Category: NBA Basketball

Land-o-Links – 5/8/2006

On By Frank the TankIn Land-o-Links, NBA Basketball, Random Thoughts, Sports2 Comments

I'm extremely disappointed in Kobe and Company for completely blowing their momentum from this past week. This isn't because I have any affinity for the Lakers – in fact, I can't stand them. I just wanted to see a Lakers-Clippers playoff series. To me, the gap between the Lakers and Clippers is the greatest disparity in terms of history and cachet in any pro intra-city rivalry. It would have been magnificent to see all of those pent-up emotions boil over in the playoffs with all of the games being played in the same building. Unfortunately, this second round of the NBA Playoffs is the biggest letdown in terms of a "what-could-have-been" sports matchup since the prospect of a Cubs-Red Sox World Series in 2003. Anyway, on to today's links:

1) Freakonomics: A Star is Made – Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, the authors of "Freakonomics," put together this short examination of how much natural talent really plays into performing at high levels in any profession. They also look at a statistical quirk as to how a disproportionate number of top soccer players are born in the earliest months of the year. By the way, if you haven't read "Freakonomics" yet, I suggest that you go pick it up ASAP – it's absolutely one of the most fascinating books I've ever read.

2) Homer No. 713 a Super-Sized Blast – Is there anything I care less about? I'm sick of it.

3) Conan O'Brien Speaks: 'Chicago is in our DNA' – Conan's in town this week.

And finally…

4) McNally Smith College of Music Announces 'Ice Cube Scholarship' – I thought all of us at Illinois were cool for going to a school that awards the Hugh Hefner Scholarships. However, at this point, I don't believe anything can beat being called an "Ice Cube Scholar."

Bulls Can’t Take the Heat but Summertime Should be Fun

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Bulls, NBA Basketball, Sports3 Comments

It's been fun watching this young Bulls team mature over the last month of the regular season and through the playoffs. However, I think a lot of us were drinking a bit of Kool-Aid in believing that this rag-tag group could knock off a Heat team that boasts a starting lineup featuring two of the top five players in the NBA in Shaq and Dwyane Wade.

In the wake of being eliminated last night, though, the Bulls have a lot to look forward to this offseason. They have tons of cap space to pursue a free agent (NBADraft.net has a "State of the Cap: Chicago Bulls" article up on its wesbite) and at the very least a top-five draft pick via Isiah Thomas' gifts back to his hometown (for your pure entertainment for the day, please see the "State of the Cap: New York Knicks" entry) to add to a continuously improving young core group of players. Hopefully, the Bulls can address their two glaring needs:

1) Size in the Frontcourt – This has been the biggest issue for the Bulls all season and it was on full display in the last two games against Miami. I thought that Tim Thomas could have provided some help this year for the Bulls in that area, so I sent in a question to the Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith on the subject. He posted a response to my email online, which essentially said that "you had to be there" and that Thomas was a bum. I'll trust Smith's judgment since I consider him to be the Peter Gammons of the NBA, but I'm still not completely sold after watching Thomas drain a monster three-pointer to save the Suns' season last night.

Anyway, a lot of buzz for the upcoming draft have the Bulls using their draft pick from the Knicks on LaMarcus Aldridge or Tyrus Thomas (of course, it will depend upon where the lottery balls fall in a couple of weeks). Either of those guys look great on paper. What I'm worried about, however, is the only reason that those players are rated so high is that the upcoming draft has a dearth of quality big men and that their athleticism is being touted more than their power games. In essence, Aldridge and Thomas both sound like Tyson Chandler at this point, which won't help the Bulls at all.

Ben Wallace is a free agent and would turn the Bulls into a bona fide contender for the NBA title immediately, but there's little indication that he wants to leave Detroit, which could become the closest thing the NBA has seen to a dynasty since the Lakers' Shaq-Kobe era if the Pistons go all the way this year. The other free agent centers on the market include Joel Przybilla, who doesn't exactly make my heart fluttering at the thought of glory again. However, a merely adequate big man might be enough for next season if the Bulls add a…

2) Gamebreaker at Shooting Guard or Small Forward – For a team that is overflowing with guys whose natural positions are at the two or three spots, the Bulls amazingly don't have a true gamebreaker among them. Sure, they have high-level players in Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Andres Nocioni rotating through those spots, but none of them is a true go-to-guy that can create his own shot when the game is on the line. Every single one of them fits the wing man role perfectly, yet I don't see a #1 alpha-dog among them when it comes to taking over a game. In order to win in the NBA, you need that one player that can just break down the other team when necessary. Some Bulls fans think that guy can be Gordon, but the problem will always be that he's a 2-guard with the size of a point guard and is simply either really hot or really cold – the consistency that you need isn't there with him and I'm not sure that will ever change.

Therefore, it wouldn't be so bad if the Bulls don't end up getting the top-2 draft pick that they're anticipating in the lottery and instead have a lower pick where they take Brandon Roy. Out of the top prospects for the draft, he combines the right athletic size and fit that the Bulls need with a proven and polished game from leading the Washington Huskies in college. If there's a Dwyane Wade-type guy in the draft, Roy is it (and I'm not just saying that because he shredded the Illini in the NCAA Tourney this year).

As a result, the Bulls might be better off signing a mid-level center such as Przybilla or Nazr Mohammed in free agency while drafting Roy as opposed to using its draft pick on a big man. Besides, if the Knicks continue to bomb next year, we'll be in position to grab Greg Oden in the 2007 draft. In that scenario, a Bulls dynasty for the 21st century won't just be a pipe dream anymore.

Bulls Chug Along, Kobe on a Rampage, and the World’s Highest Paid Couch Potato is Awake

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Bulls, NBA Basketball, SportsLeave a comment

Some thoughts on the NBA Playoffs heading into tonight's action:

1) Can the Bulls Win on the Road? – The old adage is that a series doesn't start until a road team wins a game, which means this series is still up in the air. The fortunate thing for the Bulls is that Miami might very well have the worst home crowd in the NBA. Heat fans make Lakers fans look like diehard students of the game by comparison. On the other hand, the bad thing for is that I'm just bracing for Shaq to go off on a 40-point 20-rebound rampage, especially with Tyson Chandler sitting out with a sprained ankle. I also have a hard time believing that Dwyane Wade can be kept down on a consistent basis, although Kirk Hinrich has proven time and time again that he's a top-notch defender (and has shown some intestinal fortitude on the offensive end this series, as well).

I love watching this Bulls team overachieve, but the pessimist in me (World Series or not, this is at the core of all Sox fans) knows that they have been playing pretty much flawless basketball these first four games and only have a 2-2 tie to show for it. That's a testament to how well the Bulls have coalesced as a team yet also displays that there's a ceiling to how successful you can be in the NBA without a star (don't give me some line about how the Pistons have won without stars – Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace, and Rasheed Wallace are all certified gamebreakers). Honestly, this series is going to be determined by whether the Heat can wake up and finally turn it on more than anything that the Bulls do from here on out. Here's to hoping that they continue to underestimate us.

2) Kobe the Destroyer – Other than the Bulls-Heat games, I've been paying attention to the Lakers-Suns series more than anything else in the NBA Playoffs right now. Kobe Bryant is tearing the heart out of MVP-to-be Steve Nash and Phoenix the way Michael Jordan did it to Charles Barkley's 1993 Suns and Karl Malone's 1997 Jazz when His Airness got snubbed in favor of those players for the MVP. The way that Nash melted down at both the ends of regulation and overtime and how Kobe capitalized on each of the mistakes on two buzzer-beaters in the same game on Sunday was spectacular but hardly unexpected. Kobe is leaving no doubt in anyone's mind as to who the best player in basketball in the world is today. Believe me, Nash is a top-level player, but should he have won even one MVP award much less two in a row? Don't be so naive to believe that there isn't a "Great White Hope" factor playing into this.

3) From World's Highest Paid Couch Potato to Star in the Playoffs – An unintended consequence of following the Lakers-Suns series closely is observing Bulls outcast Tim Thomas tear it up for the Suns. I had a post written back in February entitled "The World's Highest Page Couch Potato" about Thomas' strange falling out with Scott Skiles and how the Bulls sent him to sit at home even though (1) they desperately needed the size that Thomas could provide for them and (2) they were still paying $14 million for the season as the highest paid player on the team. However, by the time I was ready to post that column, he was released by the Bulls and the Suns picked him up. So far in the first four games of the Lakers series, Thomas is averaging 15.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game for Phoenix (and that's including him missing some time at the end of game 3 due to a sprained left knee).

This begs a couple of questions. First, did Thomas really have so horrible of a work ethic that the Bulls absolutely had to send him home to sit around and collect the highest paycheck on the entire team? When the Bulls released Thomas, the two teams that wanted him the most were the Suns and the Spurs, the two best teams in the vastly superior Western Conference that also have no-nonsense coaches. It makes me question whether Thomas could have possibly been that much of a detriment. Second, if the Bulls had actually used Thomas, could they have been the most legitimate threat to the Pistons in the East this season? The Bulls are clearly overachieving right now with a team full of undersized guards and forwards. If they can get past the Heat, they could possibly make it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they would promptly get crushed by Detroit. By adding a 6'10" player that can actually shoot three-pointers extremely well, however, the Bulls could have presented a true challenge to the Pistons (and at the very least, would have had enough talent to not have to play perfect games against teams like the Heat in order to even have a chance to win).

Would Thomas have disrupted the Bulls' undeniable team chemistry? That must have been in the thoughts of both Skiles and John Paxson when they made the decision to send him home. However, when it became clear that Thomas was desired by winning teams like the Suns and Spurs, it gave me doubts as to what the hell the Bulls were looking for. Especially in light of Tyson Chandler's repeated injury problems, I don't know how the Bulls just let 15-plus points and 9-plus rebounds get away without anything in return.

Land-o-Links – 4/25/2006

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Bulls, Land-o-Links, NBA Basketball, Random Thoughts, SportsLeave a comment

My top 99%-unlikely-but-you-never-know sports wish right now is the Bulls being able to bring Dwyane Wade back to his hometown of Chi-town when he becomes a free agent in 2007. This is a guy I'd pay serious money to watch every night. The way he's been exploding on both ends of the floor against the Bulls so far in the playoffs is just ridiculous. For the here and now, even being down 2-0 in the series, the Bulls are doing about as well as they possibly can against the Heat, who feature 2 of the top 5 players in the NBA with Wade and Shaq. At this point, if the Bulls lose this series but stretch it out to 6 games, that would be an impressive accomplishment considering their severe talent disadvantage. After that, I'll just dream of Dwayne making the United Center his homecourt. Here are some exceptional links for the day:

1) Hernandez Apologizes for Comments – "I'm Keith Hernandez."

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2) Advertiser Counts on Sheep to Pull Eyes Over the Wool – The Dutch finally got sick of all those sheep farmer jokes.

3) Outdoor Life Network to Become Versus – The sad thing here is that I know OLN paid a lot of consultants a lot of money to run this by a lot focus groups… and this is what they came up with.

4) Blackbelt's at Back of Cicero President – As all Chicago South Siders know, Cicero puts the "ass" in "class."

5) Finland Squirms as Its Latest Export Steps into the Spotlight – Hint: the Finns aren't worried about the latest phones from Nokia.

And speaking of rockers in masks…

6) Rival Bands Clash Over Little-Person KISS Tribute – This is the type of case I need to be working on.

(Photos from ESPN.com, New York Times)

No Pistons in the First Round = A Chance to Advance

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Bulls, NBA Basketball, Sports1 Comment

Did I actually say earlier this year that the NBA Eastern Conference has improved? On the last day of the season, the Bulls could have ended up anywhere from the #5 seed to the #8 spot. That's ugly. Still, Scott Skiles has got this team rolling right now. After the Chicago Bulls spanked the Toronto Raptors last night, our guys moved up to the #7 seed and avoided the Pistons. Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune even believes that the Bulls will beat the Heat in 6 games. That might be some wishful thinking (particularly when the Bulls have Carrot Top going up against Shaq at center), but I do feel that the Bulls have a decent shot to beat any other team in the East other than the Pistons (which means that avoiding that #8 spot for huge). The fact that the Bulls have gone from on the cusp of missing the playoffs completely a week ago to a possible run to the Eastern Conference Finals shows (1) how bad the East is and (2) that Scott Skiles is the right coach for this particular type of team.

I'll admit to having been a Skiles skeptic. The Tim Thomas situation earlier this season (sending a 6'10"/240 lb. guy to sit at home while collecting a $14 million salary when the Bulls' biggest need was and still is size in the post was one of the strangest things I've encountered in sports in a long time) soured me quite a bit. Skiles' shaky relationship with Ben Gordon has also bothered me since Gordon is the only player on the team that is considered to be an offensive threat by anyone. To me, Skiles seems like someone who would be a fantastic college coach but is too much of a control freak to be able to deal with the primadonnas of the NBA.

He might still encounter this problem down the road if Gordon takes his game to an elite level or the Bulls acquire a true star. If that happens, Skiles might have a career path similar to former Bulls coach Doug Collins. Collins was extremely successful in disciplining and pushing young teams to play beyond their collective talent levels. However, when Michael Jordan really started coming into his own as a player and a leader, everyone recognized that Collins' style could not mesh with such a superstar and the coach was pushed out (ironically, Jordan realized later on how important Collins was in His Airness' career and hired the former Bulls coach to man the helm with the Wizards). I foresee a complete repeat of this story with Skiles – once the Bulls get to a certain talent level, Skiles' coaching style won't work anymore and he'll need to be pushed aside for a Phil Jackson-type manager of egos.

In the meantime, though, Skiles is the right man to be in place for such a young and growing club. There's a complete lack of expectations with this team, so the Bulls are playing with house money at this point. They aren't anything close to a championship team, but it's nice to see some concrete examples of hope in the post-Jordan era. If the Bulls end up with a marquee player in this year's draft (thank you again, Isiah Thomas), it's possible that we can move into that rarefied space occupied by the Celtics and Lakers of NBA franchises that have enjoyed multiple dynasties.

Who Do You Root For? The Choice is Yours… or Not.

On By Frank the TankIn Big Ten, College Basketball, College Football, Major League Baseball, NBA Basketball, NFL Football, Sports6 Comments

If you've read "Now I Can Die in Peace" by Bill Simmons (ESPN.com's Sports Guy), he has a list of rules in the book's introduction on how and when you can be a fan of a sports team. Essentially, you need to cheer for the teams in the region that you grew up in (for college sports, you or your parents need to be alums or you grew up in a town or region where college sports dominated the scene) or the teams that your parents that transplanted from or went to school elsewhere raised you to root for unless your favorite team relocates to another city (or, as in the case of the Blackhawks, the team's owner destroys all will of the fan base completely). Dan Shanoff, also from ESPN.com, has some more flexible rules regarding how you can pick a team (such as "fan-in-law" status by marriage – I don't know if I buy that one). Finally, Minnesota Red Sox broached the subject of raising your child as a fan of a team other than your own in order to avoid constant heartbreak (great article, although Minnesota Red Sox must freely admit that he broke a number of the Sports Guy's rules, such as committing "sports bigamy" by being a diehard fan of both the Cubs and Red Sox along with having to answer questions from a higher power at the pearly gates in the future as to how he could ever, ever, ever cheer for the Packers after being raised in Chicago).

I tend to agree with the more restrictive tenets set forth by the Sports Guy. It's one thing to jump on the bandwagon of a great story, such as the Red Sox comeback in 2004 or George Mason this year, but a person should only be a true fan of one team for every sport. For me, it's the Fighting Illini, Bears, White Sox, and Bulls. There are other teams that I follow with a lot of interest, such as DePaul and the Cubs, but make no mistake about it – there will never, ever be an instance where my rooting interests aren't 100% clear if any of those two teams meet. I spent three years in law school at DePaul and want the Blue Demons to do well, but if Illinois ever plays them in basketball, every ounce of me will be cheering for the Illini.

What infuriates me are sports cherrypickers. For instance, I read a Steve Rosenbloom interview with Penny Marshall a few months ago where she expressed how she is a diehard fan of both the Yankees and the Lakers. Jack Nicholson and a host of other celebrities claim to have the same loyalties. This is why half of America believes that Hollywood doesn't have a soul. Certainly, it doesn't have a sports soul when its citizens pick the two most powerful franchises in sports to root for that, by the way, are located on opposite ends of the country. It's like rooting for both Hitler and Stalin. That's just sickening.

Almost as bad is our favorite Duke apologist Dick Vitale also being honored as an honorary alum of Notre Dame as well as being a season ticketholder for Irish football games. A Duke basketball/Notre Dame football fan – could you imagine anyone being more insufferable? At least Dicky V has somewhat of an excuse since he's sent his kids to Notre Dame. In his aforementioned column, Shanoff states that a parent that spends $40,000-plus per year sending a kid to a school gives that parent every right to cheer for that school. Considering that tuition for a year at Notre Dame could buy me White Sox season tickets for the next 40 years, I'll side with Shanoff on this one. Still, just the thought of a Duke/Notre Dame combo gives me the heebie-jeebies.

I'll grant that there are large sections of this country that might not have a natural rooting interest dictated by geography or people that went to schools that either don't have sports teams or don't care about sports. So, at first, I thought that those people could be entitled to a "team draft" of sorts, where they could pick teams to root for but couldn't get greedy. For instance, if I'm a person that lives in North Dakota, I could root for the Yankees, but since I picked such a dominant baseball, I would need to take, say, the Arizona Cardinals as my football team. That would ensure that evil combos such as the Yankee/Laker fan wouldn't become a nationwide epidemic.

As I started thinking about it more, however, it became clear to me that there are just certain teams that no one should ever cheer for unless there is some type of geographic/family/alumni connection. Here's my top ten list counting down in reverse order:

10) New York Knicks – Every year, teams vie for the ESPY Award for The Most Putrid Team That Sportscenter Pays Way Too Much Attention To. We've had a banner year in this category, with the top contenders being the Eagles ("T.O. is selfish, crazy, and wants to get paid? This calls for a breaking Sportscenter Update!"), Cubs ("Prior and Wood are both hurt at the same time? I haven't heard that one before!"), and Lakers ("From an unconfirmed source, Shaq reportedly said he saw Kobe and R. Kelly handing out room keys at the Brookwood Junior High graduation dance"). Unfortunately for all of these teams, the Knicks have captured this award for the 57th year in a row, which just happens to be how long the NBA and its New York franchise have been in existence.

9) Indiana Hoosiers – If you went to a different Big Ten college, you don't need any explanation. If you didn't go to a Big Ten college, all you need to know is that they're evil.

8) Michigan Wolverines – See #9 above.

7) San Francisco Giants – This doesn't have anything to do with the franchise itself, which has blessed baseball fans with Bobby Thompson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" and Willie Mays. The Giants are here simply because of the "Despicable Athlete" exemption (other qualifiers from the past and present: any team with Terrell Owens or Bill Laimbeer), although Bay Area fans seriously need to get some perspective. I know all about blindly cheering for your team, but c'mon, folks, this is beyond being in denial.

6) Dallas Cowboys – Honestly, I really don't care about T.O. that much – he just seems to be a common thread on this list so far. With or without T.O., however, the Cowboys would be high on this list one way or another as a carryover from their high-minded attitude during their dominance in the 1990s. Now, with T.O. plus Bill Parcells, the Cowboys might become the foremost challenger the Knicks have ever had to that ESPY Award described in #10 above (as long as Isiah Thomas is at the helm, though, put your money on the Knicks).

5) USC Trojans – If you skimmed the top 1% of the Laker fan base in terms of income and snobbiness, you'd be left with USC supporters. In addition, have I told you how much I hate their fight song? For some reason, the average person on the street believes that the USC Trojan Marching Band is an elite group since they appeared on some televised Fleetwood Mac concert a few years ago. Rest assured, I heard them play that goddamned fight song live for four hours straight at the first college football game I ever went to in Champaign – they royally suck. Of course, I'll be the first to admit that it would have been a ridiculous amount of fun to go to school there.

4) Notre Dame Fighting Irish – To me, just because you're Irish Catholic doesn't mean that you've got to worship the Golden Dome (which seems to be common refrain here in Chicago). Now, I'll grant Irish fans that going to a game is quite an experience for any sports fan. It's a beautiful campus and seeing Touchdown Jesus on gameday is spectacular. In general, however, if you took away the nice weather, attractive women, and recent national success from their rivals at USC but raised the pompous arrogance up a notch commiserate with having a contract with N(D)BC, you'd end up with Notre Dame.

3) Los Angeles Lakers – All of the other teams on this list do have one admirable thing in common: they've got rabid fans that would die for their teams (even if they are annoyingly insufferable). Lakers fans, however, are without question has the biggest bandwagon jumping fan base of any franchise in sports. The beautiful celebrities show up for games in droves when the Lakers are winning and flee for better clubbing atmospheres when they're losing. The Lakers would be #1 on this list if their fans weren't so pathetic.

2) New York Yankees – In the Sports Guy's book, he noted that one his favorite emails of all-time from a reader stated the following: "Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for the house in blackjack." Absolutely perfect.

1) Duke Blue Devils – A combination of all of the worst traits of the aforementioned rest of the top 4: the Borg-like perfection/conformity of the Yankees, the loudmouthed and spoiled fan base of Notre Dame, and the bandwagon backers of the Lakers. Coach K doesn't consider himself a basketball coach that happens to be a leader; Coach K considers himself a leader that happens to coach the team that no one anywhere should ever cheer for (unless they fall into one of the exceptions and even those people are suspect) if they have a sports soul.

A Tradition Unlike Any Other: Frank the Tank’s Random Weekend Thoughts

On By Frank the TankIn Big Ten, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Golf, Illinois Fighting Illini, Major League Baseball, NBA Basketball, Random Thoughts, Sports2 Comments

Random sports thoughts from the weekend:

1) Lefty Again – I was perplexed for a moment when I thought I saw Hootie Johnson, Jim Nantz, and Tiger Woods present the Green Jacket to Bartolo Colon in the Butler Cabin, but then I realized it was just Phil Mickelson. Seriously though, it was amazing to see Mickelson, who two years ago was golf's version of the Chicago Cubs, turn in such a dominating performance yesterday with a leaderboard filled with Tiger, Vijay Singh, Fred Couples, Retief Goosen, and Jose Maria Olazabel (one of the most underrated athletes in any sport) right behind him. The two best things about the Masters: (1) only 4 commercial breaks per hour with a limit of 2 commercials during each break and (2) when CBS jumps to "bonus coverage" of another hole, there isn't a shot of a coach taking a timeout to immediately go into another commercial break. As a result, I watched about 12 hours of golf this past weekend and the answer to your question is yes, I have no life.

2) Badgers and the Frozen Four – After watching Wisconsin beat Boston College in the Frozen Four to win the national championship in front of a virtual home crowd in Milwaukee, I believe that it's time for Illinois to make the leap to NCAA Division I hockey. One of these days, I'll write a long-winded and detailed rant on "How Bill Wirtz Fucked Up with Frank the Tank" explaining why I'm not an NHL fan and how the Blackhawks are dead to me, but when I was in college, going to Illini club hockey games was one of one of my favorite things to do on campus. Even though Illinois just had a club-level team, all of the games were packed with fans. Considering how popular the hockey teams are at the other Big Ten schools that have Division I programs, that hockey is typically the only sport other than football and men's basketball that consistently turns a profit for athletic departments, and the Assembly Hall can be turned into a rink for games, this seems to be a no-brainer for Illinois (although it seems that the rest of college hockey is petrified of the Big Ten forming its own hockey conference).

3) WTF, Bulls?! – The Bulls suffocated the Sixers last week in Philadelphia and the Sixers were reeling from losing another game on Friday night, so it would seem that the Bulls were destined to take a 2-game lead over Philly for the last Eastern Conference playoff spot on Saturday night in the rubber match in the comforts of the United Center, right? Well, I'll need to check the box score again to confirm this, but I believe that Allen Iverson made 5,000 straight jumpers along with 4,000 free throws in the third quarter while the Bulls shot 1-out-of-10,000,000. Believe me, if you think those numbers are bad, it looked a lot worse watching it live. So, there's now a tie for the last playoff spot with the Bulls needing to play the super-hot Nets on Tuesday. Just awful.

4) How Long is the Grace Period for the White Sox? – The Sox dropped 2 out of 3 to the Royals, which up until last week, when Kansas City voters passed a tax referendum to renovate Kauffman Stadium, was Candidate #1 of MLB Teams That Need to Move to Las Vegas. Supposedly, we're only one week into a five-year moratorium on complaining about a team after they've won a championship. Is everyone sure it isn't supposed to be a five-week moratorium instead?

5) Cubs – Cards vs. Yankees – Red Sox – Here's what I believe is the primary difference between Cubs – Cardinals rivalry and the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry (besides the "small" factor of actually winning the World Series recently): While the Cards could be equated with the Yankees in terms of success compared to their respective rivals, I've never met a Chicagoan that actually would ever willingly move to St. Louis (I'm not talking about heading to Wash U for college for 4 years – I mean permanent residence). I know I wouldn't. In contrast, the bemoaning of the constant failures of the Red Sox (up until 2004, of course) was an extension of the overall inferiority complex that Bostonians feel toward New York City. So, what's worse? Is it the Chicagoan that looks down upon St. Louis as an inferior city yet the Cubs maddeningly don't have anywhere near the history of success of their rube rivals (in football terms, subsitute "St. Louis" with "Green Bay" here)? Or is it the Bostonian that consistently feels inferior on both fronts? I'll leave you with that thought on your Monday morning.

Margaret Cho Wasn’t Available, So the Bulls Sign…

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Bulls, NBA Basketball, SportsLeave a comment

I was invited at the last second to go to last night’s Bulls game against the Nets, so I of course gladly accepted.  The Bulls looked like a playoff team last night in beating New Jersey, the first place team in the Atlantic Division, 95-87.  Playing the Pistons tonight, however, won’t help the Bulls in terms of stringing together a bona-fide winning streak for once.  A few random thoughts:

1) I didn’t realize that the Bulls signed Carrot Top to an NBA contract a couple of days ago.

2) Andres Nocioni is the Bulls’ reincarnation of former Illini player Lucas Johnson.  Nocioni is a tough and scrappy player that you love to have on your team and opponents love to hate.  He had a fantastic game last night with 24 points off the bench.

3) Vince Carter scored the quietest 25 points that I’ve ever seen.  Seriously, our group commented throughout the entire game on how Carter looked sluggish, hurt, sick, and disinterested.  Yet we were all shocked to see at the end how many points he had scored during the night.  Vinsanity has got to be high on the list for the NBA record for most garbage-time points.

4) I wouldn’t have been surprised if Carter, Jason Kidd, or Richard Jefferson went nuts on the Bulls.  However, I wasn’t expecting Nenad Krstic to look like the Serbian Shaq with 29 points.  The dude was on fire – Carrot Top had no chance.

5) What’s up with Ben Gordon’s relationship with Bulls coach Scott Skiles?  While Gordon is a liability on defense, he’s such a ridiculously good offensive player that the Bulls need him out on the floor a majority of the time.  Instead, he only received 24 minutes of playing time and was absent for most of the 4th quarter even when the score was close.  Skiles has done an admirable job with this franchise over the past couple of years, but his handling of the one player on the team that has the skills to become a true NBA star is puzzling.

Coming up – after tackling the Big Ten issues of the locale of its basketball tournament and the adding of a 12th team, I’ll be reviewing some changes I’d like to see to the Big East Tournament and the World Baseball Classic over the next few days.  Stay tuned!

Praising Isiah (as a Bulls Fan)

On By Frank the TankIn Chicago Bulls, NBA Basketball, SportsLeave a comment

It looks like Isiah Thomas is determined to have the greatest collection of overpaid underachieving players in the history of sports – and as a Bulls fan, this is the greatest situation ever. Thomas has now brought Steve Francis on board to the New York Knicks, meaning the wacky GM has added yet another bloated contract to the ridiculously high salary team. The Knicks are paying out $130 million in salaries this season, which is over $30 million more than the next highest team payroll in the NBA in the Dallas Mavericks. The difference is that the Knicks are 23 games under .500 while the Mavericks have the best record in the Western Conference. With the way that the NBA salary cap is structured, the Knicks are stuck with all of these underachievers and cannot take advantage of their superior financial resources to sign anyone from the bumper crop of free agents coming onto the market over the next couple of years

Statistically, it might seem like Isiah made a good deal by sending Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza to the Magic in exchange for Francis. However, Francis has a long history of being a selfish player that doesn't get along with his teammates and coaches. It's okay to bring in a talented but underachieving problem child to a team that has strong leaders to smack him into line. In the Knicks' case, though, they already have underachieving, lackadaisical, and overpaid players in Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Eddy Curry, Quentin Richardson – actually, it's really everyone on the Knicks roster. Larry Brown is a stellar coach, but I can't see even him turning around this nightmare of a ballclub.

As Sam Smith pointed out a couple of weeks ago, the biggest beneficiary of Isiah's ineptitude could possibly be the Bulls. From the Eddy Curry trade, the Bulls get the Knicks' first-round draft pick for this year and then have the right to swap first-round picks with them in 2007. As the Knicks continue to tank, they could very well end up with the #1 pick in the NBA Draft for two seasons in a row – and the Bulls would get them both! That means we could end up with Adam Morrison after this season and then, even more exciting, the next great center in Greg Oden after that. If the Bulls have those two guys on the court with Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng with Ben Gordon and Tyson Chandler rotating in, we could have a new NBA dynasty in Chicago. Isiah Thomas is finally giving something back to his hometown after being our nemesis with the Pistons!

Big Ben Wins the Beard Bowl and Other Weekend Sports Tidbits

On By Frank the TankIn Big East, Big Ten, College Basketball, DePaul Blue Demons, Illinois Fighting Illini, NBA Basketball, NFL Football, SportsLeave a comment

Despite the worst two conference championship games in recent memory (although I at least didn’t repeat the debacle known as my divisional playoff predictions), there was a lot going on in the world of sports this past weekend, particularly on the basketball court:

1) AFC Championship Game: Beard Bowl is a Big Ben Beatdown – The Steelers are the gold standard of where the Bears want to be.  Pittsburgh has a stifling defense coupled with a powerful running game, much like the Bears did this past season.  However, as Rick Morrissey aptly pointed out in today’s Chicago Tribune, the biggest reason why the Steelers are heading to Motown while the Bears are staying home is that Ben Roethlisberger can do a whole lot more than just “manage” a game – he brings a ton to the quarterback position in terms of passing accuracy, mobility, and poise.  Plus, Bill Cowher has completely shocked everyone by turning his QB loose and stretching the field out with aggressive passing plays over the last two games.  The Steelers have been completely in rythm on offense.

At the same time, Jesus H. Unabomber, er, I mean Jake Plummer finally showed his true colors and imploded as predicted here and elsewhere.  The interception he threw five seconds after the Broncos got decent field position for the first time all day was about as predictable as Jason going on a killing spree in a Friday the 13th movie.  Plummer’s fantastic beard couldn’t hide the fact that he just isn’t a guy you can depend on in crunch time.

2) NFC Championship Game: Holmgren Climbs Hasselback Mountain – Watching this game was essentially 3 hours of “what if” questions going through my mind, as in, “What if the Bears had double-teamed Steve Smith?”  The Panthers offense was clueless yesterday with the Seahawks draping two or more defenders over Smith the entire game.  Troy Aikman appropriately called the Bears “arrogant” for believing that they could stick to single coverage on Smith last week.  The Seahawks weren’t stupid and cocky on defense regarding the Panther wide receiver and made the needed adjustments, which is why Seattle is headed to their first Super Bowl this season while we here in Chicago continue to buy books about the ’85 Bears.

Meanwhile, Matt Hasselback has come a long way from his “We want the ball and we’re going to score” comment against the Packers after the overtime coinflip in a 2004 playoff game at Lambeau.  This guy looks like a Super Bowl quarterback.  Mike Holmgren has probably cemented his standing as the best teacher of quarterbacks in history, with Joe Montana, Steve Young, Brett Favre, and now Hasselback under his belt.

3) Two More Weeks??? – Other than the fact that the games themselves were terrible this year, the worst thing about conference championship weekend is that we all have to wait two friggin’ weeks until the Super Bowl.  The Super Bowl should actually feature a pretty good matchup this year, but I don’t know how many human-interest stories can be milked from the Pittsburgh – Seattle pairing for two whole weeks.

4) Here Comes McBride – Richard McBride, it’s a pleasure to see you again.  Hitting four three-pointers was a very good thing on Saturday.  It was an even better thing to see the Illini notch their first Big Ten road victory, even if it was against Northwestern.  In addition to McBride, Dee Brown and James Augustine got back on track in the victory.  The only thing that troubles me is that Illinois didn’t completely shut the door on the Wildcats in the second half.  Northwestern never really got back into the game, but it’s disheartening to see a 20-plus point lead dwindle to 10-points in a matter of minutes.  We still need to improve on closing out games if we want to win another Big Ten title and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

5) DePaul is Done – Unfortunately, this is probably going to be the last time I write about DePaul in the near future since the Blue Demons have gone in the past week from an NCAA Tournament bubble team to a club that is unlikely to even make the Big East Conference Tournament.  After losing to Providence on Saturday, DePaul has dropped to 1-5 in Big East play and 8-9 overall.  With the toughest games of the season remaining on their schedule (i.e. Georgetown, Villanova, at St. John’s, at Louisville, and Syracuse) the Blue Demons are pretty much out of it when it comes to any type of postseason play.  DePaul freshman forward Wilson Chandler looks like a stud, but the team is at least a year away from making the NCAA Tournament.

6) Kobe’s 81 – On the one hand, Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance on Sunday evening might be the greatest individual performance in a regular season NBA game ever.  It is certainly a whole lot tougher for a perimeter player such as Kobe to drop that many points compared to a big man like Wilt Chamberlain (whose size compared to the rest of the league was even more of a factor in the NBA of the ’60s).

On the other hand, Kobe’s career seems to be the inverse of Michael Jordan’s and that’s a very bad thing for the Lakers.  The highest individual numbers for Jordan came in the first few seasons of his career – it wasn’t until he figured out that he needed to get the rest of his team involved that he started to win championships.  Kobe found great success as a team player at the beginning of his career in winning three rings with the Lakers.  Now, as Kobe gets older, he seems to be taking more shots and getting higher individual marks even though his team gets worse.

So, as amazing as Kobe’s non-Wilt record 81-point game was last night, the trajectory of his basketball career is headed in the completely wrong direction.