Rest In Peace

Stormin Normin and Red are now gone. They will be missed. Norm added levity and critical analysis to later Bulls runs. Red was the Bulls. I'll never forget the time I-truth and I saw Norm at a Bulls game. We screamed like little school children from about 20 yards awaw, "NORM!". He turned, smiled wide, and raised his right hand in a huge fist pump. We didn't know him, but you just knew he would be the coolest and nicest guy in the room.

As for Red, he seemed just as important to those 6 championships as the guys actually playing. I loved the fact that he was a homer. Just as I cried when the Bulls lost to those hated Pistons teams, you could tell it hurt Red even more.

Both guys bled red and white. And they wore their emotions on their sleeves (especially Norm). It will be difficult watching Bulls' games without them.

Two Chicago greats are gone. May they rest in peace.

SagiNasty Breaks Down Detroit Sports

DaChiFan: What's happening to your Pistons?
SagiNasty: ugh

DaChiFan: how many losses in a row now? 6?
SagiNasty: curry is a dipshit.

DaChiFan: Chauncey for AI was a terrible move. AI sucks.
SagiNasty: they flat out cannot score baskets. AI sucks the life out of an offense. Plus, they have no leadership.
DaChiFan: Yep, AI needs to dominate possession on offense in order to score. Sort of like Ben Gordon
SagiNasty: At least BG makes his baskets
DaChiFan: Yes, he can shoot whereas AI can't.

SagiNasty: Trading Billips killed this season.
DaChiFan: I think you got to start blaming Dumars.
SagiNasty: Trading Chauncey was a bad move as it stands today. That trade is ultimately valued at who the pistons bring in with the cap room that they are going to get
DaChiFan: Sort of like every other team in the NBA, all saving up for 2010, which is ridiculous. Lebron's going to stay in Cleveland and Wade's staying in Miami. Thus, everyone is going to be fighting for Chris Bosh. This doesn’t make any sense.

DaChiFan: Any more comments?
SagiNasty: Michael Jordan is a flaming bag of dog poop and Scottie Pippen's head looks like a pack of hot dogs

DaChiFan: I guess that's it then. Or... What are the lions going to do at #1? Or do you just not even care anymore?
SagiNasty: I wouldn’t mind the Lions taking Aaron Curry, at 1?
DaChiFan: The linebacker from Wake Forest? Is that really their biggest need?
SagiNasty: Defense is their biggest need. They better not take Matt Stafford at #1. We forget that the lions came about 20 points of allowing the most points in league history last year
DaChiFan: I think Curry is overrated. He's only valuable because of a lack of quality LBs in the draft. So no Stafford. Are you comfortable with Culpepper at QB?
SagiNasty: I am not comfortable with Culpeper. That is like asking me if I am comfortable with diarrhea. I do not think Stanton is the answer or will be anything more than a backup

SagiNasty: I am also fine with any of the elite left tackles not named Andre smith and then taking Rey Mauluaga.
DaChiFan: Very nice. If Daunte's your QB, you’re going to need a tackle. The boy can't really move anymore. But at least he'll get the ball out faster than the 10 seconds it took for Kitna to throw the ball.

DaChiFan: What about Crabtree at # 1? (Me laughing uncontrollably)
SagiNasty: Better watch the sass coming out of that mouth. No Crabtree. The Lions need to fix their defense and o-line this year and draft a QB next year. They need to draft Sam Bradford of Oklahoma next year. I like Tebow too, but not as a first round pick
DaChiFan: Bradford isn't good. His game won't translate to NFL. As for Tebow, that's crazy talk. There is zero evidence that a running QB can make it in the NFL (and by that I mean winning a SB). Tebow gets murdered in the NFL. He's got a better chance at being a TE.

SagiNasty: He is better than kitna/stanton/culpepper/orlovski.
DaChiFan: Probably, but that isn't saying much. You do realize that Rex Grossman will be available.
SagiNasty: I saw Grossman’s name mentioned on si.com as a possible Detroit QB- I cried a little.
DaChiFan: More like vomiting in your mouth. Actually, I've always liked Grossman. He'll be a great # 2 in the league because he can throw the rock. He's just too un-athletic and short to be a long-term starter.

DaChiFan: I think Bears and Lions might challenge each other for last place in NFC north.
SagiNasty: I like everything that Schwartz is saying. Let's see the draft and the FA signings. I will consider it a small victory if DET does not sign a bunch of aging TB defensive backs. Oh yeah, Grossman is a horrible #2- Did you see the way he moped around all season last year?
DaChiFan: Here comes Ronde Barber. As for Grossman, you would be moping to if you played for the Bears. Whatever, let's stop talking about Rex. I've had enough of that for 5 years

SagiNasty: So, are the bears going to draft Jeremy Maclin in the first round or are they drafting another defensive back out of NAIA?
DaChiFan: Bears are going to reach for some unknown receiver from Div. 3 in the 2nd round. They'll probably trade down in the 1st round for a late 1st and a 3rd rounder for all I know. I don't think they take a WR in the1st round, a tackle maybe or a DE. They have way too many needs: OT, DE, WR, and Safety just to name a few

DaChiFan: Anyway, the Lions suck and will continue to be terrible. Calvin Johnson is destined to have a career like Barry Sanders (stats but no SBs). Are you still auditioning other NFL teams to be "your favorite NFL team" because the lions suck?
SagiNasty: No, the Chargers are my favorite non-lions team because Philip Rivers looks like he might be an A-hole. And I like A-holes.

SagiNasty: Alright, I got to get back to work but here is the last thing I will say as a Detroit sports fan- Thank the Lord for the Red Wings!
DaChiFan: As Jim Rome would say, well done.

Tuesday Morning Thoughts: Combine and Oscars

Darius Heyward-Bey(pictured) ran a 4.3 forty on Sunday. But does this make him better than Michael Crabtree?

Random with a dose of Oscars and a sprinkle of NFL combine.

1. To use a Seinfeld line, I think Hugh Jackman might be a little vroom, vroom if you know what I mean. He is clean and well-dressed. Still don’t know what I am alluding to? To steal another Seinfeld line, let’s just say that Jackman is the starting short stop for the “other” team. Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course.

2. This is extremely politically incorrect, but I would assume that 90% of male Hollywood actors bat for the other team. This is just a random statistic that I’m putting out there- nothing to back it up. No need for a congressional steroid like hearing on this. I’m just saying. But again, not that there’s anything wrong with it.

3. Back to Hugh Jackman, how can I take his Wolverine role seriously in the next Wolverine movie that’s coming out? So Wolverine likes to dance and sing to depression era like musicals? Great.....

4. The Bulls beat Denver (a good team) with 8 players, but lost to Indiana (playing without Granger) with their new and full roster. It looks like it will take some time for these guys to gel. It can’t be easy bringing in 3-4 guys at the mid-way point. From Black thought coaching was tough before, I have sense it’s going to get a lot worse. I have no idea how he’s going to handle getting minutes for Tim Thomas, Salmons and Brad Miller.

5. I love the NFL. So much so that I devoutly watch NFL Network’s coverage of the scouting combine. I love watching the TEs, RBs and WRs running the 40. It’s pretty impressive seeing such large players run that fast. It’s still hard to comprehend just how freakishly athletic these guys are. But I do know one thing, they are bigger and faster than anyone I know.

6. From what little I could tell, it’s a deep WR pool with a few intriguing tall guys who run fast enough. But as John Gruden pointed out “there are not a lot of 6’4 and 6’5 WRs who make it in the NFL”. I sort of agree with Chucky, but Randy Moss is that tall and he’s arguably the best WR. Larry Fitzgerald is 6’3. I think I the Bears could use a tall WR, instead of a Marvin Harrison type. From the looks of it, there were quite a few later round draft pick WRs who are either Justin Gage or Bernard Berrian in this year's draft. The TEs looked okay. Running backs didn’t look that great. The big running backs like Beanie Wells and Moreno aren’t combine guys because they are not speedsters.

7. Friday Night Lights was just average this past Friday. They make Coach Taylor everyone’s father figure in the show. First it was Mat Sareson, then Smash, now back to Street. Yada, yada, yada. It gets a little old. But it’s still the best show on TV.

8. I think I want to watch Slumdog Millionare. I don’t want anything to do with Milk, Benjamin Button or the Reader. I probably would watch Frost/Nixon on Netflix. I really want to see the foreign films like Waltz with Bashir and the Class. All in all, Hollywood isn’t making that great of movies it seems. Although people (other than me) seemed to think that Batman and Ironman were great.

9. As I-truth pointed out, “Why don’t they have awards for best comedy, or best comedic actor, yet they give out awards for Best Makeup and Best Sound Mixing (And Sound editing)?” Great question. I think it has lots do with the fact that the Oscars are the snobby, English prince of the awards shows. They probably think comedic performances are below their artistic standards for an award. Maybe, but if you’re going to give out an award for best documentary (very little artistry going on there), why not best comedy? At least they are acting.

10. Back to the combine. I think the nerdy guy from Page 2, Greg Easterbrook pointed out how silly it is for NFL GMs to place so much emphasis on the 40 times. I think he makes a pretty good point. It’s almost impossible to judge how much a 4.40 differs from a 4.51 forty time. But, this made me think of the Malcom Gladwell book I’m reading, “Outliers”. He makes a good argument for the relationship between IQ scores and someone’s success (career wise). I won’t go into the details, but his main argument is that all that matters is that you are smart enough. So, if an IQ of 120 represents a smart person, you’re not going to see a big difference in career success in a person with an IQ of 140. I can see how this makes sense. We all know people who are just too smart. They tend to think too much and end up stumbling. Anyway, the point is simple; to be successful you just need to be "smart enough".

The same could probably be said for 40 times. All a player really needs is a “good enough” 40 time. If you can’t run at least a 4.7 40, well you can’t play WR in the NFL (of course there are exceptions to every rule. I believe Anquan Bolden ran a 4.73). But generally, if you run a 4.5 forty and have good hands, you can play in the NFL. There isn’t much difference between the 4.35 guy and the 4.5 guy. They will be separated by other things probably, but nothing with respect to their forty skills.

Thus to make this pragmatic, if you are a GM, I think it makes sense to look at guys who are fast “enough” (say they can run below at 4.6). If they meet the threshold, then look at what really makes them special: hands, leaping ability, agility, height, strength, work ethic, IQ, etc.

Chicago Bulls: Trade Winds

Here is what we know: Gooden, Simmons, Ruffin, Nocioni, Tabo, and Hughes are gone. Enter Brad Miller, Jerome James, Salmons, Tim Thomas and some people that don't count.

The Bulls current starting line-up likely consists of the following players:
Brad Miller, Tyrus Thomas, Deng, Gordon and Rose with Noah coming in for Miller, Tim Thomas spelling Tyrus (as Del Negro is infatuated with playing Phoenix Suns basketball which won't work). Salmons will spell Deng and Gordon. Hinrich backs up both guard positions.

The question: Does this make the Bulls better? Probably, but let's not get out the champagne just yet. Brad Miller is an over the hill player whose only good attribute is his 12 foot jump shot. Salmons may help guarding at the 2 position on defense. Jereme James? I have no idea. The Tim Thomas decision also appears questionable as the Bulls had earlier traded for him and cut him leaving him for Phoenix. But, I guess he fits Del Negro's vision on offense (whatever that is).

In the end, it's really a non-move. We still don't have a great answer at the 2 position. On the front line we still don't have a true post up scorer. Worse, the growth of Noah and Tyrus will be weakened as their minutes go to veterans that will only leave us in a year or two.

It looks like all of these garbage level trades were made for (a) money and (b) for the sake of trading. What worries me the most is a clear lack of vision of the Bulls. They don't know who they are and don't know where they want to go.

For my own amusement, I would settle for the 8th seed this year. Next year? Who knows.

Chicago Bulls: Meet Brad Miller- Again

Daily Herald reports that Nocioni and Gooden (along with Ruffin and Simmons) are being traded to Sacremento for Brad Miller and some dude named Salmons. Bulls get bad end of the deal value wise, but this may provide more playing time for Noah, Tyrus and Deng. Miller also helps the front line, and his contract ends before the 2010 free agency extravaganza. I don't know much about Salmons, but he's been putting up 18 points a game. Not bad.

I wasn't a big fan of Gooden, but will be sad to see Nocioni leave. But at least I won't have to see him play PF for the Bulls anymore, a position he was never suited for.

Captain Kirk may also be on his way out for a pair of old skates. I don't like Kirk, so not too sad here. If he goes, I think it's more of a salary dump move because Kirk was getting paid too much to sit on the bench.

Who's next? Larry Hughes anyone? Actually, if Kirk's gone, couldn't we use him?

Chicago Bears' 2009 First Round Mock Draft Picks

Here is a survey of mock 1st pick selections for the Chicago Bears' pick in round 1.

NFL. Com

DE- Tyson Jackson- Height:6'4"Weight:295, College: LSU,

Take: Jackson isn't an ideal pass rusher, but he is a stout run defender who can keep blockers off LBs.

In Depth Look here.

SI- Don Banks

WR - Jeremy Maclin Missouri So. 6-1 200

Take: Maclin could vault himself up the board and beyond the Bears reach if he runs great at the NFL Combine, but if he's still around at No. 18, Chicago should jump on him with the hopes he can develop into the No. 1 receiver they have long needed. Maclin can stretch the field vertically, and it's intriguing to think of teaming him with fellow speedster Devin Hester.

In Depth Look here.

CBS/Sportsline- Prisco

WR- Jeremy Maclin-Missouri So. 6-1 200

Take: They have to get more big plays outside in their passing game. Maclin has great speed. They could also take an offensive tackle.

In Depth look here.

Yahoo Sports

OT- William Beatty- Connecticut
Take: Offensive tackles never last long on draft day, and now we see six come off the board in the top 18 picks. Even though the Bears went with OT Chris Williams last year, former starter John Tait has announced his retirement and John St. Clair is scheduled for free agency. The pairing of Beatty and Williams gives the Bears a chance to bookend tackles for the next 10 years.

In Depth Look Here.

Scout.Com

DE- Tyson Jackson- Height:6'4"Weight:295, College: LSU

In Depth Look Here.

DraftCountDown.Com- Scott Wright
DE- Larry English- Northern Illinois

See in Depth Take Here.

ESPN ? Espn can go #$@% itself with its “insider” thing.

Tuesday Morning Thoughts: "Fake" NBA Basketball

Completely and totally a non-random streak of non-coincidental occurrences.

1. More likely than not, it’s just me. But doesn’t it seem like the NBA is getting more fake, coerced and manipulated? First, it was the crazy deal by Kevin McHale sending Garnett for a pair of old skates to Boston. Then, the Lakers somehow get Pau Gasol for his younger brother; another lopsided trade. I hate conspiracies but, Boston vs. Lakers in the finals? How do you make that happen? Let’s see send Garnett to Boston for nothing and put Pau Gasol on the Lakers. The Bulls couldn’t pry Garnet for Luol Deng and half their team, but yet Boston got him for a still overrated Al Jefferson. And besides Pau’s little brother, I still don’t’ know that Memphis got out of the trade for Pau. Is it a coincidence that the most storied franchises in the sport got the better end of two deals in the same year? Probably, but it still makes it feel cheap.

2. As Bill Simmons noted on a recent podcast, the NBA All-Star weekend was about as scripted as a WWC wrestling match. Dwight Howard miraculously obtained a back up basketball rim and increased its height to 12 feet (more like 11ft if you ask me). Even more dramatic, there just so happened to be a phone booth sitting on the sideline so that he could change into his Superman costume. That wasn’t pre-planned at all. I wonder what Nate Robinson was thinking when the NBA hand delivered the set of Superman to Dwight Howard for his show? “Wow… thanks I’m 5ft nothing and you gave Howard enough toys and tools to build a basketball hoop. Seriously, thanks assholes. ”

3. Oh and I am not sure if you know this but, TNT really, really likes Lebron James. So much so that when little Nate Robinson had to dunk over a small skyscraper to win the dunk contest, Reggie Miller’s brother (and yes I said brother) asked him if he would be able to beat Lebron James next year because “LEBRON JAMES SAID IT HERE ON TNT, HE IS GOING TO DO THE SLAM DUNK CONTEST (POSSIBLY, MAYBE) NEXT YEAR!”. Robinson, rightfully uttered something like, “I’ve done this (stupid ass) thing 3 years in a row now and think it’s time to stop, unless (being the nice guy) the NBA really wants me (give me more money) to do it again.” The guy wins the dunk contest and somehow he gets overshadowed by a sunglass wearing in an indoor stadium Lebron James. Again, a little too manipulated and scripted for my taste.

4. You had to think TNT got upset that Kobe and Shaq stole the thunder from the East’s Lebron James All-Stars. Deep down TNT was disappointed. They keep trying to raise Lebron to King status (and for the most part, he is as a player), but he still isn’t a champion nor the best player in the game (Kobe still wears that crown in my opinion). I know a lot of people love Lebron. I appreciate his great talents. But, I just don’t like all the hype. By now I wouldn’t be surprised if they called the NBA regular season MVP trophy the “Lebron James” trophy even though he’s never won it.

5. Speaking of unreal and fake, the NBA All-Star games get more and more annoying every year. No defense and everyone trying to show boat except it never really works. I would just rather see them play all-out on both ends. Wouldn’t that be much more enjoyable than watching the players fake playing defense? Wow great dunk Amare Stoudemire! Moses just parted the East's defense for you. You get the sense that people like Duncan just hate playing in these exhibition games.

6. Why is Reggie Miller commenting on anything? He’s more annoying than a pack of teenage girls at a Justin Timberlake concert. Worse, his brother, Cheryl Miller makes Bill Walton look good.

7. I miss Charles Barkley he would have called out all the stupid stuff during All-Star weekend.

8. Was it me or were the players in the Skills Challenge (including Rose) deliberately not trying.

9. I can’t stand this whole 2010 free agency thing when half of the great players will switch to the Knicks. It almost seems like everything that happens between now and 2010 doesn’t matter. We are all just waiting for the Wade, Lebron, and Bosh Knicks.

10. Back to Lebron. I admit the guy is great; a freak of an athlete. But, I still can’t understand why the NBA is willing to rest its entire sport on one player. I understand it worked when MJ was playing. But, MJ was MJ. No one told him he had to be great, he was just great. There was nothing ever fake about MJ. But with Lebron and others, you get the sense that they have to be told to be great. Again, it smells of manipulation. Almost like Stern’s telling Kobe that he needs to tone it down so that Lebron can take the mantle.

11. This gets me to my last point. Michael Jordan was the both the best thing and worst thing to ever happen to the NBA. The best for obvious reasons because everyone wanted to be like Mike and there was never any question that he was the greatest. But, the worst thing in the sense that the NBA is always trying to re-create MJ. First it was Grant Hill, then Penny Hardaway, we then went through the whole Allen Iverson thing, Vince Carter, T-Mac, then to Kobe and now to Lebron (and when his luster fades, some other phenom). The entire NBA’s success rests on one person, yet we see that the best teams (San Antonio and Celtics and even the Pistons for one year) win because they have great teams. It makes more sense to me to highlight the great teams than one guy. At least if Garnet plays poorly you can hype up Pierce or Allen. If Lebron doesn’t play well, what are you going to do? In this sense, the NBA just keeps doubling down on its bet knowing that Lebron will win the championship one day; whether it’s manipulated or not.


More random thoughts.

1. A player shouldn’t be allowed 2 minutes to complete a dunk. If it takes you 10 attempts to finally hit your dunk, then it should never, ever be considered a success. When Rudy Fernandez took 20 attempts to pull off a dunk, the resulting scores shouldn’t have been 9s and 10s. They should have been 0s. 1/20 is not a successful percentage. Although, that was a nice dunk.

2. If the Lakers get some big man for nothing before the All-Star break I am going to be really, really pissed off.

3. I don’t understand all this John Paxson will resign stuff. It’s not a good sign when your GM wants to bail during the middle of the season.

4. I really hope the Bulls continue to play better during the second half of the season. This city could really use a playoff push. If only Del Negro would play Derrick “the Bermuda Rose” when the game is on the line. (How ridiculous is it that I even have to utter that statement).

5. I got stuck watching American Chopper last night. If you didn’t watch it, here is a recap: Senior gets upset and yells at Jr; Mikey goofs around; they worry they won’t have enough time to finish the bike; but, miraculously, they somehow finish the bike in time.

Mike Brown- My Favorite Chicago Bear

He was always a little undersized for the position. And in a lot of ways, his lack of size caused all of those freak injuries. His body simply couldn’t hold up to the big, bruising play of the NFL. After all, the guy was listed as 5-10 and probably was more like 5-8. But despite his height restrictions, Mike Brown played like he was a 6-4 250 pound linebacker. Mike Brown played the game like an ’85 Bear- relentless, aggressive and with a strong dose of smack you in the mouth football. He was the Kevin Garnett of football always giving you 100%. In his 9 years as a Chicago Bear, I never once left a game thinking that Brown had let us down. He was always the guy with the nose for the football, almost always in the right place, and forever the guy who played with his heart on his sleeve. Mike Brown is a professional football player and I thank him for that.

I still remember the 2001 season like it was yesterday. It was post 9/11 but football, like it always does, made things seem better. On October 28 against the 49ers in overtime, Garcia passed to TO who saw a converging Brian Urlacher. As he often does, he put up the alligator arms, got clocked by Urlacher and of course, Mike Brown was there to pick off the ricochet football. 33 yards later and a touchdown, the Bears won the OT thriller.

Just one game later against the Cleveland Browns, I-Truth and I were sitting in the stands as the Bears were getting spanked by the Browns. With no hope left, I-truth and I actually left the stadium (We’ll never forgive ourselves for this). As we exited we heard the loud thunder of fan applause. We immediately sprinted past the security telling us that we couldn’t re-enter. (What were they going to do? There was no way anyone except Usain Bolt could have caught us that night.). We entered the game, the score was tied on a hail-mary from Shane Matthews to James Allen of all people. Overtime. Again. The 2^nd week in a row. And of course, just like a Hollywood script, Mike Brown picked off the first pass of OT, took it back 16 yards for the game winning touchdown. That was Mike Brown, always in the right place, forever playing 100%.

And that’s how I will remember Mike Brown. I’ll try to forget all the injuries or Steve Smith’s touchdown against the Bears in the playoffs when he made Brown twirl around in circles. That all happened of course, but it couldn’t take away from how really important he was to those great Bears’ defenses. When he went down in the Super Bowl year (as well as Tommie Harris), I knew the Bears could never win that game against Indy. And unfortunately, for him, it happened too often during his career. And every time he got hurt, the Bears imploded on defense. And this is no exaggeration. When Brown went down, the touchdowns kept coming as Danieal Manning, Payne and Chris Harris flopped in their leading roles.

You never could quite understood what made Mike Brown so great. He wasn’t fast enough, big enough, tall enough, or quick enough. But he was always there in the right place, forever playing as if it was his last game. Mike Brown is and always will be one of my favorite Chicago Bear’s players. And to that I say, thanks and good luck.

Here are some of Brown’s career accomplishments….

PRO CAREER: All-time franchise leader with 7 career defensive TDs, 4 by INT returns - tied for the Bears all-time record - and 3 fumble returns - also a franchise record… Earned first Pro Bowl selection and tabbed second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press in 2005… Tied for third among active Bears with 15 career INTs (Vasher and Tillman, 17)… Since entering the NFL in 2000, Brown is tied for 6th in INT returns for TDs… Tops franchise list for career fumble return yards with 221 on 7 fumble recoveries including TD returns of 3, 62 and 95 yards, the latter of which is the second-longest in team history behind George Halas' 98-yard fumble return (11/4/23)… Led team in INTs in consecutive seasons (2001-02)… All-Pro performer in 2001 with career-high 5 INTs, highlighted by three-game INT streak kicked-off by game-winning INT returns for TDs in overtime against the 49ers and Browns in back-to-back games - an NFL first… Became just the 7th Bears rookie since 1974 to record over 100 tackles, registering 102 stops, and was also the first Bears rookie since 1993 (Myron Baker) to record a defensive TD.