Say It Ain't So

The NCAA tournament is changing again. Only this time it has nothing to do with the number of teams in the tourney. Gus Johnson will no longer be a play by play announcer for CBS, ending his 16 year run of calling NCAA tournament games. Gus and CBS could not agree on a new contract today, ending my dream of Gus replacing Jim Nantz calling the Final Four someday. Gus made watching the tournament games exciting as it always seemed he called all the nail biting finishes.



Hence the creation of the "Law of Gus." In his first year of calling the tournament, he was the announcer for the upset of #4 seed UCLA (the defending champs) by the hands of #13 seed Princeton. From that point on, the legend of Gus was created. Other noteable games that Gus has called during his tenure of the tournament include Vermont beating Syracuse in 2005, Ohio St.'s comeback versus Xaiver in 2007, Kansas St and Xaiver's epic double overtime game in 2010, and the famous UCLA comeback versus Gonzaga in the 2006 tourney.

March won't feel the same next year. The "Law of Gus" is no longer with us for the tournament. I am already disappointed (and I know that the fellow writers of this blog are as well) to know that Gus will no longer be with us in March with our brackets, highlighters, and shamrock shakes to call the tournament games. I hope someday that Gus will be back, and all will be alright in the world. I'll leave you all with this Gus tribute to help remember the epic moments from Gus.

2011 Chicago Bears Draft Preview

The Bears surprised many people last season, including myself, by reaching the NFC championship game. However, the season was a disappointment because they did not win the Super Bowl. The Bears finally have a first and a second round pick after a two-year hiatus and it could not come at a better time. Many of their players are getting up there in age and they have several holes to fill to make them a consistent contender. Not to mention the fact that divisional rival Green Bay is a young team and has had success in drafting over the years. Bears GM Jerry Angelo on the other hand, has not been very successful in drafting players during his tenure. Since taking over as GM in 2001, Jerry has drafted only six players (Tillman, Manning, Hester, Olsen, C. Williams, and Forte) in the first or second round that are still on the team. All drafts are critical to a team, but this draft is especially critical for the Bears to draft well to remain in contention for the NFC and Super Bowl title.




Bears Draft Picks, Round (Pick #): 1 (29), 2 (62), 3 (93), 4 (127), 5 (160), 6 (195).

Needs (In order of importance)

1. Offensive Line: The most pressing spot on the line is the LT spot, but the other 4 positions are of need as well. In 2008, the Bears thought they drafted their LT of the future in Chris Williams. Injuries and inconsistent play has limited him in his brief career. Center Olin Kreutz is a free agent and will be 34 in June and the other spots on the line is full of make shift players. The Bears would love for Gabe Carimi from Wisconsin to fall to them at 29, but that may not be likely. Many mock drafts have them selecting OT Derek Sherrod from Mississippi St.

2. Defensive Line: Other than the production from Julius Peppers, there was not much else production from the DL last season. Israel Idonije had a nice season, but he benefited from playing opposite of Peppers. Tommie Harris was released before the lockout but underachieved and was injury prone his last few years in Chicago. DT Corey Liuget from Illinois would be a nice prospect to see fall to the Bears at 29 if all the top OL prospects are off the board, but that seems unlikely. DT Marvin Austin from North Carolina (“Don’t drink and twitter,” Brent Musburger) may still be on the board, but he has character issues and the Bears usually stray away from character issue players.

3. Cornerback: Charles Tillman is a solid pro, but the other corner spot is still a question mark. Tim Jennings did ok as the second corner during the year, but he was exploited in the NFC championship game. Not to mention the fact that he is like 5’2. Zackary Bowman has always had good training camps, but he has not been able to translate that into the regular season. The Bears need to pick up a competent corner that can help defend the multiple receiver formations that teams such as the Packers show.

4. Wide Receiver: I think the Bears think higher of their receiving corps than they should. It is a decent group of number 2 and number 3 receivers, but they do not have that one guy you can consistently count on to make a play. Earl Bennett and Johnny Knox made strides of improvement this past season, but I do not believe they are going to develop into a number 1 receiver at any point in their careers. I am high on Jon Baldwin from Pittsburgh and if he were to slip to the Bears when they draft in the second round, I would not be disappointed if they drafted him.

Low and behold, as I get home from work early this morning I come to find an article from Chicago Breaking Sports that the Bears are shopping their first round pick. I am not surprised in this maneuver what so ever. Jerry Angelo has a history of dealing first round picks in order to trade down to acquire more picks. I guess I would not be too upset if he trades out of the first round, granted they get in return a pick that is early in the second round and another mid round pick or two. They had also better be sure the prospect(s) they are targeting would still be on the board at that point. I just have a gut feeling, based on experience, that the 29th pick will be traded at some point Thursday.

Other Bears Off-Season Quick Hits

- While I am on the subject of the Bears, I feel I should address a few other offseason notes. The first one is regarding Mike Martz. He recently turned down a contract extension from the Bears because it did not include a raise. I have a question… Why does Martz think he deserves a raise? The Bears were 30th in the NFL in total offense last season, a decrease from when they were 23rd in the league in 2009. His offensive philosophy was one of the reasons in how Jay Cutler sustained his first injury of the season (concussion), causing the Bears during their bye week to tell Martz to balance the offense out and stop calling passes that require 7 step drops. His play calling in the NFC title game was also questionable. I mean, who can forget the reverse to Earl Bennett on third down with about a minute and a half left in the 4th quarter right? Martz should just be happy he is in the league right now. One final thing, how about Martz demanding a veteran backup quarterback during training camp? The choice, Todd Collins. Enough said.

- Jay Cutler finally opened up about his injury during the NFC championship game. Cutler said, “I was gone, and I stayed away from it all, but I can't say it didn't bother me that people questioned my toughness and desire to play.” That quote just speaks to Cutler’s personality. He is not a person who is particularly interested in what people say or feel about him. Nor is he going to be front and center in the media being vocal about how wrong all the critics were about his injury. Jay is Jay, and that is just the way it is.

- Finally, I know Charlie wanted me to touch on this, Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari are reportedly engaged. My response, congratulations to the both of them.



-Michael Fant

NBA Bracket Challenge

Eastern Conference

First Round
Bulls vs Pacers: Bulls 4-1
Magic vs Hawks: Magic 4-2
Celtics vs Knicks: Celtics 4-1
Heat vs 76ers: Heat 4-1

Second Round
Bulls vs Magic: Bulls 4-2
Heat vs Celtics: Heat 4-2

Eastern Conference Finals
Bulls vs Heat: Bulls 4-2

Western Conference

First Round
Spurs vs Grizzlies: Spurs 4-1
Thunder vs Nuggets: Thunder 4-2
Mavs vs Blazers: Mavs 4-3
Lakers vs Hornets: Lakers 4-1

Second Round
Spurs vs Thunder: Thunder 4-3
Lakers vs Mavs: Lakers 4-2

Western Conference Finals
Lakers vs Thunder: Lakers 4-2

NBA Finals
Bulls vs Lakers: Bulls 4-3

A $100K Swear Word

A new precedent has been set in the NBA by fining players when they get caught swearing on T.V. Kobe Bryant was caught on T.V. Tuesday night yelling at a ref after getting a technical foul by saying, "Fucking faggot." The fine for this obscene remark is $100,000. $100,000 for swearing? The fact that he is fined and the amount he is fined is extreme for just saying a few derogatory words. Players of any sport curse during the course of a game and it gets caught on T.V. but no fines are ever handed out. I do not understand what is so different about this situation.



Bryant obviously did not mean to imply that the ref was actually a homosexual. As bad as it may be, the term "faggot" has become a slang slur that many people use on a daily basis. Kobe apologized for the comment today by releasing this statement: "What I said last night should not be taken literally. My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period. The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone." Kobe, as well as anyone who has played competitive sports before, realized that he made this comment during a game where his adrenaline was racing and it is hard to control what you say. I probably have used "faggot" before during a game in referring to an opposing player or a ref. Does that make me prejudice towards gays? No. It is just something said out of frustration that is not really meant to mean what the term is.

David Stern made this comment while announcing the fine of Kobe, "Kobe and everyone associated with the NBA know that insensitive or derogatory comments are not acceptable and have no place in our game or society." So Mr. Stern, the next time I hear a player calling another player the "N" word during a broadcast, should I expect to see a fine coming because he is insensitive towards African-Americans? I think this phrase occurs more often than that case of Kobe's slur. You cannot pick and choose which slurs are considered insensitive and which ones are "ok" to say.

You think Kenyon Martin got fined for making these comments after a game against the Mavs?(Nnnnnooooooo)

Tim Lincecum Loves In-N-Out Burgers

Tim Lincecum and I have something in common, and no it's not being a Cy Young pitcher in the majors. It's our love for fast food. "The Freak" has put on 11 pounds this offseason and it may well be attributed to his order at the fast food chain In-N-Out. According to a diet-blog.com article, this is what Tim orders when he goes to In-N-Out: a chocolate-strawberry shake, two fries, ketchup, and three Double-Doubles, sans lettuce and tomatoes. Thankfully Tim has gone away from eating more cheeseburgers per the article, and just orders more double-double burgers. This is the type of order you would see me make at McDonald's, causing one cashier at McDonald's to tell me "Woah, don't hurt yourself now," when I made an order one time.

Now I understand that he is a professional athlete and he has "freak" abilities, just like his nickname, but I do not think this type of diet can be good for his long term future as a MLB pitcher. Chad Johnson, yes I know its Ocho-Cinco, is also famous for his diet of McDonald's. Some athletes can get away with this diet because of their extradorniary genetics, but just keep an eye on Tim's performance this year with this type of diet.

Jerry's Optimism

At least 4 championships? As a Bulls fan, I like the sound of that. Chicago Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf had this quote in the Chicago Sun-Times, "We have an outstanding coach, an outstanding bunch of players, the team is deep, and if we stay healthy, we have an awfully good chance of winning at least four championships." I like the optimism that Jerry has but I would just say this, let's win one title first with this team.



The way that this team is built does not follow the same pattern as multiple title winning teams. The best player on the Bulls by far is point guard Derrick Rose. The NBA is a big man's league and it is rare for a team to win the title with their best player being a point guard. One of the only teams that come to mind is the Detroit Pistons from the 1989 and 1990 NBA Finals when Isaih Thomas was the best player on those teams. Even winning back to back titles does not qualify the words "dynasty" to come out of my mouth. Lets look at the past 3 decades and the main title winners of those decades:

2000's: Lakers (Shaq and Kobe)
1990's: Bulls (Jordan)
1980's: Celtics (Bird and McHale) Lakers (Johnson and Worthy)

The best player on those teams were of a height that was 6'6 or taller. And yes I do realize that Magic Johnson was a point guard. But he was 6'9 and playing on some very talented teams. And if you did throw the Spurs (Duncan) of the 2000's and the Rockets (Olajuwon) of the 1990's in the mix of teams to win multiple titles in their decade, their best player was still a big guy. I hope that Rose and the Bulls make an exception to the rule, but as history in the NBA shows, don't bet on it.

The Bulls defense is one of the best in the league. They give up a league's best 91.5 points per game on the defensive side. Defense is more than just a player guarding a player. It takes 5 players to work together for a team's defense to be succesful. However, I do worry about their ability to get easy scores on offense at times. There are times when they rely heavily on Rose's ability to penetrate and score too much. There are also times when they run set plays that they look like they are just running the play instead of making the right reads and looking to score quickly. I think they can get some easy, quick scores if they would pass to the first option of the play instead of running the play through for all the options. They have found a low post scorer in Carlos Boozer, now they need to find a wing player that can score easily from the perimeter to compliment Rose and Deng.

Another thing that this Bulls team has going for it is it's chemistry. The reports out there make it seem that the players get along with one another very well off the court. To be frank, I'm not suprised. I mean, how could any team that has Brian Scalabrine have bad team chemistry? He has the look of a guy who you would play basketball with at your local YMCA. And he also has the look of a guy who you would go out and get Larry O'Brien'd with and have an awesome time. I think the importance of team chemistry should not be underplayed. Though you can not statistically measure the importance of team chemistry, I feel more confident in my team if their team chemistry is good.

I have no doubt in my mind that the way the current Bulls are built, that they can win one or two titles. The Knicks and Heat are still a year or two away for being NBA Finals ready, and the Celtics appear to be on their last run. So this season and next, may be the best years for the Bulls to get to the Finals and win the title. The Heat kind of screwed the pooch in getting Chris Bosh. They may have been better off served to use that money to sign better role players and an actual starting NBA center and point guard. As far as the Knicks, they still need a point guard that isn't on his last knee and some better role players as well. They are also not going to win a title with Mike D'Antoni as their head coach. In the NBA, to win titles you have to be able to play defense in crunch time, and with Mike's system, I do not have confidence in them. Cheers to you though Chairman Reinsdorf. I'll be drinking your Kool-Aid this weekend.

Bulls Season Review at the All-Star Break

If someone would have told me before the season that the Bulls would play 10 games or so fully healthy before the All-Star break and still had a 38-16 record at the break I would have thought they were crazy. Carlos Boozer missed the first month and Joakim Noah has missed the past two months with injuries. The one constant throughout the season has been Derrick Rose. Across the board, he is setting career highs in almost every one of his statistical categories. He is the top scoring point guard in the NBA and 8th overal leading scorer at 24.9 points per game, his assists are at 8.2 per game, good for 9th in the association, and he his 3 point shooting percentage and free throw percentage are at career highs of 35.5% and 83.8% respectively. Along with LeBron, he is one of the top canidates for MVP this season.



I have also been impressed with the play of Luol Deng this season. Though he is only scoring 17.6 points per game, which is about his career average (16.0 ppg), it has been his ability to consistently hit the 3 point shot that has suprised me the most. The ability to hit the corner 3 ball is critical for a team that has a player, in Derrick Rose, that can get to the hoop any time he wants. That corner 3 was limiting Deng in the past. This season, Deng has hit many big three's that he could not hit in the past. He also has had trouble staying healthy in the past. He has started and played in all 54 games this season. The last time he played an entire 82 game season was in the 2006-2007 season.

I am very interested to watch the rest of season unfold in the Eastern Conference to see who will get the 1,2, and 3 seed between Boston, Miami, and Chicago. As it stands today, Boston is leading the East by percentage points over Miami, who is number two, and Chicago is third only 2 games behind the two teams. The difference in being the one or two seed and the third seed in the East is going to be significant. As being the number one or two seed, you will face teams with losing records such as Indiana, Philadelphia, Charlotte, or Milwaukee (just for you Bucks fans out there). As opposed to the 3 seed, you are going to play New York, who can be a pesky team to play because of their ability to go off and make a ton of 3 pointers in a game, as was the case earlier in the season when they played the Bulls. The Knicks were 16-24 from the three point line, which is at a 66% clip.

However the real reward in obtaining the number one seed will be the second round opponent. A second round matchup of Orlando or Atlanta is more appealing than having to face Miami or Boston in round two. If you defeat Miami or Boston in the second round, you still have to go and play the other team of those two to get into the Finals. Quite the gauntlet if you ask me.

Playing at the United Center has been key all season for the Bulls. They have a 25-4 home record, which is second best in the NBA. Compare their home record to their road record, 13-12, and you will see that the Bulls are much more comfortable playing at home this season than on the road. The Bulls have 28 games remaining this season, 16 of which are coming on the road. They must find a way to improve their road record if they want to obtain the number one seed.

A question that I am pondering is if the Bulls need to make a trade before the trading deadline to improve at the 2 guard spot. Keith Bogans has started every game this year, but is only averaging 17 minutes a game. Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver are the backups for the 2 guard spot. The problem with these 3 guards is that they all are good in one area and less than average in the other. Brewer and Bogans are more of defenders, however Bogans can occasionally hit the open 3 point shot. Korver is the exact opposite. He is a shooter who spots up and runs off screens for shots. His defense is defintaly a liability for this team. It would be ideal if they could combine these 3 guys into one player, but humans have not reached that part of science yet. There are rumors floating out there of the Bulls acquring Courtney Lee from Houston or Anthony Parker from Cleveland. The Bulls have great team chemistry and the question Gar Foreman and John Paxson have to answer is whether they want to roll the dice and make a move to improve their team with the risk of upsetting team chemistry.

I can see this team going 20-8 the remainder of the season to put their final record at 58-24. You want to be playing your best basketball in the later months of the season and this team has not played it's best ball yet because they have not been fully healthy. They play 16 games against teams that have less than a .500 winning percentage and only 3 games against either Miami or Boston, and 2 of those games are at home. Barring another injury to a key player in the rotation this team should finish as the number two seed and be right there for the number one seed in the East.

Is Golf Serious?

Since when has spitting become a crime? Apparently in golf, you are not allowed to spit on the course. And if you do, people act like you just killed somebody. Tiger Woods was fined and criticized for spitting on the putting green in an European Tour event this past weekend. I find this absolutely insane. I did not know golfers were such pussies that they cannot walk through or putt on someone else's saliva. Imagine if baseball and football implemented this policy. Shit, baseball players play on surfaces that have more than just spit, they have chewing tabacco in the saliva as well. Do we see them getting fined for spitting on the field? No.


What's worse than him getting fined for the incident has been the golf pundits that are criticizing Tiger. The television commentator during the broadcast, Ewen Murray, said, "But there are some parts of him that are just arrogant and petulant. Somebody now has to come behind him and maybe putt over his spit. It does not get much lower than that." Oh, sorry Ewen for someone having to walk over his spit, how gross. Its not like the golfers are physical touching the spit. He also had this gem of a quote, "one of the ugliest things you will ever see on a golf course." I know he has never seen my golf swing, but I find it hard to believe that spitting is the ugliest thing you will see on a golf course.

This incident just reinforces my stance on golfers just being a bunch of country club softies. Tiger should not have to apologize for spitting on the course. It's not his fault that others freak out like an eight year old girl who has just seen a spider. So I say, go ahead Tiger, spit all you want. Screw golf's etiquette rules.

Weight Room Behaviors

I have recently gotten back in the swing of things in the weight room after a long period of laziness. Since I've started lifting again, I realized how much I hate going into the weight room. Not because I do not like to lift (I do), but all the other people in the weight room grind my gears. The stuff they do just either makes me laugh or make me pist off. Here are some examples (in no particular order of how much they grind my gears):




1. The lifters who look like they are on speed: These guys are the lifters who never let their muscles take a break. They'll finish one set on one machine, then sprint directly to the next machine and immediatly begin doing their next exercise. Slow the fuck down for heaven's sake. They are always on at least 3 different machines at one time. What especially grinds my gears is that if you try and step in to get some work in on one of the machines they are working on they'll say to you, "Sorry bro, I'm using that machine." Pick an exercise to do and stick with it until you are ready to move to the next one.

2. The grunters/screamers: This is a situation to me where there is some degree of gear grindness. The grunters do not really piss me off more than they do make me giggle. The screamers now, thats another story. This goes for the coaches and the lifters. I am not one of those guys who needs to be screamed at to get me to do my lift. Just let me do my lift, so I do not understand why some guys need to be screamed at. As for the lifters, ok ya we all know you are there lifting 300 pounds on the bench press. I don't need to hear you proclaim to the world that you are lifting 300 pounds.

3. The "I don't lift legs" guys: You can tell who these guys are. Big upper bodies, with small chicken legs. I know what some of these guys' mentality is: to look good for girls. If thats what you lift for, then may God have mercy on your soul. You should lift to help keep you in shape and to improve your health. Show your legs some love when you lift. That way, you won't look so unproportional when I see you walking down the street.

4. The people who are in there forever, but don't really do anything: One of our contributors to Snotap is one of these guys, Mitchy. These people don't grind my gears but it just makes me laugh. They just walk around and just bs with everyone in there, but don't really do any lifting. Nothing was funnier than working out in the summer with Eric at the YMCA and doing our shooting exercises and then lifting and having Mitchy follow us around. Eric would get so mad and I would just laugh at Mitch and Eric because they would be going at each other. One of the highlights of my working out experiences.

I'm sure there are tons of other behaviors that can be stated, but I'll leave that up to the other contributors and readers to make comments on behaviors that they think are funny. I can't wait until I make my first million, so I can open up my own weight room and basketball court that only my friends and I can use. That way I don't have to deal with all these other people and their antics.

Michael

Bears Keys to Victory

This week has been one of the longest weeks of my life waiting for the game on Sunday. The Bears and Packers have not met in the postseason since a week after Pearl Harbor. This matchup is for the right to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl in Dallas in 2 weeks. They split the season series, with each team winning at their place. If the Bears are going to make it to Dallas, here is what they are going to have to do win:

Continued Balance on Offense: OC Mike Martz has done a good job since the bye week in including the running game more in his offense. He realized that the offensive line is not good enough to have Cutler passing 35 plus times. The O-line has gotten better each week in the run game and Matt Forte is one of the better backs in the league. Forte has only carried the ball 26 times against the Packers this year, but if Matt is around that number for the game on Sunday that bodes well for the Bears.

Turnovers. This goes for both the offense and the defense. The Bears defense thrives on the turnover. The Bears ranked 2nd in the NFC during the regular season in takeaways with 35. In both games this season the Bears forced 2 turnovers in each game. The Bears need to try to force 2 or more turnovers in this game as well. As for the offense, it's all about Jay Cutler and ball security. It is not just about him throwing the interception, but also fumbling when he gets sacked. Jay does not do a good job of protecting the ball when he gets hit from behind. The Bears can probably get away with only one Jay giveaway.

Special Teams. This is where the hidden yardage is. It is a significant advantage to start drives near the 40 instead of the 20. Devin Hester is going to be the biggest x-factor in this game. Green Bay did a nice job in week 17 of not letting Hester beat them in the punt return game. Danieal Manning is also a dangerous return man. He finds the hole on kickoff returns and he just goes hard through it, not stopping for anyone. He had one nice return in week 17 and I expect him to have another good return this week.

There are plenty of other keys I can write about, but since this is a prodominantly Packer fan read blog I will not bore you with more. Let's hope Sunday is one of the best football games of all-time with no injuries to the players and also to the fans in the stadium (I have a feeling things may get testy.). GO BEARS!

-Michael