Keeping Thibodeau is Best Move Bulls Can Make

Keeping Thibodeau is Best Move Bulls Can Make

While the Chicago Bulls are currently in a three-way fight for the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, another possibility exists of them slipping out of home court advantage entirely for the first round if they’re not careful.  Falling back into fifth place or even further would be a blemish on the effort that Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau has made this year. Of course, he could make a miracle run and it still might not affect his tenuous situation for next year and beyond.

Stoking Controversy

That’s because since mid-January, Thibodeau’s been the subject of speculation concerning his job status that’s come primarily from national outlets. Comments that players have tuned him out because his intense style has worn on them are mixed in with a supposedly shaky relationship with the front office.  Then again, the fact that the Bulls are even in the conversation about postseason home court advantage is an indication that Thibodeau has performed above and beyond what’s been expected.  When it comes to Bulls’ management, the complaint has usually been focused toward the minutes his players rack up during the course of the season. That’s certainly a change of pace from two years ago, when team general manager Gar Forman endorsed the philosophy.

Injury Woes

No doubt the attitude adjustment stems from injuries sustained. The current injury to Joakim Noah is the latest headache to surface, since Jimmy Butler is also out with elbow issues and won'r return for a few more weeks.  The elephant in the room is the Derrick Rose situation. With him, the Bulls have a chance to challenge for the conference title. However, the ever-present knee trouble has put him out until at least the middle of next month.

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Grey Flannel to Offer 1964 Corked Mickey Mantle Bat in June Auction

Grey Flannel to Offer 1964 Corked Mickey Mantle Bat in June Auction

No!!! Say it isn't so Mickey!  First we find out that the famed Honus Wagner T-206 card was trimmed by Mastro....now Mickey used Corked bats?  Maybe only in practice?

Bulls Greats

RIP Chicago Bulls greats, "Stormin' Norman" Norm Van Lier and Johnny "Red" Kerr.
Both, longtime affiliates with the Bulls both passed away yesterday. Norm was often seen on the Bulls pre-post game shows, giving critiques and commentary about the games. He was very knowledgeable, and was known for not pulling any punches and telling it like it was. Red Kerr was a longtime announcer, and one-time coach of the Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan used to play with him before the game, tossing his chalk powder into the air right before tipoff, just in front of Red Kerr...trying to throw him off his game, which rarely happened. It was good to see Kerr get the recognition from the Bulls for his longtime dedication to the team just a few weeks ago, giving Jordan, Pippen and crew the time to talk to Kerr once again.

Steroids - baseball

It has become tiresome to keep hearing of all of baseball's stars admit, or not admit, to steroid use. Gone are the days of the fun game, playing with heart. Today, the game is riddled with manufactured results. It makes it hard to spend hard earned money watching a bunch of cheaters destroy the game we love. I miss those HBO specials..."When it was a Game" kinda says it all.

Go Illini

Illini have been playing up and down ever since they cracked the top 25 in the NCAA.
Big Ten Road games are always tough, but they skunked it at Wisconsin last week. However, they played bigtime ball yesterday at home vs Perdue. It is nice to see the Illini come back after having a couple of down years since they lost in the title game in 2005. The win gave Illinois head coach Bruce Weber his 250th career victory (250-106). The team decided to take their names off the jerseys this year, focusing on the name on the front, the TEAM concept. Looks like it is working. Outside of Champaign, most are not familiar with the teams big named players - Demitri McCamey and Mike Davis.

Congrats Steelers

Congratulations go out to the Pittsburgh Steelers. 6 time world champions in the NFL.
It was a great game. I was rooting for the Cardinals. They looked flat the first half, but turned it on and almost took the lead at halftime. Man, couldn't tackle on that TD interception return! They played well in the 2nd half, drawing the holding call in the endzone resulting in a safety. Nice run after catch by Larry Fitzgerald looking to seal the game for the Cardinals by scoring late in the game. Then, Steelers marched down to win the game. Did the Cardinals have only 9 guys on Defense? They couldn't stop the Steelers when it counted the most. Hats off to Santonio Holmes...spectacular catch and toes down to score the winning TD. Truly spectacular.

My beef with the Cards...why didn't Warner toss the fade to Fitzgerald at the half, instead of trying to hit Boldin on the quick slant? Fitzgerald grabbed the TD in the 2nd half, one just like it at halftime would have won the game for them.

Speaking of halftime...Bruce put on a great show, sounded great...cracked me up when he yelled "Back away from the guacamole. Put the Chicken Fingers down!" then later, sliding into the camera, crotch first into America's HD tv's.....classic. Great song choices, great 12 minutes.

Bears Notes....Boldin to Bears? that would be sweet.

NFL Draft

ESPN's Mel Kiper likes Tyson Jackson, DE from LSU at the 18th Pick for the Chicago Bears. DO you think we need a Defensive end?

I think we need a WR. Brandon Lloyd (go Illini) Marty Booker, Rashied Davis and Devin Hester just can't cut it. They are all, at best #2's, but more likely #3s on a good team. Whaddya think?
http://chicago-sportschat.blogspot.com

Wrigley in January

Followup from New Years.
Much better perspective than I would have paid for in the stands.
and it was for charity so that was cool too.
Great news. I didn't fall!

Blackhawks v Red Wings

Great presentation, not so great outcome. The Chicago Blackhawks have shown some drastic improvement this year. The team is playing well. The Red Wings just got the right bounces of the puck today. The weather wasn't a factor in the game like it was in the Buffalo - Pittsburgh game was last year. There was some wind, but it didn't seem to come into play. The snow held off, as did the sunshine, which some of the players were complaining about last year. It was nice to see the Cubs play host, bringing our Ryno, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins and crew to meet Hull, Mikita, Esposito for this event. Chicago celebs like Vince Vaughn were there too.
It was an interesting rendition of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' too.
I liked how they put up a banner around the ice rink that looked like the Wrigley Bricks. Pretty Cool. The throwback jerseys were nice, sure to be a top seller, at least in Chicago...Detroit's were pretty weak with the fancy English D.
The ice seemed to get beaten up faster than in the indoor rinks though, with snow/shavings piling up by the end of the periods. The camera views were a little off too, slightly too far away for my taste. Otherwise this was a great game.

Peavy deal, dead

Just turned out to be too expensive for the Cubs.
While that caliber of pitcher would have made the Cubs rotation that much deeper, the Padres wanted to much youth in return. Talks of Pie, Marquis, Derosa abound, plus who knows how many minor leaguers too.
Also, with the Trib in BK, as well as about to be sold, Hendry couldn't pull the string on that huge contract.
Who will we get now? Randy Johnson? that's a rental at best, as he's ancient, and will draw a decent salary based on his prior stats. If they do, that would help the Cubs, since he has been dominant against them.

The Sale of the Cubs is mixed up in the Blagojevich mess

We have all heard that the governor has been arrested for various corruption charges.
Now it comes to show that the Feds claim that he has been auctioning off Obama's Senate seat while at the same time he tried to use the Cubs sale as leverage in getting positive press in the op-ed pages of the Chicago Tribune. The federal complaint alleges Blagojevich was seeking to use the Illinois Finance Authority, an Illinois state agency that provides financing for real estate deals, and grants of other state funds to persuade the Current owner of the Cubs, the Tribune Company,who actually just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, to end its editorial campaign for Blagojevich's impeachment. There are tapes of Rod & Co. trying to run the editor out of town in exchange for the funding. Bribes. Bribes. Bribes. Corruption, Corruption, Corruption. Welcome to Chicago.

Tribune files for Bankruptcy

Here is a switch, I'll be mentioning bankruptcy in my sports blog.


Tribune Co.has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware.

They have said in a news release, that the Chicago Cubs, including Wrigley Field, were not included in the bankruptcy filing. Efforts to sell the Chicago Cubs will continue, the company said.

Sorry Ronny

Ron Santo did not get elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame today. The Veterans committee voted. Santo only received 39 of the 48 votes needed for election.
The committee votes every two years. The other big names, Joe Torre, Gil Hodges, Dick Allen, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Al Oliver, Vada Pinson, Luis Tiant and Maury Wills also fell short.

Bears v Vikings

Can the Bears get over the hurdle?
They are sitting tied for 1st place in the NFC North with the Vikings.
But, we get to travel this weekend to Minn to play them up in the Dome.
Chicago's ground game opened up last week with Matt Forte, but can our D stop their running back threat with Adrian Peterson? This week will come down to Defense....lets hope the Bears keep up their sacks like they did 5 times vs STL.

offseason Cubs banter

ok. First off, I want to wish a warm thanks and farewell to the Chicago cub with the longest tenure, Kerry Wood. He had a brilliant start, hampered by injuries. He esurected the career after Tommy John surgery to become a pretty good closer! Now, the cubs have basically said no more, knowing he wants a long deal which they cannot afford. Goodbye Kid K, seems like just yesterday that you mowed down 20 Astros in May 1998.

Signings: Dempster- good move, but expensive.
Kevin Gregg - good talent on the cheap, to replace Kerry Wood. Will take some time to win over fans.

Prospects: Jake Peavy? Would be awesome to strengthen the pitching staff.
Imagine - Big Z, Peavy, Dempster, Ted Lilly, Rich Harden....that would be impressive. Improves the bullpen too by pushing Marquis to the pen.
Randy Johnson? would be a fix, 1-2 years tops. He's been amazing vs Cubs, but he's in his mid 40's....but he can still bring the heat. Not sure what the price will be...

Also talks are in trading Lee- expensive contract though. Hoffpauir looks like the real deal though in the minors lining up behind him.

Other talk is Furcal, always Brian Roberts, Renteria....

Hot Stove, heating up!

Congrats Philly

Good Job Phillies
You played a hell of a game.
Really wish it was my Cubbies out there though.
Did you see Ryan Howard tackle Brad Lidge? Lidge had fear in his eyes with that $5 footlong Howard coming right for him

Rain Rain Go Away...

Who was a little disappointed in the rain delay last nite?

It was the first time a world series game was ever delayed.
I have these issues with it....
1. Why didn't they try to wait it out? It was a travel day, now, if it rains all day, and they don't get the innings in today...then the whole schedule is pushed back, Tampa gets to go home to their beds, and Philly has to go to a hotel with short timing if they play on Tues, then again on Wed.
2. Starting pitchers...favors Tampa, as Cole Hamels won't be able to go back out there (he could, but not wise decision since he's 1st up when the game resumes)
3. Philly's argument is why was it called in the bottom of the 6th, and not the top of the 6th? They claim the run was scored by Tampa because of the bad conditions.
4. Home Crowd...now, this would be interesting, people get to go back for just 3 innings? I guess the stadium and MLB win here as they will get all new beer sales!
What do you think? let me know.

Shouldn't the Bears be 5-0?

Hey all you Bears fans....aren't you a little disappointed? We really should be 5-0 right now, but we gave up a couple weak, late scores against Carolina and Tampa Bay.
Also, it is not entirely the defense's fault. Several late drives, we needed to just get 1 more 1st down to run out the clock.....Partial blame goes to Orton for some bad audibles/execution, and some to Ron Turner for play calling. Couple of first downs and we'd be 4-0. And don't get me started on Peanut Tillman's roughness penalty in OT inside the 10 yard line!

0-1

Well, that was a letdown. The Cubs stormed to a 2-0 lead, then Dempster fell apart. Walked 7 batters in 4 1/2 innings, including the pitcher, then gave up a granny to give away the lead for good. Cubs scraped out a few more hits, Manny golfed a HR too.
Let's see what Big Z can do tonight.