This just in: The Red Sox and Yankees play this weekend. And apparently there’s some sort of rivalry between the two? I don’t know, but ESPN seems to care.
Anyways, seeing as how I’ve been busy with other stuff (such as seeing the Cubs lose to the Padres 4-3 in 14 innings in the front row of the Wrigley Field bleachers Tuesday), and have had to ask nights off work, and seeing as how I only update my blog when I’m at work (nice, huh?) I figured it’s time to catch up on some of the events over the past week and a half.
I finished reading the Mark Frost book The Greatest Game Ever Played last week (the same week Zach Johnson pulled off a Francis Ouimet-esque performance at the Masters), and I must say, EXCELLENT book. For anyone who enjoys the game of golf (playing or watching) I highly recommend it. And for anyone who’s seen the mediocre Disney movie with Shia LaBeouf movie: Trust me, read the book. The movie doesn’t do it justice at all. Just thought I’d throw that in.
Alright so I’m an optimist. Maybe that makes me a homer. Maybe it makes me a bad columnist because I’m not constantly criticizing, but I can’t help it. When it comes to my teams, I always look at the bright side of things and I always believe (at least in most cases) that they can come out on top. But at the same time I’m not a ridiculously biased fan who just constantly thinks that my team is the greatest. I’m a realist. When the Packers were making their late season “push,” I was optimistic that they could make the playoffs with a few lucky breaks. But I also knew that they were a mediocre team in a mediocre division and that they were lucky to even be in that situation and I didn’t expect them to pull through, and they didn’t, so there. I’m not an idiot, just an optimist.
Here’s a rundown of stuff that I care about.
NBA--Which brings me to the Chicago Bulls. Despite a crapjob of a game against New Jersey which dropped them from the two seed to the fifth seed, I’m still optimistic that they can come out of the East and get the honor of losing to the Mavericks/Suns/Spurs in the NBA Finals. And I have my reasons.
The biggest problem with the Bulls this season has been inconsistency. While the same three guys (Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng) have been providing the scoring all season, they haven’t beaten the good teams consistently all season, and that’s why people are picking against them against the likes of Detroit, Cleveland, and Miami. But here’s the thing. The Bulls are undoubtedly the deepest team in the East. With Chris Duhon, Thabo Sefalosha, Tyrus Thomas, Malik Allen, and the finally healthy Andres Nocioni coming off the bench, they have an unlimited array of rotations they can throw at any team they play.
And yes, I know that they’re playing Shaq and D-Wade and that the Heat are the defending champs and that Shaq has lost only one playoff series in like the past seven years, but the Bulls match up against the Heat very similarly to how the Pistons matched up against the Lakers when they beat them for the ’03 title. With the most obvious being Ben Wallace against Shaq. And while both Shaq and Wallace aren’t the same players they were four years ago, and Wallace might not be able to handle Shaq like he did in Detroit, Bulls’ announcer Stacey King brought up a good point on Chicago Tribune Live. When Wallace missed a few games late in the season to sickness, the Bulls rotation often had undersized Allen at center and Thomas playing power forward and the zone gave opposing teams fits. Those two along with P.J. Brown mean the Bulls should be able to match up against Shaq with several guys and if that doesn’t work, they still have an abundance of fouls to throw at him.
Also, Wade averages a career-low 16 points per game against the Bulls for his career. Dating back to their college days, Hinrich has just had Wade’s number defensively and now he’s not even 100 percent.
Let’s face it. The Heat are old. They’re the defending champs but how can they expect to win a seven game, grind it out series against a young, scrappy team against the Bulls that play great defense, shoot the ball extremely well, and now finally have a defensive set that is designed to stop a guy like Shaq. When the Bulls and Heat played last season, the Bulls didn’t have Deng or Wallace and still played the Heat tougher than any team in the playoffs. Now they have Wallace and Deng is healthy and having the quietest great season in the NBA. The Heat can’t counter Deng defensively. Wade and White Chocolate are too small and Antoine Walker, James Posey and Udonis Haslem are too slow.
The Bulls should win this series. And let’s say six games at the most. I’m optimistic.
(Note: I won’t go into why the Bulls should beat the Pistons until they actually meet in the second round).
MLB--All this NBA talk has pushed aside the biggest story of the week, that being Mark Buehrle’s unbelievable no-hitter. Not only is it the first White Sox’s no hitter since I was four years old. Not only was it remarkable because it was by a contact pitcher. Not only was it by my favorite player in the entire major leagues, but it was also the first no-hitter that I saw from beginning to end. And it was by my favorite team, at a low point in their season. I don’t care how he pitched last season. Buehrle is one of the most likeable players in baseball; a down to earth, low-key guy who just goes with the flow. He’s had the quietest successful six year span that I can think of. He just goes out and pitches and usually does well and enjoys doing it. After all the money Kenny Williams has thrown around over the past two years, I don’t know what I’ll do if he lets him leave and sign with St. Louis this off-season. It just can’t happen. Be smart Kenny, be smart.
NFL Draft—The fact that every mock draft I’ve read since the season ended has had the Packers drafting Marshawn Lynch in the first round has made this year’s draft somewhat uninteresting. Although last year was the same thing as it was a mortal lock that they were going to draft A.J. Hawk, I could at least get excited about it because I was a HUGE Hawk fan in college and was incredibly pumped about them drafting him. This year it’s different because A) I don’t know jack squat about Lynch and B) I think they’re drafting the wrong guy.
I know the Packers lost Ahman Green and need a running back, but wouldn’t it be more logical for them to package together late round picks and/or Marquand Manuel to San Diego for Michael Turner or Dallas for Julius Jones, both of whom are young and available, than take their chances on someone in the draft? Plus, the guy they should be drafting is safety Reggie Nelson from Florida. Nelson’s stock has dropped due to all the genius scouts who were upset about his 40 time or something stupid like that. But the fact is, the guy flat out has a nose for the football. He is a lot like Troy Polamalu but with better hands, and even more importantly, he doesn’t bite on the play action fake! Which is something both Nick Collins and Manuel (along with every other player on the Packers defense, offense, special teams, coaching staff, and front office) do ALL THE TIME. Ted Thompson made a plan when hired as GM to build his team through the draft instead of overpaying free agents. But with this it doesn’t stray away from that method at all. You’re trading for an incredibly young running back that clearly has some NFL skill and you’re still able to build your vastly improved defense even more by adding a true playmaker in Nelson.
But I guess I don’t really know much, that’s just what I think.
1 comment:
Interesting to know.
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