Chicago Bulls – Derrick Rose Looks to Blossom in Windy City

Commissioner David Stern casually walks up to the microphone and announces “With the Number 1 pick in the 2008-09 draft, the Bull pick Derrick Rose, from the Memphis Tigers.”

Meanwhile back at the Friendly Confines (no wait that’s another sport), I mean the United Center, the fans that were on the edge of their seats jumped up in unison as their eyes were glued to the screen above the scoreboard at center court.

“It means a lot to play at home. The Bulls had great players like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman,” said an elated Rose minutes after pulling the token Chicago Bulls cap snuggly on his head while holding up the #1 jersey that was given him as he made his way to the podium. “Just knowing that I can be a part of that history, it’s amazing.”

Downstairs in the War room coaches, scouts, and General Manager John Paxson drew a heavy sigh of relief after weeks and months of agonizing decisions that would hopefully lead the Bulls back to the Promised Land. The Bulls proved that this might be their year (umm…wrong sport again?) by pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the brief history of the NBA Lottery with the ping pong ball bouncing Chicago’s way. The Bulls had a slim 1.7 percent chance off pulling off a miracle, but the Brass must have rubbed Michael Jordan’s head before the airing.

Then the most important debate began since the 1984 NBA draft where the Bulls got some guy from North Carolina dropped in their lap as the third pick overall. Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie went number one and two respectfully, and we all know how that turned out.

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Kevin Durant, OKC Thunder Look Forward to First Season

After what seemed like forever in NBA years, the Seattle Supersonics took the proverbial leap and landed squarely in the middle of Oklahoma City, changing their name to the Oklahoma City Thunder. After spending 41 years playing in front of the meager thousands at Key Arena, owner Clay Bennett thought it was time to break away from the confines of a substandard arena to a new and improved Ford Center in OKC.

With the much heralded and controversial move that involved several court battles in Seattle and Oklahoma City, Bennett decided a change in scenery, along with a new name would hopefully change the fate of the storied franchise.

The move eventually cost Bennett $45 million dollars to break free from the remaining two year contract at Key Arena but hopefully with the frenzied fans, and fresh start that OKC offers it will be money well spent for years to come.

The Thunder look to try to improve on a 20-62, the teams worst season in franchise history with some fresh legs from this year’s sophomore core, and new faces taken in this year’s draft.

Even a minor improvement over last year’s mark will be a welcome change for management who has already conceded that expectations will not be high according to Bennett.

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Former Indiana Star D.J. White Poised for Role With OKC Thunder

“With the 29^th pick in the 2008-09 draft the Detroit Pistons select forward D.J. White out of Indiana” came the words of NBA commissioner David Stern as the Big 10 Player of the Year was announced to Motor City fans as the next Piston. But later that night the Pistons traded D.J. White to the newly formed Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Walter Sharpe (32^nd) and Trent Plaisted (46th), two second round picks who seem to better fit the Pistons’ mold.

D.J. White, who played his college ball under the Sampson fiasco (regime) at Indiana University, earned Big 10 freshman of the year honors, and then matched that with Player of the Years honors as a senior, along with being named to the 2008 2^nd team All-American squad.

White not only brings athleticism to the OKC Thunder, but the team will also benefit by his eagle-like wingspan that should reek havoc on defenses throughout the league.

White should be able to step in and relieve forward Chris Wilcox, who looks to get most of the playing time while White learns the system. After the learning curve of the NBA, the roles should be reversed in the favor of the Indiana rookie.

White’s wingspan should be an added plus on the boards where he averaged a double-double in his senior year in the rough-and-tumble Big 10 last season. The rookie’s strongest suit might possibly be in the half court game where he has developed a strong 10-15 foot mid range jumper and can take it to the hoop if needed.

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The Night Chicago Baseball Died – White Sox | Cubs

Today, I consider myself the saddest person on the face of the earth, to borrow a line from an old Lou Gehrig speech. Even though both Chicago teams made an early exit from this year’s playoffs, a tip of the hat should be extended to White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and Cubs manager Lou Pinellia for their outstanding contributions to Chicago baseball fans everywhere.

With the Cubs winning a league leading 97 games during the regular season, and the White Sox season being extended by one game and into the playoffs, fans throughout the Windy City were given something to talk about all season long (a rarity in itself) at the watercooler or over lunch during the 182 or 183 game schedule.

Normally a Cubs season theoretically only lasts until the dog days of summer. This year has been a thrill in it’s own right, with the team basically going wire to wire before taking a seat to the Los Angeles Dodgers in yet another first round meltdown.

The White Sox bettered their cross town rivals by extending the regular season after defeating the Tigers in a makeup game and extending the season to play the Minnesota Twins again (for what seemed like the 10th time in a week). The Sox did manage to once again outplay the Cubs by winning at least one game against the upstart Tampa Bay Rays.

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Chicago Cubs Cursed Again – Dodgers Move to NLCS

The Chicago Cubs suffered their second consecutive sweep in the playoffs falling at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 Saturday night. The Cubs were one of the favorites to win it all this year after an impressive 97-64 record during the regular season, running away with the division by 7-1/2 games over the Milwaukee Brewers.

The sweep was the Cub’s first since June 27-29 when they lost three straight games to their cross town rivals Chicago White Sox in Interleague play.

Ironically the Dodgers avenged an earlier sweep at the hands of the Cubs at the Friendly Confines back in May. The only difference is that the Dodgers are advancing to the National League Championship Series and the Cubs are looking to 2009 where they will hopefully find a way past the first round.

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Chicago Cubs Lose to Los Angeles Dodgers | Game Two – NLDS

The Dodgers return to Los Angeles in full tow of a 2-0 game lead with a 10-3 win over the favored and beloved Cubs on Thursday night. The loss in Game Two of the NLDS came as a result of a disastrous second inning flop by the Chicago Cubs that left the team and their fans emotionally drained and ready for a long, cold winter in Wrigleyville.

Carlos Zambrano, the emotional ace for the Cubs looked early on as if he was the same pitcher that shut down the Houston Astros in September for the teams’ first no-no since the blue glove of Milt Pappas. But after what would turn out to be a costly miscue from one of the most reliable second basemen in the league (Mark DeRosa’s boot of a routine grounder that kicked out of his glove forcing a wide throw to second), the Dodgers scored their first run of the night and kept rolling from there. After the miscue Zambrano was visibly shaken, jumping up and down shaking his head, and if you looked close enough you could even see his spirit being drained.

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The Chicago Cubs Are Still Cursed – For Now

Then only thing the Chicago Cubs have to worry about is their own pitching woes that plagued the Cubs again last night as they hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers to open the NL playoffs.

Dodger first baseman James Loney silenced the crowd connecting on a 3-2 pitch that sailed over the center field fence for a heartbreaking Grand Slam and a 4-2 lead. The Cubs suffered their seventh straight post season loss as Chicago coach Lou Piniella’s refused to pull the plug on starter Ryan Dempster who had clearly struggled through five innings on the hill.

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Chicago White Sox Beat Detroit – Play Minnesota Twins Today

by Mike Zink

The modern day “Shot heard round the world came off the bat of 27-year old Chicago White Sox rookie Alexei Ramirez in the form of a 388-foot blast over the right field fence for his rookie record fourth grand slam of the year. The blast catapulted the Sox to a come from behind 8-2 win over the Tigers, forcing a one game shootout with the Minnesota Twins for the right to advance to the playoffs.

“Win or lose tomorrow, we will hold our heads high,” Konerko said, as reported by chisox.com. “It’s really a good story either way. Minnesota or Chicago is not supposed to be here. Everyone is proud no matter what happens. But we aren’t satisfied. We want to win and get in the playoffs.”

Ramirez jumped on an off speed pitch that caught the heart of the plate by former White Sox pitcher Gary Glover for his 21st round tripper of the year, and the rest as they say is history as the Sox plated an insurance run for a five run sixth inning.

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Chicago Cubs: Ending the Curses in 2008

by Mike Zink

So far the Chicago Cubs have survived the Black Cat scare of 1969, and the dreaded curse of the Billy Goat in 1945. All that is left is to banish the Bartman curse and make it farther into the playoffs then their dreaded history has allowed them since 1908. For Die Hard Cub fans (excluding bandwagon, and fair weather) this is the year (I know, every year is “the year”), but if positive history is to repeat itself
then this really is the year.

If a “died in the wool Cub” fan wanted to prove or back up the facts all he would have to do is dig deep in the history books and see that the last time the Cubs won the whole thing, the team was riding the heels of back-to-back Word Series appearances in 1907-1908 when they handled the Tigers in a five game series four games to one on October 14th 1908. This year is the second season of back-to-back playoff appearances four our beloved Cubs.

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