The Cubs have won 5 in a row – on the road – since the all-star break.
The bats have come alive. Starting pitching has been better. Quintano was lights out in his debut. Arrieta, Lester and Lackey pitched well. They struggled to hold a couple of leads but prevailed. Davis was “off” last night, but is now 18 for 18 in saves. Tonite, Rondon allowed one hit and struck out the side in the 9th. Hendricks returns soon.
Thoughts?
Training camp for the Bears starts two weeks from today. And I, for one, am terrified.
Miguel Montero banished from the Cubs (fine with me). 
Your thoughts?
(Part 1) (Bear with me here.)
It’s 1:41 on a Saturday morning. I just got back home from the city. I had a long week at work. Things are insane both personally and in the world of Chicago sports. Maybe I will get to all of the Blackhawks stuff in the coming days. But for now, it’s time to talk Bulls. Yes, those same Bulls that have been irrelevant for the last 18 years or so.
That’s too long to be irrelevant, right? I mean, shouldn’t something change?
I was completely thrown off about five minutes into the draft when I heard that the Bulls traded Jimmy Butler. Now, myself and others have criticized Butler at times for not coming through in the clutch, bitching about teammates and some other things. However, the last year or two has been both exciting and a headache at the same time. He was really the only prayer for this team and if he just had a general manager who knew what he was doing, maybe we don’t get to this point.
I understand the trade of Jimmy Butler. I don’t think they could better unless they “tank” for a few years and try to get lucky in the draft. I don’t know if that’s going to happen. I have zero faith in this franchise and have had zero faith for the last 18 years. Nothing they do will convince me that the arrow is pointing up.
What I don’t understand however, is why the Bulls didn’t get more. It is PATHETIC in every way that ThomASS, of all people, was able to make the Bulls look stupid here. I love Kris Dunn, Jimmy Butler is worth more than a swap of draft picks and two players who still haven’t proven they can play on a consistent level. Maybe Lauri Markkanen (the guy they drafted) turns out to be a clone of Kristaps Porzingis. Or maybe, he turns out to be Shawn Bradley. Who the fuck knows? But once again, Jimmy Butler was worth more than that and the Bulls took a shit on this situation.
Everybody outside of this franchise is laughing at the Bulls. It’s the situation with the Bears on their draft night. The entire leagues are laughing at these teams for making such stupid decisions. They know that teams like the Bulls and Bears are one less team they have to worry about.
The right trade would have been those players along with AT LEAST, two more first round draft picks. This isn’t Chris Duhon the Bulls are trading. This is a Top 10-15 player in the NBA who clearly, was the best player on this team. In fact, Jimmy Butler was probably the best player this franchise has had since Jordan left. No, I am not saying Butler equals Jordan. But, if you ask me right now who the five best players in the history of this franchise are, I will say the following: Jordan, Pippen, Jerry Sloan, Norm Van Lier…and Jimmy Butler.
This isn’t going to change. The Bulls will continue to suck and just like the Bears, management won’t change. It’s not in Jerry Reinsdorf’s DNA. He is loyal. But, this is a fucking business. I own a business. If I like somebody as a person but realize that they are awful at their job, they’re gone.
I don’t have time for bullshit. I’ve fired people for being incompetent and I’ve done it within weeks/months of them starting. Why is this shit any differently? If you sucked at your job, you are out of a job. In that case, we all should apply to work for the Bulls. You never have to work hard and you can be incompetent as you want. There are no consequences. I bet you can take a shit right on the floor of the office at the United Center and there will be Jerry Reinsdorf ready to give you a raise.
Hey, the Bears are the same. Ted Phillips has been taking a shit on that franchise for 30 years. He probably banged George McCaskey’s wife with his micro penis. And that asshole still gets to keep his job along with a raise. Life is good.
In summary, all I am saying is if a team is going to trade a guy like this, they better get equal or better value in return. That’s what a trade is supposed to be. The Bulls did not do this and they are looking like a 25-win team right now.
(Part 2)
I was watching the NBA Draft as I do every year. And every year, I don’t expect the Bulls to do much. Now, I’ve written a time or two on here on how the NBA is just filled with horseshit because idiots like David Stern and now, Adam Silver, have let it get that way. The quality of the game just isn’t the same as it was when I was growing up. All of these players are leaving college after one season and because of that, not many of them become good players. Guys like LeBron and Durant are two out of a hundred that end up great. The other 98 may have careers in the game, but they don’t become household names. Make the rules a three-year minimum in college.
Jeff Van Gundy, whom I wanted the Bulls to have as their coach, did say something that was stupid. He said that basketball players should be able to find a job after high school (also meaning that players should be able to come out of high school). Well, I guess shouldn’t people who want to be teachers be able to skip college and go right into the education field, Mr. Van Gundy? That’s exactly what you’re saying about basketball players. Like the teachers, THEY AREN’T READY. They need education, practice in the classroom and other types of training.
So yes, I will put the blame on the Bulls for not being good. I will also blame the NBA for creating this clusterfuck of shitty TV deals that ruined basketball. These insane TV deals are the catalyst such enormous contracts which in turn, allow for “superteams” to be created. It’s a collective effort. If they really care about the success of teams, they will make a requirement for players to be in college for a minimum of three years.
I am going to miss this guy playing hockey.
Three Cups since the start of the decade. That’s three more than I thought this team would ever get ten years ago when Old Man Wirtz was still kicking. Marian Hossa was one of the main reasons why they won those three. For that, I am thankful.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fdlreporter/obituary.aspx?pid=184268435
I apologize if anyone found out before I did. The other day, I was looking through some old posts and wondering about one of our loyal friends, Keith (KSMC 2000). Some of you remember him writing some posts on here years ago.
A few years ago, he posted that his health wasn’t the best. And that’s pretty much the last we had heard from him on here.
Just a bit ago, I decided to do a quick Google search of him. He passed away on February 25th.
I don’t know if he mentioned what exactly happened, but he was only 59. That’s way too young.
The link above has his obituary. One of the sentences that made me happy was: “Keith celebrated when he finally got to see them win the World Series in 2016”.
I am very happy that he was able to see that, as we all are probably. I think our friend MadCityMac was able to meet him a time or two. It sucks that the rest of us didn’t get the chance to.
Oh, Nashville. Great city to visit, but horrible hockey fans in them (sorry if I offend someone).
Even though I am not really the biggest fan of the Penguins (I was pulling for the Senators), I had to do what was right and pull for them to beat the team that swept the Blackhawks two months ago. Call me a bitter man, but my reasons are warranted. And before I get to why fans of the Predators are annoying bastards, I will say the referees screwed them on two goals that could have won them the series. I don’t wish that on any team, but oh well.
Now, this is why I called:
First, these fans are the absolute worst. They heckle the goalie on the other team by chanting the name followed by a “You suck…it’s all your fault.” Good Lord. That’s atrocious. When it came to the Blackhawks, fans of the Canucks use to chant crap like that. Ask them how that turned out. In Game 6 of this series, they were chanting Matt Murray’s name even though he didn’t give up a goal. I guess it makes sense seeing as their hockey IQ is below average.
Next, copying traditions. For the last half century or whatever, the Red Wings have had a tradition of throwing an octopus onto the ice during playoff games. Now, I don’t like the Red Wings either, but at least I respect them. There’s a difference there. What do the “great” fans of Nashville do? They throw a catfish onto the ice. Wow. That is so awesome! Then, some moron tried throwing one onto the ice during Game 1 in Pittsburgh. He was promptly arrested. Stupidity should be a crime.
So, congratulations to Nashville Predators and and their “great” fan base consistent of country music singers who had no idea what hockey was until April. If I do go to Nashville for work next month, I’ll be glad to walk around with one of my Blackhawks’ shirts again.
I’m not panicking, as there’s a lot of baseball still to be played…but the 2017 Chicago Cubs are looking less and less like a serious WS contender.
And sadly, the only ones who can do anything about it are the greedy owners.
Today, the owners approved of making overtimes in the regular season only 10:00 rather than 15:00. So now, more ties would be likely to happen. Fact: Fans, for better or for worse, want to see a winner and a loser. Ties sometimes screw with playoff scenarios as well. Get ready for more shitty football.
The owners don’t give a shit what Goodell does to screw the game up because no matter what, this guy is the catalyst to filling their pockets and in return, they fill his. It’s crap.
Fact: The game of football is more dangerous with all of these rule changes than 20 years ago. Look how many more players are getting hurt because they have to play the game differently. All of the rule changes with how teams practice, hit and just running a play in general, are contributing to more injuries. We all know football is dangerous. That’s just the nature of the beast.
Meanwhile, nothing has been done to countless commercial breaks/timeouts or getting rid of Thursday Night Football games. If anybody wants to know another reason why players keep getting hurt, playing two games in four days will do that.
Logic doesn’t apply to the NFL.
Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Ben Johnson 