia; they're much more efficient when they do run. According to the FO stats, Matt Forte is the lowest-ranked definite #1 starting back in the NFL.

So there's a lot broken about this team. Cutler isn't playing well most of the time, obviously, but the other problems make the Bears heavily reliant on him even when he's not playing well.

I realize that the departure of Sammy Sosa was acrimonious, but: YOU MUST CHILL. I HAVE HIDDEN YOUR KEYS.

And while I also realize that Sosa may have looked somewhat odd at a recent social function, and that journalism is expected to, for better or worse, enforce certain social norms by discouraging famous people from violating a (floating) limit of oddness - as a proxy for the behavior of the rest of society - but this continued judgmental obsession with the behavior of a former and formerly beloved employee of the Chicago Cubs is: also extremely unsettling.

You are collectively being the person who is Googling his or her ex years later to see if he or she is doing worse than you, and you need to collectively go to a bar or get a hobby because you are collectively bumming your friends out.

"I happen to believe that pro sports are a bottom-line business. If Limbaugh wanted to buy the company you worked for, you'd be hard-pressed to stop him. The NFL might be more high-profile than most industries, but the same basic rules should apply. You might not like Limbaugh — does anyone like Limbaugh? — but that's not the point. A lot of people don't like Vick, either, but he's back in the league."

Here's the kicker:

"Limbaugh might be a joke, but there's no NFL rule forbidding clowns from owning a team."

Argh. Not exactly true: "Prospective owners must be approved by 24 of the league's 32 teams." This does not prohibit clowns from being team owners, naturally. But it does cause problems for people who say things like "the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons."

Anyone who's followed the No Fun League should be fully aware that it's a rich, powerful media company that's obsessive to a fault about public relations, so the idea that a bottom-line business would be wary of Rush is neither surprising, unnatural, or bad for the bottom line.

• "The Athlete"

When barefoot Ethiopian runner Adebe Bikila won the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics, he became the first black African Olympic gold medal winner in history. A car crash during a 1969 student protest in Addis Ababa left Bikila quadriplegic, but he continued competing in archery and dog sledding after his injury.

Filmmaker Rasselas Lakew, who came to the US from Ethiopia on a tennis scholarship, plays Bikila in the biopic The Athlete. The film, which Lakew codirected with Davey Frankel, screens Tuesday 10/13 and Saturday 10/17 in the 45th Chicago International Film Festival.

And just because:

"That was President Obama at the White House talking in the end there about the unemployment figures. The unemployment again rate shooting up to 9.8%, short of the 10% that some had feared. But the numbers were worse than expected. But the big news, of course, is that over the last 18 or so hours president Obama has been on this journey to Copenhagen and back. He lobbied hard along with the first lady Michelle Obama, for the Olympics ...."

"Why don’t we see the decision instead an affirmation of Lula, an embrace of Brazil, an endorsement of Rio de Janeiro? Because Obama’s critics and fans alike insist on making it about him and us, and they do this even when they are complaining that Obama inserts himself into everything. The problem here is as much our national self-absorption and continental provincialism as it is Obama’s politicking: most people criticizing Obama for this trip could not imagine losing out to the Brazilians, and it is even more unthinkable when the President involves himself."

Aside from the obvious - i.e. for the same reason that Cubs fans don't see the 2009 season as an affirmation of the St. Louis Cardinals (seriously, people, Chris Carpenter!) - it's a point well taken.

Or, you know, there's America's Newsroom, the Drudge Report: WORLD REJECTS OBAMA: CHICAGO OUT IN FIRST ROUND. THE EGO HAS LANDED.

Update: Another theory: "it was made clear to us that Chicago was going to have some difficulty in gaining the selection for a number of reasons including that we have had a large percentage of games hosted here, but most importantly, that we do not have the best international reputation at this time, and it [sic] well known that it is a frustrating and difficult process compared to the other host countries for travelers to gain admittance into the US."

Having seen our music writers, Peter Margasak in particular (note his introduction to this year's World Music Festival guide), detail the problems international acts have had just getting entrance to play US gigs... seems logical. If true, though, it's a shame - maybe 2016 would have moderated and streamlined the process.

* NYT: Chicago - it's the TV revenues, stupid.

* Just heard on WGN: Phil Hersh quotes David Wallechinsky as saying without the Obamas, Chicago had nothing. WGN host: have you ever heard Daley speak?

* Bookies: Chicago. I thought this was interesting: "To prevent bribery, IOC members aren’t allowed to visit the bidding cities — so they’ll be deciding instead based on what they’ve read in committee reports. Some will go with their gut instincts, their emotions and personal interests."

* Please, please let's not ask psychics. That's like the oldest shtick ever.

* ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski comes out against the Chicago Olympics. In the embedded video, I think Phil Hersh gets it right: opposition to the Chicago Olympics is more about frustration with Mayor Daley, and a lack of trust, than it is about just not wanting the Olympics. He also points out that Obama going isn't that dereliction of duty, since no one would gripe if he went to Camp David (or, ahem, Crawford for like a month). Which is a reasonable point.

* ESPN's Jim Caple comes out against the IOC dog-and-pony show and suggests a fixed location.

Scott Smith and John Fromstein's love letter to Madison and examination of Wisconsin's most mischievous mustelid returns to Landmark's Century Centre on Tuesday 9/1.

As detailed in my May feature story, Being Bucky takes viewers inside the UW PR machine and explores what it means for the seven young men who don the badger mask.

• Photo by Zol87

The Chicago Triathalon kicks off at 6am tomorrow morning; registration is closed, but if you want to cheer the finishers, the course ends on Columbus south of Balbo. If it inspires you to get on a bike, there are two free tours on Sunday.

And as a Cardinals fan and taxpayer, I can't help but feel a little schadenfreude at the idea that Sam Zell set $150m on fire - or about 18% of the final price - with his stupid, failed plan to put us on the hook for part of the deal. And this, from Joravsky's piece, makes it all the more entertaining:

"Though much is taken, much abides. . . ; that which we are, we are;"

Numbers I came up with because I was curious and thought you might be too:

"Brett Favre" plus "legacy" — Google hits: 132,000
"Brett Favre" plus "legacy" plus "tarnished" — Google hits: 59,900

How fortunate was Ulysses to be merely a warrior and not a quarterback, nor Tennyson a sports reporter reminding him that the smart play would be to rest on his laurels.