I have to admit, the results are in the record. Tom Thibodeau is having impressive start as a new head coach. I have noted his previous problems on a previous post, but the Bulls are a force and the reliance on the Thibodeau way on defense is making the Bulls look almost Jordanesque. The plays Derrick Rose makes are amazing and looking like Tiny Archibald leading the Celtics to a championship. I hope it continues.

God love the Chicago media. As the referenced story above proves, serious reporting is in short supply.  After the foolish loss to Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets, the press let Tom Thibadeau escape his fatal rookie mistake with “we have to get a loose ball” .  Well that’s not good enough.  Vinnie del Negro was excoriated for much less and the press never let up.  I love K.C. Johnson, but he almost ignores the blunder of the year.  We now have the Lovie love fest spilling over into Bulls coverage.

One of the cardinal rules of coaching in the NBA is to have your “closers” on the floor at the buzzer. Who did we have in the absence of Derrick Rose? Somebody named John Lucas, who was asked to win the game by hitting two free throws. Why in the world was the ball not in the hands of Kyle Korver or at worst Luol Deng in a situation where they did not have to shoot? A rookie off the street should never get near the ball in this situation, even if he is a 1.000 free throw shooter. You might as well have picked someone from the third balcony and put him on the line.

We’ll forget that the defensive strategy on the final shot was non-existent. This supposedly wonderful defensive strategist does not know what a double team of the star player on the opponent looks like, allowing a Carmelo Anthony jumper at the buzzer. But the coach blames it on the fact the Bulls did not get the loose ball on the previous play. Well this may be true, but the truth is, there was no Bull near enough that ball to get it. They just made a great play on the previous shot and couldn’t be in two places at once. That does not excuse allowing a free shot at the buzzer 4 seconds later.

But none of this matters if Korver or Deng or maybe the star of the game CJ Watson were on the line to win the game. John Lucas? Not today, coach. It just doesn’t wash. Man up and admit you blew the game and  I’ll believe it was just a rookie mistake. Keep it up and join Vinnie on someone else’s bench.

Chicago White Sox

Bye, bye Paul Konerko and maybe AJ. Starting pitching looking good, but they can’t make up their minds on a closer and are going to let some good relievers go with no real replacements from the minors. We need a third baseman, first baseman and a bench upgrade because we are sure to let go one or two outfielders. I will wait until Kenny makes his signings and trades, but know that it won’t be real upgrades, just churning of journeymen. Until there is some upgrades, second place may even be a stretch.

Chicago Cubs

They new manager looks like an upgrade from dimentia-challenged Lou Pinella. Carlos Zambrano is Carlos Zambrano, a question mark. They have a couple of good youngsters, but will be losing some veterans, have no first baseman, should lose Aramis but can’t see the forest for the trees. They need some pitching help and upgrades at most positions. Second and short look secure as well as catcher, everywhere else is a question mark. Let’s see what they do over the winter. Not encouraging right now. A new manager can only win a handful of games and the players need to play.

Blackhawks

Our only champion. Kudos to the former gm now elsewhere for assembling the team that won. The new geniuses will have to try to match him. Let’s wait and see before we make a rash assumption.

Bulls

They look pretty good so far, but obviously at least one player short of contention for a title. Boozer will help, but he will be replacing Taj Gibson who is playing as well as Boozer can. We need and off guard. We need Luol Deng to step even further up. The choice of guards in the free agent pool was iffy at best. Brewer is hopeless. Bogans was a flop in Orlando and will be a flop here. I wish we still had Heinrich or Gordon and forgot about Lebron the megamind. Playoffs will be a struggle. Maybe second round.

Bears

Watching the Bears is like going to the psychiatrist. You gotta talk it out to convince yourself to do it again. ‘Nuff said.

Noah on a rampage

If you have read my previous post you know I am a big Joakim Noah fan. I said a year ago that he was part of the Bulls base for a long time. He has now proven my confidence in him was well warranted. He lit up the Cavaliers for 21 points and 20 rebounds. This is harder than a triple double because it is a double double doubled. Noah has also become spokesman for the team as he has been constantly interviewed by the press, in he hopes he will say something provocative of stupid. You see the real press is so blind, they keep referring to him as a buffoon and a player of no consequence. They constantly harp that the Bulls have no frontcourt player of consequence and no post presence. That has become a jingle for the TV reporters. And they continue to show their stupidity over and over by repeating the mantra game after game. Well I beg to differ! Joakim will be on next year’s all star team, showing up the idiots that put Brad Miller on the ballot but not Noah. His emergence has allowed the Bulls to refocus on the thing they really need, an all star type shooter. Lebron James, Dwayne Wade or Johnson in the free agent  sweepstakes this summer. He is a franchise player now whether the press or dumb fans like it or not. There is even a column by Scoop Jackson on ESPN.com that you should all read that enhance my faith. His column is at http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nba/columns/story?columnist=jackson_scoop&page=jackson/100421

The Bears are not really looking for a real coordinator. They are waiting for someone desperate enough to take the job. They are waiting for the suckers in the press to tell them more names because they are clueless on their own. I won’t even waste the effort to put a picture on this post, they don’t deserve it.  I don’t know who is more gullible, the sportswriters in Chicago who actually take them serious or the fans who actually put out real money to keep them in business.

Why don’t they  just go out and hire someone with experience that is unemployed at the moment and be done with it? Because they are cheapskates. And they have a gullible press and fan base that accepts this nonsense. They are rolling in excess cap money every year and can’t even spend some of that cap money to bring in a free agent that can run a route or play safety or offensive guard.

The show they put on with these “interviews” they run really dupe these media morons who buy their show,  hook, line and sinker. If we all just ignore them maybe they’ll just go away.

Well. At least Chicago has one sportswriter who has a clue. The other sheep like to echo the saying of the day: [we need a coach that can teach Derrick Rose the point guard position] [We need a coach who can manage the clock] [Vinnie is dead coach walking] [The decision to fire Vinnie has already been made] Actually what they didn’t say says a lot about them, The same writers use reverse logic when it comes to Lovie Smith. Why? They are reverse racists, that’s why. When anyone publicly calls for Lovie’s firing, they say they are racist because Lovie is black. And when the white coach is having injury  and personnel problems he has to go immediately. (Christmas Eve?) When Lovie’s defensive scheme’s are utter failures, they say Brian Urlacher is out, so it doesn’t count.

I love it when they say that Vinnie can’t help Derrick Rose be a better point  guard. Why? Because he is white? Like he didn’t play the position for many years? Oh, that doesn’t count.

When they say Vinnie can’t manage the clock, why? Is it because Bernie Bickerstaff didn’t call the timeout? He certainly added his two cents before Vinny calls those timeouts. But they forget that also.

When they say Vinnie is dead coach walking do they explain why? No they just pontificate about the record being 11-18.

When they say the decision to fire Vinnie has already been made, I agree. BY THEM. No wonder Vinnie laughs it off.

Now I know political correctness rules everything today and a white sportwriter cowers in fear to ever be referred to as another Rush Limbaugh and lose their cushy job with perks galore. But how about some even-handed reporting like the above referenced article. And the writer is not white, but a great writer. See another article he wrote on another page on this website. I posted his article on Chicago sports because it was a great article. Fair. Even-handed. Terrific.

Kudos John Jackson!

I know I threw out some broad insinuations in this  article, and I know there are beat writers and there are editorialists. But some of the beat writer sometimes are interviewed on tv and sometimes they crow the line that seems the safest. But there is also a lot of cross pollenation where the writers go on TV and spout some of the lines reffered to in this   article. Sometmes it looks like they don’t even mean what they say. This is what I refer to. Not just their articles. But the overall gist of what becomes a jingoism and concensus.