Saturday, January 29, 2011

A Requiem for a Season- The 2010 Chicago Bears

It took me a decent amount of time to get over the loss last Sunday. Obviously the circumstances around the loss were not the easiest for Bears fans to swallow, but I've had time to reflect on the season, and I've come to a realization that should have been blatantly obvious: The Bears vastly overachieved this year.

Back at the beginning of the year, I had them down for 8-8, expecting them to beat the bad teams and lose to the good teams. It just seemed like the holes on the offensive line and in the secondary would be too easy for decent teams to exploit, and I was expecting Cutler to continue to be inconsistent.

After the debacle in week 1 against the Lions, I adjusted my projections down to 5-11. The team that needed a loophole to beat a Shaun Hill quarterbacked Lions team was not only going to have a hard time beating good teams, but even halfway decent ones, like the Redskins and Seahawks.

Then the Bears started getting lucky. They picked the right week to play a few teams, and somehow managed to keep themselves healthy all year. In a year with a record amount of players on injured reserve (352), the Bears somehow managed to have their most significant injury be to Nick Roach. Last time before this the Bears were that injury free? 2006. Before that? 2001. Sensing a trend?

The Bears don't need to apologize for being lucky, though, and managed to make some adjustments to beat some good teams. The linebacking core played as well as ever, the front four, while they disappeared on occasion, still managed to come up with some big games (Philly springs to mind) and Matt Forte started to run through tackles again. Most importantly, though, Cutler seemed to mature a little as the season went on, and after the Redskins game he finally stopped forcing throws where they didn't belong.

Which brings me to the elephant in the room. What to do with a franchise quarterback like Cutler? I'm mostly willing to give him a pass for the injury. In hindsight it seems like he actually couldn't go, and the best thing for him to do was to sit down and let someone else try. If I was to adjust the blame game from last week, I'd take about 10% off Cutler and give it to the offensive line.

What I can't get past is how intimidated he looked before the injury. So many overthrown and underthrown balls. Cutler looked like someone who didn't want any part of that game before anything happened to his knee, which brings me to the inconvenient conclusion: Cutler is not going to win you a Super Bowl. There are some quarterbacks you can tell just don't have it in them. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think Cutler has it in him. You have to want to go out there and compete right from the start, which I can't say he ever did.

Maybe the Bears will realize their offensive line is one of the worst in the league and fix it, and Cutler can look good again next year. But I lost a little faith last Sunday. Correction: I lost a lot of faith last Sunday, and not all of it has returned a week later. I'd love to see the Bears bring in a Vince Young or Donavon McNabb in the offseason, someone to push Cutler for his job, and maybe be there to come in and not just throw the ball straight to defensive linemen if Cutler can't get it done in big game.

Anyway, I'm proud of how the Bears played this year, and hope they can plug a few holes (cornerback, left tackle, right tackle, left guard) and keep the momentum going for next year.

And please sign a decent backup quarterback, Angelo.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Bulls-Magic Open Thread

Wasn't going to do a post for this game, but Keith Bogans is on fire. I may have other thoughts on the game as well.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Chitown-Sports Pick Challenge Super Bowl Update

Sorry this took so long. It's taken a little time to recover. Here are the point totals:

Will 9 (3 for the Steelers making the Super Bowl. As he picked them to lose, he can't get more than 3, but he pretty much seals the win, as no one else picked either team.)
Neal 5
Asher 5 (for the record, Asher got his picks of the Bears and Steelers in by phone prior to the games)
Julia 4
Katz 4
Tristan 3
GDubbs 3
Sam 3
Graham 3
BJ 2
Louis 1

So Will is the inaugural chitown-sports pick champion. If you still want to make your picks for posterity, feel free to below.

Steelers over Packers

Partially out of spite, and partially because the Steelers defense is just as solid as the Bears D is, so I expect much of the Super Bowl to look like the 2nd half of the NFC championship game, except Ben Roethlisberger is significantly better than Caleb Hanie.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Blame Game- Bears/Packers

I wasn't going to do a blame game post after this one, for a few different reasons. One, we've done surprisingly little with the Bears all year, and it kinda seems unfair for one of the first posts dedicated to them be ripping them apart for their performance in a game they were supposed to be nowhere near this year. And at halftime it looked like we were just going to be destroyed by the better team, and there really wouldn't be anything to do except tip your hats to the Packers and root like hell for the AFC in two weeks. However, considering how the Packers tried like hell to give the game to the Bears, and they didn't take it for a few glaringly obvious, stupid, bitch-ass reasons.

Lovie Smith (and Mike Martz)- 45%

Sam would like me to mention deferring the ball until the second half, which allowed a red hot QB to come out and give the Packers all the momentum, but I say it was the right call at the time, the D has set the tone for the Bears all year, and we didn't know they'd come out that badly. Here are the decisions I would like to place square at Lovie's feet.

1. Not attempting the 49 yard field goal in the first half and electing to punt. This gained the Bears a whopping 11 yards which the Packers gained back on the first play. Robbie can make a 49 yard field goal, and it would have been really nice if the Bears had been going for the win instead of the tie on that last drive.

2. Playing Todd Collins over Caleb Hanie in the first place. We saw the Todd Collins show against the Panthers. He sucks. He didn't come close to making a good throw on the two series he was in, and on one of those (just after Urlacher's interception) he had excellent field position and momentum. Maybe if Hanie is in on either of those drives we have another TD.

3. The timeout. What a stupid timeout. I don't care if the play clock is winding down, in a close game in the last two minutes, DO NOT CALL TIMEOUT WHEN THE CLOCK IS ALREADY STOPPED. Not to mention the play call after the timeout, which is probably Martz's fault, but still, this was just dumb.

Jay Cutler- 35%

Now I was at the game, so I don't know what was said on TV, but when Cutler didn't come out for that first drive, there was a lot of confusion about what happened, since no one saw any sort of play that would have resulted in an injury. A fan around us with a radio (who we'll get to in a minute) relayed Joniak's info that it was a knee injury, but we were skeptical. When I got back to a computer, I saw this article of NFL players questioning Cutler's toughness. It's one thing for fans that don't know what it's really like to play football, but these are people that DO know, and they are calling Cutler out. Maybe the Rick Reilly article was right, Cutler just is kind of a crappy human being with no heart. I'm going to need more convincing that Cutler didn't punk out in the 2nd half of this game.

Also, he sucked in the first half before he was hurt, too.

Tim Jennings- 10%

Hard to fault the defense for much with the way they came out in the 2nd half, but until the Bears started to get some pressure on Rodgers, he pretty much had his way with Jennings. And in the 2nd half Jennings had to kind of resort to holding people to compensate, which he got away with a few times. Either way, we need an upgrade at this position.

O-Line- 5%

This wasn't their worst performance, but it wasn't their best either, and they had some costly missed blocks at some bad moments (Jamarcus Webb and Chris Williams being the main offenders.) Hopefully Jerry Angelo recognizes this a problem for once and does something about it this offseason.

Brad Maynard- 2%

Brad is usually solid, but that 24 yard punt in the 4th quarter really screwed up our field position at the end there. Sorry, Brad, the nature of being a punter is fuck up once and everyone remembers it.

Lance Briggs- 2%

Again, tough to kill a defender after the 2nd half, but his overeagerness to make a big play in the 1st half led to some big James Starks runs. Maybe if he stays at home it's only 7-0 at halftime.

The fans in front of us-1%

They left before the 4th and 1, that Taylor converted, to beat traffic. This is completely unacceptable, and bad karma.

Absolved-

Caleb Hanie- But let's not go nuts, the throws Hanie did convert were wobbly and inaccurate. He showed a lot of poise, yes, but he held on to the ball too long and had a lot of trouble with his reads (like on the pick-6). He's not an NFL caliber starter. He's just better than Todd fucking Collins is.

Charles Tillman- MVP today. I think they converted two passes on Tillman, and he pretty much had whoever he was covering locked down the whole 2nd half.

Brian Urlacher- Obviously, came up with some huge plays. Got beat a few times on crossing routes, and Starks broke his ankles on one play, but overall Urlacher was solid.

Matt Forte/Chester Taylor- Wish they would have realized while Cutler was still in the game to give it to their best weapons, instead of trying to force the ball downfield to Devin every time.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Some Weekend Notes for All the Other Chicago Teams

Blackhawks: Wanted to do a Credit post for the Hawks-Wings game today, but I didn't get to see the first half of it so it'd be a little inaccurate. The main points would have been:
1. Crawford is absolutely on fire right now, that game could have easily been a much higher scoring affair had Corey not been shutting the door left and right.
2. It's nice to see the 3rd and 4th lines contributing close to what they were last year. We still don't have the depth on offense like last year, but I like that when we're firing on all cylinders like today we can compete with anyone in the NHL. More effort like that, please, so we can move up into the top 4 in the Western Conference.

The Hawks are 2nd in the conference behind Vancouver in goal differential, which implies they've been a little unlucky so far this year, and the law of averages should work in our favor soon. (Hockey, like baseball and basketball, has shown that goal differential is a better indicator of future success than current W-L record.)

Bulls: I don't always agree with Bill Simmons, but I wanted to highlight this portion of his chat column from yesterday because I'm with him 100% on this one:

Bowgren (Chicago)


Why won't Denver just make a deal with Chicago? Melo would sign there, they could get Gibson, Korver, and that Charlotte futures pick. Is that not a good deal at this point?
Bill Simmons
(2:17 PM)


This is heresy... but I don't know if that's a great deal for Chicago. The Rose/Melo alpha dog dynamic worries me and Deng has been quietly having a huge year for them (he's playing like 40 MPG), he doesn't need the ball and he's one of their best defenders. I also wouldn't give up Gibson. And that Charlotte pick could be a really good one. I like the Bulls' nucleus, I think there are easier ways for them to add a big chess piece without blowing it up for Carmelo.

Bill Simmons
(2:18 PM)


If I'm Chicago, I am not thinking about any move right now that betrays their identity: Which is that it's Derrick Rose's team. Every move they make should be to make his supporting cast better. They don't need Carmelo, as weird as that sounds.


Agree completely, and also why I don't want a JR Smith/OJ Mayo trade this season. I think all the Bulls really need to go from one of the best teams in the East to the same level as the Heat and Celtics is health and time playing together. We'll get there. The Bulls might need to lose to one of those teams in the playoffs this year (hopefully in the Eastern Conference Finals at least), but if I was a neutral fan and could have any NBA roster with the chance to win for the next 5 years, I'd pick either the Bulls or the Thunder. Be patient and let it come together. That said, I still reserve the right to nitpick TT's rotations for the rest of the season.

Cubs: I would love to know what the idea behind what the Cubs are doing right now. Are they rebuilding and looking toward the future, or playing to win now? It seems like they want it both ways, giving up prospects for Matt Garza then turning around and trading Gorzellany. Either stock up on prospects and aim for 2014-15, when the Phillies don't look quite so invincible, or go into the season with a halfway decent rotation and see if you can make a playoff run and hope to get lucky (a la the Giants), but I guess the Cubs would rather come in 3rd in the NL Central for the next 3 years...

Fire: I couldn't help but notice, looking at the draft results, that 5 of the first 8 picks in the draft were from the University of Akron. Now there's a lot I don't know about soccer, but this seems really fishy to me. It could be that someone's playing a big practical joke, since half the top 10 picks look like made up names to me, anyway. Perry Kitchen? Zac MacMath? CJ Sapong? Come on now. The Fire drafted someone named Jalil Anibaba from University of North Carolina. Um...Good.

Friday, January 21, 2011

On the Price of Fandom

As I'm sure most of you reading this know, I get to go to a lot of Bears games thanks to my inlaws. It is, in fact, widely joked around the Babbitt household that the Bears tickets were a driving force in my decision to propose to her (and I want to reassure my lovely wife that the tickets were no higher than #3 on a list of reasons why I married her.)

This week when people have found out I'm going to the game I'm met with one of two reactions. Either the person is incredibly jealous, or they say "do you know how much you can get for the tickets???"

Now since these tickets are not in fact mine to sell, the question is purely hypothetical, but it does make you think. What's the price on a chance to see an amazing sports moment? I've never been in attendance at a Chicago championship, but I've been to some pretty good ones. The leader in the clubhouse right now has to be the Bulls' game 6 victory over the Celtics in the playoffs two years ago, highlighted by this play here:



Sam, Will, Altay and I were watching that play from almost the last row of the upper deck behind the basket at the other end of the court, and I can say definitively that the moment was 100 times better in person, and worth well over the $50 we each paid for the tickets. But where does the line stop?

Earlier this week reports were suggesting tickets could go between $2,000-3,000. Now our seats are pretty darn close to being among the best in the house (30 yard line, north end zone, visitors side, 16th row) but when I looked on stubhub earlier this week, equivalent seats were going for 1,300, and checking back today they're down to $900. Still a large amount, I know, but it should still be a no-brainer for any true Bears fan not in dire financial straits.

But what if, in a world where these were my tickets, someone offered me $5,000 for them? $10,000? I don't know where mine falls, or if there even is one. The idea of selling them sickens me just because of the possibility of a "priceless" kind of moment, which you could never enjoy fully since in the back of your mind you'd always be kicking yourself for having the chance to be at the game and selling out.

Of course it works the other way, too. There's always the possibility the game would be a blowout and then it's basically like you're out the money you could have gotten for the tickets, which would be a huge blow as well. But the first idea scares me more than the second one.

I'm glad this decision is purely hypothetical for the time being. However, in the event that the Cubs (God-willing) make it to the World Series in my lifetime, and are in position to play a clinching game at home...

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Blame Game: Bulls v. Bobcats

As Tristan wasn't at home tonight, I thought I might give my take on the Bulls collapse tonight. I find it helpful when he breaks down a Bulls win or loss by who he thinks is responsible, although I think tonight's game involves a little less blame than some of the recent losses. Truly, Derrick played as well as we have come to expect of him, and I think I can say with relative confidence if he had a mere 1 or 2 additional seconds on the game clock on the last possession of the game, he might have brought home another win. You could see how much he wanted to hit that last shot, and I felt for him when he missed. Every single time I am rooting for Derrick so much to be his best, to hit the amazing shot or make the sick move, because I want the rest of the national media to recognize what we all know: he is the most valuable player on any team right now in the NBA. Period. He makes his teammates better, and when they don't step up, he puts the burden on his shoulders and delivers almost every time. Look at any other team and there isn't a single other player who contributes so greatly to the efficiency of his team and who also has that wow factor. Derrick is the whole package, and I don't think it's complete Chicago bias to think he should at least be in the discussion of MVP players. But I digress.


Though I know I am no replacement for my husband's keen ability to dissect a game, I think I've been with him enough years to have picked up a thing or two about how these things break down. So here goes…


Loul Deng, Keith Bogans and Kurt Thomas - 40%


Lou looked sloppy all night, turned over a couple nice passes from Derrick in the fourth quarter which were very costly, and he went 2-for-11 from the field. Bogans was unremarkable. He hit one nice open three but otherwise had very little impact. I still can't understand why Ronnie Brewer is not starting in his place. Kurt Thomas continues to be slow on help defense, and only put up 6 points with 2-4 on free throws. If you want to have a veteran on your team, he should at least be good at free throws right? Now I'm all for Bogans and Thomas getting some minutes later in the game, but neither of them should be starting. And tonight, I give the other starters (with Taj and Derrick being obvious exceptions) a huge part of this burden. The three of them combined for 19 points, and that is simply unacceptable from starters.


C.J. Watson - 10%


Yes he forced a turnover with 10 seconds left and had a big 3 to keep the Bulls in it, but when he came in to relieve Derrick in the second quarter he completely floundered. His defense is his best quality and he played hard, but he had some ugly turnovers and went a pretty meager 1-for-4 from the field. He also looked a little timid, a little hesitant to put it into a higher gear. I realize that stepping into Derrick's shoes, even for 10 minutes a game, is a huge task. You don't have to be as good as him, but you have to keep the floor under control, and tonight he just didn't have that point guard composure.


Fatigue - 15%


Without making excuses since the Bobcats should be beatable for us, but the Bulls have played 4 games in the last 5 days, including that game on Saturday against the Heat, of which Derrick played 42 minutes. They looked really tired the second half of the game, and I think the fact that it was a relatively low scoring game (82 points for the Bulls tonight, they're season average is 98.6) points to some of their exhaustion.


T.T. - 15%


Three weeks ago I never thought I would have said this, but T.T. actually overused Taj tonight. While this season he has tended to overuse Kurt Thomas and underuse Taj, tonight was all Taj all the time. And he played great; in 46:40, he had 9 rebounds, 6 blocks and 9 points. In other words, he was a beast. But at the tail end of a long stretch of games, why wouldn't he spread the minutes a little more amongst the bench players? Asik played 3 minutes, Thomas played 34 minutes. Is Thomas' play really that indispensable that T.T. isn't willing to give Asik, who did have 2 rebounds in his meager 3 minutes, a chance to show what he's worth? Especially against a team like the Bobcats. Yes, they have beat us twice now, but they are a beatable team and T.T. shouldn't be afraid to let his bench guys try to pick up the rest of the team a little bit and give them all a rest at the end of a long stretch of games. Plus, you know if he had brought in Scalabrine sometime in the fourth quarter, the Madhouse on Madison would have gotten appropriately rowdy.


To this conversation I just have to add, I don't know what James Johnson did to piss off T.T. but I'm pretty sure he either owes him a ton of money, slept with someone in the Thibedeau family or accidentally ran over T.T.'s puppy, because I just cannot understand not giving him any minutes ever. Seriously, what happened between you guys? Because last I checked James Johnson is, as Stacy would say, "a young buck," and I would think in Joakim's absence would be primetime to at least give him a little bit of time to at least earn his paycheck.


Turnovers and Rebounds - 18%


The Bulls had 13 turnovers and 9 team rebounds, while the Bobcats had only 7 turnovers and grabbed 15 team rebounds. Gerald Wallace had 16 personal rebounds and with the Bulls only shooting 39% from the field, those numbers simply won't cut it. However you slice it, the Bulls got out hustled by a team that wanted it more. Maybe Michael Jordan offers a bonus for every time his team bests the Bulls? Whether fatigued or not, this loss was ugly, especially because it was so close and still so winnable in spite of how poorly they played.


Ronnie Brewer - 2%


Ronnie had an amazing game tonight actually, with 12 points (did anyone else love his baseline dunk as much as I did?), 5 rebounds and 2 steals, but good God Ronnie, take that open layup! At the end of the game, you need to know what to do with the ball when it gets in your hands, and a kick out to Lou when he's been off and you're hot and RIGHT UNDER THE BASKET makes no sense. Everything else from Ronnie tonight was pure gold, but that one hurt.


On a final note, we must give major props to D. Rose and Taj Gibson for putting in such a great effort tonight. Both of them came to play, as they always do, and I hope that eventually T.T. will find a starting lineup that includes Gibson, Noah, Boozer, and Rose, maybe with Brewer thrown in for good measure (this will never happen because I know Lou won't lose that starting spot any time soon, but a girl can dream). I love watching Derrick play basketball, and even though he missed that last shot, he's the only one I want taking it at the end of a game, every game, every time.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Bulls- Grizzlies MLK Day Liveblog

If Stacey King Announced Blackhawks Games...



"Oh, don't do 'em like that Davey B.!!! DID YOU NOT GET THE MEMO?!?!? That boy can go downstairs!"

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Chitown-Sports NFL Pick Challenge Update 2

Well, my Super Bowl pick is shot, but that's obviously priority #8million right now. Bears! Packers! For the chance to go to the Super Bowl! And maybe play the Jets there! (But I'm getting ahead of myself.)

Current Standings, and next to it each person's Super Bowl pick (and potential remaining points. Everyone has 3 prp for the next three games, then it depends on your Super Bowl pick)

Will 5 Bears-Steelers (11 prp)
Julia 4 Patriots-Falcons (3 prp)
Asher 4 Pats-Bears (6 prp)
Katz 3 Bears-Colts (8 prp)
Neal 3 Patriots- Saints (3 prp)
Tristan 3 Patriots-Falcons (3 prp)
GDubbs 3 Patriots-Falcons (3 prp)
Sam 3 Colts-Bears (6 prp)
Graham 3 Patriots-Falcons (3 prp)
BJ 2 Patriots- Eagles (3 prp)
Louis 1 Patriots-Saints (3 prp, assuming he actually makes some picks this round)

Don't we all now wish we had more faith in the Bears? Good job, Will and Katz.

My Picks:

Bears over Packers

I mean, its not like I was going to be picking against the Bears anyway, but here are the reasons why I think the Bears stand a chance next Sunday (and not just because there's going to be some birthday magic coming my way.)
1. Cutler is looking good. He's been getting rid of the ball quickly, making good reads, pulling it down and running when the opportunity presents itself, and most importantly not forcing the ball into triple coverage. It looked like the one dumb pass this afternoon might have been Hester's fault, but other than that he couldn't have been better today.
2. The defense is working at 100%, and while our biggest defensive weakness (Tim Jennings) is exploitable, the Packers won't be running the ball anywhere and hopefully the Bears can afford to roll some coverage help his way.
3. The field conditions should work in the Bears favor. As long as Martz plays it smart and keeps the ball on the ground with Forte, the Bears should win field position battles all day (Hester will help with that as well.) Just don't try to make it a Cutler vs. Rodgers shootout, Martz. We can't win that.

Jets over Steelers

The story of the afternoon game will undoubtedly be "what happened to the Patriots," but give the Jets credit. They harassed Tom Brady all day, and he still has one of the best offensive lines in the league. The Steelers line? Not so much. Ben will be lucky to have any time at all. Of course, the reverse will be true as well, since the Steelers will get a lot more pressure on Sanchez than he faced today, but I think in a battle of defenses, I like the Jets a little more.

Remember to make your picks by the start of the Bears game Sunday (coughLouiscough)

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Credit Where Credit is Due- Bulls/Heat

I have my biases, I'll admit. But I like to think that when my favorite players have bad games and people I've been absolutely killing have good games, I can give them credit. Tonight, Kurt Thomas was better than Taj Gibson, Keith Bogans was worth the minutes he played, and maybe most impressively, TT saved timeouts for when he really needed them. Let's break it down:

Ronnie Brewer- 28%

It won't show up in the stat line, just 9 points and a +8, but when the Bulls needed someone to cool DWade off, Ronnie did the job perfectly. He made Wade give the ball up on the 2nd to last possession and altered Wade's shot on the last possession. I don't know if we win this game without Ronnie stepping up in the last minute.

Derrick Rose- 25%

Of course, it helped that Derrick was MVP Derrick in the 2nd half. There's no way Mario Chalmers or Carlos Arroyo should be even close to being able to guard Derrick, but he still gets credit for having 4 or 5 "wow" moments.

Kurt Thomas- 15%

Kurt is good at another thing that I haven't given him enough credit for: flopping. Seriously, Kurt gets at least 2 or 3 calls a game via just falling down or making a little noise off of any contact. He didn't get it every time he tried tonight, but sometimes it helps in little ways, to kill off momentum or get opposing bigs in foul trouble. Yes, Kurt was slow on some rotations again tonight, but he made up for it with his physical presence and surprisingly competent offense.

Keith Bogans- 15%

The stats say Bogans only played 11 minutes, which I think is wrong because he played at least the first 6 minutes of the game and I thought the first 8 minutes of the 3rd, which were the 2 best stretches of the game, which is why Bogans was +15. He played decent defense and knocked down a couple open 3s, and if he can continue to do that, then I don't have a problem with him playing 12-15 minutes a game.

CJ Watson- 10%

CJ was nothing special tonight, but he was solid on D, hit a couple 3s, didn't turn the ball over, and brought home a +5. Can't ask for much more than that.

TT- 5%

TT in the credit side? I love two things about tonight: TT saving timeouts for a close game at the end, and recognizing that Derrick needed to play the entire 2nd half in order to win, and altering his standard rotation. Thank you TT, you will undoubtedly be killed here in the future, but tonight I'm proud of you.

Kyle Korver- 2%

Just for the clutch 3. He was 0-3 from beyond the arc before that and a part of that brutal end of the 2nd where they went from up 13 to down 5, which is why he was -13 at the end of the night. But nice shot, Korver.

No Credit-
Luol Deng- Just when I was ready to fully trust Lu again, he pulled this stinkbomb. 5-14 with 3 turnovers, awful defense, and I made as many "WTF, Deng?" comments as "Wow, Derrick" comments in the liveblog tonight. At least these have become the exception instead of the rule this season.

Carlos Boozer- Disappeared against the not great interior defense of the Heat. We're not beating the LBJ led-Heat team if Boozer doesn't play much better than he did tonight.

Taj Gibson- Taj did play decent help defense and forced a few turnovers, but he wasn't good offensively, and needs to learn the art of not getting called for every little thing. This isn't entirely his fault, for some reason the refs think everything Taj does is a foul, but it doesn't always help when he swings his arms wildly instead of going straight up.

Bulls-Heat Liveblog (maybe Hawks-Preds and Falcons-Packers, too)

Good evening for doing nothing but sitting on the couch and watching sports. Sounds like a plan to me. Will Lebron play and make it interesting? Or will he punk out and it's basically the DWade show? Taj Gibson was a +17 last night, does that mean he'll pick up a DNP-CD today?

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

I Can't Take Any More of This Shit

Watching Bulls games has made visibly and palpably angry lately. Angrier than I ever was in the early 00s Tim Floyd wasteland, angrier than the BG/Luol baby Bulls, even angrier than I ever was when VDN was failing to organize chaos.

The Tim Floyd era Bulls lost because they were supposed to lose. Their had all of 1 good player (Elton Brand) and tried to pass Rusty La fucking Rue off as a legitimate NBA point guard.

The Baby Bulls sometimes lost because BG would shoot them out of games, but they really didn't have many better options. Live by BG's fallaway threes, die by BG's fallaway threes.

And I'll say this for VDN. He may not have had any idea how to relate to players, diagram plays, or teach young players what they were supposed to be doing, but I always felt like the right players were on the court.

This Bulls team is more talented and deeper than any team in the East besides the Heat and Celtics (maybe you can make a case for the Magic.) They should not have trouble with the Nets and Bobcats of the world. But they frequently do because minutes are being eaten up by the Bulls 11th and 12th best players on the roster, who you can visibly see not playing as well as their counterparts.

Or am I crazy? Because why is no one else talking about this? Bogans, yes, everyone has been piling on TT about Bogans for the better part of the last few months. But I'm not here to talk about Bogans, he hasn't played more than 18 minutes since November.

But Kurt Thomas...What. The. Fuck. The only game since Taj's concussion Kurt hasn't played more than 20 minutes in was the Toronto game, where Taj put up 16 points and 14 rebounds. The next fucking night Taj only played 11 minutes to Kurt's 27, and I've already gone over how that cost us the game.

It happened again tonight. With about 6:45 left and the Bulls up 4, the Bobcats rotate the ball to Boris Diaw up top. Diaw drives to the hole, Kurt slides in front of him and barely offers any resistance at all as Diaw puts in the layup. The next possession for the Bobcats DJ Augustin drives baseline, Kurt Thomas comes over so late he practically sets a pick on CJ, who's forced to foul.

The problem is that in between those two plays Carlos Boozer blows a dunk, and that will look a lot better (or worse) on Sportscenter.

Later in the 4th Augustin drives, Kurt is late (as usual) and Augustin dishes to Tyrus for the layup. The Bulls were up 1 before that and never lead again. Kurt played 35 minutes of -4 ball, Taj played 18 minutes of +3. This is, and I hate using this word, but there's no other way to describe it: incredibly retarded. I can understand playing a young guy over a veteran to help him come along (although none of the last 3 Bulls coaches have understood that,) but I don't get why you would do the opposite. Taj is better than Kurt offensively. Taj is better than Kurt defensively. Taj is younger and a much bigger part of the Bulls plans going forward, even if it's as a trade chip. There is no single fucking logical explanation as to why Kurt should be getting double the minutes that Taj does, other than something to do with TT's fucking ego.

This makes at least 3 games I feel confident saying that if Kurt and Taj's minutes were flip-flopped, we would have won. And there's just no excuse for it. That's why I'm so mad right now. TT is not a stupid man, he's just stubborn, and that makes it 10 times worse. Blogabull, BytheHorns...help me out here. I can't be the only person outraged by this.

Help us, Joakim Noah. You're our only hope.

(I swear to God, though, if Kurt is still getting more minutes than Taj when Noah comes back...)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Chitown Sports NFL Pick Challenge Update

So 3 out of the underdogs win this weekend...just not the one I chose. Crap.

The good news is the Bears get the Seahawks, who are still a game below .500 on the year. The bad news is the Seahawks looked the best out of the 4 NFC teams that played this weekend, and have already beaten us once this year. Great. Although I am starting to think a Bears-Packers NFC Championship Game on my birthday is destined to happen.

Current Standings:

Julia 3
Will 2
Graham 2
Asher 2
Katz 2
GDubbs 1
BJ 1
Louis 1
Neal 1
Tristan 0
Sam 0

My picks for this weekend, which you should obviously pick the opposite of.

Steelers over Ravens (The Ravens might keep winning just to spite me, but I think the Steelers have a little too much firepower for them)
Packers over Falcons (I know I'm going against my own Super Bowl pick here, but I really feel like Bears-Packers is going to happen.)
Bears over Seahawks (The Bears are playing much better than they did when they lost earlier in the season. And I can't believe the Bears D can play nearly as bad as the Saints D did yesterday. Against Tom Brady, maybe, but not against Hasselbeck.)
Patriots over Jets (Belichick doesn't lose games like this.)

Make your picks before the first game Saturday to be eligible for 2nd round points. If you picked the next two rounds in advance, you can go back and change them if you want, but your Super Bowl pick is locked in. And get ready for my awesome comeback.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Chi-Town Sports Football Picks Challenge

Here be the rules:

Make your Super Bowl pick in the comments below. 5 points for getting the winner right, 3 points for getting the loser right (even if you picked them to win, so if I pick Saints over Ravens, and the Saints lose to the Colts, I get 3 points.) 2 point bonus if you get both teams correct. In addition, pick each game of each weekend (no spread, just straight up winner). You get one point for each game you get correct. You don't have to be an oracle for this one, you can wait until after you know the matchups to make a pick. For example, here's mine:

Super Bowl Pick: Patriots over Falcons (sorry to pick the chalk, picking any other team just didn't sit right.)

This weekend:
Colts over Jets (If Cutler can pick apart the Jets for 38, Manning should be good for 70, easy.)
Saints over Seahawks (Even if we were doing the spread, I would still take the Saints -10.5)
Chiefs over Ravens (Ravens are overrated.)
Eagles over Packers (I think Vick will put the Eagles on his back in this one.)

Make your picks before the first game starts at 3:30 tomorrow to be eligible.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Blame Game: Bulls-Nets

The Bulls are now 18-2 against teams below .500. Let's get right to this. Can you guess where I'm going to start?

TT- 60%
It bothers me to no end that TT is going to get credit for leaving his bench in for the end of this game. "What a savvy move, leaving Asik and Watson in the game at the end" and whatnot. Allow me to go all-caps Drew Magary style and make this simple:

THERE WOULD BE NO NEED FOR THE BULLS TO COME BACK AGAINST A TEAM LIKE THE NETS IF BOGANS AND THOMAS WEREN'T SUCKING IT UP FOR A COMBINED 39 MINUTES!

What does Taj Gibson need to do to get in the starting lineup? Kurt Thomas played 25 minutes of -13 ball tonight. Taj had 16 and 14 yesterday, not to mention much better help defense. Bogans managed an impressive -14 in 14 minutes. And that's mainly because he played some incredibly shitty defense, both on the ball and on rotations. Ronnie Brewer is better in every aspect of the game at this point. I feel like TT insists on playing Bogans entirely to not admit he made a mistake.

Two more beefs with TT tonight: Lu played 9 and half unnecessary minutes last night, then played 43 minutes tonight. I wonder why he might have missed 2 clutch free throws at the end of the game?

And putting Kurt back in the game for the last 11 seconds directly led to Sasha's layup. I've watched the play a dozen times. Kurt is caught napping on Lopez, and once Sasha set's the backpick, he's too slow to recover. CJ makes a great defensive play, but Kurt is just getting back to where he's supposed to be, making Sasha wide open.

Derrick Rose- 25%

I hate to do this, but Derrick was -14. I don't want to hold the 3 good starters too accountable for their +/-, since it's very affected by playing 3-on-5 all the time, but he wasn't great tonight. And if you're going to take a game winning 3, Derrick, take it the first time in rhythm, or pass it to someone set. We could have gotten a much better look there, which is partially TT's fault for being out of freaking timeouts again...

Kurt Thomas-10%

Stop being so slow.

Our inability to hit clutch free throws- 5%

There were many more problems than those last two free throws, but this problem does seem to keep coming back to bite us in the ass at inopportune times.

Absolved-

CJ Watson, Omer Asik, Kyle Korver, Taj Gibson.

Maybe if you all played more, this game wouldn't have been close. Alas.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

A Few Random Bulls Thoughts...

Still working on those last two posts I promised on the Hawks and Cubs, but right now I'm about to pass out, so it's not happening now. I do have a few random thoughts on the Bulls from tonight, however...

1. As of 5 minutes left in this game, with the Bulls up 24, there is somehow a Bull with a negative +/-. You have -1 guess as to who it is.
If you didn't say Kurt Thomas you're probably being a smart-ass. The Raptors started the game on a 11-5 run by running everything through Andrea Bargnani on the perimeter and forcing Kurt to move around. I know only a handful of teams have a center who can shoot 3s, but there are probably very few centers who couldn't take Thomas to the basket at this point. Which brings me to point #2.

2. Taj Gibson. 8-11 from the field. 16pts, 14 rebounds in 25 minutes. There's no reason Taj shouldn't be starting right now. I can't figure out TT's logic on this one other than a desire to have his best one-on-one post defender outside Noah on the court. But Taj is a very small step down from Kurt one-on-one in the post, and a huge step up as a help defender and on offense. With Kurt and Bogans starting, the Bulls are basically playing 3-on-5 on offense for the first 6 minutes of every half.

3. I love Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver playing together on the wing. I know it means either Lu has to play the 4 or be on the bench, but I think their strengths really complement each other.

4. Ethan and Asher's favorite whipping boys, CJ Watson and Omer Asik, both played pretty well tonight. I know the Raptors are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA, but do either of you want to smack them back down?

5. JJ didn't play until 2:30 left in the game. I don't know what else to say about this.

6. I hate the crowd acting like Brian Scalabrine is a side act and not a legitimate NBA player. I feel like he's shown in the past few years that he's halfway useful, and has just been stuck playing in two of the deepest frontcourts in the league. Scal would be a useful, contributing big man on about half the teams in the NBA.