Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Ben Johnson

Happy Monday, meatballs of the Chicago sports world.

…the Cubs would be in the wild-card playoff game.

I know – all too well – that there’s still a lot of baseball to be played. That said, I’m impressed with Joe Maddon so far and want to believe that the Cubs are moving in a positive direction. Your feedback welcomed.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-joe-maddon-on-jake-arrieta-s-performance-second-half-improvements-20150712-premiumvideo.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-aaron-kromer-arrested-20150712-story.html

Thoughts?

Put all of your ANGER right here.

Well, it’s finally here. Raw is at the Allstate Arena. Brock Lesnar is scheduled to be there and a rumor of Ric Flair showing up after the show goes off the air is out there as well. But I know one thing that WILL be there. And yes, it’s true.

Larry Horse is my father.

So, this is how a player goes about after his former coach does everything in his power to shorten his career? I am surprised I didn’t hear about this last week when it happened, but Jimmy Butler decided to have dinner with ThomASS at Gibson’s Steakhouse downtown.

I know this shouldn’t really be a big deal. I mean, two people having dinner isn’t, in the grand scheme of things. But after all of the garbage that we have dealt with the past five years, why is Butler even associating himself with this hack? ThomASS tried to ruin his career by playing him so much, he led the league in minutes the last two years.

If I were Butler, I would have stayed as far away from this doofus as possible. And the Bulls were stupid enough to give him a max deal of five years and $95 million.

The Chicago Bulls (and Chicago Bears): One step forward. Two steps back.

From what I heard on The Score last night, the Bulls, supposedly, have a steal in the draft. He’s only been in college for two years, but it appears to management that he is ready.

I would like to be optimistic about Fred Hoiberg when it comes to using the bench. Portis is going to have to play. I am not expecting him to start but giving the team at least, 20-25 minutes a game is ideal. He’s a power forward and one would think that he would take the place of Joakim Noah, who is very bad at the game of basketball. Let’s pray Portis doesn’t rebound the ball and take it up the court like he is a point guard, only to have it stolen from behind.

There is a possibility he could play center, too. With Noah being so bad at basketball and the uncertainty of Gasol’s health, it’s very much in the realm of possibility. No other team is dumb enough to trade for Joakim Noah (even though he has an expiring contract). I think the Bulls will still have Cameron Bairstow, so that’s an option, too. Tony Snell can play forward, if needed. All of these guys are going to have to play and play well. Some of the idiot fans may have responded to that post with “those guys suck”. Seeing who the last coach of this team was, I think it’s very difficult for someone to get better at basketball when they are always on the bench.

Besides, I highly doubt the Bulls are going to make a run at trading for DeMarcus Cousins or signing Kevin Love. The Bulls will have to play with the cards their dealt. It’s time to find out if the kids can play.

Mustache rides for everyone!

This idea was suggested by loyal reader, DVX. In a previous thread, he posted this:

“We have spent so much time on this site bitching and badmouthing the coaches, GMs and owners of every Chicago team on this site, and all Joel Quenneville has done is guide this team to three Stanley Cups in six years.”

I don’t think many of has doubted Joel Quenneville often over the years. I will admit, in 2009 and 2010, I was going bat shit crazy because he kept going to Cristobal Huet in net rather than Antti Niemi. As time passed, he figured it out and the rest is history.

In 2008, Qunneville took over just a few games into the season after Denis Savard was fired. It marked the end of an era where the Blackhawks would do nothing but hire coaches who use to play for the Blackhawks. Before that, I experienced the likes of Daryl Sutter, Dirk Graham, Bob Pulford (multiple times) and Trent Yawney. I know that makes some you guys throw up in your mouth, especially the last two. I actually liked Sutter (and still do), but the rest were awful.

Joel Quenneville has won Stanley Cups with different assistant coaches and while the core of the team has remained intact, the role players have changed in each one. Do some of his lineup changes drive us nuts? I would say so, but I have learned to stopped doubting why he decides to play Kris Versteeg rather than Bryan Bickell. And that move actually paid off in the final three games against the Lightning.

He’s going to the Hall of Fame. He is third all-time in wins as a head coach and he will surpass that next year. Scotty Bowman is the all-time leader with about 500 more wins. If Quenneville coaches another 10-15 years, he will pass that.

We should be very lucky to have this guy, especially after all of the other names of past coaches in my lifetime that I named. And of course, mustaches equal championships, my frendts.