Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I thought it might be appropriate for me to title my first entry after my favorite Charles Barkley-ism because well, even though Chuck is annoying and sometimes incoherent, he is damn entertaining and I also really just like saying "Winner winner chicken dinner," and you should too. I will use this also to do my own little introduction, because even though I have been developing a detailed and comprehensive argument for the Bulls to not re-sign BG, I am technically supposed to be working on something else right now and we can always come back to that later now that the season is officially over. Oh ok and I guess I'll do some quick thoughts on the Bulls-Celtics series.

I'm a lifelong Cubs, Bulls, and Bears fan. In that order. I spent my college days out in California, without cable TV, so for four of the last six years I have been further away from the everyday ins-and-outs of the Chicago sports scene than ever before, but I think that gives me a better perspective, because I am now less satisfied with teams that are "competitive" or entertaining on a daily basis. I am currently not actually employed, though if you click around on my profile (I think) you'll maybe end up at the blog of WeFarm America, where I am currently working on an internship of sorts doing grant writing, marketing, etc. I am starting law school in the fall, so like Tris I aim to get my money's worth this summer. After that, who knows. Now, for the actual sports.

I umm, hate to start off by being a little disagreeable. Oh wait, nevermind, I don't. I am a little bit mystified by the hype over this series, despite how incredible and fun each game has been. (I want my money back for Game 3, seriously, I spent $45 on a ticket and it was the worst sporting event I have been to in my lifetime.) I think Tristan getting upset over Kenny Smith's one word summary of "parity," was a little misplaced. First of all, you can't summarize anything in one word, that is stupid stuff they make you do when you agree to accept buckets of money to make an ass of yourself on TV every night. This series was incredible, but it was incredible and amazing because of a combination of parity and sheer luck. I mean, if you made the Bulls and Celtics (in their current decrepit, injury-riddled, stat) play a 100 times, I think 10 games would look like game 3, 55 would look like game 7, and you would never ever get anything like game 6 ever again. That is what makes the whole thing unforgettable and made it so much fun to watch, but honestly, like most things in life, everyone is downplaying how much sheer random probability played a major role. The teams fit together well, their styles match, and without KG they both are totally reliant on outside shooting (well except when Rondo plays like he did in 1-5, something I am totally unconvinced he can do consistently) which is not a recipe for consistent success in the NBA. I would love to be wrong but I don't see the Bulls as a top 4 team in the East next year, and I am predicting the Magic to win in 5 in the next round.

Last thing, Joakim is definitely a great guy to have on your team, he has a lot of heart and I love him, but don't you think part of the reason he (and Tyrus and Brad) looked so good is because the Celtics backup big men are freakin' Mikki Moore and Scalabrine. I watched this Bulls team all year, even though it almost killed me, because I don't know if you remember this at all, but they were god awful for most of the year, and I haven't heard anyone come up with a reason why their post-trade success was a result of anything other than most NBA guys quit playing very hard toward the end of the season and as Scott Skiles continues to prove, if you run around a lot and hustle you can win a lot of games against teams that you have no business beating.

That was fun. Thanks to Tris for setting this up and inviting me to contribute. That background is killer.

A More Official Introduction

Hi.

Time to stop giving out sneak-previews and deem this blog open for business. I'll start with our background information, then move on to our goals/manifesto:

We love the Bears and Bulls. Most of us love the Cubs, some the White Sox (It's a 3 to 1 ratio so far, but I'm trying to even that out a little.) A decade or so of mismanagement means that, unless I'm mistaken, none of us have more than a mild attraction for the Blackhawks, although it's been increasing as of late. But more importantly, we love talking about sports. And one day it occurred to me that if morons like Skip Bayless and Jay Mariotti are allowed to spout their half-assed opinions to the masses, why can't we get in on the action? Even if that action is just a long string of curse words directed at BG, or Kevin Gregg, or Jay Cutler (if he underperforms.) We'll try to keep it more intelligent than that, but sometimes you just gotta vent.

The inspiration for this site is more along the lines of a FreeDarko or FJM than the more informational blogs you'll find out there. None of us are quitting our day job or dropping out of college to pursue full-time blogging. The reason I never got around to expressing my 2 thoughts on Game 6 is because I didn't have 10 minutes to sit in front of the computer and put those thoughts down until now (I'll put that post up in a few minutes.) However, hopefully between the 4 (and growing) of us, we'll be able to keep you, most likely our friends and family, up to date on whatever Chicago-sports-related thoughts pop into our heads. And maybe one day someone with absolutely no connection to any of us will stumble in here by accident and be mildly amused enough to bookmark us.

As for me personally, I'm a middle-school math teacher on the South Side of the city. I don't remember a moment of not following the Cubs, Bears, and Bulls, even during the down years. Consider this my apology for not knowing more about hockey, but I think part of my love for those other three sports is the fact that I grew up playing them, and still do regularly (well, softball at least. Is there a way to play in an adult rec baseball league? I need to look into that.) So, back to my original point, From September-May I won't have a whole ton of time to write. Over the summer, however, I may have nothing else to do but ramble (kind of like I am now.)

I'll let the other bloggers introduce themselves at their convenience.

The goal of this site is to be a place where you can go to read a reasonable debate about the important debates/events/games in Chicago, and maybe add your own 2 cents as well. We won't limit it strictly to Chicago, but since that's what most of us live and die with, I'm guessing that's mostly where our focus will be. While we're not designed to be a news site, but I would like to have recurring features that you can count on seeing regularly (the moron one and the blame game are 2, but there are more I'll introduce as we roll them out.)

We also might talk about old-school hip-hop. Or comic book movies. Whatever. This is a labor of love, after all.

PS- How does the spell-check feature for blogspot.com not recognize the word "bloggers?"

Edit- Just fixed a typo my intelligent (and beautiful) wife pointed out.