The Tricks of the Trade

I have trouble believing trade rumors nowadays. I think trade rumor credibility was recently tarnished thanks to Kobe Bryant. At the end of the 2006-2007 season, Bryant declared that he wanted to be traded and did not wish to be a Laker anymore. He also mentioned that the Chicago Bulls was one of the teams on his list that he would like to be traded to. Bulls fans knew that in order for this trade to happen, this meant that Chicago would have to give up either Deng or Gordon, as well as other players. But then Mr. Raperman Bryant decided to just stick with the Lakers. Regardless, It's so hard to know what the Bulls should do in times like these because everyone knows that practically every player on the Bulls has a tremendous upside and still has time to grow into an all-star caliber player.

It seems that every major trade rumor has involved the Chicago Bulls. Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Zach Randolph, Pau Gasol, etc...why does it seem like Chicago is the best place for one of these players? What is so great about the Chicago Bulls??? I'll tell you what...FUCKING EVERYTHING! This shows that I'm not the only one who has noticed that Chicago is consistently getting better and all the NBA is taking notice of it. And the lack of a true all-star has the major players looking to Chicago as a place where they can make an immediate impact, and even eventually bring a championship back to the windy city.

But I don't know if they understand that the reason why the Bulls keep improving every year is because they already have the basic role players, besides a scoring big man. In order to bring one of these all-stars to Chicago, this would mean that Chicago would have to sacrifice Deng, Gordon, Nocioni, Duhon, or someone else that still has time to get better and has already made a major contribution to the success of the team. With the acquisition of Ben Wallace, the Bulls did not lose anything, except maybe a little too much money. Since Wallace was acquired through free agency, no core players were lost from the year before. However, Tyson Chandler was traded to New Orleans for P.J. Brown.

The reason why I bring up this trade talk is because I recently read a blog speaking of how Utah F Andrei Kirilenko requested to be traded. Kirilenko declared this only a few days after he helped Russia win the gold in the European championships. Andrei has sorta been on a downward spiral. This past year, he only average 8.3 points, which is the lowest of his career. Injuries have whooped his ass the last three seasons. But after his showing in the European championships, where he averaged 18 points and 8.3 rebounds, there is no doubt that Kirilenko still has game. Mainly known for his defense, Kirilenko would be able to contribute to the the high powered defense already covered by the Bulls. But I doubt anything will become of this trade because I doubt that Chicago's salary cap can cover Kirilenko. But I think we'll be fine without Kirilenko.

But I'll leave you with some skills that Andrei Kirilenko could bring to Chicago.

The Final Series

If you are wondering what Piniella has up his sleeve for these last series, you’re in luck. He pretty much has his pitching rotation set for the rest of the season and I’m about to lay it on you.



Pittsburgh: Marquis will go Friday, Rich Hill is on for Saturday, and Big Z comes in to work on Sunday.

Florida: Ted Lilly will pitch Tuesday after the Cubs have Monday off, followed by Marquis and Piniella is undecided for Thursday.

Cincinnati: Hill will come in first, then Zambrano, followed by Lilly.

Don’t worry about the pitching in these final games because it’s solid. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of depth on the Cubs roaster, but Piniella has it all figured out.

"I know there have been people concerned about us going with a three-man rotation, but if they looked at the entire schedule and a possible playoff, they'd see why we did it,” he said.


These guys have been working hard all season and I don’t see why they won’t continue to pull through for the Cubs. All we can really do is pray that the Cubs do well through these last series and hope that the Brewers have the same luck that they did with Atlanta. In case you didn’t see, Milwaukee lost 3-1 to the Braves earlier this week propelling the Cubs to a 1 ½ game lead in the NL Central.

So Cubs fans, hold on to your hats, stay glued to the television, and trust that these pitchers will do their jobs.

Please don’t let him go!

Rumors have been circling the baseball-trading world a lot lately. Rumors about what? Trading. Who in particular you might ask? Jon Garland. Hopefully this won’t happen, because I think that Garland is a solid starting pitcher for the Sox.

Yes, he didn’t win his game last night, and yes, it is his 3rd straight loss, but he is a big contribution to the Sox defense. Garland is just one win shy to finishing this season with at least ten wins, which will make this his 6th straight season of doing just that.

So how did the last game of the series go with the Royals you might be wondering? Well, Garland pitched eight solid innings, but falling short to Kansas City allowing three runs in the 3-0 (the teams ended up splitting the series). But in the 1st 5 innings, he allowed no runs and finished them off with just 49 pitches. He finished the game with throwing 78 pitches, however 55 of those were strikes. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

The White Sox start the series with the Twins tonight at Minnesota. Mark Buehrle will be the starting pitcher for the Sox and the South Siders will face Johan Santana. Buehrle is going through some rough times right now, but he has a pretty impressive record against the Twins going into tonight’s game. He will start the game with a record on 19-10 against the Twins. The White Sox however, currently are batting .197 (71-for-367) against Santana, collectively. Lets hope they can get that average up and that we also finish the night with a win.

Bears vs. 'Boys

Sexy Rexy Report: Rex is due to have one of his good games this week. He was terrible the first week and bad the second week. Russ over at BearsGab thinks Dallas will win because they have the QB advantage. I have to disagree. While it is true that Romo is a better quarterback in general, Chicago's defense is going to give him problems, a lot of problems in fact. Rex actually has more completed passes this season than Romo does. Romo does lead Rex in nearly every other stat, but look at who they've played, the Giants and Dolphins. Neither of those teams have won a game.

Key Matchup: Chicago's Defense vs. Running Game. Russ thinks it's just Marion Barber, but the Cowboys have two running backs who are both good. While Barber is their main back, Julius Jones can run. The Bears have done a good job so far at shutting down two of the premiere backs in the league, LT and LJ, but neither team had as an explosive reciever as TO, so the Bear's have to worry about more than just the run game this week.

Let’s Keep It Going

Thome hit No. 501 and 502 last night in the game against Kansas City. Which were his 29th and 30th of the season. Why stop now right? I just wish he could have hit 2 home runs in the game that he hit his No. 500th. Why you ask? Well for those of you who don’t know, it would have made him the only baseball player to hit two home runs in the same game that he hit the big 500… ever. But beggars can’t be choosers right?
So with Thome’s two homers and one home run addition from Juan Uribe (all of which were within the 5th innings) the Sox beat the Royals 7-0. The White Sox received much help from Jose Contreras, who got the shut-out. (F.Y.I. : This was his first since May 10th).
So yay for the Sox. Our offense in finally coming around. Even though it is essentially too late, we can always hope that it will continue into the start of next season. I have high, high hopes.

They’re awake again!

It looks like the Chicago White Sox offensive game has finally risen from a deep, deep sleep; however a think they overslept just a tad bit.

With less than two weeks left in the regular season, the Sox put on a show against Kansas City Monday night. The Sox, who have been waiting for something like this all year, had an 11-run inning, which came in the top of the 5th. There was a showcase of 10 hits and 3 homers in addition to the 11 wonderful runs. Another noteworthy stat is that this was the 2nd time this season that the Sox hit 3+ homers in the same inning. Pretty impressive.

Even though the Sox scored nothing in the rest of the game, this win put them back in fourth place. This, by the way, is a place that we haven’t seen since August 21st.

It would have been nice if this is how the whole season went, huh?

However, Monday night’s excitement was extinguished Tuesday. The Sox fell short against Kansas City, 3-2. Why couldn’t Monday night’s game carry over into Tuesday too? I wouldn’t have minded that at all. But, the 1st inning on Tuesday started off pretty unfortunate with KC scoring 3 runs off of Floyd. But look on the bright side, since August 6th, this was the first time a homer wasn’t hit off of him and he walked the fewest amount of batters since August 11th. Positive thinking.

When will the T-n-T explode?

Last season, rookies Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha were able to dip their feet into the NBA waters. Scouts and analysts said that these two players possessed the most potential out of the top fifteen players drafted last year. Both of these players had limited minutes, but somewhere during the season, they showed sparks of greatness. The question that Chicago has been asking is "How long will it be before Tyrus and Thabo break out of their shells?" No one knows...not even me surprisingly. But there is no doubt that star potential is there. But fuck...how much longer does Chicago have to wait???
Thomas wowed everyone with his hops incorporated into unbelievable blocks and sick-nasty dunks. This LSU freshman came into the NBA as the overall 4th pick by Portland but was traded to Chicago, along with Victor Kryapa, for Texas Longhorn LaMarcus Aldridge. Tyrus was the guy of the draft that everyone had high hopes for. He was 2006 SEC Freshman of the Year and Co-defensive player of the year. In one season, he had 99 blocks...what a freak! However his post game doesn't go much more beyond dunking. Tyrus is a guy where as soon as you give him the ball, all he thinks about is dunking it. He will throw in a post move every so often, but it is usually unset and out of control. He has tried to develop a short-range jumper. If he did develop any type of shot with the hops that he has, Tyrus would be that one step closer to being unstoppable.

Sefolosha was one of those rookies that was under the radar. Being apart of the Swiss National Team, Thabo's game was unknown to many, and no one knew if his game would fit into the NBA. The first half of the season started slow for Sefolosha. He would usually only come into the game if a guard was in foul trouble. The second half brought forth the Sefolosha that everyone had heard about but no one saw. He eventually found himself as a key player off the bench during Andres Nocioni's injury. His 6'7" height and even longer wingspan allowed him to shoot over defenders and even slip by through the lane. His defense is another story. At practices, he usually works with Ben Gordon in order to teach Gordon how to shoot over taller defenders. In the playoffs, Thabo was the key to locking down Dwyane Wade. He brought down Wade's playoff scoring average from 28.4 points per game from 2006 to 23.4 points per game in 2007. When his game was on, people realized that experience was not a factor with this guy.

All in all, defense is taken care of by Tyrus and Thabo. But last time I checked, the Bulls were already leading the NBA in defense. It's time for some offense. It's time for some buckets. As Happy Gilmore would say..."Time to go home there ball." So here's what will happen this coming up season. Thomas and Sefolosha will definitely see more playing time, and Thomas might even find his way into the starting line-up if Joe Smith doesn't show up. For now, they will be the fire off the most feared bench in the NBA.

I leave you with some sick-ass shit from my two boys.

Yankees > Suck

Can I just rant for a minute?

Never mind, I don’t need anyone’s permission.

If you like a team just because they are winning, you annoy me. If you like a team just because everyone around you does, you annoy me. If you know nothing about baseball and you tell me that your favorite team is the Yankees, you annoy me to no end.

Last year, you could not walk around Purdue University without seeing new Detroit ball caps or St. Louis t-shirts. People who were in my classes every day suddenly turned up with new apparel supporting either team conveniently right around October. And I swear to you, if you ask someone who doesn’t follow baseball who they would say their favorite team was they would say the New York Yankees. Maybe this is one of the reasons I cannot stand the team. Or maybe it’s because they are completely overrated. Who really knows at this point?

Speaking of point, mine is this: pick a team and stick with them through it all. If you were a Cubs fan ten years ago then I salute you. If you have been watching ESPN and have seen that hey, the Cubs are in first place, and went and bought yourself a ball cap in red, white, and blue, just hope that I don’t run into you. Because if you’ve learned anything at all about me in this short, angry outburst of a post, it’s that I don’t like bandwagon fans. And also, that the Yankees are greater than or equal to suck. Sorry to all of you NY fans out there, but it had to be said. Compliments to my fellow Cubs fan and bud, Clay.



This is what a true fan looks like.

Flashes of Brilliance

Occasionally the Bears management will make flashes of brilliance, but that's only occasionally. They don't generally make the best decision with their first round draft pick, but here is my list of their best first round draft picks.



5. Mike Ditka - TE drafted in 1961. Revolutionized the tight end position from a blocker to a receiver. In his first season with the Bears he had 56 receptions, which was unheard of for a tight end at that time and is still impressive by today's standards. He was inducted into the hall of fame in 1988, the first tight end ever. He was also the coach of the 1985 Bears who won the Super Bowl.



4. Brian Urlacher - LB drafted in 2000. Not only the best line backer in the league, the best defensive player in the league. Won Defensive Rookie of the Year Award in 2000, and the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2005. He is often considered over rated, but these claims are baseless. Just ask TO. Urlacher made TO his bitch after TO caught a pass but then fumbled it because he saw Urlacher coming across the middle to fuck him up. Also, on a Monday night in 2006, Urlacher had 18 total tackles and stripped the ball from Edgerrin James setting the Bears up to score and win the game, inspiring this memorable meltdown.



3. Jim McMahon - QB drafted 1982. Cocky badass from BYU. Quarterback of the 1985 Super Bowl Champion Bears. He threw for over 18,000 yards during his NFL career. He was the NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year. In his first public event with the Bears, he came out with a beer in his hand. He was in constant conflict with the commissioner Pete Rozelle about his headbands.



2. Dick Butkus - LB drafted in 1965. Scarred the shit out of everyone, players, coaches, refs. No one fucked with him. As a rookie he led the team in tackles, interceptions, forced fumbles, and fumble recoveries. Sports Illustrated named him "The Most Feared Man in the Game" in 1970.



1. Rex Grossman - QB drafted in 2003. Just kidding.



1. Walter Payton - RB drafted in 1975. The greatest running ever. Running backs today have wet dreams about running the ball like Sweetness. During his career he amassed 16726 yards rushing and 110 touchdowns. He was a classy fucker too. When President Reagan called him to congratulate him on breaking Jim Brown's rushing record, he thanked him and told him to give his best to Nancy.

Closing Up Shop

Ok, so you’re a pitcher and you’re good enough to play in the majors. But can you handle the pressure of being your team’s closer? The Cubs’ go-to man is feeling the strain of that job title this season.

With Ryan Dempster practically blowing the Cubs game on Sep. 6 against the Dodgers and then taking a loss in Houston after entering a tied game, some fans want him replaced. They want Piniella to have Carlos Marmol closing instead.

I have to agree with the fans on this one. Dempster does have 28 saves in 31 chances this season but with each game becoming closer and closer, the Cubs can’t afford to lose because the bullpen can’t seal the deal. It’s not that Dempster isn’t a swell guy or that he’s a terrible pitcher, it’s just the plain fact that, as of late, he’s letting the opponents get awfully close to winning or actually accomplishing this feat.

On the other hand, since the loss against Houston, he has earned three saves with no blown saves. But on the other, other hand, Bob Howry was asked to finish off an outing against St. Louis on Friday. What is Piniella getting at here?

''Our bullpen, especially our short people, have really done a yeoman's job out there,'' Piniella said. ''I would like to get to the point where we give them a little more of a lead.''

Ok, he’s not anti-Dempster or pro-Marmol. He’s just out to win. And to be fair, if the Cubs would just score more runs, it wouldn't put as much pressure on the bullpen to finish off the game. I guess as long as Dempster doesn’t pull a repeat of the Dodger game, I can live with him closing.



''I feel like when I'm going right, I can get the job done every time," says Dempster.

Let's hope so.

Put it on the board… YES!

Yes, please put it on the board for Mr. Jim Thome.

A crack of his bat and there it went, soaring 426 feet, right into the left-center bleachers. Yes, Jim Thome finally hit his 500th career home run this afternoon, with 29,010 fans in attendance. The historical walk-off home run sealed the Chicago White Sox’s win over the Los Angeles Angels. So add him to the list of famous major league sluggers. He may be the 23rd player to reach the 500 mark, (the 3rd this season) but he is the only player out of those 23, who generated a walk-off win for his team (ironically on Jim Thome Bobblehead Day).

After Thome struck out in what seemed to be his last at bat, there was the thought, “There is always tomorrow against Kansas City.” But the game wasn’t over. Thome was given one last chance, much thanks to Josh Fields and Danny Richar, who each had two huge blasts to help the Sox recover from an early 7-1 deficit. A rally was needed and Thome produced it.

Thome had been 0-4 for the day, and between his 499th and 500th home run, he had been a disappointing 2-13. He was just grateful, however, that the fans and his teammates stuck with him and he appreciated the support. “Just can't believe it, I really can't. The crowd and just the way they hung in there all weekend long, kind of the downs, they had a lot of downs all weekend, I would never have imagined doing that as a walk-off. Just amazing to see your teammates standing there. It's like a movie script."

A Glimpse of Hope?

Sexy Rexy Report: He looked better than he did last week, but that isn't saying much. He went 20-34 for 160 yards with a touchdown and two picks. In comparison, Derek Anderson of the Cleveland Browns went 20-33 for 328 yards, threw 5 touchdowns and only one interception, and he plays for fucking Cleveland. Didn't their fans used to wear brown bags over their face at games so no one could recognize them? Rex did better in the first half than the second, making me believe he needs to work on his conditioning.

The Good: Devin Hester was a manimal out there. If I had a choice between Devin Hester and Reggie Bush I would take Hester any day. Hester was drafted 57th overall and has made more of an impact than any other player taken in the 2006 draft. Also, the Bears defense held LJ to 55 yards rushing. People keep attributing LJ's poor performance to him holding out and skipping camp, but it is obvious the Bears defense is one of the top in the league. Urlacher recorded his first sack since the 2005 season, but to expect to see him getting to the quarterback more as he will be blitzing more this season.

The Bad: The offense. 239 yards on 66 plays is bad, really bad. Grossman has flashes of brilliance but he's leading the offense down the toilet. The offense has a strong, experienced offensive line, good running backs, and good receivers but they can't seem to get their act together. The only thing that saves them is the defense and Hester.

The Ugly: The only touchdown pass for the Bears was made to John St. Clair. For those of you who don't know, John St. Clair is 6'5", 315 pound tackle. I expect to see trick plays like this in elementary and high school football, but not in the NFL. I can't complain much since it worked, but it was definitely ugly.